I have this really random headcanon that Boyd is really good at baking - like he was constantly making sweets for his little sis to bring into school for her birthday, bake sales, holidays, etc etc.
Like it started when he was in middle school and he found Alicia crying in her bedroom cause their parents forgot to buy cookies for her to bring to her 3rd grade class so he just walks to the closest grocery store/convenience store/idk and buys frozen cookie dough cause like that shit is easy and always delicious. And like yeah he had to use the little money he makes from like helping the old lady next door rake her leaves, but the look in Alicia’s face when he hands her the plate of cookies the next morning is worth everything.
From then on, Alicia just asks Boyd to bake things for her cause their parents are kinda just really busy, you know? Alicia starts telling Boyd that the food has to be themed or that Suzy’s mom made her cookies look like gravestones but everyone loved his spider cupcakes more and it just feeds his desire to get better and come up with more creative treats and he finds that he loves it. He loves baking in the kitchen all day, getting sticky with sugar, and that feeling of pride when he nails a tricky new recipe and it tastes amazing. The joy on Alicia’s face when she sees his latest creation is just icing on the cake.
Boyd finds that he loves baking so much that he gets an actual job at the ice rink for after school/the weekend and starts saving all the money he makes that doesn’t go towards baking supplies, towards his savings account so he can start up his own bakery one day. Then he reads somewhere that the majority of restaurants and bakeries fail within the first year due to poor money management and marketing so he starts looking into business programs for college that could help him succeed with is dream. Alicia and him brainstorm bakery names whenever she helps him in the kitchen, her favorite being “Better than your mom’s Bakery” because it makes her crack up everytime but they both agree that a simple “Boyd’s Bakery” is the most practical.
After Alicia dies though, Boyd’s passion for baking also dies. Every time he even tries, his heart just isn’t in it like it used to be. The absence of her bright laughter and happy chatter that used to accompany him in the kitchen is just too raw. Sweets seem to have lost their enticing flavor to him. He doesn’t think twice when he uses his meager bakery savings to help his parents cover the unexpected cost of the funeral since that dream no longer seems exciting.
Years later, Boyd finds himself sitting on the couch of Derek’s loft with Erica using his thighs as a pillow and Isaac’s lap as a footstool. Erica’s stomach grumbles loud enough that it drones out the movie the pack is watching for a second and Isaac snickers at her. She pokes his thigh with her foot in retaliation as she mutters that he should go get her a cupcake to satisfy her craving just for laughing at her. Isaac rolls his eyes and grumbles but agrees cause he is kinda a pushover for anything Erica wants (they all are, especially when she barely came out alive from the alpha pack). Erica demands that it better be a spooky spider cupcake cause she will accept nothing less. Derek laughs at that comment, saying that Laura always loved holiday themed cupcakes, especially halloween ones cause she’s always be on the hunt for a werewolf one. The pack is a little surprised at Derek’s comment, can see his own surprise about talking about his deceased sister but he’s wearing a smile at the memory-it’s a good one. Isaac mutters that all the bakeries in Beacon Hills suck so they will be lucky if they even put those stupid spider rings on an orange frosted cupcake.
Boyd finds himself wanting to bake for the first time in years. He is a little surprised to find that it hurts a lot less than he expected when he first starts mixing all the ingredients together and it’s a little like getting back on a bike, yeah it takes him three times as long as it used to and he cries a handful of times, but he finishes, he feels relief at being able to reclaim something that he has always loved: baking. For it’s always been his own medium for telling people how much he loves them and he’s finally ready to share his love again.
That Friday, he wordlessly puts a plate of cupcakes with werewolf silhouettes outlined on the frosting with red, blue, gold piped eyes on Derek’s kitchen table. Erica shamelessly moans at her first bit, stating that he needs to be wifed ASAP and Isaac laughs so hard he cries. Derek’s smile is so big and genuine when he gently tells Boyd that these are even better than anything he or Laura could have ever imagined, Boyd can’t help but grin in return, shrugging off the compliment with a simple painful truth of his own, I used to bake all of the treats for Alicia to bring to school. He doesn’t confess their bakery dream right there and then, but it does open up a part of him that he had locked away for so long.
When Boyd cuts the ribbon on the doors to his new bakery that Derek helped finance in Beacon Hills, “Boyd’s Bakery”, he’s surrounded by countless people in his life that love and support him and he loves and supports back.
Now when he bakes, he feels closer to Alicia than ever before.
