does anyone want to scream about pedrazar with me??? I'm writing a pedrazar future-fic in and it might turn out to be a bit collosal. I would love to tell someone besides my lovely gf about it!! Like even if we don't know each other I'd love to make friends with the like 7 people who are still crying over nmtd/lolilo!!
Team B Bakes (aka the fic I wrote a million years ago and then forgot about, finally gets posted)
Today I bring you a fic I wrote literally a million years ago, before nmtd was even over, and then completely forgot existed until just now. The only thing I added were the last three lines. I’m uploading this because I’m beadick trash, and I miss those two dorks.
(ao3 link)
It had all started a few hours earlier when Hero had received a distressed call from her biology lab partner claiming her computer had crashed and their completed assignment was completely gone. In hindsight, what happened next was sort of her fault. She had left Beatrice and Benedick with the task of making two-dozen muffins before the bake sale that evening, knowing full well they had—even combined—next to no skill in the kitchen.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to re-do this assignment and be back in time to make the muffins.”
“So then don’t make the muffins.” Bea suggested, not moving from her spot on the couch where she and Ben had nestled to have a Harry Potter marathon. “There will be plenty of baked goods there tonight, even without them.”
“I promised I would do them; I can’t back out now. Beatrice, please!” Hero pleaded, coming forward and making as exaggerated a version of puppy-dog eyes as she could.
Bea pointedly averted her gaze, but Ben foolishly looked, and Hero could see his resolve crumble. “Maybe we could?”
Hero grinned, but Bea shook her head. “Hero, I really want to help you, I do. But seriously, neither of us can bake.”
“We made those cookies together that one time.”
“You did most of the work!” Bea insisted, but Hero could see her resolve start to deteriorate as well.
“I can bake,” Ben said
Bea raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Can you really?”
Ben faltered, then shrugged, “Well…I’ve seen others bake. How hard can it be? You just follow the recipe.”
“Exactly!” Hero smiled, “Just follow the recipe exactly as it is and you’ll be fine.”
Beatrice shook her head once again, but eventually she found herself in the kitchen with Ben and a bad feeling about what was to come, as Hero ran out the door.
“Okay, so—” Ben grabbed the recipe sheet Hero had left them. “First we need to get all the ingredients out. We’ll need all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, butter, white sugar, eggs, vanilla, apples, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon.” He listed them all off as Bea tried to remember where everything was and lined them up on the counter.
They spent the next several minutes mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl—and then cleaning it off the ground when they accidentally knocked the bowl over.
“Meh, so there’ll be a little less. We’ll just make smaller muffins.” Bea reasoned
Ben chopped up the apples while Bea handled the wet ingredients, and finally they mixed it all together and spooned it into the muffin pan.
Feeling accomplished, they quickly set out to prepare the second batch, making considerably less of a mess this time around. They took the two trays and placed them in the oven, when suddenly it struck them that they hadn’t pre-heated it.
“We’ll just leave them in there for a few minutes extra and it should be fine.” Ben reasoned and the two of them left the muffins to bake.
“I think we did a fairly good job, actually.” Bea smiled as they admired their work through the oven window.
“’Course we did! I told you it would be fine. They’re just muffins, it’s not rocket science.”
They turned towards the counter, which was in a state of utter disarray, and just stared at the chaos.
“Do you wanna clean this up?” Bea asked
Ben shook his head. “Nope. You?”
“Nuh uh,”
Ben contemplated for a moment, “Should we get back to the Philosopher’s Stone?”
Bea nodded, “Yes,”
They set the timer and left to go continue their movie. It was Christmas morning and Harry had just received the invisibility cloak when Bea suggested they go check on the muffins.
“I’m still hurt you said I would be a muggle.” Ben declared, as they walked towards the kitchen.
“Oh, shut up. I already changed my answer and said you were a Gryffindor.” Bea replied, rolling her eyes.
“But still—a muggle!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms up.
Bea scoffed, “Repeating it doesn’t change anything.”
Ben grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, which Bea ignored until she was assaulted with a flick of flour.
She just stared in shock as Ben smirked, “Don’t ignore me,”
Bea’s shock grew into an evil grin, and she never broke eye contact with Ben as she reached into the bag of flour, grabbed a handful, and threw it at his face. Suddenly, they were yelling and throwing flour and sugar at each other. Bea shrieked as Ben pulled her forward and dropped some down her shirt, and she retaliated by taking a full bowl of sugar and pouring it down his pants.
Bea was thrown off guard when she expected him to retaliate but he instead grabbed tightly and kissed her. This meant she was too absorbed in the kiss to notice him reach for the bowl with the leftover muffin mixture inside until it was too late and he was smearing it over her hair and cheek. Not to be outdone, while he was laughing and cheering for himself, she grabbed the bag of flour, stood on her tiptoes, and reached up to dump the remainder of the bag over his head.
The whole kitchen filled with a large cloud of white dust, and they both burst out laughing, until they were coughing from both the laughter and the cloud of flour that had taken over the kitchen.
Hero arrived just in time to see the entire kitchen covered in a film of white powder and Beatrice and Benedick holding on to each other and howling with laughter.
“Oh my god, what happened here?!” Hero exclaimed, dropping her bag by the door and approaching her cousin and her cousin’s boyfriend dying of laughter in the utter mayhem that was their kitchen.
They tried to explain but kept getting cut off by their own giggles.
“You look so ridiculous!” Bea pointed to Ben’s head, completely caked in white flour.
He just grinned and pulled her in by the waist, bending down to rub his flour-coated head against hers. “Stop!”
Hero sighed, “Guys? Did you at least make the muffins?”
Their laughter died down a little and Bea smiled at Hero. “Of course we did. They should be ready right about now actually.” Just as she said this, the timer went off.
“There we go! Now you’ll get to see our amazing muffins.” Ben boasted, as he reached for the oven mitts.
He pulled both pans out and placed them on the cooling racks. The three stared at the muffins in silence for a moment, while the smug grins on Bea and Ben’s faces slipped away.
“What’s wrong with them?” Bea asked
Ben furrowed his eyebrows. “Dunno,”
“They didn’t rise.” Hero stated
Bea and Ben turned to her inquiringly. “But why? We followed the recipe you left us.” Bea insisted
“Take me through what you did, and we’ll figure it out.” They turned to the remaining ingredients and Hero scanned over them.
“Everything looks fine, except where’s the baking powder?”
Ben pointed, “Right there,”
Hero shook her head, “That’s the baking soda.”
Bea and Ben both froze. “…they’re not the same thing?” Bea asked
Hero’s eyes widened, “No, they’re not! You only used baking soda?”
Bea and Ben grimaced and nodded in unison. “Oops?” Ben added
Hero heaved a heavy sigh, “Thanks for the help you guys, but Bea, you were right. You can’t bake. And you’ve made a massive mess. Go get cleaned up, then you can clean this kitchen while I rush to bake a new batch.”
Bea and Ben lowered their heads in shame. “Sorry, Hero,”
“Yeah, really sorry.”
Hero shook her head, “It’s alright, at least you tried your best. I’m the one who insisted even though you said you couldn’t bake.”
Bea and Ben trudged upstairs, trying their best not to spread anymore of the mess they had on them around the house. It took a full forty-five minutes in the shower, with help from the other, to wash the flour and dough out of their hair. Ben spent the remainder of the time trying to rid himself of sugar in “places where there should never be anything of the sort, Bea, how could you?” Finally, after about an hour, they were both clean—their clothes, however, were not, and as Ben didn’t have any spares, he had no choice but to borrow some from Bea; this was how he ended up in her giraffe onesie. He watched himself in the mirror, trying to adjust the outfit a little bit, but Bea was shorter than he was, leaving the sleeves and legs cutting off at a strange length.
Bea stood beside him, giggling. “You’re too tall for the giraffe costume.”
He did a once-over of himself and shrugged, “Whatever—anything’s better than those sugar-filled shorts.”
Bea laughed and nodded, but then froze in horror. “Are you wearing underwear with that?”
Ben grinned at the look on her face. “Of course not. I couldn’t put those back on either.”
“Oh god,” She put her face in her hands. “Please don’t sweat in that, okay?”
He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll buy you a new one for your birthday.”
She groaned, but nodded anyway, as they made their way back downstairs. Hero laughed as soon as she saw them approach. “I think that onesie looks even better on you than it does on Bea, Ben.”
He grinned, “Why thank you, Hero. I always knew you were my favourite Duke.”
Bea scoffed loudly and shoved him. “You're an idiot.”
“And yet you fell in love with me anyway.”
Bea rolled her eyes and didn't even bother to dignify him with a response.
“How are your muffins, Hero?”
Hero smiled, “They're in the oven. Luckily, I was able to make them pretty quickly and they should be done in time for us to leave. It's a good thing we managed to retrieve most of the project, or else I never would have been back in time to re-make them.”
Ben reached over to poke one of his and Bea's failed muffins. “Then what are we gonna do with these?”
“I feel bad throwing away twenty-four muffins, even if they are sort of sad-looking.” Bea said
“We could still eat them. They don't look great, but they might still taste alright.” Ben suggested
Hero shook her head. “You really don't have to eat them.”
“Of course we do, we can't waste them all.” Bea grabbed one and broke it in half to share with Ben.
They eyed the depressed muffins for a moment before finally taking a bite.
Hero raised an eyebrow. “How are they?”
Bea and Ben spent a long few seconds trying to chew.
“It's...not revolting.” Ben said
“Yeah...the flavour's fine-ish...it's just the texture that's—”
“Crap.” Ben finished her sentence and she nodded.
“Yeah. That.”
Hero laughed and picked one up, inspecting it suspiciously. “It also looks a bit burnt.”
Bea nodded, “Yeah...maybe we shouldn't have left it in there those few extra minutes. We were just trying to compensate for the time lost when we forgot to pre-heat the oven.”
Ben glared at the offending muffin tins and then abruptly proceeded to grab both and reverse them in the trash.
“It's not worth it.” He shook his head when Bea started to protest.
She sighed, “Yeah, you're right.”
They stared in silence at the muffins in the trash for a long moment, before Ben turned back to Hero. “So… need any more help?”
Hero laughed, “From you two? No, thank you.”
Bea nodded, “Fair enough,”
There was a beat, when Bea started turning to leave the kitchen. “Back to the movie?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah, probably for the best.”
Fun fact: this is based on a true story, where a few years ago, when I was still in high school, around grade 9, I took Foods as an elective, and the first thing we made were these muffins. I didn’t realize that baking soda and baking powder were two different things, and the muffins did not turn out well. So if you were reading this fic thinking, “wow, who’s stupid enough to make that mistake?”. Well. Apparently 14-year old me was.
Hero was adamant that she would not have a birthday party for her seventeenth.
Adamant for Hero, anyway. She would look Bea steadily and pleadingly in the eye, give one little shake of her head, and say ‘Bea… no. Just no, ok? I don’t need to. It’s fine, everything’s fine, but I don’t want a party. Look, I’d love to have just a sleepover. Just you, and me, and the girls. That’s all I need.’
Bea argued for a while, suggesting different scenarios that included all of their friends. It had really bugged her, that Hero had looked forward so much to her sweet sixteenth. She suggested many variations on a sweet seventeenth, until Hero pulled the I Don’t Want to Talk About This Anymore card. So Beatrice backed off, said respectfully, ‘Ok, we will definitely not have a sweet seventeenth birthday party,’ and turned silent.
…Too silent.
What are you up to, Hero would say when they’d talk on the phone, in between mountains of school work. (Hero had known Beatrice for far too long not to know when something was up, but the trouble was, you could never quite predict what up might be.)
Nothing, Bea would say airily. Nothing, nothing at all… that you need to know about, she would add to herself.
Bea knew a surprise party was not the way to go. Not a surprise tea party, not a surprise dinner out.
Semantics were the key to an effective birthday celebration.
***
It started as Hero had planned. Just herself, Beatrice, Meg and Ursula – they’d all come over for a sleepover on the weekend. Hero had relaxed somewhat regarding birthday-related trauma, and had agreed to (a) birthday cake (b) cookie-baking (c) fairy lights. She had drawn the line at balloons. When Beatrice asked about chocolate salad for dinner, Hero had snorted and said (as Beatrice had hoped she would), sure, for entrée, but for mains she wanted pizza.
A directive I shall remind you of … later, Beatrice thought smugly.
The others wondered if they should say anything birthday-related at all, but after the first tentative little ‘Happy birthdays’, Hero had rolled her eyes, and said ‘Come on, I’m not made of glass. Besides, 17 can’t come fast enough. I’ve been looking forward to it.’ They’d worked their way through the cookies (Hero had wanted to try a new recipe – Nutella stuffed brown butter chocolate chip) and were feeling like it was time for something more. Ursula caught Beatrice’s eye, turned to Hero and said, ‘I’m still hungry… I think it’s pizza time.’
‘Yes, pizza!’, said Meg and Beatrice, a little too forcefully.
My plan is almost complete…
‘Ye-es, pizza time’, Hero echoed, looking at them strangely. ‘Beatrice, will you call?’
This is too easy! thought Beatrice. She strode to the window and opened it. ‘Pizza, oh pizza, wherefore art thou Pizza,’ she cried dramatically to the night. Then she turned to Hero.
‘Here’s some I prepared earlier,’ Beatrice purred, and motioned grandly with her hand for Hero to come look outside.
Hero could hear soft music as she moved towards the window, raising an eyebrow for Beatrice’s benefit. With her eyes adjusting to the light, she couldn’t see right away, but she could definitely hear…
Benedick, Claud, Pedro and Balthazar, all quietly singing and – as her eyes adjusted to the light - loudly gesticulating with pizza boxes in hand…
Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' everybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey, hey
Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey
Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?
They all began to jump around wildly for the guitar solo, and Hero turned to Beatrice, trying to frown while laughing, and failing. ‘I said no surprise parties, Beatrice!’
Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for
As the boys finished their song, moving not really at all seamlessly into Happy Birthday while they trooped around to the front door, Beatrice assumed her patented I Am Always Right face. ‘Correct, dear cousin. This is not a surprise party. Please note: no one has jumped out from behind anything and yelled ‘Surprise’. You asked for a sleepover’ – Ursula and Meg, who had been singing along, paused and looked modest – ‘and pizza. But you failed to specify from whom you wished to order pizza; and you also made no rules against surprises regarding your pizza; or delivery men joining us to consume it.’ She beamed at Hero, who really wasn’t mad, after all.
‘Surprise pizza. Now I have to make sure, for future birthdays, when I say ‘I definitely do not want to have X’, to specify to not have… surprise pizza.’
‘Well, you can, but then you would not only miss out on pizza, but-‘
‘You’ll just work out some other way to twist my words?’
‘Well I wouldn’t put it quite like that-‘
‘Thank you, Beatrice. It’s just the right number of people.’ Hero spoke quietly. The cousins hugged, hard, then went towards the table, where the others had started on the pizza.
the story of the fanfic that will not be shared because just no
i asked joking5 if she had some prompts for me for nmtd fanfic
she made some good suggestions
‘beadick’
‘radio silence’
inspired, i began to write.
when i read what i had written
i realised
to my horror
i had written a fanfic basically saying how hero regretted her radio silence because she missed time at school
not like
Aw man I missed something hilarious
or even
Gosh I missed my friends
but no
just guff about studying for senior year
just like a complete dork
just like me
it is probably a completely unrelated fact that my recurring anxiety dream is that i am back at school doing my own senior year and i forgot to study for the end of year exams, right?
...
i’ll be over here in the corner frantically googling ‘fun’
It took Beatrice a full three months to stop blushing almost every time she said Benedick's name.
She blushed when Hero would ask innocently 'How was Benedick today, Beatrice' as they ate dinner. Hero couldn't help but snicker, just a little.
She blushed when she mentioned to her parents that she was going to see a movie with him. (It was over the phone, but they could tell.) Her parents couldn't help but laugh gently, just a little.
She blushed in Stats class when she had to refer to him for a final assignment they'd worked on together. Certain class members who shall remain unnamed dug each other in the sides and tried not to guffaw as the teacher reminded them sharply this was chance to talk about a final assessment... then turned away to grin to herself, just a little. The tension between Beatrice and Benedick had been memorable throughout the year, and it was sweet to watch it resolve like this.
She blushed whenever she saw Ben striding towards her, holding out his arms for a hug before walking home together.
But Benedick, strange to say, he wouldn't laugh, or tease her about blushing. Not even a little.
He'd grin tenderly at her, he'd make fun of her for everything else, including when she beat him on the stats assignment (he’d called her an insufferable egghead). Their relationship didn't change in that regard.
He loved her blushes too much. Besides, it was easy to make Beatrice blush from saying his name. He preferred to make her blush by whispering things for her ears only. She never lost the habit of those blushes.
Hello, people of the internet! Hah, I never get tired of saying that, even when I'm taking an internet break. How are you all? I am doing great. Just great! Fine! And! Dandy! That's me. And Hero. And everyone. And, yes, Ben. Yes. Ben. I have finally learned how to say his name without blushing :blushes: okaaayyyy maybe I have not but, um, a girl can hope. Arghhh ok. Look. Yes. I admit it. I may just have had the summer of my life and it may be partially, a little bit, maybe to do with a certain lanky presence. Yes. You know who it is. :pause: It's, a giraffe.
Tell us something we don't know
At this point I no longer assume that people know anything and so it would be against my MO, agenda, and general policy approach to let you know anything other than telling you face to face because that way, my friends, trouble lies. Oh yes indeed. :looks sombre:
Oh fine. I did not throw That Flamingo into the mangoes on purpose. :mutters: wish I had though
Also, I am still pretty much right about everything, in case you were wondering. I realise you probably already know that if you were paying attention at all in the past year, or that you should. But just in case. :points at self: Me. I'm right. Oh yeah.
***
Bea was so very, very in love with Ben, she was afraid to even think about it too much, even when she couldn't help it. She worried about everything inwardly. She worried that Ben's easy acceptance of it all would mean he would easily let her go. She worried that they had too much fun; that they were too happy. She worried about this most when they couldn't come to an easy agreement about where to be and what to do over the next two years. She felt better that they could at least agree not to talk about it until they had to. And when that time came, she had to admit, if only to herself, that Ben had been right - the future she was worrying about was not at all terrible, and in fact so much better than the best she had imagined.
***
joking5!
Previous instalments: Hero, Benedick, Claudio, Tibbles (a.k.a. Might), Verges, Dogberry, Meg, Leo, Floyd the Flamingo, Balthazar, Cora, Robbie, John, Ursula
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!! Well, I'm Ben, I don't know that I really need an introduction. You know me. Ben. Ben Ben. Good old Benny Ben BeneDICK. I have very lonnng lanky limbs, too long really, and I talk a lot. A lot a lot a lot. :pause to breathe: A lot. Something else of which a lot has happened is the past year. I don't think I quite got that sentence right but never mind. Gosh. I just don't know. How far your mind can go in a year. It's been huge. Not just the whole, Bea thing, which, is, just, a-mazing. Hero and Claud and Pedro and Balthy and parties and fights and aggressive laundry folding... oh yeah and this thing called school, yeah well, that is over baby. Like we were all just kind of goofing around, with these videos, but there's been a lot of hard work outside of that.
Tell us something we don't know.
Bea would never mention it, but she's actually quite brainy. But she's very keen on this gap year thing still.
Oh, you mean about me. :thinks: Well, look this is about me, because whatever's about her, is about me. I find I'm in this weird kind of... limbo? We're enjoying being with each other soo much, but I just don't know what's going to happen. We've both agreed to enjoy the summer as it is, and when we get to the decision point, we're each going to make our decisions.
Except now I've made the decision to be with her, I don't know what I'll do about any decision that involves... not being with her.
I don't know, I just don't know! And I can't just write a song about this. Or make a video. It's been good having a break from vlogging, actually. Um. You probably know that Bea really wants to go overseas. And I really want to go to University. Bea does too, she's just not really decided. And I think she's kind of doing this stubborn, I'm not changing my plans for you thing. Like she’s a woman and so she’s not changing my plans for a man. And I would, but I'd kind of rather just get right into uni, you know? We should start uni now, because we can travel any time. Look at all the holidays, we'll have so many holidays! I mean, I want to. Not we. She can actually do what she likes. But she sees it the other way around. Which is not the logical way. Obviously.
It's just hard, because, I finally feel like we've sorted things out. I mean, I didn't know things weren't the way they were meant to be. All this, with Bea - it feels meant to be. Being apart does not feel meant to be. Or meant to Bea. Haha.
***
For the most part, Ben and Bea did a pretty good job of agreeing to not talk about Next Year for the summer. It was too hard. Ben really, really wanted to start straight at University; Bea really, really wanted a break. They hadn't planned early enough to go during the summer break together then, and there was too much tension about the whole idea because Ben would only start pushing to wait until later in the year, and Bea would get cranky.
When they concentrated on the present, they could get on. Well, for them.
Benedick didn't want to overwhelm Beatrice, but when he looked at her, he always felt a pang that he just didn't want to waste any more time not being with the best person he knew.
***
joking5!
Previous instalments: Claudio, Tibbles (a.k.a. Might), Verges, Dogberry, Meg, Leo, Floyd the Flamingo, Balthazar,Cora, Robbie, John, Ursula
I'm Claudio, I go to Messina High, I like football a lot, I... I've been a bit of a prick really, a big one, but I'm really trying to do better. Hero, she's so good, honestly I would tell her not to have anything to do with me, if I were her friend. She's been so good. I keep trying to make it up to her. I think, I mean I think I have really fucked this up permanently. I can't believe I was so stupid. Sorry... I'm going on about this again... She doesn't want me to do that. I think Beatrice would be pretty happy if I felt bad forever about the stupid way I acted.
I wouldn't like to tell her but the way I'm going I think probably I will feel bad forever about it.
I'm glad I'm back playing footy. That's the one good thing. Leo seems to have mostly forgiven me as well.
Tell us something we don't know.
Hero and I have been talking a lot, which I feel really grateful for. But something's still kind of, broken. I feel her slipping away from me and I keep telling myself I should just be happy she's even forgiven me as much as she has. I know everyone looks at us and thinks she is giving me way too much time and probably they are right. I just don't want it to stop. What happens when ... :groans: How can you fuck things up so badly, with someone ... just... so lovely? Ugh.
***
Claudio took what he could get with Hero. She was quite happy to give him the time of day; they slipped back into some of their old habits and hangouts. Sometimes it felt like before and they'd both forget. Hero was better at forgetting than Claud.
Hero wanted things... not to be like they were before, but for things to continue in a more positive direction. She knew everyone felt she was too good, too kind, but they didn't know about the resentment she felt and tried to push down. It was a small feeling inside her that wouldn't go away. If she could forget about it... Why couldn't Claud? 'He keeps making this about him', the little voice would say. 'It's not about him. This is about you, and your feelings.' 'But it is him', she'd argue with herself, 'he made a mistake, he's the one with the bad judgement... it doesn't say anything about me at all.'
'It doesn't', the argument would continue, 'but the fact that you're still giving him an audience for his sooking does.'
In the end it took a proper separation and some actual time apart. For Hero to find out that other people could be casually cruel and have no passion behind the words; that even when they fuck up, it's still rare to find someone who gets you, and who wants to try to get you when they don't understand. For Claud to finally forgive himself for being a dickhead, to practice doubting his first instinct to attack others. For admitting to himself that Hero was perfection but not fragile. When they bumped into each other again, it was better, and they could try again.
***
joking5!
Previous instalments: Tibbles (a.k.a. Might), Verges, Dogberry, Meg, Leo, Floyd the Flamingo, Balthazar,Cora, Robbie, John, Ursula