LET'S BAKE ((im screaming this is gonna be cute af))
15. Gingerbread
[ TEXT FROM: oba chan 😼]: wheres the gingerbread house?????
[ TEXT TO: oba chan 😼]: omg
[ TEXT TO: oba chan 😼]: uhhhh ill sort it??
[ TEXT TO: kahi kai]: hey kiddo ive got somethin fun 4 us to do!!!!!
So, sure, maybe she’d messed up. Maybe she’d forgotten she’d promised Rei that she’d bake a gingerbread house over the weekend, for the Kahi’s autumn decorations. Maybe now she only had, like, a few hours to produce an entirely decorated gingerbread house. So, maybe she’d dragged Kai into the whole mess in the hopes that they’d be helpful.
Flora flipped the sign on the door over to ‘CLOSED’, not wanting to deal with, like, a million customers while she was trying to become a bakery architect. While she waited for Kai to show up - hopefully they could get ready fast, since she’d messaged them pretty much out of the blue - she started to dig through the back cupboards to find the shit they needed. The baking shit was mostly Rei’s realm, and she felt like she was handling sacred artefacts as she laid out the whisk, rolling pin and baking trays. Finally, the door jangled, and she glanced up, clearly relieved, “Hey, it’s my favourite co-worker! Ready to make some gingerbread, kiddo?”
undeadair:
“Sure, kid - we’ve got no idea what’s goin’ on up there. Better to give a shout out to all of ‘em, so they don’t fuckin’ curse our gingerbread house, right?” Flora shrugged, sucking her teeth. She’d seen enough religions and weird shit in her time - she wasn’t about to piss anything off, in case they sucked her back to wherever her soul was meant to be. As a sheaf of papers was thrust into her hands, the ghost yelped, before laughing. “Jeez, Kai-cakes. Don’t give a girl a papercut.”
Gods, she was so glad she’d called them in - she’d be lost, but they seemed, like, completely in control. Gotta love the young’uns. She blinked as they started prancing around the kitchen, suddenly more confident than she’d ever seen ‘em before. Dutifully, Flora sifted through the piles of paper before she found the recipe she thought they wanted. “Got it here, kiddo!”
Kai was still glowing from being called “Kai-cakes” when they emerged from the back room, balancing a smorgasbord of ingredients on a tray they’d found that was perfect for making gingerbread. What a cute nickname! They hadn’t had a nickname since they were a kid. That was something close friends did, they assumed. They hadn’t really known.
They grinned at Flora over the collection of containers stacked up to their chin, which threatened to topple off the tray. Kai quickly slid the tray onto the counter and began to unload ingredients, spreading them all across the counter.
“Okay!” they announced, skipping over to Flora. “Do we need a mixer for this frosting?” They were still bouncing up and down on the balls of their feet. Oh boy, this was going to be so fun! What a classic holiday activity. Suddenly, they had an idea, and snapped their fingers in excitement.
“Would you put on some of your music?” they asked Flora, smiling from ear to ear. “I think we need some…” they giggled and dipped their voice into a dramatic accent, “…ambiance, as it were.”
Flora gave a low whistle, eyes roaming the heap of containers that Kai had dug out from gods only knew where. “You havin’ a yard sale, kid? How much gingerbread d’you think we’re makin’?” She really was, like, so out of her depth here. In comparison, Kai was like a little spitfire. Shit, the things you learned about people, huh? Maybe this’d been Rei’s plan all along. Could never put that kinda shit past the wily old cat.
Her eyes glazed for a second at the question before she found the recipe again and skimmed it quickly. “Uhh... Aw, yeesh, it’s all hand-mixed. Kai, I’m way too fuckin’ lazy for this. Sounds like a lot of hard work. You wanna run over to, like, Kino’s or whatever and see if they’ve got readymade stuff?”
“Oh, dude, now we’re talkin’! Let’s get some fuckin’ ambiance.” She flipped through her playlists rapidly before swiping up the aux cord and plugging her phone in, hitting shuffle. “This mix pops off, my guy. You’re gonna love it.”
