Midnight Manor Private Residence, Saturday Evening

[pocketpretzels]

Having made the decision to do an actual Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, Watts was spending a significant portion of today repeatedly herding a cat out of the kitchen making some of the dishes ahead of time. Like the dinner rolls which were currently cooling on the counter.

Humming a song as he worked, he was currently chopping apples for tomorrow's dessert.

Though part of him was also wondering if perhaps some butter tarts might not go awry. He'd even found a vegan recipe. Was two desserts too many?

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

“Thank you,” Watts said with an appreciative smile. “Making the rolls ahead of time was a risk, but Raphael has not yet managed to figure out how to open a sealed container, so I figure they will be safe enough overnight.”

He thought about reminding Marc he was welcome, but he didn’t want to push. So instead, he asked: “Have you ever tried butter tarts before?”

[hasaknightjob]

There was a pause as Marc tried to guess. Finally he gave up. "It's you so that's probably not a sex thing, right?"

[pocketpretzels]

Congratulations, Marc, you just managed to unlock what was typically a Steven achievement:

… Also not a sex thing. Just an amused, if somewhat startled laugh. “No, not a ‘sex thing’. A type of pastry. Dessert. And given that you had to ask I shall conclude the answer is no.”

[hasaknightjob]

Look, tart had a lot of meanings!

"Not ringing a bell," Marc said. "Is it a British thing? Steven might've had it if it's a British thing."

And vegan but Watts knew that part without saying.

[pocketpretzels]

Watts shook his head. “Canadian,” he told Marc.

[hasaknightjob]

"Then yeah, he's got no idea," Marc said. He pointed to the apples. "You want help with the rest of those or you want the practice?"

[pocketpretzels]

“I would welcome some assistance,” Watts admitted gratefully, touched by the offer. “It has taken me longer than I anticipated to get to even this point,” he continued. “I suspect there may be an apple pie or two in our future.”

[hasaknightjob]

"Not the worst thing in the world," Marc said, because even Watts's vegan stuff wasn't bad. He helped himself to another of the spare apple pieces, then got ready to slice. "These just for the top of the cake?"

[pocketpretzels]

Given how Marc liked to complain about Steven’s eating habits, Watts could recognise the compliment for what it was.

He nodded. “In retrospect, I ought to have done these first, and used the unacceptable pieces to mix into the batter. But the recipe mentioned those not needing to be peeled, whereas these were. So in my haste I did the easier part first.”

[hasaknightjob]

"No big deal," Marc said. He sliced his apple faster than when he'd been showing Watts. Marc wasn't remotely a professional chef by any means, but he was a guy who was comfortable with knives. At least this application wasn't hurting anybody. "He'll take pictures anyway."

[pocketpretzels]

“That’s very true,” Watts acknowledged with a fond smile. He hadn’t quite understood why Steven wanted photographs of all of their meals, back when he’d first started taking them. But now it was a familiar part of the routine.

Which meant of course that Watts wanted the end result to look as nice as possible, even if Steven would like it regardless.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc kept an eye on Watts to make sure his side of the slicing was going okay. "You're doing good. Is it starting to feel better?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Somewhat, yes,” Watts nodded. “I’ve had to correct myself once or twice.” Usually right after reaching for a new piece of apple to start slicing.

[hasaknightjob]

"That's not so bad," Marc said. "Especially for the first time. Eventually you won't have to think about it."

Maybe don't spend too much time wondering if that comment applied to other aspects of Marc's life.

[pocketpretzels]

Well, Watts had once given similar advice to John Brackenreid regarding viewing dead bodies?

“I’d been meaning to ask for your assistance in the matter for some time now,” Watts noted. “So your timing was fortuitous.”

[hasaknightjob]

"It's no problem," Marc said. Frankly he'd wanted to offer help on it for a while now but he hadn't known how to broach the subject when Steven was the one who was usually around when Watts was cooking. "Score one for people falling from the sky I guess."