Midnight Manor Private Residence, Sunday Afternoon

[pocketpretzels]

Steven had expressed an interest in learning how to make pie crusts, and of course Watts had been all for it. Only it seemed a waste of effort to just make a crust, so they were going to make a pie to fill it as well. Apple, of course, a choice that Steven had made which ended up being somewhat serendipitous in that it had been the very same type of pie Watts had made for Steven back when he'd first started baking, back in Steven's London apartment, exactly a year ago.

Watts finished laying out the ingredients and equipment for both pie and crust on the counter.

"That's everything," he said, smiling over at Steven. "Ready?"

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

Steven for his part had prepared by having his glasses on and pen and paper in front of him so he could take notes. "I think so. There's an important first step, yeah?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Being ready?” Watts asked. “Absolutely.”

[hasaknightjob]

"No - well yes," Steven said. "But also this one."

He used his pen to point proudly at the first step written in his notes, which said Roll sleeves up.

"I need to do that one, don't I?" Steven said, grinning. "To catch up with you?"

[pocketpretzels]

“If you want to avoid getting your sleeves covered in flour, absolutely,” Watts said, grinning back.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven made a show of rolling up the sleeves of his sweatshirt so that his forearms were exposed. He then held his arms out for inspection. "How's that?"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts gave Steven a thoughtful look, drawing an index finger lightly up from Steven's palm to the crook of his elbow on one of those arms. "Perfect," he declared.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven chuckled, because the touch tickled a little bit. But not in a bad way.

"Right, so there's step one done," Steven said. "Hopefully the rest are just as successful."

[pocketpretzels]

"I have every confidence in you," Watts said, emphasizing his point with a kiss to the cheek.

[hasaknightjob]

"I've every confidence in my teacher," Steven said. He looked at Llewellyn thoughtfully. "Would it - do you think it would be silly to make this a tradition?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Me teaching you how to bake something?" Watts asked.

[hasaknightjob]

"Oh." Steven hadn't even considered that option. "Well, yes, that too. I wouldn't mind it. But I meant today being a day for pie. In honor of the pie you made last year."

[pocketpretzels]

"I love it," Watts decided. "Our very own tradition. You're absolutely brilliant."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven smiled, happy that Llewellyn seemed to like the idea. "Excellent! See? Making things our own."

Their own memories as well. Real ones.

[pocketpretzels]

Let's be real, Watts was going to love anything that symbolised them building a life together. Like creating new traditions.

"Rather literally," he said, still grinning. "As we're making ourselves a pie."

[hasaknightjob]

If Llewellyn was going to make wordplay he was going to find himself kissed by his beau. There was no way around it.

"I love you," Steven said, after the aforementioned kiss had happened.

[pocketpretzels]

Had he done so perhaps anticipating that very outcome?

Maaaaybe.

"As I love you," he replied in kind.

[hasaknightjob]

"Right," Steven said. He picked up his pen so he could be ready to take notes. "No more getting distracted. Ready to learn. I want to be able to make a pie dinner for you."

[pocketpretzels]

"All right," Watts said, taking a half-step back and straightening up. Well, sort of. It was Watts, so he was still kind of hunched over a little.

"The first thing to note is that not all pie crusts are the same." No, he hadn't taken a look at the recipe Steven had considered, but he had come across several different recipes on his own. "There may be different ingredients involved, but the basic techniques? Those will be the same, or at least very similar."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven wrote all of this down as though there might be a quiz later. Which by his way of thinking there would be, since at some point he wanted to try making a crust on his own.

"Different ingredients, same technique," Steven said, to be sure he had it right. "Got it."

[pocketpretzels]

"So, most important if you're working with shortening or butter," Watts said, gesturing to where those very ingredients were laid out on the counter. "You want it cold. Keeping everything as cold as possible is key."

[hasaknightjob]

"There's a problem then," Steven said, grinning at Llewellyn to show he was joking. "I always feel warm around you."

[pocketpretzels]

"Cheeky," Watts declared, shaking his head. Though he was of course biting back a grin.

[hasaknightjob]

"Still true though," Steven said, bumping their shoulders together.

He also wrote down the part about keeping things cold, with an additional note about doing one's best if one's handsome beau was nearby. It was possible this was written in such a way that Llewellyn could easily read it if he cared to.

[pocketpretzels]

Watts huffed out a laugh as he did indeed catch sight of that, and then gestured for Steven to measure out the flour.

Well, sugar and salt too, but the flour was the important one that needed to be leveled properly as it was measured out into the food processor.

"Mix all the dry ingredients together," he instructed, pointing out the 'pulse' button. "By pressing that one a few times."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven wrote down the instructions, then worked very carefully to get the measurements right. "Sort of like when we put things in the blender?"