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Techno puttered around in his basement, gathering emeralds from a few unlucky villagers. He was aiming for another stack of emerald blocks, but he was in the beginning stages of his usual hibernation so he didn’t have very high hopes of success for the next week.
At least he had Phil to look after his pride and joy, Carl. He didn’t know what he’d do without that old man, truly. Hopefully he didn’t fall ill and die of old age. That would be very inconvenient.
Techno hummed quietly as he worked, a little beat under his breath as he crafted emerald blocks. It was peaceful for just about an hour before his enhanced hearing picked up a knock on his door.
He sighed, scooping his leftover emeralds and blocks into his inventory and making his way upstairs. By the time he was up, the knocking was back, more impatient than before. “Coming, coming! Geez.”
When he opened the door, he discovered Niki standing outside. She was holding a basket filled with ingredients and a list that looked suspiciously similar to a cooking recipe. And she seemed annoyed. “Techno, did you forget what we had planned today? You look like you’ve been down in your mines all day!”
Techno blinked, glancing down at his hands. Niki was right: they were covered in stone and emerald dust from his crafting adventures. It was on his clothes, too, and he grimaced at the texture. “I hadn’t noticed. What are you here for, again?”
“Ugh, we’ve literally been doing this for months, Techno! I come here every week to bake, and you never remember. I’m starting to think you don’t like baking.” Niki brushed past him, entering his kitchen like she lived there. From the work she gave Techno each week, she may as well own it.
“Right—- that was today?” Techno snorted at Niki’s exasperated sigh, taking off his cape to hang it up.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’m just kidding. I’ll go get ready to cook, make yourself at home—- just don’t touch Philza’s china cups, he’ll kill my whole bloodline if they get so much as chipped.”
Niki laughed, but when Techno came back a few minutes later significantly cleaner and properly dressed just in case he spilled the flour, Phil’s cups were still safe in their cabinet. Pulling on a loved apron for good measure, Techno entered the kitchen.
“Alright, are you ready to bake some cookies today? Since you graduated from grilling last week, I thought you might like to try making something sweet.” Niki grinned from her spot by the fridge, and Techno marveled at how quickly she’d organized his kitchen. All of the ingredients were set out neatly, and his counters were sparkling in the light filtering in from the windows.
“ With you? Of course. Cookies sound like a nice break from grilling, and I think Ranboo might like them—- maybe his birds, too.” Techno grinned, although it was mostly hidden by his boar mask. It was the one thing he’d never take off with company, no matter who they were. Not even Philza knew what he looked like, and he preferred it that way.
Niki beamed at him, turning to the recipe she’d pinned to the fridge with a clap of her hands. “Alright, let’s get to work then! I have all of the ingredients and instructions here on this paper, and if you have any questions, I’ll be supervising the whole time.”
“Fine by me. Are we making plain or chocolate chip cookies?”
“I was thinking of chocolate chip cookies, since adding them doesn’t take any extra steps at all, but if you’d prefer them plain that’s okay too!”
Techno frowned thoughtfully, glancing over the recipe. “I think I’ll add chocolate. It looks a bit simplistic, from the ingredients.”
Niki hummed from where she was grabbing a stool, glancing up from her task to smile. “Would you prefer we fill them? I have a few harder recipes—-“
“No, no no—- that’s not what I meant! I’m sure these will taste great, I’ll even get out the bowls and stuff right now.”
Laughing brightly, Niki set her stool down out of the way and sat down to observe Techno’s attempts to locate the measuring cups and mixing bowls. The last time he’d used the kitchen without Niki was when he cooked his famous baked potatoes, and that didn’t require him to have more than a pan for the bacon and his oven.
He eventually located all of his tools and consulted the recipe again before getting to work.
The process was fairly easy once he understood the instructions. First, he made sure to preheat the oven, setting it at a comfortable 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Once that was settled he turned to the butter Niki put out for him, dropping it into a pan on the stovetop to melt on low heat.
While the butter melted, he combined his dry ingredients into a bowl, whisking them together gently as he remembered the last time he’d tried to stir dry ingredients.
By the time he was done with the dry ingredients his butter was done melting. He took it off the heat, holding it carefully as he prepared his second mixing bowl with the sugars Niki arranged. Then he slowly poured the butter in, making sure to mix it until Niki told him to stop.
Next he added two eggs and a splash of vanilla to the mix, stirring it once more. When it was mixed in properly he had to get Niki to pour in his dry ingredients as he stirred yet again, huffing in annoyance at how much work it took.
Niki laughed at him, but at least this time he didn’t get flour all over his kitchen. It was progress! Besides, Niki should have known better than to try and teach him how to make bread as his first real cooking lesson. She’d learned her lesson now, but that was something Techno would never forget.
The final mixing was done when Techno added the chocolate chips. It was looking like proper cookie dough now, and he was proud, arms surprisingly sore from the odd work.
“That looks great, Tech! Do you want to chill them first, or should we roll them now and pop them in the oven?”
“What does chilling them do? I already preheated the oven for this.”
Niki rolled her eyes, swiping a chocolate chip from the leftover ingredients and popping it in her mouth. “It’ll keep its shape better if you chill the dough, since the fat in it will take longer to melt. But it really shouldn’t matter if the cookies puddle a bit more, so you can just roll them, set them out on a sheet, and pop them in the oven.”
“Huh. That’s surprisingly logical. I’ll try it next time I make cookies.” Smiling, Techno began the tedious process of setting up a tray for the oven and rolling out reasonable balls of dough. Niki watched quietly for the most part, although she did have to correct how close he put them together.
“Techno, if you have them touching on the tray now, they’ll be stuck together once they’re cooked. You have to distance them, see?”
“Right, that makes sense.”
Once they were all prepared Techno slid them carefully into the oven, setting the timer on it properly. Niki cheered from her seat, grinning and clapping her hands together. “Amazing! Now we wait for them to go golden brown, and you’ve made your first batch of cookies in my class. Aren’t you excited?”
Techno smiled, starting to clean up the bowls and measuring cups while they waited. “I guess it’s kinda fun. Not like a proper duel, but it’s close enough.”
“Well, I’m excited! Here, let me help you put those away. Phil showed me where everything was last time I was here.” Hopping down from her stool, Niki reached for a kitchen towel, taking a measuring cup from Techno’s growing pile of clean dishes.
Techno made space for her at the sink and they moved around each other in comfortable silence. They worked quite efficiently together, and the kitchen was once again spotless by the time the cookies were ready.
Niki did the honors of pulling them out, setting them on the stove to cool. Both of them had discovered that Techno was very bad with keeping his hands burn-free when he was around an oven. Really, making bread shouldn’t have been so hard ! It wasn’t his fault he forgot that the oven was hot.
When he got a good look at them, Techno was impressed by how well the cookies turned out: soft, gooey and golden brown, just like how Niki makes them. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud, and by the looks of Niki’s ecstatic smile, she was too.
“Techno, they’re beautiful! I knew you could do it. Next time, we’re making brownies.”
“I have no problem with that. What should we do with these, though? I’m not going to eat two dozen cookies on my own, and if Phil eats more than one he might have a heart attack and die.”
Niki chuckled at his lighthearted jab, looking thoughtfully at the cooling tray. “You said something about Ranboo liking cookies, right? Maybe he’d eat them. I’m sure Tubbo and Tommy would love them, too. And Wil—- I swear, that man is a gremlin for sweets. I made cinnamon rolls the other day, and I only left them out to cool for a minute before he’d taken one!”
“Did he burn his mouth trying to shove the whole roll in his face? He’s prone to doing things like that when I make baked potatoes.” Techno grinned at the idea, chuckling quietly.
“Actually, he did! I told him it was karma for taking things without asking. I would have just offered him one if he’d waited, but of course he had to grab them as soon as I turned my back—-“ Sighing in fond exasperation, Niki tested one of the cookies. It broke apart easily, chocolate still melted and as soft as the cookie’s center.
“Anyway, I think these are ready. You should have a half, before you give the rest away! Here, I’ll eat this half.” Niki passed him half of the broken cookie before he could protest, taking a bite out of her own half.
Sighing in defeat, Techno shoved the cookie in his mouth, pausing to take in the surprising sweetness of it. He hadn’t had much of anything sweet in years, living on his own like he was. The cookie was a shock to his system, but it wasn’t an unpleasant one.
Niki hummed happily, packaging the extra cookies without prompting as Techno slowly chewed and swallowed his cookie. “Did you like it? You look surprised.”
“Yeah—- they’re good. I forgot what cookies tasted like.”
“Of course they’re good! It’s my own recipe. And don’t think I’ll just let that comment slide, Techno—- we’re making so many sweets now, just you wait! You’ll be wishing I got lost in all the snow outside by the end of the month.”
Techno gasped in mock offense, unenthusiastically putting a hand to his chest. “Wow, how could you ever say that. Truly, I’m so offended. You coming over to teach me baking is the highlight of my week.”
Niki rolled her eyes, punching him in the arm as she finished packing up the cookies. “You’re lucky I already know how you act, or I might think you were serious. Anyway, the cookies are ready! I’m assuming you’re gonna give these to Ranboo and Wil, but there’s a few extra bags in case you want to give out some more.”
Techno looked over the bags, taking one from the small pile. “In that case, you can have these ones, Niki. You’re the one who’s been teaching me, after all. I don’t even pay you, this is literally the least I can do.”
“Oh, are you sure? You don’t have to—-“ Rolling his eyes, Techno put the cookies in Niki’s basket on top of everything she’d brought for their baking session.
“I’m sure. Just take them, okay? Ranboo can’t possibly eat all of these cookies himself.”
Niki smiled, soft and bright. “Alright. Thank you, Tech. See you next week?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”
—-
The next morning, a small portion of the server found cookies on their doorsteps neatly placed in chests. Ranboo was one of those lucky few, and he was pleasantly surprised to find a note from Techno on the back when he brought them inside.
Ranboo,
I know we haven’t hung out as much lately, but Niki helped me make cookies today. I hope you like them.
-Technoblade
The note was placed carefully in his memory book, along with a little sketch of a cookie. Ranboo smiled at his work, trying one of the cookies from the batch.
They were gone by the time dinner rolled around, but Ranboo had a feeling this was one thing he wasn’t going to forget. Maybe he’d be gifted more, if Techno was really having weekly baking lessons.