Work Text:
Katsuki placed the butter on the counter, leaving it to reach room temperature as he grabbed his lunch. Eijirou would be back from his shift in about two hours and they had planned to finally bake some cookies for the season. However, he knew that he would yell at the redhead if he tried to help making the dough and that didn't seem fair in his head. The dough needed to rest in the fridge for an hour anyway so he decided to prepare it early, leaving them with the fun part.
Katsuki sat down, opened the onigiris he had prepared yesterday evening and took a bite from the top. Spicy tuna mayo was and will always be his favorite. It was salty, spicy and sweet, chewy, soft and creamy, the perfect balance for a quick snack. He turned on the electric kettle while taking another bite. His gaze wandered to the shelf with his tea collection, scanning along the different brands until he stopped at his favorite green tea. He grabbed the box and added some tea leaves into a large cup while the electric kettle turned off with a soft clicking noise. Katsuki waited a few minutes to let the water cool down a little before pouring the hot water onto the tea leaves. He watched the water changing his color to a pale yellow as he ate his onigiri and turned on some music.
After finishing his lunch, Katsuki placed the cup in the sink and grabbed the recipe. He looked over the text and retrieved the other ingredients for the cookies from his pantry. Katsuki grabbed the soft butter and weighed 400 grams in a mixing bowl. His fingers grabbed a wooden spoon to mix the butter and added 200 g ground almonds, 160 g powedered sugar, 10 g vanilla sugar and half a vanilla bean. The smell of butter, sugar and vanilla surrounded him, a small smile lingering on his lips as he slowly added 500 g of flour. He put the spoon into the sink and kept kneading the dough with his fingers until he was left with a firm dough.
Katsuki took the plastic wrap and wrapped the dough before placing it in the fridge. One more hour to wait. He grabbed the ingredients they wouldn’t need anymore and put them back into the cupboards before cleaning the counter and washing the dishes. He stretched his arms over his head and walked into the living room, turning the gaming console on.
***
The front door opened and closed, followed by Eijirou’s voice, “I’m home Katsuki!”
“Welcome home!” Katsuki shouted absently as he was still focused on the game.
“Is that Astro Bot you’re playing?” Eijirou grabbed the backrest and leaned over his shoulder. “How is it?”
“Fun, some easter eggs were amazing!” He shortly looked up to his best friend before looking back at the screen. “Get ready so that we can make the cookies, the dough is already done!”
Eijirou chuckled slightly, “Sure Kats and thank you.”
Katsuki couldn’t stop the slight blush on his cheeks while he continued to reach the end of the current level.
***
Eijirou came back after a couple minutes, wearing some comfy clothes and having put his long hair in a messy bun. He got up from the couch and followed his best friend into the kitchen.
“What do we need to do first?” Eijirou asked as he turned around to face him.
“Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Make sure that you remove the baking tray so that we can place the cookies on it.” Katsuki explained while washing his fingers before retrieving the dough from the fridge. He sprinkled some flour on the countertop and unwrapped the pastry, kneading the dough quickly and looking over to Eijirou as he placed the baking tray on the countertop.
“Put some parchment paper on the baking tray.”
“Okay!”
Katsuki rolled the dough into a finger wide roll and cut finger wide pieces from it. “Do you know how to shape them?”
“No?” Eijirou was standing next to him, watching him work with the dough.
“You’ll take one of these pieces,” Katsuki grabbed one of the pastry pieces “then you roll it between your fingers until it has the form of a small stick and shape a little croissant when you place it on the parchment lined baking tray.”
He watched Eijirou carefully roll the dough between his fingers as if it could break any second. It was adorable. Katsuki blinked repeatedly.
Wait, what? He looked into Eijirou’s concentrated face, some loose strands framing it and tongue poking out as he placed the wrinkly croissant on the baking tray.
“Like that?” Eijirou met his gaze, his lips pulled into the brightest grin, almost blinding him.
Oh. /oh/
The puppy-like crimson eyes looking for his approval finally made him realize that he wanted Eijirou to look at him more like this. To be his and not only his best friend/ roommate. “Yes…”
“Ah perfect! Then let’s do it, Katsuki!” Eijirou bumbed his fists together before grabbing another piece of dough. He repeated to form another small croissant and placed it on the baking tray.
Katsuki felt his cheeks blushing, his fingers grabbed some of the pastry and shaped it absently, trying to make his racing thoughts stop. Both worked in silence, forming and shaping a cookie after the other till the baking tray was filled.
“How long do they take in the oven?”
“Around 12-15 minutes or until they’re golden brown.”
“Great! I’ll start a timer on my phone!” Eijirou washed his fingers and set a timer to 12 minutes.
Katsuki hummed approvingly and grabbed the baking tray, entering it into the oven with a smooth motion. “We can prepare the powdered sugar mix while we wait.”
“What do we need for that? Except powdered sugar.” Eijirou asked while grabbing the pack of powdered sugar.
“Half a vanilla bean and some vanilla flavored sugar.”
Katsuki used the back of his knife to scrape the inside of the vanilla bean while Eijirou poured the vanilla flavored sugar into a mixing bowl, leaving them surrounded by the sweet smell of vanilla. He added powdered sugar and mixed them with a whisk while Katsuki placed half of the dough into the freezer. Half would be enough for now and when they needed more they could bake a fresh batch.
“It smells so nice, reminding me of our last holidays.” Eijirou looked at him with a sunshine grin plastered on his face.
Katsuki nodded. “It’s kind of comforting, isn’t it?”
“Exactly!” Eijirou walked to the fridge and grabbed a soft drink before showing it to him. “You want one too?”
“Yeah.” Katsuki grabbed the offered soda while Eijirou took another one. “Thanks or whatever, shitty hair.”
Eijirou chuckled and checked his phone. “Just a couple more minutes.”
Katsuki nodded and they drank in silence, watching the cookies turn golden brown slowly.
“Would you like to go on another hike with me during the holidays?” Eijirou turned to look at him, his eyes full of hope and a smile on his lips.
He opened his mouth to answer as the alarm got off, his eyes briefly wandered to the phone screen before grabbing the oven mitt to remove the baking tray. “Sure, do you have a mountain already in mind?”
“No, but I think it would be nice to visit an onsen while we’re there. One with a beautiful landscape. What do you think?”
Katsuki slowly pulled the parchment paper together with the cookies onto a wire rack. He added a new parchment paper onto the baking tray and grabbed another piece of dough.
“An onsen afterwards sounds good. Btw. the cookies need to cool down for 5 minutes before we can toss them into the sugar mix.” He said as he placed the new batch of cookies on the baking tray. Eijirou joined him, forming cookies and almost burning himself on the hot metal.
“Hoopsie that was close.” Eijirou chuckled to himself.
Katsuki pushed the baking tray back into the oven and Eijirou set another alarm. “Did you almost burn yourself?”
“No?”
“Pfft, idiot!” Katsuki smiled and looked at his best friend who started to blush while meeting his gaze. “You can toss the cookies in the sugar mix and then put them back onto the wire rack, they need to completely cool before we can store them.”
Eijirou nodded and did as he said. “Can I try one?” He was holding a cookie between his fingers.
“Sure. That’s why we made them in the first place.”
“You want one too?”
Katsuki’s gaze wandered from Eijirou’s face to the cookie he was holding into his direction. After a second he leaned forward to take a bite. Eijirou almost dropped the cookie and stared at him, his face as red as his hair. Katsuki chewed the warm and crunchy cookie, enjoying how the nutty flavor of the almonds and the sweet vanilla distributed on his tongue.
“Don't drop it, Eijirou.” Katsuki teased him with a feral grin while grabbing Eijirou’s wrist and slowly pushing his hand towards his lips. “Open your mouth.”
Eijirou gulped audibly before slowly following the command with big eyes, he ate the other half of the cookie and gasped softly about the little desert.
“Good?” Katsuki let go of his friend and watched his expression.
“Delicious!” Eijirou smiled at him.