Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After Sadie and Lars's highest moments of becoming a rockstar and space pirate they decided to lay low and settle down.

The off colors did offer to go back into Space with Lars, to which he denied.

Though he definitely loved getting to be in space he didn't feel ready to leave everything he had on earth just yet and instead put all his focus into his bakery Spacetries. Due to blue lace deciding to quit and go back to the gem homeworld he had to do all the work himself which was a bit of a drag.

A few months after being the only one handling his shop he found out Sadie and Shep broke up on good terms after their tour with Steven's dad aka Mr universe. Sadie came into the store one day asking if they could sit down and talk, Lars agreed to which she explained everything that went down.

Apparently what happened was that Shep wanted to move somewhere far away from beach city and Sadie didn't want to go with, that's all she told him at least. It still surprised him though, and if that were the case he didn't understand why she wouldn't just go with Shep, but he didn't think too much of it. To be fair, Sadie wasn't always the biggest fan of change.

He tried to comfort her but unsurprisingly was horrible at it, while trying his best to he noticed she was starting to tear up. He could tell she wasn't taking the break up well but didn't know how to help at all.

The blonde girl in front of him plunged her face into his shoulder crying while he awkwardly stood there trying to tell her it'll be okay. It broke his heart seeing Sadie this way but he didn't really know what to do.

For what seemed like 20 minutes of trying his best to get Sadie to stop crying he somehow got her to calm down..a bit. She wasn't crying anymore but her face was still red and her eyes we're glossy. He offered to let her stay the night at his place, not to do anything serious, just play some video games or maybe watch a movie. All she did was nod trying to wipe the falling tears off her cheek. That was a good enough yes for him though.

Lars insisted on letting her bring some treats from the bakery before they started walking to his house. He felt he was maybe doing too much but seeing her feeling at least a bit better made him not care about overdoing it.

When they got to his house he silently walked up the stairs trying not to wake his parents and signaled for Sadie to follow him. Her eyes weren't wet anymore but she still looked troubled.

He bowed dramatically, opening the door to his room for Sadie letting her in trying to cheer her up though he immediately cringed at himself afterwards. Sadie quietly laughed while walking inside with him.

He supposed at the minimum his humiliating attempt to make her happier worked a little. Didn't change the fact it was embarrassing as hell though.

She sat down on a pile of clothes in his partially messy room while he took his work apron off and then turned on his tv, opening a streaming service to find something for them to watch. While scrolling for a bit he picked Camp Pining Hearts making sure to turn the volume low sense it was late at night, then sat on the floor next to Sadie.

It wasn't very comfortable but he didn't wanna seem like a weirdo if he asked to go on the bed, like he wanted to fuck her or something.

During the both of them watching their show without either of them talking to each other for a bit, Sadie reluctantly opened her mouth and Lars turned to her curiously.

Because of Sadie, well, not really having anything to do now she asked Lars if she could start working at Spacetries with him, she thought it'd be nice to get to spend time with him again like the good ol days at the big donut.

Lars beamed with excitement and said yes right away, overjoyed to start working with her again and to get more help with his business, beginning going on a rant about literally everything about the bakery and how she could help.

In the middle of rambling for about 15 minutes he looked to Sadie who was sound asleep. Lars froze realizing how long he'd been talking to himself and got embarrassed once again, at least she wasn't awake to hear him being a total nerd.

He got up to get a blanket and gently rested it over her, Then went back to where he was sitting and after a faint yawn, slowly fell asleep beside her. He didn't really NEED to sleep, but he enjoyed it.

[Fast forward 3 months later]

It was a slow day at the Spacetries bakery, Sadie was sitting at the register with her palm on her cheek and other hand tapping the counter repeatedly as Lars mopped the dirty tiles of the floor after putting a "wet floor" sign in front of the shop, quiet jazz music coming from the radio playing in the background.

Sadie let out a faint sigh while watching Lars move the mopp back and forth. "Not many customers have come by today have they?" She slightly chuckled trying to make small talk with Lars. It'd been about 3 months since she started working there, and so far it was going well. It was way easier then when he'd give her all the work to do at the big donut.

"Yeah, just hope the break starts soon.." He yawned, dipping the mopp into the bucket of water beside him again.

Sadie giggled lightly. "It's your bakery, can't you go on break whenever you want?"

"Technically, yes, but, I need to take work seriously, stick to my word and stuff y'know". This weirdly surprised Sadie, Lars actually taking something seriously for once?? Dang, getting resurrected and becoming a captain of a bunch of criminal aliens must've completely changed him as a person, in a good way though.

Just as Sadie was about to add on to their conversation she heard the bell on the door ring and looked to her side to see Buck, the ex guitarist of her band. "Hi Sadie, hi lars". As her old bandmate was about to take another step she quickly started shaking her head while signaling with her arms for him to take a step back due to the wet floor.

"Buck wait the floor it's-" before she could finish her sentence he slipped and fell onto the ground, luckily back first though it still looked painful. She put a hand over her face and finished what she was going to say, "Wet...".

"Oh, doodoo." Buck sighed, Lars quickly dropped his mopp to help his friend get up. "Shoot sorry, you okay dude??"

"Yeah, my clothes are just wet. I apologize about your floor though. " he was talking in a surprisingly calm voice for someone who just fell onto the ground. "No worries man, I'll clean it up". Lars once again dipped the mopp into the bucket and re cleaned the spot he had fallen in while the guy now drenched in water slowly and carefully walked up to the register so as to not fall again.

"I'll get the classic ube roll". He laid his cash onto the counter in front of Sadie with a smirk, pointing to her with one hand. "Gotcha!!", she bent down to get a box and the purple cake from the display with a sunny look.

Sadie prepared what he'd bought with a smile. "So, how's medical school been goin for you Buck??". "Free Time's been tight but other than that, everything's going cool." he responded, making a clicking noise with his tongue.

"I'm so happy for you!! Just, Next time, listen to the wet floor sign." Sadie giggled jokingly while she plopped the box that held the purple cake for Buck on the counter, then took the money he gave her and slid it into the register. "Thanks, cya two later." He waved goodbye walking out the door, Sadie heard him mumble he had to change his outfit due to being soaked while on his way out which she found funny.

She was happy she got to see him again, while she did miss being with the suspects she was still glad that all of her ex band mates were doing well and moving onto new things, she'll always cherish the memories with the band.

After sitting back down onto her chair she heard Lars whisper "yes!" to himself with what sounded like an excited tone, she looked over to him in slight curiosity.

"Sadie, it's break time!!" He said putting the mopp inside the bucket quickly "Cmon, wanna go to the breakroom??" Lars offered with delight. This made Sadie cheer up a bit more because of how it felt like an eternity of sitting at the counter doing nothing. "Yeah, let's go." She sighed with relief as she got up to stretch and then turned herself towards the room as Lars followed behind her.

Sadie fell back onto the couch and made herself comfortable. "I'm gonna find us something to watch.." Lars said rummaging through a dusty box of vhs tapes Sadie had bought at a garage sale so they could have them at the shop for breaks.

"Hey Sades, do y'know what any of these are because they're all unlabeled." Still focused on trying to find a tape to put inside the tv, Sadie's face went blank and filled with a light pink tint on her cheeks, caught off guard by Lar's nickname for her. She wondered if it was on purpose or just an accident, it for some reason made her get butterflies in her stomach which didn't normally happen.

After being flustered for a short second she quickly brushed it off and came back to her senses. "Oh yeah uh- I didn't really check after buying them sorry.. Maybe just try to pick a random one and hope for luck??" Sadie recommended it.

"I'll try my best, heheh." Lars picked the least dirty one he could find and walked over to the tv, leaning down to put the vhs inside. After he did he laid back on the couch his co worker was sitting on, waiting for Sadie to turn on the tv with the remote.

Sadie clicked the button a few times but it didn't work, to be fair the tv had been here since the store opened so it wasn't the best quality to say the least. She got up and gave the tv a small kick to see if that'd do the job, finally it turned on and was loading. She then laid back on the other chair beside Lars and pressed play.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see what it is" she giggled, the screen being black with the sound of static. "Better be good." Lars snickered, Sadie shoved his arm jokingly and they both let out a chuckle.

As the screen finally changed from being pitch black, both they're faces completely drained of color in pure horror.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" They both blurted out, while loud moaning came from the tv. On the screen was what looked like to be-

"IS THIS FUCKING PORN??" Lars yelped in disgust.

"SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT UHHH- LET ME TURN IT OFF" Sadie ran over to the television spam clicking the button to take the vhs out "AGGGH STUPID TV" she shouted due to it not working and resorted to kicking it until it turned off, after it did she let out a frustrated mumble and walked back to the table laying her face on the surface.

Lars awkwardly chuckled, putting a hand on her shoulder, "If you're gonna get a shit ton of vhs tapes, make sure they have labels."

"I'll just bring my own movies from home next time, I shouldn't have let my mom convince me to get that 10$ collection of tapes without looking inside". Seeing Sadie disappointed made Lars feel bad, but he had an idea.

"Hey, it's okay! We can just watch something on my phone." Lars walked back to the couch and signalized for Sadie to take a seat by him with a huge grin across his face, to which she reluctantly listened to him. After Sadie sat down he opened the youtube app on his phone and handed it over to his coworker.

"Pick something to watch for us, how's that sound??" Lar's gesture made Sadie smile uncontrollably, excitedly picking a video and propping the phone onto the water bottle she bought to work sitting on the coffee table.

She picked some sort of true crime documentary, Lars wasn't as invested as her but he didn't really mind what they watched, he just wanted to lay back and relax, working had made him tired. He was glad they could hang out like this again, considering they didn't talk much at all while Sadie was with Shep. Speaking of Shep..

"So.. How have you been doing since you and Shep..?" He didn't feel as if he needed to say the last part as it was already obvious what he meant, he also didn't want to make things awkward.

"Broke up." Sadie finished his sentence and looked down at her hands. "It's been fine, I really thought we were getting more serious but I respect their wishes on wanting to move and all, they wanted me to come with them I just.. couldn't bring myself to."

Though he was happy for Sadie that she found shep and felt sorry they broke up, he couldn't help but feel at least a tad bit happy they did. He knew it was petty and kinda fucked up but he couldn't help it, deep down he still had certain.. feelings for Sadie, but he knew he'd always be too much of a wuss to ever admit it, his mind barely allowed him to think about it.

Lars looked at her curiously before asking "Why??".

Sadie froze for a second. She didn't really understand why she didn't want to leave, she didn't really have a point to stay but she also didn't have a point to leave. If she was being honest she didn't know what she wanted, it confused herself a lot.

"I uh.. I dunno. I guess I'm just not ready to put everything I have here in Beach City behind.. Kinda like how you didn't wanna go back into space."

She put her arm over her other and looked away before she felt the gentle touch of Lars hand on her shoulder which caused her to look back.

After he snapped back into reality from being zoned out in his thoughts, he looked to his side to see Sadie leaning her head on his shoulder. He scrunched the side of his shirt and went stiff, all he could do was try his best not to stare at her and turn his focus to the phone screen. The warmth of her body by him almost made it feel like his heart was beating faster.

"You know.. I'm happy we get to be friends like this, like we're at the big donut." Sadie spoke softly. "And i'm glad I started working with you again, it's been nice getting to catch up with you..the new you".

"Yeah." Lars responded peacefully, gently putting his hand above hers. "It's been really nice getting to know the new you too.”

Chapter Text

[ August 17th ]

Lars put a “closed” sign over the glass doors to his bakery and walked back to Sadie who was sitting at the counter with a determined expression.

“We're running low on pastries so yunno what that means!! Baking day.” Lars exclaimed, putting his hands across his waist confidently.

He was really excited, baking days were his favorite. Anytime he ran low on stock he'd close up shop for the day to make more, and this time he got to do it with Sadie.

Sadie giggled and got up from her chair. “Well then, let's get to work!!” She remarked, walking over to the kitchen and signaling for Lars to follow her to which he obeyed.

Once they got in Sadie tightened her star patterned apron. Lars couldn't help but notice how her tightening it made her figure more..visible.

Lars's eyes widened while looking from her chest slowly down to her thighs, causing a light flush to fill Lars's cheeks. Jesus, she was so-

“Whatcha lookin at??” Sadie asked playfully, raising an eyebrow. Lars immediately snapped back to reality and looked the other way embarrassed.

“Oh uh- nothing..let's get started making the pastries."

Uggggggh it was so obvious.
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Lars picked up a large cook book from the bottom drawer and groaned due to the heaviness lifting it onto the counter they were both standing in front of, wiping the sweat off the top of his forehead with his arm.

“We should choose something to bake first off of here.” Lars commented, pointing to the book in front of them.

“Hmm, let's see what we got.” Sadie said, flipping through the pages till she found a recipe that caught her eyes.

“What about this??” Sadie showed the page to Lars with a curious expression. It seemed to be a croissant recipe.

“I know it looks simple but we could try maybe adding some drizzle and sprinkles to make it more interesting. Space themed??” She suggested hesitantly.

“This is.. Perfect!! Let's do it.” Lars proclaimed excitedly. Sadie chuckled at him.

Sadie and Lars both gathered the needed ingredients onto their table prepared to get to work. Bread flour, butter, yeast, water, milk, sugar, and a bit of salt.

After piling up everything needed to make the croissants they immediately got to the baking part.

Lars rolled out the dough while Sadie took care of whipping the butter and the other ingredients.

While stirring everything she couldn't help but turn her head and notice Lars bent down over the table, so focused on getting it perfectly flat.

She raised both her eyebrows moving her eyes lower down, something else definitely wasn't flat though..

Okay, no, ew!! Why would she even think of that?!

Sadie immediately brought her eyesight back up, silently slapped her face gently and got back to whipping the butter with more enthusiasm than before her..intrusive thought.

After about 20 minutes of preparing everything it was finally ready to be put in the oven. With worn out hands, Lars and Sadie lifted the tray of about 10 croissants into the oven proudly, both sighing with relief.

“Looks like we did it!! Great job player tw- i mean..Sadie.” Lars laughed awkwardly before receiving a high five from Sadie.

Thank God she didn't notice, that was a close one.

“You too. I can't wait to decorate them once they're done!” She giggled.

“Wanna.. wait inside the break room??” Lars asked with a nerdy smile, pointing to it. The blonde girl nodded in agreement and both them made their way to where Lars pointed.
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The both of them untied their aprons on opposite sides of the room, Sadie hung hers on the jacket rack while Lars just threw his on the floor.

The one thing that never changed about him was his untidyness.

Sadie plopped onto a beanbag inside the corner while Lars fell back onto the couch.

Lars pulled his phone out of his pocket and Sadie just turned on the small tv across from her seat. She got the remote and turned on that canine court show she used to watch all the time at the big donut.

He had other plans though. He opened up ao3 on his phone and found a camp pining heart fan fiction he's been invested on to read, something about Percy x Pierre.

It was corny, but he liked it anyway. Not like his writing was any better.

As they both relaxed inside silence, Sadie's phone started ringing in a muffled tone. It was probably her mom or something, Lars didn't think much of it and continued to scroll through his fan fiction.

“Wonder who that is.” Sadie questioned, taking her phone out of her pocket. Her curious expression faded into a scared one.

What was wrong??

Lars put his phone down and looked at Sadie worriedly. “Who is it??”

“It- It's.. Shep. Hold on.” Sadie mumbled in a stressed tone and hurried out of the break room. Shit.
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Sadie rushed into the kitchen, closing the door behind her. Shoot shoot shoot, why now?!

The two of them hadn't even talked since they left.

She sat on the tiled floor leaning back on the purple painted walls. Sadie stared at her still ringing phone, deciding if she should answer it or not. If she was being honest, she didn't even really want to.

She was finally starting to get distracted from them, but now here she was all tense again.

Sadie groaned, running a hand through her hair and slouching down more onto the ground. “Ugggghhh.”

After thinking for a second, Sadie reluctantly pressed answer and held the phone up to her ear.

“Uh-uhm.. hi..Shep.” she regretfully sighed, her voice shaky.

“Hey Sadie.. How's it going??”

The sound of their voice destroyed her. She thought she would be ready for this, she's never been so wrong in her life.

“It's been.. fine. What about you?”

She wanted to hang up and throw the spatula beside her across the wall so bad.

“It's been going pretty good. I got a new apartment here in Empire city, the people here are really nice.”

Why were they even calling in the first place?? Just to brag about how good their life was after abandoning her?? Every second of their phone call made her feel more and more crumbled.

She didn't like anything about this conversation at all.

Whatever. She just had to survive 5 more minutes and THEN she could be upset.

“Uh.. yeah.” Sadie muttered, trying not to hang up right then and there.

“Have you been..seeing anyone new??” Shep asked in a more serious tone.

“Not really.. I just started working with Lars again but we aren't really together or anything. Have you??”

“Well…”

SERIOUSLY?!

She started tearing up.

Sadie was about to start screaming over the phone, but quickly caught herself and took a deep breath.

“Oh..okay. Well I have to go, bye.”

“Sadie, wait-”

Sadie immediately hung up the phone and buried her head on top of her knees, bursting into tears.

Did she really matter that little to them that they've already got with somebody new only a few months after they broke up??

She was such an idiot to think they ever actually liked her at all.

Why did she always have to be so clueless?

She was angry, she missed them, she felt like she was losing her mind.

It felt as if she had a gaping hole through her stomach. At that moment all she wanted was to disappear.

Why didn't a single person in the world genuinely care about-

“Hey, Sadie..? You uh..doin okay in there??” Her co-worker asked nervously knocking on the door. She looked to the door and sniffled trying to wipe away the tears running down her cheek.

“Uhm- Yea!! Just give me a second.” She tried her best not to give away that she was balling her eyes out a second ago but accidentally let a voice crack slip. Hopefully he wouldn't notice.

“Okay well if you need to talk or whatever I'm uh.. I'm here.”

Jeez, he really did change a lot didn't he. The old Lars wouldn't have bothered to even ask in the first place.

She sighed and opened up her phone camera to make sure her face wasn't red from earlier.

It was a bit, but mostly faded. She still felt horrible but now wasn't the time for that. She can cry all she wants when she gets home but right now it was time to work.

A few minutes passed by and she finally sat up from the floor and prepared herself to open the door. Once she did to her surprise, Lars was still there.

“Were you waiting here the whole time??” She chuckled weakly.

“Maybe..I know it's dumb, just wanted to make sure you were doing fine and stuff yunno.” Lars admitted a bit embarrassed, putting a hand on the back of his head.

Sadie giggled. “It's not dumb. It's nice.”

Lars’s arm let go of his head. “Yea??”

“Yea.” Sadie reassured him calmly.

“There's still like, 10 more minutes until the croissants are done, wanna go back to the break room??” He asked his co-worker, pointing to the door with a lopsided smile due to still being a bit flustered.

"That'd..be really nice actually. Let's go."