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Language:
English
Series:
Part 4 of High Holy Days
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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
Words:
723
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1/1
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1,189

Baking Together

Summary:

Will faces defeat in the kitchen.

Part 4 of the 7 part "High Holy Days" mini-series where the Eppes family tries to reconnect.

Work Text:

Baking Together—

Will hissed in frustration.  He could make the lightest soufflés, complex Korean dishes, cakes that wouldn’t be out of place in a fine bakery, so why couldn’t he manage a simple egg bread?

His problem with challah wasn’t the dough, it was getting the braid right.  He was stubbornly determined to use the 6-strand braid and, even with printed instructions, his efforts were looking more like a Play-doh octopus than a nicely shaped loaf of bread.

“Hey,” Don said.  “Let me help you.”

“Right,” Will snapped.  “Out of your extensive cooking experience.”

“Out of my luck of having a Jewish grandmother,” Don replied and mooshed the dough back into one ball.  “Grandma Mann taught me how to do it.”

“Oh,” Will said in vague apology as he closely watched Don shape six strands out of the dough. 

“Mom used to make challah all the time,” Don said, laying the strands out.  “I would braid it for her sometimes.”  Don began to deftly braid the dough.  “I never thought of challah as ‘Jewish,’ just another kind of bread, like rye or sourdough.”

After Don set that loaf aside, Will uncovered a second bowl with more dough.  Don braided this loaf more slowly, explaining each move as he went.  Don re-covered that loaf and Will took the final dough ball out of a third bowl. 

Slowly he duplicated Don’s motions until he had something that looked at least close.  He covered it over with a towel as Don nodded.

“We’ll make a Jewish cook out of you yet,” Don smiled.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Will said, rubbing his hands together.  “I may not know much about Jewish traditions, but I do know about feasts, and we’re going to have a traditional Shabbat meal this family will never forget.”

Don laughed.  “I’m glad you found something about this that you could connect to.”

“Food?”  Will smiled.  “Holidays are always about food, regardless of the religion or country.   When the Korean New Year rolls around next February, I’ll show you how my people celebrate.”

“‘Your people,’ huh?”  Don asked with a smile. 

Will held up his hands.  “So I claim my Korean ancestry when it suits me.  Oh, and don’t forget the Scottish ancestry from my dad’s side.”

Don’s eyes lit up.  “Oh Lord, I so want to see you in a kilt.”

Will chuckled.  “If you’re very good, maybe I’ll dig mine out and we can go to a Celtic Festival.  But I refuse to toss a caber.  Almost killed myself trying once.”

Grinning, Don wrapped his arms around Will’s waist.  Will mirrored the motion, ignoring his messy hands.  “Colby’s background is British, I think, and I think Nena’s mother’s family is Scandinavian, of some kind.”

“Our hodge-podge of backgrounds are a lot like this family,” Will said.  “A whole lot of seemingly random pieces coming together to make a whole.”

“Very profound,” Don teased.

“I know, I know,” Will said with a shrug.  “Sometimes it takes me over.  Thoughts like if we put all of us up on a relationship site somewhere, they’d never put the six of us together.”

“Or even the two of us,” Don said, growing serious.

“No way,” Will said.  “Good thing that we relied on demon fate to throw us together.”  Will drew Don closer and gave his thanks for that fate in a kiss.

Don pulled a step back, his face crafty.  “I, personally, am more interested in what happens when you put Korean and Scottish genes together.”  He put on an expression of surprise and looked up and down Will’s body.  “Oh!  It looks like what you get is a damn fine man.”

Will chuckled.  “Who can cook.”

“Even better,” Don grinned, nudging Will back towards a chair.  “How long does that dough need to rise?”

“About half-an-hour,” Will said, sitting down and pulling Don towards him.

“Should be plenty of time,” Don said, straddling Will’s legs.

“Think so?”  Will responded, wiping his messy hands on Don’s shirt then lifting up that shirt to run light fingers over the warm skin below.

“Yeah,” Don said, taking Will’s face between his hands.  “I don’t think you’re gonna last long when I show you what centuries of fine Jewish breeding gets you.”

Will laughed, then Don’s lips were on his and he lost all track of time.

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