Girls girls girls girLS GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS

Yes, the title is an Adele pun. 

Also I'll eventually do an Edge of Dawn cover. Eventually. Maybe. 

I had sushi for lunch today :)

[This chapter is almost all comedy and some kissy kissy]

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Gotta love good ol' Hanneman, assigning a good ol' partner project to the good ol' Blue Lions class. 

Great. Just great. 

Why is it so great? 

Because that gave your crush and secret admirer the opportunity to jump at a chance to get to be with you. Alone. 

And that is exactly what she did. 

Annette had dragged you into the dining hall kitchen. Why she wanted to take you there? No idea. 

You found out soon enough. 

"Sooooo... Y/N..." Annette had her hands clasped behind her back, gently rocking back and forth on her heels. She had an adorable charm about her that you would be dumb not to fall for. And fall for her you did. 

"I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you here," she continued and you nodded at her. You were indeed very curious. From what you've heard, she is a disaster in the kitchen. "I know I'm a disaster in the kitchen," she so read your mind. "So I was kinda hoping... You could help me bake something... For Mercie?" She was up pretty close to your face, her face was tinted red. Despite her adorable actions, you felt your heart drop. Of course she'd have a crush on Mercedes. They've known each other for what seems like forever. It makes sense that she would like the older blonde. 

What you didn't know is that when she said Mercies name, she was absolutely making it up. 

She really wanted to make something for you. It just seemed too... Forward, asking your help to bake something for yourself. She laughed at herself internally. Why couldn't she just ask you outright? She was always so awkward around you. That must mean she really likes you! ...Right?

Snapping out of her internal thoughts, she waited for you to answer. 

"O-of course I'll help," you said, blushing heavily and nodding slightly. The hands behind her back clasped in front of her chest! 

"Great! Thank you so much, Y/N! You're the absolute best!" She thought bringing you in for a hug would be too forward. That and then you'd feel her heart beating a million miles per minute and what if you don't like her back and everything is just awkward and weird and-

Snap out of it! Focus on baking, she thought to herself, visibly shaking her head. 

"So, Y/N, I want your input. What do you think Mercie would like? I mean sure, I could've just asked her myself, but I wanted to hear what you thought!" Smooth cover, Dominic. Do you think she just blew her cover? 

"Oh! Well... I know, much like you, Mercedes likes cakes. I don't know her taste exactly as I haven't hung out with her as much as you have. Does she like really sweet things or prefer pastries to have a bit of sour or spice to them?" You asked, trying to better clarify so you could get a plan of action. 

"Right! Well, she loves sweet sweet things, I know she really likes strawberry flavored things so maybe a strawberry cake with a vanilla filling?" Annette suggested, full of energy. You thought that was a great idea. "Wait, hold on, I want more of your input! What flavor do you think she'd like?" 

You thought about this for a little bit. From what you knew about Mercedes, she likes berry flavors. 

"Maybe a blueberry and lemon cake? Have it be mostly sweet with a twinge of sour? I think the flavor combinations would be really good together," you gave your opinion and Annette nodded excitedly! 

"That sounds amazing, Y/N! Now lets see if we have all of the ingredients," Annette moved to the pantry to look for all the ingredients to make the most amazing blueberry lemon cake. 

Then she stopped. 

"Y/N? What are the ingredients to make a cake?" She asked innocently. You laughed softly and listed off what you would need. 

"Thank you so much! How do you know so much about baking?" Annette questioned you with awe laced in her voice. 

"Well, I like cakes! And my sister loves them too. For a while, at my house, it was just my sister and I. My parents would constantly be away on diplomatic missions. We would rarely see them. Neither of us had jobs so we weren't able to afford much besides with the allowance our parents would give us. We'd also spend a lot of time with Felix and Glenn. My parents trusted Rodrigue to care for us when they would go away so sometimes we would stay with them. So one day my sister was craving sweets but we couldn't afford to buy anything. Glenn being Glenn offered to go to town to buy some sweets for her but I suggested we try to make some instead. So Glenn, Felix, Sylvain who had made his way over to Fraldarius territory and myself worked to make some cakes for my sister! Eventually, we made some that were decently edible, none of us having ever baked before. Felix looked like he was really into it! My sister was so happy with all our hard work and she loved the cakes! Particularly the ones made by Sylvain. I spent years perfecting the recipe. After Glenns... Passing, it became tough to convince Felix to try and bake with us again. It took a few months but he did again. He wasn't very into it but when he saw my baby sister smile, he told me it was all worth the effort. And that's how I know!" 

Annette had the biggest sparkles in her eyes hearing you talk. 

"Awwww, Y/N! That's so adorable! I'm sure what we're about to make is going to be perfect!" Annette gave you a small hug and you noticed she got all the ingredients. 

"Alright, lets heat up the stove!" You looked at Annette as she tried to decipher what you said. It seemed like a lightbulb went off in her head after a minute or so. 

"Oh! I got it!" You didn't realize what exactly she had in mind until it was too late. She had opened the oven and had thrown a fireball at it. 

An explosion could be heard for many miles throughout the monastery. 

You were staring at the stove blankly. Entirely expressionless and motionless. You had no idea what had just happened. Why that was what her mind had jumped to instead of, you know, just lighting the damned oven. Oh well. It's too late now. 

The kitchen is a mess. 

You brought your right hand to your face and wiped what you hoped was just ash off your face. 

"Annette." You noticed her body looked tense. "Why didn't you... Turn the oven on?" She was just as expressionless and motionless as you were a few seconds ago. 

"I... I don't... Know..." You then noticed her shoulders start shaking. Oh no, is she crying? You turned to look at her but noticed she was smiling. She then broke out laughing which caused you to start laughing as well. 

"Okay. Lets, um, get cleaned up then come back to this, alright?" You said and Annette agreed. After changing into a new set of clothes, you both reconvened at the kitchen. 

"Maybe we should... Clean the kitchen as well," Annette suggested and you nodded. Time to work on cleaning. You wouldn't want the cakes you made tasting like ash now would you? (A/N: Not to reveal my location at all, but there was someone at my old HS that brought cookies with their grandparents ashes in them. It was... A whole ass ordeal.) 

It took about two hours but you eventually clean up the whole kitchen from the mess the two of you made. Now, onto the baking. 

You gave Annette the instructions to bake in the most simplistic, no way you could fuck this up ever type of way. You had taken it upon yourself to turn on the stove. Don't want a repeat of earlier or anything else to get destroyed. All the while, Annette was humming a little song you've never heard before. You realize it was going to get stuck in your head for the next few hours at the most. 

Eventually, you had a batter that was fit to be baked into a cake. You had a few different cake molds that you filled just right so you'd have multiple if Mercedes wanted more than one and, considering it was you, she definitely would. 

It took a while but you had a bountiful number of cakes at your disposal. You made a matching frosting of blueberry juice and lemon zest to put on top of the cakes. They. Looked. BEAUTIFUL. You let them cool before frosting then started wrapping them to give to Mercedes. That's when Annette turned to you. 

"Um, Y/N? I may have... Lied to you," she said sheepishly with a small blush adorning her cheeks. You raised an eyebrow and tilted your head.

"Oh? What about?" You asked, hoping for her to elaborate. 

"These cakes... May not be for Mercedes," she was twisting her foot into the ground behind her. "They may be... For you." She whispered that last part. You almost didn't hear it. If you weren't enticed on every word she was saying you wouldn't have heard that. 

"For me? What for?" You took a step towards the ginger in front of you. 

"W-well, I wanted to make these with you because... Because!" She took a very deep breath and finally met your gaze with her bright blue eyes. "BecauseIreallylikeyouandwantedtodosomethingwithyoubecauseIhaveabigcrushonyouI'msorry!" That... Was a lot. It took a while for you to decipher exactly what it was she just said. You figured it out. 

"That's... A huge relief, Annette," you said, letting out a breath you didn't know you were holding. "Because I have a big crush on you too." You placed your hands on her shoulders. The blush across her face got more prominent and you knew you had one to match across yours. 

Annette didn't know what came over her in the next few moments. She took your face in her hands and kissed you. She was really kissing you! It only lasted a few seconds but it felt amazing! Her soft lips meshed perfectly with yours. 

Once the ginger realized what she was doing, she pulled away from you and giggled shyly. 

"It's good to know you like me too. I was scared you didn't," she was smiling adorably. You took her hands in yours and smiled back at her. 

"When you said that we were going to bake the cakes for Mercedes, I was certain you were in love with her. Glad to know that's not the case," you kissed the back of her hands and she giggled again. 

"Now, lets go eat those cakes before they get stale," you said, leading Annette to one of the tables in the courtyard. 

The two of you spent hours feeding each other cakes and laughing. It was the perfect date!... Even if your ash covered clothes in your rooms proved otherwise, you wouldn't have it any other way. 

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1.8k words everyone! 

I wanna give a baby update. 

I want to write at least 1 chapter a day but please do not hold me to that. 

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so I don't know if the chapter will be out before or after then. I'm dealing with some very prominent medical issues. Any well wishes are appreciated! 

Appreciate you all <3

I'll see you probably later tonight or tomorrow!