MY GRIP ON MY SECRETS SLIPPING

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"Where is the fucking parchment paper - nevermind, I found it, it's right in front of me, goddamnit..."

Angel's mildly annoyed mutterings mingled with the catchy ending of Led Zeppelin's 'Four Sticks' as she picked up the roll of parchment paper that she had misplaced. Erebus was standing off to the side, having been watching Angel with fascination the entire time as she created cookie dough with ingredients that most certainly were not cocoa beans and wheat.

"And then, when I put the cookies in the oven," she explained, looking back at him. "They're gonna become baked. That's when you know they're, like, actual cookies, 'cause right now all we have is this goo. When the goo goes into the oven, it gets baked because of the heat, and then it turns into cookies that are safe to eat."

"How?" Erebus asked, moving closer to her as she began to scoop small amounts of the cookie dough onto a sheet of the parchment paper that she had set on a tray. "Don't they burn?"

"Nah," Angel said. "This parchment paper is special. It's got... like, a different type of stuff on it that makes it so it doesn't burn in the oven. And the oven's set at a certain temperature so that the cookies don't burn either - I mean, hopefully they won't burn, but it's not like they're gonna be set on fire or whatever."

"And how does the heat turn the- the goo, or whatever, into cookies?"

Angel blinked. "Um... good question. I have no idea. It just does." She reached up, performing jazz hands dramatically. "Magic!"

Erebus chuckled, stepping behind Angel and watching her work, placing a hand on her waist subconsciously. "You don't really know what you're doing, do you?"

Blushing ever so slightly, Angel bit her lip. "What do you mean? Of course I know what I'm doing, I'm a master at cookie making," she said confidently. "Just because I don't know how it works doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing! Here-"

She stepped to the side, placing a hand on Erebus's lower back and pushing him towards the counter. "You try making these, if you think you know what you're doing."

"Angel, I never said that I did-"

"Oh, come on, it's pretty easy," Angel said, grinning up at Erebus. "Just take the spoon, and try to get little balls of cookie dough on the parchment paper. It's a bit sticky, but if you get enough it'll come off easier."

Erebus hesitantly took the spoon from Angel. "You really want me to do this?"

Angel huffed a little. "You're not gonna, like, destroy the cookies if you scoop them out," she reassured him, running her hand up and down his back once before dropping it. "You've got this, don't worry."

With a slightly nervous smile, Erebus looked down, scooping out a decent amount of the cookie dough and setting it onto the parchment paper, hitting the spoon against the tray a few times to make sure it actually got on the paper. He looked back at Angel hopefully. "Did I do it right?"

Angel nodded. "That looks delightful," she told him. "And it doesn't even have to be in, like, a perfect circle or anything. They'll flatten out when they get baked, and they'll still taste good and all."

Erebus relaxed slightly as Angel told him that he was doing good, grateful that he wasn't ruining anything since he had never done this before. He scooped out more of the cookie dough, glancing over as Angel opened the oven and grabbed the oven mitts that she had set aside on the counter.

"Safety first," she said, picking up the tray after Erebus had placed the dough on it. "Once this tray finishes baking, we'll take the baked cookies off and put the rest of the not-baked dough on to make another batch of baked cookies."

She shoved the tray into the oven, giggling a little to herself as she set the timer. "God, these are gonna be so good..."

"I'm looking forward to trying them," Erebus told her, watching as she stepped back over to the bowl. Angel scoffed.

"You say that like you wanna wait," she chuckled, reaching toward the bowl. She scooped out a small amount of the cookie dough with her finger and popped it in her mouth, humming at the taste. "Fuck, that slaps..."

Erebus tilted his head, his brow furrowing with confusion. "Why are you eating that?" he asked. "That's just the goo, are you supposed to eat it?"

Angel shuffled her feet, glancing down guiltily. "Well... not really," she mumbled. "There are some raw ingredients in there that might cause salmonella..."

"What's salmonella?" Erebus's eyes widened slightly. "Is that, like, food poisoning? Angel, are you going to die?"

"What- no!" Angel exclaimed. "I'm not gonna die, salmonella isn't even, like, bad or anything - try it, it's actually really good!"

She reached out towards the bowl again, but Erebus was quicker - he snatched the bowl off of the counter, clutching it close to himself. "Angel, no-"

Angel dramatically pouted. "Why not? It's good!"

"I refuse to see you suffer from food poisoning," he told her sternly. "If there's any chance that you'll get hurt- Angel!"

With a mischievous giggle, Angel leapt forward, swiping at the bowl and dashing away, the sticky dough clinging to her finger. "You'll never take me alive - ah!"

Erebus set the bowl aside and chased after Angel, reaching her in a few long strides and wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back and practically lifting her off of her feet. Kicking at the air, Angel tried to fight back, giggling uncontrollably as she squirmed in Erebus's arms.

"Let me go, asshole!" she laughed. She tried to bring her hand up to her mouth to eat the cookie dough still there, but Erebus grabbed her wrist, still holding her tightly with the other arm. "I'm not gonna fuckin' die 'cause of this shit - let me eat it, I'm hungry!"

"Is it really worth it?" Erebus's breath tickled Angel's ear as he held her close against himself. "You can't just wait ten minutes to have a normal cookie?"

Angel shook her head, starting to settle down. "Cookie dough is just, like, superior," she told him, still giggling to herself. "You gotta at least try a little bit, come on!"

Erebus let out a dramatic huff. "If you insist," he said, pulling Angel's hand closer to himself and popping her finger in his mouth, licking the dough off of it before she had time to react.

"What the fuck-"

Rendered speechless, Angel could only stand there as she felt Erebus's tongue curling around her finger, before he drew back, a satisfied smirk on his face. "You told me to try it," he chuckled. "How else was I supposed to try it when it was right in front of me?"

"I-" Angel looked away, her face burning as she tried to put words together. Biting her lip, she turned to face him, lightly hitting Erebus in the side with the hand that he was not holding. "F-Fuck you, man, I wasn't expecting that, goddamnit!"

Erebus's smirk widened as he stepped closer to her. "Oh, stop, you and I both know how much you love when I fluster you..."

Angel had no response to that, knowing just how true it was. Before she could even have time to think, the music playing on the vinyl changed to something much slower and sweeter than before, and her eyes widened at the realization that she could change the subject to save herself from the feelings boiling within her.

"Uh - this song is called 'Going to California'!" she told him. "It, uh... I don't even know what it's about, but it kind of reminds me of you."

"How so?" Erebus asked, though it was clear his mind was still on what had happened before.

"Listen," Angel prompted as the gentle melody of the mandolin and guitar began to fill the air. Erebus nodded as he closed his eyes, allowing himself to concentrate on the music and lyrics.

"Spent my days with a woman unkind, smoked my stuff and drank all my wine..."

"That part reminds me of Malacoda," Angel said softly, not wanting to break the immersion too badly. Erebus chuckled a little.

"Made up my mind to make a new start, going to California with an aching in my heart..."

"Obviously, we're not in California, but I guess you could say 'going to Crossrose' instead," Angel mused, shrugging. "I dunno."

"Someone told me there's a girl out there, with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair..."

Angel hesitated ever so slightly. "Ah... yeah," was all she mumbled, glancing down as her blush returned, avoiding the gaze of Erebus as he opened his eyes to look back at her. "I've... never worn flowers in my hair before, so I guess that wouldn't fit..."

She trailed off as she felt Erebus's fingers interlocking with her own, gently taking her hand and lowering it. As he stepped closer, his other hand settled on her waist, filling Angel with that warmth that she had come to love as she shifted toward him as well.

"I think it fits just fine," he told her, a small smile on his face.

As one, the two began to sway from side to side to the flow of the song, each so entranced with the other that they couldn't look away. The gentle melody flowed around them as they immersed themselves in the moment, sinking into each others' warmth and drowning in the feelings which swirled in their heads.

"Angel?"

"Hm?"

Erebus shifted closer to her. "What do you think would happen if I kissed you?" he asked.

Angel blinked. "What, uh- What made you think of that?"

"Who says something prompted the thought?" Erebus murmured. "What if I've been thinking about it for a while now?"

"Um..." Angel tried to come up with a response to that, looking down in a meek attempt to hide how much she was blushing. "I-I mean, as far as what would happen, I'd probably kiss you back, and it- and it would be normal... have you ever kissed anyone before?"

Erebus shook his head. "No, never," he said. Angel raised an eyebrow.

"I find that hard to believe... So you're saying monsters from every world didn't flock to you in order to say that they've kissed the great King of the Endermen?"

A small smile crossed Erebus's face as he scoffed. "I wouldn't have wanted that kind of attention anyway," he mused, glancing down. "What about you? Have you kissed anyone before?"

Angel nodded. "Unfortunately, yes," she murmured. "It didn't mean anything to me, though."

"And if I kissed you now?" Erebus let go of Angel's hand, reaching up and setting his own on the side of her face. "Would that mean something to you?"

Silence, filled only by the forgotten Led Zeppelin music in the background, followed Erebus's words. Angel knew the answer to his question, she knew it just as surely as she knew herself, but she remained quiet, too afraid to speak her thoughts aloud as if doing so would cause them to come true. The truth scared her, the fact that kissing Erebus would mean more to her than just about anything else brought her an indescribable emotion that she was afraid of, but that she was drawn to all the same.

Instead, she nodded, wordlessly confirming all of these things to herself, and to Erebus.

Before either of them could do anything, however, the door opened.

"I'm home, dears!"

Clara.

Erebus quickly let go of Angel, stepping away as he looked up. Angel spun around, stumbling as she moved toward the counter, pretending to do something productive and trying to hide the utter disappointment that flooded her body as Clara walked into the room.

"Is everything going alright here?" Clara asked, setting down the plastic bags of groceries that she was carrying. "How are the cookies?"

Angel didn't respond, too busy attempting to hide her burning face from her aunt. "Ah..." Erebus mumbled, turning toward the oven to see how many minutes were left on the cookies - he had completely forgotten that they existed until Clara mentioned them. "The first batch is almost done, I believe..."

Clara smiled. "I'm glad the two of you have been having fun," she told them. "Angel, would you be able to put away the groceries while I bring them in?"

"Yeah, I'll- I'll do that," Angel said, nodding as she glanced over at Clara, watching as she went back outside to pick up more groceries, leaving her and Erebus alone once more. She walked over to the bags that had already been brought in, picking up some of the food to put in the refrigerator. "It's a bit of a relief, honestly," she said to Erebus, who tilted his head.

"What do you mean?"

Angel gestured with one hand to the record player, which was now playing the not-so-gentle harmonica and heavy guitar riff of 'When The Levee Breaks'. "I'm not having my first kiss with you to that song."

Erebus laughed.