have yourself a sugary little christmas

by orphan_account

Summary:

It’s the holidays, and it’s time for Ling Rui to begin his annual cookie baking. Only this time, the rest of the family want to join in.

Notes:

• For SophiaHoppia.

Happy holidays, Sophia! Both of your prompts were adorable and truly warmed my heart. They’re just one big, happy family, your honor! I hope you don’t mind that I put a holiday twist to this, because I had considered WC and YY helping WY make a date night dinner, but I didn’t think I would have been able to pull it off properly.

But anywho! I hope you enjoy this.

With only days until the holidays, the Ling-Wang household was aglow with excitement and cheer. Decorations were strung up within every room, holiday music or films filled the air, and the sweet scent of desserts always seemed to be present.

Every year Ling Rui would go above and beyond with his baking until they were practically overrun with seasonal treats, and this year wasn’t any different. Milk mochi, deep fried sesame balls, almond cookies…there were plenty of treats, and he showed no inclination of stopping until the holidays had long passed.

Upon the couch, he reclined with Wang Yue nestled in his arms, while a holiday film with silly puppets and actors played upon the television. Both Wang Chao and Youyou were buried within a mountain of blankets below them, and with how round their eyes were, it was as if they were experiencing a true masterpiece come to life.

The scene that was playing held Santa Claus visiting his first house of the night, where he found plates with freshly baked cookies and carrots upon them. It was such a simple thing, but the boys exclaimed in excitement and all but whipped themselves around to face the other two.

“Ba! I want some! I want one shaped like a tree!”

Wang Chao was swift to chorus with his own excitement. “Di! I want some too!”

A smile was felt against the top of Wang Yue’s head. “How about we add sugar cookies to the baking list, and start them closer to Christmas? That way they’re nice and fresh for Santa.”

“But we want them now!” Youyou whined, earning a fond sigh of exasperation from his father. Although he would oftentimes put up a stern demeanor, there was only so much resistance in him to deny his family, especially when they held this much excitement.

“Alright, let me see if we have the ingredients.” A kiss was placed upon Wang Yue’s head as he lifted the blanket enough for him to slip out, bringing with a chill that caught onto them both. There was hesitancy as their hands lingered with one another, but once Ling Rui took the steps into the kitchen, his attention was directed to his search.

It took some rummaging, but luck was on their side as he was able to find all the supplies they would need and then some. If he chose to do it, there would be enough to create multiple large batches, so some could be decorated while others would be left bare.

Soon a rumbling hum formed in the depths of his throat while he readied the appropriate supplies, a soft melody that didn’t interest the two watching the film, but did catch his husband’s eye. Wang Yue leaned his arms on the back of the couch, and watched him move about with a smile toying at the edges of his lips. It always warmed his heart to see his husband this happy, and he knew what would make him even happier.

Turning around, he leaned forward so that he was between the two boys then whispered, “How would you both like to help ba in the kitchen? I’m sure he would love the extra hands.”

Their expressions were like mirrors with the way in which they smiled, with one reflecting his joy in sync with the other, and they all but jumped to their feet so they could run into the kitchen. The film was long forgotten as a gasp of surprise greeted them in the other room, and Wang Yue paused it before joining them.

Youyou was between his father and the counter, but although he was on the tips of his toes, he still struggled to see over it. He made a sound of distress before he was lifted so that his feet were placed on top of Ling Rui’s.

The boy noticed the bowl of flour and leaned towards it. To him it was like a giant bowl of snow, and he wondered if it would taste or feel like it too.

“Ba, what’s that? Can I eat it?”

“That’s flour. You can eat it, but I wouldn’t until–”

Before he could continue, a tiny fist shot out to grab a handful of the powder, only for it to be shoved in his mouth with coughs following shortly after. Clearly he didn’t enjoy the taste nor the dryness, but Wang Chao didn’t pick up on that, for he mimicked what Youyou had just done while Ling Rui filled a glass with water.

His nose curled in disgust, and the remaining flour in his hand was flung forward, some of which landed upon the top of Youyou’s head. The young boy giggled and reached for another handful of his own, sending a cloud of white to burst between them. Although it was comical to watch, both were stopped as their hands were caught by the corresponding adults, who looked down at them with varying levels of amusement.

“Didn’t you want to help? You’re making a bigger mess.” Wang Yue scolded, something that definitely wasn’t taken seriously by the two it was directed at.

“We’re sorry.” Youyou giggled, nudging Wang Chao who did the same back towards him.

Fortunately it wasn’t the hardest mess to handle, and while Wang Yue took the task of cleaning the floors and counters, Ling Rui wiped off the clothing and skin of the perpetrators. The two swore not to cause any further problems, and would help out to the best of their abilities.

“A-You, could you get me the butter and cream cheese? A-Chao, can you reach the measuring cups?”

While the two bounded off to gather what was asked, Wang Yue stayed close in case either of them required some assistance, both in which they did not, which thrilled them as they felt as if they were truly grown up. Soon they had everything they could possibly need for the first stage of baking, and stood between Ling Rui and Wang Yue.

“First we need to measure the dry ingredients,” Ling Rui explained. “Otherwise we won’t be able to mix everything together properly, and the cookies won’t taste right.”

“But they smell bad.” Wang Chao complained once the baking powder was opened, recoiling away.

“But they’ll taste great once they’re mixed in with everything,” Ling Rui motioned towards the tablespoons. “See the yellow one that says half tablespoon? I want you to fill it to the top, but not so much that it spills over the sides.”

“Unlike how you filled me last night.” Wang Yue whispered, his voice unheard by the other two, but still loud enough that a rosy hue spread across Ling Rui’s features.

“Behave.” Ling Rui hissed as he swatted his shameless husband across the bottom. It wasn’t nearly hard enough to be a proper impact, but rather enough that it felt like a pressured caress that left Wang Yue chuckling. It was so easy to tease him, and Wang Yue enjoyed every moment of it, knowing full well he would be scolded for it later.

Youyou gave it his all, but he didn’t quite grasp how to smooth off the top of the tablespoon until his father took his hands, and helped guide him through the movements. While he did this, Wang Yue began to measure the other dry ingredients alongside his brother, until they were joined alongside the others in the big bowl.

Everything except the sugar, which Youyou was sneakily scooping a big spoonful of and pushing inside his mouth with a grin.

“If you keep eating all of the ingredients, we won’t have enough for the cookies,” Ling Rui lightly bonked the boy on the head. “You wouldn’t want that…would you?”

Youyou tapped his chin as if in thought, causing Ling Rui to place his hands on his hips while he patiently waited. Then the boy shook his head with a giggle, earning a fond huff of laughter from the other.

“Now, you’re going to use this spatula to mix all of this together. But you can’t be too eager, otherwise it’ll create a giant mess on the counter,” Once the spatula was inside Youyou’s little fist, he dipped it inside the various powders. “But you can’t be too gentle either. We need everything mixed properly. Like this.” Ling Rui placed his hand over his son’s, and carefully guided his movements in a spiral motion.

“I want to try, I want to try!” Wang Chao attempted to take the spatula from Youyou, but Wang Yue held him back, although it took some struggling.

“You can mix the wet ingredients,” Ling Rui told him, as patient as ever. “Yue’er, can you show him how to put the mixer together?”

Wang Chao continued to protest until he was handed an attachment that looked like a metal spear head. He didn’t understand what it was, but he enjoyed how it felt under his hands as he moved them around the twisting rod.

“Di! It’s fun!”

“It’s a…” Wang Yue struggled to recall what Ling Rui told him it was when they baked together for the first time. For a moment he thought it was the dough hook, but that wasn’t it, and it certainly wasn’t a whisk. But he noticed that it was flat.“Flat beater. It connects to this part here.” He motioned towards the head of the mixer, where a single metal rod stood out.

Wang Chao was still twisting his hands along the curves, but when the mixer was brought forth, his attention was solely on that. He tried to hook one of the flat beater’s edges onto the mixer, but it fell into the bowl with a loud clang, startling Youyou.

But there was nothing but patience as he was shown how to properly connect the attachment, and how to raise and lower the bowl when needed. Soon the dry was within the mixer bowl, and slowly Ling Rui added some of the wet ingredients.

“You’re going to want to keep it on the two setting at first, just so you can mix everything together without a mess. Slowly we’ll add the rest of the wet, and then you can speed it up until we tell you to turn it down again, okay?” Ling Rui’s voice was kind, even as Wang Chao practically vibrated with his excitement.

However, as soon as the bowl was lifted, Wang Chao activated it at full speed, causing the interior contents to burst upwards in an explosion. Although Ling Rui was quick to power it off, the counter, the floor, and even their persons were covered in the sticky substance, causing Wang Chao to recoil.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” With each apology, Wang Chao’s voice gradually grew louder and louder while he paced the floor with clenched fists. He was quickly working himself into a fit, truly believing that his mistake had both ruined the moment and angered his family.

But it was then that one of his hands was caught by Ling Rui, who cradled it between his until it carefully unfurled itself and lay flat, while Youyou hugged him around the waist and Wang Yue clasped his shoulder. They held him, and whispered reassurances until he was no longer as emotional, and his voice was at a lower octave.

“Mistakes happen, A-Chao,” Wang Chao’s hand was given a light squeeze. “Just take your time. You can do this.”

“You can do it Chao Chao!”

This time Wang Chao was guided into adjusting the proper settings, while the others aided elsewhere by pouring the rest of the ingredients inside the bowl, or helping clean up the mess that was around them. Wang Yue was in the process of rinsing a dirty rag when a kiss was placed upon the back of his neck, startling him for a moment before he teasingly flung some water at a now laughing Ling Rui.

Had the other two not been focused on mixing the dough, or had they not been there at all, a simple splash likely would’ve become something more, where they would both be soaked and laughing, while kisses were pressed against exposed flesh.

“Later.” Wang Yue mouthed, returning to the sink while Ling Rui checked on the dough.

“You both did a great job! Let’s turn it off and get it wrapped up.”

“Okay!” The two chorused, and stepped back to allow Ling Rui to stand between them.

Flour was sprinkled upon the counter into a display that Youyou claimed to look like snow, before the wad of dough was dropped on top, then carefully sculpted into a solid brick-like mold. But as Ling Rui tore a section of plastic wrap, Wang Yue quickly broke off a large chunk of dough then split into three sections to be enjoyed by both himself and the two boys.

“It’s the best part.” He explained around the mouthful of dough, earning a glare from Ling Rui.

“Eating raw dough isn’t healthy. You shouldn’t encourage them.”

Another chunk was stolen, but this one slipped past Ling Rui’s lips, and was accompanied by a lingering caress of Wang Yue’s sweetened fingers. “But it tastes good.”

Ling Rui rolled his eyes with a fond sigh of exasperation. The cookie dough was the best part, but he would never admit it outloud and give the other two ideas. “I see we have some greedy paws here. There’s just one thing we can do about that.”

“And what’s that?” Wang Yue placed the palm of his hand upon Ling Rui’s chest.

“This.” Suddenly Wang Yue’s hands were covered, but not in the sweet way he expected. For instead of a hand entwining with his, there were two large oven mitts with the patronizing smile of a gingerbread man looking up at him.

Wang Yue blinked as both Youyou and Wang Chao burst into laughter, even Ling Rui held that smile upon his lips. But then he chuckled, and leaned against his husband’s side. “I suppose this is my fate. No more cookie dough for me.”

“But why do we have to wrap it up?” Youyou asked with a tilt to his head. “We made it, so shouldn’t we bake it now?”

“We could, but the results are better if you let it cool for a couple of hours,” Ling Rui wrapped the dough while the other two pouted, then moved away to place it in the refrigerator. “But you know what we get to do now?”

“What?” Wang Chao questioned.

“We get to finish cleaning up,” There was a groan, but Ling Rui was quick to continue. “Then go back to watching the movie together. Once it’s over, we can put the cookies in the oven, and make the icing to decorate them!”

Excitement rounded the eyes of Wang Chao and Youyou, while the latter began to jump in the air. “Ba! Can we make it now? Please can we make it now?”

Ling Rui chuckled and shook his head. “We don’t have enough clean bowls! Unless of course, you know some magic that will make the icing in the air.”

There was a furrow to his brows as Youyou considered those words, but then he gasped with a toothy smile. “We can ask Santa for some magic! Maybe he will give it to us early.”

Wang Yue bit back a snort, simply due to how passionate Youyou was over his claim, and he would hate to crush it. So instead he lifted Youyou, who laughed as he was spun around. “Maybe Santa will give you magic to fly as well.”

“That’s silly,” Youyou giggled. “He can’t do that!”

“But allowing you to make icing in the air isn’t?”

“Nope!”

When they washed, water may have occasionally been splashed, and they all might’ve sported soap mustaches at some point, but that was a secret that stayed in the kitchen, and they were all back in the living room to enjoy the remainder of the film.

Wang Yue was nestled against Ling Rui’s side, while Youyou laid across both of their laps and Wang Chao was in his mountain of blankets. It was such a simple thing, but it brought this strong sense of warmth inside Wang Yue that had him clutching the other two tighter.

After the loss of their parents, he never believed he would find this sense of comfort again, much less a family. But here he was, and he never wanted to let it go.

With their hands joined, Wang Yue tilted his head upwards to place a kiss against his husband’s cheek. What was meant to be something quick became an actual kiss when Ling Rui leaned down and connected their lips. It wasn’t deep or sensual, but the amount of love that was being poured into it was enough to bring a pleasant pain to Wang Yue’s heart.

“Eww,” A voice broke out, belonging to Youyou who slipped out of their arms to join Wang Chao on the floor. His little nose curled in a mock display of disgust. “That’s gross.”

Wang Chao looked up, then mimicked Youyou’s behavior until they were both giggling.

“Isn’t there a movie on?” Wang Yue said as he broke away from the kiss. “Focus on that.”

Although giggles still bounced between them, their attention did return to the film and they eventually settled together upon the floor. By the time the credits rolled around, their breathing had slowed, showing that they had fallen asleep at some point before the end.

“Should we start baking the cookies before they’re stolen by tiny hands?” Ling Rui teased as the television was turned off. For a moment Wang Yue only hummed in thought. While it would make sense to bake them now, and have them ready to decorate when they were awake, he also was comfortable and warm, and wouldn’t mind taking a nap as well.

“Might as well.” He grunted as he extended his arms upwards in a stretch. The two of them were careful not to step on Youyou and Wang Chao, but before they entered the kitchen, Wang Yue tucked them in so they would stay warm.

While Wang Yue rolled out the stubborn dough, Ling Rui gathered the cookie cutters. Some were of more oddball shapes that he couldn’t remember purchasing, but others were more holiday themed. Trees, Santas, reindeers, bells, and even some gingerbread men. But before he could place them on the counter, he saw Wang Yue chewing without an ounce of shame.

“What did I say about the dough?”

“To eat it whenever possible because it’s delicious.”

With a shake to his head and a smile to his lips, Ling Rui sorted through the shapes. “I think we should make more trees, since they were both more interested in them, and they may be easier to decorate.”

“A tray and a half of trees, and the rest we can split?”

Four trays of desserts were made from their roll of dough, and the scent that lingered in the air was heavenly. Surely it would bring a lot of joy when the two woke up and found them all.

Ling Rui was the one to make the icing in the end, for although Wang Yue followed exactly what he was instructed, he still ended up with a batch of clumpy stickiness that didn’t want to righten itself no matter what they tried. But Wang Yue did have the job of splitting it into equal portions, and mixing it with the various dyes.

“Maybe there co–”

Ling Rui’s words were cut off when one of Wang Yue’s fingers slowly wiped a glob of icing across his lips, coating them in a golden gleam, and promptly filling him with surprise. He made a move to wipe it away, but Wang Yue beat him to it when he leaned forward and slowly licked the sweetness from his lips, reveling in the delicious taste and the way his husband released a shuddering breath.

“Delicious.” Wang Yue purred, drawing away, only for a hand to cup the back of his head and guide him into a bruising kiss.

Lips crashed, tongues teased, a back hit the counter, and then there was a giggle coming from the entrance of the kitchen that caused the two to break apart immediately.

Both Youyou and Wang Chao stood in the entrance, before the youngest ran inside and moved so that he was between the two. “Are the cookies done?” He asked, wrapping his arms around both of their legs.

Ling Rui’s face was flushed, and both of their hair was in disarray, but they schooled their breathing enough so that they could properly speak, although Ling Rui still sounded breathless.

“Most of them. Would you like to lick the beaters while you watch them bake?”

The two nodded with great enthusiasm, and after they were each given a beater coated with icing, they took a seat in front of the oven.

“So many shapes!” Youyou exclaimed, pointing at the various forms for Wang Chao who clapped in excitement.

While the two were distracted, Wang Yue slipped past Ling Rui to whisper, “We can meet under the mistletoe later.”

Ling Rui’s breath took on a shuddering hitch, and when Wang Yue tried to walk away with the icings, he caught his arm to draw him back. “Wear the outfit.”

Once all the cookies were baked, both Youyou and Wang Chao were each given a warm dessert to enjoy then they all went to their dining room table to decorate. Sprinkles, icing, piping bags, hard candies, spatulas, they had everything they could possibly need and the excitement was shared among them all.

“Now, you have to be careful when you’re squeezing these bags, otherwise you’re going to have quite the mess on your hands,” Ling Rui offered them each a piping bag, one dyed green and the other dyed red. “Just squeeze lightly, and fill along the edges. You’ll use the spatula to spread it out evenly.”

“What music do you want to listen to?” Wang Yue asked as he scrolled through his phone.

“I wanna listen to Frosty!” Youyou shouted, standing up on his chair with eager bounces. Ling Rui had to take the piping bag from him during this, so icing wouldn’t come raining down upon them all.

“Frosty it is.”

Soon music filled their small room, and each individual selected a cooking and piping bag. Now creativity had never been Wang Yue’s strong suit, so while everyone else was pouring icing across their creation, he could only stare blankly.

He could do yellow, and make it a basic belle, but what if it wasn’t that flattering, or what if he messed that up as well? But maybe…he could make it yellow, and do some sort of colored border around the sides. That should work…and it did. Wang Yue found that he was pleasantly surprised at the outcome, and it gave him the confidence boost he needed.

Before they knew it, all the cookies had been decorated with holiday cheer, and each one was uniquely different. Wang Chao’s held so much icing and sprinkles, that they gave them a blocky affect that would be difficult to bite into, Youyou’s was heavily piled with hard candies, Ling Rui’s looked as if they were professionally crafted, and Wang Yue’s were lopsided.

They looked like they were made by a family, and that was what made them perfect.

“Everybody gather around.”

Ling Rui reached for his phone, and although there was icing on arms and faces, he positioned everyone into the frame and took pictures until Youyou was whining for him to stop.

“Ba, can we have a cookie now? Please, please, please?”

“Take your pick.”

Although the holidays were still beginning, it was clear that this would be the best one yet. For they had both each other, and all the cookies they could possibly want, and that would never change.

Notes:

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

If you would like to see more of my weird little ideas, you can find me on Twitter , or Mastodon. I also run a Discord server where I dump plots/future fics

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Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Holiday Gift Fics 2023