baking
saturday was supposed to be peter's lie-in day. but that wasn't allowed to happen, was it? peter was woken up by his phone playing ac/dc, which meant that tony was calling him. what did he want this early in the morning? and even though peter really wanted to leave the call ringing until it shut off, peter decided that it was best to pick it up. it could be important, and peter really couldn't miss that. and however bad it sounded, peter really didn't want to be a superhero until that afternoon - after he'd woken up.
"mr stark? what's up?" peter picked up the phone, trying to sound as happy as a teenager could after they'd been woken up at eight in the morning on a saturday.
"hey, kid. sorry to wake you up." tony replied, not sounding the slightest bit sorry. "but it's pepper's birthday tomorrow, and i want to bake her something. but, you see, i can't cook anything but pasta and bucky refuses to do it because, and i quote, 'it's not my job to bake for your wife'. and i really could do with some help over here. i would ask harley to do it, seeming as he's awake, but i don't trust him in the kitchen on his own. i mean, i don't trust either of you to be in there on your own, so i'm gonna make you do it together. bonding time, and all that."
"i mean, bucky's right, but i'll do it. i'll be over there in an hour." peter said, walking over to his closet. tony gave a swift reply of 'bye, pete.' and hung up. peter sighed. little did tony know, peter and harley had already had lots of 'bonding time', but peter decided that tony should stay none the wiser.
~~~~~
peter arrived at the tower on pretty much an hour later on the dot. he smiled, knowing that for once in his life, he was on time to something. may hadn't been too happy that peter had to leave the apartment so early to go to the tower on a saturday, but once she found out that it wasn't for superhero business, and that he was going to be spending time with harley, she seemed to be okay with it. even though tony didn't know that his two proteges were dating, may had worked it out as soon as she saw the two boys interact once. either may was good at spotting things like that, or tony was completely oblivious. but let's be real, it was probably the latter of the two.
"hey, friday. penthouse, please." peter said, as soon as he entered the elevator.
"of course, peter." friday responded, and the elevator started moving upwards. it only took peter a minute to get to the top of the tower, and when he did, he saw harley leaning against the wall opposite the elevator doors.
"hey, darlin'. i tried telling the old man that you shouldn't be woken up and that i'll do it, but he wasn't having any of it." harley said, putting his arm around peter's shoulders as the two walked to the kitchen. "i mean, i'm not complaining that i get to see you earlier than usual, but you need sleep too."
"eh, it's okay. at least i'll be doing something productive today." peter replied. the two boys walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the kitchen. once they got in there, they realised that clint, nat, and rhodey were still eating breakfast, and tony was drinking what was probably his third cup of coffee that morning. harley removed his arm from around peter's shoulders. the two had decided to see how long they could keep their relationship from tony. originally, they were trying to see how long it would take the whole team to find out, but they'd all worked it out within the first week. but now they'd been together for nearly six months, and tony still hadn't realised.
"oh, you're on time, i'm surprised." tony said, looking at peter.
"well, it was for something important." peter shrugged.
"what, so when i asked you to get to the tower to work on my suit, it wasn't important?"
"well, technically yes, it was important, but you know, may didn't want me to leave. she said that saturdays are my relaxing days."
"but she let you today?"
"i'm baking something and spending time with harley, that's not working."
"so she prefers harley over me as well now, does she?"
"she prefers almost everyone over you." peter laughed, and so did the rest of the people in the kitchen - apart from tony, who just rolled his eyes and left the room, announcing to everyone that he was going to the lab to work on whatever needed doing.
~~~~~
eventually, everyone who had been eating breakfast had cleared the room, and harley and peter started getting everything they needed ready. they had decided to make salted caramel brownies, as harley remembered that pepper always went for the caramel options in a chocolate box, and made sure that nobody got to them before she did. not that anyone would dare take them from her in the first place.
"friday, put on mine and peter's spotify playlist." harley said, getting the recipe up on his phone. within a few seconds, superhero by lauv started playing through the speakers. harley smiled and he started singing along, reading out the ingredients in between lines. peter ran around the kitchen (still singing), grabbing everything they needed, and harley measured it all out. the penthouse kitchen was always stacked up with baking things, due to bucky cooking all the time.
(for those of you who want to know, the ingredients are:
- 200g unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
- 100g chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
- 100g chocolate, 50% cocoa solids
- 397g can carnation caramel
- 1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus a little extra for the top
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 130g plain flour
- 50g cocoa powder)
the song switched to rewrite the stars as peter got out the sea salt, and this time, he was the one singing along. the two had put this playlist together within the first couple of months of dating, so that they could get used to each other's music taste, while still listening to their own. it was a good way of doing it, and any songs that either of them hated were removed, and new ones were often added. altogether, it worked well.
once all the ingredients had been measured out, peter and harley started to prepare the brownies. according to the recipe, the preparation should only take twenty minutes, and the actual cooking would take half an hour. but knowing the boys, the prep would take a lot longer than expected. the song switched to all night by the vamps, and both boys sang along this time.
1. heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
"uh, harls, i have no idea how to use an oven." peter said, causing to harley to laugh. "i mean, i know how to take stuff in and out, but i have no idea how to know what temperature it's on."
"you start doing the next step, darlin'. i'll do this for you." harley replied.
"i knew tony made us do this together for a reason." this caused harley to laugh once again.
2. grease then line a 23cm square with baking parchment.
peter managed to do that with no trouble at all. he'd baked a few times with may - although it always seemed to go wrong. peter would never say it to her face, but peter knew that may guessing the mass of the ingredients was never a good idea. may's reasoning was simply 'it's quicker this way'. fair enough, who would argue with may?
3. melt 200g unsalted butter in a medium pan, break in 100g chocolate (70% cocoa solids) and 100g chocolate (50% cocoa solids), then remove the pan from the heat and wait for the cubes to melt.
so the boys did that. harley got a little distracted halfway through, as viva la vida by coldplay started playing. it was one of his favourite songs, and always his go-to karaoke song, so peter was left to break up the chocolate on his own, laughing at harley's antics. it was surprising, but so far, nothing had gone wrong, and both of them hoped that it would continue on like that. of course, it never could with these two.
4. in a small bowl, mix 175g carnation caramel from a 397g can with 1 tsp sea salt – it will loosen up.
peter had decided to let harley finish his little singing session, but not before he'd asked friday to record the whole ordeal. in the end, he just asked friday to record them baking but to 'never show tony, please'. and the ai agreed to that.
however, the small break that peter had given harley didn't end when the song ended. because the shuffle decided to play moves like jagger - and if you don't at least feel like singing dramatically to that, you're not human. and of course, harley sang adam levine's part, and peter was stuck with christina aguilera's part. the two were laughing uncontrollably by the end of the song, and harley gave peter a quick kiss before continuing with the fourth step of the recipe. luckily, the next song playing was if you want love by nf, so there was no need for dramatic renditions.
5. put the rest of the caramel in a large bowl with 200g golden caster sugar and 4 medium eggs, and beat with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until even. whisk in the chocolate and butter.
and they didn't get far with that before party in the usa started playing. another song when a dramatic rendition was one hundred percent necessary. you see, the prep for this was definitely going to take longer than twenty minutes. especially when clint dropped from the vents halfway through the song and asked for them to start it again. the three of them danced and sang completely off tune. but it was fun, and once again, they were laughing too hard to form sentences by the end. and peter had never been more grateful for the fact that friday could record everything when asked to.
once the song had switched to send my love by adele, and he had stopped laughing, peter went back to the kitchen counter and continued doing what the recipe was telling him to do. harley was helping clint back into the vents, telling him to 'make sure tony doesn't see you, he'll have your head, and i want more dance parties'. peter smiled, and carried on humming along to the song.
6. in another bowl, combine 130g plain flour, 50g cocoa powder and a good pinch of table salt, then sift this on top of the chocolate mix. beat briefly until smooth.
the song changed to hey there delilah, and harley wrapped his hands around peter's waist, humming along and kissing peter's neck every now and again. it was a cute moment to witness. peter decided that he would send the video that friday was currently taking to himself, and he would screenshot this moment, and he'd definitely get may to print it out and frame it for him.
the only problem was that peter really needed to move on to the next step, and harley wasn't going to move until the song was over. not that peter was complaining.
7. pour half the brownie batter into the tin and level it with a spatula.
as the song there's no way by lauv and julia michaels started, the two boys shared a look, and silently decided that they wouldn't be baking during this one either. harley wrapped his hands around peter's waist, and peter placed his hands around harley's neck. now, this song wasn't necessarily a slow song, but both of them liked to pretend that it was. this was another thing that peter was going to take a picture of and frame.
harley had used the lyrics from this song to confess his feelings to peter - but peter hadn't known that until harley added it to their playlist, and peter listened to it for the first time. peter had called harley, laughing down the phone, telling him that he'd thought that the words harley had used were poetic, but he hadn't realised that it was an actual song. harley had just laughed along, telling peter that he thought it was a cute song. peter had agreed.
after that, centuries by fall out boy started to play, and although both boys sang along, they actually got some stuff done. peter told harley if he thought a bit was uneven, and then harley would even it out. it only took a couple of minutes until both of them were happy with how it looked. to be honest, they were both surprised that it hadn't taken them longer - considering that they were both perfectionists.
8. using a teaspoon, spoon half of the salted caramel on top of the batter layer in 5 thick, evenly spaced stripes.
"hold on, i'm gonna get a ruler." harley announced, turning to leave the room.
"you- really?" peter almost laughed.
"you would do the same if you were doing this alone." harley said, actually leaving the room now. peter felt called out, because he knew harley was right. he'd want it to be perfect for pepper, so he'd definitely use a ruler to measure it out.
when harley came back, royals by lorde was playing, and harley told friday to start it again. he wouldn't admit it to anyone but peter, but he actually loved this song. so, he sung along as he held the ruler against the tray, letting peter do the math and put the caramel on the brownies.
9. spoon the rest of the brownie batter on top and smooth it out, trying not to disturb the caramel beneath. top with the rest of the caramel in the same stripy fashion. drag a skewer or tip of a knife through the caramel to make a feathered pattern on the top.
as peter finished of the previous step, sucker by the jonas brothers started to play. as peter started to sing along (loudly), harley laughed at his antics and decided that it was his turn to actually do something. although, he did realise that he'll have to ask peter to put the caramel on again. so he waited for the song to end, watching his boyfriend sing. he smiled lovingly at the other boy. and however much they denied it, they really could be that couple sometimes.
"hey, darlin'. can you put the caramel on the second layer?" harley asked, as the song switched to broken by lovelytheband. peter nodded, and walked back over to the counter. peter was singing along whilst doing it, and harley had to remind him to stop, otherwise the lines weren't going to be straight.
"you're not straight." peter shot back - even though it didn't make any sense. harley laughed, trying to keep the ruler as still as possible. "okay, we've just gotta put sea salt on the top, and then put the tray in the oven, and then we're done." peter said, as he finished putting the last bit of caramel onto the mix.
10. scatter with a little more sea salt, then bake for 25-30 mins or until risen all the way to the middle with a firm crust on top. when ready, the brownie will jiggle just a little when you shake the tin.
"jiggle." peter pretty much giggled.
"it's not that funny." harley commented, even though he was trying to hide a smirk.
"it is." peter scattered some sea salt onto the tray and put the brownies into the oven. "can you set the timer? again, that's something i have no idea how to do."
"sure, sweetheart." harley set the timer to twenty five minutes before leaning back onto the island in the middle of the room. peter then thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to have a makeout session - not that harley was complaining. harley started kissing down peter's neck, making sure to leave a few marks (even though they'd be gone by the time that the brownies were finished, due to peter's super-healing). harley kept doing what he was doing until peter let out a small moan, immediately blushing and burrying his head into harley's shoulder afterwards. harley just laughed, lifting peter's head up and kissing him once more, before just hugging the boy. however much they were enjoying that, they couldn't continue that in the communal kitchen. anyone could walk in, and neither of them wanted that.
"i am never crawling through the vents when you guys are together again." clint made a sudden appearance again. "i just wanted to see if there was another opportunity to have a sing-a-long, but instead i had to see and hear that."
"i mean, what else are we supposed to do while the brownies are in the oven?" harley asked, still holding peter.
"i don't know, maybe... taking it somewhere else?"
"then we wouldn't hear the timer go off." peter joined in with the conversation. clint just grimaced before jumping back into the vents. both boys laughed, although peter was slightly embarrassed about clint hearing that.
11. let it cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares.
once they'd let the brownies cool, and harley had cut them, the boys put them into a decorated box and kept them in a cupboard that they knew pepper would never go to (it was known as 'bucky's baking cupboard', and anything that bucky had made went in there. bucky rarely allowed anyone to go in there, although he'd given peter and harley permission to put their finished brownies in there).