PJO One Shots Collection

5 | Kiss the Cook - Caleo

"Oh. Okay, I guess." I cringed at the dissonant beeps the machine made when I set the timer to five minutes. "So..." I leant against the counter, eyes spinning from watching the potatoes inside the microwave. "What're we making?"

"Sweet potato gnocchi," she enunciated carefully from the notepad. "A friend from school wrote this recipe down for me, she said it's from the... Internet."

⋯

"This is fun." I decided. We were kneading the now-sweet-potato dough on the cutting board sprinkled with flour. "Probably as fun as eating it." I picked a little piece of the dough and flicked it at her forehead.

"Don't eat it raw!" She scolded at the same time as she attempted to wipe away the dough from her forehead with her wrists.

"That's not what-"

"Okay. Now we have to roll them out and divide them into..." She quickly peered at the recipe, "Squares around the size of an inch."

I clapped my hands, and a puff of flour floated through the air. "Okey-dokey. You take half, I take half." I grabbed the knife and cut it through the middle, and nudged her dollop to her.

"You have to roll it out like so," she explained as she did. "Divide them equally with the knife." Her wrist moved at a brilliant speed. "Then..." She paused. Her finger skated across a specific line on the notepad, leaving tracks of flour. "Curl them against the prongs of the fork to make them, well, gnocchi!"

"Seems manageable," I noted.

"Is." To prove her point, she finished one and put it to the side of the board.

I plucked it up curiously, wiggling it between my pincer grasp. I grinned boyishly, "It's like a little pillow!"

She nodded, eyes still focused on the task, "You can say that."

We continued in silence.

I glanced at the oven close while rolling another piece of gnocchi on the fork, trying my best to stay attentive like she was but obviously failing. "Still half an hour before everyone comes for lunch from whatever they are doing."

"Hemithea, Jo, and Georgina are with the griffins, Lit's with the elephants, and I think Deacon and Stan are on an outing with friends." She supplied helpfully, pulling out a large strainer from a lower cabinet.

My eyebrows disappeared into my curls. I figured we had time to burn. "About that kiss."

"Not so fast, Valdez," she warned. And I absently wondered what it would be like to call her Valdez. "We still need to boil and simmer them. Like you said; we're regrouping soon." She wiped her hands on the apron hastily, and crossed to the stove where a saucepan was conveniently filled with boiling water. Her bun bobbed up and down as she strided across. "No time for distractions until this meal is cooked."

"Fine," I huffed and I twirled the last of the pieces reluctantly. She gently dropped half of the dumpling-like pieces into the scalding hot water, yelping when the droplets sprung out. I quickly ran over with my pieces of gnocchi in a bowl. "Here." I plopped them into the water for her, unfazed by the heat.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Do you mind doing the draining when they pop to the surface of the water?"

"'Course." I responded, and washed off the layer of flour on my hands and forearms.

"I'll have the butter browning and the sage mixing in too." She placed the frying pan and raised the heat to medium.

Half a minute later, they floated to the top like they said she would. I pointed to them excitedly like a little kid window shopping, "Look!"

She chortled over the sizzling of the pan, "Yeah?"

I speedily took the pan off the stove and went to the sink, draining the water through the strainer. "Whoops," I muttered when some hot water spilled over the sink. "Sorry, I kind of made a mess." I apologized to her once I was at her side with the drained sweet potatoes.

She took the strainer and dumped them into the simmering mixture, smiling softly. "No worries, Leo. That's why you're helping out."

"Oh."

"Then, just toss them," she instructed and handed me the spatula.

"Easy peasy," I mumbled to myself, as if in a way of assuring

Once the gnocchi was properly simmered, plated into the serving bowl, and placed on the dining table, the anticipation bubbled over. We only had a few more minutes until we were eventually interrupted by someone.

"So..." I shuffled closer to her.

"So?" A smile creeped on her face as she also came closer.

"Before you take off your apron for lunch, you think I can fulfill that request?" I rested my forehead on hers.

"Yeah, sure." She decided after pretending to think about it. "I think you earned it."

"Think? Earned?" I asked, offended slightly. "Babe. You never told me I had to earn it." My lips drawing closer to hers with every word.

She laughed, the corner of her eyes crinkled in the most adorable fashion. She bopped my lips with a tender finger. "Just teasing." She said.

Then she was kissing me and my grumbling stomach was long forgotten.

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Author's Note:

Haha, I finished editing this right before my lunch break. And the sweet potato gnocchi is a must have! I've made it before :]

Hope you enjoyed it, and I am looking for requests right now!