Archive of Our Own ^beta

Pin stood over the stove, watching the pot. Pin had heard a saying, long ago, that a watched pot never boils. It was a completely illogical idea, why would being watched prevent a pot from boiling?

She was determined to one day bear witness to it. As she stared into the pot, she heard the door open.

“Leafy! You’re home early…” Pin tried to keep the suspicion from her voice, she had a feeling she knew what this meant “How was your first day at work?”

“Not good- I quit”

Pin pretended to be surprised “What happened this time?”

“Okay get this- so I was reorganizing the shelf and my boss told me I was taking too long- but I was just making sure everything was perfectly neat! He didn’t appreciate my diligence!" Leafy began “So if that wasn’t bad enough, a customer asked me where they keep the yarn, but he said it so rudely! And then when I showed him, he didn't even thank me! So I said ‘I don’t need this, my wife owns a bakery!’ And quit!”

Pin stared at her, unsure how to put what she wanted to say gently. “This is your 5th job this month Leafy…”

“I had a good reason to quit-“

“Leafy you got fired from a different job 3 days ago, and you quit the three jobs before that one”

”Well that one doesn’t count because the job required a bachelors in Finance, I didn’t have that so I just lied. Turns out that was actually super necessary and they fired me! Which isn’t my fault!”

“All I’m saying is, it’s becoming a pattern. I think maybe… you should take a break from jobs”

”No Pin you don’t understand! I’m not the problem, they are!” Leafy’s voice raised

Leafy was getting upset, Pin realized she needed to de-escalate the situation. “I am just worried that the problems you are finding at your jobs are problems you will find everywhere else too, if you continue at this pace you are going to run out of people who are willing to hire you.”

Pin noticed steam was starting to fill the kitchen, she turned and the pot was boiling over. She quickly turned down the heat. The pot had won once again.

“But Pin, I want to be helpful! We need more money, and how am I supposed to be helpful if I don’t have a job?”

Pin added the fettuccine to the pot. “Honestly with how busy running the bakery has me, I think you’d be very helpful if you took care of things at the house, at least for a little while”

Leafy moved so she was next to Pin, staring at the pot “The house is just so empty when you aren’t here, I hate being alone”

“Why don’t you invite some of your friends over?”

“I’m mad at Bubble right now, and a lot of my other friends are too busy during the workweek”

“Is the reason you want a job because you’re lonely when I’m gone?” It clicked for Pin why Leafy was suddenly so fixated on having a job.

—-

Pin did a majority of the baking at her bakery.

She’d been trying to find employees who could handle it, but finding people who could match her standards was difficult. Right now the only other person working was Fries, he was pleasant to work with because he mostly kept to himself. He also had little-to-no-reaction when Pin yelled at him, which was far better than all the people she’d made cry since opening the bakery.

She wanted her bakery to produce the best possible quality, but that seemed to hurt the quantity she could produce.

Keeping the display cases filled had proved to be a challenge, they were the first thing people saw when they walked in. By now it was a common occurrence for people to walk in, see the barren display case, and walk out. Pin’s mind wandered as she kneaded the dough, things weren’t looking good, she was barely making enough to keep the place open. This bakery had been her dream, yet now…

Pin had a few interviews scheduled for new bakers, she hoped something good could come of it. She placed the dough in a pan and added it to the rack. Her eyes glanced at the clock, it was 2:13, the time she usually took her lunch break.

Pin felt bad taking lunch breaks with how behind they always were, but Leafy put a lot of effort into packing her lunches. So she just ate fast.

She moved to the break corner and opened her lunch.

Today Leafy had packed a thermos of soup with a side of bread, cut into hearts. The sandwich and veggies in her box had also been cut into hearts.

There was a folded note each day, handwritten by Leafy. Leafy liked leaving little love letters.

At a glance today’s note was significantly shorter than usual, it read “I have a surprise for you <3”

Pin blinked. That was mildly ominous.

—-

Pin had nearly forgotten about the note, she was assembling a sandwich when she heard a voice behind her “Surprise!”

Her first instinct was to attack, but she paused when she recognized the voice. “Leafy? What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know how I didn’t realize this sooner- I realized I could come by and help you with your bakery!” Leafy cheered, her eyes warm as she hugged Pin from behind. “I know you guys have been understaffed!”

Pin loved her wife, she had been there for her through the hardest of times. At the same time, Pin had witnessed firsthand how difficult Leafy could get. She wished she had warned her, but that wouldn’t be in Leafy’s nature.

Pin turned towards Leafy, her smile was so warm and genuine. Leafy was so radiant when she was happy like this, Pin couldn’t bear to say no. Register duty was simple, usually her and Fries just kept an eye on the front while working, and would go over when someone came in.

“Hm. Could you watch the register?”

“Of course Pin!” Leafy scurried off.

Pin sighed, leaning against the counter “Fries, I’m worried”

Fries ignored her, focusing on his work. Pin continued speaking “Leafy doesn’t do well in professional setting, she’s… impulsive”

“If you’re so worried, just kick her out. You own the place, you can do that.”

“She’s my wife, I can’t do that to her”

“Don’t complain to me if you’re not going to take my advice”

And with that, the two fell back into silence.

—-

Leafy could see the hesitation in Pin’s eyes, she knew Pin was antsy. The last thing Leafy wanted was to make her wife anxious. She was going to do such a good job running this register.

She stood up front, tapping her hands against the table as she waited. When a man walked in, Leafy eagerly greeted him “Hello!” She maintained eye contact while speaking, “Welcome to the best bakery in town”

The object seemed put-off by such an intense and friendly greeting. “Yeah okay- I’ll have a croissant and potato soup”

Leafy stared at him blankly, she was a bit offended that he didn’t even return her greeting. But she needed to be the bigger person. She was so kind, she could let the rudeness of others slide. Truly, she was an inspiration to all.

As the day proceeded, Leafy was careful to remain calm. She was going to prove to Pin that she could be helpful.

Leafy could see the sun out the window, it was low in the sky. They were an hour from closing, but the register closed 30 minutes before the rest of the bakery.

Leafy froze as the door opened and Bubble walked in, seemingly unaware until she approached the counter and met Leafy’s eyes.

“Huh- Leafy? I didn’t know you had a job-“

Leafy smiled, a sickly sweet sort of smile. “My wife owns this bakery, I’m helping her”

“Oh... cool… This is kinda awkward, huh?” Bubble laughed nervously

“I don’t know what you mean” Leafy looked at her nails, feigning disinterest “So what do you want?”

Bubble shifted uncomfortably “Honestly Leafy, I’d love to talk to you, you haven’t been answering my calls”

“Bubble, I’m working”

“I know- I’m sorry- but can we talk once you get off? Please?” Bubble pleaded

She sorta liked how desperate Bubble became whenever they fought. She wouldn’t ever tell Bubble that, of course. She sighed dramatically “If you insist, the register closes in half an hour”

She could’ve easily just taken a break now, things were slow and they functioned fine without someone at the register. But. Leafy wanted to make Bubble wait, it was a test to see how committed she was.

Bubble placed her order and sat in a far corner of the cafe, just barely within view of Leafy.

Her eyes kept wandering towards Bubble’s little spot, despite how desperately she wanted to look like she didn’t care. When her eyes eyes met Bubble’s, she looked away quickly. She wondered if Bubble had been glancing at her too. She couldn’t escape this lonely feeling since their fighting had begun. She had other friends, but none of them were as close, none of them were willing to put up with her the way Bubble did. Bubble was hard to replace.

At the same time, she kinda wanted to be mad at her for a little longer.

When the register closed, she approached Bubble’s table and sat across from her. She placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of Bubble, and one in front of herself.

Leafy began sipping from the mug, Bubble took hers slowly. “What’s this?”

“Hot chocolate. On the house.” Leafy kept her voice friendly

“Oh um. Thank you.“ Bubble said softly, from the look in her eyes she could tell Bubble was trying to gather courage. “I feel like you took what I said personally”

Leafy stared at her “You said I needed therapy” Leafy couldn’t hide the venom from her tone

“I didn’t mean to say it so suddenly- it just slipped out- but you never even let me finish what I was trying to say”

Leafy’s body felt tense, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Bubble had to say. She glared into her hot chocolate mug, no longer able to look at her.

Bubble continued “I don’t mean it as a bad thing… I just meant that… it could help you. Especially after what Firey put you through… and” Bubble hesitated before stealing her resolve “I think that sometimes you can be a bit… impulsive… and petty”

“I am not petty-“

“You’ve been ignoring me for a month over this, and it’s not the first time you’ve done something like this.”

Leafy felt her hands shaking, she had so many things to say, but most of them would just prove Bubble’s point.

“Surely I’m not that bad” Leafy finally managed to say

“I don’t think you’re bad”

“It feels like you do”

“That’s not what I’m saying”

Leafy got up “I am, kindly, asking you to leave.”

“Leafy”

“I’m serious, my wife owns this bakery, I have every authority to kick you out.”

“I’m… sorry” Bubble gave in “I didn’t mean it”

Leafy decided she was content with that apology, plus she really couldn’t stand to have all this free time alone anymore.

“It would be wrong to let such a silly little argument end our friendship”

—-

That night Pin sat at the dining table, going through stacks of paperwork. She liked paperwork oddly enough, it was a dull sort of task that allowed her mind to wander. She had dreamed of opening a bakery for most of her life, and now that it was a reality she had run into serious financial issues. She was going to need to figure out a way to bring in more money or her bakery was not going to last much longer.

The real issue was staffing. Her brow furrowed, it was so hard to find good help.

“Aww you look so serious when you’re working” Leafy’s voice teased as she placed a cup of tea and bowl of soup on the table next to Pin “What has you looking so moody?”

“It’s not anything you’d find interesting”

“Try me”

“The bakery is understaffed in the kitchen, everyone I hire can’t take the pressure I guess”

“Omg Pinny! I have an i-d-e-a!” Leafy did a twirl, eagerness clear in her voice.

”What is it?” Pin took a sip of the tea, Leafy always made the tea exactly how she liked it. Despite how unaware she could be, she had great attention to detail.

“You should let me try to help out in the bakery!”

“Oh- um-“

“Piiiin you know I’m a great cook! I know a lot of your recipes already anyways! No one is better for this than me!”

Pin considered the possibility, if Leafy did some of the simpler tasks she could certainly speed things up. The main downside was the unpredictable chaos that seemed to follow Leafy. Maybe it would be fine.

“We can try it for one day and see how it goes”