Work Text
White snowflakes slowly fell from the night sky onto the desolate welfare center. Past dark on Christmas Eve, the children and staff were all asleep, huddled under their blankets to hide away from the cold. The hours passed, and snow continued to blanket the ground, rising up several feet. Late at night, a single room in the welfare center shone with light, the kitchen. Inside, a young boy stood on a stepstool, clumsily rolling out a thick batch of dough. The rolling pin was too big and heavy for the small Bai Liu, sweat dripping down his flour covered face. But he continued to flatten the dough with resolve. Finally, the dough was flat enough, and he pressed cookie cutters in the shapes of gingerbread men, candy canes, christmas trees, and stars into the dough. Bai Liu put the cookies onto a long pan covered with parchment paper, almost burning his hand as he put the pan into the oven. For the twenty minutes the cookies were in the oven, Bai Liu attempted to make icing for the cookies. The icing ended up too runny, which he remedied by adding more powdered sugar as the recipe instructed, until the icing then became too thick. Then, he added more milk into the icing. Too much milk, as the icing became even runnier than before. Bai Liu repeatedly mixed more powdered sugar and milk into the icing, attempting to make the consistency perfect.
Ding!
The cookies were done. Bai Liu abandoned the messy bowl of icing and retrieved the cookies from the oven, wincing as the hot air hit his face.
Getting a good look at the cookies, he realized the edges had been burnt. Disappointed, he stared at the dark cookies for a minute, before scraping them into the trash bin and starting over.
“The cookies were too thin…” Bai Liu muttered to himself as he read through the recipe, coming to a conclusion about where he had gone wrong.
And so, he restarted. He took out a clean bowl from the cabinet and mixed all his ingredients together, determined to get it right this time.
Bai Liu sprinkled flour on the counter and on his rolling pin, laying his new batch of dough out. As he rolled the dough, he paid extra close attention to the thickness, ensuring that it wasn’t too thin, but not too thick either.
Finally, he determined it was perfect. Once more, Bai Liu cut shapes out of the dough, laying them on the still warm pan.
Late into the night, Bai Liu waited for the cookies to finish baking, having perfected the icing a while ago. As he sat on the floor next to the warm oven, his eyes began to close.
…
Bai Liu was startled awake as his head hit the floor. He had fallen asleep waiting for the cookies, it seemed.
“What time is it…?” He thought tiredly.
The analog clock on the wall read 1:24 AM, startling Bai Liu even more than hitting his head did.
He had put the cookies in the oven at 12:35! Hurriedly, he opened the oven, only to find that his cookies had again been burnt to a crisp.
Putting on an oven mitt and taking the burnt cookies out of the oven, Bai Liu began to lose hope.
“I should just get him something else for Christmas…” It was short notice though, in the early hours of Christmas morning.
“Perhaps I could get him some flowers? Not many survived the harsh winter though, especially with all the snow…” He thought dejectedly.
He remembered that day vividly. The welfare staff had brought out cookies, shaped and decorated in fun festive ways. The children had been excited, enthusiastically sharing in the cookies with shared joy.
Bai Liu didn’t participate in the fun, knowing even if he did want a cookie, the other kids would probably just hide them all from him anyway.
But, as he looked over…
Xie Ta, with his long, beautiful white hair, had been staring intently at the children and their cookies.
“Do you want one?” Bai Liu had asked.
“...No, it’s fine.” Xie Ta looked away, clearly a little sad.
Bai Liu looked back at the cookies, ready to go up and grab one for his friend. As he stepped forward though, a pale hand gripped his sleeve.
“It’s okay, Bai Liu. I don’t need any cookies.” Xie Ta smiled at him.
And so, Bai Liu abandoned the cookies, preferring to read with the white haired boy instead.
“...One more try.” Bai Liu resolved, once again trashing his burnt cookies and starting anew.
For the final time, he mixed the ingredients together, rolled out the dough, cut out the cookies, and put them into the oven. He poured the icing into different smaller bowls, using food dye to make different colors to decorate with.
Ding!
At last, the cookies were done. Bai Liu pulled open the oven with anticipation, unexpectedly finding perfect, golden brown cookies.
Overjoyed, he put the hot pan onto the stove, scraping the cookies off with a spatula onto another, cooler pan.
The first cookie broke, the poor gingerbread man’s head severed from the rest of its body.
Not a big deal, he decided. Bai Liu was more careful the second time, waiting for the cookies to cool off for a few minutes before trying again.
This time, he successfully removed the cookies from the pan, with most of them unbroken.
While waiting for the cookies to cool, Bai Liu looked outside into the dark, snowy night. A single red rose bloomed beneath the window, snow resting on its petals.
Minutes passed, but Bai Liu remained at the window, seemingly lost in a trance.
He eventually pulled himself away from the white snow, back to the cookies, ready to be decorated.
He awkwardly dipped the front of the warm cookies into the icing, dropping a few on accident. In the end, he was left with colorful icing all over his hands, and wildly decorated cookies, icing dripping down the sides. Finally, he added festive colored sprinkles, completing the cookies.
Bai Liu quickly cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, leaving no trace that anyone had ever been there, except for the missing ingredients. Finally, he placed the cookies into a small red tin, remembering to turn the oven off before turning the light off and running out of the room.
He stored the tin of cookies underneath his bed, curling up under his blanket and drifting off to sleep.
…
Dawn came sooner than Bai Liu would have liked. Still exhausted from baking the night before, he groggily got out of bed.
Early on Christmas morning, the children were instructed to get dressed and head to the chapel. Bai Liu stayed behind, grabbing the cookies and walking in a different direction than everyone else. The children ignored him, not bothering to remind him of the ceremony in the church.
Bai Liu found Xie Ta at the playground, alone, slightly swaying back and forth on the swing set. He paused before approaching, doubtfully opening the lid of the cookie tin one last time.
The cookies were ugly, broken and covered in discolored icing and unappetizing looking sprinkles. They looked nothing like the perfect, professional cookies the staff had served the other day.
He had been blind last night, too excited in successfully making cookies to notice their flaws. But now, they were all he saw.
“Should I really give these to Xie Ta?” Surely he wouldn’t like these messy, awkward looking cookies…
Footsteps crunched in the snow, approaching him.
It was Xie Ta, his long hair covering his eyes, his pale arms and legs peeking out from his short sleeved shirt and shorts. His hands were behind his back, clearly hiding something. He approached Bai Liu, a small smile on his face when Bai Liu looked up at him.
Now in front of Bai Liu, he held up his hands, revealing a vibrant, beautiful red rose. The thorns had been carefully removed by the one who picked it, a few cuts could be seen on his hands, clumsily covered by band-aids. The petals wilted slightly, but it remained strong, a faint, intoxicating scent wafting throughout the frigid air.
“Merry Christmas, Bai Liu.” Xie Ta held out the rose to him.
Bai Liu looked at the rose, then up at the innocent Xie Ta, who clearly didn’t understand the romantic symbolism behind the flower.
“...Thank you, it’s very pretty.” Bai Liu took the rose in his hands, being extra careful not to damage the fragile flower.
Hesitantly, he held out the container of cookies to Xie Ta.
“I… Made you these cookies. They aren’t very good, sorry.” Bai Liu looked down, avoiding the other boy’s gaze.
The container left his hands, and he nervously looked up at Xie Ta as he took a bite out of a gingerbread man, decorated in pink icing and red sprinkles.
“It’s delicious!” Xie Ta exclaimed.
Bai Liu’s eyes widened slightly, watching as the boy picked up another cookie, shaped like a star, and ate it.
“It must have been so fun to decorate these, next year we should do it together.” Xie Ta led Bai Liu over to the swing set, eagerly chattering away about the cookies.
Bai Liu simply sat on the swing and watched him, a faint smile forming on his face. He clutched the rose closer, holding it close to his heart.
“Next year… we can make them together.” He said. “Merry Christmas, Xie Ta.”
…
Several years later, an adult Bai Liu awoke early on Christmas morning, before the sun had risen. He quietly slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb his lover.
Dressed in an oversized t-shirt, pajama pants, and fluffy slippers, he entered the kitchen, flipping on the light switch as he tied his long, black hair up into a ponytail. He tied a frilly, colorful apron borrowed from Lu Yizhan around his waist, and got to work.
He took a bowl of chilled cookie dough out of the fridge, rolling it out into a thin layer, pressing cookie cutters into the dough.
Carefully placing the cookies onto two pans, he put them into the pre-heated oven and scrolled on his phone while waiting.
Ding!
The timer rang, and Bai Liu took the cookies out of the oven. The cookies were golden, baked to perfection. He then got out more pans, starting on a second batch while the first ones cooled.
Time passed, and the sun slowly rose above the horizon. Sunlight seeped into the kitchen, illuminating the counter which was covered in freshly baked cookies. Bai Liu had finished baking the cookies, he carefully put them all in containers, storing them for later. Next, he took out a large bowl of icing from the fridge.
He separated the chilled icing into separate bowls, adding a few drops of food dye into each bowl, before mixing them. The color didn’t turn out as vibrant as he had hoped, but it would work for cookie decorating. Bai Liu put the bowls of icing back into the fridge just as he heard footsteps entering the kitchen.
Arms wrapped around his back, a head resting on his shoulder.
“Good morning, Xie Ta.” Bai Liu turned around to face his boyfriend, kissing him lightly on the cheek.
“You didn’t wake me up…” Xie Ta pouted.
Bai Liu smiled, cupping his boyfriend’s face in his hands. “Why, so you could watch me bake cookies?”
Xie Ta nodded, earning a laugh from Bai Liu. “Come help me set up before everyone gets here.”
To Xie Ta’s disappointment, Bai Liu took off the apron before leaving the kitchen. The two tidied up their living space before cuddling on the couch together.
Bai Liu curled up against his boyfriend’s chest, playing with Xie Ta’s hair as the taller man gently held him in his arms.
“Merry Christmas, Bai Liu.”
Soon, the guests arrived. Fang Dian burst into the door followed by her husband, carrying bags of brightly wrapped presents. Mu Ke was the next to arrive, followed by Mu Sicheng and Liu Jiayi. The last to arrive was Tang Erda, who had apparently stayed up late the night before drinking and partying with Su Yang and other colleagues.
Bai Liu set out the pre baked cookies, icing and an assortment of sprinkles on the table, decorating them together with his family. Joy filled the air as the group chattered away, excitedly painting the cookies.
“Look look! I made a Yizhan cookie!” Fang Dian excitedly held up a cookie painted with Lu Yizhan’s face up to her husband. The icing hadn’t hardened yet, causing the face to melt down and drip into cookie Yizhan’s body. Nevertheless, the display of affection nearly brought Lu Yizhan to tears.
Meanwhile, Mu Sicheng was chasing Bai Liu, who was still holding a melting Mu Sicheng cookie in his hands, around the house.
Soon after, Lu Yizhan entered the kitchen and made breakfast for the group. The table was still covered in cookies and icing though, creating an even bigger mess.
As Bai Liu was despairing about how annoying it’d be to clean later, the group surrounded the Christmas tree in the living room to open gifts.
The group opened their gifts with anticipation and excitement, joy and warmth filling the air which was once so cold and empty.
Bai Liu had truly never expected that he would one day spend his Christmas like this.
Liu Jiayi sat in the corner next to the bright Christmas tree, unwrapping a small box from Bai Liu.
“A bow?” She looked up at Bai Liu.
Inside the box was a set of hair clips along with a larger purple bow.
“I thought it would suit you.” Bai Liu sat next to her, a small smile on his face.
Liu Jiayi smiled back at him, taking the bow out of the box. “Can you help me put it on?”
“Of course.”
He carefully did Liu Jiayi’s hair, gently putting it up in an adorable french braid before tying the purple bow at the bottom of the braid. Liu Jiayi enthusiastically looked at the braid in a mirror, a bright smile on her face. The bow truly did suit her.
Bai Liu was about to stand up, when the young girl suddenly hugged him tight.
“Thank you.” She spoke, slightly muffled as her face pressed against Bai Liu’s shirt.
A soft smile appeared on Bai Liu’s face, resting a hand on Liu Jiayi’s head.
“Merry Christmas, Jiayi.”