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Viper walks in as Sage begins to roll the checker sized pieces of dough into wrappers. It takes her a good moment to assess the situation before her, and brings herself right beside Sage. "What are you making?"
"Dumplings," Sage replies, "It's New Years Eve today, so I'd thought to make some."
"From scratch?" Viper sits down, looking at the bowls of filling and dough in awe. She slides a hand across Sage's waist, and Sage hums pleasantly in response.
"My family has always made it from scratch, so I had my standards set," Sage giggles lightly as Viper nuzzles against her neck.
"Well aren't you picky?" Viper deflates into Sage. She was originally just coming into the kitchen for a snack after spending the entire day in her lab. Unfortunately, she has been conditioned to stop in her tracks when Sage's presence is near when they're off the field, and especially when she's exhausted like now, to allow herself to relax by being physically close to her lover.
It's a newly developed habit that she very, very happily follows.
But even though, being in one of her favourite places across all universes, Viper's head does not stop working. In this case, she gazes into the large bowls of filling and dough intensely—enough portion to feed at least a dozen people, and she looks over to Sage again, rolling out the wrappers one by one with the petite rolling pin. And while Sage seems unbothered by it, there is a problem.
"You're going to be up until midnight if you plan to do this all by yourself," Viper murmurs beside Sage's ear. She straightens up, immediately missing Sage's warmth, but there are other tasks at hand. "Let me help you."
And the regret came as soon as the words left her mouth because she realised that she's never, ever touched a dumpling in its raw, unfrozen form in her life. In compensation, Viper adds, "…How do I help you?"
The sound of Sage's laugh is like music to Viper's ears, "I'll teach you."
—
"Like this?" Viper scoops a small portion of the pork mince onto the centre of the wrapper and looks to Sage, who nods in response.
"Just remember to keep the skin on your fingers, so you can use your knuckles as a mould." Sage gently guides Viper's closed fingers upward into a scoop, and the filling sinks down perfectly, awaiting to be wrapped and closed off.
"Now, fold it over and twist the two sides as you pinch them together," and a beautifully wrapped dumpling appears in Sage's palm. Viper, watching intently, follows suit. Fold, pinch, twist. Simple instructions, and though Sage makes it look way easier than it actually is, she has made it easy for Viper to follow through.
Except a violent twitch tore through Viper's hand before she could feel it coming.
Having no time to react, the half-wrapped dumpling becomes a squashed mess within Viper's hands. She drops the poor dumpling as if it's aflame and curses beneath her breath. Viper breathes manually and turns to Sage, who only looks at her with love and concern.
Setting the wrapper in her hand aside and putting them over Viper's, Sage hushes, "It's okay." She picks up the half-made dumpling again, but instead of resting it on her palm like the others, she folds it over and presses the edges together with her thumbs.
"This way, you won't have to pinch it between your fingers, see?"
Nodding, Viper tries again. Putting slightly less filling in so she'd have more edges to work with, and presses. When she let her hands go, a complete, closed-off dumpling lands on the bench.
Sage inhales deeply and scoops the little dumpling into her hands, admiring it with so much joy and pride that Viper's only ever seen the same expression when Neon learned how to channel her lightning at will. Sage leans over and presses a kiss on Viper's cheek, "I knew you could do it."
Brushing Sage's chin with her index finger, "A good teacher helps," Viper smiles.
Just as Viper leans in for a kiss, Sage, out of nowhere, smears a smudge of flour on Viper's nose with her thumb. Viper immediately pulls away. She takes a moment to process Sage's laugh and the shock of betrayal, before dipping her hand into the flour.
"Two can play this game," Viper snarks. Sage is already in her defensive stance, grinning and bracing herself for impact.
"Xīnnián kuàilè, qīn'ài de," Is the last thing Viper hears before the battle begins.