Work Text:
Time can sometimes pass so slowly that it becomes boring — that’s what Timekeeper Cookie thought while, from her desk, she watched her girlfriend sleeping sprawled across the double bed, tangled in the sheets.
Even though it was always like this, it was something the guardian of time would never grow tired of.
Her Croissant.
She was so spontaneous, someone who solved problems and cared about her — of course, without being afraid to point out her views. They could be the same person, yet director and engineer were very different.
Oh, Timekeeper smiled sincerely, one of those smiles only her partner and daughter could bring out of her.
Standing up, the chair squeaked a little, and she switched off the lamp. She’d get her hands busy and start making breakfast; Croissant never woke up early, and Creme Brulee was the kind of person who only woke up once her stomach started growling.
The water boiled for the black tea, the toaster gave off the smell of burning bread, and the timekeeper found herself staring out the apartment window. Dawn was one of her favorite things — the end of another day that had only opened more timelines with every second, timelines small, vast, or catastrophic, which every night she cut apart with her scissors before finally resting in the bed she shared with the other cookie.
Her train of thought — and with it, her peace — was interrupted when she heard a song begin to play behind her.
Her phone vibrated and let out a cheerful ringtone: a call.
She could ignore it, answer it, or slam the very expensive phone onto the floor and argue with Croissant about it afterward.
Oh, so many possible futures, and yet she had to pick the most boring one when she read on the screen that it was a leader from one of the TBD groups. She sighed, but well, she thought, becoming director had been her own choice. Bliss had always tasted dull to her.
She grabbed the phone and, figuring out how to answer the call on that device Croissant Cookie had insisted she needed to own, accepted the notification and began speaking to her coworker in a pleasant yet automatic tone.
The cookie had already begun to grow bored of the conversation when she felt a weight on her shoulder. Croissant Cookie was resting her head there with sleepy eyes.
Not only that — the engineer was also holding their daughter in her arms, Creme Brulee, only eight years old, half-asleep and hugging her mother around the neck.
The sight Timekeeper witnessed was so adorable that she answered her employee’s questions quickly and curtly before tossing the phone onto the table, earning a frown from her girlfriend for that.
“Morning, mes amours.” The taller woman kissed Croissant on the cheek before she could say anything, also gently patting the head of her little bundle of joy.
“Good morning, Mom!” The little one barely opened her eyes to look at her mother, yawning.
“Good morning, Tee.”
“Did you dream again that the ground opened up and swallowed your project of many years of work?”
Croissant was no longer surprised by the fact that her beloved could guess — sometimes incorrectly — her dreams.
“Yes… I think it’s the work stress I’ve been dealing with lately, although it’s nothing compared to what happened before!” She smiled tiredly.
“Well, seems that being ma croissante just gave you more work.” The taller cookie shrugged, not as if she didn’t care. After all, both of them loved their jobs, though after the great incident involving Shadow Milk Cookie — when the timelines collapsed and most workers had to struggle to regulate the aftermath — well, even Timekeeper herself had gotten stressed that time.
Anyway, years after that event, things were finally fine again, with only a few small ups and downs for the couple.
And they couldn’t have been happier.
“Yeah… right…” She yawned again.
The kettle released steam with a whistle, and Timekeeper hurried to remove it from the stove.
The engineer carefully set her daughter down when she felt the child tugging on her clothes, asking to be put down from her lap as she opened her eyes.
“Morning, caramel sweetheart, how was your sleep?” The cookie gave her daughter a soft kiss on the cheek with so much affection that Timekeeper watched from the corner of her eye with deep devotion.
“Morning, Mommy!”
The joy of the house laughed, lighting up her mothers in the process with innocence and carefree happiness.
Croissant coughed and gladly played along with the child. “You dream somethin’?”
“Big teeth crushing cookies!”
The child laughed again. … The adult cookies looked at each other.
“We should take her to a psychologist.” That was the younger adult’s idea.
“Nonsense, I dream omens whenever I rest my head on the pillow.”
“I think this is a bit different?”
Neither of them felt like arguing right now about how the timekeeper entered a trance every time she lay down, suffering visions of the future or the past. Meh. Side effects of time travel.
The toast with honey and cream smelled delicious on the table, black tea steamed from three cups, and Creme Brulee puffed her cheeks as she blew on the liquid inside her little My Little Pony mug.
The entire room glowed with oranges and yellows, the open windows pierced by rays of sunlight falling across the table in the middle of the kitchen. The shelves on the walls were full of plants, the child’s crafts, and photographs — one especially large picture showed the cookies living in the apartment together in what looked like a family portrait.
“After the announcements, the week’s gossip will begin, soooo stay tuned, folks!”
The radio played while Timekeeper listened, wiping the counter with a rag.
Croissant glanced at the news on her phone while making sure their daughter didn’t burn herself with the tea.
About thirty minutes passed; only crumbs remained from the toast, both on the plate and on Creme Brulee’s cheeks.
“Damn, my little piece of dough, you made a mess outta your face!” The croissant cookie laughed, grabbing a cloth and wiping the stained cheeks of the little cookie.
Suddenly, the radio made an announcement that caught the adult cookies’ attention.
“And now, everyone, keep it up! Here’s the latest song from Jazz n’ Coffee Cookie, My Way of Life!”
“Gotta have you near all the time, with your dreams wrapped up in mine—”
A squeal escaped the timekeeper cookie at the first lyrics of the song, while the engineer cookie sighed.
“Now that’s a song I’m never tired of hearing!” The taller woman approached and pulled her girlfriend closer, their bodies bumping together and drawing a gasp from Croissant.
“Gotta be a part of your soul and your heart all the time—”
“With your dreams wrapped up in mine—”
Holding her partner by the waist, her other hand gracefully clasping the gloved one, the engineer cookie smiled wide enough to reveal the gap between her front teeth — a feature Timekeeper considered adorable.
“This song isn’t even that danceable, Time Boss.”
“Oh, shush, it’s our favorite! How could you say no to dancing with your cuddle bug?” The gloved cookie clicked her tongue.
“Nothing in the world that I do means a thing without you—”
From the table, Creme Brulee watched with fascination as her mothers improvised a waltz.
“I’m just half alive in my struggle to live without you—”
The weaver of time moved with long strides, fluid motions, and swaying hips, guiding the dance.
“You are my way of life—”
The other cookie tried to keep up, her legs not quite long enough to complete the same steps as Timekeeper.
“The only way I know—”
Passion radiated from both their eyes.
“You are my way of life—”
The world around them seemed to fade away.
“I’ll never let you go—”
Two cookies floating in the sea of their love — love for each other, love itself.
“Never let you go out of my sight, be it day, be it night—”
“You belong to me, that’s the way it has to be, wrong or right—”
“I don’t need the crowds at my door, the applause from the floor—”
“All I need is you and the love we once knew, nothing more—”
The little cookie joined the dance, her mothers taking her tiny hands. It wouldn’t be an easy dance, but it would certainly be fun.
“You are my way of life—”
“The only way I know—”
“I’ll never let you go—”
“Because I love you so—”
Croissant’s phone began to ring — String Gummy Cookie had sent her a message, completely ignored beneath the music.
“You are my way of life—”
“The only way I know—”
“Make me your way of life—”
From a tiny crack in time within the kitchen-turned-dance-floor, a withered amber eye watched the family moment unfold. Ruler of the Ephemeral Flow Cookie passed a hand over her fractured face, her smile unwavering.
Even though deep within her there remained an endless pain her soul mistook for numbness.
“Don’t ever go—”
How had a simple argument diverted her from such a beautiful future? Closing the rift, the cookie disappeared among the timelines.
Timekeeper Cookie relaxed her tension; she had sensed the presence since the song began.
How was she supposed to know one of her alternate selves would associate that song with herself? Maybe she just liked listening to Jazz n’ Coffee Cookie too much.
“Well, that was a fun ride, but someone has to get to school in twenty minutes.”
Croissant looked down at the little one with a teasing smile.
“Aww, ma!” Creme Brulee Cookie puffed out her cheeks, looking incredibly cute while angry.
She ran over and hugged the taller cookie’s leg, snapping her out of her dissociation. They lifted their child up, settling her into their arms.
“Guess tiny timeline needs to go!” The little cookie complained and squirmed slightly, but her mothers eventually convinced her.
“It’s your turn, Tee.” The mentioned cookie took the little one to her room to get dressed in her uniform, folding her pajamas and leaving them on the already-made bed.
While the child changed clothes, the adult cookie walked down the hallway toward their bedroom.
As she passed through it, she left behind a trail of framed pictures of friends, Croissant’s family, and photos from when Creme Brulee had barely been a lump of dough — countless memories stored in a narrow hallway.
Knocking on the door, Timekeeper announced herself as she searched the room for her partner. Croissant sat on the bed, putting on brown combat boots, brown eyes meeting an amber one.
“Little one’s changing, and I should’ve been heading to the TBD principal building fifteen minutes ago,” the timekeeper cookie announced with her characteristic relaxed smile.
“You’re not going anywhere without giving me a hug!” the other exclaimed as she stood up.
Timekeeper welcomed her with open arms, taking the opportunity to stroke her partner’s biceps. Witches, she wouldn’t trade this present for anything in the world. She considered herself the luckiest Timekeeper of them all.