#cookie making

Whumpee's hot breath filled the leather pocket of the muzzle. Moisture clung to the skin around their mouth as they dragged in shaking, thin breaths through the far-too-small slits in the fabric. No amount of squirming let their eyes follow Whumper when they passed out of sight.

Soft, warm, soothing Christmas music played lazily in the background. Whumper hummed along to it as they danced around the kitchen, mixing ingredients and greasing cookie sheets.

Chocolate bubbled on the stove. Scorching. Heat from the oven thickened the room, puling sweat to the surface of Whumpee's skin. It dripped down lazily, but Whumper didn't seem to care as they bustled about.

At least it was quiet. At least Whumper was distracted and Whumpee wasn't...well...screaming.

When Whumpee closed their eyes, the music and the chocolate and nutmeg could almost convince them they were in a different kitchen. In a different time. Listening to someone else hum along to the radio.

Whumpee's feet kicked lazily under the chair as they leaned against the table, propping their chin up on their fists.

"Is ih ready?"

Mother laughed, the smile lighting up her eyes. The sound was so warm and rich, it brought a smile to Whumpee's face too.

"You just put them in the oven! Here, I'll move the time over here."

Whumpee stared at the egg timer as Mother clicked it down in front of them. "See? The dial is pointing at the "8". That means there's eight more minutes until we can take the cookies out.

Whumpee sighed, letting their forehead thunk unceremoniously onto the table. Thier lips squished against the wood, muffling their words. "Buh ey wanniiiiitttt."

"Do you want to help me mix the icing while you wait?"

Whumpee's head popped back up. "Yes please!"

"Okay, what colors do you want?" She held out a box of food coloring.

Whumpee peeked inside the box. Their face fell. "But there's only three colors."

Mother smiled, plucking the green and yellow out of the box. "Colors are magic, remember? Let's make green first."

She slid a small bowl of white icing in front of Whumpee, lightly slapping their hand away when they tried to dip a finger into it. "Here," She unscrewed the caps of the colors. "Put three drops of blue and three drops of yellow in. Then stir to make the magic."

Whumpee snatched them away from her, forgetting to count as they squished the tube over the icing. They must have done too much, because Mother plucked them back out of Whumpee's hands.

"Good job! Let's do that a little slower next time though, okay? Now, stir it together. Here, I'll hold the bowl still while you use the fork to mix it."

Whumpee drug the fork through the thick icing, watching yellow and blue drip into the gaps and lines they cut out of the white heap. The more the pushed the metal through it, the more the colors swirled. They marbled and blended until a right, deep green color overtook the white.

Whumpee grinned up at Mother, who clapped. "It's green now! How did you do that!?"

Whumpee beamed. "It's magic."

Whumpee jumped as the egg timer rang.

The cookies were ready!

"You stay here, I'll get them out." Mother folded a cotton towel over her hand, then opened the over. A wave of dry heat brushed through the kitchen, warming Whumpee's bare toes. They curled them against the warmth, drinking it in.

Mother set a piece of wood on the table, then set the pan on top of it.

"Do NOT touch that. Okay? It's very very hot - big owies. Okay?"

Whumpee clasped their hands together, looking longingly at the cookies. "But I wanna..."

"Let's make some more colors while they cool, okay? Then we can decorate them."

Whumpee nodded excitedly, tugging the box of colors to their chest.

"You did say you liked chocolate, right? I forgot." Whumper's voice snapped them out of the illusion.

Whumpee's eyes flickered open, squinted against the overhead light again. Whumper's face filled their vision, blocking the light entirely as they loomed over Whumpee.

"Really, I don't want to - like - make something you don't like or something like that. You know?"

Whumpee blinked up at them. Even if they wanted to answer, their jaw was clenched shut, locked in place by leather straps that bit into their skull, throbbing against the skin and pulling at their hair.

Whumper raised an eyebrow. "I'd do the whole sugar-cookie thing, but...I have a sweet tooth. But if you don't like chocolate, just say the word. Let me know and I'll...I don't know, I'll do something else too."

Whumpee's brows furrowed. They tugged their wrists against the leather, but of course it didn't do anything.

"Hmm. Okay. Chocolate it is, then." Whumper shrugged, pulling away. they continued their humming, singing the lines the knew. They didn't seem hot, but Whumpee was still dripping. The muzzle pushed hard against their nose, trapping their breath and grinding their teeth together.

Whumper was dancing. Why was the fucker dancing? They spun around the kitchen, humming and swaying, cooking like they were a disney princess. Not like someone who had shackles on their kitchen table.

Whumpee flinched as the oven timer beeped. The sharp, crisp sound flashed through the room, matching the chopping of the ceiling fan which stubbornly refused to cool them as their skin ran red.

"Finally," Whumper exclaimed. They pulled an oven mitt from the drawer. Whumpee felt a rush of hot air blow across them as the oven opened. Instead of tickling their toes, it suffocated them in the dry, unrelenting heat. Whumpee shivered against it, feeling the air rush over beats of sweat, heating them even more.

Whumpee panted into the leather, straining to suck fresh, cool air through the slits in the fabric.

Whumpee's eyes followed Whumper as they stepped closer, pan in hand. It...it wasn't even a pan. It was a thick sheet of metal. Far thicker than any cookie sheet needed to be. What even was that!?

Whumper's eyes shot around the room. "Ah shit, the stovetop is full...Okay, this is going to burn the laminate on the countersssss...." They trailed off, still glancing around. Their eyes landed on Whumpee. "Oh right! you're my helper today." They grinned. "Here, hold this for me." Whumpee jerked against the cuffs as Whumper approached with the pan.

"Here, just until it cools."

Whumper wasn't serious...were they? Whumpee writhed, but they couldn't move an inch.

"Hold still, okay? I'll be really bummed if these fall to the floor, okay? I worked hard on this for you, so be good and hold reeeeally still."

Whumpee only jerked back harder as Whumper lowered the pan. They could feel the scalding heat even through the air as the metal got closer.

They grunted into the muzzle, forcing air through clenched teeth.

"Shh...just hold still."

They didn't feel the burn at first.

But the pain did come.

Whumpee screamed against the leather, the sound whistled through clenched teeth. It almost felt cold. Icy electric fire shooting across their stomach, clawing up their sides, latching on to their spine and scraping down, lighting every nerve on fire as they writhed and screamed uselessly.

Whumper's voice was a blur above them. Their face was blurred too. Tears tracked down, pooling in their hair as they pulled and writhed. The fire wasn't lessening. Not even a little.

They couldn't breathe.

Whumpee panted and gasped against they leather, but it wasn't enough.

Their lungs burned with the rest of them, scorching and scalding and falling into an oblivion or white-hot agony. It ripped down though their bones, spinning up their neck, lodging itself in their skull.

It ate away at the edges of the world, searing and crumbling until the only thing that remained was darkness.

.

Whumpee gasped, jolting awake as a sharp pain split across their cheek.

Whumper laughed. "There you are! You fell asleep on me." They pulled back, if only slightly. "You gotta be careful, you could've dropped the cookies after we put so much work into it."

Whumpee panted, sucking in mouthful after mouthful of sweet, cold air.

The muzzle flopped to the side, pulled away while they were out.

Whumpee's head spun. It hurt. It still hurt so fucking much. The pan hadn't moved, but they couldn't feel it anymore. Their skin was completely numb, aching and burning around the edges in a perfect square.

Whumpee's shoulder ached too. They must have pulled something loose.

They swallowed mouthful after mouthful of air, trying to quench the burning in their lungs. Their tongue kept suctioning to the roof of their mouth, dry and sticky. When was the last time they'd had water?

"Oh right!" Whumper jumped back up. "You're probably just so excited to try these!" Whumper used the oven mitt to pluck one cookie from the tray. It melted between their fingertips, oozing back onto the thick metal sheet. Steam billowed out of the center of the cookie. Whumpee could smell the scorched chocolate mixing with the scent of burnt flesh. Their stomach rolled.

Whumper laughed, scooping it up with a spoon they swiped from a mixing bowl on the side. Bits of raw egg still clung to it.

They shoved it toward Whumpee's face.

Whumpee squirmed against the leather again, watching steam roll off the spoon. They stammered, tongue thick and bumbling around the words. "N-no, no please don't I - I don't want to-"

Whumper gripped their aching jaw, wrenching it open. Whumpee whined and gagged as Whumper shoved the spoon inside.

The fire returned.

Whumpee almost choked on it as the scalding, bitter chocolate ran down their throat. Their mouth convulsed around it, trying to spit, but Whumper slapped the muzzle back across their face, pushing down hard.

Their air was gone again.

Whumpee's head spun as they fought for air, gagging around the scorching dough. The leather clamped down on their nose again, locking their jaw back in place as Whumper fixed the little buckles back in place.

Whumper stepped back, brushing a few tears from Whumpee's face as if that did any fucking good. Air whistled through their nose as they squirmed. The heat from the chocolate rang through to the roots of their teeth.

The world started to swim again as they panted for air.

"Aren't they delicious? It's my favorite recipe."

.

[Whumpmas Masterpost]

Thanks to @amonthofwhump for making this event!