Written for day 5 of Yuridetta week, and in honor of the Yuridetta Discord server. This is a modern AU fic where Yuri and Bernie are already in an established relationship and is loosely tied to the fics for day 4 and day 7 of Yuridetta week. And now, let us see how these two experienced chefs confront their biggest challenge yet: bagel making!

Bernadetta had just sent off the latest version of her manuscript when a loud sigh came in from the kitchen. As much as she wanted to reread the document she had just sent and make last-minute corrections, she made herself close her laptop and pull herself out of her cozy armchair.

In her fuzzy dragon slippers, Bernadetta padded her way into the kitchen. Yuri was still there, hunched over and rummaging through the fridge. He was wearing a simple yet fitted t-shirt, his hair was in a loose braid, and his face looked freshly cleaned. It was a simple and clean look only Yuri could pull off, and it was only the lack of pink eyeshadow that told Bernie he had no plans to go out. Bernie tightened her fluffy bathrobe around herself and stepped into the kitchen.

"We're out of bagels," Yuri said without looking up.

"Again?!" Bernie rushed to stand next to him, and sure enough, when she peered into the fridge she could not spot the dozen bagels she was positive had been there a few days ago. "Aaaaw. I just bought some this week!"

"I should've expected this would happen. I invited Balthus over when you were at the publisher's office." Yuri stood up and brushed a few strands of hair from his eyes. "And Balthus brought Constance and Hapi over with him. And of course Ashe decided to tag along, and he brought Annette and Ingrid."

"Sylvain came over to talk about my manuscript when you were at work. And Hubert and Edelgard came to catch up. Then Dorothea and got jealous that she didn't get invited, and she invited Petra and Caspar!" Bernadetta closed the fridge and crossed her arms across her chest. "Why do we keep inviting bagel thieves to our house?"

"We need to make a new rule."

"No bagel stealing! If you want food, you eat something else!"

"Or make it yourself."

"Yeah!" Bernadetta cheered at the idea, and in a flash, a light went off in her head. "Wait, why don't we try making them?"

"Making what? Bagels?" Yuri looked over at her with quizzical eyes, but not mockingly. Bernie had known him long enough to know that the little shine in his eyes meant he was mulling things over in his head.

"Come on, Yuri!" Bernadetta said, jumping up a little. "It'll be fun! And… it can help me take my mind off my manuscript."

Yuri's eyes softened, but his mouth still twisted itself into his usual smirk. "The deadline was today, wasn't it." He let out a dramatic sigh. "It would be something to add to our cooking repertoire. We can make a good dinner easy enough, but the most I've made from scratch is a loaf of bread. Once."

"And if we learn how to make bagels, we could make all kinds of bagels!" Bernadetta gasped at her realization. "We can make everything! Blueberry bagels, chocolate chip bagels, onion bagels, cinnamon bagels, everything bagels!"

"We can make all the bagels you want," Yuri said as he pulled out his phone. "But first we need to learn how to make plain bagels."

"Right." Bernadetta settled down and nodded seriously. "What do we need?"

"Not too much." Yuri moved the phone down so Bernadetta could see the recipe. A quick look at the ingredient and equipment list revealed that the two of them already had everything they needed. "And it's not like we're newbies in the kitchen."

"Yeah! We've got this!" Bernadetta held up a hand.

Yuri laughed a little, but sure enough, he gave her the high-five. But instead of leaving it at that, he took her hand in his and placed a quick kiss on her fingers.

Bernadetta giggled as she took back her hand. "Let's do this! I'm gonna get changed."

"I'll start getting everything out." Yuri was already moving towards the pantry. "And it's just bagels. I say we'll nail this first try."

Two hours had passed. Bernadetta was in a proper pair of pants, Yuri had pulled his hair into a tight bun, the two of them had aprons on, the kitchen countertop was a mess of flour and sugar, and a pale… thing was now lying on a paper towel.

"That… doesn't look like a bagel," Bernadetta muttered as they looked over a twisted mess of what was supposed to be cooked dough.

With only two fingers holding the spatula, Yuri carefully scooped up the thing and threw it into the trash. "It is our first try. I'm sure it'll look better the next time around."

"Why… did it melt?" Yuri wondered.

The mess had extended at this point. The flour and sugar had somehow gotten onto the floor, the sink was half-filled with dishes, a their newest attempt to create a bagel had resulted in what could only be called a bagel puddle.

"I don't know! I can't find anything online about bagels melting!" Bernadetta kept scrolling through page 3 of the search results, but something caught her eye. Something that was…. Moving.

"Aaah! It's alive!" Bernadetta yelled. The bagel sputtered and bubbled, launching droplets of burning hot water towards them. Bernie tugged on Yuri's sleeve. "Kill it! Kill it!"

"I've got this!" Yuri ran to the far cupboard and pulled out a pair of paper plates. With fast fingers, he deftly scooped up the bagel and ran to the trash bin. "Open it! Open it!"

Bernadetta opened the lid and let Yuri dump it all in the trash. She shut the lid with a tad more force than was necessary, but it was small price to pay to save their home.

"Oh no," Bernadetta said out loud. "We created a monster. We're Frankenstein and the bagels are our monsters! Aaaaah! It's the night of the living bagels!"

"First off, it's only five in the afternoon," Yuri said. He put his hands on her shoulders and steered her away from the trash. "Second, we are not Frankenstein. The bagels just aren't… cooperating with us."

Bernie forced herself to breathe. "Right. They're just being stubborn. But we'll get it next time!"

Yuri nodded and raised his eyebrow at her. "Right then. Third time's the charm?"

Yuri and Bernadetta stared at their foam-covered kitchen. They could barely see the floor amid the spilled ingredients and foam, something that Bernadetta logically knew was their attempt at a bagel was stretched out across the stove, the sink was now completely full of dirty dishes, but the curtains that were above the sink were only slightly charred, so she would count that as a win.

"I knew it was a good idea to buy a fire extinguisher!" She exclaimed. She looked up at Yuri, who was still holding the extinguisher in shock, and gave him the biggest grin she could manage.

Yuri hung his head and sighed. "I hate to admit it, but you were right about that idea."

"Yes!" Bernadetta jumped up, and only realized her mistake afterward. She felt her feet slip on the messy floor, and she flailed her arms wildly as she fell backward.

A loud clank echoed across the room. Bernadetta caught her breath when she realized that she hadn't fallen to the floor, and she finally released it when she saw Yuri's face hanging over her. He sighed in relief, and the arm that caught her tightened just a bit.

Bernie let him pull her upright, but that didn't stop her cheeks from flushing. "Sorry," she muttered.

"For what?" Yuri's face fell back into a smirk. "For saving you from landing in a mound of foam."

Bernadetta pouted at him. "Yuri—"

A tiny hiss cut her off. The two of them followed the sound of the noise, and their eyes lay on the fire extinguisher that lay near Yuri's feet.

"Yuri," Bernadetta said without looking away from the extinguisher. "Did you drop the fire extinguisher so you could catch me?"

Bernie heard Yuri click his tongue. "Yep. Were you being serious when you said that fire extinguishers could burst if someone dropped them hard enough?"

"Yes," Bernadetta said meekly.

She barely had time to process Yuri throwing her over his shoulder and sprinting out of the kitchen. He rushed them into the living room, and just when Bernadetta was about to say something, a forceful pop boomed through the house.

Yuri set Bernadetta down wordlessly and tiptoed his back to the kitchen. Bernadetta followed suit, and she felt the relief seep into every bit of her body when she saw that no extra damage had been done to the kitchen. Yes, it was still a mess, but all the fire extinguisher did was let out more foam.

"Yay! Our kitchen's ok!" Bernadetta cheered but stopped right after. "Oh no. We're gonna have to clean this up, aren't we?"

Yuri said nothing. He walked out of the kitchen, rummaged around for a while, and came back with every cleaning supply they had. "I thought we were good cooks."

"Me too." Bernadetta agreed as she grabbed a mop. "Maybe this is a sign. Maybe it's the spirit of the bagels that's telling us we can't do it."

"Nonsense," Yuri said. His back was straight, and his eyes were looking forward. "I refuse to let something as trivial as a bagel stop us. We are going to clean this up, do this again, and we will finish making this bagel!"

Bernadetta gripped the mop harder. "You're right. No bagel can stop us!"

It had been several hours since they had started. The kitchen was now clean, free of flour, sugar, and foam. The dishes had been washed and put away, leaving only a shining kitchen countertop. Even the curtains looked alright, with the charred bits of fabric looking almost decorative. But most importantly, just to one side of the stove was cooling rack filled to the brim with shining bagels .

"Yes! We did it!" Bernadetta raised her arms in triumph. "Go Bernie and Yuri!"

"About time. We've been at this for what, seven hours?" Yuri wiped his forehead with his sleeve. He'd already taken their aprons to the washing machine and was now looking over their creation with a smug little smile.

Bernadetta grabbed one of the bagels and cut it in half. The scent of fresh bread filled her nose, so strong it nearly drowned out the scent of cleaning products. She cut up a small piece and held it up for Yuri. "Try it! Try it!"

Yuri grabbed the bagel piece and launched it into his mouth. He chewed on it carefully, taking his time to see how it tasted. When he finally swallowed, he grinned.

"Yes!" Bernadetta yelled. She ran over to the fridge and pulled out the cream cheese. "We actually did it!"

"Did we actually spend a whole afternoon trying to make bagels?" Yuri asked as he set down the plates.

"Mmhmm." Bernadetta felt her face flush as she cut up a second bagel. "But I liked it."

A hand came to rest on her cheek. "Me too," Yuri said. He let his fingers play with the strands of hair near her ear, twisting and turning her hair against her skin.

Bernadetta ducked her head, and Goddess help her because she just couldn't stop blushing!

There was a sudden rumble the filled the kitchen. Yuri and Bernadetta looked at each other, realized that the rumble had come from both of their stomachs, and laughed.

"I guess we're hungry," Bernadetta said between giggles.

Yuri, per usual, was the first to recover. "That we are. Come on. Pass me the cream cheese so we can actually eat these things."

Bernadetta obliged. She passed him the container, and just as his fingers touched her, he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Yuri! She exclaimed, still laughing. "Kissing later! I'm hungry!"

"Alright, alright." Yuri turned around and got to work. "As you wish, my dear."

Bernadetta laughed and lay her arms on the countertop. She watched Yuri prepare the bagels, and something about the moment struck her. Despite the hectic day, Yuri was still there, calm and steady. He glanced over to her and smiled, turning back to the bagels without saying a word.

Yeah, she thought, realizing that it had been hours since she last thought about manuscripts and deadlines. Today was a good day.

And without looking away from Yuri, Bernadetta lay her head on her arms and smiled.