A few years later.

By the time the lease of the original matcha & milk shop ends, Robin has gathered enough capital to open a larger shop, boasting of both a larger kitchen, more storage, and ample space for eat-in-dining.

Little motifs of deserts decorate the side wall, and there are a mixture of cosy booths and quaint small tables.

It’s now afternoon on the day of the evening’s soft opening. Robin and his pastry chef have been preparing desserts, and as the time approaches, Robin can see his friends hanging around out the front as he sets all the desserts in their display counters. There’s Oliver, Lark and Mia, Robin’s old high school and uni friends...and even Henry has come along.

With a fond exasperation, Robin unlocks the front door. “Hi, everyone. Come in quickly,” he says, letting his friends into the shop first, and giving an apologetic smile to the strangers as he locks the door again.

“Wow, it looks amazing,” Oliver quickly says first, wrapping an arm around Robin.

“Very instagramable,” Mia comments.

“Thanks,” Robin says drily, but a smile curls up the corner of his mouth. He lets Oliver drag him along to the main decorated wall.

“Hey, that’s a cheesecake, isn’t it? OH, that looks like bubble tea, and...dalgona?” Oliver points out the different images. “Waffles! We should have waffles again soon…”

“Should I have a mini competition to name the desserts?” Robin smirks.

Oliver grins. “Yeah—”

“But what if I win?” Henry interrupts. “Wouldn’t you be so guttered?”

Oliver pulls a face at Henry. “Nevermind that. Robin, let’s take a picture. Right here.”

“I’ll take it,” Lark offers smoothly, taking out her phone.

“This wall isn’t going anywhere, but alright,” Robin agrees. Oliver’s still at his side, and they both smile for Lark and her camera.

“Hey, Robin?” Oliver takes a step back.

Robin turns to him.

Oliver gets down on one knee.

Robin’s stomach drops. What?! He…!!

Oliver pulls out a tiny cake-shaped box and pops it open, revealing a silver ring inside.

Robin holds his breath. His heart is thumping loud in his chest, he’s half-afraid he won’t be able to hear Oliver’s words.

Oliver’s eyes are bright and open, and his tone melodious as he says, “Robin, can we kiss each morning hello? Can we stay together forever? Will you fill my heart with sweetness and marry me?”

“Ollie…” Robin’s legs tremble. “You…”

There’s the slightest pout to Oliver’s lips. “Pretty please?”

He glances at all their friends gathered. To Lark, who is clearly filming this. She raises an eyebrow. Slowly, his shock is replaced with an overwhelming fondness. He pulls Oliver to his feet. “Silly Ollie, of course I’ll marry you!”

Oliver beams. He fumbles as he puts the ring on Robin’s finger, and Robin smiles with his entire being. He loves his man so much.

Cheers and wolf whistles ring around the shop. “Yes!” “Remember to invite me for the wedding!”

Robin ignores them in favour of Oliver. “Where’s your ring? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have gotten you one too!”

“Hehehe,” Oliver says cheekily. The little cake box has two layers, and opening the bottom compartment reveals a second ring.

“That’s…” Robin dissolves at the ridiculousness, the absurdity, of what is happening. He’s no smoother than Oliver at putting Oliver’s ring on.

“Now we match again. I think these are a tiny bit better than matching sunnies,” Oliver says with utmost seriousness. Then he pushes Robin against the wall—blocking the view of everyone else—and kisses him hard. Robin, for once, ignores propriety and deepens the kiss.

Life is very sweet.

The End 🍰

bafflinghaze

OKAY.

SO.

WOW.

I can't believe we're at the end! A +50k story, done! Thank you for reading!! Thank you for commenting!! Thank you for your support!!!

 

Feel sad about it ending? How about re-reading? 😂😂😂

But actually, this is one of the first times I actually felt the pain of a story of mine ending 😭😭😭 What an experience!

In this end notes, there will be some more "behind the scenes" details about my writing process, plus current/future writing!

matcha & milk: behind the scenes

matcha & milk (with the lower case, LOL), started out by me watching Korean cafe vlogs. Maybe because I couldn't go out... I initially had the idea of making this a Draco/Harry dessert shop/cafe setting, but to be honest, I wanted an original Asian character, hence it turned into this original story you see here~

(Also, I already have a tea-shop drarry fic haha)

In fact, the way this was written is also comparatively rare, i.e., I only wrote about 12 scenes before I started posting. Usually, I would have written at least a draft before re-writing and posting. I did have a very rough "outline", with scenes that I wanted to include, plus desserts I wanted to include (the dessert list was very important), but the outline evolved over time.

Part of the reason why I decided to write and post was that I didn't want to stress about it, this was meant to be a chill out fic, with cute fluff and yummy desserts. By posting it, I'd stop myself from re-writing over and over again. Also, by posting, I get feedback 😂😂 Incorporating this feedback into story has been very interesting process, like how people pointed out their feelings about Nina and Kyle. I actually gave Nina and Kyle a bigger role because of that 😂😂

(That is, posting over on AO3 and Tapas! By the time I posted it here on ScribbleHub, the fic was already almost entirely done.)

The main "downside" from posting-as-I-wrote was that if I had to change Robin's dessert shop name from "Delightful Desserts and Drinks" to "matcha & milk" a few chapters after posting.😅😅😅

The upside to posting as I went meant that the ending was not rushed (in my opinion) compared to my other stories. Which is a good thing?

I wrote matcha & milk all on Google Docs and converted to HTML formatting with the AO3 HTML google docs posting script. I also drew the cover in Adobe Photoshop.

Other brainstormed titles include: Slice of Cake, Cake x Tea, Strawberry & Matcha, and Milk & Matcha.

Desserts I didn't feature but had on my list include: double chocolate matcha tart, TimTam cheesecake, and cheese milk tea.

My initial character notes for Oliver and Robin were: Oliver is like a Disaster Gay, while Robin is more like an Oblivious Gay. 😂😂

Other writing

My current writing project I'm working on right now [as of November 2020] is a Draco/Harry fic called Under Dragon Wings, in which Draco....can turn into a dragon 🙈

I'm also have a food fic (nonbinary/male pairing) with toutcequonveut, called eat a mango, gift a garden toutcequonveut has also made food drawings for each chapter, so please check it out!

Aside from them, I have a lot of cultivation fantasy (wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan) type stories in mind, but we'll see if I'll complete any...
And a final thanks to everyone for reading! Lots of internet hugs!