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Keep Your Cars And Your Dogs

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Summary: Summary: It's Ray's birthday, and you're delighted that he's home from the Black Parade World Tour, in time to spend it with you. You decide to cook something delicious for him to celebrate.

Author: mcrxreader (on tumblr)

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You and Ray had gotten such precious little time together lately. You loved that his band had become so successful- he was so talented at what he did, so he deserved that kind of critical acclaim. But, he'd been away from you almost all summer, touring Europe. You'd missed him terribly.

He'd flown home from Ireland on the ninth - and slept almost the whole day after. Jet lag seemed to take a lot out of him. You'd enjoyed having him home since then. But, on the 25th, a whole, new tour was going to start. He was expected to be in Washington state, opening for Linkin Park as part of Projekt Revolution.

Two weeks was all you were going to get with him - and then he'd be right back on the road again, until September. You didn't know how he did it. Having to constantly travel from place to place, and do hours-long performances every single day. Whenever he did manage to find a moment to catch his breath, he would call you. He would tell you over and over again, how much he missed you, and couldn't wait to see you again. It almost made up for the months you spent all alone, in this house that was too big for one. Almost.

"But, never mind that," you muttered to yourself, as you stepped into the kitchen. Today was a special day - Ray's thirtieth birthday. And he was actually home to celebrate it with you! When he'd turned 28, he'd been hundreds of miles away, doing a Warped Tour date in Montana. And when he'd turned 29, he'd been knee-deep in recording Black Parade. He was perfectionist and obsessive when he was working - it was like he refused to come up for air.

But today, he's all mine, you smiled to yourself. There's nowhere else that he has to be.

At the moment, he was sleeping. You'd gotten up extra early today, to give yourself time to prepare his birthday surprise. He'd been talking to you, the other day, about the summers he'd spent in San Juan as a kid, with his abuela. He said she'd made the best pernil he'd ever tasted.

So, you'd gotten the idea to try and replicate her recipe, to surprise him. You'd gone through the trouble of contacting his aunt, who still lived in Puerto Rico to this day. You booted up your computer, to reread the email she'd sent you, with cooking instructions.

The first thing you need to do, chica, you read, imagining the little old lady's voice, is make a sofrito.

You were ashamed to admit, you'd had to Google what sofrito was. It wasn't a part of your culinary culture. Then, you'd had to go to three different stores to find the aji dulce peppers that the sofrito recipe called for.

But, you'd figured it out eventually, successfully pulsing the ajices dulces in your food processor, with bell peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro.

Ok, you thought, what's the next step?

You went back over to your computer, to re-check Ray's aunt's instructions. You could mash the garlic in the food processor, too, she conceded. But if you want to be really authentic....well, I always use a pilón.

You'd had to reply to her email, and ask her what that word meant. A pilón, you'd discovered, was a mortal and pestle. Now that was old school. You'd had to go to a specialty kitchenware store to find one. But, it was worth it to you. You wanted the dish to taste as close to the way Ray's grandmother used to make it, as possible.