Aaron: It was Friday, and while that meant gearing down into the weekend for most, Aaron’s week was only just getting started. Friday was more like Hump Day than the day before the weekend. He had half an hour to get to the nearest cake shop, pick up the ridiculous cake he had on order for Conny’s maternity-slash-leaving party, and make it back in time for briefing on a new case Mercia had let him in on. The girls had been wrong to trust him with this one, and should have known better having been the test subjects of his office antics in the past.
Outside it was spitting, but Aaron kept dry under one of the umbrellas the station provided. He had decided to change out of his uniform, choosing to slip into a more casual, tan coloured jersey and brown leather belt. He kept his uniform pants and boots on, they weren’t easy to distinguish from normal suit pants without looking too closely and, with his height, down wasn’t the direction people often looked in. His usual buzzcut had grown out, a messy smattering of stubble covered his jaw, spotty in some places where hair just didn’t grow. He needed to look messy for the undercover work he was going to take on the following week, something about a drug sting he was yet to be briefed on.
After closing the umbrella and giving it a little shake outside the shop, Aaron let himself in, leaving the umbrella at the door before moving to the counter. He looked over some of the cakes in the display cabinet, they all looked good and, while he couldn’t imagine what the place had done with his order for Conny, trying to left him with a stupid smirk on his face.
Sai: Friday. The busiest day of the week for the baking business and this particular Friday was no exception. One person is just not enough, Sai thought to herself as she buzzed around the cramped kitchen, fighting speed racks, bread bins, and everything else under the sun creating obstacles between where she was and where she needed to go. Long, black hair that normally dusted the small of her back was pulled up into a very haphazard bun atop her head, flour dusted the apple of her left cheek and half of her nose, and her once white apron was splattered with various colors of frosting, ganache, cream...anything one could really imagine. Her feet ached from the long day but she pressed on, slightly behind on her order due to be picked up in just a matter of minutes. The cake was set, though she crinkled her nose at it; A sperm cake? Really? This is one for the record books, she thought, piping bag swirling aqua blue frosting over the cupcakes accompanying the cake when she heard the bell to the front door ding.
“Damn it...” she muttered under her breath, and ducked out to the front to greet the man who was presumably there for the odd order. She took a deep breath to calm her anxiety from having run behind and offered a kind smile, though her eyes gave away her exhaustion,, “Hello, how can I help you today?” she asked, brushing her blue dyed fingers on her apron as if that would help remove the dye.
Sweet Sensations (Aaron and Sai)
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Aaron
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Re: Sweet Sensations (Aaron and Sai)
Aaron: People must take up these kinds of jobs for the passion, that was the first thought that crossed Aaron’s mind when he saw the cake maker, covered in all kinds of God-knows-what, wander into the front of the shop, separated only by the counter that stood between them. Aaron smiled, amused by the dusting of flour that coated half of her nose and the crest of her cheek. He couldn’t imagine himself doing something like this day in and day out, he most definitely didn’t have the skill or patience for it.
“Pick up for Loch,” he told her, “I put an order in last week, the woman on the phone said it would be ready by eleven.” He looked at the heavy silver wrist watch on his left wrist, and wondered if the woman standing in front of him was the same one he had spoken to on the phone. She looked a little flustered and rushed off her feet. “If it’s not ready I can come back, I was going to grab a coffee after pick up anyway.”
Sai: “Do you have maybe ten or fifteen minutes?” she asked, her tone still cheerful but exasperatedly apologetic. “I’m so sorry, it’s just me today. My assistant called off so I’ve been a bit behind but I’ve just got about a dozen or so cupcakes left to frost. You’re welcome to hang out or come back?”
She saw his eyes set upon her cheek which she figured meant she had something on it, a small hand came up to brush embarrassedly at the golden skin of her face. She didn’t bother with makeup today but at only twenty seven, she didn’t have much need of it save for covering up the dark circles under her eyes from the early mornings. Chocolate colored, almond shaped eyes gave away her half Filipino heritage and she fixed her gaze on the man’s face, curious if he’d go or stay before she excused herself back to the kitchen.
Aaron: While he didn’t mind the wait, Aaron wasn’t sure if it was wise to do so in the shop, feeling that he might only add to the woman’s load. He didn’t want to be the cause of any anxiety, and so he rocked back on the heels of his boots and swayed in the direction of the door, only to pause. “A workmate of mine told me I could get good coffee here, I think it's the reason I took your card in the first place.” Way-to-go, he thought, no added pressure.
“Is there anything I can help with?” He didn’t want to stand about looking like a lost giant that had stumbled in off the street, even if that was exactly how he felt. “I could do some dishes?” A charming smile followed, not that he thought it charming, but had been accused of such in the past. When Aaron smiled at himself in the mirror, it was always followed up seconds later with an awkward cringe, he tried not to repeat now.
“Pick up for Loch,” he told her, “I put an order in last week, the woman on the phone said it would be ready by eleven.” He looked at the heavy silver wrist watch on his left wrist, and wondered if the woman standing in front of him was the same one he had spoken to on the phone. She looked a little flustered and rushed off her feet. “If it’s not ready I can come back, I was going to grab a coffee after pick up anyway.”
Sai: “Do you have maybe ten or fifteen minutes?” she asked, her tone still cheerful but exasperatedly apologetic. “I’m so sorry, it’s just me today. My assistant called off so I’ve been a bit behind but I’ve just got about a dozen or so cupcakes left to frost. You’re welcome to hang out or come back?”
She saw his eyes set upon her cheek which she figured meant she had something on it, a small hand came up to brush embarrassedly at the golden skin of her face. She didn’t bother with makeup today but at only twenty seven, she didn’t have much need of it save for covering up the dark circles under her eyes from the early mornings. Chocolate colored, almond shaped eyes gave away her half Filipino heritage and she fixed her gaze on the man’s face, curious if he’d go or stay before she excused herself back to the kitchen.
Aaron: While he didn’t mind the wait, Aaron wasn’t sure if it was wise to do so in the shop, feeling that he might only add to the woman’s load. He didn’t want to be the cause of any anxiety, and so he rocked back on the heels of his boots and swayed in the direction of the door, only to pause. “A workmate of mine told me I could get good coffee here, I think it's the reason I took your card in the first place.” Way-to-go, he thought, no added pressure.
“Is there anything I can help with?” He didn’t want to stand about looking like a lost giant that had stumbled in off the street, even if that was exactly how he felt. “I could do some dishes?” A charming smile followed, not that he thought it charming, but had been accused of such in the past. When Aaron smiled at himself in the mirror, it was always followed up seconds later with an awkward cringe, he tried not to repeat now.
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Sai
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Re: Sweet Sensations (Aaron and Sai)
Sai: Her features softened at the compliment and she nodded, another smile, this one more genuine, pulling at the corners of her mouth. “You’re welcome to help yourself to a cup,” she said, indicating the fresh brew sitting in the pot just behind the display case, simple white mugs lining a shelf just above the machine.. “If you want, you can stand in the back while I finish up and set them in the box. I hate to put you to work on your own order though, so you can just enjoy your coffee out here if you prefer.”
With that, she left the choice to him and disappeared back into the kitchen to pick up her piping bag and continue on. White fondant decorations lay to her left, the boxed cake already set off to the side ready and waiting. She brushed a few stray strands of hair away that tickled her nose and set to piping a cupcake, adorning it with a fondant sperm… which amused her to no end, and set it aside. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping the man would take the former option rather than the latter simply to chat at her and break the silence she’d been working in all day long.
Aaron: Going around the counter to make himself a coffee was strange, almost alien. Aaron had never worked in this kind of customer service industry before, but had to admit there was a certain sense of power that came with standing on the wrong side of the till. He poured some of the hot coffee into a white mug and followed the baker into the back of the shop to watch her work. Icing cupcakes looked like child’s play the way she did it, but Aaron had tried to ice a cake before and it had gone terribly wrong. He learned after watching some bake-wars show a few years later, that his mistake had probably been putting the icing on before the cake had cooled.
A moment's hesitation saw him standing like a dope over the closed cake box that was all packed and ready to go, awaiting the smaller cupcakes the woman was busy working on now. He opened the lid, tentative, as if the cake might explode if he did not handle it with care. A hard bout of laughter saw him cough and quickly swallow a mouthful of coffee before he could continue. “Oh my God, that’s too perfect,” he laughed, covered his right eye and shook his head slowly. “They are going to kill me.”
Sai: Sai had kept working but gave him a side-eyed glance and a smirk as he opened the box to look over her work. He indicated that he wanted something with shock factor and she ran with that. It really was the least offensive option given the parameters they had discussed on the phone and, quite frankly, the little fondant sperm were kind of cute. She chuckled softly and turned her attention back to swirling blue frosting atop the dozen white cupcakes left to top, “I take it they have no idea what you’re up to?” she took the liberty to assume, “If not, then yes, they probably will but it will be hilarious either way.”
An empty box sat next to the one housing the cake, ready and waiting to accept the couple dozen cupcakes he had ordered along with the small cake. She was glad he joined her, the presence of another person had calmed her frayed nerves and it didn’t hurt that he was kind of cute. Recognizing the lower half of his uniform given her own personal history, she felt inclined to probe just a little bit for the sake of small talk, “You a cop?” she asked, though she was fairly confident she already knew the answer. Only another few moments passed before she was finished and she took to setting the cupcakes one by one carefully into the waiting cardboard vessel. “Sorry again for the wait…” she said, apologizing for what felt like the millionth time. She did not like running off schedule and Willow calling in on a Friday had her frazzled from the moment she’d arrived that morning.
With that, she left the choice to him and disappeared back into the kitchen to pick up her piping bag and continue on. White fondant decorations lay to her left, the boxed cake already set off to the side ready and waiting. She brushed a few stray strands of hair away that tickled her nose and set to piping a cupcake, adorning it with a fondant sperm… which amused her to no end, and set it aside. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping the man would take the former option rather than the latter simply to chat at her and break the silence she’d been working in all day long.
Aaron: Going around the counter to make himself a coffee was strange, almost alien. Aaron had never worked in this kind of customer service industry before, but had to admit there was a certain sense of power that came with standing on the wrong side of the till. He poured some of the hot coffee into a white mug and followed the baker into the back of the shop to watch her work. Icing cupcakes looked like child’s play the way she did it, but Aaron had tried to ice a cake before and it had gone terribly wrong. He learned after watching some bake-wars show a few years later, that his mistake had probably been putting the icing on before the cake had cooled.
A moment's hesitation saw him standing like a dope over the closed cake box that was all packed and ready to go, awaiting the smaller cupcakes the woman was busy working on now. He opened the lid, tentative, as if the cake might explode if he did not handle it with care. A hard bout of laughter saw him cough and quickly swallow a mouthful of coffee before he could continue. “Oh my God, that’s too perfect,” he laughed, covered his right eye and shook his head slowly. “They are going to kill me.”
Sai: Sai had kept working but gave him a side-eyed glance and a smirk as he opened the box to look over her work. He indicated that he wanted something with shock factor and she ran with that. It really was the least offensive option given the parameters they had discussed on the phone and, quite frankly, the little fondant sperm were kind of cute. She chuckled softly and turned her attention back to swirling blue frosting atop the dozen white cupcakes left to top, “I take it they have no idea what you’re up to?” she took the liberty to assume, “If not, then yes, they probably will but it will be hilarious either way.”
An empty box sat next to the one housing the cake, ready and waiting to accept the couple dozen cupcakes he had ordered along with the small cake. She was glad he joined her, the presence of another person had calmed her frayed nerves and it didn’t hurt that he was kind of cute. Recognizing the lower half of his uniform given her own personal history, she felt inclined to probe just a little bit for the sake of small talk, “You a cop?” she asked, though she was fairly confident she already knew the answer. Only another few moments passed before she was finished and she took to setting the cupcakes one by one carefully into the waiting cardboard vessel. “Sorry again for the wait…” she said, apologizing for what felt like the millionth time. She did not like running off schedule and Willow calling in on a Friday had her frazzled from the moment she’d arrived that morning.
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Aaron
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Re: Sweet Sensations (Aaron and Sai)
Aaron: “Hilarious,” he agreed, nodding. The guys would get a kick out of it, the ladies, not so much, but Aaron was sure they would forgive him, at least by Christmas. He leaned back against the bench and sipped the hot coffee from the mug. Coffee had never really been his drink of choice, but it helped, sometimes that was, with trying to quit smoking, or so he kept telling himself. Replacing one bad habit with another, the thought crossed his mind, forgotten as soon as the baker spoke again. “Yeah, about seven or eight years now,” he told her. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, you know? But it's grown on me. I’ve got to admit zombies were never brought up during the training course,” he smiled, as if to highlight the joke or lack thereof.
Aaron watched as the cupcakes were fed into the box, one at a time into individual holes cut into cardboard that would keep them separated so that they didn’t slide around on his way back to the office. “No worries about the wait,” he assured her, “it’s nice to get out sometimes, you know?”
He stacked the lighter box of cupcakes on top of the box with the cake in it and dragged them to the edge of the table in order to pick both boxes up, setting his cup of coffee aside, abandoned to the workstation. “Think you could print me a receipt if I pay by card? We are meant to split the bill. I guess I better try and get my money back from the rest of the crew before they open the box.” He laughed then, light hearted and amused.
Sai: Sai laughed at his quip about zombies and nodded in agreement, “Right? There’s some weird stuff that goes on around here. I’m sure I’m not privy to all of it given I’m a civilian and all but quite frankly, I prefer it that way. I come from a family of military and cops. You have the demeanor about you and those pants are unmistakable if you know what you’re looking for.”
She met him at the register and gave a single nod at his request, “Of course,” she said as she punched in buttons on the iPad run system, “I’m giving you a break both for it not being ready on time and for saving my sanity by showing up when you did.” She smiled at him, soft, and turned the iPad out for him to slide his card for twenty percent less than he was quoted and sign afterward. “I can help you to your car, too, if you like as it’s raining and all.” He was her last pick up of the day and the final order to be completed so she pulled off the wrecked apron, tossing it around the corner into a bin of identically soiled linens just inside the kitchen. She was dressed simply: skinny jeans, a white sweater that hung off one shoulder, and flour-dusted but sensible shoes which really did nothing for either her height or her aching feet from regularly working fourteen hour days. Coming around the front side of the counter, she gathered the cupcake box, leaving him with just the small one housing the cake and headed for the door, awaiting him finishing his transaction and selecting to email himself his receipt.
Aaron: A small part of him hoped she wasn’t right about his demeanor, and that it had just been the pants that had given him away, he was about to take on undercover work for the first time in two years, if he looked or even seemed like a cop, it could get him into a lot of trouble out there on the streets. “Must be the pants,” he said, before adding, “and the boots. Helps if you know what you’re looking for.”
It wasn’t until Aaron had already paid that he realised what the woman had meant by giving him a break. “No, wait,” he said, but she was already walking out the door with the cupcakes. He closed the distance between the counter and the door in a few short steps, taking up his umbrella on the way out. “You didn’t have to do that, give me a discount, I really didn’t mind the wait and I don’t want to take any money from your pocket at the end of the day. The cakes are exactly as promised after all.”
Sai: She really had just been so absorbed in the culture that she knew instinctively his profession. She highly doubted anyone who didn’t have explicit, in depth experience with military or law enforcement would pick up on it, “Definitely the pants… and yes, the boots. I’m sorry if I overstepped by mentioning it at all,” she said, another small smile formed on her lips as she waited for him to join up with her and lead the way to his vehicle.
“The discount is well-deserved and it’s no big deal, really. I hope they’re worth the extra time and that no one actually murders you for your wicked sense of humor,” she told him with a wink. “I appreciate your business, Mr. Loch, and I do hope you’ll come back if you ever need anything for either an occasion or simply to have the stereotypical cup of coffee and a donut as your profession would expect.”
She paused when they reached his car and waited for him to load it in a way he was comfortable before tucking her hands into her pockets and turning on her heel to head back into the shop to begin cleaning up and closing for the day.
Aaron watched as the cupcakes were fed into the box, one at a time into individual holes cut into cardboard that would keep them separated so that they didn’t slide around on his way back to the office. “No worries about the wait,” he assured her, “it’s nice to get out sometimes, you know?”
He stacked the lighter box of cupcakes on top of the box with the cake in it and dragged them to the edge of the table in order to pick both boxes up, setting his cup of coffee aside, abandoned to the workstation. “Think you could print me a receipt if I pay by card? We are meant to split the bill. I guess I better try and get my money back from the rest of the crew before they open the box.” He laughed then, light hearted and amused.
Sai: Sai laughed at his quip about zombies and nodded in agreement, “Right? There’s some weird stuff that goes on around here. I’m sure I’m not privy to all of it given I’m a civilian and all but quite frankly, I prefer it that way. I come from a family of military and cops. You have the demeanor about you and those pants are unmistakable if you know what you’re looking for.”
She met him at the register and gave a single nod at his request, “Of course,” she said as she punched in buttons on the iPad run system, “I’m giving you a break both for it not being ready on time and for saving my sanity by showing up when you did.” She smiled at him, soft, and turned the iPad out for him to slide his card for twenty percent less than he was quoted and sign afterward. “I can help you to your car, too, if you like as it’s raining and all.” He was her last pick up of the day and the final order to be completed so she pulled off the wrecked apron, tossing it around the corner into a bin of identically soiled linens just inside the kitchen. She was dressed simply: skinny jeans, a white sweater that hung off one shoulder, and flour-dusted but sensible shoes which really did nothing for either her height or her aching feet from regularly working fourteen hour days. Coming around the front side of the counter, she gathered the cupcake box, leaving him with just the small one housing the cake and headed for the door, awaiting him finishing his transaction and selecting to email himself his receipt.
Aaron: A small part of him hoped she wasn’t right about his demeanor, and that it had just been the pants that had given him away, he was about to take on undercover work for the first time in two years, if he looked or even seemed like a cop, it could get him into a lot of trouble out there on the streets. “Must be the pants,” he said, before adding, “and the boots. Helps if you know what you’re looking for.”
It wasn’t until Aaron had already paid that he realised what the woman had meant by giving him a break. “No, wait,” he said, but she was already walking out the door with the cupcakes. He closed the distance between the counter and the door in a few short steps, taking up his umbrella on the way out. “You didn’t have to do that, give me a discount, I really didn’t mind the wait and I don’t want to take any money from your pocket at the end of the day. The cakes are exactly as promised after all.”
Sai: She really had just been so absorbed in the culture that she knew instinctively his profession. She highly doubted anyone who didn’t have explicit, in depth experience with military or law enforcement would pick up on it, “Definitely the pants… and yes, the boots. I’m sorry if I overstepped by mentioning it at all,” she said, another small smile formed on her lips as she waited for him to join up with her and lead the way to his vehicle.
“The discount is well-deserved and it’s no big deal, really. I hope they’re worth the extra time and that no one actually murders you for your wicked sense of humor,” she told him with a wink. “I appreciate your business, Mr. Loch, and I do hope you’ll come back if you ever need anything for either an occasion or simply to have the stereotypical cup of coffee and a donut as your profession would expect.”
She paused when they reached his car and waited for him to load it in a way he was comfortable before tucking her hands into her pockets and turning on her heel to head back into the shop to begin cleaning up and closing for the day.