Everyone loves tiny cupcakes Who: Julian and Christian Where: the amusement park
Normally Julian was good with people. Normally he liked a crowd. But when people were scared and he was displaced, things weren't normal. He hadn't met enough people to find a group to stick with and had come up to the park alone, which was how he'd stayed when the robots went down. He'd found a hoodie in a gift shop, then slept on a bench, waiting for someone to fix the robots so he could go home. This was the situation he'd been hoping to avoid his entire life, but there he was again, alone in a park with no place to go.
Christian was still flushed from his visit down by the water with Tris. It was better, though PG13, but not them fighting. It was them how they made sense. He'd been pulled back into helping out with parsing food to those around. He helped make up some sandwiches, then wandered about handing them to people. He found someone else off to the side, on a bench, sitting with him and holding up one of the last two. "I've got peanut butter and chicken salad," he said holding out one of each. "Your pick."
Julian looked up, surprised to see the someone beside him, offering a sandwich no less. "Chicken salad," he answered with a little smile. "Thanks. I'm Julian." He'd never been good at the whole 'don't take things from strangers' bit. Everyone was a stranger until he got to know them.
“Christian,” he answered, holding on to the peanut butter and handing over the chicken salad. “And you’re welcome. We were handing them out to everyone.” He smiled then unwrapped his to take a bite. Nothing too fancy, but it was nice, feeling normal for a moment. “You’re new right?”
“Who’s we?” Julian asked, taking a bite of the sandwich. His stomach gurgled noisily and he wrapped an arm around it, making a face. Only now did he realize he hadn’t eaten since the robots stopped. “I am. Got here a bit ago, before that party at the spa.”
Christian shrugged. “Cillian, some of the others. We all kind of help each other out where we can.” He smiled a little at the way Julian’s stomach growled, but didn’t say anything. “There’s more, if you want it.” That was at least one perk, there was always food. “Cool. I’ve been here a bit, but you know if you have questions or whatever. You can always ask.”
“Cillian’s the guy running around? With the tats and the hair?” Julian asked, running his fingers through his to make the front stand up straight. “I’m not going to take your sandwich, but thanks,” he said with another little smile. “Is this common? The robots shutting down? Not being able to get back home?” This had looked like such a good opportunity, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“Mm,” Christian agreed with a little giggle. “That one.” It was an interesting way to describe him, but it was fitting. “Though you don’t have room to talk,” he said with a nod towards Julian’s hair. “No, it’s not. The first thing. The second thing, yes. I mean we’re all stuck here. But things don’t usually shut down.”
“Yeah, there’s not much I can do with this,” Julian smiled, tugging at one of his curls. “I’ve been the blonde curly kid all my life.” He’d have to shave it off to change that, but he didn’t want to. “I’ve heard that, that we’re stuck here. It didn’t seem like a bad thing before, but now… I dunno.” Not having a place to sleep was a big thing for him and last night it felt like he was sleeping on the street, even if everyone else was too.
Christian wanted to touch the curls, curious if they’d bounce when he tugged on them, but kept his hands to himself. “That’s not really a bad thing to be.” He smiled again then looked around, shrugging. “It doesn’t always bug me that we’re stuck, but yeah, sometimes, it’s hard. Today, god, yeah. But I’m sure someone’ll fix the robots. They have to.”
"Naw, not the worst by any means," Julian smiled. He'd been called a lot of things. Some of them hurt. That one didn't. "Who does that? Fix the robots, I mean. Is there like a crew or something?" He wasn't really sure how a city could be run by robots, but this one seemed to be. It was weird and kind of cool, at least when they were working. Right now it was a horrible inconvenience. "It wouldn't normally bother me. I guess because I was essentially stuck before here, but it was more a matter of money than an actual, physical barrier, you know?"
“I would think someone like one of us, but honestly, I’m not sure at all.” Christian bit his lip. “We’ve got a firefighter so there has to be a technician or something.” That only made sense right? “Yes? Sort of. I’m not really sure?”
"Seems reasonable," Julian said with a little nod. "Maybe they're trapped, too. Like, they were up here with us, enjoying a day off, but need to get back down to the-- the lab or something. Control room?" He had no idea. "Where'd you come from, before here?"
“Maybe,” Christian said with a nod. “Don’t know where they would have to go, but yeah.” He considered the question. “New York most recently, for school, but I grew up in DC. You?”
"Jersey area. Kind of stuck there until now, but I made a trip to New York City a time or two," Julian smiled. He loved the city and would have stayed there if he could, but it was far too expensive. "What're you going to school for? Anything fun?"
“Jersey? My boyfriend’s from there,” Christian said, pulling his foot up and tucking it under him. “I liked New York. It was loud, a lot more than I was ready for.” He shook his head at the question. “Was going for pre-law.”
“Yeah? That's cool. You ever been?” He knew it wasn't a place most people visited unless they had a reason, but maybe Christian’s boyfriend had taken him home with him. “I liked all the noise. And the people. So many people. Pre-law? Wow. Not anymore? Did you change?”
Christian shook his head. “No. I met him here,” he explained. There hadn’t been a chance to see where Tris was from yet. He winced. “I think that was what I hated about it,” he said with a little shrug of his shoulders. “Well, I came here and I thought about dropping out,” he explained, taking a bite of his sandwich. “But I got bored and I went back. I’m looking into a few different things.”
“I like it loud,” Julian smiled. “It makes me feel like-- like I'm a part of something.” He knew it was just an illusion, but he could buy into it for a little while. “Any idea what you want to do? You've got to be smart if you were in law school. You could do anything.” College was never even been on Julian's roadmap.
“It makes me feel like I’m drowning,” Christian admitted. “I think I want to work for a non-profit? And I wasn’t quite in law school, yet, but I guess, maybe? I have some options.” Hopefully. Christian wasn’t sure how much his father’s job had impacted his chances at school.
Julian nodded, even though he couldn’t relate. He could see how New York City would overwhelm people, even while that was the part he loved. “Options are good. So ’s non-profit work. It always needs more people and it’s not something everyone just goes into.”
Christian nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. That it’d be nice to help people,” he said with a grin. It was nice that someone got it, understood why he was thinking it. “What brought you here?”
“I’m opening a bakery,” Julian grinned. “I’m just about ready to go and when I’m ready I figured I’d post something on the net, a grand opening thing. Maybe do free tiny cupcakes or cookies or something.” He wasn’t entirely sure what the turnout would be though and didn’t know if he could really handle such a thing.
“You can bake?” Christian asked, eyes lighting up. “I love tiny cupcakes. Like too much,” he said poking his stomach before laughing at himself. “I mean, who doesn’t?”
“I can,” Julian smiled. “Anything you want. And if not, then I can learn. Everyone loves tiny cupcakes. A little too much is always okay,” he said, giving Christian a nudge. “Vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, and I want to do some different flavors like carrot cake or lemon or dreamsicle.”
“Dreamsicle? Oh my god that sounds amazing.” Then Christian put a hand over his mouth, feeling stupidly gay for that. “Sorry,” he said with a flush on his cheeks.
Julian grinned, his tongue between his teeth. “What are you sorry for? That’s the reaction I’m going for. It just has to be as good as it sounds. Maybe you’ll sample ‘em for me? Let me know if they’re good enough to sell?”
“Of course I will. Tris too,” he said with a nod. “I mean who could turn down being a taste tester for cupcakes?” No one. The blush was still there, but Christian felt better about it, less like an idiot for gushing like he did.
“Some people don’t like sweets,” Julian said. “I think they’re wrong in the head, but hey, to each their own. What’s your favorite? Not just cupcake. Favorite dessert.” Everyone had something they liked, even those that weren’t huge sugar fiends.
Christian licked his lips, thinking of what the right answer was. He didn’t know what would be his favorite. He hummed a little, then smiled. “Caramel. Like anything caramel.”
“I can work with that,” Julian smiled. Everyone loved chocolate and caramel. There was also caramel and apples. He’d have to make something for Christian. His list of people to bake for was growing, but it made him happy. “Does your boyfriend have any favorites that you know of?”
Christian shook his head. “Not that I know of. But Tris doesn’t have a lot of favorites of things? I think he just likes whatever he can get.” He should ask about that. That was the sort of thing that boyfriends should know.
“I know how that is,” Julian nodded. “Everything was my favorite when I was little. If I had one toy, it was my favorite. One friend, they were my favorite. I don’t think I understood that ‘only’ and ‘favorite’ were two different things until I was older.”
“I think Tris is the same way,” Christian agreed. “That sounds like him for sure.” He smiled fondly though. “I think we’re getting him out of that habit.”
“That’s good. We’re allowed to have favorites, you know?” Julian didn’t have a lot, but he’d learned what he liked over time, if he could afford it. “Tris. Short for Tristan?”
“I think so too, but he and I are both learning that,” Christian said before laughing. “Yes. Tristan. And I’m aware we are Tristan and Christian. What’s worse is he tends to call me ‘Chris’.” He rolled his eyes. “We look like idiots.”
“I think it’s cute,” Julian smiled. “If you start wearing matching shirts? Matching shirts with your names on them? Then maybe you’re getting into idiot territory,” he teased. “Besides, it’s not like you can pick your names.”
“No matching shirt yet. Then again, we both wear pretty similar clothes so maybe? No names though,” Christian explained. “No, we can’t. I wouldn’t be Christian that’s for sure.”
“No? Why not? It’s a pretty name,” Julian said, then considered it. “I mean, it’s nice. If the word pretty bothers you. It bothers some guys. I don’t know why.”
Christian flushed and shook his head. “I’m okay with pretty,” he said, but shifted a little. It made him think of Tris calling him that, in bed. Yeah, no, he really liked it. “It just doesn’t fit. My parents...wanted a traditional name. I’m not sure it works for me.”
“And you’re not traditional?” Julian asked, raising a brow with a little smile. “I try not to let my parents opinion of me color my life. It’s hard, but… there are lots of Chrises out there, right? You don’t have to be like any of them. And you’re pretty enough to have a pretty name,” he smiled.
“Well, I'm not what they wanted in traditional.” He didn't want his parents to color his life, but it was hard to ignore. They were his parents after all. He flushed bright red when Julian called him pretty, shifting a little in his seat because yeah, that did it for him. “Thanks,” he told his knees, unable to look up.
“That’s okay. Traditional just means you conform to the majority. There’s nothing wrong with being different, and parents are overrated.” At least, that’s what Julian told himself, a lie that he tried to believe every day of his life. Julian grinned when Christian blushed, leaning in a little as he spoke softly. “Hey, why’re you hiding?”
They'd been talking about something else, but Christian couldn't remember what it was. He was still bright pink, biting his lip and looking up at Julian. “Just...uhhh…”
“And you’re cute when you blush,” Julian smiled. He really, truly was. It was too bad Christian had a boyfriend, though that didn’t stop Julian from mildly flirting.
Christian was pretty sure his skin was burning off. “I can't seem to stop,” he murmured, pressed a hand to his cheek, trying to cool it off. “Thanks.”
Julian laughed softly, biting his lip. He needed to stop himself, but there was Christian, being adorable. “What ‘re you thinking about?”
Christian shook his head. “Nothing I can tell you about.” He needed Julian to talk about something else, just so he could think about something else. Anything else.
“Okay,” Julian said, still grinning. “So, what do you do for fun around here? I think I’m done with amusement parks for a while.” He hadn’t even ridden that many of the rides, but he doubted he’d be coming back any time soon.
“School? There's a bar I work at. Tris plays piano and he's fantastic,” Christian said too loud and too quickly. Anything to not be thinking about being on his knees and called pretty. “It's fun.”
“School counts as fun?” Julian asked, brow raising. “A piano bar would be. I’ll have to check it out, keep you company at the bar.” Bring them both cupcakes. Anything to keep himself busy and Christian seemed nice, even if a little funny when embarrassed. Very cute, even if he shouldn’t say so again. “Thanks for this,” he said, taking another bite of his sandwich.
“Well, now that I don't feel pressured to study what someone else wants me to study, yeah.” Christian smiled, feeling better when Julian said he’d come to the bar. “Yes, you should. I make a mean cocktail.” He nodded at the sandwich, then got up, relieved he could without making a scene. “Let me know if you need another, okay?”
“That’s fair. I’ve just never been one for school. Unless it’s culinary school,” Julian smiled. He didn’t think they had anything like that down there, but it was worth checking it out, just in case he had the money in the future. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks, Christian.” It was just a sandwich, but it made him feel worlds better.
“I’m taking a cooking class too,” Christian admitted. “Just so I could figure out how to make dinner. So it’s totally an option.” He grinned and nodded. “Any time. I’ve mastered sandwiches. It’s nice to meet you.” Hopefully Julian didn’t think too much on that embarrassing display he had over being called pretty. That had been embarrassing enough that he didn’t need it to be the only thing Julian remembered.
“I’ll look into it,” Julian smiled. Maybe there were scholarships. He could bake up a storm, but everything else was a challenge. “Come by the bakery sometime. I’ll pay you back in sweets.” Free samples were always there for a new friend.