Who: Johanna Mason and Peeta Mellark When: Backdated: Saturday, March 14th Where: Peeta's bakery then a Chinese food restaurant What: Impromptu lunch Rating/Warnings: Other than talk of buns, family friendly Status: Complete
Johanna had enjoyed spending time with Peeta, Finnick and Annie to celebrate Annie’s birthday, which had been the month before. Johanna had been in Orange County for a few months now and until joining Valarnet she hadn’t really made any friends so it was strange that the friends she had made were a result of shared dreams about a place where they were forced to kill other kids. Regardless, she’d enjoyed hanging out with the three of them, watching movies and eating junk food and generally not talking about Panem or The Hunger Games at all.
Hanging out with friends and not talking about the dreams had been nice and had made her feel normal again, but of course that feeling of normalcy could only last so long before she started dreaming again. Dreams that reminded her of recent events with her family. She didn’t want to bother Annie with what Snow had done to her family and she was sure that Finnick was busy with Ezra, but she felt like Peeta would be a good choice and it didn’t hurt that she wanted to see him again anyway.
She had contemplated texting him to see if he was free, but in the end, she had decided to stop by his bakery and possibly invite him out to lunch.
The birthday party for Annie had been a success and Peeta was so thankful to have that group of friends to do things with. It made him feel more normal and grounded despite the craziness that had been going on in his head. He was usually pretty good when it came to dealing with his PTSD, but something in the dreams had started messing with him. It wasn’t to the point where it was completely affecting his life in a terrible way, but he noticed a few more restless nights and inability to just relax and be alone with his thoughts.
That’s why he was so glad when things picked up at the bakery. Spring was coming and with that a bunch of spring weddings and baby showers. A birthday or two here and there, but he made most of his money from bigger life events, but today he was finishing up a fun birthday cake. The child decided he wanted it to be decorated like Super Mario Bros and Peeta got to put more of his artistic skills to use on that. So he was completely lost in his thoughts when his brother came back to tell him he had a visitor.
He set aside his piping bag and tried to dust some of the flour and sugar off himself, but not completely off his face, as he stepped out into the lobby of his bakery. He spotted Johanna and grinned, “Hey there, stranger.”
Johanna smiled upon seeing Peeta and her smile only widened when she noticed the flour on his face, “So is that an occupational hazard?” She gestured towards his face as she approached him and without thinking, reached out to wipe some flour off his cheek, pulling her arm back when she realized what she was doing, “Sorry, you had some flour on your face.” Of course she was sure that he had figured that out by now. After all, people didn’t usually just go around touching their friends’ faces randomly.
The fact that she had reached out to wipe the flour off his face made him blush, but he couldn’t help but grin. It was very sweet of her to do that and at least he knew that she felt comfortable enough around him to do things like that. He reached up and wiped at the same spot in case she left anything behind before laughing, “Don’t worry about it. At least you help me out. Usually my brothers let me keep going about my day with flour on my face. I can tell something is up when customers keep staring at a spot on my face. So, thank you very much.”
Johanna was relieved that Peeta hadn’t been weirded out by her touching his face and she was able to laugh it off despite the fact that she was still a little embarrassed that she’d done it in the first place. After all, it usually wasn’t like her to go around touching guys’ faces. Whether they were friends or not, “Well your brothers suck.” She smirked, cheeks still a little pink, “So, I’m guessing you were busy back there?” She gestured towards the kitchen.
“I know they do. But alas, there’s that thing called family obligation, so I just put up with them,” Peeta commented with a laugh. He did love his brothers, but sometimes they totally acted like siblings. It wasn’t uncommon for them to have a little fun with each other and there were prank wars every once and a while, “And not terribly busy. Just working on a cake, but it’s not being picked up today so I can step away from it. Why? what’s up?”
“Hopefully you get back at them for it,” Johanna could understand the whole brother thing. When she was younger she’d been more tomboyish and had wanted to spend as much time as possible with her older brother. Now that he was gone, she was glad that she had had those times with him, but it still hurt to think about even now. “Well, I was wondering, if you weren’t too busy, if you were free for lunch.”
“Lunch? Wow, it’s already time for lunch?” he glanced over at the register to confirm and he was surprised that time had passed so quickly already. When he looked back over at her he gave her a nod and a smile, “Yeah, I’m definitely free for lunch. Did you have any place in mind? I’m still figuring out all the places around here to eat. Let me go toss my apron in back and we can head out.” He had been to most of the places on the block, but there were still a lot of places to try. He undid his apron and dashed back to the kitchen to toss it up on a hook and make sure he was free of more flour.
Johanna nodded in response to his surprise that it was already lunch time, “There’s a chinese place nearby. Or, if you like pizza, there’s a pizza place around the corner.” Johanna walked this way when she decided not to drive to work so she had become familiar with a few of the places around the area. “You mean, you don’t want to wear the apron for lunch? You won’t have to use up their napkins.” She smirked a little at that.
“Ha ha,” he called out as he put his apron away, “Wouldn’t you just love to hang out with the guy wearing an apron. Everyone in the restaurant would be asking me to do things for them. I’d rather stay incognito than get yelled at by a random person. And I think chinese food sounds awesome. I’ve been eating a lot of pizza lately.” As he made his way back to Johanna he clasp his brother on the back and let him know that he was going to lunch and would be back in a while. He came around the counter to join her with a grin, “Shall we?”
“Well, maybe if you have one that says, kiss the cook, but then that would probably get even more awkward.” Was she flirting? Sure, Johanna had dated before, but she hadn’t flirted in awhile and she had never really been all that great at it either. She waited while he went to got rid of apron and told his brother he was leaving then nodded once he came back, “We shall.”
Turning, she headed out the door, holding it open for Peeta once she was outside then glanced up and down the street, “The better chinese place is, down that way.” She pointed down a side street, “They have great lo mein.”
“Oh god, please don’t say that. So many housewives come in here and try to turn on the flirt. It’s incredibly awkward. I don’t want to encourage them at all,” Peeta commented with a laugh as they made their way out of the store and then down the street, “Although, I guess with some pretty girls it would be better. I’ll just have to watch who comes in and decide if I want to wear it.”
He couldn’t help but wink at her as they decided which way to go. His stomach was starting to rumble slightly and he couldn’t wait until they were over there, “Lo mein sounds delicious. God, I could eat so much right now. It sucks to work in food but not eat for a while.”
Johanna laughed and shook her head, “I think those housewives have read one too many 50 Shades of Grey type of book.” She shuddered slightly at the mere thought of that book, “But, can you really blame them for trying to turn the flirt on?” Now it was her turn to wink at him as she led him down the street to the restaurant. “You must be starving by the time you go home after working around all that food. It must be sort of like the Garden of Eden. Temptation around every display case.”
“Housewives are quite scary sometimes. You wouldn’t believe the craziness I’ve dealt with when it comes to kid’s parties. And I’ve gotten very good at not wanting to eat all of my creations. I know that I would totally get diabetes if I did,” He commented with a laugh as they made their way to the restaurant and he held the door open for her, “I certainly enjoy eating regular food and you can only eat so many pieces of cake.”
“Thank you,” She said as they entered the restaurant, “And is that a challenge? I don’t look it, but I can put away a couple pieces of cake. I mean, I did end up eating that whole cake you made me for my brother’s birthday.” Sure, it hadn’t been all in one sitting, but she had had more than one piece that first night. “And I can only imagine what it’s like to do kid’s parties. I’ve had to deal with parents before who were redecorating their kids’ rooms, which probably isn’t the same cause I’ve never had any housewives flirt with me.” Johanna smirked as she approached the hostess and requested a table for two.
“You want that as a challenge? Eat every single thing I make and try not to get diabetes? That sounds like an absolutely horrific challenge,” Peeta wrinkled his nose as he laughed. The idea of trying to eat all that sugar almost gave him a toothache and he couldn’t imagine giving it a try, “And I can eat a whole cake if I wanted to, but over the course of a few days. And doing a kid’s room has to got to be intense because I can totally see parents going complete rage monster over that. They do it with cakes too. Heaven forbid I forget one tiny animal on your cake. And I’m shocked that a housewife hasn’t tried to flirt with you yet. You need to find a lesbian couple and you can get an ego boost at the same time as a paycheck.”
“Well when you say it like that, it doesn’t sound so appealing.” Johanna made a face at Peeta before the hostess led them to a table, “Oh god, I don’t think that’s a good idea either. I don’t even know what I’d do in that situation.” She sat down at the table the hostess led them to and took the offered menu, “Have you ever had any gay guys come into the bakery and hit on you?” She quirked an eyebrow, smirking a little as she asked the question.
“I have, actually. Some of them are subtle about it and some make crude comments that include pastry puns. It’s kind of awkward sometimes, but the best way to deal with it is to just downplay it. I usually say I’m flattered, but not interested,” Peeta explained to her as he took the menu from the waitress and opened it in front of him, “It’s nice that they think I’m attractive, but unfortunately I don’t swing that way. Or sometimes I’m completely oblivious to it and then they become repeat customers in an attempt to figure me out. I don’t really mind it.”
Johanna’s brows rose slightly, “Let me guess, they comment on how nice the buns look?” She gave him a mischievous grin as she opened the menu to look it over, “Do your brothers tease you about it when they’re around?” She had a feeling she knew the answer to that question, because what older brothers wouldn’t tease their younger sibling over something like that?
“That is exactly it,” Peeta was impressed that she picked up on that pun so quickly and let out a delighted laugh, “And sometimes. They usually don’t pay a huge amount of attention on what’s going on, but they do live to find things to tease me about. It sucks being the youngest, but hey, at least I’ve got a place for them to help work at. I think they’ll probably start leaving soon though because they both seem to want to open their own place or do something bigger. But I really appreciate their help as long as I can get it.”
Johanna grinned over her menu at Peeta, “Well, I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t checked out the buns myself.” Whether she was talking about the actual buns in the bakery or Peeta’s, she didn’t elaborate and instead glanced down at the menu, “So what are you thinking of getting?” Now that they were looking over the menus, Johanna was getting quite hungry, “We could get a pu pu platter for two, maybe?”
“Ha de ha,” Peeta deadpanned before shooting her a grin, “And I’m not really sure. But perhaps the pu pu platter would be a good idea. Should be enough food and enough variety to keep us going. I’m always trying to try new things when I go out to eat because it gets boring eating the same thing every time you go somewhere.” He didn’t want to be one of those people that only orders the same exact meal every time they go to a particular restaurant.
Johanna was still smiling a little as she listened to Peeta. “I mean, sometimes there are certain restaurants where you get the same thing every time if it’s a specialty there or something, but otherwise, I know what you mean. It’s good to try new things.” She was glad that Peeta had been able to come out to lunch with her otherwise she probably would have gone back to her place to make something, but this was much more enjoyable than being alone. “So, we have a choice of what we want in it.” She placed her menu down flat on the table and turned it so they could both read the appetizer options that could be chosen for the pu pu platter. “What should we get?”
“Oh man. Alright, let’s see,” Peeta leaned forward to study the menu before he pointed at a few items that he knew they would both probably enjoy in the platter and checked with Johanna to make sure it was something she would enjoy, “I think those are pretty safe bets. Are you okay with them or do you want to pick anything different?” He seemed like it was better to go with a safe bet for their first attempt at this and then maybe branch out if they met up more times for lunch.
Johanna nodded in response to Peeta’s suggestions, “Those all sound good to me.” Going with the safe choices was probably the best bet this time. Next time they went out to eat they could branch out a little maybe. “You have good taste.” She smirked at him as the waitress came to ask if they were ready to order.
“Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that,” Peeta grinned as he took a sip of his water before the waitress came over. Maybe being here in the OC wasn’t so bad after all. Even though his Dreams sucked he was making lifelong friends from them. Johanna was great to be around and he felt comfortable talking to her about things.