Who: Justin Taylor and Maxwell Trevelyan When: Backdated: Friday, March 4th. Late Afternoon Where: Baxter's Bakery What: Justin introduces Max to his first Sparkling Latte Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Since the first time Justin had tried a sparkling latte at Baxter’s Bakery, he’d been just a little obsessed with them. This particular latte was like no latte he’d ever had before and the fact that it sparkled was just an added bonus. So, when Maxwell had asked about local coffee shops, of course Justin was going to suggest Baxter’s. Of course he hadn’t expected the newcomer to ask if he was offering to personally go with him for a latte, but Justin certainly wasn’t going to say no to a cute guy.
On the day they had agreed to meet, Justin headed down to Baxter’s and after glancing inside to see if Max had arrived first, Justin sat down at one of the outdoor tables to wait for the other man, happy that it was no longer raining blood or doing any of the other crazy things that had happened a few weeks earlier.
Max thought back to his time at UCLA, and Palo Alto University, especially the former - and he hadn’t remembered Orange County being so off. But ever since he emerged on the other side, meaning, he joined that network, things began to shift - his perspective definitely did, that was for certain. It was like he was looking at everything through a whole new set of goggles and he had to stop and ponder it - when he had the time, that is. However, there hadn’t been much of that - not since reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.
Like the one he was about to meet at the infamous Baxter’s, for his first official cup of sparkling coffee. He enjoyed a latte as much as the next person, it’s just that not one had ever boasted something like glitter. But trying new things, he wasn’t afraid of that - why not, right? So, after slipping on his jacket and getting everything situated at the office if he stepped away, he headed for the correct address - Justin was easy to spot, or at least, Max assumed the blonde guy waiting outside was him.
“You’re Justin, right?” he smiled warmly, approaching. “If not, don’t worry about it, I’ll just move along to find the sparkling latte on my own.” Clearly it’d be better with company.
Justin turned when he heard his name and a smile crossed his lips as he got to his feet and approached the other man, “Hey. Yeah, I’m Justin, which means you’re Maxwell. Unless I have a stalker I didn’t know about.” Still smiling, he extended a hand towards the other man, “Either way, it’s nice to meet you in person.” Until he’d joined Valar, Justin had never really met up with people from the internet before, but now it seemed that he met up with someone new from Valarnet every few weeks.
“Well, if I am a stalker I just blew my cover, so I’m not very good at it.” He was teasing, of course, as he shook Justin’s hand, clasping it in his own before letting go. Sometimes his left arm gave him trouble, sometimes it was fine - it mainly depended on the weather, but if it was rainy? The elbow joint tended to make him feel eighty years old. It was the weirdest thing.
Probably not the last of weird things he’d encounter, however.
He cocked his head toward the entrance, so they’d head inside - but Max darted forward and held the door for the blonde, naturally. It was just the polite thing to do. “Good to meet you too. Have you lived here long? What do you do? Or, well, I’ll try to stagger the questions a little so you don’t get all twenty at once though,” he grinned. Color him curious; he liked learning about people. In his line of work, it made sense.
“Probably the worst stalker I’ve ever seen.” Justin was still smiling as they headed inside, but that wasn’t really anything new. Justin was generally a naturally smiley person when he wasn’t moping about something. After all, it was the fact that he smiled often and how bright it was that had given him his nickname, Sunshine, in the dreams.
He thanked Max for holding the door and promptly got in line once they were inside. He wasn’t surprised to see that there was a line; Baxter’s was an extremely popular place. “I’ve lived in Cali my whole life actually. Grew up in Beverly Hills and moved out to the OC a couple of years ago after college.” Justin crossed his arms over his chest, “And as for what I do, I’m an artist.”
The place seemed popular, but it also had a homey sort of vibe to it - wasn’t some huge money-grubbing corporation like Starbucks where, in Max’s view, the coffee was subpar anyway. He knew he was probably going to get banned from Seattle if he ever expressed that opinion, but oh well. It was a matter of preference, and he preferred the smaller, individually-owned places - so a line was no big deal, and besides, it’d give him a chance to chat with his companion here.
“Beverly Hills is a nice area,” he nodded. “Haven’t been too often, but if I could afford a house there? It’d be something to consider. What kind of art do you do? Because I can’t even draw a correct circle, so I’m already impressed.”
Justin nodded, “Yeah. Pretty much what you see on Beverly Hills 90210 for the most part.” At least in the part Justin had grown up in, “There’s a lot of really nice houses up there and a lot that are just fucking insane.” Justin had grown up in a fairly large house, but some of his friends when he was in high school had had even larger houses and Justin simply couldn’t imagine what anyone would need such large houses for. “I work in the art department at one of the TV studios out here. I do storyboards.” Justin moved up as the line moved a little, “But I also exhibit stuff in art shows. I have a friend who owns his own gallery and always lets me include some pieces when he does shows to for local artists.”
“That’s impressive. And it must be fulfilling, to have the opportunity to show your work?” Max wasn’t really that artistic, but he appreciated the arts - especially when the subject was combined with his own work. “You know, art therapy is pretty revolutionary - I’ve been to a few conferences on it, and the good thing is that you don’t have to really even be an artist to use it, you just really kind of pick up markers or a paintbrush and go; the creative process can help people cope with stress and the like.”
Wow, he was kind of babbling a little? He smiled sheepishly, flushing a bit as he rubbed his jaw. But really, he was interested in art - and music therapy too, though he wasn’t very musical either. In fact, he was pretty ordinary, all things considered. “Anyway, I’d love to see your work sometime - next time you have some pieces in a show, let me know.”
When he got to the front of the line, he glanced back curiously. “Okay, the sparkling latte, right? What size, sensei?” There might be such a thing as too much sparkle.
Justin nodded, “It’s kind of stupid, but I still get nervous each time. I’ve done it so often by now, but I always think my stuff sucks when it comes time to actually show it.” He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck as he listened to Maxwell, “Are you a physical therapist?” Justin was well aware of various forms of physical therapy since he had gone through it for months in the dreams following his bashing and had done a little in the waking world since the brain damage he’d sustained in the dreams had unfortunately bled over and limited the use of his dominate hand.
“I’ll definitely let you know when the next show is.” He said smiling, “I normally have a sketch pad on me at all times, but today I just ran out with my wallet and keys. Otherwise you’d be able to see some of my stuff now,” When they reached the front of the line, Justin nodded in response to Max’s question and pulled out his wallet, “Two medium sparkling lattes.” He told the girl behind the counter then glanced back at Max, smiling once again, “Your first one is on me.”
Medium sparkling lattes it was. “Thanks, you didn’t have to,” Max made sure to add as a disclaimer, but he was certainly appreciative. He couldn’t think of a better way to kick off his Glitter Coffee Experience. “But no, I’m a counselor, actually. I just got my Masters so I’m licensed to practice now. I also do a lot of talks on mental illness and the stigma people face, all sorts of campaigns so I traveled a lot - talked at a lot of high school assemblies,” he grinned.
Then he stepped aside for the next person in line to order, leaning against the edge of the counter where the ‘to-go’ service was, for when those coffees would be up. But he was obviously in no hurry. “I also promise not to psychoanalyze you or anything.” It was said teasingly, but people were always cautious about that when talking with therapists for some reason. Or it was simply the first thing that popped into their heads.
“It’s no problem,” Justin was still smiling as they moved aside to wait for their lattes, “Wow. Now that’s impressive. What made you decide to get into that line of work?” When their drinks were placed on the pick up counter, Justin picked them both up and laughed, “I appreciate that. Although, I don’t think anyone has ever psychoanalyzed me before. Not to my knowledge anyway.” He held one of the lattes out to Max, “And now, time for your first sparkling latte.”
“It’s...actually kind of a long story,” he responded, taking the latte with both hands and letting the heat seep in. Now Max was anxious to peer into the coffee cup and count the glitter flecks, but decided it’d be better to wait until they were sitting. “Probably best told at a table. Over my first sparkling latte. One by the window, maybe?”
There was one available, with two people just now vacating. So they could always go over and snatch it up.
“A long story, huh? That means it’s either really good or not so good.” Justin glanced over at the table Max indicated and nodded, “Looks good. Come on.” He waited till both people had moved away from the table headed over, sliding onto the bench on one side and taking a sip of his latte once he was settled. “So, are you going to use that as an accessory or are you gonna taste it?” Justin teased, smirking, as he gestured towards Max’s cup.
“Well, it probably looks nice as an accessory, right?” A mirror of a smirk flickered on Max’s face too, but then he lifted the cup to his lips and took a tentative sip - the coffee definitely wasn’t subpar, he could tell right away. Really robust, not watered down (which was sort of a crime committed by Starbucks, not to mention the way the color kind of resembled urine). “The part that gives it its name is in the milk, I guess - “ He glanced down at the drink, sloshing it a little experimentally. “But it’s good. Really good.”
At least it was good prep for delving into his reasons for becoming a therapist. Not that Max was ashamed, or got antsy when talking about those reasons (he had shared his story countless times at seminars and conferences, after all) however it just wasn’t the most pleasant thing. “But yeah, I come from a really religious family. Successful pastors and Bible scholars, you know? They sent me away when I was young, because they thought something was wrong with me, like I had symptoms of mental illness when I really didn’t - they just believed I did, because I didn’t fit in with the pious lifestyle. I didn’t fit in their little box of what was considered ‘normal.’ So after that it sort of solidified my decision to work in the mental health field, and help remove the stigma of mental illness in this country.”
It was a big problem, but he dedicated himself tirelessly to being an advocate - change would happen, people just had to keep at it.
“It could, but you’d probably want to get a snazzy cup for it if you’re gonna use it as an accessory.” Justin watched as Max took his first sip of sparkling latte and waited for his reaction to it, “See, I told you. And yeah, it has something to do with the milk.”
Justin listened to Max’s story, horrified that his family would send him away as they did, but realized it wasn’t exactly all that different from his father, in his dreams, threatening to send him to military school to straighten him out when he came out, “Yeah, people seem to get that way when they believe one thing and someone else doesn’t.” He took another sip of his own latte as he continued to listen, “Sounds like your patients are gonna be in good hands.”
“Unfortunately true. They’re not bad people, but they just don’t understand me,” and then Max laughed a little. “As emo as that sounds, but you know what I mean. They know where I am and what I do, but I don’t think they know about everything I did in college, or about my...preferences.”
He hadn’t told his parents that he was bi - for men, there was also a certain stigma attached to that anyway. Bisexual men were perceived to be unicorns or something, rare in nature, like they didn’t exist. Then there was also the notion that a bisexual person was ‘greedy’ or ‘just can’t make up their mind.’ Frustrating, when it came to dating - you’d think someone who was bi would have double the dating options, yet they just didn’t.
“But thanks.” He smiled kindly at Justin. “I appreciate that. And you showing me this place too, of course.”
Part of Justin wanted to reach out and place a hand on Max’s, but seeing as they had just met, he decided against it and nodded instead, “Just cause they’re your family doesn’t mean they have to know all that if they aren’t going to approve. I was lucky, my parents accepted it when I told them I was gay, but I know that’s not always the case.” And it wasn’t in his dreams. While his mother had accepted it, with help from Debbie, his father was still a giant homophobe.
Justin returned the smile easily, “It was no problem. All of it. I’m glad I could help you lose your Sparkling latte virginity.”
The laugh that came from Max was surprised, and genuine. Sparkling latte virginity. That seemed like a good way to put it, no? And to think he hadn’t been a virgin in awhile, so that was a change of pace. “A refreshing experience,” he quipped. “I feel like a blushing bride.”
He’d see what other firsts were in store for him after settling in this particular corner of the state - probably some he couldn’t even fathom right now, but the chips would fall as they were meant to. And that was just fine.