InsaneJournal

Who: Joe Hardy and Peeta Mellarky
What: Cake ordering
When: The week before Frank's birthday
Where: Mellarky's
Rating/Warnings Low/None
Status: Complete!



Joe couldn’t believe it had been six months since he and Frank had moved to Orange County. One the one hand it seemed as if time had just flown by, that it was only a couple of weeks ago that the brothers had been unpacking and setting up their apartment. On the other hand, it felt as though an eternity had gone by with everything that had happened since April.

Regardless, next week was Frank’s birthday. As long as Frank hadn’t forgotten (remembering birthdays and anniversaries, even his own, was never Frank’s strongest suit), Joe thought it might be nice to have a few people over. Knock back a few drinks, have some cake and just be normal for a few hours. And if Frank had forgotten, wouldn’t be a nice reminder to see a cake in the fridge? Joe would get a good laugh out of it at least. Of course, he had to get said cake first.

Mellarky had come highly recommended and Joe figured this was a good chance for him to try the bakery. He walked in and took a deep breath. There was nothing quite like the smell of a bakery, fresh bread and other goods filling the air. It was a homey comfortable smell. He made his way to the counter. “Hi,” he greeted with an easy and friendly smile. “I’d like to put in an order for a cake, please?”

Peeta happened to be in the back working on a different cake order when Joe came in. One of his employees was actually the one to end up greeting him. When Joe mentioned that he wanted to place a cake order she gave him a smile and let him know that she would grab the owner from the back for him. Peeta took most orders himself if he was in the shop for it (he usually was by at least once a day), but employees were capable of doing it if he wasn’t there. It was more personable to take it himself since he would be the one doing the bulk of the work on it.

Once informed about the customer out front he washed up his hands and made his way to the front. A smile was on his face as he approached Joe and held out a hand, “Heyya, I heard you’re hoping to order a cake. I’m Peeta and I’ll be working with you to make sure you get exactly what you want.” He stepped away briefly to grab the pad of papers that he wrote cake orders on and came back over to Joe with a pen in his hand and ready to write.

Joe hadn’t expected to be putting in his order with the bakery’s owner, but he liked the touch. It showed that the owner took great pride in his business and his work. Joe appreciated that. “Thanks,” he returned Peeta’s smile with one of his own. “It’s my brother’s birthday next week. It’s the first one he’s had since we’ve moved out here and we’ve...kinda been through a lot the last couple of months, so I thought I’d get him his favorite cake. Can you do a chocolate layer cake with peanut butter frosting?” Joe realized it was something of an unusual order and hoped Peeta would be able to do it. “Peanut butter chocolate is kind of his thing, you know?”

“That’s really nice of you. I wish my brothers would do something like that for me,” Peeta may have said the last part a little loud and glanced over towards the door to the back where one of his brothers was currently working. He heard a curse from back there and chuckled as he wrote down what Joe wanted for the cake, “Peanut butter is not weird at all. Those two actually go together quite well. How many layers are you thinking? Do you want anything extra - like chocolate curls or anything extra?”

Joe laughed when he heard the curse from the back from who he assumed to be the bakery owner’s brother. “Eh,” he said with a casual shrug, “We moved here from New York earlier this year. It’s not exactly his first time this far away from home, but, you know, like I said, it’s been one hell of a year for him, so I thought I’d be nice and get him a cake or something.” Not to mention that Frank had done a lot for Joe in the past year as well. It was really the least he could do.

Joe looked thoughtful for a moment. “Two layers,” he said. “As for extras…” another pause and thoughtful look. “Those chocolate swirls sound kinda nice. Maybe some kind of fancy frosting thing around the edge on top?” He looked at Peeta sheepishly, “decorating cakes isn’t my thing. Frank’s a pretty practical guy, so I don’t want to go too fancy or anything.”

He was quite as Peeta jotted down his order. “So you own this place with your brothers.” He smirked, “at least that’s who I assume you were shouting at in the back.”

“Well, hope you’re enjoying your time here. It’s definitely a big change from New York and hopefully it wasn’t been an awful experience,” one never knew if you were talking to someone on the network or not because it could certainly be insane, “And I can totally do some fancy frosting for you. Let me grab my portfolio and you can see if there’s a frosting that stands out to you.” Peeta knew that some people didn’t care about how fancy it looked, but you never knew that was good until you took a look at some examples.

“And I own the place and my brothers work here,” Peeta corrected him with a laugh as he came back with a binder of photos, “But yeah, shouting at my younger brother. None of them think that getting me a cake for my birthday is a thing that should be done. My mom usually has to remind them that I’m not going to make my own birthday cake.”

“It’s been…an experience,” Joe said after a moment of thought. The smile on his face faltered a moment. “It’s definitely a lot different here than I expected it to be.” He hesitated not wanting to go into too much detail about the kinds of experiences he’d had up to this point. Not all of them had been bad. Actually, minus three major events, things hadn’t been all that bad. “I’ve met some great people out here and got a good job, so, not all bad. Next time I move to a place, though, I’m going to be very careful about the social networks I sign on to.”

He watched the bakery owner fetch the portfolio and bring it back. He laughed lightly. “There are times I’m pretty sure my brother would forget his own birthday, much less remember anyone else’s.” He had to commend the bakery owner and his brothers. As close as the Hardys were, Joe couldn’t imagine ever having to work for Frank. The thought was kind of hilarious, actually.

When Joe said that he would be careful at social networks Peeta couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter, “Valar is very welcoming for all the wrong reasons. None of us wants to be alone when it comes to all these weird things. It’s unfortunate that you ended up joining it, but at least you have the rest of us to commiserate with.” He would probably stay on the network if he had to do it again because he had gained a good group of friends from it. There was a lot of good that came from it to outweigh the bead.

“That happens. My Dad is awful at remembering birthdays. Thankfully my mom is slightly neurotic when it comes to that stuff. Alright, see anything you like in these photos you want to add on?” Peeta didn’t mind working with his brothers - they were pretty chill and it all went well for them. It was just how their family was, but he knew it wasn’t their forever job and would probably move on in a few years once they figure out what they want to do with their lives.

Joe relaxed when Peeta mentioned Valar, a little relieved that the bakery owner knew about the things that could - and often did - happen here. There were a lot of people on the network and Joe wondered how many he’d actually met without realizing it.

He flipped through the pages of the portfolio of cake ideas. There were a lot of them and Joe was having trouble deciding. He wanted something simple, but nice looking and there were a lot to choose from. He chuckled lightly, “yup, that’s what Frank has me for, to remember all the important dates. His birthday, my birthday, our parents’ anniversary - oh, hey, I like this one,” he pointed to one of the cakes in the book that came close to what he’d been attempting to describe earlier. “Can I get this?”

“Yeah, you can totally get that one,” Peeta smiled as he started to write down the details on the cake ordering form. He was pleased to hear that brother relationships all tended to be the same no matter who they were. The form was basically filled out and he looked back up to Joe, “Alright, just need you to fill out your information - name/phone number - and then let me know if you want anything special written on the cake. Then I think we’ll be set and I’ll get working on that for you. Pick a number that I can reach you at easily so you know when the cake is finished and you can come pick it up that day.”

“Great, thanks,” Joe was very pleased that he was going to get the cake he wanted. He was sure Frank would like it too and he hoped the two of them could have an evening of celebrating and not thinking about work or Dreams or anything of the sort. He filled out the form, including his name and cell phone number as that would be the best way to reach him all hours of the day, whether he was at work or not. He debated a moment about having something cute or funny written on the cake, but ultimately went with the ol’ “Happy Birthday Frank” instead. When he was done, he handed the form back to the bakery owner. “You’ve been a great help,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to tasting the cake once it’s done.”