Of Sweets, Treats, and PDA

The Gamer stood still, stunned, his brain almost completely shut down. The whole world seemed to fade away as John focused on Ela. Her eyes were all the color in the universe. His heart skipped a beat as he took one more shaky breath. He’d heard her right… right?

She was smiling, holding back yet more giggles at the frozen expression on his face.

“Hellooooo,” the Bookworm Knight sang, waving a hand in front of his face. “Is anyone in there?”

John blinked twice, consciousness emerging from the quagmire of his mind. A stupid, silly grin broke out on his face.

Cautiously, as if Ela was in danger of disappearing in a puff of smoke, he brought his hand up to rest on hers. Slowly, gently, he wrapped his fingers around her palm. It was… warm. Parts of it were soft, while others bore rough calluses, signs of her life as a knight of the Order. He could feel his heart begin to thump more heavily in his chest.

Da-dum.

Da-dum.

Da-dum.

“Sorry,” he said apologetically, still sporting a giddy smile. “I needed to make sure that I’m not dreaming.”

Ela finally let some of her laughter slip, curling her own fingers around his. “I hope that you dream of nicer places than this.”

“Can't think of one right now,” John mused. Suddenly awareness of his own words snapped him from his reverie. “Sorry, that was REALLY cheesy, wasn’t it?”

She squeezed his hand. “I like cheese.”

They both laughed at how silly that sounded, his lower notes mingling with her bright giggles as the winds carried their chorus away into the clouds. John liked those sounds even better together. Exhaling as they calmed down, he looked between them, where their hands met. He still could scarcely believe it.

“I’ll have to buy you a whole wheel of parmigiano reggiano.” He chuckled.

“Ooooh,” she mused, looking back out over the river. “I have not had Italian food in a while.”

John shook his head, smiling as his companion daydreamed about many different pastas and sauces. He had a sneaking suspicion that, assuming things worked out the way he was hoping between him and Ela, he was going to be eating far more varied cuisines in the future. Not that there was a problem with that, as long as either his dungeons or Order payment could keep up with the costs.

’Deal with that if we get there,’ he thought, reaching around to scratch the back of his neck. ’...When we get there.’

He turned back to the blonde whose hand he was holding, finding her still lost in thoughts of food. “So… the bakery?”

Ela almost jumped as he took his turn pulling her out of her own thoughts. The small tug on his hand where they were still connected made his heart jump. She blinked away her own visions of food, so clear that The Gamer swore he could have seen them in her eyes.

“Oh! Yes,” she said, blushing. “...I have not been able to forget the smell of whatever your mother was cooking this morning. I am… quite hungry.”

John chuckled. “You know, we could have waited and had breakfast with my mother earlier. She’d have loved to get to talk to you.”

“Well, the point of that was to avoid exercising right after eating,” the blonde explained, regaining her composure. “It can give you cramps if you do not wait to digest some first.”

“I, uh, didn’t think about that,” John said nervously. “That’s fine though - my powers have a workaround. One second.”

The Gamer willed his UI back into focus, doing his best not to disturb their carefully entwined hands. As he moved to open his inventory, he took note of a pair of notifications already waiting for him. He guessed that at least one was an achievement, considering his current situation, but he didn’t want to get distracted looking through windows for too long.

“Yeah, I’ve still got space,” he muttered. “So, I guess this is convenient. My inventory keeps things in it in the condition I put them in, uh, if that makes sense. Like, I did some testing, and if I put something warm in there, it’ll be just as warm when I take it out. We can get whatever we want and I can store it away until we’re done.”

“Soooo, you are telling me that you can hold all sorts of dessert for later, too?” Ela said, hopefully, her pretty blue eyes widening.

John melted a little as he looked over at the building excitement within her. “Yeah, I guess I can… Well, to be clear, my inventory does have a limit, but I think that if we box things up well, I could hold a decent amount.”

The blonde knight bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet, her smile stretching impossibly wide. “I will try to limit myself… but I make no promises.”

“Well…” The Gamer shrugged, flush with a sudden spike of nervousness. “It’s, um, a first date, right? We can splurge a little. I still have plenty of the money we earned from the dungeon anyway.”

“That is not a concern,” she said, firmly. “I know that I enjoy eating, and I would not ask you to pay for all of it.”

“I mean… aren’t I supposed to pay for things, on a date? Isn’t that courteous or something?”

She smiled at him, squeezing his hand again before turning to look back over the river. “That is a very old-fashioned way to look at things, though it is still a nice gesture, at times. If you really wish, I will let you pay for breakfast, but the desserts I want for later are my own expense.”

“Alright, if you insist,” John said, letting out an overly dramatic sigh. “I suppose I can let you bully me into saving some money.”

The Bookworm Knight made a big show of rolling her eyes, trying to respond to his sarcasm, but was interrupted by a titanic grumbling from her stomach. The growl left them both stunned for a moment. The blonde turned a bright tomato red, the contrast with her pale skin even more stark in the morning sunlight. The Gamer couldn’t stop himself from laughing aloud, even when she indignantly slapped his chest, showing him the cutest pout she could muster.

Finally pushing himself away from the railing where they were resting, John pulled Ela by her hand back in the direction they’d come from.

“Alright,” he said with a cheeky grin on his face. “Let’s get you some food before you die of starvation.”

The mention of food seemed to do a good job of washing the sour look off her face, and she quickly skipped forward to catch up to him as they turned back down the street.

“Um…” John said, his eyes suddenly finding the cracks in the sidewalk very interesting. “We can take our time walking back to the bakery, right?”

Ela loosened the grip between their hands for just a moment so she could turn her hand around, lacing her fingers between his and swinging their arms happily back and forth.

“I would not mind relaxing for another few minutes.”

The two set off on a leisurely stroll, hand-in-hand, and John thought that everything was perfect.

John checked. The sky was still blue.

John checked. Gravity seemed to be working.

John checked. The sky wasn’t falling.

Everything seemed right with the world. Yet, here he was, John Newman, walking down the street, holding hands with a girl. How things had changed over the last few days. He had to remind himself that it was just a small breakfast date, that she hadn’t really decided to be his “girlfriend” yet, but none of that diminished his overwhelming joy.

That wasn’t all he was feeling though.

Deeper within him, there was a voice in his head that was worried - a small, scared part of him that was afraid to get hurt, that had been hurt by people too many times. He’d kept away from others for so long that, at least to that wounded piece of his soul, the idea of letting someone in again seemed almost worse than pushing them further away. He’d yearned to try and connect with someone for so long, yet part of him was deeply averse to the vulnerability that came with it, now that he had the chance. Anxiety and embarrassment churned in his stomach, all but unabated.

The lanky nerd swallowed, willing those emotions away as best he could.

Over and over, he told those voices that he trusted Ela. He believed in the sincerity in her eyes when she said yes. He’d given her a piece of his heart, and he truly believed that she’d take care of it.

Despite that internal battle, John hadn’t been able to wipe the grin from his face the entire time they’d been walking down the streets of Springfield together. The short few blocks they had to cover on the way to the small shop they were looking for seemed to pass by at lightspeed.

He sighed, wishing that time didn’t have to pass the way it did.

The faintest squeeze of his hand drew his attention back to the real world and the woman that sat at the center of all of his emotions. The Gamer took some solace in the fact that it seemed she, too, was not immune to the effects of their public display of affection. Ela’s cheeks seemed to glow just the faintest pink, giving her a very cute, flushed look at all times.

“John,” she said, again having to catch his attention. “Just to be sure you have thought about it. You cannot store the food we buy away while we are so surrounded by mundanes.”

“Oh, right, the rule,” he thought, looking around. Though much of the traffic had passed as the morning rush ended, there were still a few cars making their way into the city - stragglers who were either late or worked strange hours. The sidewalks were slightly more clear, but not entirely. ’Not enough to risk a bonk from the almighty.’

He leaned over closer to her. “Suggestions?”

“As long as they can package everything, we can try to find somewhere discreet outside to have you put it away.”

“Hmm… maybe I could mime throwing something away near a trashcan and hide it disappearing.”

Ela hummed for a second, mulling that over. “If you are fast enough, that may be enough to assuage the veil. As long as there are not too many people around, that should work.”

“We’ll see,” John said, looking forward as the pair approached the bakery. “Might depend on how much you want to get.”

It was a relatively small, mom-and-pop looking business named “Sweet and Savory.” The front display was quite cozy, framed in bricks with pastel-colored accents. Through the glass, he could see all sorts of fresh breads and pastries. He recognized some, like doughnuts and croissants, but others were a complete mystery. His own stomach threatened to join Ela’s in growling as he stared at the delicious offerings.

Taking a few quick steps forward, John reached the door first, pulling it open with his free hand to let his blonde companion through. She turned around as she did so, keeping their arms aligned so that they didn’t have to let go.

Smiling, he followed her in.

The pair were met by a wave of warm air, the wonderful smells of fresh baked goods wafting forth to meet them. The front room of the bakery was supremely cozy and welcoming, with rustic decor and plain couch seating along the walls. John could hear the faint buzz of ovens and sizzling of fryers from the back, signaling yet more delicious food soon to be ready.

A pair of display cases sat on the far end of the room, separating the bakery itself from the front store. They were filled with row after row of cakes and donuts and all sorts of treats fresh from the ovens. Off to one side, they had a section for savory foods, too, with various biscuits and bagels. A small chalkboard sign advertised a number of breakfast specials and hot drinks like coffee and cocoa.

’Oooh, chicken biscuits,’ John thought, reading his way down the list. ’You know, don’t they call cookies biscuits over in Britain? Do they have our kind of biscuits over there? Has Ela ever had one?’

“Hey, Ela?” he said, leaning over to the woman next to him. “Have you ever had a chicken biscuit?”

“A chicken… what?” She tilted her head in confusion. “Oh, American biscuits are different, yes?

“Yeah. They’re not, like, cookies over here. They’re a salty, buttery, savory bread. It’s a breakfast thing. They’ve got them here. It’s, uh, kinda like having a piece of fried chicken in a croissant, but, um, the bread’s round, so it all fits.”

“That sounds… interesting. Are you suggesting one for breakfast?”

“I mean, I love them, but you’re welcome to get something different. I was just curious.” He blushed, his nerves bubbling up again.

Ela smiled wide, squeezing his hand. “I can try my first one this morning then!”

With that exclamation, the Bookworm Knight dragged him up towards the small front counter where an elderly woman in a checkered blouse and white apron was moving a tray of bagels onto a cooling rack. The baker’s messy hair was tied up in a bun, the final shades of black peeking through her grayed hair. Brushing her hands on her apron, the woman turned to meet the pair, smiling fondly as she looked between them.

“Good morning, sweeties,” she said, resting her forearms behind the register. “How can I help you?”

John’s anxiety always flared when he had to go through simple pleasantries with total strangers, but he was on a roll today, so he tried to **** himself to speak up for once. “Uh, g'morning. I was hoping to get a couple chicken biscuits for us, and, um, she is looking for sweets for later.”

“Sure. My husband in the back makes the savory foods. It'll take a few minutes for the chicken,” the graying woman explained, tapping away on the register. “I'm the expert on the sweets. Can I help you with that while you wait?”

The Gamer smiled, turning to defer to Ela for the dessert order.

“Oh, yes ma’am!” the blonde sang cheerily. “You have so many delicious-looking pastries in the window, I simply had to try some! I think that I already see a few things I would like to try. Are you able to box things up for us?”

“Of course,” the older woman answered. “What are you looking at?”

“Well…”

For the next several minutes, Ela led John and the baker around the room, asking questions and adding various different foods to her order, mostly sweets. Though The Gamer was hopelessly below par in terms of his knowledge of pastries, his blonde friend insisted on checking almost everything she ordered with him, making sure that there were at least a few things that they could split. The baker’s eyes were as wide as plates by the time the blonde had managed to accumulate a full dozen doughnuts and two further boxes of additional breads and treats.

John could only laugh. ’I’m gonna need more inventory slots!’

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