Too Much Cake

[Jason Campbell]

Jason had been standing here for the past ten minutes, looking at the different cakes and logs offered for the holidays. He had never been much of the fruitcake type but, as he thought he finally made a choice, he found himself hesitating. Did Raphael like fruitcake? It was one of those moments when he was forced to realise he knew very little about his younger brother. And this thought was depressing.

December, Christmas, the holidays and all the celebration you get around that time was supposed to be about family. It had been weird enough for the man to have a thanksgiving meal all alone, consisting of nothing special compared to the other days of the year, but if he was to skip Christmas too, this would truly be pathetic. He had been debating whether he should buy the young man a gift or not. The major problem was the same as the cake, he didn’t know him very well. Sometimes, he felt like the best gift he could give the man was to leave Kalispell for good. But Jason didn’t want to do that. He could accept to keep some space between them but keeping it at this time of the year proved to be harder on him. Maybe it was time for another attempt for the Campbell brothers to get back together.

This explained why he still couldn’t decide for the cake. He did like a certain ice cream log filled with chocolate but it was rather big and he didn't want to eat log for a month to get through it. Then there was this other, shaped like a reindeer and supposed to taste like caramel. They all looked so delicious. Why did he go here and not to a common supermarket where you only have two or three choices? It would have been a lot easier to get passed that aisle without taking anything. Now, he was almost salivating at them all. Chocolate, raspberries, passion fruit, caramel, nuts, shaped like a normal log, with the face of a reindeer, like a Santa, a tree or a snowman. This was just too much cake.

[Charity Croft]

"Doesn't the log one look like a penis to you?"

Was pretty much proof of why Hope really shouldn't bother trying to talk to adults any more. Maybe she just spent too much time with teenagers because of her job or maybe it was just that she never really "got" talking to other people all that well, but she just couldn't quite seem to say precisely what she suspected really cool, adult type people would actually say. Especially when said adult-type people happened to be fairly attractive guys that she swore she went to school with back in the day.

"Just the log one," said Hope, pointing again. "I mean, it's not like I see penii...peneses? Penesses? Penises, I don't, like, see them everywhere and stuff. I just," she gestured at the cake, "I see one there. A penis that is. That cake. It's a penis," she pointed once more before letting her arm fall to her side, nodding a few times.

"Yeaaaaah," she dragged the word out and put her hands into the pocket of her skirt (why did she always have to be dressed cute whenever she did the idiot thing?) "I'm, like, Hope and now is totally your chance to run away and, you know, stuff. Because I pretty much just opened with my best greeting and all. I could try again if you want, but I can't promise it'll be any better the second time around. It'll probably be worse, actually." And Hope nodded.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason startled when he heard a voice next to him. He wasn’t sure the person talked to him but he heard and couldn’t help staring at the log in question at first before looking around at who might have said this. There was only a woman nearby and since the voice was very feminine, it was an easy guess to say she was the one who talked. Without anyone else around, it was also easy to assume she talked to him. You don’t say that sort of thing out loud only for yourself, even if you might not expect someone to reply to you.

Although she might expect an answer from him, since she tried to explain it was only this log in particular and went over about penises. Now, if you wanted to talk of penises, Jason wouldn’t have a problem, depending on the circumstances. At the clinic for example, talking to a patient or a nurse regarding a patient, no problem at all. But talking of phallic-shaped desserts next to a woman he didn’t know anything about, somehow, it was strange to him. He looked at the log again. “I’m sure it was unintentional. It’s not exactly that sort of bakery,” he said, wondering now, for a moment, if there was that kind of bakery around here. She wasn’t too wrong actually, there was something there. Whoever baked it must be in need. “I’m sure a fan of Fifty Shades of Grey will buy it for this reason,” he let out. Ever since those books came out, it seems almost natural for women to talk of their favourite erotic books, if you could call Fifty Shades erotic. Since he never read them and had no intention to, he preferred not to say anything on the matter.

It seemed appropriate after since a greeting to give away your name and this was what she did. He looked at this Hope woman, his eyebrows arching up in both surprise and amusement (surprised amusement?) when she pointed out it could have been worse than this. “You could have talked of the length also?” This was crazy but he couldn’t help letting this out. It might be best not to add anything else about this particular log before someone else heard them. Somehow, he doubted the owner would like being told this log looked like a sexual organ. “I’m Jason and I think you’ll need more than that to make me run away. I sadly heard worse than this,” he assured her. “Besides, if I run away now, I’ll still need to buy a cake later.”

[Charity Croft]

Hope giggled a bit at the thought of the bakers intentionally making a cake like that. Clearly someone must have been in pretty desperate need if they were making cakes that looked like that. Though Hope could also see what Jason mentioned: it did seem like a good thing or a fan of that type of music.

"Or it could be something you buy for a grandma or that one aunt you hate," added Hope, smiling as she looked at it. there was the whole surprise and shame thing a bit in there too, though Hope was doing fairly well at hiding it. The guy started joking right along with her, teasing about the length of it, which just made Hope let out another laugh, followed by a snort, which she just barely managed to manage to stop before it got out of control.

"Sorry, sorry, really. It's from spending so much time around kids, well, teenagers," Hope rolled her eyes and straightened up, taking a few deep breaths. She looked over the gathered cakes, eying them more critically. She did spare a few looks at the guy though. Now that she wasn't thinking about cakes, Hope could feel her intuition leaning toward him, that sort of gut feeling that generally indicated that she had found another mutant. He did look familiar too: unless he looked a lot older or younger than he was, they'd gone to school together.

"So, cake," said Hope, lowering her hand and nodding, "like, who's it for? Some kind of office birthday? Because I think we've pretty well decided that the logs are only for teasing grandmas or fifty shades of grey fans, who I'm sure are called, uh, Christians or something. That's the main character's name, right? I mean, not that I've read them or anything," Hope paused, then pointed at the snowman. "I like that one. He looks jolly."

[Jason Campbell]

Jason couldn’t believe someone would make a penis-shaped cake on purpose. He was aware there were bakeries doing that, for bachelor and bachelorette parties or things like that, but it was a concept hard for him to grasp. The last thing he wanted was someone to buy him a cake shaped in boobs or butt cheeks for his birthday. He laughed a bit at the thought of giving it to a grandmother or an aunt he disliked. “Not sure it’ll make your relation with her any better,” he said, suddenly liking the fact he had no aunt to give such a cake to. Not like he would have anyway.

Although Jason was not one to mock people on their laughter, Hope’s snort did make him look at her and be slightly amused of it. She had a unique kind of laugh but it was not to bother him really. He was more amazed by the fact he actually was the one who caused someone to laugh. He never thought he was really good at telling jokes. She apologized for her behaviour and the reason she gave made him arch his eyebrows from surprise. “Oh, you do?” he let out. Spending time with teenagers, to him, that was basically like saying you were a teacher. Either that or she was working in some foster care center or something. Whatever it was, she wasn’t exactly like he pictured such a person to be. It probably was just him though. She could be very competent and he didn’t mean to pretend otherwise. He simply didn’t think working with teenagers should imply acting like them.

“I have no idea, I never read it, just kept hearing about those books,” he explained when she said the fans were called Christians or something of the like. He thought it was stupid to come up with a name for your fans but it seemed like something people liked to do these days. “It’s for a family reunion for the holidays. Without any grandmother to tease,” he said before she could suggest the log. He wasn’t sure his brother would like the joke. Could he even call this a family reunion, if it would be only the two of them? That is, if he convinced him to it.

He looked at the snowman she pointed. It looked kind of nice. “It’s also not too big,” he replied, more talking to himself than Hope. He then realised he said it was for a family reunion, which normally would mean something big, right? He turned his gaze from the cakes to Hope. “It’s a very small reunion.” He didn’t want to be pitied because his family dinner was more a meal for two that could turn into a meal for one.

[Charity Croft]

Hope nodded: "I uh, work at the school," she pointed, then seemed to realize that probably wasn't helping and just sort of turned the point into a sort of gesture. "The, uh, special one, the one that's all private and on the hill and---stuff," she shrugged and then looked back at the cake, wondering. Family reunion cake?

"Well, that sounds really sweet," said Hope, smiling and turning back to Jason, "so you really should---" she paused as he talked about how the cake wasn't too big. But if he was planning some kind of family reunion, especially around the holidays then... ah, something about how it would be a very small reunion.

"Oh, so one of those... intimate affairs then," she said, nodding. "Then, ah, you probably do want a smallish cake or something," she looked the various cakes over, leaning slightly. She turned to look. "How small are we talking here? Like, is it gonna be just you and your mom and stuff or maybe the closest family or you and your wife and your sister's kids or some weird combination like that," wow, that was a horrible and tactless way to ask if he was married. Hope nearly groaned, but she still caught a quick look at his finger, just wanting to check in case. Then she almost immediately felt super guilty about that and got really, really interested in the cakes again.

[Jason Campbell]

Yes, Jason did get that she probably worked in a school. He was also aware there was more than one school in Kalispell. Even someone who didn’t come from here could guess as much. Not everyone here was a mutant after all. It would be very easy to get rid of them otherwise, all they’d have to do was to blow this place up. He frowned as Hope tried to explain to him what school she meant. She obviously was trying to sound too mysterious for her own good. She was lucky Jason knew what school she was talking about because he would have seriously worried about the kind of education the teenagers had at her school otherwise. “I think saying Bellefonte would sound less suspicious than this,” he pointed out, still playing along with her by lowering his tone a little and coming closer to her, as if they were sharing some secrets they didn’t want anyone else to hear. Which wasn’t too far from the truth.

“Something like that,” he said although he wasn’t sure if he should really call this an intimate affair. Somehow, he feared Hope thought he was inviting some lover over for the holidays and dared not admit it to her. Which was stupid because one, it wasn’t the case and two, why would he feel the need to hide this to a stranger? He thought her question, or more like questions, about who he was inviting and how many was legitimate and didn’t think it could be some not-so-subtle way to find out if he was married. “Well... I guess if I’m lucky I won’t have to eat it all on my own.” Great, now he sounded depressing! “We’ve been apart for a while, it’s our first Christmas back together, my brother and I,” he explained, the parts about his brother escaping him. But why should he care? He didn’t mind people knowing he had a brother.

He forced himself not to say anything anymore however. He feared it would sound too much like therapy if he started to talk. She didn’t need to be burdened with the fact he lost his parents and his brother didn’t want to talk about. At least with the story he gave her, he could say he came back not very long ago, which was the truth, and it wouldn’t sound too depressing. It was just two brothers trying to make up after years of not seeing each other. No one needed to know the efforts were more on his part. “I just want to buy something, in case we can make it but I don’t really know his taste and I don’t want to be left with a big cake if we’re too busy in the end.” There, it wasn’t too bad. Right?

[Charity Croft]

Charity laughed nervously at Jason's comment, nodding. She reached up to brush away some hair, though that didn't really help with the flush she felt building on her face as a response. "Yeah, you're probably right," she admitted, before leaning in to whisper again: "I'm still getting used to the whole working for the mutant school stuff."

She then pulled back, looking back at the cakes. Something like that, and Jason hoped that he wouldn't end up eating the cake on his own. That made Charity frown, and she almost immediately wanted to say that he could totally eat the cake with her. Except that sounded forward and possibly a little dirty and the last thing Charity wanted was to pick up a guy by talking about penis cakes and stuffing her face.

"Aww, your brother?" she said, practically cooing. "That is so sweet! I'm sure that he'll definitely appreciate a cake! But right," she pulled back, looking at the case, "you definitely don't want to get anything too elaborate then, right? Why don't you, uh, go for something simple?" Charity leaned over, then pointed at a chocolate cake with a few icing ornaments on the top. "That's just basic chocolate without a design or anything. It might be a little big and stuff, but, like, you could always take leftovers home. Or you could drop by the school and leave it in the lounge to--" Charity paused, realizing then that Jason knew about the school. She paused and looked at him, her face crunching as she worked to listen to her gut. Did he have some kind of mutant power? She was getting something... but that could just be from staring at an admittedly cute guy.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason could understand there could be some animosity between the school and the other, non-powered, members of the town. Because of that, one might not want to talk of mutants or the school. Still, being overly cryptic as she had been only made it more suspicious. Then again, Charity never had to tell him exactly which school she worked at if she didn’t want to. But since he understood it was Bellefonte, he might as well tell her he knew what school she was talking about. “You’re new?” As if the nervousness she was going through was not proof enough. Then again, she could have been there for years that he might not have noticed her. He wasn’t exactly dealing with teachers, or trainers since they were talking Bellefonte.

“I know the school fairly well. I work there too sometimes. Well, not really...” As if Jason suddenly realised he was now the one being overly cryptic, he gave her an apologetic smile before chuckling. “I’m a doctor. I sometimes come to the school, when they need medical assistance,” he explained. They couldn’t call just anybody. Not that he thought this highly of himself but it might be hard to explain to paramedics that someone has been electrocuted by touching a girl or that they should be careful because this one could make you feel their pain or the skin was too think to let any needle pierce it.

He wasn’t sure his reunion with his brother was so aww and sweet or likely to happen but he didn’t want to bother a stranger with his family problems. He was the only one responsible for this and he had to assume it. Something simple sounded good. Fancy flavours were too easy to miss the spot. Jason looked at the cake she pointed. A chocolate one. He was ready to say you could probably not get it wrong with chocolate but he was surprised when she mentioned he could drop any leftovers to the school. He wondered if she wasn’t just flirting with him right now, suggesting they finished the cake together or something of the like. He was terrible at telling when someone was flirting with him, perhaps as bad as he was at flirting with anyone. Either way, he was taking off guard by this, not really sure how he should take it. “I’ll let you know how much we liked it,” he said. Which could be difficult without knowing her personal number or anything more than her name but it wasn’t like he made a promise to do it.

[Charity Croft]

Charity nodded. "Yup. I did the whole student thing and all, but now I'm totally teaching and all. My ability is just, like, perfect for it and stuff," she added another nod then leaned forward conspiratorially. "I can just sort of figure out people's powers and stuff just by studying them for a bit. Can also totally detect mutants and stuff. You," she tapped him on the shoulder, nodding satisfactorily, "are a healer."

Charity just knew that. She didn't really get how her power worked. Gut sensations just sort of popped up whenever she happened to be around mutants and the longer she looked at someone, the more clear things got. She just "got" stuff. And apparently she'd really "gotten" Jason. She let out a little "ah" and nodded, definitely pleased that his career matched up.

The cake was still there, along with Charity's slightly awkward comments regarding it. She looked over at it as Jason spoke. His words made her look back. "Well, it is totally supermarket cake and all, so, you can't hold it to too high of standards and all. Would just be unfair. Not like you're baking it yourself or something. You don't have, like, baking powers," she let out a little laugh. "That would just be so weird, wouldn't it? Baking powers?" Another little laugh and she ended with a broad smile, showing her teeth.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason could probably win the state-the-obvious award when he pointed out she was new but for once he didn’t seem to get one of those very cynical people who’d laugh at his observing skills. You’d think he was better at judging a character but he was terrible at it. It was a good thing they were pretty much on their own, without anyone looking above their shoulders to hear what they were saying. Of course, one could argue she was just one of those weirdo who believed in auras and chakras and all that New Age stuff. Jason knew different though. She talked of Bellefonte and you don’t mention the word power to someone who knew Bellefonte if you don’t mean mutation. “That’s right,” he said on a soft tone. You could hear some surprise that she could tell yet at the same time she was not the only one able to detect mutant abilities. Maybe it was just the fact that a stranger could so easily tell that surprised him.

Jason was of those who picked a career matching his ability. It was not done on purpose and not something he would force others to, it just happened that was with him. His father was a doctor as well as a healer, Jason picked a lot of him. It just seemed like the natural choice to make, the one he chose to go with. It wasn’t easy all the time though. He couldn’t just put his hands on people and heal them, sometimes there was nothing he could do. But this was something he would not talk to Charity, or anyone else who didn’t happen to be in the medical field. It was just one of those things you had to live to really understand.

It was true that this cake was not looking as fancy as the other ones. It didn’t have some fancy taste either. But his brother blamed him for not having the time so he shouldn’t really complain about cake if Jason gave him all the time he needed as well. Jason might have opted more for vanilla. He was a vanilla type of guy. Maybe it was why chocolate seemed more appealing. He chuckled at the mention of baking powers. “I don’t. I’m afraid my cooking talents doesn’t extend further than putting precooked meals in the oven or the microwave for the required time and serve it,” he admitted. Jason was not the best of cooks. He had enough for a single man who didn’t have to impress anyone by making them dinner but should this happen it might be best he decided to go to the restaurant. “Unless you want to become the best cook in the world, I don’t really know what you could do with it.”

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled as she totally nailed his power. Yeah, it was still her ability and all, but she liked to think that she at least had a little flare in announcing it and revealing it to people who just weren't expecting to hear that sort of thing and all. Plus, she just kind of liked impressing cute guys because, c'mon, who wouldn't?

Charity was tempted to get a cake of her own, though she might instead opt to buy some mix, since she usually found that making cakes tasted better than these. Though it sounded like Jason had the usual single guy talent for cooking. "Well, if you ever want a home cooked meal or something, just let me know," she said, letting out a little laugh and brushing herself off. "I actually have some pretty decent meal making skills and all. Comes from having a single mom and learning how to do all that stuff."

Charity nodded again, then added a shrug. "But, like, nothing says that people have to pick careers based on their powers or anything. Sure," she bobbed her head, "I'm a trainer right now, but that's because I like to teach and stuff and I figured that my gift is, like, perfect for helping young mutants figure stuff out. But you could totally be an accountant or something." Though he didn't seem quite that boring and some part of Charity was keeping her fingers crossed for doctor or nurse. I'm totally cool with dating a nurse. Or just being friends with one that I just totally casually offered to cook dinner for. Super caszh.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason was not one used to women flirting with him. Perhaps they did more than he thought and he never noticed but he also didn’t think that, given the choice between many different guys, that he’d be the one picked. Perhaps he should have more confidence in his power of seduction but he still considered it was relatively low. He was not a big flirt and, let’s be honest, his obsessive nature over work didn’t make him the best candidate for the boyfriend of the year award. So, when Charity said she could cook him something homemade, at least it was what he got from her words, he was quite surprised by it. Had they been flirting all this time and he didn’t realise it? Because he didn’t think you just suggest someone you barely know to cook for them unless you’re flirting. He’ll have to look at her differently now.

“You’d think living on my own for a while now would make me better at it. Not that I burn everything I make, I just don’t cook anything fancy unless it’s been done by someone before and I only have to put it in the oven,” he said. Jason allowed himself another quick study of Charity’s person. She was beautiful. Not the kind of face you see every day. Her eyes just attract the attention of anyone looking at her. Other parts too but Jason tried not to check them too hard. Definitely the kind of person you don’t mind getting the attention of. She was a little weird, unless you considered talking of penis-shaped cake normal, but he wouldn’t hold that against her. He had lots of flaws too. Not that he was considering flirting with her or anything more than that, he was just stating facts...

“Oh, I agree,” he let out as her words brought him back into reality. He better stop thinking about things he probably imagined and just go with the conversation. Or buy the cake and leave. That too was a good idea, especially if he didn’t want to embarrass himself too much. He chuckled at the thought he could be an accountant. “If your abilities can fit what you like to do, it would be wrong not to use them but there is no reason to limit yourself only to those few career choices,” he added. “Do you reside at Bellefonte or did you already find a place in town?” Hey, if they were flirting for real, he might as well get to know her better!

[Charity Croft]

Aw, he burnt everything! Charity wanted to make him stuff just so he'd have something decent to eat now (on top of wanting to sort of imply that they should totally associate with each other now). "Well, I can totally make you stuff. You know, you could come ov--well, I actually live at the school," she let out a laugh and gestured in a direction that did not lead to Bellefonte, "so it would more be my inviting myself over to your house to cook things for you which would be weird. But I could totally cook in the schools' kitchens and just bring you food."

She really shouldn't keep talking, really. This was horrible and she was doing a horrible job flirting and he was just too darn attractive. It probably didn't help that Charity couldn't recall the last time she'd attempted to flirt with a guy somewhere near her age. Certainly not since she'd arrived at Kalispell at the least.

So more head bobbing: "Yeah, totally. Like, do what you have the talent and drive for and all," she licked her lips. "Oh, yeah, like I said, school. But, ah, I might look for an apartment or something. Feels kind of weird shacking up at a school now and all. Kinda old for it," Charity bobbed her head. "Not that I'm, like, super old or something. Totally not," she let out another laugh and then turned to look at the cakes. "You should probably buy the cake thing now."

[Jason Campbell]

Jason didn’t mention his culinary disasters to get pity out of Charity. Or food. Or anything else. He simply stated a fact. He was no great cook. He was probably not even a good cook. He was decent. Of course, when you lived alone, there was no interest in learning all those fancy meals as you’d be eating them on your own. He had no one to cook to and he was content with the skills he had so there really was no point in getting any better.

He certainly didn’t expect her to suggest she cooked to him. Wow. Was he more attractive then he thought? Or maybe he looked more pitiful than he had first imagined. He didn’t think he looked too skinny right now. He had tried real hard in the past few months to keep a well balanced weight so he shouldn’t look like some poor man unable to eat to his heart’s content (or, in this case, stomach).

Maybe it was just a way to invite him. She seemed to imply she might have to come to his place to cook since she lived at the school. “Well, that depends. What would you cook me?” he said, trying to go along with her. Hey, he finally got someone who seemed interested in him and not because he could heal her every bruises.

“It’s good while you look for your own place though. Better than a motel room. But I don’t know if I’d like to have work so close to me at all times,” he replied. Of course, in his case, it would mean sleeping at the clinic. Not as good. He chuckled softly when she pointed she was not old. “I never thought you were,” he assured Charity. She looked younger than he was, although it wasn’t so hard as Jason knew he started to have a few grey strands in his hair.

He looked down at the cake. He nearly forgot about it with this conversation he had with her. “You’re right. I should. Thanks for the help with choosing one.”