Cupcake Bribery

[Tobias Croft]

This plan was foolproof. Totally, utterly, completely foolproof... It was, if he dared to think so himself, genius level; And that wasn't a title to place upon yourself lightly; Although granted most who knew Toby wouldn't exactly place his name and "genius" in the same sentence. Today however, he was certain even those that doubted his intelligence would be impressed. Nothing whatsoever could go wrong.
Unless of course, she said no. Then he would be at a loss. But that was negative thinking, and Toby wasn't one for following those trains of thought. With a wide grin he made his way towards the teacher's lounge, carrying in his arms a box. A cardboard box which even for the clumsy trainer was being held with due care and gentle touch; For it contained his secret weapon.
Toby had never placed much importance on social events back when he was in education; At least, that was the way he'd always acted. It was easier to act as though it wasn't a big deal, to save on being disappointed or hurt. Kids were cruel, and Toby had been on the wrong end of that on more then one occasion. So, for once, he was going to put himself on the line.
Charity was one of the few female members of staff he'd spent some time with, and he'd found her to be throughly endearing. She'd welcomed him with open arms, and of course, she loved cats. That was always a bonus.

Toby had volunteered to be a supervisor during the most highly anticipated event on Bellefonte Academy's social calendar, and frankly, he was just hoping for a friend to walk into prom with who made pleasant company.  
He stopped himself just outside of the teacher's lounge, taking a deep breath and breathing out, before giving himself a confident nod; This caused his glasses to slip down to the end of his nose, which he quickly adjusted by balancing the box on one hand and quickly pushing them back up the bridge of his nose. Then, taking the box carefully in both hands and with a grin on his lips, Toby pushed open the door using his shoulder. 

Here's hoping she was taking her break in the lounge today...

[Charity Croft]

"I'm going to end up murdering one of them," Charity said before groaning. Both of those noises were actually made into her arms, more or less, which muffled and trapped the majority of the sound. Charity tilted her head to look at the still completed files she had to sort through. This was what she got for deciding to do a trip during the tail end of a semester and volunteering for extra detention duties and getting her Helping Hands club to make desserts for most of the students. And of course Charity hadn't actually gotten to eat many of said desserts lately.

"This is just sucking. Suck, suck sucking," she said, sighing and turning her head. The door opened, and Charity just groaned. "If you're looking for me I'm dead. I murdered someone and went to the gas chamber," she said, though not before tilting her head enough to let the noises come out from her arms. Though her head remained most definitely nestled within, thus preventing her from actually seeing anything happening around her.

[Tobias Croft]

Toby grinned at the sight of his fellow member of staff. Charity was in the first place Toby had looked, defying sod's law; Perhaps the powers that be had finally opted to grant him some degree of luck. She was slumped forward, her head in her arms; It looked as though his natural charisma was going to need his secret weapon more then he thought.
He'd been about to declare his presence when she beat him to it, claiming to be deceased in a manner which showed her clear level of exhaustion at her workload. Toby opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, blinking with wide eyes.

"Charity's dead?" He spoke making his voice quiver slightly, pouting a little, his bottom lip shaking. Toby's expression gave of the impression of an injured puppy. "She was... she was the best of us..." He then sniffed loudly, before lifting his head to look towards the ceiling. "I will miss her... But in her honor, I shall consume these baked goods, which were for her, in her good name." He approached the trainer, giving an exasperated sigh as he placed the box against the top of her head. "Freshly made, buttercream topped... If only she were here, she could have these stunning culinary creations." He then grinned brightly. "Ah, well, all for me then instead." He then placed the box down beside her, before grabbing hold of another nearby chair and pulling it over to sit beside her, picking the box and it's delicate cargo and placing it on his lap. "I wonder if I can eat them all in one sitting?"

At the very least if this all did go belly up he could wallow in his sorrows by consuming the box's contents. There's always a silver lining.

[Charity Croft]

"Very," Charity responded as the voice talked about Charity being dead. The voice continued though, and Charity shifted her head to the side to allow for better hearing. Whoever this was certainly sounded pretty darn familiar to her. She'd definitely heard this guy talking before. And apparently he knew enough about her to eulogize her... though he wasn't giving too many specifics or...

"Is there a box on my head?" she asked, her eyes shifting to look. There did seem to be a box of something balanced there. The voice was talking about culinary something or other. Just as Charity was about to snatch the box off her head, a chair moved over and the box shifted. Charity looked at it, then raised her head up.

"You?" she managed, squinting at him. She reached up to rub her eyes for a moment, blinked, and stared forward. "What are---why do you have a box of..." she looked down at the box, then back up at the guy, then back at the box, then up at the guy. Then she pointed at said guy. "Your name is... Toby, right? The, uh, cat guy?" Oh the fun ways Charity had of remembering the people she ran into. At least he wasn't Speedo or Penis guy (worst superheroes ever?)

[Tobias Croft]

Toby grinned as the young woman continued the joke, nodding at her question about the box before he sat down, even though she wasn't looking at him at that moment.
"ME!" He declared proudly when she addressed him after he'd seated himself, a wide grin spread across his face; She remembered him! Toby may have not spent much time with the trainer, but the fact she remembered him from their various encounters from the pet shop to the bar on the cruise ship uplifted his confidence; Hey, maybe he wouldn't have to go over an adult's recommended calorie limit by consuming the entire box in a state of self pity. Toby... She actually remembered his name. "Yeah! That's me, Toby the cat guy!" He was quite fond of his new formal title, stating it with pride before grinning once again. This was going pretty well! Now, how could she resist the fantastically perfect creations that lay within the confides of the cardboard box? She surely couldn't!

He looked around, his eyes narrowed, as though he was making sure they were alone, before gesturing with his finger to lean in close as he did. ".. I have..." He spoke, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose, slowly pushing them back up again with his finger, raising a brow. "A proposition for you, Miss.Legrange, a mission, if you so choose to accept it." He then grabbed hold of the box, placing it on the table before her, spinning it round as though it was some sort of magic trick, opening it with a flourish. Inside were a number of actually quite well made cupcakes... Considering they were Toby's 3rd attempt, he was quite pleased with them; With a swirl of buttercream on top of vanilla sponge, the cupcakes also displayed fondant letters, which spelled out the words,

"YOU.
ME.
PROM?"

It was originally supposed to say "Would you care to go with me to the prom?" But Toby ran out of decent cupcakes that weren't burnt. He waited, suddenly feeling a flicker of nerves seep past the cracks in his confidence; At least he coud always laugh things off if she said no... That was always the benefit of being him. If things went poorly, hey, it was all a joke... It was how he got through. He didn't blame her to be perfectly honest... Toby felt that he wasn't exactly the prime option at the Academy, and that he'd be an idiot to think otherwise... and a woman like Charity... She'd likely had an offer from every guy at the school already. But hey, as that kid who ran the radio said earlier in his broadcast... The worst they can say is no, right?

[Charity Croft]

Me indeed. Charity straightened up as best she could, blinking a few more times. He did seem friendly enough, she had to give him that. She had to laugh a little as he owned up the title. "I think there's actually a superhero with that name already," she admitted. Charity had propped up one arm up and sort of leaned against it, supporting her head to some degree while she kept her attention on him.

He kept going, talking about cupcakes and some kind of proposition. "Oh, and what's---" and soon Charity found herself looking down at cupcakes that looked, well, halfway decent. "The icing's a little smeared on---are those words?" She squinted, tilting her head, though not enough to get it off its perch on her hand. "It looks like those are supposed to be words...?" she tilted her head again.

"I think I've just been doing too much work lately, Toby, because I really can't read that," she said. She rubbed her eyes again. "It looks like... you, me... pron...?" She paused for a moment, blinking. "Isn't that slang for porn? Are you... asking me to make a porn with you...?"

Should she be flattered or smack him?

[Tobias Croft]

Okay. Moment of nervous truth, here. Give her a moment to process how stunningly amazing his cupcakes were... They'd taken him most of an afternoon to conjure up out of the culinary ether, and had cost him a small fortune in ingredients... But there they were, in all their glory. Toby's grin however, quivered slightly, fading as she seemed unable to read the fondant writing; he furrowed his brow and looked down at the cakes in their cardboard box; He flinched, realising that their travel from his kitchen to their current position hadn't gone without some... Casualty. The icing had smeared on a few of the cupcakes, most notably on the word "Prom", which was now barely readable. He looked to the woman beside him with a sheepish grin, about to explain what they were supposed to say when she made her own assumption.

Toby flinched so violently it was though he'd been burned, nearly knocking the box off the table in the process. "NO! What kind of guy do you think I am?!" He felt his face flush red as he waved his hands at her rapidly in defense. "I am NOT the kind of guy who'd make porn cupcakes! Geez, come on!" Now he was laughing, perhaps a little too loudly, in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head, looking away from the woman as he felt the entire situation begin to fall away from the adorable gesture he'd hoped it would be. "It's... It's supposed to say PROM. PROM. Not porn!" He then sighed, lowering his head a moment. "I'm asking if you want to... You know... Trip the light fantastic? Boogie it down? Paint the town red? With... Me?" He gave her a warm smile, a touch more understated then his usual wide and goofy grin. "I mean, you don't HAVE to, I bet you've had LOADS of requests already, man, I must be late, so, um... I'll just... Embarrassedly shuffle my way over there..." He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder, towards the lounge room door.

[Charity Croft]

Charity chuckled at his comment, nearly sliding off her arm. "Uh, the kind of guy who'd ask someone to make a porn with him via cupcakes?" she asked, smiling a little. It did sound pretty insane when she said it aloud like that. Still, she couldn't help but wonder what he was trying to say with the cupcakes. What else was there that could be close enough to...

Prom? Charity actually felt her arm drop, her head sliding a bit. She jerked upright, practically death-clutching the top of the table. He'd kept going, repeating it, using various phrases that Charity sort of vaguely recognized as being expressions having to do with cutting lose and enjoying yourself. "Err, what?" she managed, blinking owlishly. Was this some kind of strange dream? Had she, like, aged backward a dozen or so years while she slept? Was that a thing that happened to people?

Though Charity had ended up going to prom with a few girlfriends. It had been fun, though not the kind of fun that most people thought of when they thought of prom. "Uh, are we even..." her brow scrunched, "isn't that for the students? I think we're supposed to chaperone...?" This was just surreal that Charity couldn't quite wrap her head around it.

[Tobias Croft]

To Toby, he couldn't see why he couldn't chaperone and still turn up with a date. His own actually prom had been... Uneventful. He'd endured public humiliation upon asking a girl who he found out didn't think too much of him in dating terms, laughed it off, then went with his other friends whom had also been passed up or simply didn't fancy asking anyone. That was his prom, and he'd spent it mostly being the centre of attention on the dance floor as he was a pure bred lord of the dance when the need called. Well... In his eyes. He was aware his talents were not appreciated by most, but hey, to each his own.
But this time... He may not be a student anymore, but why should they get all the fun? Why couldn't he have another go at this prom date thing?

"Well, you see, I'm chaperoning, and I just thought if you were and I was... We could... You know. Chaperone together," He grinned, pointing to Charity and then himself respectfully when he mentioned "you" and "I", feeling increasingly more and more embarrassed. He was such a total idiot. Of COURSE she'd think it was weird to ask her to go with him... What were they, 16?! They'd be spending most of the night confiscating alcohol from students and breaking up fights most likely anyway... Not exactly an ideal date scenario. "But, erm, it's okay, I get it, I get it..." He held his hands up. "It's weird, I know. I'll just be going... To the door... I have... Stuff to do. LOTS of important stuff." He still remained on his seat however, darting his eyes a moment from the box to Charity, the box to Charity, then back again.

She still hadn't exactly said no... Right?

[Charity Croft]

Yes, chaperoning. Charity had quite purposefully not signed up for that. Given how most of the students felt about her, she could just see scenes from horrible teen movies playing out. There was just no doubt that they wouldn't drag her up front in front of people and somehow find a way to dump a tub of blood over her or cover her in snot or who knows what.

Still, it had been quite a while since anyone had actually asked Charity out. She'd been starting to think that she should just buy a cat and, well, Toby sort of knew that. And here he was fumbling his way through asking her out, she guessed.

"No, it's, uh, kind of sweet, really," she admitted. She reached for the box, holding out the one that still looked very much like "pron" to her. "It's really flattering. Nobody's actually asked me out on, like, anything romantic in... a while," Charity lapsed for a bit there, looking away. Then she flushed, her eyes going wide.

"Not that I'm saying this is romantic! I mean, if you just wanted to, like, go chaperoning together, I'm so down. I can go all matron," she gestured at herself, "get out the long-sleeved dresses and the rulers and all that fun stuff."

[Tobias Croft]

Toby was halfway through putting the thought of awkwardly leaving into motion when the young woman's words made the trainer pause; Sweet? She thought his actions were... Sweet? He blinked, slowly shifting his eyeline back to Charity. "You... You think I'm- I mean, the whole asking you to the prom thing is... Sweet?" He spoke, a wide grin spreading out across his face. She continued, revealing the fact that no one had askled her out in a romantic sense for some time, a fact which seemed utterly ridiculous to Toby; This was Charity Legrange, highlight of the Bellefonte staff! Adorable, with the ability to uplift his spirit and from what he'd seen the majority of those around her, and she liked cats to boot. How was she not already fighting off suiters?!

Upon Charity's declaration that she wasn't insinuating that Toby's fantastic gesture of asking her out was romantic, the trainer felt his face flush a warm scarlet. "I- UM- Well of course not!" He replied quickly, waving his hands at her while laughing a little too loud out of obvious embarrassment. "I mean... Um. Hypothetical situation here," He began, pushing his forefingers together before gesturing with one hand as he spoke, his gaze looking anywhere else but at the female in front of him. "If... Say... It WAS maybe intended to be... Kind of... If Um. You know what? Never mind!" He suddenly looked back at her, smiling sheepishly, opting to quickly change the subject. "C-Chaperoning it is! I'll even bring my own ruler. The one who confiscates the most alcohol buys the other a week's worth of coffee." He then folded his arms, pointing to himself with his thumb. "I'll have you know I'm pretty good at ruining students' fun, and I really love coffee, so be prepared to to pay quite the bill."

She was up for chaperoning, that was something, right? He'd only wanted a friend to walk in with, but for a fleeting moment when she'd called his action sweet... Well. Perhaps he'd hoped ever so slightly that she'd actually have taken it more as an offer of a date then simply the request of her company.

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled wide and nodded again as Toby repeated the bit about the whole cupcake thing being sweet. It really was something that Charity had always wished happened to her at some point. Though part of her did wonder if, strictly speaking, she should be that enthused about cupcakes at her age. She quickly beat that part up with a club and dragged it off to a corner of her mind to die a whimpering death because this was still very much awesome and very much something she wanted to have happen.

Toby kept going and for once Charity wasn't on the side of the stumbling/fumbling. Instead she was still fighting between her own tiredness and excitement, her head bobbing for both. There seemed to be something in there about how this might have been something else. Had he been trying to ask her out? Charity wasn't sure, and he was already barreling past it.

"I'm sure it'll be great,' Charity insisted emphatically, nodding. "We'll dress like adults and be all ready to make sure that the students don't do anything they shouldn't. Well," Charity shrugged and bobbed her head, "except spike the punch. You might as well just serve the thing as punch flavored alcohol and get it over with." That had been a tradition since before even Charity had been a student, and one she didn't see changing now.

[Tobias Croft]

Well, at the very least she had said YES. YES... TO CHAPERONING TOGETHER. Smooth, Toby, real smooth.
He'd bottled it now, and having already fumbled and stormed past trying to ask her out, he couldn't really go backtracking and make himself look like more of an idiot... No, he'd instead prepare to wow her at prom, dazzle her with his gentlemanly manners and dancing skill. The very idea that he was actually taking Charity to prom... Not exactly as a date, but as chaperone buddies... Made him feel quite giddy.
Already he was mentally planning, plotting a perfect night which could end with... Well... With an accepted date request? Toby was nothing if not positive and prone to latching onto hope, and latch he would.

"Dress like adults? And here I was thinking more along the lines of fancy dress," He grinned, before pouting. "You know, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's not prom without some students being sick all over the dance floor." He then sighed, glancing upwards and wiping a false tear from his eye with a single finger as though the notion was truly a magnificent thing.
"That's how you know it's been a perfect prom." He then clapped his hands once, before pointing to the female with a wide, goofy grin. "So I'll pick you up at your dorm at around 7:00pm? Give us plenty of time to strut our way there, give everyone else time to adjust to our glorious presence before the prom actually starts."

Toby hadn't really enjoyed his own prom back when he was a student... But this time around, he was feeling increasingly excited. This one was going to be better... FAR better. Well even if it all went hurtling downwards in an array of metaphorical flames, he'd still have a friend at his side that he really enjoyed the company of.

[Charity Croft]

Charity laughed a little at the question, nodding along. "I don't know about the sick part, but it does sound familiar," she could vaguely remember something like that happening at her own prom. At least she didn't think it had been her vomiting, which she considered something of a personal victory.

Toby had a plan, setting time and: "Don't we have to be at the gym by then?" Charity asked, tilting her head. "I want to say yes... or was that seven thirty? I only live here on campus, so it's not that big of a deal I guess. We'll definitely want to get there on time though. We have to set good examples."

Charity nodded again. This definitely sounded like it should at least be better than her older proms. Though she'd at least managed to get a date or two (she'd been adorkable even then). She'd just felt a little awkward... which really hadn't changed. Now she'd just sort of grown into the awkwardness, owned it. And she could own it with someone who was kind of cool, which was a definite plus.

"So seven it is?" she repeated, nodding, wanting to make sure that was finalized.