fandomhigh | Cupcake War Crimes, Week 3 (Tuesday, Period 1)

Upon entering the classroom today, students would find the usual baking setup (including, up front, the two alien boys in charge of the workshop) and two large covered trays of cupcakes, but in the center of the front counter was a large strainer bowl full of vegetables. Carrots, celery, red and green peppers, a particularly leafy bunch of green kale, cucumbers, radishes . . .

"Okay," Anders said, clapping his hands together once in a boisterous way better suited to a gym than a classroom. "Today we're gonna discuss vegetables. Good for you, right? Right. Not always that appealing, right? Right. People've been trying to find creative ways to get kids to eat their veggies for gods know how long." People not him. He liked them. Occasionally wrapped in bacon, but shh.

“I like vegetables,” Stark pointed out. Possibly just because he enjoyed foods that weren’t food cubes or unidentifiable substances because they were a nice change from what he’d had for most of his life before coming here. “But not like this.” He reached over and revealed the cupcakes on the first tray. First there were chocolate sauerkraut cupcakes. “No sauerkraut.” He turned to Anders. “Didn’t we already have sauerkraut cupcakes?”

Anders blinked at him, scratched behind one ear, and shrugged. “It was worth emphasizing again? No beet cupcakes, either, even if the cream cheese frosting looks really good. Then there’s these, with sweet potato in them.” He shrugged and glanced at the class. “I don’t know. What do you guys think? Is it right to trick people into eating vegetables in cupcakes, just because they’re good for you? Or is that just mean? Is it okay if they know up front what they’re getting into?”

Hey, he was trying to be diplomatic about it. He still thought it was horrible.

“Better if they know what is in the cupcakes,” Stark said. “No need to trick anyone.” That was just mean. “But still. Don’t need to be healthy. Cupcakes aren’t supposed to be healthy. They are desserts. Just treats.”

“These are treats,” Anders added, uncovering the second tray to reveal a nice array of carrot-raisin cupcakes, and some chocolate cupcakes frosted with veggie shapes. “Carrots are okay in cupcakes, if you ask me. So how about you guys discuss the question for a bit, and then get to baking?

“You don’t really taste the carrots,” Stark said. “At all.”

“So it’s okay,” Anders added lamely. “Anyway. Let’s get cracking, okay?”

“You forgot last week’s cupcakes,” Stark said quickly. “We can’t forget them.” Even if some efforts had been slightly questionable. They’re looking at you, Sam, with your meaty cupcakes.

And yet. “Yeah, we picked a winner from last week’s work,” Anders said quickly. It had been a whole process involving blind taste-testing and . . . probably a mixup in their notes somewhere. Gods knew he sure looked confused. “Sam Puckett, congrats.”

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"Right, so... Ah hah!" He grabbed a bag off the table and inspected it. "I think this is it. It doesn't say why it's called self-raising flour either, though, but I think this is it anyway."

"All right, so we've got the two types of flour," he said, feeling triumphant. "Now, let's pour the correct amount into a bowl and try not to get more on you then in the bowl. Your clothes might thank us."

"Yeah, I should wear something cheaper to this class." Or learn to concentrate on what he was doing. He waffled a bit with the bowl he'd been using, then put it aside and got a new one. "Now, how much was I supposed to put these in?"

"A half a cup of the regular flour and a third a cup of the self rising," Bod recited, eyes on the recipe. "That doesn't sound too bad. Even if we go a little overboard, it shouldn't matter too much."

"A third of a cup," Jeremy repeated in a mutter as he went to measure the flour. "So, other than being a baking mastermind, how have you been? I didn't really get to talk to you at the party after the setup was done."

Not that Jeremy had done much more than buy stuff, there.

"I'm no mastermind," he said and laughed. "I've just spent time watching the cooks at the diner but I've been well. I've started working at the library on Saturdays and I carry things for Kate when there are parties happening."

Jeremy's face brightened up. "Oh hey, congrats on getting back together with cinema gi-- Kate!" Name's were hard, okay. "I didn't wanna say anything at the party in case you were playing it cool."

"Thank you," Bod said and didn't even try to stop a grin from spreading across his face. "It's been...it's been really good so I hope this means we're getting it right this time. I never completely got over her anyway."

Jeremy smiled at Bod's grin. "Well, I wish you... all the best." The pause wasn't for anything other than him starting to measure the other flour. "I mean, I feel like I should've been rooting for the other dude for the face thing, but I can't get over the hair. And you're a good dude."

"From what I've heard, his face was the only good thing about him," Bod said, holding the bowl so nothing would end up on the counter when Jeremy started pouring. "How have you been?"

"Maximum," Jeremy shrugged as he poured the flour. Without getting any on himself. "Just enjoying the easy life, man. Occasionally turning into younger and older versions of me but that's no biggie."

"At least you've thus far avoided turning into the female version of yourself?" Bod pointed out. "That's...jarring to say the least."

"I don't know dude, I think that sounds like it might be interesting," Jeremy mused. "I can think of a few interesting scenarios."

He was not taking into account that he was likely to end up looking like Juliet.

"Really?" Bod wondered how he'd react if it happened a second time. "See, all it did for me was making me feel like I was crawling out of my skin. Kate kept trying to reassure me that I was still myself but it was hard to feel that way."

"Why?" Jeremy wondered, peering at the recipe again. He was a simply guy with a pretty stable identity, so he didn't see any problems. "I just think it would be fun."

"It took me a long time to figure out who I was so having it change, even just physically, was a bit overwhelming," Bod admitted with a shrug. "It was hard to adapt to."

"Sorry, man." Jeremy still didn't really get it, but that didn't stop him from believing it had been hard for Bod.

He frowned at the recipe. "Do we sift now?"

"We sift," he said and passed the bowl to Jeremy. "Just...shake it lightly. Not like you'd shake an aerosol can or anything like that."

"Ugh, don't talk about aerosol cans," Jeremy griped as he shook the bowl carefully. Almost too carefully, in fact. "I couldn't come out of my room at all last weekend, my hair was so lame."

"Fortunately, I missed that," Bod said and laughed. "I heard about it via the radio though. Was it sticking up very high?"

"Too high." He made a face. "My hair is supposed to be floppy, the ladies love it that way."

"It's very nice," Bod said, trying not to laugh. "Was your wardrobe any better?"

The face really said it all. "No. I mean, usually I think I can rock anything and make it look wet but those clothes... There was no hope for those clothes. Absolutely none.

Oh dear lord, all the neon.

"I'm sorry you had to live through that, Jeremy," Bod said and laughed. "I feel bad for it missing me but not so bad because I look really awful in clothes that aren't the ones I typically wear."

"Well, you have a girlfriend," Jeremy pointed out, looking down at the bowl in his hands. "So it wouldn't have really mattered anyway, right?"

Re: Bake! [CWC, 5/24]

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