A/N: This story was originally written for "gwenfrankenstien" for Rare Pair Fest 2017. Rose, and her friends, are based on characters from the comic "Dungeon Critters", which was co-created by Natalie Riess, the creator of "Space Battle Lunchtime", and Sara Goetter. Enjoy!
Nell had gone into the storage space to grab some spare napkins when the doorbell rang. She glanced towards the clock as she stepped into the kitchen and confirmed that it was indeed exactly one minute after the café had opened for the day. While Dozens was by no means the most popular spot in town, it did have a fair number of loyal customers who had their own patterns and routines as to when they were able to stop by and pick up a coffee and/or dessert. Despite this there had been no one in Nell's brief, but eventful, time owning Dozens had entered the shop so early.
Most people would remark on the strangeness of such an occurrence, either with a verbal response that was less of a word and rather an articulated syllable or even an internalized thought of "Strange", but Nell was not like most people. If anyone who knew Nell at all would have to describe her in one word it would be "Chill". Very little phased her, whether it was strange, scary, or downright bizarre. Regardless of the sight before her Nell had maintained or usual expression of calm indifference. So when she stepped out of the kitchen and behind the counter she did not flinch when she saw the woman with blue-scaled skin and gills inside her café. Instead, she thought to herself: Convention season must be early this year.
Aside from the aforementioned scales and gills the woman looked as though she was rocking a punk biker look, which Nell instantly approved of, that would have given most people the impression that she was tough and not to be bothered. However, standing in the middle of the pastel coloured café, glancing nervously at a crumpled piece of paper in her hands, the woman looked more anxious than intimidating. Nell figured the woman was from out of town and was recommended Dozens by a local friend, which did happen on occasion during convention season. Nell was hoping her co-worker would speak up and help the poor cosplayer out but she was too busy gaping in awe at the blue woman to do anything. Oh well.
"Welcome to Dozens. Can I get you anything?"
This seemed to get the other woman's attention, as she walked, with a bit more confidence, towards the counter.
"Yeah, well, my friend told me about this place, and I just wanted to make sure it was the right one."
Got it in one.
"Alright. How did they describe the place?"
At this comment the woman began to blush an interesting shade of purple (damn that must be some good makeup) and stammered out her reply, while still trying to act aloof and nonchalant. The result was not nearly as graceful as the blue-woman had hoped.
"A-actually, it wasn't the place I had heard about. It was a chef. You know a chef who worked here, obviously."
She then took a deep breath to steel her nerves, slammed her hands on the countertop, and looked Nell straight in the eyes, which was impressive since one eye was covered by a tuff of hair, and asked.
"Did this place have a chef named 'Peony'?"
Nell had to admit she was surprised by the question, though her expression did not show it. Peony had been one of the café's best chefs; she was punctual, always made great food, and she was creative. She had always tried to make new things, or recreate tied-and-true recipes into something new and unique. Peony's mini carrot-cherry cakes were some of the café's bestselling desserts, and Nell was really grateful that Peony had let them use the recipe (with proper credit of course). With all of those qualities Nell had expected that Peony would eventually move onto some bigger, better restaurant where she would eventually become a professional pâtissière, or write a book with her recipes, or something. Basically Peony had a lot of potential.
So when she last met her formal employee after her unexpected disappearance she was not expecting "Sorry, I am going to run an intergalactic food truck from now on, thanks for everything, bye" as an explanation. After all, Peony was creative and inventive, but she was still awkward as heck Peony. And a food truck in space?
"Yeah, I know Peony. She was one of our best chefs until she left to go independent. Why do you want to know?"
Nell may have been on the laissez-faire side, but she certainly was not going to direct some random person, with unknown intentions, towards her old employee. Interestingly the blue woman let out a deep sigh, letting her head drop downwards in, what Nell assumed to be, relief. After a brief pause the woman brought her head up to face the café owner.
"I have a huge favour to ask."
"And all that together will bring your total up to thirty solarbucks. Enjoy!"
Peony handed two pink coloured boxes to her eager customer, one containing a dozen of her cupcakes and the other containing four different slices of cakes and pies. While the human's food truck was best known for selling her cupcakes, once her shop became more mainstream she decided to expand to selling other desserts. The experiment was a success and now her top-selling cupcakes were joined by cakes and pies of a variety of descriptions. While the food truck was still rather modest by most descriptions Peony was extremely proud of what she had been able to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time. Being a finalist on Space Battle Lunchtime was certainly a huge boost in providing her with customers, as well as the constant support from the friends she made on the show itself. She was especially surprised to see how popular her "Earth cuisine" food had sold, since she had worried that the Earth recipes would seem quaint in comparison to the seemingly endless flavours that the rest of the galaxy had provided. And yet her mini carrot-cherry cakes, chocolate chip cookies, and red velvet cupcakes proved to be among her best sellers, alongside her Milky Way cakes, celestial swamp pod pies, and star dust cupcakes.
"Thanks a bunch Peony! They look delicious!"
The woman standing before her was one of Peony's loyal customers, a feline alien named Rose. She said that she was an adventurer, and with her three other companions would look for treasures in abandoned asteroid mines, thwart space pirates, and retrieve flash drives full of their friend's embarrassing old fanfiction (to say the group was less than impressed with that particular "quest" was an understatement). After discovering Peony's desserts the group had often used the food truck as a "pit stop" either before or after an adventure to get their blood sugar pumping. Sometimes they went together as a group, or even in pairs, but today Rose was by herself. Apparently the ancient map they were trying to decipher had been particularly frustrating this time around, so Rose had decided to treat her friends to some sugar in the hopes that it would help them relax. Peony certainly hoped the plan was successful; aside from them being customers she liked to think of the group as her friends.
"It's no problem. Tell the gang I said 'Hi', okay?"
"Sure thing, Peony. Later, Neptunia."
Peony almost dropped the change that she was trying to sort when she registered what Rose had said. Sure enough her partner stood before her, with an anxious smile on her face. She usually made more of an announcement, typically in the form of her motorbike, whenever she came over to visit. And yet there was Neptunia, looking at her with a mixture of affection and hesitancy that was both endearing and confusing. While Peony had learned that the alien was much more sensitive than the "tough gal" persona she wore like a mask indicated. Neptunia was still a rather strong and confident person overall, be it as a chef or from escaping cannibalistic reality shows. So seeing her with even the slightest bit of anxiety on her face was a matter of some concern.
"Hey. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," Neptunia said in an oddly shy voice.
"Of course you didn't. I was actually just closing up shop for the day," Peony replied. She hoped upbeat tone in her voice was reassuring to her girlfriend.
The comment seemed to work, as her partner began to visibly relax and her voice gained more confidence.
"That's great! I was hoping to talk with you about something, if you don't mind of course."
"I don't see why not. Just head around to the main entrance and wait for me, I have to clean up my truck for the day."
"Sure," the blue skinned alien replied with a nod and walked towards the other end of the space truck. Peony had given Neptunia a spare set of keys to the truck not long after she purchased the vehicle. She had hoped that it did not overstep any courtship rituals from her girlfriend's home planet, or make any assumptions about the nature of their relationship, but thankfully her partner was more than happy to accept the keys.
Peony's food truck had two separate areas. One was designated for cooking, storing, and selling her food while the other half contained a living area, a navigation hub, and other necessities that Peony needed to survive in space. In a way it was very much a hybrid between an RV and an Earth food truck, with the major difference being that it could travel through space. With the Space Battle Lunchtime money affording the truck, and getting her ingredients, turned out to be relatively simple. Plus, Peony had enough business sense not to spend ridiculous amounts of money, but rather just enough for her basic means and cooking supplies with a fair amount saved away for emergencies.
As she began to pack up the leftover desserts Peony began to wonder why her girlfriend had arrived like she did. Neptunia had been absent from the food truck for quite some time, which was not unusual since she had her own job, but her motorbike usually announced her presence long before the rider could say one syllable. Instead the bike was practically silent and Neptunia seemed almost sheepish as she approached. As she began to wipe down the countertop Peony concluded that it was probably best to have Neptunia explain herself before jumping into any ridiculous conclusions.
With the finishing touches done on cleaning up and storing materials concluded Peony removed her apron and walked towards the living area of her truck. Neptunia practically jumped out of the chair she was sitting in when the automatic door slid open, which was downright bizarre. Perhaps she needed a distraction.
"Do you want anything to drink?"
"No, it's fine. I'm fine."
"Alright. I'll just brew up some tea then."
After setting her kettle Peony sat in a chair opposite of her partner. The awkward feeling lingered in the air, only to be interrupted by the gradual gurgling of the kettle. This was not how she was expecting things to go. Peony knew that she had to salvage this conversation somehow, trying to think of something other than the business, when she finally noticed the small box that Neptunia was holding like it was a life preserver. Her partner seemed to notice the direction of her gaze, since she began to flush and looked down at the box. Still, the action must have been the correct one since the alien gently pushed the box across the table.
"This is for you," she mumbled.
After a brief pause Peony opened the box and gasped at its contents. Inside were four beautiful cupcakes. And not just any cupcakes: they were genuine homemade Earth cupcakes. The cupcake on the left had pink icing, while the one on the right had blue, and the remaining two in the center had different shades of purple. And on top of each pastry there was a tiny decorative sugar star. The icing work was clearly done by someone who was not used to working with frosting, but the attention that was given to each individual cake was evident.
Peony glanced up at the woman across from her, who was looking more anxious as the silence stretched out between them.
"Zonda told me about the place you used to work at. I figured, if there was any place I could learn how to make Earth food you would like, it would be there."
"You went all the way to Earth to learn how to make cupcakes? For me?"
"Well, yeah," Neptunia said as she drifted her gaze down to the table.
"I know we didn't exactly get off on the right foot when we first met. I underestimated your abilities and assumed the worst of you, but you still treated me with kindness and respect."
The alien lifted her head to face Peony, her expression open and honest.
"I figured the best way to pay back your kindness is to give you something that best reflects who you are to me: you are sweet, caring, and kind but you are also an extremely creative and talented chef who shares that gift with the rest of the galaxy. And so, I decided to make something that might remind you of home."
After saying all that she wanted to say Neptunia held her breath, waiting for the human's response. Peony began to stare at the box before her, and it obscured the chef's expression. Was this gesture too much? Was she overstepping her bounds as a partner and fellow chef? Did the food look terrible?
To her surprise the response came in the form of sniffles and shuddering shoulders. Neptunia leapt out of her chair to reach her partner, grabbing some nearby napkins along the way, in hopes to console her. Once she reached her side Peony lifted her head, tears in her eyes but a huge grin on her face. She accepted the napkins and pushed up her glasses up so that she could properly dry her eyes.
"Sorry about that. I was just so worried that something had gone wrong, I never expected such an amazing gift."
Neptunia smiled, utter relief spreading through her entire body.
"I'm glad, for a minute I was worried I had upset you."
"No, you didn't. I guess I just got a little nostalgic. It's been a long time that I've seen any 'Earth food' that isn't something I made, you know?"
Neptunia nodded. She was used to living away from her home planet now, but foods from there always made her hearts twinge whenever she saw them.
"So, you went to Dozens? Did Nell teach you how to make these?"
"Yep. She was…surprisingly relaxed about teaching an alien how to bake."
Peony snorted.
"That's Nell for ya. She thought Zonda was wearing a really good costume when we first met her."
"Huh. Is it usual, for humans to wear such…elaborate costumes?"
"Not really, unless it's for a movie, but some folks can be very creative."
"I see."
With the tension dissipating from the atmosphere Peony decided to eat her first cupcake, the one with blue icing, to see how her girlfriend's gift had turned out. Unsurprisingly the cupcake was delicious, if a bit thick on the icing, not that Peony was complaining since it led to Neptunia cleaning the icing off of her cheek with a kiss.
After finishing her first cupcake, and giving her compliments to the chef, Peony got up to turn off the whistling kettle. As she went to grab the tea leaves from her cupboard a question formulated in her mind.
"What kind of desserts do you have on your home planet?"
Neptunia was briefly stunned by the question but quickly regained her composure.
"Well, our food is rather different from what you're probably used to. Not to mention our techniques are significantly more…"
"Flashy?"
"I was going to say 'performative', but that works too."
"So what, I would have to learn your fancy knife techniques in order to make a proper dessert?"
"Not exactly, but you should at least be aware of how to use one. But, that's beside the point. Why are you suddenly interested in my planet's desserts?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Peony replied with a smile. "I want to give you something special, like you just did for me. You went all the way to my home planet, and talked to my old boss, just so you could learn how to make something I love. I can definitively say that no one has ever gone that far for me before…aside from rescuing me from Cannibal Coliseum on live television.
"Neptunia, you are someone who I love dearly and want to see smile more than anything else. I want to give you the best possible gift I can: right from the heart."
Neptunia flushed a deep purple and gave a weak chuckle.
"I guess we had similar thoughts in mind," she mumbled.
"What was that?"
Neptunia had been debating before she arrived at the food truck whether or not saying the cupcakes represented each of the alien's hearts would have been too cheesy. She was not ready to admit it, just yet, but she was glad to be proven wrong.
"Alright then. Once we finish up here, we'll go straight to my home planet. It might be a little challenging, but I'm sure that if any chef can manage to do those desserts justice it's you, Peony."
Now it was Peony's turn to blush, but she quickly recovered enough to walk towards her girlfriend and reached up on her tiptoes to give her a proper kiss. Neptunia wrapped her arms around her lover as they moved closer together and deepened the kiss. Between the lingering taste of cupcakes, the shared warmth of their bodies, and the stars above them, the pair knew they would not trade these moments together for anything in this vast, beautiful galaxy.