Two Sweet

Big Team Base, Kitchen, August 25, 2020

Elena had laid out baking ingredients. She had done this before here but it still felt weird doing it in a shared kitchen, but it was a sort of training to cook here. It was an unfamiliar kitchen, and if being kidnapped into that game show showed anything, she can’t depend on where she’ll be tonight let alone where she would be in a month. After all, it hadn’t even been half a year since her and Maria fused, and even less time since Fearless really started to be her own person. Yet it was so nice, she had always wanted to be close to other women and being so close to those two and EliZe, she had a team beyond big team, someone she could always count on.

So, she was going to bake  Elena twirled in her 50’s dress, soft orange like her hair with a floral pattern. It was nice, even nicer were the little lesbian and trans pride pins she put into it. The retro gal bit down softly on her red painted lower lip. She muttered to herself, “What to make though, I need to impress; after all that girl’s cupcakes are utterly divine.”

The door quietly opened, and Elena could see Atlanta back in, watching the hallway to see if anyone had noticed her come in. She was wearing high-waisted shorts and a dark gray shirt with four hands in the shape of L O V E in ASL. As the door clicked closed, she stood up, convinced that she’d snuck in successfully. With a satisfied nod, she turned around and let out a little squeak of alarm as she saw she wasn’t alone.

"Oh! Uh, sorry, I didn't…realize anyone was in here." Atlanta scratched the back of her head, face flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry…again. Hi. I'm Atlanta. Uh, Verve." She stuck out her hand for a handshake. "You're Elena, yeah? I watch your videos!"

Elena heard the squeak and giggled for a moment. Then she cheerfully extended her arms and said with a huge smile, “You are that cool cat from Sweet Nothings!  It’s so cool that you watch Sappho’s Sweets.”

It seemed this was a speak of the devil situation, although since she had been to 2020, meeting devils was a common occurrence, although that was more a Maria and EliZe thing than a 2020 thing. It was nice for the surprise to be someone she knew from, *The Net.* Finally, she finished her own introduction, saying, “Yes, I am Elena, I’m part of Fearless. We’re new here.”

Elena points over to the stove, teasing softly trying to make it clear she was being playful, “So, you were being sneaky, planning on doing something against the rules?”

Atlanta chuckled and rubbed her left shoulder. “Uh, not exactly...well, actually I’ve been banned from baking until my shoulder gets better, so kinda. But it’s my stress relief, you know? And if no one sees me enter the kitchen, no one can lecture me about not hurting myself. Not that anyone on the team is going to ban me from the kitchen, but I don’t really want to hear *another* person telling me to be careful today, you know?” Atlanta looked over the spread of ingredients that Elena had gotten out. “What are you making?”

Elena grinned, looking at Atlanta. She trusted that this girl knew what was best for her own mental health, which was an important thing, so she had learned in 2020. The girl said, “I’d never dream of telling you to be careful, you should see the things my other half has got up to.”

Looking over everything she had laid out, she said, “I am still not sure, thinking maybe a cake...or maybe brownies. Want to tag team a dish, I haven’t started and I love company in the kitchen, seems like a win and win situation.”

“I’d love to, thank you!” Atlanta smiled, happy she was invited to join, and walked over to the counter to look at the ingredients. “I will say that I’m much more familiar with making cake-like concoctions than I am brownies, but both are fun. Brownies are quick and easy, but decorating is half the fun of cakes…” Atlanta shook her head, knowing she was making too big of a deal out of the decision. “Unless you want a cake with far too complex decorations, I can branch out and do brownies.”

“My my, another baking overthinker, I love it!” Elena said with utter cheer in her voice.  The girl started to preheat the oven. She held up a bag of flour and said, “We’re making a cake, decorating is where the magic happens with a cake and it looks like you can use some food magic.”

Elena grabbed a mixing bowl and figured Atlanta would tell her if anything was too much. She asked, looking at various extracts, “Got a favorite flavor or should we go classic vanilla? Also any food allergies?”

“Never underestimate my ability to overthink things,” Atlanta declared, holding up a finger. “And I don’t have any food allergies. Thanks for asking, though! And as for flavor...okay, so it’s super cheesy, but my six month anniversary with Boon is coming up, and I’ve been looking up spiced chocolate cake recipes for that? It’s her favorite cake flavor.” Atlanta blushes slightly as she thinks about her girlfriend. “So uh, if you don’t mind helping me try one of those out, that could work?”

Elena grabbed her purse from the counter and pulled out a handwritten cookbook she had been making with recipes she remembered from her adoptive mother and things she learned from Maria, plus whatever new ideas come to her. She flipped her pages and said, “I got a recipe for a chocolate cake. I was saving it for something special, this sounds very special.”

What Atlanta didn’t realize before she mentioned her girlfriend was Elena was the gushy romantic type who was all about that sapphic love, so of course she was ready to make this happen. Although over excited she asked, “Is this going to be a test run or are you planning on giving this to your sweetheart after this?”

Elena was so excited to help a six month anniversary be truly special, she hoped to have one or more of those in the future. Her gay heart was totally aflutter. Was this something she should celebrate with the girls too, like a fuseaversary or something? That didn’t matter, eyes on the prize, the right now gays.

“Oh, it’s not until September 6, so this will just be a test run. I usually just go for it, but I’ve never had a girlfriend before, and Boon is so special...I want it to be perfect, you know?” Atlanta leaned back against the counter, smiling softly as she thought about Boon. “We’ve been through so much together, and I know she doesn’t really care about the cake, but it’s important to me. To celebrate things, and make them special. That’s harder when I make cupcakes all the time, you know? They don’t feel as special, so I need to do something extra to make them special again? I’m sure that doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Atlanta shook her head and pulled a ribbon out of her pocket to tie back her curls. “Anyway, let’s see this chocolate cake recipe of yours.”

The look on Elena's face was nearly as bright as the sun. Atlanta was gosh darn cute being so in love. It was like she was back with Mara. It still hurt a little the break up and all, but that was 65 years ago, water under the bridge. Plus, she had a very swell date with a nice non-binary cutie. It wasn't going to be a more than one date thing, but it was really nice.  So she could focus on making sure Atlanta and Boon's relationship was perfect so they could be happy and in love forever. Or you know, whatever.

"I totally get it, I'd cook for me and my last girlfriend so making it special was hard," she explained, leaving out unneeded details.

With that, the girl gave Atlanta the recipe book. "What do you think? Made this one with my Mom, added a few modern touches but it's mostly the same from when I made it in the 50s."

Atlanta accepted the book and looked over the recipe, nodding. “That looks amazing! How would you feel about adding a bit of cinnamon, for a bit of spice?” Then Atlanta’s non-baking brain caught up to the present, and she tilted her head to the side as she looked at Elena. “When you made it in the 50s? Are you all from the past? I'd heard you were sorta like Dawn, Solae, and Luna, but I hadn't heard about any time travel.”

Elena grabs the cinnamon and chirps “that sounds lovely.” It was a great idea, she hadn’t considered that. Elena started getting the things for the first step in the mixing bowl while she explained, “We’re kind of like them, yes. They are all really nice.”

The girl took a breath trying to think of the best way to explain it, “So, basically me and Maria were standing in the same place at the same time except it was 1955 for me and 2020 for her. Then wiz, pow, we’re fused thanks to some time shenanigans. Then as we grew closer, Fearless formed, fae are the result of our relationship, their own person.”

Elena started to hand mix everything, in part out of habit but in equal measures to keep quiet so no one would peek at the kitchen at Atlanta. “So ya, I was born in 1937, I graduated big high; class of 1955.  So I am pretty new to everything, heroes weren’t really even a big thing when I left. I assume you are from the now times?”

Atlanta nodded. She didn’t totally understand, but figured it would make more sense as she got to know all three of them better. “Yeah, I’m from now. But being from the past or future or whenever isn’t all that uncommon here. Like, my Grandy had some time shenanigans happen and now they’re only about ten years older than my mom. And like, I did mess with time once, but that was just to send back a warning about an attack.”

After grabbing an apron from a drawer (grey with stylized pink lightning bolts on it), Atlanta looked over the recipe and started the next step. “So, how are you adjusting to being in 2020? And no longer being, uh, a singular person?”

Elena was interested, there were so many strange stories to be heard in The Big team, deaging grandparents and messing with time on purpose. The world was far stranger than she had believed it to be when she lived back home. She said with enthusiasm, “You’ll have to tell me about your weird adventures some time. I love hearing stories.”

The retro girl put on her own apron with adorable birds on it with different pride color schemes. She tapped her apron and said, “This is what 2020 means to me, people being able to be themselves. I’d never go back. I was happy then, I thought but I hadn’t been truly happy until I came here.”

Elena blushed a bit and said, “Well, to say that it was shocking at first would be an understatement, but when we got back to Halcyon, we really started working out who we were and are to each other. It’s actually really nice being fused. I feel like we complete each other and we can still for a couple hour stretches do our own thing, like this.”

The lady started to prep the cake for the oven, gosh this was going to be tasty. She could just feel it in her bones, the best sweets are the ones that come with good company and great vibes. Elena asked a question, “How is dating in 2020? I have done a date here but I imagine long term dating is pretty different?”

“Ummmm,” Atlanta shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re used to. And I’ve only really dated Boon? But uh, for us we hang out a lot. We had a date at Philosotea last week, which was mostly like any other time we hang out except we called it a date and got a little more dressed up than usual. I know Boon considers most things we do dates,” Atlanta grinned, remembering the time when she thought they’d been on four dates and Boon had thought they’d been on twelve. “But we just, you know, spend a lot of time together and uh,” her face turned slightly red, “you know, hold hands and kiss.”

The terrible thing about summer was that she couldn’t wear hoodies all the time and hide in her hood whenever she was feeling embarrassed. Instead, she got out three round cake pans and buttered them so they were ready for the cake batter.

And so the batter went into the pans, Elena swaying a bit to herself saying, “That sounds lovely, I bet you two are really dreamy together. There was a lot of social expectation dating back in my day, so that sounds really nice.”

The pans slid into the oven, readying to bake into something special. Elena took a moment to admire Atlanta, she was very different from the people she had hung out with in 2020. Atlanta was undoubtedly a girl from her own time yet there was a nostalgic feeling being around her.

She tried to think of what to talk about for a moment, but she felt like she was going to be boring if she asked too many other questions. She grabbed some more things to make some frosting and said, “I am hoping that as Fearless we can make the world better, just like I hope with baking I can make someone’s day better. This is really nice. I was worried I wouldn’t meet anyone else who was into baking.”

“There are a few of us on the team who bake,” Atlanta said, then scrunched up her nose. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call what Ernest does ‘baking,’ but still. If you don’t mind the unnatural things he concocts, he likes to bake.” Unable to hold back a grin, Atlanta shook her head. “He has fun, though. But yeah! I love to bake. It’s a thing Mom and I used to do together, and then I did by myself to feel close to her while she was missing, and now that she’s back we bake together again. Mostly at Sweet Nothings.”

After depositing some of the dirty dishes into the sink, Atlanta realized she should probably explain. “Mom was missing for about four years. She was trapped with my Grandy out of time. It’s a long story, I don’t know if you’re interested. But me and some friends found them both a few months ago. Oh, you might know my Grandy! They were a hero in the fifties and before, went by the name Hero One.”

"Oh that's lovely, I'll have to meet Ernest and the other bakers," Elena cheerfully said to that nice news.

People all had wild lives like Maria on the team. Elena hoped she could make friends with people here, they could probably use it. She listened to the story and wanted to know more. She said, "I'd love to hear this story. Hero One is someone I heard of but I was going through some stuff, graduation coming up and all."

She paused and then it hit her, "Oh wait, all my friends are probably Grandys now too...anyway, please continue the story just a sudden thought."

Elena had tried not to think of Mara much, but she wondered what her mother had planned for her, if she was still alive, if she was happy? She would be 82. The world was too weird. Yet, she wouldn’t have it any other way, this was her time now. The Elena from before was gone, long gone, this was her chance to be openly and proudly every part of herself. So this would be exciting, a story about someone she had actually heard of.

“Yeah, so Grandy is the gender-neutral name for grandparent that we decided to use. Well, back in...1955 I think? They were part of a hero team in Montreal. Or maybe they were just there for a special event thing that was going on? Anyway, that’s where they all were. And Ernest, Melody, Rescue, and Grim got sent back in time to see what happened. There was a big attack on this conference thing that was going on. Like, the president and the queen were there. Anyway, it was a big deal. The attack was orchestrated by an immortal villain named Yamato -- she’s got shadow powers and has a sword -- and a reaper. Like grim reapers, you know? But this one was rogue and could possess people. And they possessed Hero One.”

Atlanta hopped up on the counter and pulled up her leg so she could rest her chin on her knee. Now a little sadder, she continued, “So using Hero One’s Pocket powers, the ability to put energy and objects into this little pocket dimension that they had access to, the reaper Pocketed all of Montreal and a good chunk of several states and parts of Canada. Big Team got out and back to the present, but that’s why the bay is there. But Hero One stayed possessed, and they traveled through time. They were called Reaper One during that time. Or, at least that’s what the Consortium called them. I’m not sure if they ever called themselves that. Anyway, they hopped about time until at some point, they got un-possessed. But the reaper kept them in their Pockets, which the reaper had control over now. At some point, my mom realized that’s where they were, and went in to save them, but she got caught as well. But a few of us went into the Pockets during a mission, found them, and got them out. Then a few weeks later, Ernest hit that reaper with their own scythe, so they’re gone. Not dead, I don’t think, just banished to the reaper realm or something.”

Atlanta shrugged. “Sorry, that’s the short version, but it is kinda long. Anyway, they and my mom live with me, my dad, and my brother again. For a little while we lived in our three bedroom, one bathroom apartment, and oh boy were we all happy to move into a house. But because of all the time they skipped since 1955, they only aged to be about ten years older than my mom. Did that make any sense?” Atlanta chuckles, knowing that it was all very convoluted.

“Oh wow, sounds like family life was complicated to say the least, but that all makes sense.” She grabbed a spoon and scooped up the frosting they were making. “Oh, this is good.”

Returning to the topic at hand, she said, “I am glad everything worked out and it seems like The Big Team are a family too, after all doing all this to help bring together your family again.”

Elena felt lucky that they got let into this big family, her new family all got let in and now she could see if this could also be one, if not, it wouldn’t be a big loss but the more the merrier right? Elena grabbed another spoon and offered a taste to Atlanta. “Let me know what you think.”

Atlanta smiled fondly as Elena called the Big Team a family. “Yeah, I’m lucky that my family is so supportive. I mean, my dad doesn’t get the whole being a hero thing, but he’s trying. And it stems from him caring about me. And you’re right, the Big Team is a family as well. I didn’t have many friends or anything before Big Team, but I’ve changed a lot since I’ve joined.” Subconsciously, she rubbed her injured left shoulder.

Realizing what she was doing, Atlanta accepted the spoon and tasted the frosting. “Ooo, that’s good. Sweet. I’m thinking this and strawberries will offset the intensity of the chocolate flavor. Maybe some more fresh fruits? I don’t like something to be all one flavor tone, you know?”

Elena looked over to the girl's injury for a second, she hadn’t really considered it before but given what reminded Atlanta of it, she probably got it protecting someone. Elena nodded her head. “That’s really smart, I’ll grab some from the fridge. What are you thinking?”

Elena was overly excited about this whole affair, her brain going back to romance mode, she had seen Boon before, performing with the Flex Girls just putting the two together in her mind was causing her to gush. Love is so amazing and it was extra special seeing queer folks be in love given where she came from so it only made her heart race faster. Elena really hoped the cake would be the one; it would be really nice to be able to have her recipe be part of the history of what clearly could be one of the all time great romances.

“Okay, so I was thinking something like this,” Atlanta pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed Elena a picture of a cake with vanilla frosting, chocolate dripped down the sides, and strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries piled on top. “You can’t do this drip thing with cupcakes, and I’ve been wanting to try it out! And the toppings don’t need to be exactly this, I don’t know what we’ve got on hand. I know where Ernest’s secret marshmallow stash is if we need something to fill out the toppings for this go round.”

Elena grabbed a collection of fresh fruits and said, “I think we’re good actually. I think the fruits will probably go better than marshmallows in giving it a special feeling.”

She giggled a bit, thinking of what she would do for the others, it would probably be like cookies on top or candy, the sugar fiends. Elena got a nice little bowl of fruit set up and said, “We should be good to decorate soon, then we can test this drip. Does Boon have a favorite fruit?”

“Strawberries!” Atlanta replied. “And I think the blueberries will also go especially well with the cake. And maybe blackberries?” Atlanta paused to think, imagining the flavor profiles in her mind. “Yeah, I think that sounds good. And the great thing about my powers is that I can absorb the heat from the cake so we don’t have to wait for it to cool before we can decorate it! Don’t tell my mom I cheat.” Atlanta winked at Elena, then giggled.

Elena pulled out as many strawberries as she could and paired them with a solid balance of blackberries and blueberries. The timer went off, and she pulled out the cake and blushed a bit. Atlanta was cute, Boon was really lucky. They were the kind of gift she got to see in the future, why she never had a reason to be afraid. Elena put the cake down on the stovetop and figured she would leave it to Ms. Energy Absorption to get the first bite.

Elena sat on the counter, teasing “I promise not to tell her unless she bribes me with cupcakes, then I am not legally responsible for my actions. ”

Atlanta laughed. “Fair. Maybe I should try bribing people with my cupcakes instead of just giving them away. Think of everything I could get if I did that!” Atlanta held her arm up to flex, although despite her strength she wasn’t buff. “Unlimited power!” She held the pose for only a moment before dissolving into giggles.

Walking over to the oven, Atlanta held out her hands and touched the tips of her fingers to each pan. The moment her fingers touched the hot surface, she activated her powers and absorbed all the heat from them. She nodded in satisfaction, then got out a nice plate and carefully got the cake layers out of their pans.

“Okay, we’re ready for the first layer of frosting! So what got you into baking, Elena?”

Elena broke out in giggles and playfully said, “I for one accepted our new Atlanta overlord.”

She leaned back a bit, thinking for a moment what got her into baking. It’s just kind of what girls did but was it just that? Elena stood up and grabbed the frosting. “Well to be honest, my first thought was just...I was a teen in the 50s, I was kinda expected to and I wanted to fit in but before that...I think it was my first mom, before I got adopted. She asked me what I wanted to do because I looked bored playing with the boys, I said bake so she taught me.”

Elena started to put frosting on her side of the cake with a soft smile. She never really thought of that mom much, but maybe it’s that it was bitter sweet.

Atlanta nodded, noting Elena’s expression. “My mom taught me to bake, too. I guess I already said that. It was how I felt close to her while she was gone.” She smiled softly, then shook her head affectionately. “If only Jasper had followed in my footsteps instead of Ernest’s. But a B-Tuber is far cooler than his sister.”

To make the drip effect, Atlanta put some chocolate in a pan. Then, deciding that doing it the normal way would take too long, Atlanta carefully used the heat she had absorbed from the cakes to melt it. As soon as Elena finished frosting the cake and making it smooth, Atlanta began to pour on the melted chocolate.

“Here goes nothing.”

With her tongue poking out of her mouth as she concentrated, Atlanta carefully drizzled the chocolate from the pan onto the cake. The first part cascaded down the whole side of the cake, but by the time she got all the way around, she’d figured out the technique to make it drip just right. Relieved, she set down the pan and leaned against the counter.

“Hoo, that was stressful. But hey, it worked! And now we just need to arrange the fruit on top!” Atlanta grinned and held up her hand for a high five.

Elena nods her head with a soft smile cracking through her lips. “I guess I feel close to my mom when I bake, too.”

From the sound of it, Atlanta’s mom was also a swell warrior gal. Elena’s bio mom was similar, she was a radical activist up until the last time she saw her. She sighed, thinking her mom wouldn’t have been proud of who she was in the 50s, but then the smile returned thinking about how she would react to her now.

Elena watched intensely, the drizzle was so important and wow, it was landed pretty amazingly. She grabbed some fruits and said, “Let’s finish this bad girl and see how it tastes.”

With that, she worked on arranging the toppings into a lovely array. Even if it was a test run, she wanted it to be a solid sample cake.

The two finished putting the berries on the top of the cake and stepped back to admire their work. Atlanta’s face was tightened into a frown of concentration, but after a moment she nodded and grinned.

“It’s not perfect, but I think it looks good! Thank you so much for your help, Elena. I super appreciate it.”

Elena looked over their collaboration and took it in. “I think it’s wonderful, thank you for letting me help Atlanta.”

She grabbed a knife and said, “This is a sample cake which means, do you want a bite before we get you out of the kitchen unnoticed?”

Elena giggled, feeling this strange connection to Atlanta, she couldn’t help but admire her a little bit. After all, Atlanta had so many different hats, it was impressive. All she knew was she hoped she would get another chance like this, to bake beside her in this cozy kitchen.

With a grin, Atlanta grabbed two plates and forks out of the cupboard. “I think we can sample it before I have to go. But if anyone asks, I was never here.”

Elena giggled and with a wink said, “Good, and since you weren’t here the rest will be mine.”