Blind Date

Mauritius slouched in his chair, looking around Yuzu Unlimited as he waited.  He’d managed to show up a bit earlier than he was supposed to - mostly because he had wanted to take an extended look at the menu.  He’d learned by now that not every bun enjoyed listening to him interrogate servers about every item on the menu and their ingredient sources and quality.  Crepe and Spot might both be patient with it - and of course Madeira joined in with him and was, if anything, worse.  Buns who didn’t know him, however, tended not to tolerate it as well.

He just didn’t want to eat subpar food if he had a choice, and besides, if he knew the menu and everything on it, then he could make sure that both he and his date got to enjoy a delicious meal.  A date just wasn’t as fun if someone was unsatisfied by their food, in his opinion.  (Admittedly, he also just thought it made him seem cool and knowledgeable if he seemed to know a lot of information about a restaurant’s menu even if it was a place that was new to him…)  Now, as it approached the agreed upon time to meet his date, he was secure in his knowledge and what he wanted to order.

He hadn’t been told anything about his date - he’d just gotten some limited say on a place, date, and time from the friend who had set it up for them, who had thought he’d match great with one of their other friends.  Mauritius never saw a reason to say ‘no’ to a date (or much of anything that wasn’t serious work), so he had been happy to agree and let his friend do all the work on arranging things…

…but it was occurring to him now that he really should have asked his friend for a name.  Or a physical description.  Or even just a horn type.  Yuzu Unlimited was a bit busy, after all.  Who knew which of these buns was supposed to be his date?  He’d been told the phrase was ‘blind date’, but surely some information would have helped…

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Matentines had to be one of Crepe's favourite times of the year, if not for all the romance then all the candy that she made during the month. Her candy store always had incredible sales during this time, and she would usually be with either Ruth or Mauritius if she wasn't there.  Even so, one of her friends had convinced her to go on a blind date with one of their friends. Now she was more than happy to go - dates were super fun - and if she gained a new partner from the experience? Well, the more the merrier! 

Checking her phone to make sure she had the right address, Crepe walked inside Yuzu Unlimited, a place that she had heard Mauritius mention once in passing as a possible future date idea. She giggled to herself and hoped he wouldn't be too upset at her for going without him. Then again, he was a pretty carefree guy so Crepe doubted that he'd mind. As she looked around the restaurant, it occurred to her that she had no idea who this mystery bun was or how they looked. This was really the biggest flaw of the whole ‘blind date’ thing. 

While Crepe didn't see her date, what she did see, however, surprised her. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. 

“Mauritius? What are you doing here?” Crepe asked in surprise as she walked over to the table where her boyfriend was currently sitting. He looked just as surprised to see her too, which was a little amusing. 

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It did not, of course, occur to Mauritius that he could simply text his friend who had set him up on this blind date thing, and simply just ask for the information he needed.  He was not a man prone to thinking things through, just as he was not prone to asking questions.  He just kept slouching in his chair until more of his back was on the seat of the chair than against its back, and he was finally forced to adjust back up for the sake of comfort.  At that point he looked around again, hoping that by some fortune he might just… Know who the hell his date was supposed to be.

As surprised as he was when Crepe walked in, he was also delighted and relieved to see her - both because he adored her and loved seeing her, and because he could likely ask her for help and she could do the thinking for him.  He waved at her, grinning as she looked at him.  (It did not occur to him to question why she was here, of course).

In that regard, her question surprised him, but it was easy to answer.  “One of my friends set me up on a blind date,” he explained to her, shrugging.  “A blind enough date that I’ve now realized I have no clue how to find them…”

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“A blind date hm? That's so funny, I'm supposed to be on a blind date as well.” It hit her suddenly that Mauritius was meant to be her blind date and their apparently shared friend hadn't known that. The whole situation was so amusing she couldn't help but giggle. “Oh dear, I think I'm supposed to be your blind date, honey.” She managed to say through her giggling. 

Once her laughter died down, Crepe took the empty seat across from her boyfriend and made herself comfortable. They were already here for a date, right? Why not make the most of it. “Knowing you, you've gone over the menu already. What looks good to you?” She asked, trusting Mauritius’s judgement when it came to food just like he trusted her judgement when it came to anything sweet. 

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It was fortunate Crepe connected the dots, because Mauritius just looked surprised.  “Oh, that’s fun!  Hopefully you’ll have better luck finding them.”  Her giggling just confused him - he wasn’t prone to making the kinds of logical leaps that would take the information on the table and connect it together into the most logical conclusion.  (Frankly, he didn’t even make it to an illogical conclusion very often either).

Still, he wasn’t inclined to argue with somebody else’s conclusions.  Mauritius was relatively aware that he tended to miss things.  The other buns in his life were willing enough to do the legwork of thinking things through for him, though, so it gave him little trouble generally.  He simply accepted Crepe’s conclusion with a thoughtful hum.  (Not that many thoughts were taking place, but the appearance of it was present).  “Well, that makes things easier,” he said, smiling at her.  “Wonder how they missed that we were already a couple…”

Maybe he would ask.

(He might forget, though…)

He nodded cheerfully at her supposition, straightening up properly in his seat now that he had a reason to do something besides slouching till his spine begged for mercy.  “I was thinking about the beet and rice salad with ginger dressing and crispy tofu on top,” he explained.  It suited his taste buds fairly well - but for Crepe, he knew she would prefer something sweeter.  “For your palette, I might suggest the wild berry salad.  It has arugula, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, candied walnuts, bleu cheese, yuzu zest, and a fragrant balsamic vinaigrette that adds a pleasant hint of tartness to round out the flavors.”  Glancing up as he saw a server bringing drinks to another table, he added, “Oh, and I think you might enjoy their fresh peach or strawberry lemonade as well, alcohol in it is optional.  They squeeze it freshly for each glass, and they grow the yuzu and lemons used in their blend for the lemonade base themselves.”

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Crepe smiled to herself as she listened to Mauritius talk about the food and drinks available and what he thought would suit her based on what he knew about her palette and preferences. It was an endearing trait to her for him to remember her tastes for reasons such as this. Plus, it was adorable when he went into how certain foods were made and rambled about the way the ingredients made specific flavours together. 

She could probably listen to Mauritius talk for hours, and with the way he'd been able to sell that berry salad and peach lemonade to her, he'd be just as good in marketing as he was when it came to cooking.

“You know me so well, honey. It almost feels like we're on our first date again.” Crepe said with a smile, her foot nudging against Mauritius’s under the booth table. They hadn't had the time to go on a date recently, what with Matentines being a busy season for their industries, so this blind date really had ended up being a blessing in disguise. Crepe couldn't help but feel grateful for the mix up, and decided she would have to thank their shared friend with a large box of chocolates later.

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They were soon able to order their meals, and the night went onward as they enjoyed food, laughter, and the company of a loved one.  They might not have planned to be together tonight, but the mix up had wound up working out beautifully.  A night together in such a busy season was well worth the confusion for the couple, and would surely be an entertaining story to tell their friends at a later time.