Chapter Text
Sigma smiled as he opened up his bakery. He loved it as if it was his own home. Walking in was like a breath of fresh air for him, the smell of breads and cake filling his senses. He unlocked the door, and walked into that familiar, home-like interior.
Flipping the sign to ‘open,’ Sigma immediately went into the back, finding everything where he and his workers had left it. Checking the list of orders, things seemed to be on schedule. Sigma had to decorate a few cookies for Atsushi’s order, and then he could tend to the phone and counter.
Sigma took immense pride in his frosting skills, having made cute little raccoon decorated cookies for a customer under the name Edogawa. He hoped that the cookies were up to par, considering how he reluctantly let Atsushi bake them instead of Sigma himself. Sigma was really good at the cookies, but he couldn’t be a control freak!
Soon enough a familiar Red-head pranced in, wearing a straw hat with braids poking out from under it. She gave Sigma a toothy smile when she saw him, clocking herself in. “Good mornin’ Mr. Sigma!” She greeted, checking the orders herself. “Oh wow, we’re really ahead~ Can I have breakfast then?” Sigma responded with a nod, walking toward the register.
Soon enough the rest of the workers were in, Kyouka and Atsushi. They all had breakfast as they waited for the clock to hit nine, where they would have to begin working.
Eventually, a short fellow with a brown hat and a matching capelette walked in, eyes closed in a somewhat confident manner. He walked up to the register. “Hey, I’m here for the pickup under Edogawa!” Sigma nodded, yelling to Kyouka in the back.
Kyouka brought up the cookies under the name Edogawa, in a scarily stealthy way. He happily accepted the cookies, walking off to a taller, more darkly dressed looking fellow.
Orders came and went, customers coming and going. Eventually, Sigma had gotten a call.
“Hello, this is Homely Bakery. May I take your order?” Sigma said in a professional tone.
“O-Oh! Sorry, I didn’t expect you to pick up so early- Uhm! I-I would like a wedding cake, is that alright?” A voice asked, sounding as if he had never had a phone call before.
“Of course! Could you describe it to me or send an image on our website to give an idea of how it will look?” The manager asked, tapping his hand against the counter.
“Uhm, three tiers, a mixture of purple and green… We would like ravens and raccoons as the decor. You can be creative with how you do it…” Sigma was about to reply, when he heard a small ‘Tell them to add buttercream!’ In the distance of the call. He couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.
“S-Sorry! That’s my fiancé.. C-Could you add buttercream?” The customer added, sounding more nervous by the second.
“Of course! And what’s the name on the order?”
“It will be Poe. Thank you!” He finalized. “Uhm, we’d like to pick it up within the week.”
A few more words were exchanged, before Sigma eventually got everything down and hung up.
Walking to the back, Kyouka was already packing her things to leave since she was a part-timer. Atsushi and Lucy were arguing over something trivial, before Sigma interrupted. “Atsushi and Lucy, can you both make some purple and green buttercream?” The duo nodded, prancing off to do just what Sigma had asked.
The manager got to work, mixing up the batter and putting them all in differently sized pans respectively. Sliding them into the oven, he hummed, now having to focus on the tiring process of making raven and raccoon decorations.
Sigma was lucky he was good with his hands, gently making edible ravens out of chocolate and carving little triangles into the wings to make feathers. The raccoons were a lot easier, the plump bodies of the animal being easy to sculpt other than the beautiful raven.
“Mr. Sigmaaa! Atsushi says this is the right color but I don’t think it is! Tell him I’m right!” The piercing voice of Lucy Maud Montgomery asked, in which sigma inspected the two bowls of buttercream. They were both neon, and he assumed Lucy wanted more pastel colors, considering her whole aesthetic.
“I think these are just fine. Mr. Poe never specified the shades.”
Lucy huffed, and Atsushi gave a coy chuckle. The loud ding of the ovens alarmed the group, in which Sigma brought out the hot cakes to cool.
Oh, the register’s bell was ringing! Sigma hurried over to the counter, apologizing for the wait.
The customer was a white-haired individual, with a long braid cascading down his back. “Hello! Heard this humble little bakery sold prioshkis! Haha, didn’t expect such a sweet little store to have such a delicacy!”
Sigma chuckled, asking how many the person wanted. In all honesty, he was attractive. Definitely Sigma’s type. But, those kind of things just don’t happen. So, he pushed it to the back of his mind.
“I think 20 will soothe my prioshki draught! Think you can handle that, Misteeer…” The other took a second to read the name tag. “Sigma?”
Sigma smiled, nodding. “Lucy, Atsushi, 20 prioshki’s!” A jokingly sounding “Ay, ay, captain!” came from the duo, Sigma grinning fondly. Honestly, he felt like such a dad sometimes.
“And what’s the name for the order?”
“Nikolai, Nikolai Gogol!” He responded, bowing in a dramatic manner where he flung out his overcoat.
“Okay! Will you be eating in?” Nikolai nodded hastily at this, speedwalking to the nearest table. Sigma walked into the back once again. working on the wedding cake. With how much of a perfectionist he is, he’d like to get this done by today. Even if it means sacrificing sleep.
He cut off the tops of the cakes, flipping them ontop of eachother to map out what he was doing. Sigma then began his work after putting the cream into piping bags.
He started layering white frosting between the tiers and smoothing them out, then placing the colored buttercream on in a mis-matched style. Where the colors met, Sigma gently heated it up with a small torch, so he could mix them into a marble - like texture.
He piped the cream onto the sides to create a rim, making a checkered pattern with the purple and green. Oh, Lucy had given out Nikolai’s order, from what he’s hearing. They’re chatting happily away. Well, it is almost closing time.
How Sigma wondered what it would be like to be married. Or, to atleast have a friend. He’d consider his co-workers friends, but, they were just that. Co-workers. The funny thing is, Sigma did not have a last name. Would it be selfish to say he’d love to get married just for the human experience of having a last name?
A last name is akin to something of ownership, in Sigma’s opinion. Or was it a sign of love? The last name given to you from your parents, it was out of love, correct? And if someone married you, and you took their last name, that is a sign of love. Right? Sigma decided he liked the ladder idea.
Sigma worked until closing time, making all the little details on the cake until his hands hurt. Atsushi and Lucy had been long gone. Sigma decided to call the customer, alerting of the cake’s finalization. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail.
“Hello, this is Sigma from Homely Bakery. Your order of the raven and raccoon wedding cake is completed! Drop by whenever you’d like tomorrow.”
The next day was similar to the last, everyone happily taking orders and what-not. For some reason, Sigma couldn’t help but wonder what that Nikolai was up to. Oh, but surely thinking that way was creepy…
“H-Hello, I’m here for the order under the name, Poe?” Someone spoke, shaking sigma out of his daydream. “Ah, of course! I’ll be right back.”
He soon returned with the cake in a large box, ready for transportation. “The decor is made of chocolate. Make sure to put it somewhere cold!” Sigma chuckled, waving off the tall male. He caught a small bit of chatter between him and the one with the brown hat he saw the other day, the exchange being something like “Now Ranpo, you can’t eat this until our wedding next monday.” which earned a groan from the shorter.
Sigma found himself wanting that sort of banter.