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Tim was so excited, he was going on a picnic lunch with Jon. Martin wasn’t coming because he had a doctor's appointment but that was okay because it was hot out and Martin didn’t like it when it was hot. So just him and Jon were going to the park to have a picnic under the big tree near the nice walking path and Tim was so excited he could barely contain himself. As soon as the tree was in sight he’d taken off running, easily scaling the little hill the tree sat atop, with a grin he turned in a wide circle belatedly remembering Jon who was making his way up slowly with the picnic basket. His smile turned sheepish as he went back down to help.
“Sorry,” he said and took up the weight from the other side of the basket.
“It’s alright, just be careful.” Tim nodded, excitement returning as they came to the top. He quickly pulled the checker patterned blanket out and helped Jon spread it, making sure there were no wrinkles before starfishing out in the center.
“Hey you silly boy, make some space for me.” Jon nudged Tim with his foot causing him to giggle and roll over a few spaces. He watched as Jon sat crosslegged with the basket in front of him, sitting up when he pulled out the plate and cup set. Crawling to sit on his knees on the other side of the basket he watched the rest of the small spread appear before him. It wasn’t much; finger sandwiches, fruit cut into shapes on sticks, and chia pudding in jars, but the part Tim was most excited for was in a clear plastic bottle. It was lemonade but it looked like a potion with how purple and sparkly it was. As Jon pulled the drink out of the basket Tim bounced excitedly, he couldn’t wait to find out how it tasted since he hadn’t been allowed to try it ahead of time.
“Can I have the blue cup, please? And the green plate?” Jon fixed Tim’s plate and passed it to him along with a spoon for the pudding. Tim thanked him but didn’t start he waited as Jon made himself a plate and then poured the gorgeous shimmery purple drink. Jon smirked as he felt the boy’s eyes on him and raised the bottle a bit to lengthen the stream breaking into a full smile when Tim gasped at the sun catching on the liquid. He screwed the cap of the cup on tight before handing it to Tim. Tim took a long sip, savoring the blend of sweet and sour on his tongue.
“Mmmm.” his eyes fluttered closed as he swallowed.
“Is it good?” Jon asked as he poured his own drink.
Tim’s eyes snapped open, “It's delicious!” he held his cup out to Jon for cheers; Jon chuckled and obliged.
“Well thank you, don’t drink it all at once though eat your lunch.” Tim nodded and unwrapped his sandwich which was cut into puzzle pieces. He preferred to eat everything one group at a time so once the sandwich was gone he moved to his fruit- taking smaller sips between bites - and then pudding; he struggled with the cap before holding the jar out to Jon for help. Jon gave the bottom of the jar a few firm smacks before twisting the cap off with a satisfying pop and handing it back.
“How did you get the juice to be purple?” Tim asked around a mouthful of pudding.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full Tim.”
He swallowed quickly, “How did you get the juice to be purple.”
“The flowers that made the tea make it blue and then the lemon juice makes it purple.”
Tim thought about this for a moment, “I thought blue and yellow made green? How do the lemons make the blue tea purple if they’re yellow?”
“That’s true but you know how lemons are sour?” Tim nodded, “Right so they’re sour cause of acid, and the acid makes the colors change.” Jon hoped his explanation would be enough, he didn’t want to try and explain the pH scale in simple terms.
Tim chewed thoughtfully, “All acids are sour?”
“The ones that are safe to taste yeah.” Tim was quiet for a bit, finishing his pudding and lemonade he held his cup out.
“More please?” Jon refilled the cup and Tim unfolded his legs. “If acid makes things sour then what makes things spicy?”
“Capsaicin” Jon said automatically before cringing at the look of confusion Tim fixed him with. “It’s a… chemical that plants make to make them spicy so animals like birds and dogs don’t eat them.”
“But we can eat them?”
“Yes, our bodies make a different chemical so it doesn’t hurt us as much.” Tim stretched out on his side propped up by his elbow.
“Chemicals are cool, bodies are weird,” he said matter of factly, before taking another long sip from his cup.
Jon chuckled, “That they are.” Tim stared into space for a while absently taking sips from his cup; when he asked for a third fill of juice Jon refused.
“Let’s walk around for a bit.” Jon began packing the picnic basket up, Tim sighed but helped nonetheless. When they started walking down the path Tim explained photosynthesis and how Venus flytraps worked. Partially through figuring out how the flytraps flowers worked he suddenly got distracted and Jon had half a second to grab his hand before he took off.
“Tim slow down, what did you see?” Jon’s question was answered as he looked in the direction he was being pulled; a small cart parked by the side of the path advertising candy floss.
“Candy floss! Can we get some? Please please please?” Tim clasped his hands together as he begged. Jon considered the prices weren’t outrageous and if he split one with Tim it wouldn’t be too much sugar.
“If you have candy floss now you have to have water at dinner. So candy floss now or lemonade later?” Tim hesitated, the candy floss was so fluffy and good looking but he really liked the shimmery purple juice.
“Candy floss now. Can we get one for Martin too?”
“Sure I think he’d like that.” Jon paid the vendor for one cone and a small bag of candy floss.
“Thank you,” Tim told the vendor who smiled as they continued down the path. Coming to a stop on a bench near some gym equipment Jon pinched off bits of the treat on one side while Tim ate from the other side.
“How do they make candy floss? Is it magic?”
“Science actually, the machine melts sugar and blows air through it to make it all puffy.”
“Wouldn’t the air make it into a bubble, not floss?”
“Not if they blow it through very small holes.” Tim stopped eating at that, looking as if the secrets of the universe had been revealed to him.
“So they melt the sugar, then pour it in the big spinning machine… but where does the air come from?”
“There’s a little tube in the middle of the machine with little holes in it that they blow the air and melted sugar through.”
“So the sugar goes in the machine, it blows out through tiny holes, and then spins around onto the cone?”
“Yeah, you got it, darling.” Jon extended his fist and Tim smiled and tapped it, making the explosion gesture. With his half of the candy finished Tim got up to investigate the gym equipment, Jon watched him closely to make sure he didn’t get hurt doing something daring or stupid. By early evening when Tim finally seemed to bore of the equipment and Jon had received a text from Martin asking where they were he decided to call it a day. They left the park with Tim chattering away and making a decently convincing case for why Pluto should be considered a planet. He ran inside as soon as the door was open pausing only briefly to kick his shoes off when Jon called after him. He hugged Martin from over the back of the couch.
Martin smiled, “Hey Tim, how was the picnic?”
“Amazing! We had sparkly purple juice and got you candy floss!”
“Aw, thanks, dude. What else did you do?” Tim launched into a detailed recap of the afternoon with some input from Jon, only slowing down when he was served dinner. It had been a very good day in his opinion.