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hero-deserves-to-be-happy · 3 months

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300 Profiteroles [A Hero, Bowen, & Daphne Friendship Fic]

While visiting Faraway Town for a long weekend to work on his medical school applications, Hero runs into a frazzled Daphne and Bowen at the Other Mart bakery. Their unexpectedly request for his help brings up bittersweet memories, but it just might remind him of some important truths he had forgotten. After all, new dreams don't have to erase old ones.

Genre: Friendship Fluff, Slice of Life with the tiniest hint of Hurt/Comfort (because it's OMORI)

Characters: Hero (POV Character), Bowen, and Daphne. Mari is mentioned.

Relationships: Hero, Bowen, and Daphne Friendship. Past Hero, Bowen, Daphne, and Mari friendship. Past Hero/Mari is briefly implied.

Word Count: 4070

Rating: G

Warnings: Some very minor hurt/comfort. Some mild mentions of grief. Mentioned knee injury. Referenced Canonical Character Death. OMORI SPOILERS.

Link to work on AO3. Full text below the cut.

Thank you for reading! 🍞🍞🧡🧡

Hero tilted his head at the rows of aisles in the local Other Mart which was nearly empty this close to closing time. He wracked his brain—trying to remember if he or his family had needed anything besides the razor and can of shaving cream that had gotten him to finally leave his room where he had been holed up for the last few days frantically working on his secondary medical school applications. He felt somewhat guilty for coming home to work on them rather than to spend time with his family, but with a slew of parties being hosted at the fraternity house where he lived on campus, he knew he would never find a moment of quiet focus in order to work on them as long as he stayed at school, so he had driven home for a long weekend.

His family was thrilled to see him, even if they hadn’t really seen much of him at all. He felt particularly sorry for Kel who had wanted to talk his ear off about everything he had missed in Faraway Town since the last time he had visited and Sally who kept toddling into his room with a few of her favorite toys, a set of colorful plastic animals Hero had gotten her for her birthday, begging him to play “zoo” with her. He couldn’t say no to either of them for very long, so he had, instead, ended up staying up most of the night working by desk lamp light which even he could admit wasn’t very effective and had left him feeling groggy and tired.

With a yawn, Hero sighed. He should have known he wouldn’t get much work done at home either. Maybe he should have taken his roommate up on his offer to go study at his family’s remote ski lodge for the weekend. But he supposed it didn’t matter now, and he had plenty of time to finish his applications. He was thankful to have gotten any secondary applications at all and would rather just get them over and done with so he wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore. As it was now, the anxiety he was beginning to feel about actually getting into medical school was starting to become an all-consuming cloud that hovered over him making him forget important things like sleeping, eating, and shaving apparently.

Somewhat sheepishly, Hero rubbed his hand across his jaw—rough and scruffy. He had never felt stubble suited him and tried his best to stay clean-shaven, whenever he remembered and carved out time for it, that is—a difficult task given how consumed he had been recently with his heavy courseload, volunteer hours at the hospital, and, of course, trying to get into med school while trying not to worry about what would happen to him if he didn’t.

Hero swallowed hard, a queasy coiling in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to think about that. No, he couldn’t think about that—couldn’t even imagine returning to a directionless life again. He’d finish shopping, shave his face, and then get back to work on his applications.

With a sigh, he turned to head towards the checkout counter when he caught a waft of something sweet emanating from the bakery. Hero sighed. He had always had a weakness for pastries. He supposed it wouldn’t be too much trouble to stop and buy one for himself, even if it was a luxury. If Kel was here, he’d likely say he deserved it for working so hard and rarely ever treating himself. Perhaps his brother was right.

Humming thoughtfully, Hero tilted his head towards the glass bakery case underneath the counter. There were so many delicious choices, Hero wasn’t sure how he would decide, but luckily Bowen and Daphne seemed busy so he’d likely have plenty of time to figure out what to order without them having to wait on him.

“This is ridiculous,” Hero heard a somewhat frazzled Daphne muttering under her breath. “There’s no way we’re going to get this done.”

Her brother nodded, running his hand through his hair. “It’s too much for two people in such a short amount of time.”

“Ugh! Mikhael,” Daphne groaned, pressing her palm to her forehead, but her eyes widened as she turned and seemingly took notice of Hero. She nudged Bowen in the elbow, until he waved at him with half a smile and a quiet, “Hey” which was mostly drowned out by his sister’s greeting.

“Hero, I didn’t realize you were back in town.”

“Yeah, just for a little while,” he replied with a breathy chuckle, a little embarrassed at having been caught unintentionally eavesdropping on their conversation.

Daphne, however, didn’t seem to mind and instead just playfully teased. “Did you break your razor? You’re looking a little scruffy.”

“Daphne…” Bowen scolded under his breath before offering Hero an apologetic smile, but Hero just laughed lightly, somewhat self-deprecatingly.

“No, I just forgot it back at school.” He paused, holding up his shopping basket. “I’m buying another one though so don’t worry.”

Daphne chuckled, but her brother quietly cut her off in a low voice, “How can we help you? Do you want something out of the bakery case?”

“Bowen just made a whole batch of peach tarts. They’re very tasty!”

Bowen’s face flushed, but he sighed. “I’m not sure if they’re that great…Daphne is the real pastry chef. And heck, Bebe is better than I am these days.”

“Don’t say that,” Daphne insisted, patting her brother on the head. “You’re great. We’ve had no complaints, and in fact we keep getting tons of orders so you must be doing something right.”

Bowen sighed again, but before he could say anything more, Hero gently interrupted. “A peach tart sounds wonderful. I’ll take two please—one is for Kel,” he added quickly so they wouldn’t think he was some kind of glutton.

With a chuckle behind her hand, Daphne reached into the bakery case, took out two peach tarts, then wrapped them up carefully in a box for Hero as she asked, “So how have you been? How’s life in the big city?”

Hero shrugged. “I’m doing okay. I’ve been pretty busy with school, but it’s good.” He sighed. The response was automatic at this point. “How are you? How’s everything at the bakery?”

Bowen wearily shook his head, and Daphne huffed. “We’re hanging in there. Our grandma broke her hip earlier this week and our parents left to go help her, so we’ve had to run things by ourselves.” Daphne shook her head with a sigh. “It’s a lot for just the two of us, and Mikhael has been no help at all.”

Bowen scoffed—a barely audible snort under his breath as he mumbled, “He’s been more trouble than help.”

Daphne rolled her eyes but threw up her hands. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with him. You know he took an order for 300 profiteroles and didn’t tell us. The customer just called and said he wants to pick them up first thing tomorrow, and we had no idea!”

“We’re going to be here all night…” muttered Bowen despondently shaking his head. “I don’t know how we’re going to get it all done.”

“It’s too much work for just the two of us on such short notice,” huffed Daphne. “And Mikahel has completely disappeared so he can’t help us.”

Hero’s brow furrowed, but he nodded sympathetically. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Daphne paused—her dark eyes widening at him. “Really? You’d help us?”

Hero fidgeted, but he nodded. “Yeah…I mean…if you need someone to go look for Mikhael, maybe I can ask Aubrey…She might know—”

“Can you still make a croquembouche?” interrupted Daphne before Bowen quietly scolded her under his breath.

Hero’s face flushed. He honestly didn’t know. It had been so long since he had worked in the bakery, and he had been so busy with school and preparing for his future that he didn’t find much time to cook or bake anything anymore. “Um…” he stumbled, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “I…honestly haven’t made choux pastry in a really long time. I’m not even sure I know how anymore.”

“That’s okay. You wouldn’t have to bake anything. You could just fill the profiteroles or make the caramel or stack them”—Daphne smiled—“You used to be really good at that.”

Hero chuckled lightly, somewhat awkwardly. “Thank you, but…I really don’t think I’ll be of much help. I’m out of practice…”

“Don’t worry! Just having an extra set of hands would be a huge help,” Daphne explained, before she sighed again, pushing a long piece of dark hair out of her face. “We wouldn’t have asked if we weren’t desperate. And you really wouldn’t have to stay very long, and we would pay you.”

“Daphne,” Bowen quietly interjected, frowning pointedly at his sister. “I’m sure he’s very busy, and he’s visiting his family. He probably just wants to get home.” He paused then turned to Hero with the slightest twitch of a smile in the corners of his mouth. “Don’t worry. We’ll be okay.”

Hero sighed. He might regret this later, but he couldn’t say no to someone who needed him. With a conceding shrug of his shoulders, he replied, “You know what…I need a break anyway. Let me pay for this, and I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you!” exclaimed Daphne with a bright smile.

Bowen nodded at him gratefully, holding up the box of peach tarts. “These are on the house.”

“Oh no. I couldn’t—” Hero began to protest, but Daphne and Bowen wouldn’t hear of it.

After he had paid for his groceries, he returned to the bakery. It felt strange to be back in the kitchen again. Something twisted in his chest as he remembered the last time he had been back there—back when Mari had been alive and they had taken part-time jobs there to help pay for Sunny’s violin. The kitchen felt somehow different without her in it. Hero pushed the thought away as Daphne and Bowen led him to a clean counter where they set a tray of unfilled profiteroles and a bowl of pastry cream.

“You do remember how to pipe don’t you?” asked Daphne dryly, a twitch of a smile in her mouth. Hero nodded.

“I think so. It’s been a while…”

Daphne tilted her head. “Not much time for baking in college, huh?”

“Don’t worry,” Bowen reassured him quietly, handing him a filled piping bag. “It’s just like riding a bike.”

Luckily, Bowen was right. Everything came back to him as if he had never left the bakery at all. Within no time, he had filled all the profiteroles with pastry cream and started stacking them with caramel.

As he put the final touches on his very first tower, he heard a light chuckle behind him and Daphne quietly tease, “The Croquembouche King has returned.”

Hero’s face flushed. He wouldn’t have gone so far as to say that, especially given the way his tower of cream puffs was currently leaning. With a furrowed brow, Hero frowned, then sighed apologetically. “Sorry it’s a little lopsided.”

“It’s done, and it’s standing,” Bowen quietly interrupted. “That’s more than enough.”

“Bowen’s right,” agreed Daphne as she set another tray of unfilled choux pastry on the counter beside him. “We have to make six of these. They don’t have to be perfect.”

Hero froze. His hands began to tremble around the piping bag, and something ached in his chest as he remembered Daphne’s quiet but encouraging voice reassuring Mari of the same thing. Mari was always such a perfectionist. She needed those reassurances that her best was good enough. When they had worked in the bakery all those years ago, Daphne, Bowen, and their parents had been so encouraging and reassuring in that way—grateful to have the extra help and impressed by his and Mari’s baking skills, even if neither of them had thought they were particularly talented themselves. Hero knew Mari had deserved the praise, even if she couldn’t see it. She was so talented at so many things, baking included. Something panged and twisted inside him. He wished he had told her that more often—wished he had told her so many things he would never get the chance to say.

Hero shivered. The bakery suddenly felt cold, felt empty without her in it.

“Are you okay?” mumbled Bowen in a gentle concern, and Daphne tilted her head.

“You’re looking kind of pale. Do you need to sit down for a while? You can take a break.” She opened one of the blast chillers in the kitchen and pulled out a poppyseed muffin. “Here, why don’t you eat something?”

Wearily, Hero rubbed his hand across his forehead before he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. He fidgeted, feeling suddenly guilty. He wished people wouldn’t worry about him. “Yeah…uh…sorry,” he apologized quickly. “I was so busy working on my med school applications that I forgot to eat dinner.”

Daphne gasped, and Bowen’s eyes widened in horror. They shared a sympathetic look with each other before Daphne suggested, “Let’s get you a sandwich.”

A slight smile twitched in the corners of Bowen’s mouth. “You still like hero sandwiches, right?”

Hero nodded, but he insisted, “It’s okay. I’m sure this muffin will be enough to hold me over until I get home. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“Don’t be silly,” Daphne cut him off with a shake of her head. “We’re in a grocery store. It’s no trouble at all.”

“We make sandwiches all the time,” added Bowen as he took some lunch meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, dressing, and a jar of mayonnaise out of a small refrigerator. Grabbing one of their freshly baked baguettes, he quickly assembled the ingredients into a sandwich and handed it to him before Hero could even begin to protest. It was honestly kind of impressive how quickly he had managed it.

“Thank you,” he said. “But um…you really didn’t have to—”

Daphne cut him off with a wave of her hand. “We won’t let you starve.” She chuckled lightly before she handed him a bottle of iced tea. “You still a tea drinker?”

“Yes,” answered Hero, though his face grew warm. He was surprised Bowen and Daphne remembered so much about him. It was very thoughtful.

The sandwich was excellent—and not just because it was his favorite and not just because he was, truthfully, extremely hungry. Hero hummed and thanked the twins again for their kindness and generosity. “I’ll have to make sandwiches for you next time. Though I’m not sure they’ll be as good as this.” He chuckled lightly, self-depreciatingly. “I do have a little more practice with that than the croquembouche though. I still make sandwiches sometimes at school, especially when we have parties.”

Daphne chuckled, and Bowen mumbled, “Can’t really imagine you at a college party.”

Hero laughed, scratching the nape of his neck again. He supposed he had a point. Truthfully, wild partying wasn’t really his scene, but he did enjoy getting to spend time with his friends and getting to cook for everyone while they were there. He had so few opportunities for that these days. “I’m not really…that much of a partier. I mostly just cook for people and clean up afterwards—make sure things don’t get too rowdy.” He chuckled lightly. “I spend most of my time studying.”

“You said you were trying to get into medical school…?” asked Daphne, and Hero nodded.

“Yeah. I thankfully had a couple interviews already, and they wanted my secondary applications so…” His voice trailed, and he stopped completely as he caught sight of Bowen and Daphne blinking at him curiously.

“When did you decide you wanted to be a doctor?” Instead of a chef…, is what Hero was certain Daphne meant, even though she didn’t say that part aloud.

He sighed heavily. He supposed everyone knew it hadn’t always been his dream. The truth was after he had lost Mari, there wasn’t a lot he wanted out of life or enjoyed anymore, as if all of the dreams he had had for himself and his future had died with her. He had felt lost, listless, directionless, but the idea of becoming a physician had become a real lifeline for him.

He could admit, somewhat embarrassedly, that in the beginning he had latched onto the idea mostly because it would make his family happy and was a way he could be useful, helpful to the world. He wanted that, of course—had always wanted to help people, but, he was sorry to say, he mostly saw becoming a doctor as lifelong built-in distraction and busyness. It was meaningful lifelong built-in distraction and busyness, but the end result was the same: years of difficult classes and constant studying, followed by years of unreasonably long hours of work as a medical resident, followed by a lifetime of doing practically nothing but work: essentially living at the hospital and constantly taking calls from patients all through the night when he couldn’t legally be there anymore. Nothing terrified Hero more than being idle, than being alone with his thoughts and feelings. He chose this path in the hopes that he would stay so busy for the rest of his life he would never have to face that again. Somewhere inside him he supposed he believed that there was a certain level of busyness that he could someday reach where he would be so consumed with all the work he had to do that he just wouldn’t feel anything anymore.

But then his roommate, an aspiring future physical therapist, and Sunny who had always encouraged him and believed he could do anything, had helped him to find a sense of purpose in it, until ultimately it was something he wanted: a new dream.

“I’ve been a pre-med major all along, but I guess, I got really serious about it in my sophomore year…” After learning the truth… he finished, but he didn’t say that out loud. “And then there was the MCAT and my volunteer hours and all the applications so it’s a little too late to turn back now, I guess.” He laughed quietly, lightly behind his hand. “My mom’s pretty happy about it. She always wanted me to be a doctor.”

Chuckling, Bowen and Daphne shared a look with each other, before Daphne nudged her brother and teased, “We can understand that. Our mom’s been bothering me about taking over the bakery and Bowen becoming a priest since we were like five.”

Bowen’s face flushed, and he buried his head in his hands. “I really don’t think it’s for me, but she’s very insistent.”

Hero nodded sympathetically, but before he could say anything in response, Daphne asked, “Do you know what kind of doctor you want to be?”

Hero hummed, he could feel his face lighting up as he answered, “Um…well…it could change, but I’m really interested in PM&R.” He paused, then clarified, “That’s physical medicine and rehabilitation or physiatry—helping people to recover from injuries and to manage their long-term effects, but you don’t have to do surgeries like an orthopedist. I’d be really nervous about that—really don’t want to be a surgeon. But I am really interest in rehabilitative medicine.”

“Because of Mari’s knee?”

Hero froze. Had it really been so obvious?

“Daphne,” scolded Bowen under his breath, and Hero swallowed hard.

Daphne’s eyes were wide, sincere, but she stared down at her hands, twisting them. “She was on crutches for such a long time…” she quietly continued. “And even after that, it just never really healed right. She had that brace and…it still bothered her.”

Hero sighed. His chest ached just thinking about it, especially knowing the role in had ultimately played in her death, but his expression softened at the kindness and sympathy in Daphne’s face. He hadn’t ever realized how observant she was or how concerned. He supposed it really was true that everyone had loved Mari. She was just that kind of person.

“Yeah uh…” his voice hitched. “I thought maybe I could stop that from happening to someone else or…at least help a little. Sometimes there’s not anything you can do about that. My roommate has a bad knee too—got injured playing football and will never be able to play again, but PM&R helped him to walk again. He wants to be a physical therapist now—to give back. I guess I just started thinking that maybe I could do something like that too.” Hero stopped, feeling a bit flushed. He hadn’t meant to say all of that, but Daphne met his eyes with a gentle smile and nodded.

“That would be really nice, Hero.” Pausing, she sighed, then shrugged her shoulders and twisted her mouth to one side. “And hey, if the whole doctor thing doesn’t work out, you can always come work in the bakery. We’d love to have you.”

Bowen nodded in agreement. “You can come any time. It’s nice to have you back.”

A smile tugged at Hero’s mouth. It was nice to be back.

*-*-*

2 Weeks Later…

Hero sighed in relief as he put the finishing touches on his final secondary medical school application. It was almost surreal to think that after several weeks of work, he had finally finished all of them. He could only hope that would be enough.

He sighed again—absent-mindedly scratching his cheek and rubbing his palm across his jaw. It was prickly, scruffy again. He really needed to remember to shave.

Before he could gather up his razor and shaving cream and take off towards the bathroom, however, his roommate burst into the room with a large box and a teasingly exuberant, “Special Delivery!” as he plopped the package on Hero’s desk.

Curiously, Hero tilted his head at the box. His mouth twitched in the corners as he read the return address.

“Who’s it from?” asked his roommate, poking him in the arm.

“Just some friends from back home,” Hero answered with a shrug though his smile widened. As he cut through the packing tape with scissors and opened the cardboard flaps, he couldn’t hold back a chuckle. As he would have expected, it was filled with tons of carefully wrapped baked goods. There was also a card in a bright yellow envelope. It read:

Dear Hero,

Thank you so much for all of your help with the profiteroles. We know how busy you are so it really meant a lot to us that you took the time to help us while you were visiting from out of town. The client loved your croquembouche and had no idea they had all been made in the very last second (please don’t tell).

We know it’s not enough but please accept these pastries as a symbol of our thanks. We hope you will enjoy them.

Hope everything is going well for you at college and that you’re finding plenty of time to make sandwiches even though you’re so busy with your classes and medical school applications. We know you’ll be a great doctor, but we hope you won’t give up on your love of cooking either. New dreams don’t have to erase old ones. You might not want to work in a restaurant or bakery anymore, but we think that anyone who cooks is a chef, especially if they’re as talented as you.

You’re welcome at the bakery anytime. Please come see us when you’re in town again.

Your Friends,

Bowen and Daphne

P.S. Treat yourself to a pastry every once and awhile. You deserve it!

Laughing, Hero’s face lit up in a bright smile. He supposed Daphne and Bowen were right—about a lot of things. And as he reached for one of the peach tarts his friends had carefully packaged into the box, he knew they were definitely right about this: he deserved a treat every now and again.

He was so grateful for their kind and thoughtful care-package, and he couldn’t wait until he was back in Faraway Town again so he could return the favor. His smile widened. He’d have to start practicing his croquembouche recipe.

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