Chapter 1

There was a small bakery just on the outskirts of town, surrounded by nature and some other little shops. It was a lovely brick building, filled with ivy, flowers and a lively atmosphere. The owner, Anthony Mancini, was a gentle soul and hard working guy in his late 20’s, if you saw him walking around town, you could definitely mistake him for a lumberjack, with his preference for flannel shirts, his big strong arms, his beard and, well… his doughy hairy belly…. When he arrived in town, he had just graduated from culinary school and was at least 100 pounds lighter. All the years working on the best restaurants in town certainly left him chubby, and, owning his own bakery made him just plain fat. Not that he minded though, as he constantly hummed to the cashier Benjamin “You can’t trust a skinny chef”.

Business was blooming and after the release of his “take out pastries”, the town absolutely went insane, everyone wanted a taste of it, leaving Anthony so overworked he decided to hire another worker, one to help him in the kitchen during the days his baker and close friend Derek didn’t work. He put an ad on the local newspaper and went on with his life, hoping to find someone good.

Two weeks went by and not a single soul had entered the bakery with the intentions of working there. Anthony knew he didn’t have enough money for another week, so he decided to just give up and keep working as he was. One night, while he was closing the bakery and taking the pastries upstairs to his apartment, he heard the bell ring and some light footsteps approach the counter.

“Welcome to Le Petit Tarte! How can I help you?” Anthony tried to seem nice, even though he was extremely exhausted.

“Hello sir! My name is Brian McRiver, I came from the add on the newspaper! Is it still up?” Brian was a very lanky young man in his early 20’s, people might describe him as a “boy next door” kind of guy, although, he looked a bit tired and starved.

“Nice to meet you Brian, I’m Anthony Mancini, the owner. The job is still up.” Anthony raised his eyebrows and stared at the young man for a few seconds. “Do you know the basics for cooking and baking?”.

“Oh absolutely. My mother taught me a lot about baking, my cookies the best you will ever have!” Grinned Brian proudly.

“Well, as the owner of a bakery, I can’t legally agree with you haha!” They kept laughing together for a few moments. “Well, no one else seemed interested, so you can start tomorrow if you are able to, or we can wait until Monday.”

“No! Tomorrow is fine sir!” Brian couldn’t stop smiling.

“Drop the *sir*, call me Tony” Anthony smiled gently “See you tomorrow!”

“Thanks for the opportunity Tony, I promise you won’t regret it”.


Brian started working the next day. He was a natural in the kitchen, Tony only had to help him understand how to use a few appliances and how to master some more refined pastries, but overall, he was truly impressed by his existing skills. Derek also really liked Brian, they were not always on the same shift, but when they were, the three of them had a blast. Joking around, eating some pastries, talking about life and enjoying it other’s company. Although, it didn’t take long before Brian’s first mistake. He didn’t add enough sugar to an entire muffin batch, it tasted bad, the clients complained and all the ingredients wasted left the young baker feeling ashamed. When Tony looked at the mess, he simply put his big chubby hands on Brian’s shoulder and gently tried to talk to him to see what happened:

“Hey, it’s okay Brian, we all have messed up” Tony laughed “Fuck, just last week I accidentally added more salt than I was supposed to and the entire bread batch was unbearable to eat”

“Ah Tony.. it’s just that muffins are so easy to make, I can’t believe I didn’t add enough sugar!” Brian vented.

“That is fine… Just one quick question, did you taste the dough? Or at least one of the muffins after they were done and you took them to the counter?”

“I can’t say I did. I don’t usually taste the things I’m cooking” He stared at Tony’s deep green eyes “Was I supposed to?”

“That’s a rookie mistake, I didn’t used to taste them as well when I started, but my boss taught me how important that step is. You have to taste what you are making almost all the time, and after they are done, you need to sample a few to make sure they are good enough to be sold”

“I guess this way I won’t have any angry clients screaming at me” Brian chuckled.

“Well, to put it bluntly yeah, that would not have happened.”

“I promise I will start to taste the things I bake to make sure everything is delicious! After all, Le Petit Tarte has a reputation we can’t compromise!”

They both started laughing and eventually got back to work. When the day was over, Tony was alone in the bakery closing it up when he saw Brian going to his car holding a pizza box. “Weird, we closed one hour ago, he was supposed to be home by now”, the baker thought. Not wanting to interrupt his employee, he left Brian alone and went to his apartment upstairs with the pastries that weren’t bought. But, as the days passed, Tony started to watch Brian closely, he would always go “home” when they closed, then drive back to the bakery with a cleaner look, clearly after a taking shower and order take out. It almost appears as if he was living there, in his car…

On a snowy cold winter night, Tony watched as Brian scrolled through his phone inside his car. Thinking that was enough, he went to check on his new friend.

“Yooo” Tony tapped on the car window “Can we talk?”

Brian was caught by surprise and yelled “FUCK” He tried to see over the snow and as soon as he identified his boss, he got out of the car “Oh Tony! Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I was just looking outside my apartment window and saw your car here, in the middle of a snowstorm. Why aren’t you home?”

“Oh” Brian blushed “ Hum.. you see.. this is my home…”

“You live in your car?” Tony raised an eyebrow intrigued.

“Yes, when I graduated college I moved back to my parents house and was trying to find a job in IT but was not having any luck. Then my parents found out I was gay and kicked me out of the house. I’m waiting for my second paycheck to make a deposit on a rental near the bakery.”

Tony’s heart warmed up, he couldn’t believe there were still some homophobic idiots who would kick out their amazing gay son in 2024, but bigotry does not age. He then remembered his apartment was designed for the previous owner family, it had four bedrooms and three bathrooms, granted he converted one of these into an office, and the other into a proper home theater, he still had a vacant bedroom.

“Hum, if that won’t be too weird for you, I have a spare bedroom, you could move in with me until you can afford a new place.”

“Are you for real?” Brian’s eyes light up and grew in excitement.

“Yes, of course I am! I live in the apartment above the bakery. Let’s go, I will make you some hot chocolate and we can share some of the pastries from today.”

Out of the blue, Brian gave Tony the biggest and tightest hug he had ever had and cried on his shoulder.

“Thank you so much Tony… I was getting so cold and miserable in the car… How much do you charge?”

“Oh man, I wasn’t even using this bedroom, you can have it for free”

In awe, Brian couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear “You are an angel! Thank you so much.”

The two of them went to Tony’s apartment and Brian was surprised by how nice it was. It had a big and warm living room, a nice and inviting dining room and the most amazing kitchen he has ever seen. The whole place was filled with plants, trinkets and decorations from all around the globe, alongside some Christmas decorations, it looked so cozy and welcoming. The heat coming from the big brick fireplace in the living room just made the entire atmosphere whimsical, like a he was in Hallmark Christmas movie. But, a very particular decoration in the corridor caught his attention, a fucking bear flag, that made Brian chuckle:

“Dude? You are gay? I would never have guessed!” Brian was grinning and gave Tony a little punch on the shoulders.

“Of course I am gay Brian. The entire bakery is decorated in pastel rainbow colors.” He chuckled while preparing the hot chocolate “Here, grab some eclairs.”

Brian took two eclairs and ate them, they were marvelous, just like everything Tony made “I thought it was just a cutesy little bakery with colorful vibes!” He said in between bites.

“Gosh, your brain amazes me.” Tony laughed.

“So.. tell me… why do you have so many pastries from today in your house?” Brian changed the subject after blushing.

“We legally can’t sell old pastries and bread, so I just take everything that hasn’t been bought and take it home. When Derek is there we split it in half, and since Benjamin is *watching his figure*” Tony rolled his eyes “I started to take them all.” He rubbed his belly “it has sure done a number on this big boy”

“This is genuinely amazing! I love your pastries cake, pies and bread so much!” Brian looked at his boss belly, noticing it peaking from the shirt that was at least two sizes too small” I do have to say you look really great with the added girth.

“Well, as the people like to say, you can’t trust a skinny chef. Talking about that, you are a baker now! So eat up!” Tony jested, but he knew deep down he was being as serious as it gets.

“I do not want to get on my boss’s bad terms” Brian picked up a slice of pecan pie and ate it while drinking some hot chocolate.

Tony later showed Brian his room and his bathroom and the young baker was completely in awe. The place was amazing, the bed was gigantic, the bathroom had a fucking bathtub and two sinks, there’s more space than he could ever have wanted. He was definitely going to enjoy living there.