InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "HEY HEY YOU YOU~"

Dominic Ramírez || Quetzalcoatl (plumageablaze) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2011-09-18 05:41:00

Entry tags:

osiris, quetzalcoatl

Everything in moderation...including moderation.
Who: Dom and Benjamin
What: Dominic likes to do things the right way. This includes being fair, if at all possible. In exchange for a previous gift of coffee filters, he's willing to share a bit of home-cooked goodness with his benefactor, and maybe make a friend while he's at it.
Where: Apartment #207
When: September 12th, late evening-ish
Warnings: Language on Benjamin's part...
Notes: TBA

Dominic's apartment was filled with the smell of quesadillas cooking and his stomach grumbled impatiently. He'd paused in his kitchen activities only to quickly log onto the Pax forum and get a hold of Benjamin. As luck would have it, his oddly feminine featured acquaintance was available--and hungry. Good. Dominic felt glad to be able to repay the other resident for his recent kindness. He'd been told it wasn't that big of a deal, but Dominic preferred to be fair. It didn't hurt that he was personally fond of sharing the different dishes his mother had taught him to make.

Well, his sisters were taught, too. (Of course they'd had to learn, for their father was fond of saying it was only natural they knew how to cook for their future husbands, a grin hiding at the corners of his mouth. Dominic's mother would place her hands upon the curves of her hips and frown at her husband before she whirled around to the kitchen with Dominic in tow. The giggles of his sisters made him blush at first, as if there was a secret he hadn't yet discovered, but he'd enjoyed learning with them nonetheless.)

He wasn't a master chef by any means, but what he could make from memory never failed to please his own stomach--and that of his ex girlfriends', as well as friends' here and there over the years. There was something orderly about cooking that Dominic enjoyed. Although he was well aware that more spontaneous cooks than him existed, he personally preferred to stick to tried and true recipes, all the ingredients adding up to make a creation that never failed to taste like it should.

A knock at the door caused him to start. "I'll be there in a minute!" He called out, first heading back to the kitchen in order to turn down the stove burners. There was a small stack of quesadillas already on a plate upon the counter, all containing chicken, small slices of tomatoes, and a good helping of queso fresco within their tortilla shells. Since he had no idea what Benjamin liked other than food in general, he thought it was a good idea to let the other man bring some of his own ingredients.

Dominic was determined to make a better impression tonight than he must've made when they first met (though it couldn't have been too bad if Benjamin was still willing to stop by for something to eat, and hadn't Benjamin looked three shades closer to death that night?). With an easy turn and pull of the doorknob, Dominic greeted Benjamin with a smile. The other's appearance still startled him, but he did his best to check his reaction and instead play the polite host--which he was.

"Hey, good to see you again. Come in, make yourself at home."

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of_laconism
2011-09-20 05:51 am UTC (link)

Dominic's post had caught him unwinding after yet another long day's worth of job-hunting. He'd packed it in a few hours before, the heat and fruitlessness having begun to make him cranky. It was the same cycle that he'd fought back in Ohio; if he were to wash the make-up off and put on his best suit, the delicate nature of his features would cause muttered debates about his batting preferences and ability to perform the job requirements.

If he were to go en femme, the entire thing would go much more smoothly, greased by the smiles of upper management at the thought of a gorgeous new addition to their lunch-time fantasies. When he gave his name, however, the smiles faded as the eyebrows raised, and it was decided that, despite his glowing references and the forward-thinking policies of the company, it would just be too risky to hire someone like that.

God-damn them all.

Today he'd worn his best skirt suit, and hadn't bothered to remove the make-up after tossing the rest of the dubious finery across the room in a snit (it was a very nice suit, but in his current mood it might as well have been rags.) As a result, when Dominic opens the door Benjamin's still wearing the majority of the day's make-up, though of course freshened up and toned down to suit the occasion. His attire is similarly casual, just a large shirt thrown on over a pair of shorts that would be perfectly at home on any of the female denizens of Pax.

Despite his previously bad day, the smile Benjamin offers in return for the welcome is as bright as previously implied during his and Dominic's first meeting, when he was still recovering from the flight. "Thanks, I appreciate the invitation."

Benjamin takes him up on it, glancing around the entryway enough to insure he didn't knock into or over something. "Where would you like me to put this?" The item in question being the plastic bag in his hand, lightly weighted by, presumably, the cheese he'd mentioned attempting to find.

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plumageablaze
2011-09-25 10:42 am UTC (link)

Dominic shut the door behind Benjamin, saving his bewildered look for the polished wood of it, and it alone. He'd seen an interesting share of personalities in his life--he did live in California, after all--but nonetheless, Benjamin's shorts were a surprise. Dominic himself wore a faded pair of blue jeans and a dark blue polo shirt, altogether dressed much differently than his guest. But rather than primarily fixating on Benjamin's fashion taste, he turned around to resume his position of host. In his family, it'd always been important to welcome guests and make them feel comfortable, to share with them what you had, even if it was only a little.

And that was precisely what he was going to do.

"In the kitchen's fine. Here, follow me. Or the smells. They're probably a better tip off." He gave Benjamin a small grin, testing the waters, the other's sense of humor. Aside from the peculiar way Benjamin dressed (and was he wearing a dash of make-up?), he didn't seem altogether that bad of a person. Maybe it was Benjamin's initial gift of coffee filters that gave Dominic a positive vibe about him, but there was something else, too. It was almost--dare he think it--a sense of familiarity, which shouldn't have made any sense, yet somehow it did.

"You brought cheese, right? I already have quesadillas made, and more on the stove, but you're welcome to add what you want to them." He led Benjamin to the kitchen, which was clean, with everything in its appointed place (like the rest of his apartment). Well, clean save for traces of Maseca corn flour upon one counter, where he'd made tortilla shells earlier in the evening. Dominic gestured to the plate of finished quesadillas before tending to the ones still cooking. "Help yourself. Those're chicken and tomato with queso fresco. I'll get you a plate in a sec."

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of_laconism
2011-10-15 04:39 am UTC (link)

Benjamin returns the smile with a small one of his own, more than a little sly but not enough so to be called a smirk, per se. Really, it was more the smile one might give a friend when enjoying a private joke at absolutely no-one's expense.

"Pepper jack," he answers while following, having to fight the strangest urge to take Dom by the elbow, as though they were much closer emotionally than they were. To someone who made friends slowly, the echo of old comradeship attached to a face he'd never seen before moving is an unnerving situation to find himself in. He tries to avoid showing it; Dominic's done nothing to prove himself unworthy, and would probably be insulted if Benjamin explained himself.

"Thanks." Ben gravitates to the prepared quesadillas, setting the bag containing his brought cheese as he ponders whether to even add it, from both a culinary and manners perspective. "I should probably warn you, I'm an ignorant American when it comes to Hispanic food. The closest I've come is Taco Bell, and I suspect that they might actually be serving well-seasoned plastic."

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plumageablaze
2011-10-18 09:02 pm UTC (link)

He arched his eyebrows as Benjamin admitted his lack of knowledge, turning the unfinished quesadillas over in the pan. "Taco Bell is..." Dominic chuckled, shaking his head. "It's not bad, but it's not the best. See if you like these," he nodded towards the plate with several quesadillas upon it simply waiting to be devoured. Dominic went to one of his cupboards, where there were dishes stacked in an orderly fashion. He took down a couple for himself and Benjamin, placing them on the counter near his neighbor. "Oh, do you want a fork? I have plenty of napkins. Here." He motioned to a simple napkin holder, then dug quickly in one of the drawers for a clean fork, putting it by the plates.

Benjamin had fairly good manners, and Dominic was only assuming he probably didn't want to eat with his hands--it didn't bother Dominic in this case, despite his tendencies to do things neatly. But (and maybe it was only personal preference mingled with how he'd grown up) this sort of food didn't necessarily need utensils.

Giving Benjamin space to breathe, he leaned against the counter adjacent to the stove, loosely crossing his arms over his chest. From this position he could keep an eye on the food and still make conversation with his neighbor. The faint undercurrent of familiarity he'd initially felt after inviting Benjamin inside hadn't wavered, and it left him feeling curious, as well as a little on guard. This was a bit awkward, truth be told.

"Are you liking the area?" It was a relatively easy question to ask, just something to break the ice.

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of_laconism
2011-10-24 06:25 am UTC (link)

"Thank you," Benjamin offers in return for Dominic's hospitality. He finds himself having to swallow a grin at the realization of how very fussy his neighbor seems to be. Far from annoying, he finds it soothing, possibly because it strikes him as a maternal sort of personality quirk.

Benjamin ducks his head briefly as he reaches to nab a couple of napkins, using his hair to hide the fleeting smile that he couldn't quite help. "Actually, if I'm remembering my facts correctly Taco Bell had a lawsuit brought up against them recently for the amount of non-edible products in their food. I think sawdust was one of the 'ingredients'." And yes, he did do the air-quotes, albeit quickly so that he can get back to the business of using the offered fork to transfer a quesadilla from the stack and onto his plate. Carefully; it wouldn't do to drop his food everywhere like a two year old.

His movements slow as he ponders over the question posed him about the locale. It isn't that he's considering how to word his answer, although he prays Dominic assumes such. Quite frankly, he's deciding what to leave out; trustworthy though the other man seems, Benjamin has every intention of burying the true reason for his flight west along with the relationship that preceded it. Nothing personal, Dominic.

"Its alright. A lot hotter than Ohio, but that's rarely a bad thing in my opinion. I used to freeze in the winter."

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plumageablaze
2011-10-25 05:05 am UTC (link)

Benjamin's light jab at Taco Bell is not lost on Dominic--he was punctual and orderly to a fault, but he wasn't without a sense of humor. He didn't hide his smile at the insult, and wasn't surprised that Benjamin had chosen to use the fork.

While his neighbor decided upon an answer to the question asked, Dominic looked to see if all was well on the stove top. He decided to give the remaining food a few more minutes before removing it from the heat. Looking back to Benjamin as the other spoke, he gave him a half smile and repressed a laugh, good-natured though it might have been.

"Ohio? I haven't been there. But I've lived my entire life in warmer climates, so I wouldn't doubt I'd freeze during an actual cold winter, too." He shrugged, feeling a bit more at ease having shared this information. It wasn't anything major, but it did give them something in common other than shared coffee filters. The thought of that late night run downstairs reminded Dominic why he'd even invited Benjamin over in the first place.

"Hey, thanks again for the coffee filters. I know you said it wasn't a big deal," Dominic said, "but it was a life saver that night. I'm a writer of sorts, and coffee's my fuel." He chuckled, because it probably sounded ridiculous and all too stereotypical; nonetheless, it was true.

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