He actually wasn’t very serious about that bit, because honestly, the title suited him. Why did he like Alice and Juniper as much as he did? He didn’t blink and they fell into his bed. There was no challenge in it. The man actually LIKED dating. While this might not be an official date, it was close enough, right?
He wrinkled his nose at her and held up his arm. “Me Strong. Me win. Always.” He said in the deepest voice he could while patting the muscle on his bicep. There was no way he could be serious, right? Steve grinned at her before he shrugged. “Hanging out with all those young vain twenty some things that frequent Midnight thirty hours a week is frying the brain more than likely.”
“Dammit, you said you were adding that special flavor..” he said with a sigh and another shake of his head. “I guess I’ll just have to do without this time around.” A wrinkle of his nose toward her, before he grinned a little. “Tastes awesome. I’m tempted to try and talk you into regular meals. I’m lucky if I can boil water.” Well, no, he was a little better than that, but not a whole lot.
As she put the photos in front of him, Steve wiped his hand off with a napkin before he began to flip through them. A motion that was really just sliding one picture from one pile to another. “You can pay me in dinner?” He asked with a grin before he shook his head a little. “Motivation. I live in a grey walled city, sometimes I need images to get the creative juices flowing.”
----
“That’s gotta be it,” she agreed with a smirk. “How old are you though? You’re in your twenties...” She was suddenly scrutinizing. He seemed like he was somewhere around her age. Given that he was still in school he was likely younger than her, right?
“I’m glad you like it,” she told him with a polite smile. The mention of regular meals made her give a small laugh. “I don’t cook like this every day,” she admitted, “nor do I work a regular schedule. So you might have some trouble there.”
Alice didn’t really like owing anyone anything. She realized that this wasn’t exactly that but it felt like it. Looking around her apartment would reveal a distinct lack of art appreciation. She had a lot of plants and a few framed posters of album covers she appreciated but generally, no art. “Feel free to use them if something strikes you,” she told him with a warm smile, taking a drink of her wine. “It was really something to get away from all of the cement for awhile.”
---
“Isn’t that rude? Asking a girl his age?” He smirked at her and wrinkled his nose a little. “I’m twenty four.” A tilt of his head as he considered her. “Why? Am I coming across as a teenager again? It’s the good food, it does strange things to my brain, I’ll tell you.” Another bite of his meal was taken as he grinned at her. It would only be a matter of moments before he was done though.
“No? You should, this is awesome, I’d eat like this everyday if I could.” Or if he could afford it, he definitely couldn’t afford it. Especially not with the wine. Of which another gulp was taken before he grinned. “I remember the good old days of irregular schedules. Thank god for getting a set schedule. I feel like I actually have weekends these days, even if it’s in the middle of the week.”
“Between work and school, I don’t get the chance to get away much.” Steve said as he picked out a couple of the pictures. One of a forest near the water, and another of the beach itself. Then, he would pick a third one, which was also of the beach. “These are beautiful. You take a lot of pictures?”