Log: Nando & Cree
Who: Cree Slavin and Nando. When: February 14. Valentine's Day! (backdated) Where: Stargate. Nando's room. Kitchen. What: Valentine's Day type things. Cuteness.
Cree had felt flutters of excitement for Valentine's Day. He didn't have a lot of experience with Valentine's Day, really. Childish Valentine's Day of course, when all the kids in the class went around sliding little cards into paper mailboxes. And the awkward Valentine's of junior high. High school he'd never had a date or anything, so there was no worries about that. He had been quiet. Almost shy.
He had made a card for Nando. It was made from red construction paper, with a red heart with scalloped edged on the front. Hearts were very Valentine-y after all. To make it less romantic (because he didn't quite know what was going on with them!) he drew a dragon in the middle of the heart. Inside, he had written a fairly simple message; 'To Nando, Happy Valentine's Day, From Cree'. 'From' had seemed the simplest of ways to sign off.
When it was time, he headed down to Nando's room. It was exciting! Even though he had been exploring the base the past couple weeks (the places he was allowed, anyway!), but it was still a bit of a thrill to be out and doing things. Going to Nando's room! Like a perfectly normal person.
Reaching Nando's room, he balled his hand and knocked on the door.
There was a charge in the air. Nando had busied himself by cleaning his room, arranging a couple of the cupcakes that Coin had made amongst the chocolate that June had left outside his door. Everyone had a sweet tooth, but he didn't mind sharing that with Cree. Really, Nando was glad that there was someone to help him eat it all. Sweets were good, as always, but to have someone share them was even better! He didn't know what to get Cree, well aware of their precarious situation, Nando had made Cree a CD of music. They were mostly classical music - the tracks - since everyone liked classical music to one extent or another.
At the knock, Nando rolled off his bed, padding over to his door in socked feet. What to wear had even been a more serious question. Some people in relationships would dress sexily, but Nando didn't know how to dress that way. Instead, he was in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Opening the door, he smiled at Cree and stepped aside to let him in.
"Hi," he said, the smile getting wider the more he thought of what the day was, what it meant, and that he actually had someone to celebrate with.
What to wear hadn't been such an issue with Cree, because he didn't have a lot of options, and he definitely didn't have anything fancy! Which made sense, as he had never had a reason to even think about such a thing before today. Jeans and his thick blue sweater were good enough for him.
"Hi," he returned with his own, shy, smile when the door was opened and he was presented with Nando on the other side. He held out the card. "We made this for you," he said, even though that was probably obvious, given that stores usually didn't sell construction paper cards with dragons on hearts. Which was a shame, really!
"How are you?"
"Come in come in," Nando said. He was a little nervous about having Cree in his room. Not Cree so much as Cree with a side of Ethan. He had faith that nothing bad would happen, and that Cree had control enough that he'd make sure the other stayed away. It was a ridiculous notion, but something that Nando grasped and held on tight. Because things always worked out in stories, and it was Valentine's Day! Only good things could happen on this day!
"I'm good, good to see you." He waited a second, taking the card, not opening just yet. He took a step closer and hugged Cree, making sure the card wasn't crinkled as arms wrapped around the other's waist. It always felt good to hug Cree. There hadn't been enough hugs lately - at least for Nando's liking.
Cree stepped past the doorframe when he was invited in, slipping into Nando's room. His eyes wandered around, just for a brief moment, before Nando was coming closer and hugging him. Cree's own arms slid around the other boy. It was easy to hug him, to fall into the warmth of his body, that comforting safe feeling.
"It's good to see you too," Cree said when the hug broke, enough that he could actually look at the other boy and not the side of his head. Cree was still smiling. "And Happy Valentine's Day!" he added. It was nice to actually be able to say that to someone! "Did you get chocolates too? It looked like Juniper was leaving them for everyone!" He had seen the row of them outside of doors when he had gone out of his room earlier in the day.
Cree always smelled nice, and was one of the few people Nando wanted to be close to, always liked being close to. His smile was infectious, Nando feeling a little twinge in his cheeks. It had been days since he'd smiled so big for so long.
"Happy Valentine's Day to you too!" It was great to have a Valentine - the first one in many years. Nodding, Nando's hand left Cree's back and entwined his fingers with the other's. He pulled him over to the little dessert plate he'd made up. "And Coin...or Maybe O, they made cupcakes. I thought we could share them for dessert?" Nando let go of Cree'd hand and looked down at the card, finally. "Oh wow," he said, looking at the dragon.
"You drew this?" Nando looked at the dragon for a good few seconds before opening it up, smiling. It was a very politically correct way to address one another, and not inaccurate at all. "I'm going to set this on my dresser so I can see it when I wake up and when I go to bed." He leaned in, giving Cree a little peck on the cheek before going to deposit the card on his dresser. He placed it beside his deodorant, not really sure where else it would go, but it seemed like a good place for it. "What do you think?"
Cree's pale blue eyes swept over the plate of treats, which all looked very nice. "They look good!" he said with a nod of his head and a smile - not that the same had gone anywhere. "We like cupcakes a lot." And chocolate! But who didn't like chocolate? Chocolate was delightful. "That sounds like a good idea." Even though they were tempting to eat right then! But sometimes waiting made things all the better.
He looked away from the sweets then as Nando spoke of the card, and nodded his head. "Yeah. We did. We've been drawing a lot." Even with his newfound freedom, it wasn't as though he had oodles to do with his time. And often he liked the quiet of just reading or drawing or something simple like that. His head ducked, a shy blushy look on his face as Nando kissed him on the cheek. "It looks good there," he agreed, blue eyes darting up to look at Nando.
"So what should we make for supper?" he asked then.
Maybe it was the holiday. Maybe it was the fact that it had been a long time since the two had hung out. Nando had wanted to give Cree some freedom when he had finally been allowed to leave his room. Cree deserved to meet nice people, because Nando knew they existed at Stargate. He wanted Cree to be happy, but when he had accepted Nando's invitation to hang out with him on Valentine's Day? It had made Nando so happy he could have burst. Nando had missed sleeping in Cree's room, but it wasn't about the comfort of the bed, but the comfort that Cree always made Nando feel, deep down.
"We coooould...." Nando drew the word out, his mouth curling to the side as he thought. "Well, I...didn't know what you wanted, so I laid out some chicken and some ground beef in the fridge to thaw. We could make spaghetti and meatballs or chicken and vegetables? There are lots of things we could do." Nando moved over to his desk and picked up a few pieces of paper. "I found these recipes online that sounded good, and they looked pretty easy too, and good. Do you want to look at them here or in the kitchen? I think we have all the ingredients, but it might be good to double check." EVen though Nando had made sure before he'd printed them off. But, someone could have used them so it would be a good idea, nonetheless.
Cree reached for the papers that Nando handed his way, taking them in hand. His gaze dropped to read them, studying over the first recipe, the list of ingredients and instructions before turning to the next, and then the next. They all sounded like they'd be tasty, and none of them looked ridiculously complicated, or like they involved bizzare ingredients that normal kitchens would not have.
After a minute of looking, Cree shuffled one to the top. It was a recipe for chicken breasts in an herbal sauce, which could be used on veggies as well. "This one?" he suggested, holding it out so that Nando could see it as well. It looked good, and healthy enough, which would lend balance to the cupcakes and chocolate that they would be eating later! "We can go down and make sure everything's there?" And that statement was nice, the knowledge that he could wander out of the room with Nando, check things out elsewhere... in the base, at least.
He watched with rapt attention, hoping that Cree found something he liked. Nando had tried to keep things easy, gentle. He wanted cooking together to be a happy experience, not a frustrating one. Eyes flickered between Nando looking through the pages and his friend's face, trying to gauge any response. Nando was holding his breath, wanting everything to work out.
Leaning in, Nando Let his eyes sweep over the recipe. It had been one he'd been interested to try out. He nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that one looks good. I bet we'll make it really good." Nando nodded again at the suggestion. "Yep! We can!" Nando was a bit elated that they could walk around freely, just like everyone else, but together. "I can't wait to cook with you, Cree. And then we'll eat and have dessert and maybe watch a movie? Or something?" Nando didn't want to get his hopes too high, but he'd really missed his time with Cree and had been overly-excited for their time together.
"We will," Cree agreed with a nod of his head. He was still learning how to cook, but between the two of them, he was sure that they could manage, and manage to make it good. He nodded his head again, along with Nando's suggestion. "Yeah, let's do that. We can bring the food back here to eat when it's done?" he suggested. That way they could eat in comfort, just the two of them!
He set the other recipes aside, holding onto the one they had decided on. "Any movies you want to watch?" he asked as he looked at Nando again and smiled in his soft, shy way. He was glad to be in the other boy's company again. "Should we go start?" he said, nodding his head towards the door. The sooner they went and cooked, the sooner they could come back and eat and maybe even snuggle some!
"Yeah, I'd like to eat in here with you. But we'll have to borrow some pot holders, don't want to burn our legs!" Nando exclaimed, his hand already moving down to brush against Cree's wrist, but in an instant decided against holding his hand, protecting him. Cree had been out and about and had obviously come out unscathed. He didn't need protecting. Which was fine - great, even.
Nando hurried to the door, opening it and then spying the single lock again. "Do you...think I need to lock the door?" It was his room, after all, and his key was in his pocket. "Wait, there's dessert here. I'll lock it." He was a little worried about trying to handle a plate and a key - a hot plate, mind you - but he would manage. "Yup, lessgo!" Nando opened the door and motioned of Cree to hurry out, as if the floor was turning to lava and they needed to leave as soon as possible!
"It probably wouldn't hurt," Cree said of the lock. Better to do the quick thing and lock the door than come back and find stuff missing! That would be sad. And he wouldn't put it past some of the people in Stargate.
He stepped out of the room, waiting as Nando locked it up, and then he turned and started down the hall, slow at first so Nando could fall into step with him. He was smiling, looking much calmer than he had the first time he'd been out wandering the halls. Especially since the coast was clear and the hallway was empty at the moment! That was a good thing. And they made it to the kitchen with no problems at all. "Okay, what do we need first?" he asked, going over to the fridge to peer inside.
"Yeah, you're right," Nando said, seeing the logic in it. He was quick to lock it, hurried up to fall into step and put his hands in his pockets. Everyone seemed to be out, away from the base. And any of those left behind probably had more important things to do than wait in the hallway to terrorize the likes of Cree and Nando.
"Hmm," he said, looking at the recipe. "Chicken, milk, some flour, salt, pepper, and...spices." There was a few listed, so Nando walked over to the cupboard and started pulling out the dry ingredients. "It doesn't say what kind of milk, so whatever's in there will be fine I bet." He was pulling bottles from the shelf, making sure to look at the labels before setting them down. It looked pretty easy, just combining everything and letting it mix in a pan and thicken. "I'll start the oven and pull out some pans," he chirped, turning the oven to the right temperature and letting it preheat. "Do you want rice or noodles with it?"
As Nando rattled off ingredients, Cree eyed the fridge for the ones that would be kept in there. The chicken was easy to find, and he pulled out a styrofoam tray that had chicken breasts on it, wrapped in plastic. There were a couple different options for milk, ranging from skim to whole milk for coffee. Cree decided on two percent, figuring that in the middle was the best. Not too thick, and not too thick.
He set these things out on the counter and then returned to the fridge, crouching down to look in the vegetable crispers. "What veggies do we want?" he asked, leaning back to glance around the fridge door at Nando. "There's... carrots, potatos, brocolli, salad stuff, those long yellow and green beans..." He pushed things aside as he listed vegetables, careful not to list anything that had someone's name clearly marked on it.
Cree was at a disadvantage, mainly because Nando had the recipe and was left to his own devices with assurance that what he was pulling was right. "What kind of potatoes? The lil ones or the big ones? If we eat it over rice or pasta, it may end up being too starchy with potatoes in them." Tapping his chin, Nando moved over to the fridge and opened up the freezer. Just as he'd hoped! He pulled out a frozen bag of vegetables - carrots, broccoli, peas and green beans. There looked, from the picture, to be little flecks of red and green pepper in them as well. "Do you think we could use this?" He made sure the door was closed so neither of them banged their heads and squatted, showing Cree the bag.
"I think maybe this would work? And we don't have to follow the recipe exactly, right?" Cree smelled clean, and even though it looked like his bangs were a little...off kilter, the guy's face was soft and Nando hadn't seen anyone else with eyes like his friend's. "It would...maybe save us some time?"
Cree tilted his head upwards. "Oh. Yes, we could use that," he agreed with a little nod of his head. Sort of sheepish that he didn't think of it. He stood up then, and closed the fridge door before he let all of the cold air out and into the fridge. His fingers remained curled around the handle for a moment as his eyes roamed across everything that was laid out on the counter.
"Okay. So what do we do first?" he asked as he released the fridge and moved over to the counter. He peered at the recipe again. "Do we do the... um. spices, first?" That was what they had done when he had cooked with O; cooked the garlic and other spices in the oil to start building the flavouring. "And get the rice ready? Unless we want pasta?" He had already learned that pasta tended to cook faster than rice did.
"Sure, we can get the spices going then add the milk and flour to make the sauce?" It was a little like the blind leading the blind at the moment, but Nando hoped it got more fun the closer you got to the end. Then they could eat! "How about you do the spices and I'll get the chicken more ready? Cut the fat off of it and stuff." It was the messier of the parts, and Nando didn't mind. He took a knife and opened the package and took out the chicken, trimming the fat and working to get them nice and tidy.
"Hmm," Nando thought on the subject. "It's whatever you want - pasta or rice. It would go good with either, as long as we do it right." Nando turned his head as he spoke, Smiling at Cree and then going back to his trimming. "We could probably get the water going, just so it didn't boil too soon. On low or medium." The chicken was easy to clean, and he sighed to himself contently when it was all done.
Cree looked over at the recipe, and the food all laid out before he decided. "Rice," he said, because it seemed a better balance, for reasons that he couldn't quite put his fingers on. He went and got a box of rice out of the cupboards and put some water in a pot to boil before he went to work on the sauce.
He recalled what he had done with O. Although the ingredients were a bit different, the process had to be similar, he figured. He got some oil heating in a frying pan, and chopped up garlics and onions and tossed them in, along with the spices that the recipe called for, so they could start simmering, releasing their flavour before anything else was added to make the sauce proper. Cooking wasn't really so bad, he decided, at least the simpler recipes weren't. It was just a matter of following instructions. Which Cree was good at. And if he wielded the knife with his other hand, well, that wasn't something he really took notice of any more.
"I think rice would be perfect," Nando assured him, smirking and lining the shallow pan with aluminum foil so that he could spray it with Pam. He didn't want the chicken to stick, and the foil would help with easy clean up. He sniffed at the air and decided to just let his smile settle on his face. It was comfortable there - always seemed to be there around Cree. A good place to be, in Nando's opinion.
"You've learned a lot," Nando murmured, hearing the beep of the oven and pulled the door a little open, waiting patiently for Cree to get out of the area so the heat wouldn't escape and make him too warm. The pan was slid in and Nando hummed softly, setting the timer for twenty-five minutes and looking around to see if there was anything else that Cree needed help with. "I could pour the milk in the measuring cup for you to pour in when the stuff's ready for it." Glancing at the recipe, Nando tucked some hair behind his ear and saw it took a full cup. He had to be careful, or else he'd end up making a mess that he'd have to clean up. "Easy, easy," he said to himself, pouring out just a dribble at a time.
"Some," Cree agreed with a nod of his head. He didn't think he'd learned a lot, not yet. Cooking was one of those things that took a lot of time, he had a feeling. To really learn to do it - and to do it without needing recipes, like O seemed to. "It's kind of fun, cooking." And you got to eat the results, which was nice!
The mixed aroma of the spices and garlic and onions started to lift into the air, drifting together and giving the air that warm feeling. "Sure," he agreed with a nod of his head and a little smile as Nando went to measure out the milk. He went for the flour to portion that out with one of the little measuring scoops, dumping it into a bowl so he could just shake it in when he was ready. Which he was soon enough, and he tapped the flour in a little at a time, and then, when the milk was ready, poured that in as well, bit by bit, mixing it around as he went.
Nando slid the measuring cup gently across the clean counter, making sure that nothing got spilled. Once it was in Cree capable hands, Nando leaned against the counter, watching the other work his magic. It was interesting to watch someone else cook, see how concentrated Cree's face got. Nando felt a little bad for not doing much, but there wasn't much else that needed to be done at the moment. It was actually really good to see Cree out and about, doing things that didn't include just moving a plate of cookies to and fro.
One arm slid up to grab onto his elbow, Nando hugging himself easily. When the milk and flour were combined, Nando decided it was save to talk. "I like cooking, too. It's a relaxing thing to do. And it'll be good I think, because we seem to be following all the directions. And it does take time to learn, so in a while you'll be cooking like O or Coin." He smiled over at Cree and decided he'd been lazy long enough. Nando found a pair of scissors and opened the frozen fegetables. crunching them up to help separate them, get them thawing faster.
"Maybe." Cree didn't want to talk himself up too much, or his possible future skills. He didn't want to jinx anything! He left the sauce for a moment so he could measure out the rice, which he poured into the water that was starting to bubble. He then put the lid on after giving it a quick stir.
"It is relaxing. Unless things go really wrong," he agreed. "Or splatter anywhere." That had happened to him when he had tried cooking spaghetti sauce. It had ended up all over the place, including him. He had smelled like sauce for a day. Picking up the spoon, he stirred the sauce again. He had it on a simmering heat so that some of the liquid was evaporating, making the sauce thicken. "Okay. Is there anything else we need to do?"
"Uhm..." Nando gave it some thought, suddenly feeling bad that he'd opened the bag of vegetables in the first place. Rolling the bag up tightly, Nando put a rubberband around it twice. It would be faster this way. "Maybe I should put some hot water in the sink, then put the bag in. The vegetables will thaw faster and then I can drain off the liquid." He was already tapping his index finger on the stream that he'd had going in the sink, waiting for it to be warm enough for it to heat up.
"Hopefully when I drain everything, they'll be ready to add to the pan and take up less liquid." He stopped up the sink and suddenly realized just how much idle work went into a meal. Maybe he was just nervous about making it with Cree. EIther way, the bag floated on top of the hot water, Nando giving it a gentle squeeze on a plump side. "Shouldn't take too long," he mused, coming over to sniff at the air and then moving back to the fridge. He was being more skiddish than usual, and tried to tone down the nervous energy he had. "What would you like to drink?"
"That's a good idea," Cree agreed. He nodded his head, black hair ruffling against his cheeks. He pushed it back with the side of his arm absenty. "They shouldn't take too long to thaw." There was always the defroster on the microwave, but he wasn't sure if that would change the taste. There had to be a reason why people didn't use the microwave while cooking properly.
"We think there will be enough room," he nodded his head, eyeing the pans that had everything cooking. He could smell everything now, and it smelled good. Hopefully it would taste good too! Cree glanced over his shoulder with a soft smile on his face. "Oh anything is fine. Juice or pop or whatever's in there. We're not fussed."
Nando waited a few more moments, keeping an eye on the vegetables before opening the fridge. He looked around and pulled out a couple bottles of raspberry iced tea. There weren't any labels on it, no names or anything. They looked to be fair game, and there were four others in there from the six pack. "Raspberry tea okay?" He asked setting them on the counter. There were other things in there, but some looked like they'd been opened or tampered with. "I see a soda in there, it's Dr. Pepper." Another option. Nando liked giving Cree choices, and was happy that the other now had the choice to stay in the room or leave.
He moved over to the sink and undid the rubber band after lifting the bag out of the water. Pinching the bag at the incision, Nando squeezed upward, tilting the bag minutely, water running out in a steady, if tiny stream. "So...who all have you met so far?" He hoped it wasn't too personal, but Nando wanted to see if Cree had met. "You going to be ready for the veggies soon?" He didn't want to rush the sauce.
"The iced tea is fine," Cree assured him. He sort of liked the tea and juice type things over drinking too much pop. He remembered his mother always telling him that all the sugar in pop would rot his teeth and his insides.
"Mmm," he murmured thoughtfully as he ran through the people he had met in his head. "June, but that was a while ago. Milo. Micah. O." And the rude boy in the library who had been mean and said cruel things, but Cree had decided not to mention that. He didn't want to accidentally bad mouth anyone behind their backs! "They all seemed pretty nice." He had lucked out, really. Although he had crossed paths with a few other people, but hadn't spoken to them. Sometimes you could just tell who was going to be too intense or mean.
With the beverage decided, Nando shut made sure the door was closed to the fridge and left it at that. There'd be no more questions about libations from him! Nando listened with interest, nodding his head. He smiled. "Micah is really nice. I didn't think he would be, but he was very excited, but nice." Nando considered everyone on that list of Cree's to be friends, even if, in O's case, it was in the loosest of definitions. He thanked the boy for making food once in a while, but they'd never really had any reason to talk at length. He seemed nice enough, though. And anyone nice fell into the network of friends at Stargate, in Nando's head at least.
When Nando squished the bag, there wasn't any more crunching, just squishiness. "I think these're all defrosted." He wasn't pushing them, craning his neck to look at the sauce, the smell of the chicken in the oven starting waft up. There were only a few minutes left on the timer, so it seemed like everything would fall into place, and still be warm but not super hot by the time they got back to his room.
"They all seemed pretty nice," Cree agreed. He hadn't known what to expect from any of them, having never met them and not knowing much about them. But it didn't take much for Cree to like someone. As long as they were decent and not unnecessarily cruel, well, he would probably think they were okay. He was generally a fairly easy going young man. When he wasn't being skittish or nervous or scared or... Ethan.
"Okay, we think they're ready to go in anyway," Cree guessed as he eyeballed things. "And then from there it will just be... watching things cook?" he guessed, glancing over at the recipe again to make sure, and to check the general time they'd need to leave things cooking for.
"Maybe sometime I can have a movie night in my room and you and the rest of them can come. It wouldn't be a sleepover or anything, just watching a movie and maybe having snacks. We could do it in the rec room, but my room? I can lock the door, keep out anybody who might want to crash it. So it's the good in, the...everybody else, out." Nando didn't really like calling people 'bad' or 'evil', some were just more loud and active than he was. They might all be like Micah, but he didn't know, and wasn't too sure if he wanted to chance it.
"Alright," Nando said, giving the vegetable bag another firm squeeze before bringing it over. His fingers scissored inside the cut he'd made opening the hole a little larger so they could be poured easier. Standing beside Cree, Nando held the bag a few inches from the sauce, tapping on the bottom to get the slices moving. There was a little his as they made contact, but nothing too dramatic. Once half the bag was poured in, Nando set it on the counter. "Do you want me to mix them in, then we can add the others?" They seemed to be asking each other a lot of questions, but nando liked hearing Cree talk, and questions were a good way to hear him.
"Sure, a movie night would be fun," Cree said as he gave the sauce another stir to make sure that it didn't start cooking onto the bottom of the pan or anything. "The Rec Room would probably have more room." He could handle that. He couldn't run from everything forever, and suspected that in a group, things would be just fine. If someone came in causing trouble, they could just leave.
As the veggies were dumped into the pan, Cree stirred and stirred and continued to stir, making sure that the veggies got as covered as possible, and as evenly as possible. "We think we can do it," he said, since he was holding the stirring spoon anyway. It wasn't such a difficult task. "Plus then you don't have both hands full at once," he added reasonably.
"Or the Rec Room," Nando agreed, perhaps a bit too quickly. It wasn't his job to watch after Cree. He was older then Nando was, he had to remind himself - almost constantly. Unfortunately, Nando didn't want him singled out for ridicule. But what would happen would happen, and Nando didn't want to be selfish with Cree. He was meeting new people, making new friends. It was the way things were supposed to be!
"Okay, thanks," he said, gently sliding the rest of the vegetables into the pan and then crumbled the bag, moving over to the garbage can. "Cree, I think you did a really good job on the sauce. I'm excited to taste it. I hope the chicken tastes as good in it." As if on cue, the timer went off, buzzing three times in a row and then stopping. "There's probably no rush on that," he said, not wanting to hurry the vegetables heating up or the rice being underdone.
Cree glanced towards the buzzing timer, but nodded his agreement with Nando. "A few more seconds won't hurt it," he said with a little grin as he finished stirring up the veggies and tuye sauce and then shifted the pan off the burner altogether when things seemed thick enough and the vegetables seemed cooked through.
"How's the rice look?" he asked as he turned off the burner he had been using, putting a top over the frying pan to keep in some of the heat while they got everything together. Cree stepped fown the counter and grabbed a couple plates out of the cupboard so they'd have something to put the food on. He grabbed forks and knives out of the drawer as well, and set them all aside so they'd be ready to go.
"It looks fine," Nando said, taking a fork and fluffing it. Just the right amount of stickiness to it, but not too dry or wet. "I'll drain this and then we'll plate everything." When Cree moved away, Nando took out the chicken breasts and moved them to an unheated burner. This meal was turning out to look really good. Maybe even something he'd want to make again.
Nando brought the drinks over closer, plating the food once the plates were there. Rice, then chicken, then sauce. It all smelled so good. Once everything was out there, Nando looked down approvingly. It took a lot of nerve, but Nando found the resolve and moved over to Cree, wrapping an arm around the slim waist. "Cree?" He asked, unsure of himself. His arm was loose, ready to move away at a moment's notice. "Will you be my Valentine?" He felt his face heat up, eyes pulling away, just because if Cree said no, Nando wouldn't know what to do. "I like you Cree. More than a friend, and I wouldn't want to spend today with anyone else." Ethan was a factor, but not enough of one to scare Nando away.
Cree was surprised as Nando drifted closer - not by the closeness, but by the arm around his waist. He wasn't sure why. He and Nando had developed a friendship with comfortable touches, so it shouldn't have been different, but it was. There was something different in the touch, he could tell, and it made his stomach turn over in a way that wasn't unpleasant.
He swallowed, his pale eyes going slightly rounder, and he just studied Nando's face for a moment in silence before he slowly started to nod his head. "Yeah," he replied, his throat feeling a bit dry, more dry than it should have been. The corners of his mouth fluttered upwards in a little very shy smile. "Yeah. We will be. We'd like that. A lot."