aterat | One Fall And One Less Bear

The advisor's face turns slightly red and he keeps his gaze averted. Nida was..blossoming if Ignis wanted to phrase it correctly in his mind. It was astounding to see that this man just needed someone to..no not that word but maybe that word for another day. Someone to take care of him and be good to him. Yes those words would suffice for now.

So he turned back to Nida and smiled. "I'm finding more and more that you're quite the romantic."

There was absolute truth in that statement. He'd needed time at first to recover from his loss. BUt after that... He'd needed this from someone outside of his 'family'. Needed someone to believe in him and want him. And Ignis had given him so much.

"I'm really not good at being romantic," Nida insists. But the necklace and the statements. Yeah. He's managing it.

Green eyes slid over to look directly at Nida when he tried to say he wasn't romantic. There was a clear look of 'I don't believe you' both in that gaze and in his tone though there's a gentle smile in both too.

"If you say so darling."

Did he not? Nida considers Ignis for a moment, looking at him in clear confusion before he starts mixing up the fix with the other stuff. Only when it's all done does he split it up into one small bowl as he puts it up on the fridge for Julia. The rest went into the fridge before he started to clean his hands.

"You keep calling me that and I'll keep thinking you're smitten."

He's still standing at the stove cooking when he turns the heat down. Nida's words made him smile and he shook his head lightly as if pondering the word. "I suppose smitten is not a bad adjective to use."

Ignis still stood there and tried his best not to look pleased to hear it so he kept busy with the vegetable side dishes. Really it wasn't a bad thing to be called that. But he wasn't going to call anymore attention to it either so he started setting the table while keeping his gaze averted.

"My friends used to use 'twitterpated' for when I was, you know, head over heels for a guy."

And he didn't think they had been wrong either.

"So, if your hands are free, my flame, what about these apples?"

There was a smile that Nida couldn't see. "That's a rather adorable word for it." He hadn't heard that word before so it was new to him. But if it meant the same thing Ignis could live with it.

Turning to Nida now, he nodded. "We can certainly do them now and put dinner to the side or we can start them after dinner. The choice is up to you."

"Is there a better choice?" Nida asks, returning to Ignis's side and watching him seriously. "I don't want to ruin your dinner."

"I don't mind setting dinner aside but it will get cold and it will need reheated but it shouldn't take long." He looked over at the vegetables which would share the same fate, but it wouldn't be a problem. The herbed butter and the prepared sauce were there but they hadn't been added yet to the fish either.

"So this would be a good time as any to get started on your apples."

"You're sure?" Nida asks, and he actually feels excited about this. Learning from his brother was a chore. Learning from Ignis was going to be a delight.

"I know some simple rules of cooking. Like, I can grill things and still have them be edible. At Garden most of our teachings were about wilderness cooking and survival, so campfires with what wood and food you could find. It's not really good for things like ovens and THOUGHTFUL cooking."

"Yes." Ignis said. The other's face seemed to almost light up and it was hard to say no to an expression like that.

So he listened as Nida went on and smiled, thinking of Gladio and his wilderness things such as setting up the tent every night and making sure the fire stayed lit and stoked. "That's how I did a lot of my cooking for my traveling companions, but I had a Coleman stove which didn't need the fire."

And that was true, Ignis had purchased it before leaving because he'd had no idea how often they might get to eat on the road though obviously the journey took a lot longer than simply being able to hop aboard the ferry in Galdin Quay.

"Gas is so much more reliable," Nida admits. "And cooking on a campfire as I learned it was less about taste and more about sufficient calories."

Which meant stuff could taste like shit.

"And far more temperate for cooking." Ignis agreed easily. Really it was perfect for him to be able to control the temperature and be able to procure the ingredients needed with help from the lads of course. And of course he'd learned so much more from doing those silly errands for the vendors at the Lestallum open air market.

For now he grabbed a few apples and gave them to Nida along with a knife. "Now do you want to cook them whole or make slices and cook them that way?" Green eyes moved over to the cabinet though he physically stayed put. "I do have vanilla and cinnamon. I did purchase some ice cream as well so that can go on top along with some whipped cream."

"Oh, slices sounds lovely. Do I need to peel these?"

That would be easier to do before he cut things. And man, ice cream? His hero.

He nodded. "If you're doing slices then peeling would be required in that case." Turning, he grabbed the peeler for Nida in case he'd need it. And then Ignis turned to the book he'd seen from their trip at the Historium and showed what he was talking about.

Edited 2020-11-19 18:40 (UTC)

The picture has Nida staring in shock and delight.

"That's beautiful. There's no way I can make something that pretty."

This is impossible. But damn if he doesn't want to try.

"There's step by step directions as to how to layer them that way." Ignis replied reassuringly. He moved past Nida to get a pan to lay the slices in and had patted the man on his arm as another sort of reassurance.

Faith in Nida, Ignis had it.

Well then, he's going to get to it. Nida starts peeling the apples, not with the peeler, but with a knife. Sorry, he had to take one out. This feels more controlled to him than a specialized device.

"Why did you learn to cook?"

Setting the pan down, Ignis checks what he needs to help with the apples and stars pulling them out of the cabinets. With a sigh he realizes he needs to commission a spice rack if he can't find one. So as he's setting things down, he hears Nida's question.

There's a sigh and a slight smile.

"I did it to make a young boy smile who'd been injured on a trip with his father to another country." And yes he's referring to Noctis. "He'd told me of a dessert he loved there and for years I've tried to recreate it several times, though according to him I've never quite gotten it right."

Ignis deserves a spice rack in his apartment. Oh dear, they were going to have an interesting relationship, switching back and forth between each other's apartments, weren't they?

Well, now that was a thing, wasn't it?

"You're so kind."

Ignis smiled with a small blush. "Yes well, that was a long time ago though I had thought to see if I could somehow recreate that and other dishes from home. So it will most certainly be an adventure in the culinary arts as it were."

He didn't want to feel melancholy around Nida or ruin the mood. He turned back around on the pretense of getting something else when his hand reached for the jade pendant he now wore around his neck.

Well, for now at least Ignis belonged here, with him. And Nida would be happy to point that out, even if it wasn't taken fully seriously. He starts to hum to himself as he peels the apples. But basically? He has dibs on Ignis, and these moments.

"Well, I'm blessed by your adventures."

He turned and looked over at Nida as he hummed and peeled apples. It was quite the domestic sight to see and Ignis decided to return a favour. So he went up behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around the man, careful to stay out of the way of hands peeling apples.

"Thank you." he said softly while continuing to hold on and giving the other a gentle kiss on the neck.

Well, Nida adores the hands holding him, and leans a bit back against Ignis, but he keeps working.

"You're thanking me for the fact that I'm spoiled by you? That seems silly."

He couldn't even say how much it meant when Nida relaxed into him and it made him smile.

"Something like that." The neck got another gentle kiss and he dropped his voice. "Darling."

Honestly the thank you had been for choosing to be with him and to give him a home here in a strange place. Someone to belong to and somewhere to belong. Those were gifts Ignis wouldn't take for granted.

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