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Travis was doing his very best to finish the blueberry cake.

"Hm?" He again had to actually swallow before answering. "Apples. All kinds of apples. They are really, really good in pie." And Travis LOVED pie. Don't even get him started on pie.

"Which fruit do you like?" It was too bad Ace didn't like sweets, because if he did, Travis could put his favorite fruit in a pie for him. Such a shame. Though Travis just might forget and make the man a pie anyway... when he found out where to borrow an oven.

"Chili?" Travis was wondering if Ace was joking again. Chili wasn't a fruit. He was giving Ace a strange look, trying to figure out if he was serious.

Then Ace mentioned doing him a favor, and Travis decided everything was fine. "Oh, I that would be great. I can repay you the cost, if needed." Travis would never turn down apple desserts. Never.

"Animals? Oh, uh," Travis had to think for a second, "I suppose if I had to pick I'd say it was a polar bear. They are all big and tough and stuff. What's your favorite?"

"Heh," Travis made a sound that showed he agreed. "Cats ARE super fickle. My Grandpa had a this great big old cat that would sometimes want to sit on your lap and purr all nice, and then the next moment she'd turn around and try to scratch you to death. Never could understand it."

He nodded again. "See, with a polar bear you KNOW it might want to eat you. With a cat it's just a mystery." He paused. "Did you have any pets growing up?"

Travis had to chuckle. "I guess they can be." He'd always had friends that were girls, and yeah, sometimes he didn't understand them. Sometimes he didn't understand guys either, but that was beside the point. Cats, however, he NEVER understood. "It is," he said, thinking about how it felt when a cat actually just purred and didn't' try to kill you. "It is."

Surprise covered Travis's face at the mention of an orphanage. "Oh." The whole concept caught him a little off guard.

"Well, uh," he looked down at nothing in particular, "my Grandpa raised me. My mom died when I was still a kid. I always had family, though. Usually just me and Grandpa. Sometimes my aunt and her kids would come visit." He shrugged.

He looked at Ace, wanting to ask for details about him - but wondering if it would be rude.

He did miss them. Well, his mom and his grandpa. He'd never cared much for his stepdad. "I do, I guess, but Mom and Grandpa are both gone now so it's not like there's much to miss about home." He shrugged in an effort to brush it all away.

You didn't have to tell Travis twice. He took the permission and started asking everything. "What about your family? Before the orphanage? What was the orphanage like?"

"Oh, wow." That was some pretty heavy stuff. Dropped off as a baby, whole life living without your family... Wow. Travis wasn't sure how to feel, since Ace seemed neither happy nor sad about most of it. For some reason, the way the Sun talked about it made Travis respect him a bit more. "I, uh, don't think it sounds like a cheesy movie. But still a movie for sure." It was supposed to be...not a compliment but Travis was trying to say he didn't think it was a bad life.

He had to chuckle. "I bet the bed was too small. You're tall, man."

Travis could just imagine Ace all curled up under a tiny blanket on a tiny bed shivering. Very much just like a movie. "I see." He wasn't sure he should comment too much.

Luckily, Ace gave him more to think about. "I bet it is small. I know mine would be too small for someone as tall as you. How did you fix yours?" He was quiet curious about anything that would make the basement rooms better.

"Which room are you in, by the way?" Were they neighbors?