Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had taken him a bit of time to decide what to make for dinner that evening. He'd thought about it while going through his morning routine; running recipes and ideas through his head while working through his crunches and push ups, compiling a potential grocery list while scrubbing clean in the shower. He took a moment while sipping juice from a bottle to actually write things down on a sheet of paper to make a proper list.

Making it to the local market had made for a nice walk and he found something for breakfast on the way there, checking his list as he strolled up and down the aisles while idly sipping at his smoothie. He'd picked a salmon filet from the seafood counter, picked fresh herbs and vegetables from the produce and now he just needed to grab a bag of rice because he hadn't thought to check whether or not Luc had any before leaving the apartment. His last stop was to the bakery to select something for desert, knowing well enough that baking of any sort really wasn't his forte.

The rest of his afternoon was spent puttering around the apartment until it was time to do the prep work. Chopping and peeling vegetables made the time go much faster and would make tossing them together in olive oil and the herbs easier later. It also left him time to text Luc to confirm what time he thought he'd be making it back to the apartment so he could plot out the cook times for everything.

"Hey! Perfect timing." A grin lit his face as he glanced over his shoulder to the other man. "You should have just enough time to grab a shower before dinner's ready, assuming you need to. Otherwise you've just got to make yourself comfortable while I finish in here."

Arin had timed everything to the minute once the rice was started, giving himself just enough wiggle room to take either traffic or a need to clean up after work into account. He had plates set on the counter so he could arrange dishes once everything was finished and the small two-seat table had been set with silverware and a small basket of croissants from the market.

"I think... I must have watched a lot of things on the Food Network while spending too much time alone on my own away from people. Fiona is incredible in the kitchen too, so I've learned a lot helping her out." His smile became sheepish for a moment, catching himself before he could run his hand through his hair while still holding on to the spatula he'd been using to shift the salmon in the pan.

His attention turned back to the meal after that. He'd put too much into making sure dinner turned out just right to botch it now. He was arrogant enough in thinking it would turn out perfectly that he hadn't bothered placing a delivery order as a back up plan.

By the time Luc made his way back out towards the table he'd plated dinner, arranging a portion of the salmon filet on either of their plates along with a small bowl of white rice and a helping of the roasted vegetables. He'd gotten a bottle of flavored sparkling water out of the fridge for himself and had just cracked it open when he heard his friend moving.

"I didn't get you a drink yet... I picked up another back of the waters that I drank the last of on our last movie night and I think I saw a pitcher of tea you already had in the fridge?"

"Hey, the white rice was supposed to be a rice pilaf." He flashed the other man a wry grin as he set his own bottle down so that he could get a second out of the fridge for Luc. He lingered in there for a moment longer, unable to keep himself from watching the way Luc's hand moved to brush hair back. His eyes followed the line of Luc's fingers down to his wrist before quickly rising to the other man's face once more.

"Anything else while I'm over here? Do you want any more of anything?"

"Nah. I decided it wasn't worth the risk to ruin a properly cooked white rice... And this way you get more of the flavors from the salmon and the vegetables too." He shifted on his feet before crossing out of the kitchen towards the table, pulling the chair the rest of the way out before settling into it across from the other man. Only then did he realize he was still holding on to the water bottle, reaching out to set it down just in front of Luc.

"If you don't want a croissant tonight they should reheat easily enough in the morning. They make a damn good breakfast."

That drew a laugh from him as he shook his head while picking up his fork. The salmon flaked perfectly as he prodded it with his fork, tearing away just enough to pop a bite past his lips. "Mm..." He savored the taste for a moment, chewed and swallowed before addressing the other man again.

"I'm not that good. The croissants were from the farmer's market, along with the vegetables. Properly flaky and freshly baked this morning. They should be good for a day or two." He nodded, flashing the other man a grin. "How is everything?"

"Not much, actually. Some of the best recipes seem to be things that you can throw together pretty quickly." His fingers reached out to snag his bottle of water so he could wash down a bit of rice. He'd kept most of the flavors simple that evening, not wanting to potentially overdo something by trying too hard to show off.

No, that wasn't completely true. He had wanted to show off. Showing off was almost like second nature to him and always had been, but in this case he also knew better enough to just tone it down. He didn't have to show off around Luc. Luc knew him, good and bad.