[PRP] What's cookin'? (Shiloh & Nasir)

[Melancholies]

It had been a weird February so far. The days had grown warmer and longer a lot quicker than he had initially thought they would, and it made for a lot of trips into the outside. He'd found out recently that he really enjoyed the sun; more than he used to. Maybe that was part of being a weird plant guy. Speaking of, there was a vine wrapping up one of his earbud wires, but he seemed rather oblivious to it.

Anyway, he had a purpose for being out and about this time at least. It was about That Time™ that he paid his buddy Wil a visit. Shiloh himself was a strong independent plant man who didn't want drops going to his house (where, you know, he lived with his boyfriend's parents), so he decided it was high time he actually go to the bastards house. He had the address anyway.

Coming up to said house, he gave it a few good knocks. Even from the outside, he could tell that whatever was going on in there was amazing, if smells could be taken into account anyway.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It turned out, apparently, that a certain small feline was curled up asleep in what looked like a kitchen flower box. Hellbine stretched out and hopped off when he saw Shiloh (the flower box was, despite the season, entirely in bloom with what was like cooking ingredients).

About the same time that Hellbine reached Shiloh, was winding around his legs, the front door was pulled open. It was a darker skinned young man, his slightly wavy hair pulled back into a very small ponytail and a collection of anime and cartoon barrettes keeping his bangs out of his face. His shirt was faded but the art was familiar and his jeans faded because he looked like he had just come out of the kitchen.

The smell was only more amazing since he was holding the door open.

"Hello!" His voice was bright, the smile on his face warm and friendly. "Were you- Oh! Did Hellbine lead you here?" ... because he realized that the small cat was sitting on Shiloh's feet quite expectantly.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Hellbine? The ******** you doin' here buddy." He knelt down to scratch his head (under his chin, that one spot neat the butt) when the door finally opened. It wasn't Wil, so he assumed this had to be the Nasir that everyone had told him about. The magical cook guy who was really good at the food science.

"Nah, I came here on my own." He stood up after giving the cat what he considered adequate attention, "Wil ain't home? I got the right house, right..."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Hellbine was a purr machine that Shiloh revved up quite well.

"We've catsitted for the Mercers and, since then, Hellbine comes to visit whenever he wants." The small cat, once satisfied, promptly walked himself into the house with a rub against Nasir's leg as he did so.

"Wil should be home in a little bit, he was working on an art installation ..." Nasir smiled, opening the door more and gesturing for Shiloh to come in. "Have you eaten? I was just finishing up dinner." He paused, smiling warmly at Shiloh. "I'm Nasir by the way."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

He nodded, "Wil mentioned that..." Though he didn't elaborate. Still, Nasir was probably aware of just what that meant. "It's nice to meet you though. Name's Shiloh." He held his hand out for a shake.

"Anyway, if that's the case then I'll hang out for a second. I mean if that's alright." He was bad at doing the polite-not-imposing thing. "I haven't eaten, but my boyfriend'll get sad if he found out I was hogging out without him." Well, Jamie would probably be okay if he still sat with him, but his parents were out of town and the two of them cooking together (see: Jamie doing most of the cooking) was something that he had come to really treasure. Shiloh wasn't going to be the one to take that away from him, and their relationship was still new enough that he was a total sap for all the corny s**t.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir took Shiloh's hand and gave him a surprisingly firm handshake for someone who probably was as noodley as Wil was (except Nasir had spent a fair portion of the last four plus years carting the blonde around on his back piggyback style).

"Well ... I can make you something snackish then, if you'd like? I wouldn't want to spoil your boyfriend's hard work." He gestured for Shiloh to go ahead and come in and closed the door behind him. "I don't think Wil will be that long, so ..." His fingers gestured for Shiloh to follow him to the kitchen.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Snacks are good. I like snacks." He grinned as he followed Nasir inside. "I could probably snack and have room to dine later, yeah." Even if he didn't and there were leftovers, it would all be consumed eventually.

"S'nice little place you got." He said as he looked around the interior of the house. The kitchen was easily the selling point though, as it was warm and quaint and smelled absolutely magical. "Holy ********." Shiloh's eyes were as wide as saucer plates, "The ******** cookin' in here?" It took every ounce of willpower not to investigate the stove and the counters. Jamie always chastised him for that (but that was mostly because he'd sneak scraps too).

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

They ended up passing by the doorway of what was obviously the art room which was practically filled with various types of art from easels to sculptures to an entire table of figurines that were being painted up.

"Thanks," he said with a happy smile, "Wil and I kind of got lucky with this place. It was going to be modified into a frat house at one point - had a lot of stuff we had to do to fix it up - but now it's going to be ours one day."

The smile on his face got wider as Shiloh said what he did, mostly because he liked that people enjoyed what he cooked (from the smells to eating it). There was a center island with barstools around it but Nasir gestured that Shiloh could look around. "I've got some potato skin appetizers that are about finished but there's honey bourbon steak tips cooking and then some eggplant fries and broccoli salad to go with. Oh and I'm going to make some smoothies to go with because you can never go wrong with smoothies."

Someone clearly loved to cook.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Still, that's really cool." He was taking the sights in with a smile. "My boyfriend and I wanna move out someday. Sooner than later." He looked a little... bashful, almost, "I kinda like to think it'll be something like what you guys went through, probably. Maybe. Or an apartment." Shiloh shrugged as he settled near a counter.

"Would probably help if I had a real job." He laughed, "Sounds like you're pretty set though. That s**t sounds like something you'd hear rattled off of Food Network." He was drooling though. His eyes were drooling. His posture was drooling. "I wanna eat it all."

Dammit Jamie, why. Why. He wanted all the potato skins.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir was smiling himself because hearing Shiloh talk like that - about getting a place with his boyfriend - was the kind of thing that would always make him happy to hear. "Wil and I were roommates on campus before we got this place. He actually slept through all of orientation and was supposed to be my buddy for it and ... well, I found him asleep and we've been friends since."

He fiddled with a barrette in his hair a moment before he went to check on the potato skins.

"Didn't start dating until the school year was almost over though ..." Opening the oven, Nasir was pulling them out with a oven mitt (that looked like a Shrek hand) and setting the tray out to cool a moment. "The job bit is important but the other part is making sure one of you is good at handling money. Wil's kind of a savant when it comes to handling bills even though I am the mathematics major."

The comment on the food had Nasir beaming. "You can at least attack these potato skins in a moment. They need to cool a bit but before then ... what kind of smoothie you want? The options are endless, really."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Really? I wouldn't've pegged him for the type." Easy going stoner and all, "I'm... okay with money I guess. Jamie too." Which was to say they bought stuff when they wan't it still, but had common sense most of the time. Could be better? Yes. Could be worse? Oh ******** yeah.

He was swarming the potato skins, but was obeying Nasir's wise wisdom and resisting the urge to get his grimy fingers all over them before they were ready. "Chocolate." Wait ******** Shiloh those are milkshakes not smoothies, "Uh.... strawberry? Or cherry. Or anything. Everything?" He tilted his head, "An everything smoothie." He nodded, "Is that possible?" He grinned.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Yeah, really," Nasir said, that look on his face that clearly said he was amused about this, "I mean ... he is running a business, you know?" Even if it was sometimes a slightly illegal, up to no good business, but it wasn't like Wil was a hardcore drug dealer.

Just weed and sometimes he told fortunes.

"An everything smoothie," Shiloh's grin was echoed on Nasir's face, "is absolutely possible. I kind of cheat now anyway ... Well, I mean, 'cause of magic and all ..." Mentioning magic was apparently the right word because there was a Hellbine curled around Shiloh's feet and looking up at him before he claimed one of the chairs for himself and sat there primly.

As if he was waiting for his own snack.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh flushed, "Well, yeah, I guess you're right..." He felt a little silly after the remark, but not deterred. Instead he went to take a seat next to Hellbine, but then thought better of it and scooped Hellbine into his arms instead. Silly tiny kitten.

"So wait, you got like, food magic?" His eyes were wide, "Dude that's so rad... I mean, I guess I can control plants and stuff, but I wish I could magic smoothies out my a** whenever I wanted one." He was scratching the top of Hellbine's head as he spoke. "It seems like it'd come into play a lot more often."

The only reason Hellbine hadn't been snuck anything yet was because Shiloh was still waiting for things to cool. Sorry cat, but if he couldn't eat yet, then no one could.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Hellbine, then in that moment, decided that next to his people dad, Shiloh was his favorite people. Mostly because he could curl up in his lap and get pets and there would be flowers or growing things.

Nasir chuckled a little bit and nodded his head. "I still have to know how to make things myself," and obviously he did because he was a cook and he loved it, "but I can't run out of what I use to make dishes, drinks, and the like. I always find just enough to do what I need. It's actually cut the grocery bill down by a lot. Wil said something about plant magic before, so I assume that is you? Hellbine's been the only one I've known who can do things with plants."

He was opening the refrigerator and pulling out various fruits and a couple vegetables to make that everything smoothie he had promised. "Though potato skins should have cooled off by now."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Oh." Shiloh's eyes sparkled at the mention of plant magic, "Yeah, I'm pretty neck deep in that stuff. If I'm not thinking about it then s**t starts sprouting all around me." Thankfully, that was a second nature reflex at this point. He lived in tandem with the flowers under his skin.

But he did a demonstration anyway. His hand was held out, palm turned up, and after a moment waves of red petals swelled up in his hand and under his sleeve seamlessly. It was like watching water roll over someones skin, the way the roses bloomed and then melted off of his hand onto the floor. They landed with soft thuds and proceeded to wilt not even a second afterwards.

"They go away on their own, usually. Unless I make them stay, but that takes more effort." He went back to scritching Hellbine's ear, tiny buds starting to form in the wake of the roses along his hand. He hadn't forgotten about the potato skins though, and he leaned over just enough to grab one. He took a bite. It was ******** amazing.

(He also tore off the smallest of pieces for Hellbine to lick off his fingers).

"But that's why Hellbine's my buddy. We're like birds of a feather, except it's more like leaves off the same tree." His brow scrunched up as he tried to make a proper metaphor.

azuredreams