Cooking Class Date

Vonius shed his jacket. In the back of the cooking class, Monty would be allowed to sit out and watch. It was a consolation prize for Monty’s troublesome car ride on the way there. Once released, Monty climbed to an empty section of table, close to Vonius. He cleaned his whiskers and velvet scales while the two males took their seats. “Behave now, alright?” Vonius whispered softly, getting confirmation squeaks from the dragon. He checked their supplies while the other two settled in for the class.

Everyone washed their hands and returned to their seats for the start. Even from the back of the room, the other classmates were clearly visible. It was small enough that everyone was close. Vonius gave his sparkling smile to anyone who turned their way before leaning towards Curt and resting his head on the boy’s shoulder. The class sanitized their work areas and started the prep work. Sleeves rolled up, jewelry off, hair tied back, loose jackets removed–everything was in place now. Vonius had planned ahead and worn simply clothing so this process would be easy enough. Curt did not have the same foresight; He wore not just one but two long-sleeved tops. One was red to match his pants, while the other was a simple white. Vonius nudged him gently. “You do look lovely today, very striking colors.”

"I had to make sure you could see me in the snow," he replied, glancing at the recipe out of the corner of his eye and simply rolling up his sleeves. It looked simple and familiar enough; It just had many more steps than a usual recipe. Vonius recognized the recipe as well–it looked like a modified version of one of the maids’ cake recipes, though theirs had less decorations, and was usually served with custard. To Curt, the cooking was a battle of endurance, rather than skill. Hopefully he would win and have a delicious cake to show for it.

Do not improvise, Grim instructed.

Curt followed the text with his finger and memorized each line. "These seem like easy instructions to follow. There's room for creativity in the decorating stage, but I'll stick to the recipe as close as possible before then. If I'm going to make it for you in the future, then I can't start off with improvising." He gave Vonius a wink, then took out his phone.

Vonius wasn't the most fond of this sort of recipe, since it was very rich in flavor, but Kaiser loved stronger flavored sweets and would love it. "Easy to follow instructions means she's a good tutor. I might take out the raspberries and ask for another fruit. I think I might have some in my phone, worst case." Strawberries would add a nice flavor and that red color. Hopefully it would work just as well.

Curt nodded, flipping through to his camera app. "Let's get some pictures of the process before we start." He snapped a few of the materials, then handed the very patient Monty one of his raspberries, and took several more of the berry's last vanishing act.

"Once I get my apartment, we should try to make dinner. Or maybe instead I can treat you to dinner, if you have the time. The Militia and Grim seem to like to keeping you busy." With that though, he set his phone up to record. Monty investigated it for a moment, but ended up sitting behind the camera so he wasn’t in the way. "You don't mind if I record, right? It might be nice to add to your blog after editing."

"You have to send me the files for sure," Curt said cheerily. "Once you're home." There was all sorts of data that could be gleaned from files; The location it was sent from interested him most. All his data gathering was being foiled in some way or another, and it bothered him, and it didn't help that Vonius kept switching hotels. Even if he wasn't spying for work, it was reasonable to gain some intel on the likes or dislikes of a person. Since Grim wasn't interfering, there was another thunder dragon tampering with things. Allowed to tamper with things, I can prevent it if desired. Grim corrected. So a thunder dragon was certain, after all. He would worry about that some other time.

"Oh of course, I can send it after I edit out all the boring parts, if you want. I planned to have a watch through to grab pictures to save so it wouldn't be any trouble." Oblivious to any other intentions, he saw no harm in sending the files once home. He did have a process to it, so it would take some time, but he was sure Curt would understand if he sent it in the morning after his online class courses and some down time to review the gallery.

After Curt was satisfied with his own still pictures, he put the phone in his pocket and started cooking diligently, reading and re-reading to make sure each of his moves were correct. As he worked, he zoned out and grew quieter.

Hey, wake up. Focus less on your cake and more on your date.

Curt set his things down and cozied up next to Vonius. "What's yours look like? Can I try it?"

With the cake wets and dries combined, the batter was rubbing in a nice smooth ribbon. Monty stared with intense desire, eyes sparkling even as he ate a raspberry. He needed to start making the strawberry jam filling, deviating slightly but following the steps closely. "I think mine looks good, want to try a taste?" Holding the spoon out for Curt to try.

Curt took the spoonful of batter and made a very polite smile. "Well, it still tastes too smooth, but that's to be expected. I'm sure it will taste better at the end when it's all decorated.”

"It is rather rich in flavor at the moment, it should become more enjoyable once cooked."

The instructor hovered at the table next to theirs, giving advice to her students, but also keeping an ear out for any happenings at the sparkling table. Getting an apartment soon? Cooking dinner together? So her guess was correct, and they were further along than she thought.

Curt took a spoon of his own mix and offered it. “Why don't you try mine?" He offered a taste of his own batch, which looked quite innocuous--exactly the same as the students' around them.

At first, Von was more than happy to have his first try of the food, but the screen of his phone started flashing green squares, then swapped back to its normal mode. It was fast enough that no one seemed to notice.

The batter is cursed, make your excuse unless you want to find out what curse it may be. Well, Vonius wasn't surprised, but now he had to think of a sweet way to decline.

"I'd love to try, but I have a small stomach. I was planning to invite you out after this for some dinner, and I wouldn't have room for both. I'm sure it is just delightful, just as you are."

"Ah, that's a shame," Curt said sadly. He licked a bit of the batter off the spoon and took a taste. It seemed about the same as Vonius's, so he said, "Seems like we're both on track, unless we're both screwing up. Ah well, I have a pretty small stomach, too. I was going to eat a slice of cake when I got home, but dinner sounds nice." Vonius was taking the initiative and inviting him on the date? It seemed like things were back to a normal dating baseline, which was quite a relief.

The real relief is he didn't try it. What if he got sick?

But I'm following the directions perfectly. We're using the same ingredients.

As Grim raised her doubts, the class went on. The instructor made sure everyone was finished mixing--giving extra attention to the sparkling couple, and even complementing Vonius on his improvisations. "Just make sure to add less jam later, that way the layer is nicely portioned," she suggested. Everyone set their batter into the mold and scooted them in the ovens. Curt looked through the glass impatiently, watching the cake rise and slowly getting entranced. Before he could stare too long, the instructor clapped her hands and pointed to the decorations. "Alright, time to give you some free reign. We have some time while the cakes bake and cool. Let's use it to make the toppings for our cakes and the jam for the inside." She demonstrated how to shape gingerbread pieces, make holly leaves from frosting, and use syrup to give a bit of flair. Curt paid close attention, eyes sparkling, soaking up every detail.

With the batter done, it was on to the jam. He pushed his raspberries pushed to the side for a certain dragon to munch, then pulled some strawberries from seemingly nowhere. They were plump and red, shimmering gently under the lights above. There was something magical to them, but it wasn’t immediately obvious.

The compliments of the instructor stoked his ego. He beamed and looked over to Curt with his sparkly eyes. He would take out a small slice for them to taste together later, but beyond that, the cake would be a sacrifice to his wonderful thunder dragon. When they both reached a stopping point earlier than expected, he took the moment to snuggle into Curt. He was quite content leaning on him, and he hadn’t noticed their little fan stealing glances at the two dazzling boys. Monty had at least noticed their gaze and stared at the instructor’s happy violet aura. It confused the metal dragon some, getting head tilts, but he said nothing as another red raspberry made its way into his mouth.

Looking at what was left to do, Vonius said, "I think I'm going to deviate slightly..." He wanted to make white gingerbread instead of the traditional brown, wanting the cookies to be a soft blue color that would be decorated later with white icing. "I want to make my family home, I think it would be nice." He wanted to impress Curt, though didn't think it would be too hard to make a gingerbread castle, if he focused.

"I'm sure we're doing fine with our recipes. I can tell you at the end what quality it is too. My phone does something really neat when I use my inventory storage on the items." He wouldn't say who made the system with him, as that was currently a subject he was dancing around, but he figured Curt would enjoy what his magical phone could do.

Curt blinked, then crowded around Vonius and the phone. "I want to see! Show me, what sort of thing does it say when you point it at Grim? What about me? Oh, and raw ingredients, before they're used?"

Do not grab his phone. It's a bad idea.

Curt genuinely pouted; He needed to know what sort of program was running, even more so than the magic. "How did you make a program like that? Does it say the quality of everything, or just hand-crafted? Do low quality ingredients affect end quality on the program, or is it based on real-life quality instead of construction?" In the moment, decorating was forgotten, and it was replaced by his need to know everything. He didn't need a glamour to sparkle for the moment.

Should I pull out more? Or will that be fine? Kaiser asked, tuning in quite well right now as he knew the treat was for him.

This should be good, thank you, Kaiser.

Letting Curt fire off his questions as he kept flattening out the pale blue colored gingerbread, it was like a strange song that just murmured on for a while and didn't seem to stop. Vonius was still cooking at least, the gingerbread cookies going into the oven and a new tray of gingerbread pieces was rolled out, shaped, and into the oven once more. It was rather pleasant having this background noise that was the pretty male, hearing his words even if he hadn't made any signs of acknowledging it.

Isn't it rude if you ignore your date, though?

It'll give Curt the chance to focus, he tends to zone out when he's doing so. I want him to have fun even if I'm not the main focus. Monty wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but he wouldn't argue against his rider's innocent wishes

You better not let him touch the phone, I will shock him without a care for your courting attempts.

You'll be fine, Kaiser. Just do a little zap if he does touch. He's just excited is all. You did a wonderful job setting up the system and den with me, and then for me where I lacked experience.

Grim did a low hum and Curt stopped talking instinctively. Curt, you need to stop asking questions if you want him to have time to answer. Curt stayed quiet and gazed at the other boy expectantly. When it became clear he had been tuned out, he got a bit miffed and started quietly constructing his gingerbread. Unlike usual, he was still attuned to his surroundings. It felt odd. Perhaps it was because he had something he wanted to know out there. He glanced at Monty to gauge proportions and started making a rat-shaped gingerbread cookie, complete with some chocolate chips and berry dye to make him look especially adorable. When he finished before Vonius, he gave a sly glance at the phone, looked back to the busy Vonius, then the phone...

Curt, you can do it, but it's not a good idea, Grim said in a voice that dripped with amusement. Well, that was all the permission he needed.