Title: My Favorite Foods

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Pairing: Tom Paris/Seven of Nine

Tags: Romance, Favorite Foods, Tomato Soup

Summary: Thanks to Tom, Seven finds out what it means to have a "favorite food".

BETA: TheSupernova

Even after months of ingesting solid food, Seven found she still hadn't formed any "favorites"—at least, not to her knowledge. Some foods may have tasted better than others, but she was generally ambivalent about it all.

In the collective, "food" wasn't a thing and when dining alone, she didn't see the appeal of meal times, or the seeming obsession the other crew members had towards them.

Tom, on the other hand, had a long list of favorites.

In the mess hall, Seven was currently dining with Tom. Although they had happened to meet here by chance, he still insisted on calling it a "date".

"We're here, alone, eating lunch," Tom explained. "Of course it's a date."

Seven raised her eyebrow.

"But this was not a planned event," she stated simply.

Tom shrugged.

"Dates aren't always planned. It's okay to be spontaneous every once in a while," he said, before taking a bite out of today's "Neelix Chef Special".

She hadn't asked what was in it, but it was a lumpy grey mush in a bowl, with a side of two bread slices. Tom was using his spoon to scoop it up onto the bread before taking a bite.

It looked… unappetizing. Seven had gone with one of Tom's favorites—which he had Neelix make, to great effect—plain tomato soup. Apparently, the replicator couldn't make it right, but somehow Neelix managed to.

"So you like it?" Tom asked, motioning towards her food. She had paused between spoonfuls.

"It's edible, if that's what you mean," she said.

He grinned, amused.

"Not quite. It's just, I've noticed you ordering it a number of times before," Tom mentioned.

Seven thought about it. It was true.

"It is more palatable than some of Neelix's other choices," she stated simply.

"I think it's one of your favorites," Tom grinned. "If the taste is pleasing, the experience enjoyable and you order it often enough, then that's what we call a favorite food."

Well, the soup was good, and she enjoyed eating pizza and a select number of pasta dishes. Most of them were things Tom introduced her to, though some of the latter were Neelix's suggestions.

"Then the tomato soup is one of my favorite foods," she said, almost proudly. "I first tried it because I observed it was one of your favorite foods. I've been going through a list of things you often eat and trying them."

Tom looked taken aback, though still extremely pleased.

"I didn't know you were looking for suggestions," he said. "You know, there are many foods I haven't eaten in a while that are my favorites. I can give you a list if you like."

She thought about it.

"I've always thought that food was enjoyed best with company." She chose her words carefully. "So perhaps we could go through that list together?"

Seven wasn't often the one to ask Tom on dates, but she had been working on that recently.

Tom looked extremely pleased.

"Have you heard of a buffet restaurant?" Tom asked her.

She shook her head.

"Well, I know just the place where you can try all the foods you want in one sitting." he continued.

And just like that, Tom had made an arrangement for their next date.

"I look forward to it," she said, a smile crossing her face.

Now that she understood what a "favorite food" was, she would have to start logging those into her journal entries. She couldn't wait until her next date with Lieutenant Tom Paris.