Cooking Up Nicknames
Okay, spending a lot of time in Arven's dorm room could have been a little inappropriate... But he and Florian had only just started dating, and they spent a lot of time together cooking. Which made sense, as it was something Arven already liked doing, and while Florian was decent, he wanted to get even better.
So that was how Florian spent a good chunk of the afternoon after classes cutting up vegetables for soup while Arven and Mabosstiff watched. Now he just needed to mix everything together and add some seasoning.
"Okay, I think you're doing pretty well," Arven commented. "Let me see."
He grabbed a spoon and dipped it into the pot simmering on his small dorm burner. Arven took a sip of the soup, nodding thoughtfully as he swallowed.
"You've gotten a lot better, little buddy," he finally said. "Much better on the salt this time."
Florian grinned sheepishly. Last time he'd put in a little too much salt. It hadn't been too bad, but Arven had still reminded him about it a few times anyway.
"Hey, it wasn't that bad! Although... you're still calling me that?"
Arven blinked at him. "What, you don't like 'little buddy' anymore?"
"No, it's okay..." Florian tapped his chin. "I just kinda thought you might come up with something else now?"
"Huh, I guess you have a point..." Arven frowned. "I'm just... not really good at nicknames, I guess. I mean, I never even met my mom, so I don't know if my dad had any nicknames for her..."
Oh, right... Somehow Florian hadn't really thought of that. Of course he knew that Arven had only ever mentioned his dad, and Professor Turo's notes in Area Zero had mentioned his wife left, too. But of course that also meant that Arven probably hadn't seen a lot of couples while growing up, either.
Florian grinned tentatively and reached for his hand. "Well, you can still keep calling me that if you want. I mean, it's kind of like our thing now, right?"
Arven smiled a bit in return. "Well, I'll think about it, but thanks, little buddy."
He leaned over to peck Florian on the cheek, and Florian did the same. Then Mabosstiff barked, and both boys walked over to pet him.
"Of course we can't forget you," Arven said. "Now let's eat... and you can have some too, Mabosstiff."
Florian smiled as they grabbed a few bowls and dished up the food. Maybe it wasn't anything too big... but he always had fun with their cooking dates. And if Arven enjoyed them too, then Florian was happy.
He could be patient on the more stereotypical couple stuff if it made his boyfriend feel better, and besides, it was always cute watching Mabosstiff sneak food too. Until then, Florian would enjoy what they had.