Made Glorious Spring ( 18+ from page 10 onwards )

"... Yeah? It looks fancy; must be a nice place. My mom made a lot of Hamburger Helper and sandwiches," he says, laughing softly. "None of us were good cooks."

 

"Casseroles and stuff in gelatin, fer me," he smiles slightly. "Real old-school home cooking, but, hey. Times change."

He pours chicken stock into a pot and starts heating it up, humming as he pours the onions into the wok and starts chopping the apples. "....an' it's a nice, homey joint. Great food, great atmosphere..." The knife moves quick and practiced. "Not too fancy, honestly. They just know good food, and the place is for people who need t' step away from things and just have something good."

 

"... it sounds nice," he says, voice soft with longing. He hasn't been to a restaurant in... ages. Years. "... Maybe I'll try to go sometime."

He knows he won't. He barely makes it out twice a month, these days. But it's... it's a nice thought.

 

"Well, if you ever think about goin', they call it Survivor's Guilt." He smiles.

 

Ben blinks, then chuckles. "... funny name for a restaurant."

 

"...lots of folks have enough of it." Martin grins wryly, adding rice and apples to the wok. "It was a nod to their clients, really."

 

"... sounds like I should go," Ben says, smiling crookedly. "... what do you do, when you're not teasing hapless computer nerds?"

 

"Sleep all day, party all night," he jokes. "...but really, I'm pretty nocturnal."

He stirs the contents of the wok. "Work at a few bars, dabble in real estate. I guess it's kinda serious, but I dunno. It's pretty chill and I set my own hours, so it ain't anythin' that makes me nervous."

 

"Barhopping, flirting, and... property law," Ben says, laughing. "... It sounds a lot like my job, to be honest. Freelance programming, so no one expects me to come into the office."

 

"Nah, not law. That requires education. Didn' get much of one, but I know enough that it's alright. What's working with computers all the time liKe?"

 

"It's kind of overrated anyway. My..." He bites his lip, trying to muffle old pain. "... My sister didn't like school much either. She always got bored and started climbing the walls."

"It's... nice. I can work from here, any hour, so... No need to go out much. It's... a lot of puzzles to solve, you know? You can just work on it until it's perfect and it purrs like a kitten."

 

"...sounds like my kind of gal," Martin grins hugely. "...oh, you're a perfectionist, huh?"

 

"... I think you would've liked her," Ben agrees with a lopsided smile. "Someone has to be, right?"

 

He nods, slowly. "...yeah. I like playin' by ear. Gotta go with the flow."

 

"Don't tell me, you were one of the theater geeks?" Ben says, leaning in to kiss Martin's ear.

 

"...haah... no, no' quite. Er. More one of the... dropouts?" He gives a shy little embarassed grin, cheeks pink. "...had too much goin' on, couldn' finish. Got my GED once I got myself figgured out."

 

"... Yeah, me neither. Finished high school fine, but college... That was rougher." He kisses Martin's cheek. "... it's not a big deal."

 

Martin beams, opening his mouth to flirt again, then quickly changing his mind, hurrying to add the chicken stock to the wok. "Whoops! Okay, we're good. Where were we?"

 

Ben blushes, pulling back. "... You tell me; you're the cook. What should I do?"

 

"Well, if you want, you can chop up some of those-" he gestures at some sausages set to the side... then stands and gives him another quick kiss.