[ic] [hector] Birthday

[lacroix_styles]

For the better part of the week Lacroix had been carrying own his own plans amid the usual background buzz of tasks around Castle Styles, as some things just couldn't be done under the watchful eye of his mentor. Thankfully that had been made easier by the fact that Hector had been hiding away in his room even more so than usual, sneaking around

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[hector_styles]

“Very well, “ Hector granted; even though he was a little more lethargic than usual, it would have been cruel to refuse when Lacroix had cooked for him. This wasn’t something that Hector asked of him; he was perfectly willing to go to restaurants when Lacroix didn’t feel like cooking -- or at least on a normal basis. The past few days, he’d barely eaten anything at all, so logically he realized that it would be good for his body to actually eat something.

As soon as he ended that call, he took a moment to pull on his shoes before exiting his bedroom; he was putting slightly less care into his appearance -- he wore black jeans and a plain tee shirt, and his hair was a little mussed, as if he’d just woken up. When he reached the kitchen, he lingered, lifting his eyebrows a little, curious. It certainly smelled good in here, he had to admit that to himself.

“You really needn’t have gone to such effort,” Hector voiced; it was a pretty common comment whenever Lacroix cooked, because he didn’t want his apprentice to feel like he had to

[lacroix_styles]

Lacroix glanced up when Hector came into the kitchen, brow furrowed when he noticed how Hector looked; it wasn't a normal state for his mentor to be mussed and tired beyond the usual pale that Hector had naturally. Rather than point it out right that moment Lacroix decided to wait until after they were finished with Hector's impromptu birthday, as it was a better idea to enjoy the moment and then discuss his worry over Hector's state of being.

He kept the comments to himself, for the moment, and lifted a hand to wave hello in passing when he was hunting through one of the drawers next to the sink. "We've been through this before, I don't have to but I want to because I like to cook and I like cooking for other people

[hector_styles]

Sticky thing? If Lacroix hadn’t been holding a wine bottle, Hector would have had no clue what he was talking about; he just watched Lacroix for a moment until he managed to find that corkscrew. He certainly didn’t mind Lacroix opening any of his wine bottles to drink with a meal; it was only when Lacroix drank so much to the point of drunken stumbling around his room that there was a problem. He was not as protective of his older bottles of wine as he was of his other artifacts; after all, wine was meant to be consumed, not put a shelf just to be stared at, or so Hector thought.

But he did wander into the dining room first, and just... paused in the doorway so he could take a look at everything that Lacroix had set up. While he had expected food as Lacroix had promised, he certainly hadn’t expected a cake, and certainly not a present either. The cake was intricately decorated; he knew it must have taken Lacroix quite a while to construct it. It amazed him just how Lacroix had managed to do all of this without his knowing, but then

[lacroix_styles]

"Again, we're going to debate this need versus want thing again?" Lacroix laughed softly as he ducked past Hector in the doorway to set the wine bottle down once he had wrestled the cork free without incident. Or not too much incident, he did almost drop the entire thing at least once but managed a last minute save

[hector_styles]

At that request, Hector finally did come further into the dining room to sit, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to look the whole display over, still uncertain of what to say. He hadn’t expected this at all, and the only thing that finally broke him out of his reverie was the fact that Lacroix hadn’t poured the wine yet. Hector reached over to do that himself so that it would have time to breathe in their glasses before being consumed.

But his eyebrows lifted once more when Lacroix waited there expectantly for him. “...pardon?” Hector asked, just... staring at Lacroix a moment. Did Lacroix really expect him to blow out those candles as a child might? The activity felt far too juvenile for him; he never celebrated his birthday, much less blew out candles. It was a silly idea, utterly, but he didn’t want to completely disappoint Lacroix, because his apprentice had put out so much effort into constructing that cake

[lacroix_styles]

"Lame, that's just not fair," Lacroix protested even though he couldn't help being amused by Hector's creative solution to having to blow out candles. "I'm going to let that slide, since this is technically supposed to be for your birthday."
And he was generally curious whenever Hector exercised some new little trick that he hadn't seen before, Lacroix often wondered just what Hector couldn't do since the list of what he could do seemed to be practically without end.

For the moment Lacroix was content to leave Hector in relative peace during the meal though, afterward his eagerness would get the best of him for certain, as he did want to see if Hector liked his gift or not. But since Hector was rather quiet during meals he tried to keep his usual chatter down to at least a tolerable level.

[hector_styles]

It wasn’t fair, no, but could Lacroix really see Hector blowing out candles the old-fashioned way, like some excited child at a birthday party? Hector much preferred cheating, and he gave a mildly-amused half smile at Lacroix’s protest

[lacroix_styles]

Glad to see that Hector was finally eating, since for the past few days he hadn't seen him even leave his bedroom and that made Lacroix seriously wonder about the state of Hector's well being, right about then he was borderline thrilled just to watch his mentor making his way through a full meal

[hector_styles]

It wasn’t an addiction... was it? Hector had never really thought of it like that, exactly. Having the luxury of dining at whatever expensive restaurant he chose on any given day was a symbol of his status; he really did look at himself as superior to the general population. But he dropped that thought when Lacroix gave that ‘gray hair’ comment; Hector immediately insisted, “I do remembering telling you that you needn’t worry.” It didn’t exactly make him happy knowing that Lacroix was stressing out over his well-being; after all, it was his job to stress out about Lacroix’s well-being, something he’d be doing a lot of the next two weeks

[lacroix_styles]

"Doesn't work that way, told you that before too; you're my friend, it's my job to worry when you're acting weird or not feeling well." Lacroix felt very firm in that idea, as it was true; one of the things that made people civil was the ability for compassion and that extended to friends

[hector_styles]

It didn’t make him altogether comfortable that Lacroix was doing all of the cleaning now, but it certainly wasn’t worth protesting. Forcing Lacroix to clean or cook all the time wasn’t something he would have done; he requested so much of Lacroix's time already with reading and practice that it would have been rather cruel to foist domestic chores on atop of all of that. Hector was perfectly capable of cleaning up plates himself, but he let it slide this once because he didn’t want to insult Lacroix for his hospitality

[lacroix_styles]

"I don't know if there's much etiquette to the idea, you're just supposed to enjoy yourself," Lacroix was happy to remind Hector as to how the idea of birthdays and the like were meant to work.
Not that he had quite the same grasp of all the little rules of etiquette that Hector did, but Lacroix had picked up a few things here and there while living in Castle Styles.
It didn't stop him from sprawling on the couch with a box of Pop-Tarts watching Glee reruns at early morning hours, but hey, it was a work in progress.

"Alright, I wasn't sure if that would work or not; the wonders of the internet again." Lacroix laughed, finding it comical that the 'bloody' knife was that effective. Though in retrospect it was also just a little creepy; Hector with that red knife. "See, baking can be..uh...yeah, okay, maybe scary is a stretch. But at least it's sort of disturbing

[hector_styles]

“I’m afraid any attempt at baking I underwent would turn out quite grotesque,” Hector admitted, slicing and then serving another piece of the cake for Lacroix; this made him feel as if he were doing something useful at least. His words were true, though; while he could manage to cook a steak fine, he had no confidence in his ability to cook desserts; it was much safer to go to restaurants for that, or else defer to Lacroix’s expertise. ...then again, with all the Chips Ahoy cookies and Pop Tarts around the apartment, it was clear that convenience was easier for Lacroix than making sweets from scratch

[lacroix_styles]

Convince was a wonderful vice at times; as Lacroix had a healthy metabolism to cater too and if he didn't keep it well satisfied he ran the risk of losing what fleeting muscle he was still working on building; pale and scrawny was entirely not going to happen if he had anything to say about it. Then he would have spent even more time tripping over his clumsy long legs than he already did, and the last time had been a nose dive over the edge of the couch; not something Lacroix wanted to exercise too often.

"I'm tell you man, you can learn anything online, it's amazing." Lacroix noted shortly after downing a bite of cake, a bit baffled by the comment encouraging him to continue what Hector usually wrote off as a distraction more than as worthwhile. But it was the good sort of baffled though, he grinned, a little. "Yeah? Hmn, I'll remember that

[hector_styles]

“On the contrary, Lacroix Styles has an exemplary school record,” Hector commented after taking another bite of cake. He’d had some help to completely make new records for Lacroix, from a social security number to a high school diploma to an ID; it would have been impossible to get by without such documentation on file. Completely remaking Lacroix’s life was necessary; he didn’t want anyone to find out about Lacroix’s real name

[lacroix_styles]

"Yeah, the problem is he's not entirely real," Lacroix countered; unlike Hector he might have accepted that he couldn't go back to his past but he didn't intend to simply forget the life he had once lived. It was what had shaped him into the person he was, for better or for worse, and there was no way to just walk away from that without losing a part of yourself