Neither of them said anything as they went downstairs after Reina had put her clothes back on to make some brunch. Dorian only spoke to ask Reina to grab a few things and for her to ask what she could help with and where things were. It wasn’t until Dorian had set some potatoes to boil when the conversation took a different turn.
“Potatoes are a bit small, aren’t they?” she asked, looking over the pot. Dorian pulled another boiling pot off the burner, dumped a cup of rice in, put on a lid and set it aside.
“They’re nu potatoes,” he explained. “That’s about as big as they get, but they’re perfect for frying if you ask me.” He tossed her a good-sized white onion as he opened the freezer. “Mind cutting that up?” She nodded before slicing the ends off, removing the peel and getting to work.
“Wait a minute,” she began, knife hovering over the onion. “What do we need an onion for?”
“For the potatoes,” Dorian answered, pointing towards the pot. “It’s an old family recipe even though more people probably do it. Just know that you’ll never be able to have just fried potatoes ever again after this….” He pulled a box from the freezer, removing the bag of chicken inside and putting it into an air frier before tossing a sauce packet into a bowl of warm water. The silence returned until they were finished and sat down at the table. “So…how is it?”
“I hate you,” she answered.
“Do you now?” he smirked. “A bit rude since I’m helping you to pursue something you want to do….”
“Oh, shut up,” she smiled. “You’ve ruined fried potatoes for me forever…at least you can’t go wrong with sesame chicken and rice, can you?”
“You’d be surprised.” The continued eating for a while before he noticed Reina shift a little in her chair. “Something on your mind?”
“A little,” she mumbled. “I mean…I kind of want to apologize….” Dorian took their finished plates into the kitchen with Reina following.
“Might I ask what you’re apologizing for?” he inquired.
“For what happened upstairs,” she said. “I mean…I really could’ve listened before stripping down…I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” Dorian didn’t answer as he washed their plates and put them in the drying rack. It was a little while before he turned around, Reina becoming a little confused at his smile.
“You don’t have to apologize,” he assured her. “I took a pause and you probably thought I was asking you to take your clothes off. Can’t really fault you…you were just probably a little excited, right?”
“Maybe a little?” Reina said, shyly. Dorian chuckled.
“What’s done is done,” he continued. “It honestly wasn’t really that bad…just something else to keep between us, yeah?” He tossed the hand rag he was using to the side. “I’ll admit that it was quite the shock, but there’s no reason to get onto you for it. Though, I will admit, I should’ve told you to wear a swimsuit or something for that, but I like I was just so steamed yesterday evening….”
“You would’ve rather me been in a swimsuit?” she asked. When Dorian nodded, a familiar sly smile broke across her face. “Dorian…I’m not sure you understand what you would’ve gotten…. I don’t have any one-pieces and the bikini I have is getting a little small.”
“Still preferable than you being in my room in lacy black underwear,” he countered. “I’ve never thought it lucky that my window doesn’t face the street and that my curtains aren’t so thin you can see through it.” He sighed but smiled at her. “Listen, let’s just call it even between us. You saw me shirtless, I saw you in your underwear…I’m pretty sure that you were just as flustered as I was….”
“You handled it pretty well,” she noted. “You ever been with a girl like that before?” A slight pink shade rose in his face as he turned away with a faraway look in his eyes. It was like he was trying to find an answer. “Have you?”
“Not intentionally, no,” he answered. “Not saying that what you did was intentional either, not that I had planned on it happening, but this one was a complete accident. I’d gone to my girlfriend’s house to hang out and play some games with her, and gotten there just a bit earlier than we had planned. Her mom told me to go on ahead and head up to her room where we were going to play and…well…she was changing. I’d opened the door and looked at her, she looked at me. We stayed there for about half a second before closing the door and apologizing. You probably could’ve fried an egg on my face that day, I was so embarrassed….” Reina couldn’t help but notice that the smile that had creeped onto his face held a certain sadness.
“You told me you weren’t looking to date,” she said, seemingly to fish for an answer. “And every time you’ve talked about your ex, you’ve gotten this weird look in your eyes.” She took a step closer to him. “What happened between you and her…?” His eyes hardened into a glare which she stepped back from, but it softened just as quickly. “I mean…you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…not my right to be nosy, really.”
“It didn’t end well,” he told her. Reina hadn’t expected him to actually tell her anything as he had danced around her questions any other time she’d asked even if she didn’t know. “Maybe part of it was my fault since I’d started to get to work on getting into Sacred Heart, and I should’ve spent more time with her, but….” He shrugged. “However, I’m not gonna say she’s completely innocent in our breakup. She’s the one who ended it, and it’s done more good than harm to me….” The way he said those last words sound like he was trying to convince himself that was true. “Anyway, I’m not going to bore you with tales of woe from my failed love life. We’ve got things to do this weekend, since you’re staying over.” It was his turn to grab her hand and lead her back upstairs to where his cosplay was sitting on its model.
“I thought I recognized that coat,” she said, walking over to it. “You’re cosplaying Lord Falesi, aren’t you?” He smiled at her as he joined her.
“I’m not sure why I wouldn’t have guessed you’d watched Lovers Under the Blood Moon,” he admitted. “I guess I never really took you for the type to watch romance.”
“And you are?” she asked.
“Slice of life and romance are my guilty pleasure,” he admitted. “But yeah, I get your point.” She moved a little closer, looking at the high collared cape. “Something you like?”
“How is it staying on?” she asked. “There’s no chain or anything solid for the shoulders except for the collar….” Dorian reached over her shoulder to two little bumps on both the overcoat and cape. “What’re those?”
“Two small pairs of magnets,” he said, proudly. “The cape already has some supports, but the only sturdy bits are in the collar since it still has to flow. Those magnets not only keep the cape on my shoulders, but also allow for easy removal for flourishing and whatnot.” He sat down at his sewing machine and spun in his chair to face her. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way…the question remains of who you want to cosplay?” She pulled out her phone, scrolled for a minute and handed it to him. “Well then…that’s a coincidence…Madame Sienna.”
“The Huntress who falls madly in love with Lord Falesi,” Reina agreed. “I’ve just…I’ve always thought she was such a badass and love how she tries to make peace between her feelings for Falesi alongside her sacred duty to rid the world of monsters. And that’s on top of the fact that she’s a major girl-crush of mine.” Dorian nodded approvingly before handed Reina her phone back. “Think you can do it?”
“Definitely,” he answered, a little smugly. “The only issue really would be the corset…I haven’t really made one before….”
“I know where we can get one,” Reina assured him. “If you can just get the right pattern, we should just be able to get a black one, right?” Dorian nodded again before standing up.
“You ready to head out?” he asked. “If we head out now, we can make it back by evening. We can even get something to eat while we’re out.”
“I’ve got some cash that I’ve been saving for this,” Reina supplied.
“Excellent. Let me grab my coat and maybe put my contacts in then we can head on out.”
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