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To say Sebastian was nervous was an understatement.
This would be the first time Hugh would be staying the night. They had accidentally stayed up too late watching old Moozilla movies, and ended up missing the window of when it’d be best to send him back. Night time driving was scary, and there was no point in putting him in unnecessary risk when he could just stay the night.
There was no big relationship before Hugh. Sebastian spent too much of his childhood growing up with an inflated sense of self-importance to have ever sought out a partner, and up until Hugh there hadn’t really been anyone that he was interested in. As cool as it made him feel to go on about standards and how he only wanted to date people that could meet his lofty requirements, it meant he didn’t really know what to do in a relationship.
For example (one that was most certainly not his present predicament): What was even the appropriate course of action for the first night over? Sebastian had a big enough bed that he could fit two people in it without them touching, but was that too intimate? The couch was pretty okay, but no one wants to sleep on a couch. Sleeping on the couch sucks. Kay may’ve been off at Ema’s tonight, but he knew for a fact that she wouldn’t be happy if either of them slept in her bed.
Not to mention it was gross . It was full of crumbs and outside. Outside was outside for a reason and it was not supposed to be in beds.
Sebastian knew there wasn’t any harm in asking a question. It was a perfectly acceptable part of learning. No matter how many times Mr. Edgeworth told him that, it never seemed to stick. He was twenty-six. He should know these things by now.
Who would he even call anyways? No matter who he picked, he felt like they’d laugh at him for not knowing. He knew they wouldn’t, but they would.
“Sebastian?”
The baton he had drawn hit him in the face on the up beat as he jumped and yelped. “Y-Yes?”
“I wanted to know if you wanted something to eat. It’s pretty late, and I don’t think either of us had supper.”
Right. Food was a thing. He’d gotten so nervous and in his head that he forgot about that entirely.
“I could see what places are still open? It’ll be my treat since it’s my apartment,” he put his baton away as he searched for his phone.
“We could probably make something. I’ve done my fair share of cooking for myself over the years,” Hugh boasted.
“I’m not really much of a cook. I have to use all my concentration when I have to use a knife…” which was embarrassing to admit as an adult. “Kay does most of the cooking, so that we don’t have to get a knife out of the ceiling or go to the hospital…”
Hugh raised an eyebrow. “How do you even manage that?”
“I kinda end up conducting with it because my mind drifts. It’s weighted differently, but it’s a close enough shape that I end up doing it without thinking,” he nervously glanced away. “Or because I’m not thinking…”
“No it’d definitely be because you are thinking. I’ve faced off against you too many times to know that you’re thinking when you’re conducting,” Hugh smiled at him. “I can handle the cutting if we need to. How about we see what you’ve actually got before we give up? I doubt there’s anything open this late that isn’t greasy.”
Sebastian hated that he had a point, almost as much as he hated how picky he could be with food. He’d eat it, but it always felt so gross on his gloves, and then it’d be trapped inside them. It was a valid reason to hate it, but he hated not looking cool in front of Hugh…
“I could eat it with a knife and fork?” he offered. He still wouldn’t be happy about it, but it’d be better than nothing.
That did not slow Hugh, he continued on to the fridge to look through it. “If you’re that worried, I could handle the cooking. I am the best cook I know after all.”
“But I’m the host …” Sebastian complained, getting up to follow him as he moved onto the cupboards.
“I’m not budging on this. It’s not every day I get to show off like this for my boyfriend,” Hugh said, despite being one of the coolest men he knows.
“C-Can I at least help?”
Hugh nodded, beckoning him over. “Of course. You can do the rice and the mixing, and I can do the cutting and cooking. You’re okay with stir fry, right?”
“Yeah! Of course!”
Hugh gave him a concerned look. “I can do this if you don’t want to. Like I said, this could be a great opportunity to show off.”
“But…” what if he doesn’t think he’s cool if he doesn’t cook? “I want to do this. I-I can help.”
His confidence was flimsy at best, and the way Hugh was looking at him wasn’t helping. Cooking wasn’t something he did. He did it once , and then opted to be the cleaner, not the cooker of the apartment. This was Sebastian being bold, and Hugh wasn’t appreciating that like he should.
But he moved on and grabbed vegetables from the fridge, still not appreciating his effort. “Okay, but if you change your mind, I can take over.”
Sebastian nodded. “Right. Just let me go change gloves really quick.”
“Got it, I’ll just get started on the cutting.”
With his approval, Sebastian hurried back to his bedroom to change his gloves. He kept his eye on the door as he quickly put on his new gloves so Hugh didn’t see his hands. That’s something for another time.
While he’s here, he needs to pull himself together. Hugh’s even taking the hard part. Sebastian doesn’t even need to worry about the knife. Sure he might’ve told him that it was a hazard in Sebastian’s hands, but he wasn’t going to witness it first hand. There’d be more days to try and redeem himself with that one.
Maybe he could start asking Kay if he could help out, so knives weren’t as dangerous when he was using them. Then he could impress Hugh with his progress, and he’d think he’s cool! If he did really well today, maybe he could already maintain the illusion and impress him!
Before he heads out, he’s going to quietly look up how to cook rice. Sebastian wasn’t about to make himself look like a fool anymore than he had to. Hugh didn’t have to know he was this bad at cooking.
It didn’t look too terribly hard. That was something that he could manage!
With his new found confidence, he went back out.
Hugh was already most of the way done cutting the vegetables by the time Sebastian was back out. His little pep talk took longer than he had originally planned…
“Hey, everything okay?” he asked, stopping his cutting to give him a concerned look.
“Y-Yep! I’m rice, right?” he hurried into the kitchen and plugged the rice cooker in.
“If you want, I’d rather you be Sebastian,” Hugh half joked. “You know that I can handle this, right? You don’t have to do anything,” Hugh reassured.
But if he was being honest, it felt a little bit more like doubt.
“No, I got it!” he squeaked as he got to washing the rice. It was awful, because his gloves were wet now, but he was doing it the right way.
“You don’t have to do that, it cooks just fine anyways,” Hugh commented.
“But the video said to wash it,” Sebastian said, before yelping and closing his mouth. He didn’t mean to say that out loud. That was meant to be a secret he carried with him forever!
“You know you didn’t have to watch a video. I could’ve told you how to do it.”
“But I wanted to impress you… So you think I’m cool…” he trailed off, fidgeting with his gloves, trying not to think about the water coming off of them.
Hugh gave him a gentle smile. “I don’t know how much cooler you can get when you’re already First Class. Besides, you have to share some cool for the rest of us.”
His cheeks pinked. Hugh was really good about making him feel good, especially when it’s time to come clean about the little lies he tells.
“That’s high praise coming from someone like you... ”
“Well naturally only a genius can appreciate a genius,” he grinned confidently, before his expression went softer. “Can I kiss you?”
Sebastian could feel his cheeks get hotter. “You may.”
It was brief, but it was sweet. Maybe that’s why those chocolates were called Kisses.
“I can walk you through the next steps if you want.”
“Yeah, but…” Sebastian smiled sheepishly. “Can I get one more kiss first?”
Hugh obliged, lingering a little longer, but letting Sebastian pull back when he’s had enough.
“So now for the sauce?”
“Y-Yeah!”