Players:
Summary: The elementals take Drew out for his birthday.
Date: February 14, 2009
Birthday Boy
Rating: PG-13 for drug reference
Nolita
Valentine's Day, but more importantly, today is Drew's Birthday. Kaden told Xane and Keith and Keith had an idea that now leads to Kaden, Drew and Keith in his car heading to Xane's resturant Nolita for dinner. Kaden's dressed no different than usual wearing a pair of cargo pants and a black t-shirt, unless Keith or Drew forced him into nicer clothes, over his only jacket. He seems a bit on edge. "Keith, did you ever get a hold of Dmitri?"
"You really didn't have to do anything." Drew says, a little bashfully as he rides along quietly. He's wearing an actual pair of pants with a blue shirt, rather than his normal gear of swim trunks or not. "I was fine just relaxin' at home." He looks out the window, keeping an eye on where they're going.
Keith may not have forced Kaden into nicer clothes but he did have them dry cleaned and pressed first. Keith, dressed in slacks and a polo shirt and even shaved off the stubble! Gasp! Driving casually, he glances over his shoulder. "Yeah, I called him. He said he'd meet us there when he got free. He's a jeweler so he's gonna be a little busy today, K-man," thw wind spirit answers. "And we know but we wanted to because we love ya, Drew," he adds. A short bit later and they're pulling up to Xane's restaurant. "Alright, here we are."
Xane's been hard at work making the dinner for his Valentine's day guests. He's also been in a great mood, which will reflect in his cooking tonight. Everyone in Nolita has been dressed in white, black, and red. The hostess in a short tight-fitting crimson dress. "Hello, welcome to Nolita. Do you have a reservation tonight?" Well, that's only for formalities, Valentines Day is of course, booked full. No walk-ups tonight. The restaurant is a dark color, with accent lights on the tables and on the various pieces of art from a local arts magnet school.
With the fancy-smancy atmosphere, Kaden is definately a fish out of water and it's obvious. His hands are shoved in his pockets and and he's tense. "It was Xane and Keith's idea to go out." Kaden just wanted to get him a cake. "And this is where Xane works, man, this place is for nothing but Fancy Pants people like you Keith." He mutters and it's hard to tell if he's being a jerk or joking.
"I feel so out of place." Drew says, moving a little closer to Kaden. Hey, he's know him longer. "It is? I wondered where Xane was working." He says, nodding as he looks around. It's so… strange to him. All this finery and pretty stuff. Just not what he grew up with. He glances at Kaden. "Bet you feel it, too."
After flirting with and flustering the valet, Keith follows the teo younger spirits into Nolita. "Yep. Name's Keith Flinn. Personal friends of Xane. He's the head chef around here," he speaks to the hostess. Kaden gets a slightly irked look from Keith and the wind spirit leans down to whisper. "I may have money like these guys, K-man…but I'm nothing like these punks," he says, a tinge of hurt in his voice. "He's probably in the kitchen, Drew."
The hostess' eyes widen at the group. "Oh yeah.. hehe. He said that you guys would be here around this time. If you'd follow me, you have the chef's table." She says, smile on her face, blushing a little bit. The hostess leaves the menus on the station, and starts to move into the kitchen. The chef's table is in the kitchen. A marble teble is provided with five chairs around it, it doubles as the hotplate when there is too much business. The line cooks dressed in their royal blue jackets, Xane and his sous chef in their black jackets. "Chef, your guests have arrived." She says to the Executive Chef. "Guests here, thank you madam." Xane calls out, he's working on a risotto right now, picking up a little slack for the kitchen. The constant conversation in the kitchen is not as fancy as outside, which is good for the other two spirits not used to this kind of thing. The chef soon comes over to the table. "Hey guys, how are things?" He asks, wiping his hands on the towel on his shoulder.
Kaden looks at Drew and nods. "I don't like it, we should have just stayed at Keith's and ordered pizza." He mutters. "I know you're not a tight ass prick it's just not my thing." Kaden says back to Keith. He doesn't mind Drew moving in close, actually it's almost a relief to know he's not the only one whose uncomfortable as hell here. He kind of sighs with relief once he finds out they're eating in the kitchen, though it's weird at the same time. "I guess this is better than being out there."
"Alright. Just a little… unnerved by the decor. I didn't realize you worked at one of those ultra-fancy places." Drew says, a hint of pink touching his cheeks. He'll get over it in a few minutes, probably. He bites his lip as he looks around. "Just gotta get used to it is all. Don't mind me." All he wanted was a birthday at home, cuddled up between Keith and Kaden.
Keith waves it all off. "No worries, Xane. The place is nice," he says. He ruffles the youngest spirits' hair and leans back. "Dmitri should be able to come by when he finishes up work and when we're all done, we'll head back home, okay?"
Xane gives the other spirits a nod. "Yeah, sorry about that. It pays the bills though. Haute cuisine is in demand. But hey, some people would kill to be at this table in here, and for the custom menu. And for you guys, it's free." He loves to cook for his friend. "Oh, and there is also a special suprise at the end." He looks over to the servers, waiting to bring the first course. "Service please!" He calls out, and the staff brings over the crab risotto. As the treat, it's prepared by Xane himself. He placed feelings of relaxation into the dish. A good start for the evening. "Okay, I'm gonna grab a drink then join you guys." The other spirits would notice a real change in demeanor from the house to the kitchen, the line staff and people in here are relaxed and friendly, as opposed to stuffy like the other guests.
Kaden nods and looks between the two nervously. He's trying not to be grumpy for Drew's sake. "So is the food going to be ultra fancy too?" Kaden sais worried that it's going to be stuff that's something he's never heard of before and will never be able to pronounce. When the first course is served, he looks at the dish curiously. "I guess it is. Pizza probably would have been a good idea." He waits for Drew or Keith to try to see if it's any good. Yes, he's intimidated by fancy food.
One thing Drew ISN'T bothered by is food. Of course, he also has a cast iron stomach, so he's not a good judge. But as the food arrives, he shrugs and begins to nibble at it himself, to see if he likes it. Fortunately, with it being a seafood and rice risotto, there's very little he won't like in it.
Keith restrains the urge to flirt with/tease the staff for Drew's sake as well, just waiting for the food. "Don't worry so much, K-man," he says, grinning at Kaden. "It's stuff Xane cooked so you know it'll be good," he says. When the foor arrives, the wind-spirit rubs his hands together. "This looks good," he declares before setting right into eatting. "Mmm…very good. Try it out, K-man."
Kaden does the little kid thing at first and just kind of pushes the food around with his fork as if inspecting it but after Drew and Keith's okay, he finally takes a small bite. It's not bad so he starts to eat and their weird thing is, the edge starts to wear off and he starts to realx, the tense posture slowly starts to ease. "Okay, Xane isn't a bad cook." He admits.
Keith relaxes as he eats, the affects of the food adding to it. "So. How ya likin' being a year older, Drew?" he asks with a grin. "And oh yeah, me and Jon picked up all the materials you guys'll need to study for that GED thing ya wanted to do and I'll help ya both study whenever," he adds.
Kaden takes a few more bites and once he's half way done, all the tension is gone. "Thanks Keith, I'm still nervious about taking all those tests." He realize he's so realxed but it's probably the most he's been so since he's met Drew and Keith. "Great, I'm the youngest." Kaden says with a half smile.
"Barely. You're only a few months younger'n me." Drew says with a nod as he stretches. The food is good, yes. And relaxing? He's starting to a little. It's just hard right now. He sighs softly as he just focusses on calming.
Keith waves a hand. "Don't worry about it, K-man," he says. "I'm, glad you like the food, Drew. And sorry if the place is too…fancypants for ya…" he trails off. "We're here for food and family, not atmosphere afterall."
Xane comes back in, bringing with him a drink, there is a plate waiting for him at the table. "Yeah, out there is just kinda fake. They pay the bills, but I love to cook for friends." He comments after Keith. As he sits down he takes a bite. "Okay, so Happy birthday Drew. Had to get it out."
Kaden nods at Xane's words. "Yeah, Happy Birthday Drew." He says before taking a drink from his water. "So did you cook all this yourself or did they help you out?" Kaden says not really sure how the whole 'chef' thing at a resturant works. Force once there are no rude comments that come out of Kaden's mouth.
And the ease of Kaden's speech is something that Drew approves of. "I didn't do anything. Just lived. And it's not like anything could stop that." He says, a light blush crossing his cheeks again as he continues nibbling on his risotto. "I always found birthdays weird."
Keith smiles and shrugs. "Birthdays are kinda weird," he muses. "This is really good, Xane," he adds, starting to eat again. "'Course, who're we to talk about weird?"
Xane rests in the chair he sits in. "Well, I fix up the dishes as they come. Like with our salmon dish, they cook the salmon, make the sauce and such. Then I put the salmon and the sauce together with the salmon and the greens. But there are times when I get to cooking. Like just now with this risotto, it's more of a mix between building the dish, and cooking." It's much different from cooking at home, but the food still remains the same with the taste. "I'm glad you like it. Most of the dishes on the menu tonight are what got me my awards."
Kaden raises his eyebrows inbetween bites. "So wait, you don't really cook, you just kind of put things on a plate?" Kaden asks, he's not being rude about it for once though. "And what is a riz-o-toe? Isn't this just rice?" Kaden doesn't know so he's asking just out of curiosity. Maybe he actually is curious to understand and learn things underneath it all.
"More than just rice." Drew says, softly. "A creamy rice made with certain types of rice with a higher gluten content." See? Even though he acts all surfer, stoner… he knows a few things. "Don't worry about it, Kaden."
Keith jumps slightly, looking at Drew in surprise. He smiles, and shakes his head. Taking a sip of his drink, the wind spirit leans back and lets the others talk for right now.
Xane was about to give Kaden about the same explanation that Drew gave. His eyes widen in amazement. "Yeah, since there's a high gluten content in the rice, when it's stirred as much as it is, it makes a creamy texture, without being made from a cream. Actually there's only just a little bit of butter and oil in this." Xane takes a bite from his plate. "I do cook. All of the dishes on the menu were created by me. I'm more of a supervisor when I'm working at night. And I do put things on plates now. But I've done my time on the line. Cooking personal meals for my friends."
Kaden shakes his head just confused by it all. He just shrugs and doesn't say anything as he continues to eat. "And how do you know all this stuff Drew? I didn't know you were into cooking?" And yet it's another time it dawns on Kaden that he probably doesn't know as much about Drew as he thinks.
"My parents made stuff. I'm not good at cooking. I'm just good at growing things." Drew says with a shrug. "They made their money from food and pot." He says with a chuckle. He's never denied that. After all, he has his parents secret strain.
Keith takes a breath and smiles at Drew. "Hey, Drew. When we get home, remind me that I gotta show ya something?" he asks. "And I'm sure you two could learn how to cook if you really wanted to."
"Oh speaking of, I almost forgot." Xane pulls out a small box out of his apron. "Your present." He slides the box over to Drew, inside is a bowl, for his herb. It's a glass pipe made to look like blue waves with whitecaps of clear glass on top. "I know you're not into birthdays, but I thought you'd like it."
Kaden shrugs. "I never really had an interest in learning how to cook." Kaden says honestly as he leans forward resting his head on his hand at the table. As Xane hands Drew his birthday present Kaden takes a deep breath. "I just got you a card, do you want it now or later?"
Opening the box, Drew simply stares. "Wow, that's almost too pretty to use." He says, grinning. He pulls it out lightly with a smile. "For tobacco, of course." He says with a wink and a chuckle. "Thanks." He says before reaching out to Kaden. "Whenever you want." He's smiling. He knows Kaden's not used to that kinda thing.
Keith smiles and chuckles a little. "I've got a gift for you back home, Drew," he says. "And a birthday present too," he chuckles. He glances at Kaden as the card is mentioned, curious now.
"I'm glad you like it." Xane expresses to Drew. "So, when were we going to L.A.? I figure I can help somewhat, and my sous chef can handle the kitchen for a while." Xane takes another bit of risotto. He must slip off to bring the cake out too. But he'll excuse himself to go get it soon.
Kaden gives Drew a looke that says 'yeah right' with a faint smile before he reaches into the pocket of his jacket and pulls out an evelope that's a bit crumpled and hands it to Drew. He doesn't say anything though and if it wasn't for the food he'd be extremely awkward about it right now. The card is a simple card with a kitten and a puppy in black in white on the cover, and the inside has Kaden's poor handwriting inside saying: Drew - Happy birthday. I want to thanke you for everiething, for not giving up on me and not letting me push you away. I relize now that I did need someone, a freind and thanke you. You are my best freind and i do love you. Happy Birthday. -Kaden
Reading the card, Drew actually gets a bit teary before getting up and giving Kaden a hug from behind. "I told ya I couldn't just leave ya there, ya dumbass." He says with a laugh, all blushy and happy at the moment. Between the food, the pipe, and the card, well… it's just a lot.
Keith leans over to try and peek at the card as Drew reads it. He's rather surprised to see Kaden being so open with someone and it brings a smile to his face. Watching Drew react just makes his a bit happier and he glances away to try and hide the little tear up in his eye. Yeah, the wind spirit's a softy deep down.
Xane stands up real quick, not that he's touched by the moment. "Hey Kaden, you wanna come with me over to the walk-in?" He calls over to the young spirit. A round cake is presented with a sugar surfer on top made to look like a chibi Drew complete with a text bubble exclaiming 'Dude!', the fondant around the cake is a blue with some whitecaps on top written in a fine icing is 'Happy Birthday Dude'. "My guy Sam and I got it done for you." He says with a smile. the cake itself is full of euphoria emotions. "But since it was your idea, I wanted you to be the one who brought it out to him."
Kaden reaches a hand to kind of return the hug the best as he can with Drew behind him. "Shut up, yeah you could of, and you didn't." He does smile and it's more than a half smile and as Xane calls him over he reluctantly stands up. "What's a walk-in?" Kaden asks as he follows Xane over. "I don't care, you can give it to him, you made it." Kaden says as he does take the cake out to Drew, even relaxed though, he's not singing.
Seeing the cake, Drew simply turns a bright red. "That looks too nice to cut." He says, running a hand through his hair. He just doesn't really know what to do right now, since it's all so new to him.
Keith shakes his head as the cake appears, reaching over to ruffle Drew's head. "It's nice but cake is meant to be cut and eaten."
Xane smiles. "Well, a mutual friend came and asked for a cake. And here it is. It's completely edible, even it it looks too pretty." With a chuckle, he presents a sharp knife. "The honors." He says as the handle of the knife pointing to Drew. "There's a surprise inside." He says with a wink.
"I asked him to make a cake." Kaden says siting back down next to Drew giving him a smile, though he just asked for a simple cake but it seems Xane likes to go overboard. "I hope it's not to fancy for you, I just thought a cake was a cake."
"Oh nonono. Someone else cut, please. I'm just… nonono." Drew says, shaking his head quickly. He's blushing and smiling, but he doesn't like cutting into things, usually. He looks to Kaden and then to Keith before looking back to Xane.
Keith arches an eyebrow. "A surprise, Xane? Whatcha do, hire a stripper to pop out?" he teases gently. Ruffling Drew's hair, Keith offers a supportive smile. "Dude, the birthday boy's supposed to cut the cake…I'll help if you want tbut the first cut should be yours."
The chef winces just a little. "Yeah, sorry about that. I tend to take things a long way when it comes to food." Xane looks about the group. "Someone must cut the cake!" He says, the knife in his palms, handle out still. "No, no stripper. Just a very unusual cake."
Kaden can tell Drew doesn't want to and he knows that if someone where trying to push him to do something he didn't want to, Drew would step in. So he takes a deep breath and grabs the knife. "I'll do it for you." He doesn't want to but it's Drew's birthday, so he makes the first cut. It's a little off from where the center should be so one half of the cake is going to have bigger slices. "There, Happy Birthday Drew." Kaden says handing the knife back to Xane, he can cut the rest.
Drew heaves a sigh of relief as Kaden does the cut for him. He smiles as he looks at the cake. "I just… have this problem hurting anything that looks that good." He says. He looks at the cut, though, to see what's interesting inside it. After all, he has no idea.
Keith shrugs, sniffing at the cake. "Yeah, happy Birthday Drew," he echos, wondering just what's in the cake and waiting for slices. "Hmm, we didn't sing," he chuckles. "Not sure if that's good or bad."
Xane smiles, as he cuts the rest of the slices, everyone can see that the cake is of a deep blue color. When bitten into, the cake tastes like a chocolate cake. "We didn't. But then again, I can't sing at all." He hands the first piece to Drew, then Kaden, then Keith, and finally for himself. Leaving two extra slices for Dmitri or whoever else wants another later.
"You can sing Keith." Kaden says giving Xane a nod as he hands him a piece. "So this is blue velvet? I figured it'd be fitting with your hair and water when Xane said it." Kaden admits with a shrug. "I think Fancy Pants is disappointed there isn't a stripper." Kaden teases, and is that an actual smile on his face?
"Yeah, no singing." Drew says, shaking his head. "It's bad enough that there's a party going on here. And who needs a stripper when I'm around anyway?" Drew jokes, considering he's naked half the time. "Blue velvet? I've heard of red. Still chocolate?" He asks before taking a bite and getting that hit of euphoria. His eyes roll back briefly as he gives a soft moan of enjoyment.
Keith chuckles. "Hey, I can't sing at all. I know you've heard me in the shower," he teases back. He starts to say something else but Drew beats him to it. "Yeah. You want a stripper and me and Drew'll get up on the table and do it," he laughs a little before biting into his cake, the reaction pretty much the same as Drew's.
Xane gives a nod. "Yep, still chocolate. Just colored differently. But don't strip in my kitchen." He says, laughing. "Oh, and I figured out recently, what I do. Or at least a part." He says before taking a bite. Giving a satisfied smile. "It's in the cake, so to speak."
Kaden is enjoying the cake and shakes his head, but smiling, as Drew and Keith talk about stripping. "I've seen your junk enough for a lifetime Drew. Though since it's your birthday…" Kaden begins reluctantly, "If you want, when you get back home, to walk around like that, I'll try to tolerate it." He takes another bite of the cake and looks to Xane. "What do you mean, in the cake?" If the emotions in the cake weren't hitting him, he'd be beyond pissed at that statement.
"Dude, was I right?" Drew asks, grinning as he chuckles at Kaden. "Oh, like waiting for your permission was something I ever did." He winks at the one who's become his closest friend. "It really IS good, Xane." He says, with a nod as he gets another wave from the next bite.
Keith shakes his head slowly. "Xane's the spirit of emotions it seems…" he trails off. If he weren't so happy thanks to the cake, he'd likely be worried about a potential fight breaking out between Kaden and Xane.
"Yeah, the cake, and the risotto. I placed emotions into the dishes. While the cake is good by itself, it's made even better because I was in a euphoric state when I started making it." He only learned this about three weeks ago, and has been able to make certain dishes with certain emotions. "I can't do it with anything that's not food though."
If Xane didn't put his euphoric feelings into the cake, Kaden would have leap over the table and started to punch his face in, but lucky for Xane, he's feeling good right now. "You probably can Xane, I mean, all of us are still learning maybe food just helps you connect since it's what you do." KAden says taking another bite of his cake. "And were you right? About what?" Kaden says not remembering.
"Dude, I was." Drew says with a laugh. "I knew he had to be heart or spirit or someshit. After all, Dmitri was earth." He places an arm over KAden's shoulder as he eats slowly, just savoring each bite.
Keith chuckles, relieved when no violence erupts. Eating slowly, he just grins and listens to the others.
"Maybe. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. But it's hard." Xane takes another bite of the cake, giving a sigh of relief. "So yeah. I'm glad you like the cake."
"Okay, okay, you were right." Kaden says leaning into Drew as he continues to eat. "This cake is really good Xane, thanks for the dinner and the cake. I hope this has been a good birthday for you Drew."
"It has. I mean, I like quiet, but as long as it's just y'all, it's good." Drew says with a nod. "Cake. New bowl. Getting someone to say how he feels. It's all what makes a day good." He admits, extremely happy with it all.
Keith chuckles, leaning in to give Drew a little kiss on the cheek and getting a bit of frosting on him. "Well, now we know how to do things for your next birthday."
"I'm glad you guys liked it. Of course if you ever find yourselves in this area of town and I'm at work, feel free to stop in and grab a bite." An open invite to all of the other spirits. Xane's quite into having these guys as friends. "I promise, it's not going to be always super fancy."
"Xane, your foods good but without a really good reason, I'm not coming back in here. It's way too fancy for me." Kaden says shaking his head. "Yeah anything fancy's too fancy for me. Haven't you notice Xane? I come from the least fancy background, I'm just happy I don't have to worry about half the shit I got into at the Facility."
"Put the feelings in the carrots at home. It'll keep him happy." Drew snickers, happy with his life at the moment. "Though we do need to get to work on getting GEDs sometime. And getting you with the knowledge you need for yours." He says to Kaden.
Keith laughs. "Sounds great, Xane. I may have to stop in when I'm around a lot more…" he trails off, glancing at some of the staff in the area. "All the stuff you'll need to start studying is already at home, guys. Me and Jon made sure to get it."
"Feel free Keith." Xane bids to the Air Spirit. "I'm glad you like the bowl, it was one of those things that popped out to me." Xane finishes off his slice of cake, ending with a very satisfied sigh.
Kaden punches Drew lightly in the arm at the carrot stick comment, but smile on his face hasn't faded since the cake. It's probably the longest Kaden's smiled in over ten years. "Thanks, about the GED stuff." Kaden says to Keith as he finishes off his cake and puts his arm around Drew and leans against him with a content sigh. For once he feels happy.
"And the apples. And the veggies in general." Drew ticks off on his fingers before Kaden actually gets a little closer. Awwwww. Happy. "I do! I need to bring a little more home to share with everyone. It's that nice light body buzz after all. Never been a fan of the head one." He explains, looking around. "Mmm. I'm SO in the mood for a hot tub now." He laughs.
Keith waves it off as he finishes his cake. "Don't worry about it, K-man. You know I love ya so I'm happy to help," he says. "Well, we can hop in when we get home, Drew. And speaking of tubs…the surprise fot you will be ready next week, K-man."
Xane just holds back, letting the others talk. He's just feeling good right now. He does take a drink of his bourbon though. Just a little.
Kaden frowns up at Drew as he talks about 'spiking' the fruits and veggies with Xane's emotion. "Never done any of that stuff, and you guys can all go in the hot tub, not that I don't want to join you just being in water like that feels…suffocating." Kaden admits as he looks at Drew with a smile. "But I like you just fine, even if you are water." He leans over and actually gives Drew a kiss, the food is really affecting him. "Happy Birthday Drew."
