fandomtownies | Taste of Thai; Saturday Evening [07/22].

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Taste of Thai; Saturday Evening [07/22].

Just as they'd planned in yoga class, Gladio swung by Nell's around seven to pick her up...not literally, although that would have made for a pretty interesting stroll over to the restaurant, one he was pretty sure neither of them would have minded too terribly, but they both made the journey on their own two feet. No guarantees for on the way back, though. He also wouldn't rule out either of them eating so voraciously that needing to be rolled back would be an option, as well.

He'd dressed simply, but effectively, in that button down that seemed to just work pretty nicely for occasions like this, and figured the best direction for food would be somewhere to prove that he could appreciate all noodles pretty easily, not just of the Cup^TM variety, and he figured the promise of potential spice wouldn't hurt, either, so Taste of Thai it was.

And when they were lead to a table, of course he was going to do the gentlemanly thing by pulling out her chair for her before settling into his own, leaning forward on the table a little with a grin. "Hope you're hungry," he said, "'cause I sure am!"

[[ Gladio's obviously here with his softly modded date, but the post is certainly open for any other Thai-food related needs! ]]

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Nell was dressed as usual, but in one of her nicer tunic tops and skirts. They were pretty plain, but then again, she didn't own anything fancy. She was a little startled when he pulled her chair out because no one had ever done that before.

Of course, she'd never been out to dinner with a man before either, so the whole evening was one of firsts.

She smiled at him as he leaned forward, looking very handsome in that shirt. "I am," she said. "And this whole place smells wonderful! Thank you for bringing me here."

All those etiquette lessons drilled into him as a kid didn't get much use in Gladio's life as the years went on, but he could still dredge them up when the occasion called for it!

"Well, thanks for coming with me," he said, because that was a pretty big part of it, too. "You eaten here before?"

Etiquette was not something Nell had ever learned. Basic good manners about hospitality and modesty and 'proper' behavior, of course, but anything else, like what to do with all the utensils at a restaurant plate had been learned here.

Of course, there was no dating where she came from. Occasionally a little courting under a father and mother's watchful eye, but there'd been none of that for Nell. Then again no one had called this a 'date', so she wasn't nervous about her lack of experience here.

Nell shook her head. "No. I might have had some of their food, though. Lots of times way back when I was a student there'd be extra food delivered so I might have had some then, but I never came here."

She glanced around. "It's a lovely place and I did enjoy this kind of food when we went on trips, if I recall correctly."

"It'll be a good refresher, then," Gladio mused with a nod. "You know, that must have been kind of nice, just having a class to let you sort of experience all this world has to offer....or other worlds," he added with a snort of a laugh, "if you consider classes like Lana's."

But that was still a bit of a raw subject for him, wasn't it? Gladio picked up one of the menus, to shift his focus and avoid dwelling on that too much.

"I'm a simple man, though," he stated. "You give me noodles or grilled meats with spices, I'm happy."

Especially if they were on sticks, because he actually had way more canon justification for that than certain blacksmiths who'd decided to make it a whole aspect of their personality based on one terrible pun.

Nell chuckled. "Never would have had opportunities like this anywhere else," she agreed.

She sensed something had made him... maybe a little uneasy? ... and wondered if she'd said something odd. But then he moved on and she couldn't help but smile.

"Most everything I make is fairly basic," she said. "Just good stick to your ribs home cooking. I like to think that plain didn't mean boring or not tasty, just not fancy like some places. Some places gave us these super fancy things, but they weren't much more than a bite."

"Don't even get me started," Gladio groaned, making a small show out of the roll of his eyes and the shake of his head, the effect of which was maybe slightly lessened because of the grin, "on all of that gourmet stuff. I swear, there were so many state dinners where Noct and I just just went and got take-out or dug into a crate of Cup Noodle^TM afterwards. If you were lucky, you'd get several courses, at least, but even then, they'd maybe add up to a full meal's worth of food once all was said and done. Eventually, we started just loading up before hand, too..."

The rant then mellowed out until all that seemed left was that grin. "But I've enjoyed all your cooking so far. And that's no small compliment, considering how I've used to eating these days!"

Nothing quite like having your own, personal, and very bored in-house chef, right?

"State dinners?" Nell asked. "My, I guess I hadn't thought about that. I should have what with you being with a king and all, but I didn't."

It made her a little nervous now, thinking about it, her just some backwoods widder woman, and him, well, so everything!

She shook her head and smiled at his compliment. "I'm glad you've liked it even if it's not fancy."

"Well," Gladio offered, maybe a bit encouragingly, picking up on maybe a slight shift in Nell's disposition, as well, I was mostly there to work, as Noct's Shield, but it was rare when House Amicitia didn't have a spot at the table."

What with the 114 generations of them standing beside Lucis' kings, and all.

"Which is to say," he added, "I've had more than my fair share of fancy."

And if any part of him still missed that, it had nothing to do with the fanciness itself.

"Never really been my style."

Nell chuckled. "Never been mine either. I didn't mind so much about the fancy when I was with a class, but I wouldn't ever go somewhere like that on my own. Guess I'm just a simple person at heart."

"Nothing wrong with that," Gladio said, though he wasn't quite sure simple was the right word. Or at least not the one he would use. Uncomplicated, maybe, but he was here to dig into delicious Thai food, not semantics. "Everything's always so complicated, anyway, without having to add anything to it. And I like that about you."

He tilted a grin across the table at her.

"But there's a lot of things I like about you."

Here they hadn't even gotten their drinks yet, and he was already starting in in that, huh? But he couldn't really help himself, and the waiter was coming around with some water now, so.

"You do?" She knew he did - at least that he liked her. "Lots of things? I mean, I like lots of things about you, but me?"

"I mean," Gladio grunted faintly in amusement, with a small shake of his head and his grin growing a little, "I haven't really sat down to make an official list, or anything, but I could, if you wanted me to."

Nell laughed. "No! I'd be so embarrassed!"

A reaction like that was doing absolutely nothing to reduce Gladio's amusement or prevent the list from getting even longer.

"Well, if you change your mind," he said, "just let me know, I got a few more of 'em all fired and ready to go to start us out

Nell laughed and blushed some more. This was completely outside her realm of experience. The day they'd gone for that walk was the first time anyone had told her things they liked about her and she still wasn't quite sure how to take it all.

"Well... Maybe you tell me one thing and then I'll tell you something."

"I think it'd be easier," Gladio snorted faintly, "to write the whole list than have to actually just pick only one.

"But..." Grinning that ever-fond grin at Nell, he decided to be merciful, "if I had to pick just one, it would have to be how much I like to hear you laugh, Nell. Especially when it's because of something I said."

Even if he didn't need the confirmation that he was hilarious, it was always good to hear just how appreciated his humor was.

"You make me feel like laughing," Nell said honestly. "I feel happy and you make me feel like it's okay to, will, to be a little silly sometimes and joke around.

"Good," said Gladio, especially because gods only knew how much she didn't get enough of that for...well...probably most of her life, really. Which he could relate to, he definitely had years and periods of taking things far too seriously, especially for his age, but he was glad he managed to (mostly) grow out of it.

"That doesn't count, by the way," he added. "As your one thing you like about me. Just jumping off of mine is cheating."

Nell laughed again. "I think that's a little cheating," she teased, "because you get two now. But I love that you are so patient. I don't worry if I don't understand something or get it right away because I know you'll just explain it to me and not make me feel bad about it later."

"You're also always open and willing to learn," Gladio pointed out, and if he was keeping track, starting with what started this whole exchange of compliments in the first place, technically put him at three now, but, hey, who was counting, right? "That makes a huge difference, in my experience. And you're quick on the uptake, too."

Make it four. He could do this all evening.

"You pick things up so fast, I don't even have the chance to get impatient."

She tilted her head and smiled at him. "I've watched you with other people, too, you know. It's not just me. You're patient and kind to all sorts of people."

The mere fact that Gladio actually hadn't end up chewing Marc out on the few occasions when it was a struggle not to do so was pretty proof positive that he couldn't really argue that as a whole, but he could at least counter with, "Yeah. But you make it easy."

"Well," she said and gave him a teasing smile. "You are awful handsome."

"That is true," Gladio agreed, lifting his chin and stroking his beard a little as he mugged a little for Nell. "I'd probably want to make it easier for me, too."

"Who wouldn't?" Nell replied with a smile. "How much does that let you get away with?"

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