Page 29 of Garbage

The little bubbles of happiness bubbled up in Quincy’s chest. Quincy knew what he’d be doing with the next eight hours while Evan slept. Especially the last two before he woke up. And maybe tomorrow night, and the next morning… It was just a tiny little way that he could pay Evan back, and Evan would be delighted with him. Honored.

He could make recipes.

Everything wasn’t just better with Evan. It was the best.

Chapter 7

Evan

“Ready to chop some lettuce?” Evan asked, perhaps unnecessarily.

Quincy was bouncing on his toes. Evan had met some sparks who were almost robotic in their movements, or who seemed to barely inhabit their bodies, for all that their mental worlds were rich and emotive.

With Quincy, it was like his mind couldn’t disconnect from his body for even a moment. Every thought he had came out in his motions, and right now he was practically leaping out of his built-in rubber boots.

“Yes, please.”

Evan set him up with a cutting board, a knife, the vegetables, and a few quick instructions.

As with anything else physical, Quincy picked it up quickly. Evan stepped in a few times with little tips or comments, and he could tell Quincy was looking up information online by the little stops and starts that he made and the odd questions he would ask.

“I don’t think we need to carve the tomato like a rose tonight,” Evan decided. “Maybe work up to that one.” He was sure he’d see a tomato-rose by the end of the week. Probably an entire landscape of vegetable flowers.

“Alright, Evan,” Quincy agreed happily. He put the tomato down, holding it delicately with one claw-arm while he expertly diced it with a humanoid limb. Evan wasn’t surprised to see him, a moment later, duplicating the process with two knives and two claw-hand combos, one on the right and one on the left, as he chopped up a cucumber in half the time.

That easy competence with those precise, mechanical arms shouldn’t be such a turn-on.

Evan turned away. He stirred the sauce for the chicken and added a few more herbs. He was going to focus on Quincy’s sparkling excitement and oddball questions.

They brushed past each other as Quincy took the initiative and started putting together a vinaigrette. Five minutes into his apprenticeship, and he was already taking charge.

Which should not be getting Evan hard.

It was just that there was something soothing and domestic about preparing a meal together. Yeah, that was it.

Really, when was the last time he’d cooked something with someone else?

Well, he and Ben sometimes ended up in the kitchen together, but that was usually a “Hey, if you can do this, I’ll do that and then we can eat sooner” type of thing.

Evan had been making much fancier meals since Quincy started living with him, just to see Quincy savor the aromas. Cooking together was kind of a secret dream.

Evan had never had a boyfriend who wanted to cook with him.

Which is what he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about right now. Quincy was not his boyfriend. Quincy might not even feel sexual attraction. And he certainly didn’t know enough about the world—even enough people—to be able to meaningfully choose or consent to anything with Evan.

Still, Evan’s heart skipped a beat as Quincy turned to him, beaming, and held up a cup of salad dressing for inspection. “It looks great, Q. I think we’re ready to eat.”

Quincy wanted to serve everything himself, so Evan, amused, went to wait at the table.

Naturally, the plates came out looking like something from a magazine. How had Quincy managed to make rice, chicken, sauce, and salad look like a Food Weekly centerfold?

“This is amazing,” Evan praised. “In fact, if you enjoy this, I’m sure any restaurant or bakery would love to hire you.”

Quincy pursed his lips in thought. How could he look so handsome just sitting there?

“I think I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as a job. It looks like most jobs are… sous chefs? Working in a restaurant or bakery would be repetitive.”

“Soo chefs,” Evan corrected him. “It’s a French word. And yes, I think there would probably be a lot of repetition, but you’d get to make things beautiful, and I think you’d enjoy work where you can use your body and not just your mind.”