Going In Blind

He mentioned the wok and cooking, and Kaz had to wonder about this. The Manta Carlos had a lot of things that didn't necessarily make Kaz feel homesick, but sometimes, cooking was one of them. It was interesting how he could miss the taste of home-cooked food made by a woman who hadn't even bothered to say goodbye to him, but Kaz did.

He might have been projecting his own feelings, but Kaz still took a risk to ask.

"Would you want to cook?" Kaz asked, his voice unable to hide all of his curiosity. He shrugged, then said, "I mean, I don't want to put you in an awkward spot here. It sounds like you get around fine, but if you need help with cooking, I'd be happy to."

Now, his heart was a little bit faster. He was surprised he was rather shy about this. But, surprisingly, it calmed down when he asked him what fae meant.

"Oh, like...uh.." Kaz stammered for a second, trying to think of the easiest way to explain it. "Okay, so you know how dogs, wolves, and coyotes are all canines, even though they're different? Being Fae is sort of like that. Fairies, elves, and bunch of other creatures all fall under the word fae."

He wasn't sure why he picked canines. Kaz never had a dog, but he knew even less about cats.

"So basically, I'm not human. I'm probably closer to an elf--pointy ears, dark eyes, lots of sharp teeth. I don't really remember much about my real parents or growing up in fairyland, i lived with humans for most of my life," he said, and the he stopped suddenly.

Kaz had just revealed too much. Way too much. He wasn't sure how it had just slipped out like that--talking to Sam was way too easy. Kaz would have to remember that. He wiped his suddenly sweating palms on his jeans, and when Sam mentioned his other roommates doing drugs, Kaz...

He actually laughed.

It was a short laugh, the kind of laugh that someone gave when hearing terrible news.

Okay, that was something he could grab onto. Shift the conversation away from him and back to Sam.

"Christ, that sounds horrible," Kaz said, wrinkling his nose. "I'm pretty sure my last roommate was making drugs, but at least he wasn't doing them in the same space. Holy shit."

Sam seemed like an alright guy.

This might go okay, Kaz thought.

He realized he was smiling for the first time in a long time.

His roommate would be off-limits since Kaz needed to share the space with him, and for the first time in a long time, Kaz started to think maybe this relationship didn't have to end in disaster.

"I can promise I won't be doing anything like that," he said. "I don't even like to drink, really. The taste is horrible, like fermented piss...not that I really know what that tastes like either. But yeah, I shouldn't be nearly that bad."

Kaz's heart was still beating a little bit quickly, but now it was for a different reason. He was picturing what it might be like to stand behind Sam and move his hands over Sam's and have him feel the movements of slowly melting butter in a pan and then tossing in a handful of onions until they crisped just right.

Kaz blinked and ran his hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face. He wasn't sure where that image came from or why it was so appealing. It was just cooking. It wasn't like it was anything...like that, whatever that was or meant. Kaz swallowed.

"Well," he admitted. "I can follow a recipe. Although my babcia taught me how to make golabki. They're these stuffed cabbage rolls...only i'm not really crazy about tomato sauce, and they're drenched in them. But they're kind of fun to make."

Kaz's accent slipped into his voice when he spoke the dishes, but it faded as quickly as it came.

"I've never cooked anything in a wok or anything really more exciting than golabki, but if there's anything you enjoyed eating, I'd be happy to learn together with you," Kaz offered. His face felt hot again, and he wondered why he was having this kind of reaction.

It was a terrible thought, but Kaz was suddenly glad that Sam was blind and couldn't see what he looked like right now.

As to not being able to fly or use magic, Kaz had to admit, Sam was right.

"It would be," Kaz groaned, leaning back in his chair. "You have no idea how jealous I am everytime I walk down the stairs and someone literally just whooshes by on their stupid wings. I never thought I'd be jealous about something so petty. But it would seriously cut down on travel time."

Sam smiled and Kaz returned it easily.


This might work. This might be okay.

Kaz wanted desperately for something to be okay.

"So uh, I guess that's it then," Kaz said, holding his palms face out. "Unless there's anything else you can think of?"

Rather than be surprised or disappointed that Sam didn't have the opportunity to try a lot of foods, Kaz actually seemed....excited. He perked up a little bit, shifting in his seat so he was a little more upright.

"Hey, that's a good thing," Kaz said, and it was hard to hide the grin from his voice. "It means we'll get to try a lot of new things together. It'll be an adventure."

A nice, safe, contained adventure. The kind of adventure with the worst case scenario being that they had a dish neither of them liked. This was something Kaz could get behind. Having Sam being off-limits was warming Kaz up considerably to the idea. It would be nice to have someone to, well, do this with. Think and plan about the future.

And a good future. Not a sabotage.

Although, a small part of Kaz's brain had already started to think how he could ruin this, too.

When Sam lifted his cane using some kind of power, Kaz's jaw dropped.

"Woah," he said, and he had to admit, that seemed significantly cooler than flying. "Can you lift anything like that? Or just light stuff?"

It was probably dumb but the first thing that came to Kaz's mind was how much easier it would be to spring clean if Sam could lift up the heavy things like that.

As to Sam's last confession, Kaz felt his heartbeat pick up for a moment, but it wasn't because of the idea of Sam hurting him specifically. It was because, for just a moment, Kaz wondered if Sam knew about Kaz's other power, his curse. Sam's words sounded an awful lot like something that Kaz had thought but never had the balls to speak.

"It'll be okay," Kaz said.

He would deserve whatever Sam would do to him, of that he was certain.

The words seemed serious, but Kaz didn't want Sam to feel awkward for long. He wasn't sure why. Something like this could easily be a catalyst for a quick snack, a little flickering of misery. Kaz anticipated that if he prodded a little bit he could find the answers he needed.

Instead, he said, "Seriously, Sam, as long as you're not lighting this room on fire I'm pretty sure I'll get over anything you could do to me."

The first part was a joke, but it was also serious, so he elaborated. "I can't promise I won't be pissed about it at first, but I can get over most things with a little bit of time, space, and an offering of chocolate. But I think it will be okay, so don't worry, alright?"

Kaz relaxed again, considering the scenario.

Yeah, this could work, he thought. And even if it didn't work as well as Kaz was hoping it would....it had to be better than living with Cabel. The young fae ran his hand through his hair, and then picked at the wrist watch on his arm. He finally sat up and started to sort through his produce, thinking if there was anything else Sam should know about him.

For a second, he thought about saying yes, I'm cursed.

But he didn't.

Because Sam wasn't going to be one of Kaz's targets. He was off limits. And as long as he was off-limits, that meant Kaz could be normal.

"Yes, there is,' Kaz said, a smile twitching again at the corner of his lips. "I'm totally going to try to talk you into making bedsheets fly down the hallways at night. The dorm floor doesn't have a ghost. I want people to think there is one."

It was stupid, childish mischief, and Kaz had a hard time keeping the laughter out of his voice when he talked about his plan for a prank.

But there was an ulterior motive to Kaz's mischief.

Ghosts made people reluctant to sleep, and sleep deprivation was the perfect grounds for breeding misery.

Kaz tossed an apple up in the air, caught it, and tossed it again.

"You don't have to agree, but I want you to know I will be bugging you about it," Kaz said.

An alarm went off on his phone and he frowned. His one evening class: chemistry.

"Well, that's my cue to go, but it was great meeting you, Sam, " Kaz said, tucking the apple in his bag and grabbing it from the space besides his desk.

He headed towards the door and said, "I'll see you later."

It was an unusual thing to say.

Kaz liked it.