First Date

[skybluejeep]

Characters: Stiles and Rapunzel | Closed
Date: October 1
Location: Wood, and then Earth Sector
Situation: Stiles has asked Rapunzel out on something resembling a date. Asti and the rest of Keelai is about to keel over from shock.
Warnings/Rating: Probably none. Rapunzel's a Disney princess, after all. I think there are laws against that kind of thing.

***

Stiles knocks on the door to Rapunzel's suite for the second time in as many weeks. Only this time, he's there to ostensibly take her out to dinner. This is honestly the first time he's asked a girl out for dinner and had her say "YES" so it's a huge, world-shaking deal for him.

He's wearing his jeans, and a Keelai-style shirt in green, with a Mandarin collar. It doesn't suit him, but it's better than the same plaid shirt he's been wearing since he got here, right?

Oh god, please let this go well...

Comments

[watcheslanterns]

"Well, I've never really measured it."

She looks up, thinking about it for a minute. "My hair reached the bottom, so it was at least seventy feet high."

[skybluejeep]

"...Your hair is really seventy feet long? Holy crap your neck muscles must be in perfect condition."

He craned his neck to take in her hair again. How much did all of that hair weigh anyway? His brain raced with the pseudo-math of it, boggled by the practicalities of all that hair.

"I mean, it's gorgeous. You have gorgeous hair. I'm just a little stunned."

[watcheslanterns]

Again, she laughed. Her hair was a constant in her life, and maintenance of it took up a good portion of each day, but the weight of it had never occurred to her. Maybe if she hadn't grown up with longer and longer hair since birth it might have been a thing she noticed, but as it was her hair was just and extension of herself.

"I think most people are when they see it. I don't mind though. I'd be stunned too if things were reversed!"

[skybluejeep]

"You know it's funny, I used to have a really short buzz cut, too," he quipped. "We're, like, opposite ends of the hair spectrum."

Ah, and there they finally were, strolling up to his particular food stand. It was a little open-air place, with one Kedan doing the cooking and another running the plates back and forth between customers. Paper plates. They made one dish here, and they made it well, hence why Stiles was now a regular.

He waved to the cook with a grin, held up two fingers, and escorted Rapunzel to a small, wobbly table away from the street. The ceiling was lit up with strings of lights, twinkling and flickering, giving a wonderful atmosphere to the place.

"Have a seat?" he offered, pulling a chair out for her.

[watcheslanterns]

For a moment, Rapunzel just stood, taking everything about the little shop in. It was simple, and charming. She had little to nothing to compare it to, but she could already tell it was a place she would enjoy.

Smiling, Rapunzel happily sat in the offered chair. When Stiles sat, she looked across the table at him. "So," she said, leaning in slightly. "You didn't tell me about anything you like to do, yet."

[skybluejeep]

As he took his seat opposite her, he blinked, and then laughed a little at himself.

"Sorry! You're right, I totally did not. I do that sometimes, I'll just go off on these huge stupid tangents and not be able to focus on the topic at hand. Sorry. Uh, well. I like lacrosse. It's a sport. I'm not very good at it, but I like it. I like reading a lot, basically anything I can get my hands on. I used to play chess a little? But I'm not too great at that, either. Mainly I spend a lot of my free time hanging out with Scott, playing video games and eating pizza."

[watcheslanterns]

"Oh!" Her face lights up. "I play chess too. We should play sometime."

She had focused on the chess, but she was curious about what kind of games lacrosse and video were, too. Would asking about them make her look strange? Ah, but they had a signal for that now didn't they? She smiled to herself.

"What are video games?" she finally asked.

[skybluejeep]

"Okay! You'll probably kick my butt from here to the turtle's head but I'm down."

And then she asked what a video game was. Oh dear. How to explain this?

"Um. Okay. Where I'm from, there are these things called televisions and computers? Kinda like our network terminals in our suites. Only instead of just having access to a community of posts, they can do all kinds of things. You hold a controller in your hand and...control...things on the screen wow I have never had to explain video games to somebody before. This is harder than it looks."

[watcheslanterns]

Rapunzel tilted her head and listened carefully to what Stiles was telling her. True, she didn't quite understand what he was trying to get it, but it was obvious he was really trying to explain it to her, and that in itself meant a lot to her.

"So...in the box...you can tell it what you what it to do?"

[skybluejeep]

"Kinda? There's only certain parameters you can operate in. Um. Like how in chess, the bishop can only move diagonally? I...wait."

He paused, smirked, and then held up one finger.

"How about I give you a practical demonstration? I have a video game system with me back at my suite. After dinner, I'll show you how it works."

[watcheslanterns]

"Oh!"

She hadn't thought about what they would do what dinner was over. She hadn't exactly been planning on returning to her suite right away, but actually setting up more plans was new.

"Yes. Okay," she agreed with an eager bob of her head. "I'd like that."

[skybluejeep]

"And I really do promise that this isn't a cheesy pick-up line to get you back to my place."

He winked at her again, because he did feel the need to at least reassure her. Not that she was probably thinking it, she was so innocent and naive about certain things.

[watcheslanterns]

She was so far from thinking it. Why would someone need a line to get you into a room in the first place? Her confusion shows on her face, but she's quietly considering all of her mother's warnings. Maybe it had something to do with that? But Stiles seemed to nice for any of her mother's warnings. She'd looked: he didn't even have point teeth!

"I didn't think it was," she told him. "I've heard a few cheesy lines before. Yours wasn't cheesy at all." She smiles, teasingly.

[skybluejeep]

"Yeah? Cuz I can do cheesy if it'd help. I am the king of cheese. Let's see, there's the old tried-and-true 'If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?' line. Which always makes me laugh because oh my god who talks like that, right?"

He grinned back, just as their food finally arrived. Two large plates heaped high with noodles, vegetables, everything. It wasn't exactly the Americanized Pad Thai he was used to back in Beacon Hills. But it was still really delicious.

[watcheslanterns]

She laughed, because given the right moment she had a feeling maybe Eugene might say something like that. Maybe not to her anymore, but to someone.

"I think you're better off without any lines."

Rapunzel's eyes widened as she marveled at the plate set before her. It was unlike any food she had ever seen but it looked and smelled amazing. She could hardly wait to dig in and taste it.

[skybluejeep]

He snorted at that again, and picked up his chopsticks, waving them at her dramatically.

"You know what? You're right. From now on, I'm just gonna stick to my natural charm."

Snickering, he dug into his dinner. Ah, perfection as always. A little "MMM!" sound escaped him, around his full mouth. He really did enjoy this place.

[watcheslanterns]

She eyed her own chopsticks warily before watching Stiles use his own to eat his meal. Carefully, she attempted to mimic the way he was holding them to pick up some of the noodles, but they simply slipped through the sticks. The poor girl needs some help.

Or a fork.

"Oh, um...how do these work, exactly?"

[skybluejeep]

He glanced up, his mouth still full of noodles, and then coughed a little bit as he giggled. She was just too cute to be real sometimes. Swallowing, he stood up and scooted his chair closer to hers.

"Here, I'll show you."

He put his hand over hers, handing her the chopsticks and positioning them correctly between her thumb and fingers.

"Okay. So imagine they're scissors. You wanna grip the food between them like this...not too hard! That'll just make your grip slip."

[watcheslanterns]

Putting her full concentration on the chopsticks and how Stiles was instructing her, she carefully pinched a couple of noodles with the sticks and pulled them upwards towards her mouth. They slipped a bit, but she was generally successful and was able to have her first taste.

"Oh!" Her face lit up. "Mmm! This is so good!"

[skybluejeep]

"Yeah?"

He let her hand go, but he was watching her with stars in his eyes. Maybe his friends were right. Maybe all he really needed was a chance to get away from Lydia Martin to see what else was out there for him. Because Rapunzel? Was fun, smart, willing to learn, willing to try new things. And she didn't think he was a freak of nature. She apparently liked being around him!

Go figure.

"I'm glad you like it."

There was a small, soft smile on his face, as he sat back. But he didn't move his chair around just yet, either.

[watcheslanterns]

"Yes!"

She smiled before attempting another grab with her chopsticks. She did better this time, grabbing some of the vegetables along with the noodles. Once she got a basic handle on the motion she dove into the dish, loving each bite more than the last.

"I've never had anything like it!"

[skybluejeep]

He continued to watch her eat for a moment, finding her enthusiasm for new things to be so endearing.

Then he finally moved back to his side of the table, still grinning like a total dork.

"Cool. Would you want to eat here again?"

[watcheslanterns]

Rapunzel nodded as she set her chopsticks down for a moment. "I would! There must be so many different places to try, too." Suddenly she was inspired to try as much new cuisine as she possibly could.

She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice. "Do you think it would be possible to thank the cook. It seems a little rude not to, especially when it tastes so good."

[skybluejeep]

"We can spend the next however long discovering whatever food you want."

He starts working on his food once again, and nods at her last question.

"Yeahf," he says before swallowing. "I'm sure he'd love it. It's a husband-wife team. At least, I think they're married? It's kinda hard to tell with Kedan sometimes."

[watcheslanterns]

"I haven't really talked with many of the Kedan," she admitted. "At least not since I was first brought here." She'd heard about them from others, but she was still trying to figure out how to interact with other human beings, let alone anyone else.

"Do you know many of them?"