Hannibal's house (where Jono's around somewhere), Sunday evening

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal could have gone all-out with a gourmet dinner for Sparkle's birthday. But this was Sparkle's birthday, so he'd opted for something else - his own touch on food that Sparkle would be more familiar with.

So, when Sparkle arrived for dinner, he'd find the house smelling of poutine with pork confit and foie-gras sauce, steamed fiddleheads with wild leek greens, and butter tarts with caramel sauce. There was also a very good homemade beer to go with it all.

Happy birthday, Sparkle!

Comments

[myownface]

"Genius-level criminal," Sparkle decided, nodding his thanks as he reached for the beer. "Especially when you're doing the cooking. What's this gravy, anyway? It's fantastic."

Sparkle suspected it was made of magic and possibly unicorns.

[sharp_as_knives]

Well, since Hannibal was actually a genius-level criminal...

"A foie-gras sauce with white wine," he answered. "I'm pleased you like it. I know it isn't quite traditional."

[myownface]

Hey, Sparkle would be calling out the cheese cubes before the gravy, if tradition was a concern of his. As it stood, he was shrugging his shoulders and looking pretty impressed.

"Hey, tradition is only important to people who care about that sort of thing." He shrugged his shoulders and sampled the fiddlehead greens, next. "I'm not exactly what anybody would consider traditional, anyway."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal chuckled and raised his glass. "To twenty years of being non-traditional, and may you have many more opportunities and years in which to do so."

[myownface]

"I'll drink to that." Sparkle raised his own glass and gave Hannibal a grin. "There's nowhere to go but forward from here, right? There'll be plenty of opportunities, even if I end up having to make them myself."

He sure as hell wasn't letting the past year come back to haunt him if he could help it, at least.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Sometimes those are the best kind," Hannibal said. "You're doing well so far."

[myownface]

"Sometimes I catch myself wondering," Sparkle admitted, a little wryly. "But that's less fatalism these days and more just kind of laying out all my cards and seeing what hand I can play from here. I know I basically shot myself in the foot back in Toronto."

He shrugged.

"In retrospect, the burning revenge thing was probably not my smartest move."

But it had been really really satisfying.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Next time, you just need to think of that in advance," Hannibal pointed out.

And not get caught.

"But you do seem to be doing better now."

[myownface]

Sparkle paused to consider that over another mouthful of beer.

"Yeah," he said, finally. "I guess I am. I mean... place to live. Steady job. That's kind of the opposite of 'homeless and wanted by the cops.'"

... Not that he wasn't still wanted by the cops.

[sharp_as_knives]

To be fair, so was Hannibal. And for a lot more than jumping bail and possible arson.

"And you have friends here now," Hannibal said. "I met Leto the other day. I like him."

[myownface]

And that right there was a good way to get Sparkle to duck his head and smile like a total dork. Yep.

"He's pretty great, isn't he? I mean... I don't know... fun and smart and he doesn't expect me to be something I'm not. He's... you know. A good friend."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal grinned back. "That's good. It's good to have someone to understand you and accept you. And for other things," he added, since he himself and possibly Atton fell into that first category, too.

[myownface]

"Aaand for other things," Sparkle replied, after barking out a sudden, half-startled laugh. "But I'm not talking about those."

Those things were kind of like the cherry on top of a super casual relationship that was whatever the hell was between himself and Leto. They'd never really bothered to define it.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Nor would I expect you to," Hannibal assured him with a chuckle. "We can talk about whatever you like. It's your day."

[myownface]

"Honestly... I'm kind of just happy to have the company," Sparkle admitted. "I mean, things have been quiet lately. I'm not used to that. There's always someone around."

That someone was usually Atton. Atton who, granted, hadn't been gone much longer than Sparkle was used to Atton being gone yet, but he wasn't answering his comm, even if he was dropping the occasional hint that he wasn't dead yet.

It kind of scared him.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Your roommate is not around?" Hannibal asked. He was sensing there was something there, but he didn't recall hearing much on radio.

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle confirmed with a sigh. "He had a thing to do back in his own galaxy. That happens, you know? It's not usually a big deal. But he's been weird about this one. He did get them to send me Thai at lunch, though, so at least he's not dead or something."

Unless he had ordered that Thai weeks ago, to be delivered on Sparkle's birthday to his workplace. But Sparkle wasn't going to let himself think of that one.

[sharp_as_knives]

"Weird?" Hannibal asked. "How so?"

[myownface]

Sparkle hesitated for a moment, deciding to maybe not lead in with 'he disobeyed a direct order to not get involved,' and instead settling on a sigh and a shrug and, "He isn't answering his comm. For anyone. But he did send me a text that just said 'not dead' a while back."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hummed in thought. "Perhaps he's simply in a position where he's unable to speak. Or perhaps he's decided he needs time to himself."

[myownface]

"Knowing Atton and the kind of shit he gets himself into, I'm guessing it's a little bit of both," Sparkle sighed. "That doesn't actually make me feel better, though."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal nodded. "My apologies. However, I assure you I am here to listen should you wish to speak of it. For now, perhaps a lighter topic. Have you been keeping up with your cooking?"

[myownface]

"Thanks," Sparkle replied, giving a little, grateful smile. "And... kind of, yeah. I mean, it's hard to cook for one and do anything fancy with it, but I try. And I've been showing up to Eliot's cooking class, too. I think I'm a bit ahead of everyone else," understatement, "but there are some slightly more complicated recipes to pick from, so I've been working with those."

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm very pleased to hear it." Hannibal smiled. "And as to cooking for one, you can always cook for more and share it, or save it for later."

[myownface]

"Well, I usually share with Atton when he's home. Otherwise... I don't know. Not many people I knew before going back to Toronto left on the island. I need to get out and meet more people."

Would it be weird to invite Tony over for dinner? Or Dante?

Maybe weird. Maybe.