"So why did we just separate twenty-one chicken breasts into their own containers?" I ask.

"Four of them," Lucas tells me. "Go in the fridge. Put the rest in the freezer."

"The freezer?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers. "They'll keep for up to three months. You could've bought a ten-pound bag of them for twenty bucks, with a lot more breasts in it, but they'd be smaller. These are perfect. And that's why you shouldn't look so worried about your food funds, Kieran. If you have only one breast per meal, that's three weeks' worth of food."

"I was trying to figure out how I'd use them before they went bad," I tell him. "I hadn't thought about freezing them."

"I'd figured that was the case," he tells me. "Anyway, with the breasts, you want to store them separately. It makes it easier to defrost them. When defrosting, you want to pull them out and put them in the fridge the night before you want to use them. By around four or five in the afternoon the next day, they'll be ready to use. If you don't use them that day, they'll likely be bad the next."

"Got it," I say. "So why did I pull out four of the breasts? If I'm only eating one a day, won't two of them probably go bad before I get to them?"

"Nope," he answers. "You'll be using all four of them tomorrow with the recipe I'm giving you tonight."

"I'll be using four at once… for one meal?"

"No," he sighs. "For several meals. It'll last for several days, Kieran. After you cook and let it cool a little, you put it in the fridge."

"Oh," I feel stupid for not realizing that.

I guess that's what happens when I spend years eating single-meal things.

"Yeah," he says. "Those four breasts, when added to rice, will make more than four meals' worth of food. A lot of what I'm having you make for the dinners and lunches, Kieran, will be batch works. Lemon pepper chicken breast? You'll cook up two of them the first day and do a double amount of rice, then refrigerate the second breast and half of the rice, reheating it the next day. My cooking instructions will tell you all of the reheating instructions, too, so don't worry about that."

How many times has he given this recipe book out to new clients of the center? As soon as I think that, I have to wonder if most people don't follow it. How many people just ignore the stuff, complain, and then quit? Is that why he went shopping with me? To ensure I actually get the stuff, and therefor will have a sort of moral obligation to follow through and cook everything, since it's too expensive to let it all go to waste?

He seems to be genuinely concerned about me in regards to being able to eat properly for my growth, but could that be from all the failures? It seems like a bit much to expect it to be from an attraction, especially since I know I'm not really that attractive. I'm just falling for him way too fast is all.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," he says, then shivers a little. "I'm grabbing my hoodie."

He walks back to the table and grabs his hoodie, pulling it on.

"You leaving?" I ask.

"Well, it is past midnight, now," he grins. "It's pretty late, so unless I'm spending the night, I should probably head home after I write up that recipe for you. I'm hungry after all this running around, too, so I need to eat something before I go to bed."

The thought of him spending the night here embarrasses me a little, since it's definitely not as good of a place as he's used to. At the same time, the thought of it… doesn't bother me. I'm not thinking anything inappropriate here, but I don't think I'd have an issue with him staying the night just to stay the night.

"I need something to eat, too," I realize that I'm pretty hungry after all that running around.

Dinner was almost five hours ago, now that I think about it. It really is pretty late.

"If you want," he says. "I can teach you how to do 'better ramen' before I go."

"It wouldn't be fair for you to do that and not eat," I tell him. "Especially after all you've helped me with so far, even though we just met, uh, seven hours ago? Eight hours ago? Something like that. So yeah, but only if you have a bowl, too."

"Sure," he says. "Do you know how to hard-boil eggs?"

"Uh… "

"Okay, so we'll start with that…"

Lucas teaches me how to hardboil eggs in the saucepan while water heats up in a sort of 'instant kettle' thing from the thrift shop. It sits on a stand and regulates the temperature on its own rather than me needing to put a kettle on the stove and need to take it off the heat as soon as it goes up.

The longest part of this is the eggs part, but Lucas does ten of the boiled eggs, for later use. The extras are put into a container and added to the fridge, but one each are kept for our ramen. The noodles are put into the bowls, along with strips of ham and turkey he'd bought, then some chopped chives and the eggs, halved. On the center, he places a small 'flavor cube' to make the broth. Finally, he pours on the hot water, just enough to coat the noodles, the flavor cube dissolving in it.

With the food prepared, we sit on the couch and eat, the noodles actually pretty delicious. Lucas mentions that we probably could have gotten chopsticks to eat them with.

"I've never used them before."

"They're easy to learn," he tells me. "Maybe I'll teach you, we ever eat this together again."

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Glancing at him in response to that, I notice a slight blush. It slipped out without him meaning to say that. He probably wants to hang out sometime, possibly without it being related to his work. Only to my mild surprise, I do as well. He's definitely coming across as a pretty decent guy.

"I don't ever remember hanging out with someone before," I tell him. "And while I know that you were doing this because I'm a client who needs the help of a personal trainer, and this is part of the job… I actually kind of enjoyed it, Lucas. If, uh, you want to just hang out sometime, not related to work, I'd be fine with that. Just as long as a certain thing doesn't come up."

"I can work with that," he says.

"Oh, and as long as I don't have to spend more money," I add. "I'm not sure I can afford it if I have to spend this much every time we hang out."

"I can manage that," he chuckles. "And if I eat over, Kieran, then you can bet your powers I'm going to make it up to you with a meal of my own."

"You mean the 'power-up special'?" I ask. "'Cause if so, Lucas, that's rather disproportionate cost-wise, and-"

"Not necessarily that every time," he tells me. "Maybe I'll bring a few ingredients of my own, show you something a little bit fancier?"

If I didn't know he was just trying to reassure me that he's going to make sure that anything I spend on us hanging out, he'll make sure it doesn't affect my budget, I'd think he was trying to flirt.

"I'd be curious to taste that," I tell him. "Though keep in mind that my palate is instant ramen, so if it's too fancy, I might not be able to appreciate it."

"I can take that into consideration," he chuckles. "I already did that when planning these meals for you. Most of them are simple, even if flavorful. You can work your way up to the fancier meals. My focus was on things you'll probably be able to enjoy the flavor of while still keeping in mind the nutritional needs you'll have with your training."

"Thanks," I say, then return to eating this.

It definitely tastes better than the ramen I've been eating, even if it's a little more expensive than that. Most of that cost comes from the egg, meat, and chives, though. Stuff that adds nutrition to this. I really hope I do qualify to become a Sivalshi Guardian in a month so that I can continue to enjoy this kind of food, train my abilities, and discover new flavors that I probably forgot over the years. Or ones I hadn't gotten to taste before my parents passed away.

After finishing his bowl of ramen, Lucas drinks the broth, so I do the same with mine after finishing. Our late-night meal completed, he washes the dishes and I dry and put them away, then he stifles a yawn.

"I should get going," he tells me. "I do need my sleep and I work every day. I might even make it in to work on time."

"You're not going to cut your sleep short for work?" I ask.

"Nah," he gives me a tired chuckle. "I only work from two to eight each day – only six hours. But that's forty-two a week. Even if I did end up late, I can just put the last few hours as work time, since I was helping you out with the meal plans and getting things set up."

I guess it makes sense that he'd get paid for helping me at this point, since he's my personal trainer and, well, adviser, I guess. He was doing this as part of his job, so it would be weird if he didn't get paid for it.

Talking about his jobs reminds me of something. Especially with how late it is right now, something I hadn't thought about until just now.

"I know you're a personal bodyguard and all," I say. "But would it really be safe to walk back that way? It takes forty minutes to get there, and it's, like, two-something in the morning. I'm sure your apartment's further past it, too, considering the layout and the value of apartments. You don't seem much like a guy who'd go for a cheap one if there's a good one nearby."

"Yeah, it's about a twenty-minute walk in the opposite direction," he says. "So about an hour's walk. About two and a third to two and a half miles, if I had to wager a guess. I can probably handle anyone who tries to jump me, but thanks for the concern."

Even though I know he can probably handle himself, that doesn't change how worried I am. I'd feel awful if he got hurt because he was walking home from here so late after helping me as part of his job.

"That's a pretty far walk," I say. "Are you sure it's safe to go by yourself as tired as you are? I know it's not much, but I can let you borrow my couch and a blanket."

"A blanket?" He raises an eyebrow. "Judging by how cold it is, you probably sleep under all three of those just for warmth, possibly with your hoodie still on judging by how old they look."

He nailed that in one, and I feel my cheeks flushing at just another reminder that he probably doesn't have to worry about stuff like that. Did I just insult him by accident?

"I can manage one night," I tell him. "Though I guess you'd be cold, too."

I glance towards my bed.

"Um," I say. "Well, my mattress is big enough for two to sleep without touching. We can, ah, share if you don't have an issue with that."

"You seem pretty insistent on being worried for me," he says. "Is there something I should know?"

He looks a bit concerned, and I realize that he thinks there's something I know about the area that he doesn't.

"I just… I don't know how I'd feel if you got hurt going back this late, this tired, because you were helping me, Lucas," I tell him. "That's all it is."

My voice is quiet, and the excuse sounds weak now that I say it out loud. It doesn't change how I feel, though. I'd feel guilty if someone got hurt just because they were helping me. Especially when they're as good-looking as he is.

"Alright," he stifles another yawn. "Sure, Kieran, but I have to ask you something else."

"Um… what?"

"You don't have an issue sharing your bed with, y'know?" He pulls his left sleeve back, showing his rainbow bracelet again.

"Oh, that," I say. "I mean, I hadn't even though about it until just now."

Though the idea of even sleeping in the same bed with a guy as hot as him is a bit of a turn on, so now it might take me awhile to fall asleep. Why did he have to bring that up? Well, I know why he did, but still.

"So it doesn't bother you?" He asks.

"I don't assume someone's going to grope unless they have a habit of it," I tell him. "You barely even looked at me when I was naked. A bit disappointed to get such obvious confirmation that I'm not really that attractive, especially with how skinny I am, but it's evidence that you wouldn't do something unless you had a need for a power trip, which you haven't displayed at all."

"Alright," he says. "Then I'll take you up on the offer, Kieran. Thanks. And thanks for not judging me. It's bad enough when gays do it, but it's pretty expected of straights because that's rather normal."

Oh, right, he still thinks I'm straight. Maybe I'll mention it in the morning that I'm not, he'll probably get the wrong idea if I tell him now.

I empty out my pockets onto my dresser and he empties his onto the coffee table, then we move to my bed. Since I usually sleep on the side with the wall, I lie down there, and Kieran lies on the other side. Thankfully, my blankets are rather large. It only takes us a minute to get comfortable and not touch, yet still be completely covered.

Unfortunately, I know it's going to take me more than a minute to fall asleep. We've only known each other for less than half a day, but Kieran's shown me several sides of himself, and other than the one flaw, he's rather appealing to me. Not just sexually, but as a potential friend. There's nothing romantic there, but I didn't expect it. We did just meet today.

A sudden jolt of everything sends me slamming into Lucas, who gets slammed into my dresser due to the jolt suddenly angling the entire building down in that direction.

"Ow," he groans as everything rights itself.

"Sorry," I respond as I pull away from him, my heart racing from the sudden jolt.

Did Sivalshi just tilt himself? That's rather rare, especially for it to happen so suddenly. Was there an attack from a monster or something? Now that I think about it, I've never heard of Sivalshi shifting like that.

"… it's okay," Lucas's response is a bit delayed.

"That shift is going to be all over the news."

"Yeah," he says. "I wonder what that was about."

"Who knows?"