LOG: Warren and Jean-Paul

[x-highflying.livejournal.com]

Jean-Paul drops by Warren's new office with a gift, and the pair end up making a bet about Warren's ability to keep a plant alive.

Jean-Paul flew to Warren's new set of offices, three canvases carefully wrapped and held before him. As he landed, he made sure the wrappings hadn't come undone, then opened the door to office building and walked inside. He'd seen the paintings and liked them, which meant he felt the need to purchase them and, having done that, he decided to gift them to Warren as an office warming present of sorts. Drifting down the hallway, he paused at a door left partially open and stuck his head inside. "Bonjour," he said upon finding his friend inside. "How are you this fine day?"

Warren was sitting at a desk. There wasn't much else in the room other than the desk - and the chair he was sitting on - but he had a desk. A desk he'd chosen, even. Jennifer was arranging most everything else, and he was still a little mystified about some of the questions she'd asked him about colors or stains or... whatever it was she was asking about.

"Baffled," he said with a grin, waving Jean-Paul in and eyeing the large bundle curiously. "Jen's being a whirlwind about decorating and furnishing the place."

Walking into the room, Jean-Paul glanced at the walls - bare - and the rest of the furniture - which didn't exist - before laughing just a little. "Ah, I see. And so she has not gotten to your office yet." He moved over to the wall across from Warren's desk, tipped his head to the side for a moment, and then sat the canvases down. One by one, he unwrapped all three paintings, leaning them against the wall in the order he'd first seen them. When he was finished, he gathered up the wrapping and folded it, then tucked it under his arm. "You will have to hang them yourself, I think. I would not want to incite your friend Jennifer's displeasure by making nail-holes."

"I'm trying to retain the authority to decorate my own office. I think I'm..." He trailed off as Jean-Paul unwrapped the paintings, and for a few long moments, he just looked at them.

"They're perfect. And I don't think Jen will be able to find fault in me hanging them." He looked over to Jean-Paul, oddly touched.

"Thank you."

Jean-Paul shrugged, pleased by Warren's reaction, and said, "I thought you might like them. And of course, you do not have to leave them this way, it is only that this is how I found them. It was this, or a very large potted plant. Forgive me, but I am not so sure of your abilities to keep a plant alive." He was grinning by the time he finished speaking.

"Hey now," Warren replied, mock hurt in his voice. "I know how to take care of plants. You just water them every day, right?"

Eyebrows raising just a little, Jean-Paul said, "I do not know, I have had cats and rats for pets. My thumbs are not green, as they say. I mean only that I am not so sure that yours are, either."

"That is the extent of my plant knowledge," Warren said with a laugh. "I looked in on Vanessa's garden while she was gone, but while I think everything is okay, I really have no idea."

"And so it is good that I did not bring you a fern," Jean-Paul said, turning his eyes back to the canvases. "Though maybe you would not kill a cactus. Or a stick of bamboo. They sell them in the grocery stores." He couldn't help the smile that kept trying to turn up the corners of his lips.

"That's it," Warren said with a grin, mischief in eyes. "I'm buying myself a plant. And I'll keep it alive, just to spite you."

"Is this to be a bet now? What are the terms, then? If you keep the plant alive you get...?" Jean-Paul turned back to Warren, eyebrows raised. "More importantly, if the plant does not survive your care, what do I win?"

"Sure, why not?" Warren was still grinning. "What would you like if I win?"

"I asked you first," Jean-Paul said laughing. "But here, I think I have an answer for what I would like - a list of book recommendations. A long one."

"Alright then," Warren replied, growing thoughtful for a moment. "If I win, I'd like to see you ski sometime."

Jean-Paul arched an eyebrow, but offered Warren his hand to shake on the deal. "Now tell me, why would you wish to see me ski?"

"Curiosity," Warren replied with a shrug, taking Jean-Paul's hand to shake, but not doing so quite yet. "How long do I need to keep the plant alive for? I feel like this shouldn't be an open-ended sort of thing, or I'll never be able to win."

Fingertips tapping along the heel of Warren's hand, Jean-Paul quirked a brow and nodded. "This is a very good question. Until the New Year. I think this would be fair."

Warren nodded in response, and shook Jean-Paul's hand. "You're on."