[ Once he's left to his own devices for a minute, it's tempting to lean over and help himself to a sample of the dish dishes by pilfering a vegetable or a noodle while the other man's back is relatively turned. But Claude waits since that would spoil the full effect - and even more so when the effort's difficult to miss. All of it for today, he's telling himself, since it's still a bit too much to fully acknowledge it's for him.

That's before the main course makes it to the table. Suddenly why it smelled so familiar becomes clear with that reveal, and he grins widely as he sits forward to get a better view. Because one is definitely required for that, for some proper appreciation of everything, before he looks up to meet Sylvain's grin with his own. ]

A little, he says. I think you might've outdone me ordering at the restaurant in Aquila, and especially so since you made all this.

[ There's no hiding the fondness in his voice so Claude can't obscure, so it's simply there. One less hidden thing or anything he feels the need to play off as something else, and Claude leans over to nudge Sylvain's chair out a little farther for him to be seated again. ]

Everything looks amazing, Sylvain. That's just the start of the praise to come, by the way, once we get to dig into everything.