A Proper First Date
| A Proper First Date | |
|---|---|
| Players | Morgan Park Ben and Wolfe have their very first date listening to jazz at Molly O'Malley's. |
Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYPVQccHhAQ Luckily the stars and schedules align. Wolfe does come, and not late either. He's wearing something a little nicer than his usual out and about clothes, a pair of tan slacks, and a button up collared shirt in a sage green neatly rolled to his elbows, his glasses on rather than contacts. He walks up to the booth where Ben sits and slides into the bench opposite him, casting one look at the band with a slight smile. "Nice spot, cozy." He reaches out to Ben's hand should it be close and gives it a squeeze by way of greeting. Ben grins warmly upon seeing Wolfe and takes the other man's hand after having his own squeezed and holds it gently."Hi. It's very good to see you again." He says as he tries to hide his pinky cheeks."I'm glad you liked this place. I was afraid you'd say it's boring or something. I even had a plan B." Wolfe lets the hand holding go on for a while, thumb running along the back of Ben's hand. "Boring would be a fast food place, but even then, if that's what you wanted to do." He rolls his shoulders in an easy shrug. "Point is getting to know each other, not the surroundings, right? Now you can just keep plan B for another trip." Ben smiles brightly and lets the other man's hand go if he wants to."Yes. That's exactly the point. That's why I brought you here. I like jazz. It makes me calm down because it makes me think about my father when I was just a little kid. Sunday mornings were when he used to listen to jazz and read in the backyard while my brothers and I played." He explains with a voice full of fondness and a bit of melancholy. "Sounds lovely." Wolfe says honestly. "I've discovered Jazz more recently, I've been very much into rock since I was a teen. Started branching out more in college, rock isn't the best studying music." He says with a smile, then finally pulls his hand back, but only so he can pick up a menu before someone comes over to start asking for their order. "You tell me. At some point I was trying to study listening to Tina Turner and ABBA. Didn't work out." Ben says and grins."I was waiting on you to order us something. Feel free to ask for anything you want. As I said the last time we met, today is on me. Plus, this is my first time here so I know nothing about their menu." He adds upon seeing Wolfe pick the menu. Wolfe arches a brow a little. "Sounds reasonable. Let's get some sharable things then." He says, scanning the menu for a few moments. Eventually a server does come by and Wolfe sets the menu down. "How about an order of fish and chips, and the soft pretzel, send an appetizer order of wings too. I'll have a Stella to drink." He nods to Ben, waiting for him to order his chosen beverage if he wants one. Ben nods to Wolfe's idea and order. When it's his turn to make his order, he grins to the server."Please, a glass of whiskey. Make it double." Then he waits for them to be alone once more and returns his eyes to the other man's."You look even more handsome with those glasses on. I liked them. And I'm really trying not to be a doctor and ask what's your condition." The older man grins and bites his lower lip playfully. "I usually wear contacts in the OR, but.." Wolfe reaches up and touches the side of his glasses. "Patients seem to like a doctor with glasses." He smirks a bit. "Just a little farsighted is all. It's not even all that bad." He lowers his hands back to the table top, leaning in towards Ben a bit more to carry on their conversation. "So, anything fun happen since we had tacos?" Ben grins as his eyes are carried straight to the man's glasses."I do too." He murmurs and, mimicking Wolfe's body language, he leans forward to get himself closer to him."I wouldn't say fun, but rather useful. I met a young girl that goes by the name of Candy, I know, it's a weird name. She works at Sky Goddess Cafe and now I have bigger apple pie slices in the morning when I'm walking to the hospital. I do try to have a healthy diet and all, but I can't resist the smell of recently baked pie. What about yourself? Anything worth noting?" "I'm sure genetics help, they always do. But I do try to at least get in a daily run, if not hit the gym a couple times a week. Honestly, it's something I ignored until college. I spent most of my teen years a werid, lanky beanpole." Wolfe smiles faintly. "Well, whatever help you're getting it's working. Of the two of us you're probably the more fit." "Don't talk about being a weird during school years. I was the ugly duck nerd. High grade, low popularity." Ben says with little fondness of these memories."But now we are here. Cheers to us. And that reminds me of something that was in my mind since I met you. Will I have to fight for your hand with one of your cousins or something?" The question doesn't sound like a joke. "The one's I'm around now? I don't think they'd rightly care. My business is my own and if they try to push I'll cut ties. I make my own choices." Wolfe says honestly. He goes quiet for a moment as the server comes by with their drinks and he brings his beer close. "My family.. well.. it'll just be another way I disappoint them, but they already know about me preferring men so they can just suck it up. But no, we don't require fighting to date someone." The older man sighs in apparent relief as he hears there is no fighting for love scenery. He smiles politely to the server who brought them their drinks and picking his own, he lifts it to a toast."For not having to fight big bad wolves." He then jokes now and sips briefly from his drink and relaxes."I have no one you would need to care about. It's just old me against the world." Wolfe clinks his glass against Ben's then takes a sip. "Not even those brothers? Going to come and find me and beat me up?" He shakes his head slowly as he sets down his glass. "Well, hopefully you're not so alone anymore. You seem to be meeting people, and I certainly count as company I hope." "Not even my brothers. They never really cared about me while we were growing up and living under the very same roof. Mostly because I was the weird and gay brother everyone in the school would talk about and they didn't want to be associated with me. Not now that each one of them has their own life and kids to take care of. They even left the family house for me." Ben explains and some sadness crawls across his eyes but then he smiles and casts it away."I hope you become much more than just some company. That's why I'm leaving my defenses down and talking about things." "Well, my brother almost killed me, so.. I can understand not being close with siblings." Wolfe looks across the table for a moment, then slides out of the bench, he moves to the other side of the booth and slides in next to Ben, little harder to be face to face, but it does let him lean his shoulder against his. Ben watches as the man goes to his side of the booth and grins to him."I like this better." He murmurs and puts one arm around the younger man's shoulder in a side hug and leaves his arm there. A moment later, he looks Wolfe in the eyes and grins again, this time, though, there is something deeper in there."Thanks for listening to me." "It's one of the many services I provide while dating me." Wolfe jokes lightly, leaning back against the arm, and moving to be hip to hip with Ben, his eyes going to the band playing for a while. "If you want to continue this that is, not to assume. But I feel like date number three is already a given at this point." "It is indeed. Should we keep taking turns to decide on where to go next or you prefer to make it a democratic choice and we vote?" He asks as he too looks at the band playing jazz in the far wall of the pub. His chest goes up and down very slowly and his face is peaceful and charming."I'd vote for an apple pie tasting night at Sky Goddess Cafe." "Oh, are we planning it then?" Wolfe says with an arched brow. "Hmm.. While I like apple pie tasting, I think a night in with wine, cheese, and a good movie might be a nice one, too. Something private where it's easy to just be." He looks over to Ben. "I'm sure we can do both though. It's not like we're in a rush, right?" Ben looks back at Wolfe and shakes his head."We are not. And you just made me want your idea over mine for the next date. Though, I must confess my house is far from being at your level. I'd love to have you there for a night of wine, cheese and everything else, though. If you want to. Just give me a couple days to make it habitable. That means I need to put all my medicine books back on the shelf, the trash out and the dirty clothes in the laundry machine." He then makes a guilty fake face. "My level?" Wolfe says with a small, but amused laugh. "Not sure what that means, I'm just some medical intern fresh out of graduate school." He smiles then takes Ben's hand for a reassuring squeeze. "And I told you, its the company I care about, not the surroundings. But, I can understand wanting to tidy up a bit, too. I'd do the same if we went to my place. Our jobs don't leave us much time for chores, do they?" The older man's hand is well tended and his grasp is firm, but now also affectionate. He grins at that gesture and nods."No, I have to study a lot to keep myself updated in the lastest protocols and surgery techniques. Plus, I'm not really into house chores." Then he leans forward up to where his lips are just a few inches away from Wolfe's ear."I tell you a secret. I hate house chores. I prefer running 10 miles rather than doing them." "Really?" Wolfe says with a touch of surprise. "I usually use chores as a way to put off running if I can. Maybe we are a good fit." He pitches his voice low, a secretive whisper. "You know, when it gets bad, I just hire someone to come in and do a clean for me, too. Only once in a while but it makes me feel pampered." Ben grins and massages Wolfe's arm with his hand that's still hanging from/across the other man's shoulders."I can make you feel pampered in other ways if that's what it takes to make you keep sitting by my side and listening to jazz on a comfy and warm night." The food is soon delivered and Wolfe reaches out to tear off a bit of pretzel. "That." He says lightly. "Was a little corny. But cute." He leans in and presses a soft kiss against Ben's cheek, almost as if by reflex. Then he's popping the pretzel piece in his mouth with a slight grin. "For now, I'm content with jazz, salty pub food, cold beer, and pleasant company as pampering." The older man's eyes open wide upon feeling a kiss being landed on his cheek and grins to Wolfe brightly."Okay. I can keep skipping leg's day at the gym then." He jokes and looks at the food trying to decide on what to pick."Everything here looks good." He murmurs and then goes for the wings. He quickly eats one of those, too quickly to be healthy, actually. Then he heads for one more."Hmm. These are quite nice, actually." Wolfe reaches out for one of the wings, eating it in a way that says he eats a lot of wings, he barely even gets any sauce on his lips. "Hmm.. those are good. "I'll have to remember this place next time I'm craving wings." He looks over to Ben and laughs. "Don't skip too many, I like chicken wings, not legs." Though he's obviously joking as the words are spoken through a smile. Ben stops with a wing midway to his mouth, that has sauce in some parts, and blinks. He then picks Wolfe's hand and puts on his own thigh energetically."Does this feel like chicken legs?" He teases and smiles before resuming his wings devouring, leaving Wolfe's hand on his leg if he wants to. The hand stays there for a bit, a light squeeze given to Ben's thigh before he needs the hand for eating once more. "No, but maybe if you keep skipping leg day to eat wings with me it'll be another story." He bumps his knee against Ben's playfully. "Though don't think I'm only on this date because of those abs you flashed me. You're nice to be around, too." "And I was wondering if you had paid attention to my trap. Now I know it worked pretty well." Ben teases a bit more after licking his fingers to clean them from sauce. Then he retrieves his whiskey and sips from it before looking back at Wolfe."I knew from the very beginning you wouldn't fall for my appearance only. And I need to say you're nice to be around too. You make this..."He gestures to everything around including them."...very easy and relaxing." Wolfe looks to Ben. "I like casual, I like easy, I like relaxing." He says evenly as he gets a piece of fried fish and dips it in tartar sauce. "My family, sorry I keep bringing them up, everything is formal and rigid. You need to do what's expected of you, maintain propriety, don't do anything that would embarrass the rest of the family. It gets very old, very fast." "You don't need to be sorry for talking about your family. It's okay. As they say in therapy, this is a safe place to talk about stuff. I've been through a lot and I know how it goes with family. Now I just want a little bit of peace of mind. No pressure, no judgments, no expectations." He then smiles warmly to Wolfe."And someone to get back to after work. That'd be the cherry on top of the cake." Wolfe nods slowly. "Someone you just know is there for you if you needed. A friendly face at the end of the day, someone to share some popcorn and a stupid movie with, someone to travel with." Green eyes settle on Ben and he nods. "I guess I just want a family I picked for myself and a partner to share life with." He lets out one soft laugh that shakes his chest. "So, that's where I'm headed. I have enough oddity in my life, something stable is welcomed." Ben listens and watches as Wolfe's talk. There is no sexual tension in there. It's something different, more pure and more ethereal. When the younger man laughs, he smiles brightly."Stability, family and love. Nice things to crave for." He murmurs and brings Wolfe closer using his side hug so he can kiss his cheek gently."I think we're starting something very cool here tonight." No, no tension. Though while Wolfe isn't shy about looking at Ben, he's much more pleased by just taking things easy and relaxing. "Good. I think so to. If you're happy to just let this thing take its path and see where we end up, then so am I. Though I'll say I have hopes it will definitely keep going." He picks up his beer glass, tinking it against Ben's whiskey before taking a sip. Ben sips from his drink and grins."It's very good to know we are exactly on the same page. In many different areas, actually. Especially work. You must know by now that people hardly understand when we have to make double shifts or why we need to keep studying after graduation." He says and it sounds like experience talking. And some frustration. Then Ben sips again and picks one more wing to eat. This time, though, he does it calmly, enjoying the food instead of just devouring it. "Imagine how much we can save by sharing medical journals." Wolfe says with a touch a humor in his tone, but he's nodding. "That's always been a problem. Even just through medical school, the amount of studying I had to put in always made things rough." He lightly bumps his shoulder against Ben. "That's why I said to text me, we both know it's going to happen where our shifts line up and we won't be able to even see each other for a week, at least we have phones." "A week?" Ben asks and makes a 'puppy eyes' face."I endured a lot of things to be here tonight, but a week sounds really a very long time to see you again, sunshine. I don't think I'd be able to resist." "Well, not now." Wolfe says with a laugh. "But you know how hospital shifts get. I dread that week." He meets those puppy dog eyes with his green ones and sighs softly. "Oh no, you do that too well. I guess I'll just have to run and visit you on my lunch break or something. Or move hospitals." "We can always have lunch together, if nothing else. Chicago Hospital and the Uni Hospital are a few feet away from each other." Ben answers and grins, sipping from his drink a bit more before picking a piece of the pretzel."And my home is just a few blocks away from both hospitals past Washington Park." He leaves that in the air and puts the food into his mouth to try to hide a smile. "I'm sure we'll make it work. Besides, I've already promised to be manual labor to help you fix the place up, right?" Wolfe lifts an arm and flexes it, giving his bicep a light pat. "If nothing else I can move lumber around. Though I'm looking forward to seeing the place, I bet it's not as bad as you make it out to be." "Well. I can give you the address and you can crash there if you need a place closer to the hospital for any reason. A double shift, or something. This way you can see it by yourself." Ben offers after seeing the other man flex in front of him."This way you could cut me some lumber before the temperature starts dropping." "Well, or maybe I'll just tell you it's closer to the hospital and crash there anyway." Wolfe says with an even tone and a sip of his beer to hide the smile on his face. "I do know how to swing an axe, remarkably. For firewood anyway. Or it could be a ploy to see me shirtless." He gives Ben a jokingly piercing look.
"Oh? Does that mean I win tonight? What's my prize?" Wolfe jokes lightly as he finishes off a few more fries. "Don't worry. It's like I'm intending to hide anything from you, I just haven't been in the right place to whip off my shirt." He turns his attention to the band, picking up a napkin to wipe his hands clean. "This really was a good pick." "Yes. It was. I need to remember to send them some tips through cashapp or something." Ben says before turning his attention back to his date. He grins to Wolfe and leans his shoulder against the other man's before finally taking his arm away from the red-haired shoulder."The prize? I'll think about something interesting for the next time we see each other. How does that sound?" "Sounds like a date." Wolfe says with a simple smile bereft of any of his teasing or dry humor. Just direct and honest. "I'll eagerly await the evening." He leans back against Ben for a moment. "But really, thank you, I enjoyed this and it's been a while since I could just be out and enjoy myself with a handsome guy." "You can count on me any time for more of this." Ben says and takes Wolfe's move as a sign and tries a kiss on his lips. A gentle, caring and quick one if allowed. Wolfe leans in, placing a hand on the back of Ben's neck and returns the kiss, more than welcome. It's gentle, but he tries to make it a second more than quick. When he pulls back there's an easy and genuine smile on his face. "Well, that's a good sign." | |