Housewarming and Hard Feelings
| Housewarming and Hard Feelings | |
|---|---|
| Players | Washington Park Ben invites Wolfe to his place and they talk about hard memories, flert and make plans for the future. |
It's mid afternoon on another day off for Ben and he decided it was a good day to invite over his date. The text message was vague about the hour, but made clear that it was today. He's discreet, but not so much, there is the sound of jazz playing that can be heard from the front porch and the front windows are bare open so his silhouette can be spotted wandering around the house shirtless singing using a brom as a microphone. The doctor seems to be in a good mood. Wolfe catches sight of the dancing Ben as he's coming up the sidewalk, lingering for a moment with his hands in his pockets to watch, a small, amused smile on his face. He's dressed pretty casually, jeans, nice sneakers, and a well-fitted black tee shirt. He's got a gift bag in one hand, long and narrow. After a moment he decides to stop watching before a neighbor labels him a creeper and calls the police. Instead he strides up to the door and gives a knock hopefully loud enough to be heard over the music. On the very first knock on the door the music comes to an end abruptly and Ben quickly appears at the tiny window at the door frame. He peeks outside and grins when he sees the red headed man."Just a second, please. I need to put a shirt on." And as quick as he goes, he comes back. This time, upon opening the front door, his hair is tended and wet. His shirt is outwards and the front is on his back but he doesn't realize it."Please. Don't mind the mess. I overslept this morning and didn't have time to clean the whole house." He excuses himself as he steps aside so the other man can comes inside. Wolfe tries to school his expression a little as he waits, so he isn't grinning too goofily as the door opens. "Aw, you didn't need to put on a shirt for me." He says, maybe a touch flirtatiously as he steps inside. "And you warned me you're fixing it up, no worries." He leans in to give Ben a kiss on the cheek and whispers in his ear. "Your shirt is backwards." Before holding out the gift bag in his hand. "A little housewarming gift, too. I mean, even if this is your old home it's like a new beginning, right?" Ben flushes upon hearing he's wearing his shirt backwards and looks at it to be sure it is indeed the way the other man states."Fuck!" He murmurs to himself but lets the t-shirt go as a gift is offered to him."A gift? I...you didn't need to, sunshine." He says but accepts the gift with a never before heard soft voice."What is it?" He asks as he opens the package with curiosity. "The only proper way to celebrate." Wolfe says enigmatically as he releases it. It's obvious there's a glass bottle inside on taking it, and getting inside reveals a bottle of champagne. "Pop it when you want. Either to start off, or to celebrate when the repairs are done." He winks and takes a look around. "Not as bad as you made it out to be. Good bones, just needs a little love." Ben grins at the bottle of champagne but when Wolfe gets distracted looking around, the older man hugs him from behind and inhales his smell."Hmmmm...I think we should celebrate the start of something else." He whispers straight into Wolfe's ear. Grinning, Wolfe puts his hands over Ben's. "Well, I'm not going to say no to a little celebration. It was a long shift waiting for it to be over so I could come see you." Turning around without breaking the hug, he leans in for a slightly more proper kiss this time. "So." He says, pulling back with a small smile. "Give me the tour?" Ben kisses the other man back gently before letting him go. Then he grins and nods, finally releasing the red-haired. Or almost. He keep holding hands."Sure. Well. You're here, in the living room. Where I used to spend most of my time while I was a little kid, when my father was still around. There is not much to really see here besides the very awkwards family pictures over there. Here..." He leads the man to the door the office and peeks inside to check on how terrible it is before opening the door."...well. It used to be my father's office. And my mother's library. It was their special place of sorts." He says and gives the place a smile full of nostalgia. Then he gently pushes the man forward leading the way to the dining room."Ops. I forgot to take the laptop and my study papers into the closet so you would see work upon getting at this part. But, well. That's it. This is where I spend most of my time. Studying." He says looking slightly nervous, but then he grins and moves on up to the kitchen."Shame on me, I know. I just bought this refrigerator because I needed a place to store the leftovers. It has..." He quickly heads to the fridge and opens it, making a face."...water to offer. And two days old tacos, from that booth you took me last week." He then looks at Wolfe and looks ashamed."And that's the backyard." He points through the windows to the outside area with a murmur as he keeps his 'sorry I don't have anything decent to offer you' face. Wolfe dutifully plays the tourist as he's shown around, smiling each time Ben gets a little flustered over something, giving him a reassuring smile and a nod. "It's got a good feel to it. Like I said, a little love and polish and I think it'll be a fine home." He does eye the fridge. "Well, there's always delivery if you want to stay in." He does take a step to the windows to peer outside. "Enough room for a hot tub out there? Sounds like something you need. A nice big hot tub." Ben lands the bottle of champagne on a counter before heading to where Wolfe is and looks through the window as he tries to imagine a hot tub in the middle of the backyard. He grins to himself before looking at Wolfe."I guess so. Would you like it? To relax in a hot bath tub with me?" "Well, I mean that sounds nice, doesn't it?" Wolfe asks, still looking outside as he puts an arm around Ben's waist "Cold drinks, hot jacuzzi, hotter boyfriend. I'm not really seeing a downside here, are you?" He looks up. "But that might be a later project, yeah?" Ben leans against Wolfe's body as the man puts an arm around his waist. The older man grins and flushes just a little as he's touched and future plans are made. But he tries to hide that by kissing the other man on the cheek."Yes. Later project as in when autumn falls. I'd like to have you for the cold drinks, hot jacuzzi and sleepovers. But, right now, all I need to do is pop this bottle of champagne and relax. What do you say? I think I have a garden hose somewhere so we can pretend we're on an exotic tropical beach." "Whatever you want to do sounds like a good plan to me." Wolfe says with a nod. "But you know, if you don't fix that shirt I might just take it off you myself." He says with more flirting than actual threat. "It looks uncomfortable like that. Or you know, take it off and leave it off and you can give me some more of that dancing and singing with the broom. I was enjoying that." Ben was about to pick something from a drawer but he stops midway and turns to look at Wolfe completely red. Even his ears are red."Were you watching me dancing and lip syncing? God! I knew I should have kept the windows closed. Sorry for that horror show." He says and looks around trying to hide in plain sight."I think I'll just..." Then his shirt is off for good and thrown in a corner. Once done, he looks back at Wolfe still a bit flushed and grins."Better now? But I'm not dancing again." "Why? There's nothing wrong with having fun." Wolfe shrugs. "I sing in the shower, you'll have to deal with that eventually. I'm not going to stop." He steps forward, putting his hands on Ben's shoulders. "I don't want you to be embarrassed around me, I want you to be comfortable enough to be silly and goofy and weird. We have to be serious enough at work." He grins. "One day you'll be dancing with the broom and I'll be joining in." With the confidence boost, Ben grins and leans forward to land a kiss on Wolfe's lips."I want to be silly and goofy around you too. Just give me a little more time, okay?" He whispers before landing a second kiss to part away from the red haired man to return to what he was trying to do before. Opening the bottle of champagne. It looks like he doesn't really live in the house because he needs some time to find everything he needs, a knife to help open the bottle and a pair of glasses, apparently there are no champagne flutes in the house."Here. Let's do it at once!" He says and for lack of party skills, he doesn't make the bottle to really pop its cap. Instead, the thing just lazily drops to the ground before a bunch of the liquid does the same. Ben grins and serves the two glasses before offering one to Wolfe."For new beginnings and a bright future?" Wolfe doesn't seem to mind the wait as Ben finds the needed tools. It just gives him more time to oggle. "If I'm ever moving too fast just let me know. I'm just enjoying this." And the normal glasses have him smiling as one is offered to him. "I'll take that toast. New beginnings and a bright future." He echoes, tapping his glass against Ben's before taking a sip. "Mm.. whoever got you this champagne has excellent taste." He jokes with a small grin.
"I'm an open book." Wolfe says, spreading his arms a little. "For you anyway. Normally I tell people to buzz off." There's another cheery laugh there, perhaps a bit too cheery for what he said. "I don't just want to drone though, so.. ask me any questions you want and I'll answer as best I can." "Okay, then. Let's start with the most important questions." Bens says and sips once more from his drink before landing it on a counter to focus on the other man."One. Chocolate or strawberry flavor? Two. Left side or right side on the bed? Three. New York or Miami?" He numbered the question with his finger and left them up in front of them both. A smile lies in his lips as he waits for the answers. "Either ors.. interesting." Wolfe says as he finds himself a seat to sip at his drink, urging Ben to join him with an outstretched arm. "Chocolate if we're talking ice cream. I prefer my fruit fresh, but if you put some fresh strawberries on chocolate ice cream I'd be happy. Currently I sleep on the right side, but I'm flexible. And.. New York. I like Broadway." Ben grins and looks satisfied with the answers given by Wolfe and takes a seat as near as the other man possible."Chocolate ice cream with fresh strawberries is a very good move. Flexible in bed? I like that too. Broadway? I've never being there so I like the idea too." He then sips again."You know I could keep going but it doesn't sound fair if it's just one of us making the question. Do you want to know something about me, sunshine?" "Not to bring work into it, but why cosmetic surgery?" Wolfe asks, turning to face Ben, and propping his head up with his other hand. "I know some of us choose our specialities for money or for ease, but you don't seem the type. I feel like there's a reason or a story there." For a moment it's clear that Wolfe hit something very important about Ben, but a second later, the older doctor blinks and it's gone."Well..." He starts and sighs."...I was so madly in love with a professor that was a plastic surgeon that I decided to take that specialty just to be closer to him. But that was a really old tale. Now it has another meaning for me. It's..." He casts his glance away and focuses on the horizon as if he was trying to decide on something, or on a threshold. Something important."...you know." He then looks back at Wolfe and gives the other man a smile. It's sad."Just yesterday I was talking to this guy. He's not a friend yet, but it's the closest thing I have to one. We were talking about our new lives and the people we were dating, he's dating this guy that owns a comic store or something. And I decided that this part of my life is something I wouldn't share with you. But you're here poking straight into it and I can't feel I can lie or hide it from you. But I need to ask you. Do you really want to take that bus?" He asks and he looks pretty serious and worried. At the start his grin is wide but as things go on, there's a soft smile on Wolfe's face. Gentle. "If we keep going. And I hope we do, I want to be part of your life. But I also know this is new, and if you're not to the point where you want to let me in yet, I respect that. I mean, I have that general idea, but it's your story to tell when you're comfortable telling it." He shifts in his seat and reaches out to take Ben's hand. "Trust me, I understand craving that normalcy and wanting to cherish it while it exists." He leans in and places a kiss on the back of Ben's hand. "You handle this how you feel best, and I'll be here for you if and when you're ready." Ben lets his hand be taken and grins sadly to the kiss landed on it."Thank you very much to respect that, sunshine. But since we're being honest and really invested in making it work, I need to give you, at least, the very basics about the Lost." He says, still sounding a little bit cautious and sad."...All of us were kidnapped and taken to an alien place that we collectively call Arcadia. The rules of Earth don't apply there. There is only one rule that does. Whatever the lord of the land wants to. That includes even ourselves. Their slaves. They use us as clay. They mold us to their wills. We suffer, we die, we are reborn and then we die again. If we're lucky, they get bored and forget about us at some point. That's what people tell what happens there, but the truth is that most of us come back with very little or no memory of all of that. So picture this: Horrible things happen to you in There and you don't even recall it. But now you have to live with the results of that abuse." He then shrugs and there is not even a sad smile this time. He leans forward and picks Wolfe's both hands into his and looks straight at his eyes."I am a broken person that doesn't recall most of my time in There, but here I am now. Full of traumas. The biggest one being caged again. So all I ask you is don't push me too hard. I'll do whatever you want. Answer all your questions. Just be patient, okay? Do you think you can do it?" Wolfe sets his glass aside as he lets Ben take his hands. "I get it. Well, not really. But I understand not wanting to talk about something like that, or even remember it. I promise I won't push and if you want me to stay out of something, I will. Because at some point I know there will be something I can't share with you, and it sucks." He scoots in closer, wrapping an arm around the other man to hold him close. "I'd say something insipid like everyone has their baggage, but I'm sure that doesn't help. So, instead, I'll just say, I'm here for what you need, and will butt out when you don't need me. Just tell me where the line is and I won't cross it. I'll just wait there for you." Wolfe's statement brings Ben to the very edge of crying. His eyes get all wet and he stops blinking. Especially when the other man wraps his arm around him."I...no one ever talked to me like that. I don't know what to say next. I'm sorry. I was trying to be the cool older guy. But now I'm feeling like a silly baby." He whispers so low that it's almost hard to hear. Wolfe grins. "It's just what I would want myself." He tries to sound nonchalant about it. "I'll let you be the cool older guy in public, you can be whatever you want to be with me in private." He leans into Ben a little and decides to qit there quietly for a moment to let the other man collect himself should he want the time. Ben lands his forehead on Wolfe's and takes a couple seconds to lean back and unlinks their heads. There, he takes a deep breath and grins, cleaning his eyes with the back of his hands before retrieving his drink and sipping from it longly."I didn't see that coming. It was not in my plan for your first time here. But somehow my heart feels less...heavy." He confesses and then finally offers a smile to the other man. "Sorry, I wouldn't have asked that if I thought it would bring up something like that." Wolfe says as he puts his hand to Ben's cheek for a moment. "I'll just pretend a hot professor was the answer for now, and a perfectly good answer at that." He says easily. Obviously trying to lighten the mood a little. "You can ask me more if you want, or.. we can just sit like this for a while. That's good too." Ben grins and looks at Wolfe for a second in silence."I suck at cooking. I was wondering if you could cook for us. I can't take junk food for much longer." He says and makes that puppy face again to the other man. "Cook?" Wolfe suddenly looks a little unsure, which is not a common expression at all on his face. "Well, this will be interesting. I'm, uh.." He laughs. "I kind of suck at cooking. This sounds like one of those things we should learn to do as a couple, or we're going to have some trouble."
"Well, aren't we?" Wolfe asks with an even tone, his lips curled slightly. "This is date number three by my count, so I figured if we're not calling it quits we're probably at least in the early stages of being a couple. I might be a little rusty but it feels right." He rubs Ben's back, that smile growing a little wider. "I don't think breakfast specifically requires it, but it is at least customary. And I do know how to make toast and scrambled eggs." Ben smiles brightly and nods."Just the perfect breakfast I had in my mind. Toast, scrambled eggs and a hot boyfriend with red hair. But now I realize I didn't move a thing in my bedroom and you'll probably trip over a medicine book and find the hidden pile of dirty undies under my bed." He then hides his face with both hands in a childish way, joking. "Oh no. I'll discover you practice medicine and wear underwear. Whatever will I do with this sinful knowledge?" Wolfe says teasingly. Then he's leaning forward to grab his drink, back to taking a sip. "Listen, I know the whole impression thing, I don't really care, people get a little messy, that's life." Ben takes a deep breath and sips from his glass once more before standing up and serving the two glasses with more champagne."You'll need a bit more of that, then. Me too." He says and then offers a hand to Wolfe to take it so he can pull him back on his feet."Let me show you my room. You can't say I didn't warn you, though." | |