Aidan Turner (whisperisashout) wrote in genome_project, @ 2010-05-03 18:07:00 |
|
|||
Current mood: | happy |
Entry tags: | may 2010 |
Who: Aidan and NPC!Jay
What: Another blind date
Where: Random restaurant
When: Friday evening (30th April)
Rating: PG-13 (beware of teh gay)
Note: Thanks to Mands for writing the NPC :)
Much like Aidan, Jay had been on several not so fabulous dates and was hesitant to get involved yet another… diabolical one. Thankfully he’d thought ahead and asked his best friend to call him if he so much as sent a SOS text and pretend like there was some massive emergency.
If only he’d thought of that six dates ago.
Jay was nervous, he always was before a date, and hadn’t been adjusting the way his blonde hair sat around his ears or fussed with his shirt collar for fifteen minutes straight, definitely not.
Please God let this one be at the very least cute. That wasn’t too much to ask for, was it? Really? Note to self: if this date turned out to be ugly and boring he was going to kill his aunt because she’d totally been the mastermind behind his sudden surge in blind dates.
He blew out a breath before checking it again. Once satisfied all was okay he sat back and started to drum his fingertips against the table.
Please please let this one be cute.
Aidan huffed out a breath and stood outside the restaurant, looking up at it and checking his appearance in the window. He looked okay. Shirt, jeans, jacket and converse. He was comfortable, that was most important, right?
His mom had told him that this guy - Jay - was better than the others. He had blonde hair, that was all he knew, but apparently Aidan would be able to spot him. That gave him the advantage, right? God, he hated this whole blind date thing. He just wished he could date Ethan and be done with it, but no. That wasn’t to be. Ethan wasn’t interested, Aidan just had to lean to let go. He’d never been good at that.
Walking in, he prayed at least that the guy would be cute and, what do you know, he was. That was a turn up for the books. He wet his lower lip, suddenly nervous. He had spotted Jay - his mom’s description had been good enough.
He crossed over and stopped opposite the guy. “Jay, right?” he asked, looking a little nervous. “I’m Aidan, I think we’re- uh- yeah.” he rubbed the back of his neck, already feeling like an idiot.
Jay looked up from his restless drumming of fingertips against the table and just offered a smile as Aidan was a pleasant surprise, he was cute and not forty and overweight. This was definitely a good start.
He got to his feet and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, Jay. It's nice to meet you and I just gotta say you being cute is a real relief because this late date I was on the guy was two hundred pounds and had like three stomachs." And then he realised he was babbling and just offered a self conscious smile. "Sorry, I tend to do that when I get nervous."
Aidan smiled, "It's okay, I do too." He grinned and then said, "Y'know? I had a similar thing. I mean, the last couple of dates I've been on had me thinking that maybe it was worth finding out if I could bash my brains in using the table." He shifted and indicated that Jay should sit down.
He did so once the other man had, fiddling with the napkin on the table. "Though this is a good start. You're cute." He caught himself a second later and then looked like he wanted to hit the table with his head again.
Jay gave a small laugh and grinned. "Well, that's definitely good to know. I think you're cute and you think I'm cute, this is a better start already." He sat down after a moment and pushed a menu over to Aidan. "I hear the Risotto is really good."
He smoothed a strand of long'ish hair behind his ear and glanced at the waiter. "Did you want anything to drink?"
"Yeah?" Aidan took a slow breath in and was pleasantly surprised when he found out that the guy didn't stink. He smiled, "I guess I'll go for that then, and a lite beer," he added, glancing up at the waiter.
He shifted in the chair and tapped his fingers against the menu. "This is definitely a better start. For one, you didn't like, work out before you arrived or anything, right?"
Jay lifted an eyebrow. "Uh, no? I showered. I tend to do that before I got out on a date." He asked the waiter to bring over two beers before he took a quick look at the menu, trying to decide what he wanted.
"So, what is it you do for a living? And before you say I should know already, I do, but I'd rather hear it from you than from your mother."
Aidan chuckled, "It's a long story. In summary? Fitness freak, bad BO, aversion to showering before dates." He wrinkled his nose in quite a visual representation of how much that out come was one that he did. not. want.
He rolled his eyes. "You actually spoke to my mom? Wow. Uh, I'm a journalist. Not that interesting, since nothing ever really happens here." Which was a lie, Aidan knew something weird was happening, he just didn't know what and hadn't spoken to anyone but Eleanor about it.
Jay chuckled at Aidan's description of a previous date, snorting a little. "Sounds like one of mine. I swear the guy didn't know what cologne and deodarant was and then he wanted to get all up close and personal. No thank you."
He brushed a thumb over a ringed index finger and smirked. "Your mom? Likes to talk, but she seems to have a good heart."
"Ugh," Aidan agreed. "Not fun. His name wasn't Ryan, by any chance?" he asked, feeling a little like he'd been off 'ho-ing around with whatever eligible man his mom could find for him. In a way it was distracting him from Ethan, but then the other dates had done nothing but point out just how Awesome Ethan was because he wasn't like any of the guys he'd been set up with.
It was like some kind of epically lame cycle of deprivation or something like that.
"She does, and she's way nosey. Must be where I get it from." He gave a rueful smile and rubbed the back of his neck again. "Who's the family member that's got a disturbing interest in your love life?"
"That names sounds familiar," Jay muttered with a frown. "I guess in a small town people get around?"
He scratched behind his ear and sat back, thanking the waiter for the beers as they were brought over. "It's my aunt, she seems to think that because I haven't had an actual boyfriend in a year or so I'm going to die alone." He took a sip from his beer and rolled his eyes. "She's rather dramatic."
Aidan laughed, "You make it sound like we're all just whores." He winked and then rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that one. My mom keeps pulling the 'you're not funny looking, why don't you have a nice boy yet?' card. And a year isn't so bad. Comparatively." He reached out and took a bite of one of the breadsticks, twirling it between his fingers. Crumbs kind of went over the table.
He thanked the waiter as he came back with their beers and asked if they wanted food. He glanced at Jay. "I'll try this infamous Risotto."
"Good choice, Aidan," the waiter said - a guy he'd gone to school with. "And you'd like...?" he asked Jay.
Jay tapped the tip of his index finger against his lower lip, revealing an old piercing scar, but he couldn't know that Aidan would be able to see that. "I think I'm going to go with the cream of mushroom chicken pasta."
Once he'd made his choice he handed his menu back with a smile, turning his full attention back to Aidan. "I think dating on a small island is way harder than it would be in a big city."
"I wouldn't know, I've never been anywhere but here." Aidan admitted with a shrug, "But I'd imagine in a big city not everyone knows your mom, or the guy that you had your first crush on, and no one would be able to tell stories about the ass you make of yourself when you get drunk," he shared with a rueful smile, having handed the menu back.
He took a sip of his drink and frowned a little. "You got your lip pierced?" he asked, having spotted the tiny scar, the way the light threw the tiniest and most minimal of shadows over the indentation right underneath Jay's lip.
Jay looked surprised when Aidan asked him about his lip and instinctively his hand went to his lip, a small laugh escaping him. "Yeah, I did when I was about seventeen, but most people don't even realise it. I'm really surprised you could tell."
He sipped at his beer, Adam's apple working to swallow. "I took it out for work."
Aidan's eyes slipped down to watch Jay's throat briefly before he just shrugged, "I'm observant. Journalist and all," he said, probably a little too quickly. "Shame you had to take it out. I bet it looked cool. I always thought of getting something pierced. It might make me look more interesting. And then I think about it seriously and ew, pain, no thank you."
Jay laughed and leaned forward, folding his toned forearms on the table. "It's not that bad, it stings for a while, but it's worth it in the end." He gave Aidan a smile, enjoying this date a lot more than all the others he'd been on so far.
"But just for the record? I don't think you need anything piercing. You're hot as you are."
"I don't know, sometimes my skin has a disagreement with my clothes, I don't think having a rod of metal through me would help with anything other tha- Oh, heh, thanks." Aidan coloured a little and his hand went back to rub his neck again. It was a nervous habit, he'd done it for as long as he could remember.
He really didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't been called hot in a really long time. He just took a sip of his beer and hoped he didn't look as speechless as he felt. He probably did, which wasn't a good thing because he was actually kind of having fun and it would suck if he ruined this by just... being himself.
Jay watched Aidan's reaction and lifted an eyebrow. "Nobody's called you hot in a long time, huh?" He offered a smile. "Well, that sucks. Clearly the men on this island are blind." He wasn't even lying or using a line, it was just the truth, Aidan was hot. Much hotter than a lot of guys Jay had been out with.
Their food was brought over and Jay inhaled. "Mm, this smells good."
"I normally get adorable," Aidan admitted, lifting his shoulders. "And no, I think the guys here just have a different scale to gauge their hotness on," he pointed out with another rueful smile. He wasn't that bothered, really, it was just a surprise that an attractive guy thought he was hot.
When the food arrived, Aidan agreed with Jay and thanked the waiter again - he'd been raised to be polite all the time (his mom was Southern). "It does, I'm glad you suggested it, seriously."
Jay chuckled and took a sip from his beer. "Well I'm glad to be the first to break a tradition." He ran his tongue over that old piercing scar and picked up his nearby fork and knife. "I'm sure it'll taste as good as it smells."
He cut into the chicken and then took a bite. Yeah, it definitely tasted as good as it looked.
Aidan chuckled and started on his Risotto. The dinner was conducted mostly in silence because they were both eating and enjoying the meal, though the conversation flowed, covering topics from Aidan's job to Batman (and a discussion on whether or not Bruce Wayne was as twisted and insane as his actions indicated), and Aidan found himself actually laughing and enjoying Jay's company.
It was simple, uncomplicated. And Jay was nice and attractive and actually liked him. And that was at least a step in the right direction.
"Dessert?" he suggested, tipping his head at Jay. The fudge cake looked good. Or maybe ice-cream. Or the banana split. There was a chocolate cookie and brownie explosion thing with ice-cream that was for two. Maybe that.
Jay nodded his head with a smile. "Definitely." He glanced at the menu and chewed on his lower lip, tilting his head to look up at Aidan through his lashes. "How about we share that chocolate cookie and brownie explosion? It's enough for two."
He sipped at what would be his last drink of the evening as he didn't like to overdo it.
Aidan smiled, looking impressed. "You read my mind." He chuckled and ordered it from the waiter. He'd only had two beers and the next drink he'd gone for was a soda. The waiter disappeared off and Aidan just turned his attention back to Jay.
"You know, I was totally not looking forward to tonight," he admitted, "But I've actually had fun. I can't believe you like Batman."
"Batman is the coolest," Jay enthused with a grin. "He's way cooler than a lot of the superheroes because he has no powers and all he has is that supreme intellect and utter dedication to the cause. You've got to respect that."
"I totally respect that." Aidan said, looking confused for a second, "What other superheroes?" He lifted an eyebrow, "Other than Robin, I mean- there's not many." After all, most of the material was banned: anything that showed people with powers that weren't human. Green Arrow and Huntress, Aidan knew of. But he didn't know many others. As far as he knew, there weren't many others.
His ears metaphorically pricked up at the idea of 'powers'. What? What was that? Were there more comics out there? Aidan would have to investigate that.
"Who're you talking about?"
Jay panicked ever so slightly as he realised he'd let his mouth run away with him, when would he learn to stop doing that? Thankfully he was saved by the arrival of the dessert and he could quickly distract Aidan with sugar, especially a piece of brownie smothered in ice-cream.
The dessert tasted wonderful and they both thoroughly enjoyed it. "Dinner's on me," Jay shared with a smile. "You can buy the next one." And there he was being confident enough to assume that there would be another time.
He liked Aidan so why not be confident?
Aidan looked surprised as Jay announced they'd be having another one and the confidence was kind of... hot. He wet his lower lip and got to his feet once Jay had paid - though he insisted on being the one who left the tip. "So next time you can tell me about these superheroes that I've never heard of." He touched Jay's arm as they left the restaurant and started the walk back to Aidan's.
Thankfully neither of them lived too far from the restaurant: it was the nice thing about the island being so small. "I had fun tonight."
Jay tucked his hand into the pockets of his slacks and smiled across at Aidan. "Yeah, me too. I didn't even need to break out my best friend back up plan because after my fifth date I started roping her into saving my life if I needed it."
He continued to walk beside Aidan until they seemed to come to a natural stop. "I guess this is you, huh?"
"Me too," Aidan admitted with a laugh, "I'm glad I didn't have to text him." He fished his keys out of his pocket and just held them up. "Yeah, this is me." He glanced at the door to his apartment building, mind still whirring around the idea of superheroes with powers. That was a fascinating idea.
He tilted his head at Jay and lifted a shoulder. He wasn't as tall as Ethan, that was a good thing too, right? Definitely. "Thanks for tonight, Jay. I had fun."
Jay gave a smile. "Yeah, me too. It was a good night."
He was still for a moment before he just reached out and pulled Aidan closer, leaning down to catch the other man's mouth in a slow explorative kiss. He leaned back after a moment and smiled slowly. "Sorry, been wanting to do that since I clasped eyes on you in the restaurant."
Aidan blinked a little stupidly as Jay kissed him. It took him a couple of seconds to respond, but he did, curling his fingers in the lapels of Jay's suit jacket. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Jay's again. "Night," he said with another smile, colour catching on his cheeks. "You've got my number. Call me?"
Jay grinned at Aidan. "Yeah, definitely." He was still lingering in Aidan's personal space and he made a move to leave before he just muttered, "fuck this," and came right back to kiss Aidan a second time, hopefully giving the other man a proper chance to respond.
What? Aidan was hot and he liked him.
Aidan kissed back this time, returning it easily and totally happily before he pulled back again. "Right, well..." he wet his lower lip, even more flushed than before and he glanced down at his feet with a sheepish smile and chuckle. "Thanks." It was criminal, how long it had been since he was last kissed. "We're definitely doing this again."
Jay chuckled and smiled. "Definitely." He stepped back and lifted a hand. "I'll call you. Thanks for a great night, Aidan." And with that he turned on his heel and headed away, pleasantly surprised at how this date had gone.