Henry Townshend is a ghost magnet (room_302) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-21 17:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, derek souza, henry townshend |
Who: Henry Townshend and Derek Souza
What: A (somewhat) awkward lunch
When: Mid-September
Where: Pizza place
Rating/Warnings Low/None
Status: Complete!
Henry had wanted to meet Derek, but he had understood that he was a friend of Chloe’s from the Dreams and that the two of them would meet whenever Chloe thought it would have been appropriate for them.
It hadn’t been Chloe’s fault that she had gotten the Dream Plague which had forced Derek and Henry to meet under what were admittedly extremely stressful circumstances. That being said, Henry had liked Derek a lot. The guy was stubborn and persistent, but he was straight forward. Henry had gotten the impression that with Derek what you saw was what you got. Henry appreciated that. People, as a general rule, and with a few exceptions, were deceptive and you never could tell just what they were thinking. That always unnerved the photographer. This was probably why his closest friend was brash, abrasive and very easily could break him in half if she ever truly wanted to.
It may not have happened the way Chloe would have liked, but Henry and Derek had officially met and Henry felt maybe they should meet again – at least once. He felt as though he sort of owed it to Derek. Not that he didn’t think Derek wouldn’t have taken care of Chloe, it was obvious she meant a lot to him…it was more so to thank him for kind of being an anchor for Henry, which of course, he admitted was weird.
So Henry offered to meet again, this time for lunch. A nice neutral no pressure setting for the two of them to exchange more than a handful of words at a time about hospitals.
Derek had heard about Henry before ever meeting him. Up until Chloe was sick he wasn’t sure how he felt about the guy. But when Chloe was bleeding from her eyes and intestines it was clear to Derek how much Henry cared for her. Which was really all Derek wanted. As long as Chloe was happy and taken care of he was fine. It didn’t hurt that Henry had sided with him on the get Chloe to the hospital thing as well.
When Chloe’s boyfriend had suggested getting lunch Derek certainly wasn’t going to say no. It was true he wasn’t exactly the most social person around, but he would do his best. Derek planned on staying in Chloe’s life it would probably be a good idea if he got along with her boyfriend.
Derek entered the agreed upon restaurant and spotted Henry right away. The soon-to-be werewolf made a beeline for the guy. “Hey,” he greeted with a nod taking a seat across from him.
“Hey,” Henry greeted in return. He’d already gotten them a table and got to his feet when he spotted Derek come in and head towards him. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do at this point. Shake hands? Was that too familiar? Offer Derek to sit with him? Of course he was going to sit with him, that’s what he was there for. Thank him for coming? That’d have been weird, right? Even though inside the restaurant was cool and comfortable, Henry felt a trickle of sweat run down his back. He really wanted this to go well, and so far it was just awkward.
After some awkward shuffling and wondering if he needed to say anything else, Henry finally sat back down at the table. “I haven’t ordered anything yet,” he said.
Derek’s brow furrowed at Henry standing up for a moment. That was weird, but whatever moving on. “That’s fine. You good with meat lovers?” If not Derek could probably eat it all himself. He had a big appetite. In fact… “Or we can each just get our own.” He had no clue how much Henry ate, but left over pizza was fine too.
“Meat lovers is fine.” Henry wasn’t a pizza snob. He would eat just about any topping, with a few exceptions. Pineapples and fish had no business on a pizza in his opinion. Then he raised a brow at Derek’s next suggestion. Each get their own? Like personal pan pizzas? Henry glanced around at the other patrons. Most were sharing large pizzas at their tables, but he saw one or two parties with their own little personal pizzas, so Henry supposed that’d be alright. “Yeah, sure,” Henry shrugged, “we can do that if you want.”
“Cool,” Derek replied when the waitress came over he ordered a medium sized meat lovers pizza for himself and a coke. Once Henry placed his order Derek turned his attention back to the guy. “So how long have you and Chloe been together?” He was curious and really Chloe was the only thing they had in common as far as he knew.
Henry ordered himself a supreme and also a coke. He noted the glance the waitress spared between the two of them before shrugging and leaving to place their orders. Now that the formalities of food ordering were out of the way, the two young men were left to talk. As of now, Chloe was the only thing the two of them had in common, so it only made sense the conversation would start with her relationship with Henry.
“We met officially in April,” Henry said. “In the laundry room of our apartment building.” He kind of grinned remembering how he’d knocked the bottle of detergent over, startling her. That was how they met: Henry’s klutziness. Things had progressed from there. “We’d talked once or twice on the network before then, when she first signed on.”
Henry paused as the waitress came back over and deposited a glass of soda in front of each of them and informed them their pizzas would be out momentarily. Once she had gone again, Henry turned his attention back to Derek. “We became official a month or so later.”
He wrapped his hands around the plastic soda glass, thankful for something to anchor them to keep from fidgeting with his napkin or silverware. “How long have you been in California?” He asked.
Derek nodded as Henry explained. If only he had started dreaming sooner. No, he wasn’t going to think like that. Henry was a nice guy and he was happy for Chloe. Besides there was no way she would be interested in him anyway. Even in the dreams she wanted Simon. “Good for you guys,” Derek commented taking a sip of his coke.
“About a year,” Derek replied answering Henry’s question. “Since I started med school.”
There was a part of Henry that was a little jealous of Derek. Henry had always kind of wondered what it would have been like to have someone on the Network who Dreamed the same things he did. Not that it was an option for him, really. He was alone in his Dreams, crawling through one world and then the next fighting (or being attacked by) monsters and generally not understanding what the hell was going on. It was a strange and often time lonely existence, and one Henry was already somewhat familiar with.
He probably should have been jealous of Derek for completely different reasons. Sharing Dreams gave those who shared them a kind of kinship Henry missed out on. But he wasn’t jealous, not really. For all the reasons Henry wondered what it would be like to have a Dream companion, he would never want to deprive either Chloe or Derek of that connection.
Hearing Derek was in med school sparked his interest. His head tilted forward a little bit as he listened. “What kind of medicine do you want to practice?”
Derek didn’t know what it was like to not have someone from dreams around. Chloe had started dreaming before him, knew more than he did. Which was opposite of how it was in the dreams. Derek having grown up knowing about supernaturals and Chloe not learning until she got to Lyle House, from Derek and Simon. But that was beside the point. He would never understand what Henry went through in dreams or real life. Granted, he wouldn’t understand what anyone else went through in their dreams.
“Not exactly medicine,” Derek clarified. Although that’s what most people went to med school for so he couldn’t blame Henry for the assumption. “Genetics, specifically genetic diseases.”
Henry blinked. It wasn’t everyday you met someone in the field of genetics. Henry wondered, knowing what he did of Derek and Chloe’s dreams, if it was fitting or not. Regardless, it was impressive and that showed in the way Henry kind of stared at Derek for a moment or two. It made his career as a photographer sort of pale in comparison. “Wow,” he said once he realized he should probably say something before things got awkward, “that’s really impressive.”
Derek shrugged. He never really thought of it like that. He had just always been interested in science. As he got older more so genetics, though now he wondered if that was because of the dreams. It couldn’t be a coincidence that his own genetics were messed with, right? “What do you do?” Derek asked getting the subject off of himself.
“I’m a photographer,” Henry answered. “Right now I’m working for a media studio here in town.” Henry didn’t mention that said studio’s bread and butter was pornos, even if they were cheesy and hilarious sci-fi and horror spoofs. He didn’t think that would make a very good second impression here. “I do their promo shots, DVD covers and whatever else they need me to do behind a camera. I do a lot of freelance work too. Weddings, parties, grand openings,” Henry shrugged, “that kind of thing.”
Derek shouldn’t have been surprised. Simon was an artist in the dreams and real life and Chloe was interested in him. In the dreams, real life she didn’t know his brother. Plus, Chloe was into film. “That’s cool,” Derek said with a nod as their pizzas were brought over. “The same studio as Chloe?” Although he had already said they met at their apartment building. Which didn’t mean they couldn’t work at the same studio, just wasn’t the place they met.
Glasses, plates and the napkin holder had to be rearranged in order for two medium pizzas to end up on the table. Henry forwent his plate and had the pizza placed right in front of him. He didn’t see the need to dirty a plate if the two of them weren’t sharing.
He chuckled a little bit as he picked up his first slice. It was, of course piping hot and Henry had to handle it with the utmost care. “No,” he shook his head, smiling a little. “The studio I work for is a little more...low budget,” that was probably the best way of putting it. “I enjoy it though. Beats working at the Picture Palace, that’s for damn sure.”
Derek followed suite picking up a slice of pizza and taking a bite. Delicious. “That’s what’s important,” he agreed between mouthfuls. Henry seemed like a pretty great guy. Derek felt better knowing Chloe was in good hands. And who knew, maybe the two of them could even become friends.
Henry was relaxing more as their conversation continued. Derek wasn’t a chatterbox, and Henry actually liked that about him. Henry wasn’t much of a talker either and liked that he didn’t have to keep their conversation going before anything got awkward. Everything remained casual and light and Henry liked the fact that the two of them could sit and enjoy their pizza without the silence getting awkward. However, Henry may have bitten off a little more than he could chew - pun intended - by ordering a medium pizza for himself. No worries, left overs would certainly get eaten quickly.
“What do you do when you’re not studying genetic diseases?” He asked. Maybe they could find some other common ground to work from.
Derek had already made it more than halfway through the pie. The guy could eat. It was a werewolf thing he assumed. Well he could always eat, but then had he always had the werewolf gene or did the dreams cause it? He wasn’t sure. In the dreams he always had it, but it didn’t manifest until puberty. Anyway, beside the point. He was supposed to be focussing on his conversation with Henry.
“I run a lot,” he responded honestly. “Sometimes play basketball.” Not so much since he moved though, that was usually something he did with his brother. “You?” because well it was the polite thing to do, ask about the other person’s hobbies as well. Derek may not be the most social person but he knew that much.
Henry wasn’t what one would call athletic, at least not in the traditional sense. He had never tried out for any sports in school, mostly because he knew even if he made a team, he’d just be in a different school the next year. He had been the same way about after school clubs as well. Any friends he made would just be gone, so after a while he just didn’t see the point.
“I was hit in the face once with a basketball,” he said with a kind of smile and a shrug of his shoulder, “but that’s as close to an actual game of basketball as I’ve gotten.” He watched Derek hoover down his pizza at an amazing rate and wondered just where the hell he was putting it all. He didn’t mention anything though, that may have come across as rude, and he was trying very hard not to put Derek off. “I, uh, I like cars,” he said instead. “Sometimes I’ll go to one of the public auctions and see if they’re selling any classics.”
So maybe they didn’t have much in common other than Chloe. But still, Derek was trying to be more social. Make more friends. So he was doing his best to keep his bluntness in check. “I don’t know much about cars,” he commented picking up another slice of pizza. As for why it didn’t show, could be his werewolf metabolism, or the fact that he ran every day, a lot. He didn’t think much about it, he wasn’t all that concerned with his looks. “Sounds like an interesting enough hobby, though,” he added as an afterthought. Compliments were supposed to be good right?
“It is,” Henry nodded. He had given up trying to keep up with Derek’s consumption of pizza. Four slices was about as much as Henry could stomach for the moment. He sat back in his seat and regarded Derek thoughtfully. “If you’re interested you can come with me to an auction. They sell just about anything you can think of there. Cars, machines, printers, boxes containing who knows what?” It’d give them something to do together, try this whole friendship thing and see if it worked.
He wasn’t all that interested in cars as he already stated, but he supposed it couldn’t hurt to check out an auction. “I could try it,” Derek said with a small shrug in between bites. “Wouldn’t hurt.” Worst case he wouldn’t enjoy it and then he’d know not to go to another one.
The public auction sold more than just cars. Henry had been to one in which an honest to goodness old fashioned popcorn cart had been on the bidding block. He had thought it was neat, anyway. And it gave something he and Derek could do. They didn’t have to be bosom buddies or anything, and Henry wouldn’t push the matter. But at least they had gotten to know each other at least a little bit over lunch. It was a pretty good start at something.
And they were back to silence. Which was perfectly fine with Derek. He wasn’t much of a talker anyway. It felt good to just sit and continue to eat without having to try and force conversation and make small talk. Maybe this friendship thing could really work out.