Val nodded. It was a nice city, the best part being that it wasn't dry or overly hot. He had lived in a desert for a while and hated every second of it. "Yeah, it's a pretty nice city, definitely a favorite." He took one last sip of his coffee, finishing it. It was the smallest size they had, so it didn't take that long to drink it. Any bigger of a size and he'd be jittery from the caffeine.
During the whole conversation, Val had been looking at the other. He realized that he found Ben attractive. Although, that wasn't such a strange thing for Val. He thought many people were attractive and he was usually pretty vocal about it.
Ben realized that he had been doing more talking and looking at Val than actually drinking, which explained why he still wasn’t close to finishing. He took a long sip as Val spoke, trying to savor it like he usually did. He was a slow eater (and sometimes drinker) for that reason. But something that Val had said intrigued him.
“A favorite? Have you traveled a lot?” he asked, curious. Ben would have liked to travel, but he didn’t have the money. Which reminded him that he needed to get a part time job in the city. He filed that thought away for later, hoping he’d remember to come back to it. He was quite forgetful sometimes.
Val was quiet for a second, trying to make a cohesive story that didn't make it sound like he left the house at age 10. "Yeah, you could say that. For a couple years, I just traveled around, staying in each place for around a month. Eventually, I settled here and I haven't traveled as much since then." That was believable enough, right? He was always worried about telling humans about his life, in fear of slipping and telling them that he actually helped build the first airplane with the Wright brothers, or that he had been a good friend of Queen Elizabeth the first, or something of the sort. This simple question wasn't anything close to that magnitude, but he still worried about it.
“Cool,” Ben replied, fascinated. Living somewhere for only a few months sounded a bit like an adventure to him. “Where have you lived?” While Ben didn’t always talk this much upon first meeting someone, when he was really interested in what a person had to say he was like a dog with a bone.
"You sure have a lot of questions, don't you?" Val asked with a chuckle. It was rare when someone talked this much to him, especially a human that talked this much to him. Most of his interactions with humans, at that point, were limited to store and restaurant employees. With the occasional comment on his clothing style or a tee shirt.
"Well, let's see. New York City, Nova Scotia, Vancouver, Dublin, London, Moscow, and Tokyo. As you can tell, I'm a city dweller. It takes a lot of convincing for me to leave the city." Val smiled. He had been to a few more places, but he thought it probably wasn't important.
Ben blushed at the questions comment, not having realized how many questions he had been asking. “That’s a lot of cities,” Ben responded. “It must be so cool so see so many different places.” He imagined what it would be like to see all of those places besides just through a television screen. How it would feel to live there, even for a month or so.
Of course, being the awkward guy that he was, Ben’s mind circled back to Val’s earlier comment about him asking a lot of questions. “Um, if you want I can stop asking questions. I just find your travelling interesting.” He also didn’t love talking about himself, so there was that too.
"Oh no, I don't mind at all. Don't feel bad, my friend. It's not often that I have full-blown conversations with people, so this is great." Val smiled brightly at Ben, hoping that would make him feel better about all the questions. In the back of his mind, he was hoping that the two of them would become friends, possibly more. But that wasn't the present goal. To be fair, the man seated in front of him was very pretty, that always had a play in things for Val, even though he knew it was a bit shallow.
"But yeah, it's amazing to be able to see so many places. My favorite was definitely either Moscow or Dublin. And the accents were just wonderful. I am a sucker for foreign accents." He was still smiling as he spoke, in a really good mood. The best mood he had been in this early in the morning for a while.
“Oh my god tell me about it,” Ben agreed with a laugh. “Irish accents are so hot.” He blushed. “Do you have pictures? My friend went on a trip to Europe a few months ago and her pictures were amazing. She visited Ireland too!”
He was glad that Val wasn’t actually getting annoyed with him. Chill, he told himself. It would be highly unlikely that he would already hate you anyway.
"So if I spoke in an Irish accent, I'd be classified as hot? I guess need to study up on that accent then." Val teased with a silly smile. In a way, he was stalling, trying to think of a way to deflect the question. He had gone to Ireland when the only mobile phones were old flip phones with terrible quality pictures, if any. Although, he had taken a polaroid camera, even though regular cameras had been a thing. He just preferred physical things, there had been a lot of technological malfunctions when he used magic.
Ben blushed. To be honest, this guy was already classified as hot to him. But he didn’t have courage to actually admit that. Instead he brushed back a lock of hair and replied, “Maybe.” He had an equally teasing smile, though his was slightly more shy. “I mean, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.”
"Perfect, if we ever see each other again, I'll make sure to be speaking in an Irish accent." Val smiled with a small laugh. "Anyway, about the pictures, I only have polaroid pictures. I prefer to have a physical picture that I can hold. I've had some… bad luck with technology, like phones and laptops, in the past. "
“I get it,” Ben replied with a smile. “I’ve had my fair share of technological mishaps, mostly by dropping things because I’m kind of a klutz. I’ve gotten a lot better about that since high school though, which is good for me since they might not have let me in a lab otherwise. Plus polaroids are cool. Vintage and all that.” He stopped, finding himself rambling a bit. Honestly, Ben was surprised he was turning out to be so chatty today.
Val didn't mind the rambling, he wouldn't have minded if Ben had continued. "I-" He was about to say that it had been cool living through that time and that it had been a favorite of his. Of course, he stopped himself before saying so with only a split second's hesitation to continue the sentence. "I would love to be able to travel back in time to experience what it was like for there to only be those, no mobile phone option." He settled with that and kept up a smile.
“Yeah, that would’ve been awesome!” Ben agreed excitedly. “My sister always rolls her eyes because she can’t live without her phone, but I think it’d be great! With records and cool clothes and music and everything. There are cool things about living now too though, like take out and Netflix and stuff.”
"Many things are for sure easier now than they were then. And we all know I'd still stand out like a sore thumb at that time too." Val laughed a little, referring to his clothing style. Instinctively, he went for another sip of his coffee. Realizing he finished it already, he chuckled a little to himself. He was suddenly very aware of how long they had been talking at the coffee shop.
"Am I making you late for anything?" He asked, feeling a bit guilty. He didn't have anything, but that didn't mean the other didn't as well.
Ben blinked, checking the time as well. “Oh, no, you’re good,” he responded. “I actually don’t have much to do today anyway.” He offered a smile to Val. “Wait, I’m not making you late for anything, am I?”
"That's great to hear. And you aren't making me late for anything except maybe my appointment to sit on my couch and do absolutely nothing. Normally I would have taken my coffee and left, but today is the rare day where I have absolutely nothing, at least nothing yet." Val explained smiling. He was glad it had been today where someone talked to him, instead of the day before.
“Oh, that’s good then!” Ben responded with another smile. “So you’re pretty busy then, I take it? Me too. But my classes don’t actually start for another week, and I haven’t found a part time job or anything yet, so for now I’m pretty free.” He finished off his own coffee.
"Yeah, I am usually pretty busy. Today is a much-needed break." Val noticed Ben finish his coffee. "Would you like to join me for a walk or something?" He asked with a questioning smile. As much as he loved the coffee shop, he'd rather not socialize there all day and take up a table.
Ben shrugged, glancing around and realizing that were taking up a table that could be used by people who hadn’t finished their coffee. “Sure, sounds good,” he agreed, a little bit excited that was managing to hit it off so well with this guy. He was usually a ball of nerves when meeting new people, and, well, he was still a ball of nerves. But this time he was a ball of nerves who actually talked, so that was progress.
"Perfect, we should go now so we're not taking up these spots much longer." Val said, smiling and already standing up. Ben was his first human friend in quite a while. With mostly being around other warlocks and creatures, he hadn't socialized with many humans, let alone become one of their friends. He picked up his empty coffee cup and waited for Ben.
Ben picked up his empty cup as well, standing up and throwing it away before holding the door open for Val. He liked to do little things like that, even though his sister thought that it was annoying. Val seemed different than most of Ben’s friends somehow, but it was probably the clothes. Val’s fashion sense was a bit out there.
Following suit, Val threw away his cup and followed Ben. "Why thank you." He said smiling. He was always the one to do that. He had planned to for Ben but the other beat him to it. "So, you just moved to Seattle, right? Because I know the best park a few blocks down."
Ben grinned. “Yep, I just got here,” he agreed, following Val. “Let’s go. I’ve always liked parks.” Ben was a pretty agreeable person, liking a lot of things. He ran a hand through his hair again.
"Perfect, we need to go this way then." Val turned to the right, heading the opposite direction of his apartment. "So do you know anyone else here?" He asked, looking over at Ben. The way they were going was less populated. It was a bit longer of a route, but less people on the sidewalk made up for it.
