It’s their second date. Walter would argue that it’s their third, because for some reason he happens to count the night they went scrambling through New York City after Baba Evgenia’s invisible duck. Aaron does not, because a date requires that both parties have fun and there not be a cranky Russian witch involved, never mind the fact that they just happened to be at the same place at the same time and no one asked anyone out, but Walter’s opinion is Walter’s opinion, and he’s learning that it’s hard to change that. It also probably doesn’t help that Walter’s general outlook on the world is a lot less complicated, having been as protected as he has, but Aaron is also learning that that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s unaware.
During their first encounter with each other, Aaron mostly saw a scared kid stuck in an impossible situation. A nerd who cared more about the things he’s accomplished than actually who he was. Slowly, he’s figuring out that there is more there, lurking underneath the surface, and while part of him just wants to pry it out of him, it’s something he’d rather do on his own time.
“You know you can just ask me, right?”
Aaron tips his head back a bit so that he can see Walter’s face. They’re stretched out on a blanket on the roof of the Pentaghast building, staring up at the stars. Head to head, bodies angled away from each other for now, but still close enough that they can hear what the other is saying. This adventure up to the roof had been preceded by the questions “Can I cook you dinner?” and “Can I show you something?” so while he appreciates Walter looking for his verbal and enthusiastic consent on everything, it’s starting to get a little tedious. He shifts a bit before rolling onto his side to face him.
“We are on a date. That implies a bit of getting to know each other, which also implies asking questions.”
Walter glances up at him with a bit of a lopsided smile. “You honestly do not want me to just stream of conscious questions all over you. Because they would never stop, and eventually I’d ask something stupid just because I can, and honestly none of this would end well.”
Aaron laughs. “Maybe I do. Better to know what I’m getting into now, right?”
Walter rolls his eyes a bit as he shifts to match Aaron’s posture for a moment, propping himself up on one elbow. “Also I’m sort of your king? It’s a weird power dynamic that I have no idea how to navigate in interpersonal relationships that I want to be as far away from that as possible. So … for now, while we’re getting to know each other, I don’t want you to feel like you have to answer anything you don’t want to or even entertain the question if you don’t want to.”
“Okay, that’s fair.” It’s something Aaron hadn’t really considered, probably because he doesn’t really see Walter as his king. They met before he even had to assume the role. “Ask away.”
“Do you think I’m going to be good at this? And please don’t tell me that I will just because you think it’s what I want to hear.”
Aaron squints for a moment. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I value your opinion,” Walter says with a small nod. “And I think you might be the only person who knows me at least somewhat well who I can trust to give me an honest opinion.”
“Okay, that’s fair, but why are you asking me this now?”
The other man is quiet for a moment, shifting back onto his back again and running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t exactly had the best start? I mean, Merlin manipulated me, right from the get go.”
“And you didn’t let him win.” Aaron swings his body around for a moment, shifting so that they’re both pointing the same direction so he can more directly look him in the eye. “You want me to be honest?”
“Yes. Desperately. Be honest with me.”
“When we first met, I didn’t know what to make of you, at all. You were a little all over the place, and my experience with Pendragons had been only tangentially, through stories that Apollo would tell about that one he used to bang two hundred years ago, so when Deirdre and I found out what you were, it was … not what I thought. At all. Part of me didn’t think that this rambling nerd could actually live up to Arthur’s legacy.”
“Okay.” Walter swallows for a moment. “Okay. Harsh, but I did ask you to be honest, and since you qualified that, I’m assuming that there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
Aaron smirks a bit before nodding. “But … you stepped up. You took the news that Merlin was fucking with you, and you did what you had to do to protect the world. You trusted your gut and did what you had to do, and that’s what makes a good king, more than anything else.” He reaches one hand up and brushes a hand against Walter’s cheek for a moment. “Look, in my experience first impressions can say a lot, but they’re not everything. You’ve proved that you’ve got good instincts. Just trust yourself and you’ll be okay. And if you’re not sure, I’ll do my best to always be honest with you. Deal?”
Walter pauses for a moment, before nodding his agreement. “Deal.” There’s a beat before he looks up at Aaron and shakes his head a bit. “Sorry. This is only our third date, I should probably be trying to stay cool and aloof.”
“Second date.”
“Third. The duck totally counts.”
“Second, that was not a date.”
“You kissed me at the end of it.”
“We wound up covered in mud and garbage, that is not a date.”
“And yet you still kissed me anyway.”
Aaron rolls his eyes before leaning in a bit, the hand against his cheek moving down towards Walter’s chest. “If this was actually our third date, we would be doing something way more interesting.”
The other man’s throat bobs with a hard swallow, and he stammers for a moment as Aaron’s face hovers a bit closer. “I mean, this is our third date, so we should absolutely be doing those things. In fact, we can go do them right now, if that’s what you really want.”
“Mmm.” Aaron makes a show as though he’s considering that. “Yeah, but I have this rule about waiting until the third date to make sure I really like a person, you know?” He has no such rule but making Walter squirm is more the point at the moment, and he pulls back to get to his feet a bit. “Actually, it’s getting late. I probably should go.”
Walter flops back onto the roof with a groan, one hand coming up to cover his eyes. “God you suck.”
Aaron laughs as he reaches down a hand to help him up, and Walter takes it begrudgingly, pulling to his feet. As they make their way to the door, Walter slides his hands into his pockets with a slow smile.
“Sure you don’t want to stay for dessert?”
“Is dessert you?”
“No, I am not that confident. Dessert is the banana cream pie that I cooked this afternoon.”
“You bake too?” Aaron teases a bit as he waits for Walter to open the roof door. “You’re just full of surprises.”
Walter grins. “So you in or not?”
“Fine,” Aaron replies with a nod. “I think I can stay for one slice.”
If two hours later he happens to be texting his roommate that he’s not going to be coming home tonight, well, that’s a choice for future Aaron to worry about.
i've got a question | original (paladinverse) | 1,324 | round 1, set 5
It’s their second date. Walter would argue that it’s their third, because for some reason he happens to count the night they went scrambling through New York City after Baba Evgenia’s invisible duck. Aaron does not, because a date requires that both parties have fun and there not be a cranky Russian witch involved, never mind the fact that they just happened to be at the same place at the same time and no one asked anyone out, but Walter’s opinion is Walter’s opinion, and he’s learning that it’s hard to change that. It also probably doesn’t help that Walter’s general outlook on the world is a lot less complicated, having been as protected as he has, but Aaron is also learning that that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s unaware.
During their first encounter with each other, Aaron mostly saw a scared kid stuck in an impossible situation. A nerd who cared more about the things he’s accomplished than actually who he was. Slowly, he’s figuring out that there is more there, lurking underneath the surface, and while part of him just wants to pry it out of him, it’s something he’d rather do on his own time.
“You know you can just ask me, right?”
Aaron tips his head back a bit so that he can see Walter’s face. They’re stretched out on a blanket on the roof of the Pentaghast building, staring up at the stars. Head to head, bodies angled away from each other for now, but still close enough that they can hear what the other is saying. This adventure up to the roof had been preceded by the questions “Can I cook you dinner?” and “Can I show you something?” so while he appreciates Walter looking for his verbal and enthusiastic consent on everything, it’s starting to get a little tedious. He shifts a bit before rolling onto his side to face him.
“We are on a date. That implies a bit of getting to know each other, which also implies asking questions.”
Walter glances up at him with a bit of a lopsided smile. “You honestly do not want me to just stream of conscious questions all over you. Because they would never stop, and eventually I’d ask something stupid just because I can, and honestly none of this would end well.”
Aaron laughs. “Maybe I do. Better to know what I’m getting into now, right?”
Walter rolls his eyes a bit as he shifts to match Aaron’s posture for a moment, propping himself up on one elbow. “Also I’m sort of your king? It’s a weird power dynamic that I have no idea how to navigate in interpersonal relationships that I want to be as far away from that as possible. So … for now, while we’re getting to know each other, I don’t want you to feel like you have to answer anything you don’t want to or even entertain the question if you don’t want to.”
“Okay, that’s fair.” It’s something Aaron hadn’t really considered, probably because he doesn’t really see Walter as his king. They met before he even had to assume the role. “Ask away.”
“Do you think I’m going to be good at this? And please don’t tell me that I will just because you think it’s what I want to hear.”
Aaron squints for a moment. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I value your opinion,” Walter says with a small nod. “And I think you might be the only person who knows me at least somewhat well who I can trust to give me an honest opinion.”
“Okay, that’s fair, but why are you asking me this now?”
The other man is quiet for a moment, shifting back onto his back again and running a hand through his hair. “I haven’t exactly had the best start? I mean, Merlin manipulated me, right from the get go.”
“And you didn’t let him win.” Aaron swings his body around for a moment, shifting so that they’re both pointing the same direction so he can more directly look him in the eye. “You want me to be honest?”
“Yes. Desperately. Be honest with me.”
“When we first met, I didn’t know what to make of you, at all. You were a little all over the place, and my experience with Pendragons had been only tangentially, through stories that Apollo would tell about that one he used to bang two hundred years ago, so when Deirdre and I found out what you were, it was … not what I thought. At all. Part of me didn’t think that this rambling nerd could actually live up to Arthur’s legacy.”
“Okay.” Walter swallows for a moment. “Okay. Harsh, but I did ask you to be honest, and since you qualified that, I’m assuming that there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
Aaron smirks a bit before nodding. “But … you stepped up. You took the news that Merlin was fucking with you, and you did what you had to do to protect the world. You trusted your gut and did what you had to do, and that’s what makes a good king, more than anything else.” He reaches one hand up and brushes a hand against Walter’s cheek for a moment. “Look, in my experience first impressions can say a lot, but they’re not everything. You’ve proved that you’ve got good instincts. Just trust yourself and you’ll be okay. And if you’re not sure, I’ll do my best to always be honest with you. Deal?”
Walter pauses for a moment, before nodding his agreement. “Deal.” There’s a beat before he looks up at Aaron and shakes his head a bit. “Sorry. This is only our third date, I should probably be trying to stay cool and aloof.”
“Second date.”
“Third. The duck totally counts.”
“Second, that was not a date.”
“You kissed me at the end of it.”
“We wound up covered in mud and garbage, that is not a date.”
“And yet you still kissed me anyway.”
Aaron rolls his eyes before leaning in a bit, the hand against his cheek moving down towards Walter’s chest. “If this was actually our third date, we would be doing something way more interesting.”
The other man’s throat bobs with a hard swallow, and he stammers for a moment as Aaron’s face hovers a bit closer. “I mean, this is our third date, so we should absolutely be doing those things. In fact, we can go do them right now, if that’s what you really want.”
“Mmm.” Aaron makes a show as though he’s considering that. “Yeah, but I have this rule about waiting until the third date to make sure I really like a person, you know?” He has no such rule but making Walter squirm is more the point at the moment, and he pulls back to get to his feet a bit. “Actually, it’s getting late. I probably should go.”
Walter flops back onto the roof with a groan, one hand coming up to cover his eyes. “God you suck.”
Aaron laughs as he reaches down a hand to help him up, and Walter takes it begrudgingly, pulling to his feet. As they make their way to the door, Walter slides his hands into his pockets with a slow smile.
“Sure you don’t want to stay for dessert?”
“Is dessert you?”
“No, I am not that confident. Dessert is the banana cream pie that I cooked this afternoon.”
“You bake too?” Aaron teases a bit as he waits for Walter to open the roof door. “You’re just full of surprises.”
Walter grins. “So you in or not?”
“Fine,” Aaron replies with a nod. “I think I can stay for one slice.”
If two hours later he happens to be texting his roommate that he’s not going to be coming home tonight, well, that’s a choice for future Aaron to worry about.