RP: A Date

[roberthope]

Date: October 8th, 2011
Characters: Robert Hope, Taehyun Yi
Location: Arts Goggle (Starting at Park Place Block Party and then...)
Status: Private
Summary: Robert and Taehyun take in Arts Goggle.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[taehyun_yi]

Taehyun wasn't really sure why he called Robert. Sure it had been fun messing with him at Muse the other night, but Taehyun didn't really date. That usually required a certain amount of sharing and other shit that he had never particularly liked. But if there was one thing Taehyun had been learning this week it was that thinking about his feelings and motivations weren't that enjoyable. He had felt like calling Robert, so he had and that was that.

"Hey," he said, smiling as he approached Robert. The thought that he might be stood up hadn't crossed his mind, but he was almost relieved to spot Robert in front of the Park Place Block Party.

[roberthope]

Robert whipped around at the sound of Taehyun's voice, relieved that he hadn't been stood up and wouldn't have to wander the block party or the rest of Arts Goggle by himself. "Hi! Good to see you." There, that wasn't so hard not to sound like a tool. Now to figure out how the rest of the greeting should go. Did he stand there and wait for Taehyun to stand with him or did he hold out a hand for a handshake? Was a hug the next step?

Robert caught himself before he kicked at the sidewalk, as he was already picking up his foot. To cover, he took a step closer to Taehyun. "I've never been to this before, thanks for inviting me."

Internally, he cheered that he still sounded normal. Now to not make a jackoff joke or similar and he'd be doing really well for the day.

[taehyun_yi]

"Same here," Taehyun replied. He knew it wasn't exactly nice to be amused by Robert's uncertainty. Really, he could help it though and he'd never thought of himself as a particularly nice person anyways. He just smiled at the other man, thinking that that might help. Maybe?

"No problem. I haven't gone to one of these before either," he said. Fuck, he didn't really know where to go from here. He resisted the urge to fidget with his glasses. After wearing contacts most of the times he had never gotten quite used to them. "Thought it sounded fun, but didn't want to go by myself." Not really true, but whatever.

[roberthope]

"You want to just wander or listen to some music?" Robert felt better at the smile. Maybe he wasn't going to fuck this up. What had Riley said? Oh, right, be charming like he could be when he wanted something out of her. He could do that. Robert grinned (the one that Riley said she couldn't resist and the one that made Laszlo visit for a few extra days), sketched a quick bow and then offered his hand. "Shall we head in?"

[taehyun_yi]

"Uh, either one works really," Taehyun replied, wishing that he had thought this whole date thing or whatever it was through more and hating how nervous he sounded for a moment there. There had been plenty of good reasons why he kept to himself. Really what the hell was he doing this for?

Taehyun glanced down at the hand offered to him. "Alright," he said, still unsure but taking Robert's hand anyways. "Lead the way."

[roberthope]

So maybe that was a little much because Taehyun was clearly uncomfortable with him right now. Robert entwined their fingers anyway, figuring that Taehyun would either fake going to the bathroom and run off, leaving Robert alone somewhere or he'd tell Robert what his limits were. Or maybe both. "I was looking at the program and there's a few metal artists I wouldn't mind checking out. I figure it's never to early to get the Christmas shopping out of the way. My mother loves random shit so yeah, shop and listen at the same time? What about you? Your mom like this sort of thing?"

[taehyun_yi]

It'd been so long since he'd actually held someone's hand. Now that he thought about it, it had been literally seven years ago when he'd still been dating Jin-ae. It was kind of weird, but not really in a bad way. Just in a 'I'm super awkward and might as well be in fucking junior high right now with how I'm acting' kind of way. Taehyun kept his fingers entwined with Robert's anyway, deciding that he didn't dislike it.

"That'd be cool. There's a photographer who worked at the restaurant sometimes here. I thought I might check his stuff out too. If that's alright," he said unsure of how this was supposed to work. He hadn't seen Tyler in awhile, though he was glad that things were going well for him.

"You'll probably find a lot of stuff here then. Lots of random stuff around." Taehyun paused, remembering that he'd been asked a question. "My mom's not really that into art." Or anything else besides her self absorbed grief. "Might find something for my aunt and cousin though."

[roberthope]

"Oh? What's your mother into, then? She prefer music or books or something?" Robert started walking into the block party. There was plenty of people watching and they could hear the music from where they were at. It was a beautiful day and, surprisingly enough, no one was looking at two guys holding hands. "I love photography. We'll have to look for him. He at this section or do you think he's at one of the other locations? I had no idea this was so huge. Makes me think that maybe I should stop working so much and start enjoying Dallas.

"You been here long? Any of your family around here or are they all back..." Huh, he couldn't remember if Taehyun had told him where he was from or if he was just a forgetful asshole. "Oh, mind if we stop over there?" Robert gestured towards the handmade soaps. Riley would love some of that for Christmas. The more he got done now, the less time he'd have to spend at the mall with all the crazy holiday shoppers. Anything to avoid the mall.

[taehyun_yi]

"She's more of a music person." Taehyun remembered how the last time he'd sen her look remotely excited about something had been when he'd passed his auditions. Then he barely saw her. "I think he's in another section, close to that cafe, art gallery place. Forty-Two cups or something." He paused briefly. "Yeah, Forty-Two cups. DFW is a pretty big area. I mostly stick to Fort Worth though."

Taehyun didn't remember if he'd told Robert that he wasn't from Texas, or if he'd just assumed that. "I've been in Texas for almost fours years now. Lived in Korea for awhile and San Diego before that. My family is still in Korea." None of them really had a reason to leave. "That's fine," he said when he spotted the stand Robert was pointing at.

[roberthope]

"You want to head over that way, next?" Robert picked through the soaps, sniffing at a few of them. "What do you think of this one? Girly but not super girly?" Robert held the soap up for Taehyun to sniff.

"Korea? That's quite a trip to get here. Why'd you land here of all places?" Robert discarded another soap and then another. "I've only been in Dallas for about two years. This is my second Halloween, anyway. It's a busy time for me but I love it. It's my favorite holiday. Plus, everyone loves ghosts right now so my wallet loves it, too."

[taehyun_yi]

"Sure." Taehyun looked at all the soaps, wondering if Yu-mi might like that kind of thing. He eyed the soap that Robert held out to him before sniffing it. "Uhh, I guess? Doesn't seem too girly." Not that he was an expert of soap stuff or anything, but he supposed it smelled alright.

"I'd been wanting to move back to America for awhile. I like how spread out everything is here," he replied with a shrug. He'd honestly just thought that Texas would be the last place where someone might recognize him. "Oh, that's right, you do the ghost tours. How'd you get into that?" Taehyun certainly didn't think that was a typical career goal.

[roberthope]

"My best friend, Riley, the one that was with me last weekend? She's not super girly but she loves this shit. Last time I bought her soap, it was really floral and she threw it at me." He picked that one and another couple at random and let go of Taehyun's hand to pay for the items, adding in a small sachet of something that the lady manning the booth recommended. "Yeah? I like how much there is to do here. I grew up in this little town in the middle of farming country," he poured on the country accent, "where they had themselves some yeller furrrrr trucks," he stopped with the accent and went back to speaking normally, "and, well, I hated it. Couldn't wait to get out of there. Now, I've got plenty of heat, plenty of stuff to do and no grass to mow or snow to shovel. It's just about perfect

[taehyun_yi]

Taehyun snorted at the mental image of his friend -who he didn't really remember, so was more like an indistinct woman shaped blob in his brain- throwing the soap at him. He wondered if she had good aim or had a good throw. "I definitely like Fort Worth more than Seoul, so I might have to agree with you on the perfect thing." It was amazing the effect not getting stalked by crazy fangirls had on an individual's perception of a city

[roberthope]

"Sure, I can't remember if the metal artists are along the way. Just so you don't think it's for me but if you see some crazy metal sculpture that the artist says is a cow or a chicken or something, let me know. My mother is really into crazy animals." Seeing Taehyun's smile made Robert smile back, feeling a lot better about the day. His purchases in one hand, Robert snagged Taehyun's hand with the other. "Lead on, MacDuff," Robert said as he waited for Taehyun to guide them. "I need to explore the city more. I know a bunch of ghost hunting sites but the good stuff, like restaurants and stuff, I have no clue. I know what's around my apartment but that's it. Riley, that's my friend, moved down here a few months ago and I swear she knows more about the city than I do

[taehyun_yi]

"Whatever you say," Taehyun said with a smirk. "You sure you don't want some crazy chicken sculpture? I don't mind trying to find the metal stuff first." He was mildly surprised when Robert grabbed his hand again, but decided to just let it be as he still didn't really dislike it. "Well, there're a lot of different areas in the city. I've only lived in Fort Worth for the past year. Was in Denton for school up until then." He shrugged, surprised by how easy this whole conversation thing was turning out to be. In comparison to most of the conversations he'd been having this week anyways

[roberthope]

"You got me. You should see my apartment, it's full of crazy chicken sculptures. Wanna come back to my place and see my crazy chickens?" Robert poured on the leer, waggling his eyebrows and hamming it up. He'd really started enjoying himself and was relaxing. Probably not a good thing as anytime now he would crack a joke that would go a bit too far and then Taehyun would smack him or something. "School? What'd you study