akillersmile: (hint of a smile)
Kyle Sutton ([personal profile] akillersmile) wrote in [community profile] undergrounds2016-02-12 10:38 pm

(no subject)

I. CHOCOLATIER DU MONDE - (OPEN)
It didn't take too long for Kyle to find a job in the city. He wasn't entirely sure if this one would last, given that he was hired for a seasonal trial period, but it meant doing something kind of cool and getting paid for it, so he couldn't complain. Working at a gourmet chocolate shop meant giving people things they actually wanted for prices they were already willing to pay. He didn't have to sell anyone on things they didn't want and had the added bonus of rarely dealing with agitated customers.

Of course, with Valentine's Day around the corner, the shop was busier than ever and most of his shifts were spent on his feet helping people. He was mostly grateful that they didn't do deliveries and that every transaction was straightforward and in-store. Plus he'd already been able to sample most of the flavors and could actually able to recommend some. Which is why, when the next customer was up, he immediately offered them a smile and a sample of the dark chocolate orange creme.

"Try this."

II. CAFE - (CLOSED TO ALEX)
Kyle couldn't help but wonder why Alex had asked him out on Valentine's Day. The girl seemed adamant in shutting down every attempt at flirting and diligent about insisting on their inability to ever progress. Which he was fine with if that's what she wanted, but the mixed message was more than a little confusing. There was a part of him that wondered if maybe she was oblivious to the day. Even still, she had to have a reason for asking him out to coffee then. Luckily, his new job at the chocolate shop provided a convenient excuse to bring her a gift without making a big deal out of it.

"Hey," he greeted her with a smile, taking a seat before she could even offer. Kyle set the small golden box in front of her. "Here, I got these for you. I figured you wouldn't like the heart box, so I went simple."
facethewolves: (smile!)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-19 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex pulls a pair of gloves out of her pocket and puts them on. She shrugs, still grinning at him. "I never really thought about it. Blue, I guess."

It's a painfully mundane topic of conversation, but she likes it. It's exactly the kind of question she can imagine a guy who's just a clerk asking a girl who really did used to work in marketing, the kind of boring question that got asked on every first date since the beginning of time. Not that this is a date.

"What's yours?"
facethewolves: (not loving this conversation)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-20 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
Alex doesn't really associate the color red with bad things. She just smiles and says, "We're opposites." Blue and red are kind of opposites, as far as Alex, who knew very little about color schemes, is concerned.

She's pretty sure that they're only a couple blocks from the park when a woman walking a dog passes by. The dog immediately waggles its way over to Alex, sniffing her enthusiastically and trying to jump on her with its tongue lolling out. The woman apologizes, swearing up and down that the dog doesn't normally accost random strangers, but the dog doesn't stop until Alex finally tells it to sit.

"It's, uh. It's okay. Dogs just like me," she says awkwardly as she disentangles herself from the animal's leash.
facethewolves: (annoyed headtilt)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-20 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
Alex notices Kyle moving in front of her, and she appreciates the gesture, even if she can take care of herself. And even if the threat weights about thirty pounds and mostly just wants to drool on her. She finally gets free of the leash, the dog's owner still apologizing, when she hears Kyle call her pretty. There's nothing she can really say to that, and no reason why she should say anything, so she just stares helplessly at the back of his head. She's trying hard to keep this platonic, and he's not helping.

"I'm fine. We should go." She reaches out for Kyle's arm, to pull him along. She just wants to have a nice day at the park.

But the woman, who seems not to have heard Alex speak - she's old, and maybe she is a little deaf, but Alex is pretty sure she had to have heard that - coos, "Aren't you a handsome couple. How long have you two been dating?"
facethewolves: (fake smile)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Alex doesn't want to make a scene. The easiest thing to do, she decides, is just to play along until the woman goes away. She wraps her arm around Kyle's waist and leans her head on his shoulder, putting on a relatively convincing smile as she looks up at him. "Five or six sounds right."

The woman looks absolutely delighted, and she looks like she's about to say something else when Alex cuts in. "We actually have lunch reservations. It was really nice meeting you, ma'am."

She tries to subtly maneuver Kyle away.
facethewolves: (dude come on)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
Alex wants to ask why Kyle lied, but he's already answered: it made the old lady happy. She can't argue with that. Once they turn the corner, she drops her arm from around his waist and moves away, just enough that they aren't touching anymore. It's a lot easier to simply drop the act like it hadn't happened than to admit that she kind of enjoyed it.

She glances down ruefully at the fur clinging to her pants and the damp spots from the dog's drool. But she doesn't want to address that either, because that would just be drawing attention to the fact that dogs tend to be very clingy and submissive around her.

"We're only a couple blocks away, right?" she says, opting to change the subject entirely.
facethewolves: (smile!)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Alex is grateful that he's willing to drop it. She looks over at him and smiles, much more genuinely than before, and shakes her head. "I walked by it once or twice, but I've never been in."

It doesn't take long to get there, and Alex is stunned by how different it is once they're through the gate. She hasn't been in a real park since she was a little girl, when her father used to take her to the old heritage gardens in Moscow or Izmaylovsky Park to let her get lost under the trees.

The trees here are bare, but there's a light dusting of snow on the branches and on the ground that makes the whole place look like something out of a picture book. She stares, open-mouthed, until she spots a small bridge through the trees, and walks towards it. It goes over a little stream, which spills down over the rocks and past bushes and rushes and the trailing branches of a willow tree. In the summer, she imagines, it must be bright green, but even the winter, the ice and snow are still beautiful.

"It's gorgeous." She grins at Kyle.
Edited 2016-02-21 03:47 (UTC)
facethewolves: (actually happy but pretending not to be)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Shut up," Alex says dramatically, giving him a playfully exasperated look before turning her attention back to the stream. She could stand there all day watching the water crash over the rocks and little icicles form and melt, but she knows he has to get back to work, and if there's more to see she wants to see it all.

Somewhat reluctantly, she leaves the little bridge behind, heading deeper through the trees into the park. Maybe it's this place, which makes everything outside it seem very far away, maybe it's the fact that she can still feel the warmth of his arm around her waist, maybe she just ate too much chocolate or drank too much coffee. Whatever it is, even though she knows anything romantic between them would be a huge mistake, she likes him a lot, and here and now she wants to make sure he knows that.

"I'm really glad I met you." She turns to face him as she says it, stopping in the middle of the path. It's a little stilted - it's not a sentiment she's used to expressing - but it's entirely sincere.
facethewolves: (actually happy but pretending not to be)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
She's not sure what else to say or how to respond when he reciprocates. In fact, she's a little flustered by how happy she is right now, so she turns away with an awkward smile that she can't quite suppress and keeps walking.

"What else is there to see?" She can't imagine anything better than this. There aren't any other people on this little stretch of path, and it feels like they're completely alone in the world.
facethewolves: (staring)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not the one who has to get back to his job tasting fancy chocolates," Alex teases, falling easily into step beside him. The zoo sounds amazing. She hasn't been to one of those since she was a little girl either, and she didn't know there was one in this park.

She walks quickly, but still can't help staring around at her surroundings. In the distance, she spots a partially frozen fountain, dusted with snow. Just like the bridge, it looks more like a picture book than something she could really walk down the street and find. "It almost doesn't look real."
facethewolves: (yes?)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
It's one thing to have his number in her phone, it's another to have pictures of him, or worse, of the two of them together. The couple taking selfies look like they're having a lot of fun, and she feels a momentary stab of envy, but she knows there's no sense dwelling on it. Fortunately, him buying tickets is a distraction that Alex quickly takes advantage of.

"It's okay, I can buy my own ticket." She reaches into her pocket to pull out the cash. The less this feels like a date, the better.
facethewolves: (no)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex frowns at him, but puts the money back in her pocket and takes the ticket, walking with him to the entrance. There's a sign for an aquarium, and straight ahead she can see a large monkey hanging out of a tree, but instead of rushing off towards one or the other, she stops by a map.

The zoo is a lot bigger than she would have thought, and she doubts they'll have time to see everything.

"They've got butterflies," she says enthusiastically, looking over to Kyle.
facethewolves: (staring)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't have thought you were a bats guy," she says as they walk. She actually hadn't thought about it, and doesn't know what animal she would associate him with, but if she had to pick it wouldn't be bats.

It's a short stroll to the butterfly enclosure, which turns out to be shaped like a giant caterpillar with a glass body. It's extremely cheesy, but Alex kind of likes it.

Inside, it's like a greenhouse, much warmer than it is outside, and all the plants are green and thriving. Hundreds or maybe thousands of brightly-colored butterflies flit through the air. Even at the height of summer in Russia, she'd never seen so many in one place before. She grins, moving further into the enclosure before glancing over her shoulder to see whether Kyle's enjoying this as much as she is.
facethewolves: (smile!)

[personal profile] facethewolves 2016-02-21 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Alex doesn't think that's especially cool - she was never one for science - but she likes that he thinks it's cool. Every new thing she learns about him makes him feel more familiar, more like she has a complete picture of who Kyle is. It makes everything about him even more comfortable than it already is.

She crouches next to him, admiring the butterfly. Very gently, she reaches out one finger towards it, and instead of flying away, it lets her ease it onto her finger for a few seconds before it flaps back to its leaves.

"My mother used to take me to catch them in the summer." Even if she can't tell him her mother's real name or where they really went to catch butterflies, she wants to tell him something true about herself.

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