defies_reason | ⚔ i thought we might have a little chat.

[ Lucky you, Robert, Isaak's disinclined to shy away from too much eye contact. Or most forms of contact, actually. He's never been one to flinch; it often puts people on edge, which has always been useful. He waits without impatience while the doctor orders, and stands as he sees him heading back, walking over to meet him just after Chase pauses.]

Some manifestation of Brazil, perhaps, [he muses, putting out a hand to take one of the cups.] Though I wonder what they tell people who've never heard of Brazil. Shall we? [He waves expansively toward the gardens, leaving Chase to take the lead. After all, it was his invitation.]

[Walking keeps Chase from devoting too much focus to watching Isaak's mouth as he drinks - both a blessing and a curse, as he sees it.]

I've never got to the bottom of the city's supply chain. Plenty of stock, no sign of manufacture.

[The street, like most in the city, is devoid of traffic. The garden gates stand open, with the night-blooming flowers just beginning to wake up and spill perfume.]

One of those things it's probably better not to think too hard about.

[He's vain enough that he'll be flattered by that by the time Chase is mortified by it. Isaak is far from oblivious, and he's much more accustomed to the subtle, hesitant tells of body language than to outright invitations. He's not a fool. But he's also not one to jump to conclusions. The suddenness of it makes him wonder if Chase is angling for something else under the guise of flattery.

Either way it's always in his interests to talk business.]

Sooner or later every avenue of inquiry becomes a dead end, [he agrees.] But nothing seems to be in short supply. I expect that's why no one remarks on it.

[Bit odd that Chase has, but like as not he's just making conversation. Isaak walks just a little too close, out of habit and for the simple pleasure of testing the edges of his guess.]

[Yes, small talk. Only because import from Brazil seems a tall claim considering the city's impenetrable walls, and because Chase does notice these things, even when they're not worth remarking on. And Isaak had shown an interest in the habits of the place, and Chase is nothing if he's not able to exploit an interest.

Isaak may be doing better at exploiting Chase's. The accidental brush of an arm as personal space becomes a narrow concept is electric.]

No, the place is designed not to let us want for anything. With the exception of sanity. And company.

[And there's a pause.]

Do you live alone?

I'm a private man by habit, [he answers with a nod. It's true in its way. At home he lived alone only nominally-- after all he'd had Viktor, if too infrequently, and his secretary stayed the night often enough, if only to keep up appearances. And Jurg had never been far. Private, yes, but unaccustomed to being actually alone.]

Luckily I'm sociable enough during the day that the clock hasn't driven me mad.

[Cameron lives alone, and he worries. This man claims no interest in company and Chase almost envies him for it, certainly feels a rush of jealous admiration.

Chase versus the clock would be a battle of minutes, at least without something to dull sensation.]

From what I've heard, it's not during the day that it tries to. Or is there a hangover of silence when you come in from a crowd.

[The gardens really are beautiful, incidentally. Chase just isn't paying them so much as a sideways glance. It's a miracle he's kept on the path.]

[Hm-mn, but things are rarely so simple. It's not as though he doesn't have his guests of an evening, or his regrets. Isaak, in essence, is a widower rediscovering the consolations of bachelorhood.

Not that he intends to discuss any of that, particularly if Chase is honestly chatting him up.]

I think it's only so we don't become hermits. What's the fun, for the Deities-- or whoever might really be in charge-- if we're not at one another's throats?

[It's almost a shame. They might find some degree of common ground. But Chase, for his part, isn't going to continue this conversation with the opinion that the deities don't want people to fight - they want them to care. Because caring's what makes the fights really worth it.

Because, caring is a few steps beyond what he's looking for right now.]

You make them sound a voyeuristic bunch. [And there's an opening. He stops, the trees overhanging the path making this part of the walk dimmer than the rest.] That proposal-

[Luckily, or unluckily, he's not looking for common ground.

He stops as Chase does, arching a brow, meeting the other man's eyes.]

Ah, right. I'd nearly forgotten.

[Spit it out, lad, if you can. Isaak is enjoying this. Just a little bit.]

[He's surprisingly unshy about spitting it out, turning as he does and catching a hand in the front of the other man's jacket. The worst he's likely to have to do is duck a fist and, the gain seems worth the risk.]

Not quite how I planned on phrasing it but - I thought we could give them something to watch.

[Not the smoothest pass, but he's heard worse.

Chase won't have to duck a fist, which is probably for the best. With a faint twitch of a smile, Isaak looks down at the hand on his chest, then takes a step forward. It's less to close the space between them than to crowd him off the path, backing him toward a tree.

And, well, maybe the distance between them gets closed somewhere along the way.]

That's quite a proposal.

[Chase is surefooted enough to take the backward quickstep in stride, though he glances over a shoulder a moment before he's squared back against the tree. Not a displeasing position to be in. And it's certainly the confirmation he was looking for.]

I don't think you'll be disappointed by the follow-through.

[If the doctor isn't practiced in kissing men with nearly half a foot on him, you'd never know it.]

[For a moment-- more than a moment-- he does consider it. Long enough to take the liberty of enjoying his position, bowed just enough to accommodate the crush of their mouths, one hand on Chase's shoulder to pin him there. His usual air of polite detachment breaks utterly; Isaak has always been a man guided by his passions first, though reason generally manages to win out. Eventually.

In terms of costs and consequences-- it isn't, he knows, worth the risk. Pity, that. So, not quite as quickly as he ought to, he pulls back.]

It would be a tempting offer, if I thought you wouldn't regret it in the morning.

[Well, that's a downer on proceedings, if not enough to damp his interest. There's the smallest pinch of something hurt about the downturn of the doctor's mouth.]

I'm not asking you to still love me tommorrow.

[He considers.]

I'm not asking you to love me tonight, unless you're fond of old-fashioned euphemism.

Practical of you,

[he answers approvingly, apparently unfazed. Not unaffected; there's more than one good reason to keep a distance between them. The hand on Chase's shoulder is not so much keeping him in place, now, as keeping him away.]

If you wait until tomorrow, I'll make it worth your while.

[It's not much fun calling a bluff when your opponent doesn't realize he's bluffing.

Damn.]

[Very practical. He learned his lesson about this kind of arrangement from... oh, the woman he wound up marrying, but lets overlook that. Somehow this kind of line just doesn't seem to work as well for him as it did for Cameron

(or maybe he was just easy).

Either way, he studies Isaak for one frustrated minute, looking down at the hand on his shoulder as if a pale stare might turn it into a caress.]

I have to admit, I'm a bigger fan of delayed gratification when it's worked into the process of being gratified.

[So he's got to test the strength of that restraint. There's still such a little gap between them, he only has to lean in (and up) a little...]

Sure I can't make it worth your while tonight?

[His eyes narrowed, Isaak lets himself lean in. That seems counterproductive-- and certainly if his goal was escape, he'd be doing a piss-poor job of it-- but he's always been the sort to stand his ground. Besides, the more he casts this as a confrontation, the better he can ignore all the pleasant possibilities he needs to deny.

Which is not to say it's easy.]

Oh, I'm sure you could, [he murmurs, practically in Chase's ear, an edge of his own frustration shading the words. He pauses, then, just a little too long.] But I think we'd better not.

[Chase actually lets himself groan when Isaak pulls that one. He'd held a breath for a better response.]

Reckon I could suggest some more practical applications of this thing for torture, too.

[Oh, it's a joke, and Chase does know when he's beaten well enough to take it in good humour - although Isaak's proximity, the rasp under his words all suggest possibility remains.

Enough that Chase turns his head the few degrees it takes to kiss him again. One last shot at persuasion.]

[A good man would valiantly pull away at this point, but Isaak has never tried to make that claim. He has a few moral stances that are less than flexible-- part of why they're not on their way to someone's flat by now-- but an act of marvellous restraint is surely deserving of some small reward. Consider it a warning, or a promise, or anything you like, really. The grip on the younger man's shoulder tightens slightly as he kisses back, unrestrained, biting playfully at his lower lip. He has a sneaking suspicion that a bit of roughness wouldn't be amiss.]

[Suspicion: confirmed - if only by the enthusiasm in response. Chase drags out the kiss with other kisses, openmouthed and wanting. For today, he can take this as a promise. Tomorrow he'll probably be more horrified by how long he manages to moon like a schoolgirl over it than by the act itself. When he catches a reluctant breath his hands have tangled in the man's jacket again, and he looks up - the obvious question hanging in the air. Still no?]

[Tomorrow the older man will look back on this... Smugly. There's nothing else to say, really. Curse or not it's not as though he's the only available man in the City.

But, well. Right now he's a bit smug too, but when Chase pauses for breath he decides it's probably best not to let this go on. So he steps back; or not steps, but leans away, and nonchalantly takes his hand from Chase's shoulder as though he's merely adjusting his cuff. It ought to, he expects, help disentangle those hopeful hands.]

Perhaps you ought to head home, Robert.

[Chase stays put, gradually unweaving his fingers from cloth. He tilts his head back, sighing, the faint flush that had begun creeping up his throat all too clear. No, Isaak isn't the only man in the city, but, somehow, he'd been the obvious preference.]

Perhaps I ought to head to a bar.

[Still. The night's young.

Chase's eyes remain oddly dark when he looks back at the other man.]

Tomorrow. [This is important.] Dinner? A movie? [If a little facetious.]

[See? That's something to be smug about.

He doesn't look up from his all-too-casual inspection of his sleeve immediately; not coyness, but the traces of his usual aloof air falling back in place. But he lets the trace of a smile ghost over his lips. The night is young, and Chase is as well. More than likely to get lucky if he keeps at it.]

Better to call it an evening,

[he reiterates, and finally-- slowly-- meets the other man's eyes again. A better man might feel responsible to babysit, but, well. The best he'll do is a spot of advice.

His smile widens a little, even if it doesn't quite reach his eyes.]

Tomorrow, give me a call and we'll skip dinner.

[Though he expects there's no reason to wait by the phone. But, ah, wouldn't it be nice?]

[It's the curse Isaak's advising. Chase's better judgement, poor on an ordinary day, is absent tonight. So either he gets lucky tonight, or he has the luck of nothing to regret in the morning - either way, the city's mercurial whims will absolve some of the blame.

He raises his eyebrows, grins a little.]

I was starting to worry you'd hold out for the third date.

[And nods.]

I'll call.

[It's been a strange, frustrating but not entirely worthless interlude in his evening. Holding onto a promise, Chase makes the first move toward the exit. The gardens offer a good view for a newer resident, after all.]

⚔ i thought we might have a little chat.

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