Just had the worst week of my life, can you help? - Alistair (Fremtidsemne)

Sted Parken
Tid 15:35 - noget tid efter karantænen over Gaia er fjernet
Vejr Småregn - det har lige pisset ned.
Omgivelser Få træer, bænke, stort set ingen personer.
Påklædning Outfit, en sort messenger taske og sorte converse. Buttercup og hendes vest link
@Alistair

---

It was official now not even losing his leg, getting a diagnosis as depressed or the time after his dad disappeared wasn't anything compared to the past week of Kevin's life. What had started as an over-worried trip to Gaia, to make sure his brother was alright, had become an actual nightmare. He had always thought he'd be the first of his siblings to go, he was the oldest one after all, and did stupid shit all the time. He'd die a ridiculous way and people would roll their eyes when they were at his funeral. Was that really how he died? they'd ask and then laugh, because it was just so typical of Kevin. But nope, he wasn't the first to go.

Instead, here he was, on his way back to the inn he was staying at, after being alone at the morgue to identify the body of his brother. He had decided to take a walk through the park with his service dog, Buttercup, just to make sure she got some exercise before they got back. She was, as always, wearing her vest and matching leash, although she didn't really need the latter as she was walking perfectly by Kevin's side, patiently walking slowly to make sure he could keep up. He was limping slightly as he had been overworking himself way too much, but felt like he should give her a proper walk anyway. Buttercup, however, whined softly, trying to slow him down, and he smiled at her sweet attempt to get him safe.

"Ah, don't worry Cups, we'll head back in a minute, alright?" She whined again, as if to say they should head back now. Of course, she couldn't talk, but he liked the conversation nonetheless. "Alright, we'll walk to that tree over there, and then go back, deal?" he asked, and she whined again, but kept following him. As he had been busy talking to her, he hadn't really noticed there was a dip in the ground, and just as he looked ahead, he tripped over it. With a loud yelp, he fell to the ground and just barely managed to take some of the fall with his hands. Otherwise he would've landed face-first right in a puddle. Great. Just great!

He rolled away from the puddle with a groan, so he was lying on his back, and now he realized just how much his leg hurt. His prosthetic was digging painfully into what was sure to be a bump on his shin. Buttercup immediately recognized the groan as being one of pain, and opened the messenger bag. Sniffing around in it, she pulled out a plastic bag with painkillers and a bottle of water, which she placed in one of his hands, before sitting down by his side. She put pressure on his chest with one paw, to make sure he knew she was there and thereby calm him. Being the attentive dog she was, Buttercup looked around to check if anyone were on their way to help her human, but kept her eyes on Kevin as well.

Alistair had had... Well, a pretty good day, actually! It was the first day of the week where his 'Ozzie sensor' hadn't gone off ringing like crazy, so apparently, Ozzie wasn't doing anything too dangerous today. Finally, one day's peace! Not that Alistair hated his job as a guardian angel,no,not at all. It just got very stressful when you had to protect someone as restless as Ozzie,who was blind half of the time, too. So these days were lovely, where he could just go and do his things without a care in the world...Besides his own self-doubt and other things his mental illness brought with it, that was.

Alistair was well on his way through the park to get to the street on the other side where his favorite,small café laid, when he suddenly heard a yelp, and the sound of someone falling down on the slightly soft ground. Instantly, he whipped around to see who it was that had fallen over, and whether they needed help. As it had happened so many times before, Alistair's usual shyness disappeared in the blink of an eye at the prospect of someone needing help, and seeing the guy that had fallen over, and the dog at his side, he hastily made his way over there, though he took the last few steps a bit more cautiously, looking at the dog and moving slowly as if to ask permission to help the dog's human. When he could see permission was granted, he laid a careful, gentle hand on the guy's shoulder. "Hey... You okay? Anything I can do to help?" he asked, genuine concern on his features. Yes, the guy was a stranger, but when someone needed help, that didn't matter to Alistair, no, not at all. He just wanted to help wherever he could.

// Outfit

Kevin groaned and put his arm over his eyes while trying to get his act together enough to get up and onto a nearby bench, so he could take his painkillers. But right now, he kind of just wanted to curl up and cry. Not that he was in that much pain, but just because life was shitty at the moment. Sadly though, he couldn't, because he was gonna get ill if he didn't get some dry clothes on soon. His chest was completely drenched with muddy water, same with his knees and sleeves. But the inn was just so far away, and it seemed too unmanageable right now.

He was so caught up in his own misery that he didn't really realize someone was coming towards him. But Buttercup looked up at the man who was nearing them. She stood up, showing she was alerted to his presence. However, as he got closer, she relaxed and laid down by Kevin's side, resting her head on his chest. Kevin, however, got a bit confused. He hadn't told Buttercup to lay down, so he moved his arm away from his eyes, placing it on her head, and as he did, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and was looking up into a pair of brown eyes. Holy shit. That had to be the prettiest man he had ever met, and fuck, Kevin was too gay for this.

"I- uhm..." Kevin swallowed the lump in his throat, quickly getting his act together. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just tripped," he explained, as he moved to sit up. Buttercup got up as well, moving to lay down with her head in his lap instead. He managed to sit up, and gently petted Buttercup's head. "Not to bother you, but would you maybe help me over to the bench over there? My pants are getting soaked." He nodded at the bench with a sheepish grin, hoping he wasn't too bothersome.

Alistair was softly smiling at the dog when he saw her lay down again. In general he hadn't really met any animal who didn't like him, but he mostly attributed that to the gentle and calm aura he knew he and other angels had. It was rather practical, after all. But for now his focus turned to the guy on the ground before him, a soft smile on his lips as he looked up at him. He breathed just a small sigh of relief, hearing he hadn't hurt himself - at least not much. He could take it a bit easier, then.

He was carefully watching him for any signs of discomfort as Kevin sat back up, and then nodded at his question. "Of course. Can't have you sitting here getting sick and everything." he half-joked, soft smile still on his lips as he helped Kevin up, with a strength greater than what you'd expect from his slim frame, as he did it pretty effortlessly, and then slowly helped Kevin over to the nearby bench. But just to be on the safe side, and because he hated people to be in pain if he could help in any way, Alistair sort of utilized the fact that he had skin-on-skin contact with Kevin, just for a moment, anyway - to take away whatever pain and soreness there might be, or at least a lot of it. Instantly, he felt it transferred to himself, and knew the guy had been hiding that he actually had been hurting. Not much, though, which was also the reason why Alistair really didn't notice it too much himself. Having tried torture, this was nothing.

So he helped the guy over and down onto the bench, smiling softly at him,looking at him again, but avoiding direct eye contact, as he always did... Settling for looking right between the eyes, instead. "There... Hope you're feeling just a little bit better?"

Buttercup seemed genuinely confused, when the stranger helped Kevin up, as she was trained to help him do that. And honestly? Kevin mostly asked because the guy was too cute for his own good, and it gave him an excuse to be around him. Did that seem desperate? It probably did. Kevin was a mess when it came to cute people, it was like his brain didn't function and he became a desperate schoolgirl who wanted a date for prom and there was only a week left, but luckily her crush hadn't been asked out yet. Wait... What?

Kevin shook off the odd thought process going on in his head, and instead, he leaned on the stranger, as he was helped over to the bench. The pain wasn't that bad, if he was honest, it was just like wearing a pair of shoes that were just a little too small. But on your leg. And it wasn't a shoe, it was a prosthetic. These similies needed to stop. With a groan, he got to sit down on the bench, and rubbed his leg mindlessly, when the pain just... stopped... Or at least took it down a notch, so he was just sore instead. Well shit, that was embarrassing. Had he just gotten a cute guy to help him for no reason?

The cute guy was the first one to break the silence, and Kevin looked up at him curiously, before sending him a crooked smile. "Yeah, I am, thank you. I guess the fall made it seem worse than it actually is," he said, grinning sheepishly. Might as well be honest about it, right? He opened the bag and put the put the painkillers away, relieved that he didn't have to take them for once. "So, what may I call my knight in shining armour?" he asked jokingly, still with a dorky smile on his lips. Being hot and alluring wasn't exactly something Kevin knew how to do, so he stuck with sweet and dorky in the hopes that someone would find him too adorable to pass up.

Alistair's soft, gentle, friendly smile stayed right where it was, all along as he helped Kevin over to the bench, and sat down beside him, observing him intently for any signs of him still hurting, but luckily, it seemed like one use of his ability had been enough. He hadn't even minded the guy leaning on him, no, his mind was just set on helping him out in any way he could, that was just how helpful Alistair was in general. "I'm glad to hear." he told him, honestly, his smile now happier than before, the happiness reflected in his eyes too, though he still avoided direct eye contact.

But when he said the next words, which were probably halfway a joke or something, it still registered as some kind of compliment in Alistair's head, probably because he really didn't think he did all that much, and wasn't deserving of even jokingly being called something like that... He blushed. A lot. And looked away again, down into his lap, coughing discreetly. "Oh. Uhm. Iah." Goddammit, pull yourself together and talk! It's really not all that difficult! He bit his lip, cleared his throat, and finally managed to answer. "I'm Alistair." just a short look over at Kevin again, with a small smile, cheeks still burning bright, though.

Kevin couldn't help but to 'aww' inwardly at Alistair's blushing. It was pretty endearing, to be honest, but he stopped himself from trying to make him do it more. No need to scare him away by being too outgoing, right? Besides, there was only so much gay shit you could say, before getting called out on it, and for all he knew, the guy could be straight. A very pure and innocent straight guy. Didn't sound right, but who knew!

"Well, thanks for helping, Alistair. My name is Kevin," he said, looking up at him with a soft smile. He felt Buttercup sit down by his feet and looked down at her, smile widening slightly. "And this is Buttercup." The dog looked up at her owner, when she heard her name being mentioned, and he gently scratched her head in turn. The dog stayed where she was, doing exactly what she was trained to, but closed her eyes in appreciation, and leaned into the touch slightly.

Kevin should probably get up and be going. It wasn't that he had to do any more funeral-related things today, but rather that he should stop bothering the cute guy. Besides he had a lot of moping to get back to. Get it out of his system before his family came for the funeral, so he could be his good old cheery self. But he really didn't want to. Distracting himself by having company was a lot more inviting. Maybe he could indulge himself for a bit? "So, are you from around here?" he asked, a bit curious about the Scottish accent.

"No problem. Couldn't just let you lay there." he simply said, and shrugged. Yes, many people these days were self-centered and didn't help at all even when it was obvious someone else needed help, but well, Alistair had never been like that. Now, considering what he was, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't like most people in that aspect, but for now he kept that to himself. No need too blurt it out to everyone you met - he'd only told the people who'd asked, so far, which included Kushiel, the other guardian angel he knew. And of course Ozzie, but then again, he kinda needed to know he had his very own guardian angel, right? Right!

Alistair looked down at Buttercup with a smile when Kevin mentioned her, looking at how complacent, how chill she was. "She's cute," he simply said, and meant it. He'd always loved animals, after all, and especially dogs. Only reason he'd never gotten one, was that, well... He never knew when and for how long he might be gone, sometimes. Never knew when he might need to go save Ozzie, he'd even tried being woken up in the middle of the night by that sense of danger, after all. He looked up at Kevin again - focusing on his nose, right between his eyes - when he was spoken to again, and smiled. "The accent gave it away, eh?" he said with just a small grin. "Nah, I'm from the Glasgow area. Moved here about a year ago. Been liking it so far." he said, leaning back before pulling out a cigarette, getting redy to light it up, but then stopped, looking over at Kevin again. "... You don't mind, do you?" he'd rather not smoke anywhere near someone who might not like it, after all.

Kevin kept rubbing Buttercup's head and scratched her behind the ears without even thinking about it. He was just so used to her always being around and liked to repay the favour a bit by giving her some good quality petting. And the dog in question leaned into the touch happily, resting her head on his knee. But even so, Kevin wasn't too preoccupied to listen to what Alistair said. He nodded, when the other asked if it was the accent that gave him away, because it had! Not a lot of English people had a Scottish accent! And as it turned out, he was actually from Glasgow.

"Ah, really? It's a beautiful place! I went there a few weeks ago." He reached up and ran his fingers through the mess that was his hair when it was wet, and leant back a bit. He looked a bit curiously at Alistair, when he took out a pack of cigarettes. A small voice in his head reminded him about how Tim always scolded him when he lit one, and he couldn't help the way his heart was wrenched. Ouch. "Yeah, sure, go ahead," he replied, nodding just to emphasize that it was okay. "So-uh, what brought you to Gaia, if I may ask?" he asked, genuinely curious about it. He hadn't actually heard of the place before, despite being quite the traveller, so he was a bit curious about how other people might have heard about it.

Alistair was smiling softly as he talked, noticing how happy the dog seemed to be in the presence of her human. It always warmed his heart to see animals being so happy around their humans. It really was too bad he couldn't take care of a pet himself. If he'd just been your average angel he might've gotten a therapy dog or something, but as a guardian angel.. Yeah, nope, can't do.

His smile widened a little and he nodded to what Kevin said. "It really is. I loved going on hikes there, once in a while." and boy, had he been on many of those, in all of the time he'd been on earth before Ozzie had been born and his God-given mission really began. Once he got the clear to go ahead, he took out a cigarette, lit it up, and took a long, calming puff of it, exhaling the smoke rather slowly, to really allow the nicotine and motion to have it's calming effect on him. Just typical, right? Having an aura that calmed down people around him, but himself, he had to use stimulants of some sort, like the nicotine. Really pathetic, in his own opinion.

"Oh, why I moved to Gaia? Well, uhm, a friend of mine moved here. And I didn't really have any friends back home, so I guess it was just natural for me to move here, too. To sorta watch over him in this new place, y'know?" Way to sorta-lie without actually doing it. Just obscuring some things instead of lying about them. Alistair knew he was a horrible liar afterall, so he always had to put things like this instead to actually make them sound the least bit believable. And since he was friends with Ozzie now, and did have to protect him, it could hardly be called a lie anyway. "And I used to go to the school here, too. Dropped out recently, though."

Kevin happily listened to Alistair, and nodded when necessary - anything that could take his mind off of his own life at the moment was exciting. But it was beginning to get a little cold and honestly, he was starting to feel it through his somewhat wet clothes. He pulled his jacket closer around himself, and afterwards, he pushed his hands under Buttercup's head, warming his hands underneath it, which she obviously didn't mind. She just closed her eyes but she was still alerted to the surroundings.

"School? The Athena Academy?" he asked, cocking his head slightly to the side. He looked quite a bit older than Mitch, but... maybe the school was for a lot of ages? Ah, who knew! But he didn't ask why Alistair had dropped out of school. They barely knew eachother after all, so that question could wait till... well, if they met again, who knew? "I have a cousin there, who started last fall, so that's why I've heard about it. I'm not from the area, I'm from central London," he then explained for no real reason to be honest.

Alistair was still softly smiling all along as he talked, watching how Kevin pulled the jacket a bit closer. Well, then he guessed he wasn't the only one freezing. He was just so used to it just being himself freezing, since his medicine did make him more sensitive to temperature changes, so he just most times assumed it was himself being weird, but it seemed like it was just generally cold now, then. Maybe they should get inside someplace warmer? At least this guy needed to, or he'd probably catch himself a cold.

"The very same," he answered Kevin's first question, still smiling - it was rather rare that he didn't smile. "Oh, really? Well, it's a good school, too." he said, smile a bit broader now. "Ah. Well, I did think that was were your dialect was from, too, so hey, I guessed correctly for once," he snickered just a little to himself, then ran a hand through his hair as he just suddenly blurted out, "... D'you maybe wanna go to a café or something?" As soon as the words had left his lips, though, he blushed and looked away again. Had he been too direct? He was, wasn't he? He had only just met the guy and now asked him to go to a café with him! That was way too much, right?! He needed to explain that. Right this instant! "... I, uhm, I just mean, it's... It's cold out here and all, and... Well.. Youuhm. You got a little wet from that fall, I'd rather you not catch a cold or something," he babbled on, and his cheeks heated even further. Oh dear God, I sound so stupid...

Kevin chuckled slightly when Alistair said that the dialect did make him think that he was from London. "Yeah, when I don't think too much about it, I tend to sound a little posh," he replied, shrugging. When he did his podcasts and documentaries he often tried to 'remove' his British dialect or fake an American one. It had thrown a lot of his fans off, and currently most people believed he lived in L.A., which was clearly not the case. But that just made it easier to go unnoticed.

But just as he had replied, Alistair blurted out an idea that Kevin was very much into. A warm and dry room, warm beverages... No way he wouldn't agree! The almost-stranger managed to start ranting before he could reply though, and Kevin let him finish speaking before saying anything. "That's a great idea! It's getting a little chilly, isn't it?" he said, a dorky smile on his lips as he got up on his feet. Buttercup backed off as well, ready to start walking in whatever direction Kevin wanted her to. But first, he reached out to offer Alistair a hand to pull him up. Not that he seemed like he needed it, but Kevin was hopeless when it came to small crushes on strangers, so anyone even remotely nice got to be the victim of his puppy-love. And any kind of touch with people whose company he liked was great!

"Do you know somewhere nice around here? I haven't really gotten a chance to get a good look around town," he asked when he had gotten Alistair up his hand lingering on the man's for a little bit longer than needed, before he simply stuck it into his jacket's pocket. "Oh, and it doesn't necessarily have to be animal-friendly. I have papers her papers, so she's legally allowed anywhere!"

Alistair couldn't help but smile, too - that chuckle was rather cute, after all. "I guess that's what happens with my Scottish, too..." if he really wanted to, he could probably get rid of it. But the less he cared, or the more nervous he got, the thicker his dialect got. And that was probably incredibly clear with how nervous he'd gotten after he just blurted out that question, and all the thoughts ran through his head, unbidden, and he hurried to try and save it, sure that he had asked way too soon... But luckily, it didn't seem like Kevin thought so, so he could at least heave just a small, mental sigh of relief. Phew. Dodged a bullet, there.

His cheeks were still rather red when he let Kevin help him up to a stand again, looking at him for a short second with a small smile, before shyly looking away again. Oh boy... Get it together, you can do this.. No reason to get nervous, just because the kid was cute, right? ... Though that was exactly why he was nervous. He was whenever he met someone cute or kind, always afraid that everyone would think he was weird the second they got to know more about him. "Oh. Uhm. Yeah. Iah. I'm not much for places with heaps of people, soah. I found this small tea shop some months ago..." he managed to say after clearing his throat a little, his smile rather soft and shy as he looked at Kevin again - never into his eyes, though. He hadn't as such minded the longer hand contact - but his mind did kick into overdrive with it, still.

Why did it linger? Did he like him, too? No, no, don't be silly, you've only just met him, don't put anything into it. It was probably just coincidence. Yeah. Coincidence. But what if it wasn't? That was almost worse, he didn't know how to react to that! Argh! Please, wasn't there just a hole nearby he could sink into, and stay in, just for a couple of hours? Why didn't I take my pills with me... Crap.

He realized he had probably zoned out for a moment, and shook his head to get himself out of it. "Ah. Well, I don't think she minds. The woman running the shop, I mean. She's sweet." he said, and finally began leading the way into downtown, and eventually down a few smaller roads, not as commonly used. Here, they wound up at the small, rather cozy tea shop - old-fashioned, comfy armchairs all around, around small tables with glass mosaics in pretty colors. There were perhaps five other people in there at this time, and Alistair was almost instantly more at peace in here, which probably showed in the way his shoulders slouched a bit more, not as tense as they'd been while he'd walked outside among the heaps of people.

Kevin tilted his head slightly to the side, and the dorky grin faded to more of an endearing smile as he saw Alistair's shy smile and flushed cheeks. Was it because of Kevin? He kinda hoped so! He looked so sweet when he blushed, and that cute little smile was almost too much. I'm too gay for this, was the only conclusion he could draw from this.

"It sounds great," Kevin commented when Alistair told that the place wasn't too crowded. That was pretty nice, because if he was honest, he couldn't really deal with that many people right now. He was an extrovert, he loved to talk to people and socialize with them, so it wasn't that he didn't like the crowd. It was, however, the fact that he had been taking the lead when it came to his brother's burial that had taken quite a toll on him and he didn't really have the energy to put up a happy demeanour in front of a lot of people... but he could manage it when it was just Alistair and a handful other people. Maybe the exhaustion was the reason as to why he didn't chatter the poor guy's ear off while they walked, but just walked in comfortable silence.

So Kevin just hummed in response when Alistair said the lady was sweet and probably wouldn't have a problem with Buttercup. He made sure to sound happy and smile at the guy though, just to show that he enjoyed his company, didn't feel forced to go with him. Alistair seemed kinda anxious and he just wanted to be sure that he knew his company was appreciated. As they walked, Kevin couldn't really help himself and let his hand graze Alistair's every now and then. As much as he liked to talk, he was terrible at flirting directly, so he tried to show his interest a little more physically

It didn't take long before they were there though, and Kevin looked around as they stepped in. Yeah, it was pretty cosy and not crowded at all. He liked it. And as he looked over at Alistair, and quickly decided that this place was now his favourite place, because for once, the guy actually looked relaxed. "This is a pretty neat place, I'll give you that," he said, chuckling as he walked over to the counter where the lady that Alistair must've been talking about stood. "Hi! Uhm, I was wondering if it's alright that my service dog is in here with me? She won't bother anyone and I have the papers on her right here." As he spoke, he started to dig through his jacket's inner-pockets before he pulled out a piece of neatly folded paper, which he offered to the lady with a soft smile.

... And the guy kept smiling. Oh bugger. He's so pretty when he smiles... I just hope it's still a good sign... It's not because he's holding back laughter, is it? I'm pretty weird after all. No, no, he's probably just trying to be nice? Right? Yeah. Don't put too much into it. Don't. Crap, he just kept overthinking every single little thing, still trying to discern every single thing he could about Kevin from his body language, but... He might as well have been trying to communicate with someone in China for all that he understood of it. If only he had remembered his pills, they might help keeping the many thoughts under control, make him care a little less.

But Alistair's smile, which had perhaps faded the slightest bit with all the thoughts inside his head, quickly returned when Kevin answered, and did seem genuinely pleased that it was just going to be a small place. Phew. He knew people who thought they were boring, so he was pretty happy this guy didn't seem to think so.

The first time he felt Kevin's hand graze his own on their way there, though, he gave a small start - and blushed. Again. Damn, but his head was just a real mess when he was around sweet guys, and he hadn't been prepared for even that touch that'd barely even been there. He just.. Didn't know what to think of it. Was it just a coincidence? or on purpose? And if it was on purpose, then for what specific purpose? Sadly, he could be really damn oblivious to all kinds of flirting,especially this subtle kind, as he didn't know how to interpret all the small things. This just set in another onslew of thoughts... And when it kept happening, well, he knew it wasn't just a coincidence in the end, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions about what to think of it, either.

"Yeah, I got pretty happy when I found it. Nice and cozy," he said with a smile, after awaiting Kevin's judgement of the place as they had entered. He followed Kevin up to the counter, where the lady behind it smiled and nodded at Alistair, clearly used to seeing him here - before she turned to Kevin and let his talk before she said anything. "Of course. No problem at all. She's cute," she said, looking down at Buttercup and smiling at her when she complimented the dog. "So, what will it be?" she looked at them - Alistair just smiled, and she chuckled. "Alright, no need to ask you, I know, sweetie. So that just leaves your new friend here. Anything I can tempt ya with?" she gestured to the menu on the wall right next to her - various smoothies, chai, tea (including bubble tea), sandwiches and sweet bakes.

It was pretty obvious that Kevin was surprised when the lady didn't even as much as look at the papers before saying that Buttercup could be there. Maybe it was because he lived in London, and people were just less kind to strangers there, but he was so used to being doubted and sometimes kicked out for as simple a thing, as bringing his service dog. You aren't blind, why do you need a dog with you? some of them would ask. Usually, they'd let him after he explained that he had lost his leg, and needed her in case something happened, but they weren't happy about it.

So a thankful smile was on his lips as he put the paper back in his pocket, and he gave Buttercup a good ear-scratch as if to say 'good job for being adorable.' And she in return wagged her tail slightly, but she stood still nonetheless. And then the woman asked what Kevin wanted. He hummed, deep in thought as he looked at what they had to offer until finally, something specific caught his eyes. "Uh, a mocha! With-uhm... hmm... a chocolate cookie. And whatever he's having, I'm paying for that too," he decided with one of those sheepish but somehow endearing smile on his lips, before turning to Alistair. "It's the least I can do for you. You've helped me and shown me this great place," he said, still smiling adorably. "Please?" he then added, before he could object further, sending him the sweetest puppy eyes he could.

Alistair just stood there, smiling softly while trying to get his thoughts under control, looking slightly nervous as he looked around, but nothing like the nervous twitches he'd had when they were outside - after all, there were fewer people in here, and most of them were returning customers so he knew these ones to be some that had never commented on his slightly odd behavior, and that helped a lot. His eyes snapped right back to Kevin, though, when he said he'd pay for Alistair's, too.

"But..." he didn't manage to say more before the human talked again, and he bit his lip. He was about to open his mouth again, but then those puppy eye were turned on him, and he... Kinda just... Stopped. Froze. God help me, how can he be this cute? unbidden, another blush rose to his cheeks, practically lit up his entire face as he just stood there, basically transfixed- but still not looking Kevin in the eye. No, still looking at the bridge of his nose instead, but it was enough for him to get the full force of the puppy look. Finally, he blinked, shook his head slightly, and snapped out of it, swallowing silently. "I... Uhm... Yeah, I... I guess that's okay... I'll just... Go find a table for us," and then he basically fled to one of the free tables, needing just a little bit of distance to be able to compose himself again before the cutie joined him.

Maybe he should just get out the next-best thing to his pills? Yeah. Draw a little. Always helped everything. So as he sat down he pulled out his drawing pad and pencil case, soon busy adding details to a drawing he'd started making the day before. At least he could still focus on conversation when he was just doing the details. And it relaxed him. Win-win, really.

// Tegningen

Kevin felt like it was a small victory when Alistair gave in, and the puppy eyes were quickly replaced by a soft and dorky grin. "Thank you," was his reply to Alistair, before he turned to pay for everything. The woman behind the counter seemed pretty amused by his antics and probably realised his advances before either of them really got it. Kevin just knew he wanted to treat Alistair a bit, after he helped him... and because he was nice and cute and smart and wow he could keep going, even though he had only known him for... well an hour tops.

He quickly paid for everything and waited for it to be ready, occasionally looking over his shoulder to check where Alistair was, and kept a conversation going with the lady. Just mundane things like the weather, but Kevin being ever the extrovert loved to talk to other people. It also helped to make the time pass by quicker, and soon he got everything, both his and Alistair's. It did mean he had to balance some of it a little, but honestly he had better balance than most regular people, so it wasn't too bad.

Soon he stood at the table and placed everything on the table, sticking the tip of his tongue out in concentration, while Buttercup went to lie under the chair across from Alistair, already knowing that Kevin would sit down there. "There you go!" he said with a wide grin as everything was placed neatly on the table, and he then sat down on the chair that Buttercup had deemed his. With a content hum, Kevin took a sip from his drink and looked over at what Alistair was doing. So he liked drawing? "That looks really awesome. What are you drawing?" he asked, tilting his head, as if he could see it better like that.

Alistair barely got to see Kevin's grin, but he got a glimpse of it as he turned, around, and that was enough. Good thing he was already on his way to find a table, because at this rate he was going to have a heatstroke just from all the warmth of his blushing. Bugger. Why is he so adorable?! I don't know what to do... God, help me... Please...

He kept his focus solely on his drawing, once he'd ripped out the drawing pad and pencils, just zoning out, doing his best to ignore everything else, knowing that this was the easiest way for him to gain control of his thoughts again when he didn't have his medicine. But it was still much too short a while before Kevin joined him, and he managed just a small, shy smile in the direction of the human when he got his choco ice latte. "Thanks," he said, voice a bit low but his smile warm and gentle.

He took a sip of the hot drink, occasionally glancing over at Kevin before he returned his focus to the drawing... That was, until Kevin asked him about it. He stopped drawing, and leant back a little, looking a little puzzled, like he didn't really know what to answer, which he guessed was... The truth. "Uhm... Would you believe me if I told you I don't really know? I just... Draw. I don't really think about it..." he shuffled his feet around a little nervously as he spoke, though, while looking down at the almost-finished drawing.

Honestly, Kevin thought it was awesome that Alistair was that good at drawing. He himself found it difficult to draw anything detailed on paper and preferred to work digitally - there was a reason he was a graphic designer! So honestly, he could just... watch Alistair draw for the remainder of the day. Sure, talking was nice, but sometimes comfortable silence and relaxing together was nice too.

As he was pretty well-acquainted with other artists, he wasn't very surprised by Alistair admitting that he didn't know what he was drawing... But it didn't make it any less amazing! "That's really cool! I dunno why but it's giving me wendigo-vibes. Like, real wendigos - or, well, not real, but the original myths, not the weird human-like ones from Until Dawn. Y'know, with the deer heads and claws and yeah!" He grinned sheepishly as he took a sip of his mocha, and started to nibble at his cookie. "So, other than drawing, being cute and drinking lattes in quiet cafés, what do you do for a living?"

The smile returned to Alistair's lips, and he shrugged a little, returning his gaze to the drawing. "I guess I do see that, now that you mention it, yeah. I guess most of my drawings turn out to be mythological beings." omitting to mention that he knew quite a few of those were real, of course. "But yeah... I don't really think about it. I just draw. It's the most relaxing thing I know..." and the crutch he could always lean himself against. Honestly, when he looked back on it, he knew it was probably the most therapeutic thing he knew, since he had been drawing a heck of a lot more after the times he'd been captured and well... Tortured, really. Easier to let his feelings out on the paper than talk about them.

And just as he thought he could get a pause from blushing, the guy complimented him again! Arghh! So yea, he knew that warm feeling in his cheeks all too well, and took another sip of the latte to distract himself before answering the cute guy. "Uhm... Well, I'm a practical nurse. Working as a caregiver at the elderly home." it had just seemed the most obvious choice to him, as he wanted to help people... All the time. But that was probably just the usual deal for angels, right? At least he guessed so. he just felt right at home there, all the elderly people were so sweet towards him and didn't mind his weird mannerisms. "And, uhm. I'm also a volunteer at the shelter. What about you?"

Kevin was absolutely sure he looked like he was ready to marry Alistair right now with how much adoration there was in his gaze because holy shit he was too cute to be a normal human-being. Never had Kevin had the urge to get children with a stranger, but Jesus Christ his non-existing ovaries were crying out for him to figure out a way to procreate with another man.

At least until the conversation was turned to him, because he just realised just how selfish a bastard he would sound like. "Well compared to you, this is probably very underwhelming but-uh, I'm a freelance graphic designer, and... uh... an amateur voice actor," well, that was as good of an explanation as he could come up with. And it wasn't a complete lie either, it was just... not completely true either. But he preferred to not tell about being a youtuber for the sole reason that he liked his privacy and people started asking questions about his channel and the like.

Alistair hadn't noticed the look at all while he was talking, but as soon as he shut up after asking his question, he did. And... He didn't know what to do with that. At all. Why was he looking at him like that? He hadn't said anything wrong, had he? Or had he talked a little bit too much? He hadn't been ranting, had he? Oh dear God no, please, please say he hadn't... He never realized when he did... And he never knew why people stared when they did, and couldn't tell a good from a bad stare. His gaze returned to his latte, which he put both hands around as he took another sip, fiddling a little with it, turning it while it was resting on the table, gaze firmly placed on the plentiful milky froth at the top of the drink.

He cast just a single glance back Kevin's way when he started speaking, still giving him a small, gentle smile, and then a shrug. "Well, it's cool that you can actually live off it. From what I've heard it should be difficult to find enough of that kind of work? So it's pretty good that you can find enough of it to make a proper living out of it, at least..." he praised Kevin, his smile a bit broader and more genuine than it'd been just before

Kevin shrugged slightly, when Alistair said that he did a good job, if he could live off of it and he supposed he was right. No, he didn't have the money to live in his own house with a private pool, but with 3,5 million subscribers who were all fairly active and weekly scheduled videos he could make a pretty decent living off of that, and with a few projects for firms here and there, he could afford to have his brother live with him as well. Well... when he lived at least.

His smile wavered a bit at that thought, but he was quick to pick it up again, not wanting to make Alistair think he said something wrong. He seemed so worried about everything. "Well, I do my best," he replied, chuckling slightly, before taking a good sip of his Mocha. "So, since you're from the area, I as wondering if there was anything I should make sure to see before I go home?" he then asked, just to turn the attention away from himself again. He honestly didn't even know if he'd bother to go out to see anything here, as the reason for his trip to Gaia didn't really lead up to sight-seeing... But maybe if he could go see some stuff with Alistar...? Nah, as if. They were practically strangers and why would this guy even bother? Sure he was nice and sweet, but he didn't really have any reason to hang out with Kevin again. And even if he did, he'd just have to tell why he was actually there, and then Alistair would end up being his friend out of pity and that would just be a mess in and of itself.