Sunday Afternoon [Ben Rhodes]

Ben was still mad at himself for having been too petulant about Cobalt and his childhood friend. The fact that Cobalt had seemed so upset when he found out that Danny might have done something Cobalt disapproved made Ben that much more pissed at Danny for even existing. A little unfair to Danny to be sure but Ben was not up to being rational at the moment.

It didn't help that he was supposed to be perky enough to endure planning for the LGBT prom that he would be chaperoning later with his planning partner, Sean. The very same man Danny was purported to have done said disapproving thing with. And of course, just because they were still speaking together after that horrendous idea of an intervention - one that Ben was conveniently trying to forget was his idea in the first pace - it didn't mean Ben felt any more comfortable around the older man.

But he trekked his way down to Sean's anyway, trying to think happy thought, which led him straight back to the person he was trying oh so hard to forget. Come on Ben, you still don't know if he's even interested in men. That hug meant nothing. The forty year old dug his hands deeper into his jeans pocket as he walked up the pavement to Sean's home.

The elder man had told him to just come in and so Ben did and found Sean in his backyard. He raised a hand in greeting before plopping himself down opposite the psychiatrist. "Sup, Doc." Ben said with even less humor than the greeting itself. "So what else should we be thinking about now?" He asked. "We've got the caterers already, don't we?"

The drink offer was welcomed greatly as Ben reached over Sean shamelessly to grab a bottle of beer out of the cooler, throwing the popped open cap on the table and guzzling half of it down. "Thanks." The younger man gave the telepath a small sideways smile, trying hard not to show too much emotion. Of course, that was utterly useless, seeing that Sean could just easily read his mind for the information anyway.

"I saw the pictures for the caterer and they do those mini sliders with Philly cheese steaks right?" Ben was so not in the mood to talk about prom plans. It just didn't seem the right time for the child psychologist to plan a happy occasion when he wasn't so happy himself. Poor Sean, he would have to be the one to lift up the mood. Ben was just not a happy camper.

With one last attempt at being sociable, Ben asked. "Will you be in costume?"

"Those sound good." He took another gulp from his bottle of beer and grumbled silently when the bottle felt lighter with his last gulp. "You have any more of these?" he asked, waving the bottle around.

Ben offered a weak smile at Sean's reply to the costume question. "It's just once a year right?" He replied. When the theme to the prom was revealed, Ben couldn't help but chuckle. Kids these days, no originality. Then again, it was prom. What more could people think of when it came to a prom theme. Everything had already been over done.

"Good luck with the costume." He chuckled, finishing the last drops of his beer. "Well, since the theme has been chosen, what are you thinking in terms of the decor? Shiny clouds and fires everywhere?"

"That they are. I'm glad you chose them. They make the best finger foods." Ben was slowly getting comfortable in his chair and the cool companion he had in his hand was more than enough to dull his other senses. He wasn't close to being buzzed yet but he was getting there.

"I'm glad I only have to do this once. I don't know how you can deal with an overload of hormones trapped in one room so I salute you." Ben literally did a salute with the hand that had the beer, careful not to let the liquid slosh too much in the bottle. At Sean's question about the theme, Ben shook his head. "Not at all. Besides, if there's another Winter Wonderland or Under the Sea theme, I would probably gag myself. Also, I'm not the most creative person in the room. This beer has more creativity than me." He chuckled, shaking his head as he took another long swig of the beer.

Laughing at the absurdity of Sean's statement about polishing off his halo, Ben adjusted himself in his seat and looked at the older man. "Yet another reason why I am not going in a costume. Somehow, I doubt I'd pull off the whole thing. I just don't look good in red."

Setting his bottle on the table, peeling off the label as Sean suggested the cakes, Ben nodded distractedly. He honestly couldn't be bothered, to be honest but he had to make appearances. And it hardly seemed for Sean to have to deal with Ben's sour mood. "Um, yeah sounds good. So are we getting the caterers to supply the cake or are you gonna get a boat load of Betty Crocker's orignal recipe?" Ben joked uneffectively.

He pulled out a pen and paper and began to write down the order that they’d agreed on, regarding the catering. “Then we’re agreed.”

Sean shrugged at the remark, although the salute was appreciated in its own way. “You get used to it. Most of the faculty at Hammel during their first dance or two complain about how they’ll pull their hair out if they have to deal with it again, but then they fall into the rhythm. Not that I would recommend it as a hobby; I certainly understand why people bow out more than once a year.” The telepath leaned back in his lawn chair before smiling at the other man’s proclamation. “Well, that’s understandable. Personally, I think it’s absurd that they’d want to celebrate snow in summer, during one of the few months we don’t have to worry about it here.” In that regard, they’d dodged a bullet.

The telepath chuckled at Ben’s protests regarding his costume. “You could pull off black, I’m sure. Prince of Darkness.” However, he wouldn’t put any additional pressure on his friend; there was no mandate that they wear costumes. The point of this prom was that everyone was as comfortable as could be. “But you’re free to pass; more absurd costumes for me, then. And angels shall triumph over demons.” With that, he took another sip of his iced tea.

Sean smiled at the joke, even if it fell flat a bit. “I have another bakery in mind; they’ve been good to me and I like to pass the business on to them. Unless you want to help me bake. We’d have to get up at dawn for it, but if you insist...”

The telepath sensed another person on his property, and that was confirmed by the echo of the doorbell. That was peculiar since his meeting was underway with Ben, and he wasn’t expecting anyone. He also didn’t want to probe but the person was unfamiliar to him, which meant not concerning Hammel, and because he did tune in for surface thoughts, not a police officer. Well, that was enough.

He politely excused himself from Ben to get the door. Cutting through his house, he found himself at the front, opening the door, and greeting a pleasant looking stranger. “Can I help you?”

Terrence didn't recognize the man who opened the door, which meant that he must be the Dr. Neville Ben had spoken of. He had just opened his mouth to say this when Ben appeared behind the other man.

"Ben," He greeted his friend with a smile as he accepted the proffered hand. "It's good to see you again." Not that this was a surprise on his end; he'd been invited and he'd told Ben he was planning on coming, so here he was. "As Ben said, my name is Terrence. Terrence Jordan."

He gave Sean an apologetic smile when Ben admitted to not informing their host that he would be coming. "I'm very sorry to drop in on you unannounced. ah, Dr. Neville, is it?" He waited for confirmation before continuing, "But Ben had mentioned your volunteer work, and it seemed like such a worthy cause I thought you might like help."

Ben had seemed to think that help would be useful, in any case. He'd never helped with anything like this before, but he was willing to try.

Ben shamelessly pulled Terrence into the house. Terrence's courteous introduction was met with a smile from Ben as they moved to the back of the house once more.

Sean, ever the gracious host, asked Terrence if he wanted anything and Ben just sat down, fighting off the urge to bail. Again. He supposed he should remain happy as long as Terrence was around. And he owed Sean this much at least for not informing him earlier of Terrence's visit.

Either way, Sean and Terrence seemed to at least be getting along well and Ben was glad for that. He didn't feel awfully guilty anymore that he had invited a guest to a home that was clearly not his.

He wasn't entirely sure if Sean's question was directed to both of them or just to Terrence so Ben kept at peace with sipping his beer.

[OOC: Augh! I sorry you gaiz! Ben is just not co-operating]