Mutually Beneficial - Tags Cobalt

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Waking up fairly early, even for him, Ben went for his morning run and came back in time to get breakfast going for Yulia and Josef. He was taking a shower when he realised that he should have plans with Cobalt. It had been about a month since they got together and as much as he was loathe to admit it, he was getting rather attached to the idea of having someone to call up when he wanted to hang out.

And this is one of those times and he had someone to call up.

Drying his hair after a good hot shower, Ben slid into some jeans and a plain white t-shirt as he spoke to Cobalt about coming over. The shadow manipulator sounded nonchalant over the phone as he agreed to let Ben come over. Ben grinned as he found himself kind of excited to see the older man.

The drive over to Cobalt's apartment was filled with not so out of tune singalongs to the tunes on the car radio. He was in good and high spirits on a perfectly beautiful Sunday afternoon.

He knocked on the door to Cobalt's apartment and chuckled as he heard the scratching and mewling from the other side. Once the door was opened, Ben's smile widened at the sight of his boyfriend. Without any hesitation, he moved forward and captured the other man's lips with his. "So, what are you in the mood to do today?" Ben bent down to pick Jules up and kicking the door gently shut behind him.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt was a little surprised to get Ben’s call, but pleased nevertheless. So yes, he was a little nervous because they hadn’t made concrete plans, but Ben never made concrete plans, so Cobalt was going to have to get used to that. And no, he wasn’t going to pick up his house because Ben was coming over. His house wasn’t that dirty, and it wasn’t as though Ben had never come over before and it wasn’t that dirty anyways. Cobalt pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. He wished his brain would be quiet.

He didn’t remember if Ben actually mentioned when he was coming over, and Cobalt kind of wished that this didn’t sort of stress him out. Finally opting to throw himself into his armchair and reach for whatever book was closest and wait in semi-restless silence. Finally, there was a knock at the door and Cobalt started a little bit. Jules sped out of the bedroom and mewled loudly, glaring at Cobalt to open the door.

“All right, all right, hush up.” Cobalt groused, nudging the cat away with his foot and opened the door, “Hey, what’s—umph!” Cobalt started when Ben leaned over and kissed him unexpectedly on the mouth, his shoulders going rigid and alarmed.

“Uhhh…” Cobalt shook himself visibly, “I dunno. I didn’t—I didn’t really have anything in mind. Um. You?” He winced inwardly, irritated at his inane comments. Fantastic. He better not be blushing. He better not be blushing.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

The shake was awfully adorable and Ben couldn't stop grinning at the blush he saw on Cobalt's face. Blushes don't lie. Especially not on a grumpy man who practically made a living by scowling. Suffice it to say, red was a good colour on Cobalt.

Ben didn't comment on the blush, instead passing Cobalt to go to the couch and not so subtly squeezed the other man's hand. He knew he was being a terrible person, basically just thrusting Cobalt face first into the deep end of a relationship, aka touching. Ew. But Ben was not going to waste any opportunity to be close to the man despite his unwavering effort to think this was nothing more than two people getting to know one another better. In close proximity of each other.

"Well, I was thinking of just hanging out but I was also hoping you'd have something in mind and I could just...follow along with it." Ben smiled and flopped on to the couch, turning his head around to look at Cobalt while he let his hand be Jules' batting post. "We've just been doing lunches and dinners so far, I thought you might like a change of scenery." The younger man gave the shadow manipulator an encouraging smile.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt was a little grumpy at how out of his depth he was currently feeling at the moment. It wasn’t a nice feeling, and he had a feeling that he was going to be doing an awful lot of flailing in the future of this relationship. And he was not adorable, and red was not a good color on Cobalt. So there.

But Ben didn’t comment, which Cobalt was grateful for, and he accepted the hand squeeze with a slight smile. Hand-holding was far less stressful. “Well…” Cobalt sat crosslegged on the armchair (which he really should stop doing, because it hurt his knees, but he was just so satisfied with the fact that the chair was big enough to accommodate it), “We could go on a walk.” He adjusted his glasses, “I dunno, I don’t do things in my spare time.” Cobalt gave Ben a little smile, watching Jules beat up Ben’s hand.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben was glad Cobalt didn't shy away from the hand-holding, although, it was a fairly short squeeze so it didn't really count. Because Cobalt sat in his armchair, kicked his shoes off and pulled his feet up on the couch before turning to face Cobalt, Jules on his lap, curled up neatly in a ball.

"You don't? Then...you're actually content in just sitting at home?" A little puzzled at this, Ben tilted his head slightly in question before he simply nodded. "Well, a walk sounds nice. Wouldn't your knees complain though?" Ben asked out of courtesy.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt adjusted his glasses and rested his chin in his palm, resting his elbows on his knees. He grinned a little bit as he watched Ben stretch out on his couch and Jules hopped on his lap. At Ben’s question, Cobalt shrugged lightly, “Sure. It’s not like I’m high energy.” Except at night, where he just roamed about the apartment and sometimes went jogging again if it wasn’t too cold. But that was neither here nor there. “What? What do you like to do?” Cobalt gave Ben a mildly challenging grin.

He shot Ben a grumpy look when the younger man asked about his knees. “My knees are fine. I go jogging every day, I’m sure they can manage going on a casual walk. Unless you plan on climbing a mountain or something.” He pushed himself off the armchair and wandered around the apartment gathering up his shoes.

“One request though,” Cobalt said with a wry grin, “We don’t go to the woods. I don’t want to go on a woods hike today. I hate the woods.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Cobalt's response brought a chuckle out of Ben as he let Jules climb on to his shoulder. The turnabout question had Ben shrugging. "I like bowling. That sucks to play alone, let me tell you that." He laughed lightly, and it grew into a hysterical giggle when Jules tried to bite his neck. "Jules! You're not a vampire!" He pulled the kitten off his shoulder and laid her on his lap once more.

"And I sometimes like to play video games. My nephew dragged me through a game console buying process and he forced me to play with him once he got it. Now I own my own game console and...you know, solitary play is not that bad." He shrugged, though a little embarrassed at admitting it.

Ben backed down with pursed lips, careful not to let his smile through at Cobalt's expression. "I have no plans on conquering Mount Everest with you, I don't think." He replied before grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, I know. Stupid of me to bring up."

When Cobalt mentioned no woods, Ben raised an eyebrow, frowning just slightly. He wanted to ask if there was any particular reason behind it but Cobalt was a private person, as was he, and he did not want to pry. Who knows, Cobalt might open up to him by himself. Ben can wait.

"Alright, no woods. We could always go to the lake and have ice cream or something." Juvenile, Ben. It was like he didn't have any game whatsoever.

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt grinned, “Ah, that explains it. I’ve never been bowling. I feel as though I would be awful at it. A friend of mine kept trying to get me to go, when we were in college. Never went.” He didn’t have the chance to elaborate once Jules decided that Ben should probably be bitten on the neck, “Oh god Jules! Get off, you dumb cat.” He waved a hand at the kitten, who batted at it nonchalantly.

He snorted, “Of course you like video games.” It wasn’t a criticism per se; more of a light tease. It did make sense that Ben would like video games.

Cobalt laughed at the joke, “Good. I have no intention of ever conquering Mount Everest ever. I enjoy breathing far too much. And having working legs.” He’d read about what happened to people when they climbed Everest. It sounded awful. He shrugged at the apology, “It’s fine. But just so you know, my knees are just bad; they’ve been that way since I was a kid. They can’t possibly get any worse.” That was… so untrue. But Cobalt didn’t care. Moral of the story: don’t worry about the knees.

“I like ice cream.” Cobalt nodded, equally juvenile in his enthusiasm. What? He really did love ice cream. And if Ben didn’t have any game, Cobalt was worse. “Let’s go.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

"But sucking at bowling is like an achievement all by itself. I screw up royally all. the. time." Ben admitted easily. It wasn't like a big secret anyway. And it was also just to point out his shallow flaws. "Well, we're going to have to go some day. Because getting gutter balls three times in a row is a feat worth laughing at."

He laughed when Cobalt shooed the kitten off. "Alright, pretty kitty, down." Ben declawed Jules off his shirt and put her down on the ground where she shot off to the corner, walking around the same spot a few times before curling up into a ball. Ben laughed quietly and leaned back into the couch, turning his head to look at Cobalt just as his teasing started.

"I do. I've got like...ten games at home right now. Although by any standard, that is lame. But I buy what I like to play. But don't worry. There are no dancing or singing games on there. That would just be weird and embarrassing." He laughed lightly.

The psychologist laughed at Cobalt's response to his earlier joke. "Breathing is fun. Yes. I can see why you would want to continue with it." He ran his fingers through his hair and sat up straight in order to get comfortable. "Well, fine then. If you say so." He smiled, affectionately exasperated by Cobalt's reassurance. He then realised he had been staring and unlike before, he didn't have to look away. But he did. Cobalt didn't need a forty year old man looking at him in complete adoration. It was creepy and he shouldn't do it for too long.

"Oh good! Okay." He stood up and looked down at Jules before turning back to Cobalt with one hand stretched out. Possibly the wrong move but Ben was just a tad too excited to really care.