Brief Encounters - Cobalt

[Benjamin Rhodes]

[OOC: The continuation of this thread is here]

It was sort of amusing that for seven months, all Ben could do was think about being with Cobalt and now after only two months of being with each other, Ben was retreating so quick and so sudden just because they've been having a good time together.

The last two weeks, Ben and Cobalt had gotten together a grand total of two days for coffee and a rushed lunch. Phone calls were far and few in between. Ben was frustrated that he was being a complete asshole about it but the thought of having had the best two months of his life go down the drain eventually in his mind was scaring the hell out of him.

Even now, having to call Cobalt to cancel because he 'suddenly' had paperwork to do, was a little harrowing. But he did it anyway. Pressing number two on his speed dial, he waited for Cobalt to pick up. The gruff voice from the other line made him almost forget why he was calling in the first place as a smile formed on his face. That was before he remembered the nature of this call.

"Hey, Cobalt. Just wanted to call and tell you that I can't make it tonight. Work piled up. I uh...I'll call you later in the weekend?"

[Cobalt Weaver]

Truth be told, Cobalt didn't know what the hell was going on, but he was sure he had done something wrong. Dammit, he had thought that everything had been going well. More than just well. Things had been going great. He'd just told Elaine and Morgan last week how happy he was, and how long it'd been since he'd been so happy. And now, it was looking as though he'd spoken too soon. Ben had been distant and detached lately, which would be fine if Cobalt only knew why.

He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly. Something was wrong, and he didn't know how to fix it, and it was swiftly going past worrying into frustrating. Soon it was going to take a permanent stop into irritating, and Cobalt was going to say something regrettable very soon.

Cobalt jumped when his cell phone beeped, and when he saw Ben's number in the call log, he froze a moment. Maybe Ben was actually going to explain everything. They had dinner tonight, maybe everything was going to be okay. Cobalt flipped open his phone, "Hey Benny, what's up?"

And then Ben started talking.

"....uh." Cobalt shook himself briefly, a surge of irritation flooding through him. Dammit, he knew that Ben was lying. Ben was a terrible liar. What the hell was wrong with him? "Fine. Works for me." His voice was clipped, frustrated, and more hurt than he really wanted to be. "Guess I'll talk to you someday then." And with that, he hung up the phone.

He sat there for a moment, confused and angry and...embarrassed? He didn't know why he felt so embarrassed, but he did. He shook his head. Figured. Picking the phone up again, he dialed a number. It rang three times before the person on the other line picked up.

"Hey Danny? It's Cobalt. I was wondering if you were busy tomorrow.."

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Something squeezed hard around Ben's chest when he heard Cobalt's nickname for him. This was bad. This was really bad. What was he trying to do, sabotaging this relationship with the man he had been completely hung up on for months. It didn't make a lick of sense and Ben was not amused anymore. He was forty-one years old and he was still acting like a damn child. Cobalt didn't deserve it.

The tone Cobalt held at Ben's cancellation damn near killed him. And he didn't even know why. His choice of words made Ben feel sorry for even doing this in the first place. It was ironic that Ben felt this way because Cobalt was the one who had said that he was bringing a lot of baggage. Hadn't Ben been eager to accept it all? Now he was the one backing out. Slowly, but surely.

Ben didn't even realise Cobalt had hung up the phone until he checked the screen to find it back to his phone wallpaper. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Throwing the phone down on his couch, Ben pressed his head against the wall and sighed. "Benjamin Rhodes, you're a stupid idiot."

[OOC: *sniffle* fin *sniffle*]