So... you like... ice cream? (Noam)

[Tanner Larson]

The things Tanner let his friends get him into could fill a Nicholas Sparks novel.

But even this was a bit of a stretch for the impressionable teen. When Michael had approached him about a "newly out friend" he wanted to set the blonde up with, Tanner's immediate response had been to physically remove the boy from his room and slam the door behind him. But after a bit more persuasion, the young pyro had eventually relented and agreed to at least meet this other boy. The idea of a blind date gave him the creeps, but he determined that he trusted his roommate enough not to get him into a sticky situation (or, if he was being quite frank, set him up on a date with a weirdo), so the plans were made. Besides, it had been a while since Tanner had done anything social, so he figured this was a good enough reason to get out.

Michael had told him to be at Shake, Sprinkle, and Roll at one that afternoon; he and this boy - whose name he had found out was Noam - hadn't even spoken to each other over the phone yet, as this was how confident Michael was that they would hit it off. So that morning, Tanner took extra care to make sure his hair was properly spiked, he was wearing something nice, and everything was all sparkling clean and tidy. When the time came, the blonde found himself sitting at a booth at Shake, hands clasped tightly together on the table, one jeaned leg bouncing up and down anxiously as he waited for the other boy to show up. His mind was somewhat blank, as he had no expectations. But if things got weird, then Michael was going to owe him big time.

[Noam Goldstein]

So Noam was nervous.

It was his first actual date with a guy, although a blind one, it still was a date. He had no clue who he was being set up with. Apparently, the other teen's name was Tanner, and that was about all that Noam could remember. They were going to meet at the ice cream parlor in the mall that Noam would've liked to take his brother to if he was a meta, because he was certain that the guy would absolutely love it. Noam liked it well enough, and hoped he didn't make a fool of himself with eating sloppily like he normally did when nervous. Oh well.

Dressed in a collared shirt(not ironed), his curly hair quite messy, and jeans, he arrived at the parlor. Taking a deep breath, he scanned the place for the Tanner dude - who he assumed to be the guy with spiky hair, and he hoped that he was right. If he was wrong... oh god, he'd be embarrassed. Another person would know of his secret, or at least one more. The walk over seemed longer than it actually was. Michael should've considered himself lucky for the fact that Noam had obliged to go out on the date.

"Hi... Tanner?" he inquired nervously. He managed a grin.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner had to suppress the urge to wipe his hand across his forehead and literally make a "phew" noise as he saw a boy walk in - first, because it meant he wasn't getting stood up, and second, because this boy was actually handsome. It occurred to him that this was a bit shallow, but hey, it was easier to go on with the date if there was some level of attraction there, no? He had assumed this was Noam because, in truth, he couldn't imagine that many young guys his age walking into an ice cream shop by themselves.

When the boy approached his booth, Tanner stood, extending a hand out to the other to shake. "Uh, yeah," he said, noting that his voice was slightly higher than usual; was he really that nervous? "Noam, right?" He asked, as he sat back down and gestured to the bright red, plush bench opposite from him. "Uh, how's it... going?" He asked with a nervous laugh. He could feel his cheeks growing warm; he wasn't sure why, but he was still feeling nervous and a bit awkward. Things were going well enough so far though, right? "Uh, sorry..." he added out of need, "I've... never really done this before." He figured getting that admission out of the way would at least excuse him from any awkwardness that might ensue due to his nerves. He resisted the urge to bury his face in the menu that had been placed in front of him upon his arrival.

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam too was relieved - though, he wasn't making any phew noises. He did exhale in a thankful manner, however. At least he didn't go up to the wrong person, which would have been disastrous - and it would've been embarrassing. Well, more embarrassing than some past stints. Usually Noam was a fearless flier who would take nearly any risk that he could. In public, that's how he wanted to be seen- though, he was far from that persona right now.

"Yeah, s'me," Noam replied in a shakier voice than usual. "It's going.. alright... yourself?" Oh god. This was going to be awkward. Family gatherings with cousins that he'd never met before were much better than this, he thought. At least, they were less awkward. Meeting new relatives was something that the teen hated. "Nor have I," he admitted. "I've just come out. Blind date-wise, this is my first." He picked up the menu awkwardly, and glanced at it, although he already knew what he was going to get. "So, um, yeah," he blabbered awkwardly.

[Tanner Larson]

It didn't take a psychic psychologist to see that this other boy was clearly as nervous, if not more so, than he was. That actually made Tanner feel a bit better: at least he wasn't out with some pro who used and tossed boys like so many Kleenex. Now that would have him feeling like he was in over his head. As it were, this was just a bit of pre-date jitters that he thought both boys could, if Michael hoped to live to see the sun rise anew, eventually work past.

"Uh, goin' good, goin' good," he replied with a slow nod, allowing himself to lean back in his seat so as to appear much more casual and at-ease than he really felt. He was a bit taken aback by the other boy's confession that he had just come out: Tanner knew this to be the case because Michael had told him first thing, but he hadn't anticipated that the other boy would feel comfortable enough to say so. Hell, Tanner still had plenty of times when he didn't like to bring up his own sexuality aloud. "Ah, well then, I guess we're both new at this," he replied with a nervous smile.

"So, um..." he began, hand finding the back of his neck as it was so apt to do when he was feeling under pressure. "Have you... been here before?" He looked up from the menu he had been glancing down at with hopeful eyes.

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam hoped that he'd start calming down in a few minutes. It was a bit insane for him, having just come out a little bit ago, and now on his first actual date with a guy. The other guy he'd been on a date with for the Halloween dance didn't really count in his eyes, but this was definitely a new experience. He didn't quite know what the heck to think, nor did he know how this would turn out - he hoped it'd turn out well, though there was always the possibility it would be disastrous.

"Yeah, I guess so," he replied with a nervous grin. He wondered why Michael had set them up, though he knew it was probably for the better. At least he wasn't paired up with someone who he knew already, which would've been really embarrassing for both parties. "Well... yeah, a few," he answered. "It's good. The food and the ice cream. Have you?". Noam was starting to feel a bit more confident about the whole thing - maybe it'd just be conversing with someone new, though in a weirder setting than that.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner knew exactly why Michael had set them up: after their little debacle at the mall the previous week, the brunette had been trying everything to make it up to the blonde, who had made it very clear that he was still furious about being stuck to his roommate for nearly ten minutes in full public view. Michael, apparently very confident in his ability to play matchmaker, had likely assumed he could kill two birds with one stone: even things up with Tanner, and help Noam get in the game. Tanner was reserving judgment on the other boy's level of success until he saw just how this date went. The brunette now sitting across the table from him was clearly handsome - if in a sort of nerdy, "adorkable" way - but looks alone would not keep the blonde interested.

"I haven't, actually," he admitted with a nod. Glancing down at the menu, he found that most of the items could fall under the umbrella category of "southern comfort food" - lots of fried things and whatnot. This probably kept a lot of Pilot Ridge pleased, but it wasn't his usual fare. There was a cheeseburger, though, so he decided he'd might as well indulge in some red meat. A young waitress came to take their drink orders, and Tanner simply asked for a glass of water (pretty much the only thing he drank, as it were). "So, you go to Hammel, right?" He asked. "So, uh, what's your ability?" He figured that was always an easy way to begin a conversation with a fellow meta-human, evn if a bit hackneyed.

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam studied the blonde - and was he attractive. Noam didn't exactly have a thing for blondes, in fact, he considered most blondes a bit shallow, or at times, a bit on the "dumb" side. They never had really stood out to Noam as people he would date, because the venn diagram of people who were stupid and people that he didn't want to date was a circle. He wanted to think, or at least have whoever he was dating make him think about something, whatever it would be. PJ Thompson was an odd one, but when the two of them debated, Noam was able to be challenged, and he liked it, though he didn't like PJ. At all.

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "I've been there since I was eleven," he said quickly with a small grin. "Me? I fly. Without wings, obviously, because if I had wings, I'd be a pixie. And pixies aren't quite my thing," he said with a grin, joking slightly. Noam turned a bit pink, realizing that he'd rambled off a bit, much to his dismay. "Well.. how about you? You're at Hammel as well?" He figured so, due to the fact he'd asked about his ability, and so he probably knew about the school, meaning that he went there. Hopefully his logic was okay.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner nodded as Noam explained his ability. He grinned as the boy seemed to go off on a bit of a tangent: he didn't mind, and actually the blonde found it to be sort of adorable. "Oh, that's cool," he replied, "my boss can fly, too. Well, float, really." Cynthia liked to use her ability while performing onstage to impress the crowd, but other than that she didn't appear to find much use for it. Thinking for a moment, he decided he had another question. "And, um, how old are you now?" He asked, realizing he didn't actually know that. He was a bit annoyed with Michael for having told him literally nothing about this kid other than his first name; what if Noam already knew all of this stuff about him and he just looked like a callous idiot?

"Uh, yeah, I am," he replied when asked about his own experiences. "Been here since I was twelve. So about, uh, seven years. I'm nineteen," he explained. "Oh, and, uh, I'm a pyro." He lifted up one of his fingers, producing a tiny flame on his finger tip, which was quickly extinguished. "So, yeah, there's... that..." He wracked his brain trying to come up with something more to say...

"What are we even gonna talk about? You know I suck at small talk."

Tanner was sitting on the side of the stage at the House as Valerie Danner, one of his friends who danced there, combed her hair on the floor beside him. Michael had just texted him to let him know when his blinde date was, and the blonde was already nervous.

"Well, a lady loves to be complimented," she mused aloud. "Maybe boys do, too?"

Tanner shrugged his shoulders, obviously unconvinced. "I dunno, I mean if I just throw that out there, won't it seem a little... desperate?"

Valerie shook her head. "Not if it's genuine. Just tell him he looks nice. I'm sure he will."

Tanner gulped; he still wasn't so sure how good an idea that was, but Noam was a good-looking fellow...

"Um, you look nice," he offered, giving a nod. He immediately regretted it; what if Noam didn't think the same about him? Did that even matter? Why give a compliment if one's only intention was to receive one in return?

Tanner decided to quit worrying.

[Noam Goldstein]

"Floating sounds interesting," noted Noam, scratching the back of his curly head. "Maybe not very practical, but cool. I just wish I was invisible along with my ability. Then I could just fly everywhere, and not need to buy a car." He was rambling again, though he smirked at this one. "Or maybe I'd have to get an Invisibility cloak, like in Harry Potter." His family was a very "nerdy" one - the Goldsteins enjoyed Star Trek marathons, comic books, and pretty much any other franchise that could be imagined. Of course, Noam had concealed the information of his family's interests, though he did mention it when he deemed it to be appropriate. "Sorry. I can't help myself," he said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Whoa. Dude. That is awesome," he said in awe. He'd met several pyros before, but these pyros weren't as... nice. At least one had hurled flames at the boy in anger, though he was certain that that pyro had since graduated from Hammel, for the incident had happened long ago, from when Noam was thirteen, and the other person seemed like they were in their last years at the school. "You must have loads of practice with it. What sort of stuff can you do?"

Noam was genuinely feeling relaxed by now, despite the tangents. "Thanks." His face had a bit of a pink tinge appear on it. "You too."

[Tanner Larson]

Noam was certainly talking to the right guy, for Tanner was pretty nerdy as well. He didn't watch Star Trek, but his life was all about Star Wars when the newer movies were coming out. He wasn't quite as big on Harry Potter as he was on some other franchises, but he certainly knew what the brunette was talking about. "No worries," he replied, grinning as he lifted up his hand into the Vulcan salute for a brief moment before letting his hand fall back to the table. "Yeah that would be pretty cool, but if you were flying around with it on, it'd probably be flapping in the wind and revealing little pieces of you," he said with a shrug.

The boy's look of pure wonder as he ignited his forefinger was met with another grin and a bit of a blush. "Heh, yeah, I guess it's pretty cool," he agreed with a nod. Hmm, what else, what else... He decided showing off some of his abilities would be a good way to impress the other boy. Why be bashful if the other kid was clearly interested in it anyway? The blonde's eyes fell down to one of Noam's hands resting on the table. "Well, there's this..." He began, reaching out his hand and allowing it to rest just a few inches above the other boy's. He started feeling some of the heat leaving his body; Noam would likely feel a sudden wave of heat arriving at his hand. "I can radiate my own heat," he explained as his hand continued to hover just over Noam's. "My internal temperature is higher than other human's, so I learned how to give some of it off when I need to." That had certainly come in handy when he and Juniper had gotten stuck in a cave and he'd had to help keep her warm.

As Noam returned the compliment, Tanner quickly turn his hand away, figuring he didn't need to make the reddish hue rising up on his skin any more obvious. "Thanks," he said simply. Fortunately, the waitress came back with their drinks and asked what they wanted to order. Tanner ordered the cheeseburger he had been considering. Once the waitress left, he found that he needed something new to talk about. "So... like, what are your hobbies?" He tried. Might as well get to know this kid, right?

[Noam Goldstein]

Noam returned the salute, grinning ear to ear. Tanner had just showed himself to be epically awesome in his eyes, and there would be little that he could to to get that special status revoked. Once Noam saw someone as awesome, it was difficult for him to see them as just someone who was ordinary and 'notsome', or the opposite of awesome. There really wasn't a word in the English dictionary for the opposite of awesome, so he'd took it upon himself to create his own.

"Probably. But it'd still be really cool. But if you were flying high up enough, they wouldn't see you. Like, not at all. Because it'd be really hard to," he reasoned with a shrug. "But yeah. It'd be hard if you weren't and for landing. And what if it fell off?"

Noam stared at it, his eyes going wide. "Whoa. That is....really cool." He grinned. "It must come in handy during the winter, because this place is freezing." As the waitress arrived, Noam ordered the same thing - which was what he usually had, despite the fact that burgers weren't kosher. At Hammel, he never followed the laws of kashrut - it was just something he followed with his family. Bacon, cheeseburgers, and shrimp were his favorite foods, despite the fact that he couldn't eat them at home. "Hobbies? Musical theatre, singing, writing," he listed off. "And acting. Yours?"

[Tanner Larson]

Noam's bright smile brought one to Tanner's face as well: this other boy certainly had a cute smile - not that the blonde could or would ever articulate such a thought - and it was certainly infectious. He pondered the thought of using an invisibility cloak while flying high in the air. "Oh, can you fly really high?" He asked. "My boss - the one who can hover - can only go up like five feet or so." It was still pretty cool to see, though, especially when she'd raise herself just a few inches off the ground and 'drift' around the stage. Certainly a cool 'special effect' during her performances. "Hmm, I guess if you were flying up high enough, you'd look like a bird to us down here anyway," he stated with a grin. This was possibly the nerdiest conversation he'd had all year, and he didn't mind at all. Frankly, it was refreshing after all the teen drama he had to deal with over the past few months.

If Noam's smile was cute, then the look of pure wonder he gave Tanner upon feeling the heat radiating from his hand was just adorable. Tanner smiled proudly, a hint of color coming to his cheeks as he placed his hand back on his side of the table. "Yeah, I mean since my body temperature is unusually high, the winter doesn't affect me as much. Actually, it's the summer I dread. When it gets really hot and I have no way to cool off, it... gets kinda weird," he explained with a laugh.

Tanner listened to Noam's list of hobbies, and it seemed like they have a lot in common. "Oh, do you do theatre?" He asked. "Like, in school or at the Globe?" What he did wasn't quite theatre, but it was performance art nonetheless. "I work at La Maison Magnifique," he stated, "it's..." He paused for a moment, deciding upon how best to explain it; he didn't exactly need Noam knowing that he worked at a burlesque house, as he didn't exactly seem like the type to dig that sort of thing. "...a local club. Lots of people singing and dancing and stuff." That was safe enough an explanation. "I also like cooking a lot, and reading and that sorta thing." So much of his time was spent studying, training, and working that he didn't have all that much time to spend on hobbies.

[Noam Goldstein]

"Well, if you consider about five hundred feet really high, then yeah," Noam said with a bob of his head. "Though, I'd be able to fly higher if I had a broomstick, like a Firebolt. Dude, if I could get a ton of other fliers together, I think we'd be able to play quidditch, wouldn't that be awesome?" A childlike grin spread over the teen's face. He'd thought of it several times, and had wanted to play it for a very long time, even though there was such thing as muggle quidditch, yet the fake sport was nothing like the real deal. "Only a few inches? Sounds a bit mysterious," he commented. "Though cool."

"Oh man, that must be awful," Noam commented, trying to imagine what the heck it felt like to be in that sort of situation. As Atticus Finch once said, you had to walk a mile in someone else's shoes in order to understand them - which was how he decided on how to play his characters onstage, and how he tried to behave around others. "Have you ever gotten heat stroke that way?" he inquired. A pause. "I bet swimming feels really good, though. At least, during the summer.'

"Yeah," acknowledged Noam. "I help teach at the Globe, and I do theatre here at Hammel." A grin escaped from the teen. "Ooh. Awesome. What sort of things do you cook? And what sort of books do you like reading?"

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner's eyes widened slightly, nodding his head with fascination as Noam explained how high he could fly. "Wow, yeah, that's definitely high," he replied; if Noam thought his ability to radiate heat was impressive, then Tanner was equally so. "I can't imagine being that far off the ground," he added with a grin. Harry Potter wasn't one of his favorite things, but he did know what quidditch was, and he kept smiling as Noam nerded out. He was definitely an entertaining kid, that was for sure.

The boy nodded fervently. "Yeah, summers are not fun," he agreed. "And yeah, I get heat strokes, fevers, fainting spells... I mean, you name it. I have to wear as little clothing as possible just so my skin can breathe," he added with a laugh. Perhaps that wasn't the most tactful thing to say on a date, but that didn't occur to Tanner; they were just having a laugh, anyway. He shook his head at the mention of swimming. "I... actually don't swim," he admitted. Notably, he didn't say he can't swim, but rather he doesn't. He was dreadfully afraid of pools, lakes, and other bodies of water. He wasn't even sure why, but he imagined it had something to do with the fact that he controlled water's elemental opposite.

"Oh, cool," he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "So, you teach acting classes?" he inquired. "What shows have you been in?" With regards to his own interests, Tanner shrugged; he was less of a talker and more of a listener, so he was far more interested in Noam's pursuits than his own. "I like to try different things," he replied. "I don't eat a lot of junk food, so I try to find things that are healthy but, ya know, not gross. And, um, I read a lot of non-fiction. Like, I just finished Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Now I'm halfway through Memoirs of a Geisha, which is really good so far." Saying all of this out loud made the boy realizes just how geeky he was. But Noam seemed to be a kindred spirit of sorts, so he did feel comfortable being himself.