Answered Ad - Ben tags Yulia/Josef

[Josef Muller]

“Josh…that’s the man I met the other day? And the Blue and Gold Law Firm…” For a moment, Josef paused, his eyes shutting as he thought. He wasn’t much of a thinker. He loved the physical activities. He was, however, observant, and although he couldn’t remember Blue and Gold specifically…Ah. Cobalt. It had been on the sign, right? “I went and talked to them…yesterday.” He opened his eyes and smiled, a bit sheepishly. “Things have been crazy.” It was a bad explanation for a poor memory, but there it was.

The other man seemed very relaxed, which seemed to baffle Josef at first, until he regained that control he had over his expression and managed a look of curiosity.

“Three-fifty I can handle,” he said. “And everything else sounds nice. Especially the coffee.” He smiled again. “But no. No allergies. I’m pretty healthy. Gotta be, if I want to run a clinic.” He eyed him, then leaned back against the wall. “Are you always this trusting? You know nothing about me, at all, and yet you’re willing to take me into your house for three hundred and fifty dollars? It’s very nice…but are you like that all the time?” Then again, in towns like Pilot Ridge, would it matter?

But he had been hearing some interesting rumors of late…

[Benjamin Rhodes]

"Oh right! What was I thinking. Yeah. That's him," Ben laughed quietly, resting against the dresser in a relaxed manner. The mention of Cobalt probed a smile from the psychologist. He hid it before Josef opened his eyes. "I can imagine," he gave the other man a sympathetic smile. Moving into a new town and already having paper work to deal with, that was already a hassle. And Ben didn't even know the other man had just gone through a divorce.

Ben didn't catch the baffled expression on the other man's face but nodded when Josef started speaking again. "Oh good. I'm glad. You have a point." He laughed lightly before he dropped the smile and a frown creased his forehead. Where did this come from?

"I..." Ben was a little confused at Josef's questions, to be honest. How much would a person need to be acquainted with a potential tenant to actually really know them? Besides, Ben found out enough about the man already from their first meeting. He's capable of dealing with anything afterwards. "Is three fifty too little?" He asked, confusion tainting his speech.

[Josef Muller]

Oh, right. Sometimes, Josef tended forget that people didn’t think like he did. Suspiciously. All right, so he hadn’t always been that way. No, he had never been that trusting before. When first meeting a person, he wanted all the details, and tended to wait to reserve judgment. But once he had…if it was favorable…then he tended to just jump into something and simply not think about it. Why would he? After all, everything was already set up. But this just trusting a man one had hardly met…it was puzzling to him. No, he didn’t have any BAD intentions that Ben would have to worry about, but still.

Anyways, better to take a step back before he scared the other man. He stopped himself from shifting again, but did lift a hand to rub the back of his neck, a bit sheepishly.

“No, no. That’s not what I meant. I just, uh.” He paused for a moment. “I was just expecting a few more questions, that’s all. It’s not…it’s not bad. I just was kind of surprised. I’m a suspicious guy, and it always kind of surprises me when other people…aren’t…” This wasn’t going well. Sometimes, he wished he was more articulate. “The last renting process I went through required me to have three references, proof of employment and a doctor’s note,” he added. “So if you see, that’s kind of what I was expecting. I’m really sorry if I startled or offended you.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Tilting his head a little to the left, he listened intently as Josef fumbled through an explanation but slowly started to understand Josef's predicament, nodding lightly. "I see, well...I suppose I understand your stance. I'm not offended just...surprised is all. Really, don't worry about it. It's easier for me to form judgments early on when I first meet people. Occupational hazard." Ben chuckled lightly, trying to make the man ease up a little.

"I can understand your apprehension, trust me. I just...don't require too much from a tenant. So long as they keep their part of the house clean and pay the rent and, oh you know...don't blow up the house, I'm fine." He shrugged before pushing himself up to his full height before escorting Josef downstairs again. "Why don't you finish your coffee before it gets cold and when you're ready to move in, just give me a call. I'll give you my card."

Ben let Josef find his way down to the living room while he went in search of his business card, scribbling his personal number on the back of the card before rejoining the man, handing the card to him. "So...what kind of references do you have anyway?" Ben asked, out of curiosity.

[Josef Muller]

Well, he supposed that made sense. If the man was a psychologist, then he would be able to judge others. And at least the other man wasn’t offended. That was a step in the right direction. He really did need to get less…concerned about things. A lot less. Relaxing more would also be a good step. It would take time, but if he could do it, that was all that mattered. “I have no intention to blow up the house,” he informed him. “It seems like too nice of a place. But thank you for, uh, understanding.” That had been pretty impressive, actually. He followed the other man downstairs and returned to the living room, fetching his coffee. He didn’t sit immediately, but instead took a long drink in an attempt to calm his nerves.

Then again, caffeine to calm himself down? It was pretty laughable. Oh well. At least it tasted pretty good.

When the man returned, he took the card and smiled, then set the cup down so he could put the card into his wallet. “Well,” he said slowly. “I have my last two bosses, and one that’s my sister posing as a volunteer organization.” He shrugged and smiled. “I was a bit pressed for time. But you did ask.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Giving the other man a baffled smile, Ben nodded at Josef's promise of not blowing up the house. That was Yulia's job, anyway Ben thought to himself with a grin as they walked downstairs one by one. "I don't see why I shouldn't. Understand, I mean. It's perfectly normal for people to be...apprehensive. I just don't feel it's necessary for everyone to feel that way. Not around me at least."

When Josef finished listing his references, Ben grinned. "Well, I'm sure at some point they will be contacted. So you have a sister? How many siblings do you have?" Ben asked, mostly just to keep the small talk going. With Yulia back in her room, Ben wasn't sure when else in the day that he would have a conversation with an adult which didn't include getting out of the house. Or Cobalt.

"Do you have somewhere else to go? I'm not stopping you from anything am I?"

[Josef Muller]

“Just one. Her name’s Helene. She’s a little…odd.” And she thought he was just as crazy, if not more so. She still claimed not to get why Josef had gotten together with William in the first place instead of the nice girl he’d taken to the prom (and in turn, he hadn’t had the heart to tell her that she’d asked him). “But that’s normal for family, I guess.” He shrugged, then looked over at the man. “And I don’t have anything to do. At all. I went and saw a lawyer, now all that’s left is checking out places, and that can take time.” And it wasn’t like he had to check out of a hotel or anything. He could just call in and have him charge it to his card. He already had the duffel bag that he was living out of in his pocket, and wasn’t that a depressing thought.

“I hope this doesn’t sound too overeager, but could I move in today, perhaps? I only…uh…have a bag.” He looked a bit sheepish again, but managed to stop himself from fiddling with anything. He could do this.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

"I've got five brothers." Ben shared. "Well, four but my cousin grew up with us so he's a brother as far as I'm concerned." The psychologist nodded. "You'll see him around a lot. He comes over for dinner every week."

Ben supposed Josef had a point about family. Ben loved his, obviously. With his life. But they sometimes tried too hard at things that didn't need much at all. "I guess you're right." He smiled, nodding at the other man.

He looked at the man as he made the request. "I'll talk to my house mate first but I'm pretty sure she'll be fine with it. Do you have your bags with you now?"

[Josef Muller]

“Five brothers?” Josef’s brows climbed as he tried to picture the chaos of having six boys run around the house. Then again, just because his mother had said he was a hellion didn’t mean that all boys were that way. He was sure some were even quite reasonable or quiet or studious (none of which applied to Josef then or now) and perfectly easy to manage. “Even four is still…wow.”

Bags. Yeah, that would be a normal person who hadn’t just hopped onto a plane with a half-formed idea as the only sort of guidelines he had. Not A bag, half-full with clothes and some important documents rolled up and haphazardly tossed in. He didn’t bother correcting the other man. Ben seemed nice, but Josef didn’t want questions, and didn’t want to analyze his personal choices right then. He was out of it. That was the important part.

“It’s in the car,” he said. “But if it’s too much of a bother, I can wait. It’s not a big deal.”

[Benjamin Rhodes]

He thought nothing of having so many boys in the house other than it was pretty awesome having two older brothers for back up and being the back up for his two younger brothers and Andrew. And his parents were super patient with all of them; it felt like the most incredibly normal thing in the whole world, being part of a big family.

"All my parents doing I guess. By the time Haden came around, we were convinced if mom had a girl, the whole place would burn down which was why I'm still glad we got Liam instead." He chuckled good-naturedly.

"Oh, okay. It's no bother, man. Seriously." Ben patted Josef's shoulder. "Why don't you go get your bags while I talk to my housemate?" He asked before smiling and disappearing upstairs to speak to Yulia.

Just as he had reasoned with the other man, Yulia was accepting of the agreement and Ben walked down to the door with a smile on his face. He had been expecting to at least see a bag or two already by the foyer but when the man came back with one, he smile quizzically. "You need help with the rest?" He offered.

[Josef Muller]

Right. Yeah, that was the awkward part: the “there-is-no-more” part. He resisted the urge to grimace, then shrugged and nudged the duffel bag that he’d dropped by his feet. All it had was some things to charge his phone, clothes, and his necessary papers. Not even a computer: he’d figured he would go work on that later. He knew he’d need one eventually, but…

Still, he was glad that Yulia had agreed to letting him move in. It would be nice for him to actually have a real home for a while. At least, until he got settled down.

“Not really,” he said. “This is it. I’m a bit of a light packer, and…well…I didn’t have much that I wanted to keep when I left.” The wonders of divorce. He’d gotten half of everything, but it didn’t matter. He hadn’t wanted it. He’d just wanted out.

“Long story,” he added. “May I? Or should I pay you rent first?” He could do both. It didn’t really bother him either way, so long as the conversation moved away from his lack of personal belongings. He supposed it showed character: that he didn't believe in material things, right?

Yeah...

[Benjamin Rhodes]

He never really means to but Ben always picked up on subtleties in behaviour. The usual nervous tics people tended not to realise they exhibit were easy enough to detect but then there were those where the person purposefully try to hide, Ben could pick up on it. His interpretation of it might differ from time to time but usually he was on the nose about it.

Josef's behaviour had Ben wondering what the story was behind the lack of luggage. He wouldn't pry. If Josef wanted to keep that part of his life private, Ben was going to allow it, no questions asked.

Figuring he was already uncomfortable enough to want to change the subject, Ben nodded with a wide smile. "You can pay the rent by the end of the month. Um, welcome to Chez Rhodes. Okay no I don't actually call my house that. You can ignore that stupid horrible joke and get to your room."

Ben chuckled mostly to himself before going into the kitchen only to poke his head out again to ask. "Hey, you want some food?"

[OOC: I can safely say we can wrap this baby up ^^]

[Josef Muller]

Josef wondered what Ben had read into his actions, but decided that he wasn’t going to worry about it. He liked Ben, and if Ben eventually brought it up…fine. And if Josef chose to do it instead, then that was fair as well. In the meantime…well, it didn’t matter. Time would tell what he’d do and, in the meantime, he was just going to sort out his life as-was. There were complications enough, he thought. Might as well keep this part simple. He was about to head up the stairs when he paused as Ben addressed him. His brows rose, and then he smiled. “Yeah. That would be great. Thank you.” He grinned at the man, then continued up the stairs. Perhaps this would work out after all. And after everything that hadn’t, that was a very nice thought indeed.

((Wrapped, yeah?=D))