Thread Roulette: Ben (Oberon, Benjamin)

[Event !]

Well, this could be interesting.

[Oberon Sparks]

Ben wasn't really a coffee person. Oberon drank it, so did Obie and Ronnie. But Ron wasn't a fan, and Benny wasn't allowed to have it. (If Ronnie had her way, neither would Jude, but that's neither here nor there.)

But this particular morning, he headed to a coffee shop in Pilot Ridge. He'd been looking over tax filings all day, as Oberon liked several sets of eyes on them before they were submitted. Ben wasn't as good at it as either Oberon or Ronnie, but he was still better than the others, so he was the one staying at home to review them. It was early afternoon, and he was just about to hit a crash, so he needed something sweet and caffeinated to keep him going. (Tax time was good for them. They freelanced for a lot of the staff of the school, the ones who weren't as good at negotiating deductions. Or, like the librarian, were honestly just too lazy to do it on his own.)

So Ben ordered something sweet and ridiculous--though he refused to order it by any name goofier than just "large"--and waited patiently. When the barista at the other end of the counter called out "Ben" he headed over to go get it, but another man was there and took it instead, taking a long swig. "Um, hey, excuse me. I think that one was supposed to be mine."

[Benjamin Rhodes]

He was sick. Ben was sure of it. He was woken up by the sick feeling he had in his stomach followed by a huge sneeze which caused him to throw up in his bed. That pretty much made him cranky as he changed his sheets, throwing the soiled one into the washing machine before taking his morning shower. The detour to the washing machine had screwed up his morning schedule and he was a teensy bit late for work so without making any breakfast for himself or for Yulia, Ben rushed off to work.

As he drove, he still felt horribly sleepy and his congested nose did not do him any favours. He stopped by the local coffee shop to order his usual and when his name was called, he went to the counter, unaware of the man beside him as he paid for his coffee and drank it immediately just to get rid of the sleepiness. The sweetness of the coffee was not usual and the voice behind him prompting he had the wrong drink. He turned just as his eyes looked down to his coffee cup. It clearly said "Ben" in curly handwriting.

He looked back to the younger looking man and back to the cup. He showed the name to the guy and looked back at him. "Your name's Ben?" He asked, a little short simply because his day hadn't exactly gone according to his usual routine. If it was any other day, he would have just paid for another cup of coffee for the other man. Ben sniffled lightly. Not even a few seconds later, another "Ben" was called and quickly Ben realised that he had indeed taken the wrong cup.

Ben looked away as a coughing fit befell on the middle-aged child psychologist. He cleared his throat a few times before grabbing the right cup of coffee before grimacing apologetically at the other man. "I'll get you another - one more cup of this..." He shook the cup in his hand at the cashier, before turning to the other man. "Sorry," Ben offered the other man a smile. "What are the odds."

[Oberon Sparks]

Ben stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat. The man who had swiped his coffee was older, and looked distinctly more respectable than he did. (Oberon tried to look respectable, and so did his duplicates. But there were only so many ways a gangly, geeky young man from New England could look that didn't make him like some kind of hipster. As it was, he needed to shave, because they had a post-ironic scruff going.) "Yeah, I'm Ben."

But there was really no reasonable way to talk to someone when they're sneezing like that and not come across as a huge jackass. Poor guy probably caught some nasty bug, but still had to go into work all the same. Ben had never had the pleasure of being sick like that, since Oberon tended not to spawn duplicates when he was ill, and on the off chance one of them did get sick, it didn't carry over when they were reabsorbed. "Dude, really don't worry about it." Poor guy.

The barista then called out "Ben" again, and looked back and forth between the two of them, figuring out what had gone wrong at pretty much the same time that Ben--the older Ben--did. "Okay, I'll make up a new one. Don't worry about it. it's no charge."

"Thanks." Ben said to the barista, giving her a grin, then nodded to the older man. "Yeah, I know I should give them "Oberon" whenever I do this, but I've never met another Ben when ordering before. My name's Oberon Sparks." He was going to be waiting for his sweet coffee to be remade, so might as well be friendly to the other Ben.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben smiled tiredly at the younger man who confirmed that he too was a Ben, setting the cup he had mistakenly taken on the counter before rubbing his eyes and trying to stay awake. The sweet drink did nothing to boost his energy so he grabbed his original order and took a long swig of it.

When the younger man called him dude, Ben suddenly felt old. He grinned sheepishly at the younger Ben and waved his hand in dismissal. "Least I could do. I already contaminated-" Ben paused when the cashier said that it would be done with no charge. He nodded slowly. "Thank you,"

Ben turned back to the other man as he explained his name. An Oberon Sparks who went by Ben. That was a tad unusual, more because Ben had never encountered a man whose name was from a Shakespearean play. "I'm boring old Ben. Benjamin Rhodes. Nice to meet you, Ben." He stuck his hand out for a shake. "Now how did Oberon become Ben?" The child psychologist asked of the younger man.

[Oberon Sparks]

Calling people "dude" was instinctual for Ben. It was just something he did, without even really thinking about it. Actually, that was one of the ways to distinguish between the different duplicates; he was the only one who said "dude" and Ron used "so" as a filler word. Rose and Jude were able to tell the difference between them, but they were pretty much the only ones.

"It really is okay." The poor guy was sick, and obviously hadn't checked the order written on the cup. Ben didn't do that either, so he didn't blame him. And it was nice to meet someone so friendly. (And despite the obvious age difference, Ben did think Ben was good-looking. It didn't hurt that he was tall as well, and wasn't craning his head up to look at him.)

Ben grinned at the older man and shrugged, not even debating what he was going to say. He didn't know the man, and while metas were generally more accepted in this area--a large population of Hammel graduates lived there, after all--he wasn't going to say anything about how all the duplicates needed names, so they had built off of the various nicknames Oberon's cousins had saddled him with over the years. "It started in high school. Oberon Sparks is a bit of a burden if you're not a character in a romance novel." By now he was good at playing that off, they all were.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben gave the younger man a weak smile before another coughing fit caused the older man to turn away, dropping the cup in his hand on the counter a little too hard. Once he recovered, he turned back to Ben and grinned sheepishly. "Excuse me. Must have gotten this from my...friend." He was quick to choose an appropriate word to describe Cobalt before embarrassing himself in front of a stranger.

He rummaged through his coat pockets for his handkerchief before finding it in his pants pocket. He held on to it in case another coughing fit decided to wrack through his body.

When younger Ben answered the initial question, Ben chuckled lightly, ignoring the tickle in his throat. This was a little hellish, wasn't it? Talking while having a sore throat? "Yeah, I can only imagine. So I'm guessing you're not a writer then."

[Oberon Sparks]

"No, I'm not. Accountant, which I suppose just makes my name more ridiculous." He grinned, debating whether he should try flirting with the older man. Ben seemed like a nice guy and everything, but he also looked like he was being propped up by the caffeine from his coffee. And there was a vague reference to a "friend," which for all Ben knew, could mean "I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND." Or it could just be a friend, and Ben was married or something.

So instead of continuing there, he pulled out his phone and checked the time. "Speaking of which, I should be getting back. Tax time is busy for me." But he grinned charmingly and pulled out a pen, then grabbed a napkin off of the counter and wrote down his cell phone number and his name. "If you need advice on your return, or just want to steal someone's coffee again, let me know." He handed over the napkin, then took his new coffee from the barista. "Thank you. See you around, Ben." And with a jaunty wave, he was off.

[Benjamin Rhodes]

Ben was careful not to laugh too much because of his itchy throat so he just gave a soundless chuckle at the younger Ben's humorous reply. He took another sip of his coffee, hoping the heat would soothe his throat but no such luck. It did make him a little peppy. Peppier than before anyway. He could now at least hold his head high without having the overwhelming feeling of upchucking his innards.

When the younger man gave him a disarming smile, Ben's surprise extended to seeing the other man writing down his number on a piece of napkin before handing it to him. His accompanying words did nothing to quell Ben's surprise. Sure Ben thought the other man was good looking, that went without saying but he hadn't even thought of flirting with the younger man. Well, technically the man was probably just offering his services as an accountant. But he could have just given Ben his name card but no. Numbers on paper napkins...he didn't think the younger generation knew how to do that.

Come now, Ben. He's not that much younger than you. He chided himself before plucking the napkin with a smile. He pocketed the piece of napkin and held the hand with the coffee cup up to wave at the other Ben.

Well, that was most certainly interesting. Ben stood there for a moment before he realised he was late for work. "Crud."

[Event !]

Thank you for participating. This event is now closed.