A Date with Jean

Gabriel walked along the road, pulling his lover along by the hand. He was glad that he had this opportunity to spend more time with Jean. Just them. They had booked a table at a local bar, just to have a beer, maybe some food, and talk. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he was a bit nervous. It suddenly felt different now that they had said the big 3 words.

He glanced over at his lover, a tongue lapping over his lips nervously with a blush. It wasn't a bad different. A nice different,in fact, but still a bit scary sometimes.

Jean-Claude grinned at his lover, squeezing his hand softly.

He began trying to figure out why he was so nervous. It was Gabe. Gabe. Not a high school crush; the man he loved.

There was no reason to be nervous.

"You're blushing," he chuckled softly.

"No I'm not." he mumbled, his blush deepening - completely contradicting his words.

He looked up, grinning at his lover. He was looking forward to this. It felt like a long time since he had last left the mansion, and it was nice that he got to go with Jean. It had always felt a bit lonely when he had gone into town on his own before. It felt different in town now. Somehow brighter, the air lighter. He knew that was probably not the case, but it was... different.

He squeezed Jean's hand affectionately with a sheepish, shy smile.

He snorted a laugh, nudging Gabe's shoulder with his own. "Yeah, sure, I believe you."

He turned his gaze to the streets and just walked in silence for a while, squeezing Gabe's hand back gently.

"It's the first time I've been out here on a date." Usually when he came out to Catania, he'd head straight to the bar he worked at.

Gabriel cocked his head in amazement. "Really?"

He would have thought that Jean would have been taken out here, as he had lived in Catania. Although, he supposed, he had lived in Korea before that and by the sounds of things, he hadn't been living in Italy for all that long.

His eyes caught sight of some guys having a punch-up in the corner. On second thought, he probably could have picked a more romantic place for a date. But he was no good in formal places. They made him nervous. He would rather go out to a pub and be able to have a proper conversation, rather than a restaurant where he would feel awkward and not be able to say anything past a brief mumble.

Except that was pretty much what he was doing now. He mentally kicked himself into acting normal.

"You must have got all the guys and girls in Korea though, right?" he joked with a wink.

"Well, yeah... I've not been here long. I was coming up on my second week of holiday when we met." He gave a little shrug. "I wasn't really looking for dates."

Wow... He'd been here for quite a while.

He had barely missed Korea. With Cleo here in the mansion he had just about everything he needed from home. Well, Korea. Here was home now.

"Ehhh, not really... Ji-Hoo was a slave driver. I've found myself in hospital more than a few times so they could monitor my diet 'cause I've just had no time to eat through training."

Jean-Claude really hadn't had much time to date.

Yes, he had admirers. Most of the strippers at Imugi did. But he didn't act on it much. He'd taken a couple guys and girls out on dates when he had some free time but nothing had amounted from it.

He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Part of him was glad that he had no real competition, but then, he did worry a bit. When he had turned him, he thought that Jean had kind of settled in here. He hadn't considered that perhaps he had a life to go back to. Gabriel suddenly felt incredibly selfish.

"Do you... miss it?" he asked awkwardly.

"What, Korea?"

He ran his tongue over his lower lip then pursed his lips in thought. Did he miss it?

"Well, yeah, I guess so. I had a job and friends and an apartment." He had a life back in Korea before he met Gabe. And yeah, he missed it. A lot.

But he also enjoyed being here. "But I've got most of that and some other things here." He gave Gabe's hand an affectionate squeeze.

"I like it here."

He felt a slight pang of guilt, but was slightly reassured when Jean squeezed his hand. Besides, some selfish part of him wouldn't have wanted him to go back to Korea. He wanted Jean to stay here with him. He was the only person that he had been close to for decades now.

He didn't want to be alone again.

Forcing a smile onto his face, he squeezed Jean's hand back. He wouldn't let himself decend into unhappy thoughts. Not today.

"You'll make more friends here soon." he promised. And then winked. "You seemed to be getting on quite well with Jace."

Yes, he was jealous, but if he kept monopolising Jean, he wouldn't make any more friends. And then Jean would be unhappy. He wanted to keep Jean happy for as long as possible to get him to stay. It was a selfish kind of selflessness, he thought.

"There are quite a few people at the mansion, aren't there?" He'd be able to make friends with at least few of them, hopefully.

Jean-Claude was usually quite a social person; it came with working at a bar. But he'd been a little occupied with... Well, with screwing Gabe, to socialize.

"I should stop letting you fuck me and go out to meet a few of them." He grinned up at the older man to show no harm was meant by the statement.

He snickered. "Don't you dare."

Gabriel grinned at him, playing with the man's fingers. This was nice, just being able to talk for a bit. "Besides, as I recall, last time it was you who jumped me."

He smirked, leaning over to nip the tip of his nose playfully. "But yes, as far as friends go..." he paused, thinking. "Jace and Nicio are nice, and Vashka and Taylor, but you might want to avoid Hellsing... he's... unpredictable."

He hadn't really met many of the wolves or the elves, other than Zeke and Taylor, and he didn't exactly feel warmly for him, though Taylor was nice.

"I might do." He shrugged with a grin. "I'm allowed to jump you once or twice."

His nose wrinkled when Gabe nipped it.

Jace he had met. And Taylor. He hadn't really had much of a conversation outside of moans and whimpers with Jace. "Taylor is a little...direct." She was blunt as hell. But she was nice enough.

"I havent met Vashka, Nicio or Hellsing yet."

He laughed softly. "A little direct? And I'd keep out of Hellsing's way as far as possible, unless you like having a sword at your throat. But yes, Nicio and Vashka are nice."

He was a little worried that Jean might try to befriend Zeke. Jean hadn't seemed to be terribly afraid of the werewolf, and that was worrying. He didn't trust werewolves around his fledgling, least of all Zeke, who had almost ripped Jean's throat out first time that they had met.

He laughed, too. "Okay, a lot direct."

His lip twitched. "Okay, stay away from Hellsing. Noted."

Jean-Claude nudged his lover and arched a brow. "Are you planning on dragging me into a dark alley to rape and kill or are we actually going somewhere for this date?"

"Impatient." he laughed. "We're almost there now."

He led his lover round the corner, a bar coming into sight. It was small, and not exactly posh, but it wasn't as rough around the edges as the place where he had first met Jean. It was shabby, but cosy. He had only been there once or twice, but the people there were as close to friendly as he had met on his outings to Catania.

They weren't beating each other up, so that was a start.

He turned to Jean, flashing him a smile as he pulled him inside by the hand. "We're here."

"Finally. Felt like we were walking for eons."

He punched Gabe's arm playfully as he ducked away from his lover and into the bar.

It was a nicer bar than the ones that he usually frequented, but it wasn't as nice as the one that he now worked at.

It was nice.

He turned a grin over his shoulder at his lover as he waltzed to the bar to order himself a drink.

He chuckled, following Jean inside. His arms wrapped around his lover from behind, kissing the back of his neck affectionately. "Where do you want to sit?"

His eyes scanned the room in interest. A few tables were dotted around the darkened room, a couple nearer the small windows, whereas others where nearer the flickering hearth, the flames throwing out a soft red glow into the room.

He shrugged.

"You find a place for us to sit and I'll get us something to drink," he suggested.

He turned and pressed a soft kiss to his lover's lips. "D'you want red wine?"

He returned the kiss gently, smiling as he pulled away, a hand stroking the side of his lover's neck. "Yes please. I'm buying the next round though. Or the food, if you're hungry."

Gazing around the room, he decided on a table near the fire. It was on the quieter side of the pub, so it was private and warm, and a lamp shone on the shelf. Not quite as romantic as a candle, but it would do.

"Sounds good." Jean gave his lover a small smile before loping over to the bar.

He returned with a pint of beer and a glass of wine, setting them down on the table before taking a seat himself.

He grinned at Gabe. "So, what now?"

He took his wine, chuckling softly. "What do you mean, "What now"? I don't make a habit of planning out our every conversation."

The man paused and took a sip of his wine, enjoying the warm feeling as the alcohol slipped down his throat. It was a little like drinking blood, he thought, the warmth, the slightly dizzying sensation. It was probably the reason he was not a fan of any non-alcoholic human drinks.

"Do you feel like getting something to eat, or are you not hungry?"

He wasn't sure if human food made Jean ill or not, for some it did, for others it didn't.

"Well you should."

He stuck his tongue out childishly before taking a long swig of beer.

"Food sounds good." The young man had been elated when he found out he could still eat human food. Food was something that he wouldn't give up.

When Ji-Hoo wasn't starving him, he could pack away quite a lot of food.

He picked up the menu. Hmm... a bit limited, perhaps, but then, pub food always was. Handing it over to Jean, he waited for him to decide on something. He wouldn't get anything himself. Human food was not to his taste. He might find some handy blood later, though. Not one of the humans here. He preferred to hunt, but generally dead bodies tended to take away the romance of an evening.

"What do you think you'll get?"

He shrugged half-heartedly, glancing over the menu.

"Ehh... Pizza'll do me." His eyes flickered over the menu again. "It's all Western food. Not many places here do Eastern food, do they?"

One thing he'd miss about Korea was the food. He had grown up with Western foods and they had kinda gotten boring. He loved the odd foods in Korea.

"No, I don't think so, sorry." he paused. "I think it's a fairly bog-standard Italian sort of place. It's not really as multicultural here as it would be somewhere like Rome."

That being said, he would like to take Jean to a Korean restaurant some time. Partly because it was the sort of food which Jean was used to, but also for himself. He enjoyed new experiences, and Asian food was one which he hadn't really encountered yet. He probably wouldn't eat it, sure, but he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.