Chapter Text
When the door opened to Hugh’s bright smile, Paul’s begrudging attitude melted away. All at once, he forgot about why this date had been a terrible idea. A tentative smile came unbidden to his lips. “Hi.”
Hugh’s smile grew even wider. “Hey.”
They stood there for a few moments before Paul cleared his throat and gestured to the side. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” Hugh did some kind of move that was part hop and part skip out of the doorway towards the door of the building. Paul absolutely did not smile and followed after him, forcing himself not to think about how good Hugh’s butt looked in his pants. Things were too new, too fragile, for Paul to let himself think about things like that.
The sun was still pretty high in the sky as they exited the dorm.
“So,” Hugh said, turning toward him with a bright smile. “Where are we going?”
Paul opened his mouth to reply, then stopped. The pleasant buzz inside him vanished and he felt like he was going to be sick. There was no way— no way that in all his worrying about tonight he had forgotten to actually plan what they were going to do. That was… that would be absurd. Yet, as he wracked his brain for a plan, nothing came to him. This was his first date in years and somehow he had already fucked it up. “Uh,” he managed.
Hugh crinkled his brow in confusion. “Is everything okay?”
Paul forced himself to take a deep breath, giving him a small smile. “Yeah, it’s good. Uh, I just—“ he forced his brain to work, and it landed on a cafe Straal had taken him to a few times to celebrate some research breakthroughs. “I was thinking we could go to Evita's?”
Hugh’s concern melted into a smile. “Sounds good to me— I’ve never been there, but I've heard it's good.” Neither of them moved for a few moments and Hugh scratched the back of his neck. “Ehm... lead the way?”
Paul kicked himself inwardly and nodded. “Right! Sorry. I... yeah, this way.”
“No, no, I’m sorry,” Hugh said as they started walking. “I didn’t mean to be rude or anything, that came out wrong.”
Paul blinked over at him. “What? It’s... literally totally fine, Hugh. That wasn’t rude in the slightest.”
“Oh.” Hugh nodded, bopping his head up and down. “Okay.”
An awkward silence fell over them as they walked, and Paul searched for something they could discuss. Absolutely nothing came to him and a growing pit of discomfort grew in his stomach. He knew that he was no good at dates— Hugh’s gorgeous smile aside, this had been a terrible idea.
“So, ehm,” Hugh started, rubbing his palms together. “How did the rest of your finals go?”
Okay, maybe not all was lost. This at least was something he could discuss. Paul launched into a discussion of how painful some of his finals were, and made sure to ask Hugh about his as well. That conversation filled the time until they got to the cafe.
Which… was closed.
Paul stood dumbfounded, staring at the restaurant. The sign reading Evita's Cafe was dark, and so were all the lights inside. Paul felt the lights inside him sputter out at the sight of it. Hugh scratched his neck again, looking away from the restaurant, like he just wanted to ignore the fact that it was closed, as if he didn’t want to embarrass Paul.
“Fuck,” Paul said.
Hugh let out a hiccup of a laugh, then smothered it, looking embarrassed at his reaction. “Sorry. This is... the place?”
Paul nodded, staring at the building longer. “I forgot it was closed on Wednesdays.”
“Oh. I mean, that’s understandable. We planned this very last minute.”
Paul shook his head. He was a disaster and there was no point in covering it up anymore. They should just end this date while they were ahead. “No. I lied earlier. In all my… thinking about tonight I guess I forgot to… actually come up with a plan.” He wanted it to come out brusque, but instead it sounded vulnerable. Squeezing his hands into fists, he glanced up Hugh and waited for him to say something.
Surprise flashed across Hugh’s face, but it was replaced quickly with a flash of realization, which then faded into a bemused look that was almost a smirk. “Okay.” He hesitated for a moment, debating something, then looked up at Paul. “Were you worried? About the date?”
The question was gentle but direct. Paul sighed, sitting down on the bench outside the cafe. “I... well, yeah. I’m the last person who should be dating anyone, least of all you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Me?” It sounded like it took Hugh everything he had to force out that single syllable. Paul shifted on the bench as Hugh sat down beside him, making room.
“You’re kind. Sweet. Caring. I’m... none of those things. This is never going to go well.”
Hugh was silent for a few moments, rubbing at a flaky paint spot on the bench, then looked up at him. “Would it help if I told you I was scared too?”
Paul looked at Hugh dubiously. “About what?”
“Making a fool out of myself. And then... you making fun of me.” Hugh returned his gaze to the spot of the bench that he was picking at, rubbing away the veneer of paint that covered up the tarnished metal underneath.
Paul stilled, gazing at him. “I would never... I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know. Anxiety.” Hugh shrugged, abandoning his task of picking away the paint, then slipping his hands between his thighs. He gazed across the road at the copse of trees and flowers that grew there.
He looked so... cute and handsome at the same time, and Paul’s heart melted at the sight of him. Most people made Paul want to retreat into himself. Hugh made him want to lean in.
“So what got you past that?”
Hugh grinned and it was like the fucking sun coming out. “Well, Jett promised to beat you up if you did. Plus I’m just...” Hugh shrugged, grin fading. “Sick of being so scared all the time that I never actually do anything. I’m not sure why, but... you make me want to try new things.” He smiled again, dispelling the weight of that confession. “But mostly it was the threat of Jett beating you up if things went wrong.”
Paul laughed, looking down at the ground. When he looked back up, Hugh was looking at him shyly. Their eyes met and held for just a moment, before Hugh glances away again, a small smile dancing on his lips.
“So... maybe we can just… take this date a step at a time? Figure it out as we go?”
Paul swallowed, overcome suddenly with the need to kiss this man. Not for the purpose of instigating sex, like he normally would, but just to feel his lips against his. Just to make him know how beautiful and perfect he was. But, this was not the time for kisses. So he just nodded instead, a smile blooming across his face to answer the matching one on Hugh’s.
“That sounds good to me.”