Two's Company, January 14 [tag: Gabe]

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Isaac had taken his lunch a little early today in an effort to meet up with an old friend of his. He saw the man often enough considering their busy lives, but he never hesitated to make time for Gabriel. He was established in the field of forensics and was always on the move, so making time was more difficult for him; thus why Isaac took off earlier to meet Gabe's lunch instead of vice versa.

Dressed in his work clothes, Isaac felt a tad out of place as he made his way into the small cafe in the city. The shop was littered with college aged kids in their artsy getup, laptops open and headphones in their ears—he felt as though he was present only to offer them oppression; he was, after all, in a suit. Regardless, he paid them no mind in an attempt to rest more at ease and took a seat in a booth.

While he waited for Gabe—whom he was sure would appear very soon, although not literally—he took a moment to close his eyes and relax a little. How often did he really allow himself that comfort? Didn't he deserve it?

His eyes slid back open after only a moment, brown contacts in place of his red coloration, and looked to the door patiently, long pale fingers drumming on the table beneath him.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Gabe didn't like to be late, but being earlier than Isaac was something he was quickly starting to think was impossible. He'd tried to beat the guy to a meeting before, and he'd found that unless he got there obscenely early, it wasn't something he was capable of.

Today was no different.

Unlike Isaac, his clothing was very casual, with sneakers, a pair of khakis and a t-shirt, though their jobs were very different. Gabe usually had to worry about covering his clothes up when he was working, anyway, so he didn't usually bother with something too fancy. Isaac had to make good impressions. Look professional. Poor guy.

He grinned and slid into his seat across from his pale friend, dropping the satchel he used instead of a briefcase on the floor. He abused the thing, but he knew it liked it. Secretly. "Sorry, late again, I guess. Did you figure out what you wanted?" he asked, actually sounding a little apologetic. Not much, since it was pretty typical of them, but enough.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Isaac visibly brightened when Gabe walked into the cafe and sat across from him. Gabriel was always the late one, although rarely by much. Isaac just liked to be early; he hated to miss anything relatively important. That didn't mean that Gabe didn't find this important, nor did it mean that Isaac thought he did, but it just seemed to be a ritual of theirs.

Not today, though.

"You're not late," he told the man, shaking his head and smiling. "I've only been here for maybe two minutes." He plucked the menus off of their perch at the end of the table, handing one to Gabe. "So no, I haven't decided what I want. I figured I should wait for you to get here, you know, to give you a second to actually look too?"

Isaac shot Gabe a lopsided smile and gave him a noncommittal shrug, turning his attention then to his menu. He didn't know what he wanted, but it wasn't that big of a deal. He wasn't much of an eater anyway.

"But I'll probably just get a sandwich or something. I don't really know what I'm in the mood for. Got any ideas yourself?"

[Gabriel Sullivan]

"You never eat much," Gabe retorted, shaking his head like a good mother hen. "No wonder you're so pale. One day they'll look at you and say that you're not sickly looking because you're a banshee, but because you don't eat your veggies."

There, that was his motherly moment for the day. He was done. "Glad I'm not late, though. I wouldn't want you to eat out the whole kitchen before I got here. I'm hungry, too." Yes, he'd completely ignored the whole 'I'll probably just get a sandwich'. Shut up. It didn't matter.

"I don't know. I like soup. Maybe I'll have some of that and a sandwich. Nothing fancy," he returned, shrugging. He didn't really care that much.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Isaac laughed a little, rolling his eyes and resting his chin in his right hand, tilting slightly so that his hair fell into his vision. "You know, you amaze me." He smiled in what appeared to be an affectionate way, albeit a platonic one. "You care so much that you sound like a mother." His affectionate smile turned to a teasing one as he said, "It's cute.

"But I eat my veggies, thank you. A lot, actually, but they're not going to make me change colors unless I pack in the carrots. And for all you know, I could be like a flamingo. I'm only white because I don't eat enough shrimp to turn me pink." He laughed again, "Not that I'd ever want to be pink, or a flamingo. Although the standing on one leg thing that they do is really awesome."

The waitress came and took their orders, leaving them after flashing them a winning grin. Isaac waited until she left to comment. "You'd better watch your back, man, I think she might take you out back and have her way with you. She was giving you that look," and sending off that vibe, although he didn't tell Gabe that. Of course, she looked at Isaac too, but it was more fun to tease Gabriel than it was to draw attention to himself.

The woman was attractive at the very least, so there was that. The fact that Gabe had a girlfriend made it even more amusing.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

"Cute? Me? Yeah, right! Just because I say you're part of a huge medical conspiracy doesn't mean I care," he informed the other guy, rolling his eyes and smirking. Of course, he was joking. He had a habit of worrying occasionally about the people he was really friends with, and he had to admit that he liked Isaac. The guy worked for the government, so Gabe wasn't entirely honest with him, but he told him as much as he could get away with most of the time. He could pick on him about eating his veggies.

"I would pay to see you eat enough shrimp or carrots to turn colors. We should try it sometime. Carrots are good for your eyes, too, so there's no harm in eating so many. If you eat the shrimp, you could always stand on one leg to get more in character. Maybe it'd help the whole 'turning pink' thing," he offered, though he had to cut that train of thought short when the waitress showed up. She was cute, and she smiled a lot, but Gabe didn't do anything more than order his food before Isaac, and the conversation, had his attention again.

Only to change.

"That look? What look? Don't be ridiculous, she was probably staring at you. Women like 'exotic' looking guys, and you'd be much easier to overpower than I would be. Besides, you look like you need a girlfriend. You should ask her out." There, that got the attention off of him. Despite his usual attitude, he didn't care much for having too much attention on him, so it'd become a habit. Even something as harmless as this could have had something to do with his not being normal. His mother had mentioned something about their family being able to make people like them, or not, but he didn't know how to do it. She said he was doing it without even realizing, so someone realizing that wouldn't be good. He wished he knew how to turn it down.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Isaac had smiled in response to Gabe's tangent on medical conspiracies and flamingos. Yeah, so, he didn't eat a whole lot and would probably never turn colors because of a vegetable or a sea creature, but it was a funny thought regardless. And aside from that, he knew Gabe cared about him. So when he mentioned caring not being a factor, Isaac could only give him a knowing look; it clearly read 'yeah, whatever you say.'

"I look like I need a girlfriend?" At this, Isaac laughed. "What the hell does that mean? Do I look like I need to get laid or something?" He doubted that he exuded the age old "I Need Sex" pheromone, even if the thought itself was amusing.

He straightened his back and lifted his head from his hand, placing them both on the table. A sudden seriousness washed over him as he stared across the table at Gabriel, a strikingly professional air wafting around him. "In all seriousness, is there something wrong? You seemed really quick to toss the ball back into my court." He raised an inquisitive eyebrow before a smile broke out across his face again, the air of professionalism disappearing. "Afraid of committing to a stranger's leer?"

Obviously, again, he wasn't serious. He felt a lot better around Gabe, like he could be this way without worrying about repercussions. In actuality, he knew that he was only creating more for the future, but he was already in far too deep with this man in front of him. He cared a lot about him, and even though he was absolutely certain that there was something he was hiding from him, Isaac trusted Gabriel. He also knew that if anything was to happen to him, he would be in a load of emotional trouble. That was why he did his best to stay away from people, but in the end, there were always a few that caught him. Gabriel was one of them. No matter how hard he tried, his emotional wall always broke down. It was terribly frustrating, really, it was.

No use holding anything back at this point, he supposed.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Gabe made it a point to ignore the funny look, assuming it had been about him caring based on when it was made. He could ignore it. He wasn't admitting he cared, so Isaac could think all he wanted. So there.

"You want my honest opinion?" he asked, looking almost like he was challenging Isaac. "Yes, you need to get laid. Or at least, go on a date. Have some fun. When was the last time you went out with someone?" he asked, actually serious. Things got even more serious for an instant, though his expression didn't change, when Isaac went all 'professional' and asked if there was anything wrong, mentioning him trying to take the attention off of him. Just for an instant, and it shouldn't have been noticeable to any normal person. He grinned easily, dropping his serious attitude, and leaned forward.

"Yes, something's wrong. I have a deep, dark secret. When she leered at you? I was jealous," he told the guy, winking for show. OBVIOUSLY, he was kidding. He had a girl, and he wasn't focusing on some waitress leering at him. It was more fun to tease Isaac about it, and make fun of something that was actually half-true.

Only half, though.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

"I bet you were," Isaac answered smoothly, the smile never fading. "You're just a jealous man. That's what happens to people like you."

Their teasing battle was practically leaking sarcasm onto the floor. Isaac was fairly certain that the waitress had stepped in it when she passed them a second time.

"And as for your deep, dark secret, I know you have one." This time, his smile faltered. He was serious, he was only hiding it with a joke. "And you'll tell me. One day, you'll be sitting on your sofa and you'll call me up and tell me what it is. It'll just hit you one day, you'll see." He hoped so, anyway. He hated being in the dark.

Gabriel was keeping something heavy inside of him, although Isaac had no idea what it could have been. Through deduction and logic, he had concluded that it involved his girlfriend, but the issue there was that Isaac couldn't press it farther, and the only reason he knew anything at all was because he was a walking emotional radar. Gabe didn't drop any leads ever, which was hard to deal with since Isaac wasn't playing Counselor, he was playing Friend. He wasn't going to trick Gabe into telling him, or even into giving him any clues. Gabe would have to tell him when he felt that he could, whatever it was.

"By the way," his smile had fallen by now, although he was far from unhappy. His seriousness never really presented itself to begin with, so he doubted if Gabe even caught the fact. "I had a girlfriend six months ago. Remember her? The blonde one, Sarah?"—the one who had cheated on him and landed herself a one way ticket out of his house; Isaac had been beyond mad that day and ended up breaking several of her favorite vases after wishing her and her new toy a happy, healthy relationship—"You know, I'm just on hold with women. I don't really think I need a relationship anyway. I can't deal with it right now." Which meant that he probably did want one, but was telling himself otherwise to keep him sane. In actuality, he doubted that he had the time or energy to deal with the emotional stress. Just what he didn't need.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

It was true that he actually did have a 'deep, dark secret', with emphasis on the 'dark'. He had no intention to tell Isaac, though. Sure, they were friends, but there were some things that only certain people could know without putting Gabe in danger. Whether he was right or wrong, Gabe wasn't entirely convinced that Isaac was one of those people, so he kept his secrets to himself. He kept them closely hidden, too. Isaac wasn't kidding when he noticed that Gabriel hadn't dropped any leads, and he didn't intend to.

"Aw, now you're sounding all 'fortune-teller'y! Most people have some sort of secret, though, so it's a good guess. If I tell you my sign, want to guess what lottery numbers I should play?"

Again with the teasing, but Isaac had hit home with that. He wasn't ready to admit that the guy was right, but outright lying about it would be lacking that 'truth' in the deliverance of the statement. Gabe was an excellent liar from keeping his secrets so long, but he kept getting the feeling that Isaac didn't always believe him, and it made him want to stick to half-truths rather than outright lies.

Besides, Isaac was one of the few people that made Gabe feel bad for lying to. Imagine that, a government employee, and he felt bad about lying. Wonders never ceased.

"And seriously, 6 months is way too long between getting laid. I think a girl would do you some good," he informed Isaac easily, leaning back in his seat. He wasn't going to bring up details about that situation, since he'd heard plenty to know that it hadn't been good. Isaac needed to try someone new.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Relationships wore him out, even platonic ones. This one especially did, and on more than one occasion, Isaac wondered if he could get away with breaking all contact from Gabriel. He doubted it would work, and he doubted that he was capable, so he didn't even humor the idea. Of course, it would be so much easier if he could. Hell, it would be easier to lock himself up in his house and never come out, but that didn't make it the best option.

But again, Isaac wasn't expecting Gabe to tell him. This was why it was draining. Gabe worried a lot about whatever his problem was, and it even stressed him out. Once or twice, Gabe had even been mentally hectic because of whatever. It was slightly frustrating not being trusted, since he assumed that he wasn't, otherwise Gabe would have told him, and it was frustrating knowing that his friend wasn't always as happy as he pretended to be.

Isaac just pretended not to be perceptive.

After rolling his eyes at Gabe's first comment, he clicked his tongue. Then when the subject of Isaac's need to get laid popped back up, he sighed. "No, I don't really think it would." And that was that.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

It was sad that Isaac really wanted to break all contact with Gabe because they were actually friends, and especially because Gabe couldn't be honest with him. Of course, Gabe would have told him if he'd thought he could tell ANYONE, and he definitely didn't want Isaac to just leave him be. He didn't have nearly enough friends on a more normal level, and that made Isaac somewhat special. He liked him, and there wasn't usually any weird pressure to meet a certain requirement, even if there WAS the fact that he kept his 'happy face' firmly in place. Isaac didn't seem to fall for it completely, though.

Damn, and there he was getting all thoughtful and worried, for no reason. He didn't even know most of Isaac's thought processes regarding the desire to get away before getting attached (and that it was too late), but it still made him feel bad to lie. Isaac was always honest with him.

"Tragic, very tragic," Gabe returned, shaking his head in mock sadness. He'd just distract himself with bad jokes and teasing. That always worked like a charm. "You know something's wrong when a good roll in the sack won't fix things, huh?"

Not that sex was a cure-all, but it was definitely good for distraction and a little bit of a good time. Besides, he liked teasing Isaac, and that was a somewhat decent topic, even though the other man had just made it clear that he wasn't really looking. Shame. Renata probably had some hot friends they could introduce Isaac to. He could only assume, anyway. He didn't meet too many of her friends.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Isaac's idea of sex was just a little different than most people's. One might even say that it was outdated, but he had to live by it. He had sex only when he was already deeply connected to a person, such as if he had known them for a long time or if he was truly in love with them. There was a good reason for this, and that was that sex bonded people together. So long as he was already bonded on some kind of emotional or mental level, it didn't matter if they bonded physically as well. At that point, there wasn't anything left to lose anyway. This was only another of the million reasons why he didn't want to get into another relationship. He was still recovering from the last one.

That flash of guilt; he felt it. It was subtle and fleeting, but it was there. That feeling of hot lead dropping into the pit of his stomach and that sinking sensation in his heart—Isaac experienced it too. It was unexpected on his end though, and it caused him to narrow his eyes, his gaze now appearing to be focused on something behind Gabe's right shoulder. When it passed through him—there was no telling if Gabe still felt it, but he probably did as guilt didn't run too fast and liked to linger—he blinked and focused back on his friend, his head tilting slightly. He heard the words that he had said, but it was taking him just a moment longer to process them.

Why was he guilty? What had he done? Did he know that Isaac was disappointed that he wouldn't tell him what was wrong or was it something else entirely?

A belated half-smile curled across his lips, his mind still trying to piece together the expansive puzzle Gabriel was creating. "Yeah, I guess so." He couldn't stop himself when he said in a friendly, conversational voice, "But so how have you been, Gabe? Is everything alright with you?"

And that was his Counselor, not Friend. It was a tool of the trade; stay upbeat and nonchalant when turning the attention back to the patient. Of course, it could be passed off as plain old curiosity, which Isaac would say that it was since he really was curious, but it was just a little more than that.

He didn't expect an answer, but he wanted to somehow express the fact that he knew Gabe wasn't fine and that he was worried, just without saying it outright. He didn't want to create any tension.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

If Gabe had noticed the belated smile and shift of attention back to himself (which he probably had), he didn't make any indication of it. He kept his smile, shrugging and paying some attention to his drink for a moment. Nothing strange. No, he didn't feel guilty hearing that question, or feel like filling Isaac in, why would you ask?

"Yeah, everything's fine. Pretty boring, actually. Girlfriend's got classes, the cat requires my attention as soon as I get home, and work's just as bloody as usual. You'd think, with my job, that I'd get more of a taste of excitement, but not really," he answered, shaking his head. Of course, that didn't touch on most of his less obvious activities, but that was fine. He didn't intend to spill all of his secrets, particularly if Isaac was suspicious of anything. Was he suspicious? Maybe, but maybe not. He'd play it totally safe and not drop any hints, which was how he always played it. Smooth and easy.

"What about you? How've you been keeping busy? I hope you're not working constantly," he returned.

[Isaac Abercrombie]

Naturally, Isaac didn't expect anything. Yet again, he wasn't disappointed--or he was, but for a different reason entirely. So, smiling that detached smile, he bobbed his head along with Gabe's update on his life. "Well, at least you and your girlfriend are doing alright. Maybe you'll get excitement at some point."

He paused, attempting to form a response to Gabriel's questions. That somehow fake, pleasant look stayed on his face, striking even his eyes. It was well rehearsed. "I don't have anything else to do but work. I see you occasionally, and a few other friends, but otherwise I work. It keeps me busy." The smile had faded again, but everything else remained the same. "And I like to think that what I do is important. Sometimes I do get a little lost in my work, but that's what happens when it's something you're passionate about, right?"

Their food came, as did their waitress. Again she looked at them and smiled flirtatiously, placing their food in front of them and perhaps leaning over a tad too far. "Here ya' go, boys."

Isaac had half a mind to ignore her, but he didn't. He looked up at her and smiled serenely, which she apparently liked. "Thanks a lot."

"My pleasure," she answered, tossing her curly hair behind her shoulder before strutting away.

The answer to her was a resounding no. That didn't mean he couldn't be an asshole and lead her on. It was liberating.

[Gabriel Sullivan]

Disappointing Isaac really wasn't something Gabe WANTED to do, but it wasn't like he could help it. He was going to upset someone no matter which way he turned, so at least he thought that Isaac didn't know.

Boy, was he wrong.

Of course, he'd been told at some point that a banshee was an empath, and he knew that Isaac was a banshee, but somehow, the two never really put themselves together in his head. Sad, since he seemed to think he was pretty observant. That was a pretty damn big fact to forget about, and it looked as though it might explode in his face at some point. Wonderful. Hopefully, his whole WORLD wouldn't explode. "At least you're passionate about your work. That always makes things so much easier," he agreed, just the way he said it making it seem as though he knew exactly what Isaac meant, and he did. He just wasn't talking about his forensics job. He loved that, it was true, but there were things he was more passionate about.

"Of course, yours is far less creepy than mine, at least in regular conversation. I mean, being a counselor doesn't sound as bad as 'I like to study blood from murders' over dinner. Or lunch," he added as he saw the waitress arrive. He definitely noticed her attention to the two of them, as well as the way she leaned over, but he didn't say more than a 'thanks'. Let her pay attention to Isaac. He deserved some female attention.

"Dude, she totally likes you."