The walk over to Ralph’s Bar had been short and a little awkward, mostly taken up by Joey navigating on his phone, since he tended to get very turned around when reading a map. The bar itself was quiet, since it was, after all, only 3pm. Once they had drinks—just beer for both of them, though Caden ordered some fancy kind that Joey wasn’t familiar with—Caden led them to a booth in the back and slid into the side facing the front of the bar. Joey had noticed that Caden liked to sit with his back to the wall as much as possible, and wondered if there was reasoning behind that.

They just listened to the sounds of the bar for a moment, sipping their beers, before Caden finally spoke, cutting the tension. “I liked what you said today, to Frankie. About non-humans.”

Joey toyed with the label on his beer bottle. “She was out of line. She’s always been like that.”

“I’m glad you said something,” emphasized Caden. “I never know what to say in situations like those.”

Shrugging, Joey said, “I haven’t met that many non-humans, but they just seem like regular people to me.”

“Yeah,” said Caden softly. “Still. You’re usually a lot more circumspect.”

“You noticed that, huh?” Joey rubbed at his face, embarrassed.

Caden’s voice was warm when he said, “I notice a lot of things about you.” Joey’s breath stuttered.

“So,” said Joey after a few long seconds of silence, drawing out the word. “You just moved here for the new assignment, right? How are you liking Chicago?”

“It’s nice. A lot bigger than what I’m used to. Small town in Northern England. You wouldn’t know the name of it even if you were from the area.”

“Oh, small small,” said Joey. “I’m from a small town, too, in Ohio. You also would not have heard of it.” They shared a laugh.

“So why the move?” asked Caden.

Now Joey was playing with one of the coasters. “I came here for college. I got away from my parents as soon as I turned eighteen, took out a ton of student loans so I wouldn’t have to talk to them.” Looking up from the coaster, he saw Caden’s eyes were full of concern. “They were really homophobic,” Joey explained. “They basically hate gay people and want them to die. So.”

“Did they kick you out?”

“No, I never told them,” he admitted. “Guess I’m a coward with everything in my life.” Joey gave a bitter laugh, then glanced up from the coaster again. “Sorry, that got personal.”

“I don’t mind,” said Caden. “I can’t imagine what that’s like. My parents have always been really accepting. My sisters, too. The whole family’s always been really close. I came out to them when I was fifteen, only a couple years after my magic presented.”

“That must have been a surprise,” said Joey, but Caden shook his head, smiling.

“My whole family’s Channelers. I couldn’t wait to learn when I was little. Then when I accidentally used magic to fling a bowl of peas at my dad’s face I was mostly too embarrassed to celebrate. But my family always throws a party when a kid presents.”

“Family tradition?”

“Yeah, all my culture’s food, and you even get to try a drink of wine.”

“Cute,” said Joey, and they smiled at each other. He observed, “This is the most I’ve ever heard you talk.”

Caden took a sip of his beer. “I don’t have a lot to say to most people.”

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Implying that Joey wasn’t ‘most people.’ Startled at this, he felt his fingers tear off the edge of the coaster. Biting his lip, he looked down at the table. “Um. Me, too,” he managed, voice low. “’Your culture’s food’, you said. What culture’s that?”

“It’s kind of private,” hedged Caden.

“Oh,” said Joey. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I didn’t want to pry.”

“You’re not, you’re—” Caden cut himself off, looking away towards the bar. “Do you want chips?”

Thrown by the subject change, Joey said, “Chips?”

“Right, uh, ‘fries’,” said Caden. “Want some? I’ll go get us some,” he said, standing without waiting for an answer.

As soon as Caden walked away, Joey buried his face in his hands, then placed his palms down on the table, taking a steadying breath. When was the last time he’d been on a date? Six years ago? It had been some rando from Grindr. They’d met up for dinner but before they could order his date had suggested heading back to his place to hook up. Joey had accepted; he hadn’t been particularly interested in talking to the guy either. So not quite a date.

Not that this was necessarily a date. It was just drinks. And ‘chips’. Was this a date?

Joey took another deep breath, which was when Caden returned and resumed his seat. “They’ll bring them over,” he said.

There was another awkward silence, then Joey tried, “How about those poltergeists, huh?” Caden burst out laughing and Joey smiled, relieved. “You said you’d never fought one before. How did you wind up with the Company?”

“I haven’t been with it that long,” said Caden. “What about you?”

“Oh, recruited right out of undergrad,” Joey said. “My dorm was haunted, that’s how I met Mac. I was a complete sissy about the ghost, but then once it was gone I basically interrogated Mac about it and took a bunch of notes. Then the next day he showed back up and asked if I wanted a job when I graduated. That was more than seven years ago.”

“So you’re twenty-eight?”

“Twenty-nine,” said Joey. “Spent an extra semester in school for my minor in linguistics.”

“You get to use that much?”

“Never,” said Joey with a laugh. “But it can be a fun hobby. Not that I ever actually, you know, do anything outside of work.”

“I’m thirty-two,” volunteered Caden, and took another sip of his beer.

Bit of a relief that it wasn’t too big of an age difference. “Cool.” Belatedly, Joey remembered that he also had a drink, which was growing warm as he rolled the bottle between his hands. He took a swig and then they were saved from another awkward silence by the server dropping off a basket of fries.

Joey squirted about a gallon of ketchup into a well he made at the corner of the basket while Caden negotiated with the server for some malt vinegar.

After that it was like the fries broke some kind of barrier between them, and conversation flowed smoothly. Caden asked Joey a lot of questions, so Joey wound up talking more about himself than he usually did. The nice thing was that Caden seemed genuinely interested, and when Joey loosened up enough to actually look at his date, found Caden’s green eyes alight with fascination.

It wasn’t until later that Joey noticed that Caden had barely said anything about himself, dodging Joey’s questions and not volunteering information. Whatever, Joey rationalized. Maybe Caden was just shy. It was only a first date. Or could it be that Joey was revealing too much? No, Caden was absorbed in what Joey had to say, was an active listener, asking questions to keep Joey talking.

By around 6 o’clock they realized that one basket of fries wasn’t going to cover it and dinner was called for, but Joey didn’t want to push his luck.

“I should go,” he said reluctantly. “Long commute back to my place.”

“Oh, okay,” agreed Caden. “I’m not too far—Rogers Park, way North.”

Caden stood and started walking toward the bar, past Joey, but as Joey tried to stand his leg caught on the edge of the booth seat. He barely had time to panic as he fell backwards—into Caden’s waiting arms.

Joey was aware that he was not a light person, but Caden seemed to catch him with no issue at all, not even a grunt of exertion. From Caden’s hold, Joey looked up into the other man’s face and said, “Wow.”

Gently, Caden helped Joey back to his feet, again with no apparent hint of effort. Turning to him, Joey looked down to where Caden’s hand was still on Joey’s elbow. Caden noticed and pulled his hand back hastily.

“Thanks,” said Joey, voice soft.

“Don’t mention it.” Caden wasn’t looking up at Joey for once, but was staring down at the tile floor. “We should go.”

“Sure,” agreed Joey, confused. They both paid their tabs at the bar then drifted outside, where night had fallen and the sidewalk was lit up by Ralph’s Bar’s red neon sign. It was chilly; Joey tucked his hands into his jacket pockets.

This was normally the part of the date where you’d gauge the other’s interest by offering a wave or a hug, and Joey was caught, unclear on what level of interest he should show. Caden’s face had gone shuttered, not welcoming like he’d acted in the bar, so Joey said, “Thanks for coming out with me. This was fun.”

“Yeah.” Caden seemed troubled, and Joey wondered if he’d misstepped somehow. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Looked like Joey was getting neither a hug nor a wave. “Tomorrow.”

With a nod, Caden turned away and walked North. Joey watched him go.