ArchivedLogs:Awkward Questions Are Awkward

Awkward Questions Are Awkward
Dramatis Personae Toru, Cage
In Absentia	2013-10-12 As Toru and Cage find out.
Location <NYC> Heroes for Hire - Midtown East
At some point during the day, Toru called Cage to request a meeting. He'd assured the older man that nothing was /wrong/, but he also wasn't specific about what he wanted to discuss, either. Once the pair agreed on a time, the teen headed out to get some refreshments, eventually showing up early at the Heroes for Hire office. He's sitting on the front steps when Cage arrives, drinking something green out of a glass bottle, and idly toying with the handles of a plastic bag that's sitting on the ground between his feet. Dressed for cooler weather in a pair of jeans, his blue-and-blue striped hoodie zipped up, and mismatched Chuck Taylor boots - one blue, one black. Cage taps his phone to hang it up, and ponders Toru's request. No mention of 'we', just 'Can I meet with you?' has piqued Luke's interest thoroughly. He glances back down at his box of four hotdogs in one hand, and the enormous coke in the other. Shrugging, he sits down at one of the vendor tables across the street from the Heroes for Hire building so he can keep an eye on things. Luke has finished 75% of his hotdogs by the time he watches Toru walk up, and sit on the porch. Idly, he wolfs the last dog down, hits the bottom of his coke, and throws all the trash in a nearby can. Then he's up and crossing the street. Luke is in jeans and biker boots, a bright yellow t-shirt, and brown leather bomber jacket. He nods at Toru as he walks past, and uses his key to open the door, which he holds open for Toru. "Heya Bones, what's new?" Cage is apparently unaware of the mustard smudge at the corner of his mouth. Toru hauls himself up lazily, pulling the plastic bag up with him; the bottle still has some beverage in it, so he grips that securely as he moves to stride into the office, replying, "Can't complain." Given that he hasn't actually been to the office at all yet, he takes a minute to survey the place before making his way in. He's also quick enough to check out the back office, noting the presence of slightly more comfortable seating. "Back office okay?" He's going to go ahead and assume a yes; either way, he's making himself comfortable on the couch back there, setting his things on the floor next to it, and pulling off his hoodie to drape over the arm of the couch. He's making himself at home, if nothing else. "Anyway I didn't pull you outta anything important, did I? This ain't really somethin' that can't wait, or nothin'." Luke shrugs as Toru makes himself at home, moving with the minor lethargy of someone who just had a big meal. "No appointments today. I need to find out more about that mutant kid that died." Luke pauses for a moment, directing a dark glare at the floor while he settles back to lean against his desk. "But it's ok. I'm still waiting on some contacts to get back to me. What's on your mind? Is this about Trib?" "Jeez, you don't waste any time, do ya?" Toru grins, settling in comfortably with one leg crossed over the other. "It's. Not /really/ about.." He frowns a little, shaking his head and picking up that bottle, finishing it off and letting the empty glass rest in his lap. "I mean it is, but there ain't nothin' wrong or nothin'. I just figured-- he's a hard guy to talk to sometimes, so I figured someone who knows him might be able to help me get my, like, thoughts straight. Y'know?" Fidgeting idly, he taps out a vague rhythm on the side of his shoe, tapping the fingers of the other hand on his knee and generally looking antsy. "I mean I know you were away for a while but-- you been around the block with the ladies, yeah?" Luke watches Toru carefully, reading the young man for any clues that might indicate where this is going. Then he laughs right out loud when Toru suggests Trib isn't easy to talk to. "Boy, you got /that/ right. That guy clams up like a turtle if you try to get anything personal out of him." Luke shrugs, "But then again, I was doing hard time by age 19, so who am I to judge?" Luke grins and nods when Toru asks his last question. "Yeah man, I know my way around alright. But I ain't some 'ladies man' if that's what you mean. Never really had it in me to be a 'player'. So I'm probably not quite as... around the block as some would accuse me of." "Well yeah, I didn't figure like... yeah, no, you're right." Toru shakes his head a few times. "I guess maybe you ain't the right person to come to about stuff, but... I mean, like I said, since you know Trib too and all." He runs a hand over his head, scratching the back of it and mussing with his hair. "Anyway the thing is like, I had some girlfriends before but it never really... went nowhere, y'know? Trib's kinda the first... I ain't never gotten... /serious/, before. And sometimes I just. I have a hard time sometimes tellin' if I'm bein' stupid about stuff, on accounta how he don't talk much. I mean, he'll tell me when I'm bein' a dumbass, but he mostly clams up when stuff gets all." Frowning, there, he suddenly looks off to the side, avoiding eye-contact as he mumbles the word, "Intimate, like." A pause, then, and a sudden assurance of, "Not /that/ kinda intimate just like-- the /other/ kinda. Intimate." Luke nods at Toru's admission of girlfriends, but his ability to 'deal' gradually becomes strained. When Toru finally winds up discussing intimacy, Cage sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, and the rubs at his eyes for a moment. He holds up his other hand though to forestall any concern. "No no, it's ok. I just..." Luke takes a deep breath and looks at the young man again. "I can't say I have loads more experience than you on this kind of stuff, but everything I've heard? You gotta sit him down, make him listen, and pry the response out of him. One thing I /do/ know, you can't make a life with someone on assumptions. You deserve to know... if not /for sure/, because probably no one can know /for sure/, you still deserve to know what you can." Luke rubs the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable, but also trying to soldier on. "I mean, it sounds like Trib expects certain things from you, yeah? Like, not being a 'dumbass'?" Luke cringes slightly at the phrasing, perhaps making a mental note to have a conversation with Trib. "Well, I figure that goes both ways. And you get to have some expectations too. You get to want what you want, you know?" Something about what Cage said has Toru shaking his head abruptly, looking uncomfortable himself. "What? N--Naw, man, it ain't like that, I'm more thinkin' like..." He shakes his head again, dropping both feet to the floor and leaning forward, holding his head in his hands for a moment. "Naw. It's just more like I ain't sure sometimes if I'm takin' it more serious than he is, y'know? I mean... I know he pretty much feels the same way about me I feel about him and all so it ain't anything like that, but I ain't sure if it means the same thing to him and..." Pushing himself to his feet abruptly, he starts walking a small circle in front of the couch, tugging at his sleeves and looking at the floor as he walks. "Man I am soundin' like a total broad right now, huh? I dunno, I guess I don't really... there ain't really nothin' in particular I guess I just figured I needed to talk about stuff to somebody." Luke blows out a breath, and flexes his hands briefly, as he watches Toru pace. He takes an awkward step towards Toru, stops, and then just goes ahead. He stops and puts a huge, awkward hand on Toru's shoulder, stopping the youth in his pacing. Then Cage opens his awkward mouth. "Look, Bones. It doesn't matter how it makes you sound. You wanna know, what you wanna know." He shrugs and holds eye contact. "You gotta claim that, brother. I can /see/ how into you Trib is, even if he is a fucking idiot about not telling you. But you should just lay it out for him. You and I both know he isn't the kind to get /hints/. You wanna know if he's serious? Then it's gotta be, 'Yo Trib, you as serious about this as I am?'" Luke shrugs. Sounds easy enough. The direct approach is always best, right? An eyebrow is lifted at that hand on his shoulder, but Toru doesn't pull away from it; he does, however, tilt his head up to just raise an eyebrow at Cage. "--I kinda get why he doesn't like talkin' about stuff. We kinda-- I met his dad yesterday." A frown, there. "I think. I dunno if it really.. counts. Uh, anyway, his dad doesn't really do much in the way of talkin' neither." Scratching the back of his neck, he shakes his head again. "Um, don't tell him I said that." "Maybe I just needed someone to blab at who isn't just gonna clam up, I dunno. It ain't like I got a problem or nothin' just. I think about shit too much, y'know?" He runs that hand over his hair one more time before cramming his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, letting out a sigh as he looks toward the door. "Things are great, I mean, don't get it twisted, I guess just sometimes I need to clear my head and-- to be honest with ya I don't really got much in the way of close friends or nothin'." Luke looks openly curious at the idea of Toru meeting Trib's dad, but he doesn't press the point. He just nods when Toru requests secrecy. "Hey, that's your business, man. Not my place." He grins at the idea of thinking too much though. "Oh man, some days... I /wish/ I had that problem. Just ask my lawyers. They wish I did too." He squeezes Toru reassuringly, goes back to his desk, and leans back against it again. He glances over the desk and seems pleasantly surprised to find a half-full bottle of water. He uncaps it and drinks the lukewarm stuff. "Yeah well, close friends are hard to come by, right? Probably makes them more worth having." He shrugs. "Either way, sorry for trying to make so much advice. I'm a 'fixer', always have been. I try to fix everything, even when it ain't my business. But I'm happy to just listen, if you need to talk, too." Luke glances at the door, reassuring himself no one else is here, and then makes an apologetic smile, holding his hand up. "Look, I'm sorry, I gotta ask, just because of little stuff I've seen-" Luke sighs, looks down at the floor a moment, and then back up at Toru. "Trib's my friend. But I know he's got a quick temper, and can be 'hands on'. There hasn't been any uh... 'unnecessary roughness' from him, has there?" Luke looks embarrassed to even ask, but it also sounds like he's asking out of real care. "Wh-- /dude/." Despite any good intentions on Cage's part, Toru is nonetheless /pretty/ clearly offended by the suggestion. He turns away from Cage, leaning down to grab his hoodie, his bag, and his empty bottle. "Dude, that's not fucking-- /no/." The teen starts to storm out of the office just on that alone, but abruptly turns again, cramming the bottle into the bag to free up a hand to run over his hair, then point it squarely at Cage. "The last fucking thing I need is thinking I'm dating some guy who fucking /beats/ me and /fucking hell/, you think I'm some kinda--" Gritting his teeth, he makes a frustrated sound and just shakes his head. "Just because he's a big dude doesn't-- and it ain't like I couldn't take him if I had to /anyway/ and-- /fuck this/." Turning towards the exit again on that note, he then proceeds to storm out of the building with no further fanfare.