Twenty Over Thirty || manxman

III - Coffee Shops & Red Roses

Dimitri.

There was a reason he preferred James over the name, but he thought it bizarre that he actually took well to it whenever Kurt said it. Back then, when he'd been in relationships with his old boyfriends, James had only ever heard it when they were arguing about something serious, and given the name was passed down to him from his grandfather...his bigoted, asshole of a grandfather...he'd taken to the alternate English version of the name to essentially rid himself of the ties it had to the elderly scumbag. But, Kurt gave it a nice ring.

Back in his bedroom, James stripped from his work clothes, piling them at the foot of his bed before grabbing something more casual from his closet. Standing in front of his closet in just his boxer briefs, he ran his fingers through his hair to give the thickness of his golden brown mane a little more life. As it parted just above his right eye, he tucked a few strands behind his ear and let the rest fall however it liked around his face. James then grabbed out a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain gray shirt, tagging along a light black jacket as well when he traded out his dress shoes for tennis shoes.

When he went back out into the living room, he found Kurt sitting on the armrest of his sofa, scrolling down the screen of his cellphone. "Are you ready?" he asked.

Kurt tucked his phone away in his back pocket, "Wow, you dress down nicely," he said when he looked up to the other man.

"Thank you," James tried to hide his blush by looking down and moving for the door. Kurt followed close behind until they were outside and walking down the stairs to the pavement. "How was your day?" he asked, hoping to start off a good conversation that wouldn't die out while they were together. There was nothing worse than an awkward silence, especially with a virtual stranger of all. "Did you have any trouble finding an decent job here in the city?"

"It's me lucky day," Kurt said, he was beside James as they walked together, trekking down the sidewalk before the other apartment buildings. "There's a storage business looking for someone to cover morning shifts from six to two in the afternoon. I filled out an application with the manager and I'm supposed to go back in the morning for orientation."

"That is lucky," James nodded, "You got good hours too, so you'll always have the afternoons to yourself. How about the groceries, were you able to get what you needed?"

"Yeah, but let me be the one to tell you that you Americans don't know shit about bacon and cheese. I literally stood in the cold sections forever trying to figure out what was good and what wasn't. So I ended up using Google Maps to find a deli market that sold actual fresh food. It was a little more expensive than I'd have hoped, but worth not eating plastic wrapped yellow squares. I don't even want to get started on your tea selection..."

James couldn't stop himself from laughing at the comment, "Sorry we Americans didn't keep to the British ways. I think it might be safe to say we like our morning coffee over tea any day."

"Oh, I like coffee, but there's nothing like a nice hot cuppa Yorkshire. If you were from where I'm from, you'd say the same thing."

They reached the coffee shop after a minute. It was a cozy spot just a bookstore and a sushi house down. Warmly lit and relaxed when they entered, JoJo's was a place frequented during the day by college students and elderly people looking for a place to chat with their friends. Given it was about 8:30pm, all of the elderly people were home, but there were still students seated at the square tables with their laptops out, clicking away at their keyboards or flipping through textbooks. There was soft orchestra music playing out, a few couples here and there at the booths with their boyfriends and girlfriends. James had always enjoyed the art this place had on the walls, original pieces made by local artists, and sometimes this place would help host gallery walks to help said aspiring artists make a name for themselves. When the door closed behind the pair, a hidden voice came from the register area that welcomed them.