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Well, that had been a disaster, Lorenzo thought as he watched his date run out of the restaurant while comforting her friend. Sure, he hadn’t been looking for much more than a one-night stand and she had been nice enough, not to mention hot, and that wasn’t even including her friend, who was a real smoke show. It still sucked that it wouldn’t happen, though he'd hoped for a bit more. Yeah, Meline had told him to call her later, but the fact remained that he didn’t have her number. It seemed like it would be another dry spell, a rather common trend in his life. He had thought that moving to Germany would give him a nice change of pace, however it seemed that everything was already set in stone, with fate bringing no change to the monotony of his life. What had he expected anyways? He worked in finance, that wasn’t exactly the basis for an exciting life. That had been the point though, he didn’t want adventure, he wanted stability, something he had lacked for entirely too long. And so what if he couldn’t find that in a pretty girl’s arms? He had other options (who definitely didn’t all bail on him as soon as they could), maybe he should text his ex…
He was pulled out of his thoughts when the root of the day's problem sat down across from him, “Well, I know I mistook you for Lukas, but your situations don’t seem all that different, so I assume it’s fine then?” Instantly, the minuscule amount of positive emotions that he had felt quickly melted away. He’d briefly met Torsten a few minutes ago, and he had been the one to send both of the girls running. The other man grated on his nerves, like a bit of sand caught between cheap, plastic gears that were slowly degrading over time, not just because of planned obsolescence. He could feel his stomach turning at the mere thought of remainingin front of him. Just when he thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, he watched the asshole steal some of his cake, with Lorenzo's own spoon at that! The bumbling fool didn’t even say anything, just took it! Right when he was about to call for the check, he decided that he may as well stand up for himself, it wasn’t like he had anything to lose at this point.
“What the hell was that for, first you insult me, then you ruin my date, and finally you steal my food. What more do you want to leech from me? My credit card and social security number? My mother’s maiden name? You haven’t even known me for more than five minutes and you’ve already set out to destroy the rest of my miserable life. What is wrong with you? You can’t hold down your own relationship so you decide to destroy mine before it even starts? I can’t believe that you managed to be in a relationship with that cute Sabite girl for so long, but evidently she realized how much better she could do. You think you’re hot shit just because you look like a fucking statue come to life? There’s more to life than being a dick, it would do you well to learn that.” What had been meant to be a somewhat light admonishment had quickly turned into a rant, with Lorenzo throwing his arms about like an angry duck about to join forces with an angrier swan to curse your entire bloodline after fighting you in a dirty alley with nothing but a blunt spork and a lot of creativity.
“I don’t know, all I’m getting from that is you think I look like a statue come to life. That’s not something I commonly hear, but if I keep pushing your buttons do I get more where that came from?” Lorenzo hated how Torsten’s voice came out like sweet honey, pouring into his ears. While that experience in most cases would be utterly horrible, it sounded quite nice, and he absolutely detested that fact with every fiber of his being. After a beat, he blushed, belatedly realizing exactly what he had spat out and the subsequent response and implications Torsten provided. As he tried (and failed) to sputter out a response, the numbskull had attacked his black forest cake once more, stealing another piece, still insisting on using Lorenzo’s spoon. Honestly, he had half a mind to punch the bastard right in the face, but nothing would be gained from causing more of a scene than he already had and he really did not want assault charges. It would also be a shame to ruin such a pretty face, his traitorous mind supplied. Then maybe I should go for the solar plexus, he thought back to himself, before realizing that arguing with himself would get him nowhere.
He had to fight the instinct to choke on his drink. It wasn’t a very good drink, but it wasn’t exactly pig swill either. Honestly, he was so close to just ordering pure everclear and leaving it at that, but he didn’t have a death wish yet, he’d get that after he fucked this guy. You know what, he came here for a one-night stand, he may as well get one. Torsten was hot enough, god knows, at this point he’d take anyone who gave him consent and still had a pulse, so this could be considered a step-up from some of his other options. Sure, his standards may be lower than your self-esteem, but for once, the object of his direct attention was awful only personality wise and had the fortune of not looking like a distinct cross between a rapidly de-pressurized blobfish and a cheap bootleg plushy of a favorite animated character that could and would climb into your dreams, turning them into nightmares. He looked down at the piece of cake still on the table that was quickly dwindling, not through his own neglect, but through the dedicated attempts of apparently everyone else in this damned restaurant, who weren’t even paying for the delicacy (he was being a bit dramatic here, but he fully deserved it, three people had eaten that cake already and he hadn't even tried any).
It was through this exact train of logic that Lorenzo decided the best course of action would be to take the spoon that Torsten had taken for himself (Although it was technically Lorenzo’s spoon, so it wasn’t really wrong) and stab it into the cake, carving out a bite and staring the devilishly handsome devil in front of him in the eye as he carefully placed the piece into his mouth, savoring both the bite and the vindication at finally shutting the dunderhead up. The cake was very nice, although it was a bit sweeter than he typically preferred, but sweeter still was the look of shock on Torsten’s face, it was the perfect mix of surprise and something else that couldn’t really be described, but something that he would savor all the same. If he could take a picture at this very moment, he would take the picture, blow it up to the size of the wall in his apartment, print it out, frame it, and then hang it up with renter-friendly materials to have some hope of keeping the safety-deposit. Obviously, Torsten was not expecting to have his advances returned, but he wasn’t the only one looking for a bit of fun.
The two of them settled back into the seats at the table, ordering a few more drinks after reaching a mutual, unspoken understanding, which served to loosen up their tongues (which were not yet down each other’s throats, although they both planned to remedy that as soon as they weren’t in public, their specific kinks didn’t really include exhibitionism) and get them a bit of liquid courage. The conversation was easy-going, although there were plenty of both disguised and blatant jabs at each other. Lorenzo had been keeping count the entire time though, and he was pretty sure he was winning with his twenty-nine insults to Torsten’s meager twenty-two. By this time, the black forest cake had been utterly demolished by the two of them, with only a slight streak of frosting remaining on the plate. Discarding the rest of his inhibitions and shame, Lorenzo leaned forward and kissed Torsten firmly on the lips. Although he pulled away before anything could happen, they were still in public, it didn’t feel like coming home, or passion, or anything really. He didn’t get fireworks, but it was definitely a kiss, nothing to write home about, but nothing that would make him fake a family emergency and escape out of the bathroom window, carefully leaving the check behind without any money to pay it with, but while possibly leaving a single chicken feather in the back pocket of his unskilled ex-partner’s pants. This kiss was a bit uncomfortable and their teeth clunked together, but it was still rather nice.
This time, Torsten was not surprised at the advance and had leaned into it. Lorenzo thought he liked this particular facial expression on Torsten even more than the other one he had noted, this time with the not-entirely-awful man’s eyes closed, with his cheeks flushed a ruddy-red from the wine. The expression wasn’t exactly bliss, but it was a close enough approximation of it for it not to matter. He had a slight smile on his face, and after a moment of examination and another of realization, Lorenzo found that he also had a soft smile, which didn’t quite suit his features, but he’d let it slide this once. Calling for the bill, he was surprised when Torsten offered to pay it for him. Never one to let free drinks and food pass him by, he obliged and handed over the check.
After all their debts were paid, the two of them stumbled out of the restaurant, forgetting that it was not a bar and was a highly esteemed establishment, and made the wise decision of walking instead of driving to Lorenzo’s apartment for a continuation of their activities. He breathed a sigh of relief at his earlier foresight to deep-clean the entire apartment, right before bringing Torsten to his bedroom for a night that would hopefully end better than it started. Apparently he had gotten the one-night stand that he’d hoped for at the beginning of the evening, and hopefully it would live up to his expectations.