Work Text:
Benji sat at his computer late at night, the harsh light burning his eyes. He'd been up updating his personal security system and it finally announced completion. He shut down and slowly, as not to trip over himself from exhaustion, undressed and went to bed. He couldn't sleep. Soon he was lying sideways with his phone out, a different light burning his eyes. The notification bar indicated a completed download and the Tinder icon appeared on his home screen.
40, unstable work life, but we can make it work. If only to be friends with benefits ;) I like coding and opera. Looking for another 40+ man, preferably fit and not too tall, dark hair, kind. Who can tolerate me travelling a lot.
Benji looked at the text. Sounded alright to his tired mind and he clicked finish on the profile creation. Having accomplished something small for himself seemed to do the trick and he fell asleep minutes later.
Several missions later Benji crashed on his bed after a long hot shower and would have instantly fallen asleep if the little blinking dot on his phone hadn't insisted on him checking his phone.
It was someone on tinder. He had nearly forgotten about that and it hadn't helped that only two people had contacted him and they both turned out to be intolerable. This guy didn't even have a clear profile picture, and he only used initials as a name apparently. His bio looked promising, though. 170 cm tall, dark hair, very fit, travels a lot, likes to cuddle. The only other pictures were of the guy's chest with a black shirt. Perhaps he was just shy. Benji opened a text chat.
Benji: hi
EM: Hi
Benji: I see you're interested
EM: Yes. You look very good in your pictures. Can't wait to see you in real life.
Benji: Lets get to know each other a little first
EM: Okay. What do you do for a living?
Benji: I'm a computer technician. Travel around to fix the setups my company makes.
Benji: and you?
EM: I work for the Virginia department of transportation.
Benji: sounds exciting
EM: Sounds like sarcasm
Benji: yeah sorry
EM: Don't be, I'm laughing
Benji: Good haha 😂
They continued texting far into the night until Benji had to call it. He fell asleep with a smile, perhaps here was finally a man who could distract him from Ethan.
Benji had the next few days off, and he was starting to feel that he should meet that guy on tinder.
Benji: hi
EM: Hi, what's up?
Benji: are you anywhere near DC?
EM: Yeah actually. Want to meet up?
Benji: yes :)
EM: Where and when?
Benji: Tonight would be good. Do you know a good place?
EM: Yes. Meet me at Yule’s, 7 pm?
Benji: sounds good. I'll see you there :*
The guy didn't text back after that. All Benji had to do now was wait for seven pm. He was only a little nervous. The last two times hadn't resulted in a date, so this was the first time in years that Benji was gonna go out with someone. He spent a good hour choosing an outfit. He ended up going with a simple t-shirt and jeans.
Seven pm creeped closer. Benji looked at himself in the mirror one last time and headed for the door. The place was within walking distance of his apartment and he figured the small trip would calm his nerves a little.
Benji: I'm here
EM: nice, I'm at table 3
Benji entered the establishment and looked around for table three. He spotted it quickly. He also spotted the person sitting at it, and it was Ethan. What? What was Ethan doing here? What had he done to his date? Had Benji gone to the wrong place?
"Ethan?"
"Yeah.” Ethan looked up at him and smiled. What was this? Why was he here, what was happening? How did Ethan know where he was supposed to be tonight?
“What did you do to my date? Do you keep an eye on what I do? Was he gonna kill me?! Is there a new mission?”
“Benji, I am your date.”
Benji's mind went blank for a second. What the hell had happened to ‘EM’? Ethan was his date? What did he mean by that. Why we he wanna go out with Benji anyway?
"I don't get it," Benji said and plopped down across from Ethan, who was starting to look ashamed.
"Will told me you were on tinder. So I found you on there and… what you were looking for sounded like me. So I set it up. Didn’t wanna use my whole name on there, sorry."
Benji didn’t know quite how to react. It had been Ethan this entire time. No wonder he hadn't felt it necessary to get to know Benji before meeting him. He was already his best friend.
"Still interested?" Ethan asked, when Benji hadn't said anything for several minutes. His face was as neutral as if he was talking to a contact on a mission.
"Yes!... If this isn't some kind of prank."
"I'd never do that to you." He broke into one of the brightest smiles Benji had ever seen on the man's face and squeezed his hand. He didn’t know it yet, but it was gonna be the best date in his life.