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For all his good intentions, Leo’s brother can be a pain in the ass. Sure he’s Markus Manfred, high profile activist and artist, and all around nice guy, too nice sometimes, but Leo’s pretty sure he could’ve gone without the meddling in his dating life. Alright, so they’re both disaster bisexuals and ok so it seems that runs in the family since their father’s youthful escapades are unfortunately semi-public knowledge, but really, did Markus have to arrange a blind date for him? At some trendy restaurant with ambient mood lighting and dark shadows and fancy drinks? Nevermind the fact Leo’s wanted to come here for months now and it has a waiting list a mile long but the moment Markus Manfred wants to book a table suddenly there’s one free.
‘He’s really nice’ Markus had assured him, ‘and he likes photography. You’ve got something in common to talk about.’
Yeah yeah whatever. At least there’s the promise of good food and drinks if the date goes sour. He wanders into the fancy restaurant and spots his date- Markus said something about long hair and glasses and a bit of a beard and that guy seems to fit the bill. He even looks a bit like Elijah Kamski, who, if Leo’s being really honest, he’s had a crush on since he wrote a paper on him in high school. Not bothering to wait for a staff member to guide him, he heads over and takes the opposite seat at the table.
“Hi.” Leo greets with a grin. His date blinks at him curiously, glass of wine in hand.
“Hello?”
“Oh, am I late?” He frowns and looks at his phone. “Ordered a drink already wow. You know what’s good here?”
“...Do you prefer wine? Or spirits?”
“Spirits.”
“They have a good whiskey drink here that’s mixed with sherry and vermouth.” He flags down a waiter and places an order. When he turns his head slightly Leo can see the sharp undercut beneath his ponytail, and a few piercings in his ear. He’s cute, really really cute.
“So you’re into photography too huh?” Leo decides to just dive right in, it can’t hurt to start on common ground, right?
“...You could say that, yes. Or at least the technological aspect of it.” His date raises his brows a little. “I am interested in a smoother transition between manual and automatic mode.”
“Kinda defeats the purpose of it being manual though, right?” Leo frowns. “That’s the whole point of it, letting us control the settings to better fit the photo result we’re after.”
“I’m not talking about getting rid of manual settings.” He shakes his head, tone a little impatient. “I’m talking about smarter, more intuitive cameras with inbuilt programs that can mimick the focusing abilities of the human eye. Rather than turning dials and adjusting lenses and zooms, the photographer need only put the camera to their eye and it will pick up on their body’s cues.”
“Like an A.I. for the camera?” Leo grins, leaning back in his seat a little. “I mean, that’s pretty crazy and also pretty cool. It’d mean like, taking photos and having them come out exactly as we pictured.”
“ Precisely .” He declares with a triumphant smile. “No need to edit your photos with separate software. The camera will work with you to produce what you desire.”
Markus was right, and he fucking hates it when Markus is right because the bastard doesn’t even have the courtesy to be smug about it the way siblings should be but okay, yeah, Leo’s having a pretty good time. The fancy whiskey drink tastes fancy and amazing and sharp and bittersweet the way he likes drinks. He’s eating whatever fancy food his date ordered for them and it’s a mix of textures and spices that pair well with his whiskey. His phone’s been buzzing non-stop but he’s not about to get points docked off by his date for answering a call or scrolling through messages.
“Ok but you ever think of like, expanding that? Like, taking it out of a camera and putting an A.I. into a physical form?”
“Like an android?” His date grins and the lighting makes his icy blue eyes almost glow. Damn, he’s hot and Leo’s so gone. “I’m not sure we have the technology for androids yet, and if the closest we have is Sophia the Robot I’d rather pass.”
“Yeah but like, you got guys like Kamski making these incredible leaps and bounds with technology.” Leo gestures with his fork excitedly. “The Chloe app is like, a million times better than Siri. Her spoken sentences are seamless, she has a far better, far more accurate search function, and she adapts to you.”
His date laughs loudly, leaning his chin to rest in the palm of his hand as he props his elbow up on the table. The grin on his face is almost predatory, as if he’s sizing Leo up to devour whole (he’s totally here for it). Leo feels like he’s being scrutinized, looked over cell by cell by cell like he’s part of some experiment.
“Mr Kamski, your car is here.” A waitress politely informs him, and Leo nearly chokes. Elijah Kamski looks across at him, eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Thank you Kara.” He reaches into his blazer pocket, eyes still locked onto Leo’s as he takes out a card and holds it out. “I’ll pay for the table. Can you call a cab for my friend here, please?”
“Of course, sir.” She takes his card and hurries away and Leo just openly gawks at him.
“You’re Elijah Kamski.”
“I am.” A smug grin. “And you are?”
“...at the wrong fucking table, oh my fucking god.” Leo fumbles for his phone. Eighteen messages and five missed calls. The last message preview is in all caps, the ‘I’M LEAVING’ glaring up at him. “Oh my fucking-, I am so sorry! I was- I had a blind date set up I thought- I just-”
Elijah laughs again, and Leo feels his cheeks flush red. The waitress places the receipt down for him to sign, and he takes one of the restaurant cards from the little tray. Handing her the signed receipt and a casual fifty, he keeps the pen for a moment longer and scribbles something onto the restaurant card before offering it to Leo. His mobile number.
“Next time we’ll schedule a proper date, what do you think?” Their fingers brush when he takes the card from him, and how Leo hasn’t combusted on the spot is a mystery not even god can solve.
“Yeah. Uh sure. Please?” Leo manages to stammer and Elijah gives him one last smile, like he knows a thousand little secrets about him already.
“Excellent. I’ll look forward to it.”
He watches him leave, watches how everyone in the restaurant watches Elijah fucking Kamksi leave and then they dart Leo a puzzled glance and when Leo’s phone rings again he picks it up immediately.
“Leo what happened? My friend said you stood him up?” It’s Markus, tone confused and a little irritated and okay Leo can’t exactly blame him. The waitress gestures towards the door, mouthing ‘taxi’ to him and he hurriedly heads out before he collapses under the weight of everyone’s judgement.
“Listen I uhhhhh I fucked up I ended up at the wrong table and totally had dinner with someone else who I thought was my date.” He clambers into the taxi. “I swear I didn’t mean to stand them up!” A heavy sigh on the other end of the line.
“Leo, that’s-”
“Fucked up I know I know .”
“Wait so who did you actually have dinner with?”
“...”
“Leo?”
“Uhhhh bye.” He hangs up and knows there’ll be an interrogation later before for now he just leans over and curls up on his side in the back of a taxi arranged for him by Elijah fucking Kamski , covers his face with his hands, and screams internally the whole ride home.