Work Text:
Barbara said that she’d meet him here half an hour ago, and he was beginning to get impatient. ‘Never on time, bloody Canadians,’he thought to himself while shaking his head. He didn’t have anything else to do but scroll through his phone, which was going to run out of battery, but what else was he supposed to do?
It was around 2 in the afternoon, and he was sitting on a park bench in a park that he had never visited before. It had been Barbara’s idea, saying that she wanted to meet up because they needed to talk about something. Couldn’t they talk over the phone or at the office during the week?
And yet here he was, waiting.
He looked up from his phone just as someone sat down beside him, barely making a noise. Not familiar, but he still watched as they opened their satchel and pulled out a book. They opened it, placing their bookmark beside them.
As he went back to check his phone, it beeped and the screen turned black. Great; just when he really needed it. He went back to looking around the park, seeing a couple of kids playing tag in the distance and a lady running along the footpath. The usual, he supposed.
His mind began to run over the projects that he was supposed to be working on with Geoff, which he now probably wouldn’t have time to do. Damn it, Barbara.
He was about to check the time when he realized that his phone was still dead, and he bit his lip as he looked over at the stranger beside him.
"Hey, uhm, do you have the time?" he asked awkwardly, not talking very loudly as he didn’t want to bother them any more than he had to. They didn’t reply, engrossed in their book as they turned a page and continued reading. "Uh, excuse me?"
"Hm?" They looked up, frowning at him curiously. He gulped, throat constricting like it didn’t want him to form words; he really shouldn’t have bothered them.
"Do you have the time?" he asked again, trying not to meet their eyes but ending up doing so anyway; they were a warm, dusky brown.
"Oh yeah, sure." They pulled out their own phone, tapping the screen to check it. "Quarter past 2."
"Thanks." They nodded once and went back to their book, adjusting their glasses before doing so. Now he felt extremely awkward, tapping his feet in a rhythm to try and offset it.
He looked back at them, maybe staring for too long as they looked back at him with a furrowed brow.
"Something you need?"
"Oh, uhm, no." They continued watching him, dead in the eye as well so he couldn’t come up with anything to say; he quickly scrambled through his brain for something. "Your book! That’s it, uh, I’m pretty sure that I’ve read it before."
"You’ve read ‘War of the Worlds’?" they asked sceptically, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, sure, it had a war, you know, and there were a couple of worlds fighting, massive war-" They started laughing, not a small laugh, but a huge, hiccuping laugh that caught in their throat and made it louder. He wasn’t as offended as he would have been, since hearing that laughter made him… happier.
"You’re pretty funny, you know that?" they said after they had finished their outburst, wiping at their eyes. They closed their book and offered their hand. "I’m Ray, what’s your name?"
"Gavin," he replied, shaking his hand with a grin.
"So, Gavin, do you-"
"Hey Gav!" He turned his head to see Barbara waving and coming over to them. He groaned under his breath, leaning away from Ray.
"Hey Barb."
"So I see you made a friend." She turned to Ray and waved. "Thanks for taking care of Gavin, sometimes he doesn’t know left from right." The Brit kicked her ankle as discreetly as he could, blushing a bit at the comment.
"She’s just making a joke, haha, real funny, Barb." Ray’s smile drooped a little when he looked between them, and somehow Gavin knew what was running through his mind. "Oh, we aren’t together," he quickly said, gesturing between him and Barbara.
"That’s cool, man." Gavin stood up, wishing that Barbara hadn’t showed up so soon. ‘Bloody Canadians, always show up too early,’ he thought.
"So I guess that I’ll see you around, eh Ray?"
"Yeah, anytime." Gavin said goodbye and walked away with Barbara, looking back once or twice at the man who had gone back to his book.
"Soooooo, did you like him or…?" Barbara asked, nudging the Brit with her elbow.
"He was cool, yeah." She rolled her eyes.
"You know that’s not what I mean. I could totally see you two eyeing each other up-"
"Sh!" he shushed her, a mild pink starting to run through his cheeks. "Okay, I did sort of, I don’t know."
"Then why don’t you go back there and ask for his number? Don’t be a chicken! Come on, do it!" He panicked a bit, looking back at Ray sitting on the bench by himself. "Come ooooon, you know you wanna…"
With a groan, he ran back to the bench, puffing as he stopped there.
"You forget something?" Ray smiled as he looked up at Gavin.
"I forgot to give you my number. That is, if you want it, I’m not pushin-"
"No problem. Give it to me." After the Brit did so, he waited a bit, looking back at Barbara who gave him a thumbs up. "Cool, I’ve got it. I’ll call you later, maybe we can hang out."
"I’d love that." Running back to Barbara, he waved at Ray to say goodbye.
"You guys are so cute together," she chuckled.
"Not a word to anyone, okay?" They continued walking, but Gavin felt a warmth rise up in his chest. He couldn’t wait to hear Ray’s voice again, hear his choking laugh and see him adjust his glasses every few minutes.
And most of all, he couldn’t wait to make Ray smile again.