He was on his phone, his phone, on a date. Suffice to say it wasn't going well and their drinks hadn't even arrived yet, Mizuki didn't know what to say, and besides their greetings and general niceties, most of which he had initiated, they'd barely spoken a word to each other.

He wasn't sure if it was incredibly rude or just absent mindedness, wondering who he needed to be messaging right now, and so damn much too, phone neither vibrating nor pinging with a message alert, as if they weren't even replying. He just played with his cutlery, vaguely regretting this whole thing because sure, the boy opposite was cute, but he really didn't know how he was meant to get through five more minutes of this let alone the rest of the date.

"So," he spoke a little abruptly, though he had planned on neatly segueing into conversation from there, to maybe ask him where he worked and hopefully build something from there that didn't make him want to die quite as much as this. But of course his plan was destroyed instantly, his date jerking somewhat comically and his phone flying out of his hand onto the floor, cringing as he watched it go uselessly and face burning vivid red.

"Oh, shit. I mean, fuck, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he bent down then, picking the device up from where it had landed just by his feet, examining it quickly to check if it was okay and really praying it was. But then his eyes landed on the, thankfully, unshattered screen and he was reading his texts before he knew it, all addressed to somebody called Aoba and all without replies.

'Aoba I just got here he's really hot'

'Crap now I'm nervous'

'Help'

'How am I even meant to talk to him oh my god'

'Aoba seriously how do I do this I've never been on a date before'

'This place is kinda fancy too oh god'

'AOBA PLEASE'

'Oh shit neither of us are saying anything he looks like hes regretting his whole life'

'I'm useless'

"Um," he realised then as the messages ended that his date was staring at him, red spreading onto his slim throat and up to his ears, looking remarkably like he wished he could just shrivel into his chair and never emerge. "Oh shit, sorry, that was really intrusive. Sorry. I mean, your phones fine though, that's… Good."
His words were so weak he hated them, server handily arriving right then with drinks and smiling sympathetically at him as his date just took the phone back and tried to hide his face behind his hair with moderate success. He just smiled awkwardly back and said thank you for both of them, his stupid actions clearly having mortified his already nervous date further, into selective mutism by the look of it, knuckles white where they gripped his phone.

"You- Um, you think I'm hot?"

If it was possible for him to look more horrified, somehow he did, eyes growing wider in horror and actually squirming in his seat, fingering the lock button on his phone as if on the verge of just ringing a friend to rescue him, which Mizuki wouldn't entirely blame him for. He of course didn't answer, just managing a queasy sort of half shrug, eyes locked firmly on the beads of condensation travelling down his glass, probably wishing he ordered something alcoholic.

Mizuki was suddenly incredibly tempted to punch himself in the face, or maybe to head-butt the table, and if he wasn't so worried about mortifying his date further he probably would, trying to take back his words already and sounding guiltier than he'd intended. "Sorry, that was- Not helping with the whole, you being nervous thing."
Then they were back to the silence, other not acknowledging he'd even heard him, eyes flickering up for a moment then stubbornly looking anywhere but him, chewing at his cheek and looking almost like he might cry were he to be left alone.

"Um, so you've really never been on a date before?" He looked up then, trying to straighten his mouth out into something mildly more friendly but just looking ill, shaking his head slowly and continuing to gnaw at his cheek. "Hm, that sucks. So, I guess you're not really used to eating in front of strangers, huh?"

Another shake of the head, an apologetic lip twitch and what might be the start of a smile, Mizuki getting an idea that could go horribly wrong and pausing as he actually moved, picking up his glass and sucking at the straw. "Okay, so, how about we finish our drinks, and get out of here." His eyebrows furrowed and he rapidly corrected his wording, clarifying what he meant in a hopefully smooth move, "go somewhere more casual, grab some street food or something, just… Make things less formal, yeah?"

He debated this, tilting his head curiously and taking another drink, throat bobbing as he swallowed, glancing around the room of the restaurant and unable to hide a grimace of discomfort because it wasn't super fancy, but still nicer than he was used to. "You sure?"

"Yeah, things like this are always a bit awkward anyway, I'm not really a big fan of dating." He just nodded again, still taking a minute to lean back into his seat but finally managing it, eyes flickering around occasionally and not jumping when he spoke again, a little awkwardly given the topic. "So, um, who's Aoba?"

"Oh, my brother."

"Ah, he at work or something? Or just wanted to leave you to suffer?"

"He's at his boyfriends."

"Hm, was this his idea by any chance?"

"Yeah, he keeps saying I'm going to die alone."

"What a coincidence, my friend said that to me too when I bought my last cat."

"You have cats?" His eyes had lit up then and he'd leaned forwards a little, seemingly interested now, rest of the conversation continuing pleasantly, topics discussed remaining nice and non-invasive, Mizuki paying for their drinks with minor objections only and leaving the stifling atmosphere into the cool night air.

"You like sweet stuff?" He nodded and Mizuki thanked most of the gods he could think of for small blessings because now his idea wouldn't fall flat. "There's this great crepe stall a couple streets away, if you wanna do that?"

"Crepes," he seemed to consider this for a moment, continuing to walk then frowning and Mizuki's heart falling even as his incredulous words left his lips. "For dinner?"

He managed to smile then, glad he was only concerned about the idea of eating a dessert food as a meal as opposed to being put off by the idea of crepes themselves, shrugging because surely part of the thrill of being an adult was that you could eat whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. "Sure, why not?"

"Hm, okay, crepes sound good."

"So, anything catch your eye?"

"Oh, I don't know… There's a lot of choice."

"Okay, so I'll make it easier. Sweet or fruity?"

"Mm, sweet."

"Okay, so chocolate or caramel?"

He seemed remarkably troubled then, actually frowning and turning to stare at the ground, looking like Mizuki had asked him for the meaning of life rather than to choose between two sweet sauces, "or both."

"Both."

"Bananas, strawberries or cherries?"

"Bananas," he answered so fast he paused then, amused as he seemed to realise what an abrupt response it had been, cheeks a little pink as he shrugged. "I really like bananas."

"No judgement here, I like 'em too. So, chocolate, caramel banana, with melted chocolate and whipped cream sound good?"

"Amazing, what are you getting?"

"You know, I might be utterly unoriginal and get exactly the same, but maybe with strawberries, I haven't had them in a while," he grinned then, and Sei tried to smile along, still looking nervous as he approached and ordered, creeping to stand beside him and watch the ladleful of crepe mixture fry up into a thin pancake. He almost looked tempted to dribble as he watched a generous amount of sweet sauce be drizzled over, freshly sliced banana getting lost under melted chocolate and a mountain of whipped cream.

"I know somewhere over here we can sit and eat," he just nodded, managing to extricate a piece of caramel covered banana with his fingers, popping it into his mouth and licking his fingers clean, following him. They reached a bench remarkably fast, looking out over a not massively inspiring view, but it was slightly on a hill so they had an acceptable view of the rest of the island below them and if they looked really hard they could just make out the sea. It wasn't perfect, but it would do, and Mizuki knew sitting next to him rather than opposite would help with Sei's nerves too, plus crepes could be messy and he'd prefer not to be looked right in the face if he smeared his mouth with chocolate sauce.

"These are amazing."

"Told you so."

"I really don't think I can eat all this," he frowned, looking displeased, as if he'd like to continue eating until it was gone even if he felt horribly sick, a feeling Mizuki knew all too well, continuing to eat anyway, getting some of everything on each forkful he lifted to his lips.

"So don't, take the rest home. They're good cold, or you could microwave them, but I normally eat the whole thing."

"Um, you said you're a tattooist."

"Sure am."

"Do you, um, have any others apart from," he gestured weakly to his own face and neck then, Mizuki feeling himself relax into the bench as they reached territory he was safe talking about, and could indeed talk about a hell of a lot were he to be allowed to.

"Mm-hm, I've got a chest piece, and one on my arm," he paused then, debating his words and having a feeling this might be a horrible idea even as he did the stupid thing, as he always did, and asked anyway. "You wanna see them?"

"Sure, but… Um, that's a bit," his words trailed off, they did that a lot, and he said 'um,' or 'er,' so often they were basically like commas for him, nervous to a fault and pausing to check his words often, Mizuki having to be the one to guess what he was trying to say.

"It's fine, doesn't bother me," he grinned what he hoped was reassuringly and got that half mouth twitch again, wondering if it was just nerves stopping him from smiling or if he really found his company that unpleasant, able to register his own nervousness but pushing it aside. He ditched his jacket first, pushing up the sleeve to show the wide band around his left bicep, tribal patterns in the same white ink all of his tattoos were, shifting a bit nearer so he could see, watching him nod for whatever reason.

"You don't have to show me the other one."

He just shrugged again, already pulling his shirt off, aware of dark eyes tracing the movements and wondering if maybe he really did think he was as hot as he'd told his brother, "It's cool, not the first date I've gotten topless on." When his shirt was finally off and he could see again he could see Sei's raised eyebrow, looking amused finally, rapidly realising what he had said, "that makes me sound pretty bad, doesn't it?"

"Little bit."

"That's- I didn't mean it like- I went jogging with a guy once, so, y'know, it got hot."

"Oh, how'd that go?"

"Well not very well otherwise I wouldn't be here. But pretty atrociously actually, he was trying to show off even though he couldn't keep up with me, then he tripped and broke his arm, so, yeah wasn't the best."

Sei laughed then, softly with his hand over his mouth and Mizuki definitely saw it as a good sign when he offered over a strawberry a few minutes later and Sei not only took it, but responded in kind with a slice of banana.

Conversation didn't exactly flow perfectly, but the occasional silence wasn't painful and Sei even unfurled from himself a little, asking about work, hobbies, normal, boring first date stuff, and when they parted with a wave Mizuki had to admit that it could have been a lot worse, pulling out his coil and dialling Tio to give him details the minute he was out of earshot.

"Mizuki!" It was louder than he'd been all night but he still almost missed it, hearing the soft patter of approaching footsteps, a little too quick to be just a walk, turning and pausing in conversation to see Sei stood there, his jacket in one hand.

"Mizuki? I said how cute is he? Like on a scale of one to ten?"

"What? Oh, um, like pretty cute I guess." Sei's expression had fallen a little then, not into a frown or anything, but more a sort of confused gaze, eyebrows crinkling and then registering the blush on Mizuki's cheeks, rapidly realising that he was talking about him as he continued. "Like an eight?"

"Damn that's pretty-" He was trying to ignore his voice, but then his embarrassed face saw Sei's, tiny smile he'd seen throughout the night expanded into a proper one, both corners of his mouth tilted up and exhaling a disbelieving, breathy laugh from his nose. His cheeks were a little pink and he looked flustered but nowhere near as much as Mizuki was as he drowned out Tio's chattering easily, speaking before he realised.

"Or maybe, like a ten," Sei ducked his head then, glancing back up from under his fringe, albeit intentionally, and tucking a long strand of hair behind one ear, waves of black that had hidden his face all night now pushed back on one side and fragile cheekbones exposed. "Yeah, um… Tio I have to go."

He heard his objections but hung up anyway, left standing there feeling mortified but somehow more pleased than he had all night because his smile was so damn beautiful and he felt very lucky to have gotten the chance to see it even for a moment.

He opened his mouth then, licking his lips first nervously and tone as soft as it had been so far, "you left your jacket."

"Yes, I- Yes I did, good, right- Um, thank you. I, er-" He babbled, like a complete moron, like he'd hit his head and was having some sort of attack, finally realising he was holding it out and taking it a little abruptly, a little harder than he'd intended, feeling gawky and too big all of a sudden, wishing he was small and could hide somewhere as those dark eyes remained intently on him. Then a single raised eyebrow and he sighed, shoulders falling and rubbing at the back of his neck, "thanks."

"Sure. So, was that your friend?"

"Mm, he works in the bar with me."

"You told him you think I'm cute."

His gaze was a little calculating and Mizuki paused, weighing his words carefully before he spoke, deciding to be truthful because lying would have no purpose, "yeah, I did."

"What else did you tell him?"

"How it went, what we did, that kinda stuff. He's probably annoyed I hung up, he'll pester me all day tomorrow."

"Hm, my brother will too. So how did it go?"

He frowned then, because why was Sei asking as if he hadn't been right there too, just pursing his bottom lip before he spoke, tone a little bemused, "good, not as planned, but still good."

"Better than the guy who broke his arm?"

He laughed then, because Sei was teasing him, and while it was rather horribly delivered, with stoic expression and an honest gaze, he could see the hint of a smile in his eyes, "a lot better, he never got a second date after all."

"And I will?"

"I-I mean if you want one."

There was definitely some debate going on in his mind, even going as far as to place a finger onto his chin, tapping thoughtfully and Mizuki realising he had a playful side he'd never have guessed based on his first opinion at the restaurant. "Sure, but I want to plan it. And pay."

"Alright, it's a deal. So, I'll message you?"

"Sure. And, um, I know it didn't start very well, but I had fun. It was good."

"Okay that's good, I enjoyed it too, much better than broken arm guy."

"Mm, I should get going."

"Yeah, sure, so we'll arrange something."

"Yeah, definitely," Mizuki smiled then, not entirely sure how this was going to go but assuming Sei would just leave, he wasn't a big fan of kissing on the first date, whether it was normal or not, and he felt like Sei was really too nervous for that. So when he stepped forwards and leaned up to kiss his cheek he was a little surprised, just managing to maintain his smile and try to control his blush as he stepped back.

He turned then, smiling again, soft this time as he was sure he had turned red, clearing his throat awkwardly and just managing to respond to his goodbye wave, "bye."

"Yeah, uh- See you."

Nobody was there to see his embarrassing fist-pump, or at least if they were, they were kind enough to just laugh into their sleeve.