Luckily for Kieran, Luther had his eyes closed while stretching, so he hadn't noticed Kieran smack himself at all. He raised a brow briefly when he saw Kieran walking so quickly towards the door, but he brushed it off, telling himself it was nothing as he followed suit
dancing thing // private rp with octane
Kieran froze as he emerged into the fog, the damp air clinging to his freshly-dried clothing.
Shit, he cursed internally, balling his hands into fists. I forgot.
Luther watched as Kieran tensed up, and his lips pursed as he held the door. "Wait a moment," he said before going back inside, grabbing his coat before draping it around Kieran's shoulders. "There, you won't get cold or wet again," he said with a faint smile
Kieran stared down at the coat for a few seconds, disbelief crossing his features even as the mist's sinister whispering tugged at his resolve. Slowly, his eyes slid to Luther, and his expression softened.
"Thank you," he murmured gratefully.
"Of course," Luther said with a soft smile, adjusting the collar of the coat so it wrapped around his neck a bit better, keeping out the chill. "You seem to get cold easily, and I'm long immune to it," he said with a small smile
“Oh, no,” he laughed quietly, the irony twisting his lips into a smile despite the persistent, beckoning call of the sea. “I am quite used to the cold, but I hate the fog. It… brings back memories.”
"Well, think of this as a distraction, then. A way to get away from it all," Luther suggested with a small shrug. "Now, how about that coffee?" he asked
“Sounds great.”
They crossed the street together, Luther leading the way. Kieran’s strides were long—he was anxious to get jnside.
Luther kept pace with Kieran easily, his long legs carrying him across the street. He hummed softly as they went, eager to get something warm to drink
They skipped inside the coffee shop, and Kieran exhaled a long sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he murmured in his instructor’s direction. “One question—what’s boba?”
"It's Taiwanese tea. It's sort of hard to explain, but it's like tea with little balls of tapioca in them. They're chewy, and sometimes flavored," Luther tried to explain as he rubbed at the back of his neck
“Tapioca….?” Whatever it was, Kieran hadn’t heard of it. Granted, roughly 140 human hears of his life had been spent under water, so he was a little behind on human traditions…
"It's kind of like a powder, sort of. But you can make it into different things, like a sort of bread, or the little balls in boba tea," Luther went on
Kieran was currently staring at Luther like he was from another planet. “You can make bread from the tea?”
"Well, no. Tapioca is a powder that you make the boba balls and the bread out of, not the tea. It's different," Luther tried to explain, though he was slowly realizing he wasn't doing great at it
Kieran blinked, then nodded slowly. His eyes flickered to the menu displayed above the counter, and his cheeks pinkeyes slightly when he realized that he had no idea what half the jtems were. “Er.. would you helping me pick something to order?”
"Um…well, do you like a lot of caffeine, or just a little?" Luther asked, slowly realizing now that Kieran might have never been in a coffee shop before
After only a few years spent above the surface, Kieran knew what caffeine was.. but had never consumed anything with it. “I’ve… never had any?” he admitted, uncharacteristically meek. “So a little, I guess.”
"Okay, well I can get you milk tea, then," Luther suggested with a small smile, leading them up to the front counter so they could order. "I can get one for me and one for you, and mine will have boba, so you could try a little if you want," he offered
“If that’s alright with you..” A faint, bashful smile tugged at his lips. “Thank you again. How much do I need to pay?”
"Ah…" Luther trailed off for a moment, squinting at the prices for the different things. "Three dollars for a small…Three fifty for a medium…and four for a large," he listed off
“I’ll take a medium,” Kieran decided, pulling a battered wallet from his back pocket and digging around for some spare change. “I can pay for you?”
"No, no, I couldn't. In fact, let me pay. I owe you after our lesson," Luther insisted, taking his own wallet from his pocket and fishing out a few five dollar bills
Kieran shook his head hastily. “No, no. I was late for the lesson, it’s my fault. You don’t have to pay for me.”
"And you're paying me for lessons already, I may as well treat my favorite student," Luther insisted, smiling a little as he spoke now
The comment took Kieran completely off guard. Favourite student? When was the last time I was someone’s favourite… anything?
So he nodded and ducked his head, abashed,
Luther smiled, pleased with himself as he proceeded to order their drinks. Once he was finished, he paid and went over to a table, gesturing for Kieran to follow so they had somewhere to sit while they waited
Kieran trailed after Luther, a bit like a lost puppy in this foreign environment. His usual snark and sarcasm? Gone, disappeared into thin air.
Luther sat down at one of the small tables, stretching out briefly with another small yawn. He blinked a few times before chuckling softly. "I'm starting to think I may have needed to go to bed earlier last night," he said with a small chuckle
“I know the feeling,” Kieran grimaced, searing himself cautiously across from Luther. “Do you do anything other than teach dance?”