seven (jensen)
Nov. 8th, 2010 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smackenzieMatt apologized for not mentioning that they might have to wait, and he hoped Jensen wasn't starving in the meantime. Jensen said he wasn't, not to worry.
The place wasn't that exciting on the inside, but they were seated at a table by the wall, which Jensen could appreciate. Sometimes when you were a guy out on a first date with another guy, it was easier to have a date-type conversation if you weren't worried about people eavesdropping on all sides.
"I was thinking we could just get some rolls and split them," Matt said. "Don't let the ones with fruit turn you off."
"Fruit," Jensen repeated. "That's different. Kiwi?"
"I've never had that one. I'm not a big asparagus eater."
"What about this one? The Choo Choo Roll. There's a lot going on in that one."
"We can get that. How do you feel about eel? Roe? Spicy?"
"Never had it, don't mind it, yes please."
They ordered a bottle of Kirin to split while they tried to decide what to order, and by the time their food arrived they'd almost finished it. Matt had ordered two pieces of eel nigiri, one for each of them, instead of a roll, in case Jensen didn't like it. His eyes almost popped out of his head as he watched Jensen plop a wodge of wasabi in his little dish of soy sauce and mix it together.
"Would you like some more soy sauce with your wasabi?" Matt asked, dumbfounded.
"Nope, this is good." He liked mustard. He liked spicy. Wasabi was just up his alley.
"Can you even taste the sushi?"
"Let me see." Jensen picked up a piece of eel nigiri, dipped an end in his wasabi soy sauce, and bit into it. He tasted wasabi and soy sauce and what he guessed was the stuff they'd put on the eel. It was a little sweet and a little tangy, and the eel was flaky, and he liked it.
"Well?"
"Not bad."
Matt beamed. Damn, he was cute.
They worked their way through several rolls - one spicy, one with strawberry on top, none with asparagus - and another bottle of beer and talked and tried to get to know each other. Jensen learned that Matt had graduated from college with a degree in accounting and was doing that when he realized he didn't really like it, and he wanted to spend his life doing something else.
"So I took my undergrad debt and turned it into grad school debt," he said. "Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. My parents were appalled, but I'm happier."
Jensen could relate. Although when he told his folks that he was going to give up his steady job to move to Nashville and be a musician, his dad agreed that now was the time to do it, before Jensen had a mortgage and a family. Better he do the ridiculous thing when he was young.
"Why art history?" he asked.
"I like art. I like what it says about the society in which it was made. I think forgers are fascinating. The really good ones are talented artists in their own right - it takes a lot of skill to be able to accurately copy a famous painting. Some of them become famous as forgers. But at the same time, if you're really that good - if you can convincingly fake the Mona Lisa, for example - no one will even know you exist, because they don't know they're looking at a fake da Vinci." He waved his chopsticks at an imaginary art viewer, or maybe at the theoretical forger who'd convincingly faked one of the most famous portraits in the world.
"The science behind finding forgeries is really interesting too," Matt continued. "You can put a painting through an MRI or an x-ray machine to see what was originally on the canvas. There's a copy of the Mona Lisa at the - this is really boring, isn't it."
Jensen had a piece of spicy crab roll in his mouth and had to shake his head while he chewed and swallowed, until he could assure Matt that no, it wasn't boring. He couldn't very well say that watching someone talk about something that turned them on - even intellectually - was itself a turn-on, but he could say that he could tell Matt really loved what he was talking about, and it was something Jensen knew nothing about, and Matt's enthusiasm was contagious.
"I promise I won't monopolize the whole night," Matt said. He smiled a little, apologetically, and Jensen had to smile back. "Just this one thing. The whole story's really interesting, but my main point is that the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has a copy of the Mona Lisa that people used to think was the real painting, and the one hanging in the Louvre was a fake. It was stolen in 1911, I think, or 1913. It was found, but there was still a rumor that the Walters had it. So they x-rayed it and found a painting underneath that had been painted after the original Mona Lisa. So... presto, not a forgery." He grinned in what looked like triumph and took a swallow of his beer. And Jensen could not get over how cute it was. "Ok. Now it's your turn to talk about yourself."
Matt's phone picked that time to ring. He looked surprised.
"You can answer it," Jensen told him. "At least see who it is." Matt shifted in his seat, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and looked at it. "Is it an emergency?"
"No." Matt chuckled. "My friend Tim. I think he was worried about me, because I went out with someone I don't really know. I told him Danneel vetted you and I trusted her, but did he listen.... He said he was going to call and make sure I wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere. To be honest, I think it was really his wife's idea." He shook his head slightly, a fond look on his face. Jensen recognized his expression - it was the expression of a man who loved his friends even when they said and did ridiculous things. He directed it at Chris a lot.
"If you don't answer, is he going to think I strangled you or something?"
"I don't know. I should probably... just a second, I'll text." He tapped out a message, sent it, and put the phone back in his pocket. "Now where were we."
"I was going to tell you about myself. What do you want to know?"
"Well, I just told you more than you ever wanted to know about a Mona Lisa forgery, so tell me, I don't know, what makes you excited? What do you love? Why did you come to Nashville, and what were you doing before then?"
"I was a physical therapist. I lived in Houston. I had the same kind of epiphany you did - I decided it wasn't making me happy and I wanted to do something else." He shrugged. It sounded simple when he put it like that.
"Why music? Why Nashville and not LA or New York? Unless you play country."
"Chris was here, he had a band already, he knew some people. And his roommate was moving out, so I wouldn't even have to find a place to live. That was too coincidental to pass up."
words: 1217
total words: 12,087
The place wasn't that exciting on the inside, but they were seated at a table by the wall, which Jensen could appreciate. Sometimes when you were a guy out on a first date with another guy, it was easier to have a date-type conversation if you weren't worried about people eavesdropping on all sides.
"I was thinking we could just get some rolls and split them," Matt said. "Don't let the ones with fruit turn you off."
"Fruit," Jensen repeated. "That's different. Kiwi?"
"I've never had that one. I'm not a big asparagus eater."
"What about this one? The Choo Choo Roll. There's a lot going on in that one."
"We can get that. How do you feel about eel? Roe? Spicy?"
"Never had it, don't mind it, yes please."
They ordered a bottle of Kirin to split while they tried to decide what to order, and by the time their food arrived they'd almost finished it. Matt had ordered two pieces of eel nigiri, one for each of them, instead of a roll, in case Jensen didn't like it. His eyes almost popped out of his head as he watched Jensen plop a wodge of wasabi in his little dish of soy sauce and mix it together.
"Would you like some more soy sauce with your wasabi?" Matt asked, dumbfounded.
"Nope, this is good." He liked mustard. He liked spicy. Wasabi was just up his alley.
"Can you even taste the sushi?"
"Let me see." Jensen picked up a piece of eel nigiri, dipped an end in his wasabi soy sauce, and bit into it. He tasted wasabi and soy sauce and what he guessed was the stuff they'd put on the eel. It was a little sweet and a little tangy, and the eel was flaky, and he liked it.
"Well?"
"Not bad."
Matt beamed. Damn, he was cute.
They worked their way through several rolls - one spicy, one with strawberry on top, none with asparagus - and another bottle of beer and talked and tried to get to know each other. Jensen learned that Matt had graduated from college with a degree in accounting and was doing that when he realized he didn't really like it, and he wanted to spend his life doing something else.
"So I took my undergrad debt and turned it into grad school debt," he said. "Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. My parents were appalled, but I'm happier."
Jensen could relate. Although when he told his folks that he was going to give up his steady job to move to Nashville and be a musician, his dad agreed that now was the time to do it, before Jensen had a mortgage and a family. Better he do the ridiculous thing when he was young.
"Why art history?" he asked.
"I like art. I like what it says about the society in which it was made. I think forgers are fascinating. The really good ones are talented artists in their own right - it takes a lot of skill to be able to accurately copy a famous painting. Some of them become famous as forgers. But at the same time, if you're really that good - if you can convincingly fake the Mona Lisa, for example - no one will even know you exist, because they don't know they're looking at a fake da Vinci." He waved his chopsticks at an imaginary art viewer, or maybe at the theoretical forger who'd convincingly faked one of the most famous portraits in the world.
"The science behind finding forgeries is really interesting too," Matt continued. "You can put a painting through an MRI or an x-ray machine to see what was originally on the canvas. There's a copy of the Mona Lisa at the - this is really boring, isn't it."
Jensen had a piece of spicy crab roll in his mouth and had to shake his head while he chewed and swallowed, until he could assure Matt that no, it wasn't boring. He couldn't very well say that watching someone talk about something that turned them on - even intellectually - was itself a turn-on, but he could say that he could tell Matt really loved what he was talking about, and it was something Jensen knew nothing about, and Matt's enthusiasm was contagious.
"I promise I won't monopolize the whole night," Matt said. He smiled a little, apologetically, and Jensen had to smile back. "Just this one thing. The whole story's really interesting, but my main point is that the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has a copy of the Mona Lisa that people used to think was the real painting, and the one hanging in the Louvre was a fake. It was stolen in 1911, I think, or 1913. It was found, but there was still a rumor that the Walters had it. So they x-rayed it and found a painting underneath that had been painted after the original Mona Lisa. So... presto, not a forgery." He grinned in what looked like triumph and took a swallow of his beer. And Jensen could not get over how cute it was. "Ok. Now it's your turn to talk about yourself."
Matt's phone picked that time to ring. He looked surprised.
"You can answer it," Jensen told him. "At least see who it is." Matt shifted in his seat, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and looked at it. "Is it an emergency?"
"No." Matt chuckled. "My friend Tim. I think he was worried about me, because I went out with someone I don't really know. I told him Danneel vetted you and I trusted her, but did he listen.... He said he was going to call and make sure I wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere. To be honest, I think it was really his wife's idea." He shook his head slightly, a fond look on his face. Jensen recognized his expression - it was the expression of a man who loved his friends even when they said and did ridiculous things. He directed it at Chris a lot.
"If you don't answer, is he going to think I strangled you or something?"
"I don't know. I should probably... just a second, I'll text." He tapped out a message, sent it, and put the phone back in his pocket. "Now where were we."
"I was going to tell you about myself. What do you want to know?"
"Well, I just told you more than you ever wanted to know about a Mona Lisa forgery, so tell me, I don't know, what makes you excited? What do you love? Why did you come to Nashville, and what were you doing before then?"
"I was a physical therapist. I lived in Houston. I had the same kind of epiphany you did - I decided it wasn't making me happy and I wanted to do something else." He shrugged. It sounded simple when he put it like that.
"Why music? Why Nashville and not LA or New York? Unless you play country."
"Chris was here, he had a band already, he knew some people. And his roommate was moving out, so I wouldn't even have to find a place to live. That was too coincidental to pass up."
words: 1217
total words: 12,087
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 09:15 pm (UTC)