Gathering: New Year's Eve Gala

[concierge]

The annual Nexus New Year's Eve gala began at 8 in the evening. Too grand to be contained by the lobby or dining hall, the gardens at the front of the hotel were employed, with long strings of white lights forming a twinkling canopy from the front doors all the way to the hedge maze. The weather was temperate and calm, and the night perfectly clear.

Drinks were served at various bars set up throughout the gardens and lobby, with champagne cocktails being the specialty of the night. Wheeling through the crowd was a bartender with golden cart providing warm drinks on the go: Tom and Jerrys, rum punch, negus, and Irish coffee.

Crisply-dressed wait staff wove through the collected guests with an abundance of hors d'oeuvres for all different tastes. The Bistro remained open with a limited selection of items for those who were wanting something more substantial.

Above the front doors was hung a large, gold-rimmed clock counting down the last hours, minutes, and seconds of the current year.

Comments

[only_hope]

"I suppose it would be all right," Obi-Wan said, mulling it over. "Nobody knows I'm out there aside from you, anyway, and I rarely check in on Luke since I want to ensure he grows up without any outside influences. We'll be close enough to monitor that nothing goes south on the Lars farm and have some time to ourselves. Though, I have to warn you...Tatooine is awful."

[theprodigaldoctor]

"You're there, it's got to have some perk," Chase says, aware that he probably comes across like some cheesy line in a book, but he's happier when he's with Ben than he is on his own, alone in Jersey, still working for House. "Maybe you could sort of mark off a door here that leads to you and I'll stop by, keep you entertained and try and make Tatooine a little less awful?"

[only_hope]

"That could be easily done. I have never had trouble going back and forth," Obi-Wan said. "I could easily leave the door propped, if you wanted, and you could stop by. It's not much of a place but it is quiet and isolated so there's no chance of us being disturbed."

[theprodigaldoctor]

True, he'd probably get bored eventually if that were his life, but not if it's something he's doing just once in a while. Chase gives Ben a warm smile and nods. "Sounds like a plan to me," he agrees, not paying much mind to how it sort of sounds like getting a key. "So, want to find some place private for our countdown to midnight?"

[only_hope]

"Absolutely. I have no intentions of everyone seeing us engage in such an old and venerated Earth tradition," Obi-Wan teased, grinning a little at Chase as he did so. "Besides, I intend to take it quite a bit further than just a kiss. We might shock the more reserved among our company."

[theprodigaldoctor]

Chase gives Ben an amused look, leaning back against a table as he licks his lower lip and tries not to look too interested. "Really?" he coaxes, giving a nod of his head to encourage, "I might be amenable to hearing what you have in mind."

[only_hope]

"I think we ought to go out into the garden," Obi-Wan said, grinning wide enough to show a dimple. "And I think we ought to see just how quiet you can manage to be. Do you think you can manage it, Rob?"

[theprodigaldoctor]

"You always do have the best ideas," he promises, darting in to steal a slow kiss right on top of that dimple, easing back and giving Ben a fond look as he reaches out for his hand, tangling their fingers together. "I uh, I really like you." He thinks that in a little while, he could be saying 'I really love you' with ease, but they're not there. Not just yet.

[only_hope]

"I had gathered you more than tolerated me," Obi-Wan teased back in kind. He squeezed Chase's hand to let him know that he meant quite a bit more than his words implied and wondered how, exactly, he would broach that particular subject. It seemed something insurmountable, admitting feelings.

"How long has that been going on?"

[theprodigaldoctor]

"Well, I mean, before I only sort of liked you," he deadpans, tugging Ben along with him as they walk. "And now I really like you," he says, hoping the emphasis can be heard. "I'd say that ever since you visited me back in Jersey, things have been getting a little more serious, for me. What about you?"

[only_hope]

"Since then, at the least," Obi-Wan agreed. "Perhaps earlier. Sometimes the time runs together. Do you know what it's like? To have met a person you mesh with so well that it feels like you've known them much longer than you actually have?"

[theprodigaldoctor]

"Not really," he admits freely, seeing as even with Cameron when he'd married her, it hadn't been a right away thing. It had been hard and he'd pushed and pushed, and eventually she'd relented. he should have seen that as one of the first warning signs. "I mean, not until this. It's felt easier than a lot of my past anythings."

[only_hope]

"I think, if it's something meant to happen, it comes easier than most things. I have always felt that strife in relationships is because something is going against the will of the Force itself. It makes no sense to push against the flow that way," Obi-Wan said. He watched Chase carefully, eyes trained on his.

"It doesn't feel that way with you."

[theprodigaldoctor]

"Well, we've kept things good and casual," Chase points out, which does feel like they've done the adult thing about it, even if it's maybe not the most romantic way of going about it. "Got to know each other and made sure the physical chemistry is there," he says with a warm smile. "I don't think any of that's a bad thing."