![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hestia8Spooks, series 8 character spoilers.
Title: Saturday Night At The Movies
Summary: Tariq needs to get out more
Notes: Dimitri/Tariq pre-slash, set at an undefined time during early series 8. This is because when I’d finished this fic I realised that Ruth came back onto the grid during 803 when Jo was off at that dude’s mansion with Lucas (and Ros), oops. So, a little fudging of the timeline, never mind.
This is for delgaserasca because she alerted me to the existence of cinema speed dating nights. Honestly, what was I going to do with that info but write fic? Thanks to C for looking it over :)
--
Tariq has no idea why he’s doing this. Well, except that Ruth bullied him into it, saying he had to get out more, he had to go out and meet people (she doesn’t apply this reasoning to herself, of course). And then Jo backed her up, because Jo liked to match make. She’d only known him two months and she’d already tried to set him with two of her friends. Tariq almost wished he’d never come out to them in the first place.
He resisted a lot of their suggestions – dating websites (no), book clubs (what?) – but when Ruth had said there was a cinema that held speed dating evenings that included a film showing, it hadn’t seemed such an utterly terrible idea, so he’d hesitated a little and they’d jumped on the pause and that was it.
The general feeling around Thames House was that Ruth and Jo were sweet, unassuming people, but anyone who thought that just wasn’t paying enough attention. They were determined and focussed and could be almost as scary as Ros, if they wanted something.
So here he was, on a Saturday night at the cinema, just him and fifteen complete strangers. What could possibly go wrong?
--
Well, the film could be some tedious exploration of a boring old man’s angst, for one thing. It could be a supposed true story that was complete bullshit, for another.
Tariq had a suspicion that he wasn’t actually the target audience for this film. He was supposed to just sit there and be impressed at how well the director had framed the hero’s nobility, rather than sitting there wondering why you’d do the research on someone’s life only to take out all the interesting (unsympathetic) bits.
He hoped that someone else felt the same, or this evening was going to be a total bust.
Tariq rushed his first drink, needing the Dutch courage to keep him there. He glanced around the bar – not just the speed daters, not yet – trying to work out if any of them were even his type. One or two of them, maybe.
There were a few guys who were good-looking in a geeky kind of way (which was what he considered himself), and a couple who were more the conventionally attractive type (which usually meant they wouldn’t even notice him). One of them was cute but almost definitely a student, and Tariq hadn’t much got on with students when he’d been one. There was one – nice eyes, close-cropped hair – who was so completely his type Tariq would have happily skipped the rest just to talk to him.
He bought another drink just before they got called through, and hoped for the best.
--
The first three guys passed him by in a haze of nervousness, but they’d all loved the film, so he wasn’t too bothered. He suspected he hadn’t impressed them.
The fourth guy – the one he’d wanted to talk to – sat down and said, “How would you sum up this film in one word?”
“Dull,” Tariq replied, although honesty was probably not the best policy tonight, “you?”
“Worthy,” he said, smiling, and yeah, that was about the kindest word Tariq could have used. Tariq checked his name tag – Dimitri, supposedly. Tariq wondered if he’d come up with that just for the evening like the first guy he’d spoken to, who’d said he was Banksy’s assistant.
“Maybe if the details actually bore any resemblance to the reality,” Tariq said. Dimitri nodded, like that had made sense.
“I did wonder. It’s just not my thing, this kind of film. I’m only here because my ex dragged me along.”
“Your ex?” Tariq said, wondering which one he was. Probably one of the other good-looking ones. They did tend to congregate together.
“Yeah. I know. But I only came along because he needs to get out more and stop moping over me, I swear.”
He winked when he said it, but Tariq’s heart sank. Of course the one guy who’d caught his eye wasn’t actually interested. That was just his luck.
“So what’s your cover story, then?” He asked, and Tariq startled a little, until he realised that he was just asking what Tariq had been telling other people about tonight.
“No cover story,” he said, “just me. A couple of colleagues made me come along. They think I don’t get out enough. Unfortunately, they’re right.”
“What do you do?”
“I work in IT. A few levels above telling people to turn it off and then on again, before you ask. What about you?”
“I’m in the Navy,” Dimitri says, and oh, this is just completely unfair, he couldn’t actually be more Tariq’s type if he was trying, “I might not be for much longer, though. I’m not sure it suits me anymore.”
Tariq couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t an incredibly feeble joke, which was a real shame.
“I bet the uniform does, though,” he says, and instantly wants to die. He can’t actually believe those words came out of his mouth. Dimitri looks briefly surprised, but then he grins.
“You’ll just have to wonder, won’t you? Unless you pick me, of course.”
Before Tariq can answer, the bell goes and Dimitri moves on to charm someone else.
--
The next man to sit down in front of him – Rob – was the one he’d guessed was a student, and – no surprise - he’d guessed right. He didn’t bother asking Tariq’s opinion of the film as such; he just presumed Tariq wanted to listen to a three-minute lecture on the techniques the director had used. Or maybe he’d guessed that Tariq was more interested in trying to steal glances at Dimitri while he was only one table away.
--
Matt came along next, with a nice smile and the suggestion that the film would have been improved by giant robots – that almost any film would be – and Tariq agreed, so that was two ticks, at least, even if he was pretty sure that they’d just be meeting up to watch loud, explosive science fiction films and not actually to go on dates.
There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with the rest of them, but Tariq spent most of his time on the Grid. If he was going to spend his free time offline and out of the flat, it couldn’t be with just anyone. And that’s all most of these guys were.
Two out of fifteen sounds like a poor showing at the end of the night, but really if Dimitri doesn’t choose him too it’s all immaterial. Although if he does choose him, Tariq’s going to have to admit that Ruth and Jo were right and that this was a good idea.
--
When he gets into work on Monday, Ruth and Jo barely let him get to his desk before tackling him about it.
“Well? How did it go?”
”Good morning to you too.”
”Yeah, fine, morning,” Jo says, “I’ve got a meeting to go, so how did it go?”
”Fine,” Tariq says, just to mess with them. Jo glares at him so he carries on, “the film was Oscar bait. Most of the guys there loved it, I didn’t.”
“That’s just typical,” she says, like she’s known him longer than a couple of months (although she might be right), “you don’t have to be contrary all the time.”
”I wasn’t, it was dull.”
“You must have liked some of them, surely?” Ruth asked.
“One or two.”
“And?”
”I haven’t had the results yet. They should come through this afternoon.”
Jo raised an eyebrow. ”Great, in that case I’ll see you when I’m done with my meeting. Don’t you dare leave without letting me know what’s going on.”
”They might not even be interested in me.”
”I bet they were,” Ruth said, smiling, “you’ll get some matches, I’m sure.”
Tariq smiles back and shrugs. He’d settle for one, but he’s got the whole day before he gets to find out.
--
He gets the email through at 4.45, and when he doesn’t immediately drop everything to look at it, Ruth clears her throat to get his attention.
“Aren’t you going to check that?”
“Not yet.”
”Don’t you want to know if you got any matches?” Ruth says, with a pleading tone to her voice that is a little unusual. He supposes that’s what you get when you work here long enough; you sacrifice your own personal life, so you might as well get invested in someone else’s.
Tariq’s never really bothered with a personal life, and he’s never been that interested in other people’s. He can barely remember a time when he wasn’t busy with one project or another.
“See, I thought Jo was the ringleader on all this,” he says, “but now I’m wondering if it was you all along. I’m busy, I’ll check it later.”
“Spoilsport,” she says, though it’s good-natured. He was planning on waiting for Jo to come back anyway, but he’s not going to tell Ruth that. And the later Jo is, the longer he can avoid disappointment.
--
Jo doesn’t get back until after six (she just mutters a curt ‘don’t ask’ when they try to find out how it went). Tariq’s been going slowly mad, but after insisting to Ruth it was no big deal, he couldn’t go back on it.
The email says two matches, and considering he only ticked two… result.
“Two matches,” he says, “of course.”
“Of course?”
”There were only two guys I was interested in seeing again.”
“That explains the waiting,” Ruth says, “he’s been giving that phone worried looks for an hour and a half.”
“I wasn’t worried,” he insists.
Jo laughs at him. “Right, of course not. You could just have checked it earlier.”
“I didn’t want to have to have this conversation twice,” Tariq says, although obviously neither of them believes him.
“So, two matches?” Ruth asks.
“One of them was just because we’d rather have been watching something different,” Tariq explains.
“Which means the other one is someone you’re actually interested in.”
“Maybe.”
“Details?”
”Not yet. I hardly know anything about him.”
He knows enough to get him curious for more, but he doesn’t feel like sharing, not yet. He has no idea if Dimitri had any other matches, but he likes the idea of Dimitri being something just for him, at least for now.
Title: Saturday Night At The Movies
Summary: Tariq needs to get out more
Notes: Dimitri/Tariq pre-slash, set at an undefined time during early series 8. This is because when I’d finished this fic I realised that Ruth came back onto the grid during 803 when Jo was off at that dude’s mansion with Lucas (and Ros), oops. So, a little fudging of the timeline, never mind.
This is for delgaserasca because she alerted me to the existence of cinema speed dating nights. Honestly, what was I going to do with that info but write fic? Thanks to C for looking it over :)
--
Tariq has no idea why he’s doing this. Well, except that Ruth bullied him into it, saying he had to get out more, he had to go out and meet people (she doesn’t apply this reasoning to herself, of course). And then Jo backed her up, because Jo liked to match make. She’d only known him two months and she’d already tried to set him with two of her friends. Tariq almost wished he’d never come out to them in the first place.
He resisted a lot of their suggestions – dating websites (no), book clubs (what?) – but when Ruth had said there was a cinema that held speed dating evenings that included a film showing, it hadn’t seemed such an utterly terrible idea, so he’d hesitated a little and they’d jumped on the pause and that was it.
The general feeling around Thames House was that Ruth and Jo were sweet, unassuming people, but anyone who thought that just wasn’t paying enough attention. They were determined and focussed and could be almost as scary as Ros, if they wanted something.
So here he was, on a Saturday night at the cinema, just him and fifteen complete strangers. What could possibly go wrong?
--
Well, the film could be some tedious exploration of a boring old man’s angst, for one thing. It could be a supposed true story that was complete bullshit, for another.
Tariq had a suspicion that he wasn’t actually the target audience for this film. He was supposed to just sit there and be impressed at how well the director had framed the hero’s nobility, rather than sitting there wondering why you’d do the research on someone’s life only to take out all the interesting (unsympathetic) bits.
He hoped that someone else felt the same, or this evening was going to be a total bust.
Tariq rushed his first drink, needing the Dutch courage to keep him there. He glanced around the bar – not just the speed daters, not yet – trying to work out if any of them were even his type. One or two of them, maybe.
There were a few guys who were good-looking in a geeky kind of way (which was what he considered himself), and a couple who were more the conventionally attractive type (which usually meant they wouldn’t even notice him). One of them was cute but almost definitely a student, and Tariq hadn’t much got on with students when he’d been one. There was one – nice eyes, close-cropped hair – who was so completely his type Tariq would have happily skipped the rest just to talk to him.
He bought another drink just before they got called through, and hoped for the best.
--
The first three guys passed him by in a haze of nervousness, but they’d all loved the film, so he wasn’t too bothered. He suspected he hadn’t impressed them.
The fourth guy – the one he’d wanted to talk to – sat down and said, “How would you sum up this film in one word?”
“Dull,” Tariq replied, although honesty was probably not the best policy tonight, “you?”
“Worthy,” he said, smiling, and yeah, that was about the kindest word Tariq could have used. Tariq checked his name tag – Dimitri, supposedly. Tariq wondered if he’d come up with that just for the evening like the first guy he’d spoken to, who’d said he was Banksy’s assistant.
“Maybe if the details actually bore any resemblance to the reality,” Tariq said. Dimitri nodded, like that had made sense.
“I did wonder. It’s just not my thing, this kind of film. I’m only here because my ex dragged me along.”
“Your ex?” Tariq said, wondering which one he was. Probably one of the other good-looking ones. They did tend to congregate together.
“Yeah. I know. But I only came along because he needs to get out more and stop moping over me, I swear.”
He winked when he said it, but Tariq’s heart sank. Of course the one guy who’d caught his eye wasn’t actually interested. That was just his luck.
“So what’s your cover story, then?” He asked, and Tariq startled a little, until he realised that he was just asking what Tariq had been telling other people about tonight.
“No cover story,” he said, “just me. A couple of colleagues made me come along. They think I don’t get out enough. Unfortunately, they’re right.”
“What do you do?”
“I work in IT. A few levels above telling people to turn it off and then on again, before you ask. What about you?”
“I’m in the Navy,” Dimitri says, and oh, this is just completely unfair, he couldn’t actually be more Tariq’s type if he was trying, “I might not be for much longer, though. I’m not sure it suits me anymore.”
Tariq couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t an incredibly feeble joke, which was a real shame.
“I bet the uniform does, though,” he says, and instantly wants to die. He can’t actually believe those words came out of his mouth. Dimitri looks briefly surprised, but then he grins.
“You’ll just have to wonder, won’t you? Unless you pick me, of course.”
Before Tariq can answer, the bell goes and Dimitri moves on to charm someone else.
--
The next man to sit down in front of him – Rob – was the one he’d guessed was a student, and – no surprise - he’d guessed right. He didn’t bother asking Tariq’s opinion of the film as such; he just presumed Tariq wanted to listen to a three-minute lecture on the techniques the director had used. Or maybe he’d guessed that Tariq was more interested in trying to steal glances at Dimitri while he was only one table away.
--
Matt came along next, with a nice smile and the suggestion that the film would have been improved by giant robots – that almost any film would be – and Tariq agreed, so that was two ticks, at least, even if he was pretty sure that they’d just be meeting up to watch loud, explosive science fiction films and not actually to go on dates.
There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with the rest of them, but Tariq spent most of his time on the Grid. If he was going to spend his free time offline and out of the flat, it couldn’t be with just anyone. And that’s all most of these guys were.
Two out of fifteen sounds like a poor showing at the end of the night, but really if Dimitri doesn’t choose him too it’s all immaterial. Although if he does choose him, Tariq’s going to have to admit that Ruth and Jo were right and that this was a good idea.
--
When he gets into work on Monday, Ruth and Jo barely let him get to his desk before tackling him about it.
“Well? How did it go?”
”Good morning to you too.”
”Yeah, fine, morning,” Jo says, “I’ve got a meeting to go, so how did it go?”
”Fine,” Tariq says, just to mess with them. Jo glares at him so he carries on, “the film was Oscar bait. Most of the guys there loved it, I didn’t.”
“That’s just typical,” she says, like she’s known him longer than a couple of months (although she might be right), “you don’t have to be contrary all the time.”
”I wasn’t, it was dull.”
“You must have liked some of them, surely?” Ruth asked.
“One or two.”
“And?”
”I haven’t had the results yet. They should come through this afternoon.”
Jo raised an eyebrow. ”Great, in that case I’ll see you when I’m done with my meeting. Don’t you dare leave without letting me know what’s going on.”
”They might not even be interested in me.”
”I bet they were,” Ruth said, smiling, “you’ll get some matches, I’m sure.”
Tariq smiles back and shrugs. He’d settle for one, but he’s got the whole day before he gets to find out.
--
He gets the email through at 4.45, and when he doesn’t immediately drop everything to look at it, Ruth clears her throat to get his attention.
“Aren’t you going to check that?”
“Not yet.”
”Don’t you want to know if you got any matches?” Ruth says, with a pleading tone to her voice that is a little unusual. He supposes that’s what you get when you work here long enough; you sacrifice your own personal life, so you might as well get invested in someone else’s.
Tariq’s never really bothered with a personal life, and he’s never been that interested in other people’s. He can barely remember a time when he wasn’t busy with one project or another.
“See, I thought Jo was the ringleader on all this,” he says, “but now I’m wondering if it was you all along. I’m busy, I’ll check it later.”
“Spoilsport,” she says, though it’s good-natured. He was planning on waiting for Jo to come back anyway, but he’s not going to tell Ruth that. And the later Jo is, the longer he can avoid disappointment.
--
Jo doesn’t get back until after six (she just mutters a curt ‘don’t ask’ when they try to find out how it went). Tariq’s been going slowly mad, but after insisting to Ruth it was no big deal, he couldn’t go back on it.
The email says two matches, and considering he only ticked two… result.
“Two matches,” he says, “of course.”
“Of course?”
”There were only two guys I was interested in seeing again.”
“That explains the waiting,” Ruth says, “he’s been giving that phone worried looks for an hour and a half.”
“I wasn’t worried,” he insists.
Jo laughs at him. “Right, of course not. You could just have checked it earlier.”
“I didn’t want to have to have this conversation twice,” Tariq says, although obviously neither of them believes him.
“So, two matches?” Ruth asks.
“One of them was just because we’d rather have been watching something different,” Tariq explains.
“Which means the other one is someone you’re actually interested in.”
“Maybe.”
“Details?”
”Not yet. I hardly know anything about him.”
He knows enough to get him curious for more, but he doesn’t feel like sharing, not yet. He has no idea if Dimitri had any other matches, but he likes the idea of Dimitri being something just for him, at least for now.
