Post by AODHAN BRANNIGAN on Feb 16, 2022 15:53:17 GMT -5
At first, Aodhan thought he had done just that, offended the other man by asking a question and saying something unrelated to the moment they had just shared. However, as Joel spoke and he had a chance to take in the other man’s body language he realised that it wasn’t disappointment that the other man was conveying.
“Uh, no,” Aodhan watched as Joel shook his head and gazed at him as the man seemed momentarily transfixed on his beer bottle. “I’ve worked in bars since we left school, but not here. I don’t have a job at the moment.” Aodhan’s brows twitched upwards, more so in curiosity than anything else. It was a profession he knew little about but one he could admire. He supposed it took a certain kind of person to be able to tolerate drunk and disorderly people all around you for long shifts at a time. Then again, he sometimes had the same problem as an Auror.
“I’ve been looking,” Joel added keenly and Aodhan realised that the other man might have thought his lack of reaction had been hiding judgement. Aodhan didn’t consider himself a judgemental person, he viewed it more as having a strong opinion and an even stronger sense of morality, but he wouldn’t judge someone for not having a job. It couldn’t always be helped, and as if reading his mind, Joel went on to say. “Applied for a hundred jobs since I got back home a couple months ago, but there aren’t many places too keen on employing someone with no references and no real work history in the UK.” Aodhan felt the sympathetic frown form on his features before he could stop himself, he didn’t want Joel to think he pitied him for this misfortune. “Don’t seem to care I spent three summers during my teens slinging ice cream to tourists,” he watched the light smile form on the brunette’s lips but noticed the way those brown eyes seemed to linger somewhere in the past. Aodhan pursed his lips momentarily before he admitted, “it’s hard finding a job, even with the experience. I graduated with a job pretty much, but I don’t know what I’d have done if I hadn’t gone straight into a training programme. Besides, it’s early days yet, you’ve only been back in the country, a couple of months, still early days,” he repeated, a bright smile on his own lips, reaching out as he did to gently squeeze Joel’s thigh encouragingly, his hand lingering for a moment longer than he bid it to, not wanting to let go but returning it to clasp his beer bottle between both hands.
It was in Aodhan’s nature to always try to put a positive spin on things. It wasn’t always easy, and he certainly wasn’t always a positive person, but he tried. Perhaps it was this that made him instinctively move to encouragement at the faintest sign that the other man in his company may seem self-conscious, or perhaps it was just that it was an aspect of his personality that always had him wanting to help, wanting to lift up the people around him whether they were close like Cas and Harry or a past schoolmate he had somehow managed to pick up in a bar. Either way, he didn’t want Joel to feel insecure about something Aodhan doubted could be helped. He wondered if Joel had tried other places, other than London and he opened his mouth to ask this but second guessed himself, perhaps this wasn’t the best choice of topic and he caught himself, lifting his beer to his lips and taking a sip instead, letting a light silence fall as he considered a change of subject so as not to cause Joel to feel uncomfortable.
TAG: JOEL ABRAMS
Notes: still rusty, sorry!! Anything needs changed just shout
Setting: Summer 2035