Week 1: Hendrik / Søren

The little café Søren was sitting in was homely, yet somehow exotic. He looked around every now and then, taking in his surroundings. He came to the conclusion, that it was most probably supposed to be somehow Asian, but the owners had never really been to Asia to see the real thing. Starting to feel a little nervous, he glanced at the decorated clock on the wall. He was on a blind date, and had completely forgotten when he was supposed to be here, waiting for his date. He hoped he was early, and glanced at the golden cat-ornament waving it's little paw. He sighed, and leaned his chin onto his hands. He sure was going far to get a date. He had tried, mind you, but this seemed like the last chance, though the dating service seemed fishy. They hadn't even told him if his date was male or female. Not that he minded, it would have just been easier to know what to wait for. He decided to focus on the cat.

Hendrik walked down the sidewalk a lit cigarette hanging from his lips as he searched for the small cafe he was told he was meeting his blind date at. He sighed as he realized on how silly it seemed that when a man his age couldn't find himself a date on his own and had to resort to using a dating service, but he supposed it could work out anything was possible.

His eye's flickered over when he noticed the small asian like cafe and realized he had found the place he had agreed to meet his date at, he flicked his cigarette out and took a quick glance at his watch and realized he was a little early but he figured it was best just incase his date was already inside. He reached inside one of his coat pockets and pulled out a small peice of paper, taking a quick look at it he memorized the small description the service had given him of his date ' not much of a description but het should work ' he thought and entered the cafe.

He walked a little ways into the cafe and did a visual of the small cafe.

Sørne's gaze was soon averted from the cat, as a young man entered the cafe. He decided to keep a smile on his face, incase his date had just arrived. He cursed the dating service in his mind, as he still had no idea of who he was supposed to meet. He got tired of waiting, and decided to approach the man. He stood up and took a couple of steps into the newcomer's direction.

"Hej. Would you, by any chance, be my date?"

Hendrik's gaze was quickly drawn by the young man that was approaching him, he did a quick mental check of his small description from the dating service ' ja dat looks like him ' his mental musing was broken when the young man spoke to him.

He nodded "Ja...dat would be me"

Søren flashed one of his toothy smiles while he sized up his date. He didn't look bad, not at all. Then he realized that neither probably knew the others name.

"Well, I'm Søren Jakobsen. I sure hope today will be enjoyable."

Søren held out his hand, smiling at the other man. He noticed a whiff of tobacco floating in the air, and figured that his date was a smoker. He didn't really mind, as he himself drank quite a lot, to put it mildly.

Hendrik gave the man one of his small rare smiles, it seemed that this Søren was going to turn out to be a bundle of energy not that he minded it was rather refreshing, he gave his date a quick look over and thought that the description the dating service didn't do the young man justice.

He took Søren's hand and shook it when the other man offered his hand " Hendrik Steenhoek, I am pleased ann u" he nodded " I hope het will be as well, shall we sit? "

"Yes, I wouldn't want to stand all day."

Søren stepped back and sat into his seat, still smiling. It seemed that the desperate try at the dating service would actually pay off. He was certain he'd get some dorky middle-aged woman, but Hendrik was a pleasant surprise.

"Interesting accent you got. Where are you from? I'm from Danmark. A viking decendant, cool, eh?"

" Ja i agree "

Hendrick removed his long brown coat then his blue and white scarf settling them down on the back of the other chair. He sat in his chair and faced Søren, perhaps this dating service thing was a good idea he wasn't too sure at first but this just might work out.

" Denemarken u say? dat explains the accent, I am from Nederland " he gave a small smile to Søren's viking comment yes the man was definatly starting to grow on him, this blind date was a good thing.

Søren spotted another smile on his date's face, and this man didn't seem like he smiled too much. Compensating a little, Søren gave a good show of his canine teeth.

"Netherlands? They're not far from Danmark. Never been, though. They ship a lot of flowers from Netherlands, right? But hey, would you like to order something?"

This had been a very good idea. The day had started very well, and Søren hoped to make Hendrik smile with increasing frequency.

Hendrik nodded and answered Søren's questions "Ahh I have never been aan Denemarken either het is beautiful ja? and ja wij ship lots of flowers around the world mostly tulips, ons tulips are most beautiful " Søren's smile was starting to be contagious as he himself smiled, his heart swelled with pride as he spoke of his nation's favourite flower.

He looked down at at menu in front of him " Ja let ons order something... coffee? "

Yes this had been an wonderful idea he was really starting to like Søren.

"Yeah, Danmark's really beautiful, and really flat, so it's nice to cycle. Though we sorta lose to the other northern countries when mountains are compared. But we have cool dunes on the farthest northern coast and limestone cliffs too! But hey, I know tulips yeah. Now when I think of it, a guy with the same accent as you sells 'em and other flowers at the market in Køpenhavn."

Søren loved to talk, especially when it was about Denmark, and he barely managed to stop now. Taking note of the smile on Hendrik's face, he felt more confident of bragging about his homeland. Mostly he just managed to piss people off.

"Sure, coffee sounds good! I wonder how it's supposed to be asian, though. I guess that dude at the counter takes the orders?"

Hendrik nodded as he listened to Søren's description of his homeland it was nice that the other man was proud of it just as he was about his own. It was rather refreshing that the other man was talking so much he himself was a rather quiet man so it was kind of awkward when other people didn't know what to say around him was he really that intimidating? ' het must be the scar ' he thought dryly to himself.

" Ja dit cafe doesn't seem very asian aan me " He looked over to the counter at the man Søren was referring to, he stood and looked back to Søren " I will get ons some coffee "

"Yeah, okay. I sure hope he speaks english! He doesn't look very asian, if you ask me."

Søren laughed a little, not even attempting to conceal his amusement. He looked up at Hendrik with a grin.

"I'll keep our seats warm, if you don't mind?"

To emphasize his words, he dumped his long black coat onto Hendrik's seat, literally keeping it warm.

Hendrik couldn't help himself and laughed at Søren's little jab at the man " Ja I agree " he nodded to Søren's offer to keep their seats warm the small smile still on his face.

Turning around he approached the man at the counter. He waited for the man to notice him and when the man did Hendrik frowned at the man's almost sudden nervousness towards him, he also noticed how the man would try and hide the fact that he was staring at Hendrik's forehead, he sighed silently to himself he knew what the man was looking at. He was quickly handed two coffee's and the man had quickly moved away from him.

Shaking his head he returned to his seat setting the two coffee's on the table before picking up Søren's coat and handing it back to him before sitting down once again.

Yep he was sadly all too familiar with incidents like that so it didn't bother him much anymore so he just settled to give Søren a smile.

While Hendrik was fetching coffee, Søren eyed the cat waving it's paw. It was golden, and had some red collar-sort of thing around it's neck. It's motion did not appear to change, and Søren soon lost interest in it. He turned back to Hendrik, who was already returning with their coffees.

"Tak! At least it smells like coffee."

Søren grinned and took his coat, hanging it from the back of his chair.

"Not trying to offend you or anything, but where'd you get that scar from? It's pretty cool."

Hendrik looked startled for a moment "u dink mijn scar is cool?" it was rather strange no one ever said that about it " well.... " he took a drink of his coffee " i got het in an accident when i was young " he absent mildly started to rub his scar out of habit.

" most others dink i just be a hooligan because of het " he shook his head he hated to fight unless he had to

"Sure I think it's cool! Dunno why people think you're a hooligan, I mean, you dress pretty smart!"

Søren laughed in a friendly manner. He reached for the other cup of coffee, and took a sip.

"Not bad, not asian. Does it still hurt? Your scar, I mean. I heard scars can bother you for the rest of your life. But it might have just been about really big ones, I can't remember. I don't have any scars, though I have broken a few bones."

Hendrik just shrugged he wasn't quite sure himself why they thought that about him " must just be mijn face " he joked.

He took a sip of his own coffee and nodded his agreement about the coffee.

"mijn scar? " he retched up to feel the large scar of his forehead again "Ja sometimes het does I dink het hurts the most is in the winter " he brought his hand down to grab his coffee cup again

"Yeah, might be your stern look. Smiling helps!"

Søren laughed a little again, sipped his coffee and grinned. He tried to remember the names of the bones he had broken, but gave up and eyed the scar on Hendrik's face curiously, as the man talked about it.

"Yeah, I guess that's the downside. My bones never really ache, they just feel stiff sometime in the mornings. But hey, at least your eye is'n hurt! Anyway, what do you usually like to do, to spend time or something? I talk with people and stuff, and it's cool to go and roam around in forests. Not that I'm a hippie! And exploring cities is cool too, 'cause you get to meet new people."

Hendrik looked taken off guard for a moment at the coment then started to laugh " Ja perhaps u are right "

He took a drink from his coffee once his laughter had calmed down, yes he defiantly liked Søren he hadn't really laughed like that in years.

" Ja i was really lucky neit het injure mijn eye " he put his coffee back down on the table " I like het attend mijn flower garden het relaxes me, well anything in nature relaxes me " he had to smile at Søren's 'not a hippie' comment.

" I must admit I like being out in the country dan the city, although the city has zijn nice spots as well" he took another drink from his coffee.

Søren felt very pleased when Hendrik laughed. He hoped he'd be able to change this man into something a little happier during today.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I mean, flowers sort of look calming. Though I don't think I could calm down enough to take care of them."

Søren laughed at his own comment again, and drank more coffee.

"I guess the country actually does have a relaxing effect, even on me. But I enjoy the movement and continuous life in the city. I don't need to relax, I can just keep going with the eternal buzz, or something like that. But I guess you're more calm than me, least you seem to be!"

Hendrik studied him " I dink u could take care of hen " he really did mean that " perhaps u could help me sometime? "

He ended up laughing again " Ahh ja ja city life is very exciting I must agree, dat is why I moved het city " he finished off his coffee.

" calm? " he chuckled " Ahh I suppose I am but het is nice aan let loose every so often ja? "

"Well, sure, if you think so!"

Søren felt a little flustered, as no-one had ever really thought him capable of anything that required patience.

"Exactly! It's boring to be all calm and contented, life should be exciting, maybe a little dangerous every now and then, no?" Søren laughed, "Otherwise it all goes to waste. Though some dangerous spots could have been avoided, but hey, I bet I know every bar in the city!"

Hendrik nodded he had meant it " het would be fun ja? " he smiled at Søren's flustered look.

He smiled again " Ja I agree life should be a little exciting and dangerous" he nodded " Ah really? every bar? I know a few mostly pubs zelf not as exciting as bars though " it was true he really didn't go to bars preferring the more quiet pubs but that didn't mean he wasn't willing to go to a bar.

"I guess it might be." Søren smiled, trying hard to think what it actually would be like, though he was afraid he'd just manage to kill the flowers.

"Yep, every single bar. It's pretty useful actually, I always know where to go! You wanna come with me sometime? It'd be cool, and you'd get to know places too. And you're fun to be around."

Søren meant what he said, and hoped that Hendrik might agree with his plan.