[ continued from ] @douxsaut
A blink—then another. A polite smile curled at the corner of his lips, soft and almost hesitant. "oh -!!… there really isn’t a need—" he started, only to pause as his gaze met hers. There was an expectancy in her eyes, quiet and warm, and suddenly refusing seemed impolite—no, outright rude. But to let her pay? That wasn’t his style either. His chest rose with a slow inhale, the crisp Parisian air fogging faintly as he exhaled.
"A cup of tea, you say?" His voice carried a low, gravelly timbre, the faint edge of a German accent softening the vowels. "Ja… that does sound nice for this weather." His gaze dropped toward the cobblestone beneath his feet before lifting toward her face once more. His eyes were a cool, muted teal, flickering briefly toward the sky. "Do you… have a particular spot you like?" His brow furrowed slightly. "I’m… new here."
New to the city, new to the country. It had been a while since he’d left home, and the foreignness of it all still sat heavy on his skin. "Uh…" His tongue slipped out, running briefly across his lower lip as he shifted his weight. His eyes lowered, then glanced to the side as if trying to gather a stray thought. A brief silence before he spoke again, the words laced with that understated German bite.
"Je m’appelle Cyrus." He learned French a bit back, but time had long passed since he needed to use it. It would take some time for the knowledge to return to him, and he just prayed he wasn’t butchering it so far. His gaze softened as his lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. "Et toi?"
