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The slight smile was still on Arian's face as he turned to look at Nischal at the other's question, although he didn't bother to look at the menu, pretty much knowing it off by heart.

It wasn't difficult - The Dough Knot's menu wasn't a particularly long menu, but what things the bakery offered they did well, with the baked goods baked fresh throughout the day by Mrs Brodbeck, the owner and it tended to be pretty popular as the prices were good too - especially for college students on a budget.

"Well for sweets there's a choice of either pretzels, cinnamon buns or mini iced doughnuts and they're all really good" he indicated said doughnuts in the little paper cups that they came in. "But I'm going to go for a cinnamon pretzel myself and a caramel latte." He nodded at Nischal's suggestion that they sit and have their snacks in, "I was just about to suggest that actually" he admitted as he looked towards where the four little tables and the mixture of benches and stools that made up the seating was. "Since it's actually free for once," turning back to look at Nischal again as he asked "What would you like to go for?"

Nischal had already taken the drinks over, so after paying his half Arian had picked up the his pretzel and Nischal's doughnuts and walked over to the table that the other had picked.

"The doughnuts actually come in a cup of five" he said as he set a small plate with the cup of cheerfully iced doughnuts in front of Nischal and then set his own plate down before slipping onto the bench on the other side, cheeks reddening slightly as he ended up accidentally tapping Nischal's legs having remembered, a little too late how cosy the seating was here.

With a quiet sorry to the other, he reached for his coffee, hoping that the other hadn't minded as he absently used the long teaspoon that came with the tall mug to scoop out and then eat some of the caramel drizzled cream before smiling slightly at Nischal's question "Well at least you can skate" he pointed out quietly, his quiet voice slightly rueful as he admitted. "I'm not sure that I really have an excuse." After all his 'efforts' on the ice hadn't particularly resembled skating - well okay - they hadn't even been remotely like skating.

"Sure" Arian agreed at Nischal's offer, tearing off a bit of pretzel for himself before turning the plate so that the untouched end face Nischal and pushing the plate closer to the other boy. Cinnamon and sugar from the pretzel coated his fingers, the pretzel still slightly warm as he picked it up and took a bite out of it, enjoying the taste of the cinnamon and sugar coated sweet bread.

Although he had tried all the sweet treats that Mrs Brodbeck had on her menu and they were, as he'd told Nischal all very good, more often than not when Arian came here he tended to go for the cinnamon pretzel - the pretzels here - for all that they weren't cupcakes were definitely one of his faves.

He'd started slowly stirring the rest of the whipped cream and caramel into the coffee, slowly so as to prevent the cream from slopping over the sides of the cup when Nischal asked him about main time activities.

"Well I used to go to Meadowview" he said, slowly relaxing as it looked like Nischal wasn't going to be upset over the fact that he hadn't really thought over the fact that the seating arrangements, when available at all, were pretty cramped. "But I'm in my first year at DCU now and I like to craft jewellery" there was a trace of rueful amusement in his voice as he added "Which is probably just as well since it links into what I study." Well there was the fact that he also crafted for the Etsy shop that he technically shared with his cousin, although his cousin was the one who handled all the financial stuff. "I run sometimes too" not as much as he used to, no longer having the time that he used to.

He took a couple of sips of his coffee and ate some of his pretzel before adding "How about you?"

"Having to play catch up for classes isn't a great deal of fun" Arian said, his voice sympathetic. It was something that he'd had to do himself when he'd first come here - in fact that was how he'd ended up spending most of his first summer in Destiny City. "But I know some people over at the university do tutoring if you're looking for a tutor."

He'd never done any kind of tutoring himself, unless you counted the time that he'd shown a teen called Isha the rudiments of jewellery crafting but that had been a one time thing and he hadn't seen the younger teen again apart from a chance meeting at a Halloween Party thing that they had both ended up attending.

He ate some more of his pretzel as Nischal had talked about his hobbies, "I've never thought about stories that way" he admitted. "My access to stories tends to come in the form of reading about them in books." Arian loved libraries and tended to hang around the main Destiny City one a lot. At the other boy's comment about his writing he added "You might be surprised if you let someone read your work - what you might think of as not worth reading is something they really like."

Arian nodded, "My Nain used to tell me stories" he said quietly. "She was really good at it." He'd loved listening to Nain telling him stories, had always been happy to sit curled up next to her on that saggy old sofa of hers as she told him about tales of old magic and stories about the beads that she used to string into necklaces.

His voice turned rueful "I'm not sure that I have any stories of my own that would be considered interesting though" he admitted as he drank some more of his drink, it was only a third full, Arian having slowly drank it as they spoke, although the pretzel was pretty much all gone. "At least I don't really know any stories that's not out of a book." And he was kind of assuming from Nischal's words that the other was referring to the spoken sort of storytelling rather than simply reading aloud.

Although Arian knew that he was going to make a move at some point, he wasn't in any real hurry to. It had been pretty cold out and he didn't have anywhere that he particularly had to hurry to, besides he was kind of enjoying chatting to Nischal - the other made for pretty pleasant company for all that this was probably just a one time thing and he was kind of sweet too - in a kind of enthusiastic way.

"You want to see me again?" For a moment there was an openly surprised expression on Arian's face as Nischal's words sunk in, for whatever the reason it not having occurred to him that the other might want to make it their chance meet up more than a one time thing.

And then it sunk in that he had just pretty much blurted his words out and he felt his cheeks reddened slightly in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly, for a moment busying himself with drinking a bit more of what was left of what had once been a hot drink, but by now was more of a lukewarm one. "I didn't mean it that way" he said, his quiet voice sounding slightly awkward at his admission. "It's just that we've just met and I don't think that anyone has ever wanted to strike up a random friendship with me based on one meeting."

He drank a bit more of his drink and then as he considered things a bit more before finally nodding "But okay." A rummage of in his bag and managed to come up with a pen but no paper, but it was something rectified easily enough by reaching over to snag one of the unused paper napkin. Carefully jotting down his mobile number on the fragile paper Arian held out the napkin to Nischal "I guess what I'm trying to say badly is that I don't mind trying."

"I guess you're right, although I'm not sure I believe that much in fate myself." Fate to him suggested some weird mysterious power somehow pulling the strings and Arian kind of preferred to think that he was in control of his own life. "Although I can accept chance."

He'd been kind of expecting Nischal to jot down his number too, so the buzzing of his mobile had taken him a little by surprise, he'd smiled slightly however as he read the message before copying the number into his contacts and made sure to label the entry 'Nischal Dwivedi' before hitting save.

"And I've saved it into my contacts" he said, before adding slightly reluctantly as he spotted the time on the clock by the main counter. "It's later than I thought though, so I guess I should be making a move soon." Although not before he ate the very last piece of his pretzel.