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It was not the first time unusual encounters got him a date. One time he'd dated a girl because she was into alien theories. Marcus had dated a few people but most had gone out with him on the premise he looked good and had a decent job. But this? Of all things so it was by far, not the most unusual but it also wasn't exactly the type of thing one did.

'Oh I made a comment about dating men, got stared at after a man commented on my supposed tastes, I told him drink order, he told me off, then I asked if he was asking me out and he said nothing so I took it as a yes and here we are'.

Here being the main city hall just before sunset'. We being himself and the man from the coffee shop, Julian, who was not half bad looking. Still, it was a bit unusual given that they had basically agreed to go on a date on an off hand snark. Not that Marcus could complain. He planned to show the other man around town and explaining just what made Ashdown so peculiar. He also was going to try his best to get off to a better start, even going to far to dress in a few brighter more 'fall' colors.

He also brought two pumpkin lattes with him.

Even if he had no idea if Julian even liked pumpkin.

Marcus, if he knew he'd been called 'hot' in any capacity would have blushed like a schoolgirl. Thankfully, he hadn't a clue and all he could think was 'don't screw up this date and be weird. Or weirder than normal at any rate.'

Plus there was the fact he'd recently had more 'spooky things' happen in his life so something normal like a date was perhaps just what the doctor ordered.

As the man took the latte, Marcus grinned, brushing back his hair in nervousness as words came out tumbling.
"Yeah, It's the season and well, you seemed okay with the muffin. Figured it was a safe bet." Thats when Marcus went silent, looking at the other man and feeling a warmth that had nothing to do with the drink in his hand fill his face and slowly creep up his ears.
"Er well. We never really properly introduced ourselves. 'M Marcus Lacroix." he kept staring, and that heat was now all in his face and going down his neck, something Marcus barely was able to register as 'mild embarrassment'.

"Um, well was I right?" He looked away, suddenly finding the fall decorations in a nearby storefront very interesting.
"About the pumpkin?"

The man could practically feel his ears burning from how red they must have been as shook Julian's hand. Not too firm, he reminded himself, but not limp wrist. Solid, short and to the point. Just like business but only with more flirting and less paper work.

"I'll try not to be too sweet on you." He winked. Mind screaming at him for the terrible line.

How to Start a Date and Make it Awkward in 10 Easy Steps: A Life Novel by Marcus LaCroix.

"Erm, well, I figured with the weather being so nice out and the seasons changing it would be fun to go to some places around town." There was a sense of apprehension in him on just wanting to make sure he'd not come off too strong.
"Even been on a ghost tour before?"

Oh man.

Oh man. He'd messed it up already, the guy was blushing and not saying much. Shoot he'd messed up his chance the guy was going to call it off and shoot him down an-
Oh. Well. That was better than expected. The man seemed okay with the suggestion, open to it even. But not knowing who the man's aunt was, Marcus assumed it was some old lady who ran a local knitting club, (of which he was sure there were several).

"Ha, really? Well, I hope the weird stuff doesn't drive you away. It's a nice place even with the monsters and such. Most things are harmless at any rate." Most provided you gave them space and didn't gather their attention.
"But I'll say this on ghosts being real. Some things are an unfortunate reality." He didn't want to think of the ghost he'd seen. Met, spoken with and knew even if just for a few scant moments.

"But, the ghost walk is actually relaxing. You get to see the city, learn a bit about it. Come the holiday it's not unusual for a few kids to try and set up camp to actually scare people. Makes for a nice date." It was Marcus's turn to go beet red and he said what exactly this was. What followed just made his blush deepen.
"Not that I expect you to jump into my arms or anything."
He held out his arm like he'd been raised to. No reason to not at least try and recover from his own uncertainty and embarrassment over his poor flirtations.

Marcus just held out his arm like he'd been taught and hoped for the best. The best just maybe a hand holding onto the arm. Even if it was a bit forward, hey, it was casual too. Besides, Ashdown wasn't super conservative so it wasn't like two dudes holding each other was weird or nothing.
Because it wasn't.

But Julian's reaction had Marcus suck in a breath. Oh man, was it going to happen, that cute hand on the arm escort?
Oh.

Oh.

Maybe not. However he did touch Marcus's hair, which was a heck of a lot more intimate that just touching arms and hand and wow maybe he was wrong about Julian. Maybe.. he had to be a little less conservative and bit more bold? Gosh this was hot and cold and really confusing. Marcus really should have brushed up on dating tips before he asked a guy out. On the fly or not. Plus Julian had said that he was up for Marcus having him in his arms and that was certainly taking things to the next level of romance right?

He should have bought dating advice books at his last trip to Bibliophile.

"Oh?" That however wasn't going to stop Marcus from running his mouth to fill the void that was ghost date.
"Better to have you jumping into my arms than other places." That came out terribly wrong.
"Like a bush! Ah, ah, you know. Because thorns and all okay lets get moving the first house is actually just a block down the road let's go." Marcus had never power walked that fast in his life, his face cherry red and only stopping to look back and make sure Julian was still with him.

"Hahaha... so.. the first house. Um." It was white, old, and open to visitors as it was part of the haunted house tour.
"It's Victorian!"
It was indeed, Victorian style.

Smooth as silken tofu. And just as appealing, (only to those with a certain palate). Marcus was off to a great start for this date that he'd set up by pure chance.

"It's actually not entirely that old either. Built in the late 1800s, it was supposed to be a gift from a business man to his new wife. The ah, hold on." Pulling out a small booklet, he moved to a dogeared page. "The Rodricks. James and Annabella." He frowned at something in the text before mumbling, "It's technically Queen Anne style, and it's actually lucky to be in this good of shape anyway." He coughed, before looking back at the home, a trio of teenagers leaving, talking among themselves and taking a few selfies in front of the building.

"Story goes that James had secret hallways constructed so he could come and go as he pleased. However, evidence later showed it was probably used to spy on his wife. A journal recovered in one of the halls had a detailed daily accounting of his wife's activities and reveled that James probably had a deep paranoia of his wife being unfaithful. However, his creeping only served to drive his wife into a different paranoia. She became distraught over 'the man in the walls'. It eventually became so bad that she took an axe with her one day to her bedroom so she could defend herself should she hear the 'deep breathing from behind the paintings'. Later that night? Did just that. Took an axe to the wall, and her husband who died in his own home. Most guess she had a psychotic break and locked herself in the room. No one found the bodies until weeks later. Now they roam the rooms, one watching from the secret hallways, the other running to and from to escape the specter of a specter."

He closed the pamphlet.
"They also say that if you kiss in the home, you'll feel eyes on you." He grinned and tilted his head. "So shall we head in? Promise, I won't have you test that theory though."

"But I am always up for a bit of ghost science." He didn't sound so much flirtatious as honestly wanting to see what would happen.

The house was dimly lit, and there were certain rooms roped off, making a clear pathway to tour the home without disturbing the fact it was actually someone's house. One path even had a portion of a hidden hallway open, (which was very narrow and Marcus debated if getting smashed against Julian's body on a first date was appropriate outside of a club).

He decided probably not.
"Well, science is mostly just a lot of watching a testing to see what happens. Kissing to see if we anger a creeper ghost would fall under that realm. But with no controls or ways to measure it.. would not be the best testing of a hypothesis. his eys kept looking at Julian trying to figure out just what would be too far with flirting. The man seemed to take it all in good humor though, Marcus wasn't exactly stopping his running mouth.

"Next place is the sight of a serial killer though. So, that's one ghost I'd not what eyeballing me or my date."

The house being explored for what there was to be explored, Marcus led Julian down the road to the next stop. The serial killer's shop was now a very nice looking gift shop, though it had once been home to a man who liked to kill people in the back. The murderer was done in by a would be victim who escaped, and was hung outside his own store in a fit of vigilante justice.

The shop interior was a bit to cheery for the whole 'spooky' story that came in the pamphlet.

But, it did give Marcus the opportunity to open the door for Julian, (yeah, that was romantic right?), and comment on how for part of a ghost tour, he was sad it didn't offer any cute spooky souvenirs or even candy.
It did have nice decor though.

The next stop on the tour was a rather nice shop and this one, Marcus didn't pull out the little fold out.
"This place used to be the old sign and print shop. Just a lot of bad luck- One guy was drunk and mistook toxic paint as alcohol. Another feel down the stair. One was crushed under a solid wood sign. I like it." The front of the building was brick, and it had gone though an obvious remodeling, now home to a community education center.

"But, then, one story was of an assassination of a writer by a government agent to cover up a story. No one knows what the story was, only that the guy was killed executioner style, and his entire briefcase was stolen." Marcus was visibly excited.
"Rumor was he was writing about what was killing men out in the woods. Something unnatural."

Spooky Ashdown's legacy. Rumor mills.