The Perk, Wednesday Afternoon

[not_a_whiner]

The sling had come off an hour or two ago. The arm felt strange, like it wasn't completely Kaidan's own-- he kept wriggling his fingers to make sure they were still there.

He tapped his fingers against the cup of coffee the barista had just pushed at him, feeling the heat soaking into his palm. Paid for the drink and walked back to his seat where a pad full of forms was waiting for him: one of many reasons why getting injured was always a bad idea. "Shepard was right," he muttered to himself as he got to work filling them in. "I really need to make a template..."

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

Dean was in need of coffee and bacon. The bacon had happened at the diner, and now coffee--well, more coffee--was happening at the place in town. He gave the barista his best flirtatious grin to get a fresh pot on before turning to check the clientele of the place.

Meaning the one guy there.

To whom he gave the ever so manly nod of 'hey, dude'.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan, being the ever so manly Canadian dude that he was, gave him back an equally manly nod.

That level of smooth would soon go away if he was prompted to speak, but... manly nodding.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

It's okay, he was used to dealing with Sam 'Oh god everyone I sleep with dies' Winchester and... Castiel. The less said about Cas' people skills, the better.

"You from around here?" Dean asked once deciding the fallout from a one night stand with the barista was less than acceptable considering he wasn't moving on to a new town in a weeks time.

[not_a_whiner]

"Couple centuries into the future," Kaidan said, "And... Canada."

At least he'd gotten over the part where he kept trying to explain to people that it was actually the United North American States now. "New guy?"

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

Okay the first part was cool, the second part... Less so. Sorry he's not sorry, Kaidan.

"New-ish. Was here for the influx of kids and that dungeon thing." Neither of which were okay.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan winced, though not too visibly. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "That was... not one of our better patches."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Nothing says welcome to the the neighborhood quite like mysterious kidnappings and fighting monsters."

[not_a_whiner]

"We're not usually that bad. Well, most of the time."

Coming from the guy currently contemplating making a template for injury reports, that was maybe not so convincing.

"Hope you didn't get hurt."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Nah, I was fine." AKA: sewed himself up. "You're looking a little rough, though."

[not_a_whiner]

"That's something else," Kaidan said, reaching self-consciously for his face. "I'm a marine. Got called in for a mission, sometimes it gets a little rough. That's just part of the job."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Oh." We'll, that changed Dean's posture and attitude toward the injuries ever so slightly. "Yeah, that's part of the job."

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan gave it a light shrug. "So, you work here in town?" he asked casually.

Because what else were you going to say?

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

Dean cleared his throat, accepting his coffee. "Yeah, that diner in town. And teaching with my little brother."

With his weird short hair.

[not_a_whiner]

"Oh, really?" Kaidan asked, putting his pad - and his forms - aside for now. "I've been teaching a class up there for about a year now. What's your topic?"

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Hunting. The kind of things that go bump in the night." That was perfectly normal to say. Really.

Dean was never going to get over this shit being all out in the open here.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan paused mid-sip of coffee. "I hope you're not here to hunt anything," he said.

Somehow he'd wound up in the position where his best friends were a vampire and a werewolf. This was an important question.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Anything here killing people?"

[not_a_whiner]

"Not that I know of," Kaidan said, relaxing just a fraction.

Not visibly. But then he usually sat like he had an iron rod jammed up his spine anyway.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Not that you know if?" Seriously? "I'll keep an eye out then."

[not_a_whiner]

"It's a weird island," Kaidan said simply. "You think you got it figured out and then it throws something else at you. Get convinced you're sure about something and it's going to come bite you in the ass."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Dean replied in a flat voice. "I noticed that."

[not_a_whiner]

"But no, no one's been getting killed," Kaidan said. He finally took that sip of his coffee. "And no one has been in the year since I've gotten here. So... there's that."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Then I'm not here hunting," Dean replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

[not_a_whiner]

There was something sympathetic in Kaidan's expression, if you knew where to look. "Remind me to buy you a beer sometime, then," he said, which was as close to talking about that familiar type of smile as he wanted to get right now. "So your little brother has been here for a while?"

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Apparently his dad moved him and a version of me here to go to high school." And then got married. And had another kid.

Bitter? Dean? Never!

"He's about six years too young to be my brother and attending the wrong college. Which, trust me, is less of a surprise than him having a freakin' boyfriend."

Ah, venting.

[not_a_whiner]

That was a lot of information all of a sudden. But hey, Kaidan could deal with that, as long as he wasn't expected to offer any of his own. "You didn't know he swung that way?"

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

It might have been bottled up in there. You just call him an 'idjit' and he'll go back to repressing.

It was his thing.

"No. And there's almost nothing I don't know about that kid." A beat. "The hell am I telling you this for?"

Because he's one of the few people who never met Sam and Dean?

[not_a_whiner]

"You obviously needed to let that out," Kaidan observed, like the emotional genius he was. "And if you vented at your coffee, people would probably think you'd lost it."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

Stop with your emotional stability! It wasn't fair to the hot messes on island.

"Yeah, but then I'm not ranting at a guy whose name I don't even know."

[not_a_whiner]

Hey, Kaidan wrestled out his medical-grade survivor's guilt issues with his therapist. It helped.

"Lieutenant Commander Kaidan Alenko," Kaidan offered. "Anyway-- it happens."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Should I salute?" Dean asked wryly, completely ignoring his outburst of crazy. It was the way to roll.

[not_a_whiner]

"No," Kaidan said, giving him a mildly funny look.

Over that comment. Consistency, he had it?

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Its a joke, man. Dean Winchester." He totally should have added 'Righteous Man' or 'Michael's Prom Dress' onto that to make it sound more important.

[not_a_whiner]

"Welcome to the island, Dean," Kaidan said. Okay... sometimes he took things too seriously. "And... sorry. For all the mess."

He offered a tiny hand gesture that sort of encompassed that whole rant just now.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

STOP ACKNOWLEDGING IT.

"Story of my life," Dean replied, lifting his coffee in a salute.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan had no idea how Shepard had dealt with people telling him their daddy issues about their lives at the drop of a hat. He was just making it up as he went along.

He lifted his coffee in return. "Isn't it most of the time?"

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

At least people here didnt know that there was a series of books based off the lives of the brothers Winchester? Then it would just be exposition all over you, Kaidan.

Like a comic book.

"I also have a less attractive clone here." Ah, subject change successful. "You see a guy with a mohawk that looks like a younger me running around, that's Priestly."

[not_a_whiner]

"Oh, right," Kaidan said, as realization dawned on him. "I thought something looked familiar about you-- he runs the diner."

And of course Kaidan knew what the diner guy looked like, even if they never exactly talked.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, makes one hell of a burger."

[not_a_whiner]

"Good steak sandwich, too," Kaidan agreed. "Not like one of those highway chains, you know? Though Outback Steakhouse does a decent one too."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Do they not have those in Canada?" Dean, don't be a dick.

[not_a_whiner]

"Actually, they went out of business internationally in 2078," Kaidan said. It was a toss-up whether he'd missed that it was a crack or was just messing with Dean.

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

"Well, now I know not to buy stock in that."

LIKE DEAN PLAYED THE STOCK MARKET.

[not_a_whiner]

"Better put all your money in Apple," Kaidan agreed. "Sirta Foundation, when the time comes..."

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

Oh, like he'd live long enough for that.

"I'll make a note of it."