fandomtownies | Luke's, Monday

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Luke's, Monday

The cook was pacing around the kitchen in slow circles, waving his arms in the air. The busboy grinned at Eliot when he came in.

"I got him a fitbit for Christmas!"

"Yeah?" Eliot said. "Didja get him a new job, too?"

The busboy's grin collapsed. "Cookie! He's doing the angry face!"

The cook rushed over to the counter and started prepping. Eliot turned and headed back into the dining room.

". . . wasn't even doin' a face," he muttered.

Today's specials
First one's free!
New students get a free entree of their choice!
We're hiring

Luke's was open.

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The waitstaff don't have fitbits.

The waitstaff don't need fitbits.

Edited 2016-01-04 16:57 (UTC)

He doesn't need a fitbit either. Though it'd be pretty easy to fit one in amongst all the other things he habitually wears on his wrists.

"Well that's not fair," Kathy teased as she entered the diner, a small, wrapped present in her hands. "What about old students and loyal customers?"

She pouted at the busboy. "Am I not special anymore?"

"Now darlin'," Eliot said, giving her a smile and an eyeroll both. "You ain't dealin' with a total paradigm shift over the weekend. You forgotten what that's like already?"

"Hashtag All Students Matter," Kathy said, snickering. Because Eliot loved it when people spoke in memes around him, right? "And I know I didn't get a free meal when I was new."

Because Eliot hadn't been on-island yet, but details.

"Jealous ain't a good look on you, Li," Eliot said. "'Sides, as I recall you've gotten plenty of 'em since then."

Kathy's teasing expression immediately melted into worry. He knew she wasn't serious, right?

"I'm not really--" she started, then looked at him. "...You're just messing with me back, right?"

"You barely even panicked," Eliot noted with a smile. "I'm impressed."

Kathy exhaled in relief. "It was a close thing," she admitted. "Another few seconds and I probably would have started stuttering and apologizing."

"Another few seconds from who?" Eliot asked. "You're the one who turned it around. This time last year, you'd barely have been able to tease me about that special."

"Another few seconds before I figured it out," Kathy clarified. "And only because I know you can read body language well."

"But you didn't need 'em, did you? Ain't no point in 'what-ifs' if things went just fine to begin with." Eliot patted one of the spots at the lunch counter, inviting her to sit. "Now, let's get you somethin' to eat, and you can tell me how your holiday went."

Kathy sat, setting the gift she'd brought along on the counter, pushed towards Eliot's side so he'd know it was for him. "It went pretty well," she said. "I went to LA for a few days, then hopped a portal to spend a couple of days in Japan, too. We had a great plan to do New Years Eve in Japan, then catch a portal to do it again here because of the time shift, but I came home and crashed and slept right through it instead."

She was the worst at being a teen.

"How about you? Did you have a very Leverage Christmas or anything?"

"Well, we didn't stop a massive heist or save Christmas by stealing it or anything, but that mighta been because Parker spent the whole thing as a ferret." Eliot raised an eyebrow at the present. "What's this, a fancily wrapped apple?"

That was the traditional teacher gift, right?

"It's a pencil case," Kathy said. "Complete with a protractor and geometry compass. You can get your own apples, I figured."

"Well, it's a little late in the season, but I'm sure I can find something." Eliot spun the package in place on the counter. "Compasses make decent weapons," he said, as he started to open it. "And of course pencils are always useful."

"Oh," Kathy said, looking worried. "Should I not have gotten you the kiddie set complete with safeties?"

Inside his present, Eliot would find several different bags of seeds, all complete with growing instructions. Most were heirloom seeds from Korea, handed down over generations of crotchety old ajummas. The rest were from Japan, purchased from a skinny old man with skin as cracked and as brown as the earth and sparse hair the color of a winter sky. Ringo'd had to translate as he hadn't spoken a lick of English and in exchange for several cups of tea, four rambling stories, and a ridiculous amount of yen, Kathy had gotten several varieties of edible and medicinal plants, including holy basil.

Eliot examined the little packages, his brow furrowing as he exercised some rather rusty Japanese skills. "Kathy, these are --" He blinked at one of the envelopes, not certain he could be translating that right. He was pretty sure the only way to find some of these was to know someone who knew someone who knew someone. "You took time outta your vacation to hunt these down?"

It was a good thing she knew someone, then, wasn't it?

"I took time to go Christmas shopping," she said, trying--and failing--to not preen at his response. "Even got to take advantage of some post-Christmas deals. And work on my haggling-in-other languages skills." She laughed wryly. "I think I might have leveled that one."

"Well thank you. I might be, uh. Leveling? In gardenin', with these."

He was going to have to get going on that mini-green house project he'd dreamed up during one of the weirder weather events. Which was perfect: he liked having projects.

"S'pose this means I shoulda gotten you somethin', too, huh?" he teased.

Hardison would be thrilled.

"Why would you?" she asked, fighting down a smile. "I mean, it was only Christmas and my birthday and I only wandered down a ton of shady back alleys in Tokyo where I don't even speak the language just to get you something nice. If you're not as considerate, well, I guess I couldn't have expected otherwise."

"Levellin' in passive aggressive, too," Eliot laughed. "Now I'm pretty sure you never mentioned it bein' your birthday, too. Hope you won't hold it against me if what I got doesn't measure up."

He held up a finger, letting her know to wait, then ducked back into his office. He came back holding a long, embroidered brown bag, which he presented to her with a small bow. "Merry Christmas, kid."

For the life of her, Kathy couldn't imagine what would come in the bag. She noted that the tag had a Japanese character on it, but it wasn't one of the small handful she'd picked up over the years. Shooting him a questioning look, she pulled open the drawstring to peer inside.

"Oh--Oh!" Her voice caught. "Oh, Eliot, look at it!"

"I have actually seen it already," Eliot said on a laugh.

Inside the bag was a kashima shin ryu bokken in dark wood polished to a warm glow, as well as a second carrying option. It was the heaviest style bokken, made with a strong, hard wood. Used properly, it could be a practice tool or a non-lethal weapon.

"I thought about gettin' it engraved, but uh. You get some nasty looks when you're a white guy tryin' to get Hangul engraved on a Japanese piece."

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OOC