fandomtownies | Taste of Thai, Wednesday Evening

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Taste of Thai, Wednesday Evening

Sure, Mike had already sent Brooke a dozen roses through that whole Student Council thing. But nothing had stopped him from giving her another dozen when he'd picked her up at her place. 'Cause a total of two dozen roses was at least adequate, as far as grand gestures went, right?

And just in case it wasn't, he'd also made sure to dress up. Dark suit and everything. And boy, he was glad to find out it still fit like a glove 'cause, uh, it'd been a few years since he'd last had an occasion for wearing it.

There'd also been a rikshaw drive to the restaurant. Which he didn't think was ideal, by any means. But it was very Fandom. Which seemed fitting, in its own way.

And now, they were outside Taste of Thai, and Mike had stepped off the rikshaw, and was holding out his hand to help Brooke do the same. "Here we are," he said. "I promise the restaurant's gonna be less bumpy."

[ooc: Mike is here for she who is mentioned!]

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All right, so far Mike was kind of killing this Valentine’s thing.

Brooke took his hand to get out, maybe a little carefully because this was trickier in a strapless party dress. “You say that now,” she said, “but you never know when the island might decide to throw a surprise tremor,” she said.9

"Okay, fair," Mike allowed with a chuckle, watching her feet, just in case there was any chance she'd trip on anything. Because that wasn't allowed. "If that happens, I promise I'll try and... at least keep the wine glasses from falling over."

“Save the important stuff,” Brooke agreesd, smiling up at him. “Have I mentioned how well you clean up?”

Like he was such a chore to look at otherwise.

"You have not," Mike said, smiling back at her. No, he also didn't think he was bad to look at in general, but it was nice when his effort was noted. "Thanks for noticing. Suit's not even a tear-away."

Which... was a thing that would've made more sense if the whole stripper thing had ever come up before.

“Thwtsvspecific,” she said with a little head tilt. “And a little disappointing?”

Just saying, tear away anything just made things easier.

Mike smirked. "If you ask nicely later, I could be convinced to change." Yes, that implied that he thought he was taking her back to his house after dinner. But he didn't think that was offensively presumptuous of him all things considered. "Don't think it was really restaurant appropriate, though."

And he was leading her to the door, now.

It was Brooke, and he was doing well. Of course she expected to go home with him, too. “Not really,” she agreed, following. “Wait, change?”

"What, you don't think I actually own a tear-away suit?"

Tsk, Brooke. He was still going to hold the door open for you, though. Right about now, actually.

"It's not as sophisticated as this one, though." It was... probably silk? He wasn't even sure. He hadn't looked at that suit in a long time.

"Yep, it's very sophisticated why do you have a tearaway suit?" she said, not moving inside yet.

Don't get her hopes up like this, Mike!

"Oh, because I used to strip." That did not merit that casual a shrug, and Mike knew it. He gestured towards the open door. "Now, in you go."

Brooke stepped through the door, but her jaw was slightly dropped as she walked inside. “Oh my god. I hit the jackpot.”

Mike couldn't help a snort of barely suppressed laughter. "It's been five years since I was doing it professionally," he said, stepping in after her. "So keep that in mind, too."

Not that he'd lost all his moves.

“You still have the suit!” This was the import- Okay it was all important but he still had the suit!

Someone came over to lead them to a table. Mike gave him a nod, offering his rm to Brooke because he was going tobdo this with some style and class, goddammit.

"And a bunch of bad costumes, too."

“Oh, we will definitely get into those.” Probably both literally and figuratively. She took his arm to walk with him, and said, “This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to fangirling.”

"Should've taken a spring break trip to Tampa," Mike quipped. "You might have seen me."

“I should have! I wasn’t even that far.”

...Relatively. Same coast?

“I don’t think I’d have been that memorable then, though, so I guess that worked out.”0

Mike shrugged. They got to their table, and he stepped away from her to pull her chair out for her.

"Also, the people who met me back then... didn't tend to see much of me, like, afterwards," he admitted. It'd been a whole lifestyle. "So yeah. Guess this works out better."

So this chivalry thing was really working on her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking her seat. “Why didn’t they see you afterwards?”

Mike's smile had a wry tilt to it. Or, okay, maybe even amused. "No one comes back for the stripper," he said, as he took his seat across from her, and picked up a menu. "For the most part, it's a 'one wild night' kinda thing for people. Also for the most part, I... wasn't really looking for anything beyond that, either."

Not until pretty late in the game, anyway.

“I don’t know,” Brooke said thoughtfully, studying him. “I think I’d have come back for you. I am biased, though.”

"You're biased, and looking at a dude who's a lot older now, and, hopefully, at least a little smarter," Mike retorted, although he was smiling. "Dunno how much therr was to come back to. I was living weekend to weekend."

“I can’t really talk. It’s not like I wasn’t doing similar back in the day,” she said, picking up a menu. “Just went into a very different career field.”

"I think time may have been on our side, here," Mike said. "I'd like to think so, anyway."

He wanted to see where this went, was what he was trying to say. While browsing his menu.

"Well, I definitely wasn't going to be moving to Florida back then," Brooke said with a little smile.

Also looking at the menu even though she already knew what she was going to get, because that was half the fun of Thai food.

"And that woulda been a good choice," Mike quipped. "'Cause I moved away from Florida on purpose."

Sure, it was really because his life had gotten stuck in a rut over there. But he could always pretend it was because Florida was terrible, for the sake of a joke.

“How’d you end up here?” Brooke wondered.

"Well, Florida had kinda run its course for me," he said with something that was just barely a shrug. "So I was looking for something else, and I had some money but not enough for what I actually wanted to do, and then..."

He huffed out a laugh and shook his head.

"I came across this ad for a house on Fandom Island, and it was dirt cheap which should've been the first warning sign. No way should I have been able to afford a house that big, but I was like, fuck it. And bought it, and then I was here and found out the house was half falling apart and had a squatter."

“Well... you paid money for s project,” Brooke said slowly. “I’m trying to make that a positive.”

Mike chuckled. "Yeah, and I made friends with my squatter."

Which was peak Mike, honestly.

"Took me five years to fix up the house though," he added. "And then I got a shark through the roof."

“Someone mentioned Caritas had a shark-induced remodel,” Brooke remembered. “A shark through your roof.”

"There was a hurricane, with sharks."

Only on Fandom, right?

"It's exactly as bad as it sounds."

“...I moved back here willingly,” Brooke frowned. “Where there are hurricanes with sharks.”

"Yeah, but you're also banging someone whose house is proven to be like, eighty percent shark-proof." Well, kind of? He could've lost more of his roof, but didn't! It was just the one room. "So I like your odds."

“I’m not always at your house,” Brooke pointed out. “And sharks have teeth.”

Sharks also technically should not be able to do much damage after being hurled through the air and dropped on dry land, but details.

"If there was another shark hurricane, I would come get you, okay?" Mike promised, as he motioned for their waiter. "I wouldn't let you stay in harm's way."

“You’d come save me from hurricane sharks? That might be the most romantic thing anybody's ever said to me.”

Sad thing was that might be true?

"God, I hope that's not true." Just saying. With a little shake of his head, to boot. "You deserve so much better."

In his humble opinion.

But the waiter was there, and so he gestured for her to give her order. "Ladies first."

Brooke knew what she wanted and still had to look at the menu. “I’ll have the pad Thai, and is there any way to make a Thai iced tea alcoholic?”

Apparently it was!

"I like that thinking," Mike decided, before totally copying her drink order. It was good enough to steal. "And... a red curry for me. Thanks."

The waiter collected their menus, and went on his way.

"Where were we?"

“The super romantic gesture of saving me from weather sharks and how I deserve better,” Brooke answered easily.

"Right. And you definitely do deserve better than that." He was pretty sure about that. "I mean, I guess shark protection counts as chivalrous on this island, but someone should've done something better by now."

Brooke shrugged a little. “I dated a lot of guys who maybe weren’t so great for me,” she admitted, “and one who kind of was, but it was never going to be a big thing. And then once I figured out I could do better, I just didn’t really have time for it. So I’m sort of missing the chivalrous gestures in my history.”

"Sounds like I got my work cut out for me," Mike decided with a little smile. "Though I don't know how much experience I have in being chivalrous, either."

He thought he was an okay person, but that was about it.

“You’re doing great at it, for the record,” Brooke assured him. “But I don’t really need chivalry. Just a decent guy.”

"Well, that seems like an easier goal to reach," Mike admitted with a chuckle. "I mean, I like to think I'm pretty decent when I'm not being a fucking bonehead about holidays."

He continued to be sorry about that. For the record.

"And if I start failing, I trust you to tell me so."

“Right back at you,” Brooke agreed. “Not to give you the impression I have faults or anything.”

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Taste of Thai, Wednesday Evening

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