Luke's Diner, Thursday

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison hadn't been at Luke's much during the semester; he'd taught on Thursdays and that had kinda killed his groove for popping for lunch. But now that the semester was over and he wasn't teaching anything anymore, he figured it was time to pick it back up again. Besides, being in town was a great way to see some folks who didn't hang out up at the castle regularly.

Grabbing a sketchpad--it didn't feel right not to do some art on Thursdays now--Hardison settled into a booth and started sketching out a few random still-lifes out of silverware, napkins, and the odd dish. The staff watched him for a few minutes and then hastily conferred amongst themselves. A few minutes later, they were putting up a whole new specials board.

Today's Specials
Carpaccio, named for Vittore Carpaccio
The Chipotle Sweet Potato Eaters, named for Van Gogh's The Potato Eaters
Bellinis, named for

Honestly, Hardison had no idea whether they were teasing him or offering support.

[No OCD]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

So. Raven had just bought a bar. For the price of a mated pair of loving alots. She took enough time to post a "to reopen under new management" sign in the window, then headed back through town riding a bit of a high from the moment.

The realities of actually running a business would hit her soon enough. For now, she was going to treat herself to a little snack and celebrate a little.

"Heya, teach," she greeted, when she saw Hardison was there, too. "How's it going?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

She and Kathy could bond over the 'Oh fuck now I own a business say what?' sometime!

"Hey, TA!" Hardison said, looking up and grinning. "You're lookin' pretty cheerful today. What's up?"

[tigerundercover]

Kathy did a much better job of it than Raven ever would. Raven would probably end up relying heavily on the very low cost of living in Fandom.

But that was fine, as long as she still got to destroy a bunch of holographic foreign spies on the regular.

"And I'm even being social," Raven said. "I just bought my first business."

Were you proud of her, Hardison? She learned impulse-buying real estate from you! Sort of.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Kathy was a lot more Type-A than Raven ever could be.

"You did?" Hardison asked. "Yo, congrats!" He held his fist out for a bump. "We should toast or somethin'! You want a bellini? We should toast with bellinis!"

Okay, Hardison just really liked bellinis. "I was about your age when I bought my first, too. What you get?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven proudly bumped fists with him, beaming. "Bellinis are good! And some of those sweet potato things." You couldn't hunt sweet potatoes out on the preserve, no. "Do you know Quark's? It's over near where you guys live. Apparently he just noticed that Fandom has enough bars already and is calling it quits, so bought it off of him. Mostly for the holosuites." A beat. "Yeah, entirely for the holosuites."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison perked up as he waved one of the waitstaff over. "Holosuites?" he asked. "I like holosuites."

[tigerundercover]

"Right? I could not let him leave with those things. I'm thinking maybe I'll close down the bar and just run the suite rental. Call it, like, 'Holosweet'."

No. Wait. That was terrible.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Think you need to workshop that a little more," Hardison said, as the bellinis were brought to them. He handed one to Raven, then held up the other. "Still, yo. To your very own business. That's somethin' to be proud of."

[tigerundercover]

"Thank you," Raven said, and clinked her glass against his with great dignity. "It's kind of an excuse to keep having my favorite outlet. But I'm still proud."

[throughaphase]

Okay fine, maybe it was turning into more than a weekly visit here.

“I feel like I’m interrupting something,” she said.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'm just sketchin'," Hardison said, gesturing for Kitty to join him. "I don't know what those jokers are doin'. I never know what they're doin'."

And probably for the best!

"C'mere an' settle in, though. Good to see you! Bellini?"

[throughaphase]

“I would if I could. Just The Kitty for me,” she said, and then added, “The staff knows what that is.”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Not drinkin' after the whole weekend debacle?" Hardison asked.

Sure, he knew there were other reasons women didn't--couldn't--drink, but it seemed rude to just leap to that one. Especially after a weekend of alcohol-induced trauma.

"The Kitty--is that the peanut butter pancake thing I heard staff talkin' about?" Which, okay, that did bring other possibilities that much closer to the forefront, huh. "I didn't know it was named for Kitty the person."

[throughaphase]

“Uh, not drinking after the baby thing.” Yep, still weird to say after this long of not saying it. “And now I have to ask if you thought the pancakes were named for an actual cat?”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Well, I know that dogs like peanut butter, so I just figured--" Hardison stopped, a slow smile creeping over his face. "Did you say baby?"

[throughaphase]

“I did. Goes hand in hand with the peanut butter pancakes,” Kitty smiled.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Which are startin' to make a lot more sense, yeah," Hardison said, waving one of the staff over to given them the order. "A'ight, so can I ask how far along you are? Just find out or been sittin' on the news a little bit."

Hardison had enough foster siblings to understand why a lot of women chose to wait a while before making the grand announcement.

"Also, who's throwin' you a shower? That been claimed yet? Is it Tony?" Dammit, Tony!

[imafuturist]

It was like Tony had a sixth sense about his name being said. Okay, not really. Because it would constantly be going off because Tony Stark.

"My Dutch is non-existent, so I'll go with a 'ciao' for that menu."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

The sheer amount that Hardison babbled on about him at home would probably make that power a pain in the ass, let's be real.

"Yo, carpaccio an' bellinis are Italian so it works," Hardison said, hopping up to give Tony a hug. Because Tony needed hugs like whoa. Fun, friendly hugs from people who wanted nothing more than to shower Tony in affection. "'Sup, man? How you been?"

[imafuturist]

Was it due to the terrifying extra-dimensional force known as Thanos? Because that seemed on point.

"I'm good!" he said, hugging Hardison back without missing a beat. "Apparently missed a weird weekend? You?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison believed that Tony had a huge backlog of hugs he hadn't gotten growing up and he was personally determined to get him current. If he knew about Thanos, he'd probably just turn himself into some kind of clingy backpack and just not let Tony go.

"Us too," he said. "We were off at the world's creepiest amusement park. Eliot had a heart attack when he got back an' heard about some stuff, but that's what happens when you have a kid on this place."

Hardison was a little sore about missing it, too. He would have liked to have superpowers.

"What were y'all up to? Savin' the world again?" No sarcasm.

[imafuturist]

Well, Tony would never turn down any of those hugs because he loved hugging his friends. Like a clingy person.

Tony made a face at the creepy amusement park thing. "Nothing that dramatic," he said, shaking his head. "A check up on the War Machine armor. Rhodey can handle most of it, but he likes to make me feel important."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

There had been this whole thing with a house of mirrors and--never mind, it was just terrible.

"How's it all workin'?" Hardison asked. "You know, if he ain't treatin' his armor right..."

Because anyone whose password was WARMACHINEROX would ever mistreat Tony's armor.

"Coffee?"

[imafuturist]

"Please." He never turned it down. "He treats it like his baby. Worse than me."

That was a lie. No one treated their creations more like their baby.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Yeah, even Hardison was snorting into his bellini at that one. "I bet," he said, super sincerely.