The Perk, Friday Afternoon

[hatesparadise]

Danny could spend some time trying to fix the changes Steve made to the apartment, but that way lay madness because it would go right back to how he had it and then it would just turn into a passive-aggressive fight. So he was just gonna take the L on this one and bide his time to get Steve to do something emotionally healthy in the future as repayment.

So, instead, he was at the coffee shop, wondering why pumpkin spice was a thing even as he had a pumpkin muffin.

He contained multitudes, after all.

[open!]

Comments

[betterthanaplan]

Duke had run into Danny often enough at the coffee shop to figure it was a good bet on where he'd find him today. And judging by what he'd heard on the radio, he really wanted to make sure to find him, today. (If it hadn't worked, he may even have actually risked running into Steve by stopping by their apartment.)

"Hey," he greeted, playing it casual. The barista was already working on his order, including a slice of coffee cake, so he went right to Danny's table. These were the apparent perks of being a regular. "How's it going, shortstop?"

[hatesparadise]

Well, at least Danny had put the kibosh traps on the perimeter of the apartment.

"There are currently weapons hidden in my ceiling," Danny said, greatly aggrieved by it.

[betterthanaplan]

"What, from the guy who kept grenades in your glove compartment? Nooooo."

[hatesparadise]

"The ceiling is new," Danny insisted. "I knew Verity was gonna be a bad influence."

[betterthanaplan]

“Oh, yeah, that woman’s nuts. She tried to get me to tango with her in the middle of Homicidal Attack Clown Day last fall.”

[hatesparadise]

Danny spread his hands out and gestured at Duke emphatically as though to say thank you for agreeing with him here. "If I come home to a pike or something, I'm gonna shove it where the sun don't shine.

[betterthanaplan]

“I mean, there are definitely more fun things to shove there.” You walked into that, Danny. “Was this prompted by anything in particular, or is he just, like, nesting?”

[hatesparadise]

Danny rolled his eyes at that. "I got snatched off the island again and he has some abandonment issues," he admitted. "L.A. this time. Only no weaponized viruses, thank god."

[betterthanaplan]

"Right, right, radio said something about that," Duke said, as though he was only just remembering that fact and it wasn't exactly why he'd sat down in the first place. "Lucifer's LA, right?"

[knife_bender]

Oooh look who was newly employed and celebrating with black coffee and a danish. Diego gave the guy with weird hair a nod before sitting down at a nearby table.

Seriously, what was that hair?

[hatesparadise]

His hair was perfectly normal, scar-guy. Perfectly normal.

Danny nodded at him, but also gave him a sort of once over. "New in town, huh?"

[knife_bender]

"Yep," he replied, sounding like he had answered that question already a few times before. "Just got here this week."

[hatesparadise]

"You're gonna get that a lot," Danny replied dryly. "This town is unbelievably tiny and insulated."

[knife_bender]

"I've noticed," he grumbled. See, this was why he would have to go to Baltimore to do his weird crime fighting thing. He was already too recognizable!

In a rare moment of politeness, he added a "Diego."

Look at him, sharing his name. Maybe one day he'd have friends.

[hatesparadise]

"Danny," he said, offering his hand. The move made the badge clipped to his belt visible now.

[knife_bender]

Diego shook Danny's hand and noticed the badge. Oh look at that a coworker that wasn't in armor. That was sort of reassuring.

"You been here long?" he asked.

[hatesparadise]

"Couple months," he replied with a quick grin. "So now I'm not The New Guy, which is nice. Thanks for that."

[knife_bender]

"Happy to help," he said, not looking the least bit happy. "I gotta ask -- what exactly does a cop do here?"

So he had an idea of what he was walking into tomorrow.

[betterthanaplan]

“Diego, right?” Duke greeted. “How are you settling in?”

[knife_bender]

"Duke," he said, giving him a nod. "Okay, I guess. Got a job so, you know, hotel won't throw me out for non-payment any time soon."

[betterthanaplan]

"Always handy." Seriously, everyone was really into living in the hotel when they got here, weren't they. "Where you working?"

[knife_bender]

Not everybody came with a boat to sleep in!

"Trooper station," Diego replied. "So I guess I'm a cop."

Somewhere his siblings just shuddered. Yes, even Five in the future.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke didn't do a great job of swallowing his resigned sigh, himself. "Well, uh. Good for you, I guess."

Why did people insist on going into law enforcement?

[knife_bender]

"Not a fan?" he asked. Diego could relate; he didn't like cops much either.

Well it was more like he was convinced he could do a better job than them if they just let him do his thing and not arrest him for throwing knives at people.

[betterthanaplan]

. . . Yeah, that wasn't why Duke didn't like cops.

"The ones around here aren't the worst," he allowed. "But yeah, as a general rule, I try to avoid them."