The Perk, Tuesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

Leaving his boat yesterday had gone well, and Duke was pretty sure he was supposed to teach a class tomorrow, so he took it a step further today and headed into town. He made his way to the Perk, where he could fortify himself with some caffeine and a muffin and try to set up his new phone, since both his old primary phone and the one he'd used in Haven were now toast.

He was trying to resist the urge to try calling Nathan when he noticed he had a few messages.

"He threw it into the sea?"

[open!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yo, can I get the extra--"

Dante leaned against the bar, ready to finish his order-- but the barista had already set the massive strawberry milkshake down in front of him, whipped cream and strawberries and sprinkles and all.

"Fuck," Dante said appreciatively, "I forgot there's perks to being a regular in this town."

[betterthanaplan]

"Wow," Duke noted, eyebrows up. "That . . . is a lot of milkshake."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante glanced over his shoulder at-- right, Octavia's boyfriend? He thought? "Can't go wrong with strawberries," he called, grinning. "The more, the merrier, right?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Hey, man, you do you," Duke said easily. "You know, I've been known to make a mean milkshake myself, over at the diner."

Nina especially enjoyed his fresh strawberry milkshakes.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante laughed. "Is it word of mouth advertising if it's the owner doing it?" he wondered. "Or just like... Crass capitalism and shit."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke snorted. "Please. This place is, like, the least capitalistic place I've ever been. Maybe I just like making milkshakes."

[rebelseekspizza]

"And I do like milkshakes," Dante mused thoughtfully. "Fine, fine. Maybe sometime. My girlfriend likes your diner, anyway."

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh yeah?" Duke asked. "Who's your girlfriend?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Kathy Li?" Dante offered. "Korean, short skirts, anxiety talks a mile a minute? Her dad used to run that place."

[betterthanaplan]

"Ah." Duke winced. "Yeah, I might've accidentally thrown her into the wall once."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Shit happens," Dante said lightly, and made the executive decision to move his milkshake to Duke's table. "You're Octavia's boyfriend, right?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not the word she'd use, but yeah," Duke said. "You must be the guy who orders the strawberry vodka."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Got me in one," Dante said, snickering. "How's she doing? Haven't seen her in a few."

[hatesparadise]

"Hey," Danny said once he spotted Duke, on his way to get... a tea. He didn't need more coffee, but he wanted a coffee. So there he was.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke nodded to him. "How's it going, man?"

Should he tell Danny how lucky he was not to have gotten dragged into Haven again?

[hatesparadise]

Danny would have shot someone if he'd been dragged away from Hawaii for that insanity.

"Another week here," he said, lifting his tea once it was given to him by the barista.

[betterthanaplan]

He would have fit right into Duke's last day in Haven, then.

"Yeah?" Duke sipped his own coffee. "Anything interesting happen last week? I was, uh. Out of town."

[hatesparadise]

"Out of town," Danny repeated, already getting that suspicious vibe.

[betterthanaplan]

"Mm hm." Duke gave him a little twitch of a nod.

Yes, Danny. He meant exactly what you thought he did.

[hatesparadise]

"How long?" Danny sighed, walking over with his tea to take a seat. Because there would be things to unpack. Oh, there would be things.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke prickled faintly. Sorry, Danny, but having his therapist get murdered and replaced by a serial killer was going to make the unpacking a bit more difficult than it had been. (And it hadn't exactly been that easy.)

"On which end?" Duke asked, tone wry.

[hatesparadise]

That depended on if he learned anything from the therapy before the whole serial killer thing, of course.

"You wanna be cute about it or you wanna talk?" Danny asked dryly. "Your end, you putz."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke sighed. He leaned back in his chair and looked around the shop. Picked at his muffin and popped a bit of it in his mouth. Did all manner of other tiny delaying tactics before he finally spoke.

"Fifty days."

Wasn't it nice when your trip home had a built in timer?

[hatesparadise]

It was a very specific number, yes.

"Did you get pulled there or...?" So help him, if this was a willing trip into traumaland.

[betterthanaplan]

"You think I went back there on purpose?" Duke shook his head. "Went to bed first day of vacation, sandwiched between my two favorite people. Woke up alone in a whole other world, all poised to take a crap on me."