Liam Kincaid (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
firstofitskind) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomtownies2021-10-08 07:56 am
firstofitskind) wrote in fandomtownies2021-10-08 07:56 am
Entry tags:
Trooper Station, Friday
It had been a long, long time since Liam had opened up his desk drawer to find it full of coffee.
So naturally, that's what he was dealing with today. Every drawer, instead of holding office supplies or random junk or files, was now just full of steaming hot coffee.
Which meant the Troopers were ignoring the perfectly functional coffee machine in favor of just taking mugs and scooping coffee out of drawers.
"That's disgusting," Liam said, as he watched Calvin do that. "You get how that's disgusting, right?"
Calvin just shrugged. Free coffee was free coffee! And this stuff didn't cool down in .5 seconds the way the stuff that the machine brewed did!
So naturally, that's what he was dealing with today. Every drawer, instead of holding office supplies or random junk or files, was now just full of steaming hot coffee.
Which meant the Troopers were ignoring the perfectly functional coffee machine in favor of just taking mugs and scooping coffee out of drawers.
"That's disgusting," Liam said, as he watched Calvin do that. "You get how that's disgusting, right?"
Calvin just shrugged. Free coffee was free coffee! And this stuff didn't cool down in .5 seconds the way the stuff that the machine brewed did!
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After all, how could anyone be in a bad mood after racing chocobos for your class, with a vacation ahead of you, and a new way to pursue one of his absolute passions?
So hopefully, Liam wouldn't be too thrown off by the bright and cheerfully confident Prompto that bounced into the trooper station that day, eager to talk to him.
Or at least eager to ride out this high before it came crashing down into an epic bout of even worse awkwardness!
"Hey, Liam! Are you bus--"
But then he stopped, wrinkling his nose as he made a face. "Did that trooper just drink something out of a drawer?"
Look, Prompto had very, very good reasons to find the troopers extremely offputting, thanks to the fact that he was created to pretty much be his world's version of a storm trooper, but with extra added daemon experimentation, but this really took the cake!
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“He did,” Liam said, with the long-suffering sigh of someone who’d been dealing with this nonsense for several hours already.
“There’s coffee in there. Apparently it tastes better than the stuff our coffee machine makes.” Which Liam could believe, because the coffee from the machine was… not great. But that still didn’t make drawer-coffee as a concept any less gross.
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Prompto took a moment to work through a series of emotions that were mostly focused around wondering if something like this would have been his fate if not for a fortutious break-in by some Lucian spies into a Niflheim researsh facility nearly twenty-one years ago, then shook his head...which turned into a whole body shiver, and then channeled his focus to the task at hand.
"Ugh."
Okay, after he managed to get that out, because, yeah, that needed to be said.
"Anyway," he said, hands up as if to help him stay on track and ignore it as another trooper seemed to finish up a mug and go back for some more, "I actually came by to talk to you about something. Nothing bad!," he added that part in quickly, as if worried that it sounded like he was about to be the bearer of bad news. "At least I hope not! I mean, it isn't...it shouldn't be...that is..."
Prompto, you came into this doing so well! But, to be fair, he felt drawer coffee could derail just about anyone!
"Anyway," he tried again, "you probably know the school trip is next week, right?"
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But he did, eventually, get around to asking a question not about drawer coffee, so points to him.
“… Yes?” Liam said, drawing out that vowel just a bit.
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He almost wished he had asked more questions about the drawer coffee now!
...almost.
"And, well, you know how every teacher gets a plus one, right?" he said, then laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, obviously you know, you've taught before, too! But, uhhh, anyway, I mean, like, since obviously, me and the guys, we're all teaching, so we've all pretty much got these spare Plus Ones to hand out, and Ignis was saying, you know, it's kind of a shame to let them just go to waste and everything, so that got me thinking on, well, if I were to use mine, who could I give it to, and, well, you came to mind. If you wanted to. You know, come....and stuff...."
The rate at which that ramble lost its steam was impressive, and then he just sort of shifted awkwardly, shoved his hands into his pockets, which, he wore very skinny jeans, it was not just an easy slide to do that, and shrugged.
"Could be, um, you know, maybe a good--"
His brain wanted to say 'way to spend time together' but his tongue wouldn't let him.
"--fun."
Could be a good fun???? Geeez, Prompto. Maybe you should have just asked Yang. It may have, somehow, actually have been less awkward and embarrassing!
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But sometimes that earnest awkwardness made not laughing really, really hard.
Being somewhat blindsided by the invitation helped with the not-laughing, at least.
“I- you know what. That does sound like it could be fun.” And Verity was out of town for a while on cryptozoology business, so it wasn’t like he’d be swanning off on vacation and leaving his wife behind.
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"Yeah?" Prompto asked, almost as if he wasn't quite ready to believe it or that Liam hadn't just laughed him right out of the station, but with that agreement came a little spark of hope. And maybe the ability to stop taking himself so seriously about it and realize that maybe he'd worked himself up a little too much about the whole thing, and he laughed a little, lightly.
"I mean," he said, "unless you think it's more important you stay here. I'm sure the crime rate just skyrockets when there's, like, half a dozen people still left on the island."
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It’s just that Liam had never really been the awkward sort. Well. Maybe during his first few days, but that had only been awkward for everyone else as he figured out the whole ‘human interaction’ thing.
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I trust the guys,” his gaze flickered over to where Danny, Steve, and Diego’s desks were clustered, “to handle any crime related emergencies.”
He trusted the Troopers a little less, though even then it’s not like they were bad at the job, just-
Easily distracted by things like drawer coffee.
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...Promptos own eyes, regretably, drifted back toward a coffee drawer...
...a lot of trust there, buddy.
But that was neither here nor there, because the important thing was that Prompto had managed to get the invite out, and it wasn't met with complete derision or rejection, and, in fact, it would seem that it garnered just the opposite. So he grinned back at Liam and nodded. "Alright," he said, "cool, then! You know the drill, causeway on Sunday, then off to Boston we gooooo! Have you ever actually been there?"
There could be some bonus points for him, then, rooming with someone who might already know the place!
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“I have,” he confirmed. “For work, though, so I never had much chance to do any of the real tourist-type stuff I’m sure will be on the school’s itinerary.”
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As if he wasn't going to bring it, anyway. Especially since he was hoping Liz might be interested to see what shots he managed to get when he got back.
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