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 Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:31 am
Anthony Darrow had very few days off left. His arm was healing just fine, and he had the cast off. He was made to wear a brace, but the doctors were surprised by how well he had healed considering he kept banging it. They imagined it was because he had taken days off from work, but he knew it was more because he had taken a couple days off from having youma throw themselves against it.
He missed patrol, already, though.
He would be back on the scene as soon as the next night, though. Of that he was certain. It bothered him to not be out there, but after getting his butt handed to him by two Negaverse Captains, he imagined a couple nights off were probably the least he could do for himself.
His head and arm would thank him.
Tonight he left Dogby at home with Nathan, though he had set things up as if she were going to be alone because inevitably she would be. Nathan never stuck around to do anything Tony asked him to do, and he was used to that. He left her food and water and let her sleep in his room, even putting newspaper in her crate, which he never used for anything but, just in case she had to go bathroom and Nate didn't bother to let her out.
He was just sauntering up to a nice little Italian restaurant he had heard about, to check out and see if he might want to bring Suri there sometime. And because he liked Italian food.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:46 am
It was small, butting up against an antique shop on one side and a small handful of apartments on the other, and the smell of fresh baking bread and pasta would overtake him the second he stepped fully into the restaurant. A bit rough around the edges, at the very least it proved to be a friendly place, with a bustling hostess who beamed and winked and smiled at him, easily instructing him to sit where he'd like and someone would be around to help. For her own part, she stepped away from him to deal with someone a few paces away, and if Tony turned his head just so --
Well, he would recognize that flash of pale hair, tall and thin, Ever standing with the bag draped over one shoulder and his posture just a tiny bit hunched so that he wouldn't tower over the woman. She was clucking at him quietly in Italian and he was stumbling along in the same language. A wince as she reached up to pinch at his cheek and tug at his arm, and even if Tony couldn't understand what she was saying, he'd get the basics from her mother hen attitude: 'bambino, you are too thin.'
In turn, Ever wouldn't notice him until the woman had swept away toward the kitchen, leaving him standing and waiting awkwardly, rubbing at his elbow. A quick flick of dark eyes upward, they locked on Tony, and he froze -- like he was trying to decide if he should make a run for it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:32 am
"Ever!"
Tony was excited to see a familiar face, and not too shy about it. Normally he was as awkward as could be, but his need for company overrode his possible embarrassment of calling out for his friend. After all, what was more embarrassing in the long run? Making a scene for a second, or spending an hour eating alone?
He smiled, getting up from his seat and going over to his coworker and friend. Things had been strange for a little while, but he felt things were going along just fine now, though he had been away from work himself due to his injuries. It hadn't been a planned vacation, but still. Three days so far, and it was more than enough for him.
He missed the desk and the books and the patrons.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, offering his hand in casual, but eager, greeting. "I didn't think you were much for Italian food. Not waiting for a date, are you?" He didn't want to cut in on that, obviously. The last thing anyone wanted on their date was an old guy crashing the party, right?
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:58 pm
"...uh. No, I don't really..." He hesitated, still frozen for a moment before he reached out to set his own hand in Tony's. At their first meeting, they'd shaken. Then, Ever had made a point of his strong handshake, firm and forward, meeting Tony's eyes. Now it had gone a little limp, puzzled, his mouth moving as he tried to decide exactly how much he really wanted to share.
"...I live upstairs." It spilled out. He probably hadn't meant to say it, but after a moment's surprise with himself, Ever managed to dig up a smile and force himself to relax just a little bit. "With a friend, at the moment, but, yeah. Owner's pretty okay, and apparently takes in strays, so..."
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:34 am
"Upstairs! Well, at least you've got some nice food beneath you, hm? Well, I hope it's nice, anyway, I haven't actually eaten anything. Are you busy? Would you like to sit down?"
It seemed, tonight, Tony was eager for some company. He hadn't really hung out with anyone in a while, and suddenly felt the strong urge for just a normal conversation with a friend.
He had been spending too much time running around, focusing on the Knights and his job. Even with his days off, he realized he hadn't stopped thinking or pondering, planning or even dreaming about his duties to both. He was a sad man, indeed, if all he could think about was work.
Whatever work that might be.
"Come on! I'll pay, if you haven't eaten. Do you know what's good here?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:21 am
"Ah, well, she was going to..." he hesitated, blinking, realizing that he was pointing aimlessly off toward the kitchen. Not particularly polite. Ever licked his lips, eyes resettling onto Tony, and weighed his choices for about twenty seconds before breaking into a smile, instead.
If she came back with enough food for an army, Ever could just take the package upstairs and stick it in his fridge for later. Food kept.
"Everything's okay, I guess, but I'm pretty easy." Ever shrugged and nudged Tony away from the doorway to go find a proper table. Booth if possible, and Ever would immediately sit down with his legs stretched too far out into the other man's territory.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:13 pm
Once they were seated in the booth, he looked across the table at his particularly leggy companion. It seemed he was stretching at first, so Tony let it pass without comment.
It donned on him that Ever wasn't pulling his feet back, but now he had allowed it to go on too long and it would be awkward to bring it up now. As long as he didn't move and bump Ever in the process...
In any case, Tony wasn't dwelling on things like that, as he usually might. For some reason, he was in a bright mood and very glad to see his friend. Sure, there was work, and they didn't exactly act like enemies there. Hell, most of the time it wasn't clear that Tony actually was Ever's boss. Still, something about the change of setting, existing outside that library, was nice.
"Well, that's good at least. Though I wouldn't spread that easy thing around too much."
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:42 am
Lack of stress, perhaps, made this easier for Tony: he didn't have to worry about their perceived relationship, or about clinging to the shreds of his official position as 'the boss'. On the other hand, the unexpected meeting made Ever's shoulders clench just a bit, his lazy posture false. His outside life was different from his library life, and with good cause, when he had a half-feral Negaverse General who seemed to have an issue with clicking back into 'human mode' living in his apartment...
He cleared his throat, just a little uneasy, and tried to push it from his mind. Digging, he finally managed to find his dry tone of voice, self-mocking in an absent sort of way. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure everyone who matters already knows anyway."
Awkward. Definitely. He turned his thumbs around each other, head tipped to hunt down their hostess, who was going to step out any moment with far too much food for one person. "How's, uh, Dogsby?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:06 pm
Tony laughed and nodded his head, reaching for his water and taking a drink. He hadn't ordered a proper drink yet, and had walked here. Still, he didn't think about ordering any alcohol despite his taste for it, as he told himself he would at least keep himself coherent for the walk home.
Just in case.
He might not have been on active patrol, as it were, but staying aware was always beneficial. he would never be able to defend anyone if he was intoxicated. He had a hard enough time recognizing danger when it was sitting across the table from him. He had no idea that the civilian he considered his good friend and liked effortlessly was the same negaverse captain he had no choice but to almost instinctively hate.
"Dogby. And she's fine. Growing, but not too much. I'm glad she's a small dog, or I'd never survive her efforts to constantly be in my lap..." his words trailed off as the hostess Ever was hunting for did appear. Tony looked at her and the trays of food, then looked at Ever with his eyebrows lifted in amusement and surprise.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:48 am
It was packed up, at least; metal containers and styrofoam, ready to be popped into a fridge and stored away for later. It was more than a week's worth of food for one person, and less than that for two but -- well, to Tony's eyes it was probably hard to understand why Ever was still so damned thin.
He sat up immediately at her approach and then stood to take it from her, looking more than a little embarrassed and reasonably polite. Unexpected, perhaps. She rattled at him in Italian and he went all the more embarrassed, shaking his head to answer decisively in the negative. Tony might recognize a few words -- most likely 'Zac' and 'Tony', something about work.
She turned to face him with a smile, and switched into only-slightly-accented English to ask if he'd like anything as well. Most certainly not a waitress but -- "Dinner something to drink? I'll send out bread."
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:14 am
"Oh, that would be nice, thank you. I'll ah... I'll order from the waitress... thank you."
Tony grinned and watched as the woman fussed over Ever. The boy needed it, anyway, and it was good to see. As long as he was taking care of himself or, in this case, having someone take care of him it put Tony's mind a little more at ease.
When the woman disappeared again, Tony laughed.
"Well, at least you're very well fed here. When I bought my first apartment way back when, I really should have considered a space above some kind of food establishment..." would have saved him some money, if he had been able to charm the owner or chef. Though, remembering the kind of kid he had been in those days, that would probably have been unlikely.
Still, maybe when Nate moved out he could get something like this. Not that Tony believed the boy would ever leave, now that he had a comfortable place to mooch off.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:17 am
"Zac has that effect on people, I think." He waited, standing, stacking up his takeout containers, until the woman was out of sight -- and then Ever dropped back down to sit in his chair, head shaken, still a little bit flushed with embarrassment.
"Definitely does it for him instead of me." Ever was carelessly self-effacing, thoughtless about it. He was certain that the woman wasn't fussing over him, that it was just because he was attached to the younger man. People didn't take to Ever in quiet the same way. After a moment, he risked a look up to Tony.
"...the foods not all for me."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:20 pm
Tony watched as Ever stacked the movies and grinned at the scene. He couldn't shake the feeling of relief at least, knowing Ever was at least taking care of himself. Or being forced to by other people taking care of him.
He smiled.
"I doubt that, she seems very keen on you as well," he said, though he didn't know Zac beyond their interactions at the library. He seemed nice enough, though one of the last times they had met involved Zac being very embarrassed about some choice books on his account.
"Ah, I see. Well, hopefully she doesn't come back with a lot of food for me, as I'm going to have to pay for it."
He laughed at the idea, though knowing his luck it would not be unlikely. He'd speak some surprise code and end up paying for the whole restaurant's worth of food.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:30 am
He made a noise at that, faint, and cracked a crooked smile -- leaning back in his chair and swiping messy hair back out of his face. It had gotten long enough, now, that he looked just-out-of-bed all day long. Getting about time to chop it all down again, perhaps.
"....if you buy me something, she might give you a discount." He was just teasing. Probably, his smile growing a notch as he said it, trying to look a little more comfortable. He shrugged across at Tony, considering the older man.
"How's your arm? Starting to improve?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:37 pm
Tony laughed.
"All that food and you're trying to get me to buy you something? Not that I mind. You've been on time a lot recently, which seems profound in a way. Deserving of some food, at least."
He grinned, teasing back, though he meant it when he said he would pay for whatever he wanted, if he really wanted it. Tony was just not the kind of guy to say no, especially to a friend. The fact that he had a bunch of food waiting for him already didn't seem to matter in the slightest.
"Oh, it's healing nicely," he held up his arm as proof. It was already switched from a cast to a brace. He smiled and patted his arm lightly, the first one to bask in it healing. He would be very glad when it was one hundred percent.
Then he would just have to see how long he could go without hurting himself again.
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