Manhattan Portalocity Station and Beyond, Wednesday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Coming here always made Jack restless - maybe because half the time, he was picking someone up from a different place and a different life, and as much as he was trying to do the healthy thing and not let the whole two-worlds-two-lives thing mess with his head, it still made him jittery.

Anyway.

It was just Cade. What was the worst that could happen?

(Probably a lot.)

He waited outside the station, wearing a jacket and hoodie and jeans and, probably, looking more genuinely relaxed than Cade had ever seen him. Even with the jitters. Even with the way his foot kept jumping.

Space. This was probably a bad idea...

[[ for that guy ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"Sure, that's why you're crashing in my spare bedroom while running from the Hutts," Atton replied, and looked up at the menu.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I could've crashed somewhere else," Cade insisted. "I didn't have to be here."

[suitably_heroic]

"I feel like you're focusing on the wrong part of the sentence," Atton pointed out, and then looked at him, and added, more sincere, "Anyway, I'm glad you're here."

He resisted the urge to tack on a 'or whatever'.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"It hasn't be terrible so far," Cade agreed with a grin.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, you've been here for like five seconds and you haven't seen my tiny apartment yet, which somehow is host to an endless supply of duplicating socks and magazines."

It had been weird finding out he was comparatively neat.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I'm not gonna have to sleep on the socks, right?" Cade checked. "Otherwise, I don't care."

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah, you just get the room with all the instruments," Atton said. "It's about the size of a closet, which out here is considered comfy."

He gave a little wave to passing staff.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I normally sleep on a ship, so this will be fine," Cade said. "The chance id waking up because someone is shooting at me us probably lower, too."

[suitably_heroic]

"In our neighborhood, practically nonexistant," Atton said. And then he turned to the server and ordered a couple of tacos. "Honestly, you're going to be bored out of your skull," he added, when he was done.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Sounds like it," Cade agreed. "Why'd you move here?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Originally?" Atton asked, as the server walked away. "I was hurting - a big, stoic, manly kind of hurting - and recently set free from therapy, and any big Earth city would do. Easy to get lost in, without the threat of some Hutt shooting you down or random Sith lords popping up out of the woodwork."

He shrugged. "Then I started meeting people," he said. "Dane needed a place to crash and I didn't mind having somewhere quiet to touch down every now and again, so..."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Now you live in mid-sized town on a backwater planet," Cade teased. "But at least it has tacos."

[suitably_heroic]

"Pretty great food culture in general," Atton said. "I know a few places down in Chinatown that would really burn your face off, just in case you really do get bored."

He looked past Cade at the wall for a second. "Personally, I've had enough adrenaline for a lifetime or three."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"That's because you're old," Cade told him.

[suitably_heroic]

"Old and traumatized and heavily therapized," Atton said, faux-cheerfully. "I was pretty close to doing something insanely stupid to myself a few years ago. The near-death experiences weren't helping."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Probably not," Cade agreed. "Can I get a drink before having to spill my guts here?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I mean, the server left five seconds ago," Atton said, "But I'm sure they won't mind pouring you a pitcher of tequila."

He waved one back over.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"All good decisions are made after tequila," Cade agreed, putting in his order.

[suitably_heroic]

"Maybe you can get that tattooed on your arm tonight," Atton said. "Or maybe your forehead."

They brought him his soda.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I'm too old to tattoo my forehead," Cade said, arching up a curious eyebrow at Atton's drink.

[suitably_heroic]

"Finally found something you're too old for, huh," Atton said, pouring it into his glass. He looked back up at Cade. "I don't drink much these days."

Hadn't for years, but he used to at least put in the effort to pretend.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Weird," Cade said helpfully, "but it's not like you can get the good stuff from home here anyway."

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeaaah, no juma juice on the menu," Atton said, with a little sigh. He nodded over at the incoming booze. "You'll just have to deal with that insane amount of the local stuff."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I'll do my best," Cade said with a smile. "It's wrong to waste it."

[suitably_heroic]

"We'll go do karaoke sometime, then I'll join you on the booze," Atton said wryly.

And lo, the booze was set down at their table.