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

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Definitely doesn't define both people at this table," Cade said.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton snorted. "I don't have anything to prove," he said, "Do you?"

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Sure you don't," Cade said. "That's why you're on a backwater without space flight."

[suitably_heroic]

"You think I'm here to prove something to someone?" Atton said, raising an eyebrow.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"They don't have space flight," Cade repeated.

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't give a single shit, Cade," Atton said, as they finally put his whiskey down. "I'm not you."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Just the only person I know who stayed on this planet was Great Granddad and he was married and, you know, a giant war criminal."

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm also a giant war criminal," Atton pointed out dryly. He took a sip of his whiskey. "I spent years trying to run away from myself through space flight, and yet this part of this mudball is the first place I've been since I was sixteen where I feel like I can breathe."

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade was feeling pretty good about breaking the cycle of personally not being a giant war criminal. The tequila was helping.

Cade looked around at the Mexican restaurant, then gave a philosophical little shrug. "Huh. Not gonna fight you for it."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shrugged. He was a little more careful with his whiskey, but it was at least helping settle him somewhat.

"Wasn't trying to make it a fight," he said. "But-- space. You don't want to know how screwed up my head got over the years." He took a small sip. "And I just kept doing things to make it worse. So now I'm here, where I have a chance to unfuck it. At least a little."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"A very little," Cade teased with a tiny smile. "Guess you found a path or whatever."

He did drugs to block out annoying Force ghosts of ancestors telling him to make better choices. He was in no place to judge.

[suitably_heroic]

"Living on a stupid mudball with no space flight in a tiny apartment and getting up on stage to yell all my fee-fees into a microphone at least once a week while sweaty teenagers beat each other up in the pit," Atton agreed. "Didn't see it coming either."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Fee-fees," Cade repeated slowly. "What the kriff is that word?"

[suitably_heroic]

"It's a ironic way to say 'feelings' that I'm using in this context to reassert that I'm a manly man and keep this conversation from becoming a total cryfest," Atton offered.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"You're forty, don't use kid slang," Cade said, refilling his glass again, "It makes you seem even older."

[suitably_heroic]

"You're thirty-something, you don't get to lecture me on my language," Atton said. "Wait and see if you make it to fifty, first."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I'm thirty something and that's how I know you sound ridiculous," Cade said. "If you have to scream about your feelings to smelly teenagers, own it with real words."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rolled his eyes. "I save those for the music, asshole," he said, without heat. He picked up his glass. The whiskey was almost gone.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Tequila?" Cade offered.

[suitably_heroic]

"No, thanks," Atton said. "I don't want to wake up and have to deal with you meeting my boyfriend and a major hangover."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I'm not meeting him tonight?" Cade asked. "Are you ashamed of me?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Always," Atton deadpanned. "But nah. He's a bartender. Unless we clear out of here fast, he's going to be at work by the time we get back."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"And you've been banned from where he works?" Cade guessed.

[suitably_heroic]

"No, but it's fancy as hells and not either of our speed," Atton said. He eyed Cade. "Though I guess I can check if he's in the mood for tacos on the way there..."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"If he's not scared of me," Cade teased.