The Nerf Nest, Two Levels Below The Surface, Coruscant, Saturday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Not every dining establishment on Coruscant had the privilege of being housed on the top level; the Nerf Nest was hidden away in a street some two levels down. It was nice, though. Sunlight still reached this place. Also, the slightly longer walk was good for Sparkle, considering Atton had slightly toned down the workout today.

He had to make up for that somehow.

He felt a little lighter, being back here. It was weird. This week had felt like he was sliding back into whatever hole he'd been in last year, with an extra dose of weird paranoia. Kinda like the island was tired, and it was taking it out on Atton, or something.

Whatever. It was good to be out of that for a minute. He was having a hard enough time repressing the fact he was turning thirty today without the island messing with his head.

"I like this place," he said, as he stepped into the restaurant properly. "Doesn't get all pretentious about the layout or the music, but the food's great."

[[ for the kid. ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

And Atton didn't wanna be thirty, but life wasn't fair, all right?!

The shoplifting, though, well, he wasn't going to judge Sparkle's life choices. He was an excellent role model that way.

"Eugh," he said. "Sorry about that. Guess that means it's off to Baltimore next time, right? I mean, there's got to be less telepaths or whatever watching you there."

ATTON.

[myownface]

AND THIS WAS WHY SPARKLE LIKED ATTON.

"Way less telepaths," Sparkle agreed, quirking a little grin. "I'm just, like, getting rusty, I guess. The island spends years convincing me that there's no sport in it because it has trouble grasping that actions have consequences, and so I got sloppy. I'll do better in Baltimore."

[suitably_heroic]

"Where at least you know messing up is going to have consequences," Atton supplied. "Stupid island likes to lull people into a fake sense of security, Force."

He should know.

[myownface]

"Right? At least if I'm stealing shit in Baltimore, I know what to expect if I get caught."

Generally, more 'being arrested' and less 'extortion.' Generally.

[suitably_heroic]

"Exactly." Beat. "Though don't get caught. Bad idea."

[myownface]

"Yeah, got that memo," Sparkle replied, wrinkling his nose and rolling his eyes as the waiter came back to the table with their food. "Like, I always long suspected that getting caught doing something stupid was a bad idea. It's good to have that clarified for me."

[suitably_heroic]

"And that's why I'm the teacher, and you're the little punk who left me TA-less so you could microwave brownies," Atton supplied, picking up his knife.

This was a nicely-sized nerf steak. It would do.

... It was big.

[myownface]

"In fairness, they were some pretty kickass brownies," Sparkle offered. "I'll make you some, sometime."

He wouldn't even smuggle any kale or anything into them. Just for you, Atton.

[suitably_heroic]

"The way you go on, I'm a little scared I'm gonna wind up coming home to a house full of food some day," Atton said contemplatively.

Don't be scared, Atton. You had a pint-sized chef who did home cooking at your disposal, come on.

[myownface]

"Such hardship," Sparkle snorted, "having food. Man, if I had a dollar for all the times I had to tolerate coming home to a house full of food..."

He'd still be a poor kid. Funny how that worked.

[suitably_heroic]

There was a certain art to complaining Atton had perfected! He just had to keep flexing that muscle to keep it usable, y'know.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he muttered, cutting into his steak. "Fine, I'll kick some grocery money your way some time, or something."

[myownface]

"Wouldn't complain if you did," Sparkle replied, giving Atton a crooked smile. "I'd even stop bringing you spite-broccoli, if you did."

Probably.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton pulled a face. "Death to broccoli, Sparks," he said. "Death. To. Broccoli."

Yeah, that was nice and spooky, mr. I Used To Be An Assassin In Another Life.

"By the way, nice job breaking into my apartment without screwing up the lock the other time. I would've mentioned it at the time, but I was a little busy."

What with the getting his head kicked in and everything.

[myownface]

"Yeah, well. I try not to fuck up the doors of people I actually like if I can help it," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. Apartment locks are easy, just so long as they're not like those digital key-card ones."

Because then he had to steal somebody's card, and around the island, that was difficult.

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah, the digital key card ones are easy," Atton said. "You just have to figure out how to slice them. Get in a scanner, maybe..."

[myownface]

"... Seriously, I have to learn how to slice. I am missing out on this entire world of breaking-and-entering because I can't do this magic lock-hackery that you can do."

He wanted to remedy this!

[suitably_heroic]

"Maybe once you manage a push-up without collapsing and wheezing like you just ran a marathon, we'll work on that," Atton said, shrugging. He took another bite of his nerf steak. "I could probably just give you a key for the time being, though."

What with the whole food situation.

[myownface]

"... That works too," Sparkle decided with a shrug, reaching for his spoon. "I mean, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me picking your lock all the time, anyway."

Though it was kind of fun, trying to do it without getting caught.

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, if you're into getting caught now, you can just keep breaking into the place until my bushy-eyebrowed brooder of a landlord finds out," Atton said.

Derek probably wouldn't rough Sparkle up too bad, if he cared at all?

[myownface]

"Think he'd let me off the hook if I offered to tweeze those for him?"

Sparkle wanted nothing more in this world than to help people with their hopeless eyebrows.

[suitably_heroic]

People with hopeless eyebrows were tragic. It was true. Atton could even agree with that because his eyebrows were remarkably unscruffy for a guy who was, well, scruffy.

"Think he'd kick your ass and launch you out of the building," Atton mused. "And then the groceries would get stuck outside in the hall and start rotting. Nobody needs that."

[myownface]

"Yeah, but then they'd be his problem, and it serves him right for kicking me out when I'm clearly breaking in to deliver shit," Sparkle reasoned. "And anyway, free eyebrow tweezing."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, maybe the eyebrows are a point of pride," Atton said. "Or an old family shame. You don't know what you're walking into, there."

See, this kind of shit ping-pong was the distraction he needed.

[myownface]

You and Sparkle both, really, Atton.

"Yeah, I guess. Though if they're a family shame, that's all the more reason to do something about them, right? Like, last I checked, eyebrows weren't actually difficult to tweeze."

Also, did you know that saying the word 'tweeze' a lot made it lose all meaning pretty quickly?

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't know, never had to do it."

He'd just been born with freakishly neat eyebrows. It happened.

"Though I'd pay good credits to see you running after the guy with a pair of tweezers."