Luke's Diner, Thursday

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Ugh. That jerky white kid was back at the house again this morning. After the...issue...that had arisen when Alec, Jerkface, and Weird Girl had woken up sharing a bed, Alec had been more than happy to spend all of yesterday avoiding them, even if that had meant participating in the paintball thing. But he hadn't had any of his fake credit cards or IDs on him, so he'd ended up going back to the house last night.

To find Jerkface also there. Ugh. And he thought Weird Girl might have been around, too, but she was fast and kinda creepy, so it wasn't like he'd gone looking.

So Alec was out of the house as soon as he was up (at the crack of noon!), casually swiping one of the expensive laptops that had been lying around. Maybe if he could hack into that (maybe? HA!), he could get himself an ID and a cash stream and away from the house. Before Jerkface could decide to beat him up for, like, existing or whatever.

The sign on the restaurant's window caught his eye:

Today's Specials
Yeah, we know you don't have money. Come in and get a meal and pay us back next week. Unless you're Eliot, Hardison, Miguel, or Kanan Caleb. You gotta work.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
Shrimp Fajitas (You're welcome, adults)

Free food? Ish? Alec was going to worry about why he was singled out later. He was going in to peel some potatoes and get a huge helping of spaghetti and meatballs.

[Content Warning for a physical fight in the Eliot/Hardison thread with underlying homophobic tones. Please practice good self-care when deciding whether to read, my dears.]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'll remember," Alec said, appreciating Caleb's earnestness, even if right now, he was certain it wasn't needed. "And--hey. If you're hungry, just lemme know. I'll make sure you eat something and forget that whole stupid sign."

[uncertain_dume]

"I appreciate that," Caleb replied, still smiling. "Let me consider the menu, and I'll get back to you, okay?"

Maybe he'd recognize something on it yet?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Just stay away from the milk," Alec said in an undertone. "It looked kinda blue."

[uncertain_dume]

...

"What color is it supposed to be?"

What could it possibly be, if not blue?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"...White?" Alec said, with a heavy undertone of 'duh.' "You ain't never had milk before?"

Aww, look. He was so confused, he'd stopped using proper grammar.

[uncertain_dume]

"Sure I have," Caleb replied, blinking. "It's... usually blue. Sometimes it's green."

It depended on what was milked to get that milk.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Ewwww!" Alec said, wrinkling up his nose. "What kinda milk you been drinkin'? Milk is only supposed to be one color! When it turns colors, that's how you know it's spoiled!"

[uncertain_dume]

"Bantha milk, mostly," Caleb replied, not entirely certain how it had come down to being utterly baffled about milk. "You don't have banthas on Earth, huh?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Milk was a very divisive subject. A lot like butter.

"...What's a bantha?"

Probably answered that question, huh?

[uncertain_dume]

Little bit!

"It's an animal that stands about three meters tall? Covered in shaggy hair, with big curly horns?"

They made milk, Alec! Everyone knew what a bantha was!

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Like a cow?" Alec asked. "Wait, I don't think cows have horns. Sheep neither." Bulls and rams, sure, but not cows. Or sheep. "Maybe a goat?"

Did goats get that big?

Either way, he was grabbing a napkin and drawing a credible likeness of several barnyard animals.

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb leaned forward and watched intently as Alec doodled away.

"Those are all really good," he offered, but they're not really bantha-like." He pursed his lips a little. "Maybe take that one," he pointed at the sheep, "and make the hair shaggier? So it hangs all the way down to the ground. Oh, and make the mouth way bigger. And they have a big long tail in the back, almost like a lizard tail, but hairy too."