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

[uncertain_dume]

And now he was hesitating with the pepper just shy of the plate.

"If you're sure?"

Caleb Dume, who was going to have his braid dyed pink because he'd been goaded into it by a pushy girl, was absolutely not going to back down from this one. Not now that he'd been encouraged to do it.

"Do you like them?"

[what_the_shock]

"I do, yeah. I grew up with them, though." Miguel shrugged and showed how he was putting a few of them in his next fajita. "Just take it easy, and spit 'em out if it's too much. Or drink water."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb considered that, considered how Miguel was putting a few into his own food, and then, because some things never changed, he popped the pepper whole right into his mouth and chewed.

... Okay, that wasn't so...

So...

Very slowly and deliberately, with maybe the slightest hint of urgency in his eyes, Caleb was now reaching for the water.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel's eyes were now bugging out. "Slowly! I said go slowly! Are you okay?"

Seriously, he was trying not to facepalm here. "I wasn't lying either, you know."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb's replies were going to be a little limited to humming and waving around of one hand while he occupied his other hand with pulling the water toward himself, and then knocked back... basically the whole glass.

And then popped a couple of ice cubes into his mouth for good measure.

He was fine.

This was clearly the minor emergency that had him completely manage to miss what was going on over on the other side of the diner, right here.

[what_the_shock]

And Miguel was too occupied with facepalming to notice the glass moving on its own.

He just pushed his toward Caleb, too, and waved a little urgently for more.

"Why would you even do that?" Monosyllables weren't going to deter him from asking.

[uncertain_dume]

"Sthoopidity," Caleb said, around a mouthful of too-much-ice. "Deffinithly sthoopidity."

He knocked back Miguel's water too. And then just kind of took a moment to rest his forehead on the table.

"I need bacta for my mouth."

[what_the_shock]

"Bacta?" Miguel asked. "If you were my little brother, I'd smack you." He mimed a mostly-gentle smack on the head. "Eat some of the rice and sour cream; it should help."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb, properly chastened, did just that. Or prepared to do just that, kind of sullenly loading up a fajita with a bunch of rice and a dollop of sour cream, effectively inventing the world's most unfortunate burrito.

And that was the last time Caleb would ever reach for a jalapeno.

"But," he said, "now I know?"

Yes. Very well.

[what_the_shock]

"There are easier ways, but sure," Miguel agreed.

That was the worst burrito ever, Caleb.

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb was absolutely not winning any great burrito awards, nope. And the look on his face while he took a bite suggested that he might actually prefer rations over what was currently residing in his mouth.

"I can never be trusted with Earth food again."

That was the real takeaway, here.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe just trust Earth people about food." Then, thinking of some people he knew... "Okay, maybe not. But at least trust them if they say not to do something." That was probably safe.

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb nodded his agreement before sullenly committing himself to finishing his regret burrito.

"That, I can do."

[what_the_shock]

Sorry, Caleb; you'd made that regret burrito; it was yours to eat. Miguel was eating his.

"Did you like it before it started killing you?" he asked, curious.

[uncertain_dume]

"Before it attacked the inside of my mouth like it was made of burning plasma? Yeah," Caleb admitted. "It had a good flavor to it. Crisp and fresh before it demonstrated that it's actually made of hate."

Seriously. Bacta mouthwash. It'd make a fortune.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel laughed. "Okay, so try just a little," he emphasized. "Maybe cut it. Take the small bits and put them in with everything else."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb gave Miguel a really dubious look before reaching for another pepper.

"... Okay. I'm going to trust you."

Mostly because the regret burrito was worse than the pain that had inspired it.

[what_the_shock]

"I'm not lying, either," Miguel assured him. "Just small bits. Here." He made another burrito for himself, cutting a pepper up smaller than he usually did and putting everything else in it, too.

[uncertain_dume]

Meanwhile, Caleb was opening up the last dregs of the regret burrito in order to place some cut-up pepper into it, too. And then reaching for some other assorted veggies. Nothing else that was particularly pepper-shaped. And stuffing another shrimp in there too.

Basically, he'd need to use the Force just to hold this thing together.

[what_the_shock]

That was a lesson he'd have to learn on his own; Miguel was picking his battles here.

"That'll make it better," he said instead, nodding.

Regret burritos were awful.