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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Mar 23, 2020 3:39:41 GMT -5
She laughed a little at his comment about Scarsdale. It didn’t surprise her that he didn’t really know it, she didn’t know why she would have expected him to. It was a small place, and even though it was rich it wasn’t that important really and not much happened there.
“If you want to think that I’ll let you,” she replied “it’s not far from the border with Connecticut, actually. Less than an hour from Bridgeport.”
If TJ wanted to believe it was some super tough, lawless place, Val wasn’t going to spoil his fun. The reality was a lot less exciting, after all. Besides, he’d eventually learn about Scarsdale some other way. If he mentioned that Val had grown up there to any of the other detectives (which she hoped he didn’t) they’d set him straight. They’d also know Val had grown up with plenty of money, which wasn’t ideal because she didn’t like people knowing anything about her backstory, but she could deal with it.
For now it was better to let TJ think she’d grown up in some rough neighbourhood than to let him think she’d grown up with a pretty perfect suburban life. To let him know the truth would only invite more questions about why she was like she was, and why she’d let that life go.
She listened to him talking about how busy New York was, how there weren’t any stars. That was true, the sky never had any stars at night; she missed that about Scarsdale too, though she knew she wouldn’t have seen as many stars there as TJ did back on the farm in Connecticut. But that’s when he said something that surprised her, stating innocently that she and the sky had a lot in common.
That almost made her heart stop. What did that mean? Was he calling her beautiful? It seemed that way but she couldn’t tell, he was being so casual and innocent about the whole thing it was almost as if he hadn’t said it. She was confused and flustered and not sure how to react, but she didn’t want to let TJ know any of that, so she did her best to pull herself back together and say something.
“I can imagine how lovely it must be out there,” Val said “no wonder you miss it.”
But she needed to change the subject before he started casually comparing her eyes to stars or something and she had a complete meltdown.
“So how is the 99 working out for you?” she asked “I know it can take a little getting used to, and the others can be a little intense sometimes, but everyone’s really nice and you get used to it all eventually.”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 23, 2020 15:08:52 GMT -5
As soon as the door opened, Boston Waldo grinned at Antoine, waving at Paloma and Joya as he entered. “Hi Antoine, hi Paloma, hi Joya!” He greeted each of them, about to reach over and pet Paloma when he stopped. She was a big dog and he should probably wait to pet her until he was sitting down. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t pet Joya too.
Reaching down, he smiled at the French bulldog and pet her for awhile before nodding to Antoine and following him into the living room. Boston Waldo always enjoyed coming here, it was a lot nicer than his own place. Which he knew he shouldn’t complain, he knew his father was working hard to make sure they had a roof over their heads and he was always going to be grateful for that.
It was also just...nice to come somewhere so fancy.
He felt like he should be wearing something a bit more fancy as well, instead of just his hoodie, but at least no one really seemed to mind.
Though that didn’t stop him from taking off his shoes before entering.
It was only polite.
Sitting down on the couch, Boston Waldo smiled and waved at Jules. “Hi Jules!” He greeted happily. Honestly, he liked Jules, he was Antoine’s cool older brother and was also a detective like Boston Waldo’s uncle Norman was. He was pretty sure they worked at the same place too, which was also awesome, they were probably best buds at work.
Looking back to Antoine, Boston Waldo shook his head lightly. “Oh no, don’t worry about Paloma, I wanna say hi to her too-“ he started, cutting himself off as the door opened and in came a familiar girl.
Boston Waldo grinned. “Dorothy! Hi!” He greeted, already making his way back over to her. He’s missed Dorothy, she was a lot of fun and even though their friendship had started off a little rocky, he liked to think they were pretty good friends now. “What kind of smoothies did you get?” He asked her, offering to help take some off her hands if she needed.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 23, 2020 15:24:35 GMT -5
TJ nodded along in agreement with Val. “Oh yeah, the 99 can be a little...intense,” he said instantly, the words rolling off his tongue just a little too fast not to have plenty to say about the subject.
Leaning back slightly, TJ thought back to an experience he had had earlier that day.
~ ~ ~
He had just been at his desk, working on some paperwork from the last case he had done when Norman asked him a question.
“So what’s your favorite kind of donut?”
TJ looked up in surprise. “Huh?” He questioned with a raised brow, Norman didn’t usually ask him questions. In fact they usually just sat in silence while doing their work with TJ occasionally trying to start up a conversation that Norman did not personally seem interested in.
“What’s your favorite kind of donut?” Norman repeated, looking up at him expectantly.
Still being a little caught off guard, TJ shrugged in response. “I don’t really know if I have one-“ he started, only to get cut off by Norman as the man across from him sent him a look of sheer determination that TJ would admit he was a little intimidated...but only a little.
“Everyone has a favorite flavor, stop trying to avoid the question-“
“I’m not avoiding anything-“
“Don’t lie to me, yes you are, now what is it?”
“I don’t-“
What. Is. It?”
TJ threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine!” He exclaimed in exasperation. “Chocolate, I guess!” He said, probably a little too loudly since a couple officers chatting near by turned their heads to look at them.
Norman was leaning over his desk by now in and attempt to be at a better eye level with TJ. “Sprinkles or no sprinkles?” He questioned, voice so serious that okay, TJ would admit it was beginning to get a little hard to take him seriously.
However he really didn’t want to continue the donut conversation. “No sprinkles, they’re too crunchy,” he decided with a small nod of his head.
That seemed to be enough for Norman as the short man slid back into his chair and started typing something up on his computer as if nothing had happened. “There, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” He asked without looking back at TJ.
~ ~ ~
TJ blinked, pushing the memory out of his mind as he looked back at Val. “Do the others ever um...calm down at all or are they always that intense?” He asked her with a sheepish smile.
So far, his experience with everyone in the 99 had been pretty...extreme, if he said so himself. The only exceptions to this were probably Cat and N.
He wasn’t exactly complaining, just preparing himself for whatever he was about to get into.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Mar 23, 2020 16:28:54 GMT -5
At TJ’s question about whether the others calmed down, Val paused for a moment, considering her own experiences in the 99.
——————
Val was sitting at her desk, and glanced across the precinct. She could see Norman sitting at his desk, talking to a civilian, an elderly woman. His expression looked so serious and attentive that Val couldn’t possibly resist yelling across the precinct at him, as she did often. But as Norman was with a civilian and looked so serious, she just knew she had to yell something as embarrassing as possible.
“Hey, Walters!” she yelled across to him “has your foot fungus healed yet?”
Norman shot a glare across to her from his seat, looking more than a little annoyed. But this, like always, was all in good fun. Soon he had a triumphant little smirk on his face
“I don’t know, Ruiz, how’re your fleas? You got rid of them all yet?”
“Asshole,” Val shot back
“Wet sock,” Norman retorted
When Val gave him a confused look, Norman just shrugged
“I like to be creative with my insults and nobody likes a wet sock,” he explained, “so I think I win”
—————
“For the last time...” Norman was sighing irritatedly “What’s your favourite donut?”
Val was sitting in one of the interview rooms in front of a table, Norman on the other side with both hands on the table.
“One, I don’t know why you want to know,” Val responded “and two, I’m not telling you.”
“Goddamit, Ruiz,” Norman groaned “it’s just a donut. Tell me your favourite donut.”
Val leaned forward in her chair, fixing her gaze on Norman.
“You’ll never take me alive.”
Norman let out a very frustrated noise, slamming his hand against the table, before catching sight of the clock on the wall. The determined glint that had been in his eye the whole time grew brighter.
“Listen, Ruiz,” Norman said “it’s five minutes until the end of our shift. Now I know we’re both stubborn and we’d sit here all night if we had to. Or you could just tell me your favourite freaking donut and we can both go home.”
Val seemed to think about it for a moment, but eventually sighed defeatedly and sat back in her chair.
“A plain glazed donut or a cinnamon donut,” she replied
Norman smiled triumphantly
“We got there.”
—————
And that was just Norman, that wasn’t even the others. Just earlier that day Callie had casually been propelling herself across the bullpen on a wheely chair using a fire extinguisher, claiming it was her new method of transport and she would use it chasing down criminals too.
“Um... not really,” she admitted “it’s less them calming down and more you getting used to it. Like when you stop smelling a bad smell after long enough.”
“All jokes aside though,” she added “you’ll be fine. They’re intense, but they’re all great.”
Not that she’d ever say that in front of them because that set a dangerous precedent of complimenting people.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 2:14:12 GMT -5
Ah, well it was good to know this was just how they were all the time. It wasn’t like TJ’s old precincts had been any less weird...well maybe a little, but they had still been weird. Like one time, back at the 85, he had seen these two partners compete for like an hour to try and both prove that their way of doing this was best...and to get the last slice of pizza, which had been the whole reason they started the whole thing in the place, after getting into an argument over the combination of ranch with pizza. Personally, TJ didn’t really care either way.
Pizza was pizza, what did it matter if there was ranch or not?
In the end though, his old partner - detective Darcy Atwaters - had gotten tired of the whole thing and ate the slice of pizza herself.
Though, even compared to the 85, TJ would have to say that the 99 was a little more...chaotic. Kind of like what happened when you put a bunch of misfit gremlin kids together to be raised by some old rich guy that had a chimp butler and raised them all to be superheroes, therefore screwing up their lives so badly that it ended up with the end of the world because he didn’t properly know how to raise children without messing them up.
Except obviously, way less extreme than that.
“Noted,” TJ said shortly. He’d just have to get used to the 99.
He didn’t think it would be hard to do though, after all, it was rare that he actually found a group whose chaotic energy matched his well enough that he didn’t immediately ruin their relationship within the first five minutes of knowing a person.
Suddenly getting an idea, TJ leaned back again and sent a sly, mischievous smile up towards Val. “So, on the topic of the 99, I couldn’t help but notice that we’ve got some good looking coworkers-“ was that inappropriate? Probably, but this wasn’t work talk anymore, this was friend talk, and friends could talk about stuff like this. “If you were to rate them from least attractive to most, what would the rankings be?” He asked, flashing her with an impish grin.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Mar 24, 2020 2:52:51 GMT -5
Well, Val hadn’t been expecting that question. She supposed it was a fun question, but also Val hated sharing anything personal. And this was pretty personal stuff, since it was about finding people attractive. She had thought about refusing to answer it, but she realised that TJ would probably be a little stubborn about this and she didn’t really see the point in refusing. Besides, she didn’t think he would tell anyone.
“Really?” she asked, sighing, “alright, fine. So we’re going less attractive to most attractive? Okay but I’m not including Hazel or N because that’s weird. I’ll put Norman first - not because he’s unattractive but because he’s gay and it would feel weird for me to give a ranking when there’s not going to be attraction there. Then Callie, - she’s pretty but not my type. Then Tortie. Then Roswell and Cat tied for third, then Jules. Um.... and then I guess you at the top.”
Now, that was a little embarrassing to admit in front of TJ that she’d put him at the top of the list. She had to look away for a second to hide a blush - and because she didn’t think she could make eye contact with him for a while after saying that. She probably hadn’t even had to include him but she had. Well, it was done now. All she could do was try to make it as casual and not awkward as possible.
So she looked back after a second, knowing she’d have to say something quick before it got awkward.
“If you tell the others those rankings I’ll kill you,” she joked, but she knew he wouldn’t “but now it’s your turn; if you made me rank everyone now you have to do it too.”
Good, now the attention was off her and the pressure all on TJ. She could pretend her whole ranking thing hadn’t happened.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 3:14:19 GMT -5
TJ leaned forward - careful not to squish Cleo - as he listened intently to Val. He wasn’t sure why he was so curious on what she thought of the others, maybe it was because the attractiveness of his coworkers was one of the first things he noticed when he had gotten over his terrible first impression. But whatever the reason, he couldn’t help but nod along in anticipation as Val gave her list.
However all that came to a stop when she finally got up to the number one on her list.
Did he...did he hear her correctly? He was at the top of the list?
TJ’s cheeks warmed up at an alarmingly fast rate. Sure he didn’t think he was ugly or anything, he was a pretty solid 9 - he hated nines but even he knew he wasn’t a 10 - and he would admit that he was pretty confident with his looks. But worthy of being at the top of a list? Val’s list even? That seemed far too good to be true.
Unable to stop the rush of red that flooded his face, TJ stared adamantly down at Cleo, suddenly very interested in her toe beans.
Val thought he was attractive.
For some reason, that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, almost as warm as his face felt on the outside right now. Sure it was nice to get a compliment from anyone, especially if they thought you were good looking, but this...this was different, this was better than just any old compliment from anyone.
It was from Val and it was just...a really, really nice feeling all around.
So wrapped up in his own thoughts, it took TJ a minute to realize Val and twisted the question back at him.
Looking up, TJ tried to calm the heat from his face, clearing his throat. “Oh right, guess I gotta answer it now too, huh?” He asked and let out a thoughtful hum, his cheeks finally cooling down. “Okay well, the bottom of the list is Callie, she’s pretty but she isn’t really my type,” he started. “After that, I’d say Roswell, I dunno, he just isn’t really my type either,” he continued.
Now after Roswell though, things got a little hard.
The group was full of very attractive people, and TJ wasn’t even sure where to go from there.
Thinking about it a little harder, TJ continued. “I guess next would be Norman, he’s really pretty cute but also, slightly terrifying,” he admitted casually. The short redhead was pretty cute, but he’d probably be cuter if he was a little nicer. “Then...I’d say Jules, he’s hot but also my partner and I don’t wanna go down that road,” TJ continued, shrugging slightly.
This is where it got really hard though.
“After him, I’d probably put Cat, and then Tortie, but they’re both pretty close,” TJ stated with a curt nod of his head. Both of them were really attractive, it had been hard to put one above the other.
However now that the others had been rated, there was only one person left.
Clearing his throat again, TJ looked back down to Cleo. “Uh and yeah, guess...guess that puts you on the top of my list too.”
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Mar 24, 2020 8:09:47 GMT -5
Now, Val had of course noticed the blush from TJ when she said he was on the top of her list, but she had been too busy trying to hide her own blushing to say anything or really react. Besides, she still didn’t know how much to read into that. Most people would blush at that compliment, even if they weren’t attracted to the person giving it. Besides she hadn’t exactly known this guy very long.
Listening to TJ talk gave Val time to relax and stop overthinking, but that was entirely ruined when TJ said that Val was at the top of his list too. Which almost gave Val some kind of aneurysm.
Of course, she didn’t think she was ugly. But there were definitely parts of her she was insecure about. Her fluffy curly hair, which she always kept tied back so it was less obvious; she didn’t hate her hair or anything but it made her look kind of cute when it was down and she didn’t like that because cute meant vulnerable. And vulnerable was the one thing Val was most scared to be. And then there were her scars. The one on her elbow was mostly hidden by clothes, as was the scar on her abdomen from an appendectomy. The patches of burn scarring on her chest and right arm were, again, mostly hidden if she wore jackets or long-sleeve shirts. But the one scar that was never hidden was the one on her neck, the scar from her tracheotomy. Most of the team were at the 99 when she had that procedure and they remembered it, but she still didn’t like it. She was very aware of her flaws and insecurities, and yet TJ had still put her on the top of his list.
Of course, he could just be saying that because she’d put him on the top of her list, but then again with the blushing and the compliments it didn’t really seem that way.
It was a good feeling, but a confusing one too. She had been confused enough by her initial feelings about TJ, trying to figure out whether she liked him or not. It had been even more confusing figuring everything out once she knew that she did like him. And now TJ kept complimenting her and it was seeming more and more like he liked her back, which added yet another layer of confusion for Val. Because she didn’t really know what to do with that, or where to go from there. She didn’t think dating people from work was a good idea, after all. But since when had something being a bad idea stopped her?
She was just very confused
Which was why she very quickly, once she’d finished trying to hide another blush, changed the subject.
“So what kind of stuff do you like to do outside of work?” Val asked “any interesting hobbies or anything?”
Or did asking him what he liked to do outside of work make it sound like she wanted to ask him out?
Shit
Everything was a mess
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 24, 2020 11:14:46 GMT -5
Being homeless wasn’t ideal. It was never something Time had ever thought would happen, and he could just go back to his parents, but that wasn’t something he wanted to do. He knew he was being dumb about it, and he knew there was no good reason for him to have run away in the first place. It wasn’t like his parents were bad people. Well, they kinda were, but they weren’t bad to him. If he could just get over himself he’d be able to go back to them, have a home, do something with his life other than run away. But no, he knew he wasn’t going to do that. He was going to remain a cowardly runaway.
These thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind when Norman spoke up, and as soon as his words registered in Time’s mind he froze, eyes going wide as he just stared at Norman as if he had just said something incredibly stupid. It took him a long time until he finally broke the silence he had created. ”...I, no, I’m not-I’m not busy here, but,” he looked over Norman for a quick second, ”you really don’t have to do all this.” Time was an idiot about a lot of things, but he could clearly see where Norman was going with all of this. Time was beyond grateful the other man would even offer some help, but Norman really didn’t need to spend any of his time or money helping Time. There were better things Norman could do with both of those things. Plus, Norman had already bought Time a lemonade to drink, that was plenty help enough already.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 24, 2020 11:15:59 GMT -5
It didn’t take Grace long to find Callie among the growing crowd of people once she had scanned the bar for any signs of her friend. Without missing a beat she made her way over to where Callie was seated, a wide smile pulling at her lips when she saw Callie get up to meet her half way. She returned the hug the other woman initiated, careful to not cause her friend to drop the drink that was in her other hand. It would be a shame to start the night off by being a disaster. Grace had been working on being less of a disaster, she didn’t want to start all that up full force again. Though now wasn’t the time to think about all that. She was here to have a good time with a friend, and a good time she was going to get.
”It’s good to see you too.” Grace returned the statement with ease as she took the seat beside Callie. ”I’ve been good, mostly.” She wasn’t going to go into detail about everything that had been going on in the past week or so. Callie wouldn’t want to listen to Grace’s family drama, and besides, she had come here to have fun, not to wallow in her own worries and stress herself out even more. This was her time to relax and not let anything worry her. How hard could that be? ”And how have you been?” She asked, eyeing Callie for a moment in curiosity. ”Any cool cases you’ve been on lately?” Probably not the most interesting question to ask, but it was a start. Grace was sure things would really get going before long, especially after a few drinks. Speaking of drinks, though.
Grace was quick to order a drink for herself. She was going to start off with one similar to what Callie had, though she actually did prefer beer over any other drink. By the time the night was over she’d probably have a good amount of beer in her system if anything.
Now waiting on her drink, she turned her attention back to Callie, curious to learn how things had been going for her.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 24, 2020 11:16:50 GMT -5
Honestly it would be way too easy for N to stay here the entire day. He had always had a soft spot for cats, especially for cats that had yet to find their one true home. They deserved to be happy and to have people to love on them for the rest of their life, and there was always that part of him that realized he could easily be that person to take care of them. He had the room and the funds to take care of a few more cats, and the longer the gray tabby stayed curled up in his lap the harder it was for him to try and talk himself out of not asking about adoption. Honestly the only thing stopping him was the fact that he hadn’t asked his other two cats, Chameli and Neha, if they’d be okay with adding another cat into the household. He didn’t think Neha would mind, but Chameli was a bit of a wildcard at times.
N was pulled out of his thoughts when he realized that Aria had made it. A soft smile pulled at his lips as he looked up at her and nodded in initial greeting. ”My day couldn’t get any better,” he answered, an actual chuckle slipping into his words. ”This little guy’s pretty friendly, came right up to me the moment I got here really.” As if the gray tabby knew he was being talked about, he gave a content little mrrrrp and then leaned his head up against N’s hand to be petted. The smile from earlier only grew at the feline’s affection, and after giving the tabby a few good scratches behind the ear N looked back up at Aria. As much as he was enjoying the cat, he was here only because he was meeting with Aria so his attention needed to be on her. ”What about you? How has your day been so far?”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 14:25:47 GMT -5
Quite frankly, TJ was more than happy to move on from the conversation about attractiveness, even though he had been the one to bring it up in the first place. He hadn’t really expected it to cause such...interesting outcomes and by now it just felt like a better idea to change the subject, and luckily Val was already one step ahead of him.
When asked about his hobbies, TJ thought about it for a minute. He kind of doubted binge watching shows and eating inhuman amounts of fruit loops and gusher fruit snacks for a couple hours after work counted as a hobby. He just hadn’t had a whole lot of time to really get back into his hobbies yet, that was all. “Um, I dunno, I’m not very interesting outside of work, I walk my dogs, I watch shows, sometimes I play video games, might read a book if I get in the mood,” he explained with a small shrug. He didn’t lead a very interesting life, if he was being honest here.
His life after hours wasn’t full of taking unique yet fun classes, going out and socializing with friends, or putting his time into something that wasn’t going to “rot his brain” according to certain people.
Which, no offense to Luanne from down the road, but he was pretty sure nothing he did nowadays was going to rot his brain any faster than her children’s high pitched screaming did back when he lived in Connecticut.
Pfft, Luanne’s kids were the ones with the rotting brains, not him.
Okay TJ, move away from the Luanne subject before you get yourself all worked up.
Stupid Luanne.
Looking back to Val, TJ smiled slightly and gave a helpless shrug. “Yeah sorry, I’m not very interesting...but if you ever need show recommendations, I’m your man!” He told her and sent her finger guns. “Anyways, what about you, what do you like to do?”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 14:37:56 GMT -5
Norman folded his arms in response to Time’s answer. “Time, you kinda smell bad, you need actual food, and I’m pretty sure the workers here will get suspicious if you stay here all day and slowly drink that one glass of disgusting lemonade,” he remarked, gesturing towards the lemonade. “You don’t have to come with me, but it’s a lot better of an option than staying here, and it would make me feel a lot better if you let me help you,” he added, this time in a bit of a softer voice.
Norman wanted to help people, it was in his nature and one of the reasons he had been so devoted to his work in the first place. There were so many people out there in the world that didn’t have help, and that really needed it. Norman couldn’t do much, even if he wanted to. He hated to admit it but he just didn’t have the money or resources to help people to the extent that he would like.
But this was one case where he could help. Time was clearly in a bad situation here and again, considering he was still here, Norman was left to assume that he didn’t have any plans of helping himself out. So why not take this day he had off to help him? Plus, Norman didn’t really want to go back to his lonely, empty apartment by himself. He’d probably just end up sulking for a bit until he found something to do anyways.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 24, 2020 14:52:38 GMT -5
Yeah, Norman was right there. It had been a few days since Time had last been able to bathe or even wash his clothes. Actual meals were a thing of the past for him, and honestly he could feel that starting to get to him. He had never really been that big of an eater to start with, but his body still needed nutrients and he clearly wasn’t getting enough of them. Then, of course, there was no way he’d be able to sneak another night at the bar. People would get suspicious. Maybe...maybe going with Norman wouldn’t be that bad of an idea.
Now, was it smart for Time to just go with a person he had only just met the night before and had no idea on whether or not Norman was actually somebody he could trust? Not at all, but Norman didn’t seem like the kind of person to pull any malicious moves. He genuinely seemed like he wanted to help. But if something did happen, Time did know how to take care of himself. It wasn’t a part of him that he enjoyed, but he had to admit that sometimes it came in handy. It want exactly smart for Norman the other way around, either. He was taking in somebody who was practically a stranger. Time wouldn’t do anything to harm him, but Norman couldn’t be sure of that.
All that aside though, Time knew Norman had a point, and he felt like it would be a losing battle for him if he tried going against the shorter man.
After a moment of thought, Time nodded, the smallest of smiles pulling at his lips as he looked at Norman with gratitude. ”Alright, I’ll go with you.” Then, in a softer voice, he added, ”Thank you.”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 15:16:16 GMT -5
Feeling the tension drip from his shoulders when Time agreed, Norman offered him a small smile. “Don’t mention it,” he told him and started walking towards the exit, gesturing for Time to follow him.
— — —
The ride over had been a little awkward, but that was too be expected. Honestly the hardest part had been explaining to Leigh who Time was and that she might see him around a little more and not to get suspicious if she did. Norman didn’t necessarily like telling others about his personal life, but he knew that Leigh was bound to find out one way or another, and by now it as just easier to keep her informed.
Unlocking the door to his apartment, Norman gestured for Time to follow him in. “So anyways, this is where I live,” he explained, gesturing widely to the inside of the apartment as he took his shoes and jacket off and placed both in the closet by the door.
Walking further inside, Norman glanced back at Time. “Bathroom is right over there, you’re welcome to take a shower if you want, there should be a spare towel under the sink that you can use,” he added with a small shrug. First thing first was getting cleaned up and eating something. “While you’re doing that, I figure I can make something to eat,” he started, pausing as a thought came to mind. “Before I do that though, any food restrictions I should know about?” He had a friend that was allergic to chocolate, a brother that was lactose intolerant, and now a coworker that had celiac disease, Norman liked to make sure he had options for everyone, regardless of what they could and couldn’t eat.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 24, 2020 16:40:28 GMT -5
The ride to Norman's place wasn't all that bad. It was awkward, sure, but it left Time with a moment to think about some of the things going on. He had known from the second he had left home that things would be difficult. He knew that no matter what happened he wouldn't be prepared for what he had thrown himself into. Time knew he would struggle for a long while, but he knew that, given time, he could help himself and get back on his feet. He could get a job, hopefully, and start saving up so that he could get himself an actual place to live, be able to buy himself food. There were ways he could help himself, he just needed to start trying. Though... Time glanced over at Norman with his mix-matched gaze. Maybe meeting Norman and letting the other redhead help him out was meant to be. Maybe this was fate's way of helping him out a little and giving him a start to turn his life around for the better.
Once they had arrived to Norman's apartment, Time gave the place a good look over, trying to memorize where things were so he wouldn't make a complete fool of himself right off the bat. "It's a really nice place," Time commented somewhat absentmindedly as he continued to look around, noticing how spacious it looked. Sure, anything would look incredibly nice to Time after being on the streets for so long, but he honestly did think Norman had a nice apartment.
As Norman went on to explain where the bathroom was and that there should be a spare towel in there already, he nodded in acknowledgement despite still looking around to take everything in. "Should I...do I put my shoes there, too?" Time then asked, nodding toward the closet Norman had put his own shoes in. It was probably a dumb question, but he didn't know the rules of Norman's apartment. What if guests put their shoes somewhere else?
Already a bit on edge just from being in a new place where he didn't know if there were any rules or not, Time wasn't exactly the most helpful in answering Norman's next question. He looked the other man over for a moment as if he didn't hear the question all the way through but didn't want to ask him to repeat it. He actually did get the whole question, and this was where he knew he needed to tell Norman that he had celiac disease, but outwardly he idiotically responded with, "Uh, sandwiches."
Idiot, he instantly snapped to himself.
Hoping he could still save himself from that, he quickly added, "I mean, gluten, can't do it. Which a traditional sandwich falls under that, but yeah." Man, why was he so dumb when it came to being a normal human being? He was awful at this and would probably make for a better lizard or something.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 24, 2020 20:56:55 GMT -5
“Hmm? Oh the shoes,” Norman started, glancing back over to him as Time asked about the shoes. “Uh yeah, go ahead, I mean I don’t really care either way but you’re gonna have to take your shoes off eventually anyways,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. At some point the shoes would have to come off and Norman didn’t really care where they went after that, but the closet was a good option.
Besides it wasn’t like they get their shoes mixed up or anything.
Norman’s feet...they were small. There really wasn’t anything big about him though, everything was small, and frankly, it was actually pretty hard to find shoes in his size.
But anyways, that wasn’t the point.
Norman tilted his head to the side when Time said he couldn’t eat sandwiches.
That was...vague, to say the least. What part of a sandwich could he not do? Literally anything could be a sandwich if you tried hard enough, that wasn’t a very solid answer.
Ah there it was.
Gluten.
That made much more sense.
Smirking, Norman slowly started towards the kitchen. “Well lucky for you, I’ve been practicing with gluten free food recently, so I have some stuff in stock,” he told him as he entered his kitchen.
He had been practicing so that he could actually start bringing food for TJ at work as well. It wasn’t uncommon for Norman to bring food - both desserts and other - to work and share it with everybody there, and well...he liked including people, and TJ couldn’t do gluten, so Norman had done his research and was ready to experiment. He already had with a couple things, though...
Norman thought back to the first attempt at gluten free pasta he had made.
An attempt that had ended up in the trash.
He still had a long ways to go.
Luckily, he was getting better, and he had enough stuff to make an actual meal for Time. “Hope you like spaghetti, because that’s the gluten free food I’m currently trying to master right now,” Norman called out to Time, figuring he should get started on that.
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Post by CreamCrow on Mar 25, 2020 2:12:03 GMT -5
Antoine welcomed her in, really glad Jules now had actually taken Paloma under the idea that smoothies falling because Paloma had no concept of personal space, moving to close the door behind her given her arms were filled with smoothies. "Dorothy! Welcome to the house!"
"Tu casa es mi casa, Antoine, I hope you know that," she responded off the bat with a grin, before moving to hand him one of the smoothies and continuing to saunter inside. He couldn't help but laugh at her response- he was just glad she was actually picking up on and learning Spanish like he had been trying to get her to for a while now. Though, he absolutely counted it as cheating because she just used a more famous phrase, adjusted.
Still, he shrugged and looked at hi drink before following her further inside. In response to B.W., she said, "Only the best ones." She was wearing a grin as she moved to hand a smoothie to B.W. before continuing, "Strawberry orange for the boy with two names, excessive chocolate for the other kid here. Host gets mango, and don't worry it has the boost, you adult you. I get the peanut butter- and don't worry B.W., your dad got an orange smoothie as well. I keep my smoothies organized and well." She handed one to Jules in the process of it all before moving to plop on the couch with a grin and gave a thumbs up to Jules.
Apparently Antoine's older brother understood and let Paloma go, wherein she immediately lept towards the couch to say hi to the two guest's in excitement. Antoine laughed and moved to join them on the couch.
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Post by CreamCrow on Mar 25, 2020 2:54:40 GMT -5
"How sweet," Aria said, looking at the little creature. Hopefully, now that she was seated, more cats would choose to come over. It wasn't everyday after all that you had a natural cat charmer with you at the cat cafe. Cause sure, at a cat cafe, cats were everywhere and often looking for attention.... but then some days, there was the cat person there that all cats are drawn to, and unless you're near or with them, the cats are less likely to visit. Overall, Aria was winning by sitting with N.
Then the question was turned on her. "It's been fine. I've been looking forward to this all day though, so I am hyped to be here. Sometimes, solitary confinement at your house just can't beat the reality that is people." It would suck if she ever had to stay home forever, even if she was fine with chilling by herself, that would be so boring. "But really, it's been a little unexciting for a while. I need to find something to do again in a consistent sort of way that gives me the same thrill I had the precinct."
It still sucked what happened. She didn't regret everything that went on back then, but it was one of those things that she couldn't exactly come back from. She still hated that day where she had to sign resignation forms and leave. But a girl couldn't do much when they were classified to be unfit to do anything in three different ways. Who didn't just love addictions, bullet-caused concussions, and prosthetics. Well, Aria didn't.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 25, 2020 15:01:26 GMT -5
Boston Waldo took his smoothie with a smile, instantly grabbing the straw and taking a drink of it. Yep, orange strawberry, the best combination out there, next to Boston and Waldo of course.
Smiling contently, Boston Waldo followed Antoine and Dorothy to the couch, nudging Dorothy slightly. “You’re the best, I much prefer getting smoothies from you instead of having my smoothie stolen,” he teased slightly with a light chuckle. It was still weird for him to think that there had been a time he hadn’t liked Dorothy, and had even downright disliked her.
Which, to be fair, that’s sort of what happened when you were just hanging out at the mall with your father and some random girl runs by and steals your smoothie. But that was all in the past, now he considered Dorothy one of his best friends. Dorothy and Antoine.
They were like those cool trios in books and movies.
Sitting down on the couch, Boston Waldo drank more of his smoothie before he looked over at his two friends. “So what do you guys wanna do?” He questioned, tilting his head to the side as he looked at them.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 25, 2020 23:51:18 GMT -5
Okay, so apparently Norman wasn’t very picky about where shoes went. Some people were picky about that, and he wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case here. Either way, he now knew where he could put his shoes until he needed them next time.
With that answered he made to take off his shoes, putting them neatly in the closet. Time couldn’t help but look at his socks for a moment, glad to see that they didn’t look all that worn out just yet. Hopefully he could keep them around for a while longer.
Socks aside, Time now had to live with the fact that he had messed up. He had fixed it, but he was sure he still sounded like a dumb idiot to Norman. If anything, at least Norman didn’t fixate on that and instead simply went on with the conversation as if that whole sandwich mishap had never happened. It was reassuring to hear that the other man had been working with making gluten free food already.
As he was taking his leave to go shower, he heard Norman call back out to him. He stopped, hearing the question that was thrown over to him. Time...honestly didn’t have an opinion on spaghetti. Sandwiches had pretty much been the only thing he had eaten back home. Every now and then his dad would have a go at making burritos, but that was still basically just a sandwich in a different form. ”Yeah, that works, it sounds good.” Or, well, he thought it sounded good.
Before leaving for good to take a shower, Time gave one last look to Norman, a faint smile on his face. ”Thanks for doing all this, it...it means a lot.”
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 25, 2020 23:51:39 GMT -5
N couldn’t help but feel at peace with the little cat on his lap. He had always enjoyed the animals, and honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t been to a cat cafe before this. Well, now he was at one and that was what mattered. Now the problem with that would be he’d make going to the cat cafe a regular hobby. If he kept that up he’d end up adopting all the cats to the point the cat cafe couldn’t get anymore in time and they’d just have to revert to being a normal cafe. N never thought he’d be somebody that would ruin a business, but here he was.
Hearing Aria’s response to the question he had turned on her, N nodded in acknowledgement. He could only imagine how boring it would be staying cooped up all day. Don’t get him wrong, he loved having days off where he could just spend time with his cats, but even on his days off he tended to get out and do something. ”I can see how that could get boring pretty quick,” he commented. If anything though he was glad that he could help break the monotony of her day to day life. It was the least he could do for her.
Continuing to pet the tabby, N tried to think of ways that would be easy for Aria to get rid of some of the boredom she had. ”You could always get a cat,” he pointed out, more of a teasing joke than anything. Cats were a big responsibility, and while N himself had no problem taking care of them, they weren’t for everybody and he understood that. On a more serious note, though, he added, ”Maybe one day you could come and visit the precinct. I’m sure everybody would enjoy that.” Obviously work would still have to be done even if she did that, but N felt like it would be nice to have her come and visit for at least part of a day if anything.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 26, 2020 4:11:39 GMT -5
Norman offered Time a smile in response. “Happy to help,” he told him with a small nod before turning his attention back to the kitchen.
Now he didn’t know how long Time would be, but he had enough to do to occupy him until then.
Grabbing a container of the gluten free noodles he had made the other day - store bought was a waste of his talents - he got to work on boiling the water. He had actually made spaghetti pretty frequently recently, trying to perfect the recipe, including making the noodles, cooking them, the sauce - also homemade - and everything else. His newest chef’s book - he needed a new one for gluten free recipes - was already chalked full of notes on how to make it better.
However at least for right now, he couldn’t do anything until the water was boiling, so he started to wait around, glancing towards the bathroom door and wondering how long Time would take.
That’s when something occurred to him.
Wouldn’t Time need...clothes?
A perplexed look spread across his visage. Yes clothes were generally something people needed, unless they were a nudist and Norman didn’t really want a nudist in his home, even if it was an attractive nudist.
Luckily, he was already pretty sure that Time was not a nudist.
Not luckily, now he needed to figure out clothes for the other man.
Casting a glance to the pot, Norman reasoned with himself that he had time to check his closet.
He probably didn’t have anything that would fit Time, but for now he’d just have to grab the biggest clothes he had and figure something else out later.
— — —
After finding an outfit - a baggy (on him) gray sweatshirt with matching pants - he folded it neatly in front of the bathroom door and began to focus on the meal again, waiting until Time was out of the shower.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Mar 29, 2020 13:27:58 GMT -5
“That’s okay, it’s hard to find time to do things to do outside of work,” Val said with a shrug “I understand that.”
The job could be unpredictable, could be long hours. Val totally understood that. Hell, she’d given up a life of leisure, a life where she had a trust fund, life as a socialite. She wouldn’t have it any other way and she didn’t regret her decision in the slightest, but she still could see how much this job took sometimes. It was hard work.
At TJ’s joke about show recommendations, Val gave a little chuckle.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she smiled “I’d be happy to hear them.”
When he asked her though, she responded first by shrugging.
“Oh, I guess like you I don’t have much time outside of work anymore. I ride my bike, I read, watch TV. Sometimes my friend Finn wants me to watch one of his gigs. Kickboxing classes once a week.” she replied
She loved her kickboxing. It and her regular morning runs helped keep her fitness up; her lungs weren’t great and she had to work hard to keep them healthy and her lung capacity good. Plus the kickboxing was good for her job and for self-defence.
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 30, 2020 21:51:38 GMT -5
”Kickboxing huh? Cool,” TJ told her and leaned back lightly, lifting a knee up to rest his arm against it. TJ hadn’t ever done kickboxing before, but to be fair, he just hadn’t ever been super big on sports and stuff in the first place. He played soccer though, and he enjoyed basketball even if he was pretty bad at it. “Maybe you can teach me some kickboxing moves at some point, I bet it’s fun,” he commented with a small, casual shrug.
He might end up really enjoying kickboxing if he ever tried it out.
Glancing around for a moment, TJ looked back to Val, letting the silence hold in the air for a minute or so before he continued. “So not that I don’t enjoy sitting on your floor, but you kinda sounded like you had some ideas earlier, but if you wanna just hang out and talk, that works too,” TJ started and offered Val a warm, friendly smile. “I like getting to know you,” he finished.
Honestly he was happy with whatever Val wanted to do, he was just happy in general that anyone from work actually wanted to hang out with him once the work day was over.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Mar 31, 2020 1:40:08 GMT -5
Let it be known that Time was not very good at thinking things all the way through. Seeing the bigger picture was not his forte, and that was, once again, making itself known because halfway through his shower he realized he didn't have a set of clean clothes. Well, that was just great. He could put on what he had been wearing, but they weren't clean, though it wasn't like he could just go out there naked. Maybe if he was lucky he could borrow something from Norman. He'd rather have his own clothes and not have to make the other man give up anymore than he already had, but there really wasn't much else Time could do right now.
It wasn't long before Time was out of the shower. He found the spare towel and wrapped it around him before looking down at his dirty clothes. Putting them back on would kind of defeat the purpose of taking a shower since they’d just get him dirty again. Maybe he could just ask Norman if he had any spare clothes that might fit. The worst the other man could say was no. Taking a moment to get over the nerves, Time unlocked the bathroom door and peeked his head outside. Just as he was about to call out for Norman he spotted a pile of clean clothes placed neatly in front of the door. Assuming Norman has left the clothes out for him, Time picked them and headed back into the bathroom to change.
The clothes weren’t that bad of a fit. They were small, but for once Time was lucky that he wasn’t at his normal weight right now. Not having a lot to eat made it easier to fit into the clothes.
Once he was dressed he stepped back out of the bathroom and headed for the kitchen. ”Hey, thanks for the clothes, I...didn’t think about that before, and, uh, should I just keep my dirty ones in the bathroom or?”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Mar 31, 2020 3:33:48 GMT -5
By the time that Time was out of the shower, Norman had just added the noodles into the boiling water, and thus his attention was mostly on the food he was preparing, but he did spare a second to look over at Time. “It’s no problem, I figured you’d need something to wear,” he explained, pausing for a second as he looked Time over. The clothes were small on him, which wasn’t surprising to Norman, but luckily they didn’t seem to be too short.
“Sorry about the clothes, I’m uh...” Norman glanced down at himself before looking back towards Time. “I’m not exactly that tall,” he admitted almost sheepishly as he turned his attention back to the food.
His height was a bit of a...bit of a sensitive subject for him. He was short for anyone in general, but especially for a guy, and it certainly didn’t help that a majority of people he knew were a lot taller than him, which wasn’t hard to do considering he was barely scratching 5’0”.
Not to mention...he wasn’t very big in general either, he didn’t even weigh a solid hundred pounds and hadn’t ever been able to actually make it up to that weight either. So his clothes were just...small, kind of like he was. Still, they weren’t the worst fit on Time...though they were also the biggest clothes Norman had, which probably helped.
Clearing his throat, Norman changed the subject. “As for your dirty clothes, there’s a hamper in the bathroom that you can put them in, then tomorrow we can get them cleaned up,” he told him, eyes focused on the cooking noodles as he slowest stirred the contents in the pot.
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Lesbian
#ACEBF6
Name Colour
Feathertalon
Bird Overlord
unofficial chicken whisperer
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Post by Feathertalon on Apr 2, 2020 3:51:50 GMT -5
Time was glad Norman had thought that through. While he also had it had taken him until right before getting in the shower and it had been a little too late to do anything about it. It was a good thing Norman had thought about it when he had. ”It’s fine.” It wasn’t like the clothes were terribly small on him. They weren’t the best fit, but they were manageable. ”I’m just glad you had something I could borrow.” He needed to get himself new clothes at some point. It would have been a good idea to bring some with him and carry them around somehow, but of course he hadn’t thought about that; Time hadn’t thought about much before he had just left. He had left as fast as he could, and that meant he had forgotten all about getting anything essential.
Back to his dirty clothes, though, Time nodded when he heard Norman mention the hamper. ”Right, yeah.” He had noticed it in there but he wasn’t going to just throw his clothes in there without making sure it was okay to do so. Now knowing that he could, he made his way back to the bathroom and put his dirty clothes in the hamper. Once that had been done he made his way back to the kitchen, now curious about the spaghetti Norman was making.
Not wanting things to get awkward and silent, Time nodded toward the pot of cooking noodles. ”You know, I’ve never actually had spaghetti before.”
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Apr 2, 2020 15:14:33 GMT -5
Still stirring the noodles - he had discovered that gluten free noodles always seemed to clump if you didn’t watch them - Norman paused when he heard what Time said next. ”You...you haven’t ever had spaghetti?” He questioned, glancing back over at Time, a look of disbelief on his face. Who hadn’t had spaghetti at least once in their life? Well apparently the same guy that came from a family where “Time” was the second most normal name.
Norman honestly hoped he never met Time’s family, they just seemed like a huge train wreck. He could’ve gotten behind it if it was just the weird name things, but spaghetti too? That’s where he drew the line.
”Well, I guess that’s about to change then,” Norman told him and turned his attention back to the noodles. ”It’s almost done, I should have it ready to eat in the next five minutes,” he explained and took a short break from stirring to get the tomato sauce ready and put the parmesan cheese, salt, and butter out on the counter before he returned to the pot.
Once the noodles were cooked, he drained the water and set it all aside, grabbing two plates and a couple utensils.
”So do you want anything with it? Cheese, salt, butter?” he asked, gesturing to the things he had put out as he looked over at Time.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Apr 5, 2020 4:17:53 GMT -5
“Sure,”’ Val said with a chuckle at TJ’s suggestion that she teach him some kickboxing moves sometime, “as long as you use the power for good and not for evil.”
There wa silence for a few moments. Val kind of enjoyed this. She felt comfortable around TJ, more so than she did with most people. He was easy to talk to, and she never felt like he would judge her, or that he wanted to pry into Val’s past or person life. She didn’t trust people very easily. She trusted her coworkers, she had to. But she also felt like TJ was someone she could trust.
Then the silence was broken when TJ spoke up and reminded Val that yes, they were probably supposed to be doing something.
“Oh, right, yeah,” she replied “well it was kind of up to what you wanted to do really. There are lots of places in walking distance of here I could take you to, so whatever you want.”
Val didn’t mind and was happy to go with whatever TJ wanted. They could go to that bar if he wanted. But she didn’t want to go anywhere outside of walking distance because she didn’t want to make TJ have to ride her bike again. He really hated it.
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