It was two in the morning and this man walks into a 24-hour diner in what can only be described as I'm-terribly-frightened-but-actually-a-gentle-giant-who-has-a-shiny-metal-arm-that-might-accidently-crush-your-windpipe-so-please-don't-touch-me-or-startle-me look and a black hoodie with the hood up, black jeans, and, to complete the look, black boots. He comes in and sits down at the small booth He always sits at, and the waitress that always serves him comes over. He wants spaghetti. It is two in the fucking morning and this man wants spaghetti. Spaghetti. Of all the things to eat at this hour he wants pasta. A normal person would ask for a burger or maybe some pancakes. But no, it's a great time for spaghetti. He comes into the diner a few times a week at the most random of times, he always sits in the same booth, and is always served by the same waitress.

Everyone on the staff would always try and make up stories as to why he was out so late. This morning's story was made by Jeff, he was the head dish washer and he made the greatest stories. The story this time was,

She works for the government, he's their best agent. He was working on a case about the recent downfall of that organization thing that just went down in the Potomac, he was sent to get information about one of the Hydra agents and see if he could get anything useful out of them. So he went, he spent weeks trying to get a hold of one he could manage to capture and that seemed relatively small so to easily frighten them out of their info. He finally found one and when he went to investigate her, she set him up and he was attacked. He's now on hydra's hit list and he's trying to stay low. He knows that they know he works for the government so he didn't even think about trying to contact them again. He's been driving for 27 hours straight. He's been driving all over the country for weeks, trying to confuse them, and he decided that they'd be looking for her in another state or even in Mexico or Canada. He thought she would be safe here. Now, here's the twist, he's a time traveler. He's been trying to get away from the remaining Hydra agents that survived until 2025 and he traveled back 10 years to save himself. He found this diner a little while ago, but he's been off doing crazy time-travel stuff and this is his favorite place to go to get some cheap food. That's why he's always tired, and that's why he's always here at weird times. He's too tired from all her traveling to even come back at a decent hour so he just goes with it and comes in at two in the morning and asks for spaghetti because in Italy in 1870, where he just came from, they were about to have dinner and he had to leave before someone realized he didn't actually belong there.

It was definitely a great story, but everyone actually wanted to know why he always came in so late. They asked the waitress serving him to sit with him and try and make conversation. He did look pretty lonely and rather jumpy so she decided why not? It wasn't like he was going to strangle her for trying to be nice to him, right? So when his spaghetti is ready to be brought up, she takes it over to him along with a milkshake she made for herself. She brought his food over to him, he gave her a polite nod and started eating like he hadn't in days. When she asked if she could sit with him he just stared at her like she was insane to want to even be near him. He nodded eventually and continued eating with less enthusiasm, seeming to not want her to stare while staring at her himself trying to encourage her to explain herself. She spoke up first, she was somewhat quiet as if she was trying not to startle him. She introduced herself first as Christa. Christa asked him what his name was, he looked at her for a moment before saying his name was James. He said it with uncertainty, as if the name was foreign to him, like he was nervous about saying it out loud. She understood from this simple reply that she'd have to carry the conversation for him. So she continued to ask him questions, giving him information about her in turn. Nothing that could hurt her, of course, but simple things like whether or not he lived close and what kind of job he has. He slowly started making complete sentences, he was still a bit nervous, but that's kind of normal when a stranger asks you a bunch of questions about your personal life. James let Christa ask him questions and talk about herself for a good hour or so until he said that he needed to get back home to get some sleep for work later that day. He left a pretty generous tip that morning.

When Christa walked back behind the counter to put her money into her purse, her co-workers rushed from their places and asked her what she found out, why she talked to him for so long, and whether or not he was a time traveler. "Well, he's not a time traveler, so sorry Jeff, your story was off. But he did say he used to be in the military and then he worked for the government, but now he's working as a security guard in one of those offices across town. And his name is James."

"Not exactly reality TV, huh." Jeff said and walked back into the kitchen to wash the rest of the dishes.

"Sorry to disappoint." Christa called after him and walked to clean the table she and James had shared.

"He's cute, did you ask if he was married? Or has a girlfriend?" the other waitress Kayla asked.

"No, I didn't because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, he was so nervous to even tell me his name, I didn't want to make him feel worse." She replied.

"Maybe he was so nervous because he didn't want to blow his chances with you! He's been staring at you every time he comes in, haven't you noticed?" Kayla continued to question Christa as she started to wipe down the table. "You should totally go out with him sometime! You would be so cute together!" she insisted.

"Why would he want to go out with me? Maybe he just thinks I'm weird and that's why he stares at me. Or maybe he's just thinking all the time and he zones out and I happen to walk into his line of sight." Christa suggests.

"Yeah, alright, because that's likely."

"Yeah, well, I really doubt that he wants to go out with me because he would've asked by now."

"You said he was nervous around you, he's just shy! He's afraid you'll say no!"

"I don't think so."

"I think so."

Kayla continued to try and talk Christa into asking him out until she settled for Christa talking to him again next time he came in. Who knows, maybe he'll be a cool guy underneath all that anxiety.

James thought about her when he went home that morning, he was trying to figure out why she would spend more time with him than she needed to, he thought that maybe her and the other employees knew that there was something strange about him. Who was he kidding, of course they knew! He came into a diner at two in the fucking morning wearing all black and keeping his hood up. That doesn't exactly spell normal to other people. Maybe he should go out and buy some less depressing clothes. He can't keep wearing that kind of stuff if he's going to be normal here. He'll go to the store later. In the meantime, that girl was really pretty. She even had a pretty name. She was nice enough, she talked a lot like she knew he wouldn't and he liked that. He liked listening to her, he wanted her to keep talking to him. Maybe he'll come in tomorrow at an ungodly hour and maybe she'll talk to him again. She was pretty. She was short, yes, but she also had great cheekbones. Her hair looked nice too, it was longer than her shoulders, but not too long and it was strangely calming even though it was a bright shade of purple. It went nicely with her brown eyes that looked really beautiful when the light caught them. And her lips weren't thin like some girls', they were full but not too big, they fit her face nicely. He kind of wanted to kiss them if he thought about it, but he didn't, he couldn't afford to think about that. He might get attached. Getting attached isn't good. He's just tired, he should sleep. Sleep, that is a good plan.

She thought about him after she went home. She wondered if he had PTSD from the military. Probably, a lot of veterans get PTSD. That's probably why he was so jumpy. She wondered if he was alright, if he had someone to care for him and make sure that he was okay if he ever woke up screaming like she knew some veterans did. She also wondered if he was actually lying about his job as a security guard, he didn't look like a security guard like he looked like a veteran. You could tell even without the gorgeous metal arm that he was a veteran. He had a certain look on his face all the time, like he was constantly surveying his surroundings and the people around him. Maybe that's why he always chose the booth in the corner near the door. So he can see the whole diner without being obvious. Smart. She did wonder if he was single, damn Kayla pointing out how cute he was. She thought about how they would, in fact, look cute together. Maybe she will ask him out sometime. Just not the next time she sees him. That would be too soon. He should get to know her first, get comfortable with her. Yeah, that's a good plan, let's do that.