Author's Note: Let's go to Zeke's, shall we?
Chapter Six: Zeke's Diner
The drive to Zeke's Diner was one that Vert did all the time with himself and Zoom, but it had been years since he'd done the drive in the Saber. For so long, he and Zoom had made the drive in the convertible and it seemed strange, borderline new, to do it in the Saber. He remembered how to drive the Saber, of course, but that didn't change the little nuances that changed from one vehicle to the other.
Like riding a bike, if a bike was a two-ton alien car with a chainsaw and an interdimensional homing device.
As the vehicles pulled up to the diner, Vert hopped out and smiled at Zoom, who took off his helmet and shook out his hair. He'd long since abandoned the headband he used to love so much, and it was strange to see him in the Chopper's colours without it and with a small ponytail.
Still, at least this – him and Zoom – wasn't new after the team. Some things were still the same.
He slung an arm around Zoom's shoulders and followed the others in.
Grace looked up as they entered and her entire face lit up.
"Guys!" she said. She dropped her broom and ran toward them, hugging AJ tightly before switching off to the others. "Oh, it's so good to see all of you." She pulled back to smile at them. "What are you doing here?" She looked outside and saw the cars. "Test driving?"
"Reunion," said Vert. "Sage wanted us to be here when she unveiled the upgrades for the cars at the test centre, and we're helping to check out the bugs for a short period of time. Shouldn't take more than a month or two."
He felt the eyes of the team on him as he spoke and he tried to shrug it off. In eight years of keeping the BF5 secret, he'd gotten passable at lying.
He would have worried more if he hadn't.
"Your old booth is open, if you want it," said Grace. "I think Javier is in the back making pizzas. Usual?"
"Please," said Zoom, scooting around Vert and Grace to clamber into the booth.
"Javier?" echoed Stanford, raising an eyebrow as he followed after Zoom. He slid into the booth and propped his chin in one hand, eyes narrowed. "Love, don't tell me you went and got a boyfriend."
Vert and Grace exchanged a look. Vert fought a smile, his mouth twisting against his will, while Grace giggled.
"Girlfriend, actually," said Grace, drily. Stanford's eyebrows shot up. "And not Javier. He's the son of a friend of Zeke's. He's been filling in, since, you know, Zeke's getting old." She frowned, looking a little worried, and Vert put his hand on her shoulder.
"Where is Sun, anyway?" he asked.
"Oh, she's a few towns over doing charity work today," said Grace. She looked at Stanford. "Planting trees."
Stanford grinned. "Now that, I can get behind." He chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "Could I bother you for a slice of cheese pizza?"
"Sure thing, Stanford," said Grace. "The rest of you?" The others all made their orders – double cheese for Agura, pepperoni and mushrooms for AJ, spinach and garlic aioli for Tezz, jalapenos and hot sauce for Spinner, and a club sandwich, extra pickles, for Sherman. Then, they all took their seats at the booth while Grace ducked into the back to get food prepared.
"Girlfriend, huh?" said Stanford, looking to Vert and Zoom. He raised both eyebrows, amusement evident in both his voice and his expression. "Looks like you two really did have an effect on this old town."
Vert chuckled, feeling his cheeks heat as he rubbed the back of his neck. Zoom leaned up and kissed his cheek, grinning broadly.
"Yup," said Zoom. He leaned over and punched Stanford in the shoulder. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
"Me neither," said Vert. Grace reappeared and slid sodas around – somehow remembering the soda orders of the other six, several years later – before disappearing again. "So, how does it feel, to be back here?" he asked.
"Weird," said Spinner. "It's bigger than I remember though."
"Yeah," said Stanford. "Did the town expand?"
Vert shrugged. "They built a full high school and a little hospital, so we've gotten a lot of new families. It's been pretty cool."
"Big enough to start a family now, too," said Sherman, sounding wistful. Vert didn't miss the way Zoom looked thoughtful at Sherman's words. He cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at Zoom.
"I guess," said Vert. "What about the rest of you?"
"I like it," said AJ, beaming at Vert. "Sure, it's hot, and it doesn't rain or snow nearly enough, but, you know, Handler's was my home for a while, eh? And you guys are my friends." AJ slung and arm around Stanford and ruffled his hair. In a stark contrast to Stanford's old behaviour, he merely rolled his eyes and waved AJ off instead of freaking out about his precious hair.
"It's a nice change from London, I'll give it that," said Stanford, folding his sunglasses and tucking them in the collar of his shirt. "And a welcome one, despite the circumstances."
Agura hummed and shook her head, twirling her straw in her drink. "Oh, I'm sure Mr. Humble is here to brag about his 'big gig' in London, isn't he?" She gave Stanford a flat look and Stanford frowned, opening his mouth to retort.
"Guys, come on," said Vert, spreading his hands. "Can't we get a long for ten minutes?"
Agura shrugged and went back to playing with her straw, not saying a word.
"What about you, Tezz? Handler's got any good memories for you?" asked Vert, looking to Tezz in hopes of breaking the tension.
Tezz hummed and looked around the booth. "If not for all of you and for Handler's Corners, I would not be here," he said. "And I do not mean this in an existential sort of way, but in a literal way, as the Sark no doubt would have killed me." He drummed his fingers on the table, a rhythm that Vert had almost forgotten in their years apart. "Besides, you introduced me to AJ, who is the only one of you I can tolerate long term."
"Well considering you're dating the bloke, I'd hope you can tolerate him," said Stanford. Tezz shrugged and kept drumming, his eyes sort of faraway as he did. AJ scooted a little bit away from Tezz so they weren't in danger of touching, and draped his arm over the back of the booth.
"I like Handler's," said Sherman. "I know it's quiet and small, but Handler's was the first place I truly felt challenged, mentally." Sherman smiled at them. "I can't wait to see the challenges that wait for us."
"Before or after they try to kill us?" asked Tezz.
"Ever the optimist," said Stanford, rolling his eyes.
Tezz gave Stanford a flat look at Stanford, himself, would have been proud of. "Our challenges lie in monsters from other dimensions bent on destroying the multiverse. The logical conclusion is that they will try to kill us."
Stanford blinked and sighed. "All right, love," said Stanford, slumping against the booth. "You have a point."
Grace came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with all of their food. She slid everything into place while rattling off their pizzas, then flashed a smile when they were all settled in.
"Everything good?" she asked.
"Can we get crazy bread?" asked Zoom, perking. Grace nodded and winked before heading back into the kitchen once more. Zoom propped his chin in his hand and narrowed his eyes at Tezz. "I didn't even know you liked guys."
"I don't," said Tezz. He poked at his pizza, looking thoughtful. "I like AJ." He shrugged. "That's it."
AJ smiled, the tips of his ears and nose turning bright red. "Aww, Tezz," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What about you?" asked Zoom, cocking his head at AJ. Vert had a hard time believing this whole matter hadn't come up the entire time the BF5 had been together, but seeing as AJ hadn't dated while they'd been a team, he supposed it made some sort of sense.
Sort of.
"Love is love, eh," said AJ. "I've always loved everyone, just some more than others." He smiled. "Like Tezz!"
"You're not the strangest couple I've ever met," said Stanford, leaning back as he bit into his pizza. "Out in London, there's some strange pairings. As long as you're happy, mates." Tezz and AJ both nodded – AJ much more enthusiastically. "Does this mean Sherman and Agura are the only straight ones out of us?"
"Seems that way," said Sherman.
"Not a minority I ever thought I'd be part of," said Agura, drily. Stanford scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Hardly a minority, love," he said. Agura gave him a flat look at the pet name and Stanford rolled his eyes a second time. "Agura, I call everyone 'love'. I call Vert, love!"
"You also wanted to suck his dick for six months," said Agura, giving him another flat look.
Vert's eyebrows shot up and he choked on his soda. Zoom patted his back and Vert stared at Stanford, his jaw dropping open. "What?" he asked, voice incredulous.
"I never had a crush on you," said Stanford, stabbing a finger at Vert. "You were the only available person in this dust bowl that was also nice to me." Stanford shrugged. "Shit happens."
Zoom grinned. "Shit happens, huh?" he echoed, propping his chin in one hand.
Stanford rolled his eyes, ears and cheeks pink. "Anyway," he said. "That's not the point. The point is that you need to stop scowling." He wagged a finger at Agura. "You're going to get frown lines, love."
Agura shook her head, looking away from Stanford. She wore that look of 'yeah, sure' she often had back during their early days as a team, and Vert wondered what had made her so much more distant than the others. Had something happened to her during their time apart? Surely, she was fine, if she was here.
But then, Vert had been wrong before. And she hadn't picked up when they'd called, just texted.
Strange.
The eight settled in to eat their pizzas, exchanging only a few words while they ate. It had been a long day of travelling, settling in, and learning new things, and Vert mostly just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep, despite the early hour. He kind of hoped Zoom would feel the same by the time they got home, but there was no way to know for sure.
He settled for leaning back and watching everything unfold around him, only half there as conversation drifted around him. At some point, conversation about vehicle upgrades came up, and while Sherman and AJ were discussing how to upgrade the vehicles without Sage, Vert remembered one of the tools that Sage had given them.
"Hey, uh, Sage gave us a vehicle upgrade module," said Vert, "along with a bunch of other shit that's not just the data log. We could put the cars through the Mobi before we take off into the multiverse."
"When we do want to head out, anyway?" asked Spinner.
"As soon as possible," said Tezz. "According to my preliminary scanning of the data log, we have roughly one month to accomplish our task before the portal is opened." He frowned, shaking his head. "Theoretically, Sage should have been able to sense the portal long before now. I wonder why she did not contact us sooner."
"Maybe she thought the Sentients could handle it," said Zoom. "You know how Sage is – she was always doing stuff without us."
Vert remembered. He remembered Sage building a super weapon that she claimed was for an enemy bigger than the Reds. He remembered being suspicious, he remembered going to Krytus, he remembered a lot of things, near the end of the war.
He remembered how much they could have prevented, if only she'd told them more.
But that wasn't the point, at the moment. The point was that they were here, now, and they had a chance to ensure that nothing happened in the multiverse.
To prevent a war, instead of fighting in one – now that was an experience.
"So, Vert," said Stanford. "What's the plan now? You want us to start training?"
Vert shook his head. "Today, we rest. Tomorrow, we train," said Vert. He picked up his soda and held it up for a toast. Everyone else held them up in turn. They returned to eating and chatting after the toast and Vert settled in to listen, plans already spinning behind his eyes.