Chapter 12:

Disclaimer: I don't have any power over YJ or any of the DC Universe characters within this story.

A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you for the lovely comments and reviews so far, I love hearing what works for you and what doesn't, and I hope this chapter works out well! I originally meant to put a lot more in here, but things took a turn for the crazy so I had to split it up into two parts. Enjoy!


"I feel like I've plateaued out," Kaldur commented as he dodged yet another blow from Artemis, darting in to try and land a quick jab but not getting there quick enough. "Not that these workouts aren't doing anything for me," he added hastily, "but it feels like I should be…more."

"You should," the blonde agreed. "Which is why I keep telling you to join the classes. Different partners, different fighting styles – all that stuff makes a huge difference. And whilst you might be okay with just us for friends, it wouldn't hurt to go out and meet more people, you know. They're a good bunch – friendly, not too intimidating. Just come already!"

Kaldur supposed he'd fallen right into that one. "I'll see – after I finish these arbitration proceedings, anyway," he sighed. "We've been on standby for the past couple of weeks but the appointment keeps getting pushed back."

"There's never a good time to start anything," Artemis pointed out. "And besides, not to slag anyone off, but you could use another group of friends with less drama."

That was not a subject Kaldur wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole. He knew Wally and Artemis were close, but he didn't want to look nosey and ask whether Wally had told her about the moving company incident. "I'll give it a shot next week," he conceded.

"Really?" Artemis stopped for a moment, finally letting him land two punches. "Ooof."

"Sorry – I didn't hurt you, did I?" He waited for her to shake her head before continuing. "Yes, I suppose I will try the classes."

"That's fantastic! I'll put your name down after this, okay? And don't run out on me, or else I'll come over and drag you to class!"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They sparred for a little while longer until Wally came in. "So," he said, leaning against the wall and watching them lazily, "where you do fancy going on Friday?"

"I vote for a club," Artemis immediately replied. "I haven't gone out properly in ages."

"Kaldur?"

"I…" Truth be told, Kaldur wasn't overly fond of nightclubs. The few times he'd been in one, he'd wound up terminally bored and desperately downing drink after drink in an attempt to make himself enjoy the loud music and press of bodies. It hadn't worked and he doubted anything had changed in the past few years. Still, he couldn't begrudge Artemis a good start to her weekend. "I don't mind," he said lamely. "Anything's fine."

Wally looked thoughtful. "Maybe a bar first, and then a club?" He suggested. "I'm kind of broke at the moment."

Artemis gave him a flat look. "So why are you suggesting going out?" She sighed. "Just lay in some beer and soft drinks, Kaldur, me, Megan and anyone else you've invited will show up with food and we can all have a budget-friendly night in." That sounded much more appealing to Kaldur.

"But I want to go out," Wally pouted. "I can't stay in my flat all the time! And when you guys come over it's always such a pain to clean up the next morning! Well, not you, Kaldur," he addressed the lawyer, "but definitely you, Artemis! I saw the tissues you left on the couch after that Supernatural marathon!"

"And I saw the pretzel crumbs you spilled on the floor three weeks ago," she retorted.

"We could just go to the pub," Kaldur suggested. "We'll still be out of the house, but it won't be as high-maintenance as a club. And if you still want to go clubbing afterwards, Artemis, I'll come keep you company."

"See, Kid Fail? That's how you treat a lady," Artemis smirked.

"I've seen ladies, ma'am," Wally responded, "and believe me, you ain't no lady."

"Why you—"

Kaldur spent the rest of the hour watching Artemis and Wally spar, both physically and verbally. It seemed a shame to interrupt when they were coming up with insults more creative than anything he'd ever heard back home.

"So we decided on Angel," Wally said. "We'll just meet at the tube station entrance and decide where to go from there. I'll probably be coming in from school, but if I'm at home I can ring you and we can head up together." Kaldur nodded.

"That sounds good," he said. "And maybe if Conner's free, I could invite him too?"

Wally flapped his hand. "Of course. Invite whoever you wish – the more the merrier!"

Kaldur had just settled into the office when Dick walked in, slumping into a chair and heaving a loud sigh of relief. "Dick?"

"Shh," the other whispered. "Gently."

Kaldur looked at his friend for a moment and then sighed. "Stay here," he told Dick and headed out to get a large cup of coffee from the pantry.

Dick slowly sipped at the hot drink, groaning when Mr. Allen stopped by to say hello in his usual friendly way. "Oh, Dick," the older lawyer sighed in what sounded like fond exasperation, "I thought we discussed this alcohol thing."

"It wasn't an alcohol thing," Dick managed to grit out. "It was an empty stomach thing."

"Well," Mr. Allen said, "If I tell you Mr. Wayne won't be needing anything for the next two hours – he's in an impromptu meeting with Ms. Prince that looks like it might take some time – can you promise me you'll take it easy for the next couple of hours? No harassing the trainees, no pranking the secretaries and no leaving Oreos out where Mr. Jones could find them – he's on a diet and doesn't need the extra temptation." Dick mumbled something that sounded like acquiescence and the blond man ruffled his hair.

"Good man. Oh, and Kaldur?"

"Sir?" Kaldur tried not to yelp.

"Calm down. I was just going to say that Sienna's not going to get back to me until sometime after lunch, so it won't be too busy for you just yet. And don't 'sir' me – Barry is enough." He winked and left the room.

Kaldur looked at the doorway, at Dick and then back at the doorway. Then he made a decision. "Dick," he said in his best commanding voice. "Finish your coffee. We're going out."

Dick raised his head. "Mickey's?"

"Where else?"

The fries were just as salty and greasy as before. Dick gave a small moan of displeasure and attempted to squirm away from the plate this time, clearly unhappy about the smell, but Kaldur forced a few down his throat and let the oil do its work. Before long, Dick was almost back to his normal self.

"So care to tell me what last night was about?" Kaldur asked. Dick had the good grace to look vaguely ashamed and embarrassed.

"I didn't eat enough and drank too much?" He asked sheepishly. "Believe me, I'm regretting that so much right now."

Now that he got the chance to look more closely at Dick, Kaldur realized the other appeared to have lost some weight. Dick had hardly been fat to begin with, but he was sure the other man's chin hadn't been that sharp when they'd first met. "Busy lately?"

"You'd know, you're the other half of what's keeping me busy," Dick replied.

"Waiting on arbitration's always a pain."

"Tell me about it. I just wish the proceedings would start and we'd get it all sorted out."

"Negotiation's always the relatively easy part," Kaldur agreed. "What else have you been up to?"

"Not much, really. I'm trying to take it easy."

"On Tuesday morning?"

"We all have to start some time."

"Any plans for the rest of the week then?"

"Eh. Dinner and a musical with Kory – she likes that sort of thing – and of course, dinner with the family on Friday. As you do."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "You seem excited."

"I'm hungover, give me a break!"

He idly noted how Dick's voice always seemed to take on a defensive tone whenever Kory came up in conversation. "So…I'm getting internet on Thursday."

"Finally!" Dick looked up from his massive plate of fries. "It's about time you reconnected with the rest of the world."

"That's what Wally said too."

"I can imagine. He'll probably start pestering you for your Facebook next. Say, is he done with exams yet?"

"I believe so." Kaldur refrained from mentioning that they were going out on Friday for drinks and if Artemis had her way, probably a nightclub to boot. "He seems less preoccupied, at any rate."

Dick paused for a moment. "Yeah, I gathered as much."

Kaldur could practically see the gigantic rainbow-coloured elephant in the room with them, waving its trunk and dancing happily, but he forced it to one side and focussed on not accidentally saying too much. He didn't want Dick to figure out that he knew about the entire moving fiasco. "Hey, Kaldur?"

"Yes?"

"Do you…um. Are you – no, that's not it – oh what the hell – do you think I went kind of crazy on Wally?"

"I'm not quite sure what you mean," Kaldur said carefully.

"You know, the whole gift-giving thing, and the Nespresso machine, and what happened last week. I mean, I've been desperately trying to give him space since he keeps going on about how he needs to be financially independent and he doesn't want to take charity – although to be fair none of what I'm doing for him is really considered charity – and generally yanking his chain. Proverbially, of course."

Kaldur looked helplessly around the pub. "I…Dick, why don't we talk about this later? I have a feeling it's going to take a lot more time than just the hour Mr. Allen gave us."

Dick looked thoughtful for a long moment and then slowly nodded. "Fine," he grudgingly agreed, chewing on a fry. "But we're going to have to talk about this properly, because at this point it's almost like you're the only one who's not going to give me trouble about every single decision I've made regarding Wally, Kory and money in the past month." He paused for a moment and then sat up straight, pointing yet another fry at Kaldur. "In fact, I'd say we have to talk about this, because everything seems to have been going slightly awry since you arrived in London!" He narrowed his eyes. "Are you a bad-luck spirit or something? Because if that's the case, I'm going to have to exorcise you."

"Does this mean you're done eating?"

They returned to the office, only to run into a few of the other trainees. They gave Dick and Kaldur almost identical wide-eyed looks before hastily turning around and hurrying towards the library. "Don't mind them," Donna called from her place behind the reception desk. "They're just scared stiff of looking like they have nothing to do."

"And they're hiding out in the library?" Dick asked. "No one ever works in the library."

The rest of the morning passed in a haze of paperwork and phone tag, Kaldur trying to chase up Sienna's accounts but only succeeding in spending fifteen minutes bouncing from department to department. If he had to hear that chintzy music box rendition of 'My Darling Clementine' one more time, he would surely scream. He fared no better with Ms. Lance's pro bono case, the lawyer on the other end stonewalling him at every turn. He'd just gotten off the phone when Raquel stopped by.

"Ms. Lance's pro bono, right?" She smirked at him. Kaldur sighed.

"You have no idea."

"Yeah, it's that family lawyer right? Vetala or something?"

"Yeah, he's such a—"

"Pain," the other woman finished, grinning. "I think it's Ms. Lance's way of breaking in the new lawyers or something. My advice on handling it? Keep mentioning her name. I think he has some kind of creepy crush on her or something."

"How do you reach these conclusions?"

"He makes it a point to take on every single case she takes on. And keep mentioning the possibility that she might turn up to one of the meetings. She won't, but if Vetala thinks she might he'll act as cooperative as someone like him can get." Kaldur stared.

"Won't that look like name-dropping?"

Raquel shrugged. "He's a shallow, shallow man is our Vetala."

"If this works," Kaldur sighed, jotting down some notes on a scrap of paper, "I'll owe you one."

"It will. And the magic words to ending phone tag at his office are 'Dinah Lance'. Remember that." She stepped into the room and settled down into the chair opposite him, throwing a huge manila file on the desk. "Now, this is one of my assigned cases, but because Mr. Allen is really trying to ease you into things he suggested we work together on it."

"And you're absolutely thrilled about this, of course."

"Oh, honey." Raquel reached over and patted his head. "No need to sell yourself short. Adjustment periods are a pain."

They got to talking about the actual case, Kaldur finding himself falling into an easy rhythm with Raquel. They thought in similar ways, enough to understand what the other was saying, but just differently enough to pick up on points that the other might have missed. It was a far cry from Dick's chaotically-structured work and Kaldur felt that for once, he wasn't the slowest person in the room. "So I'll just leave these copies here then," Raquel tapped the folder at her elbow, "and we can get back tomorrow and discuss. Or we can talk over the phone – might save the hassle of wandering all over the place."

"Of course." Kaldur quickly glanced up at the notice board to check the extension list. "Hey – lunch time."

"What?" Raquel looked at the desk clock and blinked in surprise. "Well, how about that. Why don't we go get a bite? I feel weird talking to you for so long and then just leaving. And I want some one-on-one time with the American import too!" She grinned cheekily before gathering all her papers. "Just let me go get my handbag and I'll meet you outside, okay?"

"Great."

Kaldur ran into Max on the way out. "Hey Max – not out at lunch yet?" The trainee looked slightly harried, shirtsleeves rolled up and tie loosened.

"No, other side just filed an injunction two hours ago and the hearing's in a couple of hours. Obviously."

"Always a concern," Kaldur agreed. "So are you personally doing the application?"

Max sighed. "No – it's a little bit too soon for me to be presenting anything to a judge, thankfully. I just have to go through the grounds for an injunction and explain why they're all a load of, well, nonsense." Kaldur smiled as encouragingly as he could.

"Just be glad they gave you notice and a hearing at all," he told the other. "Good luck."

Raquel wanted to get something light, so they wound up waiting in line at the vegan cafe next door. "So what have you been working on lately?" Kaldur asked lamely. The other woman smirked, clearly sensing how awkward he felt, but answered anyway.

"Oh, you know – helping Mr. Freeman out with a couple of the smaller cases that require research more than anything else, dealing with subsidiary companies looking not to look like subsidiary companies, making sure all the offshore companies are behaving…the usual. It's been pretty busy, since everyone's back from the holidays and wants to get all the major projects finished by next year. Gotta make those Q4 books look good, right?" She smiled at him.

"Naturally. Anything tricky?"

"No, not really. Not unless you count sitting in the office waiting until 2am for a phone call from the US. But I suppose you're familiar with that sort of thing."

"Probably more familiar than I genuinely care to be," Kaldur admitted.

"Family in the States?" Kaldur nodded. "I feel you. My family lives down near Brighton, and it's only a train ride away really, but they're constantly calling me and asking whether I'm eating right. As if I couldn't take care of myself."

"It's different when you're in a completely different country," Kaldur pointed out.

"Oh, of course. No denying that one. But all the same, it gets a little grating on occasion."

"It does," Kaldur agreed. "So you moved up here to take the job?"

"Well, transferred, actually. I grew up in Guildford, but my parents decided they wanted to live someplace marginally warmer and went further south when I was about twelve or so. So I was recruited in the Brighton office, but then they started asking around to see if anyone wanted to volunteer to work here instead and I thought, 'Well, why not?' So here I am."

"Brighton – that's a beach town, isn't it?"

"Only the most famous British one. I recommend you visit sometime next year, since it's getting cooler and the sea winds aren't something you want to deal with in the dead of winter. It's absolutely miserable until about May or so. But you're from LA, so I suppose anything cooler than the desert would be cold to you." She nodded at Kaldur's gigantic parka; the only warm coat he'd had time to dig out this morning on waking up and immediately shivering with the cold.

"LA's not that warm," Kaldur pointed out. "It gets pretty chilly around February."

"Palm trees – you don't get to say anything about the cold."

"And you live by the beach."

"Touché," Raquel admitted with a touch of a smile. "But not the nice, stereotypical beach. More like a blustery, rocky beach with stones that prick your feet and gigantic waves that look like they want to eat you alive. Or something."

"Big fan of it too, I see."

"It's a British thing. We complain about everything but don't actually try to fix it unless it's seriously, seriously broken. Then you won't hear a peep out of us."

"I'll have to take your word for it."

The rest of the time passed easily enough and by the end, Kaldur was glad that he'd managed to make another friend in the office. He'd been starting to feel awkward always following Dick around, and with Kory the younger man was probably busy with his own things anyway.

Kaldur returned to the office to find a package at the front desk waiting for him. It was the documents he'd requested from Sienna Sky, along with a detailed cover note explaining what was what. He sighed; it looked like another long afternoon of ploughing through numbers again. At least that basic Accounting class he took as part of the core requirements in freshman year was paying off.

Around four that afternoon, a very shell-shocked Max slipped into the room and sat in the spare chair silently, eyes glazed over. Kaldur decided to let him sit there for a while; the trainee clearly needed a break.

"Kaldur?" Dick popped in, wire-rimmed glasses glinting in the light. "Are you – is this a bad time?" He asked, seeing the sacked-out man in the extra chair.

"No, no, I think he's a bit shell-shocked. He said something about having to handle an injunction hearing."

"Ooh." Dick winced in sympathy. "Renee's case, right? Well, at least they won. The injunction's not going through."

"Huh." Kaldur looked at Max again. The man seemed to have regained some of his usual colour, although from the slack way his mouth was hanging open he probably wasn't ready to rejoin the world of the living just yet. "Can I help you with something, Dick?"

"It's all good. I was just going to ask if you had time for dinner tonight. You, me, pasta – it'll be just like old times."

Kaldur smiled reassuringly, seeing the hint of insecurity in Dick's eyes. "Of course. 7pm?"

Dick looked less worried now. "Yeah. I'll book a table at the usual place."

Ten minutes later, Max sat up and looked at Kaldur. "You two seem to be good friends."

"Who, me and Dick?"

"Yeah, you and Mr. Grayson." It was odd to hear someone call Dick something that formal.

"We have some mutual friends in common."

"From university?"

"No, nothing like that. His friend happens to be my neighbour. We met at a party."

Max leaned forward. "Sounds fascinating."

Sensing that the conversation was about to head into dangerously personal territory, Kaldur seized the brief pause as an opportunity to regain control. "I heard you won your application."

"You have no idea," Max said dryly. "Ms. Montoya needed an extra five minutes to ask the client some extra questions, so she told me to go up and start talking first. It was like an American legal drama or something."

"Was the judge harsh?"

Max winced. "I got through introducing the case and immediately got shouted at for reiterating old information. Apparently that's what you're not supposed to do." He added glumly.

"It could be worse," Kaldur offered.

"Yeah. I guess. And then she told me that being pretty wouldn't get me anywhere in court." Kaldur blinked.

"…Worse."

"Thank God Ms. Montoya got in just then and took over."

"Well – at least you can say you've experienced a real live trial," Kaldur said. "And anyway, at least the judge thought you were good-looking. That has to count for something, right?"

"Not when she calls you a 'pretty airhead' in front of an entire court," Max said, ears turning bright red. "And she – she was like a steamroller or something. She didn't even let me present my case, just dived straight into everything and started asking me questions about whether I thought we had a reasonable chance of winning the whole case. It was like being on a rollercoaster. A really, really terrifying roller coaster."

"Well, did Ms. Montoya say anything?"

Max shrugged. "She said I did okay. For a brand-new trainee, anyway. And then she told me not to worry about it so much."

"Well then, means you did a good job."

Max continued to look somewhere in between shocked and unhappy, so Kaldur reached into his desk drawer and pulled out one of the chocolate bars he normally kept around as emergency rations. "Chocolate?' Max gave him a look. "It helps with shock," he offered. "And of course, to celebrate your first time in court."

Max's face went from confused to a warm, amused smile. "That's – that's really nice. Thank you." He tore open the wrapper and took a large bite. Guy was probably starving, Kaldur thought. After all, he'd likely skipped lunch to make sure everything turned out okay for the injunction. "Hey," Max said in between mouthfuls of chocolate, "We should go get food some time too. Not tonight," he said hastily, "Maybe some other time. Like tomorrow. Or whatever."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow. "Uh. Sure?"

"Great!" Now fully recovered, Max crumpled the wrapper up and stood to leave. "Tomorrow dinner, okay?"

"I'll let you know – if not, lunch?"

"Certainly. Confirm with you soon! Thanks for the chocolate and the talk." Max waved and walked out the door, crumpled chocolate wrapper clenched tightly in his hand.

At half-past six, Dick called him. "You ready to go?"

"I…" Kaldur looked at the jumble of papers on his desk and then down at the financial statements he was currently perusing. "Give me another half hour?"

"We could do this another time, you know," Dick said quickly. "I mean, I wouldn't want to keep you from finishing something, and work always comes first."

"No, no," Kaldur said quickly. He knew that if he didn't go out for dinner with Dick tonight, the other might not be so inclined to talk later on. "I just need to finish this set of documents, otherwise I'll lose track of what I'm doing tomorrow morning."

"Of course. But you know, I'm absolutely fine with not having dinner tonight."

"Wouldn't dream of standing you up."

Kaldur finished his work at seven on the dot, hastily clearing his desk off with a sigh of relief. Dick turned up at the door just as he'd finished putting away the last of his papers, and they headed out together. He was surprised to see Max still standing outside talking to some of the other trainees, and the blond gave him a wave and a smile as they walked out.

"Charming all the trainees, are we?" Dick asked in amusement.

"It's called being sociable. You should try it sometime."

"Says the guy who was going to ditch the trainees' meet 'n' greet. Meet anyone interesting?"

"I wasn't going to ditch. And I didn't realise John Stewart took Judas Priest so seriously."

"Man's a true heavy metal fan. I myself prefer the Top 40 or a bit of indie here and there, as evidenced by the fact that Zatanna hasn't tried to kill me in my sleep yet."

"Country is my guilty pleasure," Kaldur confessed. "Something about Keith Urban always makes my morning that little bit more bearable."

"So that's what you do when you plug in," Dick exclaimed. Seeing Kaldur's confused look, he hastened to explain. "You know, when you put your earphones in."

"What else would I be doing with earphones?"

"Listening to the radio, watching TV programmes – don't look so shocked, half the secretaries do it on their lunch break."

"No, no, nothing unusual about my listening habits. Or TV-watching habits."

"Seriously," Dick sighed. "Are you telling that you spend every single minute of every single day doing actual work?"

"Okay," Kaldur conceded. "No, I don't. I usually read the news whenever work gets boring or I get stuck in a rut. Or I go get coffee. Like everyone else."

Dick shook his head. "Remind me to talk to you about boredom alleviation techniques sometime. I'm clearly missing something you aren't."

"So why did you want to get dinner? I assume you wanted to talk about something."

Dick ducked his head in acknowledgment, fingers tapping the table restlessly. "Well, yes," he said slowly. "It's about recent events. Me, Wally, Tim…"

"I'm not going to go around telling people you're a secret millionaire," Kaldur pointed out.

"Tim is such a drama queen sometimes," Dick huffed. "Okay, so I wouldn't have wanted to tell you about us quite like that, but I would have gotten around to it."

"I'm sure you would have," Kaldur said.

Dick pointed a finger at him. "Don't you go making snarky remarks now, Mr. Son-of-Arthur-Curry-world-expert-on-marine-biology -and-renowned-conservationist."

"Do I even want to know how you found that out?"

Dick looked sheepish, an expression Kaldur had previously not thought him capable of. "If it makes you feel better, I wasn't looking for that information," the other man offered.

"It's not a big deal. But I'd appreciate it if—"

"Say no more, my friend. If anyone else finds out, it won't be because of me."

"Glad we got that sorted out." They sat in silence for a while until Kaldur started wondering whether he would have to remind Dick of why he was here in the first place.

"So…about Wally. How is he, er, doing?"

"…well? I haven't seen him much apart from in the mornings. He's helping me house-sit on Thursday."

"What? Why?"

"Internet."

"Of course." Dick picked at his food. "Did he mention anything about us?"

"Not really." Kaldur took a moment to enjoy the increasingly frustrated look on Dick's face.

"Okay, fine," Dick finally growled. "I sent a moving company over to his place to pick his stuff up because – well, I can't say any more but we talked about this before everything blew up and I think it's all that jackass Zolomon's fault and—augh!" He made another frustrated noise and leaned back in his chair.

"Right," Kaldur finally said. "So…you sent a moving company over to his place? Why?" He just knew hiding the fact that he had prior knowledge from Dick was going to come back and bite him one day, but he really didn't think full disclosure at this point in time would be appropriate.

"Because I was helping him deal with some stuff, okay? I can't tell you too much because I don't think he's even told Artemis, but we'd talked about it before the whole fight and honestly it's all. That. Bastard's. Fault." These last few words were said with such venom that Kaldur found himself shifting backwards in his seat just a little and wishing for something to defend himself with.

"I – who is this…Zolomon you keep mentioning?"

"Hunter Zolomon," Dick gritted out through his teeth. "Wally's current lab supervisor and former TA. They met when Wally was doing his exchange year, and then reconnected when he came over to do his Master's last year. He was part of the team that discovered a way to potentially alter time relative to everyone else."

Kaldur vaguely remembered reading something about it in the paper. "So…hero worship?"

"Got it in one. But continuing with the story – Zolomon's never really gotten along with us," Dick sighed, rubbing a hand wearily over his face. "And by 'we', I mean all of us – Conner, me, Artemis – even Megan doesn't like him that much, and she likes everybody."

"Dick—"

"Yeah, I know, I know, I'm getting to the point," Dick irritably flapped a hand. "The point being, Zolomon's always makes it a point to put Wally down. Subtly, so you could think it's a joke, but Wally being Wally takes a lot of it to heart." He gave a wry smile. "Third time it happened, Megan and I had to sit on Conner to prevent him from punching Zolomon out."

"Wally's never mentioned anyone like that," Kaldur said thoughtfully. It struck him as a little odd that Dick was only just bringing this up now, and Wally himself had certainly never mentioned another friend.

"Like I said – we don't get along. Wally just keeps us apart, really, but they go out on occasion."

"So what kind of things did he say?"

"Oh, you know. 'Come on Wally, you're a scholarship student. You can't seriously be that stupid', or 'You're so lucky I'm too busy to find new friends'. Stuff like that. The Conner one was pretty awful too – for your Master's, you have to write and publish an article, right? So Wally had spent his entire year researching some Physics-related stuff – and he'd just gotten the final draft approved. So he came up to London to celebrate with us, and Zolomon was there as well because Wally wanted to see all his friends in one go. And the first thing he said? 'That's such a mediocre idea Wally - you'll never do well that way.'" Wally didn't say anything else that night."

"Was he joking? They might have some kind of in-joke thing going on or whatever." Dick gave him a flat look in response. "Or not. But why is Wally still hanging out with him then? I can't see him taking that much verbal abuse or not fighting back at least once."

"Because Hunter Zolomon is a charming sociopath, that's why," Dick hissed. "His brand of mean is the kind that can be explained away and the only way you'll ever find out what lies beneath is when you accidentally set him off and he reveals his true colours."

"Dick. You've explained why you don't like him, but I don't see any reason for Wally to break off a friendship with you because of him. Wasn't it originally over money issues?"

"Yeah, it was," Dick emphasised. "Until Zolomon got involved and started whispering sweet nothings into his ear about how I was trying to manipulate him into becoming completely dependent on me. As you can tell, he's not even talking to me."

"What about the others? I don't think Artemis would stand for that sort of thing."

Dick sighed. "No. But I didn't exactly help matters by trying to talk to him and the other stuff. So I'm trying to give him space and hoping he'll cool off enough to talk at some point before Zolomon convinces him otherwise."

"And you're just going to sit here and wait?" Kaldur found it difficult that someone like Dick would be willing to wait.

"What else am I going to do? He's already angry enough about the move and me looking him up at Flash, so it's probably better if I give him some space anyway."

Kaldur sighed. "You're going to have to tell me about that move sometime, too."

"Yeah," Dick agreed. "I will. But only after you ask Wally about it, or he tells you. Because I'm trying not to ruin anything else between us right now."

Since Dick seemed to be in a sharing mood, Kaldur decided to push for a little more. "So when you asked me about Wally this morning?" He prompted gently, hoping the other wouldn't take offence.

"Oh, yeah. That. I talked to Zee and she basically told me I was acting like a…well, she said my name suited me well. Apparently I'm starting to act like a psycho jilted girlfriend."

Kaldur refrained from making a comment. "Don't bother," Dick continued dryly. "Apparently she's not the only one who thinks that. So. I'm just going to stay well away from Wally until he decides to contact me, or we see each other again. I think I owe him that much at least."

"Even if part of it is likely because of a toxic friend?"

"I'm trying not to let my thoughts on that tool cloud anything. Yeah, I'd like to make sure he never comes within ten feet of Wally ever again, but the more you tell him not to do something, the more he'll want to do it. And I'd rather not damage our…friendship over that guy. Anyway. Enough about me. What's going on with you and Max?"

"I – what?"

"You know, trainee, German, teeth whiter than snow and all-around poster boy for Aryan Nation?"

"Dick!" Kaldur hissed.

"It's not inaccurate," Dick pointed out. "So spill. He seems pretty determined to be friends with you."

"We went out for lunch once. I hardly think that constitutes anything other than two colleagues heading out for food."

"Okay," Dick drawled. "But what if, say, Conner had done the same thing? Oh, wait," he pretended to think, "he did. What's your take on it now?"

"We had lunch and talked about work and strange British customs we couldn't understand. I'm pretty sure that's what most people do when they're new to a country and find a fellow foreigner."

"Kaldur, he came to you with his tale of woe in court. I'm pretty sure that constitutes some level of trust."

"I don't see how helping a trainee out a little bit can be construed as anything other than being helpful. There's no point kicking him when he's already down from a rough day in court."

"Trial by fire builds character," Dick said cheerfully. "I'd have just told him to be grateful no one replaced his notes with skin mags."

"Please don't tell me you do that regularly."

"I can neither confirm nor deny."

"I'm going to keep my briefcase far, far away from you," Kaldur commented. "But Max is a perfectly friendly trainee who's probably just grateful that he's not the only foreigner in the group. I can't imagine how difficult it must be, being that young and coming over all by yourself to work in a foreign country."

"Okay, then," Dick conceded. "If that's what you say."

"That is indeed what I say."

"And if things go a little too far, just turn around and walk away."

"So, dinner with Bruce on Friday?"

Dick stiffened and for a moment Kaldur worried he'd crossed a line. Then the younger man relaxed again and sighed in resignation. "Don't remind me. Bruce is so determined to act understanding about the fact that I asked to move out as soon as I qualified that he doesn't do anything except ask about the flat. 'How's it in Mayfair? Are your neighbours good? Is the plumbing working?' Like I couldn't find a decent flat myself."

"He just misses you," Kaldur pointed out. He still remembered the absolute flood of tears his mother had shed when Garth moved out properly. He also tried very hard not to imagine Bruce being fatherly, because the man was his boss for crying out loud, and he didn't want to have awkward thoughts about his home life cropping up at inconvenient moments.

"Man's got to go his own way at some point."

Kaldur would have happily paid every single penny in his bank account to know the entire story behind that one, but he decided that now was neither the right place nor time to start asking highly personal questions. Dick clearly had a lot on his mind and if he wanted to talk about it, Kaldur figured he could spare the time. After all, he owed his friend that much at least.

Dick seemed to relax a little more after that. "So – Friday's coming up soon and I'm thinking prank the new trainees. Because they've had it way too easy this week."

"Try not to scar anyone for life."

"Please," Dick scoffed, "it's nothing major. I'll just idly mention that there are Oreos hidden all over the office, and that the unofficial rule for those is finders keepers."

"This doesn't have anything to do with Mr. Jones, does it?" Kaldur asked, remembering Barry Allen's comment earlier on in the day.

Dick smirked.

Kaldur finally got home at eleven that night, sighing in relief as he loosened his tie and shucked his coat. When he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he noticed three messages. One of them was from Wally, saying that he wouldn't be able to make it to the gym in the morning because of something urgent that cropped up. The other two were from Conner; the first one asking if he was free for dinner or anything else sometime next week and the second one simply reading 'Goodnight'. Kaldur was thankful no one else was around to see the undoubtedly goofy smile on his face.

The next morning, Kaldur headed to the gym by himself. It was strange without Wally; the other had always provided a constant stream of conversation as they jogged over, and without it Kaldur felt as though he'd forgotten something important. Linda raised an eyebrow when he showed up without Wally but said nothing.

"So, I heard you helped Wally deal with the moving company over the weekend," Artemis commented as they circled each other.

"I came back for the end of it. I think those guys might have just left anyway – it's not like they can force themselves into the apartment."

"Any idea on what was going on?" Artemis asked.

Not wanting to accidentally throw Dick under the bus, Kaldur decided on the vaguest answer he could think of. "I'm not sure. It's very confusing at the moment."

"You have any idea who did it? I mean, Wally didn't just call the moving company himself and forget that they were coming"

"No clue. He's not exactly telling me a lot about it either – maybe you'll have better luck. Or something." Kaldur really hoped she didn't ask Wally too closely, or else she'd probably kill him for not telling her in the first place.

"Anything interesting happen to you lately?" He asked, hoping to throw her sufficiently off-track. The raised eyebrow he got told him she knew what he was doing, but she answered anyway.

"Oh, not much. Just developing new training programmes for the gym and helping my sister house-sit. And occasionally putting up a fuss whenever she brings guys home. Or rather, one specific guy – I think you might know him actually. His name's Roy."

"Roy? Roy's still, uh…" Kaldur wasn't sure how to continue without coming off as disbelieving. "He's still seeing your sister?"

"And then some," Artemis confirmed dryly. "I don't think I've gone a week without seeing him since that last, awful time." Kaldur immediately made a mental note to grill Roy. It was his turn to start asking some questions.

"And new training programmes?"

Artemis laughed. "Nothing that visible. It's more like coming up with ideas about individual clients – I work as a personal trainer too, so I need to think about what each person needs, what they can do and then factor that into what kind of exercises I should be teaching them."

"That's still pretty labour-intensive," Kaldur replied. "Do you have a lot of individual clients?"

"Enough to keep me going," she replied. "And then of course there's you, though I can't really say you're a client since you're not paying or anything."

"I could, you know," Kaldur hastily offered. He didn't want Artemis to lose valuable time dealing with him if she could be earning money on the side.

"Don't be silly." she punched him gently and darted back. "I just consider this part of my morning workout."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "The warm-up."

"Ha ha. So what kind of clients do you normally get?"

"The usual. Everyone sticks me with the younger crowd; the fitness junkies who want to push themselves that little bit harder, the parkour fanatics who want to incorporate a few more acrobatic moves into their runs…and of course, the MMA classes. Those are absolutely awesome. You'll love them, I promise."

"Enthusiastic crowd?"

"Oh. Very. Everyone looks disappointed when we finish up for the evening."

"Now I'm excited to go," Kaldur laughed.

"That's my job – sell the classes. By the way, I'll give you the forms and stuff after we're done here, and you can look at them and return them by, say, Friday?"

"Forms?"

"Sign up forms, waivers so that we don't have to worry about you suing us into bankruptcy if you do get hurt during class, things like that. It's only a couple of sheets, don't worry."

Kaldur smiled. "Well, I did spend a month with you training, so I'm fully confident that nothing will go wrong. Are you sure you don't want me to pay some sort of fee for sparring every morning? It is technically training for me after all—"

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "I wasn't really training you the same way anyhow; just think of me as a friend who happens to be a gym trainer on the side as well. You will have to pay extra top-up costs for the MMA classes though; gear, transportation if you want to compete in tournaments, stuff like that."

"I'll bear that in mind."

As he headed home, Artemis' forms safely tucked in his exercise bag, Kaldur wondered what had happened to Wally. Perhaps he'd decided to head out early? Exams were over, but the academic year had barely started and if Wally was doing a PhD, he probably wouldn't be able to stop working for a long time.

Max practically pounced on Kaldur as soon as he walked into the lobby of Wayne & Co. "So, dinner?" He looked so hopeful Kaldur hadn't the heart to say no even though part of him really wanted a quiet night at home and maybe a Skype chat with his parents in the nearby cafe. Dick's words about the trainee swam through his head again, but he shoved them away forcefully.

"Of course. Where do you want to go? Or we can just get something nearby."

Max grinned and reached out to clap him on the shoulder. "Great! We can catch the tube there and have dinner around eight. I'll come get you around seven-thirty?"

"Certainly," Kaldur told him. "Thanks for inviting me out. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too," Max smiled warmly. "See you around!" He slipped off to join a group of whispering trainees, all of them headed for the conference rooms and was soon out of sight.

"Morning Kaldur!" Kaldur barely managed to keep himself from startling.

"Kory, hi. How are you?"

"Absolutely fine, Kaldur. Ready for another beautiful morning of work?" Judging from the dull grey clouds in the sky, Kaldur didn't think there was anything beautiful about the weather but Kory was so cheerful it was hard to disagree with her on anything.

"You know me." He pasted on what he hoped looked like a genuine smile and quickly headed off before she could start talking to him about anything else.

Halfway through the morning, Mr. Wayne stopped by to talk about the impending arbitration (the parties were considering private settlement with no arbitrator and the negotiations would be in a week's time) and drop off another set of case files. Kaldur stared despondently at the gigantic mountain of ring binders and considered going outside for a breath of fresh air firs.t.

"Kaldur, how's my favourite American colleague doing?" Kaldur looked up to see Mr. Allen beaming cheerfully at him from the door.

"Hi, Mr. – er, Barry. I'm doing well. And yourself?"

"Oh, fine, fine," Mr. Allen answered "Another day, another stack of paperwork. You know how it goes. And I have a meeting with Helena and John in—"

"Barry!" Dinah Lance poked her head in. "Sorry, Kaldur," she apologised hastily. "Barry, hurry up! Helena and John have been looking for you all over the place! You're supposed to be in a meeting with counsel for next week's trial – the Firefly case."

"Relax, Dinah, it's only eleven. I've got plenty of time."

"No, the meeting was supposed to start at quarter to eleven! John's been looking all over for you!"

"Quarter to eleven?" Barry's face went a deathly shade of white and he practically flew out of his chair, making a mad dash fr the door and apologising profusely all the while. Dinah looked out after him and sighed, exasperation on her features as she looked at Kaldur.

"Sorry to interrupt you," she said. "He's so scatter-brained sometimes it's a wonder he ever managed to become a lawyer in the first place."

After assuring her that he and Barry hadn't been discussing anything of importance, Kaldur settled back into his chair for another solid hour of work. When he next looked up, he noticed that the sky had gone terrifyingly grey and that the windows were spattered with rain. He sighed; he'd forgotten to bring his umbrella in today. He decided to head over to Dick's to see if he was interested in lunch.

On the way over, Kaldur ran into Kory. "Ah, Kaldur!" She said with a smile. "Just the person I wanted to see. Would you mind doing me a massive favour?"

"Not at all," smiled Kaldur.

"Wonderful," the redhead beamed. "Would you mind awfully if we went out for lunch together?"

"…Is that the favour?" Kaldur asked in confusion. Kory nodded.

"How could I possibly refuse?" He smiled.

"Great! Meet you outside by the lifts at one!" She looked around cautiously and lowered her voice. "But please don't mention this to Dick. Please?" Before he could so much as reply, Kory was whisked away by one of the secretaries.

Kaldur stared after her, wondering why she wanted to talk to him on her own. Was it something to do with Dick? He seriously hoped not, although even he had to admit that based on what he'd seen so far, she deserved better.

Dick stepped in at precisely five minutes to one, briefcase in hand and neatly dressed. He looked much better today, Kaldur was glad to see, although the sharp jut of his chin was worrying. "Lunch? We can check out that new CD store on the way back."

"I – sorry, Dick, I'm meeting someone for lunch." Dick raised an eyebrow and then nodded.

"Of course. Maybe some other time."

Kaldur tried calling Kory on her extension to tell her he'd be a bit late; after all, he didn't want to run into Dick in the lifts when the redhead had specified she didn't want Dick to know; but she was probably already gone and Lana, her secretary, didn't seem to be picking up either.

He got out and saw Kory sitting in the waiting area. "Kaldur!" She said cheerfully. "Ready to go?"

"Sorry," he apologised as they headed down a secluded side street to a tiny bistro. "Dick came by and I didn't want to tell him about lunch. You did ask, after all."

Kory looked surprised and then relieved. "Thank you," she said softly. "I didn't want to tell him because – well, it's because I needed some advice and I was hoping maybe you could help, since you two seem to be good friends and everything."

Kory jumped straight into her story, for which Kaldur was thankful. If it had been Dick or quite possibly Wally, he would have had to sit through at least ten minutes' worth of wandering around the issue at hand. "Is something the matter with Dick?" She asked. "I mean, he's still as friendly as ever and he's so, so sweet to me, but I feel like there's…distance between us. When we go out, it's like he's always looking for something else that isn't there."

I bet he is, Kaldur thought before shooting the thought down. Being sarcastic wasn't going to help Kory. "So why talk to me about this? Why not Zatanna, or Artemis, or even Conner?"

"Who?" Judging from the bewildered expression on Kory's face, she didn't know any of the people he'd mentioned. Which meant things were a lot worse than he'd thought. "Oh, you mean his friends outside of work?" She asked brightly. "He talks about them all the time, but when we go out it's usually just the two of us. We haven't really been introduced properly."

"And how do you feel about that?" Kaldur asked carefully. This was like that student counselling workshop he'd had to take before being allowed to become a student mentor all over again; only this time, it was with someone he'd have to see every day on a regular basis.

Kory shrugged. "I thought it was some guy thing. He didn't want to act like he was fully committed yet, so he didn't introduce me to his friends. I figured he'd get over it at some point. Only…well, only, it's not. Right?" She looked ruefully at him and Kaldur realised that Kory had already seen the writing on the wall.

"I can't say for sure," he said. "Dick hasn't exactly been forthcoming with me, either. At least, not about certain things. It might be different with everyone else, but I've only known him properly for a couple of months at most."

"Yes," she agreed. "But like I said – whenever we're together, he's the perfect gentleman but it's always like he's not – not fully there with me. Like he's thinking about someone else. Or wants to have someone else but can't." She gave him a wobbly smile. "Is there?"

"I don't know. Not for sure. And I think this is probably something you might want to discuss with Dick," Kaldur said uncomfortably. He didn't want to shoot Kory down, but neither did he want to outright lie to her.

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes as Kory thought. "I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, Kaldur," Kory finally said. "It's just that you're really the only friend of Dick's who might actually be able to tell me if…if anything's going on."

"I can't tell you for sure, because I only met him a few months ago," Kaldur finally said. "But if you're not happy, you have three options. One, you can talk to Dick about your feelings and see what comes of it. Two, you don't say anything and hope things will get better over time. Three, you call it quits and leave." He let her think for a moment.

"I just want to know if I have a chance at becoming what he wants to see," Kory said finally.

"It's still early days," Kaldur replied neutrally. "And Dick's been going through some heavy stuff himself lately, if anything I've heard is true."

Kory looked like she wanted to ask, but shook her head finally. "I know. I just, I don't know, I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't think anyone else would be able to tell me much more."

"Well," Kaldur said, "you're welcome to talk to me anytime you want. If anything's bothering you. You know where to find me."

She gave him a small smile, eyes suspiciously bright. "Thank you," she said. Then she clapped her hands together briskly. "We should get dessert," she smiled as though the previous conversation had never happened. "They do amazing apple strudel here. Want to share one with me?" The rest of lunch passed quickly.

"Hey," Kory said as they headed back. "How do you break everything down so neatly like that? You know, with the options and…stuff?"

Kaldur shrugged. "I'm a lawyer." He remembered the hurt that had seared through him the first time he'd caught Tula and Garth looking at each other. He'd tried to hold on, hoping desperately to remind Tula of what they'd had before, but truth be told their relationship had started crumbling long before and part of him had already resigned itself to the fact that he was going to have to give her up.

Kory punched him playfully. "Stop avoiding the question!"

"It's the truth!"

"I don't believe you," Kory pouted up at him. Used to this from years of dealing with Tula once she'd become more like a sister to him, he laughed and continued walking back to the office.

Just before they got into the lobby, Kory suddenly reached up to hug Kaldur. "Thanks for the talk," she whispered before leaving quickly, just in time to intercept Susan from Accounting. As Kaldur watched her head back into the office, he reflected that she deserved better. He shook his head and walked back slowly to his office.

"Boo!"

"Argh!" Kaldur jumped backwards as Dick popped out of his office, giggling madly. He was just grateful there was no one around to see him react like a spooked teenager in a horror movie.

"Well, if somebody hadn't refused to come out with me, I'd be back later. But for your information, I bought a sandwich and some coffee downstairs. A working lunch, if you will." One small hand reached out to grab Kaldur's wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. "Come here. I need to talk to you about something." Kaldur let himself be dragged into Dick's office, stumbling a little as his foot caught on the corner of a pile of papers.

"Sorry!"

"Whatever." Dick practically threw him into the spare chair and hopped onto the desk, looking down at him. "So what were you up to? You're not exactly back late yourself."

Kaldur shrugged. "Quick and dirty." And meaningful, but he didn't need to tell Dick where he'd gone. Especially since Kory had explicitly asked him not to tell Dick about anything. "Side alley bistro."

Dick's eyes narrowed. "Huh. I've never gone there. Were you with Max or something?"

"Yes." Well, the 'or something' part was technically correct.

His colleague sighed and leaned forward to put both hands on his shoulders. "Kaldur, my boy," Dick said, "I know it's tempting to play around, but for the love of all that's good and holy please, please, please don't sleep with the trainees. Or start dating them. Also, I am obliged to warn you that if you stray and break Conner's little genetically engineered heart, I will personally hunt you down and kill you in the messiest, most painful manner known to man. And then I will resurrect you and pass you over to Tim's gentle care."

"Genetically engineered? What are you even on?"

Dick shrugged. "It's something I've always wanted to say. Haven't you?" Seeing the bewildered look on Kaldur's face, he sighed. "Never mind. So how was lunch with the boytoy?"

"Don't call Max that," Kaldur said automatically. "And I'm not interested in Max, either. You should stop pairing me up with random friends. It's getting disturbing."

"Okay, fine," Dick said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "How was lunch with Max?"

"I don't know, why don't you go ask Eduardo or Virgil? They went out together."

"Hang on." Dick sat back. "You didn't have lunch with Max?"

"No."

"Then why did you say yes?" Kaldur smirked. Dick held up a hand. "No, wait, I know why. So who were you at lunch with?"

"A friend."

"Oh. Well, any idea on who this friend might be?"

"Yes."

"And what name do you call this friend by?" It was sorely testing Dick's patience to deal with this, Kaldur could tell, but he figured the other man could use a little frustration every now and again. Heaven knew he'd caused enough of it for everyone around him.

"I – they asked me not to tell you."

"They – a girl, then," Dick decided. "Raquel? Melissa? Raven? Donna?" Kaldur didn't say anything. "You are such a tool!" The younger man growled before tackling Kaldur bodily, making the office chair shake alarmingly. "Who is it?" Kaldur tried to fend Dick off, but the other was having none of it. "If you don't tell me, I'll mess your outfit up and tell everyone you had a quickie in the broom closet with someone," Dick threatened.

"With who?" Kaldur asked in some amusement. "You? Ouch!" He yelped as Dick pinched his arm. "Stop it, you little—" They grappled for a while longer.

"Gentlemen?" Both men stopped dead and turned around to see a bemused-looking Clark Kent in the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked worriedly. "I can come back later—"

"It's fine," Dick said hastily, clambering off Kaldur and straightening his suit. "Just some de-stressing roughhousing, you know how it goes."

"Of course." Mr. Kent smiled for a moment, slightly lost in his thoughts and then snapped back to attention. "So, I was hoping the two of you might be able to help me out again in that little matter – remember the gift I had to buy for a younger relative?" Dick and Kaldur both nodded. "Well," Mr. Kent continued, "I'm seeing him again this weekend, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions on where to go with him. I'm afraid I'm not very in tune with the times anymore," he laughed.

"Maybe something outdoorsy?" Kaldur asked. "Or the tech exhibition?"

"He did mention working in an auto shop," Mr. Kent mused. "Do you think he'd like a car show? There's an exhibition on classic cars on now, and I've got a friend who can get me some tickets."

"That's a good idea," Dick chimed in. "If he works as a mechanic, he'd appreciate the show. And I can tell you it's pretty good – Bruce went to go check it out before it officially opened, and he was really impressed."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Kent smiled. "He did say something about it. Are you sure it won't be too old though?" He asked anxiously. "I wouldn't want to make him suffer though something he didn't want to."

"Don't worry," Kaldur said quickly, covering for Dick's snicker. "It's fine. If he likes cars and you want to get to know him better, it'll be a good opportunity for the two of you to share an interest. It's not about being 'cool', it's about getting to know each other better." He suppressed a wince; it sounded like he was giving dating advice, for crying out loud.

"I suppose so," Mr. Kent said slowly. "What about the zoo? He likes animals."

"He's not under ten, is he?" Dick asked.

"No – he's about your age."

"Car show," Dick and Kaldur said firmly. "It'll be different, and if you don't enjoy yourselves at least you won't have had to pay to get in," Dick reasoned.

Mr. Kent looked relieved. "That's true. Thank you – I want to make sure my relative has a good time."

"Let us know how it goes!" Dick called out into the corridor after him. Kaldur sighed. "And you," Dick whirled and pointed at Kaldur, "Take Conner to the zoo sometimes. Clark wasn't kidding when he said Conner loved animals. You can thank me for my advice later."

"Okay?"

"Great. Now shoo, lunch break's over." Dick hustled him out and slammed the door, leaving Kaldur to face the entire group of secretaries by himself. Max passed by and blinked at the sight of a still confused Kaldur.

"You okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Kaldur said. Max looked closely at him and then tucked the file in his hand under his arm.

"Here," the trainee said, stepping in close. "Your tie's crooked. Don't worry," he added, batting Kaldur's hands away. "I'll help you fix it." He fussed for a moment and then stepped back, looking over Kaldur with a critical eye. "All done," he declared. "And you should wear three-piece suits more often. They suit you well." He smiled brightly and continued down the corridor, leaving Kaldur to blink in confusion. The secretaries' tittering didn't help clear anything up either.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur, Kaldur wading through the case files systematically. He leaned back with a sigh and glanced over at his clock; it had only just passed seven 'o clock. Deciding to rest for a while, he took his phone out and checked it. There was a message from Roy asking him to confirm Thursday night's dinner and a text from Conner: Wally said he, Artemis and you are going out on Friday and asked if I want to come. Are you actually going to go?

He quickly sent a reply to Roy (Yes) and decided to call Conner. It wasn't like he had anything else to work on at the moment, anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you," Kaldur smiled. "Is it a good time to talk?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Conner said. "We're just closing up, wiping everything down and whatever. How are you?"

"I'm good. Hey, I got your text – I promised Wally I'd go, so I'll definitely go."

Conner paused for a moment. "That's good. We can see each other. But if you're busy or tired, it's fine too. You don't have to worry about me or anything."

"Don't worry," Kaldur said. "I've been meaning to get together with Wally properly anyhow. We haven't had a chance to talk much." Conner's being there might make Wally less likely to talk about his side of the moving company saga (as he privately called it) but on the other hand, he couldn't not tell Conner. And he really did want to see the other man again.

"Okay," Conner said after a pause. "I'll come too. You know, if it's okay."

"Conner, you've been Wally's friend far longer than I have. I think it's safe to say he'd be happy to see you."

"Right. So, uh, how are you? You're probably really busy, huh?"

"Little more than the usual, we always get busier towards the year end since everyone wants to close their deals before Christmas."

"Yeah, Dick's been complaining about being busy too." He paused for a moment.

"How about you? Have you been busy?"

"Not really. Lot of minor repairs, tune-ups, that sort of thing. We have a bunch of puppies in the back office now though. I'll take them by the animal shelter this evening."

"Puppies?" Kaldur blinked.

"Yeah." Conner's voice went a little tight. "Someone left this beaten-up old car outside, and at first we just thought maybe he was buying something from the convenience store or whatever. Two hours later, still nobody's come by for it and we're wondering if maybe we should call the police. Then Mal hears barking coming from the trunk, so we break it open and find this box of puppies inside. They'd just been left there for who knows how long."

"What did you do?" Kaldur looked up and saw Max leaning against the doorway. He quickly mouthed 'Sorry' at the trainee and gestured at his cell phone, slowly gathering up his things.

"We called the RSPCA and the police. Animal control's coming over in the afternoon – they're a little short-staffed at the moment – and the police took the car in already. Thank goodness the puppies are old enough to be eating solid dog food, else we'd have to put someone on puppy-feeding duty too."

"So they're just in the office?"

"We got one of the apprentices to cover it. And anyway, Lia's happy to be looking after them."

"You'll have to tell me the full story sometime. Hey, I'm really sorry, I have to go – I'm having dinner with a friend."

"It's not Roy, is it?" The concern in Conner's tone would have been laughable if it weren't for his conversation with Dick about Max last night.

"No, no, it isn't." Part of him said he should probably tell Conner about Max, but right now probably wasn't the best time to do so. "I have to go – sorry – bye." He quickly hung up and stood to meet the other man. "Sorry. I was on the phone with a friend."

Max smiled. "No problem. I actually finished earlier than I was supposed to. I hope I didn't interrupt you."

"No, not at all. Sorry for making you wait." As they headed out, they ran into Dick. The other man simply looked at the two of them and raised an eyebrow at Kaldur. He gave them both a quick wave and headed into Bruce's office, shutting the door behind him.

Max smiled at Kaldur. "So how do you feel about Hungarian?"

The restaurant was ten minutes' walk from London Bridge tube station, further along down the main road but not so close that you could hear the cars passing by. There was already a long line waiting at the door, but they were shown in as soon as Max mentioned his name and a booking number.

"Have you been here before?" Kaldur asked, looked around the restaurant in interest. It was done up in heavy wood panelling, covered in tapestries that seemed to depict various important historical scenes and figures from Hungarian history. Although the restaurant was full, the tables were evenly spaced out, giving each group a modicum of privacy. It seemed like a nice place, if a bit dimly lit.

"No," Max confessed cheerfully. "I figured we could try it out together. I've had Hungarian food before – my grandmother's Hungarian – but not here."

"You'll have to let me know your thoughts on the cuisine then," Kaldur smiled.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. It's not easy to say something's better than your grandmother's cooking."

Kaldur couldn't stop eating the Hungarian cheese scones that came in the complimentary bread basket. He knew that at the rate he was going, he probably wouldn't be able to finish his actual meal, but they were so soft and flaky it was hard to stop himself. "Sorry," he said after his third. "I think you'd better claim the rest before I eat everything."

Max smiled. "No, no, it's fine. I'm glad you like the place so far."

"It's pretty good," Kaldur admitted. "But I usually decide after the actual meal." He looked longingly at the two remaining scones. Perhaps he could ask for some to take home afterwards? "How did you find this place?"

"I looked it up," Max said. "Hungarian food always helps me when I'm really homesick, so I try and find a good place wherever I am."

"Is this the first place you've tried?"

"No, I used to go to this one place in Golders Green, but it's a bit difficult to get to and pricey, so it's not very convenient. Besides, I don't want to eat out by myself all the time – that's depressing!"

"Believe me, I'm more than happy to come with you if this is the kind of thing I can expect whenever you go out for dinner," Kaldur laughed.

"I'll try not to disappoint," Max smiled. "Fair warning now though; I'm a bit of a foodie."

"We all have to have a hobby," Kaldur shrugged. "And I'm more than happy to try new things."

Max looked like he wanted to say something else, but their food arrived before he could speak and he seemed to have forgotten about it. They tucked into their food with gusto, both starving after a long day at work. "So how does this hold up?" Kaldur asked.

Max looked confused. "Sorry?"

"How does this taste – you know, compared to what you're used to."

"Oh." Max gave him a dazzling smile. "Better than Golders Green, not as good as my grandmother's cooking. But if they do cheap takeout, my life will be complete. How are you finding it?"

"It's amazing," Kaldur admitted. "This is actually my first time eating Hungarian ever."

Max raised an eyebrow at him. "No kidding. I'm glad you like it."

"I do. I always thought it was just goulash and beef stew, but this—" Kaldur gestured at his plate, "this is a whole new experience."

"Well, in that case," Max sliced a piece of his pancake off, "You should try some of mine too. Here." Without waiting for so much as acknowledgment, he placed some of his food on Kaldur's plate. The lawyer blinked and looked down at his own venison.

"Thanks – do you want to try some of mine?"

"Don't worry about it," Max waved his hand, "I'll probably have some trouble finishing my own as it is. It's pretty filling."

"It is," Kaldur agreed. "I'll have to come along with you whenever you find a new restaurant to try if this is the standard you demand from anywhere you go."

Max leaned forward eagerly. "Really? Because I've been dying to try out this Korean place on Tottenham Court Road and I've been looking for someone to come with me."

"What, like Korean barbeque?" Kaldur remembered spending his Saturday evenings in one with his high school swimming team after competitions.

"Yeah. Well, it does a lot of things, we can get something called bimbimbap too apparently." Kaldur nearly laughed at the odd face Max pulled when trying to remember what the Korean dish was called.

"Yeah, it's just called stone pot rice if you're not a fan of tongue-twisters."

"Huh. I didn't know that. But yeah, would you be interested in coming? Not this week – maybe some time next week?" The German man looked so hopeful Kaldur felt bad for even thinking about refusing.

"I – maybe some time next week? I've been pretty busy lately." If the other was disappointed, he certainly did a good job hiding it.

"Of course," the other replied smoothly. "I'll let you know when I'm going there."

They talked for a while longer about hobbies and after-work activities; when Kaldur mentioned he was finally going to be able to use his television for something other than decoration, they got onto the subject of TV shows. Max turned out to have a penchant for American teen dramas, most notably Gilmore Girls. Kaldur couldn't repress his grin when the other revealed that bit of information. "And here I was, thinking you were going to tell me you liked Dexter or House."

"Sorry to disappoint," the other said loftily. "I'll just go and order as much beer as I can stomach, belch and vomit my way through the rest of this meal, shall I?"

"Do. It'll be good entertainment, if nothing else."

They laughed for a moment before Max stopped, smiling softly. "You look good when you laugh, you know," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"When you laugh – you look good. Really good."

"Uh…" Kaldur's mind seemed to go blank and all he could hear was Dick's voice looping 'I told you so' over and over again. Still, he managed to stammer some sort of reply. If Max noticed anything had changed, he certainly didn't show it. He inwardly cursed the slow burn steadily making its way up his face as Max continued to look at him, warm gaze lingering for just a little too long.

"So how about some dessert then?" The other asked cheerfully as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Kaldur hastily agreed and excused himself.

When he got back, he found Max engaged in a debate with the pretty waitress over whether the strudel or the chestnut puree would make a better end to their meal. The girl giggled and blushed every so often, and Kaldur wondered if perhaps he'd been seeing trouble where there was none. Then Max turned to him and winked, and it was only by sheer force of will that Kaldur didn't go running back to the bathroom. Thank heavens he was going to get dinner with Roy, even if his friend would undoubtedly give him no end of grief for it.

They finally decided on two glasses of palinka (Hungarian apricot brandy, according to the menu) to finish the night off, seeing as neither of them could eat another bite. Max raised his glass in what was unmistakeably a toast. "Cheers." He stopped just short of clinking their glasses together. "Hey, you can't look somewhere else," he chided Kaldur. The other man blushed; he'd been too busy looking at one of the colourful tapestries to pay attention. "No eye contact means you'll have bad sex for seven years!" Kaldur was thankful he wasn't eating, or else he'd have choked.

"Uh…really? Never heard that one before."

"It's the truth. Come on, eye contact this time," he said firmly. Kaldur simply took a deep breath and tried again, gulping the sweet liquor down and thankful for the slight burn.

"Good?"

"Yeah, good."

Kaldur somehow managed to get his hands on the bill first and hastily slapped his credit card down, practically throwing the heavy red folder back at the waitress before Max could react. "Don't," he said firmly, holding up a hand. "Consider it my treat, even if you did pick the restaurant. You can repay me when you get your first paycheque."

Max smirked. "I'll hold you to that," he said. "I don't like owing anyone."

"It's not a debt. It's a treat."

They headed back to the tube station in relative quiet. The streets were almost completely silent now, save for the occasional pedestrian or taxi that passed by. "So," Max said carefully when they got into the station and realised they'd be heading different ways. "Thanks for coming out with me tonight, Kaldur."

"Of course," Kaldur said with some relief. Perhaps Max had gotten the message after all. Then, quick as a cat, the trainee leaned up and kissed him. It was a quick peck, but it was clear Max wanted him to respond. When Kaldur didn't react, the other pulled away with a rueful smile. "See you tomorrow, Kaldur." Before the other man had a chance to reply, Max darted away into the tunnel, leaving Kaldur standing there in stunned shock.


Next time on New Guy:

Conner stared. "Who's Max?"

Max stood up, smile firmly in place and one hand extended in greeting. "I am."

Feigning a heart attack suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.


Thank you for reading everyone, I'm really happy that you've stayed here up until now. Thoughts, questions, feedback and comments are all welcome and thanks again for sticking with this story!