CSI: NY – The Musical!
Disclaimer: Nothing but the insanity is mine.
Summary: Schadenfreude, making me glad that I'm not you.
AN: Another Avenue Q. It's like the real life Sesame Street. Oh yeah, ignore all the angst from the end of the second season for right now.
Chapter Three - Schadenfreude
Danny Messer set across from a very familiar face as he stirred his coffee. He always came to her when he needed his head screwed on straight. Now was definitely a time he was in need of a screw… and a pity party. The face on the other side of the table had its full lips turned up at the corners in a very Cheshire smile.
"Right now you are down and out and feeling really crappy…" Those lips could produce some of the most obvious commentary.
"I'll say."
"And when I see how sad you are it sort of makes me... Happy!" Danny looked at his coffee house therapist.
"Happy!"
"Sorry, Danny, human nature- Nothing I can do! It's... Schadenfreude! Making me feel glad that I'm not you." She said it with such a smile.
"Well that's not very nice, Aid!" He comes to her for counsel about his little Montanan addiction and he gets laughed at.
"I didn't say it was nice! But everyboy does it!" Danny Messer was certain that if he was giving Aiden advice he wouldn't sit and laugh at her… unless of course she truly deserved it. He would never succumb to that shad – whatever. Aiden seemed to read his mind. Nodding to a waitress she asked,
"D'ja ever clap when a waitress falls and drops a tray of glasses?" Danny looked at her but had to be honest. Dipping his head he replied in the affirmative.
"Yeah…"
"And ain't it fun to watch figure skaters falling on their asses?" That he could proudly agree with,
"Sure."
"And don'tcha feel all warm and cozy, watching people out in the rain!"
"You bet." Where was Miss Burn leading him, he was in the dark for a second before the bulb was turned on.
"That's…"
"Schadenfreude!" They said together, he always loved doing that with her. It wasn't nearly as awkward as when he finishes Lindsay's thoughts. Lindsay, the woman who drove him to call Aiden at three in the morning for emergency council. He needed time to avoid the thoughts of her, she was forever in his mind, at work, at play, when he ate and when he slept. Any time he could not pine was nice.
"People taking pleasure in your pain." The look on Aiden's face was priceless as the woman she was.
"Oh, Schadenfreude, huh? What's that, some kinda Nazi word?" Danny asked.
"Yup! It's German for "happiness at the misfortune of others!" Aiden was like a dictionary for random information.
""Happiness at the misfortune of others." That is German!" Both laughed. Schadenfreude was kind of fun. "Watching a vegetarian being told she just ate chicken." Danny offered.
"Or watching a frat boy realize just what he put his dick in!" Aiden offered up as not to be beat. Danny couldn't touch some things out of principle but continued the Shad' fest.
"Being on the elevator when somebody shouts "Hold the door!"
"No!" They both said in unison again. "Schadenfreude" Danny can't help the hyena like laughter from spilling into the late night café. He loved the insanity that was Aiden and Him.
""Fuck you lady, that's what stairs are for!" She always had such a way with words.
"Ooh, how about... Straight-A students getting Bs?"
"Exes getting STDs."
"Waking doormen from their naps."
"Watching tourists reading maps."
"Football players getting talked."
"CEOs getting shackled."
Watching actors never reach…" Danny began; he knew that this particular delight was what Aiden lived for when it came to Hollywood.
"The ending of their Oscar speech." Danny remembered every time he had called Aiden for advice, and he knew she never really gave him anything. But whenever they got together he couldn't stop smiling. She was his best friend, the one person that was there solely for him and his funny bone. She never asked anything of him other than a laugh and the occasional cup of coffee. And with his heart in a spin over Lindsay he needed something totally random or he'd never stay alive.
"The world needs people like you and me who've been knocked around by fate.
'Cause when people see us, they don't want to be us, and that makes them feel great." She was suddenly very somber.
"Sure. We provide a vital service to society." He agreed.
"You and me." She said; punch drunkenness from the hour taking over her sobriety. "Making the world a better place to be." She raised her glass.
"S – C – H – A – D – E – N – F – R – E – U – D – E!" he said clinking his mug to hers. She finished her dark roast and regarded him with another look.
"Danny, all humor aside, I am happy that you're sitting here in this state. I'm happy that we're still friends, and that we still can have fun. But I'm really happy about how you're acting; I've never seen you this way. You're in love." You're – in – love. Three words. Aiden hit the nail on the head. She always had a way of saying things. Danny paid for the coffee and before she turned the corner to go to her building she gave Danny her final verdict.
"I'm expecting a shout out in the wedding toast."