Spud's Spud Emporium, Haven
Holly slunk pitifully into the darkest corner booth in Spud's. It was her regular spot, and was perfect for days like today.
Kidnapped. Sequestered. Held for ransom by a Mud Boy.
She was never going to live this down.
Spud wandered by her table, hands overfull with an assortment of greasy food . . . or at least items that were food-adjacent. He offered her a sympathetic smile as he passed her. Somehow, that felt even worse than all of the other servers pointedly ignoring her.
Slowly, the elf dropped her forehead against the somewhat sticky tabletop. "My career is over," she groaned despondenty.
"Tell me about it," said a voice from beside her. The statement was swiftly followed by the sound of someone shuffling into the booth and sitting heavily beside her. "You want to compare professional scars?"
She lifted her head to take in the sight of one very disheveled LEP Captain Kelp before dropping it back down with a dull thud.
"Come on, Short, this could be fun," he goaded.
"I highly doubt that," she whined into the table.
Trouble sighed. "Fine, you spoilsport. I'll start. Today, my entire squad and I were incapacitated by a single Mud Man. It was an absolute disgrace the likes of which Retrieval One has never seen before. Which disgrace was only made worse by the fact that the last fairy standing happened to be my snot-nosed little brother, who I know will hold this over my head for the rest of my life. You're up."
He waited expectantly for her response, bumping her with his shoulder when she failed to comply.
Holly lifted her face from the table to glare at him. "Alright Trouble, you want to play this game?" she growled venomously.
"Today I lost the People an exorbitant amount of our gold. Today I participated in one of the greatest fiascos in the history of our tenuous relationship - or lack thereof - with the Mud Men. Today I ruined what was left of my very shaky career in the Lower Elements Police."
She finally stopped to gulp down a lungful of air, having depleted her reserves in that outburst. As soon as she had enough oxygen within her to continue, she fixed Trouble with a withering glare.
"Is there anything I've missed on my list of professional scars, Captain Kelp?"
Trouble made a show of looking cowed by her attitude. Or he tried, anyway. But it was mere seconds before his cheeks turned red and the exaggerated frown adorning his mouth wavered into the beginnings of a grin. Holly thought she saw a vein start to pulse on his forehead as he kept up his futile charade of penitence.
"I guess it's true," he said, sounding somewhere between morose and as though he were choking, "we really are pathetic." He kept up his charade for a portion of a second more before he gave up altogether and began laughing.
He laughed hard. He laughed loud. He laughed so much that people began to give them funny looks. He laughed so much that the tourist family from Atlantis sitting one booth over got up to find different seats. And then he laughed some more.
Finally, Holly joined in.
They made quite the pair - two captains of the distinguished Lower Elements Police, looking thoroughly battered, laughing like a couple of escapees from Cumulus House. When they tired of laughing they turned to chuckling, then to intermittent bouts of giggles.
Holly wiped a tear from one eye, leaving heavily against Trouble's shoulder to keep herself up. "Okay, Trubs," she finally got out between fits of laughter, "so what does such a pathetic pair do with themselves now? Look into other lines of work?"
Trouble shook his head, leaning back to greedily gulp down air to replace that which he had expended. "Nonsense. You just ask the Commander very politely to let us keep our jobs, and we'll be golden. Besides, it isn't like he isn't wrapped around your little finger anyway.".
"It most definitely is like that," Holly countered, rolling her eyes heavenward. The smirk he was wearing when she looked back at him was enough to irk her, so she said, "I'll think about trying to put in a good word for you."
Trouble's smirk turned into a bright grin. "See, I knew you'd have my back, Holly. You and I are always there for each other. That's what makes us such a good team," he added with a wink.
Just then, the arrival of two more of their fellows saved Holly from having to explain that No, the pink in her cheeks was because of the laughing fit from earlier. Certainly not from anything her companion had just said.
"If you two are quite finished acting like buffoons," Corporal Grub Kelp intoned wearily, "make some room for the Hero of Fowl Manor." His chest puffed out as he spoke, and he struck a pose like a superhero.
"Please," Captain Ash Vein added, pushing around the younger Kelp to make room for himself in the booth, "somebody just get food in his mouth so I don't have to listen to him say that again."
The booth slowly filled with smokey food, lively conversation, and more than a little good-natured ribbing as everyone took their chance to dig at either Trouble or herself. She bristled at the first few jokes, but soon was able to take it in stride. And then the conversation shifted and it was as though the incident was old news.
And there, joking and laughing and certainly not admiring the way Trouble Kelp's eyes seemed to sparkle when he laughed, Holly didn't feel quite so pitiful anymore.