Lingonberry Tea

Lingonberry Tea
25 September 2017
-September 25, 2017-
Stepping into the warm café with the wind whipping his scarf, Raleigh laughs as he ruffles Yancy's hair. They're just coming in off of a patrol with Brawler Yukon leading the way while they hang back on Miracle Mile to watch for trouble. Nothing happens while they're out and Raleigh wants to celebrate no Kaiju by drinking tea. Yancy's indulging it only because he likes flirting with the baristas.
"Beckets! Local celebs and they come here." the barista teases warmly as Yancy leans over the counter with a grin.
"Nah. Haven't gotten one yet. But I can take you out for a nice dinner." his brother purrs, casually giving her a wink as he tucks a ten into the tip jar. She blushes to the roots of he hair and Raleigh rolls his eyes.
"A chai an' a citron to go please?" he orders politely to get the poor woman away from his extremely talented brother.
"Of course. That'll be, umm..." she blushes as she takes Raleigh in as well and he takes pity on her burning face.
"Five fifty-seven. Keep the change." Raleigh puts down six and drags Yancy away to a booth to give the barista some breathing space. "You're good and that girl is gonna be permanently red every time she sees you."
"Becket!"
"She's callin'-Awww, Rals..." Raleigh keeps a firm hand on his brother's shoulder as he collects their tea. Sure enough, the woman's phone number is on Yancy's chai tea. "Success!"
"Only because you're a polite if unrepentant flirt, Yan." he huffs as he stirs the citron to make sure he's not drinking lemon rinds with his first mouthful.
"Try it an' it might work." Yancy points to the number and waves at the barista who nearly spills someone else's order of coffee.
"Leave her alone until she's on break, Yancy. She's gonna get fired if you keep that up." Raleigh chides sharply.
"Alright, alright." Yancy holds up his hands in surrender as he lowers one to drink his tea. "Besides, it can't hurt anything. The least someone can say is no or be super biting with the reply."
"Gee, Yan, you're so fuckin' helpful." he snorts as he stares out at the permafrosted ground outside.
"I try my best." The fact that Yancy's sticking out his tongue is no surprise. "Hey, she's on break."
"No. Give it a few seconds." Raleigh tugs his puppy-eager brother back down with one hand as he doodles on his phone with his stylus. "Breathin' room is good with the ladies, y'know."
"Rals, you're seriously lecturing me while doodling?"
"I'm an awesome multi-tasker." he quips as he lets go of Yancy's jacket sleeve. "Go do your thing and remember not to bring her to the 'dome like last time. I don't want to sleep in the couch bed again."
"Yeah, yeah." Sorry about that. She was really pushy for a
one-night stand. Y'know she actually wanted to invite you in? Raleigh pulled a face.
Please tell me you said no. I love you but not like that. he muttered as he twitched.
That's what I told her. Sharing's no good with us. Yancy hums through the link. Good luck.
With what?
That. Yancy nods to the pretty girl headed his way. She's his age, with blue eyes and thick, dark hair that he wants to run his fingers through. His brother leaves and she sits in the warm spot that Yancy vacated.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting here. Everywhere else in the place is full. It's popular." she flashes him a smile and Raleigh ducks his face into his scarf, blushing as she tilts her head to the side. "You're shy, aren't you?" He nods as he wraps his fingers around his tea cup. "What're you drinking?"
"Umm, citron." Raleigh barely manages it, feeling ridiculous that he can spin equations with Hermann no problem and yet with a girl he can barely speak. "'S lemon and orange."
"Was that your boyfriend?" she asks with a conspiratorial grin.
"My brother." he clarifies quickly as he ducks back into his scarf.
"Oh, you were quick with that one. Someone said something like that before?"
"...Yeah."
"Look at me, interrogating you when I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Naomi." she puts down her things to hold out her hand. He shakes it, noting the printer ink that marks her in the publishing profession but not where.
"Raleigh."
"As in Raleigh Becket?" her eyes lit up as she looked at
him with renewed interest. Oh boy. He hoped she wasn't a Jaeger Fly.
"Mmmhmm." he tried, hoping against hope that his stupid blush would go away.
"You seem so in-tune with people on TV but I guess you're acting. I think I prefer the real thing." she hums as she drinks her double whip latte so that the order shorthand is facing him. "Are you this way with everybody or... Oh. Just girls." He nods again, feeling like he could be saying something to her along the lines of 'please leave me alone' but his Asperger's is a fact of his life and it leaves him almost mute around girls. More often than not, it's the really pretty ones too.
Yan, help.
Rals, you alright?
No. This girl's smart and had me figured out in under five minutes. What the hell am I supposed to say now?
Anything so long as it's not completely off tangent. Yancy laughed as he pulled a pen from his pocket and shook it a bit before doodling cute things up the barista's arm. Raleigh snapped back to see Naomi watching him over her cup rim.
"You're really pretty." he blurts out and then slaps a hand over his face. Naomi giggles, pulling his hand away to lace her fingers with his.
"Thank you. At least it's honest." she replies as she sets her coffee down to trace random patterns against his skin.
"Sorry. I, umm, normally don't do this. Flirting, I mean. It's hard when the Shatterdome techs like to gossip." he admits quietly enjoying the contact with a small smile.
"You are incredibly sweet. Most people would pull away from attention from a complete stranger." Naomi motions to their joined hands, his thumb stroking over the skin between her fingers absently. He hums in acknowledgement as he drinks his tea. "I take it your family is very loving."
"Affectionate and very huggy." he remarks with a fond smile in Yancy's direction. "It's a thing."
"Well, Raleigh," he really likes the way she says his name and he blushes again, feeling silly. "I think I like you enough that I'm giving you my cell number. Call me up for a date sometime?" Naomi pulls a felt-tipped marker from her bohemian bag and pushes up the sweater sleeve (he borrowed Yancy's again) to write it down.
"You have to go?" Raleigh actually liked her.
"I work at a local newspaper as an intern. Just ask for me at the The Alaskan Gazette." she says with a wink, leaning down to press a kiss to his cheek. "Bye cutie." Naomi scooped up her coffee in one hand and her bag in the other as she walked out the door. Raleigh touched his cheek after she left and grinned like an idiot.
"Nice bro. So, when're you gonna call that girl?" Yancy came back with mussed hair and his lips were too red for the cold.
"When we're done with the next patrol." he smiles into his cup and Yancy ruffles his hair. "Assbutt."
"Whatever, Rals. You like this girl."
"Yeah, Yan, I do."
Raleigh didn't get the chance to call Naomi at all in the week that followed, considering they were shadowing Chrome Brutus, Romeo Blue and Brawler Yukon as well as executing solo patrols.
"You're doin' well." Bruce clapped a hand against his Drivesuit with a gloved hand as they disengaged from their Jaegers.
"It's great being out there. Gips is amazing." he hums
warmly before he yawns. "Ugh, three am patrols were not on the list though."
"None of us asked for those bastards but it is what it is, Becket." Trevin pitched in as he stretched, the Drivesuit preventing him from straining anything with a distinct clank. "Besides, I hear you caught the attention of a pretty girl instead of Gottlieb."
"Do we have to go over this shit again? The Doc's a good friend, even my best friend, but we're not together in any way, shape or form." Raleigh sighed for what seemed like the hundreth time when random people walked up to tell him he was a cheating bastard.
"Okay. Pretty sure the 'dome gossips are all heartbroken because they wanted a pilot/nerd romance in their lives." Trevin laughed as he slung an arm around his twin and walked out with a sloppy salute thrown in Raleigh's direction. Yancy rolled his eyes at the display.
"Idiots, Rals, are everywhere. It's an incurable disease." Yancy nudged Raleigh as they were stripped of their bulky armor and left in the skintight circuitry suits.
"I know... I live with one." he quips as soon as they're done changing into civvies. Yancy growls and Raleigh flees with laughter trailing behind him as he runs.
"Rals, you little-Are you lost?" Both of them come practically screeching to a stop when the pretty girl looks up.
"I was looking for Gottleib-hakase but they tell me he is not in at the moment." Raleigh strides through the doors and notices that the lights are off in Hermann's office. He comes back out with a shake of his head and the girl bows respectfully. She slips around the corner but Raleigh knows something's special about that girl. It'll come to him eventually, at any rate, so he shoves it to the back of his mind. Raleigh taps his finger to his chin, thinking about all of their spots and can think of only one that Hermann frequents just as much as he does.
You know where he is, don't you?
He gets... depressed. I know the signs. Both of them wince at the reminder of why they know the signs and Raleigh pulls on the sleeve of his borrowed sweater. The second realization follows shortly after the first; Naomi had seen his scars when she wrote down her number. Fuck me sideways.
What now?
Naomi saw my scars. She pulled the sleeve up to write down her number and they're not exactly... subtle. He pulls down the sleeve just to the edge of his scars, the rigid tissue almost invisible because he doesn't tan. Even with my coloring, she had to have seen them. Can't miss the damned things.
Did she look there?
No but-
Nope. You're gonna call that girl up and kiss her senseless, stupid. Yancy states as he tugs the sleeve back down and encircles Raleigh's wrists with his large hands. You'll tell her when you're ready, okay?
Okay.
Go find your stray. Shoo. He pushed Raleigh out towards the ledge where he could see the faint silhouette of his bet friend. Love ya, Rals.
Love you too, Yan. Raleigh tucks his face into his scarf as he pulls out the familiar green scarf from the pocket. He grins at the memory of keeping Hermann from being buffeted by the wind.
Deliberately making his steps loud, he's not surprised when Hermann says, "Not now Tendo."
"'M not Tendo an' you're gonna freeze into a prickly icicle if you stay out here much longer." Raleigh points out as he sits on the ground with a loud crunch. He wordlessly offers the scarf, not surprised when Hermann wraps the scarf around his red nose. "C'mon. I've got just the thing for that." Raleigh says quietly as he offers his arm.
"Tea?"
"And chess. It may not help it entirely but that's what friends do." he replies as they make their way down the hill.
"Thank you." Raleigh knows that the meeting between the two scientists had blown up in Hermann's face. Hermann had practically stormed back from the neutral meeting place and hadn't spoken for at least a week and a half. "I realize that my company has not been quite the... brightest lately. My apologies."
"Nah. That guy was an asshole anyway. Who needs him?" Raleigh waved it off as part and parcel of the way Herman was when he got upset. "I get like that too but not as often as I used to since I met you an' Tendo."
"You continue to remain as insightful as ever, Raleigh." Hermann replied as they set up in the pilot rooms. Yancy was probably off kissing the barista and so much more that Raleigh would feel through the Drift eventually. "Your brother...?"
"Out. I said he could so he's taking advantage of the freebie pass." he hummed as he dug through his limited tea selection; all the way in the back was the one he wanted. Raleigh grunted as he snagged the tiny box with his fingertips and pulled it out. It barely fit across his palm and at least half of it had been used already. Uncle Charlie really liked the tea since he wasn't as fond of the grass-like teas such as catnip or red clover. "Lingonberry good with you? All we've got is this or catnip. Jazzy's shipped a box of variety teas but it won't get here until next week at the latest."
"The first. Catnip can be made into tea?" Hermann sounded like a cross between interested and grossed out.
"Wicked muscle relaxer but it tastes about as good as a handful of tundra grass. Yan and I liberally use the honey we get rationed in it on bad days." he responded as he put the water in the kettle and turned on the gas stove. "You can have some."
"I couldn't-"
"Look, you probably need it more than Yan or me and it lets you keep a clear head. You probably take a truckload of pills to help you ease your muscles." Raleigh counters as he sets down the catnip in front of Hermann. "Think of it as a measure of our friendship, yeah? The part where you give each other shit and don't expect anything in return."
"I suppose I should not be astonished at your capacity for giving things but it is a part of you as much as math is a part of me. Kindness like yours is sorely needed in the world." Hermann remarked with a look that Raleigh swore was gratefulness. It passed after a moment but he treasured that tiny insight more than anyone would know.
In a world of Kaiju and Jaegers, people often forgot that life had to be lived in order for the world after the Breach to be any good. He pressed a hand to Hermann's upper arm to reassure him that Raleigh understood what he'd meant. Pulling away was hard, especially since all he wanted to do was scoop Hermann up and hug him close. Part of him wanted to protect Hermann but another part recognized that Hermann's battle scars were not all visible and that Raleigh should respect that strength. He did just that, pulling the whistling kettle off the stove while also switching off the gas. Digging around with the hot kettle proved to be a bit much and Raleigh set it down on a pot-holder while he tugged out some European goodies. Mémé's package had come at exactly the right time.
"So Mémé sent some European goodies. You want the lemon or strawberry roll?" Raleigh tugged the box out and presented it to Hermann.
"Lemon... Is that German?" Hermann picks up the lemon roll and sets it on the table as he mouths the words of the typical European sweets.
"Yup. Mémé keeps track of all the good stuff and spends her Euros wisely." he snags a Kinder egg and pops it open, offering Hermann the yellow plastic bubble because he's built all the toys already. Raleigh savors the chocolate melting on his tongue but remembers that Hermann can't eat it so he cuts four slices from the lemon roll and tucks the rest of the goodies away. Two go onto each plate with a fork for good measure. The tea is delicious and the match as close as ever so Raleigh loses by the barest fraction.
He pours them both a second cup as Yancy opens the door, slightly ruffled but showing no signs of typical success."Wow. Best date ever."
"The barista?"
"Yeah, yeah." Something's up with the evasive way Yancy answers him but the link is steady with contentment and... guilt? Raleigh shakes his head to rid himself the sensation and sees Yancy do the same.
"Hey! Mémé's package came through. Is as good as I remember?"
"Yup. Don't eat all of it." he hums as Hermann takes a long drink of his tea to drain it. "You goin' Doc?"
"I still have to work out the glitch in the Mark IVs before I go to Sydney." Hermann apologizes and Raleigh has no idea how he does it. "Thank you."
"You're always welcome, Hermann." he replies with a brilliant smile. The door closes and Raleigh turns to regard his brother with a steady eye. "You went out with someone else."
"I did and she was smart. The barista was flirting but nothin' more." Yancy shrugged. "Purity band around her index finger."
"Huh. You were bein' cute with her in the café." Raleigh motioned with the pen he picked up from the table.
"She told me she wasn't up for a serious relationship yet so we traded a few kisses and I was off the hook." his brother said with a grin. "Usually I get slapped first."
"You're lucky your new date didn't do the same." Raleigh pointed out as he leaned back into his chair. "That's happened before and girls hit really hard when they're pissed. I could feel it two days later through the Drift and man..."
"Anyone who says hitting like a girl is weak is out of their damn mind." Yancy finished with a dry snort. Raleigh definitely agreed with his brother on that point.
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