The steak house wasn’t crowded when Kelvin got there. He saw Fold and Holder already at the bar. Holder saw Kelvin and waved him over. Fold probably saw him too, Kelvin thought, nothing gets past him.
“Hey,” Holder said, patting Kelvin on the back. “Where’s the new guy?”
Fold nodded and smiled to Kelvin. Kelvin shrugged. “He should be coming soon.”
“I’ll get us a table,” said Fold, and went to the front to the hostess. Holder took his drink which looked like a ginger ale to Kelvin and followed Fold. The two followed Fold and the hostess to the booth. Fold and Holder sat next to each other, which meant Red and Kelvin would have to sit next to each other. Not that Kelvin thought that was a problem. He wasn’t as comfortable with Red as Fold and Holder seemed to be with each other.
The waitress returned with Red in tow. Fold and Holder studied him; Fold unabashedly with the cold eye of a bird of prey, Holder as someone who wanted to meet a new friend. Holder held his hand out first. “Hi, I’m Jules.”
“Red,” he said, shaking Holder’s hand. Fold held out his hand and shook firmly.
Red slid into the booth, keeping an invisible barrier between himself and Kelvin. Kelvin appreciated it. Drinks were ordered, Red being careful to see what others ordered before ordering himself. “Appetizer?” said Kelvin, and hid his face behind the menu. Fold kept his flat, Holder lifted his, Red lifted his to hide behind and still see Kelvin.
“This onion blossom sounds interesting,” said Fold.
They decided on that and mozzarella sticks, so when the waitress returned, another round of ordering commenced. Kelvin did the ordering – this whole date had been sort of his idea, so he took control. After that, silence fell over the table. Red tensed up. Holder noticed and said, “So, I’ve seen you sleeping up at the base.”
“Uh, yeah,” said Red, looking a little uncomfortable.
“We found a place,” said Kelvin. “Not together. I mean, he found a place. We looked. Together. But he’s not with me. I mean–”
Holder smiled at Kelvin. “We know what you mean.”
Kelvin blushed and hid behind the menu again. He felt Red pat his thigh gently. Stupid idea, Kelvin thought.
Fold said, “So where were you living before?”
Red hesitated. “On the street, more or less. In shelters? I played guitar for some extra money, but you can’t make a living doing that.”
“No one appreciates art,” said Holder.
“What do you play?” asked Fold.
“Mostly ’90’s music? Stuff like Nirvana, Pearl Jam…”
Fold had a blank look. Holder nodded. “Stuff from my cradle and bottle days.”
“You’re not that young,” said Red.
“I’m just under drinking age,” he said, holding up his ginger ale. “Besides, I don’t like liquor anyway.”
“That’ll make you still old enough to know the kind of stuff I’m talking about?”
“Okay, so maybe I exaggerated.”
Red smiled weakly.”I didn’t want you to think that I was–”
the waitress returned with food. No one had thought to look for an entre’, so they got down to it when she left the food. Again, Red paid attention to everyone else first before deciding on a steak petite, 8 ounces of beef with “steakhouse” seasonings. Kelvin got the same, and after the last order placement went in, they settled on picking on the appetizers. Kelvin found himself getting more and more comfortable with Red, and the invisible barrier slowly dissipated. He said in the silence, “Did you hear the most recent gossip about Cybermancer?”
Fold perked up, and Holder shook his head. Red asked who Cybermancer was. “A son of a bitch,” said Fold coldly.
“He’s an enemy of Grim’s,” said Kelvin. “He’s been coming after us piecemeal for a while now.”
Holder said, “Fold’s got a certain fondness for him.”
Fold snorted. Holder smiled and took Fold’s hand. Fold asked, “What’s going on?”
“Scott infected him with something. Mike doesn’t know, but he said that the guy will probably be out of commission, possibly permanently.”
“No way,” said Holder.
“Good,” said Fold, chomping savagely on a mozzarella stick.
Kelvin turned to Red. “Good thing you didn’t run into him. He makes offers that you don’t want to refuse.”
“Refuse them,” said Fold. “He uses you to get at Mike.”
“Though I heard,” said Holder, “That he’s actually trying to get us to have his own team.”
“Never.”
“Me neither.”
Red sat closer to Kelvin. Seeing the two of them so adamant probably frightened Red just a bit. Kelvin had to think of something to calm the two down, especially Fold.
“So, are you from around here?” asked Red.
As the conversation turned to each one’s history, Red got closer. Kelvin got closer. Their food arrived, and the conversation continued. When it was Red’s turn, he basically reiterated what he said before. Fold watched him warily.
Their dinner finished. Holder was sharing “No shit, there we were” stories from the field, Kelvin joining in, Fold with a few – and Red questioning some things for clarification. They sat there for a good two hours, drinking and laughing over their own foibles, those of the bosses – Fold even cracking a smile.
Then their comms went off. “Kevin Poe in the museum,” said Grim’s gruff voice. “Who’s got it?”
“We do,” said Kelvin. All four poured out of the booth, and changed into their costumes before they even got out the door.