There were a lot of things that Daniel Chae prided himself on.

He was smart, and worked to consistently build on that. He was kind, and did what he could to help others whenever the opportunity presented itself. He worked hard, the time he spent not doing such so easily counted he often worried how he ever found any opportunity to sleep.

Arguably, Danny would even say he was patient. Or at least he was patient enough for most occasions that he considered it something that he could pride himself on.

But as he paced the outside of the coffee shop, he realized that most of these traits waned thinner than usual when he was running on less than five hours of sleep.

He wasn’t a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, of course, but not liking being up early had never hindered him from functioning properly before. This was something else entirely.

Maybe, he wondered to himself, it was the excitement from the night before that had drained him. Danny hadn’t expected the blind date to go so well.

Not for any particular reason outside of the fact that he was the one involved, of course.

Things like socializing, and especially things like dating, had never went what one would call “well” for him. He was awkward and didn’t know what to say and nerves could be the biggest bitch there ever was.

Danny sighed, stopping to look down at his phone.

There were no new messages since Elliot said he’d left thirty minutes ago.

Before the interruption, the blind date had went exceedingly well. Considering how low Danny had set the bar, that wasn’t exactly saying a lot, but Danny couldn't have possibly anticipated that Elliot Edison was nothing like the preconceived notion that he had conjured in his head after Val showed him pictures and his descent into stalking began.

Alright, maybe not nothing- considering the shallow bits that Danny had picked up on were at least mostly accurate.

But where Danny had expected a vapid playboy, and Valerie had said to expect exactly that, Elliot just seemed to be a particular vein of dramatic that came across that way.

What puzzled Danny the most was the warmth he had felt, practically radiating off of the other man…. almost suspiciously so.

It was as though Elliot possessed some ability to make you like him, regardless of how unlikable he may be.

Danny envied that.

He had always had a much harder time getting people to like him.

“Hey!” He heard a voice call from behind him, nearly knocking into its owner as he turned around too quickly.

As he turned, Danny was greeted to a face full of deep green, cable knit sweater.

Elliot laughed, gently grabbing Danny’s shoulder’s to help steady him, “You really aren’t a morning person, huh?”

Danny flushed, “What? Why?”

As Elliot took a step back, he nodded at Danny dramatically, “Well for starters, I’ve never greeted someone and watched them jump six feet into the air.”

Fair enough, Danny frowned to himself as he wondered how much longer this checklist was about to get.

He knew the option was there, at least. Considering he was so tired he was beginning to wonder if this was still a dream. Especially considering how Elliot looked, with his stupid perfect hair, all perfectly coiffed and wavy...and the unnecessary way that sweater was both baggy and flattering.

Danny decided in that moment that he might not know too much about Elliot as a person, but he’d seen enough at this point that he was comfortable with labeling him as the most beautiful man he’d ever met.

Maybe Val was right, maybe he was just...very...as she put it, “backed up”. Maybe his judgement was crowded by a particular breed of loneliness and lack of physical affection.

Or maybe Elliot really was that pretty.

“Secondly,” Elliot said with a smug grin as he reached to open the cafe’s glass door, “Your shirt is on backwards.”

Danny looked down in panic, grabbing at the soft cotton blue sweatshirt he’d embarrassingly borrowed from Val, since he didn’t realize until it was far too late that all he seemed to own were hoodies, band shirts, and graphic tees with an odd ratio favoring cartoons from the 80’s. To his abject horror, it was definitely backwards.

“Son of a bitch.” He mumbled, darting his arms into the shirt to turn it around, “You know, you could have lead with that one.”

Elliot laughed, keeping the door open so Danny could pass through, “Yeah, but the payoff was worth it.”

“Happy I could be entertaining, I guess.” Danny said, fighting a smile. Mostly because it was funny, but it was also weirdly charming to have someone hold the door open for him.

That had to be a first, actually.

Danny followed behind as Elliot made casual conversation with the waitress, the realization that Elliot didn’t open his mouth without it being some sort of flirtation not missing him in the slightest.

Not that he took issue with it, of course. Not yet. For now it was charming.

He made it a consistent effort on his part to not view things in a negative light if he could help it. The loud, suspiciously Val-sounding voice in the back of his head screamed that his was surely a sign that this man was a snake.

A charming snake, but serpentine regardless.

But what seemed suspicious at the moment could end up just being an obnoxiously charming habit.

Danny wasn’t going to jump to judgement. Not this time.

Elliot flopped into the booth, watching as Danny slid into the seat adjacent, “Sorry I took so long, by the way. I fell asleep on the couch and my alarm clock is decidedly not there.”

The lack of sleep completely ridded Danny of the filter he would usually use to process what was or was not okay to ask, “Why the fuck would you sleep on the couch?”

Elliot blinked for a moment, startled by the abrasive reply before answering, “Why not? I..well, Winn, spent good money on that couch. Is there a reason to not sleep on it?”

“You have a bed, don’t you?” Danny asked as the waitress set down two large mugs of coffee, winking at Elliot as she did. He hadn’t even noticed he’d ordered, but was happy that he didn’t have to pretend to know what he was talking about when ordering coffee. Thinking during the morning hours wasn’t something Danny could pride himself in.

“I do.” Elliot winked, “But life it too short to do the same thing the same way every time you do it, Daniel Chae. Every once in awhile you gotta go against the grain.”

There was some odd, unspoken challenge in his words. Or at least, Danny felt like there was.

Danny had never been the “go against the grain” type if he could help it. He liked routines and felt no obligation to challenge them. In fact, he’d wager he needed them, all things considered.

Yet, he found something inside of him wanting to accept the challenge that Elliot Edison proffered- though whatever that was exactly he wasn’t sure.

“Or you could sleep in your bed like a normal person.” Danny snickered, taking a sip of the coffee and feeling his face scrunch up as the sharp bitterness hit his tongue like a freight train, “What is this?”

A smug grin crept across Elliot’s features, “Coffee.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Danny frowned as he took another tentative sip, feeling a bizarre jolt make its way down his spine, “I guess the question should have been- what did you lace this with?”

“I didn’t lace it with anything,” Elliot said, rolling his eyes dramatically, “You’re not a morning person, so I figured my regular drink would help with your affliction.”

Danny watched in awe as Elliot took a sip of his horrible coffee with ease, strangely impressed, “While I appreciate the sentiment, you should probably ask someone if they regularly drink battery acid before giving it to them.”

“Battery acid?” Elliot laughed, “Dude, it’s just a Death Wish.”

Danny tried not to laugh at the name, “Why do I feel like you’ve got more than one of those?”

“I guess I’m easier to read than I thought.” Elliot said, taking another sip of his coffee.

There was, Danny realized, no real way to tell if this was going well. The more he sipped at the bitter coffee, the more Danny could practically feel the awkward silence closing in on the conversation.

On the bright side, he was definitely waking up, but the sudden alertness somehow served to make him more aware of his social ineptitude.

Maybe this was a bad idea, He wondered, Maybe that’s why we’re doing this immediately the next morning after the blind date. He’s pissed I left and if Val’s not here he can accurately gauge that I’m a fucking loser.

“Danny?” Elliot asked, snapping him from his train of self loathing, “You alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” Danny stammered, taking another, long sip of his coffee, “Sorry...I just...why did you want to...get coffee so...soon?”

Danny could at least register the confusion on the other man’s face.

Wrong thing, Chae. That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

“Well,” Elliot cleared his throat, an expression that could have easily been mistaken as flustered registering to Danny, though he knew that was wishful thinking, “I guess I can see in hindsight how this might have been a little weird. I think I was just excited.”

Excited?

Okay, maybe that  was  the right question to ask.

“I’m not really accustomed to not hating dates Winn sets me up on.” Elliot continued, “She and I have remarkably different views on what I’m into, so to speak, so when you actually turned out to be...uh...you know…”

Danny fought against the rush of blood to his face in an attempt to sound suave, “No, I don’t know. Please, elaborate on why you didn’t hate this particular blind date.”

“You’re not going to get me to say this,” Elliot flushed, “That’s more of a second date sort of thing.”

“Isn’t this technically a second date?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. It’s a sequel to the first one, and that’s if you even count double dates as dates at all.”

Danny snickered, “And let me guess, you don’t count double dates?”

“You do?” Elliot asked in mock offense, “How can you get to know anyone when Valerie is screaming on about...whatever it was.”

“I think it was shoes.”

“I don’t care what it was,” Elliot huffed, “There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell to get to know you in that chaos. Not that walking turned out much better. I love this city, I really do, but I can’t stand not being able to go five minutes without some idiot in sweatpants taking out the local corner store with the laser beams he shoots out of his ass.”

Danny opened his mouth to agree, and then realized with a startle that he was the idiot in question.

Wait, what?, “Wait, sweatpants? That was the good guy, though.”

Maybe I just heard him wrong.

“You say that like it clears him of the crime of wearing sweatpants.” Elliot said matter-of-factly, “I just-”

Elliot was cut off by the ring of his phone, which perhaps could not have come at a better time.

“What, Toby?” Elliot said into the phone sharply, covering the phone with his hand for a brief moment, “Sorry, it’s work.”

“It’s okay, you can take it.” Danny said sheepishly.

He was grateful for the distraction, to be honest, because in the heat of the moment he may have said something he’d regret.

Did Elliot really find sweatpants to be a crime on par with armed robbery? Sure, Mantis wasn’t anything impressive in terms of crime accomplished, but he did a hell of a lot worse than wear sweatpants.

No, Danny. Don’t rush to judge him,  he  reminded himself.

Elliot sighed, hanging up his phone before slipping it into his back pocket as he slid out of the booth, “Apparently I’m needed on the front lines today.”

“Oh.” Danny could hear the blankness in his own voice, but wasn’t entirely sure if it was from relief or disappointment.

“I’m so sorry.” Elliot said, seemingly sincerely apologetic, “I told that jackass I would be in at noon today, but no. Apparently being the only monkey capable of stringing together a coherent sentence makes me the most valuable monkey.”

“It’s okay.” Danny said, and really, it was, “I’m starting to wonder if this is going to be a reoccurring trend, though.”

Elliot ran a hand through that perfect hair, “I’m willing to test out this hypothesis if you are.”

“It’s a date.” Danny said, fishing a tip from his wallet to leave at the booth before sliding out himself, “Or a hypothetical one, at least. Maybe calling it that jinxes it.”

“Maybe,” Elliot laughed, “In that case I suppose I’ll text you once I’m free to see if you want to definitely not go on an actual date?”

“Sounds...not like a date.”