WHO: Aaron Daniels & Toni Collins WHEN: Saturday, 1/7 WHERE: Deja Brew SUMMARY: Aaron is back to annoy Toni. Toni puts his ass to work. WARNINGS: None! STATUS: Complete!
Anywhere but Andy’s house, that's where Aaron wanted to be right now. The last jam session the band had, a casual attempt to round out the new collection of songs they'd written, had turned out mediocre at best. Poorly, if we're being honest. And Aaron knew he shared more than his usual portion of the blame in that outcome, unfocused and distracted as he was. Coming back to record their second album in that tiny little home studio like they had the first looked more and more like a mistake. Not that they had anywhere else to record.
So Aaron's “anywhere but here" policy had brought him to Deja Brew, where he planned to be an utter nuisance. A friendly one, but a nuisance all the same. At least he hadn't sprouted wings for the trip - they tended to cause problems in enclosed spaces.
“Toni. Toni.”
Aaron batted his eyebrows in one of his better "I'm precious" expressions and slumped over the counter, arms sprawled and fingers dangling over the edge.
“Where's my welcome back hug?”
The giant stared down at the freeloader taking up one of his counter seats, sprawled out like he owned the damn place. Toni shook his head, methodically drying the mug he’d just washed and setting it neatly in the row next to the espresso machine. “You got a goodbye hug. It was supposed to last you a decade.”
“I like it when you play hard-to-get.” Aaron brought his arms back, propped his elbows up on the counter, and rested his chin in the vee of his hands, sighing dreamily, eyes directed at the ceiling. A smirk accompanied his next statement as his gaze returned to Toni. “It’s such a good look for you.”
Toni snorted. “Your charm doesn’t do shit for me, Daniels.” Aaron was a good decade and a half younger than him, not to mention his cousin was obsessed with him. All that, plus the fact that his insufferably smug face was more irritating than attractive, was more than enough reason to not get involved with that hot mess.
The next cup on the drying rack was in hand, towel methodically wiping away what moisture remained. He really needed to get a fucking dishwasher installed already. Or hire some high school kid to do it. “How long are you planning to stick around this time?”
“I’m gonna get that hug,” Aaron promised with needlessly ominous intonation. The plan, if you could call it that, was the same as always - flit around long enough that a hug seemed a small price to pay to make him leave. So he let the topic drop without complaint. Slouching and slumping forward with a sigh, Aaron’s six-foot-one looked much smaller than it normally did, especially without his usual pomp and flair.
“Dunno. Got tracks to record and shit, so it’ll be awhile.” Much to Aaron’s dismay. A tilt of his head bounced a curl free of the sloppily gathered bun and he motioned with his chin to the cups Toni was steadily working through. “Need help?”
He eyed Aaron suspiciously. “I ain’t paying you,” he warned, “but sure. I’ll give you a free cup of coffee.” There was a spare tea towel under the counter, which he grabbed and tossed at the man in front of him, aiming to cover the ridiculous man-bun on his head. “If your hair is getting in your damn way, cut it. Don’t put it up in that messy ass thing.”
Aaron only shrugged in response to the lack of payment and caught the towel tossed his way. Idleness had never been a part of his nature - which no doubt confused anyone who thought his time spent as a young criminal signified laziness - so he was just happy to have a task. Especially one that didn’t require organizing his thoughts.
“Hey.” A single admonishing finger waggled in Toni’s direction. Any perceived harshness in his response was cut with an amused smile though while Aaron slowly (obnoxiously slowly) tucked that stray curl back up into his bun. “Don’t be a dick, handsome. My curls are my crowning glory, apparently. I can’t cut them off. Think of how devastated all my paramours would be.” Sighing again, this time for dramatic effect, he hopped down from the stool and slung the towel over his shoulder.
“Your paramours would live,” Toni scoffed. “Might even thank me for getting rid of that damn bird’s nest on your head.” What Fee saw in him, he’d never know. “How’s the road life treating you, anyway?” He’d done his own fair share of travel for work, but it was often for far less pleasurable pursuits. Not that he hadn’t had some good times with the army, but the bad seriously outweighed them.
He shook his head, refusing to let his mind go there. Dwelling wouldn’t help the nightmares, and he needed to get back to a normal sleep schedule before he started snapping at people who didn’t deserve. Manipulating the patience of the people around him only went so far.
“I don’t think so~” Aaron answered in a sing-song voice and began to walk back behind the counter to join Toni - only after a moment of hesitation did he decide that hopping directly over the counter wouldn’t be the best route. A person could only be expected to deal with so many of his antics at once, after all. “People like to play with my curls-” He twirled a stray one around his finger, swaying his hips back and forth, gaze tilted up toward the ceiling again. “Sometimes pull on them too. Y’know, in the right situation.”
Without asking for direction, Aaron hopped in and scooped up a cup. “But, uh-” Another shrug when he finally returned to the actual question at hand. “It’s got its ups and downs.”
Toni snorted at the insinuation - the guy was attractive enough, and being in a rock band that had even a modicum of fame pretty much guaranteed that he’d get laid, but that wasn’t something the older man really cared to hear about. Especially when his cousin was still in love with the asshole.
They fell into the rhythm of drying and lining up cups, nearly finishing up, when Toni finally spoke again. “So once you’re done with your tracks, you’ll take off again.” It wasn’t quite an accusation - Fiona had only just gotten back to town, and he wasn’t sure if she even knew her ex was in town, but he knew her. Hell, he’d watched their trainwreck of a relationship from the damn sidelines, shaking his head the entire time.
If they were both in town long enough, the shitshow would start up again, and he didn’t want to watch Fee go through that shit again.
A deep breath in, Aaron nodded, but his answer was quiet. Unusually subdued. “If I’m lucky, yeah.”
Except Aaron didn’t know anymore. It was his job. His dream, even, making it big with the band - they weren’t there yet but they could be, he knew it. There wasn’t really a choice; it was one of the few things he had, one of the few things he could do without going mad. So he would be leaving. But he would also be coming back - his once or twice yearly visits would have to become more frequent.
“I mean, gotta tour, right? What’s the point of being a band otherwise? But-” He bit his bottom lip and thought about Lian. Of all the places Fiona could have decided to raise her this would not have been his top choice, but he understood. “I’ll probably be around more than I have been the last three years.”
Toni raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask the question that hung between them: why? Wasn’t none of his business far as he was concerned, even if the curiosity was there. Aside from the random drop ins that Aaron did - mostly, he was sure, to see how much he could test Toni’s patience, which, ha, the joke was on him - they weren’t particularly close, not with him always firmly on his cousin’s side.
That had never seemed to bother Aaron, though.
“Long as you don’t make a habit of loitering around here without buying shit,” he warned. “I’ve got no problem tossing your skinny ass out the door.”
Aaron wasn't sure if they were on the same page, if Toni had read between the lines and seen Lian there or if Toni knew anything about the little girl at all. The former seemed the most likely to him, but either way Aaron saw no reason to bring that topic of conversation into play if Toni hadn't. After all, he was still struggling to deal with it himself. So, last cup done and out of his hands, he leaned against the counter, one hand raised and the other pressed to his heart, as if he were taking an oath.
“I promise to either buy coffee from you or provide free labor every time I visit.” His arms dropped to his sides. “Sound fair?”
“Good as it’ll get, anyway,” Toni agreed gruffly. “Now get your ass on back on the other side of the counter or I’m handing you an apron and making you take orders.”