WHO: Asher Montgomery and Justice Llancaster. WHEN: April 9th, 2019. Day 3. Morning. WHERE: Justice’s Hotel Room. SUMMARY: Ash takes Justice breakfast in an attempt to apologize for their fight the previous night. Justice's dog obviously loves Ash. Ash is briefly Leslie Knope. WARNINGS: Language. Mention of Russ, ew. Otherwise, pretty chill!
Ash couldn’t remember the last time he was hungover. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had a shot. And yet, the night before he had done far too many with Leila, and while it had been fun at the time, it was decidedly less so now. His head was pounding, despite all of the water he had chugged the night before, and while he wanted to stay curled up in bed, he knew he should get some food.
Besides, he never missed breakfast.
This was an easier task in theory than in practice, and the hallway lights were far too bright, the other guests were far too loud. He felt dizzy and disoriented and he nearly turned back once the cacophony of the dining hall greeted him. Somehow though, he forced himself inside, trudging along slowly with his head down. He loaded his plate with more food than he thought he could stomach before he retreated into the farthest corner he could find.
An hour later, he was feeling slightly better physically, but as his memory of the night before sharpened, his anxiety grew. He wasn’t nervous about opening up to Leila, but it was his later conversation with Justice that weighed on him. Ash wasn’t one to argue, certainly not with someone who was struggling to cope with the loss of their sister. And yet he had, and he couldn’t escape a sense of guilt.
The only thing to do was to make amends.
Which was how he found himself outside of Justice’s room with a tray of breakfast that he had talked the staff into letting him take out. He could recall Justice complaining about the early time of breakfast so it seemed like an appropriate gift. And at the very least the thought had to count for something, right? He shifted the tray so he could hold it in one hand as he knocked on the door with his other before he waited for Justice to appear.
The knocking was unexpected, but ignorable. At least for the few seconds that Captain laid still, listening. When she dove off of the bed and toward the door, sniffing excitedly and boofing at him, it was less ignorable and more aggravating. He had a feeling the maid had probably scampered off to some boss and they were coming around to give a warning or some shit.
Whatever. He wasn’t afraid of the head of housekeeping.
He grabbed the dog and attached the leash, just in case, before he pulled the door open just a crack. He peered out through tired eyes to see the guy from last night. “Hey,” he said, uncertain. “Can I help you?”
Ash smiled widely, nervously. “Um, hey, it’s me, from last night in the hall and. Yeah. I just wanted to say sorry. For being rude. And judgmental, I guess. It was, well, it wasn’t cool of me so uh, I brought you breakfast to make up for it.” He shifted again so he was holding the tray in both hands, and he held it out to Justice hopefully. “I remember you didn’t like the breakfast hours so... I didn’t know what you liked so I got a bit of everything, and I promise, it’s all good, though I skipped the bacon because you said you have a pig and, I don’t know, it doesn’t seem right eating pork in front of a pig, and oh! I have dog treats too. They’re in my pocket so you have to, uh...” He was rambling, and he cut himself off, biting his lip. This was probably incredibly weird, he was realizing now, but it was too late and he was already here, and who turned down free breakfast anyway?
Justice blinked in surprise, slowly taking in the full understanding of what the other man was saying as he glanced down at the tray of food in his hands. His reaction was slightly delayed, but it wasn’t long before he’d pulled open the door, restraining Captain before she could eagerly address her friend from the night before.
“That’s really..” He paused, unsure, but grateful all the same. “Do you want to come in? You could meet Bacon.”
Ash couldn’t exactly blame Justice for being confused, and for a moment, he was worried he would slam the door in his face. But then he opened it, and Ash felt himself relaxing. “That is an awfully morbid name for a pig,” he responded brightly. Did he want to come in? Very much so, if there were pigs to befriend and dogs to pet (he was pleased to see that Captain seemed happy to see him again). He hadn’t exactly planned on coming in to chat, and there was a part of him that wondered if he would be intruding and if Justice was really just offering to be polite.
But he really wanted to meet the pig.
“That would be nice though, yeah. If you don’t mind.”
Stepping to the side, Captain and her owner allowed Ash to enter the room before closing the door behind him. He unleashed the dog after she’d done a decent enough sit. He gestured toward Temperance’s bed and then down toward Hope’s pig, who was contentedly chewing on a rubber ball. “I call him Bacon. I can’t remember what Hope named him. Something smart, I’m sure.” He took the tray from Ash and moved it to his bed, settling beside it.
“This was nice, but unnecessary. Unless it was a ploy to meet the pig. It worked all the same.”
“I think ‘nice but unnecessary’ sums me up quite well,” Ash confessed. “Though I think a little bit of selfishness was at play.” Ash glanced between the dog and the pig; deciding who to greet first was the most difficult decision he had had to make on this trip so far. He decided on Bacon. “You could call him Sir Francis Bacon. Smart and tasty.” He crouched down and offered a hand to the pig to smell, for a lack of a better idea. It worked for other pets, and he couldn’t say he was all that familiar with pigs. “I think I ate your cousin this morning, sorry,” he told him as he gently rubbed the top of his head. “But you are very cute- and very lucky- so I think you’re safe.” He glanced up at Justice. “I can’t believe they let you bring a pig.”
The pig seemed to enjoy the attention and snuffled at Ash’s outstretched hand before returning to chewing mindlessly at the ball. Captain whined from her spot on the floor as Justice took a piece of toast from the tray and munched thoughtfully. “He’s not a ‘for eating’ pig anyway,” he said with a wave of his hand. “But he’s as smart, if not smarter, as Captain. Better behaved, too. The hotel didn’t say I couldn’t, so here he is.”
“Mhm, I’ve heard pigs are incredibly smart.” He honestly hadn’t really thought that there were separate breeds of pigs for eating and for companionship, but it made sense. “Can you teach pigs things? Can they recognize commands like dogs can?” He was also curious about how, exactly, Hope had decided on adopting a pig, but it seemed like awfully early in the morning to talk about dead loved ones, and he wasn’t sure how Justice would react to the question.
“Almost as smart as chimps,” Justice supplied. “They’re supposed to be able to learn up to the level of a three-year-old child. This one doesn’t get a ton of stimulation, I just leave him in the yard, but he’s smart.” It was too hard to spend much time with him. “He can sit, fetch, speak. He mostly learned because of Cap.”
Ash whistled appreciatively. “You are smart,” he told the pig, giving him a scratch behind the ears. “That’s pretty amazing.” Though it sounded a little sad that he mostly stayed out in the yard, but maybe he and Captain were friends. The thought of that brought a smile to Ash’s lips. He would 100% watch a movie based on that friendship. He gave Bacon a final pat before he moved to greet Captain. “Can I give her a treat?” He asked.
The dog heard her favorite word and could wait no longer in her overeagerness for Ash’s undivided attention. She rudely invaded his space, her body wiggling an entirely different way than her tail as her nose nudged forward to find his face, taking advantage of the fact that the other man was practically on her level. Ash beamed, practically giddy, and he sat cross legged on the floor to give her the attention she was so clearly asking for.
“Mm,” Justice offered, nodding at the question as he chewed. “She’ll respond to just about any command you give her. So make her work for those.” After a moment, he scratched the back of his head and sighed. “Sorry about last night. I’ve just put a lot of distance between myself and what happened. We all have to stand here and face it now, which isn’t exactly my forte. Doesn’t mean I have to be an asshole about it.”
Her cuteness should be enough to earn her a treat, as far as Ash was concerned, but nevertheless, he lowered a hand to make her lie down before passing her a treat. His expression turned serious as Justice spoke. “It’s fine. This is hard for me too, for everyone. We’re all just trying to cope in whatever ways we can.” It didn’t excuse him being an asshole, but that went both ways; Ash certainly could have been more respectful too. Captain whined at him, seemingly dismayed by his pause when she could still smell the treats in his hand, and Ash smiled faintly and snuck her another.
“Some of you cope better than others,” Justice added. “Shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I spend a lot of time on my own. I’m not always the greatest dealing with other people.” He wanted to say that he’d try harder, but he didn’t. It was one thing to say it and another thing to do it. He finished the piece of toast and brushed the crumbs off of his hands. “Looking forward to another day in paradise?”
Ash had noticed as much. There was a part of him that wanted to remind Justice that he had mostly taken it out on the poor housekeeper, but there didn’t seem to be a point in rehashing all of that. Justice was trying, at least, and Ash could appreciate that much. “Some of us fake it better than others,” he said instead. If he had been just another guest, he would have been looking forward to his third day here, and while he suspected being here, trying to enjoy himself, came easier to him than to Justice, it was still impossible to forget why, exactly, they were here. “I am going to try my best not to have a miserable day,” he responded resolutely, giving Captain another pat. “You?”
He nodded in reply, glancing down toward the dog who had all but melted into the carpet with so much attention. She snorted and stretched a paw toward Ash when his hands stopped petting as encouragement to continue. “She likes her ears scratched best,” Justice said, gesturing loosely in her direction. But he had more in mind than the day’s schedule. What was his sister up to? “Going to find Temperance and figure out why she’s doing it with some fifty-year-old man,” was his incredibly blunt answer. “You might not have heard them last night, but they caused quite the stir.”
“Oh. That’s…” not something he needed to know, to be honest, and he busied himself with giving Captain an ear rub. “How old is your sister? But I mean, if this guy makes her happy- no, that’s not quite the right word, if that’s what she feels like she needs to or wants to do to get through this, where’s the harm?” It wasn’t exactly Ash’s way of coping, but as long as it was legal and consensual, he wasn’t going to judge. “At least she didn’t bring him back here and leave you sexiled.”
“Twenty-seven. And that guy’s at least fifty.” But Ash was right. At least Temperance hadn’t brought that jerk back into their room. Though it didn’t really matter. Either way, it bothered him. In many ways, Justice still thought of her as his little sister. Just as he’d been horrified when he learned about Jace and Hope. And the outcome of Patience. “She can do whatever she wants, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Do you not like it because she’s your sister or because you think a twenty seven year old sleeping with someone enough to be her father is always wrong?” Ash asked. “And if it’s the former, why does it bother you so much? Where’s the harm in a one night stand?” He paused to give Captain another scratch. Maybe Justice simply wanted to vent and had no interest in dissecting his feelings, but he had brought it up so where was the harm in asking?
Justice shrugged. “Just seems out of character for her.” But what did he know anymore? She moved away and left them. He ate a piece of sausage as he glanced at the dog. “She really likes you. More than most people.”
Ash didn’t press; Justice changing the subject seemed like a sign to leave it alone. “Well, I really like her.” He beamed down at her and Captain wagged her tail happily. “If you ever need someone to watch her…” He redirected his grin towards Justice as he looked up. “How’s breakfast, by the way?”
“She’s all yours,” Justice replied with a snort as the dog wagged herself even closer to Ash. “In fact, if I don’t make it off this island, she’s all yours. Pig’s gotta stay in the family, though. Much as Bacon loves your company.” The pig did not seem fazed either way. “Breakfast is great and appreciated, but you didn’t have to do that. I don’t trust the room service, so I’d have just found something somewhere. Vending machine, probably.”
At that Ash looked up properly now, giving Justice his undivided attention despite Captain’s whine. “Vending machine?” he repeated, sounding personally offended by such an idea. “You can’t get breakfast from a vending machine!” There was very little Ash took more seriously than breakfast. “Why don’t you trust room service? They probably won’t sabotage your meal, and regardless, that seems like an acceptable risk if the alternative is vending machine breakfast.”
The burst of concern for his eating habits took Justice by surprise and he shot Ash a look of pure bewilderment. “Half the time I don’t even bother with breakfast.”
“What?” Ash looked incredulous. “Breakfast is only the best meal of the day! How can you possibly skip it? You must not be doing it right- if we weren’t at a hotel I’d make you something.” This was not a polite offer; he would absolutely follow through, if only he had a kitchen.
This indignation was somewhat amusing. “I usually sleep through it,” he said. “Then I make lunch and work until I sleep through it again. Damn island’s thrown off my schedule.” Given the fact that Ash had shown up with a tray of breakfast, Justice was not surprised that he would make breakfast if they weren’t marooned in these hotel rooms. “Just hasn’t ever seemed important enough.”
Hadn’t seemed important enough! It was delicious. That was plenty important! Ash still looked skeptical. “That’s what brunch is for.” Obviously. “Well.” He stood. “If you want breakfast- or brunch- this week but don’t trust the staff, let me know. The staff love me.” He grinned, only half teasing.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Justice offered with a rare smile. “I maintain that breakfast isn’t as important as dinner. Give me a ribeye and a baked potato over a waffle any day. But I appreciate the gesture all the same.”
It was nice to see Justice smile. It seemed that in the two days Ash had known him, he had mostly scowled or looked disinterested or unamused. Which was why it would be a shame to ruin the mood by telling him that waffles were clearly superior to baked potatoes and a good waffle could rival a steak. “Agree to disagree, then,” he responded charitably, with a resolute nod. “I’ll get out of your hair then.” He bent down to give Captain a final pat in goodbye. “If something does happen to your dad I promise to take good care of you.” He straightened and looked back at Justice. “But I hope nothing does, if only because I can’t make a habit of inheriting dogs from people this island takes,” he added, with a bitter edge to his smile.
Captain seemed sad to watch him go, but contentedly flopped onto the floor and let him. Justice nodded. “I make no promises, but it’s nice to know she’ll be in good hands. Wouldn’t want that asshole at the front desk to get her.”
‘Asshole’ wasn’t really a word Ash used often, but in this case, it seemed warranted, and he grimaced at the memory. “Poor Captain would not deserve that,” he agreed. “Thanks for letting me barge in like this, by the way. It was probably a little weird but. Well.” He shrugged helplessly.
For the second time that morning, Justice smiled at Ash. “You’re welcome anytime. I’m glad Captain has a plan in place if I’m voted off the island.” And more, he was grateful for the break. The tiny sliver of freedom from thinking about Hope or Temperance or anyone else they’d lost. It wasn’t much, just some breakfast and conversation, but it meant a lot.