Meeting up with Ace again had been restoring in a lot of ways to Danny's overall mood. It was good having an old friend show up after an otherwise pretty shitty day. But after being at work at the bar for a little over an hour, Danny's mood had turned sour. He was convinced the potion Roman had given him for the pain had worn off and not only was his head throbbing - something about having it slammed into the ground or Julius' fist multiple times - but his broken wrist, wrapped in a splint and hanging on a sling from his shoulder, was aching so badly that he had to take a break from the bar to go give it a rest.
He was very aware of the bruises on his face, the black eye, the bloody lip, but that hadn't stopped him from giving shit right back to his customers who commented on it, turning it into a joke. By then the news of his fight with the fae behind the bakery had spread to those who hadn't been there. Most were surprised he'd even turned up at work and he was wondering that himself. He just knew he couldn't face Marie to ask for the night off with the reason being a fae of all things had kicked his ass.
But now, standing just inside the walk-in freezer and resting his forehead against the cold wall to ease the ache, he wondered if he should've just sucked up his pride and asked anyway. There was no chance he was going to be any use behind the bar for much longer. He couldn't even twist off the caps to hand over bottles. His entire rhythm, that essential space a bartender on a busy night had to step into, was thrown off.
Danny flinched when someone pulled the heavy freezer door open and assumed it was someone coming to call him back to the bar. "Fuck me, I know!" he snapped. "Just give me 30 seconds and I'll be out."