who: Nic Silver and Klaus Hargreeves. And Ben Hargreeves. what: Nic hasn't slept in a few days. Sometimes he sees things. This time it actually works better than most. where: The Moonlite All-Nite Diner when: Late Evening. rating: PG-13. status: In progress.
Nic hadn't slept in three days.
Well, he'd slept, for a given meaning of the word, but it hadn't been for any meaningful amount of time. He'd managed maybe four hours in the entire three days, and not all at once. When he had slept there had been dreams that were horrifying or bizarre or a combination thereof. He faintly remembered something about Geoff-Karl and a sensory deprivation tank filled with beer and severed right feet in Bombas socks, while MK's voice reciting number station nonsense in the background. In another dream, Alex had been cheerfully explaining how she had found a portal to hell in the Dick's Sporting Goods. Strand had been there too, explaining how Hell wasn't real and neither was death, before he'd exploded into a cloud of angry moths. Nic had gone along with her to check out the portal, obviously. Because he was an idiot, even in his dreams.
The point was he hadn't been sleeping. And he still wasn't sleeping. So the obvious solution was coffee. Because if he wasn't going to sleep, at least he could have some caffeine. Dr. Bernier would hardly be thrilled with that, but she wasn't here to scold him so he didn't really care. Besides, he was at least thirty-six percent certain she was vaguely dubious, if not evil.
So he was sitting, drinking his coffee, when the door opened with the sound doors made in diners when opened. Glancing up, he recognized someone he'd talked to on the town's network after his sojourn to the dog park. He had another guy with him, a little younger, but Nic still figured it would be rude not to acknowledge him. He was that sort of Canadian, after all.
He gave an awkward little half wave and gestured to the other side of his booth. It was practical too, since the diner was actually pretty crowded.