Hero of the City

Chapter 2: Becoming a Hero

The weekend had finally rolled by. Tippy and Duke already had each other's numbers previously from their time as acquaintances, but now they were actively texting each other about their upcoming date. They'd decided on going to a popular diner they were both familiar with. They agreed to meet up at 6:45 to give Duke enough time to get ready after work.

The clock pointed 6 p.m, and Tippy was in his closet trying to find something to wear. He didn't own much of anything except for duplicate doorman uniforms. Even his pajamas were just his doorman suit without a hat or epaulettes. He sighed as he took one of the duplicate uniforms off its hook. Wearing his work uniform wasn't ideal, but he didn't feel comfortable in anything else. Plus, knowing Duke, he'd likely be in his uniform.

Tippy rushed quickly to get ready. He had to leave for the diner in just a few minutes. Likely, Duke would be late, but Tippy wanted to be punctual.

He didn't own a car—they were too expensive to maintain—so he traveled around by roller stakes and the bus. The diner was quite far from his apartment, so he caught the next bus to get there.

He arrived at the diner with five minutes to spare, and as expected, Duke was not there yet. A waiter sat him down at a table. He looked down at his watch to see that Duke was now 20 minutes late. It was typical for him to be late, but this late?

He tapped on the table and constantly checked his messages. Nothing new. Duke was still planning on coming, right? Maybe it was just his anxiety, but it appeared that people were giving Tippy weird looks. But it was hard to tell for sure, because as soon as he made eye contact with them, they turned their heads away. Luckily, it wasn't much longer until Duke joined him at the table.

"I am so sorry, Tippy. My car has been giving me problems lately. First, the siren went all weird, but now there's some sort of problem with it not starting. It took me ten minutes to finally get it running."

"No, worries." Tippy said, ignoring the fact that he had worried about Duke's lateness. "You're here now and that's what matters."

Duke sat down at the other side of the table. Tippy noticed that he wasn't in his uniform like he expected. He was in a simple dark blue shirt and black pants. It was a good change, but it made Tippy feel out-of-place in his usual uniform.

"How's your week been?" Duke asked.

"I suppose it's been average. I was never caught by Whitlock after we snuck out of the theater."

"That's good." Duke reached for his menu, "Has Mr. Whitlock still been giving you a hard time?"

Tippy didn't really want to talk about his job, so he gave a shallow answer. "Things are fine at work. How's your week been?"

"Apart from my car problems, it's been good," His smile quickly faded, "Well, actually this week my favorite painting was stolen from the museum. So I guess that wasn't fun."

Tippy tilted his head to one side. "What painting?"

"Oh it was a painting of a lion cub in some grass."

"Let me guess, you liked it because it reminded you of Cubby?"

Duke sheepishly smiled. "Yeah... that's why."

The waiter came up to the table with a notepad in his hand. "Welcome to The Speedy Diner, my name is Eric and I'll be your server. Would you like to try our special?"

"What's the special?" Tippy asked.

"It's not world domination if that's what you were wondering." The waiter laughed at his own joke, but Tippy was not amused. Duke also frowned.