A New Obsession

Chatting Over Lunch

Leon dropped the base of his head of lettuce on the way to the trash can, and immediately bent to pick it up, facing away in a vain attempt to hide his blush, but Danny could still see the pink on his cheeks from the angle he was at, and his smirk widened, but he just rested his eyes on the chicken in the pan, moving it slightly to prevent it from sticking.

Leon cleared his throat quietly and started slicing the tomatoes next. Danny decided to back up a few paces in the conversation, since he seemed too focused on trying to distract himself with the tomato to respond. "Ok so, do you always say yes to having a second date, at a person's apartment, the day after the first?"

Leon laughed at that and set the tomato slices aside. "No, but that's never happened before, to get invited again so soon. And normally I'm too busy to go on two dates in a row, but like you said, I've got nothing better to do. It's not like I have any other friends to hang out with around here, and I can't go to the gym or drink with my head like this, so I guess I'll settle for lunch." He gestured to cutting board he was patting dry with a paper towel in preparation to slice bread on it.

Danny laughed with a scoff in mock-offense. "I'm so honored to be your last choice. Two days ago I wouldn't even have been considered!" He flipped the chicken and pressed it into the pan. "I bet you are glad I invited you in, though. You probably only came here in the first place out of pure boredom. You don't seem like the type who likes to sit doing nothing for hours on end... unless you're staking out a place or something?"

Leon shrugged while digging through Danny's knife block for the bread knife, which Danny quickly reached out and pointed to for him. "Thanks," Leon muttered, stepping a pace away. "But you're right. I hate sitting still. Especially if I'm injured. I don't know if it's some kind of feral instinct or if I get it from past experiences, but I feel vulnerable injured, and sitting in one place 'recovering' makes me nervous."

Danny nodded in agreement. "I get that. Happy to help." He smirked a bit, turning to face Leon more. "So tell me then. Completely unrelated, but how did you know we were making sandwiches? Just wondering."

Leon looked down at the neat rows of bread he was laying out to be spread with mayonnaise as if he hadn't even realized what he was doing until right then. "I don't know, I guess, I just saw all the ingredients right here laid out on the counter, and it is lunch time, so..." he gave his one-shouldered shrug again. "Am I wrong? Are sandwiches okay if I am?"

Danny laughed and shook his head. "No, you're exactly right. I'm just impressed is all."

Leon's cheeks warmed again, and Danny resisted the urge to grab his face and kiss him right then and there. He flipped the chicken again instead, but couldn't bring himself to drag his eyes away from Leon's perfect face.

"So... speaking of generalizations. Do you always put this much effort in just for a lunch? Don't you work in the days usually?" Leon asked the bread he was buttering.

Danny's smirk touched his lips again. "It's Saturday, Leon. I know I visit a lot, but that's in my job description. I frequent the police department on my valiant hunt for answers, not just because I have that much freetime. Only a portion of my day is spent writing and editing."

"Well I knew that," he scoffed slightly, "but even on a Saturday, this is a lot of time to invest just for a lunch." He laid tomatoes out on the bread in neat rows.

Danny shrugged. "I was going to do this for dinner, but I didn't want to make you cup ramen for our second date." He laughed and removed the chicken from the heat at last, sniffing the seared spicy outside with a smile. "I was thinking about shedding this and mixing it with some kind of dressing for a chicken salad sandwich, but now that I see it I bet it would be just as good sliced, what do you think?" He transferred the chicken to another cutting board and grabbed the chef knife from the tomatoes, wiping the juice off smoothly.