From the top! TedXHidgens

Part 6

Ah yes! North Side Diner! Home away from hatchetfeild. Ted really hoped that Henry would like it.
"Hey Rosie! Booth for two!" What a sweetheart "How's Finn?" It's been such a long time since Ted had seen little Finn.
"Oh he's great. Really striving." Rose seemed like such a good mother.
"Wow it's been a while. It's nice catching up Rose." Now back to Henry. Ted is gonna reach out, form a bond or something. Ted led Henry to the booth
"Aren't they supposed to seat us?" Henry had never dined our with the one and only Ted. Rookie mistake
"Oh no no no. You see I always sit here. Best table in the restaurant. See you can see the whole diner from here. We are right next to the kitchen door so the food is basically straight into our mouths. Since I am basically family to the staff here if I see anyone I don't like enter I can duck into the kitchen and wait it out."
"Thanks for that Ted talk." Oh Jesus fucking Christ, what's with Henry and fucking name puns Jesus, "What should I get?"
"Oh you sweet simple man. You don't order from the menu at NSD." His ignorance is adorable, "just trust me on this one."
"Well you are the expert in this case." Damn right he is! " So why did you invite me here?"
"Well you are the only other hatchetfeilder who I haven't really caught up with. You're also the most interesting out of the 'survivor' out of all of us." Well he's definitely the most intimidating out of all the survivors, it's not Ted's fault that it's much easier to catch up with tweedle dee and dum. Henry's just so smart, and  t a l l,  and talented.
"We could have discussed this at the studio" Ok no one has every had a serious conversation in a fucking dance studio.
"Well we spent time in your natural habitat and now we're gonna spend some time in mine, Mr. Biology" Ted was pretty sure that didn't make sense. He failed Bio, how would he know! "Speaking of which, we need music pronto!"
Jukebox time! God that old machine was great. It ate up your quarters like a motherfucker but damnit if it couldn't set a mood. Ted had the sneaking suspicion that Henry would prefer some jazz to classic rock. Sinatra it is! Sinatra can get it honestly. I mean he could if he wasn't dead that is.
"Now we are in my natural habitat." Ted came back to the table. Henry looked a little surprised. That's cute he think he knows Ted.
Rosie walked up to the table.
"The usual Ted?"
"You know me so well Rosie!" She deserves so much better than this diner.
"And for your date?" Rose nodded at Henry. He looks a little flustered. What a sweetheart.
"He'll have the same." Ted looked over at Henry again. He still looked nervous, he mouthed "trust me". It didn't look like Henry found that very reassuring but what can Ted do about it? Rosie went into the kitchen.
"Did she call me your date?" Henry is trying to act cool. Awww
"Oh what's so wrong with that Henry?" Henry blushed at Ted's comment. "Rosie just wants me to stop being single."
"Oh ok cool." Wow henry really doesn't have any chill.
"So whats up with you? Why are you teaching dance and not biology, Sir Doctorate." Sir doctorate? Wow.
"Well I suppose it just takes a near death experience to put everything in perspective. I want to do what I truly love. I had some friends way back when that always encouraged me to pursue theatre. I'm finally taking their advice." Henry smiled to himself.
"Huh" Really eloquent.
"So what are you doing these days, Ted?" Henry stares back at him with vague curiosity.
"Well I've gone back into the riveting field of accounting. Really it's incredible to go from the fucking apocalyptic destruction of the city you call home to sitting at a desk and working with numbers." Then there's the whole becoming comfortable with his sexuality thing but Henry didn't need to know about that.
The food arrived. Ted watched Henry take his first bite. Watching Henry's face light up as he ate it was pretty nice.
"I told you to trust me." People should trust Ted more often. No they shouldn't but they could listen.
"What's in this!" Henry was practically inhaling the food in front of him.
"It's a secret." Ted wasn't about to admit that he didn't know.
They focused mostly on their food for the rest of the meal.
"So on the note of the whole date thing," bold way to start a sentence there Ted. "How would you like to hit up a bar and get drunk with yours truly?" Bold way to finish a sentence.
"I'm not really a bar person. But getting drunk sounds delightful." Wow henry is really gonna deal with all of Ted's bullshit.
Rosie came back with Ted's card.
"I have booze at my place." Ted stood up.
"Sounds perfect!" This really was not the reaction Ted was expecting.
"Rosie you've been a doll." Ted kissed Rosie on the cheek. She went back to serving other costumers.
"Follow me sir." Ted led Henry out of the diner and into the night.

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Authors note: I was in a big old Sinatra vibe when I was writing these last two chapters. Didn't add much but yknow whatever.