run_barry | Guy's Night Out

After everything that's been going on lately, the time has come for a break. A planned visit from a friend is just the thing and with no major crisis going on at the moment, it's the perfect time to make that happen.

So, with an itinerary that includes science, food and video games, Barry is excited to bring Yamato in from Milliways for another trip to Central City.

Opening the door from the bar that's a broom closet in S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry gestures Yamato through.

"Here we are," Barry says with a smile. "Welcome back, dude."

The corridor, like most of rest of S.T.A.R. Labs that doesn't get used by Team Flash much, is usually pretty dimly lit, but today the passageway is bright in anticipation of their guest and the science that's about to commence.

Nodding down the hallway, Barry says, "Cisco and Caitlin are in her lab and we're all set up for you."

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"Okay cool," Barry says with a quick nod then looks over. "Joe?"

With the coffee pot bubbling along in its task, Joe turns around, reaching a hand into his pocket.

"Get plenty of what he needs and pick me up some bacon and eggs. I keep trying for breakfast this week and finding I'm out of the two main ingredients." Drawing money out of his wallet, Joe gives Barry a pointed Look and then passes it over.

Looking sheepish, Barry nods. "Right, I'll get a lot of that, too. Be back in a bit."

Joe blinks against the blast of air from Barry's exit, then looks at Yamato.

"Coffee'll be ready in a minute."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Yamato says, giving Joe a quick smile.

He takes a moment to take off his jacket, finding a chair to place it over the back of, and starts getting out the ingredients he needs: Flour, eggs, milk, meat and vegetables on one side, sugar and spices on another, all neatly arranged on the worktop.

Edited Date: Nov. 1st, 2019 08:43 pm (UTC)

Joe watches Yamato for a moment, then sets about pulling a trio of coffee mugs down from the cupboard to set by the coffee pot, along with cream and sugar.

"So, you said it's been awhile since you've had a good cup of coffee?" Joe asks, curious about the rationing comment, but willing to leave it alone if it turns out to be a sensitive subject.

Stretching the pantry on a tight budget is something Joe knows a thing or two about, and he's grateful now that it isn't an issue anymore.

"Yeah, er ..." Yamato pauses for a moment, not because it's so much an awkward topic, save that every time they find a new can of coffee there's a genuine risk that Koushiro will try to physically fight him for it, but because he's not sure how much Barry's actually told Joe and how much context he needs to provide.

"My team's been on a mission for the last few months, and coffee's been pretty difficult to find," he settles on eventually. "Most of the supplies we brought with us got destroyed, so we've been trading for them whenever we hit a new town, but after food, water, medicine, et cetera, there's not been a whole lot left for luxury items."

Joe squints at Yamato, not sure what he should be concerned about, but feeling like he should be concerned about something here.

"You're on a mission and you lost your supplies. Where? Doing what?" That seems like a good place to start.

"You're from Japan, right?" he asks, then waves a hand in the air to indicate space or whatever. "Via that magic... bar... place."

Joe knows about that much, at least.

"Right. Odaiba, specifically. That's, er, not where I am right now. Back home."

Odaiba has plenty of coffee. Drowning in the stuff. Coffee for days.

"Rescue mission to another world, it's, er," Yamato pauses for a moment, thinking. Does he give the full explanation? He should probably give the full explanation.

"So, my world is actually a lot of different worlds. About seven years ago, the rest of my team and I were dragged into one of those worlds to fight in a war," he says. "And since then there's been a few other wars, and some crises, and we take smaller jobs in between. Right now we're on a rescue mission."

He's a little nervous as he explains it, because -- well. Fought in a war necessarily carries the implication of killed people, and Yamato knows how Joe reacted to Oliver, and he's willing to bet his body count is several orders of magnitude higher than Oliver's.

Edited (fluffed up the timeline there, it should be seven years) Date: Nov. 2nd, 2019 12:04 am (UTC)

"Dragged into another world... " it's a little beyond him, but Joe's trying to wrap his mind around it.

"Like Narnia," Cisco pipes in from the living room where he's playing with his phone, but still half tuned into the conversation. "With the talking animals and everything."

Joe turns his head towards Cisco, some understanding dawning, then looks back at Yamato.

"That's the one with the lion, right? And the cupboard thing?" Joe asks, taking what Yamato's said one piece at a time. Trying to understand the first bit before moving onto the next because, he definitely has questions about the rest.

Yamato opens his mouth to protest that it's not like Narnia at all, then shuts it again. It is a little bit like Narnia.

"I think so. Er, we didn't get pulled through a cupboard, though -- we were at summer camp and the sky opened up and pulled us through."

You know. As it does.

"But you have talking animals," Joe replies, deadpan in his voice because of course the talking animals part would be true.

"They're more like Pokemon, with powers and everything," Cisco says, voice high and excited. "It's pretty awesome."

Joe shakes his head at Yamato to let him know it's okay to ignore Cisco if he wants to, then asks, "You went from summer camp to fighting in a war? How old were you?"

Joe may not have an exact age on this kid, but looking at him right now, seven years ago would still put him as pretty young.

Yamato gives a brief, wry smile in Cisco's direction, because the excitement over Digimon is pretty nice at least. He turns his attention back to Joe pretty quickly, though.

"Eleven," he says, lifting his shoulder in a slight shrug. "Some of us were younger, one of us was a little older."

Joe's eyebrows lift a little while the rest of his expression goes carefully blank.

Eleven.

The coffee pot sputters out the last of the water Joe poured into it, and Joe turns to take care of it.

He pours out a cup then turns back around to offer it to Yamato.

"Here, I'll let you make it up how you like it. There's cream, sugar, we also have milk if you want it." He gestures at the counter where he's set everything out along with a spoon for Yamato.

Yamato just about manages to avoid ducking his head or lowering his gaze, but the trade-off is that his own expression goes fairly blank as well.

"Thanks," he says, taking the cup and heading over to the counter to start adding sugar. One teaspoon, two teaspoons, three, four, five ...

(What? Sugar is nice! It's good stuff.)

Joe pours himself out a cup and then waits for his turn at the sugar. After seeing all that gets dumped into Yamato's cup though, Joe decides just to take his black.

Carefully sipping his coffee Joe asks, "So what's this rescue mission you're on now?"

Five teaspoons should be enough sugar. His coffee is fully sugared.

"Oh, er," he says, a little uncertainly, because he's still not exactly sure whether Joe has put him in the Crazy Guy Who Kills People And Who Shouldn't Be Around Barry category. "Four people from our world got kidnapped for -- complicated reasons. They weren't all being held in the same place, either, so we've had to rescue them one by one."

Joe isn't making it easy, his demeanor hasn't shifted much to give away where he's at as he continues the conversation with Yamato.

"Why you?" he asks, throwing a nod at Yamato. "Why is it your team looking for these people?"

Yamato cocks his head, like he doesn't understand the question entirely. The idea that he wouldn't jump at the chance to rescue people is a little alien to him.

"Why wouldn't it be us? They need to be found, and we can find them," he says. He shrugs a shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee (and making a few 'ah, hot, hot' noises of distress). "We're the only people right now who can move between worlds, we're the only ones who know the terrain, and we know how to survive there better than anyone."

He takes another sip, frowning.

"Besides, it's -- ..." He has to pause for a moment, because he's not sure how to turn this particular nebulous feeling into words. "We can't not help people who need it."

"But you're kids," Joe counters, disapproval over the situation entering his voice. "Sending kids into danger, especially war, is never right."

But it still happens, and hearing Yamato's listed out reasons why it should be Yamato and his team, Joe can't really argue with them; him not knowing or understanding the whole situation or circumstances.

Joe frowns, realizing this is a situation where he has no authority or any ability to help, and so he's forced to accept it

He frowns a little as he relents, backing down from the line of questioning.

"That sounds like something Barry would say," he comments on Yamato's last, by tone and the brief upturn of his mouth into a faint smile, that's not a bad thing.

Yamato's pretty surprised that when Joe first expresses disapproval, it's at the people sending them out -- Gennai and the Bureau and everyone else -- instead of at him. That surprise shows on his face, despite his best efforts.

"We were chosen for this long time ago. I don't know if it matters anymore if it's right or not," he says. "... And besides, I can't speak for the others, but I think I forfeited the right to be a kid back a while back."

As far as Yamato is concerned, he gave that up when he first took a life, along with any notion of being some kind of hero.

He does crack a quick, awkward smile at the comparison to Barry, ducking his head. "Thanks, but don't be fooled, we're nothing alike."

"Sounds to me like that was taken from you," Joe says, no judgement on Yamato, but things would turn interesting and fast if Joe were to ever meet Gennai or anyone else who would send the kids into battle.

As for comparisons, as far as Joe is concerned there isn't really anyone like Barry, so he won't hold that against Yamato.

Taking a drink from his coffee, Joe gives a quick hiss and pulls the mug away, brushing his mouth with his hand.

"Alright so, what're you doing?" he asks, turning the subject back to the now by giving a nod towards the items Yamato has so carefully set out. "Anything I can do to help, or you wanna just wait for Barry to get back?"

Yamato gives a shrug and a quick smile, as if to say that he doesn't see much difference.

He's relieved that Joe isn't turning him out of the house, though, and doesn't seem to have taken against him.

"I can wait for Barry to get back. If we start without him, he'll probably pout at us," Yamato says wryly. "But I figure beef teriyaki, okonomiyaki -- kind of like a pancake but with a meat and vegetable filling -- and takoyaki, which is like an octopus dumpling."

There's a large difference there to Joe's mind, but now isn't a good time to get into a conversation to point that out.

Instead he laughs on that comment about Barry. "He just might."

And no one wants that.

"Teriyaki I know," Joe says, then tries to repeat the names Yamato gives, with mild success. "Oko-- oko-meeyaki and taco-yaki are new ones."

He scratches the beard on his chin and mulls a moment before adding, "I think I've had octopus, though. Barry and Iris, they've taken me to some sushi places before, and one of those restaurants with the open grills? Where they do all the flashy cooking in front of you."

Yamato laughs a little, tilting his head. "Well, I can't promise that my cooking will be as fancy or as good as those places, but I'll do my best."

"Aaaalways prefer home-cookin' to any restaurant," Joe informs Yamato.

A beat, and then he amends, "Well, except for maybe sometimes when Iris is cooking... "

Joe smiles then holds a finger to his lips to let Yamato know that's something Yamato never heard Joe say. As far as Iris will ever know, her dad loves her cooking.

Patting Yamato on the arm, Joe steps back to exit the kitchen.

"Barry should be back in a few, so I'll leave you to it."

Yamato solemnly mimes zipping his mouth shut. If Iris asks, he'll tell her that Joe praised her cooking for hours.

"Cool. Er, thanks again for letting us use your place for this," he says, giving Joe an awkward but happy smile.

"You're welcome," Joe replies.

Taking his coffee and heading back upstairs, Joe passes by the living room on his way. Stopping by the couch, Joe reaches down and gives the lazing Cisco's shoulder a firm squeeze.

"Go in there and hang out with your friend," Joe says to him in his 'dad voice'.

Cisco squirms and nods quickly. "I'm going."

Joe heads upstairs and a few moments later Cisco steps into the kitchen.

"Hey Yams, hows it going in here?"