Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

6 - Keeping Friends Closer than Enemies

"Don't come up with anything?" Tango said, surprised. "I thought that was, like, your whole shebang! The whole reason you did science!"

"No no no, Tango," Zedaph said, "there's a difference between coming up with the cure to a time-old condition and coming up with an oven that only works when you jump on it.  One of them gets you put in with the top dogs of the company and the other gives you something a high-schooler would've made for their science fair project. The point is, my kind of innovation isn't what they're looking for, but hey, I can read a set of directions and execute a plan by the word, so I'm not going away anytime soon,"

Jimmy swallowed a bite of his beef and noodles as he finally joined in on the conversation. "How do you get that gamey taste out of the meat so well?  All I ever hear from my sisters is to let it sit in vinegar overnight, but that only gets like half of it out.  This is close to nothing!"

"Oh, you can thank Doc for that," Zed said, "he came up with a solution that concentrates the vinegar just a tad more and it makes all the difference.  ...Wait a moment, how could you tell it was grass-fed?  Most people think it's grain when it doesn't taste all mineral-heavy,"

"Yeah, but no amount of vinegar gets rid of that little extra toughness.  Plus, I didn't see a whole lot of fat on the beef when you brought it in," Jimmy answered.

"I see, you're a rancher too aren't you?" Zed asked.

"Oh no, not me.  The ranching part is what my sisters do.  I do all the farming back home," Jimmy said. 

"That's more knowledge than I had coming into this business," Zed said, "I know he doesn't like to admit it, but Doc is genuinely getting a little old for all the work he does, so I've been meaning to find someone who could at least do the ranching for him.  If you and Tango want to stop by the Rally Ranch sometime, I'd be happy to show you around and teach you how to work with the livestock!"

"Why don't you take up the ranching if you know how to do it?" Bdubs asked.

"Animals are my weakness and I don't have the heart nor the stomach to do the butchering myself," Zedaph answered. "It'd be really easy otherwise,"

As Jimmy was genuinely considering the offer to work in a farm again, his ex was across the room genuinely considering making a break for the door. Scott had quit sipping his coffee a while ago, now chugging it by the mouthful as quickly as the plastic straw would allow him to.

"...So what's up with you and Jimmy?" Pearl asked, twirling her fork around the chicken fettuccine. Scott was on his last few gulps of coffee upon hearing this sentence, and it made him nearly have to drink them again if he'd spat it out.

"Wh- why does that matter?" Scott asked, lightly recovering from the coffee coming back up.

"Oh come on, he hates you, you hate him, you're both exes, what's the story?" Pearl asked again.

"There's no 'story' Pearl, we had a falling out, it's none of your business," Scott said.

"Hate to break it to ya Major, but for as long as we'll be soulbound your business is my business," Pearl said, "so what was it? Ruined something? Cheated on each other? I know he didn't hit you cause ida felt that,"

"Pearl, I know you're whole thing is being generally annoying, but this really isn't a battle you want to choose," Cleo warned.

"But I need the tea!" Pearl said.

"THERE'S NO TEA PEARL! WE HAD AN ARGUMENT THAT HE TURNED INTO A BIG DEAL, THAT'S IT!" Scott snapped, slamming his hands on the table at the very end of his sentence. It only occurred to him as an afterthought that maybe it wasn't a good idea to scream that so loudly in the same diner as the "he" he was referring to. The place went dead silent.

"...Excuse me?" Scott heard the familiar, high pitched voice from the blonde at the table across. "I turned it into a big deal?! Is that what you're telling everybody?!"

"Well, it's the truth, isn't it?" Scott shot back, trying to act more confident than he actually was.

"You were the one who kicked me out!" Jimmy yelled, standing up from his seat.

"Kicked out?! You were the one who took your stupid cat and walked out the door!"

"DON'T YOU DARE BRING NORMAN INTO THIS-"

"Jimmy," Tango said, placing a hand on his bound's shoulder, "take it from me, he's not worth it,"

Scott scoffed. "Looks like someone's mad they got the hand-me-down boyfriend..." he muttered under his breath, but it was just loud enough for Tango to hear anyway.

"...I changed my mind, it's worth it," Tango said, glaring at Scott as he let go of Jimmy. As soon as he did, Jimmy ran forward with full fighting intent. Scott decided to charge at him with the same energy, and the two would've collided had they both not been grabbed by the collars of their shirts and lifted off of their feet.

"Listen, I like a good diner fight as much as the next person," Doc said, "but I'd rather it not be in the diner that I have to clean every afternoon. You want to deal with your emotional issues? Take it outside,"

The ex lovers both hung their heads low, the anger dying down and being left with nothing but embarrassment and regret. Doc placed them back on the floor, and they both backed up to their respective tables.

"...Come on Scott, let's just go," Cleo said. Scott sighed, following her out the door after taking one more look at his enemy. Jimmy had the same somber expression Scott imagined he had on his own face, the embarrassment and regret finally turning to a type of sadness neither of them could describe.  It was a sort of longing, but a longing for something they both knew, and could prove, was bad for them.  Besides, you can't unswallow the key to the door when it's been 4 years since you locked it.

After the duo were a ways away from the diner, Cleo spoke again. "Are you okay?"

"...no..." Scott managed to say while still holding back tears.  As he crossed his arms, he could just feel the poppies trying to grow under them, and he refused to look down or let up his hands for that reason alone.  Eventually the flowers learned, however, and one grew right on the side of his face, where he couldn't ignore it.  More than irritated at this point, he grabbed the flower with his whole hand and ripped it off.  He had forgotten just how much it hurt to pick his flowers in the moment, and the light burning sensation left on his cheek, as well as the revealing of all the poppies on his arms, was enough to finally snap him in half. 

He sobbed the entire way home.