Work Text:
"I need coffee."
"You don't need coffee."
"And you know this because...?"
"Danny, we're going to lunch," Casey pointed out. "I'm pretty sure they have coffee at the restaurant. Also, we're nearly half an hour late for this thing as it is, so I don't think we've actually got time to stop for coffee."
"I'm going to have spend the next three hours listening to Bob Sassone tell us why he thinks March madness is boring," Dan said as he stopped to line up at a coffee cart. "I'm going to need all the help I can get."
"What'll it be?" the coffee cart guy asked as Dan's turn came up.
"You want anything?" Dan asked Casey.
"Black, no sugar," Casey replied absently.
"One black, no sugar, one with cream and one sugar." Dan said with a grin. "And give me a couple of those jelly donuts."
The coffee cart guy handed over the donuts first, telling Dan the drinks would be a couple of minutes. Dan handed off one of the donuts to Casey and bit into his own, savoring the taste of the baked-fresh-that morning donut and the explosion of sticky-sweet jelly against his tongue.
"Err, Danny…"
Dan glanced over at Casey who wasn't so much eating his donut as he was staring at a spot just near Dan's left elbow.
"Don't look now," Casey said, "but I think you're being watched."
"Watched?"
"Yeah, watched."
Dan glanced around, expecting to see an enthusiastic fan brandishing a pen and a piece of paper. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a big, white, husky-looking dog sitting merely inches away, it's blue eyes fixed firmly on the donut he held in his left hand.
"Jesus! Where did that come from?" he yelped, taking a step back. "Err, nice doggie..."
Behind him he could hear Casey snigger as the dog, its eyes never straying from Dan's donut, licked its chops and shuffled a few inches forward to catch up.
The dog licked its chops again and Dan wondered why there was never a dog catcher around when you needed one.
"Diefenbaker!"
Dan looked up and suddenly there was an impossibly good-looking guy wearing jeans, a leather jacket and the goofiest looking hat Dan had ever seen grabbing the dog by the scruff of its neck and pulling it away.
"I do apologise," hat guy said as he straightened up. "Diefenbaker does know better, but really, his manners can be quite appalling at times. I do hope he hasn't made too much of a nuisance of himself?"
"No, not at all," Dan responded weakly.
"I can assure you he will get a thorough talking-to about improper behaviour once we return to our lodgings," the man said earnestly.
"It's okay, really," Dan insisted.
"Because it really it is just a little beyond the pale to go shamelessly begging from strangers on the street like that," hat guy added, looking pointedly at the dog as he spoke.
The dog (Diefenbaker?) flicked his tail in response and wuffed a little.
"No, I don't think so," hat guy replied stiffly. "Not after this little escapade."
At that Diefenbaker snorted and trotted away to sniff at a fire hydrant before hydrating it a little himself.
"You pay and pay..." hat guy muttered, shaking his head.
"Yo, Fraser!"
Dan swung around and saw a tall, skinny guy with aggressive blond hair across the way. He was scowling at hat guy as he impatiently tapped his watch with one long finger.
"Pitter patter, Frase, we're late," the blonde said.
"Oh dear," hat guy said under his breath. He looked up at Dan. "I do hope you won't hold it against Diefenbaker. He does mean well, he just gets a little over enthusiastic at times."
"Ah, yeah, sure, no problem," Dan replied. He was feeling so confused the guy could have been talking in Inuit and Dan would have agreed with him. "No harm, no foul, right?"
"Indeed," hat guy said, smiling brightly. "Thank you kindly."
Then he tipped his hat and went to join the blond, Dan staring dumbly as hat guy and the blond continued on their way with Diefenbaker bringing up the rear.
"I think I need a drink," Dan muttered as the trio disappeared around a corner.
"Sorry, pal, happy hour isn't until noon," the coffee cart guy said dryly as he motioned toward the cooling cups of coffee on the counter.
Dan turned toward Casey who was looking as confused as Dan felt.
"Did that really happen? I ask this because I'd the first to admit that my mental stability has, from time to time, been called into question, and I need to be sure that I'm not losing my mind."
"It really happened and you're not losing your mind," Casey said reassuringly. He pointed at the remainder of Dan's donut. "Are you going to eat that?"
FIN