Work Text:
You'd somehow managed to get yourself on a date night with none other than everyone's least favorite cop, (in-universe at least) to a local sketchy carnival near a beach, where all the prices are 2x pricier, the scam games are 3x scammier, and the old dudes running the place are 4x oldier.
You arrived there hoping you didn't dress too fancy or too casual for the occasion, yeah it was at a shitty carnival but it was still a date! Anyway, seeing Coyle dressed in just a white tank top, a leather jacket, leather pants and his uniform's boots waiting for you near the entrance reassured you that you were obviously the fancier one, at least for the night.
"Took you damn long enough." He said scruffily, holding his cigarette in his mouth before taking a last puff of it and throwing it under his boot.
You scoffed back, "Yeah, i actually took the time to look presentable." You smirked at him, grabbing his arm with both your hands and practically dragging him in before he could talk back, you already knew you'd be going back and forth all night.
You decided to go to those basketball arcade games first, the ones where the hoop totally isn't shaped like an oval while you're throwing a ball at it, and surprisingly, (for the sake of both of your sanities) you managed to both get a few shots in, you'd gotten 6 in and Coyle got 11.
"Now that's the way to start a date night!" He exclaimed, you just rolled your eyes at him and looked around for other games to play.
As you were looking around, Coyle grabbed your attention by pointing to one of those small hanging punching bag machines in the short distance. "I am so gon' break this thang." Coyle said full of himself as you both walked over to it. "Sure honey, let's see what you got." You let him go first, he rolled his sleeves up, took a proper stance and everything, then he finally punched the bag it flew backwards, not looking broken to much of his disdain, unfortunately, but he did get a very good score!
"Wow, i'll admit that's pretty impressive!"
"Hm, whatever, didn't even break the record."
You ignored how pouty he was being and patted him on the arm to do the minimum to reassure him as you took your stance infront of the machine; you waited a few seconds to aim and wind up before throwing your fist at the bag, also sending it flying backwards.
You got a lower score than him, but the creepy guy managing the machine complimenting your skills was a good enough prize i guess, but you then ended up having to drag Coyle off somewhere else before he started fights with random people.
You decided to go to a food stand, to hopefully eat something and get him to calm down after that encounter; you ended up buying a stick of cotton candy to share between you two, and two separate beers to drink.
You sat down on a bench near the food stand to chat and relax for a bit.
"So uhm.. anyway, you wanna tell me how work's going?"
You tried bringing up another topic to hopefully calm him down.
"Work? Heh.. hun, that's my duty, to make sure everyone acts right, y'know?" You responded with a muffled, cotton candy mouth-filled 'yep' and let him rant about the law and his duty and whatever else for a bit.
"But that's just what a rightful cop like me needs to do." He finished his rant, taking a bite of the cotton candy, which definitely had an.. interesting flavor when mixed with beer.
"Sure is." You agreed with him, now you were both just people-watching in silence. (if you ignore how loud carnivals, children and americans are)
"So how's your line of work, huh?" Coyle asked, and you just explained how nothing interesting really happened like at his job, and how you definitely seemed much less dedicated to it than he was.
"But yeah, i could never compete with how dedicated you seem to your position."
You said as you let out a short chuckle.
"Damn right baby, no one can compare to the Coyle Leland."
He grinned at you and you averted your gaze to not feed into his already big enough ego, spotting another arcade game from the corner of your eye and deciding to drag him along again to go try it.
This one was a whack-a-mole, you'd been very good at these since you were a kid so you were confident you'd be able to beat him.
"Oh yeah, i was so good at these as a kid, i bet i'm even better than you!"
"We'll see 'bout that, buttercup."
You cringed a bit at the nickname but focused your attention back on the game as you went first, getting 1920 points, you still thought it was too early to celebrate though so you let Coyle go second to see how he'd do, and to both of you guys' surprise, he got 1750 points.
"Fuckin' rigged ass game.." He muttered under his breath, and you smirked at him proudly.
You both decided to go play a few more games which were basically gambling for kids before deciding to leave in favor of taking a walk by the beach nearby.
You decided to take the opportunity and ask him questions to get to know him more.
"Soooo... what do you usually do outside of work?"
"Hm.. well, my work's very demanding, but, when i do have the time, i like to go outside n' admire nature, especially during thunderstorms."
'going out during thunderstorms..? bit weird..' you thought to yourself, but you gave him the benefit of the doubt.
"Thunderstorms? Why those specifically?"
"Well, i just really like watchin' the lightning strikes, it's pretty entertaining, we should try it sometime."
That was definitely an odd idea for a date, but you'd met people with weirder interests, so you didn't think about it for too long.
"Sure we could try that, why not?"
He smiled at you knowing you were willing to engage in his least weird interest out of all of them.
"Now that's what i like to hear, lots'a people just be weirded out by it, but hey, you're lookin' like the one for me."
That made your cheeks turn redder than you'd like to admit, and you both chuckled as your walk started coming to an end as you reached your house.
You both got on the front porch to talk for a bit before separating for the night.
"So, ya had fun? Think i deserve a second date? Especially after payin' for everything?"
He asked half jokingly, making you chuckle.
"Yeah, i think you've landed yourself another date."
You could physically see his ego get bigger from your comment, decided you'd let him feed his ego, for now at least.
"I think i'll go to sleep now, it was really tiring having to drag you around all day, goodnight."
You teased him, and before he could say some snarky remark back, you kissed him on his cheek, making him freeze for a second before he remembered he was supposed to be the smug one.
"Uh- yeah yeah, i'll be seein' you around."
He practically ran away, off of your porch, hoping you didn't see his flushed cheeks, but that was the image of him stuck in your head as you went to sleep for the night.