Chapter Text
“Hey.”
Lars looked up from scrubbing his shirt with a hard-bristle dish brush. Nadeem was approaching him with a sort of cringe-inducing swagger, bouncing as he walked and holding the helmet of a Fire Master.
Lars looked him up and down once, twice, then a third time just for good measure. He swiftly turned back to scrubbing his shirt against the splintered remains of a desk. “Hello.”
“So... we won.”
“Would be strange if we hadn’t, all things considered.”
“Right, on account of the lack of ice and frozen-to-death-ness...”
Maybe it was the good mood of being alive, or maybe Lars was finally warming up to Nadeem, but he laughed. “Yeah. Not being turned into a well-bodied cryonic is the key sign of championing a god.”
Nadeem laughed beside him, though Lars suspected he didn’t understand half of what he just said. That didn’t matter.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, This was my sweater under the suit. I had a ghost project on me in a way that has me considering a Ghost Busters OSHA. I’m cleaning it right now— trying to.”
Nadeem leaned in, awkwardly close but not enough for Lars to complain. “Ew. Just get a new one.”
“I rather liked this sweater.”
“Probably shouldn’t have worn it while ghost busting, then...”
Lars paused what he was doing and leveled the man with an unamused stare.
Nadeem’s mouth opened and closed, fish-like in his scrambling for words. “Uh. I mean. Right. My fault. Woops. Heh...”
Lars stared at him for a few more seconds, really let his dissatisfaction sink in, before going back to uselessly scrubbing. “Well, no harm done. Besides city-wide destruction and a cleaning bill I’ll have to foot. But...”
He motioned to the current washed-out, loose t-shirt he was wearing. “... I get to wear home clothes on the job.”
“And you’re welcome for that.” Nadeem said cheerily, “Selling my Dadi’s prison orb was all just so a handsome man, you, could wear a comfortable 80’s band t-shirt.”
It took a moment for him to catch up to what was said. When he had, he looked up and stared into the distance before finally turning to look at Nadeem.
Handsome? He echoed, eyebrows climbing up his temple when Nadeem seemed perfectly oblivious to what he said. Then the Fire Master, arguably the main reason they ever succeeded against a god, turned as red as the flames he controlled. “... I said the quiet part out loud, didn’t I?”
“... It’s a 90’s band t-shirt.” Lars corrected.
“Huh?”
He sat up better, showing off the front printed design. “This band formed in 1993.”
“Oh. Oddly specific...”
“It disbanded in 1999.” Lars continued, suddenly unsure why he was still talking.
Even if Lars himself was unsure about why he was continuing the conversation, Nadeem seemed to pick up his confidence from the ground the more they talked. “Only alive for seven years? Musta been a bad band.”
“Six years.”
“...Who really understands math these days, anyway?”
“I do.”
“Maybe you can understand the math and I can understand the fun!”
Lars made a silly noise.
Nadeem cycled on, face red and hand motioning around while the other squeezed the helmet to his chest. “Speaking of, you know I’m a Fire Master, now. That’s impressive, right?”
“Speaking in a scientific sense...”
“Right! And, that’s certainly impressive enough to... Uh, catch the attention of a... 90’s band merch wearing, super smart, ah, great... big... brained man, right?”
Lars’s eyebrows rose up again, staring at Nadeem with a blank expression.
The man’s eyes skipped around a bit before landing back on him, “Um, I should mention that the Fire Master’s funds are... Nonexistent. But, I can definitely treat you- uhh... Whoever this 90’s band enjoyer may be... to a killer cheeseburger.”
There was another considerable pause in the conversation.
“... Will this cheeseburger include fries?” Lars asked.
Nadeem, who had begun to shake anxiously, glowed with relief. “Waffle fries, the best kind.”
“Arguable.”
“I’m afraid you can’t science your way past this undeniable fact.”
Lars snorted, looking back down to his ruined sweater and scrubbing again. “We’ll see about that on our date, won’t we? While you’re here, grab the foam soap for me. I left it in the crater currently at the front door.”