Page 6 of Bad Daddy

“However I can get it,” Danny said bewildered, not at all expecting the deluge of questions.

“Not a picky coffee drinker, huh?” Nakamura asked, looking amused.

“Not, um, not really,” Danny said, stomach fluttering for no reason.

“Okay,” Nakamura said, and he really seemed bent on his “mission” to get Danny the perfect hot cocoa. “But if you had a choice, what would you prefer? Cream? Sugar? Black?”

“Cream and sugar I guess,” Danny said.

“Okay, one last question,” Nakamura said. “Do you like potato chips?”

“What do potato chips have to do with hot chocolate?” Danny asked before he could stop himself.

Nakamura laughed, rich and deep. “Nothing,” he said, shooting Danny a grin that made his ears burn. “I’m just learning what flavors you like. But I think I’ve got it. I’ll go order, if you want to find us a table?”

“S-sure.” Danny could do that. He curled his hands around the straps of his backpack and set out.

The cafe was busy but not overcrowded, which was sort of a miracle considering it was Saturday on a college campus. It was still on the earlier side of the morning though, just after ten fifteen, so Danny guessed that might be why. After some searching, he was able to find a small table right next to the window. It wasn’t his first choice, because it was colder near the glass no matter how well-insulated the window was. He hadn’t completely warmed back up yet. But he wanted to make sure he had a table ready when Nakarmura came to find him.

He kept his jacket on and sat down, hunching over and trying not to shiver. His insides were cold, which was the worst. It was so much harder to warm up when your insides were frozen.

In many ways, Danny had been lucky. He’d never spent time on the street. He’d always had a roof over his head. Sometimes he hadn’t been able to afford heating the room that roof belonged to, but what could you do?

“Here we are,” Nakamura’s voice said, and Danny startled, jerking his head up to see the man setting a tray down on the table. Two steaming mugs, one with a dollop of whipped cream and a caramel drizzle, and a little plate of cookies shaped like snowflakes.

Danny blinked down at the tray, then back up at Nakamura as he took a seat opposite him.

“I guessed on the cookies,” Nakamura said. “But they’re shortbread, and it’s hard to go wrong with shortbread.” He slid the cup with whipped cream across the table toward Danny. “And a salted caramel hot cocoa.”

“Thank you,” Danny said, immediately wrapping his fingers around the warm mug. It helped a lot. “That sounds, um, really good. What’s yours?”

“Mint chocolate cocoa,” Nakamura said, chuckling when Danny wrinkled his nose automatically. “Not a fan?”

“It’s okay,” Danny said. “I just think a lot of mint stuff tastes like toothpaste.”

“Fair enough,” Nakamura grinned. “If it helps, this is a mild mint. It’s more of an accent flavor.”

“If you say so,” Danny said doubtfully.

Nakamura opened his mouth, then seemed to rethink what he was about to say. “I’ll buy you one to try next time,” he said after that brief pause. “And then you can just get something else if you don’t like it.”

Next time? Danny wondered. He didn't understand why Nakamura was so sure about helping him out after knowing him for like twenty minutes. Lily must have really laid Danny’s incompetence on thick.

“Okay, next time,” he said instead of mentioning any of that. He was baffled by Nakamura’s smile in response.

It was unfair how nice a smile it was. Warm and open, like he was genuinely pleased by what Danny had said. Danny wasn’t on the receiving end of smiles like that very often. Sometimes he got encouragement from teachers, but that always felt like it was layered with frustration. Clint wasn’t a smiler. He smirked, had this hard little quirk of his lips when Danny said or did something he found amusing. It always felt a little mean, like Danny was the butt of the joke.

Nakamura felt different from Clint. From a lot of the men Danny had experience with. Just from their brief interactions so far, Nakamura didn’t seem like a man who smiled when someone else was struggling.

Danny distracted himself from tripping any further down that thought by unzipping his backpack to extract his business law textbook and the accompanying workbook. It was with some hesitation that he placed them on the table for Nakamura to see. There were dozens and dozens of color-coded sticky notes sticking out from the pages.

“Organized,” Nakamura said when he saw the book, sounding pleased instead of condescending. “That’s great, Danny. It looks like you’re really keeping on top of your class.”

“I try,” Danny said after clearing his throat. He wasn’t used to being praised for doing the bare basics. “The yellow stickies are for the pages we’re currently studying, and the blue are what we’ve already covered. The green ones are the ones I’ve been able to read ahead on, but the red ones I haven’t managed yet.” Nearly half the chapters were red, Danny noted miserably. He was sure Nakamura was going to notice and comment on it.

“Wow,” Nakamura said instead, looking surprised. “That’s… Danny, that’s a lot to cover on your own. It’s only a few weeks into your semester, isn’t it?”

Danny flushed. “I’m going as fast as I can, but there’s just a lot to read, with all of my classes.” Between his fourteen credits and Clint, it got overwhelming. Not that he was in any position to make excuses. “So yeah, uh, any help would be… good.”

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