#also we barely talked about the celine misunderstanding aajkdagka

[faeriescorpio]

Damien Time Travel Ch 9

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27014884/chapters/93502435

Am i insane? yes. how am i going to juggle Damien and William having a secret conversation while Abe is spying on them? Poorly. Read on.

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Tuesday, October 3rd, 1922, 11 am. One week until the party.

Damien closed his eyes, trying to quell the rising panic. He was doing good, he told himself. Already he knew he had saved at least one life, the district attorney's, if not even 3. It was just a matter of talking to William and keeping Celine away until after Mark’s party comes and goes.

…And maybe keeping William from killing whatever boyfriend Celine apparently has.

He sat in the same seat as the last time he had met with William here, and it was 11 am exactly. He was supposed to be at work now- not that there was anything more important than this. The district attorney would cover for him, anyway- although he’d have to fend off their smile when they inevitably found out who he skipped work for. They were always telling him to go out and make more friends- they’d be ecstatic to discover that he’s improving an old friendship. Maybe after all this, he could invite them along with him to meet William. He had a feeling they would get on like a house on fire.

The bell on the door rang as someone entered the cafe, and Damien glanced over, hoping to see William.

His stomach swooped nervously as he made eye contact with Abe, who glanced at him nonchalantly before sitting at a table nearby and ordering a black coffee.

Damien quickly looked away, trying to keep his face from giving anything away. As far as Abe was concerned, Damien didn’t know him, and didn’t know that Abe was spying on him. 

And it was good Abe was here, he told himself. William wanted to get a look at Damien’s detective follower. It was necessary for showing William how shady Mark was being. He’d just have to find a way to subtly point William in Abe’s direction without giving the game away, and before William said anything incriminating that Abe could tell Mark.

Damien looked down at his own coffee, practically boring a hole into the mug with his eyes to avoid looking up at Abe. He could feel the detective looking at him, his eyes burning into the mayor.

The door’s bell rang again, and Damien’s head shot up, a mixture of relief and alarm filling him as William entered the cafe and immediately made his way towards Damien, eyes roaming around to glare at all of the customers in the shop suspiciously. He made his way into the seat across from Damien.

"Colonel," Damien rushed to greet him first. Hopefully, by addressing William by his title would alert the paranoid man to the fact that they were being watched.

"...Mayor," William returned, eyes narrowed.

"It's nice of you to meet me," Damien delved into the conversation, ready to dance the fine line and play the game of words. It had been ages since he had to use much double-speak, his future self so inclined to stating everything bluntly without anyone who held a real threat to him there to argue.

"I was worried that you'd be late," Damien continued onward. "You do have a habit of getting... waylaid." The Colonel stared at him for a long moment, and the mayor mentally kicked himself as he realized that in trying to express his worry and in trying to tell William that they were being listened in on, he made it sound like he was asking if William had dropped by Celine's. Which, he supposed, was something he intended to ask anyway, but maybe with more gentleness.

"I came straight here," William replied bluntly, and leaned forward to whisper directly into Damien's ear. "Is he here?"

Damien kept his face blank as he resisted the urge to scream. He didn't know why he bothered. William had never heard of discrete even once in his life.

"I had work today," He said instead of directly answering William's question. "My job as the mayor is very strenuous, and I couldn't help but take the day off to spend it with you. Just hanging out normally. But even off-duty, the work of a mayor is never done. Everything I do is in the eyes of the public." It wasn't great, but hopefully it would do.

William glanced at the rest of the cafe out of the corner of his eye. So he got that part of the message. "With such a job, I imagine every moment of your life is strenuous," William agreed, and Damien refused to let his eyebrows twitch upward in surprise. So the Colonel could have some tact.

"I'm never off the clock until I reach my home," Damien allowed a smile to grace his face. "Perhaps you can come by my house later?" He quickly did some math. Abe was sitting at Damien's 11 o'clock, but asking William to come to his house at 11am wasn't feasible, since it was past 11 am. And asking William to come to his house at 11pm was... well. He wasn't sure what Abe or Mark would think of him inviting the Colonel over at such a late hour. But His 11 o'clock was the Colonel's 5 o'clock. But if he said 5, then the Colonel would think he was talking about from his own view...

"At 1600 hours? Does that work for you?" He asked, and immediately the Colonel's eyebrows furrowed. He hoped that William could make the stretch he had.

"You're using military time?" he asked.

"Well, I thought it'd be better to use your time," Damien lifted his tone, making it sound like a joke. He added a chuckle, but William straightened up slightly.

"Say," William asked abruptly. "Does this place have a bathroom?" He turned his head and glanced around the room. To his credit, he barely lingered in Abe's direction.

"I'm afraid not, old friend," Damien replied.

"Ah, that's too bad," William sighed dramatically, and slumped in his seat. Damien refused to jump in the air as he felt William place his foot on top of the mayor's shoe. He couldn't help the way his eyebrows drew together as William began tapping his foot against Damien's.

There was a rhythmic pattern to it, and Damien blinked. Oh. Of course, the Colonel would use morse code. he didn't think Abe could see their feet from this angle.

Deerstalker? William asked, and Damien risked a glance over at Abe, confused for a moment, before he put it together. The deerstalker hat Abe wore. It was reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, and frankly Damien was surprised that he hadn't put it together before then.

"Say, old chap, is that your normal order of coffee?" William asked, providing a verbal cover for their silence.

"Yes," Damien replied. Technically, he had added more sugar than he was used to, but the Damien of this time still had a bit of a sweet tooth. Dark hadn't had anything but black coffee in a long time. But it didn't matter; Damien would have replied yes anyways, just to agree with the morse code. He bumped his shoe once against the Colonel's for emphasis. William's eyes darkened.

"I'll have to try it next time," The hunter replied darkly, and got out of his chair. "It would just give me the shits, and I already need to use the bathroom." Damien ignored the last line, reaching for his cane to follow William out of his seat.

"You should go to work, Dames," Will said roughly, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'd hate for you to have any work to do instead of partying with your district attorney. I'll see you at 5."

"Wait." Damien scrambled out of his chair. He wracked his mind for a subtle way to say what he wanted, but he couldn't. He hurried forward.

"You'll tell me if Celine calls you, right?" William paused. He knew what Damien was begging for.

"One would hope she calls her brother first," The Colonel replied, and locked eyes with the mayor. "I would."

Damien smiled wanly. It sounded like William was promising to tell Damien before he did anything stupid. He'd take what he can get.

"One would hope." he straightened his suit and adjusted the grip on his cane. "I'll see you later, Colonel."

"See you later, Dames." William hustled off and Damien breathed for a moment, running through the last few sentences to see if anything was off. Something that was said was setting off alarms in his mind, but he couldn't locate the exact sentence. He shook his head. If anything, it would just confuse Abe. Surely whatever was said wasn't hard enough evidence worth reporting to Mark about. Besides, he didn't think Abe had listened in on their last few interactions, so how was the detective to know what was suspicious or what was some sort of inside joke?

Besides, William was always eccentric, Damien thought, making his way toward the door. Surely he would do strange things, it's part of his nature. He stepped outside, noting that Abe was paying for his own coffee and getting up to leave, no doubt to follow him.

He headed to work, trying to dispel his worries. He was fine. They were all fine.

A phone was ringing.

The District Attorney popped their head into Damien's office. There was no one there, of course. He had gone to eat brunch with the Colonel, and the attorney was only too glad to step in for their friend. They headed to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello? Is Mayor Damien there? It's Mark."