Grande's dinner was postponed because Derek slept too comfortably. Maybe it was because I walked too much during the day and was under too much psychological pressure. After completely relaxing, my whole body became completely relaxed.
Grande decided to wait until Derek walked out of the room with a messy hair. Dinner didn't start. It was almost nine o'clock.
Wall sconces with a yellowish glow hang on the walls of Grande's dining room. Derek had no choice. His seat on the rectangular dining table had been vacated, and it was the left-hand seat of the main table. Zach smiled and motioned for him to sit down, "Derek, I promise you, you will like Ali." Silk’s cooking skills.”
Zach held a wine bottle and said, "An appetizer drink." He raised his eyebrows and said, "Do you want it?"
Derek looked at the red wine glass in front of Zach on the main seat, and smiled and replied, "Thank you."
Zach tilted his head, "Very good." But Zach immediately raised a finger, "This is my private collection, no one can touch it, except me!" Zach curled the corners of his mouth and used an emphatic tone. , “I’m very possessive about my red wine.”
Derek didn't know how to react for a moment. He stared blankly at Zach writing ink on the bottle cap and didn't open it for a long time.
"No one will touch your food!" Benjamin tilted the fork beside the plate impatiently. "It tastes like rust soaked in sheep urine!"
This is real.
"Benjamin." Zach looked at him reproachfully.
"Uh, I don't need it anymore." Derek responded and smiled dryly.
"Finally." Benjamin shook his head and already held the knife and fork, "Let's start dinner!"
Zach quickly put the wine bottle in his hand, with a smile on his face, "Of course!" He swung the wine glass and raised his hand. "You guys first."
When people at the table began to pass large bowls of beans to each other and cut the steaks in front of them, Zach leaned back leisurely on his chair and sipped the wine glass in his hand.
This scene is familiar, right? Yes, Zach looked like this during Lola's weekend at Grande.
Zach is right. Derek was already immersed in Alice's cooking skills. He looked at Alice across from him with a smile, and was about to say some heartfelt praise.
"Derek." Zach, who was already having his second drink, shook the glass in his hand. "You need to have a good rest today. Tomorrow, I have prepared a whole day of activities for us." Zach blinked, "Do you need to Save enough energy."
"Uh." Derek looked at Zach, "About this, I..."
"Are you going to reject me?" Zach put down his glass. There was a deliberate expression of sadness on his face.
"Oh, no no." Derek responded with a helpless smile, "How could..."
"That's good." Zach put away his sadness, "This is your first time coming to Barton. I don't want you to think that Barton is like us in the South District. Benjamin and I are going to take you around."
Zach blinked suddenly and his voice became mysterious, "There is still night. We, Detective Lance, and some interesting friends. We have a very interesting event, you must participate." What Zach said was Wednesday game night.
Tomorrow night is very important. It will be the makeup day for Fitz and his group. They will make final adjustments to the props and costumes they have prepared for the Comic Con in a week. In their words. They want the nerds in Newton to know that Barton, a young city with little history, also has its fans (hero comics).
Derek looked at Zach's expectant eyes and could only nod slightly, "Then I will look forward to it very much." But the cutlery in his hand was leaning against the table. Move gently. Clearly, he had something to say.
"Well, I have..."
"Then it's decided." Zach raised his voice and made his own decision, "Believe me, tomorrow will be fun!"
"Yeah." Derek nodded and continued to work on his dinner silently. This is not the home of Hayate and his wife, this is his destination, and he has no reason to get away from the overly enthusiastic invitation.
get rid of? Of course, remember what he said to Steve, he was the one looking at the father who abandoned his son. Now, does he see it? No.
"When did you decide?" Louise put down her tableware and squinted at the Master of Grande, who was shaking the wine glass at the main seat. She curled her lips and said, "You men need to go out and play by yourself." There was a hint of harmless resentment. , "Leave all the work for us."
Louise raised her hand, looked at the long but empty fingers, looked left and right, and didn't know who she was talking to, "I wonder if you will stay here and work hard after you go out and have fun." Where do you want some compensation?”
Louise was reminding Zach.
Zach raised his eyebrows and touched Derek, who had obviously heard the details of someone's love life and did not dare to answer. He used a happy and helpless expression, "Derek, hey, it seems that we will have more people tomorrow." Got a mission."
Derek smiled reluctantly and nodded.
Zach did not drop the topic. He extended the topic, "Derek, what about you?" Zach pursed his lips in embarrassment, "I just noticed that there is a ring mark on your finger..."
The fingers of the left hand holding the tableware shrank unnaturally, and a white mark on the ring finger became more conspicuous. Derek glanced at Zach, his smile was a little stiff, "Divorced."
Zach took away the smile on his face and pressed Derek's arm, "I'm sorry I asked this. It's a shame."
"It's okay." Derek smiled, "I'm not going to hide anything." He quickly adjusted his breathing, "No regrets, eh." He waved his hand, "Now I'm free and can walk around Walk… "
"Yeah." Louise said twice.
"Oh!" Derek realized, "I didn't mean that!"
He decided to stop talking, lowered his head, and concentrated on the food in front of him. But Louise didn't seem to let him go, "Do you have children?"
Derek's body tightened as he lowered his head. When he raised his head again, his smile was very forced, "Yes, a boy and a girl." He paused, "I, um, have lost them."
The atmosphere at the table became solemn.
Zach and Benjamin agree that whether Derek can stay in Grande should be decided by old Hank, a true Grande man. But before any decision is made, the people of Grande will not reject him, but will try their best to make him feel warm, let him understand that this is also his home, and at the same time understand this sudden arrival of his 'brother'.
Before Old Hank really makes a decision, these previous understandings and interactions will be the basis for determining how Grande will get along with him in the future. For example, does he need to know Grande's true attributes
"Hug, I'm sorry." Louise frowned, glanced at Zach, and gave him a look that said, "I never expected such an answer."
"Oh!" Derek raised his voice, "They're not dead! And by lost, I mean they were sentenced to my wife, er, ex-wife!"
The people at the table breathed a sigh of relief. But it's still an unpleasant topic.
Zach tapped his fingers on the wine glass and said nonsense, which could be regarded as comfort, "You must miss them."
Derek's face became weird, he frowned, and actually shook his head, his voice was calm, "It's nothing." He smiled, "I've never been a good father anyway, they will be fine without me."
The topic reached a certain 'point'.
Just when people want to say, as a common reassurance, 'You can't say that. ' When Derek took a deep breath, he looked at Zach and Benjamin, "Can I ask you something? Well, he, well." He spread his hands, and with an expression you know, he twisted He frowned, "Where is he..."
The question is not complete.
"Vampire!" the boy's shout echoed in Grande's backyard, "Werewolf!"
Zach pursed his lips. He heard the other party's arrival very clearly, but in the atmosphere of the conversation just now, there seemed to be no reason for him to leave suddenly to stop this uncontrollable teenager from screaming.
"Alice?! Where are the people?!" Caesar's voice came closer, "Where are all the people!"
At the Grande dining table, everyone looked at each other. Derek's mouth was open. He hadn't finished asking his question yet. Under the inexplicable shouting, everyone's weird expressions made him not sure whether he should continue speaking.
"Ah!" Caesar opened the door of the restaurant and looked at the dining table, "Here! It's dinner now?! Very good! I'm very hungry!"
The teenager pulled up the chair and squeezed next to Alice, "Alice, get me something." Caesar began to look at the people at the table, his eyes fell on Derek, frowned, and tugged The tie on the formal collar, "Who is he?"
Zach shook his head, waved to Alice who was at a loss, motioned her to go to the kitchen, and swung the wine glass himself, "Caesar, didn't anyone teach you etiquette?"
"Humph." Caesar snorted and ignored the unknown person. He glanced at Zach casually, threw away the burden on his neck, unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, and held the table like a gangster. The bowl was served, and the public spoon was used directly to chew the beans.
Zach curled his lips and looked at Derek, "Sorry, don't worry about his name, teenagers, everyone knows that they love to give people nicknames." Zach shook the wine glass in his hand and shrugged helplessly , "Vampire." Then he pointed at Benjamin, "Werewolf? I don't know why."
Caesar glanced at Derek, his eyes were very consistent with a teenager's disdain for everything, "He can break the bones of ribs." He grinned his upper lip stained with beans and barked, "Wulf! Like a wolf! "
Calm and smart boy.
Derek opened his mouth and smiled awkwardly.
"Why are you here, Caesar?" Zach looked at Caesar and shook his head helplessly.
Caesar raised his finger and waved it in the air, "My mother and my current father were having dinner with my second father." He tilted his head, clicked his tongue, shook his head indifferently and continued, " I got bored, so I came to see my first father and to see you guys." (..)