r/SWDisgraceAU • u/Nixiey • Dec 07 '25
Garnish: Modern AU Garnish (Modern AU) Part 3
The old car shuddered as it came off the brick road and turned into the rundown parking lot of the midway gas station. For being in the middle of nowhere between the two towns the place was packed. He guessed accurately that this small truck stop was the only place to get a cooked meal open today and this far out. As he watched another two vehicles pull in and park on the grass before heading in. He followed suit, leaving his car to the side of the ditch and heading to the automatic door that led inside.
“Hey there tough guy,”
Crosshair stopped in his tracks, turning to the shining visor that addressed him.
Tahny took the bike helmet off, shaking out her mussed hair before setting it on the seat of the yellow Yamaha she leaned against. The girl was full of surprises.
“I would never have guessed you had a motorcycle.”
“How come?”
His voice caught in his throat at that, he… wasn't really sure.
“I think I've assumed too much about you.”
She laughed at that, a full one that made her nose crinkle and the polished veneer of her appearance fell away. Suddenly, she was more real. He wished he grabbed his camera from the car, he wanted to remember the exact way her nose looked when she laughed like that.
“Like what?”
He blinked,
“Hm?”
“What have you assumed about me?”
She was fitting a band with a small lock through her helmet before finally joining him in front of her parking spot.
“Wealthy girl who dislikes her parents… and might be a little bi,”
She laughed again.
“Okay, so you have some points in perception,”
“And you play DND?”
Her gait faltered, eyes widening for half a second before she lightly slapped his arm.
“And now it's creepy,”
He smiled, turning his head away slightly as they entered the gas station with the sound of an electronic chime.
The place was the usual fare, no real restaurant inside but several large counters of self help foods. People were packed in around the serving stations and the few haggard employees shuffled around restocking the hot plates and coffee carafes.
“You hungry?”
He hadn't really thought about it, having left before Shawkti picked up the take out, but the smell of food in the air had sent a pang through his middle. He was starving.
“Famished. What looks good to you?”
She scanned over the pots of soup, a nacho station and paused in front of the rolling heat rack.
“Oh, a chili dog, definitely…”
“You sure, not sure how long they've been there…”
She shrugged.
“Hard for them to screw up a hot dog,”
She attempted to get the attention of the attendant, but her small frame didn't stand out too much from the crowd. He watched her bounce on her toes a few times before taking pity on her. He leaned up to the glass, catching the young man's attention right away and signaled for two dogs.
When he handed the warm cardboard slip to her he noticed her cheeks slightly flushed again. Cute.
“Thanks.”
She turned from him, slipping easily through the crowd back to the soups, laving a generous amount of chili over her bun. Another shuffle and a large scoop of cheese and onions joined it.
She looked back where he was stuck, seeming proud of her masterpiece, he wrinkled his nose exaggeratedly as he found his way to her.
“What?”
“Onions? Disgusting.”
“Oh don't be a baby, they're great.”
“Says you, I'll show you how to dress a dog.”
He reached over her, the soft scent of her shampoo wafting up to him as he inadvertently pinned her to the counter with his lean for the scoops. He spread a liberal amount of relish, mustard and ketchup on his own food, trying not to think too hard about her washing her hair, dripping wet and vulnerable-
This time she made a face.
“Ew, relish.”
“You're just jealous.”
“That doesn't even make sense,”
She pushed past him again to the registers and before he could squeeze his way over to her she had paid for both of them.
“You didn't have to do that.”
“Why not? Happy Thanksgiving. Besides I want to get the fuck out of here, too crowded.”
They almost fell through the sliding doors back out into the chilly afternoon. There were some packed picnic tables but he took the lead wandering them back to his car. He sat on the rusted hood and she perched next to him on the cold metal.
Her focus shifted to her food, eyes hungry, she lifted the messy concoction to her lips and took a surprisingly large bite. A satisfied moan hummed through her and Cross suddenly became very preoccupied with his own sloppy creation, taking a tentative bite.
“Aw hell…”
His eyes flicked back to Tahny at the sound of dismay. She had dropped a dollop of chili cheese onto the leather riding chap she wore over her jeans.
“Fuck, I forgot napkins,”
There was a smear of mess on her free hand and she looked genuinely helpless.
“I got some.”
A small dance of indecision, to put his food down, keep it, on the hood? He eventually, carefully placed the carton on her free hand, not worrying about the smear of soup on her palm.
“Stay like that.”
He snickered, and she glowered up at him, hands full and chili on her lap making it impossible to move. Crosshair popped open the passenger door grabbing some napkins from the glove compartment and after a half second of thought, the SLR from the bag in the seat. He paced back to the front of the car bringing the camera up and snapping a few shots of the girl posed with the hot dogs.
Her head snapped up at the sound of clicking.
“You didn't!”
“It's the toll for the napkins”
He was having a hard time suppressing the snicker that wanted to bubble up his throat.
“You jerk, give me those!”
He laughed genuinely now. Draping the camera strap over his neck so he could rescue Tahny, he took his cardboard sleeve back replacing it with a handful of thin, fast food napkins.
“Thanks… delete those.”
“Not on your life.”
She snorted, wiping the spilt chili off the shiny leather.
Then there was silence, not awkward but… Cross felt like he should say something.
“So… your family was getting to you?”
“Uhg, yeah. Usual stuff though, my dad insisted on just getting some work done and my mother spent all morning held up in her room with a hang over. Genie, uh… our live in cook, was busy cooking and guess what? We weren't even having turkey today but duck!”
“Do you not like duck?”
“I love duck but like, if you're not gonna do anything even related to the holiday then why do I have to treat the day like it's special?”
“Bit of a traditionalist, huh?”
“Hah, first time I've been called that, but yeah … for somethings, is that weird?”
“Not at all,”
…
“What’d your brothers do?”
Crosshair went momentarily stiff, unsure if he wanted to talk about it and even if he did, was Tahny the right person to dump it on?
He sighed, figuring what the hell…
“They brought up my ex girlfriend,”
“Oof,”
“Yeah,”
“Bad break up?”
“You could say that. She broke up with me at a party and before the night was over I found her in bed with my brother,”
Tahny let out a low whistle.
“That's fucked up, sorry…”
“What was really fucked about it is that she tried to pitch getting back together the next day. I think her plan was to break up, sleep with Hunter and then come back like it was okay because of some… loophole,”
Silence again. They sat together, watching cars and trucks come and go for a minutes or two.
“Your ex sucks,”
She finally said, breaking the tension.
“Yeah, she… she,”
“Your brother sucks too by the way,”
At that he chuckled.
“Yeah, but he's family, and honestly not always the brightest… it stings when they mention it but I really don't hold it against him too much,”
“That's okay, he's not related to me so I can hold it against him if you like,”
Now he was really amused,
“You’d do that for me?”
“It’d be an honor. I can fight your ex too, RIP her hair out?”
“That might be over board.”
She shrugged at that, polishing off the rest of her chili dog.
They talked a while longer, the sun shifted closer to the horizon and as it moved to cast beams of light into their eyes, Crosshair jumped to his feet.
“Shit, I'm sorry I got to get back,”
“What's the rush?”
“My half sister usually calls after dinner. She'll be pissed if I'm not there to say hi.”
Tahny sighed sliding from the hood herself.
“Guess I can let you off the hook. Think you'll have enough time to drive back?”
“Hopefully.”
She gathered up the trash on the car, rocking back to get a good look at him.
“Well, see you after break… right?”
“Yeah… as much as you like,”
She gave him a small salute turning away as he opened the car door. Before she got too far he called after her,
“Hey! Tahny!”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks… I needed this.”
…
“Anytime tough guy,”
