this is gospel;

“I’ll consider it.” At least it wasn’t a right out refusal. He did give James a look when he mentioned the dog again. He felt like the man was more hopeful than simply wondering. “But I suppose I could and see how it goes. Might not work out though.”

“You’ll consider it.” James commented with a small laugh and a shake of his head, he guessed it was something but he had a feeling that the other wouldn’t actually do what he suggested. “And why wouldn’t it work out, are you planning on taking off again?”

“Watch out Ashcroft, we can get Hunger Games real fast up in here,” she warned a little too seriously. “Deception, disgrace,” Marzia hummed with a light shake of her head as if agreeing with James’ joke theory. “Since you’re such a duck expert, how do you suggest we lure it to us?”

“If it came to that I know I’d win, I’d be able to distract you with something shiny and the next thing you know there’ll be a canon going off with your face in the sky.” James told the other, laughing as the other burst out into song. “Exactly, maybe this is the duck version of Kovu- then I’d have two Kovu’s in my home. Two Kovu’s and a probably annoyed Marcus.” James continued, searching his pockets for something to use to lure the animal. “I’d say we give it the forbidden treat of bread, but I don’t have that-... or anything really.”

“Never said there was anything wrong with it but I was trying to confirm that it was what you were suggesting which by your response it was.” Nathaniel didn’t know how comfortable he felt about that but it was still an option he supposed. “And who exactly do you believe I should start making this team out of? A dog and a therapist?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Still, at least the dog was cute, he couldn’t say the same about a therapist. “Let’s get him to the vets. If he has got an owner, they’re probably worried by now.”

“I mean that’s a start.” James shrugged at the other, “Both will listen to you when you need someone to listen the most, also both won’t pass any judgement.” James continued, “And if he doesn’t have an owner, you’re going to take him home, right?”

“Do you know what kind of style you’re after?” Lilian asked, her head tilting slightly as she looked at the other. “How about we start with colours? Work our way up from there- some of those designs don’t work with all colours.” She then said, her nose scrunching as she talked. 

“Honestly I have no idea, I mean they’re not for me. They’re for Marcus, I’ve noticed some of his stuff that he teaches in is getting a little old and thought it’d be nice to treat him to something new.” James commented, looking through the designs and colors, “Maybe like a dark blue or something, he’s an atmokinetic so blue is stormy, right?”

“Maybe you’re drinking too fast,” Noah shot back, “And, for the record, no matter how many either of us have, I’m still gonna judge you.”

“There’s no such thing as drinking too fast, if you drink slower you realize how bad some of this shit tastes.” James commented before letting out a loud scoff, “That’s rude. If you’re going to judge me, then I’m going to judge you. It’s a two way street here, buddy.”

“I know you do,” he chuckled with a shake of his head. “Oh? Well I’m glad to hear you don’t see this as being the worst time,” Marcus admitted when James said it looked like it could be fun. “Yes we’re going to get you a harness and it’ll be attached to the rope which will be held by the belayer. Normally I’d belay for you but I’ll be climbing alongside you so we’ll get someone from the center to help out,” he explained as he guided him over to where the materials were. “Yes, you get to chalk your hands and pretend you’re an Olympic athlete too,” Marcus couldn’t help but chuckle once more. “Something tells me you’re going to enjoy that part way more than you should.”

“No, one of the worst times I’ve spent with you is when we went to visit my parents and my brother was there. The tension-” He whistled, “You could cut it with a knife.” James listened as the other explained what was going to happen, “How come you know all the technical terms for this, to me the person who’s the Belayer is the person I trust not to get distracted and drop me.” James laughed at the other words and shrugged, “What can I say, I have the body to wipe the floor with every Olympic Medalist out there, come for me athletes.” He bragged before looking to the other, “I do have to ask an important question though- does this sport mean you have to take your shirt off, because I might like it even more if that’s the case.”

“I have but I’m not getting those vibes. This elevator is a lot less… rickety I guess and I’m not expecting to suddenly drop. Elevators rarely do that,” Penny explained, though she sounded like she was trying to convince and reassure herself more than him. She wondered how long she could last in here before she started to panic.

“What about if I jump around a little?” James teased, a smile on his face despite knowing he really shouldn’t be testing someone when they were confined in such a small space with no time frame of getting out. “Well if all else fails I can transport us to somewhere that’s a bit nicer than four walls, Malibu, the French Alps... New Jersey.”

“So you think I need therapy?” That probably wasn’t untrue actually considering everything. He wasn’t the person he once was anymore.  “Maybe but I’ve not really been around long enough to make a lot of friends and I had more important things anyway.” Not that it had gone exactly to plan but his relationship with James was slowly improving. At the others suggestion, Nathaniel sighed and moved to crouch down beside the pair. “You’re a goof. An only child.” He shook his head lightly. “Alright, fine…” He reached out to the dog, letting him get used to his scent before scratching his head. “Does he have a name?”

“There’s nothing wrong with therapy, it’s helped me.” James shrugged, because he guessed deep down he did think it would help his brother to talk to someone. He had been on a mission for so long, he had been assumed dead by many as that’s what it was made to look like, he hardly imagined that would be something easy to come back from. “What’s more important then building a team of supportive people around you?” James asked, because he didn’t know what he’d do if he didn’t have people like Marcus or Mars for him to lean on. “He is my child and I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.” James looked for any collars or tags, shaking his head. “Doesn’t look like it- might be best to take him to a vet’s first. See if he’s chipped, don’t want to be accused of dognapping.”

“Bold of you to assume I wouldn’t want a duck too,” Marzia all but scoffed as she followed him further into the forest. “Although not too sure what a duck would be doing in these parts unless there’s a lake or a stream somewhere nearby.”

“Bold of you to assume you’d want the duck more than me.” He countered, almost giving the other a challenging stare, knowing he would not stop until he was the one who came out victorious with a duck. “Maybe it went for a stroll, or it’s been exiled. Might have been a whole Simba’s Pride situation, lot’s of singing, lot’s of backs turned.”

“I’m sorry, what?” PJ turned to look at him, “You tried to steal a penguin? Where? No, why?” He shook his head, “We work at a nightclub, James. You can’t bring an animal into a nightclub, they’d be traumatised. We need to take it to the shelter or a vet at the very least.”

“I was going to say, the where is hardly the question you should be asking.” James commented before shrugging, “I was drunk, do you never do random shit when you’re drunk?” He asked, “I had spent an hour talking to the people I was with about how cool it would be to have a penguin as a pet and then I guess I put the money where my mouth is, downside was that I woke up penguin-less and in a holding cell after being arrested.” He continued, a fond expression on his face as he recalled the night and the story he now got to tell because of it. “Fine. Be boring. But I don’t want to traumatize the thing, so I guess the shelter is the sensible route to go down.”

“I think it went through here-” James called after the other, ducking under a branch and hoping that Mars was still following him into the denser part of the forest. “If it’s a duck I have dibs, anything else and we can have a polite discussion over who get’s to be a new animal parent.”

“I think you’re five tequila shots behind me, you should be drunker- or I should be drunker.” James commented, scrunching up his face. “Both of us need to be drunker then what we are so if we make bad decisions neither of us can judge the other.”

“You try to steal a penguin once and suddenly you get placed in predicaments involving animals on the loose.” James sighed, looking to the creature in front of them. “What do we do with it? Call the police? Keep it as a pet? Bar mascot?”

“Well... this isn’t good.” James commented after the elevator jolted to a stop, “Have you been to the Disney Parks? Because I’m getting serious Tower of Terror vibes right now and I should be a lot more scared then I should be.”

“Pizza is great, don’t get me wrong. But if we want pizza we need to earn it,” Marcus told him, a light grin on his lips as he watched James tie up his laces. “Look I thought this would be more fun than me just dragging you to the Academy for boxing sessions,” he added with a little shrug. “Look if you totally hate it we can go home any time. Also look at it this way, you can pick what we do tomorrow,” Marcus smiled, hoping to urge James on.

“Do we? Because I’ve never had that mentality, if I want pizza I simply just get pizza.” James told the other, noting the smile on the others lips and yet not being able to tell if the other was teasing him or not. “I don’t totally hate it, in fact it does look like it’ll be fun. If I don’t end up falling on my face that is.” James told the other, “So how do I do this? Attach some sort of rope to me, put chalk on my hands? Pretend I’m an Olympic athlete?”

“I very much doubt that some how.” Nathaniel answered, watching the pair on the ground. “I appreciate you practically suggesting I have no one or I am a loner but I think they’ve attached themselves to you already.” If the way they were interacting was anything to go by. “They’re cute though.”

“I don’t, they’re like therapy on four paws. No wonder they’re titled as man’s best friend.” James looked to the other and ruffled the dogs fur, “I wasn’t suggesting, I was telling you how it is, are you going to tell me I’m wrong. Because I’m pretty sure you’d be lying if you did.” James smiled at the dog in his lap and then back up to the other, “You haven’t introduced yourself to them, so how do you know it’s not going to be attached to you. It’s not like I can take them home, I have Kovu and I’m pretty sure he’s happy being an only child.”