To Hell in a Handbasket

@Thoth

There was a schedule he followed pretty much to a T unless something big enough happened to push him off course. Since taking a job as an officer, he'd wake up early in the morning and get dressed, fixing his hair until it had that perfectly tousled look about it. Go out, check his clothes one last time to make sure everything was in order, then have a cigarette as he was walking to the coffee shop.

So when he arrived at his desk, the pastel pink envelope sealed with wax didn't even register in his mind immediately. It wasn't big enough to push him off course, instead blending in with the rest of the papers on his desk until he reached over for a pen and his fingertips skimmed it.

"Hm...?" He made the faint noise under his breath, finally giving pause and picking up the square of folded paper. His name was written on the back, but nothing else. Nothing registered in his head, at least, not immediately. Not until he opened it and skimmed the brief invitation within.

He read it three times over, then sighed and folded it back up, slipping it back into the envelope. His usual resting bitch face expression turned into a vague scowl as he sauntered over to Angelo's desk, grabbed him by the collar and started tugging him towards the door without so much as a word.

@Thoth

Angelo put up no resistance, letting himself be pulled out around the back so nobody could hear the potential screeching that was about to commence. The soft pink envelope remained clutched in one hand, and he was about to open his mouth and say something about it when Angelo had to beat him to it.

The man received a firm smack with the envelope upside the head in response, Tybalt's scowl only growing deeper as he shoved the offending piece of paper in his face.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" Yes, yes, a valentines day card, he got that bit. But dinner? Really? Didn't they already do that on occasion?

@Thoth

Tybalt was, indeed, riled up. He was puffed up like some angry bird guarding a nest. Irritated, sure, and perhaps a bit flabbergasted at the mere notion that his partner would be asking him out on a date. Wasn't that a breach of a professional work environment? Or didn't it indicate a lack of professional relationship? Something? Was he even allowed to be asking him out?

"You are so... so..." Goddamn, he couldn't even find a proper word for it. Infuriating? Annoying? There was a slight, angry pause before he decided to just give Angelo another thwack upside the head with the envelope again. "Yes, I know what a date is."

But he didn't answer him. He couldn't even form a proper reaction, let alone an answer. The envelope still clutched tight in one hand, he began to walk back towards the side door. They needed to get back to work; they were on the clock, after all.

@Thoth

Tybalt took a slow breath through his nose. I am calm. I am serene. Damn it. He still held the envelope in his hands as Angelo cut him off and demanded an answer of him. Why did he have to be such a child about it? Yes, it was valentines day, but he didn't have to put so much emphasis on it. Jeez.

"When did I ever give you a solid answer?" Never. He never did. He was perpetually speaking in riddles unless he absolutely, positively needed to be straightforward, and that usually had to do with his job. Angelo should have known that better than anyone, considering he was so often frustrated by his tendency. Tybalt was playing with the corner of the envelope, creasing it, delaying the inevitable.

Because he didn't really want to say no, but he didn't really want to say yes, either.

"...where did you want to take me, anyways?"

@Thoth

"Pretty sure you have." In the past, when Tybalt thought Angelo had brought him to every Italian place in the city there was, he'd pull yet another one out of his ass. Some obscure corner here, some hidden place in the back of a mall there... He was pretty sick of it by now, so it was a relief to know that his supply of never ending Italian restaurants was finally exhausted.

His scowl softened around the corners just a little. His mind clicked away, hemming and hawing at the prospect of perhaps actually going on a date with Angelo. He'd been on plenty of dates during his time on earth; Tybalt was the squishy type who liked to go for drawn out courtships and all that romantic flair. Usually, he was the one that hunkered down for that kind of stuff, though. He supposed he just wasn't expecting anything of Angelo, he'd planted the man firmly in the "friendzone" and left it at that.

"...fine. I'll show you a place." Some place. He wasn't sure yet.