Work Text:
“Wha…” Rusty stares blearily at the visitor on his welcome mat. “Danny? What gives?”
“We’ve got to get going, it's an emergency,” Danny says in a rush, gesturing towards the car parked in front of the house.
“Alright...coffee first. Then emergency.”
The coffee takes a while to take effect, so it's several minutes before Rusty notices something off. “Danny, I didn't know you liked, uh…” he tries to identify the loud pop music filling the car.
“It's Red Velvet and they're a phenomenon,” says a familiar voice from the back seat. “Hi, Rusty.”
“Hey, Livingston,” Rusty says. “Ocean’s Eleven rides again?”
“If there were more takers,” Danny grumbles. “Linus texted me an hour ago, but all he sent was an address and ‘can you come bail me out.’ So I invited Livingston—”
“Coerced, I'm being coerced, he didn't even get my Starbucks order right—”
“You are not getting seven espresso shots.” Livingston is already practically bouncing off the seat along to the music, so Rusty has to agree with this decision.
“It’s like you think I’m a little—oh wow, new Power Ranger toys at McDonalds—”
“Can you try Basher?” Danny says over Livingston’s caffeinated rambling. “He's the only other one of us left in town right now, but he just hung up on me. Maybe he'll listen to you.”
Rusty raises his eyebrows. “That’s not like Basher…Basher! Basher, hey, me and Danny are trying to get Linus out of a scrape and—well you don’t have to be like that, Basher—”
“No cops...no casino goons either…” Danny slowly brings the car around the corner. “I don’t get it, how much danger could Linus be in here?”
“Maybe he got between a mother of two and her morning coffee…are you sure this is the place? Look at all the balloons, it’s just a kid’s party.”
“It’s the address he sent.”
“Maybe it’s a code,” Livingston suggests.
“Maybe...aah!” Danny jumps as someone knocks on the window. “Linus!”
Linus has his arms folded as Danny rolls down the window. “Why are you casing my aunt’s house.”
“We thought—”
“Didn’t you get my texts?”
Danny begins to think he’s seriously miscalculated. “You said you wanted—”
“I wanted you to come bail me out of wrangling my three nephews and their seventeen friends before they tear me to pieces trying to get the cake! You’re wearing a three-piece suit, Danny, what were you going to do, heist the presents?”
Danny looks at his phone. “I may...possibly have run out of minutes before I got the whole explanation.”
“I’m sure there’s something—” Rusty starts as a rubber ball flies through the open gate and hits Linus.
“Oh, sweet, Charizard!”
Livingston dashes out of the car to catch the ball and kick it back through the gate.
Danny turns the key in the ignition.
“Come on, Danny, you can’t just abandon me—”
“I’m not. We’re abandoning Livingston, now get in the car.”