Pizza. Yes, pizza was a far more appropriate topic than costumed super heroes. It was, however, interesting to know that Ashton wasn’t completely opposed to their involvement in crime fighting. He’d allowed that they had a tendency to get in the way, but…he’d said but. Then the pizza had arrived.

Yum.

Quin smiled and nodded her head at what Ashton was saying. Pizza was definitely more palatable and the redhead picked up her slice and took a bite. Oh man. Yeah. Uh. This pizza was amazing.

”This was the best idea ever.” It simply had to be said.

At Archer's comment, Ashton only smiled. Yup. It had been a great idea.

Scooping up a supremely heavenly slice of Mike's cheese pizza, Ashton noted suddenly, he had his hands full. Archer, too, would soon realize. They could not really talk and eat at the same time with this food. It was too good. Too cheesy. And talking while eating was just plain rude.

For a while, the duo lapsed into silent appreciation of the food.

The silence was broken by a breather, as Ashton went for another swig of beer. "Just remembered," He said to her. "Darts." He smirked. "I was gonna show you how."

One of Quin’s favorite things about New York was that people were more than comfortable with lapsing into silence while they ate. This was an ideal situation for Quin because, and the redhead did not mind admitting this, she loved to eat. The pizza was delicious, and while they ate, Quin had to muse over how differently the night could have turned out when nobody else showed up at the bar for drinks.

It hadn’t though, and Quin had already made considerable progress through her slice when Ashton stopped for a drink of beer and a little conversation. Lowering her pizza for a moment to respond, Quin nodded her head enthusiastically, ”You did!” she exclaimed. ” You have to teach me. As soon as we're done.” Yup. Darts came after the pizza. Quin dove back in...so she could get finished more quickly, of course. Not because the pizza was amazing.

Ashton grinned. Right. Of course it'd have to wait until after the pizza was done. And even if the pizza wasn't amazing (which it was), it... was. Ashton dug in, and buried that itty little bitty bit of failed logic under several layers of flavor.

Several, several layers of flavor later, the duo had finished their slices and thanked Mike. They'd also finished their drinks, a feat that was no major feat in reality.

Ashton paid his tab, rose from his seat, and offered the lady a helping hand. "Darts," He volunteered.

Once a course of action was decided upon, Quin dug into the rest of her pizza with gusto. Truth be told, there wasn’t much left to begin with, but whatever there had been was gone in a flash. The beer was a slightly larger feat, but Quin applied herself and was soon full and happy, and more than a little drunk. They’d had quite a lot of beer in a relatively short amount of time. Not that she was a light weight…never that, but still…

Ashton suggested darts, and Quin looked at him for a moment before she remembered that they were going to play. He’d offered his hand, and after leaving enough cash to cover her pizza and beer on the bar for Mike, Quin took it.

”Darts.” she said. Excited about the prospect, and ready to learn from someone who apparently knew what they were doing.

“I will warn you though. I’m a fast learner.” she said with a sly smirk and more confidence than she probably had any right to.

Ashton smirked. "Good. Because I hate repeating myself."

The man did not relinquish his hold on her hand. Instead, he lifted it lightly and led her away from the bar, towards one corner of the room. In the corner, there were tables, some chairs and a pool table. On the wall, a dart board hung. A cup of darts sat on a table nearby.

Ashton bent forward to pluck one dart from the cup. Then, he brought it up in front of her and held it for her to take. Only then did he let go of her hand and take a step away.

"Show me what I have to work with." He requested.

He was the appropriate distance away. Maybe an extra foot.

Ashton led, and Quin followed placidly to the end of the room where the dart board was attached to the wall. It was what the redhead would have expected out of a dart board. Several rings around a central bull’s eye with small sections cut into the thing like pieces of a pie. Mmm pie. Like pizza pie.

Ashton held out a dart for Quin to take, and only as she reached out to do as he asked did she realize that he’d been holding her hand the whole time. Interesting, she thought, as he told her to show him what he had to work with.

Quin tried for a moment to remember the last time she had thrown a dart at a dart board and came up goose eggs. Yeah, that had happened….pretty much never.

”Oh-kay.” Quin said, and threw the dart.

Needless to say. It missed the bulls-eye. Obviously it was the beer’s fault.

”I hope you’re a good teacher.”

The dart embedded itself neatly in the wall, amid a near-constellation of other such dart misfire injuries. Ashton turned to eye the woman, crossing his arms.

Awful. Just terrible. But on the bright side, the dart had gone in point-first, rather than spiraling out of control and hitting anyone in the eye. Perhaps if she were sober, the whole thing would've gone smoother. But if she were sober, and if he were sober, this whole thing would never have likely happened. And he probably wouldn't have been cocky enough to try anything.

'Try anything' was such a vague pair of words. What it meant, in effect, was movement. A movement from where he was standing to the dart board, to retrieve the dart, then a movement back to Archer's side. Ashton chuckled. "I would have thought someone named 'Archer' would have better aim. Here, let's try this again." He took her hand, slipping the dart between her fingers so she was holding it the right way. Then, he slipped behind her, guiding her arm. One hand was around her waist, for steadying obviously, The other was there to help her line up the shot. He helped her take a few arm movements back and forth, to practice the motion. Then, he glanced down. "Archer..." He trailed. Her feet were in the wrong place. Also, he was kind of close.

Oh yeah. She definitely could have killed someone with that thing. As it was, the dart stuck in the wall and wiggled there for a second after impact. The wall. Quin wanted another shot. She’d felt the dart singing to her when she’d had it in her fingers…all she’d have to do was guide it a little bit and…


She’d be a giant cheater-faced cheater. Being less than sober wasn’t an excuse. She needed to get it together. Besides, Ashton was already retrieving the dart. He’d said something too.


Archer. The redhead heh’d. She’d never heard that one before. ”I’m a beginner!” she protested a bit weakly, with maybe the slightest blush on her cheeks as he took her hand and replaced the dart, then moved around her to show her how to throw the thing properly.

He smelled kind of like cinnamon, Quin noted, more than vaguely aware that Ashton was close enough for her to tell such things. They practiced the throwing motion and then Ashton said her name. Her last name. Quin looked up.

He was kind of close.

”You should call me Quin.” she said. ”And what?”

"Your feet," He said. "You should be standin' like this." With his foot, he nudged the foot corresponding to the hand she was throwing with, so that it was perpendicular to the toe line. "Distribute your weight evenly on the line. And."

He moved his hands up to her shoulders, adjusting her posture. "You should be standin' straight, shoulders back. And lined up with the center of the board."

Oh. Right. Her feet. Quin nodded her head slightly and moved her foot when Ashton nudged it. Apparently she’d been slouching too, and with his hands on her shoulders she moved into what she thought was the proper position to give throwing the dart a second try.

”Anything else?” she asked, ”Or should I go ahead and try again?”

"You can try again," He said, releasing her shoulders and taking a step back. "Remember to hold it lightly, and only move your arm when ya throw. But other than that... you'll figure it out."

Darts was about skill, not being told how to pose. She had to find something that worked for her. Maybe he'd get to help her with her pose a few more times, though? He hoped so.

Alright, so she had to keep her posture while throwing, only move her arm, make sure that her feet stayed in the right place, and hit the target.

…yeah, that was going to happen.

Also, Ashton hadn’t told her where to aim, or how. Quin knew how to aim with her gun, really really well. The dart was different though, it didn’t have any sights for her to use. Quin sighed a bit. Ashton was probably going to have to show her all this again.

Darn.

Going through the arm motions again, Quin let the dart fly. This time she didn’t hit the wall, but there was definitely not a bullseye painted where she hit.

”Dammit.” she muttered.

Ashton smirked. His plan was in motion.

"Alright, let me show you again." He said.

And show, he did. Try, she did. Again and again.

He showed her again, and then a few more times. By the time Ashton was done teaching, Quin was even able to hit the target. It was really pretty awesome. Not as awesome as she’d hoped, but it had been obviously from almost the beginning that she student was not going to be able to outstrip the master. At least not in the beginning.

So she’d practiced.

And now it was time to go home.

Getting a cab was easy, Mike had called it for them, and Quin had been amazed once more. She would have sworn that the man had simply grunted into the phone and the yellow vehicle had appeared to take them to their respective homes. Ashton was apparently feeling gallant and let her go first.

Or maybe it was because she was drunker? Was she?

They pulled up in front of her apartment building. It was one of the older buildings in one of the older neighborhoods that was being ‘revitalized.’ In fact, the stairs leading to the common entrance kind of reminded her of Sesame Street. That was pretty cool.

The cab pulled up to the curb and Quin turned to grin at Ashton.

“Whelp.” she said, ”This is it.”