Chapter Text
Luke didn’t necessarily hate living in America, but he also wasn’t the fondest of it. First and foremost, he couldn’t go on cool adventures with the Professor anymore. (Yes, he almost died multiple times. Yes, he did die that one time. No, his parents did not need to know about the Azran.) Not going on adventures meant that the United States was boring. All there was to do was walk around and buy stuff. And, as it turns out, walking and shopping wasn’t exactly as exciting as going to towns with supposedly supernatural presences, or giant robots, or drugs in the water, or whatever else the Professor was tasked with dealing with that particular weekend.
And secondly, the people in America were, not so surprisingly, very rude. It felt as though every time he spoke, he was bombarded with questions. Questions like, “Where are you from?” (Misthallery. Yes, that is a real place. No, it’s not London.), “Why do you talk funny?” (He’s British. He’s going to have a British accent.), and “Are you sure you’re British? It sounds like you’re faking” (What did these people want him to do, show his birth certificate?!) Were hurled at him all the time.
So, yeah, America kinda sucked. It wasn’t all bad, he guessed. He still had his family, and he was still able to talk with the local animals. He had a couple of friends at the school his parents enrolled him in, so that was good! Plus, it’s not like he never got to talk to the Professor. They got to video call sometimes! Unfortunately, it wasn’t as often as Luke would like, Layton was a busy man after all, so he couldn’t complain too much!
Though, he couldn’t help but feel insatiably jealous whenever he asked the Professor about his travels and quests. Who could blame him though?! Even if Layton only made it seem like a weekend outing, Luke knew it was far more interesting than just that! He wanted to know every detail, even the most minute of things. Though, he knew better than to ask. The Professor was a gentleman after all! And gentlemen don't brag. And Luke wanted to be just like Layton! So he wouldn’t ask.
So, Luke supposed it was a combination of boredom, jealousy, and wanting to be busy enough to not have to deal with all the rude Americans, that he ended up at the New York Police Department as an intern. It was pretty easy to adjust to the workflow there, especially considering his adventures with the Professor were all about investigating strange happenings in the area. He mostly worked under Charlie Dickinson, a kindhearted homicide detective. He liked Charlie, who was a lot nicer to him than some of the other detectives and officers at the Police Department.
Though, he noticed very distinctly how Charlie would treat him as though he was a lot younger than he actually was. Luke was 14, damnit! Treat him like it! He didn’t need to be coddled like a little kid who can’t handle the word “murder”. Hell, he literally died once! He could deal with it! Though, Luke knew it was a losing battle whenever he asked Charlie if he could work with him on more important or serious missions. He knew he’d get the same answer he always did, a simple, “Not today, kid, sorry. My kind of work isn’t exactly friendly to kids, you know?” And Luke did know, to an extent. He understood that the kind of work that Charlie did, the kind of cases he investigated, were tough. But so was Luke! He was tough and he knew for a fact he could handle it. Sometimes he tried to argue with Charlie, tell him that he was old enough, that he could handle it, sometimes he even tried to tell him about the adventures he and the Professor went on, to prove his point.
Charlie never got mad at him for arguing, at least not visibly, he just got this look. Something akin to pity. Luke hated it. He hated pity. He hated the flash of fear across his mothers face when he would tell her that he was going on yet another adventure with Layton, he hated how his father felt like he had to get Luke away from the Professor, he hated whenever his parents asked what would go on when he would leave, he hated having to leave out details, even ones that he thought were cool or impressive because it would make his parents upset, he hated it.
So, Luke supposed he was lucky when Charlie finally decided to take him on a mission. The detective however told him, with no room for arguments, that Luke was to not get too involved in it. That he was there to help out, not to put himself in danger.
Luke agreed only because he was far too excited to actually do something to really care about the drawbacks.
Turns out the mission they were going on was simultaneously super cool and super boring at the same time. Him and Charlie were going to help two photojournalists all the way from Japan to write a magazine article about the gang activity in New York. Helping out on a mission that had to do with gangs was…well, not exactly the kind of adventure Luke had envisioned, but it sure was something! Unfortunately, he agreed to Charlie's terms of “stay out of the way”, so he couldn’t do much but watch.
Hey, at least he was doing something!
Meeting Eiji and Ibe was neat. Luke very quickly took a liking to Eiji, if only because he too was being treated like a child, though, for very different reasons than Luke was. Ibe was nice too, but Luke didn’t really get a chance to talk to him much before they all set out to meet this “Skipper” character at a bar a couple blocks down. Luckily, it didn’t take too terribly long to get there, and they soon met Skip, a young boy sitting at a table outside of the bar, reading a comic book. He wouldn’t look too out of place if it weren't for the fact that they were all at a bar and Skip was very clearly around eleven or twelve years old. Once Skip noticed the group of people, he perked up, peering around the area, as if checking to see if there weren’t any other unwelcomed visitors.
“Yo! What’re you doing bringing little kids around here?” Skip said as he hopped out of his seat, looking from Luke to Eiji and back.
“Hey! I’m fourteen! That’s hardly a kid! And plus, you’re what, twelve? If anyone’s the kid here it’s you!” Luke retorted, ignoring Charlie's dismayed look. He vaguely heard Eiji mumble something in Japanese, and although he couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying, he could gather that Eiji shared Luke’s sentiment.
Skip didn’t say anything, just laughed and gestured for the group to follow him. Right before they reached the entrance to the bar however, Skip stopped. “Boss said no pigs in the bar, kay? Wait outside.” He said, pointing to Charlie, who nodded and stepped back, though not before quickly saying to Ibe that he’d come in if there was any trouble. Ibe nodded and the group (minus Charlie) began to follow Skip back into the bar.
Luke hesitated slightly, glancing back at Charlie. It wasn’t like he couldn’t handle it, he knew he could, he just…got worried when there weren't people around that he knew well enough. He supposed that had something to do with how he was always with the Professor whenever he went on missions or adventures, and how he knew that Layton would do whatever he could to keep Luke safe if the situation got dangerous. But Layton wasn’t here, so he’d have to do this on his own. Luke exhaled, he’d be fine! He could handle this. After all, he told Charlie as much, probably a thousand times before the man finally agreed to let him do something. Adjusting his blue newsboy cap, he took another deep breath, and followed Eiji, Ibe, and Skipper into the bar, ready for what was to come next.