Paparino's Piccolo Gattino

Just a few minutes after leaving their house, Andy was pulling into the parking lot of the tiny strip mall across the street from Kerr Drug. Having never ventured into here, Ash was somewhat surprised to see what could only be described as a quaint little Italian restaurant by the name of Anna Maria’s, which he assumed was their destination. The only thing the least bit unsettling, aside from it being just a few miles away from Fairview, a notorious gang neighborhood known for drug use, was the bar next door to it. Crazy Shots didn’t look all that welcoming, and he wondered what his roommate, and now date, was thinking.

After killing the motor and getting out of the car, the older man walked around to the passenger’s side to open his door and help him out while pocketing his keys. He gratefully allowed him to be the gentleman he was obviously trying to be, although he still felt uneasy for the two aforementioned reasons. In fact, he felt so uneasy that he tucked himself against his side when he wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

This action drew a chuckle from Andy, who assured him that they were perfectly safe. In fact, right around Crazy Shots was probably one of the safest places they could be, sadly, despite its gruff and unwelcoming appearance. He quietly explained that it was a Hell’s Angels biker bar, and that no one dared go in there without knowing either its owners or a frequent patron. That barely did a thing to ease his fear, although Andy’s waving at one of the patrons out front and getting a wave in return helped a bit.

Before they headed into the restaurant, they stayed outside for the older man to have a cigarette before their meal since the establishment was a non-smoking one. The biker he’d waved to walked over to them, clearly eyeing him in his drag, and acted like he was going to flirt with him until his date growled at him. Realizing that it wasn’t smart to play around with his fellow biker’s “lady”, he quickly spewed his apologies and said that he hadn’t realized they were together like that. Apparently there was an unspoken code of honor and ethics within a group of bikers that Ash didn’t know about since he wasn’t one, especially the Hell’s Angels, and for that, he was more thankful than he’d ever been.

“All right, Dustin. You boys have fun over there, and don’t cause too much trouble,” Andy said in a joking manner, chuckling.

“You, too, Andy. Same goes for you, miss,” the man, apparently named Dustin, answered. “And I’m sorry again for the looks I was giving you; I didn’t know you guys were more than just friends.”

“It’s okay,” Ash answered softly, barely remembering to pitch his voice into a falsetto level.

“Tell everybody I said ‘Hi’, and that I’m not sure when I’ll be able to make it up here again,” his date requested. “Things have been busy at work, and I’m usually too tired.”

“Will do, Andy. Enjoy your date.” With that, the other biker turned for the door of Crazy Shots and disappeared through the doorway.

“You okay, Ashes?” the older man asked, pulling away just enough to look down at him.

“I’m fine,” he answered, nodding. “Still a bit uncomfortable with being here, but it doesn’t seem like there’s gonna be any trouble.”

“The guys that frequent that bar are pretty cool,” Andy told him, holding the door to Anna Maria’s open. “They didn’t even care when I admitted I was gay. They just said they knew something about me was a bit off, but other than that, they couldn’t have cared less.”

“Seriously?” the teen asked, astonished.

“Mmm hmm. I’m pretty thankful for that, seeing as how I didn’t wanna stir up trouble that night,” he answered, nodding.

“Good evening, and welcome to Anna Maria’s,” the hostess, who’d just walked up, said. “Just the two of you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” his date answered, using the manners his mother’d raised him with.

“All right, if you’ll just follow me,” she told them, and turned to head for the rear of the restaurant.

Keeping his arm wrapped around the shoulders of the teen at his side, Andy followed the hostess toward their destination. Being a perfect gentleman, he waited until he was seated and had pushed his chair in for him to round the table and take his own seat. The hostess gave him a warm smile as she laid their menus down and told him that their server would be with them momentarily, then took her leave and a peaceful silence descended over them.

Having already known what he wanted since he’d been here before, the older man merely sat back and observed his date as he pursued the menu. Ash found himself a bit torn because he saw several things that he thought he might like, and between that and the slightly high prices, he wasn’t too sure what to get. Seeing his inner conflict, his date suggested that he order for him since he wouldn’t steer him wrong.

Because he was so conflicted and couldn’t really decide on his own, he agreed to that suggestion and merely closed the menu he’d been looking over for the past couple minutes. Just as he closed it, their waitress decided to walk up, giving Andy flirtatious looks all the while. She took their drink orders and turned to go get them, purposely swinging her hips more than any woman should be capable of as she walked away. The older man chuckled at her absurdity, knowing that even if he were straight, her efforts at flirting would’ve gone “unnoticed” because she was far from being his type. That did little to reassure the teen sitting across from him, so he reached across the table and laced their fingers together.

As she set their glasses down on the tabletop, the waitress gave them a disapproving look, almost as if she could tell that Ash was in drag, but said nothing about it. She merely asked if they were ready to order and pulled out her little pad when his date told her that they were. Since they’d agree that he’d order for the both of them, Ash stayed quiet as he ordered two pepperoni strombolis and put in a request for a couple extra cups of the dipping sauce that came with them. After writing down their orders, the waitress turned on her heel and flounced off, clearly not happy that the guy she’d set her sights on was apparently taken.

“And that’s why I generally don’t like being out in public,” the teen muttered, taking a sip of his drink.

“Ah, don’t worry about her,” Andy said, grinning at him. “She’s just jealous, and even if you weren’t in drag, I don’t bat for that team.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” he chuckled, the smallest of smiles gracing his lips.

“Oh, c’mon. Smile at least once,” the older man begged, pouting at him slightly. “You’re too beautiful not to smile.”

The knowledge that he wouldn’t say such a thing unless it was true made his smile broaden to a full-on grin, which made his date return the grin.

“There ya go; that’s better,” he said, gently rubbing his thumb joint with his own thumb.

“You’re too sweet to me sometimes, Andy,” Ash said, blushing at the intimacy of this moment.

“What can I say? You’ve been through enough sour times, and you deserve some sweet ones.” He shrugged as he spoke, gently brushing it off.

“I still think you go above and beyond the call of duty,” he told him.

“Better to go above and beyond the call of duty than to neglect you, if you ask me,” Andy told him nonchalantly.

Knowing that there was really no way for him to argue the point, Ash took another sip of his drink just as their waitress walked up with their food. She thumped the plates down on the table with a bit more force than either of them thought necessary, clearly showing her disapproval of their date, but said nothing that wasn’t courteous as she left them to eat. The teen shot her a dirty look before turning his attention back to his food, which smelled far more delicious than he’d thought it would.

Since he’d been here before and knew they didn’t have anything sharper than a butter knife, Andy pulled two pocket knives from his pockets, one of which he handed to his date. Now that they had something that would actually cut through all the layers of bread, cheese, and pepperoni, they both started cutting the strombolis into easier-to-manage chunks. The second he’d dipped the first piece in the sauce and popped it in his mouth, Ash felt his eyes widen at the explosion of flavor in his mouth and knew he’d be wanting to eat here more often in the future, whether it was on a date or not.

The older man was glad to see that he was enjoying the food, and was glad that he hadn’t made an ass of them both with the assumption that he’d enjoy the fare. Their meal was eaten mostly in silence, not because they didn’t want to talk to one another, but because the food was too good to let it get cold by conversing as they enjoyed it. By the time they were done, it was amazing they hadn’t burst from the amount, and Andy knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t want food for another twelve hours, even with his high metabolism. It was hard to come here and eat anything, then want food again any sooner than twelve hours after finishing, considering that one stromboli was the equivalent of half, if not a whole pizza, give or take.

A few quiet minutes were spent enjoying one another’s company and letting their food settle before their waitress returned to clear their dirty dishes and ask if they wanted dessert. Since they were too full to manage it just yet, the older man said they’d have the dessert to-go, pausing to let Ash decide what he wanted since, once again, he already knew what he wanted. In the end, a piece of chocolate cheesecake and tiramisu were put in separate to-go boxes and brought back to their table with the check.

“Oh, my Godsmack,” the teen groaned, letting his voice slip back into its natural range as he leaned his seat back in the car a few minutes later.

“Feeling like a Thanksgiving turkey over there?” Andy chuckled, depressing the clutch and brake as he turned the key again.

“And maybe a Christmas turkey, too,” he answered, gently rubbing his belly right below his ribs on the left side. “As much as I want that cheesecake, there’s no way in Hell I’d be able to manage it for a while without exploding.”

“I kinda figured as much,” the older man said, grinning. “I always feel like that myself after dining here.”

“Well, I’m pretty glad you picked this place,” Ash told him, caressing his forearm since they couldn’t hold hands while he was changing gears. “Even though I felt uneasy because of its location, damned if it hasn’t got some of the best food on the planet.”

“I figured you’d say as much,” he told him. “I can’t remember how I stumbled across it earlier this summer, but I know that one visit, and I was hooked.”

“Yeah, even I can agree that their food is like a drug,” he chuckled softly.

“I just kinda wish that this town weren’t as homophobic as it is,” Andy sighed. “It would’ve been even better if you could come here with me without having to dress in drag.”

“While that’s true enough, I’m just glad we got to go out at all,” he reassured him. “Even if I’ve gotta dress in drag, it’s worth it so long as I’m with you.”

“And here you said I was too sweet to you,” he chuckled.

Ash blushed as he pulled into the driveway and slowly brought the car to a stop just far enough away from the garage door to get his bike out, if need be. Once it was in Neutral since it was on level ground and the E-brake had been engaged, Andy killed the motor and pulled the keys from the ignition. Like he had back at the restaurant, he headed around the car to be a gentleman and open his door for him while he grabbed their dessert-filled to-go boxes.

He helped him head up the stairs, knowing that walking in heels that high had to be a bit tough for him since he didn’t do it on a regular basis. In fact, his hand remained in the center of his back as he helped him balance, only being removed when he unlocked and opened the front door. The teen headed to the kitchen to put their dessert in the fridge while he hung his keys back on the hook and locked the door, then the two of them sat down on the couch to get out of their boots. Heels or no, their boots could get uncomfortable after a while, and both of them released sighs of relief once their feet were released.

The two of them decided to curl up on the couch and watch a movie before heading to bed, the teen’s head resting on his roommate’s chest for once. Andy kept his arm wrapped around his shoulders to hold him close, enjoying the sensation of his head resting right over his heart while his left hand splayed itself across the opposite side of his chest.

By the time their movie was done and over with, Ash was almost asleep where he lay nearly atop him, and it was all he could do to bring himself to shake him awake. Mumbling under his breath sleepily, the teen sat up and stretched, then rose and headed down the hall so he could change for bed. Considering how well their date had gone tonight, Andy stood outside his door and asked if he’d rather sleep with him tonight, hoping that he accepted the invitation since he enjoyed having him in his arms as more than a friend. A few moments of silence followed his words, and he almost thought he’d pushed beyond a boundary that he probably shouldn’t have, so he started mentally kicking himself for being presumptuous.

“Gimme a couple minutes to change and get this makeup off, and I’ll be in there,” Ash called through his bedroom door.

“All right. If I’m not in my bed, I’ll probably be in the bathroom cleaning up myself,” he agreed, turning to walk the three or four feet back down the hall to his own bedroom.

Andy heaved a soft sigh of relief as he started going through his dresser for a pair of pajama pants, glad to see that the ones covered in the Batman logo were clean. With the pajamas of choice in hand, he headed into the master bathroom so he could brush his hair out again and scrub his face clean of the makeup he was wearing before stripping down to his boxers. They and the pajama pants he had in hand rested low on his prominent hip-bones, and he appraised himself with a concerned eye before deciding it wasn’t worth being self-conscious.

Upon returning to his room, he saw that Ash was already laying on his side in his bed, the covers pulled up to his bare, skinny waist. He lay on his right side, facing away from the bathroom door, and based on how slow and even his breathing was, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was already asleep. Besides, it’d been a long, tiring day for them both, and he was likely exhausted.

As quietly and gently as he could manage, he pulled the covers back on the empty side of the bed and crawled in beside him. It was obvious by the soft moan he let out that Ash was, indeed, already asleep, and he made his movements even more gentle to avoid disturbing him. Once he was settled comfortable on his back, one arm tossed over his head, he reached over and turned his lamp off so he could fall asleep as well. He was a bit surprised when the teen beside him rolled over and cuddled up to him much like he was earlier, but didn’t let that stop him from kissing his head as he wrapped and arm around him and told him good night.

Now that all was quiet and he was comfortable with the man he was beginning to love wrapped in his arms, Andy allowed exhaustion to claim him and entered the world of dreams.

Notes