back nextAfter their shift was over, Dirt biked to the cafe, with Brian giving him directions from behind him as he stood on the bike pegs. He was clinging to Dirt, his arms wrapped around his neck, their faces right next to each other. Kind of romantic...?
The place was called cafe au lait and it was quite nice. It felt super cozy and homey and I don't feel like describing it any further than that but I'm sure you can use your imagination. It was like real nice, okay?
Dirt immediately noticed that this was like a double, perhaps even triple dollar sign kinda place. "Shit... this place looks double, perhaps even triple dollar sign, bro," he said.
"Ey, don't worry bout it. I'll pay for you."
"What? No way, dude, it's fine I'll just get a small coffee I got it!" Dirt exclaimed.
"Nah, seriously! Get whatever you want, I got it! I know it must be hard takin' care of Salem," Brian insisted.
"Aw man... You don't have to do that, really! ....But if you insist..."
Brian chuckled. "I do!" With permission, Dirt ordered a medium latte and a sandwich. They sat at a table together and enjoyed their.. breakfast? It was 6 in the morning, but these guys' schedules were way off from most peoples' and what they called "breakfast" tended to be at a different time than most people have. But sure, breakfast. They joked with each other as they ate, as they always did when they spent time together.
Dirt felt so comfortable with Brian. He felt like they were always on the same page, and he didn't really have to explain his thoughts so much. Dirt said a lot of weird shit sometimes that most people, Sarah for example, wouldn't understand and they would need to have it explained to them in normie terms, but Brian always seemed to just get it right away, like he was just already in his head!
Part of Dirt hoped and pleaded that this.. meant something to Brian. This little outing. The place was so nice, and Brian PAID for him? That is pretty romantic of him! But they also didn't want to read into it too much if they were wrong. Dirt was just glad they had this kind of close bond in the first place, and he certainly didn't want to ruin it with something STUPID like feelings.
But when Dirt dropped him off at his apartment, and they hugged goodbye as always, Brian kissed him on the cheek as he pulled away. Dirt was so shocked that he couldn't even react. Brian just said "Seeya," and closed his door. Dirt wasn't sure exactly how long he stood there, his head spinning.
On his way home, he missed a turn and took an extra 5 minutes because he was still thinking about it.
At home, Dirt walked in to see Salem sitting on the couch, their laptop on his lap and a bowl of popcorn by his side. "Hey, that's Sarah's popcorn," Dirt said. Salem turned around, and glared at Dirt.
"She said I could have as much corn as I want," he responded, shoving a handful of said corn into his mouth.
"Oh. Wait what are you doing on my laptop??"
"Surfing the web, what's it look like?" Salem said, without a hint of irony. Dirt looked over his shoulder. He was on the wiki page for Catboy Jerma. Whatever that was. Dirt chuckled and rolled his eyes, heading to his bedroom. He guessed he didn't mind if Salem wanted to.. learn more about the world through the internet, or whatever.
Dirt was exhausted, despite just drinking a medium latte, and passed out soon after his head hit the pillow.
When he woke up, Salem was on him, in cat form, curled up on his chest. "Awww," he whispered groggily, gently petting Salem's little head. "Hey, buddy," Dirt whispered as Salem's eyes began to open. Salem stretched, his arms reaching out and pawing Dirt's face. "Hehe.. You are so cute..." Dirt said, and gave Salem a little kiss on his paw. "Alright... as cute as this is, buddy, I do have to pee like hella badly." He nudged Salem's little cat body, trying to coax him off of him. Salem didn't budge.
"Come on, bubba..." Dirt said, trying to nudge him again. Salem stretched again, rolling onto his back and dramatically rolling off of Dirt onto the bed beside him. As Dirt made his way to the bathroom, Salem was right on his heels, following him in. "Pssh what, you gonna watch me pee, you little freak?" Dirt joked. Salem rubbed his face against Dirt's legs as he opened his fly. "Alright, weirdo."
Dirt had already accepted that Salem still just did weird cat stuff despite also being a guy. Like following him to the bathroom, kneading everything, covering his food... Dirt had elected, at this point, to see it as funny rather than weird.
Salem followed Dirt out into the kitchen and meowed at him as he made his breakfast of instant grits microwaved bacon. When they got to the couch, Salem turned human form and clung to Dirt's arm. "Can I have some?" he asked politely.
"You have cat food. This is mine," Dirt stated sternly.
"Oooohhh pleeeeaaaaaase.... It smells soooo gooood this is tortuuuuuure......" Salem cried. D: "C'mon... just a little?" Dirt sighed, rolling his eyes, and broke a tiny piece of bacon off and handed to Salem, who ate it right out of their hand. "MMmmMmm OOOHH yummy yummy yUMMY!!!"
Dirt cringed. "Okay, from that reaction alone, I am never feeding you bacon ever again." D:
"WHAT! Noooo please oh em gee that was soooo yummylicious please just let me have one more bite?" Salem pleaded, looking Dirt in the eyes with those big round peepers.
"No! Mine!" Dirt demanded. Salem growled, and then quickly YOINKED a strip of bacon off of dirt's plate and RAN into Sarah's room. "SALEM!" Dirt shouted, setting his food down on the coffee table and making his way to the bedroom.
The bacon was gone, its only remnants were left sprinkled upon Salem's face. He looked very pleased with himself. "I don't know what you expected," Sarah said, not even looking up from her laptop. Salem climbed onto Sarah's bed and curled up next to her. She gave him a good scritch behind the ears and kiss on the head before going back to her work with a smile on her face. Dirt rolled his eyes and left to return to his breakfast.