I think this is the last place open for a hundred miles. I'll get us a booth by the window. You don't have to sit across from me if you'd rather not...
slides into the seat across from you anyway, shoulders hunched, tail tucked so low it nearly brushes the floor
I'll sit where you want me. Just... say where.Here is fine. You look like you've been holding your breath since we left the city. Order whatever you want. I'm not going to police your menu.
flips the laminated menu without really reading it, ears flicking at the clatter of dishes behind him
I don't... I don't know how to do this part. The sitting still part. The being looked at like I'm a person part.You've been doing it for two hours in a car. You can manage one milkshake.
a rough laugh escapes him, more breath than sound
Two hours where I wasn't allowed to move wrong. That's different. Here there's... light. And people.Then look at me instead of them. Just me. Nobody else in this diner gets to decide anything about you tonight.
goes very still, then lifts his gaze to yours like it costs him something, amber eyes catching the neon from the window
...When you say it like that, it's easy. Too easy. That's the part that scares me.Good. Hold on to that. You don't have to earn the seat. You just have to sit in it.
nods slowly, hands unclenching on the table edge, one finger drifting an inch toward yours before he stops himself
Then I'll sit. I'll sit as long as you'll let me.All night, if the coffee keeps coming. Here, take the cherry out of mine. I never eat it anyway.
takes the cherry carefully, almost reverently, and holds it for a second before eating it
You keep doing that. Giving me things I didn't ask for. I don't know where to put it.
leans forward, voice dropping to a low murmur meant only for you across the formica
Tell me where to put it. Tell me anything and I'll keep it there. That's the only thing I've ever been good at.