Chapter Text
Tom didn’t drive for very long, but Pete wouldn’t have complained about a longer drive if it meant he could continue to hold Tom’s hand across the center console.
It seemed like a natural instinct for Tom, like holding Pete’s hand tightly while he drove was something he’d done numerous times before. Pete couldn’t get enough of it, and held on just as tightly.
Tom’s hands were soft and warm, and Pete suddenly became aware that his hands were probably the complete opposite. He knew they were rough and calloused from working on cars every day, and he didn’t take care of his skin as well as he should. He hoped Tom didn’t notice, and if he did notice, he hoped Tom would at least have the decency to not say anything.
Tom just continued to brush his thumb over the back of Pete’s hand, not saying a word.
Tom drove into a small part of town, where not many people hung out, and pulled into the small parking lot of a tiny Italian restaurant. Pete had seen the place a few times, but didn’t ever really drive out to that part of town.
“I feel like I’m underdressed,” Pete adjusted his jacket, and Tom shook his head in response.
“You look great.”
“I’m wearing a bomber jacket and jeans. That’s not exactly Italian restaurant worthy.”
“Pete-“
“You’re wearing a dress jacket! Oh god, I knew the bomber jacket was a bad idea-“ Pete’s rambling was cut off by a sudden, firm grip on his shoulders, and he gave the man in front of him a sort of panicked glance.
“Pete, seriously, you look great,” Tom’s gaze met Pete’s and Pete visibly relaxed.
“I’m sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a date. I want it to go well,” Pete let out a sigh and nervously brushed his fingers through his hair. “So far, I’ve only made a fool of myself.”
“Cutest fool I ever saw,” Tom opened the front door of the restaurant, holding it open for his date.
Pete gave him an endearing eye roll and made his way inside, Tom following. As Tom greeted the hostess, Pete took a quick look around the restaurant.
It was as nice as a typical Italian restaurant, maybe slightly nicer. It reminded Pete of an Olive Garden with a slightly more homey feel. It didn’t seem as fancy as he thought, and started to feel better about his wardrobe choices for the night.
The table they were taken to was more private, which Pete liked but didn’t like at the same time. It gave him the opportunity to get to know his blond date better, and he looked forward to that more than anything, but it also terrified him.
“I love this place. My parents and I used to come here a lot,” Tom spoke up as they both sat down.
“Have you been in California for a while?” Pete questioned, the menu in front of him suddenly becoming irrelevant.
“My whole life actually. Born and raised. My parents moved a few years ago, but I love it here,” Tom explained, giving Pete a soft grin.
“Should’ve known you were a California boy,” Pete replied with a playful smirk, which got an eye roll out of Tom.
“Watch it, Mitchell,” Tom shook his head, grinning as Pete let out a laugh. “Where are you from then?
Ah, the one question Pete didn’t know the answer to.
“That’s quite the question, I honestly don’t know the answer.”
Tom’s puzzled look made Pete laugh before he continued explaining.
“My parents died when I was really young, I don’t remember much of them, if anything,” Pete watched as Tom’s expression changed, and he couldn’t quite read it. “I moved around the foster care system a lot, until I turned eighteen and somehow bought a one way ticket to California.”
“And you’ve been here ever since?” Tom questioned, genuinely intrigued by the story of how Pete Mitchell got to California.
Pete nodded, helping himself to the basket of bread that was placed on the table moments before. “I met Nick at my first mechanic job here, we got along well. Him and Carole, his wife, let me stay with them until I was able to get my own place.”
Tom listened intently as Pete continued his backstory, hardly focusing on anything around them. Pete had never felt so heard, and continued to tell Tom about his childhood, how Pete had to move around at least twice a year, and how he barely got through high school with decent grades.
Tom listened to every word.
It meant a hell of a lot more to Pete than Tom would ever know.
After they’d gotten through having dinner (and Pete having a few more drinks than he should have), Tom started to drive again, but not in the direction of Pete’s home. Pete couldn’t have cared any less though, since Tom had reached across the center console again and grabbed hold of Pete’s hand.
“Where are we going?”
“I know a spot, I think you’ll like it.”
Pete didn’t argue with that, mostly because he was having a great time and didn’t want it to end anytime soon.
Tom pulled off the small stretch of road they had been on, and the car rolled to a stop at the top of a small hill. Pete was confused, but didn't care enough to question Tom on why they were there.
The pair stepped out of the car, and Pete suddenly understood why Tom brought him to that specific spot.
Leaning against the car, they could see the lights of the small beach town they lived in, and it was also a great place to stargaze. Pete must have zoned out while taking in his surroundings, and was pulled out of his daze by Tom letting out a quiet sigh next to him.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Sure is. I’ve never been up here.”
“I found it a couple of years ago. I usually just sit here by myself when it’s been a particularly bad day.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you don’t bring all of your dates here?” Pete remarked which the tiniest bit of snark.
“You’re the first one. You should feel honored,” Tom played along, his gaze meeting Pete’s for a brief moment before returning to the stars.
Pete hummed in response, following Tom’s gaze. The stars were very easily visible from where they were, Pete swore he even saw a constellation (which one, he didn’t know). The tipsy part of him wanted to grab Tom by the dress jacket and kiss him silly, but he refrained from doing so. The date was going well and Pete didn’t want to ruin it.
Being in Tom’s presence was so comforting to Pete, even though they weren’t talking. It was a comfortable silence. They didn’t have anything they needed to say, and just being there in each other’s presence was enough.
Pete had been searching for something like it for twenty years, and nothing could compare to the way he felt around Tom. On the first date.
“What’s on your mind?” Tom’s question brought Pete back to reality.
“It’s so easy.”
“What is?”
“Just being here with you. It feels so natural.”
Tom didn’t respond, but Pete knew he felt the same when Tom wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.
They didn’t say another word until they left the top of the hill.
Nick was at Pete’s house the next morning at nine. Usually, Pete would go over to Nick’s to have breakfast with him, Carole, and Bradley, but they had other plans that morning. Pete hadn’t spent a lot of time with his adopted nephew as much and felt bad, but he’d make it up to Bradley somehow.
“How’d it go?” Nick was sitting at Pete’s small dining table, sipping on his coffee.
“It was a lot different than any other date I’ve been on,” Pete grinned to himself as he recalled the events of the night before.
“Has he asked you on a second one yet?”
“It’s been twelve hours, Nick, relax.”
“Your dating life is the main source of entertainment for me,” Nick joked and took a large swig of his coffee, smirking the entire time.
“Fuck off,” was Pete’s response as he poured his own cup of coffee.
As if on cue, his phone chimed from the dining table, and Nick got to see who it was before Pete did. “It’s Tom, you should open it.”
“Will you fucking relax?”
“I can’t.”
Pete rolled his eyes and set his coffee down on the kitchen counter, picking up his phone from the table.
T: Good morning!
T: I had a great time last night
Pete could already feel his face heating up. He could hear Nick snickering in the background and flipped him off before replying.
P: Good morning to you!
P: We should do it again sometime.
“You have to keep me in the loop here, Mitchell,” Nick chimed in, which resulted in Pete giving him a glare.
“I will make you leave.”
Nick only hummed in response as Pete focused on his conversation with Tom.
T: You read my mind. This may be a bit of a stretch, but I’m volunteering at this animal shelter event tomorrow, and was wondering if you wanted to come with me? I’ll be working for part of it, but it could be fun.
T: And you could bring Onyx! Sage will be there too.
An instance where Pete could spend time with Onyx, Tom, and be surrounded by animals? He couldn’t think of anything better than that.
P: I would love to go, what time does it start?
T: 11:00, I’ll pick you both up :)
Nick eventually left, after Pete told him everything, of course, and Pete went about his Saturday. Saturdays usually consisted of playing fetch in the backyard with Onyx and snoozing on the couch all day. Pete worked long hours at the shop most days, he felt like he deserved a day to do absolutely nothing. Onyx certainly enjoyed when Pete was home and able to pay attention to her and only her.
And then, Sunday morning rolled around.
Pete was up and at ‘em at nine, he was way too wired to sleep in and was very excited for the day he was about to spend with Tom. He knew Tom was punctual, and made sure to be completely ready by ten-thirty. Tom showed up at ten-fifty.
“Look at you in your fancy scrubs. That’s a view I wouldn’t mind looking at more often.”
Now that Pete was a little more confident around Tom, he started to break out his best flirting skills. They weren’t great, but Tom seemed into it.
“I think we could arrange that,” was Tom’s response.
Tom’s beloved golden, Sage, was in the backseat of the car already, and Pete watched as Onyx went absolutely ballistic when she saw the other dog. The two ended up curled up against each other in the backseat as Tom drove.
“What made you want to bring me to this shelter thing?” Pete questioned, genuinely curious as to why Tom wanted that to be their second date.
“I wanted to see you.”
Pete just about melted at that response.
As the pair and their dogs arrived at the shelter, the place was already filling up with people. It looked to be an adoption event of sorts.
“This is where I’ll be for the day,” Tom led them both to a tent that was set up off to the side of the building.
It seemed to be a good setup, there were fans for when it got too hot, and there was a small, fenced area for Sage and Onyx to be in while Tom worked. Apparently, he was going to be giving free vaccinations to pets that were being put up for adoption.
Tom was a fucking saint and Pete didn’t think he’d ever get over it.
The animals started to show up, brought to the tent by various shelter employees. Tom did his job flawlessly, and seemed to really enjoy what he did. Every once in a while, Tom would get a break for just a few moments, and he took those opportunities to sit down with Pete.
Someone who actually wanted to spend time with him? It was a foreign concept, to say the least.
Towards the end of the event, there weren’t many animals left to adopt, which was considered to be success. The employees started to pack up, and when Tom started to help, they shooed him away.
“Do you want to go look at some of the animals? Or would you rather just leave and do something else?” Tom questioned, watching as Pete’s face lit up at the mention of seeing the animals.
“I would love to see some of the animals. Just please don’t let me adopt one,” Pete stood from his chair and grabbed both dogs’ leashes.
As the group made their way through the shelter, Pete stopped in front of a cage with a tortoiseshell cat. She seemed nervous, tucked into the corner, but Pete wanted so badly to meet her. The little introduction on the sheet of paper attached to her cage definitely didn’t help.
Hi! My name is Mabel. I’m a 2 year old tortoiseshell kitty with a clean bill of health. I enjoy taking naps and bird watching! I’m great with dogs, I prefer them over other cats. I’ve been here for a long time, so I’m a little sad, but I can’t wait to find my forever home.
Pete had to meet her.
“Excuse me?” Pete managed to get a shelter worker’s attention. “Could I meet her?”
“Mabel? Absolutely,” The worker nodded, opening the cage and carefully getting Mabel out of it. She carefully handed Mabel over to Pete, who held her close to his chest and started talking to her in a quiet voice.
Tom watched in awe as he held onto Sage and Onyx’s leashes.
“Is it okay if she meets the dogs?” Pete questioned the worker, who nodded again.
“She loves dogs. Make sure to keep the dogs at a distance just in case they don’t take to her.”
Tom kept the dogs at a distance, and kept a close eye on them as Pete set Mabel on the ground. As the shelter worker had predicted, Mabel waltzed right up to the two dogs, rubbing her head against their legs as a sign of affection. Sage seemed to be indifferent, she didn’t dislike Mabel, but she had been around cats in the past and was just merely not interested.
Onyx, however, was a different story. Her tail was wagging a million miles an hour as Mabel continued to show her affection, and Pete just watched.
He might just have to get Onyx a cat.
“Tom, this isn’t good. I want to adopt her.”
“I think you should.”
“I don’t need a cat though.”
“Well, Mabel would be a good fit, considering she loves your dog. She actually doesn’t have much time left in the shelter,” The shelter worker spoke up, and Pete turned to her.
“What do you mean?”
“If she’s not adopted soon, she may be considered for euthanasia. She’s been here for so long and has been passed up many times. We’re starting to think she might never find a home.”
Pete’s heart broke at those sentences, but he instantly knew what he had to do.
“I’ll take her.”