Work Text:
The town of Gravelwood had faced significant changes since nearly the moment of its inception. It endured expansions, and many reductions, a continual decay over decades of running the same tired beliefs farther and farther into the ground. However, despite all of that, the Rinky-Dink diner never seemed to close. It had stood since the dawn of this little town and sometimes felt as if it would stand long after the rest of it crumbled away. People grew up with this diner, died with it, and passed it on to their children. Thousands of fresh-faced twenty-somethings had worked behind those counters over the decades, and James was far from the exception to that rule.
James Carrington scrubbed the counter with a gleam in his eye, one which he held nearly all the time. He couldn't help but take joy in the little things, it was the only thing that kept him sane, and in retrospect, it was a very easy mission to accomplish. The store was still open, of course, but there was no harm in wiping down those counters until he could see his reflection in them while there was nothing to do. Additionally, he had the late night shift with Paulo, which automatically made everything better. James enjoyed most people, but he enjoyed Paulo extra, he was one of those people who clicked with him more than most; the fact that he also happened to see Paulo more than most people was just a happy bonus.
Paulo had always thought that late night shifts would suck ass, especially since night is when most people his age decided to do stupid shit, like party out in the woods or in abandoned buildings. Missing the few cool social gathering times would be an unbearable drag. Somehow, though, these shifts ended up being some of his favorites. Obviously the customer traffic was lower, people wanted to talk or make shitty jokes less, and… and uh… well, he was in pretty good company the whole night. James was a good worker, but also an amazing person. Paulo couldn’t remember the last time James had flaked on a shift or called out without a damn good reason. He couldn’t remember the boy doing anything other than smiling whenever they talked or even looked at each other. He couldn’t remember what it felt like to NOT have James in his life at the diner! No one else could make him look forward to fuckin WORK of all things!
Work was hardly what he was doing at the moment though… unable to focus, he was staring at the dirty dishes sitting in the steamy, soapy water in front of him. His mind was a storm of contradicting thoughts, though one shot up above all the rest.
‘Don’t look at him….!’
Almost immediately, Paulo looked over his shoulder at James diligently scrubbing away at a counter, that would become sullied again in mere minutes. His stupid fucking happy face, his body language alone could let you know how content he was with it all. Not that Paulo was ever particularly looking at James’ body, no sir. He gripped the plate in his hands and turned back to the water with his tail slightly frizzled. ‘What the fuck did I just say!? Stop! You’re gonna regret it! You can’t!! You couldn’t ever HOPE IT!!!! He’s too good so just keep your stupid shit to yourself!!!!!’ Paulo became less aware of the world around him as James was both the happiest and saddest thing he could be filling his head with right now, trying to auto-pilot on his dishwashing to seem even the tiniest bit normal.
Though he had no idea that Paulo was watching, James often operated under the assumption that he could be being watched by someone anyway. It was a way for him to keep himself busy and trying his hardest while on the clock, though obviously he didn’t keep that thought process outside of work. Even so, working as diligently as he was, he couldn’t help but let his mind drift to other things, specifically, people. He liked thinking about people more than anything else because they were always the best parts of his day; which seemed corny, because it was, but it was also true, so James didn’t mind. His coworker Paulo had seemed extra jumpy today, it concerned the fluffy boy at first, however at the same time his Somali workmate didn’t appear all that distressed or sad, so he wondered what was going on. He would ask him about it later, or at least he would try to, unless it would be odd to pry so deep into his emotions… Paulo surely wouldn’t mind.
Paulo would absolutely mind, if he was able to know what James was thinking at all that is. He finally finished the dishes and moved on to doing some sweeping of the kitchen. Wait, maybe he should go clean the tables and make sure they were set straight? No no… that would put him right in James’ vision cone… but maybe that was better. His slinking around in the back was HELLA suspicious, especially since the both of them had trouble shutting the hell up. He shook his head and splashed his face with some cold water, wiping it down with his apron afterward. He walked out to the dining area and started straightening out tables and chairs, biting his lip a bit as he attempted to not look at James again. If he saw that radiant smile and got asked something he might have a fucking heart attack.
Additionally, simply being so forward as to point out that someone was acting strange was a little more than rude as a conversation starter. James’ brow furrowed slightly as he put a hand to his chin in thought and crossed his other arm, he would have to think of another way to start the conversation, one that wasn’t weird. What was the most normal way to start a conversation? James shook his head, that line of thinking would never get him where he actually wanted to be. How could he start his conversation with Paulo? Was he overthinking this? Absolutely. An idea suddenly struck him, one that was incredibly simple yet completely ingenious, he wouldn't need to start a conversation at all if Paulo started it for him! He slid around the counter, sliding past the somali and into his field of view as he walked toward the windows to clean them. In his head, James gave himself a pat on the back for being very smart and extremely normal.
Paulo was actually maybe calming down just a bit… until James went all the way around the counter to start and clean the random windows right where he was looking! It… had to be a coincidence! God making fun of him for his stupid fucking brain! He cleared his throat and went to another section! There, no way it could happen twice! That’d be so crazy… back to focusing on tables n shit.
Damn it! He turned away! James furrowed his brow slightly once more, Paulo must not have been paying attention enough to notice him. There was no way the Somali would ignore his friend on purpose, he wasn’t that kind of guy. However, simply stopping cleaning those windows to walk into his field of view again would be too obvious. James was carefully skirting a line right now between completely normal and extremely weird, and what would decide if he tipped over that line was if Paulo realized he was doing all of this on purpose or not. He needed plausible deniability, just enough that he appeared completely innocent. The amber-eyed man scanned the general direction of his coworker, his eyes widening as he saw another uncleaned window in Paulo’s field of vision once more which the Somali hadn’t noticed. He grinned, this was perfect! Once he finished this one, which he almost had, he would simply move over to that one. It needed cleaning anyway! No one could fault him for that!
James was so focused on this plan in fact that he hadn’t realized he was already finished with the window, and had been wiping down a clean one for twenty seconds longer than he had to. He put his thoughts into action, picking up his stuff and striding casually across the room with that same big old smile he liked to wear. He sashayed his hips just a little as he let his equipment rest next to the window and began to clean; which in retrospect seemed really homoerotic but sometimes he just did that without thinking about it. He tilted his head down slightly and grinned as he scrubbed, there was no way Paulo couldn’t see him now. Additionally, he finally got to clean this window, it had been bugging him all day while he had to man the counter.
Paulo watched with completely straight fear and panic as James entered his sight again almost instantly. He tried to keep his head down except for the fact that was an AWFUL idea actually! He saw James sway his hips some while walking in front of him and he damn near fell over!!! In the process of looking up to be nowhere near James’ lower half, he saw the boy grinning to himself! What the fuck was happening?! He couldn’t stand it, he had to try and just talk about some bullshit. Even though his face was like the fucking sun right now. “HHHHHhHhey James… you uh… do any sports shit at the park lately?” Yeah. Sports! James loved sports.
James had to force himself not to laugh as Paulo began to speak. Everything had gone exactly as planned, however, he couldn’t have expected Paulo to start their conversation in such a ridiculous tone, as if he was trying not to fall over. Additionally, he couldn’t help but notice how odd the sentence starter was, like he didn’t actually know what to talk about and just wanted to speak. James didn’t mind though, he had always thought it was sweet how Paulo always seemed to want to talk to him, most of the time anyway. “Y’know, I’ve been thinking about trying to pick up skateboarding recently! Running is fun but… you can get more speed on a board.” James was all about speed. Speed was love, speed was life. Not only that, but Paulo liked skateboarding, if James had remembered correctly, this was the perfect thing to talk to the other man about! James did a little dance in his head, he was great at this, good job James!
“Oh… I board sometimes, if you need someone to help. I’m like, shocked you’ve never done it before! I thought you did literally everything!” Paulo was sorta lying… how the hell would he be able to teach James anything?! He couldn’t help him hold his balance or anything without becoming an extra hazard to worry about! Talking was helping though… he started to cool off just a bit. He just had to block his mind from perceiving James while talking! That was normal, right??
“I don’t do eeeevrything…” James giggled, his eyes drifting to the left as he continued to scrub, eventually landing on Paulo in the reflection of the window. He wondered why he was being so avoidant with eye contact, usually, Paulo had no trouble with that, he supposed the scruffy-haired man was a little more perturbed with whatever was bugging him than James had originally thought. “I just run, and play soccer… and bike… and play street hockey… and play tennis when I can sneak into the resort with David…” He trailed off, realizing that he actually did a lot more than he thought he did. “But I don’t do everything! I had never thought about skateboarding until I saw you and Amaya doing it a week or so ago. You were going way faster than I’ve ever been able to run.” He turned around then, leaning down slightly into Paulo’s line of sight and shooting him one of those big James brand grins that could annihilate an evil spirit, “You should teach me sometime! You’re really good at it!”
Paulo almost snickered as he allowed himself a little smile. Always so humble. Always so nice. Just an absolute fucking sweetheart no matter what. That was James every second he was alive, just happy to be there… happy there were other people to be there with. The Somali’s smile quickly turned into a frown… that was exactly why someone like Paulo was no good for him. He was mean, he wasn’t able to see what James saw in damn near everyone… so how could he ask that sweet fuckin guy to care about him more than everyone else??? Sure that kinda made no sense, but damn it he didn’t have to make sense right now! James was good, he wasn’t! The creamsicle cat boy blinked a couple of time and jumped back a bit as he realized he’d been staring right at James' big stupid adorable face with a sad expression… for who knows how long!! “Uhm… uh… I guess… you don’t… really… “ He pulled at his collar nervously and looked around. Shit. Shit fuck damn it!!! He couldn’t keep looking at him without wanting to wrap his arms around him and never let go, until he spilled his guts, even he knew he was being a fucking moron! Which is why…
“Paulo…? Are you alr-”
He ran off to the kitchen and hid behind that little bit where those rusty damn pipes were that had no use other than being a great spot to jump from to scare his coworkers. His hands were over his face… he wasn’t here…
James’ eyes watched in concerned confusion as Paulo suddenly bolted off, that was far from the reaction he was expecting, had he done something? Had he said something? The sand-furred service worker couldn’t think of anything in that short conversation that was even remotely out of the ordinary, either way, whatever it was, James was gonna find out. He set his cleaning supplies down, took a deep breath, and followed Paulo into the back. His coworker wasn’t particularly hard to find, both men knew the store inside and out. James' head popped around the corner to stare at Paulo with his hands over his face, how the hell was he supposed to approach this situation? He supposed he would give it the old college try, he had never been to college, but he was damn well good at pretending. He would rule at college he bet.
“Hey dude… are you like… okay?” That wasn’t the best opener, he could workshop it as he went.
Paulo shook his head and his fur bristled a bit from the fact James, of course, had not elected to leave him alone. This was such a fucking freak thing to do. This is like something fucking Daisy would do if an ex showed up after an okay break-up, and here he was just pulling it out for a boy he actually liked. He couldn’t bring his hands away, they were stuck to his face.
James leaned against the other wall, crossing his arms and cocking his head slightly at the other man with a perturbed expression. This was odd to say the least, and far from something he would expect from Paulo, who was usually a much smoother talker. “You know that I can still see you, right?” He smiled lightly, attempting to at least lighten the mood a little, “There’s no use hiding from whatever’s going on, if I did something, or something happened, it’s alright to talk about it.” His eyes shifted slightly to the side, “I could understand if you didn’t want to talk to me in particular about it, but you’ve been really jumpy and skittish recently… and I was kind of wondering if…” the sand-colored man didn’t feel like he had the right to speak, but he found that once he started he just couldn’t stop. “Did… something happen between you and Daisy?”
Paulo’s heart ached and his hands gently gripped his hair that was around where they covered his face. How could James think he was at fault for anything here?! “N-no! I-I… “ Paulo struggled to say the right words… but… he didn’t need them now. What James followed his heartfelt words with was such a sledgehammer to his brain that it even broke down his wall a little. He parted his fingers to stare at James with utter SHOCK.
“WHAT?”
The other man nearly flinched from Paulo’s sudden snap away from stammering emotionality to utter shocked confusion, was James fucking everything up? He may or may not have been fucking everything up. “Y-... Y’know like… Daisy…? Like your girlfriend…?” His words were a lot slower now, confused as to if he had just said something extremely far over a line he didn’t know existed. Had they recently broken up or something? Had everyone just not told him or something? He had always assumed they had just stayed dating, even though he hadn’t seen Daisy around as much since the accident. Or perhaps Paulo just couldn’t stand to hear her name… what had she done…? What had he done? What the hell was even going on??
Paulo was extremely torn between laughing, going back to hiding and just STARING into this boy's soul… “Dude… we… we’ve been broken up for like… years. I’m single… “ Short and sweet… he just was flabbergasted how James possibly couldn't have known!
They stared across the small space from each other, James returning his emotionally mixed glance with a completely blank one. James’ amber eyes slowly drifted downward toward the floor, processing the information in his head, because he burst into hysterical snickering. “Oh my god, I am such an idiot!!” He cackled, putting a hand to his forehead, “No fucking wonder I never saw you two together! Of course!! Duh!!!” He caught his breath, had someone told him and he had just forgotten? It wasn’t unlikely considering how bad his ADHD tended to be. When his eyes met Paulo’s again he quickly raised his hands in a defensive position with an adorable embarrassed little smile. “Listen! No one tells me anything, I’m never caught up!”
“Alright! Well glad to catch you up!! Now you know it’s got nothing to do with her!” With that slight reprieve from his major freak behavior… he covered his eyes again!! Woohoo! Yippee! Now he felt bad for the slightly different reason of having spoken to James normally and then trying to block him out again. The fact that he was hiding in a nook instead of working be damned…!
James let a small sign escape his lungs, his shoulders sinking as Paulo immediately closed back up to him. His coworker would never think this in general, much less out loud, but Paulo was a grown-ass man who had no business acting like this. “Aww cmon dude, can you just talk to me about it? You know this isn’t gonna help anyone.”
Paulo couldn’t decide whether he should finally give up the stupid shit he was on or double down and just hope James gave up on getting him to stop it… it was an even battle so he was just paralyzed with indecision, not answering James as a side effect. Just sitting there with his face covered, and somewhat red.
Eventually, James approached with a shake of his head. They were going to talk this out as adults, like adults god damn it! Slowly and gently he grabbed Paulo’s wrists, guiding them with just enough force as necessary away from the other man’s face. “Really Paulo, there’s no reason to be like this. I know you can communicate.”
Paulo jolted from James’ touch… but he was backed into a corner now… no chance of hiding this. His cheeks burned as he had just humiliated himself, but also, now his watery gaze was staring right at that sweet, caring, adorable face. “I… I can’t… not to you.” He sniffled a bit and looked at James with a storm of complex emotions in his eyes. Fuck, it was coming and nothing on Earth could stop it now.
James' face shifted to one of greater concern once more, leaning forward slightly with pure sincerity sparkling in his eyes. “Why not?” He attempted to prod gently, however the emotion in his every word could only be controlled so much, being a romantic comes with its deficits. “If I’ve ever done something to hurt you, I really need you to tell me, otherwise I could never improve!” Had he said something? Done something? The thought that his presence could cause his coworker this much turmoil in any way put a deep ache in his heart.
Paulo’s heart pounded in his chest… his throat tightened as he heard James’ question. The tone of the sweet boy's voice could have cleaved the Somali in twain. He couldn’t hurt James… never ever, Especially not like this. “N-no! You… you’ve never hurt me! You’re sweet and funny and you’re always trying to do everything like a goddamn saint.” He was speaking more quietly, but the slight shakiness was very apparent to someone standing so close to him.
The sand-colored cat got only a smidge closer, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy. “Then I don’t understand… why can’t you talk about it to me…? I understand either way but, I want you to know that I’m always here if you do need to talk. You know it's not good to bottle up your emotions, it basically always ends up badly for everyone.”
“I-I just CAN’T okay?” He trembled some, knowing this wouldn't hold up James even a little… “I don’t wanna mess up how nice you are! I don’t want… to… “ He bit his bottom lip, oh god what made this so fucked up and hard??? He barely understood it himself so James must be extra weirded out, small wonder why he absolutely refused to drop it. His wrists were still in James’ hands and his own hung limply, no way he’d yank them away or anything. It was making him feel guilty that he wanted James to not let go.
Paulo was seemingly partially right, and James’ squinted in confusion as he processed the words the other man had said. “Paulo… what? With all due respect, and I have a lot of respect for you, why would what you tell me change me as a person in any way? If it’s that you’re scared of I can promise you that I’ll stay just as I am no matter what it is.”
Paulo’s tail flicked thoughtfully, his breathing slowing down as he stood in silence for a bit longer than James’ would have liked. After a short eternity, he looked at the sand-furred shorter man with watery eyes. “You promise…? You’re really sure…?” He seemed genuinely afraid but… he trusted James so much he might be able to come clean.
“Of course I’m sure!” James responded, nearly instantly, with a tone so sincere it was almost pleading. “Whatever you tell me, I promise I’ll be alright.”
Paulo took a dramatic inhale before slightly repositioning so he was holding James’ hands tenderly. He looked deep into his coworker's eyes, tears welling up in his own. “I… fucking love you, James. I-I love you a-a-and… “ The Somali sniffled and his ears drooped as the shorter cat felt his hands get squeezed by Paulo’s a bit more firmly. “Y-y-y-you’re so fucking cute and sweet dude, I… I just don’t deserve someone like you. I-I couldn’t ever say it c-cuz i-it wouldn’t be fair to p-put that on you… “
James only stared back with a blank expression, slowly putting the pieces together in his mind. His eyes drifted downward, and then back to Paulo…
“Oh! You were gay the whole time?! Score!”
…
“Wh-huh???”
James laughed, shrugging his shoulders, “And here I thought I was working with a cute straight guy the whole time! I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised though…” James’ eyes drifted down to the floor again in deep thought, “You do hang out with David…”
Paulo grabbed James by the shoulders now and started shaking him. “DAVID’S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE THOUGHT I WAS CUTE THIS WHOLE TIME???” Paulo was overjoyed! Paulo was about to cry even harder! Paulo was going to fucking explode WERE THEY BOTH JUST FUCKING STUPID????????
Yes. Yes they were. James’ hair whipped back and forth as he was shook around, snickering like a goofy idiot. “Course I did! Doesn’t everyone?? I thought you knew you were hot and that was why you were always flirting with girls and stuff!!”
“I… it’s not about me knowing if I’m hot or not!!!! You… ugh… n-no nevermind, it wouldn’t have made a difference! I probably would’ve ran away and hid still even if you told me that! I-It’s different than like… girls thinking I’m cute or me flirting with them! You’re a guy! The cutest and nicest one in fucking town!!! Shit, probably in this bumass state! I can’t just tell you I fucking love you! I’m an asshole, everyone knows I have casual hookups, why would you want someone like that?!” He had stopped shaking James and was just gently holding him by the shoulders now… the serious concern on his face letting James know he really was taking all those stupidass thoughts 1000% seriously.
James’ face flushed as Paulo’s words flooded through his ears before he grabbed the other boy by his shoulders as well. His mouth moved on its own, his emotions flowing directly from his heart with no input from his brain. “Hey, that’s not true!! Maybe you were an asshole in high school, but we’re out of there now!! I think you’re super nice, fun to be around, and cute as shit!!” He leaned forward until he could feel the heat of the other man’s face, “And y’know what? I don’t think boys and girls are that different at all! In fact…” His hands were moving without him thinking, sliding through Paulo’s hair around the back of his head. “I’ll show you.”
Paulo’s cheeks burned brighter as James immediately shot back with nothing but nice things to say about his idiotic Somali coworker and friend. Paulo’s eyes were wide as saucers when James’ hands stroked through his hair to gently hold his head. His heart was about to fucking explode, there was NO WAY this was happening, right??? “J-J-J-j-JjAmes???” was all that he managed to squeak out, face to face, almost touching noses with the cutest boy in the world.
Without another word, James closed the distance between him and his coworker’s lips. It was smooth and nonchalant, as much as James could make it anyway; he wanted to show Paulo that kissing a boy was nothing to be stressed about, that he could be as smooth about it as kissing a girl. At the same time, however, James’ heart was leaping into his throat. This was the luckiest day of his fucking life, not only was his friend who he had always thought was cute gay, but he was into him as well?! James literally couldn’t think of a more spectacular outcome. It was some rom-com levels of ridiculous luck he had stumbled into, and if he didn't grab it by the horns with the power of a trillion suns it could slip through his fingers!
Paulo shut his eyes tight as James’ lips pressed to his own. It was soft, sweet, full of love… everything that he would use to describe James normally. His face lit up like he was going to start flashing and explode like a videogame character. Slowly the Somali’s hands slid from the shorter boy's shoulders and he looped his arms loosely around his neck. Even tense and embarrassed and about to explode, he was returning James’ kiss, and his tail was unable to stop it’s ecstatic swishing around.
Part of the art of kissing was the way that your partner's body moved. You could tell a lot about a person from the way they kissed, slighter body motions were so much easier to read when two people were physically intertwined. James tried hard not to grin like an idiot and break the mood as he pressed a little deeper into the embrace, his hands around Paulo’s back feeling his partner’s intensity and excitement. Preferably, he would have Paulo be more relaxed, but perhaps he was always this excited when he kissed people. Evidently, James didn’t know, but what he did know was that Paulo was a damn good kisser, and James was going to enjoy that for all it was worth.
Paulo would normally be more relaxed but this was literally the first time a boy had ever initiated a kiss with him! James had really wanted to and he could tell. He could feel how much the other cat wanted to lean into him as they kissed, holding each other for however long their gay little hearts wanted to. The Somali tilted his head a bit, deepening the kiss and tightening his hold on the boy, pulling James up against him and squeezing on his stupid cute twink self.
James let his body weight sink into Paulo, pressing him against the wall as he was squeezed in turn. James’ fingers weaved through the somali’s fur, playing with it gently and sensing Paulo's emotions through his subtler movements. Being blind wasn't so bad when you were locked in a kiss, James had discovered. Losing that sense only heightened his others, he could hear Paulo's every breath, feel every twitch of his nerves. As long as they were this close, James and Paulo were one, and James wouldn't have it any other way.
Eventually, Paulo had to break away from those addictingly soft lips, taking a dramatic deep breath like he hadn’t been breathing at all for the past few minutes. His wide eyes stared at the empty space in front of him, before eventually lowering to meet James’. Holy fuck he looked so cute right now. Holy FUCK. His heart was going nuts and there wasn’t any way he was going to be able to calm down anytime soon. In a surprisingly fluid motion, Paulo swept James off his feet into a bridal carry, prompting a squeak from the other man, once fully in his arms. He practically kicked down the back door as he rushed them over to his car, opening up the door to the backseat and carefully sliding in while making sure not to bump the precious boy's head. His golden eyes were shining as he stared at the man in his lap… grabbing his face and mashing their lips back together just as James was about to speak up. He needed to kiss him more so BAD.
James didn’t mind the sudden relocation, in fact he was pleasantly surprised at Paulo’s drive. His arms flung around the back of Paulo’s neck, pulling him farther in as he kicked his legs with glee. This was exactly the kind of thing he was looking for, he couldn’t even remember kissing anyone who wanted to reciprocate so adamantly, and was reveling in the sensation. Eventually though he pushed Paulo away a bit, gasping for air even though he too had been breathing the whole time.
“Jeez!” The sond colored cat giggled, hodling Paulo’s cheeks in each of his palms, “Do you sweep up everyone you kiss like this or am I just extra special?”
“You’re super super special… you’re so cute and nice and sweet and your fur is soft and your stupid fuckin… “ Paulo’s face was burning, eyes staring into James as he gripped the boys waist and squeezed. “... all THIS you got goin on, you jackass. Shocked you ain’t turned half the town gay.” His hand gently held James’ chin and tilted his head some, going back in for another hard kiss, like it was was an absolute damn necessity he make out with this fluffy idiot in his lap. Eighty billion tons of weight had been lifted off his shoulders, like he’d been caged up for a thousand years and finally that door had flung open.
The kiss was made sloppier by James laughing through it, letting his hands grip at Paulo’s stupid scratchy work shirt. “That’s not my faultttt!!” he pleaded, “I could say the same about you and your fruity haircut!!” He grinned, knowing he had said something more mischievous than he would usually, and pulling the other man into him again before he got the chance to respond.
“F-fruity?! You-!” Paulo was grinning as he was yanked into another, more tender smooch now. Fuck, his eyes were watering… but he couldn’t help but start laughing a bit himself. He kissed all over James’ face and didn’t care that his shirt was getting untucked, or that his hair was getting kind of messy, or that his nametag had fallen to the depths of the car floor… The only thing that he cared about was keeping this guy smiling and laughing while getting to hold him close. Tears rolled down his face as he squeezed the sand-furred boy against him, part of his mind still afraid this was some kinda fucked up dream.
James was still giggling when they separated, though his gaze became confused and slightly worried as the wetness of his partners tears stained his face. He held his hand to Paulo’s cheek, rubbing a thumb over his fur to wipe his tears away. “Whuh..? What’s wrong?”
The Somali leaned his head against James’ hand, just a little. “What’s wrong is my fuckin’ head. Sayin’ bullshit to myself for so long, makin’ myself feel like shit just cuz I had some thoughts about a boy who was goddamn cute . Lookin’ in the mirror and telling myself to stop being such a fucking fag.” Paulo sniffled and started stroking a hand through James’ hair. It looked so messy and wild, but was also incredibly soft and smooth, so soft you could glide your hand through it. “I’m crying cuz I’m so fucking happy, dude. All that bullshit is over forreal . I started givin’ myself more slack, sure, but there’s a big difference in going ‘Maybe it’s okay to be a little gay’ and suckin’ face with a boy in my car.” He smiled wide with his eyes still shimmery with tears, squishing James’ face a little as he kissed him very tenderly for juuust a moment. “It being you just makes it even more awesome!”
James' worry melted away into a gentler joy, letting himself sink further into Paulo's arms. “Well then I'm glad.” His face flushed farther than it already had, booping one finger over the orange cat's nose. “Well I'm glad it was me. It… makes me a different kind of happy to see you be yourself this much.” This was likely the cheesiest moment of James’ life, but if it was with Paulo, James would have it no other way. “I've liked you for a while… and honestly I feel a little dumb for thinking you were straight this whole time.” He snorted under his breath, “shows how caught up with events I am…”
“Bro who CARES about events!? You didn’t pay attention to our bullshit cuz it was stupid and dumb as hell! I’m still dumb as hell!” Paulo snorted a bit as well, if anything was consistent about him it was that he was a cheesy and corny motherfucker… which worked in his favor most of the time. “Now I’m just dumb as hell and gay!” He hugged James tightly to him and closed his eyes, wearing the biggest, dumbest grin of his whole life.
James couldn’t help but begin to laugh when Paulo pulled him in, wrapping his arms around the other boy in turn and squeezing him tightly. There was a different breed of warmth that flowed through James’ blood when Paulo said that, a pride not only in who Paulo was, but in himself as well. It was hope he felt when he gripped the back of Paulo’s goofy work uniform that they matched in; hope for the future, for his people, for everything he was. There was a slight wetness in his eyes when they separated, though his smile was as bright as the sun. “I think stupid and gay might be the way to be.”
Paulo exhaled softly as he stroked his hand over James’ cheek gently, just loving his radiant smile. Ugh, okay maybe he was getting TOO corny even for himself now! He opened the door and carefully scooted out, setting James on his feet before shutting and locking the door behind him. “We better get back in before someone comes and steals all the salt shakers or some shit… you uhh… need a ride home…?” Paulo asked a bit sheepishly, hoping that didnt sound stupid as shit since he literally didnt remember how James got around.
James’ usually just walked to and from work. He never minded it, in fact he enjoyed the extra exercise it would get him, on colder days he would run. That being said, if Paulo was offering, he would be out of his mind to say no. “I would like that!” He paused for a moment as they both walked back toward the shop, after closing time now, it was good that today was a slow day. “So… is your car just your scenic makeout spot? Or were you just looking for an excuse to lift me into the air?”
“Both! Cars are one of the best makeout spots!! Also great for gettin to em!!” He grabbed James hand and squeezed it gently as they both walked back, grinning as he looked up at the sky. “Though I’m sure there are lots of other ones just as good. I don’t think I’ve ever been in your room, now that I think about it… “ He wasn’t trying to be pervy, just teasing this stupidly cute boy. Making their way to the back door. Were they walking a little slow? Absolutely! Did they really care?
They didn’t care about a thing in the world other than each other right now.