29 L'Ottavo Ristorante

"Don't worry, baby," Dandy glanced at JP for a moment. "I'll get us there." He smiled and looked back ahead. There wasn't much of a selection when it came to restaurants. Fine dining? Pass. Pub? HARD PASS. Fast food?

Dandy shook his head. He just needed a place to sit down that wasn't that hospital. Leading JP into a fast food place, memories of their last venture to one came back to him. The obsessive fan. The conversations. Those were much simpler times to him now.

Inside it wasn't the same chain. This place was much smaller with only a few booths. Even the colors and smells were different. Dandy didn't even fully realize what this place served. He looked at the cashiers, deciding to ignore them, and walked JP to the booth furthest from the public eye.

Once seated, Dandy sat on the same side of the booth as JP, letting the racer be closer to the wall. A waitress walked up to the two, placing down menus. Dandy squinted at it. There was pizza here? He looked to the waitress.

"Just... Two waters," Dandy sighed and watched her walk away. He rested his head against JP's shoulder. This man was exhausted.

Once seated inside, JP's glued his eyes on Dandy, or at least one of them was more accurately glued to him. "There were a lot of people outside today wasn't there? I wonder if there's an event going on. You think it'll be on tv?" He looked away from Dandy to give his menu a spin on the table before he held it up to look at.

There were a lot of pizzas, pasta, a thing that looked like a pizza folded in half. A whole rotisserie chicken. He didn't feel like he wanted any of them. Was it the drugs from the hospital that had his stomach feeling a bit disgusted?"Actually. water does seem fine."

He let Dandy lean on him even if that meant he couldn't see him over there. No matter how hard he tried. He could see his own cheekbone when he looked down and to the left enough.

"So an hour before they arrive." He had a feeling that it would be one of the longest hours of his life. He didn't feel all that tired like Dandy seemed to be. He simply didn't know how to entertain himself. "You look and sound tired, stardust. Do you want to have a sleep on my lap? Try not to tease me though."

He got an idea. There were mirrors in bathrooms usually weren't there? "Actually. I want to go to the bathroom first. The nurse said something about the way I look. I want to see."

Dandy rubbed his eyes when JP mentioned the bathroom.

"Oh right," he stepped out of the booth, letting JP head towards the bathroom on his own. He wasn't thinking. Dandy sat back down at the booth and rested his head on the cool table.

An hour. That sounded like a perfect length of time for a nap. Maybe sleeping with his head on JP's lap was a good idea. He closed his eyes, waiting for the racer to come back to the table.

Stardust... God, he missed that name.

JP managed to get to the bathroom on his own but it had taken him a while. He touched the walls and tables on the way there. He didn't even try standing up in there. He sat for everything. When he had to wash his hands he took that moment to look in the mirror. He moved in close, realizing why he saw double. His left eye was looking toward his nose and it only slightly moved side to side. He could however look up and down. He looked...absurd and all because of that internal head injury "Frisbee."

When he returned, he made it back faster. His strategy was to cover one of his eyes with his hand. "I'm back."

Dandy was only asleep for a moment until he heard JP speak. He looked up, seeing the racer covering his eye.

"Yeah it's a bit of a mess," he wiped the drool from his mouth and scooted next to the wall, letting JP take a seat next to him. "They said it should be good in a couple days," Dandy rested his head on his hand. Finally, the waitress came back with their waters. Dandy pulled a couple woolong bills out of his pocket.

"Find me somethin' that this can cover," he handed it off to the waitress. Thumbing through it, she frowned.

"I could get you a calzone, but only one," she looked to Dandy and then to JP. It took her a moment, but then she realized who she was waiting on. "Oh my god, you're safe!" She nearly dropped the cash and looked over JP.

"Yeah, it was... An event," Dandy rested his head in his arms. The woman could tell that it had been very rough for these two.

"I'll get you two," she smiled, stuffing the woolongs into her apron and walked towards the kitchen. Dandy pulled out JP's pills from his pocket and shook them at the racer.

"The nurse said ta take two of these with food," Dandy popped the cap, taking out two pills, and placed them next to JP's glass of water. He then put the pills back into his pocket. Dandy's head didn't leave the table top. He kept his eyes on JP as he laid there.

"Why didn't you say anything? That I looked like this?" JP frowned. "Did you do it so I wouldn't be upset?" He uncovered his eye and held Dandy's arm. He turned to look at the waitress, "Y-you thought I wouldn't be safe?' So it really did look that bad on the TV. He had been so used to things like that and hadn't noticed. "You'll do that for us. Ah...so nice.,"

A rattling sound caught his attention and he rubbed Dandy's back. "Right I can't forget to take those. Thank you, stardust." He patted his lap for Dandy. "I'll tell you when our food is here."

He kept his attention on JP, a little smile on his face.

"There was a bit goin' on at the time," Dandy explained. "With the whole not tellin' you about the situation thing," he gestured to his face. He then sat up and stretched. After taking a sip of water, Dandy kissed JP's cheek and then laid his head down on the racer's lap.

The back of his head laid comfortably on JP's lap, allowing him to see Dandy's face. It didn't take long for Dandy to fall asleep, little snoring sounds soon following.

JP ran his hand over Dandy's chest while he lay his head down. He slowed the movement when he heard the snoring. "Dandy, I love you..thank you for protecting me." He smiled. He felt like it could

have been a lot worse if Dandy hadn't gotten into the car when he did.

He picked up the two pills and his water to swallow them down. He hoped that when the food arrived that the smell would arouse some hunger in him. In fact, the smell of the restaurant was sort of making him want the calzone to arrive.

Dandy was deep asleep, his mind blank as he waited for the food. The sleep felt like forever as his body relaxed against those legs.

"Dandy? Dandy?" QT's voice was coming from the golden communicator that hung around Dandy's left wrist. "Dandy I need to discuss our plans to leave here. Is now a bad time?"

Dandy didn't wake up to the sound of the little robot's voice. He was still snoring away.

JP felt down Dandy's arm and pulled the arm up to bring the communicator to his mouth. He tried using it as Dandy had done. "Hello? QT?" Did it work? Had QT heard his voice? "Dandy is asleep, I think he stayed up all night worrying about me. What do you want to tell him?"

"Oh! JP!" QT didn't expect that answer. But Dandy being asleep didn't surprise him too much.

"He needs to know that once we pick you two up that we need to go to the Alien Registration Center. Scarlet says that there will be security ready for our arrival since the capsule was cracked," QT explained. The sound of QT's voice made Dandy shift in his sleep. Ugh, why was he hearing QT?

"Go away..." Dandy mumbled, his face moving to burry into JP's jacket.

"I heard that," QT huffed. "Just be sure to relay that to Dandy. If he asks about the crack, tell him we put duct tape on it. It is holding so we should be fine!"

That didn't sound good. "Security? Are we in trouble? Come on man, I can't go back in." JP looked down at Dandy, hopefully, it was nothing to really worry about. Dandy didn't need any more worries right now. "Will do, QT. I won't forget. Uh maybe." He smiled and set Dandy's arm back down.

"You're fine! Just some safety precautions!" QT said as the bracelet was put back down.

Dandy shifted again, turning to place his face on JP's lap. This man was loving his nap, already feeling better after only a few minutes of deep sleep.

Time passed and the waitress came back around with the calzones. She looked around for a moment, looking for Dandy. Once she spotted him sleeping, she quietly set the plates down and nodded at the two.

The smell of garlic and pepperoni radiated off the meal. It seemed the staff really wanted to do a good job, given that a celebrity was in their mix.

JP held Dandy lightly while the man slept. He wondered though, wouldn't his leather pants make Dandy's face sweaty and feel like it was sticking? He chuckled.

He heard the sound of footsteps and twisted a little to look at the waitress coming back with their food. "Smells delicious, thank you. I mean it. After all, I've been through recently, kindness like this..." He let go of Dandy for a moment and raised his arms for the waitress to invite her to a hug. "You're very lovely."

Now there was a little problem. Should he let Dandy rest or should he wake his boyfriend up so he could eat? Maybe he could wait a little so it wouldn't be magma inside of the calzone. That didn't stop him from cutting off a piece of his own and carefully taking a bite. "This is great!"

She welcomed that hug and smiled.

"Thank you," she whispered and then looked down at Dandy. "You two take care. If you need anything else, let me know," she nodded again and left the table.

Dandy could smell the food now. Without thinking, he quickly ones his head up, whacking the back of it on the table. The glasses and plates rattled from the impact.

"OW!" Dandy yelped and retried his exit. Yep. Yep, now he was wide awake. He rubbed the back of his head, letting out a yawn. His sideburns stuck to his face thanks to the leather pants. Rubbing his eyes with his wrist, Dandy looked at the food.

"It's already here?" Dandy murmured. He looked over at JP with a little tired smile. "Is it good?"

He felt when Dandy peeled his face away from his lap. That thunk and rattling of tableware would have made him shrug his shoulders up if it weren't for the collar. "Dandy!" He set his fork down and helped Dandy out from under the table. "Are you alright? You better be." He closed one of his eyes to looked at Dandy better and straightened out his jacket.

He picked his fork back up and continued eating the slice on it. "You bet it is. It's full of flavor and these pepperonis are my favorite kind. The ones with that kick of spice." He pointed at Dandy's meal, "It just got here so it's really hot. Don't try to eat it too fast."

Dandy looked at the calzone and picked it up with his hand. He took a sniff and then set it back down.

"It smells good," he commented and cut into the breading with his fork. "Did QT come in here?" Dandy asked. He saw the filling ooze out of the calzone, the heat coming off in a hot puff. Despite the warning, Dandy took a bite.

"Ack!" He fanned his mouth, trying to cool the hot bite. After some awkward cooling-hot-bite maneuvers, he managed to swallow the chunk and stuck his tongue in the ice water.

"QT? No, not yet. I was talking to him on your bracelet radio thing," He kind of wanted one too, maybe he could buy a nice one that worked as a phone when he got his next prize money. He could join a stock car race now that he thought about it. He wouldn't need to have the Trans Am ready.

He didn't have to look at Dandy to know what he had done, "I told you!" He laughed, "Please don't hurt yourself, baby." He kept up with his own method of eating, with the knife and fork.

"Dandy, I've been thinking. There's a racing organization called the AIP that hosts stock car races. I can join it and I won't need to use the Little Aloha. I can start saving up for my Trans Am that way." He didn't remember when Frisbee mentioned he was already signed up for a race on the outer moon. "What do you think about that?"

"Stock cars?" Dandy repeated. He rubbed his chin. "I don't see why not. I'm sure those'll pay well too," he shrugged as he, no wait. Blow on it. He blew on his food and then took another bite.

Dandy had forgotten what Frisbee gad told JP when it came to their racing plans. All of it sounded like another language to him, honestly.

He started to think about the Trans Am.

"How are we gonna break it to the old man? I mean, we'll still pay him we just..." Dandy let out a sigh. "Gotta keep Frisbee outta it."

"I don't want to go to the old man. Frisbee will be there. I don't want to get hurt again. I was lucky that the inside of the car has some soft areas but the garage? Those tools? You understand what I mean." JP now had more of a reason not to see Frisbee ever again and this time it had been caught by the paparazzi. "I can't go back. If I do I know I'll attack Frisbee even if I still have this collar still on." He made fists and slammed them down on the table. I'll take everything out on Joshua. I'll do it!"

Dandy saw JP getting riled up, seeing the racer slam his fists on the table.

"Whoa! Whoa, baby," he placed his hands on JP's. "You got beef and I got it too, but we don't have to waste our energy thinkin' about that douche," he rubbed JP's knuckles. "We will avoid him. Him and whoever might want a piece of ya," Dandy moved those fists to his lips, gently kissing them.

He kissed each ring and looked up at JP.

"Breathe, baby," he said softly.

"Hnnghh" JP made his fists tighter as Dandy held them. He closed his eyes tightly. "I swear if I see him..." He was no stranger to the strength of his own grip, he had made himself bleed on the track before. This wasn't one of those times. He loosened those fists and did as Dandy said. He breathed in and then out. Slowly. He felt Dandy rubbing his knuckles and kissing his rings. He let his hands uncurl. Did he even want those rings anymore..? "Stardust...Do you want to go buy me new rings when I win my next race?"

Dandy heard JP's idea about the rings and looked awestruck.

"Of course?" He tilted his head a bit in confusion. "What's wrong with them?" Dandy started to play with the rings, rotating them on JP's fingers. "They look good on ya," he looked back up at JP.

"If we getcha new ones, I still wanna get you silver ones."

"It's because -" JP watched Dandy playing with those rings on his hands. He knew Dandy had gotten used to them, after all, he always had them on his hands. He only sometimes took them off and that was to wash his hands. "Frisbee gave me all these rings. You know how I feel about him." He smiled faintly. "I rather wear ones you picked for me. Even if they look almost the same and I'll toss these out to the crowds so they can take them." He liked that idea now. Getting rid of something but making his fans happy at the same time.

Dandy stopped playing with them and then stuck out his tongue.

"We, salty nuts gave you those?" He blew a raspberry at the rings and then let out a laugh. "We'll get ya new ones. I dunno about tossin' them at people, but maybe you can sell them online or somethin'. Put that money towards your honey," Dandy explained. He took a sip of his water.

"It's healthy to get rid of stuff that makes ya think of shitty people," he commented as he took the last bite of his calzone. "You're kinda like, breakin' of chains to that past life, ya know? It feels freeing," Dandy stacked his glass onto his plate and pushed it to the middle of the table.

"And with us not usin' salty's money ta fix the Trans Am, she'll feel more like yours." Dandy nodded and rested against JP's shoulder.

"True, like in an auction thing? QT can probably do it." JP still had some of his own food left, about half of it. He started to eat again, "I like being free. Just run around and do whatever I want. Especially when what I want to do is you." He winked.

The idea of the Trans Am being more his than Frisbee's felt very satisfying. He wouldn't have to answer to the guy about where he had gone driving in the afternoon. Sometimes he just wanted to be on the road. Not speeding but just..cruising in a straight line to nowhere and coming back. "I want to fuck in the Trans Am when I get it. On the hood. Both of us inside...me hanging out the door's window while you fuck me from inside the car."

Dandy's face went red as JP talked about car sex. He could picture it and moved his arms to wrap around JP's. All of that. He wanted all of that. Dandy patted JP's arm.

"We, uh," JP couldn't see it, but Dandy was grinning. "We really need ta do that as soon as she's fixed," he beamed. Then, Dandy's hand moved down to JP's thigh. "I wonder if there's a place we could go before the guy get here..." Dandy looked around.

"I wish we still had the rental..." Then, Dandy froze. Oh shit. "The rental. The rental is still back on that shoulder!" He then started to laugh.

"AH HA HA HA!! Those people are gonna be so mad!" He wiped a tear from his eye. "You might not know this, but the rental is outta gas on the side of the road! Those two said they were gonna charge ya, but you don't even have money ta pay them!" He was all smiles until that last phrase. "Oh. Wait."

Dandy turned to JP.

"That's right. Um, baby. You're poor now," he moved his hand back onto JP's arm. What a way to tell him, Dandy.

"A place to go? Um, for what?" He finished up his food now and sipped on the remnants of his glass of water. "You mean-" He savored the next two words, "Big Dick and his wife?" He laughed but then he stopped laughing. No money to pay? Broke? Poor!? "Hahah, how can I be broke? What a joke, I still have some money." He didn't remember buying the shirts and ties at all. "Didn't they charge me when we left the lot? Why wouldn't they? Oh my god, I gotta get out of here! I'm a criminal again!!"

Dandy frowned, looking a bit panicked.

"A criminal is a strong word! I mean, we could probably find that rental and tell them we ran outta gas. I'm sure the guys can help us find it and." Dandy stopped his train of thought. They still had that rental for two weeks. These two were making plans to go jump into space and then to another planet for JP to race on. Maybe... Just maybe...

"We should, ya know, really use up the time we got with her before Big Dick gets to it," Dandy continued and looked out the window. "If that baby was fast enough to race, I'd even say we could use that thing ta race. It can go pretty fast so maybe, I dunno. Li'l street races or somethin'."

"But I don't remember where we left it." JP then stopped. Wait a minute. "They have a tracker! They can find it for us!" He clapped his hands. JP you are such a fucking genius.

"We can go to a rally track and do one on one laps. The winner joins the back and goes again until there is only one car left." JP grinned and then frowned, "but ...maybe we should get me an eyepatch so wear over this eye." He pointed at his left. "I can't drive with both open and I keep forgetting to keep it closed."

"Hey yeah! That's a good idea! And we can say someone else left it a mess in the back while we were gone..." Dandy looked up and away as he said the last part. He didn't want to be blamed for the mess in the seats. These two were already on the rental couple's shit list.

When JP mentioned an eye patch, Dandy raised an eyebrow.

"Like a pirate?" He smirked. "That sounds pretty damn cool ta me!" He wanted to encourage JP, help him feel better about this situation. "Until then, I'll drive ya around." Dandy smiled, kissing JP's cheek.

"I'm tellin' ya, those nurses said the eye thing will only last, like, a day

We won't have ta go full-pirate at the track," Dandy added. Then he playfully shrugged. "I mean, unless ya want to~" he giggled.

"Uh, yea like a pirate I guess. Do you think I'll look tough with an eyepatch?" He smiled. Only a day? He hoped so because he knew that when he tried to look at Dandy, he would look cross-eyed. Even if it took two, he would be Okay. So long as he was with Dandy. "I kinda want to wear the patch to the track. It could be an interesting challenge for me."

"Depth perception might be a bit tricky, captain..." Dandy rubbed his chin. Then, he shrugged. "You would look pretty damn cool with one on. Oh! Hey!" Dandy pointed at the skull on JP's jacket.

"You could get one like that! The one! Like on the flags!" Dandy did a gesture like he was hoisting a flag, hands pulling an indivisible rope. "The ones! The black ones!" The name escaped him.

He looked back out the window. Still no sign of the boys. Dandy rested his chin on his hands, kicking his feet under the table.

"Ya know," he glanced over at JP. "You might not remember, but you were really cute last night," Dandy smiled. He thought back. "You left our table at dinner at one point and I found ya eatin' cake at the bar," he closed his eyes. "It was nice," tilted his head, looking back out the window. "That was probably the highlight of my day. That little moment."

"Pssh, how hard can it be using just one eye?" JP crossed his arms, trying to look like a big deal. "Gotta give them a fighting chance. Otherwise what fun is there for the audience. Ya gotta keep it interesting!" It wouldn't be fun for him or everyone else if he was in the lead. So a bit of a handicap sounded nice to him. "Wait, you called me captain? Aren't you the...captain? Does that mean I'm your first mate?" He smiled a little goofily. "Aaanything for my captain!" At the mention of the skull his jacket had, he wanted to look at it. Instead, he patted where that skull was. "An eyepatch with a skull on it? hmm....wouldn't that be a little over the top? I think a nice plain black one would work."

"Hm? What is it?" He tried to remember that moment of the night but to no avail. The last thing he kept remembering was vague moments of being carried and before that when they had been in the car. "What kind of cake was I eating?"

"It was a chocolate cheesecake if I remember right," he looked back to JP. "I just got a normal one when we were hidin' out," Dandy chuckled. Then, he leaned against JP.

All of a sudden, he heard a voice coming from his bracelet.

"Where are you at?" Meow asked. Dandy looked at the gold bracelet as the feline spoke. "You guys said you were getting breakfast, right?"

"We're at a pizza place," Dandy explained. Meow was quiet, possibly looking over the radar on his end. "Over by a hospital. Not in that town we were in."

"Why are you way over there?" Meow sounded confused. Dandy squinted and spoke up again.

"Because we are. Where are you?" The alien hunter felt like the little bit of patience he had left was slipping away.

"We're next to your rental. We found it on the side of the road. We're in Hawaiian Yankee mode right now. We plan to carry the car with us."

Dandy had the dumbest smile on his face now. Those guys. Man when they did well: they really did well.

"Yeah, we had to cross the river to get this far. I thought you would have been closer to the junkyard," QT commented. "We're almost right next to it now."

"Don't go in there!! Come straight here, got it?!" Dandy shouted into the receiver.

JP stayed quiet while Dandy and his crew talked. He still wanted one of those things. "Hey so, if I'm broke and you're broke. How are we going to fill the car up with gas? Do I gotta get a line of credit?" He hadn't opened one. He only had his checking account but based on who he was, there was no way that he wouldn't be able to get a credit card.

"Yea! We're at uhhh L'Ottavo Ristorante? Some Italian thing, that's what is said on the menu. Is Italy a planet? We should go there when we get into space, haha."

"We can pay for the gas after we register this big alien," QT commented. "I'm surprised that you're poor, but then again you are homeless," he added, his voice blunt due to his robotic nature.

"Ease up, bud," Dandy frowned. "Just get here and get here fast. We wanna get back on our ship pronto. I look like hell and we both could use a shower," he looked over his white shirt. God, he felt gross...

"We should be there in about twenty minutes! Get ready!" QT replied and ended the call. Dandy leaned back in the booth, letting out a sigh.

"A shower sounds so damn good right now, baby..." He tilted his head back, thinking about that warm water hitting his skin. Being able to restyle his hair. Put in his new shirts JP bought--

"OH SHIT! Our shirts!" Dandy sat up and quickly turned to JP. "You have no idea what I'm talkin' about but my new shirts are in the old man's garage!" He let out a whine and placed his head on the table.

"The things I coulda done with those ties!" He looked up from his spot, his hands dramatically gripping at the sky. "The kinky shit we coulda done with those ties, baby!!"

"Oh shit. I am homeless." JP realized but then he furrowed his eyebrows, "Then again I'm always homeless? I just sleep in hotel rooms." He touched his cheek and looked down at the table. Did that count as a home? No, right?

"Hey, don't worry about no shirts! when I win that race in the rental I'll buy you better ones! I don't know what we bought but for sure better!" JP reached up and flailed to grab Dandy's arm. "I promise and I'll get us some real kinky things to use. Harnesses and ropes!" Then he slapped his hand over his mouth. They were in a restaurant. Fuck he forgot!

Dandy's face went red as he placed his hands over his head. Oh god, he can't listen to this right now. He slowly looked over at JP, seeing that mouth covered.

"Let's step outside and you can tell me that stuff," he gestured towards the door. "I need ta get some fresh air," Dandy fanned himself. God, he could go for some of that talk right about now.

Space 🌟 Himbos

29 L'Ottavo Ristorante

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