Cuddles to Go
Percy and James sharing a moment together in the car. | Sorry for reupload, was having MAJOR formatting issues.
Percy and James' singing bounced off the walls of their busted up old sedan as it idled in the drive-through at a local sandwich shop, their deharmonised vocals in tones that would sound off to anyone else but which were perfect to them. They were bopping their heads together, rocking in time to the beat of the music playing through their newly-upgraded stereo. James' tail wagged against Percy's lap as he remembered Percy surprising him on his birthday with a new set of speakers for their car, and with a tinge of amusement recalled how much Percy had struggled to actually install the thing, his heavily-furred paws working against him.
The car wobbled side to side with their unbalanced movements, their weight being concentrated on the driver's seat. James had decided to forgo a seatbelt to instead climb into Percy's lap as he drove, snuggling up close. Ever since the husky had arrived in his city, the two had been wanting to spend as much time touching either as they could, whether it was Percy resting his head on James' shoulder or something so simple as a paw placed on a knee- they had gone for so long without being able to feel each other that the idea of not using all this newfound time was unbearable.
Percy paused his singing for a moment to take a breath before the first chorus before belting out the lyrics as best as he knew: "And I scream for the sunlight, for a car to take me anywhere!" A huge, genuine grin graced his face, all traces of anxiety gone as he relished the present- there was something so incredibly special about just sitting and singing with his boyfriend in the car, letting themselves go and not being afraid to be a doof in front of each other. It was... perfect.
Too soon though, the cars in front of them pulled out of the drive-thru and Percy had to throw the rickety car in drive, inching closer to the window. He reached a paw over, thinking he should turn down the speakers, but James reached out and stopped him, holding the hand in his loving grip.
"Hey... don't worry about the volume. Let's just keep singing together, alright? Who cares what they think?"
Percy hesitated for a moment before wrapping his extended arm around James, pulling his friend closer into him, his chest pressed up into the canine's back so tight that he was sure James could feel his heartbeat. They continued singing for a few moments before they pulled up to the window, and Percy had to lean to the side a bit to pick up his order.
The otter working the window giggled as she saw James' carefree expression as he sang, her eyes twinkling a little bit. She disappeared into the kitchen to grab the bags of food Percy was grabbing and reappeared a few moments later, still smiling.
"So you're the ones blaring Bright Eyes?" she teased, a playful tilt to her head to show that she was just messing with the pair. Percy, in typical Percy fashion, completely missed up on the cues and thought she was being serious.
"Oh! Yeah, we.. uh,,, I'm sorry-" he stuttered out, tensing up a little underneath James, his legs and stomach clenching a bit with sudden social anxiety.
The cheetah's smile softened, and she giggled, glancing away for a second to check on the status of a couple orders behind them, swiping a few times on the tablet to verify things were being cooked and made for the right orders. After she finished, she turned back to the couple.
"Nonono! You're perfectly fine... I think you're really cute together. Y'all are adorable just sitting there singing, I promise." A snap from one of the workers beside her distracted her, and she had to fill in on the headset, asking what the next customer's order would be. She looked back up at the two and mouthed Y'all have a good rest of your night before turning back to her tablet, giving them a waved goodbye.
Percy blushed at her compliments, a gentle purple flush filling his face.
"So... She thinks we look cute together- I think I can see that, I do have a pretty damn cute guy on my lap..."
"Oh, stop it hun. It takes two people to make a cute couple," James said back, turning to the side a bit to plant a kiss on Percy's cheek, holding the contact for a second. His lips were warm and slobbery compared to the chilly dryness of his nose. A little shiver racked through Percy at the contrasting temperatures and feels of the two parts of James. He shook his head and nuzzled into James' shoulder, burying his muzzle in the heavy fur there.
"So, you said this place is pretty good, huh?" he mumbled out, his voice a little muffled by the mouthful of fur he held. James nodded eagerly at him, already ripping into one of the bags, pulling out a long sandwich, its wrapper crinkly and covered with a red and white checkerboard pattern. The scent of roast beef wafted up from the bag and sandwich, and both of the canines' tongues fell out of their maws to slobber at salivating chops almost at the exact same time.
"Yesyesyes!" James said, beginning to unwrap his prize. "I've been coming here since I was a kid, they make the best sandwiches I've everrrr had! You'll love it."
"Hmm,,, on a scale of how much I love... let's say- anchovies! To how much I love you, where do you think it'll rank?"
"Probably around a 'pizza' level. Not bad, but nowhere near this fluffy boio," James teased, taking a big bite of his roast beef. He munched happily on his bite, offering the other end of the sandwich to Percy. "Here, try it," he mumbled from around the clumps of meat before closing his eyes to just savour his food. Percy accepted the sandwich and took a small nibble of the bread before chomping down on the very end, biting off a decent-sized mouthful to chew. His eyes lit up as soon as the meat hit his tongue, his tail swishing against the side of the chair.
"It's really good!" he got out pretty clearly, being an expert at talking while his mouth was full of... other things. "Like, really, really good. Mmmph!"
Swallowing down his mouthful, James reached back for the sandwich, hoping to grab another bite, but Percy held it teasingly out of his reach, nomming down the last few bits of his mouthful. "So good, in fact, that it's replacing you! Sorry, I'm in love with this sandwich now."
"Pfft, be quiet silly. And give me that sandwich!" he said, diving off of Percy's lap to reach the sandwich. Having pounced for it and hunted it, he sat in the other seat, out of Percy's reach, to nibble contentedly on little slivers of roast beef poking out from in between the twin slabs of bread. Percy couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight, his puppy boyfriend crouching like a cat with a bird he had just caught.
Percy rubbed his paws on the steering wheel and looked at James with happy eyes. "I love you so much, James. You have no idea." The Bernese smirked and mumbled something with his mouth full that Percy could only make out a couple of words from: bread and love. He shook his head, grinning. After a second his grin faded and he looked at James with a sincere expression. "No, I'm serious. I love you, babe. You make me so happy."
James looked at him for a moment before clambering back over and catching him with a surprise kiss, opening up his maw, still half-full with roast beef. Percy moved into the kiss eagerly at first, but when his tongue ran into the mound of half-chewed food he pulled back, apprehensive. With glimmering eyes and a wagging tail, James spit his mouthful of food into Percy's mouth and backed off again, giggling at Percy's shocked expression. The husky was torn between chewing it and swallowing it down and spitting it out, and he kinda tried to both at the same time, a very poor combination. He ended up coughing and choking on the meat, with a couple globs falling from his mouth to land on his white shirt.
His boyfriend looked on with curious concern, not sure if he should be feeling sorry, trying to help him, or laughing his ass off. In the end, he settled with the third. After a minute or so of coughing, Perce choked down the glob of food, and he glared at James, the corners of his mouth lifting up into a tiny little half-grin.
"Never, ever ever ever do that again. It was absolutely awful!" he said, unable to keep a shocked grin off his face. James just batted his eyes innocently at him, trying to keep a smirk off his face.
"I hunted it for you... I was just sharing with my mate..."
"Oh, c'mere you," Perce said while reaching over to pull his canine into a tight embrace, a little giggle escaping his throat. James couldn't hold back his laughs, either, and they began to chortle together, both of them thinking about what had just happen. They stayed that way for a bit, holding each other close and just laughing, not wanting to let go. After a couple minutes, James pulled away and looked into Percy's eyes, grinning.
"That was pretty gross, wasn't it?"
"Absolutely disgusting," Percy confirmed.