Young Writers Society

Bear wondered for a moment why Thytes was giving him the drink order, but soon noticed a young waiter standing off to the side. The very masculine person was nervously holding their pen, tapping it back and forth on their order book. He could see the stains of the last three bowls of soup on the edge of the person’s shoes and felt very bad for the situation they were in.

He held tightly onto his menu while saying, “I'll have whiskey.”

The waiter kept his gaze for a second, and then moved over to Francis.

The werewolf leaned across the table and asked, “Do you have any cherry juice behind the bar?”
After a quick nod from the waiter, Francis crossed his legs the other way, slipped a piece of paper under their tray and said, “Thanks, doll. I’ll have a Shirley Temple.”

If it wasn't for the sound of the pen tapping against the book, Lunis wouldn't have turned to notice Francis handing the waiter a piece of paper. "Francis, I don't think the waiter is a doll," the panther said, looking them up and down. "And why are you giving them paper?"

Francis heard the questions but kept his focus on the walk of the waiter leaving their vicinity. If he could just focus on that object for a moment, perhaps the question would just be forgotten.

The confused look when he finally turned back to Lunis proved otherwise. He placed a hand over one of Lunis’s paws and explained with the sweetest voice he could manage.
“Calling someone doll is just like calling them honey or moon pie or sweetheart. And I can bet you by the looks of that boy, he would be a doll on a date.”

Another suggestive cough came from Bear’s position at the table and Francis backed off his current target.

Lunis didn't know what to make of Francis setting a hand on his paw, but at least the werewolf was giving him an explanation. Sort of. "Oh, so that's that thing that couples do where they call each other names because it's cute or something," the panther said, glancing over at the lion. "Thytes never really did that, but Zech sometimes calls me a-"

"Something that would likely be inappropriate to discuss at this table," Thytes said, politely smiling and nodding. "And you never asked me to do so, so I did not." The lion then looked over at Bear. "So, while we wait for our drinks, should we consider what food we might be ordering? I would happily share a meal with you."

Francis was very disappointed by Thytes shushing Lunis. If something were deemed inappropriate by a fellow like this, it would probably be something a werewolf like Francis would balk at.

"I'm sure it couldn't have been that inappropriate of a thing. It's not like Bear is laying crime scene photographs out on the table or anything."

Bear shot Francis another glare, adding a low sigh. In his mind, he was growling, but that clearly wouldn't be appropriate either. And Bear was trying to keep this conversation on track. While letting his hand creep back over to Thytes's thigh, he answered the lion's inquiry.

"This is the kind of place where the table might share an appetizer or two, and then each person is satisfied with their sandwich," Bear paused while glancing at the first page. "How do you think you'd like onion rings?"

Thytes noticed Francis's disappointment, but didn't bring it up. The lion was reasonably sure he knew what Lunis was talking about, and it wasn't necessarily inappropriate unless Lunis explained it. Which Lunis typically did.

"I dunno what photographs are," the panther said, glancing over at Francis, "But Zech and I probably could've made it look like a crime scene."

With a loud cough, Thytes follow Bear's gaze to the menu. "Oh, I have not particularly known onions to be appetizing, but I will trust your judgment," the lion said, giving Bear a smile. Thytes knew Bear had started moving his hand back to the lion's thigh, but didn't call attention to it - the lion wanted to pretend to be surprised.

"Bear is lying when telling y'all that there's any actual onions in onion rings. I doubt this place serves anything more than minced onion particles thrown together with some egg and bread crumbs."

Bear kicked Francis under the table. The werewolf was being ruder than usual and Bear didn't need their guests getting upset. And he definitely didn't need a waitress spitting in their dinner.

"Francis, I think you can manage to have some manners around our guests." Bear turned to Thytes and asked, "Is there a second appetizer that you'd like to pick? They've got lots of options."

He hid the part that most of the options were fried and further hoped Thytes wouldn't be turned off by that aspect.

Hmm - Lunis hadn't been expecting to, but now he found himself a little fond of Francis. Francis didn't make much sense half of the time, but he seemed to be getting on Bear's nerves, which Lunis thought was pretty funny. And Francis didn't mind Lunis talking about his relationship.

"Why are they giving us the breadcrumbs before we eat our sandwiches?" Lunis said, scooting a little closer to Francis. "Breadcrumbs aren't food, even with an egg."

But Thytes ignored this very important question to stare at Bear's menu. "I think I would like to try these," the lion started, squinting at one of the menu's words. "...Nachos, if you would not mind. It seems like it is accompanied by an inordinate amount of melted cheese, but I will do my best not to make a mess."

"Making a mess is the whole point," Lunis said, leaning back. "I don't want my food to look all neat and tidy - I want to eat it."

Multiple jokes about nacho cheese ran through Francis's head, but he was suppressing his 'rude behavior' for the sake of Bear. He really did want to see how much he could confuse Lunis. That would be a fun experiment to work on as the evening went on.

Francis would just have to wait until everyone was a bit more drunk.

He flagged their passing waiter with an "Oh doll, we're ready to order our first round of food and our second round of drinks."

Another glare shot across from Bear and another set of confusion from others at the table.

Bear, amid the surprise entrance of the waiter, glanced through the menu once again and quietly ordered the beginning of their meal. When the waiter questioned about another round of drinks, he assured the boy all they needed was a few glasses of water.

Nope, now matter how closely Lunis looked, the waiter didn't look anything like a doll. Eugh. At least the group had ordered some food.

"Oh, asking for water was an exceptional idea," Thytes said to Bear once the waiter had left. "The more I can keep myself from becoming too drunk, or waking up with a hangover, the better."

Lunis snorted. "The point of drinking is to get drunk," he said. "Duh."

To be fair to Lunis, getting drunk was a very good reason for drinking. But even Francis had to agree that he would like to remain as sober as possible as the evening went on.

There were several points of reasoning for this and they were enough to keep him focused on the task at hand. If Bear got too drunk and didn’t go home with Thytes, Francis would have to drive him home. If Lunis fell into the seduction of Francis’s charms, he would be driving all of them home. Bear and Thytes would probably be sucking face in the backseat, but every scenario had Francis driving.

The werewolf pushed the straw around in his drink a few more times before saying, “Personally, I can find plenty of reasons to drink.”

"But you don't need to have a reason," Lunis said, suddenly looking like he considered himself an expert on the subject. Thytes had known him long enough to say that was a yes.

The lion smiled. "Save for wanting to have a good time with friends, taking the edge off of a difficult day, making some mildly bad personal health decisions, or lowering inhibitions around partners, of course."

"Sure, whatever," the panther shot back, trying not to sound like he was talking too quickly as Thytes made that last point about inhibitions.

Bear was thankful that Francis was finally holding his tongue. The continuing dramatics from the panther seemed to be annoying everyone. He could see the patience slowly draining from Thytes's face and slid closer to the lion on the seat.

"While we wait, maybe we should catch up on the things going on in each other's lives. Carter said that there was some trouble with you in a dress?"

Francis gave Bear a look and smirked while the deputy and the lion exchanged embarrassed glances. He was waiting for them to fall together into the throes of passion. Lunis was sighing beside him as Francis kept sipping at his drink, waiting for the evening to go to Hell.

Ignoring Bear's intro to coffee chat, he turned to the panther and asked, "So Lunis, how about that ketchup?"

Looking over at Bear, Thytes pulled his head back slightly, biting his lip. "Er, a friend asked me to accompany her to a masquerade ball," the lion said, cheeks stinging, "And I wanted to try out a new dress that I had bought the week before, so I accepted the offer. She might have persuaded me to pretend to be the father of a family?"

"I bet you had some annoying kids," the panther said, before focusing on Francis. "And what's with the ketchup? What's ketchup?"

Francis held back on saying anything about how he wanted to see Bear and Thytes's children, instead continuing along the discussion about ketchup.

"Ketchup is most definitely a magical thing."

If Bear hadn't known better, he would say Thytes was holding a blush. He currently knew better because the lion was quite obviously blushing. The color could be coming from the rising temperature in the restaurant or it could be coming from the position of Bear's hand. He didn't want to ruin the moment but it was a tempting moment.

"What sort of dress was it, Thytes?"

Hopefully their appetizers would arrive soon.