Hide Your Heart

The First Week As More Than Friends

After waking up with a slight hangover and a stiff neck, Paul eased Tommy off his chest and slowly unfolded himself to a standing position.  Stretching, he worked the kinks out and went to the kitchen to start cleaning.

He had noticed a spark in his new boyfriend's eyes as they had shared food and wine. "Maybe being spoiled is what Tom needs." said Paul to himself. "I don't want to push things too far too fast though."

As Paul finished cleaning, he heard Tommy waking up and called out ,"I'm in the kitchen, sweetheart." "We apparently made a mess."

"Give me a few and I'll be there to help." came a sleepy reply.

"Already taken care of."

Tommy came in, eyes still red and watery, trying to wake up and not stumble over anything at the same time. "We ate all this?" He shook his head and opened the dishwasher. Steam hit him in the face. "The first set is done." He left the door open to get rid of the steam before putting them away. As he started loading the dishwasher again, Paul walked over and wrapped his arms around Tommy holding him close. "I saw the spark of happiness in your eyes earlier. Did you like being spoiled a bit?"

"I.....I....think so. I....I....mean, I'm not anybody special but it was nice. Thanks."

Biting back a sarcastic remark, Paul sighed and said, "Tommy, you're special to me. ""I enjoyed it. Please let me do little things for you."

"I'm not going to turn anything down." "I want to do the same, I just don't know exactly what though." 

"We'll find things we like doing together."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that day, the two had gone to try out a new restaurant that Paul had hear about from Gene. "Simmons and Mensinger have weird tastes. I hope this is good." 

"Lord, if Eric had anything to do with this, I'm not sure if I wanna try it." laughed Tommy. "He begged me to try some pizza place near his house so I went. It was awful. We couldn't even eat it."

"Gene took me to a pasta place. I left after finding out the pasta was squid mixed with noodles. Gene ate three plates."

"Squid?" asked Tommy, making a face. "EEEWWWW!!!!" 

"Believe me, it smelled." replied Paul.

"It smells like chocolate chip cookies."

The waiter came to take their drink order after they were seated. "Would you care for appetizers?"

Tommy ordered chips and salsa while Paul ordered cheese sticks. They both decided to order steak and salads for the entrees as well as sharing a pitcher of margaritas.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later, the couple left after finishing their meal. Splitting the bill had seemed like the best thing to do in order not to argue over who was paying it.

"Well, I suppose Gene was right about this one.  I bet Eric hasn't eaten here yet or we would have heard about it already. Especially since it had a fish pond." said Tommy. "I only know about the fish because I almost stepped on it going to the restroom. It's in the floor but it's covered with glass."

"Was....I kinda cracked the glass with my boot heels." said Paul, blushing a bit. "I walked off real quick."

Tommy looked at Paul and started laughing. "Wow!" 

He continued laughing as they got back in the car. Paul's face lit up to hear Tommy finally happy.