Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 21 - Lunch

It was still light out. Roger checked the time. It was about noon, slightly after it.

He had planned on grabbing something to eat after the movie, and it still seemed viable. Besides, he thought, it might help calm the wolf down a bit from the past couple hours. He felt a twinge of guilt about the proceedings.

He had not realized that Hunter would react that way, but he figured that he should no longer be surprised, since it seemed every single thing he thought about Hunter ended up being a premature judgment on his part. His misconceptions were piling up, and he recognized it, yet could not really help it. He wanted, to try, though.

They headed toward the food court nearby. It was full of plenty of not-quite-fast food places. Many of them would cook the type of food you wanted when requested, but they also offered food that had already been made and was ready for consumption. He looked around and then shook his head. He did not really feel like eating this kind of food at the moment.

It was not really the food that bothered him; he wanted a place to sit down for a moment. Even though they had been sitting a while already, he had been sitting at an awkward angle previously and wished to recover from it. Aside from that, he also wanted to give the wolf a chance to calm down, and he figured there would be at least a little bit of time killed whilst waiting for the end of the day.

Still, no matter what he decided, as he reflected, he was merely grasping at ideas. Everything he had done thus far seemed to be wrong and the only way to make things better was to simply let go and let things proceed. It was futility that he faced, yet up to this point he had never needed to. Everything was simple, everything was easy. He knew he could solve anything if he set his mind to it, yet the solution to this problem seemed to elude him. The closer he thought he got, the further it actually was.

He looked at the wolf. Hunter had been looking around, gulping every so often. He apparently was hungry, and all the smells in the area only made it worse. He did not seem to have any qualms about what he ate, but he did not really commit to going to any single place.

Roger patted his forearm with the back of his paw to grab his attention. "Let's go somewhere else, this stuff will kill you."

The wolf nodded and turned to follow, but his eyes and head partially remained turned toward the food court. Still, he left obediently.

They made their way to a small burger restaurant toward the side of the mall. It was not necessarily high-class food and the prices were not exorbitant, but it was a class higher than that of the food court. They could at least sit down, which is what the fox had desired.

It was not long before they found themselves seated at a table, looking at their menus. Roger slowly came to a decision on what to eat, as he normally did. He was not a picky eater, but as a result, it was difficult to really decide on what to eat. There were just too many choices.

The wolf, however, managed to find the lowest priced item on the menu and selected it. He told Roger what he wanted, and Roger refused.

"I know you're doing it for the cost. Don't even worry about it, just get something you want, okay?" the fox said. The wolf's eyes moved around the menu awkwardly and lingered on an item that the fox could not see.

Hunter's brows furrowed and he gave an awkward sort of smile, seemingly hesitant. "Are you... sure?" he asked, folding his ears.

Roger blushed lightly. A thought passed through his mind, but he shook it off.

He nodded. "Yeah, it's fine...." He looked away for a moment, then back at the wolf who apparently had already selected what he wanted.

The waiter came, took their orders, and went off to bring it to the kitchen. Roger had ordered a burger that he always did whenever he came to the place, which was not very often. It was something he knew he would like, so he did not feel the need to change what he ate. Hunter ordered a similar burger, with a few differences in the ingredients.

The fox had advised the wolf that the portions were large for a burger place, so the wolf had not ordered more than the burger itself. Had the fox not said that he seemed prepared to order much more. Roger was not rich, but he knew he could handle at least some of the stuff in the mall, but not extravagant orders.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment. The fox did not really look directly at Hunter as he knew his mind would wander without any conversation to distract him. He could not think of anything to say to the wolf, and he hoped that there would be a prompt somewhere. He thought to speak about the movie, but it had scared the wolf so, and he did not feel it was best to bring that back up. He thought about future plans, what to do after eating. He figured they would return to the house.

Hunter had been looking at him the whole time and the sound of his tail brushing against the seat was audible. Time was passing and yet he did not break his gaze. Roger fidgeted in his seat.

Finally, the fox looked at the wolf, who merely smiled back. He felt his cheeks flush and wanted to look away, but made an effort not to. He folded his ears back unconsciously and ducked closer to the table.

The wolf furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "What's wrong?"

Roger shook his head. "Nothing, I just..." he trailed off.

Hunter tilted his head, prompted, but before the fox answered, the waiter had arrived and placed the food on the table. It was indeed a large portion, and he always felt as if he would not be able to finish it, but he always did.

They ate in silence. Hunter finished in almost half the time that the fox did, drank almost twice the amount, and seemed excited for no particular reason. Roger was hurrying with his food, feeling as if he were holding them back with his slow eating.

When he finished, he paid the bill and continued sitting at the table. The wolf had not moved from his position, still looking at him intensely.

Roger felt uneasy and shifted. He did not know the reason the wolf looked at him so intently, though he had several ideas from which he speculated. The way the wolf wagged and smiled, it was something positive, but he did not really see anything too positive about the situation aside from them having been well-fed and not having to go to school at the moment.

Perhaps the wolf saw something funny. He could have managed to get some food on his face or shirt without noticing. He quickly checked but found nothing, but it did not mean that he did not miss anything. He looked at the wolf, who did not shift. "Is there something on my face?" he asked awkwardly.

The wolf shook his head. A brief moment of silence passed where the wolf merely smiled and wagged while the fox sat confused. The wolf then asked, "So what's next?"

Roger sighed. He figured it would be something negative, but that seemed to be the pattern lately. He shrugged in response, but said, "Not sure, but before we head back, I'd like to hop over to the store, if that's alright."

The wolf nodded, stood up and beckoned. "Let's go," he said, and lead the way.

Roger followed, unsure of what the wolf was truly excited about. He questioned whether or not the mall was really the best place to have gone.