By My Side
Hal sits on the floor. He's playing with two of Dave's dogs, Sunshine and Gregory. Dave watches from the couch. It's hard not to. Hal's beautiful.
Dave blinks. Where did that come from? They've only known each other, what, two weeks. Not that he's not attracted to Hal.
Snake? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Dave says, "Why wouldn't it be?"
"You were staring." Hal's glasses are on the floor, probably knocked off by the dogs, and he squints up at Dave.
Next to Dave, Enna whines. She's a corgi-husky mix, half trained as a therapy dog.
"I'm so sorry," Dave tells her, "I'll never do it again."
He hugs her and kisses her head. Hal laughs. He's so cute when he laughs, and Dave decides he'll do anything, no matter how silly, to make Hal laugh.
"I love you, Enna!" he says as enthusiastically as he can.
Hal laughs again. Sunshine decides to take that moment to stick her nose into his ear. Hal giggles and falls over.
"Sunshine!" Dave scolds her. Then to Hal he says, "Sorry, that's just a thing she does. She's a weirdo."
Sunshine turns to him, wagging her tail.
"Yes you are," he says, "Such a little weirdo."
Sunshine comes up to him, puts her head in his lap, and continues to wag her tail.
"Weirdo," he tells her.
"Aw, don't be mean to her," Hal says.
Dave smiles and shakes his head. Hal's just so... nice. It's really refreshing, and Dave loves him for it.
Okay, wow. Way too soon.
"You're staring again," Hal says.
"Oh, sorry," Dave says, "I was... thinking about something."
He slides off the couch to sit next to Hal. Enna jumps off the couch and climbs onto Hal's lap.
"Hello," he says giggling.
Sunshine licks Dave's face. Gregory lays down next to Hal.
"So, fun fact," Dave says, "When I first adopted her, I didn't realize she was a girl. So, uh, that's what's up with the name."
Hal laughs, petting Gregory. She wags her tail.
"She also likes to be a pillow," Dave says.
"Really?" Hal asks.
"Yup," Dave says, "No idea why."
Hal nudges Enna off his lap. He lays down and rests his head on Gregory's side. She cranes her neck around and licks the top of Hal's head. He giggles.
Dave smiles at him. He really is beautiful.
"So, uh," Hal says nervously, "D-do you, uh, w-want kids?"
"What?" Dave asks blankly.
"Uh, w-well, at Shadow Moses, um," Hal says, "Uh, n-nevermind."
His face is bright red.
"'S not like it matters," Dave shrugs.
"Huh?"
"I can't have kids," Dave says, "I'm sterile."
"Oh. Sorry," Hal says awkwardly.
Sunshine licks his face. He kisses her nose.
"Doesn't bother me," Dave says.
It's not entirely true. He's always kinda wanted kids, but he'd resigned himself to never having them. But with Hal...
He coughs.
"Much," he adds.
Hal nods.
"Who needs kids when you've got dogs," he says solemnly.
Dave laughs. His feelings for Hal may be weird and confusing, but he knows he cares a lot about him.