A.N.— Hello! Here we are with the next chapter! I'd like to give a shout out to my bestie Insert-meaningful-username for making a guest cameo here in this chapter (and probably next chapter as well) behind a couple characters!
Warning, I did permit her the allowance of one swear word.
Chapter 2: The Pasta Barn
As Blowhole parked the car, Kowalski was already looking out the window in a state of pure curiosity and confusion.
"Never in a hundred years would I have expected this." He gasped and looked back at him. "The Pasta Barn? Are you sure we're fine to go in during daytime hours?"
"Oh yeah, I've come here plenty of times. They usually set up a private table for me and everything, don't worry."
"And they don't call Animal Control? Or the zoo?"
"Nah, the restaurant manager and I have an agreement. They give me stellar service and I make it worth their while." He shrugged as he got out, pulling out his Segway from the back seat.
Kowalski hopped out with a glance at him. "So…You bribe them?"
"Yes, I bribe them."
Guess that's one of the many advantages to not being broke…Or having a boyfriend who at least was pretty rich. Though how much of that money was legally obtained probably wasn't a question he would ever ask. He couldn't even play moral high ground there, not after all the money they won cheating at the French Casino.
Being rich was nice while it lasted…Too bad they were young and had little concept of money management at the time. That could have helped fund so, so many projects nowadays. Alas—
"Kowalski?"
The penguin jumped and looked up at him. "Hmm?"
"...You okay? You looked a little lost in thought?" The dolphin raised a brow, offering a flipper down to him to bring him up to the Segway basket.
"Oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking a bit about something from a long time ago." He chuckled, shaking his head as he took his flipper up to the basket. "Thank you."
"You don't have some Italian restaurant-related trauma, right?"
Kowalski shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. I was thinking of French casinos."
Blowhole looked down at him, blinking his one eye before shaking his head and rolling towards the restaurant's door. "I'm not even going to attempt to understand how one led to the other."
After entering, Francis gestured for him to hand him his phone from the basket. He swiped and opened a text to speech app as he approached the hostess. She was a ginger with curly, unkempt hair and dark eyes. The initial smile on her freckled face was as fake as anyone who was working somewhere just for the paycheck and not because they really love Italian cuisine.
"Hi, Welcome ta Pasta— What the fuck." As the hostess looked up to greet the incoming guests, the redhead waitress was flabbergasted at the sight of the cyborg-ish dolphin, and the little penguin in his basket. Clearly, judging by her gawking face… She was new here.
At her reaction, Blowhole rolled his eyes and typed onto his phone. "Tell Mr Martini his special reservation is here. And please, watch the obscenities for my boyfriend, thank you."
"I thought you said they were familiar with you?" Kowalski looked up at him.
He glanced back down at him. "She's new. Obviously Martini hasn't given her the 411 about my occasional visits yet."
Though, rather than going over to the manager's office as asked, the ginger just continued to stare in surprise at him. Her eyes then squinted at them… Before she gently poked Kowalski's stomach, as if to see if he was real or not.
"Hey, this isn't a petting zoo." Kowalski squawked, and stepped back.
After that, Blowhole picked up his penguin with one flipper, typing with the other. "Do you not speak English? Get Mr. Martini." He frowned.
Giving the dolphin an annoyed, yet confused, glare, she huffed and walked off to the manager's office. "Should've known workin at a restaurant was a bad idea," she grumbled with a shaking, tired head.
"Humans." The dolphin shook his own head. "How they're the dominant species, I'll never understand."
"To be fair, we're two animals at a human establishment in broad daylight with no disguise."
"They just need to get used to it. When I eventually take over the world, I'll be going where I want, when I want. Humans can suck it."
Kowalski gave him a look. "And here I thought you said you were cutting back."
"Oh, I am…But it's still on my to do list." He gently sat him back in the basket.
"Mmhmm." His boyfriend eyed him, perhaps not fully convinced.
"Don't give me that look."
"What look?"
Blowhole squinted at him before sighing deeply. Perhaps humans weren't the only thing trying his patience, but he shouldn't be surprised. After earlier? Of course Kowalski's going to be sassy, he's in a mood. Plus the whole molting thing. It'll get better once they're seated and he gets a taste of what the world ought to be like. Also wine. It may only be the afternoon, but it was a special occasion. It's fine. They'll be fine.
He reached over and softly petted Kowalski's head. Odd. That strangely made him feel a little better, calmer at least. He did seem softer than the last time he had been around him. He must have been using that coconut oil treatment he had suggested.
His attention was then drawn away from petting his penguin boyfriend at the approaching motion of that red-head and finally, Mr Martini.
Upon seeing the dolphin, the manager's face twisted quickly into a grin. "Ah, if it isn't my favorite customer— and dolphin," Martini chuckled, clapping his hands together as he then moved his attention towards Kowalski. "Ohhh, and you brought a guest, too. Doing something a little more fancy tonight, eh?"
Although the man seemed overjoyed by the sight of a dolphin and penguin… the redhead just weirdly stared.
Blowhole nodded with a small smile. When it came to humans he'd pick to survive when he one day, perhaps, takes over the world, Martini and Chuck Charles were some of the few.
"Yes, it's a date. We would like my usual private table."
Kowalski wagged his tail slightly with a nervous, excited smile. This whole talking to humans directly was…certainly out of his ordinary, besides the occasional child they have traumatized. But that's beside the point.
"Oh a date? Heh heh heh, say no more." With a wide grin, the restaurant manager then turned to the waitress… but noticed her puzzled expression. "Bridget, we talked about the staring. You can't stare at customers."
The redhead snaps out of it, clearing her throat. "But, Mr. Martini… they're—"
"Trust me, toots. This is Jersey. You'll see weirder," he muttered before gesturing. "Grab some menus and take them to the back. The nice, reserved tables."
Although wishing to continue arguing with her boss, the ginger just sighed and did as she was told.
Martini chuckled a bit as he faced Blowhole again. "Eh, don't mind her, she's new. Hasn't adjusted quite yet. Your usual waiter called out." He shrugged.
At least his usual waiter wasn't fired or anything. That was alright though, he'd just have to help train this newbie into being proper dolphin server material.
"Thanks." He nodded to Martini before rolling after Bridget to the aforementioned private tables.
As entertaining as making the humans gawk and trip over themselves can be, some days a wealthy dolphin would rather just have a nice, peaceful Italian meal with as few humans as possible. The private tables were perfect for that. Usually, the only humans to be dealt with would be the waiter and or Martini. And with today being a special lunch date, he certainly wanted as few humans as possible to interrupt them. He needed this to go well enough to smooth things over again.
Upon reaching the table, however, he then realized a flaw in his planning. Kowalski was too small for sitting on the chairs to reach the table...Perhaps he should ask for a booster seat for him? Or perhaps there was another option for seating they could bring for him?
The dolphin's brow furrowed as he thought this over, glancing at the table, then Kowalski, and the chairs, and back again.
As the waitress placed their menus down, she stepped back away from them… before noticing the lack of sitting … and, coincidentally, the confusion plastered on his face. "… Aye… can I help ya?" She raised a brow.
"Yes. Is it possible to have a taller chair brought to the table?" He looked at the ginger and nodded towards Kowalski.
Bridget glanced between him and the penguin. "… Oh, uh, y-yeah. Yeah I can grab maybe a booster or high-bar chair." She nodded before setting off to fetch it.
"Maybe she'll bring back a bar chair, rather than a high chair." He sighed, shaking his head.
Kowalski snorted with amusement. "Bar chair would be preferred, but I will make do with whatever she brings. If needed, I guess I can always sit on the table."
"Perhaps I should make a note of things to work on blueprints for, an adjustable sitting arrangement for small animals." The dolphin tapped his rostrum as he thought.
"...Like a booster seat?"
"No, not a booster seat. It'd be its own seat, just adjustable and collapsible so it would be easy to carry but could be expanded to make it more accessible."
Kowalski turned and looked up at him. "So a telescopic bar stool essentially?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"I will admit, something like that would probably come in handy...At least for our dates." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Exactly."
Luckily for both the Bottlenose and Adelie, their ginger waitress brought over a bar stool for the couple, swapping it for the other chair. "There. Is uh, that good?" She gestured to it, tilting her head.
Both of the animals nodded. Blowhole then helped Kowalski onto the stool, gently pushing it in before rolling over to the other chair and taking a seat. He carefully swung his tail over to the side, so as not to be directly against the table base.
"Thanks." He nodded again to the waitress. He handed Kowalski a menu as he picked up one for himself. "Any idea what you may like to eat?"
Kowalski looked at the menu thoughtfully, adjusting his glasses. "Uh..."
"Want my recommendations?"
"Sure."
Blowhole nodded, flipping through the menu. "They have a decent shrimp scampi. It's probably my favorite thing here."
"I haven't had shrimp in awhile, you know, I think I might give that a try." The penguin nodded. Seemed simple enough anyhow than getting bogged down with so many other options.
Bridget adjusted her tie as she glanced at the two. "… Can I… getcha anythin ta drink first?"
Sitting the phone on the table with a nod, Blowhole typed with his flipper tip. "Two waters and a bottle of your finest wine."
The redhead simply nodded, and went to fetch the requested beverages.
The dolphin then returned to looking over the menu. "Interested in an appetizer perhaps?"
"Is there one you're looking at?"
"I was considering the calamari…But do you guys eat squid?" He raised a brow.
"Oh sure, I think we penguins will eat most sea food if it's smaller than us." He chuckled. "And maybe the breadsticks?"
"Alright, calamari and breadsticks, I'll let her know when she's back." He nodded, closing his menu.
Kowalski nodded and looked at him thoughtfully. "So... You've been back with the pod all that time. How's your family doing?"
"Honestly, I think they're doing better, at least Mother seems happier. I did extend an invitation to Mother and Doris that once my lair renovations are finished, that they could visit if they wished."
"Sounds like you're going to need more segways."
"Oh yeah, perhaps with training wheels. I do not need my mother falling... Doris on the other flipper, ehhhhh."
Kowalski just shook his head. "Well, she seemed to catch on to segway riding pretty quickly that one time she was at your lair before."
"True, so yeah, just one with the training wheels should be fine." He nodded.
The waitress soon arrived back, carefully placing down a tray of two cups of ice and a pitcher of water.
Along with that, she places down beside the table an ice bucket, holding their requested fine wine.
"Anythin else I can getcha?" She asked, quickly grabbing out her pen and notepad.
Blowhole nodded then, closing the menu. "Yeah, we're ready to order. Two of the shrimp scampi, one of the calamari, and some bread sticks." He got their menus and offered them back to her.
Bridget bit her lip while writing down their order, glancing between the two. "… Anythin else? We uh… recently started havin dessert options, if you're interested?"
"…I mean, I guess we might as well." Kowalski nodded.
"Sure, we're interested." The dolphin looked at her.
With a nod, she started to name off a few selections. "We got tiramisù, gelato, panna cotta, pastiera napoletana, and pignoli cookies…"
The ginger then bit her lip before clearing her throat. "Which uh, in simpler terms, coffee cheesecake, milky ice cream, gelatin cream, Easter pie, and almond-butter cookies."
"One of the tiramisu and—" Blowhole passed the phone to Kowalski, watching the waitress for her reaction. After all, he's not the only sentient animal here.
"I'll have the panna cotta." Kowalski typed with a nod.
The waitress jabbed this down with another nod, although she curiously eyed the penguin at his contributions.
Reading out her notepad, she adjusted her glasses. "K, I got your order, ya got your drinks, I'll leave ya lovebirds be…"
The redhead then cringed. "Or well, one of ya is already a bird… lovebird… mammal…" She awkwardly eyed the floor and cleared her throat.
"Uh… yeah," And then she turned around to leave.
Kowalski chuckled at that, shaking his head. "You know, she seems nice. I like her."
"She's gotten better, but that's to be expected. The initial shock then acceptance." He nodded. He then looked at him. "…But I can add her to my list of humans who get to live when I take over."
He gave him a look. "If by some chance you take over, yes, add her to the list."