Chapter 6: The Dinner

I'd honestly felt very embarrassed about crying in front of Tom. He took my hand after the kiss and took me back to the coach. After helping me into it, he went around the back to sit down next to me. "Brian," He called.

The chauffeur looked back at us with a smile, tipped his hat to us. "What's up, Tom?"

"Can I see Scamp, please?" The small bunny poked its head out from the chauffeur's seat, and Tom reached out and picked it up. "Hey boyo… Hey…" He pet the bunny's head a few times. "Here, this is Marco. And Marco just went through a sad time, okay? So let him pet you." He set him down in my lap.

I smiled a little, saw Tom blush a little from having baby-babbled to a bunny, but I took him just as Tom did, because, admittedly, I didn't know how to hold a bunny. I just knew they could, y'know… die from anxiety or shock. They reminded me of me in that way. I gave him a cautious pet, just in case he decided my hand was too much for him, and he turned over and died right there. After getting used to me being there, Scamp seemed to relax a little, and I pet him a little more. I had to admit, a lot of the tactics Tom probably used to relax his anger worked well to ease my anxiety. I took a deep breath and looked back up at him. "I feel better now. Thank you…"

He gave me a small smile. "Well, you can hold onto him till we get there." He gave Scamp a pat on the head. "What are you in the mood for? A steakhouse? Grill?"

How… ironic. This place was enough of a grill as it was! "I mean… I don't want to eat something heavy. I'm really in the mood for like… a salad or something."

"People actually get in the mood for salads? Wow…" He chuckled. "No seriously, what are you gonna have for dinner?" I didn't look amused, and he laughed again. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding. So… salad and what else?"

"Chicken or fish, probably."

"So… something like Fire Red Lobster, right?"

"Sure…" I was sure he was making that up. Like seriously? Fire Red Lobster? "Let's go with that…"

"Alright, Brian. You heard the man." And on my word, I guess, the coach began to move. There was a long pause of silence. I looked down at Scamp and decided for a change of pace. "So… how's it been? Y'know… managing your anger…?" I asked cautiously.

He frowned a little, looking down. "I've only been working at it for six months. You know how stupid teenagers are about rehab, right? The first two months don't mean anything cuz you go along being a brat about it. I didn't think I needed anger management when my mom and dad threw me into it, y'know? I've been having tantrums since I was a baby, but it's only been since I was about eight that they've been this… uncontrollable – y'know, to the point where I'd black out from just how pissed off I was, then I'd wake up to the consequences of it. But that was only reserved for that sort of… of seething rage, y'know? And I never got that angry very often. Just the usual stuff – baby anger, y'know? Opening fissures, unleashing skeletons and hellspawn, burning the ground where I stepped – that sort of thing. My… next level of anger… it was worse. Because I never knew what I was doing. It isn't as showy when I went berserk, in a way. I'm not angry just to be angry, and to let it out in, like, a volcano when I'm like that; I just… I take it out on other people, rather than things, if that makes any sense."

I didn't really know how to feel about all he was saying. It was a little confusing, but I guess I hadn't known him long enough. I offered Scamp to him to pet, and he pet him from my lap hard enough to make the bunny fluff up. "I'm… It's kinda fuzzy, the way you're saying it."

He grimaced, shifted around in his seat, drummed his fingers, probably trying to come up with a way on just how to explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it. "Okay, like… let's say you were with me in a big group of people and you somehow pissed me off – no… shit… I don't wanna use you as an example…"

"No no, it's okay. It's all hypothetical, isn't it?"

"I guess…" He sighed. "Okay. Big crowd. You somehow piss me off. Like… if it was normal anger, I'd probably explode some lava vents here and there – like specifically so they go around those poor people in the crowd. Maybe crack the foundation on a couple buildings. That'd be about it. And I'd burn everything I touch, but I really can't help that. That'd be normal anger, y'know? I'm aware of what I'm doing, y'know? So I'd let it all out in this massive fiery…" He waved his hands around. "…Thing. I wouldn't want anyone or anything getting hurt. Except that one time I melted the library, but I didn't think books were important then." He gave a deep breath. "But let's say it was berserk anger. Same situation: big group of people and you piss me off. I'd just… straight-up try to kill you."

I gulped. Maybe I should've let him use a different person as an example.

"And then like… Joe over there in the crowd tries to stop me? I'd kill Joe. Nancy's just walking along and gets in the way? I'd kill Nancy. If you'd disappear out of my sight, I'd try to fucking find you. I'd have time to calm down, then… but by then fissures all open up behind me, maybe a few volcanoes. If I saw you out there in the distance, I could tear a building down – people in it and all; I wouldn't care – and stop you with just… fucking building out there in front of you. And like… if some poor, brave soul tried to save you, I'd make that person my new target till they're dead. Like, I'd do everything in my… dangerously-unconscious mind to try and –" He looked over at me, and he paled as he saw me pale. "I'm scaring you, aren't I…?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it, then a sort of squeaking noise came out with my mouth agape. "Nn… Yes. Yes, you are. But it's cool! It's cool… You're learning to control your anger, so hopefully I'll never have to encounter you when you're… um, 'berserk', as you say." Did he have to say it like that? It gave me this chilling impression of him like that… like… lava coming out of his mouth and all that. I was probably wrong. I hoped I was wrong.

"I'm sorry…" He scratched the back of his head. "I guess I went a little overboard with the description…"

"So… um… How often… do you get angry?" I asked with a note of trepidation.

He shrugged nervously. "I mean… it's hard to say. I mean, before the therapy, basically anything that would agitate me would piss me off, y'know? Now, I'm trying to build up my tolerance, so if I get agitated, I don't get into that mode where I just wanna spew fire, y'know? I'm still working on it, so that level of tolerance still leaves something to be desired, but I know I'll get there." He smiled.

I was glad he was feeling confident about overcoming his anger issues. From the looks of it, it seemed like this was an issue with him since he was little.

The coach slowed to a stop, and outside I saw the neon signs for what was, regrettably and yet absolutely, Fire Red Lobster.

I couldn't help but laugh, seeing this, and I laughed a lot more uncontrollably than I should've. "Oh god…" I held my side, trying to absorb the… downright weirdness of the restaurant.

Tom looked at me with confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Cuz… oh god…" I laughed a fit again. "Cuz up on Earth, we have a place that looks exactly the same, except, y'know, the logo isn't a fiery lobster; it's a regular lobster."

"So… what's the restaurant even called?"

"It's literally just 'Red Lobster'."

He grinned. "Well, I think we beat you to the punch down here."

I was pretty sure that Earth beat them to it, but I decided not to argue there. "Well, whatever. Let's just go."

He nodded and took my hand, leading me into the… the restaurant. Let's just go with that. The leathery-skinned man at the check-in booth didn't looked up at us as we came in. "How many?" He asked flatly.

"Two." Tom said.

"Two, huh? Well, there's gonna be a wait for that… About thirty minutes." But as he looked up at us, his eyes widened, and he rubbed them. "O-Oh! Your Highness…!" He bowed in a very awkward manner. "I apologize for my rudeness! Here, I'll get a table cleared -"

Tom waved his hands in front of the man. "No, no no! Please, keep it on the down-low; I don't want any special treatment, and I don't want any paparazzi right now, okay? Instead, I want you to give my treatment to this boy here. He's my date." I smiled and waved awkwardly. "See why I wanna keep it low-key right now?"

The leathery-faced worker looked at him, then at me, then bowed. "Very well, Your Highness. Please, come with me."

Tom grimaced as we followed the leathery-faced man, and we were seated in a booth. Afterwards, a demoness came in. She introduced herself as Amelia, and said she'd be our waitress for the evening. Just as Tom requested, she didn't refer to him or treat him in any special way. She handed us our menus and asked what we'd like to drink.

I skimmed over the menu. "Uh… Tom?"

"Yeah?" He smiled, his lower two eyes still looking at the menu, while his upper one looked up at me.

"I don't think I can…" My eyes hovered on that one eye of his way too long. "…Drink any of these. I mean… uh… like… carbonated lava soda isn't really… for me."

All three of his eyes finally looked up to me. "Oh!" He gave a quick laugh. "Jeez, how silly of me! Shoot… Well, um… Amelia, see, Marco isn't from around here… Do you have maybe an Earth menu he could go off of?"

She gave a perplexed look and thought for a moment, then conceded that she wasn't really sure.

"Do you have any human soda? Like… Pepsi or anything?"

After a little more confusion, she said she'd go check and went off.

"Marco, I'm so, so sorry about that. I mean… you see, we don't get many humans around here… and most of the stuff here isn't human-friendly. But I'll do anything and everything I can to make your experience the best it can be, okay?"

"Oh… um… okay." It's not like I could tell him 'oh, it's fine, Tom, I can eat lavasagna' or whatever it had on this menu, but I still felt terrible for inconveniencing him, and the staff here. "Thank you, for taking all this extra time to… make me feel comfortable."

He smiled and gave me a nod. "Anything to make today special."

Amelia returned, and told us the Fire Red Lobster staff could work to create items off the regular old human Red Lobster menu, and I was given that. I finally felt comfortable enough to order a Coke, but soon after, another server came in and set down a flaming basket of biscuits.

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a long sigh. "Hey, um… sorry to impede, but… can we get a basket that's, y'know, not on fire? He can't eat it like this; it won't do." I grimaced when he said this, seeing the stress on his features. I only hoped that it wouldn't build into something worse. "And I'll have a bottle of Umbral Tears. Thanks."

After the two servers left to give us some time to decide our orders, Tom took a deep breath. "You okay…?" I asked gingerly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine…" He murmured, chin on his fist. "Just – It's my fault, really; didn't think through that you wouldn't be able to eat our food. God… it was so stupid of me…"

"Are you… Are you angry…?"

"I mean… a little. It's stress, really. It's all stress. I'm angry at my own conduct, y'know? I'm sorry I am… I really shouldn't be."

My heart ached when he apologized to me. And I could see why he would. His whole life, he's felt a key emotion, to any… any creature, was some sort of detriment that he wasn't allowed to feel. And that's just stupid to me. Nothing stops someone from feeling sad, or angry, or even happy. "Well… people can't help but feel the way they do. It's not a bad thing that you feel angry, as long as you learn to let it out without getting other people, or yourself, y'know… hurt. And, you're learning that, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" He murmured, not feeling very reassured. "I mean, we already talked about this; it's so… dumb of me, talking in circles."

"No it's not. Before you were talking about how you got angry. Now you were talking about it like you're not allowed to feel angry at all, because you might get to that level of anger that scares you, and that's not the right way to think about it. Anger in itself, yeah, it's gonna happen whether you like it or not, but you're working to where it won't get to the point of being berserk, or… your 'normal' anger – that one you said was volcanoes and fissures and stuff."

"Yeah, but it all leads back to the fact that I have to learn to control it." He said in a voice hard with agitation, his teeth bared.

"I…" I sighed, not wanting to upset him further, and run all sorts of risks for problems to develop. "You… You're right. But please don't… say or think that you're not allowed to be angry."

"Okay…" He sighed again, looking up at me. "Did I scare you…?" His voice softened again. "I'm so sorry…"

"No, no you didn't." I reassured him gently. "I'm just… just upset that you feel you can't be angry."

"Well I can't. Not… now, anyway; not with how far I've gotten with my therapy. But I'm not angry yet! I'm just… a little peeved, is all." He tried to give me his best smile. "So what are you in the mood for? Salad, right? Which kind?"

I still frowned, knowing his… stress, as he put it, wasn't fully resolved. "Chicken salad should be fine."

"And dressing? Cuz I'm guessing it's not gonna be like… firecracker dressing, right?"

I didn't even want to chance that that was remotely edible. "Caesar salad…? Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, I know what it is. But I don't know if the staff does. God, we should've just gone to my place. We have human food there."

"Hey, hey… it's okay. I don't mind eating it bare."

"Well, I'll see what they can do about it first before throwing in the towel like this." Amelia returned with two glasses – one had my Coke in it, and the other was a bottle of dark red, bubbling liquid that she brought with a wine glass. It looked black in the dim light. She also had a basket of regular biscuits. After setting them down, she asked what we'd like as appetizers, and Tom ordered two of the salads 'from the Earth menu'. I guess he wanted to try one himself. "Thanks for accommodating us on all this, Amelia. But we'll need more time to decide on dinner."

She nodded and left again to attend to the restaurant's other guests.

"Well, there we go. Genuine human-style biscuits." He smiled. "Go on then; help yourself."

I smiled back nervously and took one. "I feel like I'm being a hassle…" I murmured after I bit into it. It tasted a little different than the ones I remember, but I couldn't point my finger at why.

"Don't worry about it, Marco. It's not like you're going to an ice cream shop asking for a burger. It's the same technique with this Fire Red Lobster as it is with human Red Lobster. It's just different stuff."

"You sure…?"

"I'm sure." He reached his hand out and put it on mine, petting it with his thumb. "Don't worry so much. Anything in mind for dinner?"

"Uh… I don't know… I was fine with salad…"

He laughed a little. "You don't have salads for dinner, Marco; don't be so modest."

"Then probably salmon and rice…" I shrugged. But I didn't know if… down here even had fish. I decided to trust Tom's word that they'd get it done.

"That sounds good; might try it myself."

"Hey! You already ordered the same salad I'm having. Get your own dinner!" I teased.

"I'm sorry, I've just never had salmon before. Gotta bum off you, I'm afraid." He grinned. "Hey, um… Marco."

"Hm? What, you gonna copy my dessert, too?"

"No, no… That, I was hoping we'd share. Tomorrow's a weekend, right? Saturday. You don't have school then, do you?"

I quirked an eyebrow. "Um, no… why?"

"So… do you wanna stay the night here?" He asked, a sheepish smile on his face, eyes innocent and hopeful.

I was taken aback for a minute. What would I tell my mom and dad? Alfonzo and Ferguson? What would I tell Star? I'd be staying in Hell for god's sake! "Really…?"

"Yeah. We're having dinner now, then you could crash at my place tonight, and I'd show you around my neighborhood tomorrow."

I paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. I didn't know how the Underworld was! Something could come down and snatch me away, I could burn up in the fire, get my soul ripped right out of my body! But then again… I'd gotten this far… Since I was little, I've always been this 'safe kid'. But, since my family took in Star, that's kinda gone out the window. I mean, I've had to fight off Ludo and his gang left and right, I've been thrown into dimensions where I didn't have half a clue where I was, I accepted a date with the devil! Well, a demon, anyway. I wasn't really sure if there was a difference between them. I've gotten this far off of stupider risks. Gotten this far, despite being the ultra-safe kid. "I… I guess I could." I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? Plus, Tom was really nice… I liked spending time with him.

"You guess?" He asked cautiously. "I don't wanna force you to if you don't wanna go."

"Well, not like it'll kill me to stay, right?" I gave a small smile. The area he'd shown me was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, certainly not what I'd expected from Hell. I could really use a tour – and a break from all of Ludo's daily schemes and school disappointment.

His face lit up with a wide smile that showed off all his sharp teeth. He took my hand in both of his. "Really?!

"Yeah. You're interesting, Tom." I grinned, but I don't think he really got the reference.

"You're really okay with staying down here?" He asked eagerly.

"I'd just have to tell my mom or dad about it; otherwise, they'd start to worry."

"Oh, no problem! No problem at all. I just wanna show you one thing after dinner, then I'll make sure you get home safe and sound to talk to your parents."

I smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much."

"No, no. Thank you, for staying." He gave my hand a squeeze.

Amelia returned with our plates of salad, and it didn't look like it had any rocks or fire or lava in it. The dressing looked a little weird, but I didn't expect it to look perfect; after all, this is probably the first time this staff's made anything like Earth's salad dressing. I took a moment to eat, and I have to admit, it tasted different from what I'm used to. But, again, that's what was expected.

Some silence came between us as we ate, or maybe he just wanted to give me some quiet time. And although it felt a little dull, I have to admit, I didn't have much to say, either. Besides asking those dumb, obvious questions, like 'what's your favorite color?' or 'what's it like, being the prince of a whole vessel, or even the entirety, of the Underworld?' Okay, I mean… I wanted to ask that one… really badly, but now definitely wasn't the right time!

That topic nagged at me for a while as I finished up my salad and a few more biscuits, but with how uncomfortable I was with it, I kept juggling around the idea and kept wasting more time, and so more silence went between us. So much so, that Amelia returned with our dinners and set them down.

It was only then that Tom spoke up, and he asked Amelia for another wine-looking glass. When she returned with it, he finally spoke to me. "So… I know you're not for all this Hell stuff. Like 'oh, I can't eat it; it's lava'-type deal. But I want you to try this." He held up his bottle.

"The, uh… Umber Tears, right?"

"Umbral, but yeah. Even if you don't like Hell's food here, you have to try this."

He poured a glass for… me, I guess. "Uh… isn't that alcoholic…?"

"Alcoholic?" He laughed. "Oh god, no! I can't drink myself; I'm only sixteen. This is sweet – it's like, um…" He snapped to try and get his memory going. "Like cherry soda. It's cherry soda."

I took the glass cautiously when he handed it to me, giving him a skeptical look. "You sure I won't, like, drop dead or anything?"

"I'm sure! I'm sure… Plus, I could easily call a doctor if things get really bad."

Any hope of feeling safe with that drink was quickly dashed. But, safe kid routine abandoned, I decided the only things I could do was either trust him or don't. So I decided to trust him, and took a sip. It was… surprisingly sweet. It tasted like a Shirley Temple.

"Is it good?"

"Yeah. It's good." I nodded.

"See? I knew you'd like it." He smiled, having moved on to eat his dinner.

"So, how's having salmon for the first time?"

"Here, lemme just see…" He took a bite of it, chewed it extra slowly, really thinking about it. He swallowed it down. "It's pretty good. Tastes like… what do you know? Fish."

I gave a small giggle. "Well, I'm glad it met your expectations." It took us a little bit to eat, and more silence passed. Whoever decided dinner was a good idea for a first date obviously didn't account for the long bouts of waiting, and subsequent bouts of silence. I mean, I get the whole gesture of paying for someone's meal as a sign of respect and affection or… whatever, but after a while there's just quiet.

I looked up at Tom and his third eye was looking up at me. It retreated back to his other two eyes' gaze and he flushed deep black, giving a chuckle. "Sorry! Sorry about that…" He murmured. "I can… sorry…"

"What are you apologizing for? I mean, have you been watching me this whole time?"

All three of his eyes looked up at me, and his cheeks and nose by then had all gone black. "Well, I – no… just… maybe a little… You haven't spoken in a little bit, so… I was worried the food was affecting you somehow."

I gave a sly grin. "Is that why you're blushing so badly?"

His face and hands were all black by then. "Because, well – I-I… um… You're cute, alright? I just… yeah… You're cute."

I laughed. "Okay, okay. Just relax."

He gave a long sigh, shook himself a bit and sat back, still blushing very, very hard. He was really cute when he wasn't all suave. "So… you done with your food, or…?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good." I nodded and set my fork down, after which Tom called over a nearby waitress for the bill. "So… how's this gonna work, you paying for it and all?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I asked them to give you the royal treatment, which is basically them getting you human food to begin with. How that'll affect prices is beyond me. But it's cool! I can pay whatever they throw at me."

"I see…" I waited around a little, whistled a tune.

After a little bit more silence, our bill was paid. "Well, that's that." He got up and stretched, reaching out to take my hand, and he helped me up.

I took a moment to brush myself off before we left. "I hope you gave that woman a nice tip…" I murmured as he helped me into the coach.

"Oh don't worry about that; of course I did. With all she had to work around, I made sure to pay a nice tip. Here." He sat down next to me in the coach. "There's something else I wanna show you before I take you to my place."