Roxy spent the next two days instructing Jake of everything he must do to take care of Dirk. From setting his alarm (despite the fact that the alarm was specifically made for a blind person to use), to how to cook his meals and do his laundry, to getting him to bed at night. She tucked her brother in even after repeated dissent from the vision impaired individual. Mostly, day to day stuff was covered. Dirk, aside from the unique struggles of his impairment was exceptionally easy to take care of. He kept to himself, could manage a good deal on his own (more if his sister would let him), and mostly worked on what appeared to be a type of mixing board. So long as things weren't littering the floor and Jake kept the backyard free of rouge vines and other tripping hazards, the job wouldn't be too difficult.
Roxy said her farewells, holding Dirk in a two-minute hug filled with uncomfortable squirming from the blond male. Finally, she let go, kissed his forehead and reminded Jake of their scheduled visit one month from that day. Jake confirmed, wrote down the date in his planner and saw Roxy out. The brunette peeked out the window, waiting to see the top of her red sedan to ensure she was actually gone.
She ended up coming back. "Forgot a few files." She said. More like strategically left them there. She wasn't fooling anyone, but the boys held their tongues. Waiting patiently for her to "find" her paper work and leave once more. The crimson car drove off and Jake raced back to his room. He wanted Dirk to like him, he wanted to bond with his charge, and what better way than with food? Roxy needed soy milk for breakfast, Jake volunteered to leave that morning, stopping by a bakery along the way. Two chocolate croissants sneaked in one of his cargo pockets, now safely tucked behind his pillows for this exact moment.
"Jake? Dude what the fuck?" The blonde had heard and felt Jake run by, now using his stick and outreached hand looking for his caretaker. "So, as soon as Roxy's gone you can't wait to get away from me?"
Jake approached Dirk in the hallway, "Not so, Mr. Stri-"
"Dirk, please, for the love of god, stop calling me Mister Strider."
"Right, of course. Dirk, I have a present for you." The baked good underneath Dirk's nose. The wonderful decadent aroma of a butter laden, chocolate filled, unhealthy-but-completely-worth-it treat flooded the boy's nasal passages; making his mouth water.
"When..?"
"This morning when I was getting the soy milk. I think it's time to let our taste buds live again, don't you think?" Dirk grabbed the pastry, taking a large bit, allowing himself to fall against the wall, savoring the flavor.
"Dirk?"
"I'm in heaven. Oh god, I haven't tasted something this good in years. I owe you."
"Well, hold on to your hat, I was thinking of going out and getting real meat for dinner. Anything in particular you'd like?"
"Burger, I'd kill for good cheeseburger."
"Alright then, cheeseburger it is. What cheese?"
"Cheddar?"
"What else?'
"Ketchup, onion and lettuce, please."
"Fries, chips, or tater tots?"
"Fries!"
"You got it."
Dirk's face lit up more than he would have liked, but food, delicious, artery clogging food. He didn't even care if it was some ploy to butter him up or if Jake was just sick of the health food himself. He was going to eat red meat for the first time in seven years.
Jake didn't want to say anything to ruin the moment, but Dirk had a rather endearing look when he was overjoyed about something. He was nearly bouncing with excitement. His reaction was more than Jake had hoped for, the blonde was like a kid in a candy store…a really cute kid…in a platonic way of course.
"Alright, will you be fine here by yourself for a bit?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
Dirk listened for the door to shut behind Jake and made his way to his room. Feeling around on the top of his dresser he found his ipod and the attached headphones, slipping them on he allowed himself to dance a little, hyped about his dinner and super charged by his sugar laden snack.
Jake was an exceptionally fast shopper, out the door and back in only a half an hour, hands weighed down with the bags from the grocery store down the street. He unlocked and entered, hearing the chime of the top of the door, a nice device to let Dirk know when anyone opened or closed a door, every door in the house had one. "Dirk? I'm home." The adventurer listened, but was greeted with silence. He set the food down in the kitchen, checking every room with increasing speed, until he came upon Dirk's room. The blonde was dancing, and pretty well to.
Shaking his shoulders and moving his hips in perfect rhythm, Jake couldn't tell what song he was listening to, but Dirk seemed to move with sharpness and precision, qualities that Jake rarely saw in regular dancing. It almost had a hypnotic quality to it. Gorgeous and alluring, and -nope, he's your boss. Thankfully the trance was broken by, what Jake can only assume to be, a new song. All that precision and beauty was replaced it awkward limb flailing and enough spinning to worry Jake that the boy would hurt himself. Dirk stumbled a little, but regained his balance after a moment. Feeling around and grabbing his discarded stick, the blonde slipped off one of the headphones from his ear and started to make his way to the door. Jake, quickly moved back to the front door, waited to see the sight stick, peeking around the corner and opened, then closed to door, in the most natural way he could muster. Moving into the kitchen quickly, he lifted and set the bags down again, before calling out. "Dirk! I'm home!"
"I'm right here."
"Ah, here."
Jake handed him an orange. "Eat that, so I can tell your sister I'm feeding you nutritious food and not lie about it."
"Can do." Dirk felt for a nearby chair in the kitchen nook, seating himself, while he listened to Jake bustle around the kitchen. The brunette worked differently from Roxy. There was a sequence to his movements, but less actual moving around the kitchen. He seemed to gather everything together before making his meal. Unlike Roxy, who would grab stuff as she went. He also didn't talk much. Roxy would tell Dirk every detail of everything she did and every conversation she had that day and then what she still had to do. Jake was different, he wasn't silent, he hummed off-key to himself; something that sounded like an old jazz song crossed with some current top 40s pop song. It was weird, but at the same time complimented the sizzling of meat and the rhythm of chopping. The oven beeped, preheated. Jake slipped something in. A strategic symphony of heterogeneous sounds coming together to make something almost melodic. The kitchen warmed from the stove and oven, creating a blanket for Dirk's now cooled down body. An odd lulling feeling of safety. How tame he is, the guy's been in the house for all of a few days and he feels as if he could fall asleep here at the kitchen table. For someone who fought so hard for his independence here he was doing the same thing he was doing when Roxy was caring for him. It was nice though, a nice feeling.
Delectable smells filled the air, Dirk crossed his arms, using them as a pillow for his head, as he listened to the sound of peace.
CRASH
Well, until that moment. "Well that was bloody brilliant!" He sounded almost frustrated.
"Is everything alright?"
"Oh! When did you get here?"
The blind male suppressed a smirk. "I never left."
"Oh…" A red hue laced his words. Dirk covered his mouth, hiding how much he liked it. "I-I just dropped the tray with the buns on it. I was toasting them."
"Toasting your hot buns?"
"Well they're not-HEY!"
Dirk snickered. Stupid joke, but Jake was so easy to fluster it was amusing.
Jake huffed and went about finishing their dinner. A distinctly quieter experience than before, maybe Dirk shouldn't make jokes like that this early in their rel- work relationship. He may be a caretaker, but Jake needed respect too…it wasn't even a GOOD joke though. Was Jake more upset with the innuendo or the poor quality of the joke. Then again, maybe Dirk's taking things out of proportion. The guy was cooking dinner and he did just drop something, maybe he was just concentrating. Should Dirk apologize? Would that be weird when Jake could have just as easily forgotten already or brushed it off? Bringing it up again could end up blowing it out of proportion, resulting in awkwardness and Jake having to reassure him that he wasn't offended. No, best wait until he has more information to go on.
A clank of plate on table drew the blonde out of his haze. "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask how you like your burger cooked."
"Oh, well-done."
"Thank god, that's how I cooked them; it's how I like them, I just forgot to ask."
"It's all good."
"Yes. Ah, here's your plate." Dirk felt in from of him, the soft springy bun, lettuce felt on the palm of his hand, peeking out past the edge of the bun. Everything warm and deliciously scented." The blonde took a bite, an explosion of flavor hitting his tongue, Jake seasoned these very well. There were no words to describe how absolutely decadent the cheese burger tasted. "So…what do you think?" The guy was nervous, seriously, this is like tasting heaven.
"Holy shit, you're a good cook." Dirk heard a puff of air released across from him, like a happy sigh of relief when someone realizes they've been holding their breath in anticipation and it paid off.
"Thank you. I'm pleased that you like it."
"Like it? This is fantastic, how could anyone not love it. They'd have to have shit taste buds not to love this."
An almost audible smile graced Jake's lips as he watched his charge dig into his dinner. He was smiling again, although he probably didn't realize it. The sun was starting to set, a ray of sun shining in through the window catching his hair nicely. He was a gorgeous guy. Jake wondered idly why Dirk didn't choose a woman to be his care taker, the buns comment seemed like nothing more than a poor attempt to fluster him, and even though he succeeded it appeared to be just a rib at Jake. Maybe his own way of trying to lighten the mood or communicate. Oh! Dirk was certainly a bit awkward, perhaps he was too shy to have a female other than his sister or her friend taking care of him. The brunette explored this line of thought as they ate. A comfortable silence spreading across the table, soft sounds of chewing or the crunch of the lettuce. Maybe he could help Dirk find a girlfriend, teach him how to talk to people. The very idea caused a pang of remorse in Jake's chest.
Truth was, he couldn't deny being attracted to Dirk, the boy was gorgeous and for all intents and purposes seemed to mean well, but Dirk was far more likely to be heterosexual, unlike Jake's own pansexuality. And besides, he was Dirk's caretaker, he would not let his own attraction get in the way of his work. It wouldn't be right for him to say anything, actually it would be really creepy. Jake gave that boy three baths over the past four days. That's like saying "Yeah, after seeing your naked awesome bod, not to mention that nice c-" Nope, nope nope. Jake shook his head blushing madly. Not going there, not even thinking about it, oh god he was sick. Taking advantage of his position to ogle Dirk- but it's not like he was really ogling at the time! In the moment he was very focused on completing the task at hand. It was only after the fact that he thought about how good- ENOUGH!
Dirk's plate was clean, "Thanks for the food."
"Your welcome." Jake said in the steadiest voice he could muster. Dirk didn't appear to hear any difference. The blonde moved to get out of his chair, when Jake noticed a glob of ketchup on the corner of his mouth. "Wait." Jake stood up, leaning over the table, using his napkin to wipe away the offending condiment. "There, you just had a little something there. I got it."
"Thanks." Dirk nodded and left, praying to god his face wasn't bright red, why did that feel like such an intimate moment? Jake remained at the table, food only half eaten, thinking about what a horrible person he is.
A few hours later, Dirk declared that he was going to take a shower. Jake went into the bathroom with him, book in hand. He placed his book on the sink countertop. Taking Dirk's hand he showed him which knobs to turn, in order to get the temperature he wanted, before turning around and allowing Dirk some privacy while he disrobed and entered the shower and pulled the curtain shut. Also, to prove to himself that he wasn't a total creep. Jake closed the toilet lid and sat there reading his book in silence, just in case Dirk needed anything, which he eventually did. Jake had to clarify which was the shampoo and which was the conditioner, other than that though, the male did a fine job showering himself. He was able to turn off the water, take his towel from the curtain rod and wrapping it around himself.
"You still here?"
"Yes, and dry your hair!" Jake jumped up, grabbing the other towel from the curtain rod and draping it over Dirk's head. Rubbing back and forth to aid the drying process, as Dirk was already on the move. "You'll catch a cold."
"That's an old wives' tale."
"Well, I'd rather not risked it!" The blonde sighed, feeling his to the edge of his bed before sitting down.
"Fine, give it." Jake handed him the towel and watched doggedly to make sure Dirk dried his hair properly.
Notes: So, both boys experience some level of attraction. They won't act on it for a long time though. Get ready for awkward moments and unresolved sexual tension in many upcoming chapters.