Before Sunrise

Part 3:


“One should think that they have some restaurants in a big city like this!” Dave grumbled and kicked a stone that was lying in front of him on the pavement. “Postcards....postcards everywhere! The French certainly don’t eat fucking postcards!” He turned his head to face Sean. “Where’s the wine and the baguette and the cheese?” Dave asked Sean. “Is it all but a fucking lie made up to lure all those tourists here and then all they get is a piece of multi-coloured paper?!”

Sean couldn’t help but snicker at Dave’s emotional outburst. “Don’t worry, Daisy,” he smiled warmly. “I’m sure we’ll find something in the next few minutes!” He pointed at a building ahead. “What ya think? Is that a restaurant?”

“Yes!” Dreamily Dave closed his eyes and sniffled at the air. “Mmmh... Food! I can already smell it!” He jogged to the entrance of the building. “L’Escargot,” he read aloud. “Sounds good to me. Coming?” He looked at Sean who was hesitating. “Come on, Sean!” Dave urged the other man. “What are you waiting for? I’m starving here!”

“Um...” Sean scratched his head. “How much Freanch do you speak, Dave?” he asked carefully.

“French? I don’t speak French, but do you think they will refuse me food because of that?” Dave’s eyes widened. “Cause that would be really mean, mate.”

“Well, I do speak a few words of French and you certainly don’t want to go in there!”

Dave squinched his eyes and looked at Sean suspiciously. “Never try to get between a hungry man and his food, Sean!” he growled in a dangerously low voice. “Now tell me what’s wrong so we can go in and eat.”

“L’escargot means snail,” Sean explained and only now Dave noticed the decor of the restaurant and immediatly jumped away a few steps.

“Sick! Fucking French and their fucking food!” he cursed and Sean could’ve sworn that he looked a little green in his face. “I’m refusing to touch any of it!” Dave exclaimed and started to walk away. “Are you coming, Sean?”

~*~


“That’s not really what I had in mind when you said we’d grab something to eat,” Sean mumbled grumpily as they were queueing for some burgers. “I really don’t know what was wrong with the last three restaurants we found,” he complained.

“I couldn’t understand a word of what was written on the menus, that’s what was wrong. I mean I could’ve eaten God knows what!” Dave replied, ordering their food when he reached the counter. A few moments later he carried a tray to one of the small tables and sat down with a content sigh. “That was easy,” he said and reached out his hands to unwrap one of the burgers.

“Hmm...” Sean still wasn’t quite happy with the idea of eating fast food, but he was hungry and Dave refused to enter any French restaurant, so what was he supposed to do? He looked up from his food when Dave suddenly was making strange gagging noises. “What’s wrong now?” he groaned a little impatiently.

“Onions!” Dave pressed out between clenched teeth and threw the burger on the tray in front of him. “I specifically ordered a burger without onions, but what did that bastard give me? Extra onions!!” He pushed the tray away from himself. “I’m sorry, Sean, but I can’t eat this.”

“OK,” Sean sighed and stood up. “I didn’t want to eat burgers anyway...” He tapped with his finger against Dave’s chest. “But I will choose the next restaurant and you’ll come with me no matter what!”

Dave nodded, blushing a little. He felt bad for ripping the other man away from his food. “Sorry,” he mumbled and put his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “I promise to behave in the future...”

Sean nodded curtly and opened the door. “Come Daisy...” he grinned, knowing that Dave wouldn’t say anything against him using the dreaded nickname. “After you...”


~*~


“Perfect...” Dave sighed as he sat down on the chair. After walking a few more minutes he and Sean had found a little Italian reastaurant. The family owning it didn’t exactly speak English, but they tried their best to fulfill all of Dave’s and Sean’s wishes.

“Monsieur,” the waiter brought Dave his pizza and carefully placed it on the table in front of him and then gave Sean the pasta he had ordered. “Bon appetit!” he wished the two men and walked away to welcome some other guests in his small restaurant.

“Mmmh!” Dave inhaled deeply. “Food!” He brought a piece of the pizza to his lips with his fork and leant back softly moaning in delight. “Jesus, Sean... This is so delicious!” He rolled his eyes happily and took another bite, again making small sounds of pleasure.

Sean put his foot over Dave’s. “You have to stop that, Daisy,” he whispered quietly. “Or they’ll be thinking that I am doing unspeakable thinigs to you under the table.” He smiled when Dave blushed a little and immediatly shut his mouth. The truth was that the little sounds Dave was making put ideas into Sean’s mind that the Brit didn’t want to think of. Not yet. Not so soon...

“Sorry,” Dave mumbled and continued eating. “It’s just that I’ve been living on sandwiches for most of the time lately. And getting some real food now sort of overwhelmed me...” He lifted his glass of red wine to a toast. “Where ever this night may lead,” Dave grinned mischievously, pushing Sean’s foot away that was still lying on his. When he put the glass back on the table, Dave’s lips were moist with wine and Sean quickly knocked back his own glass, nearly choking on the wine.

“Easy, easy,” Dave said when Sean started coughing and moved forward to pat the other man’s back. “We have time... You don’t have to get drunk in the next five minutes...”

“Haha...” Sean mumbled in a breathless voice, wiping his mouth with a tissue. He continued eating his pasta. “So what’s next on your plan?” he asked.

Dave shook his head. “I don’t have any plan, Sean,” he smiled. “The only thing I’ve planned for today is to spend time with you...” He looked at the older man, his grey eyes sparkling.

Sean felt flattered by Dave’s confession. “Thanks...” he replied almost shily and the two men finished their dinner in silence.

“That’s something I like about you,” Sean said, looking at Dave over the rim of his glass. “I can talk with you about anything. But I can also be silent with you and it doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable.” He cocked his head slightly. “So many people are afraid of the silence and so they try to fill it with nervous babbling. They will never taste the sweetness of a moment shared in silence...”

“Do you want to know what I like about you?” Dave asked in return, slowly starting to speak when Sean nodded softly. “I like your smile... It lights up your whole face and it makes me feel chosen when you smile at me like that...yeah, just like that!” He pointed at Sean who couldn’t help but grin at the other man’s words. “And I like the way you seem to pay attention to little details.” Dave picked up a few crumbs of pizza with his index-finger and brought it to his mouth. “Details are sometimes more important than looking at the whole thing. Details are what make things special...”

“And you can tell me these things after having met me only a few hours ago?” Sean’s voice sounded soft as he felt touched by the other man’s words about him.

Dave nodded firmly. “Yes. I don’t know why, but I feel as if I have known you for a long time.” His lashes fluttered shut as he laughed at what he had just said. “I can’t believe that something as cheesy as that has just come from my mouth!” he exclaimed, lowering his eyes in embarrassment.

“It’s okay...” Sean put his hands on Dave’s. “I do understand. I really do!” Tenderly his fingertips brushed over Dave’s skin. “You want some dessert or do you want to go somewhere else?”

“We can leave,” Dave decided and unwillingly to pull his fingers from Sean’s touch he lifted one of his hands. “But I sure know what I’d like for dessert...” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Scusi? Maestro?” Dave waved at the waiter. “We’d like to pay...and...” Dave pointed at the bottle of wine in front of them. “And we’d like to take another one of those with us. Um...vino rosso!” Dave ducked his head. “Was that right?” he asked Sean in a low voice.

Sean shrugged his shoulders, amused by the other man’s behaviour. “I really don’t know, but I think he understood what you mean!”

Dave nodded proudly when the waiter came back after a few moments and placed a bottle of red wine on the table in front of Dave.

Sean payed for their dinner and grabbed the bottle. “Let’s find some nice to empty this, eh?” he suggested and tok hold of Dave’s arm. “This will be a night to remember!”


TBC...
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