Date with the Delivery Mare

The silence was enough to wake up his mind. The exhilaration and nervousness had bled away into the sunroof. He had pulled a few of the mozzarella sticks to snack on while he watched the invisible clouds in the night sky obscure the stars. The few stars left to see. So he wondered.

As far as dates went, this was shaping up to be his best ever. How he was supposed to... functionally respond to the person he was out with being a mare had finally realized itself as a question he'd need to find an answer for. This isn't a one off date. I don't want it to be. So he wondered.

Obviously there'd be the fundamentals involved. He had her phone number, but would he get sucked into government nonsense? He was sure that his name had already been traced and his genetics sequenced the moment Brisk started texting him. She was here on lease from a program that had world leaders looking over it. Would his name show up in a footnote? How was he supposed to prepare for that?

For her?

The thought struck out similarly to his sideways thoughts about 'people as pets'. A lot of people tended to act... poorly, when given a comfortable situation. Everyone had needs, and Emanuel had no clue what attention a mare may need, or dieting for that matter. Obviously the simple solution would be to just ask, he didn't want to break the silence. He also needed more time to think. What you really need is to stop trying to plan every second of the future.

So he wondered.

Trying to let his thoughts drift without giving himself a headache. There were specifics, and a mental list would be a good start. Enjoying the moment went out the window, regardless of his awareness of it. He was interrupted by Brisk standing up, crawling over the space between the seats and turning to face him from her spot on his lap. She rested her front hooves on his chest and then sat back against the steering wheel. The position looked uncomfortable, but upon checking a second time, Emanuel confirmed that what he'd just seen happen did, in fact, just happen.

Emanuel blinked in confusion.

Brisk did the same.

"Uhhhh. Brisk?" Emanuel ventured.

She made an embarrassed noise not unlike a mouse squeaking in peril.

"What are you doing?" Emanuel questioned mostly on autopilot. His mind was focused elsewhere. She was lighter than he expected, warm and soft. The hooves on his chest were the same, he kept his own hands down and to the sides, completely uncertain. Pulled out of his internal quandaries by what was essentially a flashbang of physical contact, Emanuel's train of thought smashed into the end of the track and sprawled itself over the landscape in a fireball of broken thoughts.

"I-I-I-" Brisk stuttered, before shutting her eyes. Her ears folded down in Emanuel's best guess of a mix of equine stress and embarrassment. "I don't know!" She shouted in exasperation. There was a hollow laugh that followed the admission, one aimed at herself. "I have no idea what I'm doing!"

She opened her eyes again and looked around. "What is going on?! Where- wha- Where are we?" She made eye contact with Emanuel again, "Who are you?! What am I doing?"

Brisk had mistakenly opened her mouth and said what she was thinking. Ponies tended to not like her observations, despite how accurate they may be. To address the realism of the situation usually led to social ruin, and she had thrown the dice. Emanuel stared blankly at her for a moment. His face narrowed into something bordering on angry confusion, before he snorted.

Then he laughed.

Brisk shrunk into herself. He laughed hard enough for her to feel reverberating up his legs, and when she tried to move, a hand rose up to her shoulder to keep her in place. "I'm sorry-" another laughing fit, "Goodness. Well at least we know we're on the same page!"

Same-

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh at you." He quieted his laughing down to a chuckle. "It's just so easy to laugh at myself, and that was the most relatable thing I've ever heard." He made some facial expression Brisk didn't understand and then mimed out, "Who are we? Where are we? What are we doing here? and what's going on?"

He looked back to her, and softly said, "I have just as much of a clue as you do."

Brisk stared blankly this time.

Her mind settled on the fact that... She hadn't done something right per say. Climbing onto- Ohmygosh, Brisk, you were told not to touch people without asking and- It didn't matter. Both of them had settled on it being something alright. Emanuel didn't seem to mind it, not really. It just surprised him, it surprised her. She'd worked up the courage to do something, and something she did.

He was kinda comfortable, more comfortable than the chair; not that she was willing to move.

It didn't seem like he wanted her to. She didn't want to either.

"Here." Emanuel looked to the side, his hand went down and fiddled with the chair release. There was a quiet clicking of the catch moving and he pushed the chair down. All the way down. The change meant that Brisk was closer to laying on him than sitting. Needless to say, her attempt at showing interest had gone a little further than she intended and- Oh I hope he can't tell how red my face is.

"Better?" He asked, the ghost of his amusement still present in his tone.

Brisk, very aware of how her last attempt at doing something went, chose to simply nod to avoid complicating her response; despite wanting to. She leaned down, rested her head down on her hooves and stared into the stars. He stared back into her eyes too, of course. Both of them were aware of how uncomfortable strained eye contact was, but neither could resist. Comfortably wedged between a pretty comfy seat and a cozy, cuddly mare. Brisk internally argued that she was keeping the cold off of him, but she also had fur, so he could get a pass this one time.

They stared.

Brisk wondered what was going on in his head. Except... Not really. She could see it. They were both staring at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. Wondering what to do next. Neither of them were willing to push another inch because they didn't know what to do next. Brisk had jostled the situation away from stagnating by just forcing herself to do something, and now they were stuck again. Staring. Wondering. Thinking about themselves and each other. Cuddled under the stars, in the dark.

Emanuel blinked.

Brisk smiled at him.

He smiled back.

Gosh. Brisk giggled, "We're... ridiculous."

"Yeah, I'm-" He shook his head, "I'm just about in that mindset of being totally psychotic."

"What do we do next?" She asked, knowing what his answer was gonna be.

He raised a brow, "You're asking me?"

Brisk pushed into him a little. A gentle jostle. "Yes. I'm asking you. I just embarrassed myself climbing on top of you. Your turn."

Emanuel blinked once, and comprehension passed over his features. "Ah, that's fair. Well. Er- Permission to hug?"

Brisk giggled again, ironic how he was gonna ask her that. Probably habit, or he was trying to make it clear that he was only offering a hug. Regardless, Brisk nodded in her amusement, signaling his arms to raise up to her sides and brush into her fur. They ran up and around her shoulders until they met just behind the base of her neck, he grasped both of his hands together and gave her a tiny squeeze. The whole process was electrifying. Brisk was a lonely mare, and- get a hold of yourself. Behave.

Brisk's calmed response was an approving hum.

"This is usually the point in the conversation where we ask random questions, find all those little things." He commented, leading into, "Right?"

"Mmmm-youfirst." Brisk mumbled and pulled herself in closer, still staring. He didn't seem to mind. It was starting to feel less awkward. Nothing probably felt awkward while being held, Brisk wasn't sure, she'd never tried a swath of things while being held, she usually wasn't held in general. New experience, one that she liked a lot. It was probably only because of him.

"Well... Do youuuuuu~" He dragged out, still missing half of the thoughts, "Floss your teeth?"

Brisk gave him her best head tilt without compromising the snuggle. "I can lift things with my mind. Of course I floss. Do you?"

"Manipulators made of flesh." He shot back, half shrugging while he squeezed her again.

"I rate them." Brisk answered.

She had to ask him a question now too. How to bounce off of flossing though? Something informal, almost silly to ask another person, but still in line with some subtle conversation they were having between the lines. They had both decided they already knew each other. The important parts, the parts that made them compatible. Brisk had decided to... All in. She was going to see where this went. At this point, she was committed.

Brisk settled on what was on her mind at dinner. "Have you ever dated somebody else?"

"Not a very exciting story there." He manually winced. "I've been on two formal dates in my lifetime, both technical successes, though the persons in question didn't last."

"Say no more." Brisk interrupted. "You go."

"Hmmm." He pretended to think. Brisk could tell he'd already come up with his next question. He hadn't responded with the same look of nervous, adaptive confusion like he had before. He never got the chance to say anything though, as both Emanuel and Brisk nearly threw themselves out of the sunroof as somebody tapped on the glass on the passenger side window.

"Jesus fuc-" and "Bucking Tarta-" respectively.

After they settled, and Brisk steadied her heart, she tapped Emanuel's chest and said, "It's just jack. Roll down the window."

Emanuel did so.

Jack poked his scraggly brown face into the car with a very unamused looking brow.

Oopsies

Brisk sat up, and folded her ears down. "I take it... the... maneuvering-"

"You realize how many laws you just broke right?"

Emanuel helpfully chimed in with, "Uhhh." Still flabbergasted/shell-shocked by the federal agent that had simply appeared and accused him of breaking the law. Not that the accusation was incorrect. They probably lost Brisk in the chaos of him spinning around in circles and then essentially creating his own overpass.

Brisk turned on her serious tone, aware of how much trouble she may actually be in; and that she'd just dragged Emanuel into it too. Similarly, she was aware of the current situation Jack was looking at. He had arrived to see her laying on top of the man, but at least he was aware enough to know she was safe, and not... like... shoot the tires out or something equally scary. "It wasn't his fault-"

Emanuel raised a hand like he was in school, "It definitely was-"

"Both of you shush." Jack grumbled, and he did that things humans do where they grab their nose in their fingers. "Listen. Guy, I dunno who you are but-" he gestured at Brisk, "She seems to like you, and that's basically half our job. Nobody but us saw you, and if I can be honest, those were some pretty sick moves."

Emanuel smiled. "Tha-"

Brisk gave him a look.

"-t's a description of the events I'm in right now." He saved the comment, nodding chalantly. "Yup."

"Don't. Do that again." Jack said, "Brisk, you know how Amy worries, and that she's far more trigger happy than I am." He removed the pinchy fingers from his nose, "Amy was about to call in an airship and wake up half of Michigan's police force for a manhunt."

Emanuel nodded.

"I had to convince her not to shoot you through your back window when we found you both parked up here."

Emanuel nodded a little slower.

"Don't do that again. Clear?"

"Crystal." Emanuel chirped.

Brisk felt the need to say something, despite not being the target of the tongue lashing. "Thank you for checking on me, and for not shooting my date."

He pulled his head out of the window, and Brisk caught the tail end of him sarcastically mumbling, "Yeup. Big 'ol teddy bear Jack, at your service."

Both of them watched him walk away before settling back on each other again.

"I'm so sorry about that. I totally forgot they were shadowing me."

Emanuel smiled with his teeth, "I have that effect on mares." He joked.

Brisk bapped him on the chest, and then flopped back down into a lying position. "Don't be weird." She joked back.

"Can't help myself." He said, "Where were we?"

"Yes." Brisk mumbled, covering her face with her hooves. "Let's swiftly move past the part where I almost got you shot because I forgot who I was and that I never warned my handlers that we were leaving or that you were driving me."

"Bah-" He waved a hand, a hand that should have been back over her shoulders by now, in her opinion. "I would've been fine, Jack actually seemed really chill. Let's just move on."

"Lets."

Emanuel's hands went over her back again. This time they didn't fold into each other like before. He left his hands sprawled open over into her fur. It felt so strange to have all those digits all spread out, parting her fur all at once. Strange but good, obviously. She took a few more deep breaths as Emanuel held his question back for her to settle.

"Seeing as that you've asked about my previouses, and I've asked about your mouth-" wait- "I'm... Gonna ask it outright, because I want a clear answer, do you find me attractive?"

Did he ask if I floss because he wants to kiss me? Was that what that was about? Is he- he asked you a question. One thing at a time. Brisk kept the warmth at bay for a moment long enough for her to respond with a quiet and quick, "Yes."

Emanuel blinked, silently surprised. "Excuse- lemme ask a second one. Species barrier, it doesn't bother you?"

"Does it bother you?" She asked back. Worried.

He pursed his lips and considered. It didn't take him long. "A day ago, I would have unilaterally answered that question with yes. I don't feel bothered right now though..."

Brisk pressed a little deeper into the snuggle, and brought her nose a little closer to his face. "How do you feel right now?"

"Warm." He said, instantly. Almost before she was done asking. "I feel warm. I'm a little too hyper focused to be happy, but this is great. I hope I'm- my antsyness isn't bothering you. I feel like I keep twitching."

"It doesn't." Then she added on, "And I don't feel anything. Just you."

Emanuel fell silent.

Brisk capitalized on the silence by lowering her eyelids, "Do you find me attractive?"

Emanuel stared for a moment longer before answering, "That's too many questions in one go there missy." He smirked with the joke, but one hand ran down her side once, and then back up again. Enough of an answer for her, was it odd? The human equivalent of being pet, but what was he gonna do? I'm horse shaped. It's not that weird. That, and it felt nice. Not great. There was this spot on her back he could rub if he wanted, but she wasn't about to say that. She was too busy pretending to be aggravated at him half-dodging her question.

She sent him an exaggerated frown and pulled her nose back away from him. The moment having passed with his joke.

"I wanna know; how I should pet you?"

Brisk raised an eyebrow, "First, don't call it 'petting.' I'm not an animal."

Emanuel immediately went tone neutral. Verbally backpedaling away from what the thought was a mistake. "Noted. You seemed to like it. I wanted to ask to be sure."

Brisk had an opportunity here. "You don't have to be so guarded about touching me, or looking at me, or anything. I'm not going to freak out." He opened his mouth, Brisk interrupted, "Just- I'll tell you when to stop. How 'bout that?"

A blink.

Brisk settled again, leaning down into him, hoping that was enough of a prompt.

He needed to be okay with touching her. She wasn't sure what kind of trauma he had with touching, because there was something clearly deeper at work than him just being respectful. She needed him to be okay with touch. The longer this went on, the more Brisk decided that she wanted this to work. Actually work. You were chanting 'one off practice date' less than two hours ago Brisk.

Emanuel's hands shifted from open to clawed. He scratched up her sides, and Brisk's eyes fluttered on their own. He was apparently not just rubbing her sides, but had been tracing out where her muscles were in her back. Information he used to trace his nails up the musculature where her sides met her spine, and then back up to her neck and- Oh how things change. Brisk hummed in approval. She'd figured that out herself. Saying no was only a little more important than saying yes at the right time, though one of them was distinctly more fun.

His fingers traced down her shoulders and across where her neck met her chest, she pressed into his hands and then he scratched up her neck, where her head comfortably fell to rest in his hands. He gave her one more parting scritch on the cheek and then ran his hands back down the opposite side of her neck, electrifying her spine as he followed it back down to her sides. She let out another, louder, hum as he crossed over that spot she could never reach, and when he circled back again, he focused a little harder to dig his fingers into where she had prompted him to.

Elysium, if she had to put it to words. Something special about the man himself, only doubled by the fact that he could figure his way around her with barely a glance and a stroke. He was no expert, but hands in general largely made up for it. The treatment was doing wonders for her focus. Her stress was long gone now, any social anxiety having been quietly snuffed out due to her vulnerable position, and the constant reinforcing benefit she was receiving for doing so.

Emanuel was deeply glad for Brisk doing most of the work leading up to this moment; he may have pulled her out of that booth, but the rest was basically all her. He was so far outside of his comfort zone that it was starting to be a physical strain to not twitch his eyes or bounce his knee or something. Stop stressing yourself out and you'll be fine. Dummy. Brisk was helping, of course, there was nothing like a big, fuzzy body to ease the nerves. Not to mention the looks she kept sending him. All the contact and the romance, the conversation and the stress were mixing together in the boiling pot of his mind. It was its own kind of hell.

One he didn't feel like leaving.

Brisk was certainly enjoying it.

The good news is that he could stop all his nervous ticks by moving his hands. Focusing on defining the angles of her, the shape. Trying not to focus too hard, lest he pop a blood vessel. It was dark, and he could pretty much only go by feel, and she'd basically told him too, despite him struggling wi- She told you she'd tell you when to stop. He steadied his breathing.

Ah. That's what that feeling is. I'm scared.

Scared of intimacy.

Scared of going too far.

Not going far enough.

Messing it up. Getting hurt. Hurting someone else.

Scared.

Emanuel steadied his breathing a little more forcefully while he focused on following Brisk's subtle instructions. Her eyes kept fluttering every time he did a long scratch, moving to a new area, and there was this spot on her back she kept humming to whenever he rubbed or scratched. Focus. And he wouldn't be scared if he could just be an observer. Work. It's not intimacy if he's doing it from the outside. He won't be vulnerable if he doesn't engage. Nobody can get hurt if he-

Emanuel stopped. He tried to pull the tight frown off his face, and failed. It melted on its own as Brisk nuzzled into his chest, her eyes droopily expressing her gratitude, even though he had stopped.

She told you to push a boundary. Like she had. Not- calm down. Emanuel tried to calm down. Calm down. As obvious to most who tried to calm a panicking person by simply telling them to 'calm down', Emanuel's attempt didn't work. Though he kept the mantra, chanting to himself to stay calm as Brisk's ears perked and her eyes opened all he way.

Seemingly having realized his internal state and also probably noticing the external shaking, though Emanuel was trying to ignore that part, Brisk softly, carefully asked, "Are you okay?"

Emanuel swallowed his pride. Being a man didn't mean 'being empathetic', it meant not ignoring your emotions like he was trying to do. "No. Sorta." Emanuel wrapped his hands around her again to steady himself. The pressure helped him stop shaking, and she pressed into him more, carefully maneuvering her horn so as not to poke him, she pressed her muzzle under his chin in an attempt to comfort him. The affection renewed half the problem. The anxiety and warmth splicing together into the same energetic mix.

Brisk sat up. "Too much?"

Emanuel didn't let himself think about the answer, he just snap fired off the truth. "Yes."

Brisk stayed where she was, though she made the effort to try and take some more weight off of him. He put his hands on his chest with her hooves, not touching, just there to mimic what she had down. Not leaving, but backing off. A moment passed where the situation changing let Emanuel bleed his anxiety.

"I'm sorry." Brisk mumbled.

"Don't be." Emanuel responded, probably a little more curtly than he intended. He was frustrated with himself, and hoped that his tone was clear that he was upset with him and not her. "I wanted that, I just..." Embarrassment. "Couldn't handle it."

Apparently he wasn't over it.

That burned hotter than any fumbling or rambling words. His own internal accusations of what he'd done wrong and what he was supposed to do next to 'fix' what he'd just mussed up already trying to assail him. Brisk backing off was really helping. More than it should have. He definitely shouldn't have tried to force himself to- despite how much she seemed to like it. Liked. Not seemed. She liked that up until she realized it was freaking you out. He looked up at her.

She smiled a soft smile, and adjusted her mane, so it wasn't in her face.

Steady.

He grabbed her hooves, and gently directed her back down. She followed silently, and gently laid her head down on his chest again.

Steady.

Emanuel took a deep breath, and Brisk smiled wider. She angled her head down, pressed her ear against his chest so she could listen. So Emanuel took another deep breath. Her opposite ear flicked once, and she closed her eyes again.

... Steady...

Emanuel calmed himself, steadily. With the knowledge that the moment was frozen like this, and Brisk was letting him lead. An evil thought crossed his mind, that she was just an animal and he was a man and that he shouldn't be panicking like that. One of those thoughts designed by his subconscious to check to make sure he still found what it just presented abrasive and disgusting. He banished the thought and went back to holding Brisk's hooves. He'd drawn them into her chest when she'd laid down, and her hooves just naturally curled inwards.

He set his voice into a whisper, not willing to disturb the gently settling peace. "Who asked last? I can't remember."

Brisk didn't alter her position at all. She kept her eyes closed, held onto his hands, kept her ear pressed down into his chest. She whispered back, "We'll just count that question as yours and I'll go next."

Wha- oh dang it.

"Got me." He joked. A fake smile came to his face.

She giggled, then settled again. She was so carefree. Emanuel was already wondering when the anxiety was going to strike again, while carefully trying not to disturb the moment of peace he had clawed his way into. His smile naturally turned real as he heard her voice. "Where do you buy clothes?"

Emanuel usually bought clothes when he saw something worth buying. Same as anyone, he assumed. Trying to spot a decent mix between cost and quality at a glance whenever he happened to be in a store. He wasn't a massive fan of shopping for clothes in general.

"Around." He whispered. "Nowhere in particular. Just when I can find something good I like." Another peaceful moment passed, after his words had finished being said, finished being heard, and had started the process of being recontextualized in the mind.

Brisk hummed in approval. Both to verify she understood his answer, and to prompt him to ask his own question.

"Where do you buy your clothes?" Emanuel asked back. He'd wanted to know since he'd complimented her beanie. He knew ponies wore clothes sometimes. Whether or not Brisk had anything other than accessories was up in the air, but he asked. No point thinking about it. As he was about to find out.

"The same." She mumbled. "If I see something I like for a price that's fair. It's mine."

Then Brisk asked him another mundane question. He told her the truth. With no twisting. Even when it made him feel weird to confront how he strangely didn't fit into society. She was literally a horse. If anyone was going to understand his societal-dysmorphia, it would be her. Then he asked a question back, and... the same thing happened. From another angle.

Mirrors.

Funny how they're everywhere. In everything. But you'll never notice them until they reflect you.

Brisk was like him. Successfully trying to fit into a society she didn't understand.

They talked into the night.

About the sky.

About food preference.

Hoof care.

Cars. That part of the back and forth went on for a while.

Eventually, half way into him explaining how microwaves worked, Brisk began to snore.

He stared at her. Somehow... So far away from his own thoughts, engulfed in this moment with her. She'd fallen asleep with a smile on her face, and Emanuel elected to do the same. Resting his hands over her back, Emanuel leaned back and took a glance at the sky before realizing he ought to close the sunroof before passing out.

After a bit of careful maneuvering to not wake the sleeping fuzz ball, he leaned all the way back, adjusted his shoulders, and closed his eyes too.