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Moving in with Nino wasn't as much of an adjustment as Sho had thought it might be, perhaps because he'd been there enough that he already knew the rules. For example, Jun was allowed to clean Nino's bedroom once every two weeks, the only room Nino had succeeded in keeping Jun from being allowed in whenever he wanted. (Jun mostly dusted there, given the condition of his agreement to the two week rule, which was that Nino not eat in his bedroom, ever.) He already knew that the kitchen and bathrooms were sparkling clean and organized, in contrast to Nino's bedroom and the living room, and now, additionally, to Sho's own room.
Sho had barred Jun from entering his room immediately under the guise of not wanting him to do work when Sho wasn't the one paying but actually because he didn't want someone else touching his things. It had taken him one week to cover every surface in his room with clothes, books, and old newspapers, and sometimes it spilled out into the hallway. Accordingly, it had taken Jun one week to go from calling him Sakurai-san to Sho-kun, and sometimes he slipped to Sho-chan just like Nino did. It was hard to keep things formal when you were yelling at someone to pick up their laundry or you'd feed their dirty socks to the dog.
The dog liked to sleep on Sho's socks so Sho didn't think she would eat them but he let himself be cowed by Jun because Jun was in charge of the house even if Nino and Sho were the ones living in it. Sometimes Nino and Sho would sit in the living room and speculate loudly on the state of Jun's own house just to get him to charge in brandishing a spatula and threatening to beat them with it, because then sometimes they could convince him to sit down and play video games with them and Jun was a much better opponent than Sho so that made Nino happy, and the truth was that when Nino was happy everyone was happy unless he was happy at their expense. (And even then, sometimes, if one was of a disposition that couldn't resist Nino, like Sho.) This fact caused Sho to move in with him even though he had bought a nice apartment and nearly paid off the mortgage and caused Jun to cook hamburgers three times a week even though he had been trained as a gourmet chef.
The dog had been found huddled in a ball outside the gate to Nino's property five days after Sho had finished moving in his belongings. It was raining and the small dog was miserable, whining at Sho and extremely dirty despite the pouring rain. Sho had ignored it, both the dog and the guilt he felt at leaving it. Sho knew Nino loved dogs but he also knew that this was a very muddy puppy who was likely to pee all over Jun's floors, which were Jun's no matter who owned the house. After a minute where he hovered in the entryway, listening to the rain, he'd called out to Nino. Nino came grudgingly but when Sho explained he nearly pushed Sho out the door to find the dog and bring it inside.
When Jun had come in half an hour later the puppy, discovered to be some sort of mutt, was clean and dripping on the bathroom floor as she (as Nino had investigated) was vigorously towel-dried by Sho. The clean fur now drying into unruly fluffs did not appease Jun when he saw that the rest of the bathroom bore the evidence of a forced bath. The mud and dog hair streaked all around nearly made Jun's eyes pop out and he started toward them instinctively before getting a closer look at the puppy, who looked up at him entreatingly. After that there was no chance of the dog leaving the household, even though Nino piped up immediately that they'd named her Mayu-chan after Jun's eyebrows since she had such thick and lustrous black fur.
Despite Jun's obvious affection for the little mutt, Mayu-chan did not take well to the bearer of her namesake. Sho and Nino, out more than fourteen hours for Nino's first day filming a new drama, came home to find Mayu-chan hiding under the couch in the living room while Jun tried to coax her out with dog biscuits that had miraculously appeared in the house when Jun came to cook breakfast that morning. Jun tried to play it off as no big deal but Sho hadn't known Jun for a year without knowing he was a big softy on the inside. Dinner was subdued that night, even for a meal as late as they had to have it, and afterward they all went to their respective beds without hanging around; Jun went back to his own house, Sho went to his room, and Nino and Mayu-chan retreated to the living room to sleep on Nino's futon, together until Sho had time to go buy the puppy her own bed.
When Sho and Nino came home to a similar scene the next night, even later than the day before, Nino mentioned casually that he thought Jun should really be taking better care of the dog. Jun looked torn between melancholy and outrage before settling (as expected) on the latter, hissing that it wasn't his job to take care of whatever stray animals Sho chose to bring home. Nino waggled his eyebrows at Sho when Jun wasn't looking and Sho jumped in hastily, offering to look for someone to take care of Mayu-chan. (Sho was thankful Nino was around to manipulate situations where otherwise Jun's pride and Sho's temper might clash, even when they both had the best of intentions.)
Two days later Sho found himself going to interview a potential dog-walker, a man named Aiba Masaki who'd come much recommended from a colleague at the agency who'd had a similar problem with an overworked client and an under-loved pet. The situation at home was dire; Mayu-chan had peed on the kitchen floor, twice, despite being outside most of the day and Jun had ranted to Sho that she must have saved her pee just to come in and urinate on Jun's newly polished floor. Sho had held up the dog-walker's card and tried to look comforting.
Sho met Aiba in Aiba's tiny office, the front room of which was occupied by a sleepy-eyed secretary who waved Sho through without looking at him, being more occupied with tying two strings together for reasons inexplicable to Sho. In contrast to the neat room he'd come through the actual office was a mess, with stacks of files and books on animals everywhere, not to mention the smell of dog, which was overwhelming. Sho quickly found the source on a comfortable-looking dog bed to his left, a large and shaggy hound the size of which nearly drove him back into the other room.
Before his fight or flight impulse could really kick in he was greeted cheerfully by a tall man who sprang up from behind his desk at Sho's entrance like he had a trampoline for a chair. His hair was a soft, reddish brown with unruly waves and his eyes were bright and smiled at Sho even before his mouth did. Sho reached out to take the offered card without thinking about the fact that he already had one before recovering himself and smiling in a very professional manner back at the man he'd come to see.
"Excuse my intrusion, I'm Sakurai Sho," he said briskly, dipping low in response to the other man's bow, which had been a bit perfunctory, in Sho's opinion. It seemed like he bobbed up and down quickly so as to get to the good part of the conversation as soon as possible.
"Welcome to my office, I'm Aiba Masaki, what kind of dog do you have?" Aiba asked abruptly, not bothering to rearrange his face into anything more work-like than a beaming grin.
Sho blinked. "She's my client's puppy and we're not quite sure--"
"Let's go see her," Aiba interrupted. "If she doesn't like me then this is all just a waste of time anyway." Somehow he maneuvered around Sho and led the way out, snapping his fingers at the scruffy hound to follow. Sho trailed as far behind as his pride would let him and nodded awkwardly at the secretary who was unsubtly picking at his nose as the party made its way out the door.
In Aiba's car, which Aiba had gotten Sho into before he realized, Sho thought to ask, "Do the animals frequently not like you?"
"They always like me, Sakurai-san," Aiba confided.
"Then why do we have to--"
"It's a RUSE," Aiba said proudly. "I pretend there's a doubt and then when the pet loves me immediately it makes it really hard for the client not to hire me."
Sho stared at him. "I don't think you're supposed to tell me that," he said weakly.
"Probably not," Aiba said, unconcerned. "Do I turn right here?"
When they reached Nino's property Aiba oohed and ahhed in a way that almost embarrassed Sho, taking in the pristine stretch of green lawn and the tall, shady trees. The three houses were closer than most people would probably want them but Aiba seemed impressed with them, taking in their well-kept exteriors and the chimneys, which caused him to turn excitedly to Sho and ask whether they all had fireplaces. At Sho's positive answer he sighed happily as he parked the car in front of Nino's house.
"It's been a dream of mine to have a fireplace. Isn't it so cozy to think of your dog asleep in front of the fire?" Sho pictured the unused fireplace in Nino's living room, home to stacks of games and dvds and the odd script.
"Fireplaces can be a hassle," he said noncommittally. At Aiba's subsequent expression he quickly added, "But that does sound nice."
They got out of the car and Aiba stretched, spinning and breathing in the fresh air. "It must be wonderful to live somewhere that doesn't feel close to the city at all. Can I let Hana-chan out or does she need to be on a leash?"
"You can let her out, the wall goes all the way around," Sho said, edging his way toward the house.
Aiba let the dog out, ruffling her ears before pointing off into the distance and saying, "Go!" Hana-chan sprang off at an alarming speed, ears flapping and tongue hanging out. Aiba laughed and turned to Sho. "All right, I'm ready to meet your darling," he said, pausing for a second to let Sho lead the way for once.
Sho led Aiba to the living room and pointed in at the ball of fur curled up on the couch. "That's Mayu-chan," he said. Aiba walked in slowly and held his hand out for her to sniff, which she did delicately. He then reached and scratched her behind her ears before smoothing a hand down her side, murmuring soothing sounds to her all the while. Mayu-chan reached out and licked Aiba's nose, startling him into a high-pitched giggle, and Sho couldn't help smiling at them. It looked like they found someone to take Mayu-chan off Jun's hands. Aiba picked up the puppy's paws one at a time and grinned.
"Sakurai-san, this little puppy is going to be a very big dog." Sho paled, not having anticipated such a worry. "Her paws are huge in proportion to her body... I think she's going to be bigger than Hana-chan."
"How soon can you start?" Sho asked, trying to hide his desperation. Things were not very comfortable around the house with Jun in a sulk and if this dog was going to get bigger every day Sho needed someone as soon as possible.
Aiba leaned back on his haunches, pondering. "Well, what is it exactly you want me to do?"
"Play with her, walk her, take her to the vet, get her spayed... feed her, groom her, make sure she doesn't get fleas--"
"Stop, stop," Aiba said, laughing. "It sounds like you want me to move in! Or are you asking me to take her, because all of that sounds more like a pet owner than a dog-walker."
Sho sighed. "It's just that Nino and I both work crazy hours and taking care of a dog really isn't in Jun's job description. We really need someone who can make sure she's loved and taken care of and we need that someone as soon as possible. If it's a question of money..."
"It's not," Aiba said. "But my place is a long way from here and it's not going to work with me driving back and forth several times a day to take care of Mayu-chan. I think you need to get someone who lives close by, Sakurai-san, as much as I'd love to help."
Sho saw his chance to get this figured out in one day slipping away. "You could live close by!" he threw out hopefully. "The second guest house is empty right now and you could bring Hana-chan."
Aiba stared at him, thoroughly taken aback at having a potential dog-walking gig turn into something quite different.
"You'd have to pay rent but we could make it low, and we'd pay you well to take care of Mayu-chan, too. There's a fireplace!" Sho knew he sounded pathetic but he had meetings at all hours the next day and he really couldn't put off resolving this issue any longer.
"Oh-chan and I have been thinking about moving somewhere bigger, with a yard for Hana-chan," Aiba said thoughtfully.
"Oh-chan?" Sho thought, somehow picturing a pretty girl with a ponytail and a saucy grin.
"Can I take a look at the house?" Aiba asked. Sho nodded, crossing his fingers behind his back.
Luck seemed to be on his side because Aiba loved the house, immediately designating the parlor as his office, the biggest bedroom as "Oh-chan's studio", and the rug before the fireplace as Hana-chan's special spot. Sho called for professional movers before they'd even stepped back outside, to Aiba's great amusement, and Sho found he couldn't stop himself from laughing along with Aiba, even if Aiba was laughing at him.
As he was waiting to be connected he told Aiba, "These movers are the best, they moved all of my stuff from my apartment to Nino's house in two days. Do you want them to bring your office stuff, too? That would save you the rent on that, and you could still meet people in the city when you go to see their pets for the first time..." Sho knew he was babbling but Aiba was just nodding and smiling and it was strangely soothing. When his call finally went through he was almost disappointed.
He scheduled the movers for the next day, pretending not to hear Aiba's spluttering protest. When Aiba's splutters increased in urgency he amended the target date to three days away, and ended the call feeling hugely relieved.
Aiba straightened from his helpless laughter at Sho's craziness (laughter Sho was sure he'd recognize anywhere even after only meeting the guy once) and held out his hand. "Everyone calls me Aiba-chan," he said, sparkling at Sho. "Let's work well together!"