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Iggy rested his chin on his front paws, twitching his stub of a tail occasionally remind the loud man in the seat behind him that he heard his complaining. He’d already gotten off on a poor start with the white-haired man, who had already yelled the entire time they knew one another. Now, he was vehemently gesturing at Iggy from the backseat to Mr. Joestar, who drove their car erratically on the dirt roads. Mr. Joestar grunted something and Iggy considered the matter settled when the white-haired man sat back in a huff. Iggy rolled onto his back, stretching out in the empty row of seats before glancing at Avdol. Breathing in heavy puffs, trembling as he hunched over his wound, he was at least moving more than the red-haired man. Even with his impressive sense of hearing, Iggy could barely make out the man’s shallow breaths. The racing heartbeat of the dark man holding him upright was far more noticeable.
As he watched through drooping eyelids, the white-haired man fretted over Avdol, struggling with where to put his hands on the other man. Avdol’s eyes unfocused as the other man clutched at his robes and muttered in his ear. Iggy didn’t care enough to listen, but he felt something prickling at his pelt and shimmied around in the seat.
The prickle turned into the thought that he had left Avdol to the enemy, and Iggy covered his nose with a paw. He still planned on running away from the group as soon as he could, but Avdol seemed to have a reason to yank him out of his new, comfortable home with the scientists. As unaccommodating as he had always known humans to be, Avdol had regularly taken time to understand Iggy. Not like he would stick his neck out for anyone else, even if he knew Avdol, but the enemy he had just been literally thrown at seemed to want to target all of them. As long as he was associated with this group, Iggy would be targeted as well. He breathed out a long sigh, earning a malcontent mutter from the white-haired man.
Iggy also only knew Avdol and Mr. Joestar, and had possibly a pinch of fondness for the former. He didn’t care to learn the rest of their names. At least after hurling him at the enemy, the dark man had tried to make some peace with him. Iggy didn’t regret ruining his hat.
Avdol grunted behind him as the car shuddered to a halt. Mr. Joestar quickly hopped out of the front seat and shouted at a person waiting by a wide set of doors. The white-haired man bundled Avdol out of the car, the dark man and red-haired man following more slowly, and Iggy got to his feet with a stretch. He recognized the sanitized paleness of a hospital out the window as he put his paws up on the door. Avdol’s hand shifted as they approached the entrance, and Iggy noticed an ugly brick-colored spot darkening the man’s robes. The white-haired man grasped Avdol, face reddening with strain and hands staining dark with blood. A swarm of people manifested to support the two injured men, making the dark man snap at a woman when she tried to shift the red-haired man’s weight off of him.
Iggy dived out the open passenger window and trotted to the entrance on Mr. Joestar’s heels. Between waving his hands at the people surrounding them and trumpeting at the group in his loud voice, he noticed Iggy.
“No dogs,” drawled Mr. Joestar in the slow voice humans reserved for dogs, crouching down to come to Iggy’s level. He straightened back up and said something to another man who had appeared from the doorway when Iggy curled his lips back and tried to weave past him. Just like that, his group disappeared, and the sliding doors clicked shut in Iggy’s face.
“No dogs,” the new man repeated before disappearing into the hospital. Iggy paced at the entrance for a moment before sitting down. He would stay, just because he was considering leaving an unsightly gift in front of the door. Tail twitching, Iggy decided that he only missed Avdol because of his coffee gum.
——
Safely hidden behind a stack of boxes in an alleyway, Iggy stared in shock as the man in the street stalked towards two strikingly familiar children. He crowed something in a victorious tone, and Iggy bared his teeth. One kid had just been an adult, in a long, dark coat Iggy could almost recall as belonging to someone he knew. The coat dragged behind the child now, arms hidden in the sleeves. Iggy shook his head, waggling his droopy puppy ears out of his face. His memory was growing fuzzy, but he remembered snapping at the man’s ankles for chasing the white-haired kid, giving him a couple of seconds to run off. Iggy braced himself, shimmying into a crouch as the man raised his arm and the dark kid stared up at him. He was quite unstable on his paws, but Iggy resolved to chase the man again if he kept attacking those kids. As he charged into the street, ears flopping, the dark kid acted first and sent the man sprawling back onto the ground.
Iggy jolted, suddenly a few inches taller, the two men towering above him again. Right, he’d just learned their names—Jotaro and Polnareff. They snarled dangerous-looking simpers and their stands swiftly dispatched the cowering man on the pavement. Iggy joined in, tearing at what skin he could reach.
When they were finished, the three wove back into the crowd—no need to draw any more attention.
“Glad you were around to help, Iggy,” Polnareff said in a nasty tone. As Polnareff fixed his hair, Iggy launched himself up and fastened his teeth into the stiff white locks. His gel tasted disgusting, but Iggy had a point to make.
Like I’d help you if you get in trouble again! Iggy thought as Polnareff reached blindly for his scruff. By the time Iggy tired and leaped back to the ground, he noticed the large, shoulder-to-shoulder figures of Avdol and Mr. Joestar. Careful to retain his aloofness, Iggy trotted up to Avdol, expressly waiting for a stick of gum.
“Where have you been?” called Polnareff loudly. Avdol’s eyes immediately left iggy and tracked Polnareff, who trotted up to the joining pair.
“Enemy stand user,” muttered Avdol. He kept adjusting his robe and raking his fingers through the thin ponytail at the base of his skull.
“Us, too,” said Polnareff. “A pair, maybe?”
“Hopefully, that’s it for now,” said Mr. Joestar, coming up beside them. Finally, Jotaro joined the group. “The universe has given me enough problems before breakfast.”
The group muttered in agreement and Iggy yipped, reminding them that he hadn’t had breakfast either. He could go back to scrounging for his own food, but he’d gotten used to the regular meals brought by the scientists—at least once they’d learned he wouldn’t tolerate dog “food.” Yesterday, Avdol ordered him his own plate of eggs.
Polnareff clearly insulted Iggy in a language he didn’t understand as Avdol squatted to fetch a stick of gum from his robes. After springing forward and snatching the gum from his hand, Iggy took his place at the periphery of the group; he was close enough to watch them, but far enough away to not be associated. Jotaro assumed a similar position, ducking away from the boisterous Mr. Joestar and stuffing his hands into his pockets in teenage angst.
——
“That fight was rough, Avdol,” said Polnareff as he fell back onto the bed. The sun had fallen across the sky and now cast golden light across the hotel room walls. Iggy had tagged along into this room, not favoring the cold desert nights.
“Are you injured?” asked Avdol.
“Hardly,” sighed Polnareff. “It was, uh, not humiliating, but…”
“I think I understand,” said Avdol.
“So you do think they were working in a pair,” said Polnareff. He rolled over onto his stomach, kicking his feet up and propping his chin on his elbows. He slowly waved his feet in the air. Iggy turned towards the wall, dragging the T-bone of a steak one of them had eaten for dinner with him. If they were going to have a long chat, Iggy wanted to make his displeasure clear. He never liked the sound of humans talking—they spoke too quickly, and he only ever made out half of the words. Sometimes, they switched languages, too.
“I don’t know,” said Avdol. “We probably just got split up at a bad time. Our enemy had a magnetism-based stand, is that similar?”
“Uh, he didn’t mention anything about a partner,” said Polnareff. “And he talked a lot. He could reverse ages, though.”
“That sounds frightening,” said Avdol.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” said Polnareff. “Iggy hardly helped. Would’ve been nice to have him; maybe he could’ve been cute as a puppy. Hey, are you okay?”
Iggy understood that last phrase and glanced up. Avdol was rubbing his hands together, massaging each finger with his thumbs. He stared off towards the wall.
“Our enemy just startled me a bit,” said Avdol.
“That’s not like you,” grinned Polnareff. Avdol shrugged.
“There was a point with Mr. Joestar,” said Avdol. “Where people assumed things about us… It just made me think of something unpleasant.”
Iggy had a few moments of blissful silence before Polnareff made a grunting sound and stretched.
“I’m not good at talking about feelings,” said Polnareff. “Want to, just, hug it out?”
Iggy would’ve rolled his eyes had he understood the movement in humans. Instead, Avdol rose from the bed, removing his robe. As he folded it neatly on the covers, Polnareff unabashedly took in the other man’s back and arms. Avdol crawled onto the other bed, and the men came together in an embrace, deliberately avoiding any sort of eye contact.
Eventually, they relaxed into laying on the bed.
“This is nice,” said Polnareff quietly. Avdol softly grunted a response.
——
Avdol seized Polnareff’s shirt, pulling them chest to chest. His eyes were wide, and he grit his teeth.
Iggy guessed something had happened, but he only noticed the group of men crowded around a table, urgently speaking in hushed voices. He’d noticed the smell of fear wafting off Avdol once Polnareff and Mr. Joestar went to sleep, and Avdol quickly grabbed the former once he awoke. Mr. Joestar was still sitting, rubbing his head and taking Jotaro’s attention. Avdol pulled Polnareff behind a wall and Iggy perked up. He hadn’t been allowed inside the restaurant, instead waiting in the shade of the building, but now he had a clear view of the two men.
“That was too brash!” Avdol hissed under his breath. Polnareff looked stunned at being woken suddenly.
“Oh, we won?” asked Polnareff.
“Barely!” said Avdol. “I couldn’t help you then. I get too—too agitated with gambling.”
“How was I supposed to know he was a real kook?” shot back Polnareff. “Anyways, it’s no use scolding me after the fact.”
“I can’t take losing you!” said Avdol, pushing him back to the wall by the material of his shirt. He breathed heavily, and it was Polnareff’s turn to widen his eyes. “When I don’t have control of a situation like that, I can’t—I can’t—”
“You like me?” asked Polnareff.
“Of course I do.”
“You think I’m cute?”
Polnareff’s expression had shifted to cheeky as a grin twitched at his lips. Avdol’s desperation dissipated.
“Yes,” he sighed. Polnareff leaned in, locking eyes with the other for a moment before they seemed to come to an agreement. They kissed fervently, grabbing at the other like they might slip through their fingers.
Iggy had enough, rising to his feet and yipping at the pair. They both started and stepped away from one another, like they were suddenly aware of their situation. Putting as much emphasis on the thought of gum as he could, Iggy barked again.
“We should check on the others,” said Avdol, fishing the packet of gum out of his pocket. His gaze was fixed on Polnareff, who had turned a bright crimson.
“Of course.”
Iggy leaped at Avdol’s hand while he was distracted, swiftly stealing the pack. Luckily for him, Avdol had just bought another one, and it was almost full. Both men exclaimed in shock as Iggy tore around the corner and came to face Mr. Joestar and Jotaro. Mr. Joestar roared in laughter as Avdol and Polnareff chased after him, both red in the face, as he saw Iggy goad them on.
——
They entered the mansion’s gate—Iggy for the second time. Three of their group had disappeared, leaving Polnareff and Avdol wide-eyed and gaping at the spot they had been standing on. Iggy trotted forward, sniffing cautiously, when he heard voices behind him.
“We can’t risk the mission saving one another,” Avdol finished. “It may sound cruel, but—”
“No, I agree,” said Polnareff. Iggy understood the tone of his voice and tilted his head, but the two men were only paying attention to each other. They grasped their hands solidly.
“Buy me dinner if we get out of here,” Polnareff said, a faint smile dancing at his lips.
“I’ll buy Iggy’s, too,” said Avdol, stoic expression fading for a moment.
Iggy ventured forward first, nose twitching and ears perked. Polnareff came next, Silver Chariot scouting along the ground. Once Avdol sent out his life-detecting flames, however, everything happened quite quickly. Iggy propelled his stand towards one pillar, slicing through the rock and leaving the man inside clutching at a wound. The maze they had entered fell away, replaced by a cavernous room, so dark its edges weren’t visible. Iggy sensed only a slight change in the air pressure before hearing Avdol choke out a warning.
Whipping around, Iggy watched Avdol bowl Polnareff over, both landing heavily on the tile floor. One area collected the change in pressure—a buzzing hole in the air that seemed to suck in any of the lingering, dusky light as it flashed above the two men. Iggy’s paws stuck in place from the sheer malevolence of the mass while his mind screamed to chase after it, fur along his back raising and lips curling back in fear.
“Are you okay?” cried Avdol, scrabbling into a standing position.
“Are you?” shrieked Polnareff. He followed Avdol up, grabbing onto the other man for support. Iggy, eyes darting around the room as his nose sniffed frantically for anything out of place, finally started out of his daze and sprinted between the two pairs of legs. Both men still clung to each other—not out of fear, but to make sure the other was still there. The inky mass appeared again, its user’s face peering from a horrid maw. Avdol’s breath caught in his throat before he recollected his flames, and the group surged forward as one.
——
Iggy nipped at the bandages on his leg again, grumbling in annoyance when the itch on the end of his stub wouldn’t quit.
“Keep doing that and I’ll get a cone on you,” said Avdol from the hospital bed without opening his eyes. Iggy prepared to leap onto the bed, injuries to the both of them be damned, when Polnareff barged through the door. His crutches caught on the doorframe, one swinging freely in the air as he balanced bags of food in his arms. Avdol opened his eyes to stare as Polnareff tumbled into the room. A nurse glanced in at the noise and Polnareff quickly shooed her away.
“I got food, mon canard,” sang Polnareff.
“You shouldn’t be walking, never mind with only one crutch,” scolded Avdol, gesturing to one of the containers Polnareff held anyways. Polnareff set the bags down at the end of the bed and struggled with a container for a moment.
“And you want hospital food again?” said Polnareff between bites on the plastic lid.
“I won’t be biting the hand that feeds me,” said Avdol. He perked up as Polnareff finally peeled the lid off. “Shawarma!”
“I didn’t know what you liked, so I went to five different restaurants,” said Polnareff. Avdol smiled brightly at him and Polnareff blushed furiously. Iggy leaped onto the bed and waited with his mouth open; Polnareff begrudgingly pulled a piece of meat from the wrap and dropped it into his mouth. Polnareff then held up a bite to Avdol.
“Will you go back to France now?” asked Avdol after a few minutes of quiet chewing. Polnareff started, cheeks still full.
“Uh, yeah,” he said after choking on his bite. “I suppose I should.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but you don’t have any family there, do you?” asked Avdol. Normally bold, he now cast his gaze to the blank, white wall across from him.
“Not since Sherry,” Polnareff muttered.
“You could stay in Cairo for a while,” said Avdol. “While you heal. I’d be happy to have you in my shop.”
“Oh,” said Polnareff, suddenly understanding the implications of the offer.
“Iggy, too,” continued Avdol, like conversational momentum would make the tense undercurrent in the room fade. “He just has those Speedwagon employees looking after him, right?”
Iggy heard his tail thump against the sheets before he realized he was doing it. He caught Avdol’s smile in the corner of his eye and turned away indignantly, only to face Polnareff’s grin.
“That would be nice,” said Polnareff. He crawled up the bed, coming to face Iggy. Iggy preemptively growled when he attempted to lay behind Avdol, making Iggy shift around. The Frenchman stood down and crawled around to Avdol’s front, wedging himself into the narrow space. Avdol smiled as Polnareff grasped his face and kissed him deeply. Iggy got up and stretched before spinning a few times between the long pairs of legs and laying down with a sigh. The now-familiar orange light of the desert sunset dripped through the window, lighting up Avdol’s undone hair like a halo as Polnareff tucked into his chest.
——
Polnareff set a box down on the counter, shifting his grip back to his single crutch. Once all freed from the hospital, Polnareff set off to France to fetch his belongings—just one box’s worth. No one said anything, but it was clear that Avdol’s offer to move in was providing him far more companionship than he had in France.
Avdol cupped Iggy to his chest. The mechanisms in his prosthetic arms whirred softly whenever he moved. He had decided to baby the dog recently, and Iggy wouldn’t grumble about it too much. He was really the one outsmarting the men into giving him more food, as his already bloated belly exhibited.
“Your house is nice,” said Polnareff meekly.
“Uh, thank you,” said Avdol. Wanting something to occupy his hands, he absentmindedly stroked Iggy’s face along his snout. Iggy snapped at his fingers without venom and the man carefully let him to the floor, aware of his still-healing prosthetic leg. Iggy wiggled his behind before leaping onto the table to inspect Polnareff’s box.
“The shop is downstairs, like you saw,” said Avdol. He busied himself with tidying up the neat room. Although unused for several months, the whole house seemed quite neatly organized besides a layer of dust. Polnareff unpacked his belongings into a clutter and Avdol shifted a picture frame, so it leaned less haphazardly, before pulling his hand back. He looked at the dark-haired girl in the picture for a moment before realizing that Polnareff had stepped closer.
“Thank you,” murmured Polnareff, leaning into the other man. Avdol grasped his hands around Polnareff’s waist, and the other man rested his head against his shoulder.
“Of course,” said Avdol. “And… you can stay as long as you want.”
“Oh, that’s a dangerous offer, Muhammad.”
“I know,” chuckled Avdol. Just as he began to relax, noticing how the gossamer curtains across the room fluttered delicately in the stiff desert breeze, Polnareff shouted something next to his ear. He whipped around to see Iggy had unpacked Polnareff’s belongings for him. He held a sleeve of French cookies in his jaws and leaped off the table, scrabbling on the floor for a moment before regaining his footing and disappearing into the house, ducking along one tiled wall. Polnareff reacted first, thudding his crutch along the floor with each step and coming up with colorful French sentences. Avdol sped past him, pulling back the ornate Persian rugs hanging from the walls to look for the small dog.
Iggy returned with the empty sleeve several minutes later, after Polnareff had collapsed on the other man in exhaustion. Avdol had dragged them both to a couch.
“Mes biscuits,” he cried, seizing the empty plastic packaging from Iggy’s mouth. Iggy licked the crumbs from his mouth. Polnareff wiped his forehead with the back of his hand like he was going to faint.
“Oh, it’s too much for me, you’ll have to hold me,” said Polnareff, crawling further up Avdol, who wheezed at the weight on his chest.
“I didn’t expect cookies to affect you like this,” said Avdol.
“No, but I don’t just want to ask to cuddle,” pouted Polnareff, laying his head on Avdol’s shoulder. Iggy considered jumping onto the cushions and giving himself a thorough licking to break up the pair before he glanced at Avdol—the man was grinning widely and holding onto Polnareff like he couldn’t bear to let go. He supposed it made sense; the few days Polnareff had spent apart from Avdol after dropping him at the hospital when Iggy first met him had turned them both into balls of nerves. Avdol had taken to inexhaustibly cleaning his house in preparation for Polnareff’s return from France. Iggy sighed contentedly and laid his chin on his paws. He perked his ears when Polnareff patted some open space on one of the cushions.
“Come on, we can’t return those adoption papers,” said Polnareff. Iggy, out of his own volition and not an invitation, pulled himself up the couch and sat heavily on Polnareff’s feet. He flopped onto his side as the men curled into one another, dusting each other’s faces with kisses. As Iggy watched the birds flit against the bright sky outside the window, he remarked to himself that this was enough—more than the streets or scientists ever gave him. His eyes drooped closed lazily.