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Kinjou stared down at his two puppies, amusement causing his lips to curl into a smile at the sight of both Arakita and Machimiya wiggling unhappily on his polished wooden floor. The two pups were on their sides, whining piteously at each other and at no one with an occasional leg kick in the air.
“What should we do, Shingo? Should we call the doctor?”
The weather was still cold. Dressed in a comfortable sweater, Fukutomi leaned against the kitchen table with a hot cup of morning coffee still steaming in his hands. His strong brow was furrowed tightly and his fingers began to tighten around his cup, his eyes still drooping from sleepiness.
“They’re not sick, Juichi.”
Kinjou watched silently as Fukutomi placed his coffee on the table and bent down, the blond stretching his hand out to gently comb his fingers through Arakita’s soft fur. The resounding yip startled him back a step as the husky puppy cried out sadly for what looked like no apparent reason. Considering how Arakita loved Fukutomi more than anything, even food and new toys, it’s not surprising that the blond's small bud of worry grew at the pup’s reaction to his touch.
“Are you sure?” Fukutomi muttered before fidgeting and moving forward again to pat at Arakita’s soft side. The gentle lift and fall of the husky’s chest seemed to ease him but the worry deepened his furrow by the time he stood back up. Kinjou only smiled a little wider before crossing both of his arms over his chest. Neither Arakita or Machimiya had changed their positions on the floor since this morning and he was wondering how much longer they would go on at this point.
“Very. They’re just sulking, Juichi,” he affirmed gently, “They’re not sick.”
The resounding barks from his words were sharp, as if both two month old puppies were insulted by the very notion that they were sulking. This time, Fukutomi reached for the brown and white pitbull’s ear, giving him little but firm scratches; only stopping to let Machimiya stretch his head around to lick at his fingers for the affection.
“I didn’t know that tree branch was something they treasured. I should not have thrown it out.” The guilt in Fukutomi’s voice had Kinjou inwardly sighing. Though he even agrees to himself that it’s odd, there’s no denying that he has a soft spot for certain types of people and certain types of dogs. Whether it was puppies or Fukutomi’s rare shifts in moods that left him quietly pleading to Kinjou, the salaryman couldn’t help but agree or cave to the request--whichever came first.
He rested a callused hand on top of his partner’s shoulder, fingers squeezing down onto the blond. Neither pups looked up but Fukutomi seemed to understand that there was going to be change of plans.
“Shingo?” he asked.
Kinjou only shook his head a little, glasses sliding down his nose with the movement, before motioning for Fukutomi to finish his coffee with his other hand.
“Finish your coffee first, Juichi. Then I’ll show you a way to fix this.”
“Where are they going, eh?”
“How the fuck would I know?!”
The sound of the door coming to a close behind them had both puppies scrambling to their feet, their still too large paws skidding across the wooden floor as they headed toward the front door. The familiar sound of an car being started and then heading out had both Arakita and Machimiya whining even louder at the doorway.
“I thought you said that they’d give it back, eh eh!”
“Shut up! They were supposed to, not just hightail outta here!”
They began pawing at the door, hoping that perhaps it was all just some sort of ruse to get them to get up. But it didn’t take long for both Arakita and Machimiya to realize that no amount of sound and digging their nails into the front door was going to get Kinjou and Fukutomi back until the two adults came back home from whatever errand they decided to go on.
“Do you think they’ll be gone long?”
“Nah, like they’d leave me here with you for that long.”
Arakita jumped into the small box left specifically by the couch so he could climb up and rest on the armrest. Instead of curling in his usual spot right in the center of a plush cushion, the husky struggled his way up until he could press both paws against the transparent curtains of the front room’s window. The small round table tucked against the couch and the wall didn’t even wobble under his weight. The stack of magazines he was standing on, on the other hand, moved with every shift of his back paws. Still, no sign of blond hair or a glint of glasses.
But he imagined if he just stayed still for a few more minutes, surely Kinjou and Fukutomi would come back sooner.
“See anything interesting, eh?”
“Shut up.”
“Make me, eh eh!”
The pit bull puppy followed Arakita’s previous steps, only coming to a stand still when Machimiya stuck out a large brown paw to pat at the wooden table. When it didn’t wobble, he shimmied up as well, thin tail wagging happily.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
“Joining you, heh. Since you won’t be nice and share.”
“Like there’s enough space for the both of us. Get the fuck down--”
“Like I said, make me--”
The stack of magazines toppled with a well place whack of two tails, leaving the husky scrambling for purchase--any purchase!-- of surface while the pit bull simply gave up and jumped off the table. Machimiya whimpered once he hits the floor but after a quick roll here and there and no pain, he simply sat and waited for Arakita to come back down.
“What the fuck was that for?!”
“What was what for?”
Arakita scrambled down, clumsily kicking off the wooden table onto the couch. There he stood, shaking out his fur and baring his teeth at his fellow pup.
“Don’t act innocent, you asshole!” he barked. “You fucking kicked me off!”
Machimiya panted, head tilting to the side and both folded ears twitching at the sight of his angry friend. There was no way Arakita was ever going to admit that the magazine was going to fail as support and Machimiya never liked trying to work in logic into their arguments anyways.
“Maybe you’re just too fat now. Didn’t Fukutomi say you were eating more than usual, eh eh?”
The pit bull’s tail swept across the floor in quick little swings happily. Machimiya’s smile didn’t even drop when Arakita leaped at him, his high pitch and squeaky growls filling the air as the two began their usual wrestling right among the fallen magazines. Paper made them slip here and there but not even the sound of something tearing made Arakita and Machimiya pause.
By the time the door opened once more, the magazines had been scattered along with most of their pages either by paw or tooth. Both Arakita and Machimiya were sprawled on the welcoming mat, bellies up and eyes avoiding both Fukutomi and Kinjou as the two adults looked over the mess made.
“Half an hour,” Kinjou sighed.
“They must have missed us,” Fukutomi mumbled as he bent down to give both the husky and pit bull puppy a quick belly rub. This time, both of them squirmed for another touch, coming to their feet quickly at the knowledge that at least one of their owners weren’t too terribly angry at them or at the loss of the biking magazines. The blond’s lips twitch at the ends to curl up into a very rare soft smile.
“We are sorry for throwing away your tree branch, Arakita. Machimiya.” Fukutomi rummaged through the plastic bag with the local puppy store’s logo. “But here is something to make up for it.”
The little stuffed lizard squeak toy was held on top of the palm of his hand. There was silence for a moment, Kinjou even standing back up to see why no noise was being made. Then of course, after a few seconds of peace, the toy ended up flying into the air and against the wall as both puppies went scrambling for it.
“Kinjou.”
The man being called blinked from behind his glasses, hands paused over the tatters of a page depicting the hills of Hakone.
“Yes?”
Fukutomi smiled.
“We fixed it.”