Chapter Text
*Knock-knock* “Dad, wake up, wake up, wake up! You and Mr. Heeler said that today we could have brekky with Bluey!” The muffled high-pitched voice filled the dark bedroom accompanied by a flurry of knocks at the door.
“Ugh, Winnie there’s still like half an hour left for that!” The sleepy dog yelled out in protest, wanting nothing more than to stay on his bed for five more minutes.
“Yeah, but you said that last time and we still got there late!” The girl didn’t let up, knocking on the door even faster, determined to get her drowsy father off the bed.
“Alright, alright! J-just hold on, lemme get ready first!” Fido quickly gave up, dragging himself out of bed and hobbling his way over to his closet in hopes of finally stopping the endless knocking.
“Um… oh gosh. What should I wear?” The dog sat in front of his closet for a good 2 minutes pondering his many clothing options. “Hmm… maybe this?” He picked up a black tank top with a skull on the front. “Nah. Maybe this instead?” He held up a red polo shirt. “No, this one doesn’t look good either. Mayb-“
“DAD! Come on we’re gonna be late for brekky!” The girl shouted.
“Ok, ok, I’m going!” Feeling his little girl’s fury rise by the second, an ever so slightly panicked Fido settled on wearing a short-sleeved white button-down linen shirt and some jeans.
The brown dog opened up his bedroom’s door to find a very annoyed Winnie standing in front of him.
“Let’s go! Brekky time!” The tiny dog quickly grabbed her father’s hand and practically dragged Fido to his car outside.
“Winnie, wait! I-I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet!” The poor dog fruitlessly tried to protest but was unable to stop her.
The drive over to the Heeler’s house was a pleasant one, neither of them said much to each other, but the nice atmosphere of that morning had put him in a good mood.
“Oh, oh! Dad, do you think Bluey is gonna wanna play café again?” Winnie asked.
“Uh, maybe! How about we ask Bluey what she thinks and we can go on from there, mate?” Fido couldn’t help but be charmed at how enthusiastic Winnie always was when it came to hanging out with Bluey, even if the both of them could be a little too much sometimes, having his little girl be so excited for something always put a big smile on his face.
As they pulled up to park on the Heeler’s sidewalk, Fido looked at his daughter through the rearview mirror. The tiny chocolate Labrador sat there in her little car seat looking at the Heeler house with a big smile plastered on her face and he could not help but feel his heart melt a little.
The girls had hit things off incredibly well! Ever since the two families met at the park on that one fateful morning, the girl hadn’t been able to stop talking about her new heeler friend, every day now Fido’s ears were filled with “Dad, can you take me to see Bluey today?”, “Do you think Bluey’s gonna wanna play café again?”, “I miss Bluey!”. Not that Fido thought it was a bad thing though. When they first moved to Brisbane, Winnie and her sister had a difficult time adapting to this new environment. Winnie’s sister was never really that big of a fan of playtime and mostly just kept to herself, and it didn’t help that Winnie would always find it difficult to introduce herself to new people, so before she met Bluey, Winnie would always play in her room alone, but something about that Bluey girl was different for some reason. Winnie’s usual shy demeanor just sort of disappeared whenever she was around, and it was really quite something! It was wonderful to see his daughter finally start to come out of her shell and have fun again.
Fido parked his car and stepped out to open Winnie’s door. The girl immediately hopped out of her seat and excitedly ran to the Heeler’s front door and began repeatedly ringing their doorbell.
“Winnie, just one ring is enough!” Fido yelled out and ran towards the little Labrador taking her hands off the doorbell before she could ring it again.
“Coming!” They heard a muffled voice yell out from inside the house followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
“Winnie!” Before the front door was even fully open a tiny blue heeler dog ran out and tightly hugged the brown labrador girl. “Squeezy time!”
“Bluey!” Winnie busted out in laughter as her friend lifted her off the ground in a tight hug.
“Hey, mate! Good to see you again!” The door fully opened to reveal a much bigger and rather chubby-looking blue heeler standing before Fido holding out his hand for a handshake, it was Bandit! He was wearing a red T-shirt with the logo of some band that Fido had never heard of before and some shorts. The shirt might’ve been a little too small for Bandit’s frame though, because a little bit of his belly was sticking out of it. The sight of this made Fido’s heart beat a little faster.
Ever since he first saw him back at the park Fido had thought Bandit was a rather good-looking guy. The blue heeler was on the chunkier side with a big round belly, thick arms and legs, a stubble, some heavy bags under his eyes, and messy fur that was starting to grey in some areas. All of these things came together and added to the blue heeler’s handsome looks.
“Good morning, Bandit! Sorry for all this ruckus so early in the day.” The Labrador let out an awkward chuckle before taking the Heeler’s hand and shaking it. As he got closer to the blue heeler, Fido started to sniff out a delicious scent coming from inside the house. *Sniff* *Sniff* “Oh mate, is that banana bread?” Fido asked.
“Yeah! You said before that you go crazy for the stuff. So I thought I’d finally dust off my super awesome baking skills!” Bandit boasted. “Come on in, mate! You guys are probably starving!”
“You bet!” Both the Labradors said in unison.
As they all stepped inside, the girls kept talking to each other about all the fun games they would play today, while Fido and Bandit just chatted about life like they would always do.
“Fido, Winnie, It’s so good to see you two!” When the group reached the kitchen they were all greeted by a light orange heeler, Chilli!
“Hey, Chilli. Thanks for having us over today!” Fido gave the orange heeler a friendly wave.
“Good morning, Mrs. Heeler!“ Winnie bowed her head which made Chilli giggle and playfully ruffle Winnie’s hair.
“Aw, good morning to you too, Winnie! Why don’t you two take a seat? The banana bread’s almost ready!” Chilli gestured to both of the Labradors to take a seat on the dining table.
“Thank you! Oh, by the way, where’s Bingo? She sleep in again?” Fido said as he took his seat.
“Oh yeah, the girls went pretty wild with playtime yesterday, so she’s all tuckered out.” Chilli chuckled.
Bluey turned excitedly towards Winnie and said: “Uh-huh! Me and Bingo were superheroes and we got to beat up dad because he was a super evil meanie bad guy!”
“Wow, no way! I wanna beat up bad guys too! Dad, can me and Bluey be the heroes and you and Mr. Heeler the bad guys, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase?” Winnie turned to Fido and gave him a pleading look.
“Eh… I’m not so sure about this ‘beating up’ thing, girls.” Fido said while giving Bandit a worried look.
“No way, mate. Not doing all that again!” Bandit said with his arms crossed.
“Aw, why not?!” Both of the girls said in unison.
“Well, because I don’t wanna!” Bandit said in a playful mocking tone causing Fido to chuckle.
“But, daaaaaaad!" Bluey tried to respond but was interrupted by Bandit.
“Nuh-uh! No way! Not a chance!” Bandit said while putting his foot down in an exaggerated manner.
“Ugh! Mom, can you please tell dad to let me and Winnie play superheroes?” Bluey tried to plead her case.
Chilli chuckled and gave the two dog dads a mischievous look. “Well girls, I can’t force those two to do anything, but I don’t know… to me it kind of sounds like they just don’t wanna get their butts whooped!”
“Hey, why are you on their side?!” Bandit asked.
“Because you two are the bad guys! Get ‘em, girls!” Chilli said.
“Yeah!” Both of the girls cheered in unison.
Bandit turned to Fido with a panicked look. “Uh-oh. Run, Fido!” Both of the men quickly jump out of their seats and run away from the two heroes.
“Ah, Bluey, the bad guys are getting away! After them!” Winnie yelled out as the two tiny dog girls gave chase.
The rest of the morning goes by as everyone enjoys their time together by playing games, chatting about life, and eating delicious toasted banana bread!
After a while, Fido decides it’s time to go home. The girls said their goodbyes to each other with a big hug and Fido said his farewells and shook both of Heeler parent’s hands.
“Thank you two so much for having us over. Me and Winnie had a blast!” Fido said.
“No problem, Fido! We also had a lot of fun too!” Chilli smiles.
“Hope you guys come back soon! I can bake even more tasty stuff for you two, but uh... only if ya want to, of course!” Bandit said while putting his left paw on Fido’s shoulder which made the brown Labrador’s heart flutter a little bit.
“Oh yeah, for sure, mate. That bread was heavenly!” Fido chuckled awkwardly, still a little surprised from Bandit’s sudden physical contact. “Well, I think it’s about time we got going. Thanks again for everything, you two!”
“Bye, Bluey! Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Heeler!” Winnie said while bowing her head.
The two Labradors waved goodbye to the Heelers as they drove away.
The drive home was quiet but pleasant, both the Labradors being happy that they got to have such a great time with their friends.
“Hey, dad?” Winnie looked at her father.
“Yes, sweetie?” Fido looked back at his daughter through the rearview mirror.
“Thanks for taking me to see Bluey again. I really missed her a lot!” Winnie gave her father a big smile which warmed Fido’s heart.
“No problem, Winnie.” Fido said while looking back at her.
“Dad, did you miss hanging out with Mr. Heeler?” Winnie asked while looking at the passing road through her window.
Fido hesitated for a moment. Where did that question come from? He took his eyes off her and looked down for a few seconds before looking back at her.
“Yeah… I did.” Fido smiled warmly.