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My nose was buried under the front door, the wet coating making a little mark in the properly worn-down rug. I knew Simon was here with me, yet the same smell of cheap coffee and the expensive gifted vanilla perfume I had no knowledge of origin from forming in the hallway. Out of frustration of not knowing what the scent was coming from, a ruff grumbling growl escaped me, which acted almost like an alarm clock for Simon.
My beloved owner had stumbled out of bed with a deepened sigh, exhausted, holding a tissue to his nose, which was inflated and slightly red, despite the warm apartment. I turned my head as the footsteps drew my attention, jumping up and immediately wagging my tail, as his hand gently scratched right on the top of my head, an absent-minded habit, which made me grumble.
I followed him, finally happy to see that the ill teen who had refused to get out of bed when I jumped up and slobbered him generously, pawing at his face and growling, finally was doing at least something.
As he reached for his badly handmade plastic skull mask, my teeth latched onto his pant leg, chewing as he let out a grumble followed by a restrained laugh, dragging me with him to the door. Finally, the source of the faint, muted scent appeared.
Fumbling with the piece of paper displaying his address, he stood in front of the door, his hand reaching out to give it a firm knock. But it seems inside there were already things happening. He couldn’t help but laugh as his attention was drawn to the black little wet orb under the doorframe, sniffing very loudly and obviously.
Simon never mentioned to Johnny he had a dog, but something told him he didn’t have to, since he would’ve found out if he had scrolled through his Instagram. The door opened carefully, a tiny “Fuck,” interrupting before Johnny could say anything as Simon struggled for a second to undo the simple locking mechanism of metal a chain holding the tiny gap back from opening any further. Yet Johnny could already see a little unfamiliar face panting up at him, which at this point had discarded of the slightly wet pant leg and buried his head into the gap, reaching only his snoot through to go sniff Johnny, earning a generous laugh out of the Scot.
“Back, Riley,” The Brit grumbled, carefully grabbing the dog’s collar as he finally got the door open all the way, meeting Johnny’s eyes, who paused for a second before grinning, his eyes scanning the tired face.
“You look like shit, mate..”
“Good to see you too.” Simon grumbled in reply, matching his sarcasm yet only some of his amusement.
The weakened teenager wrapped his arms around the puffer jacket of the Scot, which made his grin dim into a softer smile, squeezing him back. No words were exchanged for a second, the two teens just embracing for a good moment, Johnny almost sinking into the feeling of Simon’s warmth as he shuddered against Johnny’s cold jacket, soothing his fever only slightly.
“Ah, fuck me, I gotta sit down again..” Simon grumbled, moving his face away as the room around his clearly spun round and round by the way he stumbled back, causing Johnny to hastily grab his arm.
“Yeah, you look done in, you need help?”
“No, no... I’ve got it.”
Simon sat down at the cabinet next to them meant for shoes, sitting among the thoroughly used boots that threatened to break apart with a single nudge, and the unused dusty converse in the bottom.
At this point the little booger had all the time in the world to get to know Johnny, sniffing at his pants vigorously and loudly as he wagged his tail, waiting for the Scot to take note of him. And that he did, looking down and grinning as he crouched down, making the dog stop sniffing and bury his face in the freezing hands as he panted up at him.
“Och, and who’s this small bugger?”
“An annoying little brat, he is.” Simon grumbled, leaning his back against the wall.
“Aye, he’s not annoying, he’s just a wee little lad...”
Johnny’s voice goes up, babying the dog as he started scuffling under his chin and cheeks, letting no corner of the little lad’s face go untouched as he listened to the touch starved growling and nibbling.
The skull masked man watched the domestic scene with a light flicker of enjoyment, realization hitting him as he let out a deflated sigh, his head shooting up.
“Fucking hell, I still gotta go out with the bloke… Or else he’ll annoy me more about it tomorrow.”
“I can do it.”
“What?” Their gazes met, Simon’s seeming properly surprised and Johnny’s genuine.
“No, no you don’t have to, it’s okay,”
“You’re talking out your arse mate, let me do it, you need to rest up,”
“Oh, put a sock in it, I’m fine.”
My eyes lifted as it seemed like my new friend and Simon got to arguing, like a bickering old couple though. My friend gently let his ice-cold hands slide up my owner’s shoulders, until they held his cheeks and lifted the skull he enjoyed wearing, leaning in closer. I interrupted their very sudden loving bickering with a soft growl, jumping up and biting Johnny’s sleeve, giving a powerful and intended tug.
It made him stumble, the amusement in my mischievous acts visible as my tail wagged faster and a snarl escaped my lips. My amusement seemed to bring them amusement, as I noticed I had finally gotten what I wanted, finally after around 5 hours of annoying Simon.
In the blink of a second, Johnny had the collar in his hands, bending down to me and talking in an upbeat tone, earning an excited bark out of me as I pattered my paws over the floor, my tail mimicking more a metronome as I panted, gladly letting my new friend with an incredibly weird fur pattern on his head, place the collar around my neck.
I dragged the leash behind me as the two lovers sulked into each other for a second longer, earning a little eye roll from me as I pattered out into the hallway. The sight was like watching your two parents kiss as a kid. You know they’re romantically together, and you’re literally their child, yet it grosses you out proper.
I didn’t need to complain though, the newly acquainted friend grabbing the end of the leash as the grin threatened to pop the noticeable pimple on his cheek covered by a star band aid, calling out to me in gibberish.
Sometimes I wonder if humans don’t just communicate using tone, but that suspicion flies out the window when I realize everyone who’s ever pet me lets their voices go up a few levels, making sure I knew they were talking to me.
He led me down the stairs, letting the person who ominously sat behind a computer, took notes and sometimes unlocked the cupboard know he was leaving with me to go on a walk. Simon didn’t like them, so I didn’t like them, but it seemed with a slimmer of fake confidence my friend tried to be civil to them.
Then, my eyes set on the starry snow-covered streets of Manchester, the large worn-down paper sign next to the ridiculously large building threatening to cave in from the water damage. I didn’t know what it said, I just knew from Simon’s eyes avoiding it that he disliked it, and my new friend also seemed to let out a gentle sigh being done with talking to whoever the woman was.
I didn’t give him time to think too heavily about it though, pulling over to the snow I decided to jump into, at first just destroying the flat surface of perfect inches of snow, before rolling back and forth in it. The friend gasped, before laughing, seeing me peek my head up through inches of snow with a little remaining on my nose.
“Riley!” was one of the only things I could understand of their weird mumbling, almost a call back, and also my name. I jumped up as I realized he had let go of the leash, letting me trample through the snow some more as I jumped through it, looking more like a seal diving in and out of water.
He opened the door to some car, sighing as he brought out a big towel he had stashed and forgotten about for a while. I covered up the business I had finished by piling snow on top of it, before sprinting over to Johnny when I saw the open car door. Hell, if I know how it worked, all I knew was I get in, and it moves me without me needing to move! Usually, to the dog park! I barked, jumping inside, to which Johnny looked a little bit defeated, but sighed as he rubbed the towel against my wet snow-covered fur.
Going thoroughly over my paws, I panted, exhausted, as he looked at his phone for a second hesitant. I could see the way the breath emanated from his mouth in the dark evening, yet it came nowhere close to my panting. He smiled up at me and paused, ruffling my head. Johnny eventually closed the car door, walking around the front, and hopping into the seat next to me, his hand immediately resting on the wheel, the old car roaring to life. He let the tunes roar as we began moving, and I let my exhausted canine form slump over the seat, my head buried into my paws. The music wasn’t close to Simon’s taste nor mine, yet I let the Scot listen to whatever he wanted, the fellow humming along to some of the tunes.
The car stopped, and when I came to my senses, everything seemed a tint darker, and my snoot felt heavy. My friend was hunched over at the open door, his device snapping photos of me with a tiny smile on his face, before I flung the sneaked-on sunglasses off my snoot, earning a laugh out of him as he rubbed the top of my head lovingly. I huffed, playfully biting his fingertips and chewing on them as he leaned down to the leash. He stood up and he let me jump out of his car, trudging along the only clean part of the street.
This wasn’t the dog park, though, nor the doctor’s I absolutely despised. An unknown building, and he pushed open the door for me trot inside with him. It was filled with strangers I didn’t know. Johnny seemingly didn’t know them either, yet they reminded me of people I’d seen on the street. The same small humans were reaching out their hands to me, their guardians smiling as they saw me pant back in amusement at the attention. The same wrinkled, older humans eyed me. Simon said it was because of my size, and usually he held me on a tight leash when we passed them on the street, but Johnny guided me to a table, sitting down and letting me rest up between his legs.
The environment stressed me out just a little bit, the talking and the people looking at me. Yet I nuzzled right into Johnny’s hand when he began scratching behind my ear. I let out pants that showed enjoyment, but also stress. I tried to focus on Johnny, my tail wagging as I stared at his tiny eye bags. My snoot found its way over to his pants and I started chewing on them. My tail wagged as I stared at him, his scent burning into my nose… he smelled oddly like Simon, very faintly like him. The rest of his scent was more so sugary drinks and cigarettes, but not strong enough for him to be the one smoking them. He probably lived close by to someone who did.
A kind woman approached our table, and my friend continued to scratch behind my ear as he spoke to her, holding open a large, folded piece of paper. I bumped my nose against his knee, asking for attention. I accidentally garnered attention from her. She looked down, her eye wrinkles squeezed up as she smiled at me, showing she didn’t want to hurt me. My tail wagged faster, yet I didn’t leave Johnny’s side to greet her until Johnny called me over, allowing me to come out and get some loving little scratches from the woman, her fake acrylic nails making me shudder.
She left for a while, Johnny petting over my coat to calm me. It earned him loud little grumbles and growls from me, which earned me laughter. He patted the empty leather seat next to him, yet I didn’t get what he wanted from me, launching up and playfully biting his hand, as he grabbed my jaw and shook my head lovingly.
The woman came back after what felt like an eternity of me playing with Johnny, only my head visible from how I sat under the table. She placed two plates onto the table, and an iron bowl was placed on the floor, filled with warm water as she scratched my forehead again. Yet it didn’t catch much of my attention, the strong smell of cow’s meat on the table making me tilt my head up at Johnny, who smiled.
From the sounds, I could tell he was cutting through it, and it made me whine. Just the scent alone was making my mouth water, and I couldn’t help but remember how Simon taught me not to beg when he ate food... yet I still couldn’t control the need to look up at Johnny with the intensive smell, my mouth slobbering.
Before I knew it, he held a piece of steak down to me, the inside pink, the outside brown, the juices dribbling from his fingertips. I sat down, staring at it intensively, which made him realize Simon hadn’t told him the release word for me. He tried a few gibberish words, my impatience growing, knowing that I couldn’t grab it without permission, a tiny whine escaping me.
With a familiar signal, “Fetch”, I snapped onto the steak, careful to miss the fingers holding it as I barely chewed. I totally inhaled the piece of steak, licking the remaining juices that dripped over around my mouth as my tail wagged. Johnny, at this point was smiling and filming, saying praises quietly as he didn’t mind the stares he got.
Piece by piece, he fed me the entire steak, making me do different tricks for each piece. Sitting, laying, high five, spin, speak, whatever he could conjure up. Some words were unfamiliar to me though, of course, so I just tilted my head, one of my ears drooping over to the side as my blue shiny eyes stared at the Scot in confusion.
He ate a unique bagel on the side, seemingly enjoying it quite a bit, and taking a tiny salami piece, tossing it over to me. It landed perfectly on my nose, of course, making me attempt to lick it off. Which totally didn’t make passerby’s laugh at me. Especially not small children. It totally didn’t take a second before I pawed the slice off and lapped it off the floor.
Before we knew it, we were back outside, my attitude improved a lot by the entire steak Johnny had gotten me separately. My tail wagged faster as I looked up. This strange friend with a weird fur pattern wasn’t that bad, and Simon liked him as well it seemed. In a way, with how he fed me, how he took care of me, how much attention he gave me, he definitely deserved the same title as Simon, as my dad.
I buried my face in his hand as he walked us back to the car, biting his pinky finger, to which he wrapped his palm and fingers around my snoot and shook my head side to side playfully for a half second.
I panted and barked, a soft chuckle escaping him as he opened the car door for me, making a bowing motion as a joke, I’m presuming, as I hopped in and settled immediately. The warmth of the leather car seat was practically nothing to him though, his hand carefully stroking over my fur as the engine roared to life again, one hand settled on driving as he made his way back with me. We didn’t return immediately though, I guess he didn’t think driving me around with a car was too productive or healthy for me, since he took me for a spin around the block where Dad number one was. I saw the cat that scratched me one time again, Dad number two having to practically use his body as a shield as I kept trying to get closer to smell her, curiosity in my stance. Yet, Johnny and I came home, a bit later than we expected.
His hands were freezing, yet he was still excited to see Simon, ringing the doorbell so the woman would let him and the little bugger inside. His dog was well trained, he’d give him that, but sometimes a bit too much… The Scot and the German Shepherd trailed up the stairs, greeting the woman in the office, who gave him shit for arriving too late, promptly giving him a time limit of ten minutes. His distaste was almost visible, but instead he apologized, not wanting to a pick a fight with her. She wouldn’t be in duty tomorrow anyways, so he could come visit Simon again, see how he was doing.
Simon seemed to have heard the news as he was standing against his door in the hallway, a tiny smile under that mask as he saw the snow covered dog shake off and take off running towards him, the Scot following behind in a slow pace compared to him.
“Glad to see you two got here safe,” His voice was rough, full of illness, as he squatted down to pet Riley, who was practically dancing with how he tapped his paws against the hard wood floor while he rubbed his cheek fluff into Simon’s hands.
“Was he a bother?”
“Nah, it was just pure Baltic out there, absolutely jeelit...” Johnny rubbed his hands together, trying to warm up. He leaned against the wall next to Simon, who gave him a taunting look.
“Do you mean it was freezing?”
“Oh, sorry, you posh British bloke.” He snapped back, a grin on his face that earned a tiny huff like laugh out of Simon.
He stood up, his muscly body aching through the closet despite him seeming so ill, and approached the Scot, softly holding his waist. The touch made the teen quiver, his heart thumping and pounding.
“When you look at me like that, I stop thinking rationally, you know?” Simon taunted, his eyes dropping to Johnny’s lips under the mask.
There was no hesitance in what the Scot did when he saw. He cupped Simon’s cheeks gently and let their lips intertwine. He lifted his mask, covering his face just in case with his large, scarred hands, nails dirtied by his part time job.
With a little grumble, Simon leaned into it, pulling away a second later though as he smiled. Johnny’s senses filled with a smell he remembered, a tiny whisper escaping him “The perfume the old hag bought you suits you.”
The comment was met with a tiny chuckle from the Brit, who now let go of his beloved.
“Seems your mom knows me well... what did you two do today? It seems he warmed up quite a lot to you.”
“Ah, ya know that family-owned restaurant a few blocks away? Took the little bugger for a dinner date. Their Pizza-bagel is pure dead brilliant.” Simon smiled down at the panting German Shepherd who has already settled in the bed of the small room.
“I’m glad you two had fun… Next time, let’s go together, alright?”
Almost with comedic timing, the annoying nagging woman came out of her office, reminding Johnny of the time limit. He looked at his British masked lover, holding his hand as he rubbed his thumb over it in circles, grumbling.
“I swear I’ll take you there some time, but I gotta go. I’m sure my ma’s already worrying her wee ol’ head off.” The sigh from Simon clearly showed he didn’t want to let go yet, but there was little he could really do except start an argument he couldn’t win against his supervisor, the bratty bitch.
“Drive safe, okay? Send me a message when you get home.”
“Course.” Johnny promised, earning a small trusting grin from Simon, who kissed his cheek.
Their farewell wasn’t forever, but fuck, with how busy they both were, he hated to leave his posh lover. The Scot made his way down the stairs again, this time alone, yet the feeling of the man’s hand on his did not leave. It remained all the way to the car, where he checked his rear-view mirrors, picked up the sunglasses little Riley had knocked down, placing them back in the storage compartment. Johnny let the engine roar to life for the last time today.