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Leo doesn’t wake up to a hundred kisses pressed into his fur slowly coaxing him out of his sleep. Instead, he wakes up to someone gently petting the fur on his back and behind his ears. He yawns, stands up, stretches, and shakes his tiny body.
“Good morning, Leo.”
Well, that voice confirms his suspicions. It is not Papa who is waking him up, it’s the other guy. His name starts with an M probably, but Papa always calls him cheri, so Leo’s not quite sure what to call him. He nuzzles his head into the man’s palm and lets out a small yip. “Where’s Papa?” Leo knows he’s home, he can smell Papa inside the house. Maybe he’s in his bed? But that doesn’t make sense. If Papa is in his bed it usually means that Leo is also in Papa’s bed. “Is he home?”
“Your Papa is sleeping, snoepje. Come, I’ll get you your breakfast, or do you want to go on a walk first?”
At the mention of a walk Leo’s tail starts to wag as he jumps on his hind legs excitedly. The cheri guy laughs and gets Leo’s harness off the hook by the front door along with the poop bags. “Come on, let’s go.”
🐾
Leo is having fun chewing away at his bone as Cheri watches TV in the living room. This is how it has been all day. Occasionally, Cheri would walk into Papa’s bedroom, stay for a while, then walk out with a not so happy look on his face. Though, when he would see Leo standing outside the bedroom door looking at him with his head tilted to the side he would smile, bend down, and scratch behind Leo’s ear and tell him that everything’s alright. Leo’s starting to think he might be lying.
There are sounds coming from the TV, though it’s not the soothing French that usually comes when it is Papa watching TV. It’s probably because Cheri doesn’t understand a lot of French. He never seemed to understand when Papa talked to him in French too. He must be stupid, because Leo understands French perfectly.
A phone rings and it startles Leo. Cheri is sitting on the couch and he assures Leo that everything is fine before picking up the phone.
“Hi Arthur. Yeah, no. Yeah he’s…he’s better than yesterday. No—yeah, I did but he didn’t want to eat so I didn’t force him. No, no, don't tell her to come. I asked him that too but he said no. Yeah. Yeah, he’s taking this one hard. Yeah. I’m here, yes. Yes. Yeah I’ll call you if needed. Not right now, probably in a day or two? I think he’s still feeling pretty raw. Yeah. You take care as well. Bye, bye.”
Leo gnaws on the edge of his bone. Who is Cheri talking about? Leo could try and ask, but it’s not like Cheri understands Leo’s language. Still, he drops his bone, walks across the living room, and jumps onto the couch right next to Cheri.
“Hey, buddy.” Cheri immediately slips his fingers through Leo’s fur and starts to pet him. At least there’s one thing he is good at.
“Where’s Papa?”
“Do you miss your Papa too?”
Leo tries to reach around and lick Cheri’s hand to signal that yes, he does. Where is Papa? He can smell him around the house but he hasn’t seen him in so long. He really misses Papa.
“He’s okay, sweetheart. He’s just not feeling well right now.”
“Like a tummy ache?”
But Cheri doesn’t answer. He looks sad, and his eyes keep drifting towards the closed bedroom door. Is Papa in there? If he is then why hasn’t he come to meet Leo yet? Is his tummy ache that bad?
“Can I see Papa?”
Cheri doesn’t answer this time either. He picks Leo up into his arms instead and nuzzles his cheek into his fur. Leo can feel Cheri’s chest expanding under him like he’s letting out a breath he’d been holding in for a long time. Leo worries. Does Cheri also have a tummy ache?
🐾
The sun is gone by the time Leo wakes up from his nap. He blinks his eyes, slowly adjusting to the lights inside the house. He looks around and strangely finds the space empty. Did Cheri leave too?
He hops off his bed, stretches his limbs, then sets off on a little journey to find a human in the house. He sticks his nose in different corners and picks up on familiar scents, and his investigations ultimately lead him to the bedroom door…
…which is now open.
The bedroom door is open, and Leo can hear Papa’s voice.
He sticks his snout in and pushes the door open wider so he can walk inside. Cheri is here too, though Leo isn’t surprised about that. He is in Papa’s room all the time. What does surprise him however is the way that they are sitting.
Cheri is sitting with his back against the headboard with Papa half lying across him. He’s whispering something in a language Leo can’t quite understand. Leo can’t see his face but his nose picks up on it anyway.
Papa smells sad.
“Papa?”
Leo jumps onto the bed. Cheri sees him but thankfully doesn’t try to get him off the bed like he usually does before he ultimately yields to Papa. Both of his arms are wrapped around Papa and he’s petting his hair just like he pets Leo.
Leo sticks his face into where Papa’s should be.
“Papa, is your tummy okay?”
Papa smells very sad, and his face is salty when Leo tries to lick it. “Papa, look at me please. I’m here.”
But Papa doesn’t lift his head. Instead he hides it even more.
“Schatje? Look, it’s Leo.”
Leo squirms at the mention of his name and tries to lick Papa’s face again.
“He’s been waiting to see you, baby.”
Leo has! He’s missed Papa so much. He hasn’t seen Papa in ages! Papa hasn’t kissed him and called him mon petit bébé in so long Leo’s worried he has forgotten the sound of his voice! Has Papa forgotten about him too? No, that’s not possible. Papa loves Leo very much, he wouldn’t forget Leo, just like Leo will never forget Papa.
Slowly, finally, Papa lifts his face out of where it had been buried against Cheri’s chest for so long, and Leo immediately dives in to give him kisses. Papa’s face tastes saltier than usual, but Leo doesn’t mind. He’s just so happy to see his Papa again.
Everything seems to fall right back into place when Papa finally holds Leo in his arms again and presses wet little kisses on his fur. “Mon bébé, mon coeur, mon chou, I missed you too.”
“Me more!” Because he did. He missed Papa so much more.
“I’m sorry I was gone for so long, mon chou. I’m so sorry.”
“Is your tummy feeling better now?”
“I’m okay, baby. I’m okay now. I promise.”
Okay, that’s a relief, ‘cause there really isn’t much Leo can do about a tummy ache. He is not a doctor, and why would he be? Doctors are so evil. They always put a pokey needle in Leo when they go to a doctor. Leo is not going to let some evil doctor hurt his Papa with a pokey needle ever.
The three of them lie in bed for a while. Leo cuddles with his Papa, he missed him so, so much. At some point Cheri moves, and Leo notices that Papa has fallen asleep. After he slips out of the bed, Cheri looks at Papa and Leo cuddling and smiles. He leans over and kisses Papa’s forehead first, then kisses Leo’s head and whispers, “Take care of him, okay? I’ll be back in a little bit.” Leo licks his nose to say that yes, he will take care of Papa. He will take care of Papa always.
Cheri gently shuts the door when he leaves. Beside him, Leo can feel Papa’s breath on his face. He smells less sad now, and a little more like how he usually smells. Leo shifts closer to Papa’s face and hides his face in the crook of Papa’s neck. He feels warm and comfortable and so tempted to fall asleep, but Leo tries to stay awake. If the tummy ache decides to return, Leo needs to be ready to fight it away and make sure it never dares to hurt his Papa ever again.