Forever Home, Part 4 (Patreon)

Still blushing like crazy and averting my eyes I lead Pip into the kitchen where she walks straight to the blinds and opens that one as well. Bursting with curiosity she checks every cupboard and drawer before perusing the bare pantry and anemically stocked fridge. “Not a single vegetable! Looks like we gotta go grocery shopping, huh?”

“Yeah.” I mutter, coming to grips that I’d have to go out again today. My plans for supper had been instant ramen and some left over McNuggets. It didn’t feel right to serve someone else ramen for dinner and the nuggets were right out as Pip was in the process of happily devouring them. As I watched her snarf them down then lick her dainty fingers it struck me that I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, subject my terrible diet on anybody else. I was responsible, legally and morally responsible, for keeping Pip safe and healthy, both emotionally and physically, as that was my half of the contract. Real groceries? Cooking? My whole life was being upended! What had I been thinking!? Why hadn’t Roland stopped me? “Can you…cook?”

“Oh sure.” She says as she washes a single mug from among the pile of dirty dishes and puts it away then busies herself with washing a spot on the counter with the dish rag before abandoning that to pull a straw out of old fast food beverage cut to start sucking on it. “But it so much funner cooking with someone, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” I say. “Come on.”

I show her the laundry room, the bathroom then finally the only bedroom. Predictably at this point she heads straight to the window when we enter the bedroom. With a yip and a giggle she leaps onto my bed and scrambles across it on all fours then tumbles off the other side only to pop right back to her feet as if nothing had happened to fling back my blackout curtains and open the blinds. Natural light floods into my gloomy inner sanctum for the very first time since I’d moved in. When she turns back around her big, happy eyes are drawn to the shifting RGB lights of my gaming PC tower. She only looks at it for a moment though before her attention settles back onto the bed.

“Is this where we sleep?”

“Pff! We?” I sputter. “Um…Roland said you’d be happy with a dog bed.”

“Oh.” Her face falls, but only for a moment. “Okay, which corner is mine?”

“I…don’t know, Pip.” I grip my head, rubbing my temples with finger and thumb. My social battery was running on empty and I could feel myself starting to unravel. “I’ll figure that out later, okay?”

“Okay!” She says, crawling back onto my bed to begin sniffing around.

“Hey!” I say as she reaches for the drawer of my night stand. “Don’t…snoop in here.”

“Okay.” She pulls her hand back as if it were burned and sits back on her heels to face me. “Theo.” She whines with a pout. “Why aren’t you looking at me anymore? Do you want me to put my dress back on?

“Yes.” I say, desperate for a bit of privacy so I could collect myself. “G-Go do that.”

My bit of privacy lasts all of five seconds as Pip comes straight back into my room, back in her yellow dress. Still sucking on the straw she comes to touch my arm. “What do you want to do now?”

“Pip.” I sigh. “I think I made a mistake.”

She gasps. “No! Don’t say that, Theo.” After a moment she says. “I forgot. You wanted someone quiet. Someone who looked after themselves. I can do that, Theo. You just do what you do. Don’t mind me.”

“Yes.” I nod. “Thank you. I just need to…get back to my center.”

“Okay.” She says softly.

“Do whatever you want.” I say, grateful for her understanding. “I’m just going to play a few rounds of BR and get my head on straight again. Then we can figure this out.”

“Okay, Theo.”

As I had done since I was 12 years old I retreat from the world to my computer. Blocking everything else out I rapidly go through the motions, motions that had been repeated to the point where they were muscle memory, of booting up my favorite battle royale shooter. I squint against the sun splashing across my screen and focus on getting into a match as soon as possible. In the game things made sense. In the game I knew what to do. In the game I could relax.

I was only at the drop when out of the corner of my eye I catch that Pip was still sitting on my bed. Glancing over I see that she sat watching me with an intense interest. Not watching me play the game, watching ME as I sat in the chair. The moment our eyes meet her beautiful face brightens into a big smile and her tail starts wagging, the straw drops from her mouth as her wide tongue lolls out to dangle like only a dog’s could.

“Um…are you just going to sit there?”

“You said to do whatever I wanted. I’ll be quiet.” She says with way more kindness than my neglect deserved. “Play your game. You won’t even know I’m here.”

“Right.” Pushing my guilt down I return my attention to the screen and begin to play. My well-honed skills fail me on my very first encounter however as the distraction of sunshine and smiles make it impossible to lock in. As my character dies I grip my mouse and swallow the litany of swears that would normally accompany a cheap death.

“Don’t worry.” She say cheerily. “You’ll get’em next time, Theo!”

With a hiss of frustration I spin toward Pip. “You can’t just sit there staring at me like some…like some…!” My voice falters as Pip’s happy grin dissolves into a frightened pout and she clutches the straw to her chest in fear. Those pure, powerful, unfiltered emotions of hers disarms my annoyance in an instant. “Aw, geez. I’m sorry Pip.”

Dropping her straw she crawls off the bed to come and kneel at my side. With big, worried eyes she lays her head on my lap and whispers. “I’m sorry.” I could see she hadn’t a clue what she was sorry about. That was because she had nothing to be sorry about.

“Oh, Pip.” I gently stroke her soft hair. “What have I done? I’m not ready for this. I can’t even look after myself, how am I going to look after you?”

Taking my hand she nuzzle into it and gives me a lick. “We’ll look after each other. We’ll learn together. I’m your new best friend, I’ll never let you struggle alone.”

“Best friend? Pip, you deserve a better man than me.” I say. “I’m not living, I’m just existing. My mom is my only friend. I’m a loser and a loner! When I said I haven’t been with a woman like you the truth was…I haven’t even kissed a woman before! Human or anthro. I’m a fuck up, Pip. And now I brought you into my fucked up world.”

“No, Theo!” She says with all her heart. “You’re not a loser! You’re a good man! With a good heart! That’s why you chose me. Because you saw past my pitiful begging and my mutation and you saw how much I needed you. I’d almost given up on the pet life and then you came and rescued me. You brought me home because, maybe, we need each other.”

“Oh, Pip. I screwed up so bad. This is all my fault.”

“No, don’t say that, Theo.” She whimpers, ears drooping low. “I should have…told you to go get Phaedra. You wanted quiet. You wanted independence. You’re a cat person. Deep down I knew that but…I just wanted to be yours so bad.”

Gazing down into her warm brown eyes I shake my head as, at last, the truth settles into my heart. “I didn’t want Phaedra. I wanted you.” I take a deep breath. “No, you’re right. It might take some time to get used to this, but we’ll learn together.”

“Together!”

“I’m a dog person now and it’s time I started acting like one.”

Her beaming grin slowly returns as she sees the determination in my eyes. “Rrrrarff!”

I laugh and rub her soft ears. Turning off the game and the computer I turn in my chair and stand up. “Okay. Reset.” Taking her hands I help her to her feet. “I haven’t even welcomed you yet.” With a smile that she had given me I say. “Welcome home, Pip.”

“Ohh!” She hops up and throws her arms around my neck to drape off of me. She yips and licks and laughs as her soft body presses against me. “It’s good to be home.”

Taking her hand I lead her back out into the living room. Together we begin to tidy the place up as we finally talked like we should have before any papers got signed. We learn of each others interests and backgrounds and families as the dingy apartment was soon as tidy as it had ever been. And speaking of family, as we did the dishes together my mother calls.

I answer. “Hello.”

“So?” Mom says with that same hoping beyond hope she always had when trying to force me, for my own good, out of my comfort zone. “Did you go to the shelter?”

Watching Pip’s hot booty and tail sway back and forth to the music we had playing I smile. “Yeah, Mom, I went to the shelter.”

She must have heard something in my tone as her voice lifts with optimism. “And?”

“And…I’m home and looking at my new Golden Retriever as we speak.”

“RRRRUFFF!!!” Pip lets out a gleeful bark which gets me chuckling.

“A golden retriever!?” My mom gasps. “In your little apartment? Oh wow! I was not expecting that. Aren’t you full of surprises!”

My grin growing I say. “Surprises? I haven’t told you the half of it.”

“HI MOM!” Pip says loudly toward the phone.

There is a long pause on the other end of the line. “Theo…who is that!?”

Part 5