‘Remind me again why we put up with this?’ Matt grumbles on their way to their desks one Monday morning after tripping over another one of the puppy’s many chew toys for what feels like the thousandth time, which he kicks out of the way while biting back a curse. He is so sick of trying to dodge dozens of half-masticated items that litter their floor.
‘She’s cute-’
‘She’s a public menace!’
‘You just haven’t bonded with her yet. Toss her a squeaky toy, she'll love you forever. Shower her with attention and she turns to mush. It’s not that hard.’
‘I don’t want a cuddly new chum, Foggy,’ Matt sighs, ‘I want to be able to walk around without worrying about accidentally stepping on a puppy.’
‘Don’t be such a grouch,’ the reply is flippant as he dives onto his chair and spins around, ‘You know you’re in love her secretly.’ Foggy snatches one of the pup’s tennis balls and begins tossing it up into the air and effortlessly catching it, pausing to take a dreg of coffee.
‘Am I, though?’ Matt muses as he hauls his briefcase onto the desk and pops it open, shuffling the folders and tracing the sides for any indication of which one he’d intended to present to Foggy. ‘Because I don’t feel it.’
‘Ah…yeah? Of course?’ Foggy answers, as if expecting a trick question.
‘Two words, Foggy,’ Matt locates the correct file and offers it to his partner, deadpanning, ‘puppy breath.’
He rests his case.
Rather than address the issue, Foggy opts to change the subject altogether in a strained effort to erase the silence which has fallen between the pair. ‘So, um, anyway - I was thinking about the name dilemma again, and-’
‘For the last time, Foggy, you cannot call a dog Efficient. We‘ve been over this.’
‘Why not? It’s what I called my first fish.’
Something in the way he says it, spikes Matt’s curiosity, and he probes, ‘First?’
‘…I’d rather not get into it.’
‘What about Pip?’ Karen chimes, breezing into the office with the pup lagging behind, dragging her hind legs they no longer function. Speak of the Devil. ‘My neighbour had a Scottish terrier called Pip. Granted, it was a boy, but what does that matter?’
Immediately, spotting Matt standing across the room, the little rascal springs up and yanks on the leash, yapping with a passion and jolting Karen forward.
‘Settle down, Pip,’ Karen breathlessly chuckles, brushing wisps of her hair out of her eyes and smoothing her skirt again, ‘What did we say about being nice to Matty?’
‘Pretty sure the problem’s that she’s a little too nice,’ Foggy comments, ‘Boggles my mind, but that’s how it is.’
Scooping her up, Karen exhales slowly and joggles the pup in her arms. ‘Guess it’s back to the conference room, huh?’
‘Seems like. Otherwise, she’ll be hounding him all morning.’
‘Wait,’ Matt interrupts, brows creasing, ‘Perhaps it would be best if I left this time?’
‘Nah, man. We need your expertise. Karen and I will take turns sitting in with her. Least ‘til she calms down a bit.’
‘You sure?’
‘Positive,’ Karen reassures, and he can tell by her tone, her smile is equally gentle. After carting the puppy into the conference room, she returns to assemble a few bits and bobs with an accelerated heart beat that speaks of her guilt.
He clears his throat. ‘So, uh…Pip?’
She pauses.
‘Yeah. Kinda sweet, don’t ya think?’
‘I like it,’ Foggy murmurs. ‘Suits her.’
Matt shrugs, ‘Alright, then. Pip, it is.’
…
Matt is having a really shitty day when Foggy marches towards his desk and dumps a warm, wriggly lump of fluff onto his lap.
He winces. ‘Uh, Foggy, I’d rather not-’
‘Too bad. I have a dentist appointment.’
‘What about K-?’
‘She’s on her lunch break.’
Then he’s gone, leaving Matt uncertainly cuddling the sleepy puppy, fingers sinking into her thick coat that carries a sweet scent that is strangely intoxicating. She feels like a hot-blooded teddy bear.
He realises belatedly this is the first time he’s ever held her.
Covering her paw with his hand, Matt feels a twitch in his heart that he quickly dismisses as indigestion. He cups the pup’s small rump under his hand, the fur critically soft between his fingers, and dangles her at arm's reach. She doesn't immediately pee on him, so that's a bonus. It seems fairly harmless.
He snuggles the puppy to his chest and hitches her up higher, closer to his face, despite the sharp pain that branches out from his torso as he does so. Something about it is just…comforting.
Matt had sustained a number of injuries the night before and although Claire did a good job of stitching him up, he’s not in the best of form.
After a while, the silence begins to get to him and before he knows it, he‘s speaking, uttering words Matt never thought he’d let out, ever say out loud, ‘I think I broke a couple ribs. Last night. It wasn’t one of my finest moments, I‘ll admit that. Got a little more banged up than I’m comfortable with,‘ Matt’s smiles wryly, ‘Not that the jobs were overly difficult, and if they were, either way it’s no excuse, but there were…Jesus, there were a lot. I mean, a lot. I was exhausted, I got careless. A few guys got the jump on me. It shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t happen again, but I…’ he sighs, wets his lower lip, traps the soft meat between his teeth, ‘Not that I can tell Foggy any of this, of course. He’d have a fit. But you…you make a pretty good listener.’
Pip snuffles and languidly stretches out, a wide, high-pitched yawn escaping her lips. Matt strokes Pip’s downy ears in response and his arms absent-mindedly tighten around her.
‘I hate it, sometimes,’ he whispers, ‘It tears me up inside to not, to - to - God, you don’t know how much it tears me up sometimes. Knowing that there are these…these problems, so many problems, all day, every day. I can’t ignore it and I can’t devote every second of my life to it. And that…that’s excruciating.’ Matt can‘t know for sure, of course, but he thinks that Pip is staring up at him, looking at him like she understands it all, understands every single word he‘s saying. ‘Reminds me of everything I can't be, who I ought to be, and all of the fears my Dad held for me. Sometimes I think that, maybe - dammit, maybe he’d be proud of me. But then I realise that it‘s me; will only ever be me. Me and my imagination, and a whole lot of wishful thinking.’
…
Following their literal heart-to-heart, Pip is insatiable, worse than ever before, and refuses to stop following Matt around.
She trots loyally at his heels, tail wagging, and barks when Matt fails to take notice of her, as if betrayed somehow.
The pup lounges at his feet - or, more accurately, on his feet - and drools over her squidgy rubber bone that peeps when she presses down on it, determined to attach herself to his hip. And once she tires of that, Pip butts her head against his shin for attention and then attempts to burrow her snout in his leg, before locking the hem of his pants within her jaw and tugging, hard.
Finally, Matt sits back and sighs heavily. To her joy, he picks her up, plopping the pooch on his lap, where he lets Pip remain while he works, petting her every so often with one arm wound around her plump body. The arrangement works well for a while, with Matt even rolling up his sleeves and shedding his tie as time motors on, surprisingly at ease - that is, until Pip tilts her head and starts polishing between the liberated buttons of his shirt collar with a slobbery tongue in gratitude.
'Yes,' Matt mutters dully, wrinkling his nose, 'thank-you. That's very nice of you. But do you mind stopping, please? That tickles.'
‘Better watch out, Foggy,’ Karen laughs from somewhere nearby, likely the kitchenette, as she scrapes out a sloppy, wet meat-like substance from a can that smells like beef and feet. Must be approaching dinner-time. ‘Looks like Matt‘s found a replacement.’
‘I have not,’ he objects, ‘She’s very persistent.’
‘It’s only a matter of time, Matty,’ she sing-songs in response. ‘Everybody loves puppies. Fact.’
‘Speak for yourself.’ His tone is apathetic, but the effect is lessened somewhat by the fact that he is rubbing Pip’s head as she presses up against him, lips curling in fondness.
FILL: Our Four-Legged Fiend
‘She’s cute-’
‘She’s a public menace!’
‘You just haven’t bonded with her yet. Toss her a squeaky toy, she'll love you forever. Shower her with attention and she turns to mush. It’s not that hard.’
‘I don’t want a cuddly new chum, Foggy,’ Matt sighs, ‘I want to be able to walk around without worrying about accidentally stepping on a puppy.’
‘Don’t be such a grouch,’ the reply is flippant as he dives onto his chair and spins around, ‘You know you’re in love her secretly.’ Foggy snatches one of the pup’s tennis balls and begins tossing it up into the air and effortlessly catching it, pausing to take a dreg of coffee.
‘Am I, though?’ Matt muses as he hauls his briefcase onto the desk and pops it open, shuffling the folders and tracing the sides for any indication of which one he’d intended to present to Foggy. ‘Because I don’t feel it.’
‘Ah…yeah? Of course?’ Foggy answers, as if expecting a trick question.
‘Two words, Foggy,’ Matt locates the correct file and offers it to his partner, deadpanning, ‘puppy breath.’
He rests his case.
Rather than address the issue, Foggy opts to change the subject altogether in a strained effort to erase the silence which has fallen between the pair. ‘So, um, anyway - I was thinking about the name dilemma again, and-’
‘For the last time, Foggy, you cannot call a dog Efficient. We‘ve been over this.’
‘Why not? It’s what I called my first fish.’
Something in the way he says it, spikes Matt’s curiosity, and he probes, ‘First?’
‘…I’d rather not get into it.’
‘What about Pip?’ Karen chimes, breezing into the office with the pup lagging behind, dragging her hind legs they no longer function. Speak of the Devil. ‘My neighbour had a Scottish terrier called Pip. Granted, it was a boy, but what does that matter?’
Immediately, spotting Matt standing across the room, the little rascal springs up and yanks on the leash, yapping with a passion and jolting Karen forward.
‘Settle down, Pip,’ Karen breathlessly chuckles, brushing wisps of her hair out of her eyes and smoothing her skirt again, ‘What did we say about being nice to Matty?’
‘Pretty sure the problem’s that she’s a little too nice,’ Foggy comments, ‘Boggles my mind, but that’s how it is.’
Scooping her up, Karen exhales slowly and joggles the pup in her arms. ‘Guess it’s back to the conference room, huh?’
‘Seems like. Otherwise, she’ll be hounding him all morning.’
‘Wait,’ Matt interrupts, brows creasing, ‘Perhaps it would be best if I left this time?’
‘Nah, man. We need your expertise. Karen and I will take turns sitting in with her. Least ‘til she calms down a bit.’
‘You sure?’
‘Positive,’ Karen reassures, and he can tell by her tone, her smile is equally gentle. After carting the puppy into the conference room, she returns to assemble a few bits and bobs with an accelerated heart beat that speaks of her guilt.
He clears his throat. ‘So, uh…Pip?’
She pauses.
‘Yeah. Kinda sweet, don’t ya think?’
‘I like it,’ Foggy murmurs. ‘Suits her.’
Matt shrugs, ‘Alright, then. Pip, it is.’
…
Matt is having a really shitty day when Foggy marches towards his desk and dumps a warm, wriggly lump of fluff onto his lap.
He winces. ‘Uh, Foggy, I’d rather not-’
‘Too bad. I have a dentist appointment.’
‘What about K-?’
‘She’s on her lunch break.’
Then he’s gone, leaving Matt uncertainly cuddling the sleepy puppy, fingers sinking into her thick coat that carries a sweet scent that is strangely intoxicating. She feels like a hot-blooded teddy bear.
He realises belatedly this is the first time he’s ever held her.
Covering her paw with his hand, Matt feels a twitch in his heart that he quickly dismisses as indigestion. He cups the pup’s small rump under his hand, the fur critically soft between his fingers, and dangles her at arm's reach. She doesn't immediately pee on him, so that's a bonus. It seems fairly harmless.
He snuggles the puppy to his chest and hitches her up higher, closer to his face, despite the sharp pain that branches out from his torso as he does so. Something about it is just…comforting.
Matt had sustained a number of injuries the night before and although Claire did a good job of stitching him up, he’s not in the best of form.
After a while, the silence begins to get to him and before he knows it, he‘s speaking, uttering words Matt never thought he’d let out, ever say out loud, ‘I think I broke a couple ribs. Last night. It wasn’t one of my finest moments, I‘ll admit that. Got a little more banged up than I’m comfortable with,‘ Matt’s smiles wryly, ‘Not that the jobs were overly difficult, and if they were, either way it’s no excuse, but there were…Jesus, there were a lot. I mean, a lot. I was exhausted, I got careless. A few guys got the jump on me. It shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t happen again, but I…’ he sighs, wets his lower lip, traps the soft meat between his teeth, ‘Not that I can tell Foggy any of this, of course. He’d have a fit. But you…you make a pretty good listener.’
Pip snuffles and languidly stretches out, a wide, high-pitched yawn escaping her lips. Matt strokes Pip’s downy ears in response and his arms absent-mindedly tighten around her.
‘I hate it, sometimes,’ he whispers, ‘It tears me up inside to not, to - to - God, you don’t know how much it tears me up sometimes. Knowing that there are these…these problems, so many problems, all day, every day. I can’t ignore it and I can’t devote every second of my life to it. And that…that’s excruciating.’ Matt can‘t know for sure, of course, but he thinks that Pip is staring up at him, looking at him like she understands it all, understands every single word he‘s saying. ‘Reminds me of everything I can't be, who I ought to be, and all of the fears my Dad held for me. Sometimes I think that, maybe - dammit, maybe he’d be proud of me. But then I realise that it‘s me; will only ever be me. Me and my imagination, and a whole lot of wishful thinking.’
…
Following their literal heart-to-heart, Pip is insatiable, worse than ever before, and refuses to stop following Matt around.
She trots loyally at his heels, tail wagging, and barks when Matt fails to take notice of her, as if betrayed somehow.
The pup lounges at his feet - or, more accurately, on his feet - and drools over her squidgy rubber bone that peeps when she presses down on it, determined to attach herself to his hip. And once she tires of that, Pip butts her head against his shin for attention and then attempts to burrow her snout in his leg, before locking the hem of his pants within her jaw and tugging, hard.
Finally, Matt sits back and sighs heavily. To her joy, he picks her up, plopping the pooch on his lap, where he lets Pip remain while he works, petting her every so often with one arm wound around her plump body. The arrangement works well for a while, with Matt even rolling up his sleeves and shedding his tie as time motors on, surprisingly at ease - that is, until Pip tilts her head and starts polishing between the liberated buttons of his shirt collar with a slobbery tongue in gratitude.
'Yes,' Matt mutters dully, wrinkling his nose, 'thank-you. That's very nice of you. But do you mind stopping, please? That tickles.'
‘Better watch out, Foggy,’ Karen laughs from somewhere nearby, likely the kitchenette, as she scrapes out a sloppy, wet meat-like substance from a can that smells like beef and feet. Must be approaching dinner-time. ‘Looks like Matt‘s found a replacement.’
‘I have not,’ he objects, ‘She’s very persistent.’
‘It’s only a matter of time, Matty,’ she sing-songs in response. ‘Everybody loves puppies. Fact.’
‘Speak for yourself.’ His tone is apathetic, but the effect is lessened somewhat by the fact that he is rubbing Pip’s head as she presses up against him, lips curling in fondness.