Housepets: Matt

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kurowolfe
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by kurowolfe »

Look, long update! =3
The roles kinda reversed here, aren't they? It's fun to see the interaction between Matt and Bino, and their parents being almost nonchalant about the whole ordeal. XD

Yet somehow I hope Bino will do more than that, it'll be interesting to see =3

Love the detailed storytelling in this one, Karlos. Here's me waiting for the next one! :D
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Karl
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

copper wrote:They sure do sweat alot.
Heating in house broke down. :)
copper wrote:That is a crazy house for sure.... Bino needs some shock treatment, and Matt is pretty submissive for a pet owner! :lol:
Well... if Matt would try to put on Bino's neck the shock collar like Jeff did once, he would probably end up as the one shocked. Hey, that gave me an idea! Now where's my notepad...

I imagine it's hard to be an owner of a dog who is megalomaniacal.
Russiarules1 wrote:All I could think about was the Cereal Guy meme. Weird...
What's that?
Russiarules1 wrote:Now, it's time for the school bus. Good, this is gonna be nice!
Road to bus stop is not short ;)
kurowolfe wrote:Look, long update! =3
The roles kinda reversed here, aren't they? It's fun to see the interaction between Matt and Bino, and their parents being almost nonchalant about the whole ordeal. XD
Ah, another person who likes long updates! :D
Well, no one said to Matt that being an woner of a dog (especially Bino) is going to be easy. But he still have chances! I think...
kurowolfe wrote:Yet somehow I hope Bino will do more than that, it'll be interesting to see =3
Don't worry. He's just giving Matt a head start for now.
kurowolfe wrote:Love the detailed storytelling in this one, Karlos. Here's me waiting for the next one! :D
Thank you :) And for next update you will have to wait a bit. But I will try to write something special :)
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Russiarules1 »

Behold the Cereal Guy Meme:
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Yeah...
Anyyywwaaaay, it will be the greatest school bus ride EVAR!
For me... Yes, I know it says "EVAR" instead of "EVER".
Doing dumb things is what makes us normal humans.
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Karl
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Now you surprised me xD
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

earlier update: Matt positively SCARED me there! Man, it was like looking into the mind of something wicked!
Latest update: Again, you worked your magic, Karlos! :D Whenever I think Bino is a jerk, Matt proves himself worse, and then the two so complement each other... They are born to tormen---err, to be together as tormentor and victim, whomever the victim is!
Bravo!
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Barkeron »

Loved the sharing "contest". lol

Well it seems like Matt and Bino will never give into each at the moment. lol
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

valerio wrote:earlier update: Matt positively SCARED me there! Man, it was like looking into the mind of something wicked!
No wonder why Elders roll their eyes when they say 'kids these days', eh?
valerio wrote:Latest update: Again, you worked your magic, Karlos! :D Whenever I think Bino is a jerk, Matt proves himself worse, and then the two so complement each other... They are born to tormen---err, to be together as tormentor and victim, whomever the victim is!
Bravo!
I think Troubles and Disasters like to hang up with them.
Barkeron wrote: Well it seems like Matt and Bino will never give into each at the moment. lol
Like they say: "no one said it's going to be easy." :)

You know what, dear Barkeron? Each time I see your avatar I just can't take my eyes of it xD
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

...

wow, it took me like, 2 weeks to read your entire fic. Ch. 25 took me about a week by itself. (distractions are annoying)

your chapters are abit long for my taste, but as long as they're worth it, I will read them.

I liked Matt's face getting pushed into the bowl. :lol:
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:...

wow, it took me like, 2 weeks to read your entire fic. Ch. 25 took me about a week by itself. (distractions are annoying)

your chapters are abit long for my taste, but as long as they're worth it, I will read them.
I was recently looking at Views and I've noticed it was proportionally increasing. And I was wondering was it you :)

I read your comments and you said few times that you prefer short updates. With me is a little differently, I prefer when updates are longer. But if you're enjoying my work and you expect from me to post more, despite of your preferences, then I bow before you. Welcome aboard, new reader :)

Chapter 25 has 19 pages. So far it's a record. But don't worry, breaking records in pages is not my goal xD It depends from what plays in my head. But I must confess that after completing Chapter 25 and seeing how my Beta commented its lenght, I was scared for some time that I could overdid it a little xD

And I must agree on your point of view about distractions. I recently had this issue and I couldn't believe it had such influence on everything I was working on. Even the newest update I was recently writing.

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:I liked Matt's face getting pushed into the bowl. :lol:
Me too. That's why I couldn't wait till I get to this part when writing this chapter.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

28. Stalker



Bino had to speed up if he wanted to catch up with Matt who was just storming through the gate.

Matt’s clangorous stomps were audible throughout the entire street. Step by step, the boy was smashing his feet on the concrete plates like he was trying to cause an earthquake.

Bino was walking at his side, observing his young owner. From the look of how he was behaving, he could tell that Matt was really mad. His fists were clenched tight, arms stiff, shoulders raised high, and his face was red like a tomato.

“Where are you going?” Bino asked innocently.

Matt’s stomps became louder and his hands trembled. But his lips stayed locked and he continued to look ahead.

Bino knew that Matt was trying to not pay any attention to him. For him, this was an invitation to tease his ego.

“Why are you not talking? You lose your tongue?” Bino said complaining as he placed his right hand on his hip. “At least you could try to entertain me with some conversation since we’re both outside.”

“Don’t speak to me,” Matt said arrogantly.

“Why shouldn’t I speak to you? I’m supposed to have a walk with you in total boredom and awkward silence?” Bino said complaining and frowned. “Besides, who gave you the right to decide when I can talk or not? We live in a free country, and I can talk when I want and what I want, wherever I currently am.”

“I’m not talking to you,” Matt said again with the same tone as before, not even making a single move with his head.

“Pff! Do what you want.” Bino waved with his hand. “If you want to act like an insulted prince then that’s your thing. But don’t think you can just keep walking and pretending not to notice because I will follow you and keep talking to you, whether you like it or not.”

Don’t follow me.” This time Matt accented his words stronger.

Bino placed his hands behind his head.

“You can’t order me to stop following you either.” Bino continued to educate Matt. ”Like with talking, I can also follow you because nowhere does it say it’s forbidden. Besides, maybe I’m not following you? Maybe I’m just walking in the same direction as you are, and the reason we’re walking together is actually a coincidence?”

Matt suddenly lost his patience. He rapidly turned around and gripped Bino’s shoulders, making the dog gasp in fright.

For crying out loud, dog!” Matt yelled directly into Bino’s face, this time his face having the color of a beetroot. “Do you always have a stupid answer for everything?! You can’t even shut up for five minutes?! Does your tongue ever get tired of this constant mincing?! You just keep babbling and babbling and even a saint would scream in anger!!

Both of them stared at each other for a moment. Matt was gnashing his teeth and frowning at Bino, while the dog looked at his owner with wide eyes and open mouth.

“You know, you will be accused of animal abuse if someone sees us,” Bino said with his eyes half lidded as he gained his confidence back.”

Bino’s words only increased Matt’s anger. The boy gripped the dog’s shoulders stronger and dragged him closer to him, almost making their noses touch each other.

You think you can allow yourself to do whatever you want because you’re a pet?!” Frustration could be heard clearly in Matt’s voice now. “You think this gives you the privilege to torture me and ruin my life?!

Bino didn’t say anything this time. He just kept listening to what Matt was yelling at him with slight amusement.

“Besides, what was that supposed to be back in the house??” Blood veins appeared on Matt’s eyeballs from the intensity. “You think you can just waltz in and sneak into my parent’s good graces?? If you think you can buy their affections because you’re cute and cuddly then I can tell you here and now that it’s pointless!! My parents will never fall for something so fake, pet!!!”

“You’re jealous?” Bino smirked as he remembered how he hugged Mrs. Sternfeld when Matt was going outside.

I’M NOT JEALOUS!!!” Matt yelled as he took Bino’s words as an offence.

“Then why are you screaming like you were?” Bino said with the same self-confident tone.

BECAUSE YOU’RE INCREDIBLY ANNOYING!!! GARKH!!!” Matt finally let go of Bino and turned around, gripping his bushy hair and letting out a few groans of frustration.

Bino rubbed his shoulders after Matt let him go. Although he had stayed tough, it hurt when Matt was gripping him like that and he was glad it had actually ended at that.

“Gosh, you’re such a horrible pet!” Matt complained as he calmed down and turned to Bino with the collar of his jacket creased. “You’re a living example of why I hate all of your kind. I regret that you appeared in my life. I can’t even take a bath in peace!” When he finished this sentence, he started to rub his eyelids with his fingers.

Bino frowned and crossed his arms.

“And what did I do wrong? I-“

Everything!” Matt suddenly yelled, barely holding his emotions under control.

Bino groaned as Matt didn’t let him finish.

“What everything?!” Bino complained as he waved his hands. “You can’t blame me for all your problems! Besides…” He placed his hands on his hips and shot Matt a glare. “I woke you up so you could go to your school. If I hadn’t done that, you would have overslept. Later I wanted to give you a towel so you could dry off. Since most of your body is furless and you’re unable to shake the water off, you should be glad I decided to give it to you; otherwise you would have just had to stand there and tremble in the cold until the water evaporated off you. And what is most important, I helped you when you choked on your food. So tell me, am I really a horrible pet if I was just trying to help you, despite how ungrateful you are?” Bino started to tap with his foot, eagerly awaiting Matt’s answer.

“Okay, you may have a point,” Matt said as he was looking down at Bino. “However, there is one but in all of this.” He suddenly leaned closer to the brown dog, making him back off a bit with his muzzle wrinkled. “When you were waking me up as you said, you mercilessly tore off my bed sheets, not even caring that I could get thermal shock. When you were trying to give me a towel, you didn’t even knock…”

“I did,” Bino said shortly.

“…and lastly. Matt accented stronger as he wasn’t pleased with Bino’s interruption. “My face landed in my breakfast when you smacked me in the back! So no, you’re not helping! You’re providing suffering and disaster instead! So thank you very much for such help!” The teen turned around and crossed his arms.

“Fsss! Fine! Whatever!” Bino got miffed and also turned his back to Matt, crossing his arms. “Everyone else would be happy to have someone so helpful, you ingrate! Pfft!” He only turned his head for a moment to show Matt his tongue and then continued to be miffed at him.

“Lol, right,” Matt said arrogantly as he looked offended at Bino for a moment through his arm. “Who would like to have such butterfingers like you. No wonder your owner decided to get rid of you, prolly he thought of you as a total duffer who can’t do anything useful…” He glanced for a moment at Bino’s back and turned his head again.

Bino felt a sting in his heart. Matt’s words hurt him this time. Although he tried not to show it and not touch the area on his chest where his heart was beating, he lowered his head and looked at the ground with glassy eyes.

He had heard those words many times. Back when he still lived with Jeff and Max, his dad kept saying those insults when he unintentionally did something wrong or he behaved bad. Duffer, wuss, leaky hands… all alternately, depending on situation. But worst was when his dad mentioned Fido and how much more helpful he would be in doing some job at home than him.

Since he moved to the other house, he had tried his best to forget about all of this. But Matt was not making it easier.

“Also, stop following me and go home!” Matt’s words brought Bino back to reality and his ears perked up. “I want to be left alone.”

Bino turned around and saw Matt slowly walking away.

Just as he watched the teen walking away, Bino felt stupid for letting such feelings get into him and allowing Matt to upset him. He brushed his chest and went after Matt.

He didn’t care anymore about Mr. Sternfeld’s request to keep an eye on Matt. He didn’t care anymore for the reward he would get if he fulfilled his task. Because Bino was now very displeased by being called butterfingers and a useless pet, he was now doing this to spoil Matt’s day.

Matt wasn’t stomping loudly anymore as he was going down the street. After unloading his accumulated frustration on Bino by yelling at him, the anger in his heart had started to dim. But his impatience kept growing as he felt that Bino was walking at his side again.

“I told you to stop following me and go home,” Matt said with impatience in his voice as he shot a glare at his dog.

Bino was not even looking at him. He just kept pace with Matt, with clear anger on his face.

“Hey, are you listening?!” Matt increased his voice as he couldn’t get Bino’s attention.

“No,” Bino replied arrogantly, still looking ahead with a frown.

“Excuse me?” Matt said with disbelief, clenching and shaking his fist.

Bino didn’t say anything. Both of them just kept walking forward, only Matt looking at the dog with a glare.

“I’m not listening to you,” Bino said after some time. “I’m a bad pet after all, aren’t I?”

“Yes, at least you’re right for once,” Matt replied as he looked down at Bino. “You’re a bad pet and you’re only proving that I’m right because you’re not doing what you’ve been told to do.”

Bino only shrugged, not caring about Matt’s opinion. The boy was really close to exploding because of Bino’s arrogant attitude, but he only shook his head and waved his hand at his dog.

And that’s how they walked, ignoring each other. They passed many houses and possessions and didn’t exchange a single word, nor glance. What added to the awkwardness and discomfort of the situation was the fact that they hadn’t met any neighbors or pets on their way. So all the time they were alone.

But Bino’s company was beginning to be really troublesome for Matt and with each passing minute his inner trepidation was increasing. He knew that if Bino kept following him, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish his plans.

Matt suddenly turned on his heels and started to walk fast in the opposite direction. Just when he had made a few steps, he checked if Bino was still following him.

He was there, keeping step with Matt, and he still had the same miffed expression.

Matt turned around again and the result was the same: Bino was still glued to him. From time to time he tried to change directions, but it seemed that Bino was not getting tired of following him.

When Matt changed directions for the umpteenth time, this time he started to trot. He turned his head and saw Bino behind him, doing the same thing. He was even keeping his curled hands up in the same way as Matt did.

Then Matt tried something different. He started to run across the entire street in a zigzag, but squatting and touching his knees together, running in ‘duck’ style. When he had made a few zigzags like that, he looked over his shoulder. His eyes almost popped out from their orbits as he saw Bino running right behind him in same awkward style as Matt.

What a sticker…” Matt muttered under his breath in disbelief as he watched Bino mirroring him.

Then Matt tried everything to test Bino’s stubbornness. Running in circles, hoping above bins and benches, pirouettes, barrel rolls… everything that came to his mind. The result of all of those ‘exercises’ never changed: Bino was doing the exact same thing as him, in the exact same rhythm, with the exact same motions and he didn’t make a single mistake in their awkward exercises.

He wasn’t just simply following anymore. Matt felt like he was being stalked by Bino and his anger toward the dog turned into fear.

He also couldn’t keep up with this anymore. After doing all of those tricks he started to feel pain in his lungs and was becoming tired. Just when he had finished his performance moving his hips in circles while running, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

While Matt bent down with his hand on his chest huffing, Bino was looking at him with interest, scratching his back.

“Why did you stop? That was fun,” Bino said with a smirk on his muzzle, placing his hands behind his back.

Matt took a few deep pants and looked at the dog. He couldn’t believe that Bino was standing there without any signs of tiredness while he had trouble even breathing.

“You… *pant*” Matt barely said with a weak voice. “Why… *pant* What… *pant* What are you… *pant* *pant*”

Bino was surprised by Matt’s question.

“What do you mean what am I?” Bino raised one of his brows. “I think it’s obvious that I’m a dog. Besides, don’t pant so much or some bug will fly into your mouth and you will complain about everything again.”

Matt stopped breathing for a moment and then exhaled deeply. When he had calmed his breath, he looked at Bino for a moment and covered his face with his hands.

“Okay, dude. I think I see where this is going,” Matt said to Bino as he slowly slid his palms off his face. “What do you want from me?”

“What do you mean what do I want?” Bino asked back, raising one of his eyebrows and placing his knuckles on his hips.

Matt sighed heavily as he pulled his hair with his hand.

“I can clearly see that you must have some motive in besetting me like that,” Matt groaned with annoyance. “Why are you so stubborn anyways?! Why won’t you just leave me alone?!”

“Hmm.” Bino turned around and placed his fingers under his chin as he drifted into his thoughts. “Let’s see. You yelled at me just when we walked outside. Then you insulted me by telling me that I’m not helping you. And what is most important, you said I’m a bad and horrible pet. Bino accented his last words with tone of anger. When he turned back to Matt, he gave the boy a glare.

Matt hid his face in his hands and remained silent for a couple of seconds. At this moment, he felt like he was in situation without escape.

“So I understand it’s a matter of revenge that you’re trying to fulfill in a sophisticated way by using the fact that I want to drive you away and doing so would make me happy?”

“Or maybe because I’m a bad dog as I said before and I just love to torment you for my own satisfaction,” Bino replied back.

Matt realized his situation was pitiful. He had never met anyone in his life so stubborn and annoying at the same time beside his father. Slowly in his head the thought of defeat started to appear and it seemed he wouldn’t be able to escape from going to school.

But he decided to use the last resort. Humiliating, but it might be his only hope to make the stubborn dog leave.

“Okay,” Matt began to say with resignation. “I’m taking back everything that I said about you today. You’re a good pet and I was blind and foolish to not realize that you had good intentions in helping me. So, yeah…” Those words barely squeezed through his throat.

Matt’s confession caught Bino’s attention, but he still kept the same pose and was looking at the teen suspiciously.

“Why I should believe you?” he asked.

Matt rolled his eyes.

“Cross my heart that I’m telling you the pure truth,” he said with a lazy voice.

Bino’s expression changed and his glance became normal. Matt thought that he had bought the dog’s confidence with his lie, because deep in his heart he still believed that Bino was a living nightmare. But he was shocked when Bino leaned closer to him and started to sniff him.

Bino sniffed Matt’s body very attentively. His nose moved across his stomach and wrists. When he took some more sniffs, his muzzle bridge wrinkled and from under his lips appeared fangs.

“You lie!” Bino growled. “You stink with lies!”

Matt’s eyes were wide open from this absurd thing he had just heard.

“W-what??” he asked completely astonished.

“Your scent changed,” Bino explained, giving Matt a glare. “And it’s nasty. So you can try to press any tale and excuse on me you want, but your scent will always betray you.”

Bino turned his back to Matt. He raised his head and rubbed the tip of his brown nose.

“You cannot deceive my nose,” Bino continued to educate Matt as he started to glorify his abilities. “I have the most enhanced smell in entire neighborhood! There’s no dog who can sniff out something better than me. I know each scent of absolutely everyone who lives here and I can find anything I desire, even when it’s miles away. But my nose is so great that I can also sense from a human if he is aware of something. Also if he is afraid of me…” He looked for a moment at a completely dumbstruck Matt with a smirk and then turned his head away again. “So if you thought you could trick me so easily then you will have to try harder than-”

“Hey, look! Isn’t that Captain Planet???”

Bino turned rapidly to Matt with eyes like saucers and a gaping mouth and saw the teen with excitement in his eyes, pointing at something with his finger.

“Huh?? Where???” Bino said loudly, totally excited by the revelation. When he noticed Matt’s index finger, without hesitation he turned his head in the direction that it was pointing.

In the place on the other side of the road where he expected to see a silver skinned guy with green hair, red clothes, the famous symbol of the planet on his chest and his impressive smile that always showed his extremely clean, white teeth… all that he saw was a sparrow who was pecking the sidewalk with interest.

“Hey!!” Bino groaned with pure disappointment as he turned back to Matt “There is no-”

He suddenly went silent as he noticed that Matt had disappeared.

- - - - - - - - - -

All that Matt cared about at this moment was his own survival.

He didn’t care about how many fences he jumped and how many flowers he stomped with his heavy boots. He didn’t care either about gasps, screams of fear and yells of anger as he ran across someone’s yard.

There was only one thought circulating in his head: Run, Matt! Run away from him as far as possible!

But then came a moment when he his legs felt like they were made from jelly and the pain came back in his lungs.

The yard he was currently in looked like it was still being worked on, judging by the uprooted weeds, holes dug and garden tools that were lying everywhere. But in the center of the yard was already a small garden fountain with the torso of a cat who had a laurel on top of his head.

Matt approached the fountain, panting hard. When he got closer to it, he hung onto the cat’s head with his arm and bent down, his body swinging left and right like he was about to collapse. He face was red from exhaustion and drops of sweat were dripping on the ground from the tip of his nose.

Matt just stayed there, hanging from the fountain and wheezing horribly. The surroundings were spinning around him as he tried not to start hyperventilating. But when he gasped for air a little more, a wicked smile started to appear on his face.

“*Huff*… *huff*… heeeh…. haaah… haahah…” Matt barely could let out a laugh as he kept gasping for air. “Hahahah… haa… *huff*… oh my… *huff*… finally… *pant*… He… *pant*… I… *huff*… I got rid of him… haahahah… man… *pant*… finally free… rude dog… rude, yes… *huff*… but he’s gone now… he’s not here… such a pain… *huff*… small guy… so much trouble… but no matter… *pant*… he’s far away now. Phew. I’ve never met anyone so painfully stubborn.”

Matt finally calmed down his breath and he wasn’t wheezing anymore. He wiped the sweat from his face and unzipped his jacket under his chin to cool off.

He looked at the fountain he was hanging on. Below the cat head were four small pipes where clean water was leaking out into the round pond. Matt took off his black glove and dipped his hand into the pond. When he took it out, he had cool water in his palm. He splashed it on his face and placed his hand into the pond again.

As he was splashing the cool water on his nape, he heard a strange, quiet sound behind him, like something soft hitting the ground. He turned around instinctively to see what it was.

His eyes became wide like saucers and his arm almost slipped off the fountain as he saw Bino dashing toward him!

Matt immediately forgot about his tiredness and started to run again. The shock from seeing Bino approaching him so fast was so big that it made his legs fully operational again.

And the marathon started again. Matt jumped above the fence and almost rammed into some man who was taking a sunbath. He jumped above him just in time, but the tip of his boot touched the man’s mirror, knocking it down and making the man wake up suddenly.

Just when the man realized what had happened and started to yell at Matt while shaking his fist in the air, he gasped when something soft touched his head and screamed when a dog jumped over him, using the man like a vaulting horse in gymnastics.

Neighbor cats that were resting on the fences weren’t pleased either when Matt jumped over them, making their fur stand on end. But when they saw Bino chasing him, they cheered and whistled for him like it was some Olympic game.

In the next yard, Matt bumped into a difficult obstacle. The yard seemed to be larger than rest he had crossed, but on his way were clothes that were hanging out to dry.

Matt started to move aside all the clothes that were in his way, feeling like he was running from a predator in a jungle, but instead of wide leaves and lianas, there were only shirts and the long sleeves of pullovers.

Matt wasn’t looking behind himself because he could feel Bino’s breath on his nape and it was a matter of seconds before he would catch him. Although adrenaline was still supporting him, his previous exhaustion was starting to remind him about itself and he had to do something.

Matt started to rip the clothes off the line that were in his way, and he threw them behind him.

Bino tried to repel the assault of fresh shirts and socks that were flying in the direction of his face, blindly punching them away by swinging his left arm while shielding himself with his right one.

Matt continued to throw the clothes at Bino, hoping to neutralize him in this way and escape. But as far as he was going into the freshly laundered nebula, he wasn’t able to keep up with ripping the clothes off their clips as there was more and more of them. Because he was busy taking clothes to throw them behind his back, he forgot about those that were in front of him and soon all of them started to hungrily wrap around his body.

With each step, Matt started to turn into a colorful ball of cotton, wool and polyester. He could barely see anymore as various sleeves were covering his eyes, but it didn’t matter to him anyways since all that he could see earlier were walls of clothes. But what was really annoying for him was the heat he started to feel. And with each cloth his spherical cocoon absorbed the temperature inside of it was increasing.

Bino was now really close to catching Matt, or rather his fluffy self. He reached with his fingers to grab the scarf that was dangling from the running ball, but just when he grabbed, the scarf slipped. He tried to repeat the same thing a few more times, but the scarf was waving in air too much.

Just when he was about to give one more try, from the corner of his eye he saw something gray and long. When he was passing it, he tore it off the line and continued to chase Matt.

Bino examined the cloth he had grabbed. It appeared to be grey, long underwear. When he noticed how long it was, it gave him an idea.

He took one end into his hand and started to swirl them above his head. Then, with a sure swipe, he reached for Matt’s legs.

The other leg of the long underwear brushed Matt’s right foot and wrapped itself around the ankle.

AAAAHHH!!!” Matt screamed in terror as he felt something pulling his right leg and tripping him.

*FLOP*


The huge ball of laundry landed softly on green grass and lay still. A second later, Bino landed on top of it and pinned it down, bringing an end to the pursuit.

“I got you!” Bino said with joy, wagging his tail vigorously. “And you smell so fresh.”

In response, Matt groaned and tore a piece of grass out of the ground with his fist.



(A/N)

There is something I must confess.
It took me a lot of time to write this update. I didn’t have so powerful writer’s block for a very long time.
This story was in my head. I knew how it starts, what is going to happen, what will be said and how it will end. But I couldn’t express that on paper. It was like my brain refused to obey. Like it was suddenly empty each time I sat in front of PC.
Writing this took me like more than week, making 1 or 2 pages in one day. I had so much free time and still I wasn’t able to write.
I don’t know why is this happening to me recently. Is it because in my life I’m a person who can’t express fully what he has on his mind, despite in his thoughts is the thing he wants to say? Or is it because of my health issues? All I know it worries me a lot because I’m afraid that such block can have influence on what I write.
I know my fan fic is not a remarkable work and it has flaws. I know I’m not writing fast at this moment, despite I hate it and I would prefer to write more and faster. But I prefer to sit on this and make it look fine than just rush it and throw it like cheap product on a shelf in shop in hope it will be sold fast. And what is most important, I care about my readers.
That’s why I hope to find a solution for this block. Or it will consume me totally.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

wow, Matt must have looked silly running across the street in that way. and when he was wrapped in clothes. :lol:

who's gonna explain why that person's freshly clean clothes need to be washed again because the were on the ground?

good update.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by EmoPeanut »

You can't escape from Bino......eheheheheAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH)
Im crazy......WAFFLES!!!
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

This update is SO delicious, very well worth the wait! :D :D :D
Go Bino Go! :mrgreen:
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:who's gonna explain why that person's freshly clean clothes need to be washed again because the were on the ground?
No one. Because it's all conspiracy :geek:
valerio wrote:This update is SO delicious,
Oh no! You just remind me to eat breakfast first instead of browsing forum xo
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Barkeron »

Rule one: You can fool others but you can't fool a dog. lol. (Duh)

Great update.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

Great update! Matt just can't seem to win, can he?

Bino always being the pest, at least now we know why he tends to act out.


It is fine to wait.. This is a good fanfic, Karlos. I enjoy reading it!
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Hello all.

Unfortunately it will take me more time to update. I'm recently having some problems in my life and I need to take care of them to get out from this pit. Also I have some work recently and I travel a lot.

I apologize to all of you who read my fic. I'm trying every day to change for better (I'm still far to Mr. Griffin who keps doing everything he does on time). But my psychic is... delicate, and when something bad is happening, it has influence on my work. That's why I have to deal with problems and other stuff first.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

don't I understand you, man!
Just take all the time you need, you know we love your updates, regardless of when you upload 'em. And we surely appreciate a work in which you put your heart and not your stress. ;)
Take care. :D
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

Hope you are okay, karlos! We can wait, just work everything out first. We are very patient folk.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Thank you people for your support. Recently I got slighly better so it should move on now. So far I wrote some pages and I'm sure I will finish chapter 29 soon, if nothing will try to ruin my mood or I will get a nasty surprise from life.

But I must confess that this crisis is holding a tight grip over me and it alarms me to do something with myself. I wouldn't want to end as "one of those fanfic writers who starts something that people enjoy and then it's discontinued all of a sudden".

Yes, I'm falling down. But I'm trying to rise on my feet. With small steps, but forward.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

And we are rooting for you, karlos.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Hello all.

I know it's been some time since my fic was updates. I would really do that now but unfortunately I got another problem.

You see, the newest chapter is completed. I've send it to my Beta Reader, Obbl, some time ago. But he had a lot of important stuff to do so at school I had to wait. However, we kept in contact and Obbl told me when he will complete his revising. When the day of deadline that was appointed by him came, I've send his a message to ask how's the progress. It was 5 days ago and I didn't get any reply. Later I've send him another but still nothing.

So... Obbl dissapered in mysterious circumstances =(

I'm very worried about him. If he's not answering, it's a signal for me that something bad is happening. I hope he will show up soon. Maybe someone knows something about him?

Meanwhile, since Obbl is gone for now, I will need someone who can take his role until Obbl won't be found and I won't know how is he. So I'm looking for a temporary Beta Reader who can revise Chapter 29.

Is there anyone who can do it? I would really appreciate your help.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

29. There’s no escape



Word “unhappy” was not enough to describe what Matt was feeling at this moment.

It seemed there’s no escape from his fate he tried to avoid so much. He won’t hooky on his first day of school today. He won’t run away and wander somewhere around to waste time or find some place with an arcade where he can unleash his bad emotions on joysticks and red buttons.

Because Bino won’t let him run away.

“So you thought you could escape me?” Matt heard Bino’s proud voice behind his back.

Matt wrinkled his forehead and pursed his lips.

“I wasn’t trying to escape from you,” Matt said with slight anger in his tone. “I was just… doing morning exercises.”

“Across other people’s yards?” Bino asked him.

Matt’s upper lip trembled.

“I wanted to practice hurdling…” Matt replied. “By the way, is it really necessary to bind my hands? You’re twisting my wrists and its starting to hurt! What are you, a cop or what!”

In response, Matt felt on his wrists a stronger grip, causing him to bite his lower lip.

“Don’t complain. Just keep walking.” Bino said to Matt and pushed him to make the boy walk faster.

Matt started to scramble and said a couple of complaints, expressing his discontent about the entire situation. But all of his words were getting into void as Bino was not listening to him and kept leading him, holding the boy’s wrists firmly. Matt jerked with his arms a few more times and added some more complaints about Bino, but then he calmed down and hung his head, realizing that his actions are leading nowhere and feeling embarrassed to be led like a criminal by a dog.

Both of them kept walking like that, crossing few streets on their way. Although Matt was piercing the ground with his glance most of the time, he still could see everything around him and he was glad they haven’t met any neighbor or pet on their way, or he wouldn’t show himself for weeks on neighborhood streets, afraid to hear laugh and mockeries under his address.

When Matt was thinking about all of this, he suddenly felt something yanking his twisted hands, causing him to stop. When he turned his head with questioning look, Bino gestured with his head to look ahead.

Matt looked at Bino suspiciously for a moment, but then he turned his head away from his dog to see what could be in front of him.

Expecting to see an elegant bench, stylish post with clear timetable and flowers surrounding the bus stop as it should be in this “paradise” neighborhood, to his surprise he saw something totally different. Everywhere around the place was wet ground and decayed grass, flies were flying around and in place where people were supposed to sit were two askew desks carelessly nailed to snags and all sticked with webs underneath. The only thing that could tell this awful place was is an askew post with barely visible symbol of bus on top of it.

Matt continued to look at the bus stop with gimlet eyes. The place looked like it was abandoned for ages and it was contrasting with all modern and friendly looking houses that were nearby. But after looking for a couple of seconds at the poor bus stop, Matt frowned and pierced the ground with his glare again.

“Okay Mr. Herder, you brought me to the place of my porridge, now let go of me!!” Matt said with sarcasm and frustration.

Bino freed Matt’s hands from his grip and the teen quickly brought them together, intensively massaging his aching wrists. Matt looked through his shoulder as he was still rubbing his wrists, giving his dog a glare full of hatred and then he walked to provisional bench.

Just when Matt stopped massaging his wrists and was about to take a sit, he noticed some marks of nails on desks and a small sign engraved by a penknife:

“avenge us”

Matt scratched his temple as he read the sign few times more. He wasn’t sure is someone making a bad joke or is there actually a reason why this bus stop looks like it’s haunted. But he shook off the awkward feeling that was circulating in his head and placed his hand on the bench to position himself to sit.

When Matt sat heavily on the desks, the bench crunched horribly and moved backwards, causing him to lift his arms for balance from sudden shock.

Matt kept his arms in air for some time, afraid that his single move can cause the bench to break and fall off it. His face was whole pale and his eyes were wide open all the time.

When his shock passed, he slowly lowered his arms to check if anything would happen. When his hands touched the edge of desk and slowly gripped it, he sighed from relief, being sure that his place he sits on is stable and he won’t end up on the floor.

Relief, however, didn’t last too long. All of a sudden the bench creaked terribly again as Bino sat near him and the boy gripped the edge of desk stronger and clenched his teeth tight.

Hey, watch it!!” Matt yelled at Bino from fear the dog caused him.

Bino placed his right leg on his left knee and placed both of his hands behind the bench.

“Oh, sorry,” Bino said carelessly, looking up the sky. “I thought it’s okay to sit since the bench haven’t broke under your weigh.”

“What do you mean under my weight??” Matt frowned. “Do I look like a fatso to you?!”

“Well, there must be a reason why you were doing morning exercises today,” Bino said, lifting his hand and checking his claws with his thumb. “It’s okay if you want to loose some weigh and get athletic body like mine. Besides, there’s no need to get so touchy. I wasn’t trying to offend you… this time.”

Matt’s face turned red and he turned his head away from Bino, waving his mane in the process.

“My weight is fine. I watch over my line.” He said, raising his chin.

“And I understand that the donuts and cola that are on your desk are ingredients of your diet?” Bino stopped checking his claws and looked at Matt with a smirk.

The redness on Matt’s face gained deeper color.

“I have a fast metabolism…” Matt muttered under his breath, lowering his head and crossing his arms.

Matt placed his elbow on his thigh and supported his head on his hand. He sighed deeply, scratching his forehead and closing his eyes to drift into thoughts.

His situation seemed to be hopeless. From the beginning he planned to skip school and go somewhere where he could be alone. But in his path to realize those plans was standing Bino, who was costing him his poor health and nerves. The dog was so stubborn in shattering his life that it makes Matt feel like heavens sent this dog upon him as a punishment for all his sins.

If his mom and dad wouldn’t brought Bino home, he wouldn’t be stressed so much and right now he would be somewhere at the river bank drinking something gassy or trying to set a high score at flipper in some arcade. Instead, he has to sit on a forgotten by everyone bus stop, guarded by his furred torturer.

And just when he started to think that his life starts to suck even more than ever, he suddenly got out of his thoughts as he felt a nudge at his side.

Matt turned his head to see Bino who was kicking one of his legs in air and was supporting himself with his hands on the back of the bench, tilting his head and looking up the blue sky.

He also noticed that their bodies were touching each other. It was making Matt feel disgusted. He tried to move aside so he could make some space between them, but to his discontent he noticed that he already sits at the edge and if he would try to move, he would fall off the bench. So all he could do was to slouch and somehow swallow this nastiness of his situation.

Time was flowing and nothing interesting was happening on the street. The only way you could tell there was life somewhere, was in the distance with voices of some talks or barks. But since Matt and Bino came to the bus stop, no one appeared on the street.

If there would be anyone walking on the sidewalk or even a car would drive through the street from time to time, he would bear it somehow. But since the whole street was totally empty and the only one alive here was Bino who he hates to be with, it all was influencing him with dread.

All this time nor Bino or Matt didn’t exchange any word. Bino even started to hum something under his breath and Matt started to play with his fingers.

And just when Matt was focused on touching his fingertips rhythmically against each other, he started to think again how to run away from Bino and escape from going to school.

After a couple of seconds, he stopped playing with his fingers and froze when his mind started to form an idea.

Matt suddenly stood up.

“Oh no!” He said with worried tone and placed his hand on top of his head. “I left my pad in the house! Without it I won’t be able to note important things at school!”

Bino looked with curiosity at Matt and took his leg off his knee.

“I’ll better go fast before the bus will arrive,” Matt said to Bino as he started to walk away with haste. “It won’t take me long. I’ll be right back.”

Matt did not even look behind to see is Bino following. But since he didn’t hear any footsteps, he was sure that his dog had stayed at the bus stop.

It seemed his plan worked. But it was not over yet. All that was left to reach the turn was not very far away from him. And when he’ll turn into next street, he’ll be able to run away and free himself from Bino and school.

But getting to this turn seemed to take forever to him, despite it was just few steps away. Matt could feel cold drop of sweat running down his nape and his legs seemed to be like they were stiff.

He wanted to reach this turn so badly.

Just a little more…

“Wait! I’ve got one with me!”

Matt stopped. He let out a sound like he swallowed something big and clenched his trembling hand into fist.

When he turned his head slightly to see through his arm, he could see Bino standing at the bus stop, raising the pad he hold in his hand high.

“I can lend you mine!” Bino shouted, dangling the pad in air so Matt could see it.

Matt’s eyes went to the place where both streets met each other. The turning was just two steps away from him. He was so close to salvation…

Matt closed his eyes for a moment and turned around to walk back to the bus stop.

When Matt was getting closer to Bino, the dog stretched out his arm to teen, offering his pad.

Just when Matt was about to take the pad from Bino, he suddenly stopped and raised his finger on the length of his temple.

“I also forgot to take a pen.” He shook his finger and turned around again to walk away in same direction he was going earlier.

He didn’t go too far.

“I also have a spare pen.” Bino said to Matt’s back.

Matt’s shoulders raised high and he quickly turned to Bino with surprised gaze.

“You can have it.” Bino said as he hold the pen in his other hand.

Matt bit his lower lip and he started to breath faster. The perspective of escape was getting away further and further.

But when he kept looking at the pen, he used his last resort that came into his mind.

“That’s very nice of you,” Matt pretended to be courteous. “But this pen is blue. And in school they prefer black ones. For exams and such…”

Matt’s words surprised Bino and the dog looked suspiciously at the boy. But then he shrugged and put his fingers into his collar.

After a brief moment of rummaging in his green collar, he took out another pen. With a black cap.

Bino hid the blue pen back into his collar and brought the black one to his pad. Then he offered both of them to Matt.

Matt just stood there still, looking with disbelief on what Bino was holding in his hand. The he stretched out his hand and slowly gripped the pen and pad, making a sound of rustle and squash of leather.

T h a n k.....y o u” Matt said as polite as he could, holding himself to not throw the pen on the ground with force and rip the pad into pieces. Then he passed Bino and walked slowly back to the bench.

“Heh, you’re welcome,” Bino said, looking at Matt through his shoulder with irreverent glance and with his hand on his hip. “And don’t forget about such things next time. I won’t be around you like a caregiver and help you because you can’t organize yourself properly.”

Matt sat back on the unstable bench, making the same horrible noise as before. He placed his elbows on his things and hung his head. Just when he closed his eyes, the bench rocked and both Matt and Bino were sitting together again.

“I don’t get it. How could you forget about pen and pad for notes?” Bino said to Matt with complaint, gesticulating with his open hand. “You knew you were going to need it and still you forgot to take those things with you? Then how were you preparing yourself before leaving?”

Matt didn’t respond to Bino’s reprimands. He just kept his head low and pretended to not hear anything of this.

“Besides, how long till your bus will arrive?” Bino placed his hands behind his head and looked at the sky with annoyance. “This boredom is killing me!”

Matt lifted his head and looked at Bino with displease.

“Why won’t you go home than and… play with a bouncing ball or other ‘dog’ things,” He said with cold tone. “You don’t have to sit here with me, I’m not forcing you to do so.”

Bino tilted his head.

“I wish I could,” He replied. “But I need to keep an eye on you…”

Bino’s eyes grew wide and he placed two fingers on his lips as he realized he said something he shouldn’t had.

Matt shook his head and blinked few times.

“What?” He said with eyes wide opened. “What did you just said?”

Bino slid his fingers off his lips and scratched his temple.

“I mean… to make sure you’ll get to the bus safe.” Bino looked back at Matt with serious expression. “Yes. You’re my dad so I’m just…”

“To keep an eye on me?” A frown started to appear above his eyes as he leaned a bit closer to Bino. “ What is this all about, what is going on here??”

Bino raised his hands in defense and leaned back.

“No, I just…”

“It was my old man’s idea, right?” Matt leaned even closer to Bino, with his fist in front and with wildness in his pupils. “It was his plan to check on me will I go to school, am I right??”

Bino didn’t answer. He knew it was pointless to lie now so he looked away and started to play with his fingers.

Matt clenched his teeth and his ears started to become crimson red. Then he slowly turned his head away and slapped his right thigh from anger.

“I should have known!” He said loudly, gripping his thigh with his fingers. “He’ll do everything to control my every move!”

Matt’s eyes were moving on sides all the time and he was breathing deeply as anger on his father was raging deep in his heart. He couldn’t believe that his father used Bino to stalk him. Now he really wanted to skip his first day at school as an act of revenge.

But he took one deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he turned his head to Bino who was avoiding eye contact.

“Okay. What did he offer you?” Matt asked Bino a question.

Bino stopped playing with his fingers from nervousness and looked back.

“I don’t know what are you talking about.” Bino answered and immediately turned his face away from Matt.

“Oh come on, I’m not stupid.” Matt kept to push on Bino. “I know my father for sixteen years. He wouldn’t just simply order you to follow me and make sure I’ll go to school without offering you anything. Not to mention you’ve already proven your disloyalty…" He muttered quietly under his breath.

Bino said nothing, but his qualm could be visible as he put his arms together and placed them on his stomach.

“What did he offer you? Money? Or something else?” Matt continued his interrogation.

The poor dog only looked down and rubbed his foot against other.

Slowly, on Matt’s face started to appear a wicked smile as he found another opportunity to make his day won.

“And… how about I offer you something more? Hmm?” Matt said with a soft and friendly tone.

Bino’s eyes started to grow big and he started to look around nervously. But he still was avoiding eye contact with Matt.

The boy leaned his face closer to Bino’s ear

“I may be rough to people sometime, But I know how to come to agreements.” Matt said softly to Bino’s dangling ear. “Whatever my old man offered you, I can offer much, much more.”

Bino shivered as he heard Matt’s seductive words being spoken directly into his ear. He tried to move aside to get away from him, but he noticed there was no space on the bench to do so.

“You won’t buy me.” Bino said with weak and unsure voice.

Matt placed his arm around Bino’s shoulders and dragged the dog closer to him.

“I confess. I don’t want to go to school.” Matt said. “But I understand you. I know you’re doing this to get a gain. I would do the same thing if I was in your place. So I don’t blame you. But think about it. By allowing me to skip lessons, I’ll be very grateful to you and I’ll reward you greatly. Just tell me what you need.”

Bino clasped his hands and placed them on his lap, rubbing his thumbs against each other and biting his lips. He was feeling discomfort and probably would take off Matt’s arm with force and run away, but the seed of temptation was already sown as Matt could see from Bino’s body language.

Finally, Bino looked directly into Matt’s light blue eyes with serious expression.

“Why should I believe you?” Bino asked, looking at him suspiciously.

Matt only smirked.

“Because I’m desperate to not go to that blasted school.” Matt explained. “And I’ll do anything to not go there. I’ll give you anything you want. I won’t go to school and you will earn something for yourself. Wolf full and sheep untouched."

Bino turned his head away again and closed his eyes shut. When he felt Matt gripping his arm lightly and stroking it, he looked at Matt’s face again.

“Anything?” He asked with shining pupils.

Matt’s smirk turned into devilish as he felt that Bino was falling into his seducing arms.

“Anything.” Matt replied softly, but with slightly dark tone.

Bino grinned widely and his butter eyes grew big. This sight only made Matt’s heart pump faster with joy as he was sure now that his iniquitous plan worked.

He wasn’t sure yet if he would really give something to Bino for letting him escape. But he turned him onto his side and for now that was all that was important.

“Well since you say so, I made a list of things I need in case if someone would try to gain my favors to save his own skin.” Bino said with happiness in his voice, making Matt’s smile to drop all of a sudden.

Bino reached into his collar and started to search for something. After few seconds he took out some white roll and the same blue pen he tried to lend Matt earlier. With a sure move of his fingers, the roll felt down and it rolled across the street.

Matt looked with pure astonishment on the extremely long paper that was ending on the other side of the street.

Bino brought the pen to his lips and gnawed its edge as he looked at the list of things he needs.

“Hmm. Some of it accumulated by this time.” Bino said with muffled voice as he kept gnawing the pen and glance at the list.. The he took the pen out of his mouth and touched the paper with its edge. “So I’ll start from the beginning. I need your full attention because you’ll have to remember what I read to you. First thing I need is a new game for my PSP. The one I would want is from “Ben 10”, but I prefer the first one from the “alien force” series since I already beat the game from the original saga. The second thing…” He slid his pen down the paper until he reached the next point. “I want the kit for the model aircraft of B-24 J. It’s a limited edition because of the jaws that are painted on nose so you will have to put some effort into searching. Third, I need a new rubber chicken. The one I currently have has its head almost ripped off. And it’s not squeaking anymore. And the next thing…”

Matt was looking at Bino and his few meters long list with his eyes coming out from their orbits, jaw dropped and his head tilted to the right.

Y-you’re kidding, right?” Matt somehow managed to say with trembling tone.

“Of course not!” Bino looked back at Matt with annoyed expression. “And don’t interrupt me because I’m not going to read entire list again for you! Now where were we…” His glance went back on his list. “Ah yes. Point sixth. They recently let out new gaming cards for…”

That’s not how Matt imagined this. It was supposed to be totally different and easy. He thought he will trick Bino like some child - on lollipop, ice cream, chocolate bar, some money… but such horrendous blackmail came totally unexpected.

For a moment he believed he succeeded. But sudden shock of seeing a roll of paper with written demands that was ending on the opposite side of the place where he was sitting quickly brought him to the ground.

D-dude! You can’t do this to me!” Matt said desperately as he tried to look at Bino with serious expression. “You can’t just let me pick one choice at least?! This is daylight robbery!!

*HOOOONK!*

Suddenly Matt felt like temperature dropped and a cold shiver went down his spine as he heard a familiar sound.

He turned his head and he saw something yellow in the distance. With fear in his eyes he realized it was a school bus that was coming closer…

Bino took his glance off his list and also looked for the source of sound.

“Oh. The bus is coming.” He said merrily, quickly forgetting what he was doing earlier. ”We’ll get you in it and I can finally go to Fox’s house to take him out for some games at the park.”

Bino grabbed the plastic roll by its edges and he started to roll back the extremely long paper. After some quick moves with his fingers the list disappeared from the street in no time and Bino could hide his roll back into his collar.

Although the bus was coming to the bus stop pretty fast, for Matt it was taking eternity. His pupils were growing wide as the bus was getting closer and his heart was pumping faster when the whir of engine was becoming louder.

Matt knew that if this bus will come here, it will be end. He was staring at the bus with huge eyes like he was trying to stop it with his sight, but the vehicle was still mercilessly getting closer to the stop.

The long yellow bus finally reached its destination and it stopped in front of him with a screech of tires. Then the entrance slowly opened with a sound of exhaled air and the bus honked two times as it was inviting to get on board.

Matt only hung his head low, brought his knees together and gripped the edge of the bench strongly. Fear paralyzed him completely.

Bino stood up and walked over Matt.

“The bus is here.” He said with his hands on his waist. “You should get in.”

Matt still remained in same position, only his face became more pale and his head went even lower.

Bino growled from annoyance as he saw that Matt was not reacting to his word.

“Hey, the bus is here!” Bino said louder as he bent over to Matt and showed the bus with his hand.

Matt suddenly lifted his head and glared at Bino with desperation in his eyes.

No!” He yelled. “I’m not going anywhere! I won’t let myself to be treated like that! I decide where I go and you won’t force me to do otherwise!!

Bino’s eyes flared up.

You will go!!” He yelled back, then grabbed Matt by his legs and started to pull him.

Matt started to slid off the bench, but the boy somehow managed to turn in air and grab the bench with both hands before he left down.

Matt was now hanging in air, desperately holding the bench that was horribly squeaking with each pull by Bino.

UGH! Don’t… *huff* behave… *puff* like a pansy!” Bino said, puffing from effort. “Just… *huff* get in so… *huff* I.. *huff* can finally get my *puff* reward!

Bino was pulling strong and only thanks to his belt Matt still had his jean on him. But the boy gripped the desk of the bench strong and he wasn’t even thinking about giving up.

NO, NO, NO!!!” Matt screamed out loudly like someone was skinning him alive. “I DON’T WANT TO!!! I DON’T WANT TO GO THERE!!!


The bench became really tight because of the pulls but despite its ugly outlook, the two thin stumps were still holding well in the ground. The only elements that could bother were puffs, moans and horrifying squeaks.

However, a tiny spider who had his wed under the desks of the bench suddenly went out and appeared on surface. And just by coincidence the spider run on top of Matt’s hand.

Matt had his eyes closed shut all the time and was busy with holding the bench with all force and screaming horribly. But he instinctively opened his eyes and his pupils grew when he saw a spider on his right hand.

AHH!!! SPIDER!!!” He screamed on top of his lungs and shook his hand violently to get rid of the insect.

That was a mistake. Just when Matt took his right hand off the bench to shake off the spider and kept holding with only one hand, Bino pulled strong and Matt hit the ground hard with his chin.

Bino wasn’t wasting any time. He dragged Matt closer to school bus and then he tried to lift the teen by grabbing him by his collar with both hands, but he had difficulties since Matt was actually heavy for him. After letting out few grunts, Bino finally lifted Matt’s body and began to move it to the entrance of the bus.

But Matt was not going to give up so easily

Just when he was about to be pushed through the entrance, Matt used his hands to block himself from getting in.

Bino tried to push Matt with his own body, but Matt was too resistant.

HELP!!! SOMEBODY!!! PLEASE HEEEELP!!! THEY’RE TRYING TO KIDNAP MEEEE!!!” Matt yelled desperately, hoping that someone will hear him.

Matt could still feel how Bino was trying to push him with his arm, but he managed to look inside the bus while resisting.

In the place for driver was sitting a man who was wearing a light blue uniform, had a mustache and his curly head was sticking out from the bottom of his hat. There was no emotion on his face and he was looking ahead all the time.

“Man… guh! Help me…” Matt tried to say as he kept fighting with Bino.

The driver didn’t react, neither he blinked or moved. He just kept sitting in same position and continued to look ahead.

On the other side of the bus, Bino was still struggling to push Matt inside. He supported his shoulders on Matt’s and pushed with his legs with all strength, but Matt was still holding well.

Other positions also failed. It seemed that the teen was too stubborn or too frightened to get into the bus.

And just when Bino was stroking his temple and thinking what to do, he opened his eyes as an idea formed in his head.

He reached again into his collar and started to search for something.

Meanwhile Matt started to struggle, like he tried to get from Bino’s grasp and escape.

Bino was still trying to find the object he is looking for, but Matt was now making his job harder since now he also had to hold him from preventing him to escape and watch out to not get his eye hit by Matt’s elbow.

After some time, Bino felt with his fingers the object he was looking for and he took it out from his collar.

In his fingers was a long pin that shined dangerously.

Bino closed his left eye and aimed for the place where the “back” was lost and long forgotten.

“AAAAIIIGHHH!!!” Matt screamed horribly as he felt a painful pinprick behind himself and grabbed the place where it hurt.

Bino took this opportunity and pushed Matt inside the buss with full might.

Matt landed on stairs on his knees. When he got back into his senses, he turned his head around and noticed that Bino was… outside. He stood up and hurled at the dog, but the automatic doors suddenly closed in front of him and his hands landed on plastic windows.

He was looking at the doors totally shocked, not believing that he was inside the bus and freedom was on the other side. And when his eyes went on Bino who was standing outside looking at him with calmness, he glared at him and started to hit the plastic windows with his open palms.

TRAITOR!! RAT!!” Matt yelled from the other side of the doors and kept slamming the windows. “I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!

Bino was not amused by this words. He still stayed calm and he only put his hands behind himself as he kept watching Matt who was slamming the bus door like he was trying to break them down.

Matt gave the plastic windows few more hits as he felt that his hands start to hurt. He stopped, but the urge to get Bino into his hands remained so Matt glued his face to the window.

“Mark my words!! I will come back!!” Matt yelled to Bino. “You hear me?! I will return and make you pay for this!!

Suddenly Matt felt a jerk and Bino started to move aside with the entire surrounding. The bus started to go forward.

AND DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING IN MY ROOM OR I’LL DESTROY YOU!!!” Matt shouted for the last time before he lost his sight on Bino.

Bino observed how the bus left a dark cloud of fumes behind it and was going away. Just when it made some distance, Matt appeared on the rear window and also glued himself to it. Then the yellow bus was farther and farther away until it turned into a yellow dot and then disappeared behind horizon.

The wind blew Bino’s fur gently as the dog was still standing at the bus stop and was looking in the distance where the bus drove away.

The edges of his lips started to tremble and then on his muzzle appeared a mischievous grin. Later he turned around, slouched, rubbed his hands vigorously and let out a quiet, evil laugh.

His mission was accomplished. Now he can get his two dollars, get Fox and Rex out the neighborhood, and then he has Matt’s room only for himself…



(A/N)

You’re probably wondering why on earth this fan fic was not updated over a month. Well… there are some things that complicated updating.
The first thing comes from my personal life.
I must confess that I’m not doing well. I can even say that my life is at the phaset where there seems to be no escape from anything.
Over a month now I have bad relations with my parents. Mostly with my father who tries to totally control my ways of living and recently offended me. We don’t even talk to each other, except saying “hi” and “bye”. And when you live in one house with parents with who you are in conflict, it all has a influence on whatever you doing. For me, it has on writing, photographing, studying, communication with others… even with such simple thing like browsing forum.
No money does not help either. And it’s difficult for me to find a job where you can work at weekends and study in weeks. What is worse, people look only for those who are “experienced”.
My health is ruined too. I recently found out that I have a disease that causes me to feel tired all the time. So no matter how long I will sleep, I will be tired and without energy all the time. Also my reactions are slow. Sometimes people think I’m a weirdo who thinks way slower than others. It hurts. But there’s nothing I can do.
I also have some strange goo in my left side of my nose that causes me to have headaches often and something is wrong with my left eyes as well.
For the first time in my life… I honestly don’t know what to do. Of course I should cure all of this. But that requires money. But to have money, you need a job. And unfortunately I can’t ask my parents for money. Knowing my father, in future he might use it against me.
But despite those awful circumstances, I do believe I will stand up. Slowly, but I will.

The second aspect why this update was delayed is because like I said earlier, my Beta Reader, Obbl, disappeared in mysterious circumstances. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I hope he’s doing okay and he will return to us soon. Meanwhile I had to find some help to finally post this update. One kind person decided to give me a helping hand.

This chapter was revised by musclecar326. Thank you mate for your help and sparing your free time on checking my work. I’m really grateful to you.
Musclecar also agreed to revise my updates for a bit. So for now, all chapters will be checked by him.

I must confess I feel really ashamed for keeping you waiting for entire month. I screwed up and I’m sorry for this. But I will bring things together and everything will be fine again. I believe in it.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

Great update! And it is fine. Really, just take care of yourself. This can wait a bit. I hope things work out for you soon!
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Re: Housepets: Matt

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Totally worth the wait, dude! :D :D
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Kondog »

Omg that was awesome! what a great update, and yes it was worth the wait!. i just love the way you portray Bino's and Matt's interesting relationship.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Thank you all for your comments :) And I'm glad you like this update. I was afraid that because of not updating for so long, my style would go down. But after reading that it was worth the wait, I believe all is ok :)

Next update should be soon. And there will be a little surprise for you.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Barkeron »

Karlos wrote:Thank you all for your comments :) And I'm glad you like this update. I was afraid that because of not updating for so long, my style would go down. But after reading that it was worth the wait, I believe all is ok :)
(Its been a while since I been to this thread so...)

Style going down? Are you kidding? This was a good upgrade.

Looks like Matt's plan backfired. lol

By the way, just take it easy and try to get some rest every now and then if you don't feel well.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

Barkeron wrote:By the way, just take it easy and try to get some rest every now and then if you don't feel well.
I'm trying. But it's not easy since I lack on time to do anything. Not to mention that visiting doctors costs. But I charged my inner batteries a bit and I think I can write normally again.

But thank you for thinking about me :)
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

30. The place where I don't wanna be



At first, Matt couldn’t sit in one place as he was squirming from anger. He couldn’t believe that Bino managed to get him into the school bus and send him to his new school. As he suffered from his horrible setback, he was slamming his open palms against the black leathered seat and muttering under his breath inappropriate epithets. That’s why it was probably good that he was the only passenger in the bus, and the driver seemed to not pay any attention as the vehicle was moving on in same speed.

In time, the taste of failure started to fade away and the feeling of tiredness reminded Matt of his lack of sleep. He eventually accepted his defeat and let out a whimper to express his discontent for the last time. Then he yawned, rubbed his eyes with his fingers of his left hand and leaned his body against the side where was window. He hid his hands under his armpits and wiggled a little to make sure he laid comfortably. Then he closed his eyes and sighed.

He hoped that at least in the bus he can get at least a little rest to make up for what he couldn’t at his house in his bed and he will somehow be able to stay conscious during his awaiting torments. But somehow he was not able to take a short nap, despite he felt an urge to sleep. Probably because of what he went though today, but also the trembling of window his head was leaned against and annoying glimmers of sun beams each time the bus was passing something was not helping either. Still, his eyelids felt heavy and he decided to keep his eyes closed.

Time was passing and Matt could hear how the bus was stopping sometimes and soon after sounds of footsteps. The bus was slowly being filled with other teenagers and it wasn’t long before laughs and talks could be heard all the time. Also with each amount of passengers increasing, the more planes and balls of paper were flying around.

Matt was not pleased with this. He really wanted some peace, but the sound of laughs that were more like a horses’s neigh to him and talks about new untold stories of some famous pair’s parting or how Jason was flashing with his laser at his teach’s back when he was writing something on blackboard was painfully searing into his ears. And the worst for him was that when time was going on, it was like the volume of everyone of this cheerful cacophony was increasing every minute.

But his peace was really disturbed when the bus stopped somewhere for a moment and seconds later a cheerful brunet teenager in blue jumper approached the place where Matt was sitting.

“Excuse me, is this place free?” The teen asked with friendly tone, leaning closer and pointing at the empty space was beside Matt.

But the teenager’s smile suddenly disappeared when Matt turned his face to him and bestowed upon him a glare that was as sharp as razor blade.

“No. It’s not free.” Matt replied coldly.

The poor boy became whole pale and his lips became almost white. When his shock from getting such scary reply passed, he slowly leaned back and went further the bus to look for some other place to sit.

Matt was glaring for a moment at the place where the teen in blue jumper was standing few seconds ago, not believing that someone dared to ask to sit near him. Then he closed his eyes once more and his head fell on the window with a thud.

Though he was still feeling need for sleep, this time his eyelids weren’t feeling heavy anymore and from time to time he was opening them to see what was outside the window.

The landscape was slowly changing as the bus was going forward to its destination. Matt could see some grassy fields, with a couple of trees in the distance and various small buildings. Then the scenery was changing. The green grass was slowly being replaced by grey asphalt, there were less trees with each passing meters and buildings were becoming higher. There was a moment when they were going though some industrial zone where dirt was covering every wall of some warehouse and clouds of steam were coming out of tall and short chimneys of factories. And then, all of a sudden, the sad look of industrial building was replaced by apartments, tenements, skyscrapers, metro stations, shops with galleries and a lot of various people who were walking with haste, or running somewhere on the sidewalk.

Matt could recognize that they were in town.

Last time when he had seen such scenery was when he lived back in Chicago. And he missed this sign of modern civilization. Babylon Gardens was new to him, but he still believed that city centers provide wider palette of places where he can spend some time on doing something entertaining.

The bus stopped few more times, picking up more young people to take them to school. But finally came a moment when the bus stopped… and the engine went off.

The sudden stop of the bus’s vibration snapped Matt out from his suspension in reality. The boy at first started to shake his head, looking around himself. Then he noticed that a crowd formed between seats and everyone was pushing one another to get out from the bus. And with the crowd, all laughs and talks were walking outside.

Matt looked once more though the window, but he couldn’t see any sign of school. Only road and glassy buildings that weren’t too far. Probably his school was on the other side of the road.

Matt’s mood went even more down than before as he knew that they finally reached the place. With big reluctance, he stood up and stretched his body, feeling how his bones were getting back to their right positions. Then he placed his hand on top of the seat that was in front of him and bent down slightly, letting out a sigh filled with despair.

“Darn it…” He said to himself, still not believing that he’s actually here.

Matt remained in his position for a moment, bringing his thoughts into one piece. Then he slowly started to move towards where the exit was, scuffing with his heavy boots…

- - - - - - - - - -

Matt slowly went out of the school bus and made few steps before he stopped. He raised his head and looked ahead.

What he had seen in front of him was nothing that could stun him. The building looked simple. Not tall, same old-fashioned windows, uniform white color of walls, some short-mowed lawn in front, a short tower above the main entrance with a clock and waving United States flag on top of it. In shorter terms: typical, boring high school.

Matt heard behind him the sound of gas exhaust and a slam as the automatic door of the bus closed. He turned his head just when the engine started. With a tired glance, he observed how a back cloud of fumes escaped from a large exhaust pipe and the empty school bus started to heavily drive away.

When the bus disappeared at the turn a few moments later, Matt blinked strongly to shake off the feeling of tiredness and looked back at the building in front of him. When the clock on the tower signaled that it’s half past eight and it’s time to get inside for first lessons, on Matt’s face appeared consternation.

He knew what awaits him inside. Boring lessons which drain your youth, teachers who won’t show any mercy, kick me cards who just love to find themselves to your back, seats whose backing painfully nails into your slouched back each time you try to sit straight, hand injuries because of trying to write everything that is being dictated…

But what was most unpleasant for him was that a lot of teenagers like him were inside.

The fact he will have to walk between crowds of people in corridors disgusted him. Matt never liked when more than a group was near him, making him feel like he was trapped in a thin can. Without making any contact, he could swallow it somehow. But the worst was when someone was interested in him. At such situation, Matt would attack with words and retreat, making a safe distance and alienate himself from others.

But he could be alone only mentally. Physically it was impossible. Not in school.

The teens who just passed Matt pulled the boy out from his deep thoughts. With his still semi conscious glance, he observed how more of them were walking in same direction, all disappearing behind huge, wooden entrance doors.

And just when Matt was observing this typical scene as still young people were walking or running towards the entrance, his eyes suddenly widened and his mouth opened slightly as he realized something.

Hold on… no one knows me here yet.” Matt thought to himself.

Soon after on his pale face appeared a sly smirk. Just when he thought that fortune decided to not give him a helpful hand today, hope for freedom started to grow in his heart once again.

This is my chance!” Matt thought to himself with self confidence. “I can just pretend I’m a trespasser and walk away. No one will be looking for me anyways. You can have fun today without me, suckers.

Without any hesitation, Matt turned on his heels to walk away as fast as possible.

Because he did it so fast and didn’t even look could there be anything in front of him, to his misfortune Matt bumped into a person he would least expect at this moment.

“Oh, I’m sorry young man,” A policeman said as he lowered his arms. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

Matt froze as he realized who was in front of him. His pulse dropped and his face became pale.

The young policeman bent down to pick up his hat that fell down when he bumped into teen. When he was dusting off his hat, he noticed that Matt looked shocked.

“You look scared.” He said with concern. “Are you new here?”

Matt’s eyes were locked with policeman’s and he was still petrified. The meeting with policeman, just when he was about to run away, was totally unexpected for him and at this situation he totally flabbergasted.

The boy exhausted the air from his mouth, making a sound of groan in the process.

“Y-yes. I’m new to the school…”

And at this moment, Matt realized what a horrible blunder he just committed.

The policeman placed his hands on his hips and chuckled to himself. Then he smiled friendlily to Matt.

“There’s nothing to be worried about, boy.” He said and placed his hand on Matt’s shoulder, trying to not touch the silver spikes of his jacket. “Everyone is always nervous at their first days in school, but in time, they find wonderful friends and days in school become bright.”

Matt tried to return the smile, despite of his lips resistance. He only hoped that his forced smile was not showing any signs of grief.

“Now cheer up and step in there.” The policeman patted Matt’s shoulder for encouragement. “Hurry up or you will be late for your first lessons. Better make a good impression on teachers on the first day… or rather not get your first absence noted.” He finished jokingly and gave Matt a last, strong pat.

Matt let out a quiet, nervous laugh as the policeman mentioned the absence. Then he slowly turned around and started to walk in direction of the entrance doors.

When he made few steps, he peeked through his arm to see the policeman still standing there where he bumped into him. From the wide smile on his face Matt guessed that he was proud because of encouragement he bestowed on the scared child.

But Matt was not scared, but angry on policeman and, mostly, himself for acting like some amateur. He didn’t even hesitate to express what he felt by gritting his teeth and waving his fist in front of his chest.

The boy tried to walk to the entrance as slow as possible, but he was only delaying the inevitable. He was now standing in front of the massive, wooden doors that seemed from his perspective to be taller than an elephant. When he looked above them, his eyes were moving slowly on every big letter that’s silver surfaces were polishing.

PINE HILL HIGH SCHOOL

Matt’s glance went back on the doors, or rather on the iron, circular handles that were held by lion heads which were glaring dangerously at him. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, tasting the fresh air that he won’t feel for a couple of hours. Then he grabbed the handle and pulled it strongly, opening the massive door with a creek…



(A/N)

I know this update is shorter than previous ones, but not because I’m blocked or I’m lazy. I intended to make this chapter, 6 pages. So there’s nothing to be worried. All is going fine =)
So as you can already guess, upcoming chapters will be an arc of Matt’s first day in his new school. Seems he’s not enjoying it so far, but hey… his day is not over yet. And who knows what awaits him?

One technical note. I’m afraid my beta Reader, Obbl, won’t come back. It is painful for me because it was really great to work with him. I hope he is doing ok in his life, wherever he is now.
From now on, the duty of Beta Reader of Housepets: Matt lies on shoulders of musclecar326, who previously revised chapter 29 and now agreed to fully take this job. I would like to welcome him on board =)
Thank you mate for helping me. I only hope you won’t scream at nights if you’ll find some horrible grammar gaffe committed by me xD
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

Welcome back, Matt! It's...A Nightmare on Pine High! :lol:
Well, at least I hope you'll have a more decent disposition on Bino after meeting your peers at school ;)
Ah, Karlos, I found your work quite readable. Worry not for the grammar, I'm sure after reading *me* your loyal fans will be used to read Accadic by now :mrgreen:
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Barkeron »

valerio wrote:Matt! It's...A Nightmare on Pine High! :lol:

:lol: This. ^ This should be interesting, Matt's first day at school.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

Great update as always! Matt never can catch a break! XD

Fancy school to have wooden doors and door knockers. Matt should be thrilled!
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

My dear readers,

21 November 2010 is a date that is special for me. At that day, after giving my idea a shape and finally deciding to share on this forum what my mind created with other Housepets! fans, I've posted the first chapter of my fan fiction "Housepets: Matt". It's a date when people who decided to read my fic got shocked after it was revealed that Bino, the megalomaniacal dog with compicated and hardly understandable personality, is going to be sold by his Dad to other people and were intrigued by the appearance of a young and rebellous teenager, Matt Sternfeld, who moved into the Gardens with his family, and was not pleased with that.
People observed those two, wondering what will happen with Bino and why Matt is such annoying brat. Eventually, Bino's and Matt's paths crossed, and the story of those two begun...

When I was writing and then posting the first chapter, I was in my family's house in mountains, all covered in blankets to warm up after spending whole day in cold air of autumn, I was really scared. For real. I was scared of how people will react on seeing my work. Scared to the point to not check the topic after browsing forum again (which I find funny today).
And I was surprised with first replies I got back then. I got so many comments, and all were positive and ecouraging to write more. And I was so shy to reply. So I had no choice but to continue.

A year passed since that day.
Hardly can believe that time passed so fast! First post was like it was yesterday. Even when I look at statistics, I can't believe it went that far:

- 30 chapters
- 308 pages
- 91945 words
- 8633 pageviews

308 pages... I wrote some works in my life, but I never wrote so much for one project. Especially when it comes to fan fics.

I must admit it wasn't easy. I was after recovering from a serious disease that blocked me from writing for some time and I still wasn't sure to post anything. But after getting encouragement from some people from Fan Projects section, like Valerio and Teh Brawler, I gave it a shot. And I don't regret it. It's my first fan work that lasts for so long, and first one when I feel that I'm doing something right. Something that entertains me and others who read it.
It was also a time when fanfics that were focusing on Grapenut shipping and King's personality were most trendy. And I wanted to make the HP! character, Bino, the main star of my fic, and I wan't sure how people will react on this since Bino is a character where many would wish him to land on a wheelchair. So I didn't know will readers understand my intentions. But my worries about it were unessesary. I got some PM's where people were telling me that I'm actually making Bino as a character more and more interesting.
When it comes to a fan work, I always try to make the characters exactly as they are in comic - in their behaviour, reactions, emotions... but when someone tells you such thing, you think to yourself "wow...". Thank you for that, despite I didn't create this character, but I'm doing my best to wear his skin.
Also I was worried when I introduced the character known as Matt.
Matt was somewhere deep in regions of my head some years back. He didn't had a name or even stable shape. He was just "that type of guy" from thoughts. But after reading Housepets! for some time, he started to gain shape as an idea for a fic started to form in my mind. Then was giving him a name, and then his peronality was forged. In shorter terms, Matt finally was himself. Sounds so weird xD
But there was one "but". Housepets!'s main characters are domesticated animals that are bipedal and are able to talk. Humans were pushed deeply on second plan and they weren't shown mainly as good or happy people, except of owners. So I wasn't sure how readers will approve the idea to give a more spotlight to a human on HP universe of my fic, especially one that is a rebellous teen who think that entire planet is turned against him and hates animals...
Not to mention that most of people here like fur more than their own skins, but that's a different thing =)
Results of this experiment were quite interesting. people are interested in Matt's life and his relationship with Bino.
To be honest, it's my first character in life that people like to interact with him. This never happened to me before. So I'm happy. At this point, I think I understand how Mr. Griffin must feel like when he creates a character and then watches what people think about him, do they like him, hate him, love him, become his fan, see themselves in him. It's fascinating.

This year was a great experience for me.
When I started to write my fan fiction, I wasn't sure how my style will look like since I weren't writing anything for a long time. Not to mention I started to write in English instead of my native language! So I began lightly.
I was checking back the old chapters and to be honest, I was pulling my hair when I was at some moments in story and telling my self "I wrote this??", "Now I would do it differently now...", "Ack, how awkwaaaaard!"
But I also laughed when I was reading. Laughed because of what funny situation I wrote. And I believe that if you laugh because your won work made you so, then you're writing a good comedy that everyone will like.
My style also changed during this time. At the beginning, I wrote less descriptions and more dialogues. Now, I bring moments described in story closer to the reader. Like they were actually standing near the character. Not sure is it good or bad thing. But so far no one complained about it =) So I'll just go forward.
Also it's because my usage in English softened up a bit. I know it's better now because when I was checking old chapters sometimes, I could notice that my English was more harsh and my lack of some words was noticeable.
Funny thing is that, when I started to write, I was using a book dictionary. Each time I didn't know some word, I was opening it and turned papers until I found what I was looking for. At the beginning, it wasn't that bad. Later, however, it became a nightmare as the dictionary was slowing me down.
You probably ask youself "So why you didn't use internet translator like all modern people do these days?". Well, I had bad experiences with Google Translate in past, sometimes it was translating words for me wrong and I was ending in awkward situations. But I managed to find online dictionary that focuses on my language - English and vice versa. Tho I also use GT as second option in case I wouldn't find what I was looking for in first translator.
But also thanks to my first Beta Reader, Obbl, I was able to understand English better. I never had an Editor before. Obbl not only was correcting my mistakes, but he was also showing me what I should improve to make my English sound better. I felt like I was in school, but it was fun.
It's sad that Obbl dissapeared in mysterious circumstances. But Musclecar is also doing a very good job. And I'm sure we will work together for a long time.

During this year I encountered situations that were funny and awkward at the same time.
I remember when some day... I freaked out! Somehow, I started to feel guilty for not asking the creater of Housepets!, Rick Griffin, for permission on using his characters. I don't know why I felt that way, but that was probably when I checked some of his work and found out that Bino is a character he created when he was a child. I think I was afraid of touching a character that somehow I believed he has a special bond with his creator.
Somehow I gathered strengh in me and dared to send a PM to Mr. Griffin, asking for his permission. Later I started to think why I bother him with such things.
To my surprise, he replied. I couldn't believe it. Rick Griffin replied to me! And he said that as long as I keep with the rating, he's fine with using his characters.
Now when I think about this moment, I wonder what he had to think when he read my message. Well, probably he laughed. I still feel how my cheeks are getting warm each time I think about my message to him. But hey, sometimes you need to do something crazy.
There was also a day when I was browsing DeviantArt and... found a fic titled Housepets: Matt! Can you imagine how surprised I was back then?
I didn't know what to do then. Theoretically, such thing like common license does not exist for fan fics (it would be weird anyways if that would exist xD) and still I felt like someone was stealing my title.
Somehow, this situation solved by itself after the story evaporated.
Though I like this guy's story, despite it had same title as mine. But it was still so weird xD


Also this year I experienced the return of my illness...
It came all of a sudden on me. It blocked in me everything I was doing: writing, photographing, studying, travelling. I can't tell you exactly how it looks like, but I can only tell it's something I don't wish to anyone.
Crisis was huge. I used to have a deadline - update each Saturday. Then, I was updating less and less often, not being able to write fast like I used to. It made me worried a lot, especially that I knew there are people who were impatiently waiting for me to update. I felt like I wasn't treating them fair back then.
I'll admit that I was actually thinking on cancelling my fan fiction. I was afraid that if my illness will progress, I will ruin entire storyline and I will make my readers unhappy. Cancelling fic was something I was so aware of. But at this point, I was facing this option.
But that not happened.
I've decided to confess to readers what is happening to me. It was a huge step for me since I'm not a fan of expressing everything in internet. But I couldn't be dishonest to my readers. I had to tell.
And I'm glad that you showed me your support and still believed in me. It was like you stood at my side and helped me to lift the weigh that fell on me. You didn't left me in this hard time. And I'm thankful for that.
Thought I still suffer from this nasty disease and I still have troubles with writing fast, I gathered strengh in me and told myself that I won't let it block me and I will go forward. For you. And because I like to laugh and show that in my work, so I can see you smile.


Thank you all for spending this year with Matt. Thanks to you, I learned so much and experienced many things. What I can tell is that Matt and Bino will continue fighting having fun with each other and a lot of crazy adventures and mysteries awaits them. Before they will burn their house.

Sincerely yours, Karlos



PS. If there is something you would like to ask me, feel free to do so.

PS2. I still ship Mr. and Mrs. Sandwich.
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valerio
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

I have no questions to pose, Karlos. Only my sincere and heartfelt thank you for giving us such a gift: Bino as a most interesting character! Wish I had your understanding of that guy. :D :D
This was a well-spent year, in the company of your ficcie, and I hope we can meet again in 2012 for another anniversary toast. :mrgreen:
For now, thank you very much again, and remember. We love your work and will be waiting fpr updates with no hurry.
Cheers!
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Karl
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

valerio wrote:I have no questions to pose, Karlos. Only my sincere and heartfelt thank you for giving us such a gift: Bino as a most interesting character! Wish I had your understanding of that guy. :D :D
This was a well-spent year, in the company of your ficcie, and I hope we can meet again in 2012 for another anniversary toast. :mrgreen:
For now, thank you very much again, and remember. We love your work and will be waiting fpr updates with no hurry.
Cheers!

But... isn't our world supposed to end in 2012? Oo
Well, let's hope not xD I still wanna visit some places =)

I also hope to celebrate second anniversary in next year. But we have sooo much time before that will happen. So much time to spend with Bino and Matt =)
For upcoming weeks, I've planned some scenarios that will bring you closer to their not-so-lovingly relationship. Not to mention the plot twists, ah!
valerio wrote:Wish I had your understanding of that guy. :D :D
From all HP! characters, Bino attracts my attention the most. Just each time I look at him, I feel this thing in him. His appearance, dangling ears, mimic, gestures, behaviour... all of this determines why he is my favorite character of the series.
One day I will try to explain how exactly does this work for me.
valerio wrote:For now, thank you very much again, and remember. We love your work and will be waiting for updates with no hurry
Speaking of updatin... I'm renting today atelier in my school for whole night, because I'm making photos of products for my teacher as part of my subjects I need to pass. So... I've decided to finish chapter first and then start working xD Hey, I said I have whole night for this xD

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(I know this photo is incredibly ugly, but I made it in haste xD)
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Karl
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by Karl »

31. Semblance of normality



If someone would tell Matt that he’s going to visit a palace today, he would laugh right into their face.

But right now, he wondered did he mistake places, or did his dad decide to seriously invest into his education.

Back in his old school in Chicago, he was used to standing in huge crowd that always formed in front of electrical gates, rising his arms when school guard was checking him with the metal detector, cramped corridors with lockers all painted in graffiti, chaos and cacophony that surrounded him whenever he went during break, and walls that were all grey and devastated because someone had to sign something on them by using a penknife.

That’s why with his huge eyeballs that were almost popping out of their orbits and his jaw dropped, he was gawking at the extremely spacial hall that looked more like a chamber of an exclusive palace.

The hall was whole round, with massive and elegant columns at the walls that supported the entire roof. The sun beams were getting inside perfectly thanks to the glassed cupola that was crystal clean. If it would get dark, the whole hall would be lit by huge, old-fashioned lamps that looked like drops of pure gold was about to drop off them.

But mostly, the entire effect of the hall was magnified thanks to the walls and floor which were made of marble. It was so polished that it was possible to look at yourself like in mirror.

People who were inside were acting normally, not paying any attention to luxuries that were surrounding them. Some of them were walking alone, with their backpacks bumping up with each step they made. Some were standing at some place in groups, talking about how they’ve spent their last weekend or sharing notes with each other. There were also those who were sitting on benches and were eating their breakfast in hurry as they forgot or had no time to do it at home.

For Matt, it was a huge gap between what he experienced and believed in, and what he thought to be an insane dream.

It amazed him and terrified at same moment. Amazed him, because he never was in his short life at such room that he only seen in photos and television. Terrified, cause such things were supposed to be only in elite schools for spoiled and rotten children of rich people. And to that kind of teenagers Matt would never, ever want to belong. Not to mention he would have to wear a disgusting tie…

Matt’s eyes were moving all the time, registering every detail of any object he was looking at. With each second, his glance went on something else, sometimes even getting back to previous decoration he observed earlier, just to make sure he looked at it with full attention.

“Mom and dad won’t believe this…” He said to himself with quiet voice, completely stunned by the impression of entire hall.

Suddenly his suspension in reality was interrupted as some student accidentally poked his arm as he passed him.

The sudden contact made Matt almost jump out of his skin, and immediately he placed his palm on his touched arm like he got injured. When he saw a girl with a boy who had poked him unintentionally. As they were walking together away and talking to each other, Matt realized what happened and frowned. He massaged his arm and mumbled something under his breath.

And when he was looking at those two, he saw them pass… a giant fountain.

The white fountain was standing right in the centre of the hall, enlightened by the sunbeams that were coming down though the glassed cupola, making the effect like something divine was looking upon it.

Its entire structure resembled something spiral, like a gigantic beanstalk that reached the sky in one of those known fairy tales Matt read when he was little. From the monument were sticking out bowls that were in shape of a leaf. Looking down the structure, each bowl was sticking out further from another so the constantly leaking liquid could fall into it and continue its circulation.

At the edges of those bowls were sitting various figures that looked like some kind of weasels. All of them were wearing greek styled robes and behind their ears were leafed wigs. Each figure had different item in their little hands. One was playing on harp, the second was examining three geometrical figures, the third looked like it was singing something, judging by the way how he was stretching his arms out…

In total, Matt counted twelve of those figures, each representing some field of knowledge.

There was also a thirteenth figure, slightly taller than others. It was standing on top of the spiral, right where the liquid was pouring out under his feet. Its expression was calm, but decisive and was standing still. In his hands that were stretched in front of him he held a small pine that was still planted in a bag.

The fountain looked amazing, despite that Matt hated animals, it was not what mainly caught his attention. What was more interesting for him was that instead of water, down the fountain was leaking something light-brownish.

Matt wondered what on earth that is. He never met in his life with something similar like this. He approached the fountain slowly and supported on the edge of the short wall that surrounded the base.

He observed how the brown substance was lazily leaking out of the leaf-shaped ponds like some kind of pudding and falling into another below it in slow motion.

In Matt’s head appeared an idea what this substance may be. He looked around to make sure that no one is observing what he’s doing. When he was sure that everyone who is inside are not paying any attention to him, his glance went back on the bowl and he took of his black glove from his left hand.

He dipped his finger in substance and felt it’s soft and sticky. When he took it out, a trail of liquid was still connected with the bowl’s content and Matt had to shake his finger a couple of times to free it.

With the tip of his finger now covered in light brown substance, Matt checked once more is someone gawking at him. Then he looked at his finger for a couple of seconds… and put it into his mouth.

Matt’s eyes widened a bit from surprise as his mouth was moving in slow motion. He slowly took away his finger from his lips and looked back at the leaking liquid.

“Caramel…” He said to himself in amazement.

~”ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS![/size]” A horrible, distorted voice echoed through the entire hall. ~”THIS IS YOUR PRINCIPAL! REMEMBER THAT TODAY THE ENTERTAINING ZONE WILL BE FINALLY AVAILABLE FOR YOU! DON’T FORGET TO CHECK IT OUT DURING THE LONG BREAK!

Matt grabbed the area on his chest where his heart was placed when he heard the horrible voice. Something similar he heard when he watched some crime show where they had to modify the witness’s voice.

~”HEY, NEW GUY!” The horrific voice spoke once again.

When Matt heard this, he felt like he suddenly shrink. He gripped his glove in both of his hands and started to look nervously around, hoping that maybe the voice was talking about someone else.

~”YES,YOU! STOP LOOKING AROUND LIKE YOU WERE PRETENDING IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! WHEN YOU WILL STOP MARVELLING AT OUR FOUNTAIN, GO TO THE LODGE ON YOUR RIGHT AND ASK THE CARETAKER FOR YOUR SCHEDULE! AND HURRY UP OR YOU’LL BE LATE FOR YOUR FIRST LESSON!

Matt shivered down his spine as the distorted voice of the Principal reassured him that he talks to him, making the teen feel like he was observed by Big Brother from every corner. That’s why he immediately looked to the right as the voice commanded him and found a long counter with golden, capital letters LODGE above it.

When Matt approached the counter, it looked more like a reception of a five-star hotel than a lodge, as he could tell it from five golden watches hanging on the wall that displayed hours of different capital cities, shining shelves with papers equally placed near each other and various oil paintings.

He thought it all looked amazing, Matt was not able to find the person he was supposed to find here. He looked intensively around and only managed to find some curly fair hair.

Matt put his glove back on his bare hand and leaned closer to look what could be below.

What he found there was something that actually looked more like a vulture than human. The woman’s body was whole pale and so thin that her ribs could be visible through her striped pullover. She had long, scrawny fingers that were looking more like talons, with nails painted in ugly, rotten-like green color. Her nose was long at hooky, mascara was almost dripping from her long eyelashes and on top of her scalp was growing a bushy, curly, fair hair that’s oval was even bigger than her own head.

The caretaker didn’t even notice Matt’s presence as she was too busy with reading a colorful magazine and chewing a bubble gum.

“Ahem.” Matt grunted.

The caretaker slowly turned her head and lifted it, locking her eyes with Matt’s. As she was looking at the boy with her lazy glance, she blew a balloon with her pink bubble gun and when it loudly exploded, she slowly gathered what was left around her parched lips and started to chew again.

“Yes?” The caretaker asked with slightly annoyed tone.

Matt’s lips twisted a little as he was disgusted of what he was seeing.

“I’m supposed to pick up from here some plan or something…” He managed to say.

The caretaker stopped chewing her gum and waved with her heavy eyelashes as she slowly blinked. After some moment of awkwardly staring at each other, she sighed and slapped the magazine on her desk. Then, pushing away with her legs, she started to drive away on her wheeled chair in direction where shiny shelves were.

“Name and surname…” She said as she got closer to shelves.

“Matthew Sternfeld.” Matt replied.

The caretaker turned around and started to intensively look through sorted papers.

As searching started to take more time than expected, she started to put papers back with more strength and mumble something under her breath.

When some time passed and Matt started to become impatient, the caretaker pulled out some paper and when she was about to throw it back from where she took it, something caught her eye and she examined it closer.

“Sternfield?” She asked.

Sternfeld.” Matt corrected her as it annoyed him that she twisted his surname.

But the woman seemed to not care about mistake she made as she drive back to the counter and heavily placed the paper on it.

“Your first lesson is with your class master.” She said as she was moving her pen across the paper and making loud noises as she was chewing her bubble gum. “Take the fancy looking stairs over there, go right. Then follow instructions that are described here. Also you have the number of your locker down here.”

As the caretaker took her pen off the paper, Matt grabbed it in his hands and studied it.

And just when he was checking what was wrote on this piece of paper, something told him in his head that one thing was not right here.

“Won’t I need a key for my locker?” Matt asked as he suspiciously glanced at the ugly woman through the paper.

“You will know at the place.” The caretaker replied mysteriously.

Matt raised his eyebrow as he heard this and gave the woman an awkward stare.

“Any other questions?” The caretaker asked, but her question sound more like a threat to not to do so.

“No…” Matt replied abruptly as he was also getting tired of this weird conversation.

The caretaker only blasted her bubble gum for last time before she turned her head away in aristocratic manner and grabbed her colorful magazine to continue reading gossips about stars and other celebrities.

Matt only gave a nasty look to the woman before he turned away and started to walk away, hoping he won’t have to deal with this vulture again for some time.

As he was walking in direction where the caretaker showed him where the fancy stairs were, he looked again at the caramel fountain for the last time as he was passing it. It made him wonder why on earth someone would fill it with caramel and how is that possible that no one is drinking from it like crazy. But then, he remembered the distorted voice of Big Brother and answer was obvious.

But still, he couldn’t understand why it has to be decorated with figures that were shaped like weasels or ferrets… or any similarly disgusting creature.

Matt passed the fountain and he didn’t make too many footsteps when he found himself in front of the stairs that were covered by red carpet and surrounded by golden balustrade in a shape of the fortepiano chords.

Above the stylized stairs, on the wall, was painted the symbol of the school – the green, giant pine, with four words around it:

LIFE, STRENGH, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE

Just when Matt was about to place his hand on the golden rail, he suddenly jumped aside when he heard someone laughing behind him.

It was a group of seven teenagers that was heading for first lessons. They seemed to not worry about this fact too much since all of them had a very good humor.

Matt waited until they went upstairs and disappear. He didn’t want to be near them, or look like he was following them. As long as he will have space and won’t attract any attention on himself, he’ll be fine. But he knew it’s not going to be easy as the gigantic hall was already too crowded for him.

As the pack of teens was gone and their laughs started to fade away, Matt made his footstep on red carpet and slowly started to climb up.

With each step he made, he felt like his legs were gaining weight. Like something was trying to stop him from going further.

But he was also feeling fear. The thoughts of various people bugging him, stupid jokes, teacher examining new student… all of this was making him feel weak and paralyzed.

That’s why when he climbed up high and was about to enter the corridor, he turned around to look at the entire hall for the last time from above before he will find himself in the lion’s cave…
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valerio
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by valerio »

Will Mattie the witful survive the...CLASS OF DOOM?
Find out next episode! :lol:
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

interesting. that is one fancy school.
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Re: Housepets: Matt

Post by copper »

Well, Matt is in a nice school at least. Let's hope he changes that personality a bit.
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