Shade Knight, Summer Days

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

It is new story day again my friends, and today I bring to you the next chapter in Shade's story! We begin at the end of Shade's semi-annual checkup at his vet...

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Chapter 1: Summer Heat

Shade sat on the exam table, kicking his legs idly and watching his toes dangle, humming quietly to himself and slowly tilting his head from side to side. His black fur, interrupted only by a white marking on his chest, was neatly brushed from the tips of his pointy ears to the tip of his tail. He could hear chatter out in the hallway beyond the exam room, veterinary nurses bustling from room to room to do tests, greet patients, or other various tasks.
While Shade waited, his eyes wandered from his toes to a poster on the wall showing the anatomy of a dog, with a similar poster showing the anatomy of a cat next to it. He amused himself for a few brief moments by comparing the two and noting any differences, then blinked when the door to the exam room opened, and Dr. Little, his general practitioner and veterinarian, walked in, closing the door behind him and turning to face him.
“Good morning, Shade. Thank you for not biting my nurses today.” He chuckled to himself.
Shade put his ears back and blushed a little, remembering the incident when he’d first come to Dr. Little’s clinic, before he’d really had time to adjust to the realities of being a corgi. He’d been scared, upset, and more than a little panicky, and had bitten the nurse that was just trying to help. “Er… yeah… sorry again about that.”
“Happens all the time. Now, let’s see here…” He looked at the paperwork in his hand, clipped to an official-looking clipboard, and skimmed it. “The labs came back from your samples. No signs of any kind of infections or parasites, that’s good. Um…” He flipped the page. “Your eyes and ears look clear, you’re doing a good job cleaning those. No lingering tear marks under your eyes, no sign of sinus infections… your weight is still a little low. I know that those anxiety meds that Doctor Pavlov has you on can decrease your appetite, but I need you to try to put on those last five pounds by your next checkup.”
Shade listened intently, then nodded. “Yes, Doctor. Put on a couple pounds, got it.”
Doctor Little chuckled and pulled up a chair to sit across from Shade. “You don’t need to look so nervous. It’s just a checkup. No shots today. Overall, you look in good health. Almost too good. Cholesteral, right where it should be, body fat, just a few points low as we discussed, no sign of plaque buildup on your teeth, eye clarity good… Honestly, do you ever eat any junk food at all? If all the dogs in town were as healthy as you, I’d be out of a job.”
Shade gave a sheepish smile. “I mean… I just looked up some dog-healthy recipes and I cycle through them. My boyfriend… sorry, husband… keeps me exercising on a regular basis, so… I guess I would be fairly healthy, barring any kind of diseases.”
Dr. Little laughed. “Yeah, that’d do it. The health reset from Changing a few years ago probably helped, too.” He gestured to Shade. “You can go ahead and put your clothes back on.” He looked down at his clipboard and flipped through his paperwork while Shade pulled on his wedding bracelet first, a black titanium circle with a silver crescent moon inlaid, then pulled on his tee shirt.
“I don’t think I really have anything else for you. You want at the treat bowl this time?” Dr. Little gestured at a large bowl full of dog-friendly candies and treats.
Shade hesitated, then nodded a little. “You know what? Sure. I was a good boy today, I made my own appointments and everything. I deserve a little snack.”
Doctor Little laughed again and lifted the bowl over to him. “You sure do. I’ll see you in six months for your next checkup, okay?”
Shade grinned and selected a biscuit. “Okay, Doctor. I’ll see you then.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and started out.
As he settled his copay at the counter, he spotted one of his friends, Coco, waiting in the waiting room and gave a wave. The chocolate lab gave a little smile and waved back, fidgeting with her yellow bandana that covered her collar. Shade frowned; she seemed nervous. After a moment, he showed himself out and started walking to the nearby bus stop.
It was a sunny day, and within seconds of being out in the hot sun and out of the air conditioned vet’s office, Shade’s tongue was hanging out of his mouth. He was glad when he arrived in the shade of the bus stop and climbed up on the bench.
“Sweet honey iced tea, it’s hot out. This summer as a black dog stuff SUCKS.” He grumbled to himself, digging in his bag for a little electric fan. He spritzed himself with the attached water spritzer, hoping the little bit of moisture would grant him relief from the heat for even a moment, but it did nothing. After a moment, his eyes landed on a toy store across the street, and he slid down off the bench, grumbling. “I think I have a solution.”
He made his way down to the crosswalk, looked both ways, and crossed, pausing in the store’s entryway and closing his eyes with a relieved sigh as the store’s air conditioning cooled him down. After a moment, he proceeded further into the store, tilting his head back to look up at the aisle labels, grinning when he saw the one he wanted. He hurried over and peeked down the aisle to see rows upon rows of sprinklers and little kiddie pools. He smiled and headed down that aisle.
It took him just a couple minutes of shopping to pick out a pool; since he was only three feet tall, he picked one that was two feet deep. The only problem was that it was on a shelf five feet off the ground. He put his ears back, frustrated, and looked around for an employee he could ask to reach it down for him.
He stopped a young man. “Excuse me, can you reach that down for me? The fifth shelf up, the, uh… one, two… sixth from the end?” He pointed.
The guy blinked at him for a moment, apparently startled, then nodded. “Oh! Yes, of course, sir.” He grabbed the box and lowered it down to hand it to Shade. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. Have a nice day. Stay cool in this heat.” Shade smiled and held the box. It was a little heavier than he expected.
“Um… you too, sir.” He watched Shade rush off to the checkout, then shook his head and went back to stocking shelves.
Shade dug through his bag for his debit card, standing on his tiptoes to insert it into the card reader. The woman operating the register grinned down at him. “Out shopping all by yourself, huh?”
Shade sighed. “I’m a citizen, not a pet. I get that all the time.” He put his ears back and grumbled as he struggled to put in his PIN. “I miss being tall sometimes, though.”
He accepted his receipt, then carried his shopping bag out of the store just on time to watch the bus pull off of the bus stop. He grumbled, his ears going out sideways in frustration. “Oh. Of course I took too long. Now I have to wait for the next one.”
He started making his way across the street and back to the bus stop, where he plopped his rump back down on the bench and set his shopping bag with his new pool in his lap, resigned to wait nearly half an hour for the next bus to make its way to him.
After a few minutes of Shade waiting, a truck pulled off into the stop. Shade tilted his head; the truck looked vaguely familiar. The window rolled down, and Coco stuck her head out, grinning at him. “Need a ride home?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am sure that many people can feel the pain of just missing the bus and having to wait a long time for the next one so they would be able to understand. Which is why it is always a good idea to take something with you to pass the time by just in case.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 2: Pool

“Thank you for the ride, Ms. Brown!” Shade waved as the truck pulled out of his driveway, then turned with his shopping bag and went straight to the backyard, tossing his other bag up on the porch. It took him a few minutes to inflate the new pool- he tried to ignore the fact that it was pink and yellow- and then he grabbed the garden hose. He ran it for a moment to get the hot water out of the line, then climbed into the pool with it, groaning happily as the cold water started filling in around his toes.
A tiger walked out of his back door and watched him for a few moments. He was dressed in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt; his tail twitched quietly behind him as he leaned on the porch railing to watch Shade for a few moments. “Isn’t that cold?”
Shade nodded up at him. “It feels fantastic.” He raised the hose up over his head and groaned as the icy cold water ran over his head and down his back. “You want in?”
The tiger laughed at him. “I think I might be a little bit big for that pool. Why’d you get such a small one?”
“Because I’m too short for a bigger one. It was the widest one they had.” Shade chuckled. “You don’t understand, Paul. Black fur gets hot SO FAST.”
“I bet.” He laughed. “Sunny’s here, by the way. He’s putting his overnight bag in your bathroom, and then he’ll be right out.”
Shade grinned. “Ooh, perfect. He’ll join me in the pool!” He felt his tail wagging, splashing in the shallow water.
Paul snickered. “Well… I’m off to Alice’s place. You two have fun.” He turned to go back inside, sidestepping a golden retriever that burst out through the back door.
Shade’s eyes lit up, and he waved happily at the golden retriever. “Sunny! Over here!”
Sunny grinned and climbed down the steps off the deck, jogging across the yard to Shade with a laugh. “You’re such a weirdo, Shade.” He leaned over the edge and splashed his hand in the water. “Ooh, that’s COLD! How can you sit in that?”
“Feels good.” Shade leaned back and reached up for Sunny’s hand. “Come on in, it’s not so cold once it’s in your fur.”
Sunny smirked and stepped in, squealing and laughing as he started working his way to a seated position, leaning in and laying his head on Shade’s. “Heh… This heat wave isn’t being very nice to you, is it?”
“Oh, I hate it. But at least the company’s nice.” He turned and kissed Sunny happily. “My husband. Mine. You.” It had only been two months since Sunny had surprised Shade by having their friends set up a wedding to greet them upon their return to town, and Shade could still barely believe he was actually married.
Sunny grinned. “And you, mine.” He kissed back with a chuckle and cuddled close. “How was the vet?”
Shade shrugged. “Well, it went all right. He says I still need to put on a little weight. Otherwise, nothing to worry about. I saw Coco there. Her and her mom gave me a ride home.”
“That was nice.” He splashed Shade a little. “My parents are going out tonight. They said there’s going to be a surprise for me when I get home tomorrow. They won’t tell me what.”
“Because then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Sunny grinned and kissed Shade’s cheek. “What do you wanna do tonight?”
“I was thinking pizza, movies, snuggles, and then more snuggles.” Shade grinned and leaned back, settling into the slowly rising water. “Ahhh… although, this feels GREAT.”
“You know what ELSE feels great?” Sunny’s tail wagged as he leaned over and started whispering into Shade’s ear. Shade blushed a little, his own tail wagging. “Oooh… that DOES sound like fun.”
Sunny chuckled and relaxed into the pool. “This does feel nice though. It’s been so hot lately, the cold water is a nice change. You got good ideas sometimes.”
They snuggled together for a while as the water slowly rose. Once it was up to Shade’s chest, Sunny nudged Shade gently. “Come on, it’s time to get out.”
“No…” Shade pouted a little. “Why?”
“You’re shivering.” Sunny rubbed Shade’s arms a little. “Come on, out you get.” He stood up and started trying to pull Shade up to a standing position.
Shade resisted a little, putting his ears back in a pout. “But it feels so GOOD!”
“I know, but you’re clearly cold. Come on, up.” Sunny chuckled and got Shade standing, climbing out of the pool and tugging for Shade to follow.
Shade pouted and climbed out of the pool, pausing to shake off. Sunny grinned and shook off back at him, snickering as he splattered Shade with water right after he’d removed the water from his fur. “So… snuggles in front of the TV?”
“Yeah, I guess so. We can swim again later?” Shade glanced longingly at the pool before walking toward the house and turning off the hose.
“Mm, sure. Once you’ve warmed back up a little bit.” He walked up the steps and smiled at the pair of folded towels set just outside the door. “Looks like Paul was thinking of us before he left. Come here, you shivery little goof.” Sunny scooped up one of the towels and held it out, wrapping Shade in it like a blanket and scrubbing at his fur a little to soak out the water. “You’ll need to change out of that shirt once we get inside. You’ll get sick otherwise.”
Shade stuck his tongue out and watched Sunny dry himself, then grinned and leaned in to plant a smooch on his nose. “Mmm. You take good care of me, Puppy.”
“Well, one of us has to, and we both know it’s not gonna be you.” Sunny giggled and opened the door. “Get your wet booty in this house before you catch a cold.”
Shade grinned and spun around, sticking his rump through the door and giving a little shake before walking backward into the house. Sunny laughed and followed him, grabbing his bag of stuff as he passed it. “You little goof.”
“Not just any little goof. YOUR little goof.” Shade’s ears wiggled teasingly, and he pulled his towel tighter around himself. “I’m gonna go put on something dry. You wanna come with?”
Sunny laughed and started following Shade to his bedroom. “You COULD just take off the wet shirt and go around in your fur. It’s not like anybody else is here.” His eyes sparkled playfully. “It’ll save me taking it off of you later.”
“Ooh, that sounds fun. I’ve always wanted to wander the house naked.” Shade giggled teasingly and laid his towel out on the bed before sitting on it and starting to peel off his soaked tee shirt.
Sunny watched him, then jumped up at him, pushing him down to a laying position on the bed and straddling him, tossing the shirt at the hamper before pressing his nose into Shade’s with a grin. “Oh, have you? Well, maybe I’ll just use my privilege as your husband to say that today’s rule is no clothes allowed.” He kissed him and smirked, looking down at him. “I certainly enjoy the view more.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I swear that the last scene in the story was going to involve Shade and Sunny taking things to the next level. I know you can't write that or imply that but that is where it felt like it was going.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

They're just doing what married people do. I would NEVER imply that kind of thing! 0:-)

[Amazee Dayzee]

Oh I am sure that you wouldn't because that wouldn't be tolerated by the staff here and they would censor it and slap you with a warning. I honestly am glad that those type of scenes aren't allowed but that may be because I have an aversion to that even if I like the character and want to ship them with my own.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 3: Housework

Shade held onto Sunny at the door, giving him a kiss and reluctantly letting him walk out the door. “Are you SURE you have to go home?”
Sunny paused to nuzzle Shade’s cheek. “I do, I’m sorry. My parents asked me to come back before lunch so I could see the surprise. You can still come over tomorrow morning and we can snuggle in the playroom, okay?”
He pouted. “Okay. Do you want me to walk you home?” He clung onto Sunny’s hand, putting his ears back.
“Mm… no, I think I’d better go alone. Okay? I’ll see you tomorrow, around nine o’clock?” Sunny pulled Shade’s hand up for a kiss, then stepped back out of reach as he started down the porch steps.
“Okay. I’ll be there.” He reached his arm out for him as much as he could until he couldn’t reach him anymore, then put his ears back and watched Sunny start to walk down the sidewalk.
After a moment, Sunny turned back. “Oh, and Shade? Remember, Doc said to try and leave the TV off as long as you can so you’re starting to wean yourself off of needing it on all the time when you’re alone. You told me to remind you.”
Shade nodded quietly and nodded. “I remember, thank you. I miss you already!”
“I miss you too, babe. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walked down the street. Shade stepped forward onto the porch and watched him go until he turned to walk up the driveway of his own house just half a block away. Shade’s ears went back, and he turned to go back into his house. He eyed the television, tempted to turn it on right away so the background noise could keep him from thinking, but he shook his head.
“No, no. Bad Shade. Bad. You have to work at your self-talk and codependency if you wanna get off the meds. You know that. Just… find healthy coping mechanisms. Distract yourself some other way.” He looked around. He didn’t have much in the house; it was minimally decorated, and what decoration he did have had been put there at Paul’s insistence.
He could hear a clock ticking in the hallway. After a few moments, he sucked in a deep breath and walked into the bathroom, opening the cabinet under the sink and pulling out a bottle of cleaner. “Right. It’s house cleaning time.”
He set to work; first, he cleaned the toilet, then the bathtub. He washed his sheets, spraying a disinfectant on his bed while they were in the wash, and spent the time while the washing machine was running vacuuming the carpets.
Once the sheets were in the dryer, Shade looked around. He kept a tidy house to begin with; there wasn’t really any more cleaning to be done unless he wanted to clean things again that he had already cleaned, and he didn’t suppose doing that would be considered a healthy coping mechanism. Therefore, instead, he turned to the kitchen. It only took him a moment to get the oven preheating, and he started mixing ingredients, standing at the lower counter on the left side of the kitchen that he’d had specially installed and ignoring the taller counter on the right, where Paul usually did his cooking, such as it was.
Once Shade had a batch of cupcakes in the oven, he thoughtfully licked the mixing spoon, frowning. “Cod, I miss chocolate.”
He turned to the dishes, spending the time while the cupcakes were in the oven to clean up the mess he made. He was wiping the counter when his timer went off, and he checked the cupcakes with a toothpick before pulling them out of the oven and setting them on the counter to cool.
After a few moments of watching the cupcakes release steam, Shade’s ears went back and he rushed to take his sheets out of the dryer and make his bed, smoothing the blanket down, pulling it off, and resmoothing it three times before he got it the way he wanted it. He stood back and admired his handiwork for a few moments, then frowned and rushed back to the kitchen.
“Frosting, cupcakes need frosting…” He mumbled to himself before starting to get out ingredients. “Sugar, dye, shortening…”
He started mixing up the frosting, humming loudly to himself to keep the quiet away. The cupcakes were transferred to a plate and the baking pan set in the sink of soapy water a few moments later. He had scooped the frosting mixture into a plastic zip-top bag and was about to snip off the corner to use as a piping bag when he heard the front door open.
Paul’s voice sounded from the entryway. “Ooh, it smells good in here!”
Shade put his ears back and started piping frosting onto the cupcakes when Paul came around the corner, watching him for a moment before sighing. “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”
“Doing what?” Shade’s ears perked innocently as he looked up at the tiger, then turned his attention back to the cupcakes. He carefully piped on green frosting- the color of Sunny’s eyes- then flinched when Paul tapped his paw.
“You’re making up things to do as a substitute for having the television on. We talked about this, bud. This isn’t a healthy coping mechanism, it’s just switching your dependency from the television to pointless busywork.” Paul reached over and put a hand on Shade’s shoulder. “You NEED to get over this thing. Have you been doing your self-esteem exercises like Doc asked you to?”
Shade put his ears back and nodded. “I HAVE… They’re just not HELPING much.”
Paul sighed. “Shade… I need you to try harder. I’m supposed to be moving out in two weeks, and I’m worried that if I DO, I’m going to hear that you worked yourself to death just trying to keep yourself busy so you didn’t have to think about yourself.”
“I KNOW, I know.” Shade pulled away from Paul’s arm with a defensive grunt. “I’m TRYING. Every time I stop, I get anxious and nervous and then…” He trailed off, then put his ears back. “I’m sorry, I’m doing my best.”
“I know you are, bud.” He sighed and reached for a cupcake, raising it to his mouth and taking a bite. “They’re good, at least.”
Shade nodded quietly. “They’re… a pretty easy recipe. I’ll write it down for you.”
As Shade turned to go, Paul reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “You gonna be okay, bud?”
Shade was quiet for a few moments, then nodded. “I think so. I just need to get my head on right.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I really do feel for Shade here because I go to therapy also to try to get my head on right and sometimes it doesn't help all that much. It is a very long process and I hope that Shade knows that while it won't happen in a day he will eventually get there.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 4: Summer

Shade let himself in, adjusting his bag and closing the door behind him. A woman sitting on a couch in the living room smiled at him. “Good morning, Shade.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Days.” Shade answered habitually, giving a little wave back.
She laughed. “Shade, you married my Sunny. You can call me Mom.”
Shade blushed and put his ears back. “Oh, yeah… I forgot, for a second. It’s… uh… it’s going to take a few months to get used to the idea that I’m married now.” He hesitated. “Well… uh… hi, Mom?” He screwed up his face. “That just feels weird.”
She laughed again and waved him through. “They’re waiting for you downstairs.”
“Really? Oh, okay.” Shade resumed walking, cutting through the kitchen to a door leading to the basement. He thought it was weird that his and Sunny’s friends would be here so early in the morning; he was even a few minutes early! It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. He reached the bottom of the stairs and arrived in a small room with several exits; the first led back up the stairs, on the same wall as two other doors that led somewhere, though he’d never looked inside to know where, and the third was a double-wide open doorway with no doors on it.
He headed for the open doorway, grinning. This was Sunny’s playroom, where their friends often met up to play or to discuss what they were going to do that day. “Sunny! I’m here a little early, I hope you don’t mind!”
Shade had just long enough to hear Sunny shout, “Shade, wait-!” before something slammed into his belly, knocking him back on his tail and then pressing into his shoulders to pin him down. Something straddled his belly, holding him in place.
Shade gave a startled yelp and grabbed for his hood before remembering he wasn’t wearing his hoodie because it was far too hot outside. “Whaaaa what is HAPPENING?!” He yelped out, looking up at the big brown eyes directly in front of his own.
After a moment, the eyes retreated, and a gold-colored labrador grinned down at him. “Hi, new dog, wanna play? What are you doing in my house, anyway?” She pressed her muzzle into his excitedly, shaking his shoulders with her hands.
Sunny’s hands appeared on the other dog’s shoulders and tugged her back, pulling her off of Shade. “Sorry, Shade. I didn’t get a chance to warn you. This is my new sister, Summer. She’s… the surprise Mom and Dad were talking about.” He put his hands on Summer’s shoulders and walked around to the front of her to look her in the eye. “Summer, this is my husband, Shade. He’s really nervous and twitchy. You can’t get in his face like that. Go back in the playroom and settle down, and then we’ll try this again, okay?”
“Okay!” She grinned and wagged her tail, turning and darting back into the playroom excitedly, where she immediately started rapidly squeaking a toy.
Sunny sighed and turned to Shade, putting out a hand to help him up. “Are you okay? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”
Shade took Sunny’s hand and stumbled to his paws, shaking his head. “I don’t… think so. She just startled me, mostly. I didn’t expect to be tackled when I walked in here. When your mom said ‘they’ were down here, I expected maybe August or Coco, not… someone new.”
“Yeah, sorry… She’s a little hyper.” He chuckled. “I was going to try to catch you to warn you before you got down here, but you got here early.”
“You could have texted me. I got you a phone!” Shade rubbed his rump a little where he’d fallen on it.
“I DID text you. But you keep your phone in your bag, so I bet you haven’t even seen it.” Sunny rolled his eyes and bumped Shade’s arm playfully.
Shade frowned and dug in his bag for the flip phone he used, opening it up and navigating to his texts before reading out loud. “Mom and Dad got me a sister, careful coming in tomorrow. Hugs and kisses.” He paused, then put his phone back in his bag. “You know me too well, puppy.”
“Sunnyyyy!” Summer’s voice sounded as she walked out of the playroom, whining a little. “I’m BORED! Come back and play with me!” She grabbed Sunny’s hand and tugged on it.
Shade frowned. “How… old is she?”
“Uhhh, she’s ten. That’s… about the same as a fifteen year old human.” Sunny let Summer tug on his arm for a few moments, then turned to her. “Summer, I’m talking to Shade. Can you go find something to entertain yourself? Surely you can’t have played with EVERY toy in there.”
Summer pouted, then turned and walked back into the playroom with a grumble, her ears held back. After a moment, the repeated squeaking from a squeaky toy started again, louder this time. Shade was certain she was squeaking it extra loudly on purpose. With every squeak, he could feel his ears twitching further and further back.
“She’s certainly… um… energetic?” He tried, stepping back toward the stairs.
Sunny turned his head to look toward the door, then frowned as he turned toward Shade. He could tell the noise was bothering him. “Do you have your headphones? You can maybe muffle the sound?”
Shade shook his head quietly. “I haven’t needed them in a while, so I stopped carrying them.”
The squeaking abruptly grew louder as a second squeaky toy joined in, and Shade grimaced, covering his ears. “I need to go. I’m sorry. Maybe once she’s settled in a little, we can try again?” He put his paw up on the first step out of the basement.
“Aww, Babe…” Sunny pouted. “Can’t you try to stay for a little while?”
The squeaking grew louder still when a third toy joined in, and Shade flinched, shaking his head. “I can’t, I have to… I’m sorry, I can’t stay here.” He rushed back up the stairs, leaving Sunny pouting at the bottom.
Shade closed the door at the top of the stairs and leaned against it, quivering and covering his ears. He could feel his heart pounding; it had been a long time since he’d been set off by just loud noises, especially with his medicine, but as he heard the muffled sound of Summer playing with the squeaky toys still downstairs, his anxiety kept rising. He shook his head; he had to get away from here.
He rushed out of the kitchen and back into the living room, putting his ears back. Mrs. Days sat forward. “Leaving already, Shade? What’s the matter?”
Shade shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Days- I mean, Mom… She seems like a nice girl, but she’s just too noisy for me. I’m gonna have to… maybe once she’s settled in a little? Or when she’s made some friends? I can’t…” He hesitated, taking a gulp of air and realizing he’d been forgetting to breathe for a few moments. After a moment, he shook his head. “I’ll be back later… maybe.”
Mrs. Days frowned at him. “Well… goodbye, I guess? I’m sorry that Summer was too loud for you.”
He felt guilty as he let himself back out onto the porch. He didn’t want it to seem like he didn’t like the Days’ new dog, but at the same time, he couldn’t handle all that noise. His ears went back as he started trudging home.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I think once Summer starts to calm down a bit and Shade gets used to her and dealing with a lot of noise at one time they will have a nice relationship with each other. It does look like he likes her but Summer is a little bit animated right now for him to spend time with.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 5: Sunshine Summer Time

Shade settled in the pool with a sigh, sinking up to his nose and watching the water ripple. He put his ears back, feeling the calm wash over him. This felt great; the water had warmed up since he’d set up the pool, so it wasn’t freezing cold anymore, but it was still cooler than lying out in the sunshine. After a few moments, he lay his head back against the inflatable pool wall, feeling it squish under his head like a pillow, and closed his eyes.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, just enjoying the feeling of the water making his fur float around, before the pool suddenly grew agitated, ripples splashing him up to his chin. He opened his eyes and blinked at the sky for a moment before lifting his head to look around.
A papillon grinned at him from the other side of the pool, her fur already soaking wet. Bubbles were rising to the surface in front of her; after a moment, she lifted her arms out of the water and sprayed him in the face with a squirt gun.
Shade sputtered a little bit and sat up. “Butterfly? How did you… I didn’t smell you coming. You normally- and don’t take this the wrong way- you normally stink of cigarette smoke.”
She gestured to herself with a grin. “I’m all wet. It makes it harder to smell me coming. Washes off some of the scent.”
A stream of water started to run down the back of Shade’s head, and he turned around to stare at the Australian Shepherd standing behind him with a smirk on his face and a matching squirt gun in his hand. He gave a little wave and walked around, carefully stepping over the edge and into the pool.
Shade scooted over to make room; his pool was starting to feel a little crowded. “You guys know I’m already IN the pool and it’s pointless to spray me with squirt guns, right?”
“It’s not pointless. It’s FUN.” Butterfly giggled and sprayed Shade again. “What are you doing out here all by yourself? Shouldn’t you be at Sunny’s, making KISSIES?” She made a kissy face, tilting her head back and forth and making kissy noises.
Shade put his ears back. “Sunny has a new sister. She’s… loud, she’s very loud. I think she was being loud on purpose because Sunny wasn’t playing with her, but… I had to get out of there.”
Butterfly’s face softened, and she nudged August next to her for a moment before sitting up. “That’s… not great. Are you okay?”
Shade nodded quietly and looked down at the water. “I got out of there pretty quick. Almost had an incident, but managed to stop it.”
August leaned over to nudge Shade gently. “You can hang out with us. Coco didn’t wanna play today either. She won’t come out except to go to Scout’s house the past couple days.”
Shade nodded for a moment, then blinked. “Wait, what? I saw her two days ago. She was at the vet. She and her mom gave me a ride home. She didn’t mention anything being wrong…” He hesitated, then shrugged. “Then again, it’s not really my business. Maybe she’s just grounded.”
August frowned. “I GUESS that’s one explanation. I’d think she’d tell us if she was, though.”
Butterfly shrugged and shot August with her squirt gun. “Oh, well. Come on, Shade, play with us.”
Shade hesitated. “How did you even FIND me? I’m in the backyard. I have a fence.”
“You left the gate open. We could see you from the street.” Butterfly gestured at the gate, swinging slowly on its hinges in the breeze.
Shade stared at it. Now that she mentioned it, he remembered coming through there in a rush to get to the pool. “... Ah. Yeah, that’d do it.”
August sprayed Shade in the chest and grinned. “Come on, out of the pool. Let’s go, we’re gonna go down to the dog park and have a squirt gun fight with a bunch of the neighborhood dogs.”
Shade huffed. “I don’t have a squirt gun. Besides, you know I don’t like roughhousing with too many others.”
Butterfly stood up and tugged on Shade’s arm, trying to pull him up. “You can borrow one of mine. Let’s GO!”
“What are you guys doing?” Sunny’s voice sounded from behind Butterfly. She spun around to look at him.
“We’re trying to play with Shade.” Her tail wagged. “Oooh, is this that sister that Shade was talking about?” She jumped out of the pool, nearly falling on her face, then scrambled up and ran toward the gate. Shade could just make out Sunny and Summer approaching from around her.
“Yeah. Guys, this is Summer. Summer, this is Butterfly and August. You gotta watch Butterfly, she’ll take stuff out of your collar.” Sunny introduced quickly, then left their friends to greet each other as he walked over to Shade.
“You left pretty quick. I’m not- I’m not mad, she was being REALLY loud, but… I miss you.” Sunny pouted and reached for Shade’s hand.
Shade stood up and grabbed Sunny’s hand, carefully climbing out of the pool and dripping on the grass. “Sorry. I wanted to stay, I really did.”
“Mom thinks taking her down to the dog park will help her get out some of that energy. And I’m gonna hide the squeaky toys when she’s not looking. She’ll… PROBABLY settle down once she’s been here a while. She’s just really hyped to be here.” He leaned forward and kissed Shade’s cheek. “In the meantime… I’ll still come over every other night to spend with you. We’ll still be able to have our cuddle time. I can call you after we get her tuckered out if you like, and you can still come hang out with us.”
Shade gave a smile and kissed Sunny’s nose. “I’d like that. And… I guess I could come to the park with you. Watching from a distance is better than not getting to see you at all.”
Sunny’s tail wagged. “Okay! That works! Did… you wanna dry off, first?”
Shade paused and looked down at himself, still soaking wet. “Hmm… Nah. The water in my fur will help me stay cool so I can stay longer.” He took Sunny’s hand and started following him over toward Butterfly, August, and Summer. Summer grinned at him.
“Oh, hey, I know you! You were in my house this morning!” Her tail wagged, and she ran over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders and getting really close to his face. “I never got to sniff you hello! You snuck out before I could!” Before Shade could react, she grinned and bent down, trying to get around behind him.
“Whoa-! Hey, stop that!” Shade yelped, spinning around to keep her from getting behind him.
She paused, then turned around and offered her rump. “I’m sorry, that was rude! Did you wanna sniff first?”
Shade’s eartips turned pink, and he rubbed his face. “Oh, boy…”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I can totally feel Shade's embarrassment at someone he just met trying to sniff his butt and then sticking her butt in his face to sniff. Although I know its wrong to laugh I can't help it because I find it hilarious.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 6: At the Park

Shade smiled gently as he sat on his usual bench at the dog park, watching his friends run around in a group with all the other neighborhood dogs. He understood the basic rules of the game; someone had a ball, and everybody else was after it. There wasn’t really a winner or a loser or any teams; there was only those that had the ball, and those that didn’t. He’d watched this game for many hours before; it seemed to be a neighborhood favorite, and players could come and go as they wanted, since there was no real organization, meaning a single game could run indefinitely until all the players left with no other players to replace them.
It was warm, and the sun was quickly drying his fur; it felt kind of nice. He gave a contented sign and leaned back to watch. “Ahh… this is nice.”
A few moments later, he saw Summer suddenly leave the group and start toward him. For a moment, he thought that she was finally tuckered out and ready to take a break, but then she stood in front of him. “Why are you way over here by yourself?”
He hesitated. “I don’t like to be around a lot of noise, but I do like to watch.”
She frowned, staring at him for a moment, then grabbed his hand and started to tug on him. “Come on. Let’s go play.”
“Summer-!” Shade protested, tugging against her. “Let go!”
She grinned and picked him up. “Come on! It’s time to PLAY! There’s no sitting all alone!”
Shade gave a startled squeal and tried to grab for the bench, but Summer spun around and started walking back toward the tangle of other dogs. “Hey! Put me down! I said I don’t wanna play!”
“Nonsense! Of COURSE you want to play!” Summer grinned and plopped him down on his paws on the edge of the mass of dogs. After a moment, she gave him a little nudge. “Go on, go get the ball!”
“Summer-!” Shade put his ears back and looked around as the dogs surrounded them in a wave, running around them, laughing and shouting at each other. Shade flinched as they bumped into him, covering his ears a little as he looked around for a way out. As the mass of dogs passed them, he turned to run through the gap they created.
A hand gripped the back of his shirt, momentarily choking him as it tugged him back. Summer scowled at him as he turned to face her. “Where do you think you’re going? The ball is THAT way.” She pointed at the mass of dogs.
“And the way out of all this noise is THAT way.” Shade pointed toward the opening, twisting to try to get Summer’s hand off his shirt. “Now let go of me. I don’t like being in all this noise.”
“No. You’re gonna play with us.” She put a hand on her hip, keeping the other one on the back of Shade’s shirt and scowling down at him. “You won’t even notice the noise once you get IN there.”
Shade pulled his ears back and looked around frantically, looking for Sunny. He was sure he was in the mass of dogs somewhere, but he couldn’t see him. After a moment, he pulled against Summer again, trying to pry her hand off his shirt. “Let go of me!”
“No. Go and play.” She tugged him around and pointed him at the mass of dogs, which had started moving again, following the unseen ball. After a moment, she shoved him toward it. “Go on!”
Shade stumbled forward and nearly toppled, turning to glare at her. His eyes shifted to the new gap, and Summer moved between it and him. “No. Don’t even think about it. You’re gonna play, and you’re gonna like it.”
“Leave him alone. I told you, he doesn’t like crowds and noise.” Sunny’s voice sounded. Shade turned to find him standing behind him, and his ears perked. Sunny pulled Shade in protectively and frowned at Summer.
Summer huffed at him. “He can’t just sit and watch. That’s weird. What kind of dog doesn’t play?” She put her hands on her hips irritably.
“Shade’s not a normal dog.” Sunny sighed and started leading Shade out of the group. “It’s fine, he likes to just watch.”
Summer followed them out of the group and back over to Shade’s bench. “If he’s not going to join in, then what’s the point of him even being here?”
“He’s spending time with me!” Sunny’s voice sounded irritated. Shade put his hand on Sunny’s shoulder.
“Sunny, it’s fine. She’s new, she didn’t know.” He put his ears back. “There’s no harm done, I’m fine.”
Sunny gave an irritated scoff. “She DID know. I told her. When you left, I told her about your sensitivities.” He glared at Summer. “I guess she took it upon herself to try and cure you of them.”
Summer stuck her tongue out, then crossed her arms across her chest. “Well, it’s not going to get better with you CODDLING him!”
“I told you, he’s working on it on his own!” Sunny’s hackles rose defensively, and he bared his fangs angrily.
Shade stepped in between them. “Hey! That’s enough!” He glared from one to the other. “No fighting! Please!” He turned to Sunny. “I told you, it’s fine. And you!” He turned to Summer with a frown. “And you, I need you to respect my limits. It’s taken me a long time to push them as far as I have, and I don’t need you making me regress my progress.”
Sunny paused, staring at Shade for a moment, then his hackles lowered and he put his ears back, looking down and scuffing at a bald patch in the grass with his paw. “Sorry, Shade. I just feel really protective of you.”
Summer huffed and glared at Shade. “Whatever.”
“What’s going on?” Butterfly’s voice sounded. Shade turned to watch her and August jogging over. “We were playing, and then suddenly August pointed you guys out over here by yourselves.”
Shade shook his head. “Go back to playing. We were just having a misunderstanding.”
Butterfly looked suspicious. “A misunderstanding like you asked for a bone and got a squeaky bone, or a misunderstanding like-”
“She dragged him into the middle of the group and tried to shove him into it.” Sunny interrupted.
“She DIDN’T!” August gasped, looking at Summer with a frown. “He can’t handle that! It’s a miracle he didn’t have an attack!”
“Yeah. Luckily I saved him before it came to that.” Sunny gave a self-satisfied nod.
Shade grumbled and snatched up his bag from the bench. “I’m going home.” He started to stomp off.
Sunny watched for a moment, then ran after him. “Shade, wait. I’ll come with you. August and Butterfly can look after Summer for me.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Looks like in addition to Shade having to get used to Summer, Summer also has to get used to Shade because he has issues that he is trying to work through and it has to be done at his own pace. I know Summer means well but whatever Shade does at the park is his own business and Summer should respect that.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 7: Snuggle Time

Shade walked briskly through his front door and paced in the entryway for a few moments, his ears held back as he fidgeted with his hands, trying to put them in a pocket that wasn’t there. He missed his hoodie; it was warm, cozy and comforting, but it was far too hot outside for him to wear it.
Sunny walked through the open door and quietly closed it, watching Shade for a few moments before speaking. “You okay, hun? You seem a little… agitated.”
“It’s fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine. No harm done, nothing’s the matter, I’m FINE!” He snapped, then grunted and stomped off to the kitchen, filling a glass with water and gulping it down before filling it up again.
Sunny sighed and walked after him, watching him with his ears back. “It’s just… you don’t SEEM fine… you seem… angry?”
He slammed the glass down. “I’m NOT ANGRY!” Shade blinked, then looked down, took a deep breath, and started again. “I’m not angry. I’m not. Maybe a little.” He picked up the glass and sipped from it for a moment before setting it back down, more gently this time. “I… appreciate you coming to my rescue back there. It’s good to know you’d stand up for me. But… I didn’t need it. I was fine. I was handling it.”
Sunny frowned, watching Shade for a few moments. “You didn’t have it. She was pushing you around. But that’s not what’s bothering you.” He sighed and shook his head. “I know you better than that. It’s something else, it’s something…” He trailed off, thinking back, then put his ears back. “It was the fighting, wasn’t it? When Summer and I were arguing and yelling at each other.”
Shade flinched and looked away. “That… might have been part of it.” He stared at his glass of water and kept his ears back, keeping his eyes locked anywhere but at Sunny.
Sunny sighed and moved in to hug Shade, nipping at his ear. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t lie to me anymore. You’re supposed to tell me when something’s wrong, or if you’re not taking your medicine again, or… anything.”
Shade flicked his ear at the nip, leaning into Sunny’s embrace. “Sorry. I wasn’t really sure what it was myself. But once you mentioned it…” He shook his head. “It reminds me of my ex. He used to yell at me just like that. Tell me I was doing everything wrong, berate me for even trying. I know you were just trying to protect me, but… I think it just got under my fur.”
Sunny nuzzled into the top of Shade’s head, rubbing his back and rocking in place for a few moments as he continued to hold him. “I’m sorry, Hun. I didn’t mean to upset you. I saw Summer pushing you around and I got angry. I didn’t consider how yelling at her would make you feel.”
“Well, good.” There was a pause, and then Sunny moved back to look at Shade with a confused expression. Shade hesitated, then explained. “I don’t want you walking on eggshells around me, worrying about what’s going to set me off. That’s not the point. The point is for you to act NORMALLY and for me to learn how to cope with it. If you’re always worrying about what’s going to cause problems, we’ll never get anywhere. If I’ve had enough, I’ll let you know that I need a few minutes.”
Sunny leaned in and kissed Shade’s cheek. “I know, I know… It’s just hard, because I hate to see you all riled up, or upset, or having an episode.”
“I know, Puppy, I know.” Shade nuzzled into Sunny’s chest. “I don’t like HAVING episodes. It’s uncomfortable and scary. But they aren’t going to go AWAY if I don’t work at desensitizing myself to the stuff that causes them.”
After a few quiet moments, Sunny gave Shade a squeeze. “Do you wanna go snuggle on the couch and try to settle down? You’re still shaking.”
“Please.” Shade put his ears back and looked up at Sunny. “You always know what I need, you know that?”
Sunny chuckled and took him by the hand, leading him to the living room and sitting on the couch, patting the space next to him. “You wanna watch something, or just cuddle?”
Shade settled in and leaned against Sunny, nuzzling him quietly. “Let’s just cuddle. The quiet’s not so bad when you’re there in it.”
“Mmm. You need to start working on that, too, you know. Paul’s already started moving stuff out. He’s not going to be here to stop you from death spiraling into cleaner poisoning or confectionery overload when you decide to clean or bake instead of working on your dependency issues.” He nibbled his neck playfully, pulling him in closer.
Shade smiled and pressed his ear to Sunny’s chest for a few moments, listening to his heartbeat before answering. “I know, I know… It’s hard, though. I get anxious if there’s no noise. Then I start thinking things about myself, and I work myself up into an episode just from that.”
Sunny kissed Shade’s nose and nuzzled into him. “I know… and I know you’re doing your best to work on it, but I can’t be there for you all the time. We already tried the living together thing, and it didn’t work out. Plus, I know you don’t want that. You want me here because you like spending time with me, not because you need me to keep you from spiraling.”
Shade nodded and lay down, pulling Sunny with him until the golden retriever was laying on top of him. “I DO wish we could live together, but I still have more issues to work out before that’s possible. I have to learn to live on my own first. It’ll be hard, especially the first few weeks… which reminds me.” He turned to look at him. “Will you check on me a couple times a day the first while? Even if it’s not your day to stay over, and even if you just stop in to see how I’m doing? I’m scared I’m going to start spiraling and there won’t be anybody to pull me out of it.”
“Of course.” He grinned and snuggled into him. “I’ll make it part of my routine: Get up, have breakfast, brush my teeth, rescue my husband from his own thoughts…” He teased playfully.
Shade gave a small laugh, then nuzzled into him happily. “Thanks, puppy. It means a lot.”
“It WOULD be easier on both of us if you’d get a proper phone and keep it on you, though.” Sunny grinned, nudging him. “We could do video calls if you needed a quick rescue, or even if you’re just lonely. You could call me, and I’d say ‘Hey, hun, it’s nice to see you,’ and you’d say ‘I miss you,’ and I’d say ‘do you miss me or are you just trying to avoid thinking about your feelings?’ It’d be fun. And I’d get to see your face.”
Shade chuckled. “Oh, is that something you like to do? Look at my face?”
Sunny nodded enthusiastically, then grinned and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “We could do OTHER things too, if you had a camera phone. NAUGHTY things. I could send you pictures, and you could send me some back, and then we’d video call and-”
Shade covered his mouth with a hand and laughed out loud. “Well, I don’t know about all THAT, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to look into getting a regular smartphone. It’s getting harder and harder to get by without, anyway. Everything’s online these days. It’s a real problem.”
He snickered. “It’s not the world’s fault you’re using twenty-year-old technology.”
Shade stuck his tongue out, then pulled Sunny closer and kissed him.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I actually do feel some of what Shade is feeling in regard to having a phone that is completely out of date and you would be unable to do much with it. I got my first cellphone which was a flip phone in 2011 and didn't get an upgraded iPhone until 2021.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 8: Getting to Know You

Sunny met Shade at the door and gave him a hug and a kiss. “Hi… Thanks for coming.”
Shade nuzzled into Sunny with a smile, holding his hand for a few moments. “I couldn’t say no to my Puppy. Where’s… um…” He glanced around for a moment before finishing his sentence. “... Summer?”
Sunny hesitated. “Don’t be mad…”
Shade’s ears drooped. “That is NEVER followed by something that I want to hear, you know that?”
“I know, I know… but I asked you over here so we could do something together, just the three of us.”
Shade frowned. “You said our friends would be here!”
“I know! I didn’t think you’d come if I told you it was just going to be you, me, and Summer. After the… um… incident, the other day, I didn’t think you’d want to see her again so soon.”
Shade rubbed his face with his hands, then sighed gently before nodding. “... Okay. If it means that much to you, I’ll stay for a while. But no more lying to me. If you want me to come hang out with your sister, just say so. Got it, mister?”
Sunny smiled and put his hand in the air, making a cross over his chest with the other hand. “Cross my heart.” He grabbed Shade’s hand. “She’s downstairs. And don’t worry, she promised to behave today.”
Shade nodded and started to follow Sunny. “So… uh… where are your parents?” He looked around. The kitchen was devoid of the usual presence of Mrs. Days, and her scent was fading.
“Oh, they went out on a date. It’ll be just the three of us.” Sunny smiled.
Shade paused, slowing to a stop and frowning. “They’re not here?” He thought back. “I… don’t think I’ve ever actually BEEN here when at least one of them wasn’t also here, come to think of it.”
Sunny chuckled and tugged Shade’s hand to get him moving again. “What are they gonna do, say I can’t have my husband over when they aren’t home? There’s nothing I could do to you that I haven’t already done.”
“I dunno, I could think of some things.” He chuckled and followed Sunny down the stairs.
Sunny’s ears perked, and he grinned at Shade. “Ooh, like what?”
Shade chuckled. “I’ll show you some time. I could get REALLY imaginative.” He poked Sunny’s nose playfully, then took a deep breath and entered Sunny’s playroom.
Summer was watching a movie on the TV, lounging in a new pink bean bag that had appeared since the last time Shade had been here. Shade tugged over one of the two black ones to be next to her, then flopped down in it, looking up at Sunny and patting the spot next to him invitingly.
Sunny put his hands on his hips and shook his head, snatching up the remote and turning off the TV. Summer sat up and protested. “Hey! I was watching that!”
Sunny shook his head again. “Shade, I didn’t bring you here so we could sit and watch a movie and ignore each other. I brought you here so we could TALK and get to know each other better, especially you and Summer. We’re gonna play a game.”
Summer stood up and put her hands on her hips with a huff. “First… are you gonna say hi to me today?” She glared at Shade.
Shade hesitated. “Um… hi?”
“Not like that.” She snorted and scowled, turning her hip a little to expose her rump to him. “PROPERLY.”
Sunny sighed. “I told you, he doesn’t do that.”
Summer glared from Sunny to Shade and back again for a few moments, then grumbled and plopped down in her beanbag. “Ugh… fine. Weirdo.”
Shade looked down at his paws for a moment, then looked up when Sunny pulled his orange sunflower beanbag over and plopped down facing the two of them. He held up a ball. “This game is called questionball. The idea is that you ask a question and toss the ball to somebody, and they have to answer the question. Then, they get to ask a question and pass it to someone else. It can be the person who passed you the ball, or another person. You get three passes if you have a question you don’t want to answer. Sound good?”
Shade nodded. After a moment, Summer huffed and nodded. “Sounds like a stupid game, but whatever.”
Sunny grinned. “Good. I’ll start off with the first question. Summer, what are some things that YOU like to do?” He tossed the ball to Summer.
She caught the ball and hefted it in her hand for a few moments before answering. “I like to paint and read, but I REALLY like wrestling, or just roughhousing in general.” She grinned at Shade and pointed at him. “YOU! Why are you so jumpy that you can’t even play?” She tossed the ball to Shade.
Sunny fidgeted. “Summer, that’s not really a good-”
“No, it’s fine.” Shade interrupted. “I don’t mind her knowing.” He looked at the ball in his hand for a few moments, thinking about where to start. “I was in a very bad relationship for a few years. He was not good for me. He made me do all the work, the cooking, the cleaning, the getting money, everything, and he would beat me if it wasn’t good enough. And it was NEVER good enough. He had me believing that I deserved it.” He shook his head. “I’ve been going to therapy for it, but I’m still feeling some of the effects of that bad relationship.” He stared at the ball for a few more moments, then looked up at Summer. “How about you? Why are you trying to mask by focusing on my problems?” He tossed the ball to Summer.
She caught it and scowled. “Pass. How old are you?” She tossed it back.
“Twenty-seven. How are you liking living with the Days so far?” He tossed it to her.
“It’s pretty nice, as far as homes go. You are NOT twenty-seven. You don’t look a day over eighteen. How old are you really?”
Shade caught the thrown ball. “I’m really twenty-seven. But I don’t look it because I was born human. What’s your favorite kind of movie?”
Summer caught the ball and blinked, then grinned. “I don’t really have a favorite, I just play it by ear. What was your human name?” She threw the ball.
Shade caught it. “Pass. That person is long dead, so it doesn’t matter.” He looked at the ball for a few moments, then looked Summer in the eye. “What do you miss most about your old home, from before you moved here?”
Summer caught the ball and put her ears back, staring at Shade for a few moments, then tossed the ball aside and stood up. “I’m going to my room. This game is stupid. I’m done.”
Shade watched her storm off, then sighed, turning to Sunny. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset her.”
Sunny sighed, then shook his head. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. A lot of dogs don’t like to think about their old homes after moving to a new home. It’s… kind of like a ‘leaving the past in the past’ thing.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Based on Summer's reaction I am guessing that she has a lot of bad memories at her old home that she would rather not talk about because it is too painful. I think if Shade can get her to open up and help her then they will come to a whole new understanding.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 9: Wrestle

Shade tossed his towel on the porch and walked down the steps to his pool, leaning over it to look inside. The chemicals he’d added SEEMED fully dissolved; he couldn’t immediately see any grains of it at the bottom of the pool, at least. He grabbed the skimmer from where it was leaning against the porch and gave the pool another quick stir, watching for any sign that the chemicals were still lingering, then gave a satisfied nod, setting the skimmer back and carefully climbing over the inflatable wall and into the water. He lowered himself in with a satisfied groan, leaning back and closing his eyes.
All was quiet for a few minutes; he listened to the sound of a breeze rustling the trees, birds singing, the water ripples splashing against him, and the occasional sound of a car driving past. After a few moments, he heard a distant click and frowned. That sounded like his front door. He heard muffled yelling, then voices, and relaxed. It sounded like Sunny had let himself in.
He let himself sink lower into the pool, resting his head on the wall. After a few moments, the back door slid open, then closed again. He grinned; was Sunny going to join him in the pool? He hoped so; the water was nice and cool, even after days sitting out in the sun, and he was betting it would be even nicer with someone to snuggle.
The water rippled as someone else climbed in, and Shade grinned, bracing himself for Sunny’s patented sneaky kiss. After a moment, a voice sounded in his ear. “Sup, weirdo? Still gonna refuse to say hi to me properly?”
Shade’s eyes popped open, and he looked up at Summer’s grinning face, looking down at him. She poked his nose and took a seat on the far side of the pool from him, grinning.
Shade sat up and looked around. Sunny was nowhere to be seen. “Summer? How’d you get into my house?”
“Oh, I came in with Sunny. He went to get some towels.” She smirked and leaned back. “Pretty nice pool you got. Not too big, of course, but still nice.”
The back door opened, and Sunny stepped out onto the porch, carrying two towels and scowling. “Summer, I told you to wait INSIDE for me. I wanted to talk to Shade for a moment before I told him you were here.”
Summer stuck her tongue out and tugged down one of her eyelids playfully. “I know. I ignored you, though. I wanted to go swimming.”
Sunny sighed and walked down the steps, leaning over the edge of the pool to kiss Shade’s forehead. “Sorry, hun, mom and dad insisted. They wanted to go on a date and they’re not sure how she’ll act home alone so she’s with me until they get home. She’s not staying the night.”
“It’s fine. I was just surprised.” Shade motioned for Sunny to join them in the pool.
Sunny climbed in, settling next to Shade and scowling at Summer. “Which is why I wanted to tell you BEFORE she came out.”
Summer stuck her tongue out again, then splashed Sunny playfully. “Whatever. I just wanna have a good time. You could have just left me home. I wouldn’t have told.”
Shade glanced at Sunny before answering. “I think it would have been obvious when they got back and you were there and Sunny wasn’t.”
“Oh, yeah…” She looked thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly climbed out of the pool and shook off. “This is boring. Let’s do something else.”
Sunny scoffed. “But we JUST got IN!”
Shade snickered. “She’s just like you, you know that? Your parents definitely have a type.” He started to climb out of the pool.
Sunny pouted, grabbing Shade’s hand and squeezing it for a moment before climbing out after him. “Ugh… fine. But we JUST got in!” He repeated his gripe, then climbed out of the pool and shook off. Shade grinned at him, standing and dripping for a moment before walking over to the porch to grab his towel instead of shaking off.
“Weirdo!” Summer yelled after him. Once Shade was dry enough that his fur wasn’t dripping anymore, he set the towel aside and walked back out into the yard.
“Okay. What do you want to do, then? I’m afraid I don’t really have any toys here.” He put his hands on his hips and looked up at Summer.
She grinned and jumped at him, pushing him down and straddling him, holding his arms down and grinning down at him. “I wanna WRESTLE!”
Shade wriggled a little, trying to get up. Sunny gasped and pushed Summer. “Hey, get off of him!”
Shade sat up and shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. She just startled me. We can wrestle if she wants to. I won’t claim to be any good. I’ve never wrestled before.”
Summer grinned. “Oh, that’s easy! You just tackle each other and try to pin your opponent. No biting or scratching. We can make it a contest! Best of three gets to wrestle with Sunny next, and whoever wins that fight gets to brag. It’s fun!”
He chuckled. “Okay. I think I might be at a disadvantage, though. You’re bigger than me.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. But first…” She pointed at his chest. “The shirt. Take it off. Dogs wrestle skin-to-skin.”
Shade tugged his shirt down uncomfortably. “Well… I’m not doing that. The shirt stays on. The only one that sees me without it is Sunny.” He shook his head. “I’m not negotiating that.”
Summer scowled at him, then tackled him, pinning him down again and tugging at his shirt. “No. Come on, off with it. We wrestle like dogs.”
“Summer!” Sunny snapped, suddenly stepping in and shoving her off of Shade again. “We talked about this. Shade has his boundaries, and you need to respect them.”
Summer huffed and looked away, letting go of Shade’s shirt. “Ugh… fine. Whatever. Let’s just do this.”
Shade stood up and looked around, then stepped a little away from his pool. “All right. We’ll do it over in this area here, away from the pool. That way, we don’t risk popping it. I don’t think there’s any rocks on the ground over here to worry about, either.”
Sunny grinned and stepped over to the area, pointing to either side of himself. “All right, I’ll be the referee. Summer, you’re over here. Shade, over there. Sniff hands.”
Shade hesitantly put his hand out, and Summer sniffed it before putting her own hand out. Shade leaned in and pretended to sniff it, trying to ignore how odd it felt. He supposed it didn’t really matter if he ACTUALLY sniffed her hand, and she didn’t seem to notice or mind that he hadn’t, so he figured it was all right.
“Ready!” Sunny called, putting a hand up in the air with his fingers straight out.
“You know what I like about you, Shade?” Summer grinned at Shade. Shade tilted his head questioningly at her.
“Wrestle!” Sunny declared, dropping his hand straight down and then backing out of the fight area quickly.
Summer grinned and jumped at Shade. He stepped sideways, then grunted when she turned to grab him, shoving him to the ground and plopping down on top of him before pushing into his shoulders to straddle his belly with a smirk. “You don’t blush when I pin you. Most boys I’ve wrestled do. It’s kind of nice.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I feel like the reason that he doesn't blush or get uncomfortable when Summer throws herself at him to wrestle is because its not something that excites him since he's gay. Though if I was in his position and it looks like he agrees with me here I would find it uncomfortable to wrestle with my sister-in-law.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I'm a little bit worried that today's chapter might be over the line and out of the safe category the forum strives for. Moderators, if that is the case, feel free to private message me. I have an alternate chapter prepared just in case.

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Chapter 10: Discussions

Shade settled in on Sunny’s lap and leaned backward to cuddle into him, breathing a little hard and laying his head back into Sunny’s chest to wait. Sunny chuckled, leaning him forward again for just a moment to lick at the bite marks on Shade’s neck before letting him lean back again. “That was fun.” Shade mumbled happily.
Sunny kissed his head. “Yeah… it was. I’m kind of surprised you wanted to do it HERE and NOW, though.” He put his arms around the smaller dog and cuddled closer.
“Why not? It’s my house. It’s my couch.” Shade tilted his head back to plant a smooch on Sunny’s cheek.
“True.” Sunny chuckled, then leaned down to Shade’s ear and whispered playfully. “But Summer’s still in the backyard, playing in the pool.”
Shade’s eyes popped wider, and his ears and face grew warm as he blushed heavily. “I completely forgot!” He looked around for a moment, then snatched a blanket off the couch and spread it over his lap, tucking it up to his belly and down around Sunny’s sides.
Sunny laughed and nipped at Shade’s ear playfully. “Oh, so NOW you’re shy and want to cover your lower half? You’re so cute sometimes, hun.”
Shade buried his face in his hands. “Why didn’t you remind me SOONER? We could have gone to the bedroom, or waited until she went home!”
Sunny licked Shade’s head playfully. “Oh, settle down before you hurt yourself. It’s fine, there’s no harm done. Besides…” He leaned in and whispered in Shade’s ear again. “I thought the danger made it more fun.”
Shade blushed again, then groaned and leaned back again. “You did it on purpose. You naughty boy.”
Sunny snickered and hugged him. “Maybe just a little. Are you mad?”
There was a pause while Shade considered. “... no, I guess not. Just don’t do it again.” He nuzzled into him. “I would be mortified if she walked in on us.”
“If who walked in on you?” Summer asked, walking into the room and sitting next to them. “Geez, a blanket? Aren’t you hot?”
Shade stammered for a moment, and Sunny stepped in to rescue him. “Snuggling is best with a blanket, you know that. The cozier, the better.”
Summer grinned and leaned against them. “I guess that’s true. Hey, I had a question. You got any food around here?”
Shade’s ears perked. “Oh! Right, I, uh…” He started to sit forward, then gave a little squeak and sat back again. “Give us… um… ten… twenty? … minutes?”
Sunny snickered and put his arms around Shade to pull him back against him. “Why don’t you go take a quick shower to wash the pool chemicals out of your fur? When we’re done snuggling, we’ll do the same, and then Shade will make some supper.”
One of Summer’s eyebrows went up, and she stared at Shade for a few moments. “Okay. Where’s the shower?”
Shade pointed, his voice a little shaky. “It’s.. uh.. Down the hall, on the left. Paul won’t mind if you use a bit of his shampoo. There’s extra towels under the sink.”
“Okay, thanks.” She slid down off the couch, then hesitated and turned to stare at Shade for a moment. “Why are you acting so jumpy all of the sudden? Is this one of your weird things?”
Sunny snickered when Shade started stammering, then spoke up for him. “Naw, we were just talking about watching a scary movie later. He gets all scared and then I have to snuggle him to calm him down and we cuddle ALL night long.”
Summer rolled her eyes and gave a giggle. “Boys are weird.” She turned and walked off.
Shade waited until he heard her go in the bathroom and close the door before he relaxed a little. “My life is over. I can never show my face again. Just go ahead and put me out of my misery right now.” He gave a dramatic grunt and lay back against Sunny, pressing his head to Sunny’s chest.
Sunny snickered and kissed Shade’s head. “You know, the more you keep squirming around, the longer it’s gonna be. That would be EVEN MORE embarrassing, wouldn’t it, if we weren’t done by the time she’s done showering?”
Shade’s ears went back, and he blushed again. “Don’t say things like that!”
Sunny laughed. “Oh, relax. Even if she SAW anything, it’s not like it’s the end of the world! It’s perfectly natural! You humans are so SHY!”
Shade put his ears out sideways and pouted, staring at the blanket. “We could have avoided all of this if you’d reminded me she was here, you know.”
“I know.” He kissed his head. “But how much fun would that be?”
Shade huffed. “I hate you. I want a divorce.”
“No you don’t.” Sunny snickered and nuzzled into him. “Stop being so dramatic.”
Shade stuck his tongue out. “At least she didn’t figure out what we were doing. I’m not sure I could live with that embarrassment.”
“Oh, you think that, do you?” Sunny chuckled quietly. “You’re still not thinking like a dog. She might not have SEEN anything, but she definitely SMELLED us.”
Shade sat up again, his ears going back. Sunny pulled him back and laughed. “Oh, relax. It’s FINE. At least she was polite enough to pretend not to notice.”
Shade gave a little whimper. “So she totally knows that we were-”
“Yup.” He chuckled and ruffled Shade’s head fur. After a few moments, he nudged him. “Hey… you’re good to go get cleaned up, though.”
Shade wiggled a little bit, then slid forward off of Sunny’s lap, pulling the blanket with him and wrapping it around himself. He stood next to the couch with his ears back, blushing. “... We don’t mention this again and hope she forgets?”
“Sure, hun.” Sunny chuckled. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll clean up here and then go after you, okay?”
He gave a defeated nod and wandered down the hall to the master bedroom. Sunny chuckled and watched him walking away, then got up and went to the hall closet for a towel, snickering and shaking his head. After he cleaned up, he went to the master bedroom and knocked on the bathroom door.
Shade’s voice sounded over the sound of running water. “Sunny? Come on in.”
Sunny chuckled and opened the door, standing outside the shower. “It’s been cleaned up and I opened a window to let the scent out. Like it never happened.”
Shade gave a heavy sigh, then pulled back the shower curtain a little to peek out at Sunny. “Sorry I was being so dramatic. Just… a little shy.”
“I know, hun. And I love that about you. It’s kind of nice.” Sunny kissed his nose. “Need help cleaning up?”
“No, I’m almost done. Don’t wanna get distracted, not with Summer waiting for supper.”
Sunny laughed. “Okay, suit yourself. I’ll be waiting on the bed for my turn in the shower, okay?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm surprised after what they did and all that they wouldn't decide to shower together to make it more quicker for them to both be done. At the very least there is no risk of Shade accidentally using all the hot water. LOL

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 11: Backyard Ball

“And she walked in on you? I bet that was embarrassing!” August grinned, tossing the ball across the yard to Sunny, who snickered and passed it on to Butterfly.
“Shade was mortified. I think he was blushing the whole rest of the night until she went home.” Sunny snickered.
Shade put his ears back and caught the ball, throwing it back to August. “I really wish you wouldn’t tell our friends about our personal life, Puppy. That’s supposed to be private.”
“Aww, loosen up.” Butterfly giggled, catching the ball from Sunny’s direction and holding onto it. “It’s not like we don’t already know that you do that kind of thing. Besides, it’s a really funny story.” She smirked, hefting the ball in the air. “I have an idea, though. How about, instead of just tossing the ball around, we play Tackleball?”
Sunny’s ears perked, and he grinned, glancing at Shade for a few moments. “That sounds like fun. What do you say, Shade? Care to join in on a little roughhousing?”
Shade put his ears back. “Tackleball? As in, that game you guys play at the dog park? I don’t know… isn’t that kind of… loud?”
August chuckled, walking across the yard toward them. “Well… it CAN be. When there’s, like, fifty dogs playing. But it’s just the four of us, so it won’t be TOO loud. Even if Coco, Scout, and Summer were to come play with us, that would still only be seven. Not too bad. It’d be good practice for when you’re ready to actually participate for real at the dog park.”
Shade put his ears back and stammered, watching his friends get closer to him as he scrambled to find an excuse. “B-but I don’t know how to play.”
“There’s not much to know.” Butterfly grinned, munching on one of August’s biscuits, which elicited a cry of dismay as he checked his collar. “If you don’t have the ball, get the ball. Don’t bite or scratch, no tripping or intentionally hurting other players. That’s… pretty much it. If you DO have the ball, you wanna try to keep it.”
Sunny snickered. “Come on, Shade. It’s just us, it’s not like it’s a bunch of strangers. This is probably the safest time and place to give it a shot.”
He put his ears back. “Ugh… you’re not gonna let this go, are you?”
“Nope!” August grinned, slapping Shade on the back. “You’re playing with us today.”
He grunted, then crossed his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes. “Fiiinnneee. I’ll play for a little bit, but if I say I need a minute, then you guys need to back off, okay?”
There was a general round of cheering, and then Butterfly pressed the ball into Shade’s hand with a smirk. “Since it’s your first time playing, you’ll get to have the ball first.”
“I think we’ll give you a five-count before we start chasing you.” Sunny grinned, examining his claws for a moment. “Five. Four.”
Shade yelped and took off running across the yard. “No fair, I have tiny legs!”
A moment later, the sound of running pawsteps started running up behind Shade. He yelped and changed directions, clutching the ball and starting to swerve. He spotted August coming in from the left and swerved right; then he saw Butterfly charging straight at him from the right and swerved left.
A few moments later, something slammed into him from the back, knocking him down on his face. He grunted, pulling the ball in to his chest and curling up to protect himself from the short skid as he stopped. A weight pressed on his side for a moment before getting off of him, and he opened one eye, looking up.
Sunny grinned down at him, reaching to help him up. “Not bad for a first try. You managed to keep the ball.”
Butterfly jogged up and put her hands on her hips. “For the record, my legs are shorter than yours.” She stuck out a paw and looked at it for a moment, then grinned and grabbed for the ball.
Shade rolled away from her and started getting up without Sunny’s help. Sunny smirked. “Smart. Keep it away from us so you can hold it longer. You spotted the trap.”
There was a brief moment where Shade glanced around before all three of his friends suddenly surged forward after the ball, and he yelped, taking off running again. He dodged this way and that, his heart pounding as he ran, and he heard an odd noise. It took him a few moments to realize that the noise was himself, laughing as he played with his friends. He hadn’t had this much fun since he was a kid playing kickball with the neighborhood kids in an empty lot in Bludhaven where he’d grown up.
Someone tackled him from the side and pinned him down, waiting a moment to be sure he wasn’t hurt before taking the ball from him. He snickered and turned to face upward and see who had gotten him.
Summer smirked down at him, then pouted at Sunny. “You’re playing Tackleball in the backyard and you didn’t invite me? RUDE!”
Sunny snickered. “Well, you were busy watching your movie. We didn’t want to bother you. Plus, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision.”
Shade squirmed to try to get out from under Summer. “Hey, uh… guys? Can you let me up before you fight?”
“Who said we’re fighting?” Summer poked Shade’s forehead and then climbed off of him. “We’re just playing. Weirdo.”
Shade sat up and brushed dirt and pieces of grass out of his fur. “Are you though? Sounds to me a lot like you’re picking on each other.”
Butterfly laughed. “Shade, haven’t you ever had a sibling? That’s just how it is with them. You pick on each other, but you don’t actually MEAN any of it.”
August snatched the ball from Summer. “Come on, are we playing Tackleball, or are we talking? Let’s GO!” He took off running across the yard, and Shade snickered, clambering to his paws and starting after him, taking up the rear of the group. He had to admit, this was pretty fun, though it was a little noisier than he generally liked it.
Fifteen minutes later, they all lay in a giggling heap together, all tangled up in a pile of paws, hands, and tails. Shade panted a little, sitting up and tugging his paw free from the group. “Who’s even got the ball?”
Butterfly snickered, her head popping out of the hole Shade’s paw had just been plugging. “I thought Summer had it.”
“Not me. Last I saw it, Sunny was taking it from me.” Summer carefully extricated herself from between August’s legs, giggling.
Sunny sat up from the bottom of the pile, holding his hands up. “Nope. I dropped it. I think August picked it up.” He started dragging himself backward, stopping when he couldn’t free his legs. “Whose paw is this?” He poked at a paw that was pressed against his forehead.
“That’s mine.” Butterfly grinned, then wriggled out of the pile, holding up the ball in triumph. “I found it. August had it.”
August snickered and stood up, turning to help Sunny stand up again. “Good job. I would like to suggest a ten minute break so we can all go inside and get a drink before Shade passes out.”
Shade nodded, still panting. “That sounds good. It’s too hot for this.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am glad to see Shade is starting to get a bit more comfortable doing activities where there might be sudden deafening noises occurring. He is working on not getting too overwhelmed and coping with his nervousness about it quite well.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 12: Settle Down

“I haven’t had that much fun since I was a kid!” Shade laughed out loud, gulping down half his glass of water in one go before leaning against the counter. “I remember summer days playing kickball with the other kids from my apartment building in the empty lot across the street. We’d stay out for HOURS just having a good time!”
His smile started to falter. “And then mom got sick… and school… my ex…” He looked down at the floor, his mood thoroughly ruined.
“I got an idea!” Sunny spoke cheerily, putting his hand on Shade’s shoulder as he addressed the group. “Let’s head back out! We can play some more, nobody has to spiral into a depressed episode!”
Summer shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t really feel like…” She trailed off as she met Sunny’s gaze, and he gestured toward Shade. “... But then again, I was only out there for like twenty minutes. I COULD use some more exercise.”
“Oh, you guys are going outside? I guess I could join you and just watch.” A voice sounded from the entryway. Shade turned to look and gave a weak smile at Coco, who was just letting herself in.
Sunny’s tail wagged, and he rushed over to greet her. “You’re out! I was starting to think you were grounded!”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve just been… uh… busy. I don’t feel like roughhousing, and the vet says I have to stay cool as much as I can, so I can’t stay outside for too long, but I missed you guys. I was hoping to come hang out.”
Shade lifted his head and looked over at Coco for a moment. “Let’s go downstairs, then. We just got done playing Tackleball, and I think I could use a little quiet time anyway.”
Sunny turned to look at Shade, then stepped closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Shade, are you sure? You were looking like the last thing you needed was time to think.”
He nodded. “I’m okay. Besides, we haven’t seen Coco in a while. It’ll be fun.”
Summer cleared her throat, and Sunny blinked. “Oh! Coco, have you met my new sister? Summer, this is Coco. Coco, Summer.” He gently pushed Summer toward Coco, and they sniffed each other. Shade couldn’t help but notice uncomfortably that Summer made eye contact with him as she sniffed.
After a moment, Shade cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s head down. Whose turn is it to pick the movie?”
Sunny snickered and walked up to Shade, ruffling his ears. “It’s your turn. It’s ALWAYS your turn. You’re really good at picking ones that everybody likes.”
Shade chuckled and leaned into Sunny’s touch as he started toward the stairs. “All right, who all’s here, then? August likes science fiction, Butterfly likes action, Sunny of course likes cartoons, Coco prefers romance, and Summer has no preference, but her taste runs young.” He rubbed his chin as he thought.
Coco chuckled. “I missed you, Shade. You’re always so thoughtful.” She grinned and paused at the bottom of the stairs, seeming winded, then proceeded in, gathering up and fluffing her brown bean bag before carefully having a seat. August pushed his black beanbag over to Coco’s and plopped down, grinning, and Butterfly took the other side of her, leaning over to lay her head on Coco’s side.
Summer put her hands on her hips and frowned. “Why does Shade get to pick? Just because he’s your husband? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Sunny chuckled and settled in his orange sunflower motif beanbag, patting Summer’s pink one. “It’s because he’s good at picking movies that everybody will like. Don’t worry about it, you’ll enjoy whatever he picks.”
Shade eyed Sunny’s movie shelf for a few moments before triumphantly grabbing one and holding it up. “We’ll be watching Castle in the Sky today. Perfect for everybody.” He put the movie in, then grabbed the remote and snuggled into Sunny. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen this one, but I remember liking it.”
Coco grinned. “I bet it’s going to be great. Your picks always are.”
Summer huffed a little, but if she had anything to say she kept it to herself.
The movie started, and Shade nuzzled eagerly into Sunny, laying his head on his chest.
A while into the movie, something tapped on Shade’s shoulder. He looked up to see Coco looking down at him. She gestured toward the doorway, and Shade nodded, starting to climb free from Sunny and his beanbag. Sunny took his arm out from around Shade to let him out, and Shade followed Coco out into the little room at the bottom of the stairs.
For a moment, Coco stared at Shade silently, then spoke quietly, keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t carry. “I’m sure you have some suspicions about me, given that I haven’t been coming over lately. You’re smart enough to put together the pieces.” After a moment, she added hastily, “Not that the others aren’t smart, you just have MORE of the pieces. You saw me at the vet the other day, after all.”
Shade nodded and gave a little smile. “I have suspicions. I’m guessing the fact that you’re talking to me about it means that they’re probably true.”
She nodded. “Depending on what you suspect, probably.” She glanced around to be sure nobody was listening. “I’d like you to keep it to yourself, if you could. Just… just for now. I’ll tell them, but I want to… I haven’t discussed it with Scout yet. I was waiting for his break, so he has time to…” She trailed off, frowning. “Well, I’m expecting some panic. I wanna tell him at the beginning of his break, so he has time to work through that before he has to go to work again.”
Shade grinned. “Okay, I’ll keep it a secret for now.”
Coco seemed to relax a bit. “Thanks, Shade. I was worried you were going to blab to Sunny, and then Sunny would blab to everybody else, and then Scout would hear about it from somebody else and be upset that I didn’t tell him first.”
Shade scoffed, pretending to be offended. “I would NEVER! In what world would I EVER tell Sunny, the love of my life, my absolute favorite person in the whole WORLD, a secret? I NEVER!”
Coco snickered and swatted at him. “You’re such a goof when you’re not busy being shy, you know that?”
He stuck his tongue out at her playfully. “You’re just jealous Sunny got me and you got stuck with Mr. Oblivious Farm Boy.”
She smirked. “I dunno, Scout’s got his charms. Besides, he’s cuter than you.”
Shade put his hands over his heart. “No-! Murdered, in the prime of my life! Dying! At the hand of my own friend, no less!” He flopped over on the floor and pretended to be dead for a moment while Coco giggled at him. After a moment, he grinned and sat up, looking up at her. “Oh, and Coco?” He waited for her to look at him before finishing his thought. “Congratulations.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I had a feeling with the amount of time that Scout and Coco were with each other which is pretty much any time Scout has his moments that he isn't busy with something else that this would happen. It will be fun to see Scout as a father as I'm sure he would be just wonderful at it!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 13: Home Alone

Shade hummed quietly to himself as he stepped out of the shower, scrubbing himself dry with a towel before pulling on a clean shirt. He grabbed a comb and coiffed his headfluff before starting down the hall, grinning when he saw Paul hefting a box outside. He grabbed the door to help him, then followed him to his beater car. “Taking another load over to the storage shed? When’s the new apartment become available?”
Paul grunted and dropped the box in the backseat. “Three days. Then Alice and I will be able to move in together, just like we wanted. It’ll be the start of our new lives together.”
“I’m gonna miss ya.” Shade leaned in to peek into the car at the three or four boxes lined up next to each other, ready to go out to the shed.
“I’ll miss you too, bud.” Paul frowned and patted Shade’s shoulder. “Are you SURE you’ll be all right? I can wait a few weeks, let Alice get settled in before I join her…”
“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Shade reached up and patted Paul’s arm on his shoulder. “Sunny’s gonna stop by a few times a day, in case I spiral. I’ve got this. I can be alone.” He hesitated. “I think.”
He smiled at him, then patted his arm. “Show me. I’m going to run this stuff by the storage unit, go to the store, and then come back. When I get back, no TV, no cleaning, no music, no cupcakes. Just a relaxed corgi who had a great time dealing with his codependence.”
Shade gave a huff. “Of COURSE I can manage that. You’re only gonna be gone, what, two hours? Easy.”
“Good boy. And remember, you start having the bad thoughts, what do you do?” He narrowed his eyes and pointed at Shade.
Shade rolled his eyes. “Paaulll!”
“Shade, it’s important. Answer me. What do you do when you start having bad thoughts?” He frowned down at him. “Just… humor me.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, rolling his eyes. “I answer the negative thoughts with positive words spoken out loud and say nice things about myself. This will train my brain to think positively about myself so that being alone doesn’t bother me as much. I KNOW all this!” He threw his hands up in the air, then mumbled, “It’s the actual DOING it that’s a problem.”
Paul smiled and patted Shade’s arm. “Thatta boy. I know, it’s hard, and it doesn’t always work as fast as you want it to, but please try. I won’t be gone too long; you should be able to make it, no sweat.”
He smiled up at him, then stepped back away from the vehicle as Paul climbed in. Shade was a little jealous; since Paul was still roughly human-sized, he could drive a regular car, and had only needed to retake his driver’s test. Shade had offered to buy him a car, but Paul had insisted he wanted to get one that he’d paid for himself, which was why this car wasn’t in the greatest shape. Still, it was reliable, and it started right up when Paul turned the key, and Shade watched it go down the street for a few moments before turning and going inside the house.
Shade’s first reflex was to turn on the TV, but he ignored that; he was supposed to be trying to be on his own, without background noise to distract him, and he knew that he was almost out of time to get it right. His ears went back as he looked around the house- it was already clean, so there was nothing he could do there. His eyes went to the kitchen. He could make something?
He shook himself out of it. “No. Bad Shade. Relax. Let yourself be alone.” He walked to the living room and sat down on the couch, staring at the blank television screen.
He felt himself getting fidgety within seconds, and frowned. After a few moments, he realized what the problem was: he didn’t actually know HOW to relax. He thought he might have known once; he looked back into his past with a frown.
There was the Wildside House, where he’d met Paul. He’d been living there as a guest of some program he’d never heard of, apparently some old, outdated program meant to give animals the same rights as humans. That had already happened, so the program had been reopened just for him when he’d fallen through a bureaucratic crack- according to the laws, he didn’t actually exist for a while, since he’d lived in the pound for a year after becoming a corgi, classifying him as a stray, which had made it difficult for him to get his citizenship back.
Before the pound… Shade flinched at the memories thinking back that far triggered. He’d long since come to peace with his past; a lover who hadn’t loved him back, who had used him as a personal punching bag, piggy bank, and housekeeper. It had left him a mess: twitchy, nervous, and panicky. It was even responsible for the state of his house now; years of beatings had caused shade to reflexively clean up after himself as he went.
“... Oh… That’s when I forgot how to relax, isn’t it?” He mumbled to himself, looking around. “I don’t… what did I used to do for fun? I used to play my guitars, hang out with friends… but what did I used to do when I was alone?” He tried to think back further, but it was hard, like remembering something from another lifetime.
“I think I used to… read books? Or something? I don’t have any books HERE, though…” He looked around with a frown. “I don’t have… really ANYTHING here.”
He frowned and looked around at the sparse decorations. “No wonder I can’t be here without freaking out, there’s NOTHING here. I need to get some photos or something.” He lay back on the couch and sighed, staring at the ceiling. “There’s literally nothing to do here. I guess I could go up to my studio… aaand now I’m talking to myself. Great.”
He slid down off the couch and snorted, wandering back to the kitchen. “Maybe I just need a snack. I can get a glass of water, maybe some biscuits… I’ll text Sunny and see what he’s up to. I can DEFINITELY waste two hours by myself.”
A few moments later, he sat at the table with a glass of water and a stack of dog biscuits, holding his phone and starting to text Sunny. It was an ordeal; the phone only had a number pad, so texting took absolutely ages. “Hey, Puppy. What’s up?”
He expected there to be a delay before Sunny texted back, but his phone went off almost immediately. “Watching a movie with Summer. You don’t usually text first. What’s wrong?”
Shade hesitated for a few moments. “Home by myself while Paul runs some errands. Realised there’s nothing to do here.”
“Told you, you needed some toys. How’s it going?” Sunny’s response was just as quick.
Shade frowned, thinking about how it had been since he was by himself. He’d been having a good day lately; there were no hidden anxieties about the future, nor worries about the present. His past was behind him. “Pretty good. No bad thoughts.”
“Need me to come over?” The response sat on Shade’s screen for a few moments before the phone went off again. “Mom’s going to be home in a few minutes. I can leave then if you need me to.”
Shade considered for a few moments before he started typing his answer. “No, I got this.”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am very happy for Shade that his anxieties haven't been causing trouble and making him break down into a mess because he can't cope. It is a sign that he definitely is getting better and will not let his life be turned upside down by his dread!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 14: Shopping

Sunny’s tail wagged as he leaned into Shade, enjoying the bus ride. “So, you never said… where are we going?”
Shade grinned and kissed Sunny’s nose. “Oh, I realized I don’t really have anything to occupy my time at home, so I thought I’d make a date of going out to get some stuff. Nothing fancy, really. Books, maybe some card games…”
“Ooh! You should buy some video games!” Sunny grinned, bouncing in place. “We could play with each other when I come over!”
Shade frowned. “I’ve… never really been into video games. I mean, maybe when I was a KID, but I kinda grew out of them.”
Sunny chuckled. “Aww, you just haven’t been playing the RIGHT games. When we get to the mall, I’ll show you the ones to get.”
Shade chuckled and leaned into Sunny. “Oh? And what if I don’t WANT a video game?”
“You’ll get one anyway, because you love your hubby and you want to spoil him rotten.” Sunny grinned and nuzzled into him. “We’ll at least use it when I’m over, even if you don’t use it when you’re alone.”
Shade chuckled and ruffled his headfluff. “Okay, you spoiled little brat. We’ll look at video games. No promises, though.”
Sunny giggled and looked out the window. “Our stop is coming up.”
“Let’s go, then.” Shade grinned. When the bus stopped, he stood up and took Sunny’s hand, getting off with a handful of other passengers and leading him across the busy parking lot into the building’s front entrance, where they immediately went aside and stopped at a map.
Sunny pointed. “The video game store is here, the bookstore is there. Not too far apart.”
Shade skimmed the map, then nodded. “Let’s start with some pretzels.” He pointed at a pretzel stand a short distance from where they were standing. “I wanna try one of those frozen lemonades.”
Sunny snickered and shook his head, grabbing Shade’s hand. “You goof.”
They went through the line for the pretzel stand, getting a pretzel and a slushie each, and took a seat at one of the tables set up around it to eat. Sunny grinned and spoke through a mouthful of pretzel. “I’m surprised you’re eating this. Normally you’re all like, ‘bread’s not good for you, dogs can’t digest wheat effectively.’”
Shade shrugged. “I went to the vet a couple weeks ago, and he told me to eat more junk food. He also said I needed to put on some extra weight, so if eating things that are tasty but not necessarily good for me is what it takes, that’s what I’ll do.”
He continued eating his pretzel, watching a kid go past on a rental scooter shaped like a dinosaur. “That looks fun. I wish I wasn’t too big to do that.”
Sunny smirked at Shade, raising an eyebrow. After a moment, Shade snorted, nearly choking on his slushy. “Wait, I’m NOT too big to do that! Not anymore, anyway!” His tail started wagging as he looked around, wiping the slushy off his face with a napkin. “Where do we rent a fun little scooter?!”
Sunny laughed out loud and pointed. “I think there’s a rental spot that way. You’re such a silly little goober, you know that, Shade?”
“Not just ANY silly little goober.” Shade grinned and raised his wrist, tapping his wedding bracelet. “I’m YOUR silly little goober. FOREVERRRR!”
Sunny laughed and shoved his arm playfully. “Come on, goober, we can take the slushies to go and let somebody else have the table.”
Shade grinned and got up from the table, sucking on his slushy as he led Sunny in the direction he had pointed. When they came to the little scooter charging station, his eyes lit up. “Oh, we’re riding the triceratops.” He rushed over to the fiberglass dinosaur and mounted it excitedly, his tail wagging overtime.
Sunny snickered. “Okay, okay, settle down. You gotta put your card in here, first.”
Shade passed over his debit card, and Sunny swiped it. The machine buffered for a moment, then beeped, releasing the cheaply-made dinosaur. Shade grinned and drove it forward, then paused to let Sunny climb on before whooping happily and driving off through the mall. “YEAH! I’m driving a DINOSAUR!”
Sunny giggled and rode on the back of the dinosaur as Shade took them on a joyride around the mall before parking the dinosaur in a return kiosk near the bookshop. He snickered and helped Sunny off the back. “Heh… that was fun. Shall we get serious now? I’d like some books.”
Sunny took Shade’s hands. “We’re gonna get you some books. Really good ones.” He grinned and tugged Shade into the bookshop. Shade grinned and took his time looking at books, picking up some self-help books on dealing with being Changed, some music theory books, and a few novels to get started. Sunny got some books of his own: a book on sewing tricks, a novel, and a couple comics.
As they carried their purchases out of the bookstore and into the mall proper, Shade grinned. “Wanna ride the dinosaur again?”
Sunny snickered. “What would be the point? This is already the nearest station to our next stop.”
“It’s fun.” Shade grinned, then tugged on Sunny’s hand to take him into a toy shop and to the wall of games. He ended up picking out a few decks of cards, a couple board games, and some other random items that he saw and liked on the way.
Sunny laughed and nudged Shade playfully. “You’re like a kid sometimes! You just bought random stuff you saw for fun!”
Shade smirked. “I’m rich, what do I care? If it’s fun, why shouldn’t I get it?”
“That’s the spirit.” He grinned at him, then followed Shade’s gaze when he suddenly frowned and stared behind him. “What? What are you looking at?”
“That phone kiosk.” Shade nodded at the kiosk in question. “That’s my carrier. You still think I need a new phone?”
Sunny nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, you do. You’re using a flip phone. Those have been out of style since before I was born!”
Shade dramatically put a hand to his chest. “Ouch, that hurts. You’re making me feel old!”
Sunny nudged him. “You know what, you ARE old. Why would you use something like that on PURPOSE when there are so much better options available?”
“Okay. Let’s go look at them.” Shade grinned.
“I- what?” Sunny blinked.
“Let’s go look at the better options. I think I might be ready for a smartphone again.” He took Sunny’s hand and walked across to the kiosk, standing next to the window to peer inside. “Which one do you think I should get?”
Sunny looked over the options, then pointed. “This is the one I have.”
“Okay, I’ll get this one. I’ll need a case, though.” He stepped sideways to look at the cases, then grinned and pointed. “Look, that one’s got my logo on it.”
Sunny grinned. “Oh, it’s MADE for you.”
Shade smirked and looked up at the Kiosk worker. “Excuse me. If I buy a phone here, would you be able to transfer over my number to the new phone, or would I need to call customer support to do that?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

Its great to see that Shade is finally getting rid of his outdated flip phone which probably doesn't let him do all that much like a superior phone would besides him just calling people. Once he gets the latest though I do expect him to become more engrossed in it as well as using it to help his anxiety a little bit when he feels it bubbling up inside of him.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 15: Adjustment

Shade put his ears back and followed Paul outside, staring at his back. Paul loaded the box into his car, then took a deep breath, sighed, and turned back to Shade, offering his key.
Shade shook his head. “No… you keep it. You can come for a visit any time.” His eyes started to water, and he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Paul’s legs. “I’m gonna miss you!”
Paul chuckled, rubbing Shade’s head affectionately. “Shade, I’m only moving twenty minutes away. We have plans to come over next week! You’ll see me all the time, I promise!”
“I know, I know… Just let me be dramatic for a moment.” He closed his eyes and hugged Paul a little more. “Thanks… for everything. You really helped me out when I was in a bad spot.”
Paul kneeled to get closer to Shade’s height and smiled, hugging him back. “No, thank you. You gave me a place to stay after Wildside House, and even waived my rent the last few months so I could save up for this apartment. You’re a real champ.”
Shade gave a sad little chuckle. “Well… what are best friends for?” He let go of Paul and stepped back. “Well... see you next week?”
“Of course. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll answer if I can. Promise.” He closed the back door of the car and opened the driver’s door. “I’ll text you and let you know when I get there safely, okay?”
Shade nodded and gave a wave as Paul closed his car door, watching him drive away. Once Paul’s car was out of sight, Shade closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then turned and walked back into his house.
The first thing he did was drag the vacuum cleaner up the stairs and into Paul’s room, looking around. Paul hadn’t been as clean as Shade was, but he hadn’t left too much of a mess- the bed was stripped, the dresser needed dusting, and the floor needed vacuumed, but it was otherwise fairly clean.
Shade took an hour or so to do the cleaning, making sure Paul hadn’t forgotten anything under the mattress or in the dresser or closet. He stood in the doorway, looking around at the empty room before closing the door and pushing the vacuum ahead of him back down the stairs and back into the hall closet.
That done, he looked around the house and gave a heavy sigh. It was quiet. Entirely TOO quiet. He tried to ignore his unease for a while, then turned on the television and sat at the dining room table, grabbing a deck of cards and laying out solitaire with his new phone next to him.
He hadn’t messed with the new phone too much, but Sunny had insisted he keep it with him so they could keep in touch, so he’d quickly taken to carrying it around the house with him. It felt odd in his hand; it was far bigger than his old flip phone, and the shape didn’t quite fit his hand as nicely as he liked.
It didn’t take long for Shade to grow bored of solitary card games; he frowned and leaned back in his chair for a moment, then started to pack away his cards. He looked up when the front door opened, and Sunny walked in with Summer on his tail.
“Hey, hun. I came to check in on you, like I promised.” Sunny looked around, then sighed. “Really, Shade? It’s only been like two hours since he left and you’re already using the TV for background noise? I thought you said you were working on it.”
“I am, I am!” Shade jumped up and ran across to give Sunny a hug. “I just… didn’t feel like working on it TODAY. I cleaned up Paul’s room after he left, and then I turned on the TV. It’s not like Doc said I can’t turn on the TV at ALL, he just said he wants me to try being alone so I can train my brain to think nice things about myself.”
Summer huffed. “This show stinks.” She jumped over the couch, knocking over a picture on the endtable, and settled on the couch with her paws up on the cushions and Shade’s biscuit dish from the table in the entryway in her lap. She grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels.
Sunny flinched, rushing to stand the photo back up. “Summer, this isn’t our house. Be respectful.”
“Whatever. You’re not the boss of me. Mom said we’re EQUALLY in charge.” She stuck her tongue out at him and stuck her hand back in the biscuit bowl to start snacking.
Sunny groaned and rubbed his temples with his thumb and finger. “I’m sorry, she’s got a little bit of an attitude.”
Shade sighed. “It’s fine, it’s… I wouldn’t eat those biscuits, they’ve been there for months. They’re mostly just decorative. I can get you some fresh ones…”
“Who decorates with biscuits? Besides, they taste fine to me.” Summer leaned back further in her seat, looking Shade in the eye as if daring him to do something about it.
When Shade didn’t do anything after a few moments, Sunny gave a sigh and grabbed Shade’s arm, pulling him away and lowering his voice. “You can’t just let her do whatever she wants, Shade. This is a dog thing. She’s challenging your authority in your own house. If you let her do stuff now, she’ll keep on with the attitude forever because she knows she can get away with it. You need to stop her.”
Shade flinched a little. “I don’t like confrontation. I don’t really care if she eats my biscuits. Like I said, they’re-”
Sunny grabbed Shade by both shoulders and shook him a little. “Shade. You need to listen to me. Dog up. Summer just walked into your house, knocked stuff over, started eating your food, put her paws up on your furniture. You need to do something about it. If you let it slide now, it’s going to be a much bigger deal later on if you decide you’d like her to stop.”
He sighed. “Okay, fine…” He turned and walked back over toward Summer. “Take your paws off my couch.”
Summer barely looked up at him. “Make me, shorty.”
Shade hesitated, and Sunny nudged him forward. “Go on! Make her. It’s your house, make her follow your rules. You’re in charge here.”
Shade stumbled forward, glanced back at Sunny, then looked down at Summer’s paws up on his couch. He reached out and shoved them off the couch. “I said, paws down.”
She glared at him, then slowly put one paw, then the other, back up on the couch. That done, she took another biscuit from the bowl and deposited it in her mouth, looking him in the eye defiantly.
Shade scowled and stepped forward, snatching the bowl of biscuits from her, trying to match her glare. He felt ridiculous and mean, but he tried not to show it as he raised his other hand and pushed her legs down off the couch.
She growled at him, raising her hackles and bearing her teeth as she again put her paws up on his couch. He carefully leaned over to place the bowl on the endtable, then jumped up on the couch with a snarl, going in for a nip.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I guess we are seeing the first step of Shade starting to act more like a dog here when dealing with Summer. I just hope that Shade doesn't go too far and end up ruining his relationship with his new sister-in-law.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 16: Cleanup

“Ow. OW, that hurts!” Shade flinched as Sunny dabbed at his neck with a damp paper towel.
“Oh, stop, you big baby. I’ve bitten you harder than this.” He dabbed a little more, reaching in with his fingers to spread the fur out of the way and look at the cut. “Look, it’s barely even bleeding.”
“Still hurts.” Shade pouted. “Why did you make me fight her?”
“I told you, it’s a dog thing. I couldn’t watch you let her walk all over you.” He looked down and grabbed a cotton swab with the tip dipped in liquid bandage, then looked up again and started carefully applying it to the cut.
Shade winced and did his best to hold still. “None of our other friends made me fight them before they respected my space. Why did Summer need to get her tail kicked?”
He gave another little sigh and flicked Shade’s ear. “Because our other friends knew you and your boundaries before they ever came into your house. They didn’t come in looking for the boundaries. Now stop squirming, I’m almost done.”
“I feel like a bad host. What kind of host BITES their guests?” He watched Sunny wrap the cotton swab in the paper towel and put a cap back on the liquid bandage.
“The kind whose guest is an adolescent dog intentionally overstepping the boundaries to see what she can get away with.” He started packing up the first aid kit. “I think she’s ready to apologize to you now. It’s very important that you don’t apologize back or just say ‘it’s okay.’ You need to say ‘I forgive you,’ or something along those lines.”
Shade put his ears back and frowned. “That sounds… rude.”
“I know.” Sunny patted his arm. “Just be glad she only bit back the one time. I don’t think you could have won if she’d wanted to fight for real.”
“That does not make me feel better.” He sighed and climbed up on his stool to peer at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He tilted his head to stare at the scratch across his neck. “That felt way bigger than that.”
“Yeah, that happens a lot. You ready to go back out there?” Sunny smiled at Shade, then frowned when he kept poking at the scratch. “You’re gonna rub off the bandage.”
“Why did you take care of my scratch first?” Shade suddenly turned to Sunny with a frown. “She’s your sister, shouldn’t you have taken care of her scratches first?”
Sunny sighed and shook his head, gently pulling Shade down off the stool and starting to usher him through the bedroom. “It’s complicated, okay? Let’s just say, since you're the top dog here in the house, your needs come first. I don’t expect you to really understand it. You were raised differently.” He led him out into the hallway and down the hall to the living room, where Summer was standing on the tile floor with a damp paper towel held to her shoulder.
She put her ears back and looked down at Shade. “I’m sorry. I was being out of line. It won’t happen again.”
Shade opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated, thinking about what Sunny had told him before changing what he’d been about to say. “You’re forgiven. Now go have Sunny clean you up before you bleed on my floor.” He watched her slink past him, and Sunny patted her back as he led her to the hallway bathroom, the first aid kit still clutched in his hand.
While he waited, Shade went back to the master bathroom and cleaned up the damp paper towel, wiping a couple red dots off the inside of the sink with it before throwing it in the trash and climbing up on the stool again to look at his cut. It was only about an inch or two long, really. It felt worse than it looked. He sighed, shook his head, and went back out to the living room, starting to straighten up the messed-up couch cushions, broken biscuit bowl, and knocked-over endtable. He vacuumed the area three or four times to be sure there were no broken glass shards still in the carpet, then looked up to see Sunny coming out of the bathroom with Summer behind him.
“Hey. How did patching her up go?” He looked up from winding up the vacuum cord, then did a double-take as he looked up at Summer. She seemed subdued, and wouldn’t look at him. He frowned and turned his gaze to Sunny.
Sunny hugged Shade and kissed his cheek. “She’ll be like that for a while. It’s just the way it goes. Don’t worry about it.” He looked around, then turned to look at Summer. “Help Shade clean up the mess you made. Looks like he’s already got it mostly done.”
Summer shrugged. “Okay…” She started setting up the throw pillows on the couch the way they’d been when she got there.
Shade hesitated, then tugged Sunny’s arm to pull him out of earshot. “What’s the matter with her?”
“She’s pouting. She just lost a fight. Two big ol’ scratches on her shoulder, about three inches long. Probably from when you bit her and she pulled away.” Sunny nuzzled Shade. “Don’t worry, you hurt her pride more than you hurt HER. She’ll be fine.”
Shade put his ears back quietly. “I feel like a piece of dung. She’s basically a CHILD.”
“Aww.” He kissed his cheek. “You just spoke to her in her language. Don’t worry about it. She’s not going to resent you for it. Dogs are different than humans.”
“I know, I know. She probably saw it as probing for the boundaries or something like that, but from my point of view, I just assaulted a teenager.” Shade huffed quietly.
“Aww. My poor baby.” Sunny kissed Shade’s cheek. “It’s kind of my fault that it got to this point. I should have let you know that she was pushing you from the start. Doing things like getting in your pool without permission, calling you names, bossing you around. I kept waiting for you to do something about it. I forgot that you didn’t know you were SUPPOSED to do something about it.”
Shade sighed and nuzzled into Sunny. “So… what do we do now?”
He nuzzled back. “Go get some biscuits. You can be nice to her now, but if she starts pushing again, you need to push back. We can watch something on your TV, play a game… whatever you like.”
“So I’m supposed to just act like nothing happened? Sunny, we were just FIGHTING. I BIT her. She bit me back! How am I supposed to go back in there and act like nothing happened?” Shade felt frazzled. He scrubbed at his headfluff with his fingers.
Sunny chuckled and smoothed his headfluff back out again. “Just do the best you can. Act like you’re in charge. She’s not staying, she’ll go home when Mom’s back from work. It’ll only be a couple of hours.”
Shade glanced over at Summer, who was standing by the couch, holding one elbow with the opposite hand and looking down at the floor as she waited for them to return. “... I GUESS I can try. It’s totally weird.”
Sunny chuckled. “Actually… it was kind of hot watching you take charge like that. Maybe we can try that tonight after she goes home.”
Shade stared at Sunny for a moment, then blushed when he realized what Sunny was saying.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I thought that this was a great chapter that you pout together and it really moves things along nicely! This is making me excited for what is going to come next in the story!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

This is your reminder that there will be no chapter tomorrow, Thursday, November 27th, as it is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Instead, there will be two chapters on Friday. Have a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate, and a nice Thursday if you don't!

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Chapter 17: Splashdown

“GANGWAY!” Butterfly yelled, taking a running jump and vaulting over the inflatable wall into the pool, splashing an impressive amount everywhere.
Shade laughed, shielding his face. “Hey, careful! You’re gonna hurt yourself!”
She stuck her tongue out at him, then smirked and splashed him. “Hurt myself like fighting with a dog half my age? Like that?”
He rolled his eyes, standing next to the pool. “Sunny told you.”
“Sunny told me.” She grinned, punching his arm. “Bold move, mister twitchy.”
“Hey now, if you’re gonna be HITTING me, I’m not gonna let you come use my pool anymore.” He rubbed his arm with a frown.
She smirked and plopped down. “Too late. I’m already in. You’ll NEVER get rid of me now.”
He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the others should be here soon. I’m gonna set up the grill.”
“Have fun.” She plugged her nose, squeezed her eyes shut, and flopped back into the water, letting herself go under.
Shade watched her for a moment, then rolled his eyes and turned to his new grill. It had been delivered only that afternoon- right on time- and he had already read the instruction manual back to front to make sure he was using it correctly. Of course, it was TECHNICALLY meant to be a tabletop grill, but standing next to it, it was almost the perfect size for him. He hefted a bag of charcoal with a grunt and poured from it into the bottom of the grill. He looked inside, scooped a few briquettes back out and back into the bag, then set the bag back down and picked up the book of matches.
“Hi, Shade!” Sunny’s voice sounded. Shade looked up and grinned at Sunny and Summer walking into the backyard through the open gate. Sunny held up a big bowl triumphantly. “I brought cucumber salad!”
Shade laughed and gestured to the glass table on the porch. “Bring it on up through here. We’ll stick it in the fridge until food is ready.”
Sunny grinned and walked up the steps to kiss Shade on the cheek. “So, what made you think of having a cookout?”
Shade grinned. “I don’t know, it just seemed like something you do when it’s summertime and you have your own house.” He leaned over and gave Sunny a kiss. “It sounded like fun.”
Sunny chuckled and motioned to Summer. “Come on, let’s put this stuff in the fridge.”
Summer walked past, holding a bowl of her own with her ears held back respectfully. Shade grinned. “Still a little shy after our fight, huh?” He poked her, and she pulled away, rushing inside.
Butterfly snickered. “You must have REALLY kicked her tail! You said you had a fight, but she’s acting like you almost took her out!”
Shade turned to Butterfly and frowned. “I didn’t, though. I bit her, she bit me back, I pushed her- that was the whole fight.”
She shrugged and went underwater again, coming back up on the other side of the pool. “Well, maybe she just realized that you COULD have done more. Or assumed you could have. Or-”
“Hello!” August grinned, pausing to knock on the gate before coming through and holding up the bag in his hands triumphantly. “I have chips!”
Shade grinned. “Excellent. You can put those on the table next to Butterfly’s biscuits.” He glanced up at the clock through the back door. “Coco should be here in a few moments. I don’t know if she’s bringing Scout.” He looked back down at his grill, placing a hand over it to see if it was hot yet before remembering he hadn’t actually lit it. He struck a match and tossed it into the coals, watching it burn for a moment before the coals lit.
“Yeah, Scout’s here.” Coco’s voice sounded cheerily from the gate. She strode through and turned to grab Scout’s hand. The border collie looked a little subdued today, staring at the ground with his ears back. “We didn’t bring anything, though.”
“You brought yourselves. That’s plenty.” Shade grinned, then waved Coco up to the porch and lowered his voice so only she could hear. “Is he upset because you told him, or because of another reason?” He nodded at Scout.
Coco grinned. “He’s kind of mid-panic right now. He’ll be all right.”
Sunny poked his head out through the door. “Hey, Shade, what are these pitchers in your fridge? There’s not room for my cucumber salad or Summer’s marshmallow whip.”
Shade’s ears perked. “Oh! You can bring those out and put them on the table. I made drinks! One is sweet tea, one is lemonade, and one is unsweetened tea.”
Sunny ducked back inside, and Scout climbed the stairs to scowl at the grill. “Who drinks unsweetened tea? That’s gross.” He turned and hugged Coco.
Shade chuckled. “Well, if you mix the sweet tea with the lemonade, it’s too sweet. So unsweetened tea for that. Besides, I kind of like the unsweetened.”
“Ye’re weird. Ah could NEVER.” Scout huffed and took a seat, staring at Coco as she walked back down the steps and started to get into the pool. He stood up abruptly. “Coco, ye’re gonna-”
“I’m FINE, Scout.” Coco chuckled up at him. “I’m just getting in the pool. I’ll be fine.” She turned and climbed in, then turned to him and put her arms out. “See? I’m fine.”
Scout stood at the top of the stairs, muttering indecisively, and Shade chuckled, putting his arm around him and leading him back to his chair. “Scout. Buddy. Pal. RELAX. It’s fine. She knows what she can and can’t do, and if she needs your help, she’ll come to you. Honestly. I thought you’ve been doing this your whole life, farm boy.”
Scout put his ears back and glared at Shade. “That’s diff’rent.”
Shade chuckled at him. “I’m sure it is.” he turned to stir the coals in the grill for a moment, then turned back to Scout. “Hey, how do you like your burgers cooked?”
“He likes them rare to medium.” Coco called up. “We all do.”
Shade frowned. “All of you?”
August laughed. “You probably do, too, but you’ve never tried it. You’re a dog, too. The rare-er the meat, the better.” He turned to help Sunny carry a pitcher the last few feet to the table. “Don’t tell me you’ve been cooking your meat like you’re still a human all this time.”
“Well… kind of?” Shade put his ears back, a little embarrassed. “I honestly didn’t think about how my tastes might have shifted.”
Summer huffed. “Of course you didn’t. You…” She trailed off, then snorted and put her ears back, stomping down the stairs to join Coco and Butterfly in the pool.
Sunny kissed Shade’s cheek. “We’ll work on figuring out the stuff you’re still doing like a human together, okay?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

You might be able to turn a human into a dog physically but you can't take the human out of him once he is a dog. It probably will take at least a few years for Shade to figure out ALL of the correct cues to do in situations that come up that a dog would do.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Whatever crashed the site took out Friday's double upload and prevented an upload on Saturday, so it's going to be double chapters until we get caught up to where we're supposed to be.

----

Chapter 18: Cookout Suppertime

“Butterfly, get out of the pool. Food’s almost ready.” Shade called down the porch steps. “Coco, you too.”
“Okay!” Coco called, then turned and started climbing out of the pool. Butterfly said something to Coco, and Coco leaned in to whisper in her ear, eliciting some excited squealing from Butterfly. Coco snickered and shushed her.
Shade grinned down at them, then turned to Sunny. “You brought a side dish, right? Wanna go grab it from the fridge real quick? And the little caddy with the condiments in it.”
Sunny grinned and leaned to give Shade a quick peck on the cheek. “Okay. Don’t get started without me, okay?”
“I promise.” Shade chuckled, then turned to start taking the burgers off the grill. They didn’t look done to HIM, but Sunny had assured him that they were nearly perfect. He set them on a serving plate and turned to set it on the table.
Summer glared at Shade from across the table. Shade tried to ignore her as he set aside his spatula and let the grill keep burning, but after a few moments, she decided to speak up. “What’s with the human-style garden party, anyway? Just trying to hammer in how weird you are?”
Shade frowned. “What’s wrong with having a cookout? It’s fun. There’s food, friends…”
“We’re DOGS. We’re not supposed to cook for ourselves! We’re not supposed to have POTLUCKS! This is human behavior!”
August frowned. “I thought it was fun, pretending to be humans for a little while.”
Shade put his ears back. “But… I thought… did you ALL only come because you thought it was a human activity? Like it was a game of pretend?”
Coco shook her head empathetically and put her hand on Shade’s arm. “No, of course not. We came because you invited us. But… I would be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind that we were pretending to be human, just for a little while.”
Shade’s ears sagged. “That… wasn’t my intention at all… I just wanted to have fun with all of my friends, eat some burgers, maybe play some games…”
“Sorry, Shade.” Butterfly came up the stairs and picked a seat around the table. “We didn’t mean to upset you. We’re happy you threw a party and invited us, but we all thought it was kind of like a pretend-to-be-human thing. We didn’t realize you were actually considering it to be a serious kind of party.”
“No, I didn’t mean-” Shade grunted and ruffled his headfluff in frustration. “I’m just- I don’t know how to say it.”
“Cowards.” Summer scoffed. “Mean your upsetting. It won’t hurt him to be upset a little bit. I don’t know why you all walk on eggshells around him.”
August put his ears back. “You didn’t know him when he was bad. We did. We just don’t want to make him bad again.”
“This is him GOOD?!” She gestured to Shade broadly. “You guys are acting like upsetting him is going to cause the neighborhood to collapse or something, and you’re saying he used to be WORSE?!”
“I brought the condiments and cucumber salad!” Sunny announced, letting himself out through the back door, then pausing to look from Summer to Shade. “... What did I miss?”
Scout cleared his throat. “Well, Shade found out we were all thinkin’ this was a pretend t’ be human party, an’ he was upset, so everybody was apologizin’, an’ then… ah’m sorry, ah didn’t catch yer name… was sayin’ that-”
Coco put a hand on Scout’s arm to stop him. “Summer’s just misunderstanding Shade’s relationship with the world. She thinks we’re being too considerate of Shade’s feelings and that he wouldn’t be so sensitive if we weren’t. Does that about sum it up, Summer?”
Summer glared at Coco, then huffed. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Sunny sighed. “This again? I told you, we’ve been working with Shade to stretch his limits, but you have to be patient. He’s not like you, or me, or any of our other friends. He has a lot more to be nervous about.”
Summer scowled. “Oh, yeah, I bet it’s real nervewracking knowing exactly where your next meal is coming from and not having any real rules to worry about. We should all act like he’s a pup and not make him upset or else the world will come to an end.”
Shade put his ears back. “Oh, look, the burgers are getting cold. Dig in, everybody, please.” He started passing the serving plate with the burgers around, watching everybody take one and put it on their buns. He took the last one when it came back around, setting it on his bun and staring at it nervously. It was a lot more rare than he usually made them, and he was worried he wouldn’t like it, but a glance around showed that everybody seemed to be enjoying them, with the exception of Summer, who was still glaring around at everybody.
Before she could start raising a fuss again, Shade suddenly reached for the salad that Sunny had brought and took a big scoop of it, looking at it curiously as he passed the bowl around. It seemed to be a vegetable salad; there were cubed pieces of cucumber, avocado, and some kind of soft white cheese, as well as halved cherry tomatoes, all smothered with some kind of vinegar sauce.
Sunny noticed Shade’s interest and grinned. “I made it myself! It’s one of Mom’s recipes, except when she makes it, it has onions in it, so I had to leave that part out.”
Shade smiled and took a big forkful of the salad, scooping it into his mouth. “It’s delicious.” After a moment, trying to be considerate, he looked to Summer. “Summer, you brought a desert, didn’t you?”
She huffed. “Yeah. Mom made me. I dunno, it’s whatever she made.”
Sunny wagged his tail. “It’s marshmallow whip. Basically marshmallows, fruit, and whipped cream mixed together. It’s AMAZING. She NEVER lets us make it, so it’s really a good thing you decided to have a party. I think she put apples and pineapples in it this time. It’s never the same twice, because you can use whatever fruit you have on hand.”
“That sounds good!” Coco grinned, dabbing at her muzzle with a napkin. “I can’t wait for dessert.”
August seemed a little unsure. “Er… is there corn in it? Mom says I can’t have corn because it causes… er… problems.”
Shade frowned. “Marshmallows are made of corn syrup. I can probably find you something else?”
There was a pause, then August shook his head. “No, no, it’ll be fine. I’ll just pick out the marshmallows.”
Coco chuckled and opened August’s bag of chips. “You know, a little bit probably won’t hurt you. Besides, if it’s THAT problem, you can probably just, you know, avoid drinking too much.”
The tips of August’s ears reddened. “I forgot that the rumor mill spread that private information so far.”
Shade chuckled, glad the conversation was finally off him, and looked down to his burger. He hesitated, then took a bite.
It was delicious.

[Amazee Dayzee]

That dessert that they were talking about kind of reminds me of Christmas when my mother makes ambrosia salad. Of course she doesn't use fluff but real marshmallows as well as fruit in it.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Chapter 19: Fight

Shade hummed to himself as he opened the door and let himself in, closing it behind him and waving at the woman sitting on the couch. “Hi, Mrs… Er… I mean… mom?”
Mrs. Days grinned. “Good morning, Shade. They’re downstairs.”
He switched his bag from one side to the other and grinned. “Thanks. I’ll head on down.” He showed himself along the well-remembered path, through the kitchen, through the door, and down the stairs, humming a little tune he’d made up on the way over. “Gonna get a hug from Sunny…” He sang under his breath as he trotted down the stairs, making each step a syllable and coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs when he found Summer blocking his path.
“No. I don’t want you here today. Go away.” She scowled at him.
Shade paused, staring at her, then chuckled. “Oh, is this some kind of new game you’re playing? Well, excuse me, I’d like to come through.” He sidestepped to move around her, and she sidestepped with him, giving a little growl.
“I said no. Not today. I don’t want you in my space. Go HOME.” Summer snarled at him.
Shade frowned. The snarl certainly SOUNDED real. He looked at her and tilted his head for a moment, trying to decide what to do about it. After a few moments, he decided to try stepping around her the other way.
Apparently that was the wrong decision, because she snarled and nipped at him, stepping in front of him again. “HEY! I said NO! Are you deaf AND stupid, or just STUPID?!”
Shade snorted. He wasn’t sure what to do. He’d never been stopped on the way to the playroom like this, and he wasn’t sure how to act. He looked left and right, trying to think of a way around Summer, then hesitated. He’d seen something in a cartoon before that might help; he dug in his bag and pulled out a biscuit. “Will you let me through for a biscuit?”
She slapped the biscuit out of his hand and glowered at him. “Do I look like a CHILD?! You can’t just bribe me with a cookie. I said go away, and I meant it. Go on! GET!” She stepped toward him, giving him a little shove back toward the stairwell.
Shade stumbled back a step, then glared at her. “Summer, I would like to get to my husband. Let me THROUGH.” He turned and tried to squeeze around her, putting a hand on her chest and shoving to stop her from just moving to block him.
His vision flashed red for a moment before the pain reached his brain, and he yelped, looking at her, then down at his arm, where his fur was disturbed in an unmistakable and distinct U-shaped pattern. He put his ears back and glared at her. “Did you just BITE me?!”
“Did you just TOUCH me?!” She snarled, leaning down and getting right in his face. “I said, go home. I don’t want you here today. This is MY house, and I’m top dog here! You might be in charge at YOUR house, but at MY house, I call the shots.”
Shade took a step back, rubbing his arm. It didn’t hurt anymore; it had barely been more than a nip, really, but that was besides the point. He didn’t want to fight, but he also didn’t want Summer to think she could stop him from seeing Sunny just because she wasn’t in the mood to let him past.
He shoved her with both hands this time. “I don’t have time for this. I’m going to go see Sunny.” He started to go around her.
He wasn’t sure when he’d laid down face-first on the floor or why his arm felt like it was going to break. His head was spinning- it felt like maybe he’d banged it on something, but he couldn’t remember having done so. A voice snarled into his ear. “I said I don’t want you to go in there right now!”
Something heavy landed roughly on his back, and he grunted. His arm twisted even further backward, and he gave a pained yelp, his mind snapping back into clarity as he struggled to get his arm free from Summer’s grip even while she kept bending it backward further and further.
“Tap out. Say you’ll leave and not come back! Say I’m top dog! Say it! SAY IT!” She snarled, nipping at his ear angrily and jerking his arm harder.
“Summer, get off of him! What are you doing?!” Sunny’s voice sounded from the direction of the playroom. A moment later, Summer’s weight lifted off of Shade, and she let go of his arm. He jerked it around and tucked it in against his chest, curling up and covering his head with the other arm, squeezing his eyes shut. He could hear Summer and Sunny arguing.
“I told him I didn’t want him here! He wouldn’t go away!” Summer’s voice sounded angrily.
“It doesn’t just matter what YOU want! I want him here! Besides, you can’t just attack him! You could have broken his arm!” Sunny sounded like he was trying very much not to shout.
“But I didn’t! Besides, look at him! Cowering on the floor like a wuss!” She snorted.
Something hit Shade in the back, and he pulled himself in tighter, protecting his head and squeezing his eyes tighter. Horrible memories flashed through his mind, and he shuddered. He couldn’t help it; he gave a little whimper.
“Don’t KICK him! Go back in the playroom! Go!” Sunny’s voice sounded, sternly, just shy of shouting, and then something touched Shade’s side gently. After a moment, Sunny’s voice sounded. “Shade, it’s okay, she’s gone for now. I’m right here, I won’t let her hurt you anymore.”
Shade could feel himself trembling, but he forced himself to open one eye and look up at Sunny. After a moment, he sat up, putting his ears back and cradling his hurt arm. “I’m sorry…” He mumbled quietly, staring at the ground. “I should go…”
Sunny grabbed his good arm and frowned. “No. You should stay. I WANT you to stay. Besides, if you leave, she’ll think all she has to do to get you to go away whenever she wants is to bully you.” He pulled him in for a hug. “You’ve had enough bullies.”
Shade leaned in and placed his head against Sunny’s chest, closing his eyes and trying to calm down. After a moment, Sunny reached down to touch the arm that Summer had been twisting. “Does it still hurt? I can get Mom to take you to the emergency vet, we can get it x-rayed to be sure she didn’t break anything.”
Shade hesitated and shook his head. “N-no, I don’t want to get Summer in trouble… besides, I think it’s just twisted.”
Sunny huffed and started helping Shade up. “You’re not getting her in trouble. She got herself in trouble when she decided that you needed to have your arm torn off. Are you SURE you’re not hurt?”
“Just my pride.” He grunted, testing his arm. It didn’t seem to have any lasting damage aside from a faint soreness at the shoulder. “What’s her problem, anyway?”
He sighed. “She’s upset because I told her she can’t come with me when I stay nights at your house. Honestly, I think she’s just lonely, and she’d hoped to have me to herself most of the time when she moved in here.”
Shade hesitated, then turned to look at Sunny with a frown. “Are you saying… she’s jealous of me?”

[Amazee Dayzee]

I would say that she is but not in a romantic way obviously since Sunny is very much gay and happily involved with Shade now being his husband. She wants to have Sunny all to herself as a playmate not knowing that being married means she can't have him all to herself anymore.