Woah, it's been a bit, huh? Sorry about that. There isn't really a good reason, it just hasn't been a life priority for either of us for a bit and it took a while to get to a point where we had time to write it again. Once I got back in the groove, this chapter ended up coming into being rather quickly. Next chapter won't take so long. This is another chapter mostly by me, and kingpyn's writing the next chapter, and he's a bit better with getting stuff done I think.
I really really REALLY appreciate all of the feedback and discussion this fic is generating. I am so glad that folks are enjoying it and I hope that you all like this chapter just as much.
For those of you who aren't too big on Heckraiser, I hope this tides you over a bit. (I jest!)
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Chapter Five
The Dreaded Discussion
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“This is hopeless!” Max proclaimed, as if to the whole woods. “These woods are too big. And woodsy! We’ll never find him at this rate.”
Sasha sighed. Max could sense her dejection from the fallen tree he was balancing on, a good twenty feet away from her. “Sasha?” he asked.
“No, no, you’re right, and it’s getting dark…”
Max shrugged. “I can see in the dark just fine. If you want, I can keep searching the woods and you can go look in the neighborhood to see if he’s come back.”
“Why were you saying it was hopeless then?” asked Sasha, looking confused.
Max hopped down from the tree trunk and padded over to Sasha, the sound of the first autumn leaves beneath his paws filling what would have otherwise been an uncomfortable silence.
Max whispered into Sasha’s ear. “There’s always woodland creatures nearby, eavesdropping on you, when you’re in the forest. Usually squirrels. I’m hoping we can guilt them into helping out if we complain loud enough.” He then backed up a bit so as not to crowd her.
Sasha looked down at her feet. Max followed her gaze, seeing that she was all muddy and covered in burrs and brambles. Dogs were not as light-footed or careful as cats, and all this searching had evidently taken a toll on her, and yet she was not complaining.
“So you… don’t feel like this entire thing is hopeless? Like we’re working
too hard or that our… endgoal is not get- gettable?”
“Gettable isn’t a word,” Max said.
“Yes it is,” Sasha said. “I saw it in a dictionary.”
Max looked back up at her face, dumbfounded. “When did
you read a dictionary?”
Sasha scratched behind her ear. “Well, uh. I had to do a lot of paperwork after I left my owner. And sometimes I needed to check the meanings of words. And I felt like reading more of it would make me smarter. So I did? But it took so long and I stopped at pomology. Which is the study of fruits and fruit growing.”
“Huh, so you know a lot of words?”
“Yeah…” said Sasha, sighing. “But I can’t use them right most of the time. I don’t tend to bother.”
“Oh yeah, I totally get that. Never been one for big words myself, you know!”
“Heh.” Sasha frowned. “Hey, wait, you never answered my questions.”
Max in turn sighed this time. “Well… truth is I don’t know how to answer them? I know we’ll find Bino again, and that he’ll just go back home eventually, but I’m worried that maybe there’s nothing I can do at this point. I pushed him too far, and now he won’t listen to reason. He’ll never see that he’s in the wrong.”
“Is he?” asked Sasha.
Max furrowed his brows. “Well may, uh, maybe not entirely, but he’s wrong enough. He had no right to say some of that stuff he said to me!”
“You say awful stuff to him,” said Sasha.
“Oh, did
Bino tell you that? If you said that his shirt was too big he’d take personal offense. If he wore shirts that is. Uh, yeah, that metaphor didn’t land. That’s not the point!” Max turned and started to walk back to the tree trunk. “Everything I ever say to him, even compliments, are taken negatively. How can one dog be so insecure and have such a bloated ego at the same time?”
“You’re doing it right now,” Sasha said.
“Doing what?”
“Talking about how not good he is,” the dog said shyly. She didn’t like to point out hypocrisy when it manifested. Back when her old owner was…
Not the point, not now.
“I’m
just telling the truth,” said Max. He practically spat the word ‘just.’ “Does he really think I’m such a bad brother? When I’m putting in so much effort for him?”
“Just because you put in effort doesn’t make you a good brother,” Sasha said. She wasn’t certain if this was true or not, but if she had a brother, she wouldn’t want them to act the way Max seemed to act. “You act like Bino is… is… pitiful. You’re don’t care for him, you pity him.”
Max turned towards Sasha like she was crazy.
“Of course I care for him! He’s my brother,” said Max, without an ounce of hesitation. “I want to be there for him, but it’s hard when he’s always the instigator of
every single one of his problems. I used to talk to him rationally, but that never got through to him. At least teasing him about it usually made him second guess himself.”
“It just made him angrier,” Sasha argued.
“Well, that’s not
my fault! It was just a bit of ribbing!”
Sasha looked away. “It doesn’t matter how you see it, it matters how he saw it.”
“Ugh. You know, there were so many times where he went home crying because of you. And at first, I tried to help him with it, but he said I thought he didn’t deserve you, and got defensive.”
“Because of
me!?” Sasha sounded shocked, and walked towards Max.
“Oh, yeah,” Max spat. “He was happier before he was with you, you know. But when you were together, you were always chasing after some other dog, sometimes even his own brother. He never felt good enough for you. He stopped wanting to be around you.”
“None of that meant anything,” Sasha dismissed. “I’m always making out with all the dogs around, it’s
fun. Kevin doesn’t mind!”
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe Bino didn’t like it? He’s not like Kevin; he asked you to stop.”
“He didn’t care about what I needed in a relationship!”
“You didn’t care about what he needed, either. There’s a reason he moved on so quickly after you two broke up. He was genuinely happier with
Duchess, of all dogs.”
This hit Sasha like sharpened claws to the face. “He-”
“You two never bothered to
talk about what you wanted in a relationship. You didn’t discuss your terms or anything. You just swept that all under the rug. Even Bino’s realized by now why everything fell apart.”
Sasha huffed. “Oh, like you’re so much better.”
Max rolled his eyes. “I’m insecure about it at times, but I know that Grape could never be happy with just one guy in her life, and I don’t try to convince her otherwise. I want her to be happy, and she wants me to be happy. She makes an effort to make me feel special and loved. I’m happy being with her and I don’t need it to be exclusive. From the sounds of it, Bino really
did.”
“Stop lecturing me,” said Sasha.
“Then don’t lecture me!” said Max, crossing his arms. “I’m gonna keep searching the woods, you can go into the neighborhood.”
Sasha didn’t talk for a second. She just stood there.
“Go on, or are you going to cooperate so we can both… apologize or whatever? I don’t know. I don’t know how to end an argument, Grape does that for me!”
“Maybe you’re right,” Sasha said. She sighed. “I don’t- well, I don’t know. Bino was still a worse boyfriend than I was!”
“Phrasing,” said Max with a small chuckle. “But I’d say cheating is probably worse than regifting. Noooot that it’s my place to judge or anything.”
“Yeah, yeah, how ‘bout you stay out of it?” Sasha ‘suggested.’ “Let’s just drop it.”
“Okay, fine, whatever. I don’t think we’re finding Bino out here anyways. Maybe we should prepare some kind of apology for him when he gets back.”
“I don’t think he’ll be in a state to accept an apology.”
“You’re probably right,” Max conceded. “I don’t know what to do now, though. Feels like we should do something.”
Sasha shrugged. “Well, I’ll go see if he went back to Fox’s place now that his shift is almost over, and you can check your own house. Make sure to text me with an update if he’s there.
Max nodded. “Oh, alright.”
With that, Sasha, who Max noticed was now walking with a noticeable heaviness, or rather stomping, trod off the direction they’d come from. Max pulled out his phone to check Poodle maps, as he figured it might be faster to cut through the woods to get home.
As his screen flashed on, he saw a couple messages (several from both Grape and Peanut, one from Tarot, one from Fox, and one from some kind of scammer) that he hadn’t gotten the notifications for. He didn’t remember muting his phone, but apparently he’d done that at some point.
He read over the messages.
From Grape;
12:35 PM ‘Hows the Bino thing going?’
12:37 PM ‘Will u be back in time for imaginate?’
1:55 PM ‘Okay ur probably muted, cya later, or tomorrow if u can’t be done in time.’
From Peanut;
12:06 PM ‘Max!!!!! I found such a cool bug’
There was an image attached of a pillbug. It was crawling on one of Peanut’s claws.
12:08 PM ‘Max!!!!! Did you see the bug?’
1:29 PM ‘We started imaginate without you. Sorry! Sorry!!!’
1:52 PM ‘Grape just said something really funny but I forgot what it was. ( ; w ; )'
1:56 PM ‘Max please unmute your phone!!!!!
1:57 PM ‘Oh right you’re muted, you can’t hear me.’
2:21 PM ‘You’ve been gone for two and a half hours now, come baaaack!!!! Imaginate isn’t the same without youuuu… ( ,V ^ V, )’
4:02 PM ‘Okay the pups headed home. We played pirates and robbers! It’s like that cops and robbers game but with pirates. Which is far cooler!’
Max smiled at Peanut’s enthusiasm and responded quickly, remarking on the cool bug, then continued on reading the other messages. Tarot simply said “Good Luck,” whilst Fox had sent a message which read ‘So what was all that about?” Max didn’t remember adding Fox to his contacts, but he must have done so during some prior interaction.
Max sent a voice message Fox’s way. “Sasha’s coming to your place, she’ll fill you in on the details.”
With this accomplished, he opened the mapping application on his phone and typed in his address. As he’d expected, it would be faster to cut across the woods than to follow the streets. If he walked in a straight line through this patch of forest, he’d end up in his backyard within five or so minutes.
He began to walk back toward his house, weaving in and out of trees. He was perhaps walking faster than normal, determination compelling him to get back sooner. Plus, if he occupied himself with other things, he wouldn’t have to start thinking about whether or not he’d inadvertently sabotaged things by upsetting Sasha! Which would be less than ideal.
He entered his backyard and strode into the house through the ‘doggie door,’ which was only ever used when the back door itself was locked, as both Max and Bino were tall enough to open the door.
"Is that you, Max?"
The cat's ears perked up. Bino was undoubtedly in the house, and against all odds, did not sound outwardly hostile. Or at least no more so than usual. He was still Bino, afterall.
"Uh, yeah!" Max replied. "I was looking for you."
There was a snort. "Oh, was it to go make me look like an idiot in front of
another old friend's house?" The snort soon turned into a full on laugh.
Max raised his eyebrows. It certainly was... unusual... to say the least, hearing Bino make light of his own situation.
"No," he called back, walking into the living room where Bino was busy drafting up some kind of schedule. Max gave it a passing glance but decided to ignore it for now.
He sighed. He really, really, really wanted to be in some way aggressive or, for lack of a better word, catty, about the situation, but that had only exacerbated things earlier and he would rather not do that now.
"I talked to a weird rabbit," said Bino. "He was willing to listen to my qualms, and woes, and other various and sundry words for the things that are currently weighing heavy upon me."
"I'm... willing to listen too," said Max. He frowned. It felt weird saying that, mostly because listening to Bino talk about his worries was actually one of his least favorite activities. If he had to choose between that and working out every day for six weeks, he'd choose to work out in a heartbeat.
“You… I don’t know. Maybe that isn’t true, or, maybe you’re not the one who I need to listen to me right now. That’s not what I want to talk about. I need to clear some stuff up, and I’m going to try not to get angry, or confused, or anything, even if under the surface I am all those things.”
“That’s… surprisingly mature.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bino snapped. “Ugh, not right now. You know I’m actually
trying, right.”
Max nodded. He was kind of at a loss for words, really.
“Look, okay, this morning, I wanted to apologize to Fox, alright? I just needed
somebody and I didn’t know where else to turn. And you had made that comment last night about claws and there was the- I just couldn’t- I DON’T KNOW, I just.”
Bino took a deep breath and started again. “This morning, I wanted to apologize to Fox, and when I headed over, you and Sasha intercepted me. I had to get to him before he left to go hang out with his cruddy K9 compatriots, and because you’ve never tried to help me out before and kept trying to bring up Duchess, who might I add, is like probably the only dog who even cares about me at this point,” at this, Max looked away. He heard the dog start to sniff a bit, before continuing, “The point is, it seemed to me like you were trying to stop me from reaching out. From apologizing and reconnecting with a friend and feeling happy. So, yeah, I got quite mad at you two. I didn’t see any reason for you to care beyond wanting to stop me! And worse, if that
was your intent, it ended up working perfectly. I think there’s a good chance now that Fox is never gonna talk to me again because of you. That’s something… that I want you to know and something I hope you feel at least a little bad about having to live with…”
Bino started to seriously start tearing up. “I could have had him
back, you know? I don’t know why he ever left me behind for that corgi, for those K9s, for those… whoever else he hangs out with these days. I basically don’t know him anymore, that’s the saddest thing! We used to be best buds! And I talked to the rabbit and he said that you just wanted to make sure I was okay, but if you had wanted to help, wouldn’t you have listened to me when I told you I had something else I needed to do? Why is it that you all only pretend to care about me now anyways? The saddest part is…” Bino chokes back more tears. “For a second, I thought Zach was right, but I don’t know. He wants to see the good in you, but―” Bino turned towards Max, who was staring blankly away, listening closely but not commenting, “·― I’ve known you for years and I’ve seen all the bad in you. But, but, please, tell me that I’m wrong, that you care, that you’ve always cared, that…”
Bino froze. “No, I don’t want to hear that from a cat, but… please just say it anyways.
Please. I don’t know, I don’t…” With that, he broke into full-on sobbing.
Everything else was quiet. Max heard the sobbing, and felt himself tearing up as well. He turned back towards Bino, who had buried his muzzle in his hands. “I’m gonna get tears in my bandages,” Bino said with a halfhearted, fleeting chuckle, before resuming his bawling.
Max tested his voice. “Bino, I don’t know why I let it get this bad. I
do care about you. You’re my brother, even if you are a dog.”
Bino huffed. “You’re always out with your girlfriend and even when you’re here you pretend I don’t exist unless I berate you or you feel like annoying me…”
Max wanted to bite back. He had a million reasons to, for as emotional as Bino was right now, Max felt he was also self-centered.
“Yeah. I always thought, you know, we’re siblings, you can handle some ribbing.”
“You’re implying that I’m too sensitive to handle it. That you would prefer I was someone else who could put up with you being a jerk all the time and wouldn’t get mad about it.”
“I never… I never meant any of the teasing, Bino.”
“Is that your idea of an apology? Telling me you thought I could handle it and that you weren’t being serious with the teasing? I know that. I have known that. Forever. You shouldn’t have the right to be a jerk like that, and then pin it on me, make it about how I can’t handle any ribbing.”
Max sighed. He rubbed at the fur atop his paw, unable to meet Bino’s eyes. “I don’t have an excuse for that. It was a bad thing that I did and I can’t make it better. I’m sorry. I understand if you don’t forgive me.”
“I don’t. Apologizing, begging, groveling, all that is easy. You already did the hard part, which was seeing just how far you could toe the line until you got caught.” Bino snarled.
Max chose not to comment on the irony of that. In his head, the whole time, he’d been arguing against Bino, pointing out the dog’s hypocrisies and how he never did any of the things he expected from Max himself. Bino wasn’t being reasonable, and deep down, they
both knew it. But Max knew it wasn’t time to focus on who was right or wrong, rather, it was time to make sure Bino could let out his feelings. With a hopefully clear-headed future Bino, Max hoped to let the dog know that he had done his fair share to get them in their current situation, but right now, he would suck it up.
“That was never my intention but I can understand why you feel that way. What can I do to actually fix things?"
“Oh, so now you want to fix things?" Bino turned away from Max. "Why!?"
“What do you mean,
why? Because you're my brother? Because I hate fighting you? Because I hate seeing you feel sad?"
“So it's all about your feelings. Nothing to do with whether I'm happy or-"
“Bino, that's not what I meant. I meant that I care about you."
Bino froze.
“You what?" he asked, as if unsure he'd heard properly.
“I care about you. It hurts when you're not doing well, and I want to see you feel better. It hurts that I don't know how to help and that my efforts have always driven a further wedge."
Bino breathed in. He chuckled. “I wish I could believe that, but you do…
so, so much, all to push me away and make me feel bad. You make fun of me. You treat me like I'm stupid. You call me names. You aren't there for me the way you want to believe you are.”
‘No, I'm not, am I?” Max asked. He brought his paw to his forehead. “Carp.”
Bino groaned. “Tell me something I don't know, why don't you?”
“Is there any way I can apologize to you, try to set things right? Isn't there a way to fix this?”
“You know what, maybe there isn't. I don't know why I listened to that stupid rabb-”
There was a loud crash outside. Bino and Max immediately rushed towards the window nearest the source of the sound.
Bino peeked out the window, shoving Max down and almost using him as an inelegant, squirmy footstool. He gasped.
“They knocked over our owner's potted plant!”
“‘What?” Asked Max. ‘Who?”
His question was answered by a quiet knock on the door. A single knock, barely a tap. “Some mouse, maybe?” Max suggested.
“No.” Bino shook his head. He was frozen in front of the window. Max shrugged and headed to the front door, swinging it open.
Contrary to the small rodent he had been expecting to see, he was greeted by the visage of a huge, muscle-bound hound, expressionless, not in a cold way, but in a fiery, tense way. The corners of the dog's tight-lipped mouth twitched at the sight of the cat, ear flicking in recognition of this tiny animal that could very well be its prey.
“Y-Yeltsin-” Bino stammered.
“Duchess sent me. She wants to see ya. Somethin’ about some, er, changes that you made? Or that she made? I uh, er, wasn’t really uh listening.” Yeltsin crossed his arms.
Bino sighed. “Alright, I’ll come.”
“Looks like we is doin’ this the hard way,” Yeltsin said, grabbing Bino’s shoulders.
“What? I said I’d come! Let go of me!”
“The hard way’s more fun for me,” said Yeltsin, hoisting Bino up onto his back with barely any effort. “Plus, I don’t want yer little puppy legs slowing us down, ya hear?”
Bino squirmed on Yeltsin’s back. “If you chased me there it’d be even faster! Just let me down!”
Max wasn’t sure whether to giggle or try to fight back. Well, definitely not fight back. He couldn’t fight Yeltsin off unless he got Res to come all the way from Canada to “help” (do all the work), and even then, it would be a pretty even fight.
“What are you just standing around for, you useless cat?” asked Bino. This shook Max out of his stupor just in time for Yeltsin to whisk Bino out and slam the door in his face.
“Uhhh…” Max said, blinking a couple times. “Wow. Okay. That throws a wrench in our reconciliation.”
-
Sasha did not go straight to Fox’s house. She should have! It’s what she wanted to do, it’s just not what she
did. Instead, she stormed off towards her doghouse in the woods.
When she got there, her first action was to kick it. This did actually help her feel better. She groaned, then leaned against it.
I’m so stupid. I’m so stupid and I’m so awful, she berated herself.
Why was I ever even with Bino in the first place? Why am I sticking my incredibly attractive neck out for him?
She turned around, smushing her face into the roof of the doghouse. She just needed something to rest against for a second.
Max doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I was great for Bino. I gave him so much love and never made fun of his tiny neck. It’s not my fault that Bino didn’t respect what I needed out of a relationship.
I’m way better than Duchess.
The thought that Sasha had even been compared to that putrid dog riled her up. She knew that Bino had been happier with her. He
had to have been.
Not like Max is an expert! He barely ever talks to his brother. He’s the real problem, honestly, it’s his fault that Bino can’t be happy.
I just wish it was more… simple. That Bino could just see what I mean and we could move on like nothing ever happened. He doesn’t deserve this. And I wish he was willing to trust me enough to listen to me when I tell him that Duchess is awful.
I would know. She’s a lot like my old…
Whatever, it’s not my fault that Bino can’t trust me. He’s so paranoid all the time!
Sasha pushed herself off the roof. She wasn’t getting anything done. Wallowing in misery had its time and place, and that time and place was not here!
And so, she trod off in the direction of Fox’s house once more. There was no guarantee that he’d be home yet, as he often went for donuts with Mungo after his shift, but if Sasha crossed her fingers and hoped against all hope, he’d
probably be there.
It turned out that knocking on Fox’s front door with crossed fingers was a quick recipe to hurting her paw! She shook it off, as if to expel the pain from her fingers, and blew on it for good measure.
“Ouch,” she said, calmly.
The sound of the lock coming undone and doorknob being fiddled with caused her ears to perk up. It was weird how much it sounded like her old owner getting back home in the middle of the night. She shied back a bit, but immediately felt overwhelming happiness at the sight of Fox.
“Fox! You’re home!”
“Well, uh, yeah, I guess I am,” said Fox, adjusting his vest. “Only just got back, though, still haven’t changed out of my uniform.”
“Oh, oh, it’s alright if you need a second,” Sasha said, staring at Fox’s K9 uniform. It was no secret that she had a
thing for K9s.
“Nah, I’ll just leave it on for now,” Fox said. Sasha looked up at his face, then immediately turned away as Fox tried to make eye contact. “So, uh, how are you? Feeling better now?” Fox asked. He seemed to be shying backwards a bit.
“Oh, yeah, loads better. I’m doing great! And also fine! And by fine, I mean fine-tastic, because I feel fantastic!”
“Oh, uh, well, that’s great to hear. Max texted me and said you were here to help fill me in on the Bino situation?”
“Yeah. It’s a bit of a long story, though. Could I come in?”
Fox nodded. “Pssht, of course! Of course of course! I mean, uh, why are we even still standing at the door? Isn’t that so weird. How we’re. Um. At the door. Still. That’s bizarre, right?”
“That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard!” Sasha agreed, despite not really being sure what was so strange about it.
“Okay, so naturally, that must mean we should go inside now and I should move out of the way. Come on in!” Fox beckoned with his paw, before running off in the direction of his living room. Sasha followed at an equally unnecessary speed.
They both sat down on a plush sofa in front of the unlit fireplace. “We aren’t actually allowed on this couch, but my owner isn’t home right now. He’s having a bar night with some pals.”
“Oh no! Is he going to be drunk?” Sasha asked.
“Nah, he doesn’t let himself drink that much. He’s responsible.”
Sasha narrowed her eyes. “Alright then, if you say so. I just… I don’t trust that place. I’ve heard of some bad things happening there.”
“Oh right, your old owner– uh, nevermind. So, what was going on with Bino this morning?”
Sasha cleared her throat. “Okay, well, it starts yesterday, actually. Bino seemed really lonely and I wanted to try and reconcile with him a bit. Just as friends, nothing more, but… You know, I was with him for quite some time, and seeing him like this, I felt bad for him.”
“I mean, he did it to himself,” Fox pointed out. “I don’t see much reason to be sympathetic.”
“He’s… trying. My therapist always said that the best thing you can do is try.”
Fox sighed. “Sasha, almost everyone tries, and that includes bad people. Trying to be better is the best thing you can do for yourself, but it doesn’t mean you should respect dogs who only try to make themselves feel better.”
“That’s- you know what, that isn’t the point, Fox.”
“I’m just repeating what Mungo said. And you know, he
is a licensed therapy dog.”
“Just let me get on with the story, okay. Bino reinvited me to the GODC. Turns out he works a lot harder there than I realized. Did you know he made all the food himself back when they had the budget, and plans the meetings himself and everything?”
“That’s only because he doesn’t listen to anyone else’s input,” Fox said with a scoff. “He sees himself as the only dog who cared about the club, but that’s just because he cut out everyone who ever tried to help him, honestly.”
“Fox, can I just get on with it, please?”
The sound of Fox and Sasha’s phones buzzing at the same time answered Sasha’s question. Fox opened his phone to see a new group chat with him, Sasha, and Max in it, and one message from the black cat:
“Bino’s been dognapped.”