Rules Were Made to be Broken

‣ scene 28 [sweet dreams]

Mondo lived in a strangely normal-looking house. Kiyotaka wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but he found himself surprised to look at it.

"You own the place?" Kiyotaka wondered aloud. Mondo grunted a confirmation.

"It's not like I got it myself. Daiya n' I got the place together. N' trust me, it was cheap for a reason."

"Did you have to do a lot of repairs?"

"You wouldn't fuckin' believe it if ya saw it. Place was a disaster."

Kiyotaka nodded along as they got out of the car and Mondo pointed at things he and Daiya had apparently had to fix. They'd gone as far as replacing the front door and most of the siding and giving it a fresh coat of paint, and they had done most of the labor themselves to save money. It would make a nice return on investment, Kiyotaka thought, if Mondo ever decided that he needed more room.

It was kind of ironic, really. Mondo was a homeowner and Kiyotaka wasn't. His apartment's rent was probably more than Mondo's mortgage, but still.

Kiyotaka heard barking and whining and scratching before Mondo could successfully unlock the front door. He greeted the eagerly waiting animals as he stepped inside. Kiyotaka squeezed in after him and remained still, his back pressed against the door. One of the dogs— the only big one— gave him a quick sniff before joining his siblings in tackling Mondo. The man had sat down on the floor and was practically getting attacked with kisses.

"I know, I know," he laughed. Every time he tried to focus on or pet one of them, another would jump onto his lap or push the other out of the way or nuzzle into his chest. "I missed you guys too. ...Take it easy there, Gigi."

Kiyotaka shook his head and chuckled. Mondo had only been gone for a couple of hours at most, but looking at the little reunion, one would think he'd been away at war for years. Mondo was, at the moment, focusing on the blonde-ish Pinscher, who was snorting in an unusual way and sounded like she could barely breathe.

"Is she okay?"

"Oh, she'll be fine, it's just— y'know, she's fat. Not totally her fault, though. She's got a bad heart. Can't exert herself too much. If she gets too excited she has trouble breathin' sometimes. ...Just gotta make sure she settles down."

Gigi did, eventually, manage to calm down, as did the others. Mondo gestured up at Kiyotaka.

"This is Taka," he loudly announced. "We like Taka, understand?"

Kiyotaka knelt down and stuck his hand out. Chuck was the first to risk giving the hand a sniff and seemed to deem him safe, settling in for a scratch behind his ears. He was just as soft as he looked. The others followed suit and walked over as if introducing themselves.

"They like anybody that pets 'em," Mondo explained. "Bunch of attention hogs, I tell ya."

Mondo led Kiyotaka past the little entrance hallway and into the kitchen, which opened out onto the living room. He said that there had been a wall there before that he and his brother had removed. The place had probably seemed much smaller then. Kiyotaka tried not to giggle at the way that the dogs were constantly on Mondo's heels, like a fuzzy little entourage.

"Why dontcha sit down, n' I'll make us dinner?" Mondo offered. Kiyotaka tried to dismiss it with a casual wave of his arm. Mondo apparently had no intention of taking no for an answer, as he was already at his cabinets.

"I-It's a bit late for dinner, isn't it?"

"Maybe, but you've gotta be hungry. Y'said ya didn't really eat any of the food at your parents' place." He paused, in the middle of gathering his pans, to smirk over his shoulder at Kiyotaka. "N' as for me, I worked up an appetite."