(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

A Friend in Need - Chapter 2

Chapter Warnings: Domestic violence, swearing

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Rurik took deep breaths as he traveled down the sidewalk, trying to calm his nerves before he arrived home. The last thing he wanted was to lash out and take his frustrations out on Lotus. It wasn't their fault one of his co-workers screwed up and he got blamed for the mess.

Rounding the corner to his house, the skeleton stopped dead in his tracks. Even from a solid two blocks away, he could still make out the distinctive figure of his hooded companion along with a large brown and black blob laying in front of him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" he snarled to himself.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, he stomped the last two blocks toward his home. As he drew closer, the finer details of the front yard came into focus.

There was a pair of bowls from the kitchen near the bushes and a hose laying in a suspiciously soggy patch of grass just around the corner of the house. The dog also appeared to be less mangy than before, its cleaner tan and black coat now resembling that of a German Shepard, albeit fluffier than average.

Lotus glanced up from where he was giving the dog belly rubs, catching sight of Rurik, "Oh shit..."

"Oh shit is right, what the hell is that thing doing back here?" Rurik growled, coming to a stop and crossing his arms as he stared the smaller down, "I thought we agreed we weren't keeping the dog."

"I know we did," Lotus admitted with a sideways glance, "The dog was laying outside the house when I left this morning and followed me to work. She even waited outside all day for me to leave and followed me back home.

"I meant to just leave her outside once I got home, but it felt wrong to just leave her alone when she kept me company... so I kind of bought some food and gave her a bath as thanks."

Rurik massaged his temple with his thumb in an attempt to quell his anger, "Dammit Lotus, you're only encouraging it! If you feed-... wait, her? How do you know it's a girl?"

The small skeleton stared down at the dog in front of him. No one said a word as Lotus' gaze passed repeatedly between the dog laying on her back and his exasperated boyfriend awaiting an explanation.

The smaller skeleton's expression seemed to settle on incredulous after an awkward minute of silence. "Because she has-" he started, before blushing and seeming to think better of it, "You know what? It doesn't matter, just take my word for it that it's a girl."

Rurik's sockets furrowed at the non-response, nearly on his last straw, "You know what? Fine! I don't really care about the stupid dog's sex! Whatever. I'm really not in the mood to deal with this shit. I'll be inside whenever you decide to ditch the bitch and spend time with your boyfriend. Try to make it inside before supper."

Turning to head for the house, a hand gripped his right shoulder. His arm swung back on reflex to free him only for his body to stutter to a halt as his hand connected with Lotus' face, sending the smaller onto the ground.

His companion sat up, holding his cheek as he stared in mild surprise. The dog rolled onto its feet, growling and barking while Rurik tried to process what happened.

I... I hit him. I didn't mean to, but I hit him. It's been almost a year since... dammit!

Rurik made a beeline for the front door. Wrenching it open and slamming it shut behind him, instant regret washed over him. He leaned back against the wood and pressed his fist into his forehead, gritting his teeth to keep himself from screaming.

What the hell, this is exactly what I was trying to prevent! Why did I hit him?! Even if Lotus shouldn't be feeding the damn animal, it's not like he can help the mutt following him around and I already know he's too nice to abandon it... her... whatever!

Peeking out the window he spied Lotus, still sitting on the grass holding his cheek, his hood covering the top half of his skull in shadow. The dog was now next to him, nosing into his scarf as the small skeleton gingerly reached up to pet her. He hunched in on himself, shaking as he pressed his skull into its fur.

Rurik turned away from the scene outside, cursing himself as he dropped onto the couch to glare at the ceiling instead. While he didn't like leaving Lotus outside by himself, he was more worried about starting another fight if he went back out. He needed to calm down first, and if anything happened he would hear it.

Reaching for the remote, he flipped on the television in hopes of calming his torrential thoughts.

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Word Count: 817