Bee looked up as the dinger-noise started, and his little tail began to wag furiously. That was his FAVORITE noise! That noise meant that mama was all done with “wowk” and that it was “big upsies” time!! Dropping the block he’d been playing with, Bee tumbled over and then recovered his feet, half-hopping and half-running over to the threshold of the “wowk woom” where he could see mama stretching in the big “wowk chaiw”.
“Mama, mama! Bee hewe! Big upsies mama!! Bee wub yew!! Big upsies!!” Bee’s butt planted itself on the ground, and his front hooves stretched as high as they could, even as his back legs continued to wiggle with excitement, hooves tapping an irregular pattern on the floor.
Jay glanced over their shoulder and smiled at the sudden racket from the doorway. Bee was a good fluffy, he knew not to come into the office, but he certainly did his best to summon them from the doorway as soon as their phone’s 5-o’clock alarm went off. They hadn’t even finished stretching before the welcome wagon was rolled out.
Swiveling around, Jay finished their stretch while standing, and then scooped the happy little fluffy up into their arms. “Biiiiiiiig upsies, little Bee!” Jay held Bee overhead and spun in a circle, then hugged the vibrating little creature close to their chest and kissed him on the head. “Let’s see what you did today.”
Crushed warmly against mama’s chest, Bee gave the biggest huggies and continued to whip his tail furiously. As they returned to the room where he’d been playing, he could see the pretty blocks on the floor where he’d left them. Jay crouched down and gathered up the various acrylic dice, leaving the two towers of 3 stacked dice untouched. “Wow, you did two stacks for me, that’s so good! You’re so good at blocks, little Bee!” Jay praised the pudgy young fluffy in her arms, who giggled and coo’d as mama planted kisses on his head. “Let’s see what else.”
Next, mama carried him to the litterbox, where Bee had been VERY careful to keep all the poopies, peepees, AND sandies in the box. “Looks good here, very good job Bee.” Mama’s praise continued to course through Bee’s body like a sugar high, and he continued to give mama the BIGGEST huggies!
Jay paced slowly and rhythmically through the apartment, stopping in each room, even the rooms Bee wasn’t allowed in, if for no other reason than to confirm there were no signs of trespassing, for which Bee was praised with a kiss on the head - plenty of encouragement to keep him happily occupied in the few fluffy-proof spaces available without having to erect gates or close doors. Together, they “discovered” that Bee had eaten his lunch kibbles, and made a lovely piece of art with the crayons (praise was lavished both on the abstract splashes of color ON the paper, and also the fact that there were NO abstract splashes of color on the floor or the walls - another easily trained outcome). Returning to the kitchen, Bee closed his eyes and coo’d as mama did “dancies” with him - Jay bounced him gently in their arms, turning slowly around as if doing a slow dance with no music.
Bee didn’t even complain when mama finally put him back down on the floor. He couldn’t tell time, but ten minutes of big-upsies was a small forever, and he had nothing to complain about! He felt SO loved and he had been SO good today, which meant that later there would be nummie treats! Bee scampered around mama’s feet and then trotted off back to the “blocks” - Jay’s gaming dice, now piled together for easy cleaning. One by one, Bee picked up a die and placed it back in the bag that all the “blocks” lived in. If he cleaned up after playing, that would get him another piece of praise - his favorite treat.
Jay listened to the slow and methodical “clack” of each die being dropped back in the bag, and leaned against the kitchen counter, smiling into a cup of cranberry juice. They hadn’t thought that a fluffy was the right choice, for a while. Jay worked from home, which afforded them the opportunity to be present at home, but that didn’t mean they were going to be available all the time. Sure, it had been cute when Sunshine had curled up at their feet while they worked, but she’d inevitably grown tired of napping or sitting quietly, and wanted mama to play with her. Sunshine had been foal-motivated, and for a short while Jay had considered keeping her intact and following through on their promise to let her become a mother - but once it became apparent to Sunshine that mama wasn’t going to play with her ALL day, even ONCE, she decided that mama’s attitude could be adjusted with tantrums. She’d been wrong.
Cha-Cha had been food-motivated. Which was much easier than the everlasting promise of foals-to-come, but it wasn’t enough to keep the fat orange fuck from becoming a pest when the food-rewards dwindled as foalhood weaned, and Jay expected good behavior without a treat popped into Cha-Cha’s mouth every time he peed in the litterbox.
Betty had been play-motivated, but had decided she was being abused when mama shut the office door for meetings (and wailed loudly on the other side, EVERY TIME).
Jay had nearly given up and shelled out for a cat - much harder to come by these days, but they’d grown up with cats, so it would be an easy transition back into familiar territory. In fact, when they’d first seen Bee, they weren’t sure they weren’t looking at a kitten. The little white fuzzball had brown spots, and was mewling for attention in a pile of other brown and white babies in a box. It was the smell that had informed Jay that these were not kittens at all, but fluffy foals. All newborn animals had a strange poop smell, but foal poop was in a nose-category of its own. The side of the box was roughly marked “FTgH” and sitting outside an animal shelter - someone had obviously dumped it here hoping that the shelter would make an exception for these foals, but Jay knew that wouldn’t happen. Instead of heading inside, Jay had loaded the box into their car, and driven it two blocks down to a fluffy shelter. Foals were free to surrender, so it wasn’t any skin off their nose, and the workers had taken the box with no fuss. Jay did not return to the animal shelter. Instead, two weeks later, they returned to the fluffy shelter and picked up the little spotted foal from the surrender box.
Bee dropped the last “block” in the bag, and then laid down in a “sploot”, his legs splayed backwards as he lay on his tummy. It was exhausting, but he loved being good for mama.
“Bee, are you laying on the floor where you might get stepped on?” Mama’s voice tickled his ears, and he perked up immediately. Oh no! He might get stepped on here! Bee popped up and hurried over to one of his beds, collapsing into the soft blanket. Knowing he was no longer underfoot, his little tail began to wag, and bright turquoise eyes looked up, searching for mama. He couldn’t see mama from where he lay, but the voice found him anyway. “Good job, Bee. That’s a safe place for a little Bee boy.” Bee wiggled around in his blanket, overjoyed with this little nugget of praise. He was such a good fluffy!
Awakened from his nap by the sounds and smells of dinner being prepared, Bee bounced out of his bed and plodded back to the kitchen. Jay noticed him and smiled, leaning down to scratch Bee under the chin, and set a tablet down on the floor for him to watch a hand-picked episode of Fluff-TV, leaning it against the bottom of the cabinets. Bee wiggled along with the “Dancie Fluffies”, sang along to “No Secwets” and “Good Poopies”, and answered every “Nummies ow No-Nummies” correctly. When the episode was done, Jay picked up the tablet and put down Bee’s evening kibble, with a serving of chopped veggies from their own meal mixed in. Bee dug in hungrily, and Jay chuckled. Bee had never missed a meal, and it showed. Even through the fluff, the squishy little rolls of a well-fed fluffy were visible. He’d grow into it eventually, but for now his sub-adult frame wore the excess like a scarf of chub around his neck. It was adorable.
Jay put on an episode of their own, human-centric show to watch while they ate. Once Bee was finished, he made the upsies pose and mama picked him up. “Fankyew mama, wub vegtabuws, wub kibbuws, wub mama!” He practically purred on Jay’s lap while they finished eating, perfectly content on mama’s warm lap with a full tummy. Jay scratched him on the head and pet him absently, also perfectly content with a vibrating lap-warmer and a belly full of home-made food. Jay often shared their veggies, but never their meat. They didn’t want their pet picking up any unnatural instincts. It would be one thing to feed chicken to a chicken - they were omnivorous. But feeding rack-of-leggies to a fluffy just didn’t hit Jay quite right.
“Thanks for picking up your blocks, little Bee, that was a very good boy. You’re so good at cleanup,” Jay coo’d as Bee’s tail started whipping again. Jay planted a kiss on Bee’s head, and then pulled an ice-cream bar out of the freezer. “Do you want to share?”
“YUS!! Yus pwees! Wub cowd tweet nummies!! Fankyu mama!” Bee happily licked the ice-cream center when offered, as Jay nibbled off the chocolate outer shell. Then Bee ran off to make good poopies, and returned looking very pleased with himself. Jay had to give him a wipe around the mouth where he’d gotten some of the ice-cream stuck, and for good measure they checked his butt in case he needed a wipe there too, but his diet was keeping the runnies to a minimum, and he looked clean.
“Alright little Bee boy, I think it’s night-night time for little fluffies. Where do you want to sleep tonight?” Bee bounced down the hall to the coat nook, and Jay followed. Bee had four beds scattered around the house, but this was his favorite. Maybe it was the enclosed space, maybe he liked that he could have a night-light (whereas if he slept in the Bedroom, Jay didn’t like having a light on). This was where all of his stuffy friends inevitably ended up, and he burrowed into them like a giant fluff-pile. He used to take mama’s socks and add them to the nest, but mama didn’t like that, so now it was just his stuffies and a blanket.
Jay tucked Bee in and elicited a happy sigh. “Goodnight my sweet little Bee. Mama loves you.”
“Wub mama, Bee wub, ni’ni’ mama.”
“Night-night Bee.”
Jay turned off the hall light, the gentle glow of the nook’s night-light illuminating the hall from within the alcove. Bee was a good fluffy, and it brought Jay many “heart happies” to care for their loving little companion. Heading back out to the livingroom, Jay sparked up a joint and reclined on the couch, phone in hand. Scrolling through social media, they enjoyed seeing others’ fluffies and their misadventures.
Going to the zoo. Meeting a koala. It pooped on them. Fluffy cries.
Going to the park. Meeting new fluffies. Oops, special huggies. Unwanted pregnancy.
Eating dinner with the family. Someone spills on the floor. It’s spicy. Fluffy poops everywhere.
Old litterpal dies. Fluffy is despondent. New litterpal is cute. Swap their places.
Jay chuckled at some of the more macabre posts, and aww’d over the cute ones. They’re almost certain that one of the new adoptions is Sunshine, but there’s no sound to confirm the voice, and her new name appears to be Maybelle. Looks like she finally got her foals. Too bad about the defects. Ah well. A lot can go wrong with these crazy genetic franken-toys. Jay was just glad they’re not the one dealing with the fallout.