Steven was in the midst of what he calls a “heated gamer moment” when something stirred in his subconscious. He whips the headphones off his ears, unsure if he really heard something this far into nowhere. After all, his mind has been known to play tricks on him. He waits. Then, a knock at the door. Oh, crap! Has it been a week already? He rushes to the door, apologies spilling out of his lips until he opens it and finds Helen holding a very wriggly pet carrier.
“Steven!”
“Helen! Hi, come on in.” He waved his arm invitingly as he stepped to the side, opening the door wider. Helen graciously stepped inside before unleashing Mister Kindly. The fluffy immediately bolted out of his prison, seemingly glad not to be carried around, no matter how gently. He ran a lap of the house, cheering “Nyu housie! Wub nyu housie! Mummah! Mummah! Nyu housie!” before coming to a stop in front of Steven. “Nyu daddeh?” came the question as they locked eyes, Steven could almost see the gears working behind Mister Kindly’s.
“No Mister, I’m not your daddy. But I will be taking care of you for a while.”
“Daddeh-me!” came the reply. Steven chuckled to himself. He wasn’t sure why Mister Kindly had given him this strange nickname, but no amount of correction seemed to change anything. Oh well, it wasn’t too wrong. After all, his “mummah” was Steven’s sister. The fluffy emphasis on a close family unit was probably just crossing his wires a little bit.
“Sure, I’m your daddy-me. We’re gonna be living together, isn’t that exciting?”
“Yus! Yusyusyus! Mistew wub nice nyu daddeh-me! Wub nyu housie!”
With introductions sorted Steven and Helen set about bringing all of Mister’s belongings into the newly designated safe room. With his accommodations in order, Steven scooped a serving of spaghetti flavored kibble into Mister Kindly’s bowl and left him to his own devices. In the moment that he shut the gate Helen’s face filled with something like warning and dread, but just as quickly she relaxed while her eyes darted to Mister chomping away. It was soon forgotten, as both siblings made their way towards the kitchen. Since Steven’s house was so cut off from civilization, every visit was an opportunity to celebrate! The sounds of chatter and frying meat drifted from the kitchen as an impromptu feast was prepared, mainly catching up on major life events since their last meet, but as they sat down to eat things drifted to their fluffy friend.
He was still crate trained, and was familiar with the idea of staying in his safe room all day, but he really didn’t like it. Helen recounted stories of her being home late unexpectedly to find Mister crying in a pool of his own excrement. It seems that Mister Kindly was deathly afraid of being alone, so Helen had developed a habit of leaving his gate open so he could explore. Steven made note of it. He didn’t want the poor guy to be terrified because of his own mistake. Helen also explained the process of giving Mister Kindly his allergy meds. Mister didn’t like getting shots (honestly who does) so she had resorted to bribery with food. With their “parental” duties taken care of the rest of dinner was spent making jokes, teasing one another, sharing common interests, and generally goofing about as siblings are wont to do.
After dinner they both went to bed, Helen sleeping on the living room couch because of the late hour. Then, after a groggy morning and a tearful goodbye, Steven and Mister Kindly were alone. The first day went without a hitch; Steven taking advantage of this prolonged stretch of free time to dote on Mister and enjoy his company to the fullest. Hours of playing, napping, watching TV, and cuddling, making sure Mister Kindly knows where you are to minimize separation anxiety. His fur was a rich, glossy black and addictingly soft to the touch, especially under the effects of an occasional “jazz cigarette”, as he’d told Mister they were called. For his part, Mister Kindly couldn’t get enough of Steven’s ministrations. He enjoyed the relaxing feeling when his flat hands ran along his back and flank, and cooed when his scratching fingernails reached under his chin.
Day two was more structured, as Steven laid down the foundations of his new daily routine. After rising early, he prepared breakfast for both Mister and himself, and then sat in front of the TV to eat. Then, in an effort to not feel lazy on his day off, he decided to do some chores around the house. Mister Kindly whined as he was placed into the safe room, but Steven reasoned that he couldn’t clean very well with such a hairy companion. Even so, after five agonizing minutes of resistance he relented and let Mister toddle around him while he swept, wiped, washed, and folded. After the house had been brought into order, Steven turned inwards. A hot shower to clear his sinuses and a big meal soon followed, during which he again sat with Mister Kindly and spent quality time stroking his fur.
This general trend would continue. To spare himself from Mister Kindly’s crying, Steven kept his safe room gate open all hours of the day, only closing it when he put the fluffy to bed. They took all their meals together, almost exclusively in front of the TV, which had an internet connection so they could watch Roblox Car Crash Compilations to their heart’s content. All in all, it wasn’t a bad deal. Steven was grateful that he decided to take the little fluffball in. Mister Kindly was goofy, energetic, and gave a sense of purpose to every day. Knowing that he was the only thing keeping the Mister alive made each “fank ‘ou Daddeh-me” after he filled his bowl really strike home. And if he sometimes needed huggies and wub while Steven was working, or on a call, so be it. His coworkers thought he was cute anyway.
Most of his coworkers, that is. Most of his time wasn’t spent on calls, and most of that was between equals, but Steven’s superiors had negative reactions to Mister, to say the least. Managers generally had a disease that made them see their employee’s fun as a threat to “their” business, but a fluffy’s volume and persistence made them a particularly hot target for remote employees. After getting lectured when Mister Kindly burst into his office, babbling about ‘skettis, huggies, wub, Daddeh-me, and god knows what else while Steven’s manager was holding a brief safety meeting, he resolved to fix the issue. Remembering his thoughts after Helen first called about Mister, Steven went online and ordered a fluffy pen, along with duplicates of Mister Kindly’s essentials to stay in his office permanently. Now he just needed to manage the affectionate creature until they arrived, whenever that was.
Author's Note
And that’s that for now! I don’t know if this is considered long or short by the standards of fiction on this site, but I like the length and couldn’t stand to proofread for another second. I like writing though, I think. I’ve been in a funk for a while, and while writing this at times felt like walking through molasses I’m pleased with the result.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, I like the feeling of improving myself so things to do better or edit are always on my watchlist. If there are things you like I also want to know that. I know what I like, but I have no idea if I’m just talking out my ass until someone actually tells me that it’s cool. I’ve found that people here are pretty friendly tho, despite just how gruesome our stuff can be lmao.
Last time I said I would be done in a week and it looks like I hit that mark exactly. The next chapter we should be getting into the less mundane parts of the story. I’ll say expect the next installment in another week but no promises!