“Finally” Eren thinks to himself as he drives up his driveway.
The drive home had only taken about thirty minutes, but Eren had to remind the three colts in the large carrier together that they weren’t in a sorry box every five minutes.The times in between were a mix of chattering with one another or asking him various but simple questions. Looking to the open top box next to him in the front seat Eren was thankful that the two recovering fluffies were still asleep.
As Eren puts the car in park, he could hear Jasper in the back “Dis am nyu housie? Wook wike gud housie fow hewd. Wub housie.” The others were quick to join in with “Wub housie, wub nyu daddah!”
Knowing he had little time before sunset, Eren holds the box with Bucky and Lillian with one hand holding it against his waist as he lifts the carrier by the handle with the other. “Yup, this is it. Home sweet home.” In the living room, he places the box on the couch and the carrier on the floor next to it. “I need to get a few things from the van, then I’ll set up an area for you to play in while I set up the safe room.” In response he hears “Yay! Nyu housie. Wan pway and toysies.”
Eren quickly grabs a few key items from the van, including a few beds, a couple foldable pens, a few litter boxes, a few easy to reach blocks, and a ball.
After taking a moment to set up the first pen in the open area between the dining room and the living room, Eren carefully lifts each of the three colts out of the carrier one at the time, pausing a moment with each to give them a big hug. After many feelings of love were shared, Eren says, “Before anything else, that is the litter box.”
Before he has a chance to continue, the grey colt interrupts excitedly, “Dat am whewe gud poopies and peepees gu!”
Slightly surprised, Eren nods “That’s right, Slater. Good fluffies only make poops and pees in the litter box. Is that understood?”
All quickly nodding in agreement, the three colts say “Yus daddeh! Wiww be gud fwuffies.”
“Excellent!” gesturing to the water bottle, bed and most importantly, the toys. “And over here we have some water if you need it, a bed with some blankets, some blocks and a ball. I want you all to share.”
Pausing for a moment as he looks at the clock, “Alright, it’s actually later than I was expecting and daddy is a bit beat. Instead of setting up the safe room tonight, I’m going to work on it in the morning. For tonight, I’m going to cook us up some food before we all head to bed.” Making his way to the kitchen, “You three can play until I’m done.”
As the three young fluffies all make a beeline for the ball, Eren fills up a large pot of water and places it on the stove to bring it to a boil.
Grabbing a hold of the box with the two other sleeping fluffies and the other pen, Eren makes his way into his own room. After setting it up with the needed items, he carefully lifts each one into a bed next to another.
This causes Lillian to wake up, “Nice mis…nyu daddeh, whewe am Wiwwian?”
Smiling softly down at the forest green fluffy, “Well, you are at your new home now. This is where you will be staying for a few days until you both are all healed up.”
Lillian took several moments to take everything in, looking at the handful of toys available before looking up to Eren gleefully. “Hmm…nyu daddeh, fank yu fow bein’ nyu daddeh an gib housie, an soft bed an fow bein’ nyu daddeh tu bwave fwuffy fwiend Bucky.” after pausing briefly, she face turns a bit sheepish as he shily asks “Nyu daddeh can yu hewp Wiwwian tu twitter bawks?”
She looks stunned as Eren flatly says “No.”
Lillian starts bumbling a few incoherent words, unable to complete any thought as he eyes start to tear up. Noticing this, Eren quickly moves to console her “No, I didn’t mean anything like that. Here let me show you.”
Eren places a hand gently on Lillian’s ivory-marked back and smoothly glides her and her bed down the side of the pen before turning at the corner and to the other side to the litter box.
Looking around confused as she moves and lets out a little poot, looking at the piece of dull metal. “Daddeh, how am Wiwwian mobin’? It fees wike am fwying.”
Chuckling lightly as he speaks, “Well, I don’t want you hurting yourself or pulling out your snitches while you heal by moving too much. And I didn’t want you stuck in the litter box all day or making poops in the bed so I put your bed on a track so you can easily move around the outside edge of the pen.”
Completely breaking down into a full sob while starting to lose control of her bowels, thankfully into the litter box, “Fank yu su su su much daddeh. Yu maek Wiwwian hab biggest heawt happies. Wiwwian was su scawed dat daddeh wouldn’t wike a fwuffy wid dummeh nu weggies.”
Taking a moment to clean Lillian up and dry her tears, “It’s ok, no more need to worry. Daddy loves you.” This sends a sudden chill down his spine, bringing back memories from the video he watches almost nightly. He felt so happy for that moment before and then the guilt crushed him.
Quickly, he collects himself before Lillian can notice. “I’m going to make some dinner for everyone, I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
Eren glances back over his shoulder as he leaves the room seeing Lillian slowly glide back and forth on the track with her front legs, her face still in complete awe.
Stopping in the bathroom to splash his face with a little running water, Eren’s mind wanders wondering if the pain will ever fade. “At least these little fluffies are giving me some cheerful moments” He thinks to himself.
As he walks back into the kitchen, he looks over to enjoy the scene of the three colts bounding back and forth after the ball haphazardly before noticing the water was nearly at a boil. He quickly grab a tool from a lower cabinet and a zucchini, in a matter of less than a couple minutes he has it worked down into a long, thin, ribbon-like noodles. After carefully placing the noodles into the water, now at barely a slight boil, Eren grabs a container of leftover homemade tomato sauce from the fridge and pops it into the microwave.
Five minutes later he has three servings plated and cooled as he walks over to the nearby pen, calling to the boys. “Jasper, Breeze, Slather, it is time to eat. I made a special treat for it being the first night home.” The three colts calmor over one another as they see and smell their dinner getting closer. “Am dat skettis?!”
“Indeed, it’s one of my favorites. Now, sit and wait until I tell you too.” Eren says as he places a plate in front of each colt, giving a reminder to wait as he notices one begin to drift closer subconsciously. “Alright, listen. Everyone gets the same amount.” Jasper looks a bit deflated at noticing this, “There will be no stealing another fluffy’s food. Now, you can all eat.”
Slather practically dove head first into his plate, gleefully filling his belly. Jasper and Breeze both slowly took a bite, cautious from their only other time trying spaghetti. From that first bite they realized that this was different than before, the noodles tasted and felt different, not better or worse, just different…But the sauce was so much tastier and full of flavor. They quickly followed Slather’s lead and became devouring the contents of their plates.
Slather takes a moment to pop his head up and speak with a full mouth. “Dis am bestest sketti eba!” before turning to business at hand.
Chuckling at the sight of the happy colts eating, Eren begins in on his own plate.
A few minutes later, each fluffy is laying in front of their licked-clean plate as they all try their best to tiredly lick any remaining sauce from their face. “Fank yu nyu daddeh, dey am bestest skettis fow bestest fwuffies.”
Taking a damp paper towel, Eren carefully wipes each of their faces. “This will have to do for now, but tomorrow we will get a nice bath before we get the saferoom setup.”
Jasper quickly perks his head up “But wawa am bad fow fwuffies.”
Eren responds, “I know you might not like water, but I promise you will like what I have for you all. But no need to worry about that now, go use the litter box and get over to bed. I’ll be over to give you all a hug goodnight in a minute.”
As each colt takes a moment to visit the litter box, Eren moves over to the kitchen to plate up a couple more plates to cool.
Eren smiles to himself as he walks over to the colt’s bed as they all are in the process of trading hugs with one another. In one quick movement, Eren scoops the bunch up together to join in the group hug. After several “Wuv yu”s and soft cooing, Eren lowers them all into their bed. After they all settle in a fluffpile, he drapes a blanket over them as they say “Wuv daddeh, fank yu for wuv fwuffies.”
“Love you all too, g’night.” Eren says as he dims the lights before grabbing the two remaining bowls of food and heading to his bedroom.
As he approaches his room, Eren hears a mix of comforting and confused voices having a conversation, he thinks to himself “Well, he is finally awake. Time to meet the little hero…I hope he likes me.”
Eren forces a smile as he feels a twinge of anxiety creeping in, “What do I have to lose?”