“Chewwy smeww pwetty. Fank yu, daddeh. Chewwy nu wemembuh evah smeww dis pwetty. Haf been suuuuu many bwight-times.”
The bath had gone surprisingly well. Cherry had clearly not wanted to get into the bathtub, but she didn’t struggle. She very quietly whispered to herself about how water was bad for fluffies and kept reassuring herself that her daddy wasn’t going to hurt her. Once the warm water soaked into her fluff any potential resistance was over. She absolutely loved it, and she watched in awe as the dirty water flowed away from her. She asked Jason if all that dirt had been in her fluff; he’d said yes, every bit of that was coming from her. After two thorough lathers and rinses with Nu Mowe Huu-Huus shampoo her fluff was soft and clean and smelled faintly of lavender.
“You’re welcome, Cherry. Do you feel better?”
“Yus, daddeh.” He’d dried her off, but she was still slightly damp and was bundled up in a new towel so that she didn’t get cold. He was holding her like a baby; she peeked out at him from the warm, comforting embrace of the towel. She looked hesitant. Doubtful. “Nice mistah…nice mistah am suwe dat wan be Chewwy daddeh? Nice mistah nu haf tu be daddeh if nu wan.”
“Of course I want to be your daddy. I mean, it feels a little weird saying I’m your daddy since you’re not really my kid and all, you know? But shit, you basically ARE a kid, right? But I sure as hell want you to live here with me and be my fluffy. So yeah, I’m pretty sure that makes me your daddy. And I’m cool with that.”
“Chewwy knu dat nice mistah gon’ be bestest daddeh evah.” She smiled at him. It wasn’t a big, dumb grin like he’d seen on other fluffies. It wasn’t exaggerated and over the top. It was just a contented, sweet smile. “Chewwy wuv daddeh. Fank yu fo da baffies.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, shit. Would you like to see your safe room? Then I’ll show you the rest of the apartment.”
“Yus, daddeh! Chewwy wan see safe woom, pwease!”
Again, she didn’t struggle. She didn’t make a demand. She just sat there patiently in his arms, waiting for him to do whatever he was going to do. Surely this was just a honeymoon phase and she’d start making demands soon, right? She’d make some bad poopies, whine if she didn’t get sketties. Something. There was no way she could be this well-behaved forever. From everything he’d heard and read about fluffies it just didn’t seem possible.
“Okay then, sweetie,” he said, setting her on the floor and extracting her from the towel. “Follow me.” He walked to the office while she followed close behind. She managed to not excitedly get under his feet and threaten to trip him. He held out his hand and motioned to the closet; the doors were open and the baby gates were down so that she could easily walk right in. “There you go. What do you think?”
She stared in quiet awe, her mouth hanging open. Finally, after a long silence, she spoke in a very soft voice.
"Dis…aww dis am fo Chewwy? Weawwy?
“You bet your ass it’s all for you. I know it’s not the best or most expensive stuff, but I’m kinda on a budget. I promise you I’ll get you better stuff later, okay?”
Cherry turned to him and shook her head. “Nu, daddeh. Chewwy nu nee mowe fings. Dese am bestest fings, an dey aww dat Chewwy nee.” She turned and looked from item to item. “Dat am bestest wittah bawks fo gud poopies an peepees, wight dewe. Dat am bestest nestie wif softie bwankets fo Chewwy tu buwwow an haf bestest wawms. Dat am bestest wawa bottwe an bestest kibbow bow. An dem toysies! Baww an bwockies an fings Chewwy nu haf evah SEEN befowe!” She turned back to him, waddled over, and wrapped herself around his leg. “Dese fings an daddeh am aww Chewwy evah gon’ nee. Fank yu, bestest daddeh. Chewwy gon’ fix dem heawt huwties.”
“Gotta fix yours too, Cherry.” He reached down and scratched her behind her ear, eliciting a happy coo from the fluffy. “I’m really glad you like everything.”
“Chewwy wuv nyu housie, wuv new safe pwace an nestie an toysies su much, daddeh. Wuv daddeh.”
“And you don’t mind eating kibble?”
She looked confused. “Wha ewse Chewwy gon’ num? Mebbe gwassy nummies? Bewwy nummies am awso gud. Buh kibbow am gud fo fwuffies.”
“Glad to hear it. You stay here. I’ll be right back.” Jason walked over and picked up her bowl, then walked out of the room. She did exactly as she was told and didn’t follow him.
He headed to the kitchen, grabbed a can of Skettiland sketties from the cabinet - he’d wound up buying a dozen cans for only ten bucks - and opened it, dumping the contents into Cherry’s bowl. He set it in the microwave and let it warm up for a minute, making sure it didn’t get too hot for a fluffy’s sensitive mouth to handle. As it cooked he wondered to himself if this was a mistake. He’d heard that fluffies, once they tasted sketties, sometimes went completely insane and demanded them constantly. She’d been so good so far; what if this was the thing that turned her into an awful little shit?
Jason grabbed the warmed sketties from the microwave and walked back to his office. Cherry was still sitting patiently in the middle of the floor, waiting for him to come back. He held the bowl high enough that she couldn’t see the contents.
“Now Cherry, I have a very special treat for you. This is to celebrate you finding me, and for you being such a good fluffy while settling into your new home.”
“Am sketties, daddeh? Chewwy smeww sketties.” She was smacking her lips, trying to fight back drool. It was obvious that she REALLY wanted the sketties. But again, she wasn’t shouting or being demanding. Just stating the fact that she smelled them.
“Yeah, they’re sketties. But you can’t have them all the time, okay? Just sometimes.”
“Otay, daddeh. Daddeh gif sketties when daddeh wan gif sketties, ow when daddeh CAN gif sketties. Dem am sometime tweat.” Her eyes didn’t leave the bowl, though, and the lip-smacking continued. He saw a little bit of drool leak out of her mouth and roll down the fluff on her snout.
“You’re a very good fluffy,” he said, bending over and setting the bowl beside the water bottle. She stood there, just watching him, not going after the sketties. After a few moments of silence he started to wonder what the hell was going on. “Why are you still staring at me?”
“Daddeh nu say dat am otay fo Chewwy tu eat dem sketties. Waitin’ fo pewmission.”
“Seriously? You think you need to ask for permission to eat?”
“Yus. Owd daddeh get su maddies if Chewwy eat wifout pewmission.”
“That’s insane. Cherry, whenever you’ve got food in your bowl, you can eat it. You don’t ever have to ask me for permission to eat. It’s your food. Please, go ahead and eat.”
She smiled again, a wider smile than before. “Fank yu, daddeh, fo bestest nummies.” She waddled over and hugged his leg again, then rushed over to bury her snout in the bowl of sketties. She ate quickly and messily, getting sauce all over her snout while somehow managing not to spill any on the plastic mat he’d set under the bowl. Two minutes later the bowl was empty, and the little fluffy looked up at him again and grinned.
“Dem am bestest sketties evah, daddeh. Fank yu fo bestest sketties.”
“You’re welcome. You, uh…you’ve got a lot of sauce on your snout, there.”
“Chewwy haf…haf skettie saucies awwwwwww ovah facie!” She giggled, then started licking the sauce off of her snout. A few licks later and she looked back up at Jason.
“Aww dem saucies am gone, daddeh?”
“No, there’s still some right there.” He pointed to a spot near her nostrils.
“Otay!” She giggled again, then licked the remaining sauce off. “Nao, daddeh? Am saucies gone?”
“Yeah, you got it all. Good job! I’m kind of impressed that you didn’t spill any on the floor.”
“Nuuuuu!” she shouted, fear suddenly in her eyes. “Chewwy nu spiww nummies! Owd daddeh put Chewwy in sowwy boxie when Chewwy make messies! Nu wan sowwy boxie, daddeh!”
“Jesus, your old dad was a real prick. Don’t worry. Look, if you spill a little food on the floor it’s no big deal. We’ll clean it up. The only really important thing is that you don’t crap or pee anywhere but in the litter box. Okay?”
“O…otay, daddeh. Daddeh am su nice, su much mowe nice dan owd daddeh.” She waddled over and hugged his leg again, then reared back in the “upsies” pose. “Wuv daddeh. Daddeh, pwease can haf upsies? Wan gif daddeh biggest huggies an aww da wuv.”
“You sure can,” Jason said, leaning down and picking Cherry up. He held her against his chest which was, as he was finding out, incredibly comforting. Her warm fluff spilled over his arms and felt incredibly soft. Her stubby little legs couldn’t make it very far around his torso, but she tried as hard as she could to give him a huge hug. She stretched and strained, and even made little grunting noises as she tried to get her legs around him just a little more. The fluff on her head kept brushing against his chin, which tickled a little. Despite how depressed he was, despite how much he hated his life at the moment, he couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. It was adorable and it felt incredibly nice. It felt like the little fluffy really did love him.
“Wha am funneh, daddeh?” Cherry looked up at him, her legs pressing against his sides. “Why am waughing at Chewwy?”
“Oh girl, no, I’m not laughing at you. Your fluff was tickling my chin, that’s all.”
“Daddeh nu waugh at Chewwy? Daddeh nu fink dat Chewwy am stoopi dummeh fwuffy?”
“Not even remotely. You know what? Your hugs are actually helping.”
Her eyes lit up. “Chewwy huggies hewp gif daddeh heawt happies?”
“Yep, you’re definitely giving me heart happies, which means you’re a very good fluffy. Not a dummy fluffy at all.”
“Dat am suuuuuu gud tu heaw!” she beamed. “Dat am aww Chewwy wan, am tu gif daddeh bestest heawt happies!”
“You’re doing a great job, so keep it up. Hey, you want to tour the rest of the apartment and then watch some TV with me? You can snuggle up next to me on the couch.”
Cherry thought that sounded AMAZING and enthusiastically told him so, so Jason showed her around the small apartment. The living room with the big comfortable couch that had recently been used by Candace for fucking his best friend. The screened-in balcony where she could waddle around, play with toys, and get some fresh air. The small kitchen. She’d already seen the bathroom, so he skipped that and showed her his bedroom and the attached master bathroom. It was bigger and nicer than the one she’d bathed in. She was amazed at his king-sized bed, too.
“Daddeh, dat am biggest nestie. Wook su wawm an pwetty.”
“It’s really comfy. I got one of the biggest beds I could, spent a whole tax refund on the damned thing. Really great mattress.”
“Daddeh, mebbe Chewwy…ahhhh, nuuuu. Fowget it.”
“No, what is it?”
“Am nuffin, daddeh.” She looked around the room, trying to pretend that she was focusing on anything else but whatever she wanted to ask.
“Cherry, come on. You want to ask me something. Whatever it is, you can ask me, okay? I’m not going to get mad at you.”
She turned to look up at him, her eyes full of hope and sadness. “Weww, daddeh, Chewwy jus am finkin…dat nestie am suuuuuu biggies. Mebbe Chewwy can shawe wif daddeh some dawk times?”
“You want to sleep in the bed with me, huh?”
“Yus.” She looked down at the floor. “Sowwy, daddeh. Am dummeh fing tu ask fo.”
“No it’s not. Look, we’ll see how it goes, okay? But yeah, you can probably sleep in the bed with me sometimes.”
“Weawwy? Chewwy knu am siwwy, buh get scawed sometimes. When woud sky wawas come and sky make dem boomin noisies, am su scawy. Su when dat happen, mebbe…mebbe sweep in big nestie wif daddeh?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” He leaned down and scratched behind her ears. “I know you want to make me happy, okay? I want to do the same for you. So we’ve got to figure out how to do that. Hugs seem to be a pretty good start for both of us. Being near me when you’re scared will make you feel safe, which will make you happy. I’m cool with that. We’ll figure all of this out, okay?”
“Otay, daddeh. Fank yu. Chewwy wuv daddeh su much.”
“Love you too, girl. Now let’s go watch some TV.”
Jason had been hesitant to sit on the couch last night and earlier today considering the festival of fucking that had happened the day before. Now, though, he felt like it would be okay. He wasn’t doing it alone. He had a good-hearted, fluffy little friend to sit beside him and keep him company. He turned on the TV and found a channel that was running old episodes of Animaniacs. That seemed good enough to interest both of them.
Cherry settled down next to him, nestled against his leg, and watched the TV with rapt attention. She’d ooh and ahh as crazy things happened on the screen, and every now and then she’d giggle at some of the jokes. Jason wondered if she was giggling because she understood the jokes, or because deep down she just somehow KNEW that they were supposed to be funny, and that giggling was the appropriate response. Fluffy brains were a total mystery to him.
They were three episodes deep when the doorbell started ringing, and the pounding on the door started.
“JASON!” a voice shouted. “LET ME IN! YOU CAN’T IGNORE ME FOREVER!”
“SCAWY!” screeched Cherry, scrambling away from Jason and backing into the far corner of the couch. “SCAWY MUNSTAH WADY! NU WET HUWT CHEWWY!” She tried to burrow under a cushion, only succeeding in hiding her head. That seemed to be enough for her, although she did keep trembling.
“I won’t let the stupid bitch hurt you, Cherry,” Jason said, getting up from the couch and stalking angrily over to the door. He opened it and stared at Candace. That fucking bitch.
“You’ve been ignoring my texts and calls, you fucking prick,” she growled.
“I’m the prick? I’m the prick. You fuck my best friend on my couch, and I’m the prick. Right, sure.”
“Look, I could have come back in anytime, okay? I’ve got a key. Can I come in? Can we talk? Can I get my stuff?”
“Fine, come in and get your stuff.”
Candace walked in and slammed the door behind her, eliciting another scream from Cherry; the fluffy started quietly huu-huuing from beneath the cushion.
“Look, you…wait, what the fuck is that?” Candace looked over and sneered. “You got a fucking fluffy?”
“Yeah, I did. What the hell do you care?”
“A fucking fluffy. Seriously? Why? They’re stupid little shit machines. All they do is whine and shit and cry to have babies, then act like little assholes when you won’t give them whatever the fuck they want. A FLUFFY? Jason, come on.”
“It’s my apartment, it’s my life. If I want a fluffy I can get a goddamned fluffy.”
“You’re a fucking idiot. A fluffy. It is a boy? A girl? It’s going to make you so miserable.”
“Huu huuuuuu, Chewwy am mawe,” Cherry cried from under the couch cushion.
“Of course it’s a girl. Get ready to have her screaming for babies nonstop, you dumbass.”
“Not gonna be a problem.” Jason walked over and plucked Cherry from the couch, holding her and stroking her mane. “It’s okay, Cherry. Remember daddy’s shitty special friend who cheated on him? Yeah, this is her.”
Cherry stopped crying and looked Candace over. “Dis am hoomin mawe dat gif daddeh wowstest heawt huwties?”
“Daddy? She’s calling you DADDY, and you’re LETTING her?” Candace laughed. “God, I hate fluffies. Don’t you know how fucking STUPID that sounds?”
Cherry sniffled. “Dis wady nu am nice. Wady am meanie hoomin an gif daddeh saddies, say wots of meanie wowds weawwy woud. Meanie wady can eat poopies wight fwom da poopie pwace, faw as Chewwy am concewned.”
“Did that little fucker just tell me to eat shit?” Candace took a few steps toward them, her hand raised like she was going to slap the fluffy.
Jason held Cherry tightly with one hand and raised his other hand. “You touch her, even once, and I swear to God I’ll beat the fucking shit out of you right here. The shit you’ve put me through, I can deal with that. But I find something that makes me happy and you want to hurt her, too? Fucking try me. You’ll limp the fuck out of here if you can even walk at all.”
Candace paused. This was something she’d never seen in Jason before; he was generally quiet, reserved, depressed, and introverted. He never lost his temper. He never really got mad enough to raise his voice. And he sure as hell never threatened her. But now he was threatening to defend his fluffy, and she could see it in his eyes - he was completely serious. He was prepared to hit her to defend the fluffy, if he had to. And from what she saw in his eyes, she wasn’t sure that he’d be quick to stop once he started.
“Fine.” She lowered her hand and took a step back. “Can you go put her away somewhere so that we can talk?”
“Talk about what?”
“What do you mean, talk about what? The shit that happened. Look, I’m sorry, okay? For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t rewind time and take Eddie’s dick out of you.”
“Jesus. I’m SORRY.”
“Cherry, can you go back to your nest and maybe play with your toys for a bit? I’ve got to talk to Candace about a few things, and then you’ll never have to see her again.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Candace sighed, “you’re not even going to give me a CHANCE to…”
Cherry nodded. “Chewwy wiww gu pway wif toysies. Pwease, daddeh, nu wet meanie wady gif mowe heawt huwties.”
“I’ll try,” he said. “I’ll try really goddamned hard.”
Cherry waddled down the hallway, muttering something to herself that neither of the humans could make out. Jason sat back down on the couch, sighed, and stared back at Candace. “No. No, I’m not going to give you another chance.”
“Look, it’s over between me and Eddie. I promise.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Your stuff’s in a box on the dining room table. Just take it and go. Leave your key, too.”
Candace tried pleading, begging for another chance. She tried appealing to the love he had for her. She even tried appealing to his lust, offering to give him a blowjob by way of apology. Nothing worked; he’d made up his mind and wasn’t going to listen to anything she had to say. He theorized that she’d probably been fucking Eddie for a good while. She didn’t tell him, obviously, but he was right; it had been going on for six months. All he wanted was for her to take her stuff, leave the key, and go. Finally she gave in. She tossed the key on the table, grabbed the box, and stormed out of the apartment.
“You’ll never find another woman like me,” she shouted.
“God, I sure fucking hope not!” he shouted back, slamming the door.
He sat back on the couch and let his emotions wander all over the place. Anger. Sadness. Disappointment. Hate. All of it swirling together and threatening to pull him back into depression. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to shout at the top of his lungs, punch the wall, or cry. He felt the tears starting to come; crying it’d be, then.
“Daddeh?”
Jason looked down. Cherry was there at his feet, a look of concern on her face. Here she was, just as the tears were starting to come.
“Hey, Cherry.”
“Daddeh nee huggies?”
“Sure, that’d be great.” He lifted her up and held her, both of them hugging each other tightly.
“Daddeh haf heawt huwties?”
“I will for a while, girl. But it’ll be okay. I promise.”
“Dat meanie wady am gone? Nu come back evah?”
“She shouldn’t come back. I hope she doesn’t try to come back. But if she does, don’t worry. She might be scary when she yells but I sure as hell won’t let her hurt you.”
“Fank yu, daddeh.” Cherry snuggled up against his chest and cooed contentedly. “Chewwy feew safe fow fiwst time in su many fowevahs.”
“Good. Want to watch more cartoons?”
“Yus, daddeh.”
So Cherry snuggled against him on the couch again and they sat there for a while, just watching cartoons and laughing. For the moment everything seemed okay. Candace was gone. Her stuff was gone. She couldn’t get back into his apartment. And now he had Cherry, and Cherry had him. His life would be better, and so would hers.
Candace was crazier than he’d thought she was. Meaner, too. The shit she’d been saying to him, the shit she’d been saying about Cherry, it really made it easier to not give her another chance. He didn’t need that in his life anymore. He didn’t need a liar and a cheater. He could find someone who would be way better for him. Someone who would like Cherry, too.
Everything was looking up. For the moment, everything seemed like it might work out just fine.
===
Across town, Candace was plotting. She grabbed her phone, dialed a number, and started crying.
“Hello?” a male voice said.
“Eddie?” Candace cried convincingly, her voice trembling between sobs.
“Oh Jesus, Candace,” he said, his voice full of concern. “What’s wrong? What the hell happened?”
“It’s Jason, Eddie. Jason. He…oh, god.”
