Yesterday was Rough
My day started as it usually does, me being up at 5am to run a few miles around the neighborhood. I loved the way the chilly air felt as the sun was rising. The change from sun-warmed fur to a cold, wind-swept coat was oddly intriguing.
By the time I got back home, it was nearly 6 and I could hear Rick grunting down in the basement doing his morning routine as well, pumping any amount of iron he could stack on a bar. I ran into the bathroom for a quick shower that turned out to be not so quick.
I ended up standing there for nearly 30 minutes just loving the feeling of the water trickling through my fur, it was Rick knocking on the door that snapped me out of my trance. "Hey Gore, some of us have to be somewhere this morning, move it or lose it!"
I sort of half-ignored the interruption, until the banging resumed and I finally answered. "Okay, okay...hold on." I jumped out of the shower and figured since he was so eager to bathe, I'd just shake all the water in my fur off on him. My fun was brought to an abrupt stop when he opened the door and I saw he was already drenched in sweat. "Geez, how much were you lifting?"
He lifted his paw up and scratched his chin. "I...really don't know." (That's my Rick. ^/.^)
I grabbed a towel and made my way to the bedroom to find something to wear. I didn't have anywhere to go today, so I just grabbed a pair of torn-up jeans and the closest shirt and got dressed. I lay back on the bed, wondering what in the world I was going to do with all this free time. Then my stomach answered for me, at least I'd be occupied for a little while.
Rick came around the corner to the kitchen, looking pretty handsome in his suit, as I was cooking up steak and eggs. (That's right cows, look out.) "Man that smells good, any for me?"
I pointed at the plate already on the table. "Yeh, you better eat it before it gets cold, muscle-head." He ignored my sad attempt at an insult and dug into his food.
After a kiss goodbye, Rick was off on his way to work...and I was stuck here with nothing to do. I plopped myself on the couch and started flipping through the TV channels, then quit when I realized how rediculously cliché is was to do this when bored. I straightened back up on the sofa and looked around the room. It was pretty plain; couch, coffee table, TV, computer area, bookshelf. Aha! No pictures, that gives me something to do...draw.
I went and grabbed a pencil and some paper when I noticed on the computer, it said I had a new e-mail. I quickly forgot what I was about to do and sat down to inspect what I got. It was from Rick. "Hey cutie, don't make any plans for tonight, it's just going to be us."
Well, there went my plan B; inviting friends over to entertain me. I muttered under my breath, "Damn you, Rick."
I went to my all-time plan C: World of Warcraft. I didn't feel like being bothered by anyone so I just started a new character, a mage. Not sure why 'mage' caught my eye, but I was up for wielding the power of the elements...and what better way to do that then tossing fireballs at random creatures like a madman.
I must have been really into it, only 3 hours and I dinged 12. I realized the entire bottom half of my body had gone numb from sitting in the same position for so long, and got up to let the blood flow. I decided I need something else to do, so I logged off WoW and clumsily made my way to the basement, walking without feeling in your legs is awful.
We had all kinds of cool stuff down here. Rick had all his weight-lifting gear and such over in one corner. I had all my weapons; swords, poles, and all other manner of sharp objects around a large mat covering the majority of the floor. Me and Rick had spent endless hours sparring here, facing off against each other showing no mercy or remorse toward the other. It was a great way to get any aggression out that we may have built up during the day.
I picked up one of the swords, a sleek katana, and started fighting off imaginary enemies. After a good hour of this I ended up lying on the mat panting. "Fighting shadows is rough work."
I woke up some time later, I could see through the basement window and it was pitch black outside, so it must have been after 5. I turned over on my back and launched myself off the floor, landing neatly on my paws, something Rick dearly wished he could do. I leapt up the stairs and discovered Rick on the couch playing Halo, I didn't realize it was that late. He turned and gave me a surprised look. "Oh, so you were here after all."
I walked over and sat down next to him, "Yeh, I fell asleep after practicing a bit, didn't think I'd doze off that long though."
He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "Hope you're not too tired, 'cause I think we're going back down."
My ears perked up and I put on a grin. "Oh, you're in the mood to get your butt kicked again?"
He tossed the controller away and stood up stretching. "Yeah right, I'll race you down there pup." I yanked him back down on the couch and ran for the basement door, hearing Rick mumble. "You quick bastard, just wait till I get down there."
By the time Rick showed up, I was already ready to go. "Come on, Rick. I'm not gonna wait here all day for you to get going."
He picked up a pair of gloves and strapped them on. "Okay then, pup. Let's do this."
Round 1 - Hand-to-Hand Combat
Rick was strong, I'll give him that, but dodging his wide strikes was all too easy. I dodged one right hook and gave him a sharp uppercut to the chin, he stumbled back and fell on his rump. "Argh, you little tard. You're going to pay for that."
He ran over to me and grabbed me in a giant bear hug then squeezed me so tight I thought my eyes were going to pop out. "Okay, okay. Enough with the suffocating," I weezed through my clenched teeth. When he let me go I spun around and landed a kick square in his chest, and he was on his butt again. "What next, Rick? Swords?"
He got up looking frustrated as ever, rubbing his tail. "Sure."
Round 2 - Swords
I picked up the same katana I was using earlier and tossed him a similar one. I could see those bright green eyes staring at me, looking for a weak spot in my stance. I wasn't stupid enough to think I was going to win over Rick in brute strength of a swing, so I made just enough contact to deflect the blows and used my speed to land a few punches and kicks in-between. He finally got mad, "God damn you for being so small!" I pulled back and giggled a little...big mistake.
He took advantage of my distraction and swung at me, cutting my paw wide open. He got out an "Oops" before I kicked out his feet from under him.
I had my sword's point on his chest before he even hit the ground, dark, red blood from my wound trickled down the blade and soaked into Rick's fur. "Okay, you win again, is your hand alright?"
I had to admit, it hurt like hell, I started licking at it to clean away some of the blood. "Yeh, I'll be fine, did you really have to go that far?"
He looked at me kind of puzzled and replied. "Did you have to go this far?" He gestured to the sword still poking at his chest.
"Oh, my bad." I released my grip on the weapon, letting it fall to the floor.
He sat up and took a hold of my paw and started cleaning the wound with his own tongue. "Damn, I really got you good. You should stop drifting off when I'm swinging weapons at you."
I yanked my paw away and retorted. "Yeh, thanks for the advice, Jerk."
I leapt up the stairs again to find something to bandage myself up with, Rick following behind. "I didn't mean it like that, stop being so emotional."
I turned around and kissed him as he entered the bathroom behind me. "I wasn't being emotional, I was kidding." His face turned sort of guilty as he grabbed the gauze out of the medicine cabinet and started wrapping my paw in it. "It's ok Rick, stuff like this happens. It's the point of practice, isn't it?"
He finished up with the wrapping and pulled me into a hug. "Yeah, I know, but I'm sorry anyway." He tightened his hold. "I don't ever want to see you hurt."
I heard him sniffle and pulled back to see he had a tear forming up in his eye. "Ha, and you called me emotional?" I sneered at him as I walked past, making for the kitchen.
He chased after me, "Emotional? I'm trying to be nice!"
I turned and put my paw to his chest to stop him. "Go sit down, I'm gonna find something to cook for dinner, 'kay?"
He flattened his ears out and shuffled toward the kitchen table. "Alright."
I figured hamburgers would be easy enough. (Yeah, I have warning signs outside my house for cows.) I tried picking up a pan with my injured hand and ended up dropping it when the pressure on the cut was too much to bear.
Rick was on me in a flash. "Please, let me cook, alright?"
I could see the concern on his face and knew there was no point in arguing. "Fine by me."
I sat down in the chair he had just recently occupied and poked at my paw. "Why won't this thing quit throbbing?" For some reason I thought if I banged it on the table it would learn it's lesson, then realized how stupid that would be and silently chided myself for still thinking like a cub.
Rick finished up cooking the meal, and laid a plate fit with two hamburgers in front of me, they had all the stuff I liked on them. I thought it was cute that he remembered the small stuff like this. He took a massive bite out of his and looked at me worried. "Does it feel any better yet?"
The words were mumbled, he was spewing food out as he talked. "It's fine you big dope, don't talk with your mouth full of food."
He finished up his food quick and laid his arms on the table, followed by his head. He sat there watching me eat with the 'sad puppy-dog eyes' look. I laughed out loud at him. "You keep that up, and I'm gonna give you a reason to look sad."
He stood up and dragged me to the bathroom. "Come on, let's get cleaned up."
I was still hanging on to a hamburger as I was being dragged across the floor by my shirt. "You could have at least waited for me to finish eating."
We were sitting in the tub, he was rubbing shampoo into my fur and rinsing it out. I couldn't help but moan a little at the scratching my back was getting. After being cleaned off I slumped down in the water a bit against Rick and laid my injured paw behind me, massaging the back of Rick's head. He kissed the top of my head then picked up a book and started reading as I slowly drifted off into sleep.
I woke up later that night in bed, wrapped in Rick's arms. I rubbed my eyes a bit to make sure I wasn't just imagining something. "Do I really sleep that hard?" I lifted up the covers to see he had even put clothes on me and had put clean bandages on my paw. "Wow, I guess so." Despite all the sleeping I had done, I was still pretty exhausted, so I kissed Rick and cuddled up closer to him. "I love you, Rick." Before I even thought about a dream I wanted to have, I slipped back into my comatose version of slumber.