A dog named Toby (7)
A dog named Toby (7) By Roofles
The rays of dawn seeped through the opening in the window shades illuminating the room softly in its warm rays. Toby gazed at the window, upside down as he lay on his back in his bed. His legs were opened loftily, one had even fallen off the bed. The dog just continued to stare as one paw scratched his belly idly. The other paw was raised towards the cieling before stopping in mid air and just hung there.
His eyes drifted back towards his iphone resting on the nightstand. It served as his alarm clock. But he wasn't waiting for it to ring to wake him up but a call that didn't come. An hour had passed, he could tell, since he last looked at the phone. Just laying here waiting for a call. A response to the text he had sent. No reply had come and so he had just laid back and waited. Laying here waiting in the morning light.
It was early he figured. He was probably still sleeping. It was Saturday after all. They had hung out the day before. Late into the night but Cody declined his offer of staying. Deciding that it was best if he just headed home once he sobered up a bit. The dog had pleaded and whined but the man still left with a hug and wave; Toby remained sitting at the door as if hoping he'd change his mind any second. The knock never came. As this morning the phone never rang.
"Want to go to lunch? I know a kewt plc. On me." Toby reread across the phone screen as he picked it up. Checking for the tenth time that it had indeed been sent. It was almost noon and still no reply.
The phone slipped from his fingers onto his chest as he lazed back again, his frown only worsened. Toby had bought muffins that morning planning on sharing them together for breakfast. But it never happened. So he decided to make plans for lunch. And it looked like they were about to fall apart as well.
And it all was because he was still in contact with his ex.
"Your still hanging out with him?" Cody said more accusing than anything else.
"Well yeah. He's a friend, kind of. We did do it. In the past. But its over. Done with. That's not going to happen again." Toby stammered with raised paws trying to explain himself defensively.
"I've heard it all before." Cody said getting up. "It's over."
"Ok. Let me get the check real fast and I'll see you out. I got a meeting in the morning but you can stay the night and we-,"
"No. Toby. It's over." And with that Cody walked out without another word.
Text messages. Calls. Even bumping into him in the office. All led to not. Sure he was friendly during work but it was clear it was all just an act. A facade he put on that fooled everyone but the dog. He was back to being called Mr. Steel. And that was enough to break his heart. It still slightly turned him on when it came from Cody however.
"Pick up. Pick up. Pick up." Toby muttered with a whine. His ears folded and even laying on his back he found his tail tucked firmly between his legs. "Hey!" His ears jumped up and tail wagged before falling back lifeless at the monotone answering machine of Cody's voice.
"I'm not in right not. Or I'm busy. Please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a nice day." And with that a flat line and several beeps later Toby hung up. The phone slipped from his paws to the floor.
He turned over and kicked against the bed. Got up and punched the wall. Knocking over several things on the dresser before pulling his floppy ears down and cursing at the top of his lungs. He had half a mind to grab his coat and just head over to his place and- "You know what? Damnit." He growled deeply grabbing his coat. "That's what I'm going to do."
And at the time it was a good idea he thought. His anger had faded and any desire to knock on the wooden door directly in front of his face had left him now. Toby stood shuffling his paws in front of the door with his arm raised as if to ask a question rather than to knock on someones door. Folded ears and a tucked tail once more Toby turned, about to head off into the rain, only to nearly run into the man he was about to harrass.
"Toby." Cody said rather surprised holding a grocery bag in one arm. He had been fussing with his keys trying to find the right one for the door not even noticing the dog standing in front of it.
"Cody!" Toby said just as startled. His voice was higher than he meant to and cracked at the end. The dog cowered back holding up his arms defensively as if a spider had just jumped out of one of the bushes. "W-w-w-what are you doing here?" The bernese mountain dog asked trying to smooth out his frizzed up fur.
"I...live here." Cody said looking at him as if he had gone crazy. "What are you doing here."
"I...don't...live here." Toby muttered his face falling into a frown and his brow scrunching up at the lame excuse he had tried to pull off. "I just. Came here to. To. Um...what was I going to do..." Toby scratched his chin, his brow still scrunched up as he tried to figure it out.
"Well good luck. With that." Cody said giving him a good arms length as he circled around him and headed towards his door.
"Wait. Cody." Toby said spinning around. "Why did you break up with me." He just shouted at the man. His lips squeezed tightly together afterwards as he if Toby had just took a long suck of a rather ripe lemon.
"We weren't dating." Cody replied not looking at him.
"Then what the hell were we doing?" Toby said getting flustered and confused. Angry and yet sad. All these emotions building up inside him. He wanted to punch him. Kiss him. Jump his bones and at the same time cry on his shoulders. The dog had never been so conflicted in his life.
"You mean who the hell were you doing." Cody said turning to face him.
"What does that even mean!" Toby asked stamping a foot onto the ground as his chin dropped eyeing him suspiciously. "I mean I mention my ex, ok...that was dumb. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mention him. It just slipped out. It was stupid. I'm sorry. Sorry." He said the last word straightening back up his eyes nearly in tears as he was nearly groveling before him.
"Your still hanging out with your ex." Cody said as if that cleared up the whole thing.
"And...what about that? I hang out with a lot of my ex's. We didn't work out but we ended on a good note. Well except for Tim. Then again he was some wierd pagan douche that was in a cult or something...I don't know." Toby said muttering to himself and frowning. He was looking away as he tried to figure what the deal was with that wolf. But catching Cody's look ignored it.
"You have problems. Seriously." Cody was about to head inside when Toby caught the door with a paw and forced it open. Cody just headed inside without even really noticing.
"I got problems?" He said jabbing a finger at his own puffed out chest. "You got problems." He said pointing a finger at Cody who frowned but didn't even seem to be worried about the dog who was nearly a foot taller than him.
"Right. Well I'll get to looking into that." Cody looked at the dog. Down his arm before going back up to his face. "Could you please get out of my doorway? I have a microwave dinner to defrost and eat."
"No." Toby said his hackles slowly rising. "I won't. Not until we talked and worked this out."
Cody continued to look at him but didn't reply. Toby's ear twitched. Then his nose wrinkled before that stare. His shoulder rolled in its socket before he grabbed his ears and pulled them down again, tipping his muzzle skywards and letting out a low howl.
"What did I do? I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Toby begged.
"This is like such an attractive quality you have." Cody pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
Toby took a step closer and though Cody didn't move he appear to almost flinch at the action. Toby lowered his shoulders and shrunk down a bit as he nervously placed a paw on his shoulder. "Can't we just. Talk this out. Or something. At least." He added a soft whimpering whine and large puppy dogs afterwards.
"There isn't really anything to talk about." Cody stated but didn't stop the dog from coming inside any further. If he only said no or made some move Toby would've backed away. But there was none so Toby took full advantage of the situation and inched his way in before shutting the door behind with a hind paw.
"Of course there is. Obviously. You can't break up-,"
"We weren't dating." Cody interrupted making Toby flinch but he continued anyways.
"Can't break up with someone without some reason."
"And there is one." Cody said looking over his shoulder at the clock. "Will this take long? I got, like, this frozen dinner to eat. Remember?" '
"What is it about my ex that bothers you so much." Toby asked tightening his grip on his shoulder to pull his attention back. Cody looked at the paw on his shoulder rather than at him and Toby quickly let go as if he had accidently set his paw on an stove top.
"Your still seeing your ex. Ex's." Cody corrected. "That's more than enough."
"And why's that?" Toby said folding his paws after clusmily trying to stuff them into his pockets and failed. Flustered as it was he just bowed his head.
"You had sex with them." Cody said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And?" Toby asked truly confused about why that was a problem.
"Your an idiot." Cody said simply and, ignoring the dog, headed into the kitchen to start his dinner. Toby, flabbergasted, quickly followed him in.
"And you expected me to be like, what? A virgin?"
"Nope." Cody said ripping the box open. He turned it around and read the directions clearly more interested in it than the dog. "Want one?" He asked catching Toby off guard.
"N-no thank you."
"Because your not having any of mine." Cody said matter-of-factly as he slid the plastic covered food into the microwave. He began rereading the box as he turned it on. Toby was confused even further. He wanted to laugh as if Cody had made a joke or whine if he was being serious.
"So...what's the deal then? I had sex with them. They mean nothing to me!"
"What does sex mean to you then?" Cody asked sitting against the counter. He faced down at the box in his hand but looked up as he asked the question. The expression on Toby's face seemed to answer it however.
"Fun?" The dog replied rather confused. He really didn't see what the problem was.
"It's the closest physical thing one person can do with another. In a moment of weakness I did this with you. And slowly started to grow close to you with this deep act of sweaty, hot passion. Even though I never intended too." Cody said as if he was reading out of the dictionary. "However. I don't want to be 'nothing' as you so delicatly put."
"And your not. They were!" He indicated pointing over his shoulder as if they were just standing there. "Your not." Toby said fidgeting a bit wanting to touch him. Hold him. Just hug him but at the same time fearing too as if that would somehow make the situation worse.
Cody looked at him and set the box down slowly. "I don't trust you. Your nothing but a hound dog." And with that moved past him to grab a plate from the cupboard.
"I thought that was a good thing." He laughed turning towards him with a smile, a silly grin and a wag of the tail. Both of which quickly faded. "What do you want me to do. Just throw away my friendship with them?"
"No." Cody said looking over his shoulder at him. He shok his head and turned away. "You really don't get it."
"Get what?" Toby whined.
"Sex."
"I...do?" Toby asked questioning his own rather vivid knowledge of the act and subject. He liked to think he had a mastered degree in the field.
"Do you do sex just because its fun?" The dog wanted to nod but felt that was the wrong answer so he didn't say anything or move. "Does it mean...anything to you? Or do you just fuck whatever will let you?" Cody was staring into the cupboard as if having troubles in which plate to pick out.
"No of course not. I could of had sex with hundreds of guys." Toby said as if that would prove his point but it only seemed to hurt the case. "Sure, ok. I did have sex with people that didn't really mean anything to me. But maybe they could've. Or maybe I just needed it like you did. I waas young. Stupid. And even now I do it because...well I'd be a wreck if I didn't, heh. But they meant nothing."
"You mean sex means nothing. And thus...I mean nothing. After all this is just sex."
"That's the thing. It isn't. Sex is well...awesome. With you. Don't get me wrong!" Toby laughed but swallowed at his suddenly dry throat. "I don't just do it these days. I mean I always use protection...except with you." He noted wagging the end of his tail.
"You didn't answer my question." Cody pulled his hand out of the cupboard with a plate loosely in his fingers and looked at the counter. "Does sex mean anything to you. Or is it just 'fun'."
"It is fun. But I want to do that fun with you. No one else. Hun." Toby tried the pet name. "Sweety. Love." The last one he saw Cody relaxed and smiled at the that. "Love," he said the word deeply from his heart. "I only want to bone you." Not as poetic as he'd like but it got his point across.
"Are you cheating on me." Cody said setting the plate down but his grip tightened on the ugly clayware.
"We're not dating. Remember?" Toby teased but he smiled softly. He scooted behind the man and gave him a tight hug. Something he had wanted to do the minute he saw him. "I would never." He said softly into his ear, nuzzling the side of his head. Cody gripped one of his arms and didn't say anything at first.
"And how am I suppose to know that?" Toby could almost see a tears in his eyes as the question was asked.
"That's the thing. You don't." Toby said honestly.
"And what's stopping you then?"
Toby pulled back and turned Cody around. Cupping his chin and forcing it upwards until their eyes met. "My love for you, silly." The dog smiled and wagged his tail. "Sex is fun. But why would I go out and sleep with anyone else when I can do it with you." He cooed softly bumping his nose against his cheek.
"Your insatiable though." Cody laughed brushing a hand across the dog's cheek.
"Well then I'll always be hounding you." Toby growled. His stomach growled and he pulled back. "Uh...could I have some of your frozen dinner?" He grinned and Cody frowned.
"....Would you be more comfortable if I didn't see Charlie any more?" Toby panted. Hot. Sweaty. And fully naked in Cody's bed, the sheets barely covering his sticky groin.
"Yes." Cody muttered with closed eyes as the dog snuggled against his chest.
"Ok. I didn't really like him anyways." Toby snickered nosing at his chest before giving it a large slurp.