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"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." - Mother Teresa

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Loud knocking came from the other side of the door, bringing me back into consciousness.

I was suddenly so anxious as I woke up in the dark, my head and ears both perking up in alarm to the noise. I twisted my head around in all directions, disoriented, trying to discover where I was, but there was no light anywhere to reveal my surroundings. As I began to pick myself up, I was tugged back down all of a sudden, onto something warm which was underneath me and wrapped around my waist at the same time.

Beginning to panic, I started to squirm and kick my legs wildly, whining in desperation. These actions caused whatever was underneath me to stir uncomfortably, and I heard it begin to groan.

"Is there anyone in there?" a voice called from outside, still knocking. "Don't think I don't hear you, we're closing up now, you're going to have to catch the bus home, it's almost six-thirty!"

"Yeah, yeah, one second," I then heard right behind my head, the warm breath of each word brushing against the grey fur on my ear.

The arms wrapped around me tighter, trying to hold me still, but that forced more panic out of me, my heart racing.

"Shh, Brian, I'm here," whispered the second voice, the one behind me, but this time in a very soothing tone. I felt a paw take a hold of mine and give it a gentle squeeze. "Did you have another nightmare?"

It was after hearing that voice-that gentle, calm, soothing voice-that I had realized where I was and what was happening. My legs stopped kicking, my ears relaxed back onto my head, and my head lay back against the soft chest of a husky. My heart beat began to slowly down again as well, my anxiety disappearing.

Darrien-a husky-and I had spent our afternoon together in a practice room in the school's Performing Arts Department, afterschool. I recall singing him a song and then we spent a while kissing and snuggling with one another until we had fallen asleep, curled up in the corner with me wrapped up in his arms.

The knocking had ceased, but the voice on the other side of the door called again, "Alright, but you'd better hurry up, there's only about ten more minutes until the buses leave." Footsteps could be heard on the other side, becoming more and more distant with each step.

"Brian? Were you having a nightmare again?" asked the voice, still in a whisper. "It's okay now, it's over. I'm here with you, and nothing is going to hurt you."

I breathed slowly and kept my eyes closed, nodding slowly as well.

"That's it, my brave puppy, there's nothing here that can hurt you," spoke the voice again, and a pair of arms scooped me up and cradled me.

I could feel myself being lifted and then a light turned on, blinding me and forcing my eyelids shut, shielding my brown eyes from the light when I tried to open them. I started to whine again and melted into the arms which held me up, and my head rested against the chest of the body, listening closely to its heart beat slowly.

"Time to wake up, puppy," the husky continued to whisper, now licking right under my eyes which still remained shut.

"I'm still so sleepy though, Darrien," I groaned quietly, just barely managing to open my eyes now, letting them slowly adjust to the light.

"I know, pup, but we've gotta catch the bus now," Darrien chuckled a bit as he helped set me back down on my feet.

Reluctant to put in any physical effort right now, I leaned against him and kept my arms wrapped around him too. In return, Darrien put one of his arms around my waist and held me close to him.

"I love you, Dare Dare," I whispered and then tilted my head up and licked at his neck affectionately.

"I love you too, my beautiful puppy," he smiled down at me and scratched lightly behind my ears.

Darrien then picked up his schoolbag and slung it over his shoulder, beginning to lead us out of the practice room. I grabbed my bag too as he led us out, but let it drag closely behind us on the floor instead.

Darrien had led us out to the buses where I was no longer leaning against him, not wanting to risk our secret relationship with each other. However, the afterschool buses were quite empty, since it was a Friday, so everyone had probably gone home early instead, wanting to get some rest, so the two of us kept ourselves hidden in the back row of seats so we could resume our cuddling.

On the trip home, we sat together pleacefully, me in his lap. The sun had set early and the sky was an ocean of a dark blue fabric, the stars leaving miniscule rips in the extravagant plush. The moon was the one that stood out the most though, shining so brightly that it almost seemed to be a refuge for lost stars. Together, we watched them as they shined for us.

We were dropped off right outside Darrien's house, but we both walked towards it. My family wasn't very close, let alone functional, so I didn't need to inform my parents if I were spending some time at someone else's place. It's not like they would've cared anyways, and in fact, I preferred it like this because then they wouldn't have anything to be suspicious about if I told them that I was always headed to the same place.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home," Darrien called out as we entered, "and Brian's here again."

I slipped my shoes off and tucked them neatly into in the shoe cabinet, Darrien doing the same as me.

"Brian, you say?" came a feminine voice from another room, Darrien's mother. Then, she made an entrance from the kitchen. "Oh, Brian!" she exclaimed, "welcome back!"

"Thanks, Mrs. P," I said with a smile, my tail wagging, and I returned a brief hug when she gave me one.

"Remember, what's ours is yours, so feel free to make yourself at home," she said, brimming with excitement to have me as a guest again, at least that's what I was guessing. "I'll be in the kitchen with your father, Darrien, if any of you two need me, alright?"

"Alright, thanks again, Mrs. P," I nodded, still smiling at her, and then she turned.

"Play nice, you two," she giggled while heading back to the kitchen.

Once she had disappeared around the corner, I felt another paw take a hold of mine and then tug at me, leading me up the stairs. Obediently, I followed as the husky lead us up to his room and shut the door behind us.

"My mom really likes you being at our house, you know," he grinned at me with his back pressed up against the door, holding it firmly shut.

"I can tell," I grinned back at him, my tail still wagging. "But why?"

"Because," he started, "you," he approached me, "make," he put a paw on my cheek, "me," he kissed my muzzle, "happy," and he smiled warmly at me.

I could feel my cheeks starting to turn a bit warm, and all I could do was smile back shyly at him before speaking quietly. "You make me happy too."

Although Darrien had a great family and plenty of friends who were accepting of his sexual orientation, he wasn't a very happy canine until he had gotten to know me in Middle School. This was a bit late, considering the fact that I've been going to our school since I was in Pre-Kindergarten, and he had come when we were in second grade. The reason for his unhappiness though came partly from feeling lonely because anyone that he ever had a crush on wasn't into guys, and also a few other factors such as gay bashers at our school. I helped change this though.

"You're too cute," he said, grinning wider at me when he noticed my cheeks turning red. This forced them to turn an even darker red.

"Y-You're cute t-too, Darrien," I stuttered, looking away from his sapphire eyes which were still alive with swirling galaxies in them, and bit down on my bottom lip.

"Only as cute as you, my cute, widdle, cuddly, puppy," he giggled to himself and pinched my cheek.

Slowly, I reached and wrapped my arms around him while my cheeks continued to burn, and pulled him into a tight embrace, my heart beating quickly. He did the same and reached his tail around me too, pulling me in closer. We stood there in his room, just each other in our arms, our hearts beating both beating fairly quick; hard pulses pounding from our chests.

"I love you, Darrien," I spoke softly, my eyes starting to droop shut, and I rested my head on his chest.

"And I, you," he returned, gently nuzzling the top of my head and giving me a squeeze with his arms.

"Hey, Dare?" I opened my eyes again suddenly and tilted my head up to look up at him.

"Yes, my little pup?" he smiled down at me and gave my nose a quick lick.

"Can you, uhh..." I paused in hesitation for a second and bit down on my bottom lip again. "Can you tell me a story?"

"A story?" he pulled his head back and tilted it sideways a bit, his eyebrow raising, but still smiled down at me. "What of?"

I took his paw in mine and then held it to my chest, letting him feel each beat of heart which almost seemed to be pounding out of my chest. "This love," I said, gazing deeply into his eyes of sapphire again.

Darrien let his eyebrow drop back down and gave my lips a very brief, but soft kiss. "Sure, Brian," he said with that smile still spread across his face. He scooped me up in his arms as always, and carried me over to the bed, setting me down and then crawled behind me, pulling me back against him, between his legs. I leaned back against him and lay the back of my head against his chest, my eyes closing, but my ears remaining perked up, listening closely to him.

"Despite our journey through High School being a long and stressful one, we find ourselves studying in the same university, where our love for one another deepens. When we graduate from university, we decide to take up simple careers so we can live care-free lives with each other. Oh, and we have children too," he quickly pointed out in his story. "You named one of them," he gave me squeeze with his arms, cueing me to speak.

I gave it a moment to think, and then I spoke, "Charles... Charlie."

"Charles, Charlie," he repeated, grinning. "And I named the other Darryl. Both having similar traits as us, and we're a loving bunch." He let out a sigh and rested his muzzle between my ears. "Is that good, Bri?"

"Well, it was lacking a few details, but otherwise it was great," I teased and giggled to myself.

"Lacking a few details?" He perks his ears up and tilted his head against, but staring straight across the room, at the other wall.

"Well, yeah," I started explaining, pulling random things off the top of my head, "stories need some more fantasy in them, like... like fire-breathing dragons from deep down in the ocean."

"Quite the paradox you've got there," he chuckled and gave me an even tighter squeeze in his arms.

"Well, I like that idea," I chuckled a bit with him and grinned in embarrassment, my cheeks red once again.

"I never said I didn't," he continued to chuckle.

Just as I was about to open my maw to speak again, knocking came from the door, causing the both of us to perks our ears up in alarm and turn our heads. I quickly scrambled out of Darrien's arms and off the bed, finding a seat at his desk next to the bed.

The door open by just a crack, and Darrien's father stuck his head in.

"Dinner is ready, says mom," he informed us, and gave me a nod with a smile while he spoke. "She asks you two to wash your paws and head downstairs."

I gave him a nod back before he pulled his head back out into the hallway and shut the door firmly behind him.

I turned my head to Darrien and spoke, grinning at him again. "Well, you heard the man, time to wash your paws and head downstairs for dinner."

"Ladies first," he said while smirking at me.

"What?" I perked my ears up and stared wide-eyed at him. "Ladies!?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded, that smirk still there. "Ladies," and that was all he said.

I was taken aback and so I tilted my head. "And what exactly do you see in me that makes me a lady?"

"Oh, y'know," he said simply, looking away, "you're the cuter, smaller, and more submissive one out of the two of us."

"Cuter, that's debatable; smaller, you got me there; submissive, I don't quite see how," I raised an eyebrow at him questionably.

"You'll see what I mean, later," he chuckled, climbing out of bed and heading out the door, to the bathroom.

"Wait, I'll see what later?" I asked anxiously, jumping out of the chair and following closely behind him. "What do you mean?"

"I told, you'll see," he kept chuckling to himself, and shut the bathroom door behind him.

What exactly is he talking about? Submissive? The other two I could follow, but what did he mean by submissive?

Within seconds, Darrien had come out of the bathroom and walked past me with a grin. I returned a look of question on my face, challenging him to tell me, but he did not.

Shaking my head after he had started heading down the stairs, I stepped into the bathroom, ignoring the cold tiles underneath my pawpads, still in thought. I flipped the tap up and started to wash my paws, looking at myself in the mirror with my brows furrowed. I still couldn't let it go. What did he mean by submissive?

"Ahh, whatever," I then said, shaking my head again. "He said you'd find out later, anyways."

I flipped the tap off and dried my paws quickly on my hoodie while stepping out of the bathroom, wanting to catch up to Darrien.

"Oh, Brian," I heard his mother say as I stepped into the dining room, "your seat is right there beside Darrien.

Their whole family was sitting at the table already - Darrien, his mother, and his father. I quickly and awkwardly made my way to my seat at the end of the Oakwood table. I sat myself down on the cushioned seat, Darrien to my right and his parents to my left. The three of them were waiting for me.

We started eating, discussing things such as school and how our studies were going. And, as usual, the cooking was phenomenal. Darrien's father was a chef, and his mother a cook, so of course they made the most delicious home-made meals that I've ever tasted. Exceptionally better than the noodles I made myself when I decided to make my own food instead, and also much better than the food that my parents had ever made me as well. Oh, how I envied the both of Darrien's parents having jobs that involved working with food. Darrien himself was great at cooking up some meals too. A prodigy, he almost seemed, a chip off the old block.

When the meal had ended, Darrien and I had found ourselves back in his room. We were lying on his bed, snuggling each other for hours after watching the television. It was still turned on, but on mute though, across from the bed. It was the only source of light in the room, other than that from the streetlights and the moon and stars outside. The television lit up the room quite intimately to my surprise, its dim glow illuminating the surfaces everything with a soft blue.

"Oh, beautiful moon," I began to softly again, the song I had sung before we had fallen asleep in the practice room, looking deeply into his glittering sapphire. "When it's dark out tonight, I thank God for givin' you your life." Darrien just smiled at me as I sang while we lay on our sides, facing each other, and he stroked my cheek with his paw. "Oh, beautiful moon, when you're all alone, there's no stars where they all go."

My voice slowly faded and all was silent again.

"I think it's time for us to go to bed now, pup," he whispered with a smile and leaned in to kiss my forehead.

I nodded slowly and closed my eyes, the image of his smile burned into my mind, lighting me up inside, and I shuffled in closer to him to curl up into his arms. I could feel the covers brush across my fur as Darrien lifted them up to our shoulders, and gave the top of my head a kiss this time after pulling me close into him, and held me tightly.

"Good night, my puppy," he whispered and gave me a gentle squeeze.

"Good night, my beautiful husk husk," I whispered back, giving his chest a kiss in return.

And so we slept, our minds drifting away into dreams of each other. Love, it was called, lingering around in our subconscious's. A place to call home.

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