#pre cave

In came said pooch, waddling from the hallway and shaking his paws wildly from the dog-sized red boots that Vivi had put them in. Lewis failed to hold back a laugh. “Don’t laugh! Take them off!”

“No way!” Vivi giggled wildly as she quickly followed Mystery into the living room, phone in hand, and sat down next to Lewis. “Mystery, stay still! I gotta get pictures of this!”

When it didn’t look like Lewis would lift a finger to help him, Mystery pouted and turned back to Vivi. “This is demeaning.”

“Oh stop, you’re adorable.” Click.

His ears drooped and he tried to look as pitiful as possible. “I’m uncomfortable.”

“Just let me get a few more pictures and then I’ll take them off, you big baby.”

Huffing, Mystery continued to waggle his paws in a vain attempt to get them off. He didn’t understand how Vivi did that and why he couldn’t get them off himself. What were these things made out of?!

Finally Vivi looked up from her phone, and for a second Mystery was hopeful she was going to be true to her word and take off these godforsaken things. “Y’know…I bet you’d look even cuter with a little hat on too.”

…Or not. “Viviiiiiiiiiiii…”

--

He knew he was staring. He could feel the stare at him from behind. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?~” And there was the unmistakable sound of Mystery’s tail wagging on the floor.

“That. You’re staring at me. Knock it off.”

“I’m not staring~”

Lewis sighed and finally turned to face the canine intruder. “Okay fine, you’re begging.”

“And you have bacon.”

“…Yes,” he replied nervously and moved the try further onto the counter so Mystery couldn’t see it. “But it’s part of something else I’m making. So no, you can’t have any.”

If Lewis didn’t know any better, he could have sworn he saw Mystery’s eyes shine, as if he knew he had already won this battle. But it barely lasted a second, gone before he could fully register what he thought he might have seen. “You can’t spare just one little piece?” Mystery whined, lowering his ears in the process.

It was already happening. “I already said no, Mystery. Go bother Vivi.”

Ah, but Vivi wouldn’t be weak against this. “Please?” Mystery lowered his muzzle and made sure that his eyes were the biggest and saddest that Lewis had ever seen. ‘I am starving. Look at the starved puppy.’

And he could tell it was working. “No! How many times are we going to go through this?”

Well, Lewis brought this on himself. Mystery played his last card, lowering himself onto the ground with another soft whine, trying to look as small and sad as possible, with those big eyes still aimed right at him. “Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeeeeee?”

Finally Lewis sighed in defeat. Whether he was just tired of Mystery’s whining, or it had actually affected him (Mystery was betting on the former), Lewis reached over and snagged one piece of bacon from the tray. “Fine. Here,” he grumped and handed it out to the conniving pooch.

Mystery happily sat up and took the piece, gobbling it up right then and there. “Thank you, Lewis~” He said sweetly and nudged Lewis’ hand in appreciation.

“Yeah, yeah…” Unable to help himself, Lewis gave Mystery a little scratch behind his ear. It made Mystery’s tail thump against the floor even more, especially when Lewis smiled at him. “You’re worse than Vivi, you know that?”

--

A cold nose to his exposed side made Arthur jump from his place on the couch. “Jesus-!” He rubbed the part Mystery nudged and turned his head to face the one who interrupted his nap. “What’s the big idea, Mystery?”

He sat there, head tilted curiously to the side. “I am still amazing at how light of a sleeper you are, Arthur. I thought that would take more effort.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh. Don’t tell me that’s the reason you woke me up.”

“No. I woke you up to tell you that Vivi and Lewis had to leave to go to the store. Lewis said he still needed a few things and Vivi wanted to go with him. It shouldn’t take them long at all, and then Lewis can start on dinner.”

“…Oh.” Mystery frowned when he sensed Arthur’s change in demeanor. That seemed to happen a lot recently, and it worried him. It always came up when Lewis and Vivi were the topic. “Well, thanks, I guess.”

Now Mystery had a feeling Arthur wouldn’t go back to sleep so easily. He was reminded of the times when Vivi was a child and she was upset over something. He would always curl up next to her, give her someone to cuddle with, and it always helped her sleep much more soundly.

…Perhaps that could work here as well. Arthur was so lost in his own world that he didn’t even notice Mystery preparing to jump onto the couch with him until he had literally jumped on him. “Wh–hey! What are you doing?”

“May I sleep here too?” Mystery asked politely, making Arthur pause. There was no sign of a joking tone to Mystery’s voice.

“Wh…why?”

“Because you look like you could use the company.” Arthur was upset over something, he knew, but he also knew that Arthur wasn’t one to push his problems onto other people. The best he could do was offer support; to let Arthur know that he would always be there for him, just as he was with Vivi and Lewis.

It took a minute, but Arthur eventually smiled and flopped back onto the cushions with a sigh. “Sure, if you want to.”

Mystery needed no more incentive. He moved a little closer and lied himself down on top of Arthur, coaxing a small “oof” out of his friend. Luckily Mystery wasn’t a very heavy dog. After a moment, he could feel Arthur’s chest rumble with some sort of laughter and he watched as Arthur reached over to scratch him behind his ears. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. You are a wonderful pillow.”

That got a snort out of Arthur, something Mystery was proud of. Arthur didn’t laugh much these days, and his smiles were almost always fake and forced. “You little shit,” Arthur said with a grin, a real one, and moved his hand so that he was now scratching Mystery’s belly. Instinctively Mystery rolled onto his side so Arthur could scratch him more easily. “That’s the real reason you jumped up here with me then, huh?”

“Maaaaaybe~” Mystery replied with a doggie grin of his own. “The belly scratches certainly don’t hurt.” His tongue almost flopped out when the scratches increased, but he couldn’t stop his hind leg from twitching.

“Knew it. You’re so spoiled.”

“I am not. I never get any attention, ever.”

“Uh-huh. And Vivi doesn’t like ghosts.” Mystery almost whined when Arthur took his hand away, giving him one last pat on the head before leaning back for good. “…Thanks though, Mystery.”

“My pleasure.”

--

He should have paid better attention. He should have been faster.

How could everything have gone so wrong, so fast?

“Mystery?” Vivi’s voice made his ears perk up and he turned to see his “owner” heading towards him, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “What are you doing out here?”

Mystery frowned. “I could ask you the same. Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“Mng, I got a killer migraine. It woke me up and now I can’t get back to sleep.”

That was the third migraine this week. Mystery whined softly and turned his head up once more to stare at the night sky. He heard Vivi huff behind him.

“So? Why are you here?”