Blaze - Part Sixteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
Me 10:22 AM: Hey man, how’s it going with Tycho?
Ralph 🌙 10:23 AM: Fine
Me 10:23 AM: Do you want me to take her back? Aiden and I can watch her for the rest of the weekend if you’re busy!
Ralph 🌙 10:24 AM: Nah it’s fine. She’s chillin
Ralph 🌙 10:24 AM: Did you say you’re trying to find a permanent home for her?
Me 10:24 AM: Yeah?
Ralph 🌙 10:25 AM: How much is she? Just wondering
Me 10:25 AM: What?
Me 10:25 AM: She’s free, if that’s what you’re asking
Ralph 🌙 10:25 AM: Would it be like five hundred dollars or is it closer to a thou?
Ralph 🌙 10:25 AM: Oh
Me 10:26 AM: Five hundred fucking dollars?! Our friend found her by the side of the road!
Ralph 🌙 10:26 AM: Well what the fuck ever, man, I’ve never had a dog before, aren’t they expensive?
Me 10:26 AM: I think that’s only if you buy like a purebred dog dude, we don’t even know what Tycho is! But vet bills and stuff can be expensive after you get one
Me 10:30 AM: Why are you asking?
Ralph 🌙 10:34 AM: You and Aiden seriously don’t want her?
Me 10:34 AM: It’s not that we don’t want her, we think she’s adorable, just don’t have the bandwidth at the moment!
Me 10:36 AM: Are you thinking about keeping her, man?
Ralph 🌙 10:38 AM: Fuck no, was just thinking about taking her to the pet store and getting her a few things to keep for wherever she ends up
Me 10:39 AM: Oh, that’s sweet! Is that you inviting me to go with you?
Ralph 🌙 10:39 AM: No, but you can come if you want. I don’t care, whatever
Ralph 🌙 10:39 AM: Pick you up in like half an hour?
~~~~
Ralph and Tycho are both a surprise to me today.
Ralph wouldn’t even touch Tycho when he took her from our house - he had me put her in the crate, then he took the crate - but at the moment he’s got her bundled in his arms, hugged against his chest. And Tycho, who was shivering with terror just looking at him yesterday, is cozied up against his threadbare shirt, panting happily.
She recognized me, but got nervous when I tried to pet her. She went retreating deeper into Ralph’s arms, burrowing her furry face into the crook of his elbow until only her white ears were poking out.
He’s got the leash on her, but he hasn’t put her down yet, nor has she tried to escape. She popped up from her hiding place when we stepped into the pet shop, and she’s looking around eagerly. I hear the fast snuffing of her tiny pink nose as she leans out to sniff at the fish for sale in their tanks, her oversized paws braced on Ralph’s arms.
“What’s she need?” he asks me, his dark green eyes roaming uncertainly over the pet shop. “Most of the stuff you gave me for her was old, besides the food.”
That’s because the stuff that Floyd gave me for Tycho mostly consisted of old things that were originally Ida’s. Tycho would be fine with them, but clearly Ralph wants her to have her own stuff.
“Um…” I mentally run through the list. “Some toys, a bed, a few treats, stuff like that. And you might want to get some anti-chew spray for her leash, going off of my experience with Nugget.”
Ralph turns to look at the piles of toys stacked on the shelves.
He hesitates, then holds Tycho out to the dog toys. I press my fingers over my mouth at the sight of that, her tiny self dangling from Ralph’s hands, her little legs in the air, her round puppy belly panting with eagerness as she sniffs at the rows of toys. She looks at him over her shoulder, her pale blue eyes almost comically enormous with excitement.
“Which one do you want?” Ralph asks her quietly.
She turns back to the dog toys, then starts trying to kick the air to get closer to one of them. Ralph holds her out to it, and she catches it in her teeth, taking it from the shelf. It’s a toy monkey, hidden inside a plushie banana.
“It’s a puzzle toy,” I tell Ralph, my fingers still pressed over my mouth. “She’s gonna have to figure out how to get the monkey out of there.”
Ralph cracks a tiny smile, scratching Tycho’s ears. “A puzzle, huh? That’s what you picked?”
He tries to take the toy from her mouth, but she’s already trying to figure out how to get the monkey free.
Ralph stares down at her, then suddenly reaches out to the shelf and extracts three more puzzle toys, then one of the tug-of-war puppy ropes, then a squeaky ball.
He hands them all to me, settling Tycho into one arm. I take them, caught by surprise. I follow Ralph as he wanders further down the aisle, running his eyes over the packages of treats and coat supplements and vitamins.
I watch him take a box of treats down, then flip it to run his eyes over the ingredients listed on the back, scratching Tycho’s chest with his thumb as he reads.
“Hey,” I begin slowly, tentatively. “About Tycho - have you been th-?”
“So, how was last night?” Ralph doesn’t lift his eyes from the treats as he cuts me off. “You and Aiden went on a date, yeah?”
“Oh.” I blush a tiny bit as my mind goes to last night. “It was - it - yeah, it was really-”
Ralph glances at me, then breathes out a soft laugh. “No need to struggle all the way through whatever you’re trying to say. Doesn’t take Sharpshooter eyes to read the answer right off of your face.”
I rush to drop the dreamy smile, stick my tongue out at Ralph. He laughs again at the deepening blush in my cheeks, then puts the box of treats back on the shelf and picks up another one. He catches the puzzle toy as Tycho drops it, tosses it to me.
“Man, you and Aiden get the exact same look on your face when you talk about each other.”
“Shut up!” I groan, even though it secretly makes me happy to think of my big smile replicated on Aiden’s face.
Ralph snickers softly, then drops his eyes to Tycho as she shakes her head, her little ears making fast flapping sounds with the movement. She yawns, a big puppy yawn. Complete with a tiny whining sound.
Then she tips her head back to look up at Ralph. Her ears flatten against his chest, white paws scrabbling against his arms as she strains to reach up high enough to lick his face.
I could swear I see a flash of warmth move through Ralph’s eyes before he starts looking through the shelves again.
He hands me a packet of crunchy puppy treats, adds it to the small pile of toys already in my hands. I bend down to grab a shopping basket and drop everything into it, since it’s looking like we’re gonna need one.
Ralph nods at the slow-feed dog food bowls stacked on the shelf. “What are these?”
“Oh - they’re shaped like that to make your dog eat their food slower. So they don’t make themselves sick.”
“Really? Thank god.” Ralph snags one from the stack and tosses it into the shopping basket. “She ate so fast this morning that she threw it all back up.”
“Aw.” I make a sympathetic face at Ralph. “She’s probably so used to getting no food, she thought she had to devour it all while she had it. They can get like that, if they’ve been starving.”
Ralph pauses, staring at me with unreadable eyes, then slowly looks down at Tycho again, eyebrows knitted.
She lowers her head and gently nibbles his finger a little bit. It’s a clumsy puppy nibble, her head tilted at the wrong angle to really get it into her mouth, like she doesn’t fully know the best way to do it yet.
Ralph bites his lip, then hugs her against his chest. He turns away before I can catch the look on his face.
“God, too bad you can’t take her,” I sigh, following Ralph towards the big piles of stuffed dog beds. “Guess we’ll just have to keep looking for a home for her.”
Ralph is carefully keeping his face turned away from me.
“She - there’s nowhere else?” he asks, after a moment. “Nobody else who wants her?”
“Not that we’ve found yet, nope.”
Ralph doesn’t answer, only silently holds Tycho. My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I slip it out as Ralph tugs the leash away from Tycho’s gnawing teeth.
Companion Plant 🍃 11:55 AM: Hi.😊
Me 11:55 AM: Hi!😊
Companion Plant 🍃 11:55 AM: Noah and I just got back, we’re all done delivering the custom table he and Raj made. You and Ralph should come over. Noah and Nik want to meet Tycho, and I do, too.
“Ralph, do you feel like going to Noah’s after this? Aiden is hanging out there with him and Nik.”
Ralph glances at me uncertainly. “S’okay for Nik to be around Tycho?”
“Apparently Nik wants to meet her, so I assume yes? Tycho doesn’t bite, you know that.”
Ralph hesitates, then shrugs his shoulders. “Okay.”
“Guess we should make sure they meet now, right?” I ask, texting Aiden back as I talk. “This is probably the only chance, since you’ll only have Tycho for one weekend.”
“Mhm.” Ralph lowers his grey-green eyes to Tycho, who gazes up at him, her little tail wagging. “Yeah. One weekend.”
~~~~
“Oh,” I say in surprise, when Noah opens the door holding Nikita.
She glares up at us furiously in her little onesie, which has a print of blue waves, and which reads: Future Surfer Boy.
Ralph arches a questioning eyebrow. “Future surfer boy?”
“Why not, man?” Noah bends his head to press a kiss onto Nikita’s, tosses his long hair out of his face when he straightens up. “She could be a surfer boy one day, we don’t know. Also baby clothes cost money, and we just had a wedding. This was on sale.”
Ralph considers, then shrugs his shoulders. “All valid arguments.”
“Holy shit, though!” Noah grins down at Tycho, who peeks up at him shyly from Ralph’s arms, once again huddled into a trembling ball of white and silver fur. “Here, bro, trade babies with me real quick. I’m gonna wrestle that dog.”
“No, man,” Ralph laughs, taking a hasty step back. “She’s nervous, she’s gotta get used to you first. And your baby looks ready to kill a man.”
“As always,” I laugh affectionately, knuckling Nikita’s grouchy face.
But her expression melts into a wondering, fascinated smile as she stares at Tycho. She reaches out a hand, which Noah gently catches.
“Attends, princesse,” he says warmly, bouncing her in his arms. “The puppy needs to know you first, okay?”
Nik lets out a squeak of protest, reaching out for Tycho again. Tycho retreats back against Ralph, using her paws on his arms to push herself back into his chest. But she’s watching Nik curiously, her tiny, furry head tilted to the side. Trying to sniff at her from afar.
“No, princesse, I don’t think so.” Noah snags Nik’s hand before it can get too close, then lets out a snicker of fond laughter when she lets out another squeal of indignation. “She probably wants to wrestle the dog, too.”
Ralph breathes out a laugh. “Well, she’s your baby, Noosh, so I believe it.”
Noah grins at him, then turns and beckons with a nod of his head for us to come inside.
Ralph gently sets Tycho on the floor as I close the door after us. Tycho eyes the couch nervously like she might scramble under it and go into hiding. But she changes her mind, sticks close to Ralph’s heels instead.
“Where’s Aiden?” I ask Noah, pulling off my Converse.
“Upstairs. We were giving Niki a texture tour of the house.”
Ralph follows Noah to the stairs, Tycho trotting at his ankles. “A texture tour?”
“Yeah, man. Just walkin’ around, lettin’ her feel shit. Like this.”
Noah turns around on the stairs and hooks a finger into Ralph’s leather wristbands. Ralph stops, watching with startled eyes as Noah uses the wristbands to draw his hand closer to Nik.
“Here’s a new one, Niki.” Noah holds out the wristbands to Nik. “Leather.”
Nik tries to grab them, miscalculates slightly, and seizes hold of Ralph’s thumb instead. Ralph blinks in surprise, looking down at Nik, then lets out another quiet laugh.
“Whoops, here we go-” Noah pries Nik’s hand off of Ralph’s thumb, then touches her fingertips to the wristbands. “That’s leather. The other thing was Ralph.”
Noah drags Nik’s little fingers over the leather so she can feel it, and she stares at the wristbands with obvious, wide-eyed interest.
Tycho whines anxiously, stands up on her back legs, and puts her paws on Ralph’s shins.
“S’alright, Tycho,” Ralph says softly, turning his sage-green gaze on her. “Friends.”
She wuffs quietly and drops to sit, keeping a close, wary eye on Nikita.
Nik peers down at her from Noah’s arms, then lets go of Ralph’s wristbands and reaches her hand to Tycho again. Tycho lays down on the step and rests her muzzle on her paws, watching nervously.
“What are you guys doing?” Aiden stops at the top of the stairs, then freezes when he catches sight of Tycho. “Oh, my god, she’s so cute-”
“Don’t make it a big thing, man,” Noah warns him, as Tycho scampers to hide behind Ralph’s feet, nearly tumbling down the stairs in her rush. “She’s shy.”
Aiden holds up his hands and takes a step back. His eyes go to Noah, who’s still holding Ralph’s wristbands. “Oh, got leather, Noosh?”
“Yep, and I think that’s enough for now. Texture tour complete.” Noah pads the rest of the way up the stairs, Nik bundled in his arms. “We’ve still gotta take that picture, bro! Oh, you know what? You take it, Ralph. You’re good at that shit.”
Aiden hands Ralph his phone with the camera open, then bends to brush a kiss onto my mouth when I stop on the landing beside him.
A rush of sparks blazes up in my chest as soon as his blue eyes look into mine. Last night is still burning bright in my heart.
“Hi,” I murmur, quickly snuggling my nose into his chest.
“Hi,” he laughs affectionately, hooking an arm around my shoulders as we follow Ralph into Noah’s bedroom.
“-already have a photo of her on your surfboard,” Ralph is saying, when we step inside. “It’s your phone’s lock screen.”
“Yes, dude, but now we have her in a surfing-related onesie, so it’ll be even better.” Noah flashes a smile over his shoulder at Ralph as he sets Nik down on his gleaming wooden surfboard. “And now she can sit up on her own, so - let’s see how this looks.”
Noah leaves her sitting on his surfboard and takes a step back. She peers up at all of us with wide eyes, her wispy black hair sticking up. Her golden-brown skin is glowing in the warm sunlight, her tiny legs with their little rolls of baby fat curled on the shiny wood.
“Oh my god,” Noah groans, sagging onto Ralph’s shoulder as I press my fingers over my mouth.
Ralph drops his head, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Yeah, you’re right, man. This needs to be documented.”
Aiden slaps Ralph’s back urgently. “Get the picture right now, Ralph!”
“No, wait-” Noah rushes back over to Nik. “Lemme just fix the onesie so you can read it!”
“Future surfer boy!” I sputter helplessly, my heart melting as I stare down at Nik’s adorable little self. “This’ll be a great picture to have if that prediction turns out to be correct.”
“Well, now we’re prepared in the event that it does,” Noah says brightly, stepping back again. “Right? ‘Cause you took the picture, Ralph?”
Ralph shakes his head, holding up Aiden’s phone with Nik framed in the camera. “Waiting for the right moment.”
“The right moment!” Noah stares at Ralph, his grey eyes wide with disbelief. “Do you not see how cute she is, right now?”
“Course I fucking do, but that’s not what I mean.”
Noah arches a pierced eyebrow at Ralph. “Is that art speak? Ripples uses that shit on me, too. What does it mean, dude?”
“Art speak, what the fuck?” Ralph laughs, his surprised eyes flitting to Noah. “I don’t speak that.”
“Oh, that reminds me - when do we get to see our wedding photos? I forgot to ask.”
Ralph stares at Noah, confusion rising in his eyes. “Um - when your photographer sends them to you, I guess?”
Now Noah looks confused, too. “But that was you, man. You were the only one taking pictures at the wedding.”
“What the f-?” Ralph’s head snaps back, his eyes blinking hard and fast. “You guys didn’t hire a pro?”
“We did,” Noah answers slowly, in a voice like all of this should be obvious. “But then you said you were bringing your camera, and I’ve seen your photos, so. We canceled the guy we booked. You’re way better. We were already gonna have all the photos we needed.”
Ralph stares at Noah blankly for a long moment, struggling to absorb that.
“You - what?” he finally manages. “Are you serious?”
Noah nods, and Ralph’s eyes fill up with alarm.
“Dude, no - you didn’t tell me - I didn’t do any of the traditional, like - I just took what I - it’s not gonna look like wedding photos, it’s gonna look like - like-”
“Art?” Noah breaks into a bright grin, elbows Ralph’s arm. “So someone does know art speak after all, huh?”
“Oh, Noah, you dumb fucker!” Ralph groans, trying to look mad despite the smile he can’t totally fight down. “Say one more word and I’m coming for your kneecaps, I fucking mean it-”
We all startle and whip around as a high-pitched, whining little sound fills the air.
While no one was paying attention, Tycho’s curiosity must have overcome her fear. Enough for her to nose her way over to Nik where she’s sitting on the surfboard.
The result is that Nik is holding a fistful of Tycho’s whiskers, staring at her with enormous, wondering eyes. Tycho is frozen to the spot, her wide eyes pleadingly fixed on Ralph, begging for help.
“Oh, shit!” Noah rushes forward and pries Nik’s fingers open, freeing Tycho. “Jesus, you stop paying attention for two seconds and whiskers get added to the texture tour! Sorry, puppy, she doesn’t know better yet!”
Tycho clumsily scampers behind Ralph, her ears bouncing as she runs. Nik lets out a burst of giggles as she watches her wild, scrambling movements.
Tycho cautiously peers out around Ralph’s legs, watching Nik laugh. Her little tail gives a tiny, uncertain wag, her white ears perked up.
She begins slowly making her way over again, shyly retreating and advancing in little bursts. Nik squeals with bubbly laughter each time, sitting up with her back against Noah’s hands. He’s clearly ready to swoop in if she makes another grab for Tycho.
Tycho finally gets close enough to lean up and sniff Nik’s face. Nik leans closer at the same time, and both she and Tycho startle as their tiny noses bump together.
Tycho falls back and crouches down, her wagging tail up in the air as Nik lets out a shriek of surprised laughter. She reaches both hands for Tycho again, sweet baby giggles pouring from her.
“Got the picture,” Ralph says suddenly, lowering Aiden’s phone.
We’ve all been staring at what’s happening on the surfboard, but now everyone looks up at Ralph in surprise. Aiden and I quickly move behind Noah as Ralph holds out the phone so we can see the photo.
The original idea for the photo is there. Nik perched upright on the surfboard, the surfing onesie easily readable. But the picture is different from how it was originally supposed to be.
Noah’s tattooed arms are reaching down into the photo behind Nikita, his ink-patterned hands gently holding her as she reaches out towards Tycho, snowy silver and white, playfully crouched nearby. Nik is glowing with laughter, eyes almost closed with it, chubby cheeks rounded out. Looking tiny in Noah’s hands, speckled with sunlight from the open window.
“Oh.” Noah makes an almost pained face of adoration, then drops his head like he can barely handle that picture. “That’s - yeah, okay. Worth waiting for the right moment. Holy shit.”
“Is it weird if I make this my lock screen?” Ralph murmurs, and then, all in a rush, when he abruptly seems to realize what he said - “Just kidding, obviously. Not my baby or my dog.”
“Really, man? You’re not gonna keep her? That’s too bad.” Noah nods down at Nik and Tycho. “You could have brought her by to play with Nik whenever.”
“Nah, I can’t take her.” Ralph is busy sending the photo to himself from Aiden’s phone. “Even if I wanted to, I go out of town for work sometimes, and to meet Calla halfway to Port Sitka-”
“We could watch her for you,” Aiden, Noah, and I all answer at the same time, then twist to look at each other in surprise.
“Oh.” Ralph looks the most surprised out of all of us. “Okay…”
“Sorry, dude, not trying to pressure you.” Noah straightens up, clasping Nik back into his arms, then points at the photo. “Just - look at that picture, you know? Our little girls!”
Ralph drops his gaze back to the picture of Tycho and Nik.
“I mean,” he says slowly. “Don’t know if I should, um - there just might be someplace better for her. Might be someone better for her. Don’t know how good I’d be at, like - I - she’s not my girl.”
“Yeah, true. And Nik might turn out not to be a girl at all. The onesie might be accurate.” Noah shrugs his shoulders, unbothered, smiling brightly at Ralph. “Never know what the future holds, right? That’s what makes it fun.”
“That’s what makes it fun?” Ralph stares at Noah with wide eyes, lets out a sputter of startled laughter. “Shit, that’s - one way of looking at it.”
Noah shrugs again, smoothing his thumb in gentle circles on Nik’s back. “That’s my way.”
Ralph shakes his head at Noah, his dark green eyes suddenly warm with brotherly affection. Then he drops his gaze to Tycho, who just stopped at his feet.
She sits down and peers up at him, tail wagging on the floor. She scratches her broken ear, nearly toppling her precarious puppy balance, catching herself just before she would have accidentally gone rolling onto her side.
She gathers herself back together and looks up at Ralph again with adoring eyes, panting a little from the effort.
“Wish I could look at things your way sometimes, Noosh,” Ralph murmurs quietly, gazing down at her.
Noah smiles, bending down to offer his fingers to Tycho to sniff.
“Never too late to try it out, man.”
Want to leave a comment? I would love it if you did, and you can do so on the Tapas episode!