*rubs my lil hands together* give me some private and skipper brotherly fluff. i am here for that
“Thanks for shopping with us, come againsoon!”
Upon exiting the doors of the supermarket,the people would be met with heavy rain fall, as if a wall of water itself wasin front of them. Some would wait under the roof of the store until thepitter-patter of the rain on the ground would calm down, and some would simplyhead for their vehicle.
“It wasn’t so dark earlier, right,‘kipper?” said a young voice. It was innocent, and pure as any otherchild.
Skipper looked down sheepishly at the tinyfigure clutching his leg with a small fist. “Yeah, I didn’t think it wouldhave rained today, especially not this strong,” he answered,scratching the back of his head. Skipper bit his lip as he glared at thecontinuous rainfall before checking his phone.
“It’s almost 8 o'clock. If we don’tstart heading home now, we’ll get caught in the rain and the dark, so..”
Skipper put his phone away into his pocket,and kneeled to pull Private’s hood over his messy hair before scooping him intohis arm. He began to walk, the path thepair took earlier to go from their home to the store.
Private looked around, taking in the greyedscenery. The rain was cold to the touch, adding to the frost of the winter. Andwhenever he breathed, he could see a small puff of a cloud appear before him.He giggled, obviously amused by the environment.
Skipper chuckled at the youngling in his arm.He always seemed to explore every aspect around him and usually found a way tofind entertainment from those elements. The man found himself staring into bigblue eyes, that seemed to radiate from curiosity. Of course, Private and anyother 5-year-old would have such a look in their eyes, but Private wasdefinitely thinking of something more than just being simply curious.
The young boy raised his arms in front of himand tried to wrap them around Skipper’s head. “You’re getting wet,‘Kipper,” he said as he held his older brother’s head in a gently hug.
“It’s okay, Private. It’s justrain,” he said, stopping in his tracks until his head was released.
“Could you let go now, beb?”
“Nuh-uh! It’s cold, 'Kipper!” heexclaimed, embrace never growing a weaker hold.
Skipper laughed, adoring the stubborn traitsof his baby brother. He put the bags in his other hand down beside him, andgently pushed Private’s arms away. Skipper held the tiny pair of hands in hisown, and looked into the child’s eyes. “I’m fine, Private. It’s not gonnado anything to me, okay? But if you keep hugging my head I might accidentallytrip and hurt us both, okay?”
Private huffed, hesitant to not protect hisbig brother and gave him an adorably angry face in attempt to protest.
Skipper couldn’t help but laugh as he triedto warm up the hands in his grasp as they trembled from the cold. Private onlyglared back as he laughed, before breaking out into a fit of giggles himself.
Oh, was he adorable or what? Skipper couldn’tever take such an angry face seriously, and would usually end up being able tobreak up his pout just as easily as how he caused it.
Skipper ran a hand through his hair, gelbecoming washed off by the rain. “Oh shoot, we gotta get a move on,”he commented, looking up only to see the clouds continue to pour down on them.
He looked down to grab the bags he put on theground, but was met with nothing but rippling puddles. He looked around,shocked that the bags were somehow able to move away from him without himknowing.
Or a thief had taken it while he wasdistracted. A small, fluffy thief.
A few feet away, he saw a small puppy withthe bags as he scavenged through one of them. Private had seen the puppy aswell, and immediately screeched “Buppy! 'Kipper!! There’s a buppy!”
“I know, I see it Private.” Hebegan to move towards the ball of fluff, freezing when the dog looked up fromthe bags and set his eyes onto the pair. Suddenly, the pup took hold of one ofthe bags and began to sprint away.
Skipper would have been fine with allowingthe tiny thief go with the bag and continue on his way, but then Private hadslipped from his grip when he knelt down to grab the remaining bags and startedrunning after the puppy.
“Buppy! Wait!!” he heard his babybrother yell. Skipper grasped the bags in his hand and tripped over from theunbalanced weights and slippery floor. “Are you kidding me!?” heexclaimed as he lifted himself off from the disgusting puddle, heart racingthat Private was only getting farther away.
He got up, not bothering to try to wipe offthe mud on his suit and tie and began running towards the blurry figures aheadof him. “Private, no! Get back here right now, soldier!” he yelledout.
But Private continued, turning to the leftbehind a building when the puppy did so. Skipper could not afford to lose sightof Private; the rain made it hard to see him clearly and he was rapidly losinglight from the sky. He let go of the bags and gained speed, also turning towhere the child went.
There was an alley, a dead end, dumpsterslining the sides of the back of the buildings. Private was looking behind oneof the dumpsters, most likely where the puppy had gone. Skipper marched on overto where his baby brother was. Private squeaked when he felt a pair of handslift him up by his sides, and was met with tired and worried eyes from Skipper.Also a bit angry.
He was huffing, trying to catch his breathfrom the adrenaline rush. He had mud on his chin, but it was dripping off fromthe rain drops going down his face.
Finally, he caught his breath and spoke.
“Private. Don’t ever go running off byyourself ever again! I could have lost you in this rain! You could have gottenhurt! Do you think I could forgive myself if that ever happened because Icouldn’t save you?” he scolded, trying not to let all of his anger out onthe shivering child in his arms.
Private looked him in the eyes, sad that hehad made Skipper feel bad. He held his arms out and shakily said “I’msorry, 'Kipper. . ”
The older man’s expression softened, sighingand watching a puff of his breath become visible in the chilly night. He huggedthe boy tightly, one hand running through Private’s wet hair now that his hoodhad come off while running. Before Private pulled away from the hug, hesmooched Skipper’s muddy cheek, that surely gained him the smile that he lovedfrom his older brother.
“Let’s go, it’s getting late,”Skipper said, ruffling Private’s hair before once again pulling his hood over.
“No, I wanna help that buppy! He’scold..” Private protested. He pointed to the dumpster close to them.Private looked back up to Skipper, who gave him an unsure look. But after a fewseconds, Skipper sighed, and walked to peek behind the dumpster.
There, he saw the puppy, trembling as he wascurled on a tattered piece of cloth. In front of him sat the bag he stole fromthe brothers. In it was food items, just ones that Johnson needed for dinnertonight. But, it wouldn’t necessarily do much for a puppy; it was just vegetablesfor the most part.
Skipper came closer, and gently took hold ofthe pup’s tag.
“Knary Household?” Skipper readaloud. He turned over the tag, only to find the number scratched out, probablyfrom the tag wearing out.
Private perked up, and tugged on Skipper’stux collar. “Leo?”
“Leo Knary? You mean the one from thesupermarket?” Skipper asked.
“Yeah! He’s told me about his dog. Chocohelps Leo when he gets nervous,” Private explained, recalling the storieshe’s heard from the man.
Skipper stared at the young boy, confused.Leo was from the supermarket, and seemed to have made friends with his brothersafter falling in love with Private’s cute. Why would his, what seemed like,service dog be out here?
Well, whatever the reason, if he’s a servicedog, Leo must need him. Skipper pulled out his phone, pushing it’s button toturn it on.
However, he only saw the lockscreen, where hesaw he had quite a few (more like 10+) missed calls from his brothers beforethe screen turned black again, and refused to turn on again.
Private watched, concerned when he saw thepanic in Skipper’s face.
“Are you kidding me, uuugh!” hefumed. He began to feel the pocket that he had his phone in just seconds ago,feeling that it was soaked from his fall earlier. He shoved his dysfunctionalphone back into his pocket.
“We have to head home fast, I thinkKowalski and Johnson are worried judging from my notifications,” Skipperexplained.
He took the bag that the dog had in itspossession, and began to move it away from him. He felt a tug on his shirtcollar.
“No, we can’t leave him, 'Kipper!”he cried, continuing to tug on the stained shirt.
“We’re not, we’re not! Look,”Skipper defended. Private turned his attention to watch Skipper’s plan. The pupwas following the bag, sniffing it frequently. Leo’s scent must have been on itfrom when he scanned their items earlier!
“See? I’ve got this under control, rightPrivate?” Skipper remarked, grinning when he saw Private’s smile as hehugged his arm. Whether it was from the cold or to tell him he’s a greatbrother (which he was), he didn’t really care; now they can continue along tofinally get somewhere warm. And to change out of these damp clothes!
The knock rang through the Tux household, butonly the noise of the footsteps outside was needed to have it’s members comerushing to the door. All brothers had made it to the living room, but it wasManfredi that opened the door with Johnson behind him. When they had caughtsight of the trembling figures standing in the calmed sprinkle of rain, Johnsonimmediately shoved past his older twin and pulled them inside, unaware of thefollowing fluffy creature. All attention was set on Skipper, who grinnedsheepishly and shook, and Private who trembled and looked at everyone with wideeyes as he waved hello.
Skipper watched as Johnson aggressivelylocked the door, and strutted towards him. Manfredi followed, grabbing hisJohnson’s shoulder should he get too angry.
Skipper nervously looked at the twins, onewho looked at him sternly.
“Johnson I know you’re a bit upset thatwe’re late in the cold and rain and didn’t answer your calls, but look, Iwasn’t expecting the rain and I accidentally tripped into a puddle that justfried my phone and-”
“Can it, Skipper!” Johnson interjected,and made everyone in the room flinch. Suddenly, he embraced Skipper andPrivate, holding them both close to him and feeling the chilly touch of theirsoaked clothes and hair.
“I’m pissed that you didn’t answer totell us where you two are while a storm was going on, yeah, but you’re bothhere now and you’re both safe. Just,” he paused, “just don’t worryever us like that again, got it?”
Skipper sighed in relief and grinned softlyas he handed the water-filled bags to Rico and Kowalski and hugged Johnsonback.
Manfredi sighed, glad that tensions were low.He checked out Skipper, after being released from Johnson’s tight hug, andchuckled at seeing the mud stains covering his younger brother. He walked up toSkipper, and placed the back of his hand on his cheek.
“Cold outside huh? Go and get changedand we’ll get you two something hot to eat,” he said, running his handthrough Skipper’s frosty hair.
Skipper nodded, and as about to turn to headto their room, but was stopped by Kowalski.
“Uh, before you do that,” Kowalskisaid, looking from the ground to his older brother, “why is this puppyhere? He won’t stop following the bags of, um, 'groceries’.”
The others all moved to see the small dogKowalski had mentioned. It was a corgi, still a young pup. Despite it beingunbelievably cute, they couldn’t accept it.
“Where did you get this puppy?”Johnson asked, kneeling to pet him and to check his tags.
Skipper put down the fidgeting child in hisarms on the ground so he could play with the wet dog, and crossed his stiffarms that continued to shake.
“Well, he stole our bags while we wereout. I though it was a stray at first, but the tags, according to young Privatethere, says that he belongs to Leo and his brothers. I think to help himwhenever he becomes too nervous?” Skipper explained, thinking back toearlier.
Johnson sputtered before finding his words.“Wait-what- you mean this is a service dog? His owners probably need him!Why didn’t you call Leo?”
Skipper unfolded his arms and motionedtowards his practically frozen and damp pants and pulled out his broken phoneslightly. “I don’t know where his house is, so I couldn’t do thateither.”
“Oh, right,” Johnson replied, a bitembarrassed. He pulled out his own phone, and began to look through hiscontacts and selected the name “Leo Knary.” As the phone began toring, he walked to a quieter room to talk to the man without too much noise.
The night continued much more calmly now thatall members of the Tux brothers were reunited. Skipper and Private were changedout of their practically frozen wear and into layers of clothes, and were givenhot soup. During the night, while the brothers were figuring out ways to warmthe duo up after they finished eating, a knock came from the door. Manfrediopened it, met with the owners of the puppy that slept near the warm fireplaceafter being washed of dirt and mud.
“Thank you so, so much for finding ourdog!” Leo exclaimed, and picked up the pup. He greeted the brothers, butdirected most at the founder of his pup- Skipper waved from the table asresponse as he departed shortly after retrieving Choco.
[AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’M SO SORRY THIS TOOK A WHILE AND THAT IT’S A FIC INSTEAD OF ART; I’M HAVING A WEIRD ART BLOCK AND COULDN’T DRAW ANYTHING I’M SORRY. ALSO SORRY IT’S LONG ILY)
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