Nellis, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
14. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Hey, Nick?” Ellis poked his head through the opendoorway, smiling to Nick where the older man was sat on the couch. “I gottasurprise for yew!”
Nick raised an eyebrow at him, putting his crossword puzzleon hold for now. “Better not be another pair of tickets to the Midnight Riders.My ears haven’t recovered from two years ago.”
“Naw, not that. Somethin’ even better!” Ellis waspractically bouncing in place, clearly eager to show Nick this surprise of his.
Deciding to humor him at last, the gambler put aside hisnewspaper, removed his glasses, and stood up, walking towards him. “All right,what is it?”
“Nah uh! You gotta stay right there. And close yer eyes,”insisted the young hick.
It was almost a flaw how Nick would do anything for hisboyfriend, even walk over hot coals if he asked, and so he closed his eyes butnot without rolling them first at the absurdity. There were a few shuffling andsnuffling noises, itching at Nick’s curiosity even more, until a weird smellcame his way. He scrunched his nose, keeping his eyes shut. “Ellis? What-“
When he did, Nick was met with the sniffing wet nose of apuppy being held up to his face. It yapped at him and the conman immediatelytook a step back, his hand coming up to his mouth but not in joy. “You got adog?!”
“Yeah! Ain’t he cute?” The excited hick grinned, bringingthe puppy close to let it lick his face. “Aww, good boy!”
Nick’s breathing got a little tighter, rubbing at the baseof his throat with his fingers. “El…”
“He’s a husky pup! I wanna call ‘im Dusty but I wanted to see what you thought first. Don’t worry,the guys at the pound said he’s a real sweetheart!”
Nick growled, trying to catch his lover’s eyes which werestill transfixed on the adorable animal. “Ellis.”
“And I was lookin’ through all the dogs there and I wish Icould’a taken ‘em all home! But I saw this lil’ guy and he had these big blueeyes… I knew you’d like ‘im! Say hi, Dusty!” He held the puppy up to Nick’sface again, trying to get his lover to hold him, but Nick side-stepped himeasily.
“Ellis! I’m allergicto dogs!”
The younger man paused, his smile slowly melting from hisface, and brought the puppy back again, holding it close and petting it. “Oh…really?”
“Yes,” Nick affirmed with a heavy sigh, already anticipatinghis throat to soon start burning. “I can’t be near them.”
Ellis looked utterly defeated, looking back at his new puppybut with sadness in his eyes this time. “Dang, Nick… “ he murmured, steppingback from his lover. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“It’s not something I’d casually mention, unless of courseyou’d discussed getting a pet with me before just getting one out of thegoddamn blue.” With a heavier sigh, Nick ran a hand through his hair and foldedhis arms, looking sadly at the dog. He had to admit, he looked adorable, but itwas a damn shame they couldn’t keep him.
“Aw’right… guess I’ll take ‘im back to the pound.” Hebounced the puppy gently and started for the door. “Sorry, bud.”
“Wait, Ellis, I’ll come with you.” The gambler followed himto the door and his lover gave him a surprised look, his eyebrows nearlydisappearing under his hat. “The pound, um… do they have cats?”
The conman smiled, reaching up to pet the puppy at leastonce, to hell with his allergies. “I’m not allergic to cats.”
A smile slowly crossed back over his boyfriend’s face, thedimples next to his eyes deepening adorably. It didn’t matter that they couldn’town a puppy, because Ellis practically already was one.
