From Ice Cream to "Topping" | Arc 2, Chapter 11
The taste of Daniel's lips that following morning, as they pressed softly against my muzzle, caused me to moan loudly, and in an equally greater fervor, as my body happily wriggled under the weight of him. Embarrassedly afterwards, yet just as anticipated, I caught him smirking in response to this. To quell my mind about the situation though, he just slowly repositioned himself, and then sat himself eagerly -and completely naked- atop my midsection.
In all honesty, I never thought in a million years that I would find myself in such a position, let alone in the comfort of my own bed, yet it was here the world left us at peace, while his eyes locked with my own. And with the exhilaration of a new world ahead of us, which we were both looking forward to building together, our desires seemed to blend as well then, as we moved complimentary to each other afterwards; evidenced by how, and  so simply, our paws seemed to find their way locked in to each other's own.
"I love you Charlie Fair..." Daniel admittedly unabashedly next, but not before he lowered his head downward to meet with my own, and then pressed the tip of his snout softly against my forehead. "I'm so lucky I found you!"
"That's funny. I was just thinking the same thing about you." I found myself agreeing with him, both openly and candidly too, before I sat myself up -to close the distance between us, as best as was possible as he sat atop me- and started to rub the side of my muzzle against his cheek. "But you know what? I have this funny feeling that I'll feel like this tomorrow too!"
"Promise?" Daniel asked as his body deviously, yet welcomingly also, began to further slide into the full breadth of my lap. Just mere inches away from my throbbing member, which he could obviously feel, as the outline of his butt began to press along the full length of my cock.
"Promise." I replied pointedly, and with a sharp assuredness I never even knew I was capable of then either, before I open palmed held one side of the Shepherd's face, and then softly began to rub at his fur opposite...
Such was how I chose to pass my days following with Daniel, recalling the happier of times aplenty that may exist in past tense between as, as he lay unflinching and asleep in front me, while I just flipped page-by-page foolishly optimistic through my now fully engrossed journal. Perhaps hopeful that any of the stories or adventures contained within, which were often grand in scope, and more often than not just as unexpected or ludicrous too, would cause the Shepherd to stir.
At this point, anything would have been preferable to the silence, and the smell of the day's old coffee that Guiles had bought for me, both of which permeated throughout the room.
"Do you remember that night Daniel, our first together, after you decided you wanted to be free from your father? Gods, how quickly it could have turned out completely different, had you not been as amazing as you were... and always have been to me." I questioned of the Shepherd at the outset, who just lay noiseless in front of me, while my paws all the while -as I kept our fingers interlaced- refused to quit shaking in a growing fear, and anger, the longer I looked at him in the condition he was in.
An inevitable conclusion to the horror of running to your boyfriend's side one day, hoping beyond hope to find him okay, and happy, but just coming to find yourself blindsided by the reality that he was in a coma instead...
"Well... this is happening." I groaned aloud as the Shepherd led me, blindfolded, down what felt like some kind of secluded, off the road path. "You're finally going to kill me, aren't you?
"Hun, if I didn't kill you over like three months ago, after I discovered you couldn't make a piece of toast to save your life, I think we're well past that point already." Daniel chuckled snarkily as he held onto my shoulder, and gently continued to push me in whatever direction he needed me to blindly go next. "Ask me again in twenty years though."
"Haha. Funny."
"Hey look, laugh all you want, but this is serious stuff we're dealing with here my love. I mean, I know this all might seem a tad... unconventional... but that website I came across said this would be a great test for our relationship, and I'm not one to argue with proven science; are you?" The Shepherd laughed as he lunged forward onto my back afterwards, and wrapped his arms over my neck, and then around my shoulders. "Besides, we get to use this technique in the bedroom next, you know!" He whispered with a devious grin following before he brought his muzzle forward, just an inch apart from my face, and then softly pawed at the side of the shroud I was wearing with his nose. 
The imagery instantly titillated me, which must have been obvious to Daniel, because no sooner had my dog hood began to expand at the prospect, there he was grasping a full hold of it in one of his free paws. "Ah ha, so this was how I was supposed to be steering you! I get it now!"
"Hey! Stop it Dan!" I yelled innocently in reply as my footing started to shift at the sudden act, the surprise of which caused me to start to lose my balance and begin sliding along the slick, dew laden grass we were walking across. "We're gonna fall!"
I thought at first that I might have been mad at him for doing as much. For how he so casually put me into a position like this, where I might get hurt. Come to discover though, this was far from the case, as he somehow quickly bent the entirety of himself under the weight of all of me, and then brought me up onto his shoulders, causing me to yelp out loud in embarrassment as my thighs now straddled against the nape of his neck. 
"No way my love." He said assuredly before turning his head to look up at me. "Never gonna let that happen!"
"Daniel..." I couldn't help at first saying his name softly before I began to rub at the top of his head in response to his kindness. "Promise?"
"Hehe. Promise."
Time continued in a cyclical fashion like this for us, day in and day out -and for a good while following too- as past memories and moments such as these continued to mesh and swirl about where they may, while Daniel just lay there silent in front of me. Unintentionally, and slowly, poisoning my hope of a better tomorrow ever coming every day I had to witness him breathing disjointedly through a tube.
You know, they say true horror comes from the imagination, but I'm here to tell you,  reality can be more of a monster than any nightmare dreamt when you come to a situation in your life when any number of spoken words have to be chosen carefully, as they may someday be the last to be heard...
"Wow, oh wow. Now there's some nostalgia for you." I admitted one of those days after wiping a tear from eye and finishing yet another recounted memory. "That seems like a lifetime ago now though, doesn't it Daniel? You remember that person though, right? That stupid, old version of me. Mister Neurotic, as I used to call myself, who thought that it was okay to just... never try anything new." I admitted in-between sobs, and sighs concurrent, as I squeezed his hand tighter and tighter as time passed. "How thankfully wrong you showed me I could be." 
"You were always really good at doing that, you know. In fact, you're the only one who has ever been able to make me feel that way. So don't you..." I had started to say to him, but quickly fell apart mid-sentence, as I dropped to my knees next to his hospital bed, and instantly buried my face in its plush exterior. "Don't you think it's time you woke up now?" 
"I'm tired of using this book now Daniel!" I cried out to him before I tossed the spiraled notebook onto the ground, and left it laying there in anger on another day. "It's a poor substitute for you. I mean, at least you used to laugh at me whenever I said something stupid to you." I softly chuckled before biting down hard on my lower lip. "Instead though, I've just been waiting here... alone. For almost a month now, you know. Just writing, and waiting. For you. To pull yourself together... and come back to me." I argued, well all the while waiting for the Shepherd to give me any sort of visual, or auditory feedback. For him to let me know that he knew that I was there with him. 
Unfortunately however, as prayers continued to remain unanswered day-by-day, I noticed the only way I could feel anything anymore at some point was when I shivered and convulsed -and justifiably so- as I just had to let the pain, and hurt, of what might be unfixable situation hit me hard, over and over again. The worst offense of which being whenever I would remember all the silly, and often wonderful things Daniel used to say to me... to which I could only cry at the overload of his voice, and his text messages, jostling about in my head.
“I really like you Charlie… Why don’t we go out tonight?… BRB: Grabbing someone flowers!... When's dinner hun?... Is it really your birthday?... WHO SAID I COULD ONLY LAST FOR TEN MINUTES!?... So who just texted you huh?... GUILES SHOWED YOU WHAT PICTURE OF ME!?... I miss you… DATE NIGHT!... Why won’t you open up to me?… MOVIE NIGHT!... I love you pup…” 
"Please don't make me have to go back to who I used to be." I softly whispered aloud to Daniel, after one such recitation in my sleep, before I readjusted the pillow behind his head and then softly brushed at the side of his face, well all the while; his monitors remained stilled and unchanged. 
"I was just starting... to like the person I was becoming... because of you..." I said to the sleeping Shepherd afterwards, after finding myself waking up to day thirty-two of our journey, still not in the arms of my lover, but in his hospital room chair instead. 
This day however, when compared against the month's long journey we had already suffered together, proved to be the worst yet, as I had to turn around frantically after noticing a heavy breathing coming mysteriously out from the corner of the hospital room...
"That's funny. He used to be growing into someone I wanted him to be... until he met you anyway." A deep voice startled me from out of nowhere, instantly causing me to grow defensive in response, as I began to bear my fangs in the direction of the voice. 
"Oh how cute. The wolf's all riled up." The voice replied before he began to step out of the shadows of the room, and into the light. Revealing a familiar, yet older and slightly more grizzled German Shepherd. "Good. Now you know how I felt."
"Emilio Adams!" I gasped his name aloud before I brazenly placed myself between Daniel and his now estranged father. "Surprised you can feel anything, seeing as how you don't have a heart..."
"Quick!" He snapped out the word, with excitement too it seemed, before he folded his arms together, and then began to smirk. "Just like my Daniel. Must have picked that up from him, huh? Well... guess it's nice to know he never lost that Adams mentality... even after rolling around with garbage like you."
"Grrr..." My mind raced as I growled in response at the older Shepherd, who's mere presence baffled me. "Can we fucking help you!?"
"Ha. Hardly. In fact, I think it's about time you learned some harsh truths about reality boy. Since you seem to have never suffered a hard day in your life before." Emilio so wrongly claimed as he began to walk over to the other side of Daniel's bed, and then brazenly sat beside his motionless body, causing my body to jerk in reaction as I quickly moved in closer to him, with a fist balled and my eyes full of fire. 
"This isn't some video game, or comic book, or love story kid. This is the real world. Where real life actions have consequences. Where hopes and dreams don't pay for bills or put food on the table you know."
"So. What's your point father of the year?"
"Still just as disrespectful as I remember you. *Sighs* Alas, even if you weren't, it wouldn't have changed what's about to happen to you... so you better listen up while you can." Emilio sneered, and with a piercing gaze accompanying, before he grabbed at Daniel's hand, causing me to thrust myself forward, arms first, and push the overweight Shepherd successfully away from my loving own.
"So much concern." He chuckled coarsely after being pushed back onto his feet, but not before he readjusted his tie and re-slicked back his hair. "Charming. Still, why all this aggression towards me? Something my son might have told you I wonder? Or was it perhaps the butler, who I just fired today by the way, for trying to hide the fact that my own son was in the hospital!?"
At the mere mention of what he had apparently and so callously done to Guiles, I snapped, and took a wide swing at his face. Unfortunately, however, after many days of letting sadness and fatigue get the better of my nerves and my energy, I failed to follow through and connect with my blow, to which Emilio quickly used his vigilance -and equal parts weight- against me and pinned my head down atop Daniel's bed. 
"Aww, didn't like something I had to say? Well, then here's another for you, you silly little faggot. Who in the hell do you think is going to pay for Daniel's care after he finds himself in physical therapy after all this, huh? Do you even know how much of a bill Daniel's managed to rack up in his short sojourn here?" The elder Shepherd barked out at me as he held my head against the sheets, to which at first I was struggling against, with all my might. That was, until he mentioned the reality of the financial part of all of this anyway...
"Ah, I see you're not without reason. Good." He understood, after noticing the change in my demeanor, as he let me go slowly, and then made his way -while adjusting his belt line- over to the window. "Perhaps now you'll hear what I have to say."
I could only stand shamefully with my head turned away from him, and towards Daniel, who even after the physical altercation that took place damn near on top of him, didn't seem to rouse one bit. "You know, being the successful business mogul that I have become, I've learned about a lot in life; money, honor, power, and ambition. And how they're all part of the game called control. Some of them parts of ourselves we wish we didn't have to change to get ahead in this world. Surely you must have experienced this for yourself at some point in your life."
In truth, at his mention of the word control, this did indeed cause me to quickly flashback to what had just recently happened at my parent's house, and how I had chosen to start forging for myself the paths I choose to follow going forward. Perhaps a mantra no different from the very one the elder Shepherd had decided to utilize in his own life.
"Ultimately though, I've come to find you don't have to change anything about yourself... if you just apply a little force, and leverage, to situations you find yourself in. To get someone to do what you want in this life. Such as I am doing here..." Emilio collectively began to conclude before he made his way before me, and stood not but six inches in front of my person. "You can't take care of him anymore. Circumstances have changed. And the ball, as they say, is in my court now. And with that said, I think it's about time you leave my boy alone, and never return to his side, ever again."
"And what happens after he wakes up, and doesn't want your help?' I finally managed too angrily shake out after his diatribe, in a very low hushed tone, before I slammed my fist against the side of my thigh, completely angry with myself for even beginning to understand this monsters point of view and what he was possibly hinting at. "What if he just wants to come back home to me?"
"You will have to push him away from you then...Fair." The dog brazenly proclaimed as he turned his head -knowingly assured and smug- away from me. "That's the deal here I'm offering to you now. Moreover, it's not something that you can bargain with, or take your time to decide either. Do this, and you'll at least know in the end that with your sacrifice, Daniel will be taken care of, financially speaking at least, from here on out."
"There's more to life than money Emilio. There's more to him than that." I humbly replied as I looked at my sleeping partner, who if only he were awake now, could just fix this whole situation with a few simple, yet choice words. Instead of leaving me to figure out this one on my own...
"Says you. However, as I mentioned before, I live in the real world, and not in some fairy tale where love provides for all. See, I will pay for Daniel's future, as was meant to be, where he will eventually be slated to take over our families business ventures, as he was meant to. But you... you will be nothing but a footnote in his history. A mistake he can hopefully learn something about himself from participating in someday. Yet, still dismissed... and just as quickly as how you arrived that day, at that hospital, and stole from me my one and only successor in life by seducing my boy away from me!"
"I stole nothing from you!" I spoke my mind as I raised my voice at the Shepherd, forgetting for a second where we were. "You lost him on your own! With your hatred and unwillingness to allow him to be who he wanted to be!"
"Regardless, such are my terms, Fair. You leave now, and play your part like a good little dog going forward, and your... boyfriend... will end up with a future. Although I'll be damned if he ever sucks another dick again, of that I'll be sure!" Emilio bellowed as he finally got in the last laugh, but not before humiliatingly slapping my cheek lightly and then stealing the chair I had been sleeping in away from me, and then positioned himself by Daniel's bedside. "Now, my son and I have a lot of catching up to do. So... are you gonna leave on your own, or should I get security?"
How could this have happened? This, an outcome unlike any I ever could have guessed might have befallen us, seemed to be real, and unfortunately so, as I clenched my hand so hard, I actually managed to draw blood from my palm.
What do I do now? What can I do now? Let's see what happens...