Opossum Twenty

Ammo stretched beneath the soft blankets tucking him in like a cloud, his warm skin moving between the upper comforters and the silky-smooth sheets.

So warm...

He nuzzled against the equally-soft pillows, intent on going back to sleep, but before he could drift off again he heard a few quiet sniffs, then, unfortunately, felt a tiny tongue lap at the bangs covering his forehead!

Groaning, he tried to nudge at the fuzzy intruder, but no matter how much he pushed it away, it just kept coming back.

"Sorry about Winston, but once she's decided to do something, not even I can stop her."

Harrison?

He paused for a moment, letting the little fluffy dog slip beneath the blankets to snuggle up against him.

Wait, did he just call this dog a she, but named it Winston?

"I can tell that you're judging her, but I can tell you that she's got bigger balls than even me. She earned her name."

Ammo glanced over the edge of his thick blankets, giving Harrison a bland stare.

"Hey now," Harrison grumbled as he crossed his well-muscled arms over his well-muscled chest.

The guy's body and gesture just screamed gym bro.

Head hurts...

Granted, he knew that he would have been a lot worse off if Harrison hadn't found him.

I wouldn't even be here for my head to hurt.

Turning his attention back to the little dog beside him, Ammo thought in silence for a few moments before tugging the little ball into his arms and disappearing partially back beneath the covers.

"H-hey, that's my dog," Harrison grumbled, though it was obvious that he really didn't mind.

Meanwhile, Ammo began tickling the little wiggly thing as its tiny paws kicked at his fingers, trying to get the tickles to turn into a belly rub.

The dog looked like one of those fancy frou-frou mixes.

Maybe it's a shit-poo.

"You better not be making up funny breeds for my beautiful girl. She's a bichon frise," Harrison corrected him, making Ammo pop his head back up above the line of the blankets to narrow his eyes on him.

Soon Winston was there too, narrowing her own eyes on her master as if she were a mini fuzzy copy of Ammo.

The look of disbelieve on the man's face only made Ammo want to tease him... so he did.

Hugging the dog against his chest, he grinned and ducked back beneath the blankets. To his surprise, the dog was quite the snuggler, and even as Harrison began admonishing him for stealing his poor dog, Ammo was already falling asleep again.

The next time he awoke was to the smell of something savory.

Hungry...

Blinking open his rested eyes, he gave himself a minute to simply go over his current situation. After that minute, however, his time seemed to be up, because Winston was done waiting for her attention.

The little dog's tongue quickly founds its way to his chin and began to lap at it, its excitement growing exponentially.

"Hi baby," he whispered, making the little dog even more excited, its little feet kicking happily against his chest as it continued to clean his chin.

Ammo let the dog lick him for a few more moments before finally wiggling his way out of the blankets enough to sit up.

His body felt surprisingly refreshed, and his mind had lightened up quite a bit from all the rest.

How long was I asleep, anyways?

Glancing around, he noticed an alarm clock on the nightstand and tilted his head.

"Only five hours?"

That didn't seem right.

"More like a day and five hours," came Harrison's voice near the doorway.

As Ammo looked over, he noted that the guy wasn't moving closer, just like the other time he'd woken up to see him there.

"I got some lunch ready if you'd like to eat," Harrison offered as he watched his little dog scurry off the bed and finally run over to him for some attention.

The man immediately picked up his little dog, then hugged it against his chest, earning his own excited licking spree from Winston.

I guess some food couldn't hurt... hopefully.

He was no longer feeling nauseous, and his mind had calmed quite a bit from the other day's depression.

"I'll try to eat," he eventually said as he slowly made his way to the edge of the bed, then swung his legs over the edge.

The thought of actually standing up, however, made him a tiny bit nervous. That, in turn, brought back some of his anxiety from the previous day.

"Need a hand?" Harrison asked as he finally walked closer and set his sweet dog down on the bed.

Ammo gave the guy a look, but Harrison seemed to just let it slide right off his shoulders with a smile.

"I'm okay," Ammo said after a moment as he pushed himself up into a sloppy but mostly-upright standing position.

He managed to take a whole five steps before his anxiety surged and his shaking legs refused to hold him any longer.

The fall, though, never came.

In fact, instead of falling, he was suddenly rising, having been scooped up into a princess carry by the gym bro that clearly didn't know how to keep his hands to himself!

Ammo immediately scowled up at the man as he was carried into the other room, but Harrison seemed immune to his glower. The guy calmly carried him over to the wooden dining room table, then settled him into a cushioned seat.

He wasn't sure what to really expect for lunch, but when Harrison brought over a large plate of food with little portions dotted around it, he was pleasantly surprised... and a little relieved.

Some of the items, like the meats, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stomach yet, but the tiny portions made him less worried about leaving them.

His inner capy was staring at the steamed veggies intently, making Ammo eventually reach up and spear one with the fork beside his plate.

The cut up zucchini was first, and surprisingly delicious!

It had a very light sauce cooked into it that tasted faintly like lemon and butter, with a hint of salt, pepper, and garlic. The next one he ate was a thinly-sliced carrot. It was a little sweeter than the zucchini, but had clearly been cooked in the same sauce.

Maybe it was sautéed with a little honey beforehand?

Either way, it was delicious, too.

He gladly finished off the small portion of vegetables, but hesitated trying anything else on the plate until he saw a small bowl of soup being slid next to it.

"Vegetable broth with some shredded carrots and celery," Harrison explained before disappearing back to the kitchen again.

Ammo turned in his seat a little to watch him over his shoulder.

What is he doing?

It looked like the guy was chopping stuff up and adding it to a large bowl, but that couldn't have been for him... right?

Harrison seemed to catch him staring, because he nodded down to the cute little dog at his feet.

"Winston gets fresh food," he said as he moved to the stove and stirred something that was cooking, then reached over and took a slice of carrot and handed it down to Winston.

Turning his attention back to the soup, Ammo picked it up, then turned back to the side so that he could see Harrison before grabbing the spoon sitting in the little bowl and beginning to sip at it.

It's good.

"I'd like to take credit for that, but my sister made everything. All I can really make is Winston's dog food," Harrison said, earning a small smile from Ammo as he continued to quietly eat.

Licking his moist lips after a bit, he thought back to what had happened and realized something.

"The place we ate at the other day... your sister's?" he asked, already having a feeling that he was right since they'd literally walked out the back door and right over to Harrison's.

"Yessir, that restaurant belongs to my sister. She's an amazing cook and when I told her that you'll probably be hungry when you woke up, she immediately began putting something together."

Ammo narrowed his eyes on the man.

"So you guilted her into making you lunch?" he said without an ounce of hesitation.

Harrison glanced over his shoulder with a deadpan expression, then promptly grinned like a doofus.

"Absolutely! I did offer to pay for it, but she refused, of course," he said, making Ammo roll his eyes before setting his spoon down, content to just sip the soup from its bowl.

They remained silent for some time, both just enjoying the quiet... or at least, that's what it appeared to be if one was looking from the outside.

He wanted to cry.

"Here, try this?" Harrison said as he brought something subtly sweet-smelling right in front of Ammo's nose.

Without thinking, Ammo opened his mouth just enough for Harrison to slip his finger between his lips. When the man pressed the morsel of food against his tongue, however, his other half wasn't happy.

Bubba promptly took over control of his human body and bit the poor guy... although, he did kind of deserve it. He hadn't exactly gotten permission to stick his finger in his mouth.

Harrison hissed in response and immediately withdrew his finger, but he seemed to understand that he'd technically been the one in the wrong, because he didn't even look upset that he'd been bitten.

"Sorry about that. I should have just put it on a spoon or something," he said as he lifted his slightly-bleeding pointer finger to his own mouth.

Bubba clicked his teeth behind Ammo's eyes, adding a warning to the physical response. He'd do it again.

Ammo almost apologized, too, but he caught himself at the last moment. He was the one who'd had a finger shoved in his mouth. He shouldn't apologize for his other half's displeasure.

He shouldn't apologize for that little mistake, but he felt that he should apologize for what he'd put Harrison through in the past day or so.

Granted, he hadn't forced the guy to save him, either, let alone take him home, but still...

I want to say sorry to someone, at least. Because I can't say sorry to her anymore.

He was just sinking back into depression when he heard movement near him and looked up to see Harrison settling into the chair next to him.

When he rested his hands on his legs calmly and offered him a relaxed smile, Ammo felt his racing heart slow down the slightest bit.

"Is there anything you need, Ammo?"

Anything I need?

The guy had already saved him from himself, fed him, and taken him home to rest. What else could he possibly request?

"I hear I give some pretty mean hugs..." Harrison hinted, making Ammo lift an eyebrow at his bluntness.

A hug wasn't going to fix his life.

Grim had given me several hugs. Ian, too, but what had they fixed?

He'd still tried to kill himself the moment his depression got bad.

Why do I even matter? What makes me worth the hassle?

"You're absolutely adorable."

Ammo blinked out of his dark thoughts and was about to question Harrison when he saw the guy pick up his eager dog for a cuddle.

His eyebrow twitched.

Of course he wasn't saying that to me.

Reaching a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, Ammo pursed his lips as he felt his heart squeeze in his chest. He wasn't adorable, or even cute.

Why would I even want to be called those things, anyways?

Maybe Bubba was cute, to a point, but him? He hadn't even shaved in days, let alone showered properly. He'd kept himself just clean enough to not smell, but it was getting close to being an issue.

"...much cuter."

Huh?

Frowning, Ammo blinked away his thoughts again and refocused on their current situation.

"What did you say?"

Harrison looked a little nervous all of a sudden, making Ammo narrow his eyes on him.

Holding his little dog in front of him as some sort of pathetic, wiggling shield, Harrison replied.

"I-I was just saying that while I think Winston is absolutely adorable, I-I... find you much cuter."

What...?

Harrison looked like he was trying to pull some words together to talk himself out of what he'd just said, but after a few moments, his mouth slowly closed and he gently set his dog down so that he could stand up and walk into the kitchen.

A moment later he returned with a few tissues and... is that an ice cream bar?

Harrison took off the bar's wrapper and handed it to him. Ammo lifted it to his lips without bothering to think about it. His teeth immediately crunched into the chocolate and almond coating as a soft tissue was placed over his nose and another dotted at his watery eyes.

Ammo spent the next five minutes nibbling at his ice cream as Harrison silently tended to his nonstop tears.

How could he think that I look cute after the other night? Ammo thought as he sniffled, then gave up when a clean tissue gently squeezed his nose.

How could he possibly think that I look cute right now?

He knew that he shouldn't have been happy to be called cute, anyways, but honestly, he'd never seen a problem with the word. If someone thought that he was cute, then that was a compliment because it meant that they liked the way he looked.

When his nose finally began to dry up, along with his tears, he felt a hand softly begin to brush against his hair, patting him reassuringly.

"Would you like a warm bath, sweetheart?" Harrison asked as Ammo polished off his ice cream, then stared at the clean stick, surprised that he'd actually eaten the entire thing.

When he didn't answer his first question, Harrison posed a second one.

"Would you like another one?"

Ammo nodded without thinking, but at the same time, stood and started shuffling towards the bathroom.

Harrison hurried ahead of him and got the bath started, as well as added two super fluffy towels to the hanging bar. He then put two different scented bubble bath soaps on the edge, allowing him to choose, before disappearing back to the kitchen with Winston hot on his heels.

By the time he'd tugged off his boxers, used the restroom, and washed his hands, Harrison was back... with a quickly reddening face.

Ammo gave him a nonchalant smile.

He no longer cared if he was naked in front of others if the other person didn't mind and was reasonably respectful with their hands.

Judging by the little glances Harrison was trying to sneak every other second, he doubted the man was any kind of upset about his decision to be naked in front of him.

"Would you like help getting in?" Harrison asked once the water was halfway full.

Ammo slowly looked over towards it, then back to Harrison before reaching forward, offering the man his hand.

The guy seemed surprised, but quickly helped him step into the tub, then lowered him to sit.

Ammo then reached to the side and took one of the scented bubble soaps and poured a good bit beneath the running spout.

The soft scent of roses quickly filled the room, making Ammo's nerves slowly begin to calm.

Soon he was leaning to the side, intent on resting his head on his crossed arms and closing his eyes, but large hands settled against his body before he could and guided him backwards until he was leaning comfortably against a soft pad and waterproof bath pillow.

Normally, he wouldn't dare risk falling asleep in the bathtub, but he doubted Harrison would leave him alone, for multiple reasons... even though a thick layer of bubbles was likely obscuring one of those reasons.

"Relax, if you fall asleep, I'll wake you up once the water begins to cool," Harrison said, making Ammo blink open one eye to watch as the man turned around to do something while kneeling nearby.

Quiet music soon began to drift through the small room.

So cheesy.

He wasn't some girl that needed spoiled in such a way.

Crunching was heard a minute after that, making him realize that Harrison had offered him another ice cream bar, and he'd accepted... but forgotten about it.

Eating my ice cream, huh?

Of course, he honestly didn't care, since he'd forgotten about it anyways. Listening to the man quietly eat the treat was actually just as calming as the music, and while Ammo, surprisingly, didn't end up falling asleep, he did end up sneaking a few glances at Harrison's well-muscled back as he leaned against the outside of the tub, giving him at least a little bit of privacy as he soaked away his anxiety.

Today... isn't too bad of a day.