Chapter 7 #2
“Oh, sweet boy, I’m sorry; I couldn’t keep up with you, and then I lost track of which way you went,” she cooed, wrapping her arms around Kermit and Ocean until Kermit recognized her voice and immediately turned to huddle in her arms.
“Mewwww,” he meowed, hiccupped, then sniffled, having calmed some since Pope had left them together.
“I know,” she said, holding him while he buried his face against her hair.
Ocean stepped back, accidentally bumping into Pope, who placed his hands on his shoulders to steady him.
“Nicely done,” Pope praised, speaking low in his ear. “Let’s give them a moment. We still have a circuit to complete.”
His words made Ocean shiver and relax some of the rigidness in his posture. The pup had been on high alert and in protective mode, which Pope could appreciate, but he showed his vulnerability when he held out a paw to Pope, eyes beseeching him to hold it.
Pope clutched it immediately, giving his paw a squeeze before offering his arm instead, putting Ocean even closer to him in case something jumped off and he needed to wrap an arm around him to shield him.
Not that he doubted Ocean wasn’t capable of holding his own, but helping to soothe Kermit had lulled Ocean closer to his pup headspace, and there was real fear there of being separated from Pope in a room full of people he was still getting to know.
Pope tapped Creature on the shoulder, and the man stepped aside to let them through, then closed the gap again, leaving Pope certain that Kermit and Sunshine would be given as much time as they needed in the privacy of that space to get their nerves settled before they continued their night.
“So, as I was saying earlier, we’re going to walk the room,” Pope explained, keeping his voice low and soothing. “What you just helped with back there is exactly why there are always at least two dungeon monitors patrolling at all times.”
“Arf,” Ocean replied, letting out a bark of understanding.
Yeah, definitely on the verge of being fully in his pup space.
As he always did when he reached the one space that required someone to sign in, Pope paused to speak with the attendant seated just inside, keeping a sharp eye on all the littles who were playing together.
“Any issues tonight?” He asked.
“Nope, they are all on their best behavior,” Finn replied, smiling fondly in his little girl’s direction.
Daisy was an absolute sweetheart until someone tried to take a toy from her; then she turned into a wailing banshee with a tendency to launch anything she could get her hands on.
Others quickly learned that it was better to wait their turn than unleash the demon.
Big, Daisy was a tattoo artist who’d apprenticed under Mark and was now one of the top-rated artists in the studio.
She’d refused to ink littles who weren’t nice to her when they played, and from what Pope had seen, it was their own damn fault for not behaving.
“Puppy!” Lulu, Pumpkin’s little, squealed, leading the charge as the littles crawled across the floor, heading straight for Ocean, who dropped down on all fours and let out a yip, tail wagging joyfully.
They all started petting him, prompting Ocean to roll over and let them rub his belly, wiggling the whole time so his tail wagged. He was clearly eating up the attention, and they were elated to have a visitor. Ocean waved his paws in the air, woofing and being a silly boy for them.
“Thanks for bringing him in,” Finn said.
“I figured they’d like it, though I didn’t expect it to go over this well,” Pope admitted as he watched Ocean have the time of his life entertaining the littles.
A quick check of his watch showed that it was time for him to move along, so he whistled, just to see how Ocean would respond, and the pup instantly rolled over, careful of the littles, let them hug him one last time, and scurried back to Pope’s side, taking his arm.
Those emerald eyes shimmered with joy when Pope appraised him.
“We’ll come back when I’m done with monitoring duty,” Pope promised.
“Yay!” The littles squealed, while Ocean did a dance that made his ears bob while his tail wagged enthusiastically all the way back out the door.
Different song, different strippers, including a familiar face who shouldn’t have been up there trying to show off.
He let his gaze linger on Roan’s face while he awkwardly tried to spin around the pole and recalled the day he’d tried that on Kong and nearly fell and cracked his skull open.
If Kong hadn’t been strong enough to hold him up, there was no doubt in Pope’s mind that he’d have needed stitches at the very least.
Danger was among the crowd of Jokers gathered in front of the poles, not that he was paying much attention to Roan’s torturous attempt at a routine.
Pope could see how hard Roan was trying; it was written all over his face.
The problem was that he was so focused on imitating what he’d seen other dancers do that he wasn’t relaxed enough to go with the flow of the music.
Shaking his head, Pope watched as Roan tried desperately to get everyone’s attention, while most of the guys, including Danger, remained engaged in whatever conversation was going on.
Dressed in a pair of black boy shorts that left nothing to the imagination, he showed off his toned body, even if his moves lacked fluidity and grace.