Happy Birthday

He woke up with a raging headache and swept his auburn hair back

'Ah fuck its cold in here'

Struggling to get out of bed, he squinted his eyes open and slowly removed himself from his beds warm embrace 

He's pretty sure he has class right about now but to hell with it, that can wait.

He was really gonna regret that decision

He heads down the stairs of his suite and trudges past the kitchen straight into the bathroom to relieve himself, still half asleep, or he'd have noticed the boxes sitting on his kitchen counter

Washing his hands because he's not a heathen, he walks out of the bathroom and finally spots the boxes sitting there, waiting patiently for him.

'Well that's odd' he thinks to himself but decides it's not worth thinking about, it's probably another prank from his sister or something so he just leaves them there.

His sister had a habit of sending him things he didn't want as a joke or something, she always said that it was her way of showing affection and frequently slapped him on the back of the head to be grateful,

Hard.

He shivers at the thought of her smack of 'love ' bearing down at him and side eyes the things on the counter even harder as he makes his way to the fridge

Last time he had a bunch of things on his kitchen counter was last month and it was not fun...for him.

It had been a bunch of clown gear and a note telling him to enjoy the circus and soon after, 10 big ass clowns had invaded his residence, and started singing him happy birthday. 

to say he almost had a heart attack that day is an understatement.

And it wasn't even his birthday that day.

Wait a second

Birthday.

He looked at his phone calendar, November 14th.

Sure enough, it was his birthday today.

Grabbing a carton of juice from the fridge and downing it before putting it back, he looks back at the stuff on the counter properly

The dimmed early morning settings of his lights didn't help him too much in seeing what they were so he approached the boxes himself cautiously and began his inspection

If he's lucky it could be from someone other than his sister

But he's not that lucky.

'What the hell did I get now?'

That's when he looked down and sees the card for the very first time.

Addressed from his sister.

On a midnight blue card in fancy gold lettering.

'Ah fuck it is from that hag'

Eyeing it nervously he slowly picks up the card and flips it over to read

'Heyyyy bugger,' he scoffs and rolls his eyes, great opener.

'Happy 23rd! You didn't like my previous gift and that was so unfortunate I was dabbing tears out of my eyes for weeks just thinking about it!'

Her audacity never ceased to amaze him, how dramatic. Rolling his eyes again he continues reading.

'This time I got you an even better gift! since I know you're oh so lonely without me' 

Yea right. 

'I got you a little companion to keep you company, all of his supplies have been left with you since I know you wouldn't know what to get yourself, aren't I thoughtful?' 

He pauses, '..he..?' It's what? An animal??

Like she could read his mind, and he shudders at the mere thought, his doorbell rang and then silence descended upon the apartment once more. 

His heart leapt out of his chest, and he looked at the door suspiciously before looking back down to finish reading the letter

'I know what you must be thinking, 'he!?'' He could sense her mocking tone from the words

'Of course! I pegged you as a cat person and they are reallll easy to take care of so have fun! He should be arriving pretty soon to your residence, all you have to do is sign for him :)'

~sincerely yours, your lovely elder sister

p.s. I already signed all the paperwork for him under your name so no take backsies~

He looked back over to the door whose bell rang only a few seconds before and dreaded the thought of opening it.

'It shouldn't be too bad right? Maybe it hasn't even been sent today?'

He looked back at the things on the counter and frowned as he started to doubt that thought. Why would she give him any time to stop anything by sending it tomorrow?

It's already been set in motion and now, the only question left for him was: 

'Should I open it?'

Maybe if he left the door for long enough whoever was behind it was bound to take it back?

While he did feel a bit bad for the poor thing being sacrificed to his sisters plans, he's not even ready to own a pet.

Even if she left things for him to use and he just had to keep buying those, he never had to take care of anything more than a few houseplants. He places the note back on the counter and that's when his hand brushes against one of the objects lining the surface.

Most of the items were left in bags.

And he really wishes this one was to.

It was a collar. 

A really large collar.

Not the size you'd normally see a cat wear at all.

'Did she get me a behemoth or what? Is this even a cat?'

He heard another chime from the door and a firm knock before more silence.

He decided to just go for it.

He picked up the collar and headed over to the door. He decided he should at least take in the poor animal, even if he had no plans of keeping it, before figuring out what to do with it.

Just as he put his hand on the knob, as if on cue he heard not a meow,

But a bark.

A loud one.

"ARF!"

Now this gave him pause and all his previous ideas flew out the window.

'That's not a cat if I've ever heard one…'

He looked the collar in his hand over and begins to feel uneasy. It may have sounded cute, but it could be a big mean dog named princess for all he knew. 

Pressing his ear to the door he could hear the little(?) thing tapping at the door and panting.

'Yep, that's definitely not a cat I've ever heard.'

He sighs, leave it to his sister to not even get the right animal. He thought about whether he should get her an animal dictionary or not briefly... she'd never be able to mistake the two again.

'Scratch that, a picture book will do at her level.'

Big frown on his face, he prepares himself for a gross, sloppy, sniveling dog to jump at him and opens the door.

He just hopes it's not one of those dogs the size of a bear.

Bracing for impact he lightly closed his eyes and turns his face away just in case.

Looking away was his first mistake.

When a few seconds later he didn't feel anything, he opened his eyes and turned his head back to face forward.

He was face to face with someone's chest

Confused, he looks down at the dog who was panting at him and wagging its tail happily with those big beady eyes. It was a beagle.

'Yep, definitely not a cat, but it could be worse.'

What he failed to realize is that the dog was already attached to a leash,

Collar already sitting neatly around its tiny neck.

But he wasn't focusing on that.

'Am I signing for it with this guy?'

Dismissing it like that was his second mistake.

Scrunching his brows he decides to get it over with and looks at the stranger, 

The tall stranger.

He looks up, and he doesn't want to admit it, but it puts a slight strain on his neck from this close.

As he locked eyes with the man, he'll admit he felt a little intimidated and wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

The guy had piercing black eyes and thick, dark brows. Starkly different from his own, nearly greyish blue eyes and thinner brows that matched his auburn brown hair.

While he had unkempt curly, auburn brown hair he hadn't even run his fingers through yet, the guy had neatly trimmed, nearly black, dark brown hair with a sharp undercut that he found suited the taller guy, not that he was paying any attention to that or anything.

The last thing he noted about the guy's face was that a few scars from who knows what, were there on his right jaw, nose bridge, and above his left eyebrow, closer to his hairline.

His body was large compared to him, and not just large but built too, you could tell the guy worked out and could pack a punch. He was wearing black from head to toe. Black button up, black slacks, belt, shoes, socks, probably even underwear if it were showing. 

Not that he was thinking about that right now.

While he hated to admit it, the guy was attractive. While he wasn't exactly lacking in the looks department himself, there was just a different kind of vibe from the guy.

'Is this a deliveryman or a hitman' he asks to himself, taken aback

They've been standing here for a little too long at this point, and as he was absorbing his initial surprise, it was then he committed his third mistake.

He decides to let the man in, dog and all.

But not before the guy could silently hand him another midnight-colored letter. 

He swears if murder was legal she'd be the first on his list.

"Go ahead and take a seat over there." he points to a recliner that sits next to his eternally drawn window curtains, a lamp sitting on a small bookshelf, and a houseplant, before opening the letter.

'Surprise!' 

Goddamnit.

'After thinking about it a little more I thought what you needed was a little TLC instead of something to take care of, so I got you a human to take care of you lol. ☆〜（ゝ.∂) He's going to be watching over you from now on to whip you back into shape so play nice!'

He glanced back up at the guy sitting in the recliner, gently petting the dog with a blank expression on his face, 

And suddenly he had a vision of a Doberman interacting with another dog. Maybe the guy secretly was one.

But even his sister couldn't be cruel enough to give him a man that seems like a dog instead of an actual dog, though he supposed there was an actual dog as well...

No wait, she promised a cat originally—

'On a more serious note, don't get into anymore trouble from now on and he'll be gone in no time, unless you enjoy the company, in which case keep him as long as you like~'

He shouldn't have hoped for anything sane from her,

He internally facepalmed and reminded himself to give his sister a few hits as pay back whenever he saw her again, unfortunately she was a busy woman, but not busy enough to leave him alone apparently.

p.s that reminds me, I'm pretty sure that guy has a dog himself, I saw it myself! So you get 2 companions for the price of one! Aren't I kind?

He sighed, he just can't stop sighing, and he can feel his headache from earlier coming back as well

'Maybe I should've gone to class today after all'

He looks at the man, who was already looking back at him

…

"So…" he opens his mouth

"D'you like dogs?"

"I fancy myself more of a cat person" The man replied

"Then why have a dog?"

"It's not mine."

'Then who's dog is that???'

"Pff" It was a huff of air that was almost undeniably the sound of stifled laughter, like he had just thought of something funny, but somehow, the guys face hardly changed at all.

He was just left with more questions than answers at this point and he knew just the person to go to for answers.

Someone start writing his sister's obituary because he's about to put her on a t-shirt.