#(He has also bought stuff from her classmate's bakesales in secret. He cannot resist a red velvet cake)

[innytoes]

Happy birthday @jatp-spinsb!

"I don't think this is a good idea," Ray said, twisting the leash between his nervous hands.

"Come on, Dad, it's too late to back out now," Julie cajoled him. "You said you wanted to help Flynn and I with our charity project."

And Ray had. He thought it was great that the school had this program. It helped teach kids planning, coordination, they did a lot of writing for the advertising. He just... hadn't expected Julie and Flynn to go this hard.

"I thought you meant with photography or setting up or something," he said. "What happened to a good old fashioned bake sale, anyway?"

"Everyone does a bake sale," Carlos rolled his eyes. Carlos was also helping, but mostly in corralling dogs behind the scenes. "Besides, this way they raise money for the shelter, and they might adopt out a few cute dogs! It's a double whammy."

"It'll look really good on our college applications," Julie said, giving him the best puppy dog eyes in the room. Which, considering the amount of puppy dogs back stage was saying something.

On stage, Flynn was talking up a storm, raising the price of 'Eligible Bachelor Number Three And Muffin The ChiWeenie' steadily. It helped that Eligible Bachelor Number Three, also known as Flynn's Uncle Todd, was a bodybuilder and about twenty years younger than Ray. Sure, officially people were bidding on a date with the dog and the 'bachelor' was just a 'chaperone', but Ray didn't think the two ladies in a bidding war cared much about the dachshund-chihuahua mix in his arms.

"Sold to the lady in the red dress for two hundred dollars!" Flynn said, cheerfully. Todd happily coaxed Muffin down the stage.

"Come on, dad, you can do this," Julie said, squeezing his shoulders. He tried not to think of the fact that she'd made him swap his shirt out this morning for a tighter one. "Besides, Donut is a really cute dog. Don't you want her to get adopted?"

He gave her a Look, but before he could say anything, Flynn called him up on stage. With a sigh, he went. "Our next bachelor is chaperoning Donut! Donut loves long walks on the beach, belly rubs, and discussing whether or not Han Shot First."

Ray tried his best to smile, walking Donut up and down the stage once and showing how well behaved she was, sitting on command (with a treat for enticement, of course).

The bidding started at fifty dollars, and for a moment Ray's heart seized. What if nobody bid at all? What if Flynn had to lower the price? What if-

"Fifty dollars!"

And then the bidding was off. Someone else bid sixty, and he showed off how Donut knew how to high five, scratching her ears fondly when she did. "You're a good dog," he told her, because it was way easier to focus on her trusting, sweet face than on the sea of people staring at him like a piece of meat. From behind the stage, Julie motioned at him to stand up again, and Carlos made some flexing motions.

He chose to ignore his son, but he did stand up and smile at the crowd.

Seventy, eighty. The bidding got slower, as Flynn rattled off true facts (Donut was great with children) and less true facts (Donut's favourite art movement was Dadaism).

And okay, maybe he flexed just a little. Subtly.

Then...

"Three hundred!" Someone from the back called. Which, considering they'd only just reached ninety, was a bit of a shock. He tried to look into the crowd, but he couldn't really see who was bidding. It was a male voice, though. There was some murmuring, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the ridiculous price hike, or because of who bid on him. Well, Donut.

"Do I hear three-ten?" Flynn tried, but nobody raised their hand. "Sold for three hundred to the enthusiastic gentleman in the back!"

"Whoo!" came the answer, and Ray laughed a little as he and Donut went back down the steps of the stage on the other side. He followed the little arrows Julie and Flynn had put on the floor in tape, and then he was at the meeting point.

He crouched down again, telling Donut what a good girl she was, laughing as she flopped over on her side so he could give her belly rubs. He was so busy loving on her, that he almost didn't realise someone came up to them.

"Oh wow, she really does love belly rubs," he said, and Ray looked up, smiling.

And then froze.

Because that was Reggie Peters, the bassist of Sunset Curve.

Reggie Peters had paid three hundred dollars to go on a date with him.

No, pull yourself together Ray, he told himself. He paid three hundred dollars to help charity and meet a cute dog. "She does," he agreed. "She also really does like long walks and the beach. And she's very cute." Donut gave a happy little doggy pant in agreement.

"Yeah well so's her chaperone," Reggie Peters, the bassist of Sunset Curve said.

Oh.

Oh.