#Barking up the wrong tree; sorry you can't have them. Bye girl.

[sunburnacoustic]

Girl. Girl what.

[honeylikewords]

Ok so what if a cute dog comes up to Benny while he's just waking up from his nap and the dog starts licking his face and Benny gets so happy and excited and then hears a voice shouting for the dog to come back but he doesn't want the dog to go & then the voice comes closer, apologizing, so he looks up and can't get his eyes off this beautiful angel standing in front of him and then his brain kicks in, doesn't want her to be afraid of him but she isn't at all, and asks him to grab coffee ok bye

oh my god you guys are So Good at this

Thank You, Here I Go AGAIN WITH THE LONG REPLIES

Benny has a lot of sleep issues, ranging from an inability to sleep at night to difficulty staying asleep to random bouts of sleep during the day. His sleep schedule is frenetic at best and literally non-existent at worst. So when he does manage to get some sleep, he’s not too picky about when and where he’s napping, so long as he isn’t gonna get arrested or beat up for sleeping there.

He ends up dozing off under a tree in the city park one warm, sunny day: the tree is cooly shaded but the summer air is nice and cozy, so he drifts off easily, laying on his back in the grass. He’s slept in significantly less comfortable places; this is, by far, one of the nicest naps he’s had in a while.

He falls into a good sleep; not deep enough to dream, but deep enough to rest and restore him. He’s almost getting to the depth of sleep where he’ll start having his dreams when he hears snuffling and something wet slathering over his face, and he bolts awake, snorting.

A handsome-looking German Shepherd is standing over him, tongue lolling out with excitement. The dog licks at Benny’s cheek again and barks happily, running a few feet away. He wants to play, Benny realizes. 

Benny stands and grins, beaming at the dog.

“You wan’ me to chase you, boy?”

The dog barks.

“Well, get ready, ‘cause Benny’s comin’!”

He chases the dog and they wrestle one another, the dog yipping excitedly and Benny laughing. He can’t remember the last time he got to be this close to a good dog like this, much less be allowed to play with it. It’s a great feeling to be back in his swing of things, chasing the dog and playfully growling at it, his face almost sore from how much he’s smiling.

When he hears a distant call of “Dodger!” Benny looks up and realizes that a very, very pretty girl has been chasing after the both of them. She’s a little winded, her face glowing with a sheen of sweat from her exertion. Benny thinks it’s very beautiful indeed.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” she huffs, leaping forward to clip her leash to the dog’s collar. “Dodger got away from me when I was trying to get his leash untangled and I really hope he didn’t do anything--”

Benny’s stunned silent. She’s... wow. Okay. That’s a very, very beautiful woman and he has no idea what to do. It’s a lot to take in all at once. He tries to fumble for words but becomes keenly aware of himself: a tall, large, dirty homeless man sleeping in a park. He must look frightful. He can only imagine how scared she must be approaching him, and it aches him down to his core when he realizes that there’s just something wrong with him that puts out this aura of unpleasantness.

He wishes he was normal and healthy and handsome instead of filthy and foul and unnatural. He gazes up at her, awestruck, until he realizes that the best thing he can do is try to be calm and make her feel less threatened.

“Aw, nah, lady,” Benny smiles, ruffling Dodger’s ears. “He’s great.”

“I saw him run at you when you were sleeping, and I am so, so sorry, he never does that! But... it seems like he likes you,” giggles the girl. Benny feels Dodger lick his face and he laughs, nodding his head.

It’s odd, because the way she’s talking to him doesn’t seem to be disgusted: it seems like she’s legitimately upset that she might have upset him, in turn. He sees genuine concern in her expression, and that stuns Benny.

“Seems like he does, yeah.”

“I, um... He’s only a year old,” she says. “Still got a lot of that puppy energy in him. I’m really sorry...”

“Nah. I love it. I used to have a dog like this. I named ‘im Yankee. Dodger... Kinda funny, huh? L.A. Dodgers and New York Yankees, both of ‘em German Sheps.”

Benny laughs a little and notices her smiling at him, her eyes accepting and warm in a way he’s intoxicated by. He finds girls prettiest when they have that certain glimmer of kindness about them; a woman can be hot but ice cold inside, but the most beautiful of all women are the ones who treat him nicely. And man, she seems like the kinda person whose soul glows with that niceness and whose features reflect it.

She sits down on the grass next to him and Dodger sits between them, laying his head in her lap and his hindquarters in Benny’s lap. They both pet Dodger and get to talking; first about baseball, then about the weather, then about other things. Personal things. Things Benny’s forgotten he likes talking about.

They talk for what feels like only moments but turns into hours: before either of them know it, the sun is setting and its last rays are long, orange-red feathers falling to the ground. Her phone chirps and she checks it, gasping at the time.

“Is it that late already?”

“Oh, shit, you gotta be somewhere? I didn’t mean to keep ya, I’m so sorry--”

“No, no, Benny, it’s fine,” she says, smiling at him sweetly. “I just gotta get home for dinner and stuff. But, here, lemme just--”

She rummages in her purse and pulls out a notepad with pawprints on it, making Benny smile. Of course she has something that kitschy and cute. Of course. She also finds a little pink pen with a flowery print all along its casing, and as she writes on the pad, Benny sighs to himself.

He’s gonna remember her for a long, long time. And she’s gonna forget all about him. He leans his chin on his palm and watches her as she tears the note off the pad and folds it neatly, then hands it to him.

“My number,” she says. “So you can call and we can, I dunno, get coffee? Or dinner? This was... really fun. And I like you, Benny.” 

“You... like me?”

“Yeah!” She laughs her clear laugh and meets his eyes again, completely genuine. “What’s not to like?”

He can think of a complete grocery list of things to hate in him, but he bites his tongue. After all, he does wanna see her again...

Benny tucks the note in his pocket and walks the girl and Dodger back to the pathway that leads out of the park, the two of them making quiet conversation in the last few minutes they have together. As she departs, Benny waves, then calls out to her, making her pause.

“Hey!” When she smiles, Benny feels a rise in his courage. “I will definitely call you!”

“Tonight?”

“Tonight.”

“I’ll be waiting!”

And she walks off, looking over her shoulder one last time to wave as she and Dodger disappear around a corner, leaving Benny alone, smiling to himself like a loon.

Yeah, he thinks to himself, he could really get used to this kinda life.