[C] Cheer Up

"Come on. You can have it when we get to the livingroom."

He padded down the hall, still holding the pup's cookie.

Dario sat down next to Ray, relaxing against the couch as he held the cookie out for the pup again.

A little smile played on his lips.

It had been a little chilly this morning and Jika had been cold so Hayden took the liberty of dress the pup up to keep him warm.

Jika hadn't liked Hayden putting pants on him so the pup had spent the day in a large knitted sweater and his boxer-briefs.

Despite his bare legs the pup seemed warm enough.

He followed Dario into the living room and sat on the floor, taking the cookie and chewing on it as the man held it out for him.

"Good boy."

He stroked the pup's long hair slowly as he chowed down on the cookie.

Dario scratched behind the pup's ear as his gaze turned to the Vampire.

"Wanna watch a movie or something?"

Jika gave a happy whine and chewed on his treat, resting his head against Dario's thigh as the man sat on the couch.

His head tilted, leaning into the hand scratching him.

"Yeah sure."

Rayner replied as he blew into his mug softly before taking a sip.

The human smiled as Jika leaned against him. He loved the pup; he was so affectionate.

"Any movie you feel the need to watch?"

Dario gestured to the large pile of DVDs that had made their way out of his room since Pina and Desi had left.

Rayner looked over at the pile of dvds and gave a small shrug, there was so many movies that had come out lately that he hadn't seen.

He adored movies now for that reason, he could sit through a film without having to worried about being dragged into Cy's lap and tormented.

The man took a large sip of his drink before licking his lips.

"Any good action films?"

He asked as he looked up at Dario, he wanted to watch something exciting.

"Quite a few comic films."

Dario's gaze turned to the pile of discs and he hummed thoughtfully.

"Action-y... Iron Man? Number two has quite a bit of action in it. Three's good, too." Dario had more than his fair share of comic movies. "There's always Hellboy."

Hellboy was just as good.

"There is a third Iron Man?"

He asked, looking up at Dario, he had been with Cy the last year and hadn't known that it had come out.

"I didn't know that, can we watch it?"

It was nice to catch up on everything that he had missed out on during that time.

"You don't know about the third?"

Dario gave the Vampire an odd look. Iron Man was such a huge thing. Dario loved Marvel movies. Ray not knowing about the third movie was just wrong.

"Definitely."

Dario pushed himself to his feet and went to rifle through the pile.

Eventually he pulled out the box and held it up for Ray to get a look at.

"Ready for an awesome movie?"

"No, wasn't allowed to watch movies on my own."

He only got to see what Cy wanted him to see, that included on the internet and on the television.

Still he grabbed the box from Dario eagerly, flipping it over and looking over the back cover as he handed the man the disk to put in.

"I really liked the last two."

"That sucks."

Dario took the disk and knelt down in front of the DVD player.

"You can grab a DVD whenever you want. Any DVD in the pile is yours for viewing."

Ray was allowed to sit and watch any DVD he wanted any time he wanted. He didn't have to wait until Dario invited him to watch a DVD.

"I know..."

He replied as he looked up at Dario, fiddling with the cover.

"Hayden already said I could watch as many as I want, it's just a force of habit."

He wasn't use to being able to do as he pleased and he found himself constantly asking if things were alright despite being told before that it was fine.

Dario gave a little smile.

"Here, I just bought Amazing Spiderman the other day. I'll leave it out for you to watch when you feel like it. I think you'll like it. Not as good as Iron Man, but Mr. Stark is a big man to live up to."

He grinned up at the Vampire as he pushed himself to his feet again.

If he left DVDs out for Ray maybe eventually he'd see it was okay to take them and he'd feel better about taking them when they weren't left out for him.

Rayner gave a soft nod and a smile.

"Alright."

He would remember that was there for him, he didn't know if he would watch it on his own or not.

Maybe he could watch it with Jika when everyone was out again.

The pup sneakily crawled onto the couch, cookie between his teeth and curled himself up in the Vampire's lap.

The DVD was there for Ray if he wanted to sit and watch it.

He was sure Jika would like to sit and watch the movie, too. Jika enjoyed laying around and watching movies with them. Watching a movie with Ray, the one he’d become closest to, would probably be nice for the pup.

Dario grinned as Jika crawled onto the couch.

He scratched behind the Elf’s ear. “You know you’re not supposed to be up here without being invited,” he chided gently. But he didn’t moved to make the Elf sit back on the floor.

Jika gave a little whine as Dario spoke to him, leaning into his touch as he licked at the man's arm.

He knew that, but sometimes he just wanted to cuddle and couldn't wait.

Plus, he had been home with a very sad Rayner all day, seeing the man happy again made him wiggle his backside a little as he wagged his non-existent tail.

Dario shook his head with a little grin.

He ruffled the Elf's hair as he relaxed back against the couch.

He knew he'd been with a sad Ray all day so he was cutting the Elf a break. Jika could curl up on the couch with them tonight.

"Looks like you have a puppy leech," Dario teased.

The pups grinned happy and nuzzled in against the Vampire, letting half of his body rest between the two men on the couch.

"Yeah, it follows me around a lot."

Ray replied with a chuckle, "He is normally glued to my side so it is nothing new."

They had grown close very quickly, it was easier to trust an animal than it was a person.

Dario gave a soft chuckle, hand stroking over the Elf’s side gently when he sprawled out between them.

“Maybe we should start calling him leech instead of Jika. That or shadow.”

Even if he joked and teased, he was glad Jika was there to keep Ray company. He wouldn’t have him any other way.

Dario was so relieved that Rya wasn’t alone.

Jika gave a happy whine, stretching out a little as he was stroked before curling back up comfortably.

Rayner gave a soft laugh and shook his head.

"It would suit him well."

The Vampire agreed, Jika had definitely became his shadow, it was quite funny really.

"He is a good dog though."
He added, petting the pup's head softly, it had taken him a while to get use to a human pet but it was great now.

Dario hummed in agreement.

Jika was a good dog. He was the best pup he had had. He loved having Jika around just as much as everyone else in the house did.

“S’pose we should carry on calling him Jika, then. Shadow just isn’t right. Shadow’s a name for a hedgehog, not a puppy.”

Jika leaned up and lapped at the Vampire's neck softly, giving a soft purr as he was stroked.

Rayner gave a soft laugh as he looked down at the pup.

"Had to admit that I was kind of put off by the thought of having a person walking around pretending to be an animal, but I get it now, he is a pup."

There was no if or buts about it, Jika was a happy little puppy, not a person.

"It takes time to get used to."

Having a puppy around was difficult at times. It was something that was difficult to get used to.

But in time it got easier. And before you knew it, you just couldn't see the person as a person.

They were a happy little pet and that was all there was to it.

"Not much time."

Rayner admitted as he stroked Jika, the pup affectionately licking at his face.

"He grew on my really quickly."

It was hard to not grow attached, even with how distant Rayner usually was.

Even he had fallen for the pup's charm.

"That's 'cause he's such a good pup."

Dario crooned softly at the Elf as he ran his fingers through the pup's hair gently.

Kajika really was a great pup. He loved him.