Helios leaned down, ears and whiskers swept back, to cautiously sniff at Diesel, before he sat back up and began to assiduously wash his face. “Good boy,” Summer told him, and he slitted his eyes at her. “Mine still works,” she told Ace, sorting through her box for another spool of wire. “It’s just really struggling in this heat, so I figure I’m better off money-wise if I just turn it off during the day. I can’t pay four hundred dollar electricity bills.
She began to thread gemstone chips onto the wire. “So it’s just you and Diesel over there?”
Diesel’s sniff was a lot less tame.
How the puppy managed to get on the couch was a mystery, but he gave one squeak before pouncing on Helios, little chubby arms flailing as he buried his nose in the cat’s fur.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Ace said, lifting his dog up and balancing him against his hip, turning to Summer once more as Diesel squirmed and barked.
“You and me both, then. Money-wise, I mean,” he added sheepishly, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. He watched in guarded curiosity as she started on another piece of jewelry.
“Yes.”
And you and Helios over here?
The nicer side of him wished to shine through and voice this. But the bull-headed and ruder part of Ace kept that little fucker at bay most of the time, so.
Summer flicked a glance up at him, the way he was shifting back and forth like he was uncomfortable. On the other hand, he seemed pretty serious about not letting his puppy pester Helios. Reticence wasn’t necessarily a bad quality — gods knew, she had a tendency to babble.
But he’d already said he didn’t want to sit down, so she fell silent, fingers busy. If his life was as quiet as he was, this both of them having their doors open would be easy. Hopefully, her little gaming get-togethers wouldn’t be a problem — granted they laughed a lot, and loudly, but surely that wouldn’t bother him?
She supposed, since he wasn’t exactly volunteering information, she’d have to wait and see.