Embrace (Rocky x Chase)

Chapter 11- The Other Side

Despite his days almost always being dull episodes of self-loathing and shame, Rocky couldn't help but have a bounce in his step as he walked down the sidewalk. The slow drag of his usual gloom was barely felt as sunshine glowed in his body, printing a wide smile on his face as the color returned to the world around him. He pranced his way down the street, more than happy to escape the fortress that was The Lookout. On any other day he would've hated walking out into the light, but now something more important than his own mind was waiting for him.

Turning a corner into an alleyway, paying no mind to the fearful sights of clumped fur and overturned trash cans, Rocky honed on in his brother's smell.

"There you are!" The small mix jumped over a cardboard box into the dark clearing, approaching his family with a wagging tail. His new collar shone like a bright medallion, bringing new colorful life back into his fur.

The shadow of a larger dog stirred in the darkness, and a chuckling sound emitted from it as the animal stood up. "Welcome to my domain, Rocks." Dakota greeted him with a tilt of the head.

"Being surrounded by trash isn't much of a home," Rocky said, looking around as he took in the hot, putrid smells around him.

His brother gave a lighthearted shrug, "I guess some of us don't really have a lot. Hey, you hungry?"

The thought of food made Rocky buzz with excitement, "oh I'm starving! Something besides dry kibble, preferably."

"Other than kibble, eh?" Dakota grinned, walking out into the light. "I get all of my food from the local supermarket."

The thought of a dog shopping alongside people brought a twist of confusion to Rocky's face, and he tilted his head with a humored expression. "You buy stuff? With the humans?"

"Buy? Oh no no no." The larger dog waved off, "you just wait until no one's looking, then you take it." He nodded eagerly, also getting giddy from excitement. "And if you just eat it right then and there, no one will ever know you had it."

Rocky softly recoiled, staring with wide eyes, "but, isn't that stealing?"

"Honestly?" Dakota looked off for a moment, then turned back to his little brother with a wide smile. "Fuck 'em."

Trying to act surprised, Rocky glanced to the right for a moment, then held up his paw to say something when he was suddenly interrupted by a fit of laughter. Nearly suffocating himself with his own laughs, he rolled around in the dirt while his older brother spectated his giggle fit.

"Yeah, really." Dakota tried to say without laughing, his face brightly smiling. "Screw them to hell and back, if they don't care about us, then why should we them?" He hopped over to his brother and picked him up, scooping Rocky onto his back. "Come on, let's go have some fun."

And that was the story of how Rocky and Dakota found themselves walking through the Adventure Bay supermarket, stifling their laughter and trying to act natural. They could barely look at each other without nearly exploding into giggles, having to force their gazes away onto random objects to keep their composure. They lurked as a duo, keeping their snickering heads low as each passerby looked at them in confusion.

"Dude, dude," Dakota forced himself to look at a wall of notebooks, his face aching as it was nearly about to burst. Quivering with excitement, he frantically waved at his brother, "dude an employee is coming, act-" a snort escaped him, cutting off his sentence. "Just act natural."

Jumping into action so quickly his paws slipped on the floor, Rocky nearly lost himself in a laughing fit as he threw himself at the closest thing he could find: A wall of packaged cheeses. Snickering uncontrollably, he glued his gaze onto a box of mozzarella, pretending to be focused as an employee of the store rounded the corner. He walked between them, passing them by with a face of exhaustion before disappearing in another aisle.