Canine Cyborg Boyfriend

Chapter One

In the sleepy town of Stars Fall, Barkly the dog scampered around the corner with a yellow daisy in his mouth.

Barkly was a scrappy terrier mutt, not more than a foot tall. The thin, worn collar around his neck was the only clue that he wasn't a stray, but his tangled, muddied brown fur said otherwise. He didn't mind that he was small enough to fit in a handbag or that his owner forgot to feed him sometimes. He didn't mind that he had to dodge dogcatchers or the raccoons that lived behind his owner's flower shop. All Barkly cared about was her.

Cindy.

She was leaning up against the dirty brick wall of Half Moon Tattoo Parlor's rear exit. She wore tattered hipster skinny jeans and a black leather jacket despite it being the dog days of summer. Underneath it all, her lean, taunt body decorated in beautiful swirls of ink. She had a lesbian haircut, shaved on one the side and straight down the other. But, she definitely wasn't a lesbian, (I mean, maybe bicurious? Fans of her work might speculate, or perhaps wish.) she definitely liked the D. The angles of her face accentuated with cat-eyeliner which bore the sharpest of wings, only surpassed by the sharpness of her tongue. Her eyes were dark, tortured even. But, when she smiled... the sun rose.

Cindy looked up from mindlessly scrolling through Twitter on her phone. The frowning corners of her mouth perked upward at the sight of her flower toting shadow.

"I brought you chicken today, bud." She pulled a bag of leftovers from last night's failed HelloFresh dinner, opening the container of shredded chicken and offering it to the little mutt.

It had become a routine of sorts. She'd take her smoke break, not that she smoked but her employees didn't know that, and bring Barkly her leftovers. Sometimes she just needed a breather... a break. A place to hide from all the stress that came with owning the most popular tattoo parlor in town. So, she'd come out back and feed the dog from across the street, who always brought a different flower to her. Sometimes she'd even snap a picture for social media, who doesn't love dogs?

Barkly woofed down the leftovers, leaving the yellow daisy at Cindy's feet. She knelt down and picked it up, twirling it in her fingers with a bittersweet smile.

"The only man to ever bring me flowers," she sighed.

Barkly looked up at her, a sloppy, happy grin on his face. His tongue was flopped to one side of an open mouth and he offered her a cautious tail wag. He could feel his tiny heart beating so hard in his chest. Every day he came to see that sun rise, to make her smile if he could. Every day he'd watch her, longing for the sound of her voice, the scent of her perfume... the opening of that tupperware box. How he wished she knew how much he loved her.

"Okay, scamp, time for me to get back to work." She picked up the empty tub and gave him a head scratch. "See you tomorrow."

And then she was gone.

 ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Like every day, he sulked on his way back to Budding Romance, the flower shop where he lived. He slipped in, unnoticed as usual. His tender heart, heavy with pining for a love and life he'd never have. He thought perhaps Karen would cheer him up, there were rare times she did.

Karen was rough around the edges. She pulled her long, often messy blonde hair up in a bun atop her head. Her make-up always looked as if it hadn't been washed from the night before. She smelled of cigarettes and cheap perfume. Everything about her was just a bit gaudy, just a bit much, but she had the capability to be warm and friendly.

He skirted around her feet, hoping for a much needed ear scritch or maybe even (dare he hope) a belly rub. But, she was restocking empty tubs of mums, rushing so she could close the shop for the night.

"Ugh! Get out of here!" She swatted at him as she was hurriedly moving up and down the aisles.

A new customer didn't even step a foot in the doorway when she quickly turned around and shouted. 

"We're -closed-!" She pointed to the sign on the door. They started to argue about closing times.

The bickering was all bells and whistles to Barkly. He slithered off to sleep under one of the displays, as he often did to get out of her way. Karen wasn't so bad all the time. He had good memories of her, like that time she found him digging in her trash bin or that other time she remembered to leave him some water before she closed the shop. Those were good times.

He heard the door's bell once more and the lights went off. He guesses she forgot to say goodbye to him for another night. Barkly sighed, dragging himself over to the storefront window and hopping up on the ledge. 

The short mutt pressed his cold nose to the glass and looked up at the darkening sky. Twinkling stars began to peak through the canvas of dark blue. He had once overheard a young girl in the flower shop, her father had brought her in and once the dazzle of the flowers wore off she started to sing a song to herself. It was about catching a falling star and putting it in your pocket, seizing it so that love might come your way.

Oh, how hard he wished, closing his eyes.

I want to be more than a dog that brings her flowers. I want to be a man. No... I want to be more than a man. I want to be everything she deserves.

He spent his long nights gazing up at the skies, just waiting and hoping to catch a falling star.

Little did he know that tonight he would.

 ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───