Tonight was, according to Bitzer, one of the most peaceful nights at Mossy Bottom Farm.
Living at the outskirts of the city had those benefits; you could be sure that any noise pollution from there would never reach you, and that was a good night of sleep guaranteed for anyone.
And yet no matter how numb his limbs felt or how much he stressed over the hours left before sunrise, Bitzer couldn't sleep.
Maybe it was some excitement left from the day. It had been a long time since they had a day off at the farm, so it wasn't a surprise to see everyone —he included— wanting enjoy it by doing lots of fun stuff till exhaustion. It was like going back to his old days as a pup, when all he needed to worry about was to not be too rough with the sheeps when playing and to get right the tricks the Farmer was teaching him back then.
It had been a good day, and a great help to —Bitzer sighed— leave aside the previous day's events.
Not wanting to think about it, and after tossing and turning in his dog house for the 45th time to no avail, the sheepdog decided to give up any sleeping attempts. He removed both his sleeping mask and his nap cap(the later being replaced by his usual blue hat) and got up, automatically stretching to wake his body up. The sudden urge to check his watch appeared as he took a breath of fresh air, but Bitzer decided against it; he didn't want to wince at being reminded of how many hours he had left to sleep. So instead, he looked around the farm as a distraction.
The first thing he noticed was that something was off in the barn.
With rushed steps he got close to the flock's residence and got the confirmation that, indeed, one of the barn's doors was slightly open. Bitzer scratched his head, confused because he swore he saw the Farmer locking it a few hours ago. He pecked his head inside, a feeling of relief appearing at the sound of bleat-ing snores, and counted if every sheep was there. When his paw pointed to an empty bed, panic settled in.
The canine's spontaneous plan to get a flashlight and try to locate the missing sheep before the Farmer woke up got interrupted by a sudden piece of paper the wind blew against his face, along with a loud 'baa' coming from somewhere up. Grabbing the paper to get it out of his face, Bitzer quickly looked up to check who did that sound.
Shaun.
Of course it had to be Shaun.
The possibility of him being in the barn's ceiling for sleepwalking again was quickly discarded, as the sheep was looking down at him with open and curious eyes. His knees and hooves were his only attachment to the surface, but the sheep still decided to dangerously lean forward the edge of the metal sheet to have a better view.
A yelp left Bitzer's mouth at the sight, Shaun could get hurt up there!
By flapping his arms, barking desesperately and doing a gesture with his paw to tell him to come down, the sheepdog hoped he could get his message across. The sheep simply clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes at the unnecessary overprotection, but the sound of steps over the metal sheet that could be heard when he disappeared from Bitzer's view indicated he was still going to comply with the request.
After the initial sigh of relief, Bitzer frowned and softly growled at the fact that Shaun was up to something at such hour. The canine's attention turned to the paper in his paw; there was a paw print in one side, which Bitzer was sure wasn't his because it was smaller. Curiosity got the best of him and he decided to unfold it, discovering that there was a message inside. Feminine barks accompanied his lecture, and the sheepog's suspicions clicked in the right spot when he saw the name at the end of the letter.
'-Slip'
He whined, saddened by having read the contents of the paper. Bitzer didn't have the chance to know her that much, not with all the things he was stressing about that day, but Slip still seemed like a nice dog. If his memory was good, he could remember that that day she had known him and Shaun for what? A couple hours? It was probable that some contact happened between those two that Bitzer didn't know about, too occupied being angry at Shaun(and trying to avoid the insistent stare of that strange dog, ugh), because in the middle of all the rush the sheep still decided to free her so she could escape with them. It ended up being a good decision though, even if she barely knew them, the city pooch was kind enough to guide them through the city and even give them a place to stay the night.
That was why the news about her adoption were well received amongst the flock and him.
Then if everything was fine, why was Shaun in the ceiling with that letter instead of sleeping? Was he having some type of insomnia over it? Or maybe he was just worried?
...could it be that he missed her?
Bitzer shook his head— That would be strange. He knew Shaun, he knew how his extroverted and friendly nature got him to make friends that weren't from the farm(some were from space even), but he never saw his friend being sad over them having to leave eventually.
Well, except with-
Bitzer let out a howl-like yelp(too high-pitched for his own liking) when he heard coughing coming from behind him. He turned around to find a crossed arm-ed Shaun eyeing him suspiciously. The sheepdog grinned awkwardly, trying to pretend that such a sound didn't come out of his mouth.
Surprisingly, Bitzer did not receive any snicker of some sorts for that reaction, or at least a teasing smirk from part of the sheep. Instead of that, Shaun had simply taken the paper from Bitzer's paws as he started to walk away, making a quick wink/click of his tongue along with a thumbs up as a thanks for preventing the letter from flying away.
Bitzer stayed still, blinking at the sight of his friend's back walking away as if nothing happened. He then widened his eyes at recalling that he was supposed to scold the sheep once he got down from the ceiling. In the blink of an eye, he was already blowing his whistle to call his friend attention. Shaun didn't even get the chance to get thst far from the door before he tensed mid-step, grimacing at being aware of the situation he was in. It wasn't until Bitzer grabbed his shoulder that the sheep turned around, looking mostly uninterested by what he knew was coming.
Bitzer started his scolding, pointing at his watch as he barked to indicate how late it was, and then at the barn, clearly telling Shaun to respect the established sleeping schedule and go back there. How did he open the door without the sheepdog noticing? Bitzer didn't know, but by reminding himself that the sheep in front of him always had an ace under his sleeve he already got an answer.
Bitzer knew that, and he was also aware of how the only ocassions when Shaun looked guilty over a scheme was when said scheme had consequences that affected someone else. If that wasn't the case(like now) trying to reason with him was like talking to a wall. However, this time the sheep was lowering his head, maybe finally understanding for once that Bitzer was right, that he did something wr-
Oh, a stick!
Before the sheepdog noticed, he was already in all-four, panting and wagging his tail excitedly as he awaited for the stick in Shaun's hoof to be thrown. The sheep let out a bleat-like chuckle at the sight, his grin growing even wilder when waggling the stick in the air a bit got his friend to bark, jump and then circle with enthusiasm in his place. It never got old.
But as amusing as this was to watch for him, Shaun still decided to throw the stick, making it land in between some bushes to gain some time. Bitzer, somehow still having energy left after their day off, ran after it at full speed, and Shaun found himself smiling warmly at that. The sheep shook his head to stop any weird thoughts and started walking to continue with what he was doing.
After some struggle, Bitzer could find the stick under one of the bushes, his tail wiggling with pride at the achievement. He turned around, and let the stick that was between his teeth fall when he noticed that Shaun wasn't there anymore. A growl left his mouth as he stood up in two again. He couldn't believe he just got low blow-ed like that! Oh once he finds that little-
Just a couple steps were made when he saw the trickster at the other side of the road, simply sitting in the wood fence gate. His back was turned on the barn, ears lowered and looking down at something in his lap that the sheepdog couldn't see. Bitzer tilted his head, paws leaning in the metal of his own side's gate, and frowned confused at wondering why his best friend didn't just run away after making up the chance.
Okay, maybe running away sounded too childish, but it was still weird that Shaun wasn't complicating things for him now. Something was going on.
Bitzer heard his friend sigh, along with the sound of some papers moving and suddenly Bitzer's previous thoughts came back to his mind.
So, summarizing: Shaun wasn't sleeping, and if the sheepdog's theory was correct it was because he was having some late night thoughts over Slip's...letter? Absence? Something along those lines. Yet, as much as Bitzer thought that that was the most logical answer, he still couldn't put his finger on why his friend was looking so down over it. The last time he had seen Shaun like this was back when Lola had to leave the farm, and that was because he lov-
Oh.
Bitzer placed a paw on his chin, slightly covering his mouth, and lowered his head to try to help his thinking. Was that what this was all about? Love? That didn't help things to make sense at all, if anything, it only complicated things.
He didn't know how love was for sheep(neither how much of it applied to Shaun), but the canine couldn't help but wonder how his best friend's heart worked in that sense. Shaun's love interests looked nothing alike; maybe he liked femininity? —Bitzer shook his head, that wasn't important. What really stood out about all this was that Slip, contrary to both Lola and Shaun, was a dog.
The canine's eyes widened as he looked over to where his friend was sitting.
Could a sheep fall in love with a dog?
That was a question the sheepdog never expected to cross his mind. It sounded strange, wondering about it made Bitzer feel strange, but for some reason he still felt curious about the answer.
Suddenly he remembered why —or rather, over whom— he was wondering all this in the first place, and it was then that Bitzer decided to stop thinking. He'll just go talk with Shaun, try to make him feel better, and hope for the sudden knot in his stomach to go away soon.
The squeaking sound of the old metal gate opening startled Shaun, who quickly folded the papers in his hooves and looked back. Bitzer winced at the sound of the gate, his acute hearing making it worse for him, but still continued walking towards his friend.
Both animals kept their gaze fixated on each other when the sheepdog stopped near the wood gate, his arms crossed as he awaited for what his friend was going to do. It was when the canine arched a curious brow that Shaun broke eye contact, sighing and directing his gaze towards the dark horizon. A couple of welcoming pats in the wood's surface were enough signal for Bitzer to take a sit right beside the sheep.Was Shaun waiting for him to talk about what was troubling him? Probably yes.
Growing up together has given them this ability, to have these little moments where no words were needed to understand each other. However, this thing they had could sometimes dissapear from a moment to another. Right now, with both of them simply sitting there without knowing who should talk first, it was one of those moments.
Bitzer felt the silence awkward somehow; he suddenly was stressing over little things he never wondered about before; if he was sitting at a correct distance, if his paw wasn't too close to Shaun's hoof... He was nervous, and thinking about the fact that at any moment the sheep could start a conversation about love wasn't helping the knot in his stomach at all.
The way Shaun has been fidgeting with the edge of the papers in his hooves and how he looked at anything that wasn't his companion gave away that he was nervous too, but Bitzer couldn't tell why. They both knew they could trust anything to the other, why now out of all times it looked like Shaun wasn't that sure about that?
Bitzer didn't like that idea, so he decided to help the subject that was troubling his friend to come out. He pointed at the papers in Shaun's hooves with a bark, asking his still gaze-avoiding friend what they were. Out of the three papers that the sheep had, one was given to the canine after a moment of hesitation; unexpectedly, it wasn't Slip's letter.
Bitzer unfolded it a couple of times, and got surprised at seeing what it actually was: an old picture of the flock and him in their younger years. Back when the blue cap that now fit him perfectly used to fall into his eyes and make him a clumsy puppy, back when Shaun and he used to be the same height, and back when most of their days consisted only in playing around the farm.
The nostalgic smile of his face faltered a bit at noticing that the Farmer's young face was cut off, and it dropped completely when he remembered that that part of the photo was the one Shaun used as a missing person poster. What did this had to do with love problems?
The canine turned his head back to Shaun when he heard him exhale. It sounded heavy and a little paused, like if something in the sheep's throat made it difficult to let the air out. Bitzer lowered his worried gaze to the paper his friend was staring at; where he expected so see Slip's letter, instead his eyes met a slight burnt paper with a photo of the farmer and the words 'loss memory' written below.
And then he understood.
This wasn't about Slip only, this wasn't anything related to love to begin with —That felt relieving somehow, but the canine pushed that thought to the back of his mind. All the not sleeping, the letter and the picture, the abnormal quietness; it was all about Shaun recalling the events of yesterday.
Bitzer frowned. It wasn't something nice to remember; the farmer could've end up hurt, they got treated like pests by him once they finally found him, and a maniac chased them through an enormous city they didn't know and even attempted straight up murder! Just...so many things could've gone wrong that day, and all because of wanting a day off.
It was for that reason that Bitzer had been so angry at Shaun back then. The sheepdog knew that him, as the leader of the flock, was the one that pulled all up. It was one of the sheep's plans with the worst repercussions, and Bitzer's upsetness had been at the same level.
Everything that day had been too stressing. There was just too much to worry about that the sheepdog didn't stop to think about how all could've affected Shaun. What if something serious happened to the farmer? What if they never found out about the memory loss? Or if that maniatic animal warden hurt one of them? Shaun would've taken the blame, he would be the one to face the consequences knowing that it all happened because of him.
And Bitzer knew his friend would've never forgive himself for it.
The canine suddenly felt a lot of guilt falling on his shoulders. As horrible as the situation was, Shaun still had been doing his best to try to solve the problem, even if the only thing that Bitzer did back then was yell at him, growl every time the sheep smiled his way or roll his eyes at the failed attempts to cheer Timmy up. Now that everything was fine Bitzer realized...that he had been kind of harsh, and that probably didn't make any lighter the weight that Shaun was carrying back then.
A weight the sheep apparently still carried with him...
No, Bitzer decided, he wasn't going to let Shaun feel sad over that.
In a quick movement, the canine got off the fence to stood in the grass and snatched the hospital's paper from the sheep's hooves. Shaun responded with a surprised bleat, and it was then that Bitzer could notice how his eyes seemed to have lost their usual spark; that wasn't good. He replaced the paper with the old picture and poked it a couple of times, getting the confused sheep to eye the photo with doubt. Shaun looked up at him, and the sheepdog ended by crumpling the paper and throwing it away for dramatic effect. He'll pick it up later, but for now he just wanted his friend to understand that that day didn't matter anymore, but what was showed in the photo: they all being a big family like it has always been.
Shaun's eyes suddenly watered and Bitzer feared for his life that he just screwed up badly. When the sheep's hooves squeezed the photo, Bitzer glanced nervous at his sides before opening his arms; he wasn't sure, but maybe this was what his friend needed right now.
His action got met by a immediate, heavy body falling into his arms, which Bitzer embraced instantly. Shaun felt hesitant as the hug started, but it only took a few seconds for him to broke down and tighten it.
A gulp left Bitzer when he felt wet drops falling on his upper back, how Shaun's snout was buried in his neck, and how he shook every time a sob creeped out of him. Things certainly escalated quickly, and the sheepdog was having a hard time trying to not show the nervous wreck that he was inside. By tightening the hug, slightly leaning his head against Shaun's, and rubbing a paw against the fluffly wool, the sheepdog hoped he could be of help.
Reassuring words from Bitzer were the only sound that could be heard besides Shaun's soft crying. He told him anything that came to his mind: that it was okay, that everything was fine now, but he mostly told his friend that it wasn't his fault. Because that was what Shaun probably had been needing to hear, that he didn't need to take all the blame, that not everything that happened was done by his own hooves.
Bitzer felt guilty again. Has Shaun been feeling like this on his own? Or were all the things he said in the animal shelter that lead to this? He couldn't say that Shaun didn't provoke those events to some degree, but it was obvious that the sheep didn't intend for things to go that far. The flock loved the farmer, Bitzer did and Shaun too; even if the man was quite the grump sometimes, no one in the farm would want him to get hurt. Yesterday was simply an usual shenanigan that got out of their hooves at some point.
After a last sniff Shaun finally calmed down, but neither of the animals moved. Bitzer told himself it was out of not knowing if his friend was completely okay, even though the fact that he was enjoying the hug told otherwise. He could feel his friend relaxing into his arms, how his chest moved back and fort as his breathing restabilized, and how he had returned the head-leaning gesture. Previous sounds of the night came back to Bitzer's ears, to them now added their soft breathing, and the sheepdog couldn't help but close his eyes and let out a contented sigh at how relaxing this was.
A moment later Shaun decided to pull away, but not entirely. After wiping the remaining tears, he let his hooves hold the canine's wrists slightly and smiled warmly as he bleated a 'thank you'. Bitzer's tail started wagging for some reason, but he ignored it to answer his friend with a nod and a smile of his own. His paws had naturally ended in Shaun's sides. He didn't appear uncomfortable, and neither did Bitzer at noticing they were staring at each other longer than needed.
The situation should be weird, yet it wasn't. With no flock spying on them to interrupt them, there was no reason to be embarrassed. Right now it was just him and Shaun, who smiling at him while being bathed by the white rays of the moon looke-
Bitzer suddenly frowned, getting a worried look from Shaun. One of the his ears raised as he heard that giggle again and he quickly turned his head to the source of the sound. The sheep followed his gaze and then they saw what, or rather who, was making it.
Timmy, the youngest member of the flock, was watching them from the other side of the road, hiding behind the slightly open metal gate. The lamb grinned at noticing he was spotted and Bitzer couldn't help but feel some sort of déjà vu over this.
All the mood from before dropped down as both animals quickly pulled away, fidgeting with anything they could get their hooves/paws in to hide...hide what? Bitzer didn't know, but he felt his cheeks heating up and wasn't liking it. He looked over at Shaun, wondering if that happened to him too, but since the sheep was avoiding his gaze the canine couldn't tell. The sheep only coughed awkwardly under his breath and pointed towards where Timmy was with his thumb, indicating that he'll take care of the lamb. Bitzer nodded emotionless.
As Shaun hoped over the fence to do so, the sheepdog stood still in his place. What...what was that just now? The staring? The moon thing? — A shiver ran through his spine and he hugged himself as a reflex; the places Shaun had touched when they were hugging for some reason now felt cold. Bitzer shook his head and decided to blame it to the wool, because that could be the only reason, right?
After picking up the paper and storing it with his whistle, he opened the wood gate, just enough for him to pass through it, and then closed it behind him before starting walking towards the two sheep. Timmy already left his hiding spot and was now looking at a bent over-Shaun, who was bleating something to him. Bitzer sighed; he swore, out of all the sheep in the flock, those two were the most promptly to cause him a heart attack one day.
When the sheepdog got there he looked at the little lamb, who just grinned up at him like he wasn't aware of the problem he was in. Bitzer was upset, he thought it was because Timmy being a naughty lamb again, but he wasn't sure if that was the only reason. Putting a paw on his hip, the canine used the other one to shake a finger at Timmy and scold him for being out at such hours, and with no supervision! Didn't he learn from last time?
The lamb simply tilted his head and let out a 'hmm?' as his eyes shined with childish curiosity. Bitzer lowered his paw and growled under his breath, looks like he didn't. The mutt could spot Shaun smiling and shaking his head at him from the corner of his eye, and before he could get upset at the gesture, the sheep got up and extended one hoove towards Timmy with a bleat. The lamb looked at it before happily taking it, and Bitzer couldn't help but softly smile at the adorable scene.
No more than two steps could be made before Shaun got stopped by his immobile cousin. The younger gave a couple tugs to the sheep's hoof to call his attention, and pointed at Bitzer as a high-pitched bleat left his mouth. When the sheepdog only exchanged a confused glance with Shaun, Timmy rolled his eyes before extending his free hoof towards Bitzer to be more obvious. The canine once again looked at the older sheep with doubt, but when his friend gave a quick gesture towards Timmy's hoof with his head, he took it as a signal that it was okay to take it.
The three of them started heading towards the barn, the lamb walking in the middle with an smile in his face. However, Timmy wasn't feeling like having a normal walk, and considered that it would be funny to drop all his weight back to surprise the adult animals. He succeeded just halfly, as he was too light to create any complications, but the action still took them off guard enough to make them lift their arms as a reflex. A cheerful giggle left the young lamb when he got dragged along, his legs swaying with energy at not touching any surface, and then Shaun and Bitzer understood what Timmy's plan was all the time.
They kept walking like this, making Timmy swing back and forth in the air every few steps. The joy the youngest of the flock expressed through hearty laughs every time this happened was contagious, and the older animals found themselves chuckling along with him too. But as nice as it this was, Bitzer was thankful that the distance between the gate and the barn was so short, his arm was starting to hurt.
He thought about how that was new, how time ago the lamb used to be inseparable from both his pacifier and teddy bear, and how he no longer struggled to walk in two anymore.
Timmy was growing up, and some things changed along with him.
Bitzer let go of the tiny hoove once they reached the barn, and stepped aside to let Shaun pick the lamp up. He noticed that the barn's door was still slightly open, and though about how any other day he would've nagged his friend about the risks of giving Timmy a chance to escape. The mutt decided against it for now, so instead he waved goodbye at Shaun when the sheep stood at the door. He waved back along with Timmy, and as much as he tried, the sheepdog couldn't tell why he and Shaun were smiling at each other like idiots again.
Some things changed.
For a moment it looked like Shaun wanted to say something, but after the doors closed, Bitzer couldn't be sure anymore. He decided to blame it to his imagination and try to go catch what remained him of sleep.
A yawn finally left his mouth once he reached his dog house. Relieved for that, Bitzer started to lay inside, but a strange inch in his back stopped him. His paw grabbed a crumbled paper when he checked what it was, and Bitzer realized that the farmer's diagnosis was still with him. He threw it somewhere inside his house and continued to bury his head in his pillow, growling at the bad throughts coming back to his mind.
Anything sad, upsetting, or guilt-indusing that that day could bring, now Bitzer knew that Shaun would feel it worse. Everyone would get over it, the leader of the flock too eventually, but for now, Bitzer would be there for him when his friend needed it. They always had each others' back, this was no exception.
The sheepdog tossed to try to be more comfy, ideas to cheer his best friend up tomorrow already being planned in his mind. When the sudden memory of Shaun smiling under the moonlight appeared, he tried to cover it up by thinking about how comfy his pillow was.
He thought about how hugging a certain sheep's wool would be even comfier, warmer...and he had to bury his face in his now not-that-comfy pillow to avoid feeling his cheeks hot again.
A lot of times he had found himself blaming that sheep over unusual stuff in the farm, most of the time being right. But now, with the fast beating of his heart becoming more obvious with every second, he didn't want to blame Shaun, he shouldn't be blaming Shaun.
He whimpered with worry when the thoughts failed to go away.
Of course, it had to be Shaun. It was always him.