A/N: Hey! So this chapter is really when the story kinda starts. Pls enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Blue Stranger
Before Courage could even scream, the dog clamped his muzzle shut with such desperate force. While Courage wished he could refuse to believe what was clearly happening to him, he was too startled to even think that. He tried to yell, but only a small, pathetic sound muffled past the dog's paw.
"Shhhh," he shushed. "It's okay, I don't mean any harm."
"Mmmph ph rph phf ph?" Courage managed to squeak out. Even though his terrified voice was muffled, the dog was able to understand his question of, "Then why are you here?"
"I was just-," the dog paused, scratching his head. He was clearly trying to think of a lie. "-looking for a place to stay the night."
Courage, not sure of what to think of it, was too scared to do or say anything else. Why was he here? Well, he was clearly a homeless stray and it was kind of a chilly night. But Courage thought he must have come all the way out to the farm for something else.
"Is this okay?" he asked softly.
Courage swiftly and obediently nodded.
"I'm going to free your muzzle now, and you're not going to scream, are you?" He asked.
Courage shook his head.
"Okay," the dog said slowly and reluctantly. He then slowly freed Courage's muzzle.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Courage screamed loudly as he could not contain his shock and disbelief.
"Shut up!" the dog harshly whispered and clamped his muzzle shut again. "I've come a long way to get here. I have come with the utmost tranquility and peace. And you are NOT going to ruin this for me."
"Ruin what?" Courage thought. The stranger spoke like he wasn't referring to him just staying the night. Courage racked his brain trying to figure out this dog's intentions. And then the truth hit him. He gasped.
Suddenly, he found enough strength to push the dog off of him and to stand up to face him. "You stay AWAY from her," Courage growled.
"Or what?" the dog asked.
"Or I'll, I'll-," he was at a loss for words. He was not prepared to face such an odd foe especially after 65 or so days of absolutely nothing. He almost felt out of shape for his encounters and was having a hard time functioning from moment to moment. "-I'll make you regret it!"
"How so?" the dog mocked. It was clear that he was taking advantage of Courage's inability to act.
"Like this!" Courage tackled him to the floor. Finding some hidden rage and courage (funny enough) to act, he was back to being able to function from moment to moment. Now being the dog on top, it was time to set the record straight.
The dog was entirely unprepared for Courage's pounce. After receiving multiple punches to the muzzle from Courage, he was able to kick the dog in the groin really hard.
"Ohhhhhh," Courage moaned and fell over, temporarily paralyzed.
As the dog stood back up, he looked down at Courage and pointed at him accusingly. "You made me do that!" he yelled. "I came here with nothing but peace and love, and look what you made me do!"
Courage glared up at him. "Nothing but peace and love?!" Courage cried out. "You literally pounced on top of me and clamped my mouth shut the moment we first met!" Courage wasn't having it. "And you teased me until I finally had enough! Don't tell me you came in peace! You were clearly asking for what I did to you!"
The dog now seemed pretty pissed off to say the very least. And after Courage got back up, he went in for another tackle.
Courage was able to dodge him this time and he plowed right into the wall, leaving a dog-sized crater into the wall. Courage blew raspberry as he turned back around, fueling his anger even more. "Over here chief," Courage laughed.
The dog then charged him again, and Courage jumped even further out of the way that time to ensure that he would evade him. And once more, he was successful. The dog crashed into a trash can and its contents spilled out all over him.
"And I thought you stunk before, you brute!" Courage chuckled.
"Argghh! Will you shut up?!" the dog demanded. He then caught Courage off guard and pulled his leg so that he fell and hit the ground hard with a thunk! He hit his head so hard that he saw stars and was temporarily dazed. The dog then stood up and picked Courage up by the scruff of his neck and his tail. Courage groaned in pain.
"What are you doing now?" Courage asked in pain, still in a daze.
"I'm throwing you out," the dog blankly said.
This was enough to pull Courage out of his daze. "What?" he questioned. "Throwing ME out?"
"That's what I said," said the dog plainly.
"But, but you can't throw ME out," said Courage.
"Watch me," the dog replied.
Courage then sprung back into action. Just as the dog opened the door, Courage squirmed and kicked him in the chest. It was enough for the dog to let go of him. After standing back up, he shoved the dog outside. But before he could slam the door, the dog put himself between the door and the wall. Courage then ran back by the refrigerator and trash can. Then he turned back to face the dog. When the dog was on to him again, Courage reached down for the banana peel on the ground and threw it in front of the dog to trip over. The dog then slipped on it of course and fell to the ground. Getting a giant cantaloupe out of the fridge, Courage then advanced to him and started beating him senseless with the cantaloupe.
"Oww, hey!" the dog cried out.
"What?" Courage asked temporarily stopping.
"A freaking CANTALOUPE?!" the dog whined rubbing a new knot in his head.
"What's wrong with a cantaloupe?" Courage asked.
"IT'S A FREAKING CANTALOUPE!" the dog confirmed again. "Get rid of it!"
"No," Courage whined. "Why?"
"No weapons!" the dog demanded. "Drop it!"
"Fine, I'll lose the goddamn cantaloupe so chill out!" Courage exclaimed before dropping the cantaloupe.
"That's much better," the dog said with content. "Now, where were we?"
"I think I was beating you senseless hoping you'd lose consciousness so I can throw you out," Courage confirmed.
"Oh, right," the dog said.
Courage then went back to punching and kicking the dog in the muzzle. The dog then punched Courage rather hard in his own muzzle and shoved him off. After getting the cantaloupe, he advanced onto Courage.
"Hey," Courage tried to stop him. "I thought you said no weapons?"
"Does this look like a cartoon to you?" the dog sincerely asked.
"Well, kinda," Courage admitted.
"You're too much of a delusional and emotional coward for this to be written," he spat.
"4 or 5 moments," Courage shot with venom.
"Now that's already taken, you idiot."
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Courage challenged with a slight grin. He swiftly bounded towards the dog, but the dog predicted his move and hit him atop the head hard with the cantaloupe. Courage fell to the ground instantly as he blacked out.
"We can't win all the time," the dog said pitifully as he dragged Courage's body out of the house by his legs. He left Courage (who was still unconscious) pretty far from the farmhouse and ran back as fast as he could. He slammed and locked the door before sliding down against it onto the ground with a huge sigh. But then the dining room door directly across from him suddenly opened, and Courage walked through with a giant grin on his face and a yo-yo in his paw.
"That dog is quite the Houdini," the dog mused in disbelief.
Out-smarting him, Courage then used the string of the yo-yo to tie him up for good. Then he stood atop the defeated dog in a victory stance and exclaimed,"Yes!"
"Untie me, NOW, you idiot!" the dog demanded.
"No," Courage refused. "You've proven to me that you do NOT come in peace, and you are in fact another monster."
Courage, expecting a response, was shocked when he did not receive one. He was beginning to think that this stranger always HAD to have the last word in just like his snide friend upstairs, but this silence kind of scared him. He decided to keep his distance from the dog, not necessarily fearing what he'd do, but rather just fearing him in general. The dog clearly avoided eye contact with Courage much to his comfort. And even though he wanted to go get Muriel, he decided he'd stay with the dog until she arrived. He feared leaving this dog here alone and unguarded.
But after some time, Courage decided to look back over at the silent dog and saw a face of heartbreak and sorrow. He continued to lay there completely still with a tear barely visible sliding down his muzzle. Courage, being his sympathetic self, felt AWFUL. Even though he still feared and despised the dog, he wanted him to cheer up for some reason. He hated seeing this dog so torn. So he went over by the dog and sat down right next to him. The dog was spooked for a little bit (as he must've just been drifting off to sleep), but still didn't acknowledge Courage's presence.
"Sorry," Courage said softly to him.
No response. In fact, the dog seemed to move his head to tilt slightly further away from Courage's direction.
Courage, still feeling awful and kind of worried, tried to look the dog in his face and get some eye contact. But the dog kept moving his face and averting his eyes. After some time, the dog looked like he was pissed off again. Courage, not knowing what to do or say, opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't form any words to say.
So instead they just sat there for a while in complete silence. They both just stared at the stars through the window above the sink. Thinking of something to say for at least 20 minutes, Courage finally spoke up again.
"Muriel is sure taking her time," he said.
"So is that what you call her?" the dog asked in a snide voice.
His response surprised Courage so much that he decided not to take offense to the snide tone even though he was offended. "That's what her name is," Courage confirmed. "What's your's?" the question slid out of him before he could catch it and stop himself.
He then saw the dog's expression and demeanor shift suddenly from sarcasm to shock. Courage smiled, as he knew he hopefully returned some life back into the dog. And for the first time in forever, the dog finally looked back at Courage in the face.
"Noel," he then spoke dankly. "If you must know." His eyes sunk back down to the ground.
"Noel," Courage then repeated. Then a wry grin formed across his face. "I wonder what your favorite holiday is? It certainly isn't the one where a big fat red man invades your home to deliver packages and steals your cookies right?" he teased trying to humor him.
Noel didn't respond directly, but rather sighed.
Courage then realized the enormous mistake he just made and felt terrible, knowing that Noel definitely got it the wrong way. "I'm just playing!" he told him. "I think Noel is a special name," he amended.
"It means 'to be born'," Noel said. "I don't know why I was named that, I just was-." He paused for a brief bit. "-I have little to no recollection of my parents. I just kinda showed up in the world it seems."
Courage, still feeling regretful, stifled a whine in his throat when Noel spoke of his parents. It made him think of his own parents, which was a very sensitive topic for him. At least Noel doesn't seem to remember losing his. He was glad that he was at least spared from that but still.
"I'm so sorry, Noel. I had no idea," Courage said softly.
Suddenly, the dog's demeanor changed again from melancholy to agitation. "It was a long time ago," Noel added. "I'm long over it, it's not a big deal."
Courage, seeing his pain, knew that he was definitely not over anything. And before Courage even knew what he was doing, he placed a paw onto Noel's shoulder.
Noel, who noticed immediately, frowned and shook his paw off of him. "Don't do that," he said. "I-, er, I have sensitive fur."
"S-sorry," Courage said, feeling a bit weird and removing his paw.
Then they sat in silence a little longer.
"Well, are you going to kick me out or what?" Noel asked.
"What?" Courage asked in utter shock.
"I'm saying-," the dog continued," -you've had me tied up here for quite some time now and all you're doing is talking to me like you care about me. And I'm not giving in to this Stockholm Hullabaloo!" he spat.
"What on Earth are you talking about?" Courage was at a complete loss of words.
"I'd be easier to kick out if I trusted you," Noel reasoned with a rejected expression. "That's what your plan is! Just know that you don't have to talk that way to people just to deceive them or gain something from them."
A lump went up in the dog's throat. "But I'm not trying to deceive you or gain anything from anyone," he said hurtfully. "You are clearly in pain and I just want to help you," saying that last part kind of on accident.
"But why?!" Noel asked. "If you are telling the truth, then why would you have such blind affection for someone you just fought for invading your home and scaring you?!"
Courage could not think of a good answer.
"I just-," Courage softly tried to say in tears. "I just wanted to help another dog-."
"There you go again with your lies!" Noel interrupted, and was now yelling with emotion. "Just stop!"
"You stop!" Courage fired back.
"YOU STOP IT!"
"YOU STOP!"
Before long, both dogs started howling very loudly out of pure anger at each other.
Muriel, looking more than exhausted, then appeared in the dining room doorway in her nightgown. She walked in on Courage standing on top of and pointing a finger down at a poor, dirty, tied up dog with hopelessly disheveled fur.
"Oh my, Courage!" she scolded him. "What are you doing, dog?"
"That's your name?!" Noel laughed from beneath him. "Courage?!" He truly could not believe it.
"But, but-,"Courage tried to say.
"No Courage," Muriel replied. "The wee pup is in no condition for playtime."
She untied him and scooped him up in her soft, giant arms.
Noel was now on his back in her massive arms with his feet, belly, and tail up into the air, which of course was wagging.
"There, there," she softly spoke to a now happy Noel. "I'm going to fix you a nice bath with my fancy little bathing salts. Then we'll go straight up to bed, dear."
As she passed Courage, she frowned down at him. That made Courage dip his head in utter shame. But then Noel shot him a poisonous, mocking grin. Courage returned with a glaring stare of deep hatred. As he watched her pet him again, Courage muttered, "So much for sensitive fur."
And as they went off, Courage stayed in the dark, messy kitchen all alone. He just sat there on the floor and let his tears from his eyes hit it. He felt so dejected by both Muriel and Noel. He did so much for Muriel, and yet it's Noel whose upstairs getting a complimentary bath.
And there was some sort of urge he had to talk to Noel a moment ago. He was clearing suffering internally, and Courage felt like he had a NEED to help him. Courage himself couldn't really quite understand why he did, other than the fact that maybe it was just in his hardwired nature to help others in pain. He even still tried to help past villains who meant him and his family harm with their own problems. This is just what Courage does, and it wasn't until now that he realized he does this. Every time he tries to help, he succeeds and everything ends happily. But he tried with Noel, and it ended with Muriel angry at him, Noel getting rewarded, and him laying here alone.
He tried, he really did. So since Noel didn't return any kindness to him, he will no longer be providing it to him.
And so, a deep rivalry between Courage and Noel for the competition of Muriel's love was born.
End of Chapter
A/N: Had to put that title drop in chapter 2! Also thanks again for making it this far :). I went for kinda a goofy Tom and Jerry/Looney Toons-esque thing with their little battle. And I really took advantage of that mood swing about halfway through the chapter. Interesting to see how Courage's new mental self-awareness combines with their new life together.