Chapter Text
“Curtis! You better quit antagonizing the donkey!”
Namjoon hurries towards the hound, who is once again standing in Alfred’s path, a plush donkey clutched in his mouth, refusing to move. His tail is wagging in big swooshes, his eyes fixed on the real donkey in front of him. His paws stay fixed to the ground, except when Alfred takes a step to the left, and Curtis mirrors him.
“Do you think he knows that it’s vaguely threatening to hold a miniature version of Alfred while staring like that?” Hoseok asks conversationally.
“Probably not. I don’t think he has a lot of complex thoughts,” Taehyung replies. “I’m just glad to have someone to keep Alfred in line. There have been far fewer poop incidents since Curtis got here.”
While Taehyung’s original intent in going to the animal shelter all those months ago was to adopt a cat, and his secondary intent was to get a boyfriend named Hoseok, his tertiary intent has turned out to be adopting Curtis. Well, technically, Curtis is a foster dog, but…everyone is well aware what the outcome is going to be there.
When Hoseok told him that Curtis still hadn’t been adopted all these weeks later, and that he spent all day howling and barking in the corners of his kennel, Taehyung couldn’t stand it. He had to do something. He’d seen how happy Curtis was when he got to be outside, and…well, the orchard has a lot of outside to offer! And the cats have been doing so well, adding a dog to the roster could only be an excellent idea. Maybe Curtis would be helpful in keeping away other pests, like foxes or raccoons. Maybe he would be a good addition to family days; everyone likes to pet a dog with floppy ears, right?
There have been a few bumps in the road, but Taehyung is certain that none of it is insurmountable. Just growing pains.
Sure, Curtis likes to… talk when he wants something. He doesn’t seem particularly fond of going into his kennel for the night, and he lets Taehyung know all about it. Even when Taehyung gives him his plushie, he just shouts through a mouthful of fluff. But the orchard doesn’t have any direct neighbors, so it’s not as though Curtis is disturbing anyone. Taehyung even installed a camera, and once he’s gone, Curtis tends to settle down for the night nicely.
And of course, there’s the fact that he likes to talk to the other animals as well, especially the ones he hasn’t met yet. The first interaction with the chicken flock was rather concerning, with Curtis racing forward with an open-mouthed, never-ending bay that sent all but the bravest hen bolting for the coop. But that hen set the standard by meeting him head-on and giving a solid peck right to his ear. That quieted him down right away, and he’s been much more respectful of the chickens ever since. Sometimes, Taehyung can see him containing his desire to bark at them while remembering that single peck.
Curtis and the cats have yet to meet, mostly due to the cats’ absolute distaste for his presence. Curtis loves to snuffle at their bed and shout when he can’t find them anywhere, which only encourages the cats to remain far, far out of his range. Taehyung isn’t sure what he’ll do if he ever catches sight of them, but he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. Hopefully it will be a similar learning experience to the chickens.
And then there is the matter of Curtis and Alfred. According to his research, donkeys are actually supposed to be protective of other farm animals and ward off predators, which can sometimes include dogs. He’s never noticed a protective bone in Alfred’s body, unless shitting in pathways is somehow protecting them from…something. So he didn’t think the donkey would mind a dog being around. And he was right about that.
Curtis, on the other hand, is absolutely fascinated by Alfred. He follows him around every chance he gets, sniffing at his hooves and watching him eat from his bowl and investigating his poops with great interest. Sometimes, Alfred will just ignore him and go on about his business. But other times, he seems unsure of how to navigate around Curtis, perhaps reading his dopey body language as something more than “hello big friend, what doing?”. Taehyung can definitely see how it might be…disconcerting, if someone was holding a doll that looked like him and staring into his soul.
But again, he doesn’t think that Curtis contains such complex thoughts.
Namjoon is trying to lure Curtis away from Alfred with a slice of apple, which is thoroughly hilarious because a) Curtis doesn’t care all that much about fruit, and b) Alfred does care a lot about fruit, so the entire plan is backfiring. Alfred is coming closer, trying to snatch the apple out of Namjoon’s hand, and Curtis is going nowhere at all.
“Do you think we should help him?” Hoseok asks.
“Nah, I’m still mad about that time he walked in on us,” Taehyung replies.
“That was months ago! What did you want him to do, sit in the parking lot all night?” Hoseok asks.
“Maybe,” Taehyung says petulantly.
Hoseok only lasts another minute before he takes pity on Namjoon and goes to help. He grabs one of Curtis’ other plushies out of a bin and manages to distract him long enough for Alfred to meander back to the barn. Curtis looks rather dejected when he realizes his friend is gone, but he gets over it quickly enough when he realizes he has two plushies to chew on.
“So, are you excited about the event today?” Hoseok asks.
“Honestly, I can’t believe that it came together so quickly. I was thinking it would probably be something for next year, or even a couple of years away…so I’m a little worried it was too fast, and we forgot something major,” Taehyung admits.
They’re planning to have their first wine and canvas evening tonight, except it’s going to be a cider and canvas instead. He’d done some research, with Hoseok’s help, and found a great instructor that even offered a discount for first-time events. All the materials were included in the price, and the only things Taehyung had to worry about were tables, food, and marketing the event. Somehow, it all came together pretty easily. One of their usual vendors offered to help too, and of course they have a selection of apple themed items––pie, cider, and donuts. The picnic tables are easy enough to move around, and they have plenty of table cloths from their other events.
It was Taehyung’s first try at marketing an event for the orchard, so he spent a lot of time designing flyers and scheduling posts on their social media. But he didn’t need to worry, because their slots filled up within the first few days, and he got tons of messages asking if there would be another event. He’s not sure if there will be time this season, but he makes a note to check in about doing a few next year.
“I’m sure you didn’t forget anything. Especially because you made about thirty different checklists,” Hoseok soothes, running a hand along Taehyung’s back.
“Yeah, I know. I’m just anxious. I want it all to go well, and I want my parents to be proud. I want them to see that I can do this,” Taehyung says, leaning his head against Hoseok’s shoulder.
“I think they already know that,” Hoseok says softly.
Thankfully, the event does go according to plan, and nothing major has been forgotten. All the food arrives on time, the tables are neatly lined up at the edge of the orchard, and the weather is perfect. Taehyung helps the instructor set out all the paints and canvases and brushes, straightening and fiddling with everything until Hoseok gently tugs him away.
“It looks amazing,” he says, twining his fingers with Taehyung’s. “Now, let’s get some pie before it all gets eaten.”
As they walk towards the table, Taehyung spots a tail sticking up from under the table cloth.
“Oh, no,” he says, rushing over to peer underneath. Sure enough, there’s Curtis, munching away on an entire box of donuts. “Curtis! Donuts are not for dogs!”
Curtis just thumps his tail and hunkers down over the box as though daring Taehyung to take it from him. Honestly, it’s mostly empty at this point anyway. Taehyung can only hope that it wasn’t full when Curtis got his paws on it.
“Are you going to have to wear your leash tonight?” he asks the dog. Curtis lets out a small howl of protest. “Well, then keep your snout off the food table! You had a perfectly good bowl of your own food an hour ago.”
“We better get his plush to keep him occupied,” Hoseok sighs. “Do you think there are any backup donut boxes in the store?”
Taehyung nods. “Yeah, we have plenty, will you grab one?”
Hoseok nods and heads towards the store, and Taehyung sits down in the grass with Curtis. “You know, you’re getting kind of spoiled,” he tells the dog, reaching out to flop his long ears. Curtis pants happily in response, not a worry in the world. “When you have an upset belly later, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” More happy panting. Honestly, he probably won’t have an upset belly, since he seems capable of consuming anything (including, so far, stuffing from his plushies and a dead stink bug) with no issues.
A few minutes later, with the distraction of a new plushie (ironically enough, in the shape of a donut), the mostly-empty donut box has been confiscated and Curtis has been attached to Taehyung with his leash. He protests a bit at first, but then he spots Alfred nosing around the grass nearby and decides that settling down beside him wouldn’t be so bad. People start to filter in for the event, and a few come over to greet the dog. One of Curtis’ quirks (and probably one of the reasons he hadn’t been adopted yet) is that he shows great interest in saying hello to people for about six seconds, and then he goes back to doing literally anything else, regardless of their attempts to engage with him.
“I want to tell people he’s friendly, but honestly, I think the term socially neutral is more appropriate,” Taehyung sighs as the third person gives up on catching Curtis’ attention.
Hoseok laughs. “He’s friendly with Alfred. Kind of. And with us!”
That’s true enough. Curtis always seems excited to see Taehyung or Hoseok, and he’ll spend closer to three or four minutes accepting their ear scratches and butt rubs before he wanders off to attend to his toy collection or stare at Alfred or search for the cats that he can never find. And neutral is better than overly exuberant or intolerant, so he’ll accept it.
“Our odd little family,” he says a bit mindlessly, but then he turns to look at Hoseok, and his stomach flips over a bit. They have become a sort of family, his boyfriend and the animals that brought them together and this orchard he’s known all his life. A few years ago, he was feeling completely aimless, uncertain whether he could make the life he wanted here in this town. He didn’t have a future in mind, and nothing about his existence felt steady.
But now there’s Hoseok, who is the most steady presence he’s ever had in his life outside of family. And there’s Mr. Bishop and Maple, who challenge him to love from afar and take things slowly. And there’s Curtis, who reminds him that sometimes you just need to cuddle a plushie and walk your own path.
And there’s this orchard, full of people he hasn’t met yet, of his family and the trees he’s known for years, of empty canvases and brushes at the ready.
“Do you want to try painting? I hear you paint an excellent sunset,” Taehyung offers.
“I would love to,” Hoseok says.
And while his sunset gets a little malformed when Curtis spots Maple peering out of the barn and almost pulls Taehyung out of his seat mid-brushstroke…well, he was never sold on perfection anyway.