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Keith was late coming back.
Kosmo could tell. Granted, it was a bit more difficult to know for sure when he was supposed to go to sleep nowadays than it had been in the past. It used to be that Keith would lie down to sleep once the sky went dark, so Kosmo knew to look to the sky to know when it was time to go curl up with Keith to sleep, or, of course, whether he was keeping himself awake pacing or grumbling to himself or watching the fire. In those cases, Kosmo would have to urge him to sleep, pawing at him or nudging his nose until he finally took the hint and agreed to rest.
Really, that boy would be a wreck without Kosmo around to manage him.
Nowadays, though, in this new home, it was harder to figure it out. Rooms would go from light to dark and back again when people touched the walls, and although he could see what looked like a sky he recognized outside of windows, it was always dark. So Kosmo had taken to keeping an eye on people instead of the sky. Once people started slowing down, stretching and yawning, shambling into this hall and separating to disappear behind doors, that meant it was time to sleep.
But occasionally, not everyone would go to sleep. Sometimes Keith would stay up and about, usually with at least one of those other people he’d met in those little ships from before. And tonight, no one from that group was around. Not Keith, not the big one who made special snacks, not the one with the long hair who wouldn’t let him sit on her lap no matter how many times he tried to demonstrate to her how good a sitting companion he would be.
A group meeting, Kosmo assumed. Sometimes they kept Keith up late, and the busier the people had all been in the day leading up to the meetings, the longer they ran. On several prior occasions Kosmo had tried to pull Keith out of meetings or join them himself, but after enough scolding, he had figured out that he was not supposed to interrupt these meetings, nor was he supposed to teleport in and join them. And that teleporting on top of tables in general was not allowed, although that rule was in effect even when group meetings weren’t going on.
He was going to have to resign himself to waiting this out, he understood, to letting Keith come back to the room on his own time to join him for sleep. In the meantime, Kosmo was already plenty tired from his busy and productive day - everyone seemed to be so busy today, and poor Keith must be so exhausted too - so he decided he was just going to have to start the night without Keith.
He climbed up onto the bed, splaying his legs out to his comfort. The bed wasn’t particularly large, and now he did at least have it all to himself, but it wasn’t as if Keith took up a whole lot of space in the first place. Besides, he didn’t mind sharing the space. He hadn’t had to get used to spending his nights alone since he had been a pup. He liked having the stability of an arm around him, of someone there to give him comforting scratches if there were weird sounds outside the door or if his dream upset him, of someone breathing steadily in time with him throughout the night.
Oh well. Nothing he could do about it. He laid his chin down on the blankets and let his eyes drift close, ready to try to fall asleep.
And he was interrupted by a scratching at the door.
Kosmo lifted his head, ears perked up and eyes wide open, and the scratching sounded again. He sniffed the air, trying to figure out who was outside it, but too many smells from too many people and creatures all over the ship were mixed into the air, so it was tough to pinpoint anything. It wasn’t Keith, that was for sure. Keith didn’t scratch. Besides, Keith could open the door on his own. Some people couldn’t open this door, and Keith had shown Kosmo where on the wall to touch his nose in order to make it open while he was busy - a trick that Kosmo had thought unnecessary, but apparently some people didn’t like being teleported without warning - but those people knocked; they didn’t scratch.
Warily he clambered to his feet, arching his back and flexing his toes before climbing off the bed and approaching the door. Whatever was outside the door probably wasn’t dangerous; he didn’t detect the scent of any creature he knew to avoid. Still, he crept up to the door slowly, the fur along his spine prepared to stand upright, as he lifted his nose and opened the door.
It opened to reveal the source of the scratching: a dog, a fraction of Kosmo’s size, short hair and beady eyes and pointed ears and a little sliver of a tail that was at that moment wagging so hard it threatened to fly right off.
Bae Bae. One of the other pets that called this ship their home.
Kosmo tilted his head at the dog. He wasn’t here to visit Keith, was he? Keith had been throwing a ball around with Bae Bae yesterday, at least until Kosmo had intervened to demonstrate what a real master of catching looked like. Hopefully Bae Bae wasn’t here to get his ball back. Kosmo had already swallowed it, a feat which had not impressed Keith as much as catching it had.
He let out a small questioning whine, and Bae Bae answered by bobbing his head up to lick Kosmo on the nose before trotting happily into the room, leaving Kosmo all the more puzzled. What was Bae Bae even doing here? Normally the dog was off with the little paladin, or one of the other humans that smelled like the little paladin. Bae Bae did sometimes wander into the rooms in these halls, but that was only to hunt for snacks, and Kosmo had already eaten all the snacks that Keith had stored away in his room, so there was nothing left to find.
He turned and followed Bae Bae into the room, to find the latter trotting in circles with his nose to the floor. When he looked up to see Kosmo, he opened his mouth as if in a grin, tongue flopping off to the side, and lowered himself to the ground, keeping his rear high in the air, tail still wagging. An invitation to play.
Kosmo sat down firmly on the floor with a flick of his own tail. He did not want to play. He was ready to go to sleep.
Bae Bae tried some more, batting his paw forward to try to coax Kosmo into play, but he was as stubborn as Keith when he wanted to be, if not moreso. It wasn’t long before the little dog gave up and turned his attention to the room at large again. He gave the air a sniff before turning around and heading for the bed.
Kosmo narrowed his eyes as Bae Bae climbed up and started digging into the blankets, and he felt his hackles rise when the dog walked in two little circles around the little pile he’d made and then flopped on top of it as if he owned the space, his eyes falling shut.
No. That simply wouldn’t do. That was Keith’s spot.
Kosmo plodded over, getting to eye level with the terrier, and pulled his lips back in a snarl before letting out a growl. Nothing too fierce, just a low rumble. A warning. A way to tell him that this was not going to be tolerated.
Rather than being cowed, however, Bae Bae simply wagged his tail and rolled over, exposing his belly and letting his tongue loll out the side of his mouth as he smiled eagerly at Kosmo.
Clearly, this creature had absolutely no self-preservation instincts. He wouldn’t last a day in the wilderness.
With a huff, Kosmo tried another intimidation tactic. He teleported, popping onto the top of the bed in a shower of sparks, right over the dog, his bared teeth inches from Bae Bae. He growled again, as clear a message as he could manage: This is not your spot.
Bae Bae’s only reaction was to wiggle in place and continue panting and wagging his tail.
Kosmo drooped. He had no desire to actually fight Bae Bae; the dog presented no danger other than annoyance. The growls had been empty threats. Still, it was awfully cheeky of Bae Bae to come in and interrupt his sleep and make things that much more difficult for when Keith finally arrived. Bae Bae had his own owners, there was no need for him to want to spend the night with Keith too.
He tilted his head as he watched Bae Bae’s still-panting face. To be fair, the people around here had been awfully busy today. And although Bae Bae usually spent all his time with the little paladin and those other humans with faces that looked like hers, none of them had been around when Bae Bae had been here scratching at Keith’s door.
But why did Bae Bae think Keith would be a better option to provide him company if his usual family was occupied? Keith was busy too, was usually one of the busiest on the ship. Why was – ?
Kosmo felt something bat against his chest, and he looked down to see that Bae Bae was stretching his paws out toward him. The latter wagged his tail and gave another little slap before squirming to the side and finally rolling right-side-up again. With a little bark, he nudged his nose against the blanket next to him.
Oh. Bae Bae wasn’t there to spend time with Keith. He was there to spend time with Kosmo.
And, sure, Kosmo supposed that maybe he could use the company. It wasn’t that he was lonely without Keith or anything, just that he was used to have someone to nestle against while he slept. And Bae Bae was obviously the one who needed a sleeping companion more than he did, seeing as the terrier had been the one to seek him out.
Well, it wouldn’t hurt to do Bae Bae a small favor. The little paladin was friends with Keith, so this would be a good gesture.
It was just for Bae Bae’s sake. Not Kosmo’s. Kosmo was not lonely, not at all.
With a little snort Kosmo obliged, walking in a couple of small circles to find the ideal spot on the bed, then he lay down, his back curled against Bae Bae, paws stretching out toward the wall.
He felt the snuffling of Bae Bae’s nose along his neck and into his ear, and was about ready to snap in annoyance, when the smaller dog finally settled, resting his head on top of Kosmo’s torso so that the puffs of warm breath from his nose blew into the fur on Kosmo’s cheek. Then, with a long sigh, Bae Bae drifted off to sleep almost instantly.
Kosmo let his own eyes flutter shut. This dog was no Keith, but, okay, it was nice to have someone else around to wait with him.
And he had to admit: Bae Bae was pretty damn cute.