coopdetat | it's a beautiful day for a neighbor

It's been one hell of a Saturday, and it's not even noon yet.

He'd been woken up nearly at the crack of dawn by a petite pair of hands--quickly followed by a larger, stronger pair--in bed this morning and the past couple hours had consisted of the kind of vigorous activity Coop can't get out of playing basketball or going to the gym. He'd met the married couple, Sophie and Luka, during his time abroad in France nearly six years ago and when he'd decided to return to Siren Cove, he'd invited them to visit anytime. They'd accepted his offer and every third week in July, Coop takes a few days off from work--aside from emergency calls, of course--to spend some quality time with his friends.

He waves goodbye to them now with the promise of seeing them again next year as their cab pulls off the curb in front of his house. He waves until the car turns a corner and then he drops his arm to his side, rolling his neck and shoulders with a satisfied sigh and smile before offering a wave to a small group of people who pass. It takes him a moment to understand why he's getting stares as they walk by until he looks down and remembers he's not wearing much in the way of any actual clothing, save for the pair of itty bitty briefs that are really just a courtesy anyway.

He gives the group a salute, holding back a laugh at the way a couple of them trip over their own feet before they correct themselves in a hurry, and shifts his attention to the next person who approaches with a bright grin.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

[OOC: Be a neighbor, be coming over for a visit, or just be passing by!]

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The flush finally spreads across Joel's cheeks, down his neck, and he can feel himself wanting to shift in place when Coop remarks that Joel had never even let him kiss him. He's not sure if he should say something to that, if he should point out that he's never let anyone kiss him until Spencer or if that will just give Coop more ammunition to use against him later, if drawing attention to the fact that he'd been chaste for the better part of eight years and entirely by choice, will just give him one more thing to tease him about. It's really not the end of the world if it does, Joel had stayed away from any kind of physical relationship entirely because he'd simply seen no good reason to let anyone get close and, for Joel, he's not able to have one without the other. He can't just go to bed with someone, he'd tried twice in the past with terrible results, he'd learned his lesson and he's stepped away.

Until Spencer.

Still flushing deeply, his shoulders lift in a shrug, his hands shoved into his pockets before he mutters, "He's special." It's so much more than that, but he doesn't know how to even begin to explain that to someone on the outside. Half the time he isn't even sure if even Spencer understands just how much Joel really loves him, but only because Joel never feels like he can really articulate it properly.

At the comment about Balto being his familiar, Joel huffs out a sound that's almost a laugh. "A familiar wouldn't walk across my face in the morning trying to wake me up." She's taken to doing it to Spencer, too, and at the thought of his cat walking across his boyfriend's face in a bed they've started to refer to as theirs, he finds himself smiling.

"Awww. Is it love, buddy?" There's no trace of sarcasm in his tone, Coop's question is sincere. As much as he loves to mess with Joel and see that blush that really shouldn't be as hot as it is, Coop knows where to draw the line. Still, even if Joel is this taken with his boyfriend, it won't really make Coop stop with the flirting; it's just what he does. "Because I hope you know that makes you no less stupidly sexy. Reserved, quiet bookstore owner in love with the reserved, quiet librarian? I'm pretty sure I've watched that porno."

Balto nudges his hand with her head with an obnoxious mew, demanding that he shift his attention back to her, and he laughs as he leans in for closer examination. "I don't see any bald spots, so she's not overgrooming. Obviously not trying to hide from us, doesn't seem super aggressive or restless. The only meowing I've heard her do is for attention. I mean, you guys haven't been here long but..." He stops mid-sentence, holding a finger up as he stands up straight and turns on his heels. "I'll be right back."

He heads to the den, it's a room he reserves for his dogs, and they both look lazily up at him from their beds as he walks in. He spares a scratch for them both before rummaging through the several large bags of dog food in one corner of the room before finding the smaller package of cat food that he keeps handy for occassions like this. "Don't look at me like that," he says to Sunny--his bulldog, who looks entirely unimpressed with the fact that the food isn't for him--before heading back to the living room.

"Okay, let's test this out." He holds the food up for Joel to see before settling on the couch and reaching into the package for a handful of the Nautral Balance. He holds his hand out toward Balto, watching carefully for her reaction, and she seems to glance at her owner for a moment before stepping forward and taking a bite out of Coop's hand. He looks up at Joel with a pleased and bright grin on his face. "Hey, would you look at that? She really must be pissed at you, man."

Joel makes a strangled sort of noise in the back of his throat, one that's mostly born of embarrassment, both because of what Coop is said and just how right he is. The things he and Spencer do together when they're alone have been the types of things Joel wouldn't have even imagined he'd ever be doing and when he'd first met Spencer, no matter how attracted he'd been to the other man, he would never have expected to see this side of him. The side that touches him in the car or utters some of the most incredibly unexpected and arousing things Joel has ever heard come out of a person's mouth.

But he hasn't told anyone else he's in love with Spencer and it's not that he feels any need to hide it, but that he wants to keep it to himself because it shouldn't matter to anyone but the two of them. So long as he and Spencer know how they feel, everyone else is free to think whatever they like.

When Coop is gone, Joel reaches out with one hand, stroking a finger against the top of Balto's head. She allows him to rub her for a second, then butts her head against his hand and swishes her tail, walking away with her back turned. And when Coop comes back and get Balto to eat right out of his head, he can't help it, he laughs. "I don't know why she'd be so mad, she seems to like Spencer more than she likes me," he says, reaching out to nudge his cat with his knuckles, though he's relieved to see her eating. If she's just mad at him, at least that means she'll get over it in time.

For a long time, she'd been his only company. Now he has Spencer, he has Raleigh and soon, he'll have Charlotte again, but that doesn't mean he's about to forget his cat. For the past three years, she's spend every night with him, curled up near his feet, kept him company when he'd needed it the most.

"Pets are funny that way. They want to feel loved, too," he answers, and it's not much of an explanation but one of the things he's always disliked is the notion some people have that pets don't much care. Adopting an animal is well and good but Coop's never understood why someone would want to do that in the first place if they weren't going to welcome the pet as a member of the family.

He'd be devastated if anything were to happen to Sunny or Lucy, would likely cry for weeks, and he's not ashamed to admit that. He loves his dogs like crazy, wouldn't trade them for the world, and he knows that if he ever decided one day to get back on the monogamous relationship wagon, the other person would have to love his dogs, too.

He smiles down at Balto, gliding a hand over her fur and chuckling when her back arches. "Spencer's good with her? I remember Dane wanted a dog forever but their mom wouldn't let him get one." He narrows his eyes, smirking. "Probably for the best. But my totally off-the-record medical opinion is that Balto's just making sure you don't forget she's around." He holds another handful of food out for her, which she immediately starts to eat. "Or, you know, she's trying to tell you that she'd like a hell of a lot more me there."

"She loves Spencer," he says easily, remembering the first night he'd come over to Joel's apartment, the way she'd run out from under his bed and had gone straight to Spencer, purring and rubbing against his legs. "And he's great with her." And although Joel had never considered the attributes he might require in a significant other, simply because he's never imagined himself having one, it is important to him that Spencer likes Balto, that he treats her well. He's always believed a person can tell a lot about someone else simply by watching the way they interact with animals and when one has become as important to him as Balto has, it's just necessary that whoever he spends his life with is good to her, too.

And Spencer is more than capable of fulfilling every single requirement he never even knew he had.

Joel's mouth twitches and his eyebrow arches, but for what feels like the first time today, he doesn't quite blush at what Coop is saying to him. Instead he gives Balto a rub behind the ears, more relieved than he's willing to let on that she's just mad at him and, while still looking at his cat, says, "I might be able to convince Spencer to have you over for dinner since you're so good to my cat."

it's a beautiful day for a neighbor

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