A Plush Wish

Both girls nodded. The other kids came closer and one held up a drawing. 'I drew a picture of you. I'll bet you're a secret agent coming here to take care of a supervillain living near here.' The picture showed Mouse in a colourful hero outfit with cape and firing a lasergun at a variety of evil robots.

One of the girls put her hands on her hips. 'No way! She's a princess from a secret country looking for a way to defeat the evil sorcerer who wants to take over!'

Petro chuckled while the kids argued. He held up his hands. 'Hold it, hold it! You're all wrong!'

The kids looked up at him as if he was going to tell them a lame excuse.

He cleared his throat. 'Mouse is just here.., to..' He glanced at her.

'To find the one special thing that brings happiness.' Mouse said and smiled.

The kids looked at her, their minds buzzing. One boy stuck up his hand. 'Ice cream! That makes me happy.'

Another boy said 'A new game for my console.'

'Psht.' said the first girl again. 'That's not special. It has to be like the biggest diamond or most beautiful flower in the whole world.'

'Or a kiss from a handsome prince!' said the second girl.

The kids started arguing again and Mouse chuckled as she watched Petro look up and sigh. 'Girls, boys.' she said and they looked back up at her. 'It's not easy to find, so you'll have to think hard about it. And if you're really sure, tell me when you see me next time.'

The kids nodded and said their okays, then went back to their belongings on the bench and waved their goodbyes while Mouse and Petro continued their walk.

When they reached the butcher's she hesitated. Her hand gripped Petro's tighter while her ears drooped and her tail went down.

Petro gave her a little smile. 'How about you wait here and I'll go in to see if they found the money.'

Mouse nodded quickly.

Petro reluctantly let go of her hand and gave her another smile before stepping inside. The butcher just came out of the back.

'Excuse me, would you happen to have found some money or a shopping list lying around here this morning?' Petro asked.

The butcher hurried over to him. 'Was it you, dressed as a dog?'

Petro shook his head. 'No, my cousin. And she wasn't dressed as a dog. It's complicated but that's how she looks.'

The butcher saw Mouse backing away at the edge of the front window. 'Oh dear.' he said and clasped his hands. 'I did a horrible thing! There was this bunch of drunks in costume this morning, you see? And they made a mess and it made me so angry and I threw them out and then your cousin came in and I thought she was one of them and then I yelled at her to get out but then she ran the other way and I saw money and a note on the floor and when I picked it up it was a shopping list and it had pork written on it and the money was just spread all over the floor.'

His eyes alternated between Petro and part of the dress visible outside the window. 'I'm so sorry for yelling at her and it was stupid but with all that just happened I lost my temper and lashed out before thinking, you know? But I collected all the money.' He took a small bag from the counter and handed it to Petro.

Petro looked inside to see the list and some money in it.

'Please tell her my deepest regrets and that I hope she'll still like to come here.'

Petro gave him a nod. 'Hang on.' he said and went outside to Mouse.

The butcher wrung his hands while he watched Petro talk to Mouse, and her glancing inside. She nodded and Petro came back inside with Mouse holding his hand and keeping a little behind him.

'I explained it to her.' Petro said.

The butcher sighed. 'I'm really sorry, little miss. My sincerest apologies and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you and I hope you can forgive me.'

Mouse nodded a little and gave him a slight smile.

The butcher picked a package out of the cooler. 'If you still want some pork, this is one of the finest cuts I have here and all yours. The least I can do to make it up to you.'

Mouse's eyes grew a little bigger and her ears and tail became more lively.

Petro chuckled. 'I think she'll accept.'

She glanced at Petro who gave her a nod, then moved forward carefully and took the package from the butcher. 'Thank you.' she said softly.

The butcher smiled in relief. 'You're more than welcome. If there's anything else you'd like?'

Mouse's eyes went back and forth across the selections of beef, pork, and chicken while her nose wanted to smell everything. 'I don't know. It all smells good. But this is more than enough.'

'We'll enjoy this a lot.' said Petro and held the shopping bag open for Mouse to put the package in. 'Thank you.'

The butcher gave him a nod but before they could say goodbye he said 'Oh! I know!'. They watched him as he rounded the counter and moved to a cooler at the front. 'These are new and I'm sure you'll enjoy them.' he said and handed over two packs of thin, dried sausages. 'Something to snack on.'

Mouse and Petro said their thanks and goodbyes and Petro was glad to see she had cheered up again.

At home Petro taught Mouse how to make a stir fry dish, then sank down with her on the couch to eat while watching a movie. They had barely started dinner when the doorbell rang.

Petro opened the door and Janice pushed her laptop in his hands. 'My own website is still slow.'

Petro's gaze went from her to the laptop and back to her again. 'What?'

She stepped inside past him. 'My own website where I put up photos amd write things. It's just as slow as before so you need to look at it.' she said and moved to the living room.

She stared with open mouth at the big animal wearing a dress, sitting on the couch holding a plate of food and staring back at her.

Petro moved quickly between them. 'Mouse, this is Janice, our neighbour and daughter of the owner of CandoIT. Janice, this is my out of town cousin Mouse who's staying with me for now.'

Mouse smiled at Janice. 'Hello.'

Janice looked at Petro. He shrugged. 'Genetics, long story.'

Janice closed her mouth and cleared her throat. 'Hello. How are you doing here?'

'It's all new to me, but it's turning out okay so far.'

'Good.' Janice said and turned to Petro. 'So, about my site?'

Petro sighed when he saw the address and site. 'Your site is hosted on one of the worst places it can be on. The framework is riddled with markething junk and useless scripting. I can't do anything about it. You should ask for your own site at the company's hosting. Then you can create your own fast and clean website.'

She crossed her arms. 'Can't you arrange that? You work there.'

Petro's inner groan welled up again. 'Technically I can since I know all the systems and did some work on them before, but because I'm not in the right teams I can't do anything without permission. Besides, we were just starting on dinner.'

'So you just need permission.' she said and pulled out her phone from her pocket.

Petro already knew what was about to happen. 'And we need to move things from your site and that can't be done without the current hosting company. You'll have to wait until tomorrow.'

Janice pouted. 'Fine. Tomorrow.'

Petro gave her her laptop back and walked her to the door. 'And by then you won't need me, the usual guys can help you.'

He came back to the couch and sighed deep. 'I was almost about to spend all evening on that. No thanks.'

Mouse handed him his plate. 'You don't like that kind of job?'

'Oh, I like working on servers and setting up everything, but I can't join the teams without getting the papers for it and it's too expensive for me right now. Just knowing things isn't good enough for the company. And I want to have a quiet dinner and evening with you now.'

Mouse smiled, they continued eating and soon the interruption was forgotten.

***

When Petro woke up the next morning and saw a message led blinking on his phone he groaned. He didn't need to read it to know what it said.

Mouse stirred against him and looked at him with sleepy eyes. '..not good..?'

He sighed and stroked her back. 'I'm pretty sure I'll be working for Janice all day again.'

'That's not good?'

'I'll have to do higher level stuff, held responsible for the mess she'll eventually make of it, expected to be on call all day, and won't get any extra pay for it.'

Mouse laid her head on his chest. 'Anything I can do?'

He smiled softly and stroked her head with his fingers. 'I'll be glad to see you when I come home.'

She smiled and wagged her tail. 'I'll make dinner.' she said and before he could reply she grinned. 'And I'll be careful not to make a mess.'

He chuckled. 'Okay then.'

Petro's prediction was proven right when he read his messages. Janice had talked to her father and he had pulled the strings to give Petro access to all systems and make her wishes happen.

Mouse waved him goodbye as he left for work and read through the cookbooks again for something suitable she could make. A stew seemed right and she made a list of ingredients she needed to buy, dressed, and went out with less anxiety knowing the places she'd go to better now.

Near the supermarket she met a couple of the kids again.

'I know what makes someone happy.' said one of the boys. 'A good meal and full stomach, my mother says.'

'My father said when his favorite sports team wins.' the other boy said.

Mouse hummed. 'I'm going to try the first one today, and I'd have to find out about the other.'

The boys said goodbye and wished her luck, and she went into the supermarket. She saw Kim and saw a picture of the wolfhound Kim had brought with her.

Kim smiled at the picture. 'Having her around made me happy. The way she greeted me when I came home, and the fun while playing and running through the park. Having a pet is the best.'

Mouse added that to the list in the back of her head and talked a bit more with Kim before she had to get back to work.

As soon as Mouse came home she checked for sport items but found nothing. She figured she'd have to ask later. But she could have a look at pets.

She opened the laptop Petro said she could use and pondered about what to search for. She typed in "best owner pet play", hit enter and selected the first search result. She didn't quite understand the whole explanation but if that was what made her owner happy she'd do it for him. She just needed a few items. A search through the house resulted in a few but the others she'd have to buy. There was still time to go back to the stores.

She remembered having seen a pet supply store and entered it a little later. She browsed around until she found what she was looking for. There was no mirror so she just had to guess if it fit and it matched the colour of her fur, but she got what she needed and went to the counter at the back to pay.

The store owner gazed at her with open mouth while she paid for the items and walked out, then muttered 'I've heard of smart dogs, but none who buy their own stuff.'.

***

The moment Petro arrived at work his colleague Rick put his arm around his shoulder. 'Say, I heard a rumour about you getting access to all the other teams thanks to getting close to the boss's daughter.'

Petro brushed off Rick's arm and dropped his bag at his desk in his cubicle. 'Unfortunately.'

Rick's eyebrows went up and he whistled. 'What did you do with her?'

Petro sighed and turned on his computer. 'I didn't do anything to her. I just cleaned her laptop and improved her home network as anyone who knows a bit about IT should have done.'

Ricky grinned. 'Still sounds you cleaned and improved something all right, to get all those privileges.'

Petro groaned. 'What I got is being her personal computer freak and having to deal with every little thing. She sent a message to come over as soon as I've done what I needed to do.'

'Whoo boy, She surely wants you.'

Petro groaned again. 'Go away, I need to work.'

'I'll leave you to it.' said Rick and turned to leave. 'And you might want to bring flowers. Girls like that sort of thing.' He just managed to dodge the pen thrown at his head as he ducked away from the cubicle entrance.

Petro did what he had to do, talking only briefly to others, some of whom were very curt when they heard about his story. He was glad to get out of the office close to noon, but thinking he might have to spend all day answering questions that could be looked up easily didn't please him.

After a quick bite on the way, Petro arrived at Janice's apartment and rung the bell.

She opened the door after a moment. 'There you are. I was wondering how long it took you at the office,'

He stepped inside while she went to the living room. "At least she's wearing a normal shirt and pants and not pajamas." he thought.

He took his laptop out and sat next to her on the couch, logging in to her new virtual server and her old website manager and showed her how things worked while setting up her new website. He didn't mind her wanting to see what he did, but she sat against him and her chest pressed against his arm and though not huge, they were big and firm enough to keep distracting his thoughts.

After the basics he told her to login to her new site manager on her own laptop and begin building pages. For a short while he thought he could relax but she soon moved against him with questions about changing fonts, text layout, pictures, links, while the pressure against his arm did its thing again.

By the time Janice had her website up and running and was pleased with the result, Petro was rather tired.

Janice clicked through her pages and pictures smiling wide. 'This is great! I can put up a lot more now.'

Petro packed his laptop. 'Glad you like it. All it takes is keeping things simple enough and some rational thinking. Too bad not more of us do that sort of thing at work.'

She looked puzzled at him. 'How so?'

'Ah, don't mind me. I just think a lot of systems at work could be improved, but the department heads don't like to change things.' he said and stood up. 'Have fun with your new site now, and make sure you read the help sections.'

She watched him leave and slumped back into the couch. "I pressed my boobs against him, yet he pretended not to notice." she thought and grinned. "Smart, and teasable. I think I found a new toy to play with." She chuckled for a moment before turning red from embarrassment. "Oh shit! I rubbed my boobs against a guy while being alone with him." She hit her head. "Idiot! He could have had his way with you!" She groaned at the image of him attacking her on the couch, then grinned as it tickled her fancy. 'Maybe I'll just let you later tonight in my fantasy.' she said.

Petro walked in the door at home, glad to be back. 'Mouse?' he called out while he put away his laptop bag and took off his shoes.

A bark startled him and before he realised it Mouse pounced on him. She panted, wagged her tail and gave him an enthusuastic lick across his face.

'Ah! Mouse!' he said and pushed her back while wiping his face with his sleeve. 'What are you doing!?'

She pricked up her ears and smiled at him. 'Welcoming you home like a good pet.'

He stared at her. 'Pet?'

'Yes!' she said and showed the white dog collar she had bought earlier around her neck. 'I got everything, come see.'

She moved on all fours to the living room and Petro followed her wondering what it was all about. He found her sitting on a folded blanket next to the couch with a low bowl of water and a tennis ball.

'Look, a spot to sleep on, bowls for water and food, and a toy to play with.' she said, then picked up the ball in her mouth and jumped up at him, making him fall back again.

She grinned at him with the ball between her teeth and dropped it on his chest. 'Wait a minute! What's going on!? Why are you doing this!?' he said.

She cocked her head. 'I heard a pet brings happiness so then I looked up what the best was and this site said to do things like this.'

Petro blinked his eyes. 'Wait, what site?'

She got up from him and opened the laptop while he sat down on the couch. He almost choked when he saw the site. 'This is not.. I mean, it says pet play but it's something else that they do here.'

She looked puzzled at him, one ear flat. 'This is not about the joy of having a pet?'

'Not in the traditional sense.' Petro said and put the laptop away with a blush. 'For that you'd need a real pet, not having one pretend to be a pet.'

Mouse thought about it for a moment. 'Oh. You're right.' she said and sat back on her knees with her fists on her thighs, her face down and her ears flat. 'I thought I could make you happy with this.' She fingered her collar. 'I even bought this.'

Her posture stirred something in him. He didn't know what it was but the collar did suit her and he liked the way she looked wearing it. He blushed and looked away when he couldn't ignore she was sexy in her naked fur.

He cleared his throat. 'It looks good on you, so that wasn't a waste.'

She looked at him. 'It does?'

He nodded. 'Yeah. I wouldn't mind you wearing it.'

Mouse smiled and threw her arms around his neck, ending up lying on top op him. 'Then I will!' she said, her ears forward and her tail wagging hard again.'

He was glad to see her happy and smiled back.

'I also got this for when we go walking.' she said and reached out to the blanket, almost smothering Petro in her furry bosom, and held up a white leash. 'For when we go walking.'

His face became a deeper red. 'I think the collar will be enough for now.' he muttered from her bosom.

***

Birds singing their merry songs and first light woke up Petro. He yawned and watched Mouse's peacefully sleeping face on his chest, hers pressing slightly against his side with every shallow breath. He looked at the alarmclock on the rack at his side of the bed. The white collar lay next to it and he blushed a little. Mouse said the rule was that only the owner could put it on or take it off, and since Petro was her owner it was his duty. He ran his fingers gently through the fur on her back, thinking how little she knew or realised about that sort of intimacy, and that it might have to do with her missing the physical parts for it. He sighed slowly. It hadn't made her look any less sexy and cute. If she was a real human girl those curves would attract a lot of attention. He didn't feel quite right seeing her that way though. To Mouse she was a plush animal and he was simply her owner.

She stirred, blinked her eyes and looked up at him. A sleepy smile grew on her lips and she snuggled up a little closer. He stroked her back until his alarmclock buzzed.

'Time to get up again.' Petro said.

Mouse stretched and yawned long, then sat up on her knees looking at him.

He sat up, wondered what she was waiting for, then remembered. He took the collar and fastened it around her neck. She smiled with some pride as if he had just given her a medal and he returned a soft smile. He suspected he felt some pride of his own.

She hugged him tight and hopped off the bed. 'I'll set up breakfast.' she said as she went to the kitchen.

Petro smiled at the afterimage of her behind and swinging tail. 'Yeah, I guess I am proud.'

Mouse cleaned up quickly after Petro had left and wondered what she could do. All the chores were done and there was enough stew left over for dinner, and she decided she should go outside again. Even if it was for a little while because she needed to get used to being outside.

She chose another short dress, this one light green and yellow, and went down to the street. She looked up and down and went towards the shopping street again because it was the most familiar. She figured she could explore the area more from there.

Petro had left her some money to buy a snack if she wanted to and she went to the butcher first to buy more dried sausages because Petro liked them too.