After a blissfully peaceful night of rest, Lucas is annoyed awake by a beam of sunshine sneaking through the gaps in his curtains. Trying to escape the offending daylight, he rolls over to his other side, keeping his eyes tightly shut.

As he's trying to fall back asleep, after a few seconds he notices an odd smell. Not particularly strong or offensive, but uniquely different from anything he's woken up to before.

Once curiosity overwhelms his desire to attempt catching additional zzz's, he slowly opens his eyes, freezing in place for a moment while his brain catches up to current events.

He's instantly reminded that he no longer lives alone perforce of the sight before him. This view being that of a surprisingly large pair of fuzzy dark brown balls about 2 inches away from his face.

'Well, I guess this is my life now. Eh, could be worse.'

[...Your tolerance when it comes to animals is rather impressive.]

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping pup, Lucas somehow manages to choke back a snort of laughter as he slowly sits upright.

From this improved angle, the view has been expanded to show the entirety of the doggo lying prone on his back. His legs are up in the air, and his tail had at some point snaked its way under his pillow. He's clearly off in doggy dreamland, given the way one of his hind legs is occasionally twitching.

Lucas manages to suppress his mental squeal down to a tolerable level, earning a clear sigh of relief from 427.

'D'awww... Ah, getting a good look at him though, I really don't like how clear his ribs are. I know they're kept pretty lean when used for racing, but this is even worse than I've seen in pictures online... Hey, 427?'

Before even answering, 427 makes an exaggerated sigh.

[Yes, yes. I'll start looking up a proper diet for him. You'll be able to guiltlessly let him eat to his heart's content.]

Lucas fist pumps in victory, then quietly slips his way out of the bed as carefully as he can so as not to disturb the pupper, with success.

Thankfully, the door hinges do not betray him with any loud creaks, letting him make it out of the room near-silently. When he shuts the door behind him, he leaves it open with a small crack so the dog can nose it open on his own.

Attention now on the living room, he quickly notices that the patched-up sofa is completely clear of any inhabitants, bearing neither a human nor any fabric. All of the myriad nesting materials have been neatly folded and put back away into the linen closet. The closet somehow manages to look cleaner now than it previously did, even though it has the exact same contents.

'He..? No, there's no way he left for good. But how the hell did he fold them THAT neatly? Did he press them down with a weight or something? Some alternate use of super speed I haven't considered?'

[...He simply did it carefully, which seems to be an unusual concept for you. Just how many things have you broken in this poor apartment?]

'Not that many! ...The other guy had already done most of it.'

[…]

'Aaanyway, being that meticulous for some blankets is way more than is necessary, it's not just me, yeah?'

[Well... Yes. Its certainly not unusual for abandonment issues and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to go hand-in-hand. And given how quickly he latched onto you, that seems to be a fairly clear codependency issue.]

'Uhhh, think I should be worried about it? Wait, are there even any therapists in this world?'

[I'd give him a chance to stabilize a bit before growing concerned. And, well, there are a rare few individuals that dapple in psychology, but...]

'There's hella social stigma attached to 'needing' therapy, isn't there?'

[Yes. If you were to try and encourage him to get help before he's had a chance to build up real trust with you, I can almost guarantee he would take it the wrong way and it would cause even more harm.]

'...Oh boy. He's going to be a handful, isn't he?'

As Lucas finishes this thought, there's the sound of metal friction from a key sliding into the lock on the door.

'Oh hey, speak of the devil.'

[…]

'Eheh, guess that's not a phrase here.'

[I'm going to assume that was the shortened form of an idiom. Speak and he will appear?]

'You got it, buddy.'

Having been temporarily granted the same moniker as the dog, 427 can't help but take it as some sort of convoluted compliment. Over the course of coming to this decision, 427 has given significantly more thought to it than Lucas did before initially saying it.

After Jonathan finishes unlocking the door and swings it open enough to come inside, he comes into Lucas's view with his gaze directed downward. He has a slight frown, his eyebrows are lightly furrowed, and there is a faint trace of lingering anger writ across his face.

When he looks up and notices Lucas smiling at him, no, at the large brown paper bag in his hands, Jonathan is briefly startled and then flashes a big toothy smile.

"Hehe, good morning! I picked up some breakfast for everyone!" As Jonathan merrily gives his greetings, he holds up the bag in his left hand while closing the door behind him with his right.

"Sweet. Good morning, welcome back, Jon." Even though Lucas is completely casual while saying this, even stepping forward to take the bag from Jonathan's hands, Jonathan freezes in place for a solid second.

With the most honest expression he's had yet today, Jonathan has a small, pure, smile while he shyly turns his gaze downward again for a moment.

"I'm, I'm back." At first, he's quiet, but once he turns his gaze back up again he seems to find his voice. "I'm home." With these two words, he is now holding direct eye contact with Lucas, searching for any hints of rejection.

"You sure are, kiddo. Come on, let's eat. Man, it smells great. Where'd you get it?" As Lucas's focus is clearly on the contents of the bag, he absentmindedly rubs the top of Jonathan's head, mussing up his hair.

His casual sincerity drives home the authenticity of his implicit acceptance for Jonathan. It is far more effective than if he had made some exaggerated show of welcoming him home with any excess pomp and circumstance.

Jonathan takes a small sharp breath, his smile broadening while he looks dangerously close to crying for a moment. Stopping to clear his throat, he stabilizes his mood before answering.

"Oh, um, that small deli that's like, uhhh, about a dozen blocks away? One of the guys that bounces there would give me bagels sometimes, so I wanted to pay them back. Ehehe, he almost didn't recognize me." While Jonathan recalls the look on the man's face, his smile stretches to the point his eyes end up half-closed. The youthful joy behind his chuckle is far better suited for a child of his age than the way he's been forced to conduct himself as of late.

[...Ah! Well then, congratulations on completing your moderate GDV task for a reward of 1.5 GDV. It seems you have finished the... Quest chain if you will.]

'Breakfast AND free points? Psh, who said this kid was gonna be a handful, he's great.'

[...You. You said it. It's only been a few minutes, don't even pretend... Ugh, never mind.]

When Jonathan bends over to unlace his red and white sneakers, Lucas notices him stop in his tracks for a moment. This pulls his attention off of the bag of food enough to compel him to look down and see why.

There's a large splatter of blood across Jonathan's right shoe, his hesitation to touch where it is on the laces is what caused him to stop his movements. After pausing for a second, he carries through with untying them normally, acting as if there is nothing unusual about it.

'Oh... That's not his, is it? He doesn't seem hurt anywhere...'

[...Correct. It seems his GDV has increased by .06 since I looked last night.]

'That... So that was a minor success, but a penalty for... For an unnecessary murder?'

[...Correct.]

'Okay, maybe he is gonna be a handful after all.'

[…]

427 wishing for Lucas to make up his mind, unfortunately, has no impact on reality.

While Jonathan fully relocks the door, a snuffling snoot has stuck out through the gap in the bottom corner of the bedroom door, which was previously inadvertently formed by its forceful impact with the doorstop. Seeming interested in what it has detected, the narrow snoot pulls the door open and the doggo happily sprints out. After he runs a small circle around Lucas and Jonathan in turn, he gives one bark while wagging his tail, eyes directly fixed on the paper bag of desired scents.

"Me too buddy, me too." As Lucas agrees with whatever he had assumed the pup just said, he takes the bag over to the coffee table so they can all dig in.

-----

Lucas kills this chapter: 0

Lucas total kills: 6

Lucas deaths this chapter: 0

Lucas total deaths: 10

Lucas current GDV: 8.78 (+1.5 net change)

Lucas's fame level: 2* (Mostly just local)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

Jonathan kills this chapter: 1

Jonathan total kills: 5

Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 1.78 (+.05 +.01 = +.06 net change)

Jonathan's fame level: 1.5* (Just local)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)

-----

Little character theater:

Those poor baconeggncheeseonarolls aren't long for this world. Yes, it is one word. If you know, you know.

427 is alarmed at the rate of consumption, half-convinced a finger is going to end up getting bitten off.

Author, drooling: ...Now I want one.

Mr. Quacks, considering a different form of cannibalism from last time: Quack..?