Joe

"Why won't it work? The flames are hot, the gears are clear of debris. I don't get it, Bru."

Joe growled angrily. He scratched under his chin with a cog he'd been waving around as frustration with the device built steam as readily as the contraption itself spewed it from its vents. The rhythmic tick of the clock opposite him filled the room as silence responded to his query.

Puzzled, Joe pulled his head from within the machine to look around. Scattered failed creations littered his shop, shoved to the walls in great, abstract piles of metal and junk. He marveled briefly on why a few hadn't panned out before snapping back to the distinctly absent space behind him that 'Brulee normally occupied.

Project forgotten, he clattered over and put a foreleg onto the worn stone, the absence of his lover forming a void in his gut. The stone was cold; how long ago had Bru left? The empty sensation gnawed at him as he rubbed the stone worriedly. He always kept that spot clear for him, 'Brulee was simply that important. An odd thing to say for a tinkerer, perhaps, but the world hadn't felt right before Bru had come into his den.

Joe lowered himself onto the empty stone, ignoring his creation as it suddenly sputtered to life and joined the clocks rhythm and flattening himself onto as much of the surface as he could manage. He sighed slightly as Stawbrulee's scent filled his nostrils, drawing what comfort he could from it.

"Oh, Bru, I let myself disappear into one of my projects again, didn't I? I don't deserve you..."

He flicked his eyes to the clock, quickly realizing he wasn't sure what time it was when he had last pulled himself from the contraption.

"What makes me worth it to you, Bru? You don't know a thing about my machines, but you're so willing to listen to me babble about them when I should be babbling about you. I mean, that is just one of many things I love about you; you are so willing to listen and just... try to learn even though none of it sticks. Why don't you be the one to talk for once? You deserve that from me... from anyone who would give you the same amount of attention you afford a fool like me."

The idea of letting him go to anyone else pushed tears into his eyes. He didn't think he could bear it, aside from if it would possibly make 'Brulee happier. His lover's happiness alone would be enough of a reason for him, even if he didn't like it himself.

With a huff he pulled himself back to his feet and slowly turned back around to face the now purring contraption and returned to look it over. His motivation to continue was sapped, even with his creation finally functioning. Without his mate the unexpected success felt as hollow as the pit in his chest.

Idly he began to tighten up screws, only to pause every few seconds to look back at 'Brulee's nook and heave another depressed sigh until he finally gave up working on it and dragged himself towards the back of his shop, intent on flopping onto the pile of leather scraps that passed for his couch by his tool bench.

He froze as he drew close at the sight of a familiar chocolate tail and snapped his attention to the couch itself to the snoozing form of his mate. The slow rise and fall of Brulee's chest and, most importantly, the space very clearly left for Joe to occupy beside him, nearly made him weep for joy at his own foolishness. Of course Brulee hadn't left, he hadn't before; the ghosts of his loneliness from before meeting his mate for the first time were simply cruel spirits and felt the need to whisper doubts into his mind at any opportunity.

Joe clambered onto the scraps of leather and curled up alongside his sweet, sleeping lover and tucked himself beneath Brulee's wing and quickly drifted off to sleep as he willingly drowned himself in his scent and presence.