happiness is a warm puppy [open to all]

[doublethepain]

He's definitely come down with something.

It's hardly cause for panic, really, just a bit of congestion; some coughing that he thinks he's done a fair job of keeping under wraps; maybe a slightly sore throat, a few pressure headaches here and there, a case of the chills; but he's fine, Spencer is sure of it. He's fine because he's got a ring on his finger and a puppy at the end of his leash, so there's nothing at all in his life that he can complain about right now.

John had most generously given him half a day off--"a wedding gift from me to you" is how his boss had put it--so Spencer had stopped back at home to get Huxley before heading in some direction or another, he hadn't really had a plan. It's not very surprising that his feet seem to take him in the direction of Crossroads, as they so often do, but a part of him hopes that he'll run into some people he knows on the way there. He has news, after all, and he's not one to call up all his friends--not that it would take long, he muses--to share even the most exciting parts of his life, but he does want people to know.

He's happy, happier than he's ever been and not just since his mother and Dane had died. He has so much to be thankful for, so much to come to look forward to, and he can't remember the last time he'd felt so optimistic about his future. He smiles to himself as he watches Huxley sniff at the grass on the sidewalk before the puppy scrambles to meet a pair of feet that's headed their way, jumping up on his hind legs to paw at the stranger. Spencer's smile doesn't fade as he lifts his head to look at the other person; in fact, it only grows wider.

"You're in for it now," he says, a teasing edge to his tone. "Huxley seems to grow attached to people far too quickly for his own good."




[OOC: Spencer's a little under the weather right now because I am, too but he's in an excellent mood so it would be a great time to say hello, whether your character has already met him or not :) Find him walking his and Joel's new puppy Huxley or catch him wherever is convenient for your character to be. As long as that place allows dogs.]

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[doublethepain]

Spencer can't help the delighted laugh that escapes him, and he has to admit that he'd shared that reaction when he'd first seen Huxley. He'd only meant to pass through Wilton's Human Society, which had been very inconveniently located just a block away from the cofee shop that had been his original destination, but Spencer had known he could leave without the pup the second he'd let eyes on him. The fact that he'd married a man who'd felt the same way had made the adoption all the sweeter.

"He's a bit of a heartbreaker, isn't he?" he asks with a broad smile, shaking his head at the way Huxley relentlessly tries to squirm out of Keira's hold, though his tail wags with excitement. "The library is a perfectly acceptable place to act as a doggy day care, don't you think?"

[keirasullivan]

"Yes heartbreaking, like you and Joel. Shacking up, breaking my heart the pair of you. Whatever am I going to do once I turn thirty now? You know I was going to marry slash have one of your babies. Now, I need to rethink the plan." Keira replied dryly, rubbing the cute tiny little thing's tummy as he wiggled about in her palm. It was like the size of a teacup or something. Putting the puppy down, she patted his head fondly. "If you mean the library then you mean the basement and by the basement I mean my office then yes. Perfectly acceptable."

[doublethepain]

"You've got a couple years left before you're destined to for eternal spinsterdom," he says dryly. "I, on the other hand, was less than a year away so I had to act quickly."

He knows that there hadn't been a particularly wide gap in time between meeting Joel and marrying him, and Spencer also knows that they'll probably be met with skepticism from some; but the important thing is that they know it had been the right thing to do, for themselves. They'd said it to each other even before Joel had officially proposed that there could never be anyone else, that nobody else could ever make them feel this way, and Spencer hadn't been able to think of a single good reason to delay the inevitable. They're going to be together for the rest of their lives and now... now, they've just made it legally recognized.

He smiles as Keira puts the puppy down and Huxley yips in protest, standing on his hind legs so he can paw at her. "If you're volunteering for dogsitting services, consider yourself hired."

[keirasullivan]

"I don't have a back up for my back up, sigh I'm going to have to find myself a bromance and forge myself a new back up and a back up for my back up." Keira drawled. She was happy for them both, they were ridiculously cute together and part of it made her long for that connection and the other part wanted her to just push the feeling deep-deep down and ignore it. "I am, just not at mine. I doubt my cat would love the intrusion. But seriously puppy you wanted down, I put you down and now you want up again? Fine."

Keira picked the miniature pooch up and smiled at him. "So, newly wed. Any grand plans?"

[doublethepain]

Spencer had lost track of what Keira's saying after the first mention of a back-up, and he just nods along as he so often does with her. It's not that he doesn't ever value the things she says, he's just always been the type to tune out what he thinks is perhaps not something he needs to retain for future reference--and as fond as he is of her, Keira's back-ups and sex life certainly fall into that category, at least as far as Spencer is concerned.

He rolls his eyes, though it's with a good-natured smile, as he leans down to scoop Huxley in his arms, holding the puppy close to his chest. To his satisfaction, Huxley doesn't protest, and Spencer's smile grows wider when Keira calls him a newlywed. "Grand plans? Not quite, I'm still trying to get used to actually being a newlywed. There's an annoying amount of paperwork involved in trying to get my new name to reflect on all my important documents, you know." Still, being legally known as Spencer Waters-Baker is worth all the trouble.

"I should tell you, though," he says, lowering his voice though it's not as if he'll be revealing much of a secret, "that in the next few weeks or so, I'll be putting in my two weeks at the library. I'm going to try my hand at helping to run a bookshop."

[keirasullivan]

Keira looked up sharply at that, that little bombshell that both made her want to congratulate Spencer and also, kill him where he stood. Mostly killing him sounded good right now.

"Don't you dare Spencer, who is going to bring me pastries and help me with deliveries and laugh when I bitch about the incopetencies of people not knowing MA comes before MB. How dare you do this to me," Keira said, mock-glaring at Spencer. This was Joel's fault, maybe she could just casually drop in and rearrange all the books in his store. That was kind of petty, that was the kind of petty Sullivan thing to do. She really wanted to do it. "I'm congratulating you deep down. Really deep down. Mostly I'm wanting to kill your husband. He owes me two months of pastries... no, wait three. Three months of pastries for stealing you twice over now."

[doublethepain]

"Don't kill my husband," he says dryly, barely reacting to the dramatic glare she's giving him because this is so distinctly Keira that he's hardly phased by it anymore. He's worked with her long enough to just accept it and move on. "I'd be very upset and end up just quitting the library anyway because how could we possibly work together after that?"

He breaks into a small smile because he knows what Keira's words really mean--she's going to miss him, even if she's not going to admit it directly, and to be completely honest, Spencer's going to miss working with her, too.

"It's not like I'll never come back, anyway. I'll pop back in often enough, it's the library, it's practically my second home. And I'll bring you more pastries than you can even stomach."