"Master Wyatt?" 

The man on his phone screen seemed distracted, but he quickly took care of whatever he was currently doing and found a quiet place to talk. 

"Hey there, Ravi. How are things going?" he asked, clearly a little surprised that he'd bothered to call him on his own phone. 

It was probably only the third time he'd ever called the man on his cell phone, and he'd even remembered how to do the Facetime thing, too, so he could see him. 

"Master Wyatt, should I cut my hair?" 

Wyatt tilted his head as he settled down into a chair, or possibly sat on a desk? He couldn't tell since it was pretty dark wherever he was, but it didn't look like he was at home. 

"I think it would be a good idea, yeah. Your hair is gorgeous but it has gotten quite tangled over the past few years and could use a good trim," he said honestly, making Ravi bob his head in agreement. 

"Master Trever said that I should get a haircut, so I just wanted to ask master Wyatt his opinion, too." 

A faint smile curved along Wyatt's lips as he looked at him through the phone with an expression Ravi had rarely seen directed at him. 

"Sweet Ravioli, what's on your mind?" 

Ravi pursed his lips and looked down at the concrete between his crossed legs, not caring that he wasn't paying direct attention to Wyatt any longer. He got lost in his mind as he considered his question, eventually finding a string of words that somewhat summed up what he had running through his mind. 

"I met master Trever's dog again and we played for a while. He got mad at me because I kissed his cheek without asking, but then he let me put my hand in his pocket when I asked," he said, earning a short bit of silence from Wyatt before the man decided on a response. 

"Oh? It's good that you get along with his shift, and that he didn't take your mistake to heart, but I'm a little confused. Did you ask him if you could put your hand in his pocket? Did he let you do that right after you kissed him?" 

Ravi nodded but still didn't lift his eyes, his visual attention now taken by a small ant wandering about on the concrete beneath him. 

"He didn't like it, but then he relaxed and fell asleep..." Ravi added, making Wyatt hum as he considered what he was trying to get at. 

"Ravi, do you want to do more than that now? Since he let you put your hand in his pocket, do you want to do more?" Wyatt asked with a hint of understanding in his voice. 

Ravi quickly lifted his head, bringing his eyes back up to the man on his phone's screen. 

"Yes sir, I want to do more... even though he let me do what I had wanted to do for a while. I want to pat his head again to bring out Mr. Silverdog, a-and I want to put my hand on his leg now, not just in his pant's pocket. I want to kiss his mouth and nose..." he went on rambling for a few moments as he looked back down at the wayward ant still wandering about, then realized his words had divulged into imperceptible mumbles. 

 "I'm sorry master Wyatt. I understand a little from my time with master Trav—" 

"Ravi, I'm sorry to cut you off, but I'd like to say something about that situation," Wyatt said, making Ravi immediately shut his mouth mid-sentence as he watched the little ant try to climb up onto his bare foot. 

"The situation you were in before is nothing like the situations you're going to experience from here on. Master Trever will never be anything like your former master."

Ravi pursed his lips tightly and hunched his shoulders as his mind tried to work through their conversation. 

"But I want to do some of the things my former master wanted to do to me. I hated those things..." 

Wyatt made an agreeing sound on the other end of the call, but then waited quietly until Ravi finally brought his wandering eyes back up to meet his. 

"Ravi, just because someone dislikes something, doesn't mean that someone else will. I definitely disagree with how you were treated previously, but I can't argue that some people enjoy those sorts of things. You said that you wanted to touch him more, which is perfectly normal."

Shaking his head hard, Ravi looked back down as he tightened his grip on his phone. 

"I hated it, though. I hated it when my former master tried to touch me. Master Trever already doesn't like me touching him. I shouldn't want to touch him if he doesn't like it," he said as his voice began to rise slightly, clearly getting stressed by the conversation, but refusing to end the call like he normally would when he disliked the subject. 

"Ravi, sweetheart, what you want and what he wants can be completely different things, but that doesn't make either of them wrong. He let you put your hand in his pocket earlier, and also didn't get too upset when you kissed his cheek. I don't want you to force yourself if you aren't comfortable with him, I'll buy you a plane ticket home right now if you want to leave, but I'm not sure I'm seeing that in you," Wyatt said honestly, his calm tone of voice bringing Ravi's attention back up to him. 

"I don't want to leave him. My dog likes him... and I like him," Ravi said quietly, earning a smile and nod from Wyatt. 

"I understand, but how about you take a step back now that you understand your own feelings and try to see how he's reacting to things? He drove over there for a job, and I know that travel jobs can be pretty hectic. Why not just stay by his side for the next few days and do whatever you can to help ease the stress he's likely going to be under? Be there for him."

Be there...

"I will do what master Wyatt suggests," he said sternly, making Wyatt give a quiet chuckle in response. 

"You're a very good boy, Ravi. Thank you for calling me, and please do so again whenever you would like to talk," he said as something off camera tried to take his attention. 

Understanding that Wyatt had to go, Ravi straightened and gave the man a toothy grin. 

"Yes sir, thank you for talking to me. I will go back inside now," he said right as the door to their room opened, drawing Ravi's attention immediately toward it. 

He heard another faint chuckle from his phone before it beeped, signaling that the call had ended. 

"Master Trever?" Ravi questioned as he slowly got to his bare feet. 

Before he could say anything else he was being picked up and carried back inside by a scowling Trever. It seemed like he was trying to wipe the frustration from his face, but the man wasn't doing a good job of it, at all. 

It also seemed like Trever was considering dropping him on the bed, but then redirected and walked toward the bathroom, eventually setting him down on the counter beside the sink before heaving a long sigh. 

Master Trever is mad again? 

He tried to figure out what he'd done to make him upset, but he couldn't figure it out so just remained silent so that he didn't make things worse. 

"Ravi... I thought that you ran away because I got mad at you earlier," he said as his hands settled on either side of Ravi's legs. 

He knew that he should have been focused on what the man was saying, but his attention quickly redirected to the man's right hand that was just-barely brushing against his boxer-covered thigh. 

Master Trever is touching me, but doesn't even seem to notice. 

"Ravi, I'm talking to you. Why were you outside on your phone? It's cold out and you're barely dressed." 

He's mad at me at me because of that?

The thought nearly made him start to cry, but Ravi bit back his normal response and lifted his nervous eyes to meet Trever's. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you but I needed to talk to master Wyatt," he said honestly, his voice barely shaking, even though his heart was rolling around in his chest with worry. 

Trever took a moment to consider his words before abruptly dropping his head down to Ravi's shoulder, nearly making him jump from the sudden contact. 

"Jesus, okay. I thought... you scared me half to death," he said, his voice turning from upset to exhaustion. 

I really want to nuzzle against his face, but I don't think I should. 

He went through all of the things he could do in that moment, but after a few seconds of considering each one, Ravi decided on the one option he didn't like. He did nothing. 

"I apologize master Trever. I should have put on more clothing and let you know that I was going outside," he said instead, his voice a bit more steady now that he was more sure of the words he was speaking. 

Trever took a few more moments to regain his composure before leaning away and straightening back up. 

"Alright, thank you for answering honestly, and I'm sorry I lost my cool," he said, earning a nod from Ravi as a small smile found its way onto his lips. 

They stared at each other for about twenty seconds before Trever blinked a few extra times, then glanced away and turned to walk over to the shower. 

"Anyways, um, we're already in the city we need to be in, so would you want to go get some breakfast and, if you still want, a haircut?" he asked as he reached down for the hem of his shirt and began tugging it up over his head. 

Of course, Ravi barely heard the man's words because he was much more focused on watching Trever remove his shirt, even though he wasn't even facing him. 

 He's talking to you. 

Inwardly groaning, Ravi forced his eyes away from the show in front of him that Trever probably didn't even realize he was giving, then slid from the counter to put his back to the other man. 

"Okay, I will wait for master Trever to finish his shower, then I will take one," he said, trying to make his voice sound normal even though his body was reacting a little too much to what was going on behind him. 

"Alright, I'll be quick," Trever said as Ravi heard him pull back the curtain and step into the shower, then close it back up. 

Only then did he finally turn to look over his shoulder. He could faintly see the outline of the man behind the curtain, making his hands itch to join him, but he wouldn't. 

You're going to be a good dog. Master Trever just touched you more than you ever thought he would. Be patient and wait. 

Rubbing a hand over his face, Ravi forced himself to walk away from the bathroom, and so that he didn't dwell on what was going on beyond the open door, he dug through his suitcase and, for the first time, intentionally pulled out a specific set of clothing that he thought would go together. 

It wasn't much, just a pair of black boxers, a pair black jeans, and a matching maroon sweater that said Woof on the front, but he thought that it looked decent enough to wear out with master Trever. Hopefully it would be good enough for him to come to his work, too. 

You're going to be useful. Master Wyatt said to wait and help him with whatever he needed, then see where things go from there.  

Ravi stared at his suitcase, suddenly wanting to pull out the secret to handling his situation correctly instead of just more clothing, but he knew that the rolling clothing box didn't work like that. He'd honestly rarely even looked inside of it the last few years, since he'd spent most of his time as a dog. And most of that time had been spent tied outside to a doghouse. 

I... wonder if there are more things in here that master Trever might like me to wear?

Setting his phone and the previous outfit he'd picked aside, Ravi got up on his knees again and began digging through the big fabric box, making quite a mess as he took stock of what he actually had to wear on his human body. 

He wasn't a huge fan of most of the items, and quite a few of them were now too small since he'd been eating much better than he used to. When he finally sat back down on his heels and licked his lips, he knew that he had to do something if he was going to stay as a human for any reasonable amount of time. 

"I need to get a job so that I can buy myself better human clothing." 

He didn't want to have to rely on Trever for everything. Especially since he wanted to impress him. A job he could do shouldn't be too hard to find anyways, right?