'He's recovering well,' Alfonso said to Rita after giving Pepelito his painkillers. Pepelito stared warily at him but then saw the man had brought fresh grass and some carrots, which he placed in front of the television. He edged forward and ate them. Sometimes his muscle injuries made eating hard to face, but he was starting to get his appetite back.

He walked towards the front door, wishing he could leave but scared of what was out there. He missed the outside, the sun warming his back, grass that didn't go dry if he left it a while. This place was too small. Rita was out most of the day and being alone made him sad and scared.

Most of all, he missed the others. He thought of the friend he had met in one of the trucks, and got to know while stuck in the enclosure.

Ladron was big and brown, with huge horns. Pepelito saw one of the ends was bleeding where they'd filed it down. He walked over to Ladron over the bare ground and licked him, standing close as he lay down. Up close, Pepelito could see he was crying. He lay down beside Ladron and licked him around his face. Something hard hit him in the back. He looked around to see where it had come from.

'Stop that.' Pepelito felt a sharp prod in his back.

'This one doesn't know where he is,' the man laughed as Pepelito looked around him, confused. After a moment, he licked at the hair behind Ladron's horns again.

'Look how soft he is. No ferocity at all.'

'Don't do that. Bad.' Something sharp hit him hard in the back again, stinging him. He got up and walked towards the other five bulls. He was nervous of them. One of them had tried to fight with him earlier.

Ladron looked at him imploringly. Pepelito told him he'd be back.

Feeling so sad, he thought of how Ladron had given him grateful licks when he came back, sure the men had gone home. They had laid side by side on the bare ground, and calmed each other down.   

'I think he wants to go outside,' Rita said sadly. Alfonso sighed.

'He needs to yeah, it's cruel to keep a big animal like a bull in this sort of space for too long. The problem is, he's now famous, and even more valuable than before. These taurinos will be desperate for their 'triumph', Castella especially,' Alfonso said. Pepelito didn't understand how, but he knew he was helping him.

'Yeah, I see him looking at the door,' Rita said. 'I think he's sad.'

'Yeah, I think he is, and he needs company,' Alfonso said, holding out a bit of grass in his hand. Pepelito carefully took it and ate it.

'A friend from work might have to sleep in my spare room for a week or so. I know, I know. But I am pretty sure I can trust this guy. I've known him for 15 years.' As Rita spoke Pepelito wandered off into the kitchen. He nudged one of the bread rolls Alfonso had bought himself off the table with his nose and picked it up, before swallowing it whole. There was a bunch of grapes too. He liked grapes, so he ate the entire thing including the stalk.

'It's not like that. He's gay,' Rita said quickly. Pepelito couldn't understand but his hearing was much better than most humans'. He could hear everything through the thin walls.

'It doesn't matter – him staying is not ideal, given the situation, is it,' Alfonso said quietly, and both humans gave forced, nervous laughs. Rita seemed stressed; Pepelito wondered what she was stressed about. He wandered over to a silver fridge in the corner that extended to the ceiling. He had seen Rita taking things out of there before. He hooked his horn around the handle and pulled as he had watched the policewoman doing, taking several steps back.

The fridge contained a few interesting things. Like oranges and carrots, and a large chocolate cake. Once, the farmer's daughter had given him half an orange. He rolled one off the shelf, pushed it around on the tiles and bit into it. It tasted good, sweet and juicy. The juice sprayed all over the floor.

'Do you have a garden?' Alfonso said. 'Let's take him out there.'

'There's a communal courtyard out the back. My neighbours mind their own business, one of them has parties and gets up to all sorts, my colleagues had to go round a couple times. The whole block used to be four big houses converted into flats. The grumpy old git living at the top does like bullfighting, he's the one that ended up with the roof terrace. But this week he's away staying with his daughter.'

Pepelito sniffed the chocolate cake. It smelt interesting. He licked a bit with his tongue and then chewed into it. It was a bit too sugary, so he grabbed a large carrot from the shelf above and started chomping on that.

'What are you – No! That's Flavia's retirement cake!' Rita screamed, running into the kitchen and clapping her hands. Pepelito swallowed the carrot and felt guilty. 'That stuff's human food, it's not for you, you've eaten half of it!'

Alfonso stood in the doorway. He could barely keep a straight face.

'What? What are you laughing at, it's not funny! That cake is for Friday – it's my colleague's present for her last day, and he's been eating it!' Rita yelled. Pepelito walked over to the vet, who gave him another pat on the back. This only made Rita madder.

'Was your colleague's present,' Alfonso said darkly. 'I don't think it is now. That's another thing I should have mentioned. You should put a lock on your fridge, and perhaps tie it to something and weight it down, so he can't knock it over if he tries to open the door and can't do it.'

'A lock on my fridge, Dios mio. It was such an expensive cake too,' Rita muttered.

'Yeah, he's definitely getting bored, aren't you? Why don't we order a takeaway or something, then we can think about taking him outside.' Alfonso rubbed Pepelito's nose and coaxed him through the doorway, laughing to himself. The humans were talking about him. He knew he had done something wrong. But what?

'There's a vegan restaurant called El Pimiento Picante at the bottom of my road, let's get a takeaway from there, it does Mexican food too and some really good burritos,' Rita said.

'OK,' Alfonso said. 'I'll get it, and pay for it if you want. I can get something for Pepelito too, since clearly he wants to try human food.'

'Yeah, clearly he does,' Rita said in an aggravated tone. She was opening and slamming a cupboard and Pepelito smelt strong cleaning products. They irritated his nose so he went back into the living room and lay down. As he did so, he squashed a small plastic object into the floor.

'...And finally. The Fundacion de Toro Bravo is offering a 2 million Euro reward for the return of Pepelito who escaped from the plaza de toros in Valladolid three days ago.' Pepelito got a fright when the TV came on. As he shifted about on the remote control, this only made the volume louder.

'I'm very keen for this bull to be returned. Hopefully the 2 million Euros will mean someone comes forward.' Javier Castella's voice was menacing. Frightened, Pepelito stood up, taking quick, shallow breaths, and began to paw the ground as he remembered the man's violence. He let out a long, low growl, trying to make him go away.

But Castella didn't go away.

'As a matador de toros, what would you say to the person who has him?'

Javier looked directly at the camera. 'That person is stupid. A bull is a dangerous animal that cannot be trusted. They might think they have done a good deed, but they're just putting themselves at risk, since he could turn on them at any time. Pointless, too, since we will find him. They might as well give themselves up now.'

Pepelito stamped on the ground again, kicking the remote control against the door. He scratched up straw with his hooves and prepared to launch himself at the TV. His muscles stiffened in fear, worsening the pain in his back. His tail swung from side to side. Rita and Alfonso didn't act like other humans. He had to stop that horrible man hurting them too.

'Hijo de puta,' Rita spat as she came in, snatching up the remote. The details of the Fundacion de Toro Bravo flashed onto the screen, with '2 MILLION EURO REWARD' in huge letters below it – then disappeared as the screen went black. Would he come back again?

'Malditos. 2 million Euros? They probably stole it. Enough to build a hospital.' Rita was still raging. He tensed, wondering if she was going to beat him. But Pepelito's fear and panic subsided even as he scratched the ground in a threat display. Castella had gone.

Creeping back against the wall by the doorway, Rita whispered, 'Hey, torito. Don't be afraid of him. Nobody will ever get their hands on this 2 million Euros, not if I have anything to do with it.'

Pepelito turned around to see if the man was in the room again, feeling confused and exhausted. He was thirsty and needed water.

'Hey. You mustn't eat expensive presents. But I'm not angry with you, pobrecito, only him.' Rita stretched her hand out.

'Rita?' Alfonso said quietly.

'Cows can recognise people's voices, they remember people who treated them badly, that shithead has probably got him worked up. We should go grab that takeaway and let him calm down before one of us gets our bum caught on a bull's horn. Then, we should think of taking him outside, even if it's just for five minutes. What you think?' Alfonso spoke in a reassuring, relaxing voice, not angry or scared.

Maybe it would be OK.

'Yeah. I'd like that,' Rita said. 'You know something?'

'What?'

'This is the closest I've been to a date in years.'

AN: What do you think of this romance, LOL? I usually make my characters LGBTQ+ but in this case heterosexuality suited them better imo.