Fic: Just Won't Do Without You (the puppy AU)
Just Won't Do Without You
[Jon/Spencer and various other pairings, 2000 words, PG]
Spencer thinks the smell of sunshine is the best thing ever.
Yes, I did, in fact, write Panic, My Chem, and Pete and Patrick as Labrador puppies. I blame this video. Quite possibly THE most cuddle-filled crack I've ever written. I don't even know, okay? I WROTE BOB BRYAR AS A PUPPY. There's really no accounting for my brain sometimes.
They sleep in the afternoons mostly, and it's Spencer's favorite time of day. The mornings are spent chewing on bright, rubbery things and wrestling Ryan into the carpet (Brendon doesn't wrestle, would rather have Spencer chase him until Spencer gets bored with it and eventually flops down onto his belly), but the afternoons are for naps.
The lady, Greta, usually herds them all into a smaller room full of fluffy beds that smell like feathers. There's a large window full of sunlight that makes the air warm and sleepy; Spencer thinks the smell of sunshine is the best thing ever. He sprawls out on his side, rolls against Ryan, and falls into sleep just as he feels Brendon race over and drop heavily onto Spencer's back, nose pressed up under Ryan's ear.
But naps don't last long; Brendon doesn't like being still for long periods of time. Spencer barely starts to dream (he doesn't dream in pictures, only smells and colors), and then abruptly feels a sharp tugging at his ear. He grumbles, flails around for a moment before cracking an eye open to find Brendon smiling down at him, panting happily.
"You awake yet?"
"No." And Spencer tries to turn over and float back into the dream, but eventually Brendon gets Ryan involved, which means a cold nose nudging at his cheek insistently.
"C'mon, Spence, don't leave me to play with Brendon alone, wake up." He laughs a little, drapes his paws over Spencer's face as he licks him.
Ryan's really heavy. Spencer can't breathe very well, not to mention Brendon is still chewing on his ear.
"Alright, alright." He growls sleepily and shakes them both off. "Everyone is still asleep, y'know." He looks over at Pete and Patrick, curled together into a tight, tight ball in a block of sunlight. Patrick is mostly buried under Pete, his muzzle tucked somewhere beneath Pete's chest; Spencer always wonders how that can possibly be comfortable, but they sleep this way every day. The one time Greta tried to separate them Pete whine so sadly that she never did it again.
"They don't matter," Brendon replies happily and matter-of-factly. "Who needs sleep when...you...can...tag!" He barks and jumps on Spencer, licking his face before bounding off across the room.
He hears Pete mumble, "'s not cool, knock it off," before burrowing in tighter against Patrick (if that's even possible), who doesn't even twitch. The rest of the litter doesn't really move, either; they've gotten used to Brendon's power naps.
Spencer looks over at Ryan, who shrugs and thumps his tail. "Um. You're it?" He grins, and Spencer just wants to go back to sleep.
He ends up chasing Brendon anyway, because it keeps him from barking, which keeps Greta from coming in and scolding them. Spencer hates being scolded.
~
A litter of black Lab puppies arrives the following week. Spencer's not used to having other puppies around outside his own litter, so he's stand-offish and a bit apprehensive. The puppies are around his age and no bigger in size, but they're still strangers.
He sits toward the back of the playroom, nose on his paws as he watches Brendon and Ryan and the rest play with the new kids. The smallest one, Frank, has a tiny body and huge paws and keeps flinging himself at Brendon, laughing hysterically whenever he pins Brendon to the floor and Brendon yells, "No, no, just chase! Chase!" When he finally runs out of steam, Frank eventually sprawls over Gerard, one of the calmer puppies, who's content to sit and pick apart a thick, multicolored braided rope and lay the threads out one by one in a neat rainbow row. Mikey, who doesn't seem to stray far from Gerard's side, always seems asleep, paws spread out and body relaxed, eyes closed. But he's alert, tail twitching whenever a noise startles him or a toy gets knocked into him.
Bob is probably the biggest and stockiest of the new litter, but he's also the quietest; his ears are a little too floppy for the rest of his head, and he tends to duck down and hide behind them whenever someone rolls a ball over his way. He still nudges the ball with his nose, ears perked slightly, but when Patrick barks at him happily, trying to get him to smile back, Bob tilts his head to one side before rubbing one paw over his nose (he towers over Patrick, who's not that much bigger than Frank, to be honest, and Spencer admires the way Patrick isn't intimidated at all).
Spencer likes watching them; they all seem nice, and he wants to play with them. But he's still nervous, still uncertain. Ryan races past him with Ray (one of the bigger ones, like Bob, only fluffier instead of stocky) on his heels, and they're both laughing. Spencer feels the first twinges of envy; maybe the new litter isn't so bad.
And then someone's nuzzling into his side, digging gently into his fur. Spencer looks up into a pair of wide brown eyes, and the other puppy grins.
"Hey. What's up? You don't like us?" He cocks an ear at Spencer, leans down to nose at him again. "We're cool, promise. Frank's awesome at wrestling."
Jon - that's the puppy's name. Spencer remembers the way he'd smiled at Spencer first when Greta had introduced them all.
Spencer shies away a bit from him, finally getting up and faking a yawn. "No, I - I like you guys fine. Just." He snuffles a little without thinking as he looks out over the playroom. "I'm not used to new faces, is all."
Jon laughs, and then surprises a bark out of Spencer when he tackles him. Spencer gets the breath knocked out of him for a moment; Jon's heavier than Ryan, even though he's not quite as big as Spencer.
"Hey, get off, that's completely not fair," Spencer grumbles, biting at Jon's ears.
Jon licks him in the face, still grinning. "'Course it's not, that's the whole point. You really need to learn how to play, Spencer, seriously."
Spencer glares at him, but when Jon takes off and barks over his shoulder at him, Spencer runs after him.
~
Brendon sleeps all through their afternoon nap that day. Spencer thinks he hears Greta say something about how she should've brought Frank into the mix ages ago.
Spencer dreams without any interruption, except when he blinks awake with sunshine streaming over his body, warming his vanilla-colored fur, he notices the shiny black body curled into his own. Jon twitches in his sleep, makes tiny, soft grunting noises as if he's in the midst of an adventurous dream.
The warmth of daylight gradually lulls Spencer back to sleep.
~
A family comes a few weeks later; mother, father, and two little girls. They coo over and snuggle with Gerard and Mikey, and eventually Greta's helping load them both into carriers. The little girls are glowing with happiness.
Frank watches Gerard and Mikey disappear into their carriers, and he starts to whine. Greta gives him a sad look, but she simply pats his head before leading the family away, two puppies in tow.
He doesn't play at all for the rest of the day. Brendon tries to cuddle up close to him in the afternoon, but Frank doesn't move, just folds his too-big paws over his muzzle and sighs the saddest sigh Spencer's ever heard. Eventually he gets up and lays down next to Bob, who doesn't cuddle him so much as press his nose against Frank's ear in understanding and sympathy.
~
Spencer doesn't want to think about losing Ryan, or Brendon. He tells himself he should be grateful when more families come and end up passing them over.
Only the families always, always gravitate toward Jon, and whenever Spencer sees a little boy laugh as Jon licks their chin, he thinks maybe he knows what made Frank so very, very sad.
"I don't want you to leave," Spencer whispers to Jon that night. They are side by side, their cheeks pressed together, Jon's ear flopped over Spencer's nose.
"I'm not," Jon says around a yawn, wiggling closer.
"You might. Families love you. They're gonna take you just like they took Gerard and Mikey, and then I'll be like Frank." Spencer can barely stand the look in Frank's eyes now.
"I'm not leaving you, okay? I can't leave you guys." Jon stretches his back leg and it digs into Brendon's belly, making Brendon snuffle and roll onto his back, half onto Ryan, who simply sighs in his sleep.
Spencer doesn't think Jon can promise something like that. But there's nothing he can do about it, so he huffs and tries to go back to sleep, wishing for the happy warmth of sunshine.
~
Eventually, a young couple tries to take Patrick, which leads to a lot of howling and whimpering on Pete's part, which then leads to growling and Pete latching onto the guy's pant leg with his teeth. No amount of force is able to pry him off, and finally Greta throws up her hands in defeat and says, sheepishly, "Uh, two for the price of one? They're, um, kind of attached."
The couple exchange a look, and Patrick looks up at them with huge, shiny puppy eyes. They crack in no time, and Pete immediately relinquishes his hold on the pant leg the moment he realizes he's not being separated from his Patrick.
Spencer sleeps draped over Jon that night, hugging him close, keeping one paw on Ryan and another on Brendon at all times.
~
The woman that comes in just after naptime looks safe enough; she doesn't have any kids with her, and she watches all of them with a gentle smile, but doesn't necessarily focus intently on any one of them specifically. Spencer thinks maybe she's not there to take them away; maybe she's a good friend of Greta's and is here to play with them.
But the woman (Vicky, Spencer hears Greta call her) soon points to Jon and says, "Oh my god, his little tummy! He's adorable!" And Jon, being Jon, thumps his tail and runs over to her, beaming.
Spencer whimpers.
Vicky picks Jon up, rubs her chin over the top of his head. "He's perfect, Greta," she says, cuddling Jon in her arms. "I think the kids will love him, don't you?"
And that's when Brendon bites Vicky's ankle.
Jon manages to wiggle free of Vicky's hold, and he drops onto the floor, scampering over to Spencer and Ryan.
"Not leaving you," he whispers fiercely to Spencer, and then tips his chin up defiantly at Vicky and Greta. Soon Brendon races over and licks Jon, his whole body shivering. The four of them stand huddled together, looking up at the girls with determination.
"You guys," Greta says with exasperation. "Vicky can't take you all, okay?"
Brendon wuffles. Jon nips softly at Spencer's muzzle.
"Guys. Seriously. She didn't come here for four puppies."
Spencer is fairly certain he will bite the next person that tries to take Jon away from him. And Spencer never, ever bites.
Vicky chews her bottom lip. "Well...the kids really do love their animals," she says thoughtfully. "I mean, four's a lot, but I think I've got enough older kids that the responsibility would be good for them." Then she smiles down at them. "Besides, it looks like if I want the black one with the precious belly, I'm going to have to take the whole package."
Greta looks embarrassed. "Vicky, you don't have to, it's really not necessary - "
Spencer barks, loud and sharp. Everyone pauses and stares at him. He glares at Greta, who might actually be blushing a little.
"I - alright, if you really think you can take all four of them." She crosses her arms and gives them a stern look. "Guys, Vicky runs an orphanage. You'll be good boys for her, right? And not make me look bad?"
Jon beams again at Vicky, all pink tongue and perked ears, and that seems to be good enough for everyone involved.
~
They ride together in the back of a minivan, suddenly exhausted. Brendon collapses on top of Spencer, chewing absently at his ears while Jon stacks his nose on Spencer's, Ryan half asleep on him. They sleep through a trip to Petsmart, and when the van pulls up to the large, four story brownstone, Vicky calls softly, "Hey, guys. We're home."
Jon yawns, humming contentedly. "Yeah, home," he mumbles, licking Spencer's cheek.
[Jon/Spencer and various other pairings, 2000 words, PG]
Spencer thinks the smell of sunshine is the best thing ever.
Yes, I did, in fact, write Panic, My Chem, and Pete and Patrick as Labrador puppies. I blame this video. Quite possibly THE most cuddle-filled crack I've ever written. I don't even know, okay? I WROTE BOB BRYAR AS A PUPPY. There's really no accounting for my brain sometimes.
They sleep in the afternoons mostly, and it's Spencer's favorite time of day. The mornings are spent chewing on bright, rubbery things and wrestling Ryan into the carpet (Brendon doesn't wrestle, would rather have Spencer chase him until Spencer gets bored with it and eventually flops down onto his belly), but the afternoons are for naps.
The lady, Greta, usually herds them all into a smaller room full of fluffy beds that smell like feathers. There's a large window full of sunlight that makes the air warm and sleepy; Spencer thinks the smell of sunshine is the best thing ever. He sprawls out on his side, rolls against Ryan, and falls into sleep just as he feels Brendon race over and drop heavily onto Spencer's back, nose pressed up under Ryan's ear.
But naps don't last long; Brendon doesn't like being still for long periods of time. Spencer barely starts to dream (he doesn't dream in pictures, only smells and colors), and then abruptly feels a sharp tugging at his ear. He grumbles, flails around for a moment before cracking an eye open to find Brendon smiling down at him, panting happily.
"You awake yet?"
"No." And Spencer tries to turn over and float back into the dream, but eventually Brendon gets Ryan involved, which means a cold nose nudging at his cheek insistently.
"C'mon, Spence, don't leave me to play with Brendon alone, wake up." He laughs a little, drapes his paws over Spencer's face as he licks him.
Ryan's really heavy. Spencer can't breathe very well, not to mention Brendon is still chewing on his ear.
"Alright, alright." He growls sleepily and shakes them both off. "Everyone is still asleep, y'know." He looks over at Pete and Patrick, curled together into a tight, tight ball in a block of sunlight. Patrick is mostly buried under Pete, his muzzle tucked somewhere beneath Pete's chest; Spencer always wonders how that can possibly be comfortable, but they sleep this way every day. The one time Greta tried to separate them Pete whine so sadly that she never did it again.
"They don't matter," Brendon replies happily and matter-of-factly. "Who needs sleep when...you...can...tag!" He barks and jumps on Spencer, licking his face before bounding off across the room.
He hears Pete mumble, "'s not cool, knock it off," before burrowing in tighter against Patrick (if that's even possible), who doesn't even twitch. The rest of the litter doesn't really move, either; they've gotten used to Brendon's power naps.
Spencer looks over at Ryan, who shrugs and thumps his tail. "Um. You're it?" He grins, and Spencer just wants to go back to sleep.
He ends up chasing Brendon anyway, because it keeps him from barking, which keeps Greta from coming in and scolding them. Spencer hates being scolded.
~
A litter of black Lab puppies arrives the following week. Spencer's not used to having other puppies around outside his own litter, so he's stand-offish and a bit apprehensive. The puppies are around his age and no bigger in size, but they're still strangers.
He sits toward the back of the playroom, nose on his paws as he watches Brendon and Ryan and the rest play with the new kids. The smallest one, Frank, has a tiny body and huge paws and keeps flinging himself at Brendon, laughing hysterically whenever he pins Brendon to the floor and Brendon yells, "No, no, just chase! Chase!" When he finally runs out of steam, Frank eventually sprawls over Gerard, one of the calmer puppies, who's content to sit and pick apart a thick, multicolored braided rope and lay the threads out one by one in a neat rainbow row. Mikey, who doesn't seem to stray far from Gerard's side, always seems asleep, paws spread out and body relaxed, eyes closed. But he's alert, tail twitching whenever a noise startles him or a toy gets knocked into him.
Bob is probably the biggest and stockiest of the new litter, but he's also the quietest; his ears are a little too floppy for the rest of his head, and he tends to duck down and hide behind them whenever someone rolls a ball over his way. He still nudges the ball with his nose, ears perked slightly, but when Patrick barks at him happily, trying to get him to smile back, Bob tilts his head to one side before rubbing one paw over his nose (he towers over Patrick, who's not that much bigger than Frank, to be honest, and Spencer admires the way Patrick isn't intimidated at all).
Spencer likes watching them; they all seem nice, and he wants to play with them. But he's still nervous, still uncertain. Ryan races past him with Ray (one of the bigger ones, like Bob, only fluffier instead of stocky) on his heels, and they're both laughing. Spencer feels the first twinges of envy; maybe the new litter isn't so bad.
And then someone's nuzzling into his side, digging gently into his fur. Spencer looks up into a pair of wide brown eyes, and the other puppy grins.
"Hey. What's up? You don't like us?" He cocks an ear at Spencer, leans down to nose at him again. "We're cool, promise. Frank's awesome at wrestling."
Jon - that's the puppy's name. Spencer remembers the way he'd smiled at Spencer first when Greta had introduced them all.
Spencer shies away a bit from him, finally getting up and faking a yawn. "No, I - I like you guys fine. Just." He snuffles a little without thinking as he looks out over the playroom. "I'm not used to new faces, is all."
Jon laughs, and then surprises a bark out of Spencer when he tackles him. Spencer gets the breath knocked out of him for a moment; Jon's heavier than Ryan, even though he's not quite as big as Spencer.
"Hey, get off, that's completely not fair," Spencer grumbles, biting at Jon's ears.
Jon licks him in the face, still grinning. "'Course it's not, that's the whole point. You really need to learn how to play, Spencer, seriously."
Spencer glares at him, but when Jon takes off and barks over his shoulder at him, Spencer runs after him.
~
Brendon sleeps all through their afternoon nap that day. Spencer thinks he hears Greta say something about how she should've brought Frank into the mix ages ago.
Spencer dreams without any interruption, except when he blinks awake with sunshine streaming over his body, warming his vanilla-colored fur, he notices the shiny black body curled into his own. Jon twitches in his sleep, makes tiny, soft grunting noises as if he's in the midst of an adventurous dream.
The warmth of daylight gradually lulls Spencer back to sleep.
~
A family comes a few weeks later; mother, father, and two little girls. They coo over and snuggle with Gerard and Mikey, and eventually Greta's helping load them both into carriers. The little girls are glowing with happiness.
Frank watches Gerard and Mikey disappear into their carriers, and he starts to whine. Greta gives him a sad look, but she simply pats his head before leading the family away, two puppies in tow.
He doesn't play at all for the rest of the day. Brendon tries to cuddle up close to him in the afternoon, but Frank doesn't move, just folds his too-big paws over his muzzle and sighs the saddest sigh Spencer's ever heard. Eventually he gets up and lays down next to Bob, who doesn't cuddle him so much as press his nose against Frank's ear in understanding and sympathy.
~
Spencer doesn't want to think about losing Ryan, or Brendon. He tells himself he should be grateful when more families come and end up passing them over.
Only the families always, always gravitate toward Jon, and whenever Spencer sees a little boy laugh as Jon licks their chin, he thinks maybe he knows what made Frank so very, very sad.
"I don't want you to leave," Spencer whispers to Jon that night. They are side by side, their cheeks pressed together, Jon's ear flopped over Spencer's nose.
"I'm not," Jon says around a yawn, wiggling closer.
"You might. Families love you. They're gonna take you just like they took Gerard and Mikey, and then I'll be like Frank." Spencer can barely stand the look in Frank's eyes now.
"I'm not leaving you, okay? I can't leave you guys." Jon stretches his back leg and it digs into Brendon's belly, making Brendon snuffle and roll onto his back, half onto Ryan, who simply sighs in his sleep.
Spencer doesn't think Jon can promise something like that. But there's nothing he can do about it, so he huffs and tries to go back to sleep, wishing for the happy warmth of sunshine.
~
Eventually, a young couple tries to take Patrick, which leads to a lot of howling and whimpering on Pete's part, which then leads to growling and Pete latching onto the guy's pant leg with his teeth. No amount of force is able to pry him off, and finally Greta throws up her hands in defeat and says, sheepishly, "Uh, two for the price of one? They're, um, kind of attached."
The couple exchange a look, and Patrick looks up at them with huge, shiny puppy eyes. They crack in no time, and Pete immediately relinquishes his hold on the pant leg the moment he realizes he's not being separated from his Patrick.
Spencer sleeps draped over Jon that night, hugging him close, keeping one paw on Ryan and another on Brendon at all times.
~
The woman that comes in just after naptime looks safe enough; she doesn't have any kids with her, and she watches all of them with a gentle smile, but doesn't necessarily focus intently on any one of them specifically. Spencer thinks maybe she's not there to take them away; maybe she's a good friend of Greta's and is here to play with them.
But the woman (Vicky, Spencer hears Greta call her) soon points to Jon and says, "Oh my god, his little tummy! He's adorable!" And Jon, being Jon, thumps his tail and runs over to her, beaming.
Spencer whimpers.
Vicky picks Jon up, rubs her chin over the top of his head. "He's perfect, Greta," she says, cuddling Jon in her arms. "I think the kids will love him, don't you?"
And that's when Brendon bites Vicky's ankle.
Jon manages to wiggle free of Vicky's hold, and he drops onto the floor, scampering over to Spencer and Ryan.
"Not leaving you," he whispers fiercely to Spencer, and then tips his chin up defiantly at Vicky and Greta. Soon Brendon races over and licks Jon, his whole body shivering. The four of them stand huddled together, looking up at the girls with determination.
"You guys," Greta says with exasperation. "Vicky can't take you all, okay?"
Brendon wuffles. Jon nips softly at Spencer's muzzle.
"Guys. Seriously. She didn't come here for four puppies."
Spencer is fairly certain he will bite the next person that tries to take Jon away from him. And Spencer never, ever bites.
Vicky chews her bottom lip. "Well...the kids really do love their animals," she says thoughtfully. "I mean, four's a lot, but I think I've got enough older kids that the responsibility would be good for them." Then she smiles down at them. "Besides, it looks like if I want the black one with the precious belly, I'm going to have to take the whole package."
Greta looks embarrassed. "Vicky, you don't have to, it's really not necessary - "
Spencer barks, loud and sharp. Everyone pauses and stares at him. He glares at Greta, who might actually be blushing a little.
"I - alright, if you really think you can take all four of them." She crosses her arms and gives them a stern look. "Guys, Vicky runs an orphanage. You'll be good boys for her, right? And not make me look bad?"
Jon beams again at Vicky, all pink tongue and perked ears, and that seems to be good enough for everyone involved.
~
They ride together in the back of a minivan, suddenly exhausted. Brendon collapses on top of Spencer, chewing absently at his ears while Jon stacks his nose on Spencer's, Ryan half asleep on him. They sleep through a trip to Petsmart, and when the van pulls up to the large, four story brownstone, Vicky calls softly, "Hey, guys. We're home."
Jon yawns, humming contentedly. "Yeah, home," he mumbles, licking Spencer's cheek.