SGA-fic: Canis Major (EP-verse, John/Rodney, G)
Title: Canis Major
Author: Zinnith
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: G
Word count: ~3000
Notes: Happy birthday, sgamadison! Apologies for the very late present.
Summary: John gets a dog. Rodney adapts.
Read on AO3: Canis Major
Read on LJ:
Canis Major
They’ve lived in the house for a few weeks when John starts disappearing. It’s mostly in the afternoons and sometimes in the evenings. He’s usually gone for a couple of hours and never tells Rodney where he’s been when he comes back.
At first, Rodney is so relieved that John does come back that he doesn’t want to make a big thing out of it. When they agreed to do this, buy the house and live together, Rodney knew there would be a transition period. John has an almost desperate need for space and privacy, and Rodney is trying his very best to be patient and give him time to get used to their new living arrangements. A John who goes off on his own without a word is much preferable to a John who decides he needs to leave for good.
However, when it’s gone on for long enough that Rodney is reasonably sure that John will keep coming home to him, he can’t contain his curiosity any longer.
“What on earth is he doing?” he asks Laura one afternoon while John is away on another mystery excursion.
“Why don’t you ask him, genius?” is Laura’s response.
And Rodney means to ask, he really does, but things get in the way, and perhaps he’s a tiny little bit scared of what the answer might be. John’s secret remains a secret until one Tuesday afternoon 4 a.m. when John texts him an address, followed by the demand that he ‘Hurry up and get here, there’s someone you need to meet.’
Dread and curiosity are warring for Rodney’s attention while he hunts down his car keys. It’s not far, but in the twenty minutes it takes him to reach his destination, he’s had enough time to go through a long list of potential someones. The imaginary leggy, devoted blonde isn’t even the worst alternative.
The storm of nervous anticipation dies down a tiny little bit when he sees the building and the sign with the words Lucky Paws Dog Rescue in pink and yellow. All right. It could have been worse. On the other hand, it could have been better.
John has been talking about getting a dog since they first started discussing finding a place and moving in together, and Rodney has been listening with half an ear, too preoccupied with the actual moving in together to have time to consider the rest.
He’s not a fan of dogs. Mother had a yappy little furball of a thing when Rodney and Jeannie were kids, but no one actually liked it. Mother kept it mostly because it drove Father insane and Rodney and Jeannie tolerated it because taking it on walks at least gave them an excuse to get out of the house. The pest moved more in a slow waddle than a walk though, and Rodney got tired of it when some of his stupid classmates started riding past on their bikes, jeering and making fun of him for having a fat dog.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a very happy dog. Then again, no one in that house was very happy.
It’s a sunny day and the kennels outside the building are full of dogs in all shapes and sizes. Rodney gets out of the car and walks through the gate, unsure of what to do. John is nowhere to be seen and the place looks empty, save for the dogs. He walks up to one of the kennels and peers through the fence.
A big, morose-looking dog looks back at him. It’s grey around the muzzle and the entire dog from nose to tail looks kind of... droopy. At least it’s quiet. The pug next to it hasn’t stopped barking since Rodney came close and he’s actually a little afraid that it’ll suffocate from lack of air and he’ll be accused of being a dog killer.
Just when Rodney has more or less decided to cut his losses and escape, a girl comes up to him. She’s young enough that she can’t possibly be out of high school yet, and looks disgustingly perky, wearing a t-shirt in the same colours as the sign.
“Hi, I’m Tanya! Are you interested in adopting? Sawyer here is a darling!”
Rodney doesn’t doubt Sawyer’s good qualities, but the dog also looks like he’s about to collapse from sheer boredom. “Um... no. Yes? I don’t know. My... um, my... John asked me to meet him here.”
Her smile grows so wide that it looks like her face is about to split in two. “Oh, you’re Mr Sheppard’s partner! Lady is such a lucky pup! Have you met her yet?”
“No. No I have most certainly not met Lady.”
Tanya grabs him by the elbow and drags him away from the kennel, around the house, before he has a chance to protest about inappropriate invasion of personal space. “I bet you can’t wait! Come with me, they’re right back here!”
Behind the building is a lawn, a couple of chairs and a plastic table, and more dog toys than Rodney has seen in the same place in his entire life. Also, there is John, standing barefoot on the grass, throwing a tennis ball for a black mutt, who chases after it with the kind of energy that makes Rodney exhausted just to watch it.
“Aren’t they cute together?” Tanya whispers. Then raises her voice and waves and shouts, “Mister S, your boyfriend’s here!”
John turns around, his body loose and easy, with none of the guarded tension that usually lingers there. He’s beaming and his eyes rival the sun for brightness and Rodney immediately has to disagree with Tanya. John isn’t cute. He’s beautiful, radiant, stunning. He can be described with more synonyms than Rodney keeps in his head. He’s the most perfect thing Rodney has ever laid eyes on, even sweaty and gross, covered in dog hair, with grass stains on his jeans.
The dog, well. It’s a dog. Black fur, long pink tongue hanging out of her mouth. She’s large, even for a half-grown pup. Judging by the size of her paws, she’ll probably grow up to be enormous.
John comes jogging over, just a hint of a limp in his step, and the dog follows, her eyes firmly fixed on the tennis ball in his hand. It’s chewed almost to tatters, Rodney notes, and glumly begins to picture the fate of his new shoes.
He’s introduced to Lady, who turns out to be a eight-months-old lab mix (“Mixed with what, grizzly bear?” Rodney exclaims and then quickly withdraws his foot to deprive John of the chance to stomp on his toes.) She loves children (probably for breakfast) and playing tug-of-war (imagine the property damage!) and is capable of producing an unholy amount of slobber.
She also seems to have adopted John as her own already and John has obviously made up his mind. He’s discussing paperwork and shots with Tanya while Rodney watches the whole thing unfold with no small amount of uncertainty.
“Um. I have a cat,” he chimes in.“We have a cat. She’s not going to... you know, eat him or anything?”
Tanya starts laughing like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard, a very unfair reaction if you ask Rodney. It’s a perfectly legitimate question. Lady looks like a hungry dog. Who knows if she’ll be able to tell the difference between kibble and a poor innocent cat.
“You mean is Newt going to eat her?” John asks, one eyebrow raised. He has always doubted Newton’s delicate constitution, the villain.
After Tanya has caught her breath and wiped the tears from her eyes, she gives them tips on how to introduce new pets. John listens attentively and Rodney resigns himself to the fact that their little family is about to get bigger.
And, well. John never asks for anything, even though Rodney would gladly give him everything he ever wanted, if John would only let him. If Rodney says no, it’s going to be a very long time before John asks for something again.
If John wants a dog, then a dog he shall have.
* * *
John spends three days dog-proofing the house. Rodney spends them reading everything he can get his hands on concerning dogs and is reminded of exactly why he isn’t a dog person. It’s a lot of work. They need to be walked and groomed and trained. Cats are so much easier. As long as Newton is properly fed and someone cleans out his litter box, he pretty much takes care of himself. Rodney is afraid that poor Newton will be incredibly jealous of all the attention the new little beast is going to get. He’s used to being the master of the house.
“It’s important that we all get along, do you understand?” he tells Newton. John is off shopping for a doggy bed or something like that and isn’t around to hear the discussion, thank god. “We want John to be happy, all right? I don’t like it either, but let’s try.”
Newton yawns, turns around, and starts licking his butt.
* * *
Then comes the moment when everything is ready and John brings Lady home. Rodney walks around the house, checking everything, drinking coffee, wringing his hands, waiting for the sound of the door opening. He’s already decided to be reasonable about this, to give Lady a chance. She can’t be all that bad, can she?
It’s a disaster.
The front door opens and John shouts, “Rodney, we’re home!” Lady walks in, catches sight of Newton, who’s sitting on the hall rug, washing himself. The dog lunges, Newton sets off like his tail caught on fire, and Lady proceeds to chase him through the house until he takes refuge on top of a bookshelf in the livingroom.
“Sorry, sorry!” John says and hurries to right the table and pick up the magazines from the floor. “I shouldn’t have taken off the leash!”
“You think!?” Rodney yells. Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Reasonable. Right. Give her a chance. “We’re going to need some new house rules.”
The instruction sheets from the shelter says to give new and old pets their own designated areas. Newton, however, sees the entire house as his designated area, and isn’t too fond of being restricted to Rodney’s study and the kitchen. Lady obviously sees the poor little cat as prey and jumps him as soon as she sees him, which leads to John running after them both, shouting, “No! Lady! No chasing!”
If the chaos was taking place in someone else’s home, Rodney would probably laugh. Now, however, it’s not so funny. He brings Newton into the study with him. John takes Lady for a walk. The house is quiet for half an hour before it all starts up again.
Cat and dog can not be left alone together, not even with a sturdy wooden gate put up between the kitchen and the living room. Lady jumps over the gate and John and Rodney are woken up by the sound of crashing furniture, excited barking, and angry yowling. They decide that Lady should sleep in the garage. Then it turns out that she doesn’t like being on her own out there and spends the night howling until John takes his pillow and blankets and goes to sleep on his couch in the garage to keep her company. He spends the next three nights out there. Rodney lies awake in the bedroom, Newton curled up beside him in the empty space John left, and wonders if this is what their life is going to be like from now on.
“It might take a while,” says the people at the shelter, when Rodney calls to bemoan his cruel fate, secretly hoping that they’ll deem it a hopeless case and send someone to take Lady back. “Just keep at it and give them time to get used to each other, they’ll be best friends before you know it!”
Then comes the tell-tale rattle of Lady jumping the gate again, and he has to hang up and run to rescue Newton from the monster’s jaws.
John has been at work all day and even though Rodney has missed him, it looks like Lady missed him more. The moment the front door opens and John steps through and Lady runs for the hall in a mad sprint, turning over a chair in the process. Rodney wearily trudges after her, wondering if he’s always going to have to wait for his turn from now on.
When he gets into the hall, John is crouching on the floor and scratching Lady’s ears, while she’s wagging her tail like crazy, gazing up at him with the same unashamed adoration that Rodney himself might possibly be guilty of from time to time.
In the past, Rodney has often been accused of selfishness. It might even be true. But it’s clear that Lady loves her John, possibly even more than Rodney does. And if there’s anyone who deserves to have his life full of creatures who love him, it’s John.
“Did they behave today?” John asks.
Rodney twists his face into a smile that he hopes looks real and says, “Yes, absolutely, no problems at all!”
John doesn’t call him on the lie, and Rodney silently begins to make plans for the rest of the week.
* * *
When John has left for work the following day, Rodney goes to get the bags of kitty and doggy treats from the kitchen. He puts Lady’s leash on and goes to get Newton from the study. Then, he sits all three of them down on the living room floor.
“All right,” he tells them. “We’re going to learn how to be friends now.” He feeds Newton a treat and points to Lady. “I know she’s big and loud and I’m not her biggest fan either, but we’re not getting rid of her so we better just get used to her.”
Next, Lady gets a treat. “Look, he’s not food, he’s not a funny toy for you to chase, he’s a friend, all right? If you want to live here, you need to be a good dog and not terrorize him.”
They spend about an hour on the floor, with Lady on a tight leash and Newton just out of her reach. Rodney doesn’t stop with the treats until he’s managed to get them both to lie down and stay calm and not bark and hiss at each other. It demands every ounce of patience he’s ever possessed and he keeps reminding himself that he’s doing this for John.
The next day brings more progress. Lady sniffs Newton from nose to tail and Newton actually stays put while she’s doing it. He doesn’t look happy, but every time he makes a move to get up and escape, Rodney gives him another treat.
Rodney keeps working with them every day while John’s at work until he can leave them in a room together for a few minutes and not find the entire house torn apart when he returns. It’s a little victory.
* * *
Classes start after the summer and the day comes when it’s Rodney’s turn to go to work at the University and John gets to stay home all day with the critters. It’s not that he misses them. Well, he does miss John, of course, but he always misses John when he’s not around, so that’s pretty much status quo. But there is a brief moment when he has lunch in the cafeteria and wonders what’s different when he realizes that he’s eaten half his meal and no dog head with big, hungry, begging eyes has appeared on his thigh.
There’s a ton of new students whose name he will never learn, and when the day is over he spends the drive home thinking over what kind of writing exercises would be best to weed out the real talent from the kids who picked Creative Writing just because they thought it would be an easy class. (Ha! He’ll show them!)
When he steps inside the door, he’s immediately assaulted by fifty-five pounds of happy dog. John is quick to appear on her heels, a little short of breath, like he’s been running after her.
“Lady! No! No jumping!”
Once she’s down on the floor again, tail still spinning around like a joyful propeller, Rodney pats her head. “Yes, yes, I’m home. Nice to see you too, mutt.”
He can’t deny that it’s a not entirely unpleasant to be greeted with so much enthusiasm. With John, it’s usually a complaint about wet towels on the bathroom floor. Newton only comes to meet them at the door when he’s hungry.
They cook dinner and spend the rest of the evening in front of the tv, half heartedly watching an old action movie while they tell each other about their days, about students and stupid colleagues, about the wallpaper for the bedroom that John wants to pick out this weekend. Rodney dozes off on the couch half way through the last car chase with his head in John’s lap.
An undefined amount of time later, John pokes him awake and silently points to the floor. Rodney raises his head and winces at the crick in his neck.
Lady’s stretched out below the couch, asleep and snoring. Newton is lying beside her, using her belly as a pillow. It’s the kind of picture that would make the rounds on the internet with various added captions.
“Would you look at that,” Rodney mutters in amazement.
John bows down to press a kiss against his forehead. “Thanks.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rodney yawns. He goes back to sleep with a smile.
-fin-
Author: Zinnith
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: G
Word count: ~3000
Notes: Happy birthday, sgamadison! Apologies for the very late present.
Summary: John gets a dog. Rodney adapts.
Read on AO3: Canis Major
Read on LJ:
Canis Major
They’ve lived in the house for a few weeks when John starts disappearing. It’s mostly in the afternoons and sometimes in the evenings. He’s usually gone for a couple of hours and never tells Rodney where he’s been when he comes back.
At first, Rodney is so relieved that John does come back that he doesn’t want to make a big thing out of it. When they agreed to do this, buy the house and live together, Rodney knew there would be a transition period. John has an almost desperate need for space and privacy, and Rodney is trying his very best to be patient and give him time to get used to their new living arrangements. A John who goes off on his own without a word is much preferable to a John who decides he needs to leave for good.
However, when it’s gone on for long enough that Rodney is reasonably sure that John will keep coming home to him, he can’t contain his curiosity any longer.
“What on earth is he doing?” he asks Laura one afternoon while John is away on another mystery excursion.
“Why don’t you ask him, genius?” is Laura’s response.
And Rodney means to ask, he really does, but things get in the way, and perhaps he’s a tiny little bit scared of what the answer might be. John’s secret remains a secret until one Tuesday afternoon 4 a.m. when John texts him an address, followed by the demand that he ‘Hurry up and get here, there’s someone you need to meet.’
Dread and curiosity are warring for Rodney’s attention while he hunts down his car keys. It’s not far, but in the twenty minutes it takes him to reach his destination, he’s had enough time to go through a long list of potential someones. The imaginary leggy, devoted blonde isn’t even the worst alternative.
The storm of nervous anticipation dies down a tiny little bit when he sees the building and the sign with the words Lucky Paws Dog Rescue in pink and yellow. All right. It could have been worse. On the other hand, it could have been better.
John has been talking about getting a dog since they first started discussing finding a place and moving in together, and Rodney has been listening with half an ear, too preoccupied with the actual moving in together to have time to consider the rest.
He’s not a fan of dogs. Mother had a yappy little furball of a thing when Rodney and Jeannie were kids, but no one actually liked it. Mother kept it mostly because it drove Father insane and Rodney and Jeannie tolerated it because taking it on walks at least gave them an excuse to get out of the house. The pest moved more in a slow waddle than a walk though, and Rodney got tired of it when some of his stupid classmates started riding past on their bikes, jeering and making fun of him for having a fat dog.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a very happy dog. Then again, no one in that house was very happy.
It’s a sunny day and the kennels outside the building are full of dogs in all shapes and sizes. Rodney gets out of the car and walks through the gate, unsure of what to do. John is nowhere to be seen and the place looks empty, save for the dogs. He walks up to one of the kennels and peers through the fence.
A big, morose-looking dog looks back at him. It’s grey around the muzzle and the entire dog from nose to tail looks kind of... droopy. At least it’s quiet. The pug next to it hasn’t stopped barking since Rodney came close and he’s actually a little afraid that it’ll suffocate from lack of air and he’ll be accused of being a dog killer.
Just when Rodney has more or less decided to cut his losses and escape, a girl comes up to him. She’s young enough that she can’t possibly be out of high school yet, and looks disgustingly perky, wearing a t-shirt in the same colours as the sign.
“Hi, I’m Tanya! Are you interested in adopting? Sawyer here is a darling!”
Rodney doesn’t doubt Sawyer’s good qualities, but the dog also looks like he’s about to collapse from sheer boredom. “Um... no. Yes? I don’t know. My... um, my... John asked me to meet him here.”
Her smile grows so wide that it looks like her face is about to split in two. “Oh, you’re Mr Sheppard’s partner! Lady is such a lucky pup! Have you met her yet?”
“No. No I have most certainly not met Lady.”
Tanya grabs him by the elbow and drags him away from the kennel, around the house, before he has a chance to protest about inappropriate invasion of personal space. “I bet you can’t wait! Come with me, they’re right back here!”
Behind the building is a lawn, a couple of chairs and a plastic table, and more dog toys than Rodney has seen in the same place in his entire life. Also, there is John, standing barefoot on the grass, throwing a tennis ball for a black mutt, who chases after it with the kind of energy that makes Rodney exhausted just to watch it.
“Aren’t they cute together?” Tanya whispers. Then raises her voice and waves and shouts, “Mister S, your boyfriend’s here!”
John turns around, his body loose and easy, with none of the guarded tension that usually lingers there. He’s beaming and his eyes rival the sun for brightness and Rodney immediately has to disagree with Tanya. John isn’t cute. He’s beautiful, radiant, stunning. He can be described with more synonyms than Rodney keeps in his head. He’s the most perfect thing Rodney has ever laid eyes on, even sweaty and gross, covered in dog hair, with grass stains on his jeans.
The dog, well. It’s a dog. Black fur, long pink tongue hanging out of her mouth. She’s large, even for a half-grown pup. Judging by the size of her paws, she’ll probably grow up to be enormous.
John comes jogging over, just a hint of a limp in his step, and the dog follows, her eyes firmly fixed on the tennis ball in his hand. It’s chewed almost to tatters, Rodney notes, and glumly begins to picture the fate of his new shoes.
He’s introduced to Lady, who turns out to be a eight-months-old lab mix (“Mixed with what, grizzly bear?” Rodney exclaims and then quickly withdraws his foot to deprive John of the chance to stomp on his toes.) She loves children (probably for breakfast) and playing tug-of-war (imagine the property damage!) and is capable of producing an unholy amount of slobber.
She also seems to have adopted John as her own already and John has obviously made up his mind. He’s discussing paperwork and shots with Tanya while Rodney watches the whole thing unfold with no small amount of uncertainty.
“Um. I have a cat,” he chimes in.“We have a cat. She’s not going to... you know, eat him or anything?”
Tanya starts laughing like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard, a very unfair reaction if you ask Rodney. It’s a perfectly legitimate question. Lady looks like a hungry dog. Who knows if she’ll be able to tell the difference between kibble and a poor innocent cat.
“You mean is Newt going to eat her?” John asks, one eyebrow raised. He has always doubted Newton’s delicate constitution, the villain.
After Tanya has caught her breath and wiped the tears from her eyes, she gives them tips on how to introduce new pets. John listens attentively and Rodney resigns himself to the fact that their little family is about to get bigger.
And, well. John never asks for anything, even though Rodney would gladly give him everything he ever wanted, if John would only let him. If Rodney says no, it’s going to be a very long time before John asks for something again.
If John wants a dog, then a dog he shall have.
* * *
John spends three days dog-proofing the house. Rodney spends them reading everything he can get his hands on concerning dogs and is reminded of exactly why he isn’t a dog person. It’s a lot of work. They need to be walked and groomed and trained. Cats are so much easier. As long as Newton is properly fed and someone cleans out his litter box, he pretty much takes care of himself. Rodney is afraid that poor Newton will be incredibly jealous of all the attention the new little beast is going to get. He’s used to being the master of the house.
“It’s important that we all get along, do you understand?” he tells Newton. John is off shopping for a doggy bed or something like that and isn’t around to hear the discussion, thank god. “We want John to be happy, all right? I don’t like it either, but let’s try.”
Newton yawns, turns around, and starts licking his butt.
* * *
Then comes the moment when everything is ready and John brings Lady home. Rodney walks around the house, checking everything, drinking coffee, wringing his hands, waiting for the sound of the door opening. He’s already decided to be reasonable about this, to give Lady a chance. She can’t be all that bad, can she?
It’s a disaster.
The front door opens and John shouts, “Rodney, we’re home!” Lady walks in, catches sight of Newton, who’s sitting on the hall rug, washing himself. The dog lunges, Newton sets off like his tail caught on fire, and Lady proceeds to chase him through the house until he takes refuge on top of a bookshelf in the livingroom.
“Sorry, sorry!” John says and hurries to right the table and pick up the magazines from the floor. “I shouldn’t have taken off the leash!”
“You think!?” Rodney yells. Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Reasonable. Right. Give her a chance. “We’re going to need some new house rules.”
The instruction sheets from the shelter says to give new and old pets their own designated areas. Newton, however, sees the entire house as his designated area, and isn’t too fond of being restricted to Rodney’s study and the kitchen. Lady obviously sees the poor little cat as prey and jumps him as soon as she sees him, which leads to John running after them both, shouting, “No! Lady! No chasing!”
If the chaos was taking place in someone else’s home, Rodney would probably laugh. Now, however, it’s not so funny. He brings Newton into the study with him. John takes Lady for a walk. The house is quiet for half an hour before it all starts up again.
Cat and dog can not be left alone together, not even with a sturdy wooden gate put up between the kitchen and the living room. Lady jumps over the gate and John and Rodney are woken up by the sound of crashing furniture, excited barking, and angry yowling. They decide that Lady should sleep in the garage. Then it turns out that she doesn’t like being on her own out there and spends the night howling until John takes his pillow and blankets and goes to sleep on his couch in the garage to keep her company. He spends the next three nights out there. Rodney lies awake in the bedroom, Newton curled up beside him in the empty space John left, and wonders if this is what their life is going to be like from now on.
“It might take a while,” says the people at the shelter, when Rodney calls to bemoan his cruel fate, secretly hoping that they’ll deem it a hopeless case and send someone to take Lady back. “Just keep at it and give them time to get used to each other, they’ll be best friends before you know it!”
Then comes the tell-tale rattle of Lady jumping the gate again, and he has to hang up and run to rescue Newton from the monster’s jaws.
John has been at work all day and even though Rodney has missed him, it looks like Lady missed him more. The moment the front door opens and John steps through and Lady runs for the hall in a mad sprint, turning over a chair in the process. Rodney wearily trudges after her, wondering if he’s always going to have to wait for his turn from now on.
When he gets into the hall, John is crouching on the floor and scratching Lady’s ears, while she’s wagging her tail like crazy, gazing up at him with the same unashamed adoration that Rodney himself might possibly be guilty of from time to time.
In the past, Rodney has often been accused of selfishness. It might even be true. But it’s clear that Lady loves her John, possibly even more than Rodney does. And if there’s anyone who deserves to have his life full of creatures who love him, it’s John.
“Did they behave today?” John asks.
Rodney twists his face into a smile that he hopes looks real and says, “Yes, absolutely, no problems at all!”
John doesn’t call him on the lie, and Rodney silently begins to make plans for the rest of the week.
* * *
When John has left for work the following day, Rodney goes to get the bags of kitty and doggy treats from the kitchen. He puts Lady’s leash on and goes to get Newton from the study. Then, he sits all three of them down on the living room floor.
“All right,” he tells them. “We’re going to learn how to be friends now.” He feeds Newton a treat and points to Lady. “I know she’s big and loud and I’m not her biggest fan either, but we’re not getting rid of her so we better just get used to her.”
Next, Lady gets a treat. “Look, he’s not food, he’s not a funny toy for you to chase, he’s a friend, all right? If you want to live here, you need to be a good dog and not terrorize him.”
They spend about an hour on the floor, with Lady on a tight leash and Newton just out of her reach. Rodney doesn’t stop with the treats until he’s managed to get them both to lie down and stay calm and not bark and hiss at each other. It demands every ounce of patience he’s ever possessed and he keeps reminding himself that he’s doing this for John.
The next day brings more progress. Lady sniffs Newton from nose to tail and Newton actually stays put while she’s doing it. He doesn’t look happy, but every time he makes a move to get up and escape, Rodney gives him another treat.
Rodney keeps working with them every day while John’s at work until he can leave them in a room together for a few minutes and not find the entire house torn apart when he returns. It’s a little victory.
* * *
Classes start after the summer and the day comes when it’s Rodney’s turn to go to work at the University and John gets to stay home all day with the critters. It’s not that he misses them. Well, he does miss John, of course, but he always misses John when he’s not around, so that’s pretty much status quo. But there is a brief moment when he has lunch in the cafeteria and wonders what’s different when he realizes that he’s eaten half his meal and no dog head with big, hungry, begging eyes has appeared on his thigh.
There’s a ton of new students whose name he will never learn, and when the day is over he spends the drive home thinking over what kind of writing exercises would be best to weed out the real talent from the kids who picked Creative Writing just because they thought it would be an easy class. (Ha! He’ll show them!)
When he steps inside the door, he’s immediately assaulted by fifty-five pounds of happy dog. John is quick to appear on her heels, a little short of breath, like he’s been running after her.
“Lady! No! No jumping!”
Once she’s down on the floor again, tail still spinning around like a joyful propeller, Rodney pats her head. “Yes, yes, I’m home. Nice to see you too, mutt.”
He can’t deny that it’s a not entirely unpleasant to be greeted with so much enthusiasm. With John, it’s usually a complaint about wet towels on the bathroom floor. Newton only comes to meet them at the door when he’s hungry.
They cook dinner and spend the rest of the evening in front of the tv, half heartedly watching an old action movie while they tell each other about their days, about students and stupid colleagues, about the wallpaper for the bedroom that John wants to pick out this weekend. Rodney dozes off on the couch half way through the last car chase with his head in John’s lap.
An undefined amount of time later, John pokes him awake and silently points to the floor. Rodney raises his head and winces at the crick in his neck.
Lady’s stretched out below the couch, asleep and snoring. Newton is lying beside her, using her belly as a pillow. It’s the kind of picture that would make the rounds on the internet with various added captions.
“Would you look at that,” Rodney mutters in amazement.
John bows down to press a kiss against his forehead. “Thanks.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rodney yawns. He goes back to sleep with a smile.
-fin-