Hii I have a headcanon request for paul, it's kind of silly;
Vet!imprint that's OBSESSED with big dogs and finds out about Paul's shapeshifting ability (by accident ofc), he's nervous because he expects them to be crazy afraid of him but instead they're so surprised and so happy?
Bonus points if he somehow gets hurt while in wolf form and agrees to get taken care by his imprint in wolf form. He'd feel a little silly about it but anything as long as they're happy lol
this was such a fun request! this is a little rushed but enjoy !! xx
š¾ paul lahote x vet!imprint
youāve loved big dogs for as long as you can remember. great danes, mastiffs, st. bernards - all of them. growing up, you had posters plastered on every inch of your bedroom wall. every breed, random facts - you knew it all. now working as a vet, thereās nothing in the world you love more than getting to take care of them as your job.
you and paul first meet when he takes his new puppy in for a checkup. itās funny - the first time he sees you, he just stands there ; his jaw goes completely slack, eyes fastened on you. (he drops the dogās leash and you two spend nearly twenty minutes chasing it around the veterinarian center.)
before you know it, you start seeing him more and more - first, he books an appointment almost every week for a month straight, then you bump into each other at the grocery store, in the parking lot. heās unavoidable at this point. you know itās a long drive from la push - you canāt understand why he could possibly be doing all of this, making all of this effort.
of course, you find him handsome. okay, really fucking hot. piercing eyes, white teeth, smooth, brown skin. and god, his hair. dark waves framing even darker lashes. and he knows how to flirt - annoyingly well - heās quick with his words and his smiles make you nearly melt. you start getting more and more flustered around him, blushing, tucking your hair behind your ear - when have you ever done that before?
then one day, he asks -almost shy- if you can babysit his dog while he goes to seattle for a while - he doesnāt tell you for how long. you check your shifts, and yeah, maybe you end up squeezing back a couple of unimportant things to fit that in, but whoās checking?
heās gone by the time you get to his house. itās not the first time youāve been here, but heās left a note. it reads: thx so much for helping. i owe you one. take whatever you need. (you smile at his handwriting, all sloppy and scrawled out across the page, picturing him writing furtively before you got there.)
even though heās not with you, youāre comfortable alone in his house. on the third visit, you end up taking one of the jackets from his closet - itās cold, alright? and it smells like him - and snuggling with his dog on the couch. and yeah okay, maybe, maybe you wonder what itād be like to cuddle with him there too.
thatās the night he comes back.
you hear a loud rustling in the bushes outside the house - you think itās a wild fox or some other animal trying to dig through the trash, so you venture outside as quietly as you can.
thatās when you see it. see him.
itās a fucking wolf. absolutely huge ā thick grey fur, massive paws, so tall its snout comes nearly up to your shoulder. a gasp escapes your lips before you can help it.
at the sound, the wolf freezes, starts. big yellow eyes lock on yours.
thereās a loud, suctioning pop ā your eyes can barely focus as the air blurs and ripples around the wolf ā until suddenly itās paul standing there ā all 6ā2ā of him, long limbs and dark hair falling into eyes aflame with panic.
words tumble out of his mouth so fast you can barely make them out. āfuck, ām sorry, i didnāt think- god- fuck- are you okay? iām sorry-ā he steps towards you, strong hands clutching onto your arms like heās afraid youāre going to bolt.
all you can do is reach out, ever so slowly, and cup his face in your palms. his skin burns hot beneath yours.
on a flash of impulse, you stretch up and press your lips to his cheek.
that stops his stuttering, the panic slowly ebbing from his eyes. ābut you- i mean, i just-ā his voice drops low, wide hands trembling on your skin. āplease, y/nā¦arenāt you scared of me?ā
you donāt exactly know how to feel - thereās a flurry of emotions coursing through you all at once - shock, joy, and something much larger than all of that. something more.
you donāt understand how or why or even when, but heās a wolf. and heās yours - you know that, without him even saying the words.
you smile, just barely whispering against the bare column of his neck: āyou have no idea how happy i amā
and he does make you happy, really happy. turns out having a shapeshifter as a boyfriend has some serious perks - heās warm all the time ; snuggling with him is fucking heaven. you love watching him run in his wolf form too, though sometimes all you can see is a grey-brown blur - heās so impossibly fast.
occasionally he even plays fetch with you (thatās your favourite game), though he always mutters something about it being fucking humiliating under his breath. (he has the widest grin on his face when he phases back, anyway, and you tease āthatās the best part of being an imprintā)
one evening, youāre sitting on the porch steps, waiting for him to return from patrol - youāve got plans - when you see the outline of his wolf limping up to the house.
immediately, you know somethingās wrong. you call out his name and he whimpers a little, pawing the ground.
when you get to him, you see heās got a long, rusty nail embedded into the pad of his foot, skin already starting to heal around it.
āoh god, paulā you gasp, and he drops it back to the ground, whining again, louder.
āpaul, baby, iām sorry but weāve got to get that out right now- your foot is all cut to hellā (your heart swells at this - normally heās the one taking care of you, and it seems like you never get the chance to reciprocate. but after all, this is your specialty.)
you lean closer, brushing your hand up his broad nose, whispering ālet me take care of you, okay?ā
his wolf dips his huge head in a nod. though his eyes close in pain as you drop a kiss onto his shaggy fur, you swear you can see him smile.