gator taking in a rejected service dog from the police station
he never wanted to, but as he’s leaving the station that night after his shift, the guy’s just sitting there — abandoned by whatever officer was clearly meant to be looking after him during training. and the dog, the stupid fucking dog is staring up at him with these big, helpless eyes. and he can’t help but think about how cold the winter air is. and how this thing, was fired for being “disobedient,” “clumsy,” “useless.”
he comes home, the door swings open, and before he can even speak, there’s a bark that echoes through the house. you gasp, rushing over to greet the dog, without even giving your boyfriend so much as a “hello.”
“oh, gator! he’s so cuteee!” you squeal, scratching at the scruff under the german shepherd’s chin. “what’s his name? what happened to him?” the words are tumbling out of you as the dog barks back in response to your enthusiasm.
“some asshole abandoned him after he got decommissioned in training. can’t listen to commands for shit, apparently.”
“don’t say that.” you pet the dog sweetly, as he angles his eyes up to you. a small smile comes across your face. “y’know, he kinda looks like you.”
“how can a dog look like me?”
but you’re too distracted to listen. “oh my god, this leash is tattered, we’ve gotta get him a new one! and he doesn’t even have a name on his collar, poor thing.”
“ok, ok, relax!” gator finally speaks, shocked by your instant connection with the creature. “don’t get attached, i’m takin’ him to the shelter tomorrow.” you frown, batting your lashes. next to you, the dog stares up at gator too, a weird admiration in his eyes. “we ain’t gettin’ a dog.”
so by the next week, you’ve officially finished setting up rex’s dog kennel.
you named him that because, in your words, “a human named gator, and a dog named rex! he’s matching with his dad.” yeah, you called gator this mess of a creature’s dad.
rex, despite his name, is not a killer, fighter or anything of the sort. he’s a walking collision waiting to happen. gator didn’t know dogs could be clumsy, but when he hears that knock in the evening, rex is breaking anything in his path as he bounds towards the front door.
what shocks gator the most is who he’s running for. because when gator opens that door, there he is, jumping up and down, unable to contain his excitement seeing gator. “alright! alright!” he crouches down, trying to calm the boy down, ducking his face to avoid the assault of licks coming in his direction. and yeah, sure, rex can get a good chuckle out of him and it is nice to have someone this happy to see him, but it gets to a point where your face is covered in dog drool, that you start to regret your decisions. he remembers you keep treats in the entryway table for this exact reason.
still half blind, he reaches for them. one in his palm immediately attracts rex’s attention. he holds it up and high and commands, “sit!” he doesn’t expect rex to listen. none of your training has worked so far. but moments later, the air in the room is still. and rex is sat quietly in front of gator, his tail thumping against the ground as he waits patiently for his treat. gator gives it, cautious the reward might just make rex go back to being excited.
the dog stays, blinking at gator with those eyes again. he chuckles in disbelief. yeah it’s a damn dog, but hey, someone listened to him for once. he leaps forward, showering rex in lots of pats. “yeah, that’s my boy!” he cheers excitedly and rex sinks to the ground and turns, in search of belly rubs. gator gives them happily. “yeah, good boyyy.”
and as rex looks at him again, eyes sparkling to hear gator’s praise, maybe he kind of gets it when you say he’s “just like his dad.”
a/n: saw this and pretty much died, HE'S JUST A BABY
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