Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(158) Let's Get A Dog! - Royality

Summary: With 3 kids including a infant baby, Roman and Patton are very busy fathers with busy work schedules too. But Patton always wanted a dog - and he'll get one.

I had fun with the child names this time - they're all after dog breeds because of course Patton would do that XD.

Just had my first final of sophomore year of uni today and I didn't fail! Woop!

Words: 1187

Patton always wanted a dog. As a child he couldn't get one as both his father and little sister were allergic to fur, but he still begged and begged and begged. The best he could get was Nintendogs though, and he played that game every hour in elementary school and even snuck in during study periods in high school. Then he moved out and wherever he rented didn't allow pets. Even when he finally bought a house with his boyfriend-at-the-time Roman, he wanted to focus of careers and adulting (... or is it adultery?) before getting a furry friend.

But Roman was an amazing person, so funny and caring. Forgetting about puppies became easy with him as he had quite a golden retriever personality himself, so Patton could push getting a pet to the back of his mind. After being married for a few years the pair expanded their family in other ways. Firstly Collie was born via a surrogate, then Brittany was adopted from one of Roman's relatives. Lastly they decided to undergo surrogacy again and were blessed with a little boy named Dayne.

OK, maybe thinking about dogs was unavoidable. Roman and Patton considered getting a pet heavily when Brittany was first adopted, as Collie was in elementary school and Brittany was big enough to understand not to pull and chase and scare the small creature. But before they could fully act on their discussions baby fever took over and they planned for another baby again instead.

Now Dayne was crawling and teething, and both Brittany and Collie were in elementary school. Patton was sat on the floor with Dayne while Roman was helping his daughters do homework. "When can we get a dog Dad?" Collie chirped, trying to procrastinate her times tables homework while Brittany beside her worked on spellings.

"Maybe when Dayne's a bit bigger." Patton chirped back, waving an abandoned rattle to avoid his son getting bored and throwing the teething toy he was holding. To make things easier on the dog they should really wait until Dayne was old enough to understand instructions and not scream a high C when people looked away from him. 

"And with my next promotion I can work from home! So the pupper will have plenty of play time and attention while you guys are at school." The fathers had discussed how their work would fit around pets too, as both men had full time jobs. Daycare was already so expensive so the cost of puppy-care or trauma due to abandoning a puppy in an empty house would be immense. That's why they would only get a dog once Roman could work from home.

Apart from it would take a while for Roman to gain that promotion, and he may not necessarily achieve it. And there was a part of Patton's heart that wanted a dog sooner rather than later. 

"But I want a dog! All my friends have dogs and cats and rabbits and hamsters and I want to be like them!" Collie pouted back, getting a disciplined look from her father. She immediately stopped speaking but still looked displeased.

"All families are different Col, you know that. I'm sure some of your friends would want two dads - everyone wants something they can't have." Collie had to agree with that and soon she was asking questions about her times tables again. Patton couldn't stop watching his husband though, he still couldn't believe he married him after all. He was such a good father and husband, sacrificing time he should be spending on work emails to help his girls with their work. 

And whenever Patton went with his thoughts surrounding his love for Roman he always wondered about whether they should get a dog like right in the current moment. Just like years ago he had delightful intrusive thoughts imagining Roman as a father with a baby in his arms or chasing a toddler around, Patton now had similar thoughts about a family dog. Roman already had a golden retriever personality so imagining him walking a dog in the park with all their kids seemed like a perfect dream. 

"Dad!" Brittany's shout distracted Patton from his roaming thoughts, as he smiled at the first grader. Patton moved seeing that cute little face smile back at him every moment, since Patton was luckily also Brittany's teacher. "How do you spell happy?"

Patton wondered over to his daughter to check her spelling, kissing her cheek and looking over the words she was writing in her textbook. She had unfortunately spelt 'happy' as 'hapee'. "Oh you're close!" Patton whispered and hugged his littlest girl. "It's H-A-P-P-Y."

"Maybe if we get a puppy we can name him Happy so Brit can learn her spellings?" Collie tried to bribe but failed, only retrieving a 'nice try' from her fathers before she had her times tables checked.

****

It was late in the evening when Patton could finally exchange his light blue button up for a fluffy, white pyjama top, and he did so straight after placing Dayne back to bed after his night feed. While he was changing Roman was working on his emails in bed. "How's that semi-passive aggressive argument with that boomer going?" Patton chuckled as he spotted the concentrated look on his husband's face.

But Roman looked confused for a second once he heard Patton speak. "Huh? Oh, um, they haven't responded I don't think." He said absentmindedly, indicating he had abandoned the emails long ago. And that meant Patton could get good cuddles. But when Patton finally got into bed he could see Roman scramble to close the particular tab he was on.

"What you doing babe?" Patton chirped happily, lying on Roman's chest and examining the open tabs. It was just a livestream on Twitch.

Roman stroked his husband's hair and mumbled a response. "Nothing honey I was just..." Both Roman and Patton's eyes gravitated to the hidden pinned tab at the same time - and Patton gasped. The tab was the website for the local dog shelter.

"YOU WANT A PUPPY????"

"Don't wake the kids sweetheart." Roman whispered and trapped Patton's lips between his finger to quiet him. Patton did immediately silence but didn't get rid of his goofy grin. "But yes I do."

"What breed should we get?" Patton was practically vibrating as he spoke, and Roman was giving him the fondest and most peaceful look before turning back to his computer screen. He would never stop loving his husband.

Roman clicked back onto the tab and scrolled down to a page showing four young miniature poodle puppies - three brown and one copper. "I did some Googling and found that poodles are the best suited to our family. And these puppies have just arrived to the shelter... And I know your birthday's coming up..."

This time Patton gave Roman a look of love and trapped him in a kiss before answering in a soft whisper. "How about we go on a date there tomorrow to see them?" Roman nodded and kissed his lover back. He was excited to add a new family member.