Reckless

Love Yourself

(Happy 3rd/4th of July. Please remember to keep your pets inside when there are fireworks!)

Tommy-

"How did the call go today?" Tommy asked as he opened his eyes and looked over to see Christopher saunter tiredly through the door to the infirmary. The man had been gone far longer than his normal daily talks with Domino, so Tommy wondered if something had happened.

When Christopher just glanced up and shrugged, Tommy's brows furrowed in confusion. He was about to question him again when he heard a quiet yip. Christopher shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, then finally turned so that he was completely facing Tommy.

"Oh. My. God."

If he wasn't handcuffed to Christopher's bed again because he'd wanted to sit up for a darn minute, he would have jumped out of the stupid thing and grabbed the adorable dog tucked under the man's arm in a heartbeat.

It's so cute! It's gotta be a Pomeranian mix of some sort. He thought as he eyed the calm little dog. It had a bright gold coat that had clearly been groomed recently, but it's snout was longer than a normal Pomeranian and it's legs were also not quite as short.

"Go annoy him, Skipper. I've got some more work to do." Christopher said as he set the little dog down.

Tommy couldn't help but grin as it came straight to him, then hopped up onto his bed and lied down in the perfect spot against his side to be pet. It's almost like he's been trained... His heart twisted as his hand mussed the fur atop the pup's head.

Of course you're one of his. Or at least, he trained you. Tommy thought as he felt the dog nuzzle into his palm. "He sure was amazing at training therapy dogs," he finally said as he continued to watch the little dog.

He heard a grunt of acknowledgement from Christopher, but when the man didn't say anything else, he glanced over to where he sat at his desk, filling out forms. He had the chair tilted away from him just enough so that he couldn't see his face, which was a bit odd for him. When Tommy looked back to the dog, it was staring at Christopher with its ears pinned down and wide eyes.

"Go get your daddy, Skip." He whispered to it as he gently set it down on the floor, having to lift it by its scruff because he couldn't move too well yet.

The moment the dog's paws hit the floor, it was bounding over to Christopher. The man tried to ignore it, and did a decent job for several minutes until the dog just hopped up into lap. Christopher glared down at it, but Skipper just curled up with a fluffy tail wag. Tommy thought he might toss the dog off, especially because he had several more forms to work on, but after a silent moment of staring at the dog, he heaved a quiet sigh and moved his left hand to the dog's head as his right one continued to write.

"Did you get him when your brother... passed?" Tommy finally asked, the question having been on his mind since he saw the dog.

Christopher took a moment longer than normal to look over at him, and didn't even bother holding his gaze as he replied. "No. He was a gift a little over a year ago."

A gift? Tommy thought, curious. The dog had clearly been trained for therapy, and if its behavior didn't make that obvious, the little vest it had almost completely hidden by its fluffy fur, made it clear.

His brother gave him a therapy dog as a gift?

Staring at the two, he slowly realized what Emmet had seen. His big brother might be an incredibly good doctor and could easily handle treating all sorts of people, but who did have for himself? No one. He thought, remembering the long nights of watching the man at the club in between sessions with others. He rarely played with any of the twinks after seeing them once, and sometimes he didn't even bother with someone else, and would instead just read by himself in a corner.