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Logan hated night exams. Every other day, he got off by 4 at the latest, but today it was 8:45pm and he hadn’t even eaten dinner yet.
He was, as some people might claim, grumpy.
Luckily, Patton had promised to go a bit before the exam ended and get a table at a nearby restaurant. The food should be ready by the time Logan walked there. That fact had figuratively saved the life of the TA that showed up 15 minutes late to the exam because he’d “overslept” at 6:30 in the fucking evening.
He was so focused on the prospect of trading exam papers and TAs for food and the company of his husband that if he’d been anyone else, someone who didn’t always have just a bit of his senses occupied with detecting signs of distress, he likely would have walked straight by.
Logan, however, was not only a college professor, and while sometimes he pretended that the problems in his life were restricted to late TAs and students who tried to fill in scantrons with pens, they were not, and they had not been in many years.
So, when his feet suddenly deviated from the path to the restaurant, Logan didn’t resist the instinct even though he couldn’t quite tell what had caught his attention or which of his sense had picked up on it. He simply turned down a small alleyway.
There he found what looked upon first glance like a very dirty mop tied to a pole. Except then the mop looked at him.
A dog.
Logan crouched down next to it. He placed his hand gently on its head and its tail flicked halfheartedly.
Logan wasn’t sure how long it had been there, but the answer was surely too long. It was off the beaten path for pedestrians, and it was likely no one had been by in a very long time. While it wasn’t as cold as it could be, else he was sure the thing would be dead by now, it was still shivering quite violently under Logan’s touch. It barely seemed able to move and its fur was matted. There was no sign of a water or food dish to be seen, and it seemed to have a festering wound under its chin. Its head flopped to the ground weakly.
There was every likelihood that the creature would die before Logan could get it help, but lord help him if the thing was going to die cold.
He snapped the leash with his powers and unzipped his coat before gathering the dog up into his arms. He zipped up the coat around it the best he could, so it’s head just barely popped out near Logan’s neck.
He kept one arm holding the animal against him while the other grabbed his cell phone.
“Lo-”
“I need you to figure out where the nearest animal hospital is and meet me outside the restaurant,” Logan said, already walking toward it as he spoke.
There was barely a pause. “Okay. How far are you?”
“Second and College.”
“I’ll pay for the food and be there.”
Patton was waiting outside the restaurant holding a bag with packaged food by the time Logan made it there. He walked quickly up to Logan when he saw him, his eyes catching on the face poking out of Logan’s jacket.
“Oh,” he said softly. He reached out a hand to touch it gently on the ear. “Hi puppy.” The dog made a little whining sound and tried to nuzzle back against Patton’s touch.
“We need to go now Patton,” Logan said firmly.
“The car’s right there. I got the address from a phone book.” Logan nodded and they hurried to the car, the dog still clutched to his chest.
The animal hospital was only a few blocks away. The dog was not dead when he handed it over to the vet, but he didn’t know if that would last.
They waited at the animal hospital even though realistically they should have gone home. It was, after all, just a stray, not a beloved family pet. Yet, Logan didn’t suggest it and Patton said nothing on the topic either.
They ate the takeout food from the restaurant and Logan was glad Patton had the foresight to ask for it to be boxed up because it took hours to hear anything back.
Finally, the vet came to give them a report. They’d need to keep her here for a few days, but it seemed like she was going to pull through. Then the vet had asked if they wanted to see her which it would honestly be silly at that point for them to say no. So, they went in to see the dog.
It was laying on a blanket in a metal cage with a couple of other animals in adjacent ones. The vet opened the door to the cage for them seeing as it wasn’t as though she was going to get up and run away anyway.
The dog looked up at them with big round eyes and Logan found himself crouching in front of the cage and reaching in to scratch it behind the ear. Its tail started wagging a bit. Logan smiled softly at it.
He looked over as his husband also leaned forward to pet the dog with gentle fingers. Something intense passed over his face when the dog pushed back against the touch.
Oh, Logan realized. They… they had a dog now, didn’t they?
“Hey little miss,” Patton said. “How are you feeling?” The dog responded to the tone, making a soft whining noise and flicking its tail just a bit faster.
Patton made a little noise in response. “Do you feel better?” He cooed.
The dog perked up at his tone. It made a quiet “bwoff,” noise.
Patton made a dramatically pleased sound. “Do you feel better?” He asked.
More of an enthusiastic “bwoff” sounded.
“Better?” Patton asked.
Its tail started wagging for real now and its ears went up. “Yip!”
“Better?!”
“Yip! Yip!”
“Better!”
“Yip! Yap! Yap! Yip!”
“Oh god,” Logan said. “It’s a yapping dog.”
Patton gave him a little smile that seemed to say I am not being tricked by your grumpy tone. Logan ignored the smile. He just reached forward to scratch at the dog’s ear again.