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If he was honest with himself, this plan had been in the back of his mind since before they had gotten married.
He had known for a long time, before even the idea of marrying David had entered his mind, that a life with David meant a life without kids. At least, kids of their own. David had made his feelings on them very clear. There’s only so many times you can hear your boyfriend say, “and this is why, I hate babies!” without getting the picture. When they had finally sat down and had the conversation, Patrick wasn’t even a little surprised that David didn’t want to be a father. And he wasn’t really surprised that he was okay with not being one either.
But he couldn’t live a life without a dog.
He knew getting David to agree to a pet would be a challenge. Pets were messy, required attention and care, and above all, pets had a tendency to shed on luxury knitwear and chew on designer shoes. But Patrick was determined to get David to change his mind.
When they got back from visiting Alexis in New York, Patrick put his plan into full gear. He knew part of David thought he was joking when he said he was going to do everything he could to get him to agree to a dog, but Patrick had been 100% serious.
They’d been together close to three years at this point, and married for about eight months, and if there was one thing Patrick knew about his husband, it was that he had to be slowly convinced to do anything. And if you could convince him that it happened in a Rom Com? All the better. But he also knew he had to be strategic about it. He couldn’t simply suggest watching Marley and Me, or any other movie blatantly about dogs. It had to be much more subtle.
Two days after they returned from New York his first attempt at subterfuge with was Breakfast at Tiffany’s. David loved the movie, and it was one of the few Rom Coms that Patrick had seen before they had gotten together. His mother had always loved Audrey Hepburn and despite the terrible racist portrayal by Mickey Rooney, it was an enjoyable story with fashion that David envied. He would wax poetics about Holly Golightly’s dresses, her pajamas, the sleep mask and ear plugs she wore.
“I should get some of those.”
“What?”
“The ear plugs. For the nights you fall asleep without putting in your little nose thingy.” David nudged Patrick with his shoulder lightly.
“I am not that bad.”
“As the person who shares your bed, I would like to respectfully disagree.”
When Cat ran away towards the end of the film, Patrick waited for the comment he knew was coming. Sure enough, as Audrey Hepburn ran out into the rain yelling for Cat, he heard David scoff next to him.
“See this is why pets are always a bad idea. Out. In the rain. Ruining her clothes. Her hair is unsalvageable. All for a cat.”
“But it’s the only reason they get together in the end. If she hadn’t been out there…”
“He would have gone to her door and they could have had a conversation inside like civilized people.”
“Well, maybe it’s just an argument against cats. Dogs don’t run away like that.”
David turned to face him and rolled his eyes. “Nice try.” He patted Patrick’s arm and scrunched further down into the couch. “Then she would have just had to deal with taking a dog out in the rain. Equally damaging to her shoes and hair.”
Patrick smirked and let it drop, after all he had plenty of time before the anniversary deadline he had given himself.
The next night when David asked him if he wanted to watch a movie in bed, Patrick decided to nudge David further along. When he suggested Legally Blonde, David had looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
“You want to watch Legally Blonde?” Patrick shrugged. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I like that one.” David looked at him skeptically. “What! I do! Of all the movies you’ve made me watch, that’s one of the ones I enjoy.”
David narrowed his eyes as he pulled the film up. “I don’t know if I should be grateful, or jealous of what is obviously a crush on Luke Wilson.”
“Let’s stick with grateful. It’s only… 12% because of Luke Wilson. 30% because her dog is cute and… 40% because of the UPS guy.”
“That still leaves 18%.”
Patrick shifted further down into the bed and wrapped an arm around David, pulling him close. “Oh. That’s for the running commentary you provide on the wardrobe throughout the film.”
David smirked and leaned against Patrick as the roar of the MGM lion came on the screen. “It’s a perfect time capsule to early 2000s fashion! I could give an entire TED Talk about the use of color and design to signify a character’s mood. The Bridget Jones reference alone would be a thirty minute lesson in how to properly nod towards the past while keeping your take fresh.” Patrick simply hummed in agreement as Reese Witherspoon sauntered onto the screen.
He tried several times over the next few weeks with different films at varying degrees of success. He convinced David to watch Beginners one night, which did nothing except make David wistful about Patrick’s own coming out later in life (if one could call their early 30s late…) and break down into tears at the idea of Patrick never having realized who he really was and instead had lived a life of not-quite happiness.
Patrick probably should have cut him off after his third wine of glass that night.
As Good As it Gets got almost no reaction. After David checked his texts during the film for the fourth time, Patrick knew he had tried the wrong film. Not even Helen Hunt managed to keep David’s attention.
Sweet Home Alabama ended up bringing about a conversation on loss and settling for what you think you should want, instead of what you actually want. It’s the second film that ended up forcing a conversation with a teary David about what his life would have been like if he had married Rachel. Patrick had hoped to use the scene in the pet cemetery as a way to point out how much comfort a dog can give you, and instead found himself exasperatedly trying to convince his husband that things worked out correctly for them and that David wasn’t his Patrick Dempsey.
Must Love Dogs was by far his most obvious attempt and David, predictably, saw through it. “I don’t remember that being in your vows.” Patrick simply smirked, shrugging lightly, as they settled into the couch.
In the two months between visiting Alexis and their honeymoon, the argument Patrick made for Brinkley in You’ve Got Mail ended up being his most successful, though it’s not until their last night in Mexico that he discovered this. The week before they are set to leave, David brings up the film as an option, just as they are climbing into bed earlier than usual after a long day.
The store had been uncharacteristically busy that day and Maggie, their ever-capable employee, had been given the day off in preparation for their absence. The two of them had been rushed on their feet all day, never really having time for a break of any kind, and when the day finally ended, they had shuffled home, neither having very much energy. David had been so tired that when Patrick suggested pizza for dinner, he declined.
“I kind of just want a bowl of cereal and to go to bed.”
“Oh thank god.” Patrick sighed, pulling out bowls as David shuffled to the pantry to pull out the cereal. “I don’t think I have the energy to wait for a pizza.”
When they climbed into bed less than half an hour later, David curled deep into Patrick’s side as he flipped through their movie catalogue. He paused when he got to the bottom, the remote hovering above the comforter. “Will you hate me if I say I wanna watch You’ve Got Mail?”
Patrick snorted out a laugh. “Not at all. We haven’t watched that one in a while.”
David hummed happily as he pressed play and curled his arm around Patrick’s waist, his head pillowed against his chest. They laid there in a happy silence, neither talking much beyond the occasional comment about a scene (“Why would you want your apartment to smell mossy? Ew.”) or an actor (“What do I know her from?” “Who?” “The little girl. She seems familiar.”).
Patrick shifted slightly as the film ended, his hand tangling in David’s hair as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks finally fell into each other’s arms. “We should have gone there.”
“Where?”
“Riverside park. Seen the garden. Looked for Brinkley.” David laughed lightly. “What, he’s the most important character in the whole story. He’s the only reason they get together.”
David sat up and looked at him quizzically. “What? How on earth did you come to that conclusion?”
“It’s how she knows it’s really NY152 and not just Joe screwing with her.” David tilted his head in confusion. “She never tells Joe about the guy’s dog. They talk about him abstractly, about how she feels about him, but never about his dog. It’s a detail Joe doesn’t know. So, when Joe calls for Brinkley, she knows it’s really the man she loves and not just Joe trying to be him.”
“Huh.” David laid back down and wrapped himself around Patrick once more. “I never thought of that.” Patrick grinned to himself as he pulled David against him, praying that his plan was finally working.
Two weeks later while walking along a moonlit beach in Cancun, David handed him his phone with a picture of a small black puppy on it and Patrick knew just how well it worked.
*****
If David knew how happy Patrick would be, he would have agreed to a dog a long time ago.
When they get back from their honeymoon, Patrick goes into full puppy-mode. After getting all of the information from Dr. Miguel about their newest family member, Patrick began a deep dive into learning everything he could about the breed.
David had told him on the beach that part of the reason he had picked this particular dog was because it was both low shed, and hypoallergenic. He was also not going to become a massive dog, Dr. Miguel having ensured David that he’d be at most twenty pounds. After an in-depth conversation with both Dr. Miguel and one very long pun-filled email from Ted, Patrick felt he had a good grasp on what to expect from their jet black labradoodle. But their house was woefully ill prepared.
Despite David’s insistence that he had already spoken with Ronnie about switching out a pane of their sliding glass door in the kitchen for one with a dog door, Patrick does his own research, price comparisons and study on whether or not he could do it himself. His hopes to save some money by doing it himself however, are dashed when David found him sitting at the table one day halfway through a YouTube tutorial.
Patrick startled back from the screen as David’s hand snuck in front of him to press the space bar, pausing the video. “No.”
Patrick blinked a few times before looking up at him. “What? What do you mean, no?”
“Under no circumstance are you attempting to switch out that door by yourself. I already talked to Ronnie. She said it’s a quick job, won’t take her team long, and she’s giving us a discount.”
“I can do it. It’ll be so much cheaper.”
“No. It will end up costing us loads more when inevitably the door becomes too heavy, you ask me to help, I screw it up, it shatters, and one of us ends up in the emergency room getting stitches. No.”
“David…” David closed the laptop, picked it up and walked away with it. “David!”
In the end, Patrick relented and Ronnie was able to switch the panel out easily and pretty cost effectively the week before they were set to pick up the puppy.
Two days before the arrival of the puppy, David walked into the back room at the Apothecary to find Patrick sitting at the desk, looking up dog beds and accessories online. He sighed softly as he stood behind Patrick and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Honey, we already have a ton of stuff for this thing. Maybe wait until it’s with us before getting more?”
Patrick laughed and placed his hand over David’s. “I’m just looking. Look at how cute some of these are, though?” He scrolled through the page until he landed on a large collection of dog sweaters. “We could get one that looks like yours.” He grinned, tilting his head back to see the incredulous look on his husband’s face.
“Umm… good luck finding a dog sweater that matches any of mine.” Patrick laughed harder as David stomped away back to the store floor.
*****
When they finally brought the puppy home, David was characteristically standoffish. The puppy is cute and fluffy and friendly, and Dr. Miguel had come armed with all of the supplies they would need for the first week as well as a list of what to get for the future, but David let Patrick handle the set up from a distance. They set up the crate by the new doggy door in the kitchen as the puppy was still being house trained, though Dr. Miguel had insisted that he was pretty much there.
David watched with fondness as Patrick sat on the floor, playing with the puppy. He had a soft squeaky toy in his hands that the puppy was trying to steal from him and the glee David could see in Patrick’s eyes was almost enough to make up for the tacky puppy pads that were littering part of his kitchen at the moment.
“You know, he still needs a name.” David called from his perch on the kitchen island where he sat watching them.
Patrick hummed and grabbed the puppy, picking him up to stare at his face. “Falkor.”
“Excuse me?”
“Falkor.”
“Like… from The NeverEnding Story?” David could not be more confused if he tried.
“Yes.”
“Okay… but… isn’t Falkor white?”
Patrick nodded, continuing to make faces at the puppy. “And pink. But just look at his face!” He turned the puppy towards David, cradling him gently. “He’s definitely a Falkor.”
“Do I get any say in this?”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. He’s my dog.”
“I bought him!”
“For me.”
“Ugh.” David rolled his eyes. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
Patrick looked at the puppy again. “Ignore him, Falkor. The Childlike Empress over there is just jealous.”
David scoffed, slid off the island and walked away down the hall towards the living room shouting behind him. “Rude!”
*****
The first week with Falkor was definitely a challenge for David. The puppy didn’t seem to grasp the idea of bedtime. David outright refused to even entertain the idea of the puppy sleeping in their bedroom until he could be absolutely guaranteed that no accidents would occur. So instead, Falkor remained in his crate, in the kitchen.
The entire first week he was with them, Falkor made sure they knew his displeasure at the circumstances by way of whining, loudly, for most of the night. On the eighth night, the puppy started all but howling as David and Patrick were just settling into bed. Patrick looked over at his husband, a set of sad puppy-dog eyes of his own on full display.
David sighed. “Fine.” Grinning, Patrick jumped from the bed and raced downstairs to grab the sad little puppy from the kitchen. As he made his way back into their bedroom, David walked out of his closet, a plush black and white striped dog bed in his hands. He placed the bed down on the floor by Patrick’s side of the bed. He looked pointedly at both Patrick and the puppy. “He sleeps there. Not in our bed.”
Patrick grabbed him by the wrist as he attempted to pass him to get back into bed and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” He looked at David with his soft eyes for a beat before David rolled his eyes and pet the dog briefly.
Patrick placed the puppy in the bed, cuddling him softly before he stood and climbed back into bed with David. David leaned up on one arm to glance over the side of the bed at the puppy, expecting him to be out of the bed instantaneously and attempting to climb into theirs. Only to find the puppy having laid down comfortably in the bed, pillowing his face across his front paws and settled, ready to sleep.
David scoffed as he laid down, trying his best to ignore Patrick’s laughter. “Great. He’s been with us for a week and he already knows how to manipulate us into getting what he wants.”
“Us?”
“Shut up.” David flicked off the light and rolled onto his side, his back to Patrick.
Patrick curled up behind him, wrapping his arm around David and snuggling in tight. He kissed David’s neck before burrowing his nose into the spot where David’s neck met his shoulder. “Thank you.” He mumbled against David’s skin.
“You already said that.”
“I know. But I mean it. Thank you. And not just for letting him sleep in here. But for him in general.”
David rolled his eyes and scoffed again. He threaded his hand through Patrick’s where it rested against his chest and pulled it up to his mouth to kiss Patrick’s palm lightly. “You’re welcome.”
*****
Patrick watched as David slowly warmed up to Falkor over the first month. After that first night of letting him sleep in their room, and not being woken by his whining in the night, David stopped trying to force him into the dog crate when it was time for bed, instead would only roll his eyes slightly as Patrick carried the puppy into their room and placed him in the dog bed.
When a box from Marcy and Clint showed up the following week filled with dog treats, toys, and another dog bed, this one pure black, Patrick was shocked at David’s enthusiasm over the items.
“You know, I should have trusted Marcy to stay on theme.” He grinned as he held up the dog bed. “If you have to have terrible dog furniture around your house, it might as well be chic.” Patrick pretended not to notice when David placed it in the living room by the fireplace, a cozy spot for a beloved pet.
When a box shows up two weeks after that, Patrick had to stop to remember if he had made anymore purchases. They had already filled the small basket David had bought with toys, and there was now a dedicated shelf in their pantry with Falkor’s food and treats. They had agreed to hold off on any more dog purchases until the puppy really needed something.
He sat down at the kitchen table, Falkor laying down at his feet, and proceeded to open the box. He was pulling out the card inside when David walked in.
“What’s that?”
“No idea.” He unfolded the card and smiled. “It’s from Rachel. For Falkor.”
“What?” David sat down in the chair next to him, absent mindedly scratching Falkor’s head when the puppy immediately popped up and stretched to reach David. David watched as Patrick pulled out several dog collars, some black, some white, one a light blue plaid, all with matching leashes and several different bowties to accompany them. “Oh. My. God.”
Patrick grinned and handed the sleek black houndstooth collar to David as he opened the card back up. “For the newest member of the Brewer-Rose house. A little something that will match both your dads, no matter who takes you for a walk. I expect to see you rocking one of these when you come visit. Love, Rachel.”
David made a noise and a face that could only be described as “Alexis like” as he took the card from Patrick, still clutching the collar. “That is… That is really. Very. Hmmm.” Words seemed to have failed him. Instead Patrick watched in shock as David leaned down and picked up the puppy, setting him on his lap so that he could see the collar options before him.
David snapped off the collar Falkor was wearing, a cheap temporary one that David had reluctantly agreed to until he had found one he liked more, and handed it to Patrick with a slight look of disgust. “Alright. Which one?”
Patrick glanced at David, unsure if he was talking to him or the puppy. When it became obvious David was addressing Falkor, Patrick sat back to watch the interaction. David moved the blue plaid collar out of the line up with a quiet “Not this one…” and began holding up the other options as if weighing them against Falkor’s fur.
He grabbed the black houndstooth one and held it in front of the puppy’s face. “I say we go with this one. It’s classic, chic, and won’t clash. Thoughts?” When Falkor simply sniffed the collar, and didn’t make a sound, David took that as an agreement and snapped the collar around the puppy’s neck, the bowtie resting gently under his chin.
David picked up the dog and spun him around so he could see the finished look before he nodded and placed the dog back down on the floor. Falkor shook himself out momentarily before bouncing off to drink from the water dish over by the back door.
“We should call her and thank her.”
Patrick blinked and startled back, realizing that David was finally addressing him again “I’m sorry, what?”
“Rachel. We should call her and thank her. For the gifts.” He tilted his head slightly and pointed over towards the dog. “What?”
“Nothing. Nothing.” Patrick smiled and leaned over to kiss David’s cheek. He stood and went to grab his phone from where it sat at the counter, pausing only for a moment to watch as David turned and looked at Falkor, a soft look upon his face.
*****
The addition of Maggie to their staff meant that each of them were able to take an afternoon off each week solo, leaving the other to work with Maggie at the store. Patrick used his to get stuff done around the house that he was itching to do, while David typically spent his with Stevie. Towards the end of June, and as they began to enter month two of being dog owners, David had spent the afternoon alone at home, Stevie was off on another of her trips checking in on the progress of a slew of properties along Route 66 in Oklahoma.
Patrick had spent the afternoon at the store working on their quarterly taxes in the back as Maggie has handled any foot traffic that had come through. Though he rarely did so when he was spending the afternoon with Stevie, Patrick fully expected a constant stream of texts from David either expressing his boredom or as a running commentary to whatever he was watching.
But after only an hour of the occasional text, David had been suspiciously silent. Patrick knew better than to worry, it was more likely that David had decided to clean out his closet, or fallen asleep, than something bad had happened.
As the day started to wind down, and foot traffic slowed to almost non-existent at the store, Patrick decided Maggie could handle closing procedures on her own and headed home at around quarter past four. He knew he was taking advantage of having an employee, but he had finally finished their taxes and was ready to be done for the day. He bid Maggie goodbye with a promise to see her Saturday morning when she came in and made his way home.
He pulled up to their house and parked next to David’s sedan. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going on and he opened their front door with ease. He toed off his shoes and placed his keys in the dish on the table by the front door. He started to make his way down the hall towards the kitchen, when, as he passed the living room, he noticed the TV was on. The screensaver for their Apple TV was filtering across the screen and he stepped forward into the room intending on turning it off. When he looked down at the couch, however he couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face.
There, on the couch, fast asleep, was David. He had changed out of the sweater and jeans he had worn to the store that morning and instead was in a pair of joggers and what Patrick recognized as one of his own tee shirts from college. Patrick had discovered long ago that when David was having a difficult day, for any reason, he gravitated towards Patrick’s closet and the collection of thread-bare tee shirts Patrick had gathered over the years. The last time Patrick had left town for a small business seminar he had FaceTimed David to find him in an old Blue Jays tee shirt of his.
David’s choice of clothing wasn’t what surprised Patrick, nor was it the afternoon nap David had fallen into. Instead, what shocked him the most was the small black dog that was curled up with him.
Patrick rounded the corner and sat down on the edge of the coffee table, reaching out to softly pet Falkor where he lay. He smiled softly as the dog lifted his head from where it was on David’s arm, David’s hand wrapped around the small dog, securing him to the couch. Falkor looked at him for a moment before huffing a small sigh and sinking back down against David. Patrick pulled out his phone and quickly snapped a picture before sliding it back into his pocket. He leaned forward, bracing his elbow on his knee and reached out a hand to drift through David’s hair.
“David.” He kept his voice low, not wanting to startle David too much. “Hey… Baby… time to get up.”
David stirred softly, blinking slowly. He smiled as Patrick came into focus. “Hey. What time is it?” He shifted ever so slightly but kept his hand curled around the puppy.
“Almost four thirty. Store was slow so I left Maggie to close.” David nodded, humming softly. “Someone is being very cuddly I see…” Patrick smirked, indicating the dog still sleeping against David.
David looked down and sighed, rolling his eyes at Patrick. “You weren’t here and I needed someone to watch a movie with.”
“Mmmhmm… I see.” Patrick stood and picked up David’s legs. He slid under them, laying them across his lap as he leaned forward, resting against David’s chest. Patrick didn’t always take the opportunity to be the one to lay on his husband, preferring to be the one being laid on, but there was something about David and the puppy that forced his hand.
He popped one leg over David’s, entangling them further, as he reached out to run his fingers through Falkor’s fur. “If I had known this was going on, I would have left the store to Maggie hours ago.” David sighed contently and threaded his fingers through Patrick’s short hair.
They laid there for a moment, David’s eyes drifting closed again as he felt Patrick breathing against him.
Patrick shifted ever so slightly to kiss David’s chest before breaking the silence. “So does this mean you’ll let him sleep in our bed now?”
David’s deep, breathy laugh startled Falkor awake who looked over at the two of them, shifting to lick Patrick’s nose before curling back up to continue his nap.