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William turned his head towards the tv and adjusted a little bit so that he could better lean his shoulders against the armrest of the couch. He blinked tiredly and yawned in the darkness, not really paying attention to the movie that they were watching. He had already seen it countless amounts of times, so he didn’t need to pay much more attention.
Vyncent sat on the floor in front of the couch, his ears twitching back and forth as the sounds from the tv echoed in the living room. He tilted his head to the side curiously and William watched the way that he observed the pictures on the screen. His tail was wagging back and forth behind him, occasionally brushing William in the arm when he got too close. It was cute.
Dakota had buried himself on top of William with his face pressed into William’s neck, nose digging into the side of his throat. He had both arms curled around William’s lower back, squeezing a bit tighter whenever William adjusted himself and whining as if he were afraid that William was going to get up. He pressed his face a bit deeper and made a noise of protest from the back of his throat.
William huffed out a small laugh and brought a hand up to pet Dakota’s head, sliding his fingers through the frizzy strands and smoothing his bangs back away from his face. Dakota practically melted into a puddle at the contact with a content hum, pawing at the back of William’s shirt. He gave a pleasant grumble from deep in his throat and William found that he recognized the tone with amusement.
He adjusted his legs and settled further against William’s chest with what almost sounded like a whine, chest stuttering with each breath. He mumbled incoherently and clung onto William as if he were afraid of being left alone.
“Hey, Kota,” William whispered, a loving smile spreading across his lips as he continued to pet Dakota’s head, gentle fingers carding through his hair, “you comfortable, Puppy?”
A small giggle from Dakota and he nodded against William’s neck. He squeezed William a bit tighter, arms curling around his waist as he fidgeted with the fabric of William’s shirt, twisting it around his fingers and pulling on it. His fingers twitched oddly, curling delicately around the fabric as he shifted again. William continued to pet him, knowing that he loved being pet.
William was only able to see the top of his head from how he had buried his face, but he was sure that Dakota was smiling if the way he giggled again was anything to go off of. His shoulders slumped and he was practically melting with every stroke that William pulled through his hair.
“That’s good,” William muttered, looking back towards the TV and the pictures that flickered across the screen, “you even watching?”
Dakota mumbled something unintelligible, mostly coming out in a whining tone. William didn’t understand at the moment but he had gotten pretty good at figuring out his nonverbal communication. Unfortunately, Dakota was completely buried against William and was making no actual attempts to communicate with the other. Just whining and muttering under his breath.
Vyncent turned his head from where he was sitting, looking towards Dakota curiously now that William had said something. His eyes were wide and slightly glowing in the darkness, his ear twitching back and forth. He looked back and forth between William and Dakota, expression shifting into something a bit softer as he turned back towards the TV, flicking his tail out to bat at Dakota playfully.
That got Dakota to look up from William’s neck. He pulled his face up to see what had just happened, noticing the tuft of fur that was trying to retreat. Dakota swiped at Vyncent’s tail, the fluff at the end of it swishing in the air, an excited look on his face.
William chuckled and pushed Vyncent’s tail away, curling his arms around Dakota to pull him back against him. Dakota squirmed for a few seconds until William placed his hand back in his hair, gently pulling through the already frizzy curls. That got him to settle, relaxing against William once more, face turned towards the living room.
“Don’t get him wound up,” William warned and he saw Vyncent’s shoulders shake with barely repressed laughter, “we’re going to bed soon, him included.”
Vyncent flicked his tail again, this time unintentionally and Dakota watched it intently with a whine bubbling up from the back of his throat. William traced his finger down the side of Dakota’s head and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Dakota whined again and pawed at William’s shirt, fidgeting with the fabric since he didn’t have any toys or anything to play with instead. He poked William in the stomach whenever he stopped petting him and William was glad that puppies normally didn’t have that ability. Dakota was just exceptionally needy and had the ability to communicate that through clever pokes to William’s ticklish spots. William poked him in the cheek and patted his face.
The movie continued to play quietly on the TV and at this point, William was paying even less attention to whatever they had originally been watching, focusing most of his attention on Dakota (who needed most of the attention anyway). They had been watching some sort of nature documentary they had seen however many times, but since Vyncent liked watching it they continued to sit through it. Vyncent chittered quietly and Dakota tried to paw at his tail again, making small swipes toward the constantly moving limb.
He held his other hand up to his mouth, chewing on his fingers quietly just to have something to do with his mouth. William petted his head and tried to think of a better solution so that he wouldn’t accidentally hurt himself. He didn’t like when Dakota chewed on his fingers, it couldn’t be good for him. William furrowed his eyebrows slightly and stared down at Dakota with a worried expression, there had definitely been a few times when he had bitten too hard and accidentally hurt himself.
“Hey Vyn, can you get him something else to chew on?” William asked quietly, twisting a few of Dakota’s curls around his finger, scratching lightly at his scalp.
Vyncent looked over curiously, eyes darting back and forth across Dakota’s face and then towards William. It only took him a few seconds to realize what William was actually talking about before he understood the situation. He wasn’t as familiar with these kinds of things, but he figured it out pretty quickly.
He gave a short nod and pushed himself up to stand without thinking much about it, knees popping from the sudden movement after being curled up on the ground. Dakota whined as Vyncent did so, trying to squirm out of William’s arms as he noticed that Vyncent was leaving, clearly upset by that fact. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, one hand pressing into William’s chest and trying to grab at Vyncent. Vyncent hesitated, allowing Dakota to grab his wrist and pull him back a little bit, he frowned.
Dakota whined again and squeezed a bit tighter, trying to pull Vyncent closer as he hovered a foot or so away. Vyncent slid his tongue over his lips and faltered, looking back and forth between William and Dakota.
“Hey, it’s okay,” William reassured Dakota, holding his hands around Dakota’s arms and rubbing up and down his biceps, “he’s getting you something to chew on, Kota. He’ll be right back.” He pulled Dakota’s hair out of his face and patted his cheeks, trying to soothe him before he could get worked up.
Vyncent hesitated, furrowing his eyebrows slightly as he tilted his head to the side, “I’ll be right back,” he promised, enunciating his words to be heard through his thick accent.
He put his hand on Dakota’s head and ruffled his hair, lithe fingers working through the frizzy curls. His expression was something softer than usual for Vyncent as he stared at Dakota lovingly. Dakota only settled slightly at the contact, still looking at Vyncent with a sad expression, chewing on his lower lip and whimpering. But reluctantly, he laid back down on top of William with a small whine, his lip quivering.
William cooed at him and patted his head, running his fingers through his hair and trying to soothe him, “Vyn is gonna be right back, okay?” William insisted, holding one arm around Dakota’s lower back, the other twisting in his curls. He blew out a slow breath and gave Dakota a small smile, trying to reassure the other boy.
Dakota whined again and buried his face against William’s chest, continuing to make sad whimpers that were only muffled slightly by the way he was hiding. It broke William’s heart a little bit, but they couldn’t help it.
“Sorry, Puppy,” William muttered, “I don’t like you chewing on your fingers.”
Dakota peeked his head up enough to glare at William through frizzy bangs. He looked utterly adorable doing it but William figured he was supposed to be intimidated. But it was hard to be scared when Dakota was still melting at the fact that William was petting his hair.
He squirmed and continued to readjust his position the longer that it took Vyncent to find a chew toy in the mess of Dakota’s room. He clearly didn’t like the lack of the other member of their team and continued to squirm. Dakota kept trying to peek up over the couch to see if he could spot when Vyncent would approach, but each time he was met with nothing. William was having a hard time keeping him still.
While petting him got him to settle down for a little bit, after a minute or two, Dakota would seemingly remember the missing party member and try to look for Vyncent. He whimpered and pawed at William with a frown, eyebrows pulling downward into a sad and worried expression.
“He’ll be right back, Kota,” William told Dakota, reaching up to cup Dakota’s face, and running his thumb over his cheekbone. He traced the dots of Dakota’s freckles with his finger and pulled his fingers through the short hairs on the side of Dakota’s head, rubbing behind his ears. He let out a slow breath and pinched his earlobes lightly between his fingers, rubbing as gently as he could.
Dakota sighed and flopped back against William’s chest with a defeated whine, curling his fingers around the fabric of William’s shirt. He whimpered and cried, inconsolable despite William’s gentle cuddles and attempts at reassurance. William wiped his tears as gently as he could, sweeping his thumb underneath his eye and dragging across his cheekbone.
“I’m sorry, Puppy,” William whispered, “gotta get you a chew toy.”
Dakota just sighed again and babbled incoherently under his breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and hid his face in his hands, no longer looking at William but cuddling up as close as he could to William’s chest.
Thankfully, Vyncent returned as quickly as he could from wherever he had gotten lost while trying to find something for Dakota to chew. He didn’t seem fazed at all by the time that had passed and watched Dakota and William curiously for a second, tail flicking quietly. William figured that he probably wouldn’t have noticed him approaching if it weren’t for the fact that he was hyper-aware of who would enter or leave the room.
“Kota,” Vyncent muttered, placing a hand on Dakota’s head to get him to look up. Dakota immediately had his head up to see that Vyncent had returned, the excitement once again filling his eyes, happy that the rest of the team was there.
Vyncent had managed to find one of the chew rings that Dakota had. It was just a red rubber circle that was thick enough that Dakota hadn’t bitten through it yet. At one point, William thought he remembered there being a string on it to use as a necklace, but the string part of it had broken a while ago.
He gave it to Dakota and sat back down in front of the couch, body angled more towards the two of them. Dakota accepted the offered toy with a little bit of a pout, immediately bringing it to his mouth to chew on. At least now William didn’t have to worry about him chewing on his fingers.
“See, Vyn came right back,” William smoothed his bangs away from his face and chuckled at the fact that they fell right back down in front of his eyes, “everything’s okay.”
Dakota whined and scrunched up his nose, pressing the side of his face against William’s chest and burrowing deeper into the embrace. One hand curled loosely around the fabric of William’s shirt, fidgeting intently with the material while the other was still wrapped around the chew toy.
His eyelids were steadily dropping shut and William smiled softly at him. He tried not to giggle when Dakota quickly made an attempt to blink his eyes back open, pretending that he was paying attention to what was going on.
“Go to sleep Kota, you’re tired,” William urged, petting his head and pulling his fingers through the delicate strands at the back of his neck, “I got you, puppy.”
It was hard for him to fight the exhaustion, especially when William was petting his hair and he was cuddled up so comfortably. He chewed on the chew toy for a while, breathing quietly and trying (and struggling) to keep his eyes open to watch the nature documentary.
William even rubbed his ears as gently as he could, running his finger across the lobes and rubbing the patch of skin right behind his ears. Dakota tried so hard to fight the compelling call of sleep, he clearly wanted to stay up with William and Vyncent to watch the rest of the show (that had largely gone ignored up until now).
But he was already tired, and he always melted whenever someone would pet his head. So he was really just fighting a losing battle.
“Love you, pup,” William whispered against the top of Dakota’s head, “get some sleep.”
Dakota eventually couldn’t fight it off any longer. He yawned loudly and let out a slow sigh, his grip relaxing from around William’s shirt as he slowly drifted off with William’s hand tangled in his hair.