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Leon checks the caller ID on his phone and flips it open. A soft smile graced his features.
“Hey, Ashley.” He greets her.
“Hey, so how free are you?”
“What did you do?” He immediately asks with a raised eyebrow.
“N-nothing!”
“Ashley…”
“Okay! So as you know I’m back at school and you know I was out kinda late at the library to study 'cause I told you that my economics professor is an asshole and gives us too much work. Also just feel like he should be more forgiving since you know I was kidnapped-” She begins to ramble.
“Ash, on topic.” He reminds her gently.
“Right sorry, well I was heading back home late yesterday and someone had left a box on campus. After my guards investigated it for like ten minutes, I got to open it. It was a puppy, I think she’s one of those sheepdogs.”
“Okay, what does this have to do with me?” He asks with his eyebrows furrowed.
“My roommate is allergic to dogs.”
“Okay..?” He says his eyes narrowing when it seems to click in his head. “No… no, no.”
“Come on.”
“No! I am not taking in this dog.”
“I thought you liked dogs.”
“I do, but I can’t just take in a random dog.” He points out with a groan. “Much less a puppy.”
“Just meet her! You might like her.” Ashley begs, and the blonde man sighs. He pinches the bridge of his nose shutting his eyes.
“Fucking Fine,” he sighs.
“Yes! Okay, see you soon!” She responds with a smile, while he shakes his head. He can’t believe that he agreed to this, he sighs and places his phone into his pocket.
It was around eight when he arrived at Ashley’s apartment, he spots one of the security guards in the distance and gives them a nod. He knocks on the front door of the apartment.
“Hello? Oh hey!” He is greeted by the blonde young woman. A bark comes from the apartment. “Hurry! So she doesn’t run out!” She yanks the man into the apartment and the puppy barrels over to them. She bounds straight into Leon’s leg and sits down. Looking up at the pair her tail wagging wildly. Fluffy black hair sticks out everywhere. “There she is!” Ashley announces putting her arms out like it was a show. Leon leans down and holds out his hand to the puppy. She excitedly sniffs Leon’s fingers and then bumps into his hand.
“So does she have a name?” The blonde man asks as he pets the dog.
“Not yet, I didn’t want to name her if you were going to take her.”
“Ash, I really don’t know if I can take in a puppy.” He stands and places his hands on his hips. The feeling of paws on his legs, he looks down to see big brown eyes looking up at him. “You are not helping either.”
“Come on Leon,” she says picking up the puppy. “Look at her!”
“There is more to this, isn’t there?” He asks with his arms crossed the young woman sighs.
“I’m worried about you.”
“Ashley…”
“You live alone and you spend all your time on missions.” She begins to explain to him. “I just think it would be nice if you had someone else looking out for you.” She hands the puppy to the man, he takes her gently. She licks the tip of his nose, her tail wagging happily. Leon smiles gently at the dog.
“Fine, but you have to help me.”
“Well, we need a name first, and then we can go to a pet store.” Ashley decides Leon looks at the puppy in his hands. He flattens his lips as he thinks.
“Hmm, what about Poppy?” He asks both the woman and the dog.
“That’s so cute!” She says before side-eyeing Leon.
“What?”
“Nothing… just shocked you came up with it.”
“Do you want me to take the dog or not?”
“Too late you named her!” Ashley shouts before she hurries off to her room. Leon shakes his head, Poppy being held in his arms happily. She returns with a jacket and her purse.
“Are you allowed to be out this late?” He asks with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m going with you, I think I’ll be fine. Besides, they follow me everywhere anyways.” She refers to the guards with a shrug. She is now holding Poppy as they walk to Leon’s car.
On the ride to find a pet store, the puppy fell asleep as Ashley talked about her classes to Leon.
“You know I can help with some basic stuff from time to time,” Leon points out to her.
“I know, I just want to do it on my own. Some day I’m going to stop relying on you.” She says petting Poppy as she snored.
“You already have, just know it’s okay to ask for help sometimes too.”
“Maybe you should take your own advice.”
“Do as I say, not as I do.” He replies and she rolls her eyes but a smile is still on her lips. “Also you’re babysitting when I have missions.”
“Oh absolutely! I wanna see this cutie often.” Her voice becomes higher pitched when she addresses the puppy. Who seemed to wake from that, and let out a big yawn that shook her body. Ashley cooed over the dog as Leon pulled into a parking space. After grabbing a cart and placing Poppy in they enter the store. Ashley gets some stares from people around them, but she seems to ignore them easily. “What does a puppy need?”
“Puppy food for starters, pee pads, a food bowl, water bowl, a leash, collar, and toys so she doesn’t destroy my furniture. Right?” He asks the puppy who tills her head at Leon’s question.
“Wow, have you had a dog before?” She asks as they walk down an aisle.
“When I was a kid we had a bloodhound.” He shrugs it off as his eyes narrow looking at a bag of puppy food.
“My dad and mom didn’t think I was responsible enough for a cat or dog. I had a hamster for a little bit though.” She explains as she looks at bowls. As Leon places the bag of dog food underneath the cart, Ashley places two bowls in. Poppy begins to sniff the new object curiously.
“What is that Poppy?” Leon asks the puppy with a cheerful voice. “What is it?” He asks again, the puppy barks at the bowl getting a laugh from the man.
“I’m glad you're taking her.”
“Are you? I think on some level you wanted to keep her.” Leon points out as he pets the dog’s head.
“A little, but I get to babysit at least.” She shrugs it off, placing a toy she found into the cart.
“Oh, shit we need a crate.” It suddenly hit the blonde man as they explore the store. After about half an hour in the store, they were ready to go.
Leon lets out a sigh of relief when they enter his apartment. Once everything from the pet store was in the home, they let Poppy run free. She immediately began to investigate everything that was in the rather large apartment. Ashley looked around the place curiously.
“Wow, it’s a little bare bone.” She can’t help but note.
“I’m really not here a ton.” Leon shrugs it off, Poppy stuck her head under his couch. The puppy’s tail wags happily in the air, and Ashley chuckles at the sight. Leon can’t fight a smile and helps the puppy out of the situation. It takes some time to set everything up, and once they were done it was ten. “I have a spare room if you want to spend the night.” The man offers once the crate was set up. The young woman nods as she yawns loudly.
“Yeah, okay. Do you have anything I could wear?” She asks as she rubs her eyes.
“Probably, give me a minute.” He returns with a loose t-shirt and shorts. Handing them to the young woman, she stops before heading out of the room.
“Can I…” She hesitates.
“Nightmares been bad recently?” He asks, and she nods. “Come on, let’s go to bed.” He gestures to his bed, and at some point, Poppy found her way onto the bed. Joining Leon and Ashley, the puppy curled up between the two of them. Their backs to each other as they slept.
"Poppy!" Leon shouted as he chased after the puppy, a leather jacket being dragged on the floor. Ashley couldn't control her laughter as Leon runs around his apartment. "Stop laughing and help me!"