Work Text:
William tapped his pencil on the table and kicked his feet, staring at his notebook and the messily written problems on the lines. Dakota’s math textbook was open in the center of the table, tilted slightly towards William with wrinkled pages, and scribbled on pencil marks. It was beaten up and William was pretty sure that maybe only half of it was already like that at the beginning of the school year. Dakota didn’t treat it well, but William’s was left at school, so they had to work with what they had.
William hated doing homework, it always took way longer than expected and then they never had time to do anything else. He would assume it would only take an hour or so and then they end up spending the entire night working. Especially math homework. Their teacher assigned way too much of it and didn’t even properly teach the lesson all the way through. William had to figure it out from the book and then try and help Dakota with whatever he was struggling with as well.
Dakota sat next to William in the other chair, hunched over his notebook with his pencil clutched in his hand, scribbling at the page. Since he was facing the opposite direction, William couldn’t see his face or the expression he wore. But he had been quiet for a while now and hadn’t asked William for any help in a bit. That was either incredibly suspicious or William needed to be proud of him. William was hoping it was the latter.
William himself had only gotten a few questions done, but he was always pretty far ahead of Dakota who had a hard time with math. This is why they worked together on it so that if Dakota needed help with anything, he’d be able to ask William.
Tapping his pencil on the paper a few more times before letting it drop, William turned to glance over at Dakota. He either looked like he was focusing hard on a problem or wasn’t even paying attention at all. It was hard to tell with him when he was hunched over his paper like that, almost with his head resting on his arms.
“How you holding up, Kota?” William asked, leaning his elbow on the table, his notebook paper crinkling slightly as he leaned over it. He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, tapping his foot on the ground.
Dakota didn’t look over, but he just groaned and leaned his head down on the table, red curls frizzy as they stuck up in every direction. He let out a heavy sigh and buried his face in his arms, shoulders trembling slightly. His pencil rolled off the table when he placed it down and he made no move to pick it back up, just letting out another slow breath.
“Are you stuck on a problem?” William leaned over, putting his hand on Dakota’s shoulder and squeezing reassuringly, “I can help.”
Dakota mumbled something that William couldn’t hear and shook his head, refusing to lift his head from his arms. He whined and curled in on himself more, bouncing his leg underneath the table. William tried to see what question he was on from his paper, but he could only see the edges of the crumpled notebook from underneath his arm since Dakota was pretty much completely hunched over it.
“Hey, is something wrong?” William asked, blowing slightly on Dakota’s hair to try and get him to look over. That normally got his attention or made him laugh. It didn’t at the moment.
Dakota whined again and twisted his fingers around his hair, shivering despite the sweatshirt he wore. He pushed the math textbook up a little bit away from his head and refused to turn his head to look at William. He made a noise from the back of his throat, and William figured that was all he was going to get out of the other boy.
“‘M sorry…” Dakota muttered, voice slightly hoarse as he tried to hide his face from William, almost a whine filling his tone, he continued to bounce his leg and fidget, “‘m puppy, an’ tryin’ not to be…”
It took a second for William to understand what he meant, processing his words carefully. Then, the realization hit him and William’s eyes widened significantly. It made a lot of sense in hindsight now that William took the chance to think about Dakota’s behavior. William let out a small breath and smiled, tongue peeking out from between his lips.
“Oh,” he whispered, then his expression softened slightly and he leaned forward more, poking Dakota right in the shoulders, “do you not want to be small right now?”
Dakota shrugged and pointed to the math textbook, “homework…” his hand fell back to the table and he let out a heavy, dramatic sigh, another whine bubbling up from the back of his throat as he shifted uncomfortably. He pulled his legs up so that he could tuck them underneath himself, halfway sitting on his knees and leaning over the table.
“How about we take a break,” William suggested, reaching out to smooth his hand through Dakota’s hair, petting him lightly, “we’ll keep working on it tomorrow, okay? When you’re feeling big.”
Dakota melted underneath William’s touch and hummed quietly, finally shifting so that he could peek over his arm at William. There were small hints of tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, and his face flushed red. He sniffled and pawed at his face, trying to wipe the forming tears before they could fall.
“M’kay,” he mumbled and nodded in agreement, picking at the edge of his notebook absently. He shivered and let his eyes slip shut as William slid his fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.
“Okay,” William echoed, rubbing his thumb down the side of his head and pressing his finger against his temple, “let’s clean this up here and we can get into something comfier. Okay?”
Dakota whined when William pulled his hand away and peeked through heavy-lidded eyes. But he sighed heavily and nodded, barely managing to push himself up into a proper sitting position to look over the mess they had made on the table. He rocked back and forth slightly, just enough that William noticed his fidgeting, but it wasn’t anything too dramatic.
He closed his notebook and patted the front of it with the palm of his hand, closing the math textbook too. William tucked his own notebook away in his backpack and picked up the pencil that had rolled off the table. He split up their calculators and made sure to give Dakota back the right one before zipping up his backpack.
Dakota fumbled a little bit when he tried to put his stuff back in his bag, but he growled when William tried to help, so he let the smaller boy do it himself. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes again, still looking a bit upset about the situation. Dakota didn’t like doing homework, but William was sure he didn’t like being forced to take a break like this.
“Good job, pup, now let’s get you into something comfier,” William pushed his chair back and stood up, holding his hand out to Dakota who took it carefully, hands trembling. He leaned against William’s side when he stood and intertwined their hands together, holding his arm tightly. He whined a bit and buried his face against William’s shoulder.
“Sorry, I’m not strong enough to pick you up,” William petted his hair again, pressing a small kiss to the crown of his head. If Tide were here, he’d be able to pick Dakota up with no problem and was always willing to do so whenever any of them were small. But Tide was currently out doing whatever hero stuff he did during the day.
“‘S okay, ‘m big puppy,” Dakota mumbled into William’s shoulder with a small yawn. William smiled and hugged him close, leading Dakota back to his bedroom so that he could get out of his school clothes and into something hopefully comfier.
“Of course, Kota,” William couldn’t help but smile, “such a big puppy.”
Dakota giggled softly and hid his face again against William’s side, following along happily. He shuffled his feet against the floor and huffed out quiet breaths, not really looking where he was going and mostly just allowing William to lead.
When they got to Dakota’s room, William sat Dakota down on his bed, “I’ll get you some pajamas to wear, okay?”
Dakota nodded and kicked his feet lightly, watching William with still red-rimmed eyes. His cheeks were still flushed a dark red, but he didn’t seem as embarrassed as before, accepting the break in their work. He fidgeted quietly, crawling up onto his bed and grabbing the rabbit stuffed animal that Tide had gotten him, holding it in his lap and tugging at the ears. William watched him out of the corner of his eye and smiled lovingly.
Dakota’s closet was laid out in a way that made it hard for William to find his comfortable clothes, but he found a pair of sweatpants and a different hoodie than the one Dakota was already wearing. At least this outfit would be clean and hopefully more comfortable.
He had picked out a pair of red pajama pants with paw prints on them, a pair that they had bought upon one of their few trips to a clothes store. As well as the pants, he had a baggier black sweatshirt with soft fabric on the inside as well as sleeves long enough to hide his hands if he didn’t roll them up. It was probably one of William’s sweatshirts, but it had been in Dakota’s closet long enough that he didn’t remember.
“You need help putting it on, or can you do it yourself?” William asked, returning to the bed with the offered garments. Dakota looked up at William and pressed his lips into a thin line, thinking over the question carefully.
“Can do it!” Dakota finally concluded, making grabby hands at the clothes to which William gave them to him easily. He exchanged it for the rabbit stuffed animal, which William held protectively while Dakota changed into the different outfit. The fur was well worn down, but still soft from the time that Dakota had had it. The ears were a little rough for wear from Dakota pulling on them and hugging the stuffed animal, but he clearly loved it a lot. It was a reddish brown color with beady black eyes and a pink nose with a soft tan belly.
When Dakota finished changing, he reached for the stuffed animal again, to which William gave it back. He hugged it to his chest and allowed the sleeves of his sweatshirt to fall over his palms, kicking his feet.
“Do you wanna go watch a movie? Or you can color too,” William suggested, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to Dakota who was humming softly.
“Both?” Dakota asked with wide eyes, tugging on the ears of his stuffed rabbit and feeling the fabric beneath his palms.
William chuckled softly, “sure, pup, we can do both.”
Dakota cheered softly and clapped his hands together. William stood and helped Dakota up as well, intertwining their fingers together and squeezing gently. Dakota swung their hands back and forth from between them and giggled, tapping his feet on the ground with an excited rhythm, babbling quietly to himself.
“Do you wanna grab a chew toy or anything while we’re in your room?” William suggested, reaching out with his other hand to slide his fingers through Dakota’s hair.
Dakota nodded and pulled William to kneel down next to his bed so that he could pull out the small box that he used to hold his fidget toys and other little gear. William leaned against the edge of the bed and watched with a small smile, loving being able to take care of Dakota. Dakota picked out the red pacifier that he had with a little paw print on it, popping it into his mouth to chew on. He also reached up onto his bed where he had more stuffed animals and grabbed the floppy brown dog he had as well. With both the rabbit and the dog tucked in his arms, he grabbed one more and handed that one to William (a spotted cat with floppy legs and a tail).
“This for me?” William asked, eyes widening slightly. Dakota nodded and pushed it further into his arms. Another chuckle, “Thank you.”
Dakota hummed and rocked back and forth, pushing the box back underneath his bed and grabbing onto William to stand on wobbly legs. William held his hand and led him back into the living room where they could watch a movie and color.
Dakota plopped himself down on the floor in front of the couch, dragging the blanket off of it to wrap around himself, and arranging the stuffed animals on the floor next to him. He was utterly adorable in the way that he watched William curiously, tilting his head to the side with his pacifier in his mouth. William smiled and handed him the remote.
“You can pick something you wanna watch, I’ll get the coloring stuff,” William told him, ruffling his hair before shuffling over to the small shelf that they had near the corner. William opened a drawer and shifted around to look for wherever they had last put the coloring books. Knowing him, he had probably misplaced it when cleaning up, so it was only him to blame.
Dakota hummed and giggled to himself from across the room, William kept glancing over out of the corner of his eye to make sure that he was alright.
Closing the drawer he was originally looking in, William knelt down to look in a different one, pulling it open with a bit too much force than was necessary.
He found at least one of their coloring books, picked it out, and tucked it underneath his arm. He also found a box of crayons and some colored pencils. William didn’t know exactly which one Dakota would want, so he grabbed both.
Dakota was still humming to himself with his knees pulled up to his chest when William returned. He had managed to pick out a movie in the time that William took to find a coloring book. It was a dog movie they’d watched dozens of times before, William figured Dakota would pick this one. He usually did.
“Here, Kota,” William eased himself down onto the floor next to Dakota and handed him the coloring book. Dakota clapped his hands together and took it gratefully. William huffed a small laugh and petted his head, ruffling his hair and flattening the frizzy strands.
Dakota shifted a little bit so that he could sit with his legs crossed, placing both stuffed animals in his lap. The movie played quietly on the tv, but at this point, Dakota was thoroughly distracted.
He flipped through the pages that had already been colored by both William and Dakota to search for one he liked. It was easy to tell who did which piece since William was a lot neater with his coloring than Dakota (and William preferred using colored pencils).
Dakota stopped at one page and looked over to William, pointing to the page and then to William. He bummed for emphasis and nudged it toward the other.
“You want me to do one too?” William asked, crossing his legs in front of him. Dakota nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the paper again.
“Alright, pup,” William chuckled and reached over to accept the book, struggling a bit to tear the page out so that he could give it back to Dakota. The one that Dakota had selected for William was one with a cat sitting in a bed of flowers with a butterfly on its nose. William thought it was cute.
Dakota cheered quietly again, still with his pacifier in his mouth as he babbled mostly to himself, rocking back and forth where he sat.
He picked out another coloring sheet for himself and took the box of crayons from where William had set it down on the floor. He fumbled a little bit with the box, furrowing his eyebrows and grumbling.
“You need help?” William offered, halfway holding out his hand. But Dakota shook his head firmly and huffed. William chuckled and smiled at that, “alright, you’re a big pup, you can do it.”
He ruffled Dakota’s hair again and let him do it himself. He managed to pick out a few crayons that he wanted to use, arranging them neatly on the floor near his leg.
William picked out the colored pencils and watched Dakota carefully before he began coloring. He scraped lightly at the lines on the paper before filling in the larger mass while Dakota blotted in shapes with the crayons.
It was nice to just be able to sit and take care of Dakota, William always forgot how much he loved doing so. But he couldn’t help but smile every time he looked over to see Dakota’s incredibly focused expression, eyebrows slightly furrowed as he scribbled at the paper.
His bangs fell in front of his eyes, and when William reached out to brush them away, Dakota looked up with wide, curious eyes. He tilted his head to the side and hummed.
“You got hair in your eyes,” William said, brushing his bangs back and sliding his fingers through Dakota’s hair. Dakota sighed and leaned into the touch, allowing his shoulders to slump. He closed his eyes and sank into it, pausing his efforts to color.
“C’mere,” William scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Dakota, pulling the other against his side. Dakota giggled and leaned against William, pressing his face into his arm and curling one hand around the front of his shirt.
William slid his fingers through Dakota’s hair and scratched lightly at his scalp, petting him gently. Dakota ate it up, humming softly and twisting the fabric of William’s shirt around his fingers. He sighed and hugged his stuffed animals a bit tighter.
Still leaning against William’s side, Dakota pulled the coloring book a bit closer to himself so he could continue to doodle. But with William playing with his hair and scratching at his head, it made it a bit harder for him to keep his eyes open, head dropping forward occasionally. He yawned behind the pacifier and sighed, slumping against William.
“You can go to sleep if you’re tired, Kota,” William encouraged, “it’s been a long day I bet you’re exhausted.”
Dakota shook his head and huffed, blinking his eyes back open and staring at William through heavy lids. He sniffled and pawed at his face, rubbing his eyes and trying not to yawn again.
William just chuckled at his attempts and squeezed him in a tighter side hug, allowing his hand to drop from his head and settling with rubbing his shoulder gently. Dakota whined and butted his head against William’s chest, poking him in the side with his other hand.
“Alright, alright,” William smiled and put his hand back on Dakota’s head, twisting his fingers through the frizzy red curls. Dakota settled and went back to drowsily coloring, hands curling loosely around the crayons.
William leaned back against the couch so that he could stretch his legs out in front of himself, forgetting about his own coloring sheet in favor of hugging Dakota close to his side. Dakota sighed and his eyelids drooped again, falling shut for a few seconds before he managed to blink them back open.
William was sure that if he tried to urge Dakota to allow himself to sleep, he would be presented with the same stubbornness that was common from him. He liked doing things himself, and he didn’t like going to sleep even when he was tired. If not for the fact that he loved cuddles and playing with the others, William was sure that he would be mostly independent.
Dakota finished coloring his picture after a little bit, hugging the rabbit stuffed animal to his chest. He squished it tightly in his arms and sighed softly, pressing his face against William’s shoulder.
“Here, you wanna cuddle, puppy?” William asked, sliding his hand down to sit on Dakota’s shoulder. Dakota nodded tiredly and yawned for the umpteenth time, trying to hide it behind his hand.
William adjusted again, pulling Dakota up onto his lap and allowing the smaller boy to bury his face against his chest, curling against William. He wrapped his fingers around the front of William’s shirt and grabbed at the other stuffed animal he had accidentally dropped. William readjusted the blanket around him and pulled it tighter around Dakota’s shoulders, bundling him up and allowing him to burrow against him.
Sometimes, Dakota liked making blanket forts to snuggle up in and hide. He especially liked it whenever Vyncent would make a nest for the three of them, falling easily into puppy space when they cuddled. But he seemed too tired to make anything like that today. So William settled with holding him snugly to his chest and running his fingers through his hair, petting him lightly.
Dakota hummed and pawed at William’s chest, adjusting so that he could bury himself comfortably against William. He yawned and when William looked down, Dakota had his eyes closed with his head tucked underneath William’s chin, snuffling quietly.
William was sure that it took a few minutes at most for Dakota to drift off with William petting his hair and holding him tightly. William leaned down to press a gentle kiss to the top of his head and settle in a comfortable position, figuring that he was going to be stuck there for a while, at least a few hours until Dakota woke back up or Tide came home.
He might as well get comfortable, turning his attention back to the movie that Dakota had put on. If he got bored, he could at least watch TV for a while until Dakota woke up. At least he didn’t have to do homework, this was a lot better than working through math problems.