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Don’t get him wrong; Chase loved Ryder with all his heart. The boy saved his life in Adventure City many years ago and continued to be one of the best human beings Chase had ever known. Sure, the German Shepherd knew plenty of good people, but Ryder always seemed to go above and beyond.
And yet, for all of Ryder’s good qualities, a few not-so-great ones irked Chase. The big ones were that Ryder never remembered to eat or sleep. The boy was good at telling the pups when it was time for a meal or bedtime, but when it came to himself, it was as if Ryder forgot he needed to take care of himself, too.
(Chase was just glad Ryder practised good hygiene; he wouldn’t know what to do if Ryder didn’t.)
As it was, Ryder hardly slowed down enough to relax. Whenever the boy had time outside missions, he would fine-tune his ATV, one of the pup’s vehicles, or the Lookout. If there wasn’t anything left to fix, Ryder would work on a new project, although the boy was usually secretive about it. Sometimes, Chase would just ask Ryder to ramble on about his new ideas, regardless of whether they made sense, because he knew the boy needed to get it out of his system. More often than not, Chase would catch Ryder working in the middle of the night after the pups went to bed. Chase would watch as Ryder swayed on his feet those following mornings, exhaustion present in his features.
(Chase knew Ryder wore concealer under his eyes to hide the dark circles those days.)
Of course, his sleeping habits (what little there was) weren’t the only issue. His eating habits were also problematic.
Whenever Ryder hyper-fixated on a project, the thought of eating went out the window. There were many times when Chase sat nearby while Ryder worked to give the boy some company when he’d hear the distinct sound of a hungry stomach. Ryder usually ignored it with a glance down at his abdomen. However, if the hunger pang was particularly strong, Ryder would squeeze his eyes shut briefly and bite his lip before taking a breath.
(Sometimes, it took Ryder a couple of those before he would grab something to eat; others, it would be hours before he’d acknowledge it; it depended on how deep into the project Ryder was.)
The worst part? Ryder never seemed to notice when his body was on the verge of shutting down. Chase thought he’d gotten pretty good at picking up the signs when Ryder was about to collapse, but there were times when he just couldn’t until it was too late.
Such as today.
When Chase and the other pups got up for the day, he could tell Ryder never went to bed. The clothes he wore were from yesterday and had a smudge on his left cheek. Ryder’s eyes shifted rapidly, his face pale. The dark circles under his eyelids were visible, and Chase could tell Ryder had rubbed some of the concealer off.
“Good morning, pups!” Ryder greeted, and Chase heard the exhaustion in his voice.
Six different versions of “good morning” were spoken. Ryder chuckled and started scooping pup food into their bowls, his body stumbling and hands shaking minutely.
“Enjoy!”
With that, the pups dug into their breakfast. Ryder leaned against the wall, a soft smile on his lips. After watching them momentarily, the boy left for his room (most likely to change and get ready for the day, Chase thought).
Finishing breakfast, Ryder came out of his room looking refreshed, but Chase knew better. The boy swayed on his feet, his teeth biting his lip in concentration. New concealer sat on his skin, covering the bruise-like colour under his eyes.
Suddenly, a couple of thoughts occurred to Chase.
When was the last time Ryder slept? And when was the last time Ryder ate something?
As he wracked his brain to figure it out, Chase was horrified when he realised he didn’t have an immediate answer. The last time Chase knew Ryder was asleep for longer than two hours was almost a week ago, and the last time Chase saw Ryder eat a decent meal was three days ago, but he hoped those instances weren’t the last time Ryder took care of himself.
The day went by slowly, but Chase couldn’t complain. Skye, Zuma, and Rubble were playing at the park, Rocky was helping Mr Porter repair a few things around the restaurant, and Marshall was with Katie helping her take care of a kitten, which left Chase and Ryder alone at the Lookout.
(Marshall wanted to learn how to take care of injuries, so Ryder asked Katie if the Dalmatian could help; to say the girl was excited was an understatement.)
The boy was working on a new design for Marshall’s firetruck. Chase asked what it was, and all Ryder said was, “Since Marshall is interested in being a bit of a medic, I might as well have his firetruck double as an ambulance.”
Chase hummed. Ryder’s fingers stilled from sketching and scratching Chase’s head for a few seconds. He watched as Ryder blinked for a moment before resuming. Minute tremors ran over his body and hands, and Chase knew the boy was barely holding onto consciousness.
“Ryder?” Chase said.
“What is it, Chase?” Ryder asked, his voice tired and sluggish.
“Can we go to your room?”
Ryder blinked. “Why?”
“Because I left something in there.”
“You know where my room is.”
“I know, but I want you to come with me. Please, Ryder?”
Finally, the boy heaved a sigh. “Alright, alright.”
With that, Chase watched as Ryder stood up from the beanbag chair. The brunet paused for a couple of seconds before walking, his movements clumsy and lethargic.
“So, what are we looking for?” Ryder questioned upon reaching the bedroom.
“Um, a toy!” Chase said as he pushed Ryder closer to the bed. “I think it’s around here.”
“And what does it look like?”
“Uh, it’s the blue one.”
“Which… Blue…?”
A sigh escaped Ryder’s lips as he suddenly tipped forward, his eyes closed. Chase shoved Ryder closer to the bed with a yelp and felt relief rush through him when he landed on the mattress. Carefully, Chase nudged Ryder’s legs onto the bed. For a moment, everything was silent other than quiet breathing.
Just as Chase was about to start panicking, Ryder released a soft moan and blinked his eyes open.
“Ryder? Can you hear me?”
“Chase?” Ryder mumbled.
“It’s me,” Chase confirmed.
Slowly, Ryder rolled onto his back and attempted to get up, so Chase gently flopped down on his body to keep him down.
“Oh, no, you’re not going anywhere,” the German Shepherd chastised. “You just woke up. Stay put for a moment. How do you feel?”
“… ‘M dizzy…”
“Yeah, I’d imagine so. When was the last time you slept or ate?”
“… Don’t ‘member.”
Chase sighed, but he didn’t push. The two lapsed into silence as Ryder got his bearings back.
“Two days.”
“What?”
“Two days,” Ryder repeated. “You asked when I last slept.”
“I don’t count a two-hour nap as sleep,” Chase said.
“Oh. Maybe a week ago?”
“And when was the last time you ate?”
“This morning.”
Chase raised an eyebrow. “Lemme rephrase that. When was the last time you ate something other than a snack?”
“… Three days ago.”
“That’s not good, Ryder.”
Ryder hummed.
“Why aren’t you getting enough sleep? And what’s so important that you can’t take a moment to grab something substantial to eat?”
Silence.
“Are you having nightmares again?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
Ryder bit his lip. “There’s just so much to do.”
“Like what?” Chase prodded gently.
“Your vehicles. I have to make sure they won’t break down during a mission.”
“Okay. We can solve that. What if you teach us how to inspect them? You know Rocky loves building and repairing things.”
“But I don’t want to put too much on you guys.”
“ Ryder. ”
The boy flinched at Chase’s stern voice. The pup took a deep breath.
“Ryder,” he spoke softly. “Do you really think we can’t handle it?”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“You pups are so young. You deserve the chance to be able to be, well, pups. Our lives aren’t easy, and asking you guys to grow up so fast is unfair.”
“Maybe, but you know we’d do it if it meant you could take a break.”
Ryder didn’t answer.
“How long would it take for you to teach us to inspect our vehicles after a mission?”
“I dunno,” he admitted. “Fifteen minutes, maybe?”
“Alright,” Chase smiled. “Next mission, you teach me how to inspect my vehicle. And if there’s something wrong, you can teach me or Rocky how to fix it. You know Rocky’s capable.”
“Yeah…”
“How about this? If it’s a big fix, you can do it, but for something small like a scratch or a dent, Rocky can handle it?”
“… I guess that’d be fine.”
“See? That’s one problem fixed. What else is there?”
And so, for a good hour, Ryder and Chase compromised on different things. The groceries needed to be picked up? One of the others can handle that! The yard was messy before turning in for the night? No problem; the pups can learn how to pick up after playtime! Back and forth, back and forth, until Ryder couldn’t think of anything else.
“How do you feel now?”
“Tired,” Ryder responded after a beat.
“I’ll bet,” Chase nodded. “Are you hungry?”
Ryder blinked. “I can’t tell.”
“You should eat something before going to sleep.”
“Maybe.”
“Absolutely. Stay here. I’m going to grab you a snack.”
“Don’t think I could get up even if I wanted to.”
Chase ran to the kitchen and returned with a banana and a water bottle. Slowly, Ryder sat up and leaned heavily against Chase.
“We need to work on getting you to eat and sleep more,” Chase said. “You can’t keep ignoring your body.”
“How?” Ryder asked. “I don’t even notice until, well….”
“What if I helped with that?”
“Chase, no. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Why not? You’re not asking me to; I’m offering.”
“It’s a lot of work.”
“Anything worthwhile is. Think of me like your service pup. Please, Ryder, let me do this for you. You’ve helped me and so many others in Adventure Bay. Let me return the favour.”
Finally, Ryder sighed as he finished his banana and half of the water bottle. “Fine. You win.”
Chase smiled in triumph and nudged Ryder back against the pillows.
“Go to sleep,” the German Shepherd ordered gently. “I’ll be there when you wake up.”
Ryder rolled onto his side, and Chase tucked himself against his chest, his nose under the boy’s chin. With a soft sigh, Ryder’s eyes closed for a much-needed nap.
(And so, the two fell into a new routine. Whenever Ryder’s stomach tried to get the boy’s attention, Chase would nudge his abdomen with his nose as a gentle reminder. Sometimes, it took two to three times for Ryder to drag himself away from his work, but Chase didn’t mind. And every night, Chase was the one to pull on Ryder’s clothes to make the boy go to his room. He’d wait until Ryder was asleep before going to bed, just in case he thought about sneaking out to work again. Of course, there were many days when it wasn’t easy, but Chase knew that going into it. Over time, Ryder began recognising when to take a break, whether to eat lunch or just relax for a moment. Even so, Chase continued to be a silent support. For Ryder, Chase would do anything.)