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Max Hansen, the English bulldog, was a frequent patient at Hansen-Pentecost Veterinary Clinic. He had a bad hip on his left side, and a bad habit of getting into tussles with skunks, possums, raccoons and neighborhood cats. It did not help that he was generally pretty bad at tussling in the first place.
Despite that, Max was a good dog. In all the years Raleigh Beckett had been a vet tech he had probably never met a better dog. The only problem with Max Hansen showing up in the waiting room of the clinic was that he was always accompanied by Chuck Hansen, his owner and the son of Raleigh’s boss.
“Why did you let him out there, Chuck?” Raleigh asked.
“He needed to go out. I didn’t want him going on the seat of my car, mate!” Chuck replied, sounding even more Australian than usual, which happened when Max was at the clinic.
“I’m not mates with anyone that lets their dog go running off at a zoo!”
“It was the zoo parking lot! He has a bad hip, I didn’t expect him to start booking it at two hundred kilometers right when I open the damn door!”
“We don’t do kilometers here.”
“Max is Australian! He doesn’t do miles! No one does miles except here, you damn yank!”
“Oh my god! Why did you let him out there in the first place!”
“Because he was going to go in the car! It was the zoo parking lot! We weren’t even close to the door!”
“It’s a zoo! Zoos smell good!”
“Yeah well your zoo smells like shite!”
“Boys,” a voice in the doorway said. Stacker Pentecost stood there, tall and looming, white lab coat immaculately, intimidatingly bright. “What seems to be the trouble?”
“Max accosted some flamingos,” Raleigh replied, pretending he wasn’t completely intimidated by his boss.
“The flamingos attacked Max!”
Dr. Pentecost lifted one eyebrow and both Chuck and Raleigh fell silent. If it had been Herc who walked through the door, he and Chuck would be going on and on, getting more and more Australian as the conversation continued. As scary as Stacker Pentecost was, Raleigh was grateful it was him and not Herc.
“Let’s take a look at our patient, shall we?”
Max, being a very good dog, wagged his butt around in lieu of an actual tail and lolled his tongue out, all but beaming up at Stacker, despite having just gotten out of a tussle with a flock of flamingos.
“Well, this isn’t nearly so bad as the raccoon last year, I’ll give him that.”
“Did you see his stomach?” Chuck asked nervously. “He needs some stitches.”
“No he doesn’t. The cuts are shallow. They look worse then they actually are. Max would let you know if he was really hurting.”
“There were dozens of them, Stack! What if there’s internal damage?”
“There’s nothing to indicate anything of the sort.”
“Please.”
Raleigh had to physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes. If Max was the best dog to walk through the clinic doors, Chuck was the most overprotective human to follow. Stacker actually chuckled. Everyone was used to Chuck, but it seemed like Raleigh was the only one who was bothered by it.
“How about a range of motion test. We’ll see if Beckett notices any discrepancies after we patch him up.”
“Range of motion test?” Chuck asked. “What’s that?”
“Beckett will take him for a walk.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Is my dad around? Maybe he should take a look, get a second opinion?”
“Are you saying my opinion isn’t good enough, Hansen?” Stacker asked. Chuck froze for a moment, remembering who he was talking to before shaking his head. “Right. Let’s get him cleaned up and Beckett will go out with Max and double check everything for you, alright?”
“Yes sir.”
The walk was awkward, and Raleigh thought he deserved a treat for having to deal with a panic-y Chuck and guided him and Max towards the coffee shop down the street. Max was walking normally, though he had a tendency to stop and ask for attention from pretty much every person he passed by.
“You see that?” Chuck would ask every other step. “Is that a limp? What if his hip’s flaring up from all that running? What if he broke something?”
“He wouldn’t be walking if he broke something, Chuck. Even you know that”
“How do you know? He’s a tough dog, he could be masking the pain, or somethin’?”
“Would you rather be taking this walk with Pentecost? I’d be happy to get him.”
That shut Chuck up for a good forty-five seconds, long enough for Raleigh to step into the coffee shop with Max at his feet. He handed the leash to Chuck and walked up to the counter.
“Do you want anything?”
“Tea,” Chuck replied absently, watching Max as he waddled over to the cushy couch at the far end of the shop. Max put his paws up and looked at Chuck who dutifully lifted him up and settled down next to him, scratching absently behind Max’s ears.
Chuck really loved that dog, Raleigh thought. He ordered a coffee for himself and Chuck’s tea and grabbed them both croissants because it was Friday and he was getting paid, and he thought it’d be weird to be eating while Chuck just sat there watching him.
Their fingers brushed when he handed Chuck his tea; Chuck’s hands were cold.
“You doing okay?” Raleigh finally asked, settling down on Max’s other side on the couch. He ran his hand over his pudgy side, and Max panted up at him, mouth open, tongue hanging out ridiculously.
“Just been a stupid day,” Chuck finally replied. “Even before the zoo thing.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Sure you are.”
Raleigh rolled his eyes and glanced down at Max who had flopped over and wriggled around on his back for belly rubs. Absently, Raleigh obliged, and Max’s foot started flopping into the air in time to Raleigh’s hand on his stomach.
“He likes you. I think he likes you more than me.”
“I’m just interesting. I smell like all the other dogs that come through. And the cats… and the lizards.”
“Lizards?”
“Russian couple has this iguana, Cherno. Ancient fucker.”
“Sorry I asked.”
They shared a small laugh but then fell quiet, eating their croissants, resting back against the squishy pillows on the couch. Max contentedly sprawled out on the cushion between them, making sure he was touching both of the men on either side of him.
“He’s a good dog,” Raleigh said after a moment.
“He’s the best dog.”
“Best one I know.”
“Really?” Chuck raised an eyebrow. “No need to flatter him, it’ll go to his head.”
“I see dogs every day, man. Max is great. Seriously. You’ve done a good job with him.”
Chuck finally smiled, meeting Raleigh’s eye. It gave Raleigh pause. Smiling was a good look on him. Raleigh blinked and smiled back as Chuck set down his tea and used both hands to scratch Max’s belly.
“You hear that, you arsehole? You’re great. Flamingos and all!”
Raleigh laughed and added his hand to Max, rubbing under his collar. His hand brushed against Chuck’s once more, but this time his fingers weren’t nearly so cold.
Raleigh was exhausted. They were having what was possibly the worst day in the clinic’s history. The two lab guys had their own theories; Gottlieb said it was scheduled to happen — something about math and the way things could be predicted like this — while Newt said something weird about the full moon. Raleigh didn’t care why things were going so bad, he was just praying they didn’t get worse.
It had started out with a cat, Crimson. He needed a few vaccination shots and an oral antibiotic. The three-legged cat was having none of it, and took it out on Raleigh’s arm. When Crimson left, Raleigh was covered in scratches that stung like a bitch even hours after the fact.
Then a parakeet got loose in the waiting room, and Raleigh and Tendo were trying to corral it back in while the dogs, cats and their owners were all huddled in the corner trying to avoid the bird as it squawked and pooped all over.
But the worse thing about that day came with a call from the local sheriff’s office. Someone was hoarding animals and Hansen-Pentecost were the closet vets in the area. They brought in ten cats, a few guinea pigs and four dogs that were bordering on feral. It had seemed to be going okay until one of the dogs bit Tendo’s hand badly enough that Mako had to rush him off to the hospital, leaving Raleigh as the only vet tech in the building. Even Herc and Stacker were running around doing the prelim tests, but the waiting room was still full, the phone ringing off the hook, and no end in sight.
“That arm’s seen better days, mate.”
Raleigh turned around from the wall of medications as he tried to fill a prescription for flea medicine to see Chuck leaning against the doorway, Max sitting at his feet, panting.
“Can’t be worse than Tendo’s hand.”
“Yeah I heard about that.”
“So what’s up? Max okay?” He peered down at the bulldog, but there were no outward signs of distress. He knelt down and Max waddled up to him and licked his face.
“Max is fine. My dad called me in, said you needed backup.”
“Backup?”
“Can’t administer meds, but I sure as hell know my way around this place. Used to do your job before I headed off to uni.”
“That so?”
“Yup.”
“Well, you won’t hear me complaining.”
“Right. I can work the desk if you want. Let me just put Max in dad’s office.”
“Give me a minute.” Raleigh sighed and flopped down to sit properly on the floor and give Max some more attention. “I just need some unconditional love from a good dog. You hear about what happened?”
“Yeah, my dad showed me the kennels. They’re a mean lot.”
“They’ll be okay, but they’re hungry and I think we should send one of them off to the intensive care place — they’re better equipped for jerk-off dogs that might have rabies”
“Not the one that bit Tendo I hope?”
“I’m not even sure which one that was. It’s been chaos here.”
“Well, never fear. I’m here now.”
“Captain Aussie to the rescue.”
Chuck huffed out a small laugh and headed to the supply closet to put on scrubs. After a few more moments with Max, Raleigh stood up and followed him down the hallway towards Herc’s office. He paused outside the supply closet just in time to see Chuck without his shirt on. Raleigh felt his cheeks warm as he walked onwards and opened the door to the empty office. He almost left, but Max waddled up to the couch and Raleigh stepped in to lift the dog up and set him down. Max got one more tummy rub when he rolled over and Raleigh headed back out.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Raleigh and Chuck kept passing each other in the hallway, giving each other short nods, an occasional smile, an eye-roll and chuckle. With Chuck’s help things started moving a little more easily. They were able to process all the animals in the waiting room, and Chuck could run over preliminary tests along with Raleigh, so that Herc and Stacker could do their actual jobs.
Mako came back and jumped right into helping out without prompting. She noticed Chuck and Raleigh holding down a pugnacious mastiff that didn’t want to take his medicine from Dr. Hansen. She met Raleigh’s eye and quirked her eyebrow in such a way that left Raleigh confused. She gave a look towards Chuck and met his eye once more. He frowned at her, still holding the mastiff down and having a hard time focusing on both her and the dog, and she finally just rolled her eyes and left.
“Come on, Hannibal. Come on boy!”
“Get your hand away from his mouth son, I don’t trust him.”
“Likewise, dad.”
“I can lose this hand, always got the other.”
“Dad—“
“Okay, we’re gonna do something really stupid, you with me Chuck?”
Raleigh watched, horrified and amazed, holding Hannibal’s back end still as Chuck and Herc both ended up with their hands pressing open the mastiff’s mouth by the teeth, forcing the little pill to go down.
When it was over, Raleigh, Herc, Chuck and Hannibal let out exhausted sighs.
“Right. That was fun,” Herc said pulling off his gloves. He gave Hannibal a friendly pat on the side and strode out of the room.
“Your dad and I have different interpretations of ‘fun.’”
“You’d never survive down under, Raleigh.”
“I don’t have to. I’m fine here.”
They laughed and discharged Hannibal and kept going. The day stretched out and it was after 8:00 when they finally sent out their last customer. Even with just half a day’s worth of work it was clear that Chuck was almost as exhausted as Raleigh. Mako had left, still in her scrubs, to go check on Tendo, and Stacker and Herc went off to get a drink and talk about what to do with the extra animals they had gotten from the Sheriff’s department. Raleigh started cleaning and closing up.
Before he left, Herc mentioned something to Chuck about taking care of Raleigh. When Raleigh glanced over, it was obvious that Chuck was just as confused as Raleigh was. They shrugged it off, and waved to Stacker and Herc as they left.
“I think he’s just tired,” Chuck said at last. “Not thinking straight or something.”
“I can relate,” Raleigh replied.
Raleigh and Chuck went to the store closet. With a sigh, Raleigh pulled his scrubs shirt off of his head, and poked around for his clothes.
“Jeez, mate. You lost that fight didn’t ya?”
Raleigh turned and saw where Chuck was looking. He had honestly forgotten about the scar on his back. It was clear Chuck didn’t even know he was doing it, but he reached out and ran his fingers down the mottled skin where Raleigh had been almost torn apart years earlier. The contact felt indirect, phantom like on his damaged nerves, but it still made Raleigh shiver.
“Shit, sorry.” Chuck pulled back.
“It’s fine. It just feels weird sometimes.”
“How’d it happen?”
“Car accident. Up on a trip to Alaska with my brother.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Raleigh bit his lip. “Umm. I don’t anymore.”
Chuck fell quiet, and Raleigh hated how awkward it felt between them.
“I’m sorry,” he said at last.
“It’s fine, Chuck. You didn’t know.”
“Nah, I do though. I’m stupid. I should’ve thought—“
“It’s fine.”
They were standing in the small store room without their shirts and Chuck was flustered and Raleigh was blushing hard. They were inches apart. Raleigh could feel the heat coming off of Chuck’s skin. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, and he wasn’t exactly sure where he should look. Their eyes met for just a moment — a heavy, loaded moment, and all Raleigh could see was how blue they were — before they both looked away and found their shirts.
Raleigh politely excused himself as Chuck changed out of his scrubs pants and went back to find Max in Herc’s office. The dog was snoring loudly and Raleigh didn’t have it in him to wake him up, so he sat on Herc’s desk instead, watching Max’s chest rise and fall.
“Has he moved all day?”
Chuck stood in the doorway, fully dressed. Somehow that was worse. The line of his legs in his jeans was impossibly long and Raleigh had to bite his lip and turn back to Max. That was easier, safer.
He cleared his throat. “I think Mako took him out to do his business in the back yard a few hours ago.”
“Lazy arsehole.” Chuck huffed out a laugh and patted his thigh. “Come on, Max. Time to go home.”
Max finally lifted his head and gave Chuck a disgusted look before yawning, stretching and pulling himself to his feet, and flopping off of the couch. He waddled over to Chuck who found the leash and knelt down to hook it into his collar.
“I’ll walk you out,” Raleigh said at last.
“Not going home?”
“I am home. I live in the apartment upstairs.”
“No shit?”
“Yeah, I’m technically on call in case there’s any pet emergencies down here. I usually just direct them down the street to the night time emergency clinic if it’s a real problem.”
“Not a bad gig.”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
Chuck opened the door out of the waiting room, and the cool night air blew over them. Max pulled a little on the leash, stepping out into the dark and sniffing the corner of the building curiously ignoring the two men.
“I guess I’ll see you next time,” Chuck finally said.
“Thanks for helping out today, man.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Raleigh liked Chuck’s accent. When Herc said something that sound particularly Australian, it did nothing to Raleigh, but when Chuck spoke? It was different. It was a cold night, but Raleigh wouldn’t have known it. They were quiet for a moment, eyes meeting occasionally before they would look back at Max who waddled around the sidewalk, snuffling and huffing through his squashed nose.
“Right,” Chuck said at last. “Take it easy, mate.”
“You too.”
As Chuck walked Max down the street and around the corner to his car, Raleigh thought of something Mako would say, usually when they went out drinking and someone caught their eye; “You hate to see him leave but you love to watch him go.” She would grin and bump his shoulder and he would hate how well she could read him. He would grin back and rub the back of his neck. As Chuck disappeared down the street Raleigh could almost feel her bumping his shoulder and smirking and remembered the look she gave when she saw them together with Hannibal that afternoon, and felt a thrum of annoyance and something else rise in his chest.
He finally closed the door and was just about to turn the lock when—
“Hold the door!”
Chuck jumped at the sound of Newt and Gottlieb shuffling quickly out of the lab.
“I thought you guys already left.”
“We were finishing up some blood panels when—“
“Quiet, Newt!”
“When what?” Raleigh looked between the two lab techs, taking in their guilty expressions.
“When you and Herc’s kid were making eyes at each other.”
“We weren’t making eyes at each other.”
“It was like the beginnings of a porno, man.”
Raleigh scoffed. He had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. “Good night, guys.”
“Can I for one, just say that I am exceptionally glad you did not engage in coitus in the storeroom, Mr. Beckett. Very glad indeed.”
Newt pulled Gottlieb away and out of the door and Raleigh locked it behind them.
Raleigh couldn’t get the image of him and Chuck ‘engaging in coitus’ out of his head for the rest of the night.
Raleigh woke up to his phone ringing and the sound of someone banging their fist on the door to the clinic. He groaned and rolled over, reaching for the nightstand and answering whoever was calling.
“‘ello?”
“Raleigh, it’s Herc. Chuck said there’s something up with Max. He’s headed over now, let him in and start up the prelims. I’ll be right there, yeah.”
“No problem. Do you think I should call the night clinic? Tell them to prep for emergency stuff?”
He heard Herc sigh over the other end of the phone. “That might be a good idea.”
Raleigh’s stomach dropped. He said his goodbyes to Herc and sent a quick text to the Dr. Yamarashi at the night clinic before pulling on a shirt and running downstairs.
At the door stood Chuck, wearing his pajamas and holding Max in his arms. There was none of the usual wriggling and panting from the dog, and without a word he guided Chuck to the first exam room, where Chuck very carefully set Max on the table.
“He was wheezing. His gums are blue, mate. I didn’t— I should’ve just gone straight to the emergency guys, but I didn’t know their number, or where they were—“
“You’re alright. We can at least get him stabilized. Did he eat anything weird?” He listened with his stethoscope to Max’s lungs. He wasn’t getting enough air.
“I don’t know— I just—“
Max’s wheezing grew more rapid, and he whimpered on the table and Raleigh made a decision.
“Okay, Chuck. With your permission, I’m going to do something I don’t have a license to do. I know how to do it, but I’m technically not allowed. I don’t think we can wait for your dad.”
“Do it.”
Raleigh grabbed the supplies from the cabinet. “Open his mouth, straighten out his neck a little.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to intubate him — he’s not getting enough oxygen.”
Chuck was pale, but nodded and Raleigh got to work. He had done this once on an inanimate dummy dog with Stacker watching closely and mentioning how he was doing things wrong. His hands were shaking as he pulled on the latex gloves. With careful fingers he put in the mouth gag and moved Max’s tongue out of the way He slowly, cautiously started moving the tube down Max’s throat. He could not stop shaking. He didn’t know if he was doing it right, but he just kept trying to do it the way Stacker showed him, and finally attached the ambu bag air pump, gave it a squeeze and—
Max’s chest expanded and he slowly calmed down.
Raleigh and Chuck both slumped in relief just in time to hear the bells of the clinic door jingle and the sound of Herc jogging into the exam room.
“What’ve we got?”
Raleigh kept squeezing the bag in a smooth, easy rhythm but that did not stop him from being completely terrified.
“I intubated him. There wasn’t anything else to do.”
Herc sighed and stepped towards the table and brought his face down to Max’s. “You weren’t supposed to do that, kid.”
“What’ll Chuck do, sue me?”
“I’m actually just about ready to kiss ya, truth be told,” Chuck replied.
They all fell quiet for a moment. Herc’s eyebrow quirked in a very Stacker-esque way, and Chuck’s eyes were wide. Raleigh could feel his cheeks heating up, and found himself only able to open and close his mouth a few times before Herc finally spoke, grabbing the small electric air pump and quickly switching out the ambu bag.
“How about I drive this guy down the road, yeah? Let Yamarashi take a look at him. I’m guessing it was an allergic reaction to something.”
Raleigh wiped his face and nodded and suddenly he was alone with Chuck, who looked almost as flustered as he did when he had first brought Max in.
“T-thank you,” Chuck said at last. “You saved his life.”
“It— it had to be done.”
“But still. You said you weren’t supposed to do it and you did it anyway.”
Raleigh sighed and leaned against the exam table. “Well… Max is a good dog.”
“He’s the best.”
“I don’t want you to lose him before his time, you know? He’s got a few good years left.”
“Thanks for that.”
It grew quiet between them once more. It should have been awkward but it wasn’t. Raleigh finally turned and looked Chuck in the eye.
“You gonna make good on it then?”
“On what?”
“Kissing me.”
It was Chuck’s turn to blush. He met Raleigh’s eye before turning away quickly. He got up from where he was leaning against the table next to Raleigh.
“I gotta go—“ he said. “I gotta— Max— he needs—“ Chuck was already walking out before turning and grabbing his cell phone and then he was gone.
Raleigh stared at the door. Silence fell on the empty veterinary clinic once more as the bells on the door outside jingled and Chuck was gone. Raleigh blinked a few moments before cleaning up the exam room and walking up the back stairs and into his small apartment. The adrenaline from the visit was wearing off and he was crashing hard.
He had been joking. He thought he had been joking. But he was also disappointed his joking hadn’t lead anywhere. He sat down on his bed and flopped onto his back.
He had really wanted to kiss Chuck at that moment. He shouldn’t have said anything at all. He covered his face with his hands and groaned, grunting when a weight on his stomach startled him.
Lady Danger, his cat, was peering down at him, looking bored. He scratched her neck as she settled down on his stomach and dozed off.
“Shit,” he murmured into the apartment. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“It’s just a break,” Mako said easily as they stood in line for coffee with Tendo. “He was just nervous about Max.”
“What are you talking about? We weren’t even together, there’s nothing to break from.”
“I do not understand.” She frowned at him. “You’ve been dating for months.”
“Yeah man,” Tendo added. “I mean, I know you guys were on the DL, but you were clearly boning.”
“Even Stacker talked about it. Asked me if I knew when the wedding date was just the other day.”
“Are you kidding me? We’re not dating. We’ve never dated. I freaked him out because I asked him to kiss me last night for the first time.”
“You guys have kissed!” Mako said. It sounded patronizing, but kind. As if Chuck and Raleigh had kissed regularly but maybe Raleigh had just forgotten about it.
“Umm. No. We haven’t.”
“Are you sure?” Tendo asked.
“Positive.”
“Huh… that definitely changes things, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” Mako was frowning at him. “He didn’t want to kiss you?”
“He freaked out and ran away, Mako. If his dad didn’t work there, I’d be betting you he’d be looking for another vet right now. Hell, I don’t know if he isn’t looking for another vet right now anyway, to hell with his dad.”
“I do not understand,” she muttered again.
She and Tendo gave each other a look that Raleigh couldn’t parse. He sighed and walked up to the counter and ordered their drinks, grabbing a croissant for himself. He remembered sitting on the couch in the corner with Max and Chuck and he felt stupid all over again. Tendo and Mako started chatting between themselves when it was clear Raleigh wasn’t in the mood to talk about it anymore, and headed back towards the clinic to start the morning rounds.
They were walking down the sidewalk when something heavy and round barrelled into Raleigh’s thighs at an impossibly high speed. Mako caught his coffee as he fell onto his ass on the sidewalk, fighting back the wet, huffing thing that was pressed against his chest.
“Max! Max you arsehole!”
Raleigh looked up to see Chuck running down the sidewalk. He reached for the leash when he got to them and pulled the dog off of him. Raleigh gave the dog a good scratch behind the ears before pulling himself to his feet.
“He’s looking good, we heard about what happened,” Tendo said as Raleigh stood up. He was trying to break the awkward silence, but it didn’t help much. Chuck and Raleigh stared at each other. Mako took the leash from Chuck’s hand, and knelt down to pay attention to Max for a moment. Max was very happy to have it. He rolled over onto his back and panted gratefully when Mako rubbed his stomach.
Raleigh only noticed Max doing this because he was trying very hard not to meet Chuck’s eye. He wished he had something to do with his hands. He wished he wasn’t picturing the way Chuck looked without his shirt, and thinking how stupid he was for ruining their budding friendship.
He was so busy thinking these things that he was completely shocked when Chuck took him by the chin, turned Raleigh’s face up to meet his and pressed their lips together.
Raleigh gasped and froze, tensing up in Chuck’s hand. They didn’t say anything for a long, weighted moment.
“Ummm…” Chuck finally said. “Thanks for saving Max. Last night. I was— I thought you were teasing me— but, yeah— thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Raleigh replied instinctively. He was shocked, he was completely frozen and Chuck’s hand was still on his cheek, and he thought he couldn’t breathe.
And Chuck’s fingers felt cold.
It was only when Chuck started to pull away that Raleigh realized what had happened. He did the only thing he could think of.
Raleigh stepped forward and kissed Chuck once more. He cupped Chuck’s head in his hands and pressed their bodies together, and Chuck froze before sighing into it and wrapping his hands around Raleigh’s waist.
Max waddled over and sat on Raleigh’s foot. As he started losing feelings to his toes, Raleigh had never felt better.