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Ramsay's eye twitched for what felt like the millionth time in a minute.
He had never felt the amount of pure rage and need to destroy before this very moment. Yes, he loved dogs. He had ten – but even he had a limit to his love.
Said limit sat in front of him on the living room floor, currently in the process of destroying an old dog toy from one of Ramsay's older dogs, Alison.
The toy was a small wolf that squeaked every time Reek bit down on it. And Reek basically did nothing else ever since he got his grubby little paws on it.
Ramsay still remembered how Alison had reacted when he first got her that toy after she had been freshly adopted by him. She had sniffed at it with her unusual high level of suspicion, which she directed towards anything new and had pushed it around on the floor a bit.
He remembered how he had been waiting at the edge of his seat for her to finally bite down on it and have her play with the squeaky toy, something his two other dogs had never done. He had watched her like a hawk, desperate to finally see her reaction.
When she had finally bitten down on it and the high-pitched sound came out of the toy, she jumped up like a gun had been fired and rushed into a corner of the room, growling and showing her teeth, barking angrily at the stuffed wolf.
The poor toy had never left Ramsay's dog dedicated dresser ever again after that fail.
And all the following dogs he had adopted were content with playing with their sisters or simply tugging on a rope. Nothing toy-related was ever their point of interest – until Reek.
Reek was the first male dog he had welcomed to his home, and also the first one he didn't personally pick.
Reek was picked by his wonderful, perfect, amazing, lovely, cute, angel of a husband, Theon. Because going to a dog shelter together counted as a second date, Theon had told him.
And bless his husband. He loved him, really, but he had a nearly opposite taste in dogs than Ramsay. When they arrived at the dog shelter, Theon couldn't stop gravitating towards the smallest, most miserable looking puppies in the entire shelter.
Back then, he had told him that it was because he saw himself in them, which did make Ramsay more forgiving towards his... particular taste, but it didn't stop him from steering Theon away from the puppy section and into the outside area where the older dogs were kept.
But even there, Theon just kept pointing at the dogs that looked like they were freshly picked up from the street or were on the brink of death.
Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but Ramsay really didn't understand why his then-boyfriend wanted those and not a specific breed with only the best attributes.
Ramsay only adopted dogs from breeders, not from the shelter.
"But Ramsay," Theon had whined, "these dogs need a home. They don't have their family anymore, they were abandoned. They have no one!"
Theon had begun crying after that, babbling about how these dogs were like him, and he didn't want anyone else to feel the same pain that he felt because they were just innocent dogs.
Ramsay had softly directed Theon out of the shelter, ignoring the uncomfortable looking teenager behind the reception and sat with Theon in the backseat of his car, where the actual worst part began.
Theon had still been crying uncontrollably, but he also started hyperventilating, breathing in through his mouth, and not exhaling properly.
In that moment, Ramsay had to put his non-existent consoling ability to use, pulling Theon in his lap and pressing him against his chest with maybe too much force. With their bodies pressed against each other, he felt more than saw Theon's unnatural breathing pattern, his body trembling from the shivers and the irregular breath wrecking through his thin frame.
He was never confronted with anyone having such a violent reaction towards such a trivial thing – though to Theon, it definitely wasn't trivial.
That had been their second date – going to a dog shelter, Theon having a panic attack, Ramsay trying to comfort him, and then getting fish and chips because it was Theon's comfort food and Ramsay was nothing if not a complete fool in love already, even if it meant eating fast food that had too much grease in it on his couch that had never seen something as cheap as that before.
All in all, Ramsay hadn't expected to get a call for a third date after that disaster.
But Theon was a gift that kept on giving, and after just two days – on a particularly rainy day – Ramsay had opened his front door after incessant knocking that grated on his last nerve to Theon absolutely drenched and in his arms a similarly pathetic looking puppy.
The rest of the day was spent warming up the two freezing souls, Theon with blankets and steaming tea, and the puppy with a huge dog pile with Ramsay's dogs in front of the fireplace.
Sitting on the couch cuddled together, Theon had quietly apologized for his embarrassing behavior and had practically begged Ramsay to give him a second chance.
It was all very pathetic and a bit disturbing as well.
He hadn't known a whole lot about Theon's upbringing up to that point and his reaction only managed to confirm his suspicion that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows in his past, similar to Ramsay himself. Who even apologized for a bloody panic attack?
But seeing the man apologize for something completely out of his control and act like he had committed a crime that Ramsay had to forgive him for was heartbreaking, to say the least.
It took a long while until Theon had not only understood but also completely internalized the fact that around Ramsay, he didn't have to apologize for showing his feelings in whichever way that may happen.
One month later and Ramsay had proposed.
Six months later, they had been married.
Theon had moved out of his shitty apartment and into Ramsay's house, fitting in naturally like he had never been somewhere else.
The little puppy he had brought over that day had been named Reek, though Theon didn't approve of that name in the beginning. He kept insisting that it only was a placeholder name until they got around to finding a suitable, normal one for him.
It originated from Ramsay bathing the dog after Theon had found him in a carboardbox, abandoned on the side of the road.
The little puppy was covered in all kinds of grime and dirt, stinking up the whole bathroom in the process of Ramsay removing all of the unpleasant smells with copious amounts of dog shampoo and warm water.
Theon had sat on the toilet, freshly showered and bundled up in clean clothes from Ramsay that nearly swallowed him, and endured Ramsay complaining throughout the entire time about how much the puppy was reeking and how this could have happened.
After that, it became more of an affecionate nickname for the dog since he thankfully didn't keep his smell and just smelled like dog after that intense bathing session.
His dogs had all gathered around the closed bathroom door – intrigued by the new dog in the house – and were on him the moment Theon gently let him down.
"Be careful with him, he's had a rough day," Ramsay had warned his ladies, pushing them away a bit to make sure the little one wasn't accidentally crushed between the bigger dogs.
But after hearing their owner's tone they all thankfully tampered down their excitement to a reasonable level and started sniffing the new addition (Sara, Willow and Helicent), licking his face (Kyra and Grey Jeyne), or simply getting bored and plopping down next to the fireplace (Alison, Red Jeyne, Maude and Jez). Both Ramsay and Theon had breathed a sigh of relief that no dog had a problem with Reek, and they all accepted him quickly.
And that brought Ramsay back to the present, the present where Reek was still intent on giving Ramsay a headache, and he had no clue how to make him stop.
His original plan had been to get some work stuff done while Theon was out jogging with the ladies to tire them out so they could have a relaxing evening, but Reek, always the troublemaker, couldn't stop biting down on that godforsaken wolf.
And with the annoying sounds, he had done about zero percent of what he had wanted to get done. With a quick glance at the clock, he confirmed that, yes, he had done absolutely nothing the last two hours, safe for opening the file and typing three words.
He really hoped that Theon wouldn't mind busying Reek, so Ramsay got at least a miniscule amount of progress in today. But Theon had also been jogging the past two hours and had been taking care of nine dogs. Maybe he would be too tired once he returned and would not be able to humor little Reek.
If that was the case, he would just have to accept it. He didn't want to push his lovely Theon.
Right as that thought crossed his mind, he heard the key turn in the lock and all nine of his girls squeezing themselves through the door. Their paws made clattering noises against the hardwood floor, rustling while they were probably waiting for Theon to let them off the leash. His boyfriend had the habit of only taking their leashes off once he was safely inside with the door closed.
"We're back!" Theon shouted through the entire house.
"I can hear that," Ramsay replied from his seat on the couch. "Did they give you a hard time?"
He knew that they were perfectly trained and wouldn't move a muscle without permission, but Theon was much more lenient with them than he was. And that sometimes led to his girls wanting to find his limit, how much they were allowed before they were reprimanded – how disobedient they could with their new owner.
"These sweet things? Never," Theon laughed, walking into the living room, shirt drenched in sweat, fringe plastered to his forehead and an exhausted smile on his face.
Ramsay thought that he looked like a walking wet dream.
Behind him, all the nine dogs shuffled around, some immediately going upstairs, others following Theon and wandering lazily to the fireplace, greeting Reek.
Reek, who had, at the sound of his sisters and Theon returning, stopped giving the toy any attention, leaving it lying on the floor and instead cozied up with Helicent, Jez and Alison on the dog bed.
"You can never be too sure," Ramsay drawled. "Reek, for one, has been bothering me ever since you left the house. I think he finds pleasure in torturing me."
He pouted, trying his best to look extra pitiful.
Theon only grinned. "That angel over there? The one who is better behaved than some of your dogs without any training whatsoever? Yeah, sure."
"No, I swear! He was playing with that... that bloody wolf toy and I couldn't do any work!"
"Well, then you should've gone to your office. Why do you even have one here at home if you don't use it?"
"But I wanted to work on the couch and not on that abomination of an office chair."
"Ramsay, seriously, that sounds like a you-problem more than a Reek-problem," Theon scoffed, downing a glass of water quickly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand afterwards.
"You're my husband. You're supposed to agree with me!" Ramsay complained.
Really, he had been the victim of sound torture for the past two hours, and Theon didn't care at all. What a husband!
"As your husband, it is my duty to tell you the truth, and you have to admit that you're being a tiny bit overdramatic."
Theon plopped down on the arm of the couch, leaning towards Ramsay. But Ramsay had turned his pouting face to his laptop, ignoring Theon.
So he didn't see it when he reached out his hand to turn Ramsay towards him, looking positively smitten and kissing him lovingly.
"I'll shower, and then I'll be waiting for you in bed, hopefully that lifts my dear husband's mood. Don't take too long," Theon grinned suggestively. He threw him a wink before standing up and walking upstairs.
Okay, maybe Ramsay wouldn't get any work done today. Not if that was on the table.
He could finish the work another day.