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Robert and Chad walked hand in hand through the dog park close to their home. Beef was running ahead of them, pulling on his lead, eager to run and play with his friends. They’d been coming here at least once a week whenever their schedule allowed it ever since they’d moved in together, and Beef recognised the route well by now.
If his lead wasn’t already on by 1pm on Saturday, then he was carrying it to one of them in his mouth while whining and demanding that they leave now! That had been the case this afternoon, and Robert had been dragged out of the door by the tiny dog. Chad stood back to point and laugh at him.
“Still so, so weak Robrob.”
“Haha very funny, lock up and come on. I think he wants to see that toy poodle he’s been playing with recently.”
Said toy poodle was a newer visitor to the dog park, and Beef had taken an instant shine to her. Whenever they met up, they would end up circling each other, licking at each other's faces and generally following one another around the place almost inseparably.
An unexpected bonus of their weekly walks was that Chad and Robert had gotten to meet more of their neighbours. They looked forward to those catch-up sessions just as much as their chihuahua did. They’d often end up chatting with familiar faces while sitting and drinking coffee on a park bench or watching as the dogs ran around and played together.
Chad had already left to go get coffee from the little kiosk set up in the park for the summer by the time that Robert was unclipping Beef’s lead.
“Go on boy, have fun.”
Immediately, Beef was running off, tail wagging, barking happily, chasing after the other dogs.
“Oh, Robert. Good you’re here.”
“Hey Millie, what’s up?”
Chad walked back holding two reuseable cups of coffee and handed one to Robert.
“Hi Millie, how you doing? How’s Princess?”
“Hi Chad, I actually wanted to talk about her...with both of you.”
Oh, shit what did we do now? Robert thought to himself worried about some faux pas he hadn’t yet realised.
“Well um.”
She said it with a nervous laugh rubbing her hand along the back of her neck.
“You’re gonna be grandparents, congrats I guess.”
Chad and Robert shared a look of disbelief. I knew I should have gotten him neutered. Robert admonished himself. Chad broke the silence first.
“How far along is she?”
“About a month-- I didn’t realise her heat had started. Then I decided to have an ultrasound this week to double check. Speaking of which this is for you.”
She reached into a pocket and took out a sonogram picture of two tiny puppies.
“Oh my god, look at how tiny they are Rob.”
Chad already sounded a little misty eyed and emotional over the idea of the puppies. Robert was more practical than that.
“What do you want to do with them?”
“Well, I was thinking we could keep one each? Beef and Princess get on great; it’d be sweet for Beef to get to spend some more time with her and...”
Chad cut her off before she could finish what she was saying eagerly announcing.
“Yes! We’ll take one.”
“Chad, we didn’t even discuss it?!”
“We both know you’re not going to say no. Plus think of how cute a teeny chihuahua, poodle will be? Besides, you’re not going to deny Chase a great-grandbaby now, are you?”
“Noooo.”
Robert drew out the word in exasperation; His partner knew him far too well for him to fool him that way.
“Millie, what’s your number?”
The soon to be new pet grandparents exchanged numbers in the park, continuing to talk until their coffee was finished and their respective dogs had run back to them. The pair were nuzzling each other and licking at the others face, and Robert almost cooed at the sight of them.
Back home, Robert sat relaxing on the couch with a very tired and happy Beef asleep on his lap. Chad was busy cooking dinner; Robert wasn’t sure what it was, but it smelled as amazing as his cooking always did. Robert pulled out his phone and rang Chase.
“Hey Dad. I got good news for you.”
“What’s up, Bobcat?”
“You’re gonna be a great grandpa!”
“Wait what?! Did you manage to knock Chad up or something? Cos I know you didn’t go and adopt or do the surrogacy route without even telling me.”
“Haha, no man, chill...no kids not yet.”
He dropped his voice low then in case Chad was in earshot.
“I think I want to wait till after the wedding for that...”
“Kid did you even propose yet?”
“It’s not even been a year. Ugh that’s not important right now. Beef’s gonna be a dad.”
The sound of wind suddenly played over the microphone. Robert called out with a laugh in his voice.
“Hero open the door; Dad’s on the way over.”
“I swear he lost all sense of manners when he got his powers back.”
“Ehh he always did that.”
“Not with me he didn’t!”
Chad had barely finished his sentence and opened the front door when Chase arrived. Robert clicked off the call, watching as Chase looked at his phone, seeming pleased with himself. Must be getting faster again. Robert mused to himself.
“Ah there he is.”
Chase bent down to Beef continuing.
“There’s my good Beef.”
Beef stretched and yawned, quirking an ear as he slowly woke up to the sound of his third favourite voice. Chase scooped him up into his arms and twirled around with him.
“Who’s gonna be a daddy? You are Beef!”
Beef licked at Chases cheek, smiling as much as a dog could do; Robert's heart melted at seeing his dad and Dog look so happy.
“Sweetie, show him the picture.”
Chad walked over; waiting for Chase to stop spinning and held out the ultrasound photo.
“Twins, Beefy, you’re having twins!”
“Yeah, dad and we’ll be keeping one of them.”
“What breed is the mom?”
“Toy poodle, named Princess. Real pretty, friendly dog. Beef’s smitten with her.”
“So, when am I meeting my new daughter in law?”
“Oh my god.”
Robert groaned in mock embarrassment, but the truth is he had fully anticipated this reaction from Chase; he was possibly more excited than him and Chad were.
The next month consisted of multiple play dates as well as meeting up with Millie and Princess in the dog park as much as possible so that Beef and her could be together. Chad fully leaned into the new role of being an expectant pet grandparent, making sure to buy extra toys, outfits, puppy food and puppy matts for once their puppy came home.
He’d even been baking homemade dog treats to make sure that Princess had all the nutrients she needed. Beef, of course, acted as taste tester, and Chad always made extra for Beef to have a couple of treats for himself.
It was the middle of the night when Millie called them to come over, simply saying, "It's happening.” A short drive later and the three of them were in her house. Beef sat with Princess the entire time; any worries that Robert might have had dissipated when Beef began to lick the pups clean and cuddle up with them and Princess afterwards.
Chad and Robert were over almost daily for the first couple of weeks to make sure that Beef would continue to take to the pups until they were old enough to live without Princess. Of course even then, they would still be seeing her weekly if not more often.
Beef and Princess’s pups were adorable little long haired Chipoos. One was a girl with sticky up ears, a brown and white coat, and a pointy tail. The other was a boy with one stuck up ear and one that flopped down, his coat was brown, and black and his tail curled slightly at the end. He looked every bit as silly as his father while his sister was as pretty as her mom.
After 8 weeks Chad and Robert brought the boy puppy home with them. Robert picked the name Ramen for him, insisting that Beef Ramen was a great pair of names for their dogs. Chad spoiled Ramen almost more than Beef.
Beef and Ramen slept in their bed at night, got cuddled as much as they wanted to, and played with until they were too tired to anymore. Chase cooed over Ramen, joking that “He inherited my good looks.”
When Robert did propose he had the four dogs help him out. All of them lined up in a row, each of them wearing a new tag on their collars that read out, “Will you marry Robert?”
Chad of course said yes because how could he possibly refuse his adorable little doggy family.