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Majoring in business had been his father’s idea. Opening his own dog shelter was all Gabriel. Tall Tails was his pride and joy; he put everything he had into making it as perfect as he could. He struggled sometimes, but it was worth it to see the smiling face of someone when they met the perfect animal. Plus, he was the only one employed at the shelter, though a few of his cousins came through every now and then but never anything permanent.
Gabriel jumped as his toes were nipped by a very bored looking Pomeranian and glared down as the fluff of an animal narrowed his eyes back at the human. With a sigh, he jumped down from the tall chair behind the desk in the lobby of his shop and stretched his arms over his head with a dramatic groan. Looking around he could see the brightly painted walls, newly decorated with silhouettes of many types of dogs, the background a sea green and the portraits contrasting in black, all hand painted. He scuffed his white tennis shoes on the forever-scratched wooden floors and shooed the dog back through the door behind the counter to where the dog cages were. He didn’t like using the cages, hated having the animals locked up when they were supposed to be free so as long as he was in the shop the animals were out of the pens and had free run of the back room and outside lots. Sometimes there were animals that couldn’t be with animals and he regretted having to keep them alone and in major cases, having to send then to other kennels if they were too temperamental. Stopping in the doorway to the outside lot, Gabriel tucked his hands into the pockets of his well-worn jeans.
“Alright fellas, who’s up for a walk down to the park?” The answer came in the form of several dogs knocking into him at once causing him to grip onto the doorframe and throw his head back in laughter. The Pomeranian from earlier, a little boy named Rich, tugged on the fabric of his jeans, growling playfully and Gabriel frowned down at him, bending over to scoop him up, “Oh no, Richie you went yesterday, I think I’m taking the bigger dogs today, yeah?” The dog sneezed in his face and he glared again while he walked him back to his cage at the end of the hall. After getting Rich in his pen he started the task of getting everyone else back in theirs too, it was a pretty easy job for most of the animals because a lot of them had been trained, but there were always a few stragglers that he had to chase down to get them put up. He stood up and leaned backwards, popping his back before grabbing three of the large leashes hanging on a hook by the door. Sitting in the hallway three dogs blinked at him, waiting for their commands, a speckled Great Dane named Lukus, and two German Shepard brothers named Tim and Tom, the biggest dogs that were in the shelter at that time.
He walked to the dog park everyday with different dogs, in batches of three or four at a time, to keep both him and the dogs in shape. Gabriel looked forward to the walks almost as much as the dogs did because as much as he loved staying in the shelter all day he got restless and honestly, he didn’t get much business and it broke his heart. As soon as he had the front door of the shop open Tom tried to pull him down the road toward the park and he stumbled forward, barely having time to lock the door behind him. Lukus stayed by his side the entire walk, his back level with Gabriel’s waist, but the other two walked slightly ahead. He tripped over his feet when they made it through the gates, thanks very much to the overzealous German Shepard, and got up laughing, the animals’ joy contagious.
As soon as the dog collars were unhooked the dogs were gone, Gabriel made sure to watch them so that they wouldn’t bother any of the other patrons of the park. He had just settled down onto a park bench when Tim came trotting up with a stick in his mouth asking to play fetch, a request that couldn’t be denied. The first throw was caught by Lukus, who walked half way towards Gabriel before dropping the stick and sitting in the grass, but it was retrieved by Tim who brought it back to the man. The next throw went a little to the left and was intercepted by a large chocolate Newfoundland, who took off in the opposite direction. Gabriel wasn’t worried about the stick, there were plenty around, he was worried about his dogs, which all took off after the Newfoundland, and so he ran after them as quick as he could. When he caught up with the dogs three of them were rolling around in the grass and the forth, Lukus, was standing next to a man who made the fully grown Great Dane look like a puppy. He had to stop to catch his breath and took the opportunity to study the man. He was tall, ridiculously so, wearing jeans and a gray wife-beater, revealing tanned skin etched in intricate patterns that made Gabriel’s hands itch for a paintbrush. Countless tattoos covered the man’s muscular frame, from what he could see of it anyway, crossing and beautifying the man’s skin and he assumed there had to be more tattoos under the tank-top. The man’s hair was long, too, adding to the larger-than-life image and for a moment Gabriel thought that he should have been wary of such a large man, but that thought passed quickly when the man’s head tilted back with his laughter as the dogs fought over the stick in the dirt.
Gabriel crossed the rest of the way over to stand next to the man on Lukus’ other side so that the dog separated them. Lukus shifted over slightly toward Gabriel and he patted the dog on the head and turned to grin up at the man, feeling his words slip from his mind when he got a look at the man’s face. He didn’t think he’d ever seen something as beautiful as this man, his body was a pallet already transformed into a masterpiece, and he never wanted the man to stop laughing because it was a beautiful sound that echoed throughout Gabriel’s entire being. He composed himself enough to slip a smirk onto his face, “Do ya’ come to the park to steal other peoples dogs Sasquatch?” The man’s gaze fell to Gabriel’s face, a confused frown contorting his features until he caught sight of Gabriel’s hand on Lukus’ neck and he shook his head.
“No, I uh just came up to give Edith some room to run,” he paused to scratch the back of his neck and flick his gaze out to the dogs, “she’s the one stealing your dogs.”
“Wait, wait,” Gabriel held up a hand, “we’ll deal with the dognapping dog later. Are you telling me you named your dog Edith?”
Sasquatch’s face slid into an amused smile, “Well yeah, I mean my brother has Edgar.” Gabriel resisted the urge to huff like a child and just shook his head slowly.
“Did your dogs’ fall in love and have to get kicked out of their homes or are you just a literary nerd?” There was a pause where the taller man seemed to think about his answer; Gabriel wondered if he’d crossed some sort of line by starting the teasing early but the man’s shoulders relaxed.
“Just a nerd I guess.”
“I can deal with that,” Gabriel grinned up at the man again until his attention was drawn to Lukus as the dog got bored of not getting any attention and jumped up with his paws on his shoulders, towering over the human. He squeaked as the dog started licking his face and tried to keep his balance. It took him a moment before he heard the laughter of the man next to him and he tried to maneuver the dog so he could glare from behind him. Then an arm hooked around Lukus’ chest and pulled slightly so the dog knew to drop back to the ground or in his case, turn around and jump up on the other man’s chest instead.
Gabriel did not appreciate how easily the man took the giant dogs’ weight or the fact that Lukus couldn’t reach the man’s shoulders yet towered over Gabriel. And he certainly didn’t appreciate the way his breath caught when the man smiled at the dog, dimples showing, pure joy radiating from his expression, when before the man had seemed more subdued. He sighed after a moment and snapped his fingers to get Lukus to drop back to the ground and sit.
“He’s a sweet dog,” Sasquatch had a hand on Lukus’ head, scratching behind his ears, and Gabriel was close to telling him to stop spoiling the dog with attention. He knew Lukus was too big and too old to be adopted, Dane’s had to be adopted really young or it was unlikely they ever would be, and Luke was fully grown; Gabe didn’t want him making attachments with people he’d never see again.
“Lukus usually is, probably my most behaved,” Gabriel looked over to the other dogs that were rolling around happily in the grass.
“Lukus, huh? Well, I’m Sam, nice to meet you big guy,” when Gabriel turned his head to look back at the two, Sam was kneeling on the ground, petting the dog but his gaze was focused on Gabriel, who grinned over at him.
“I’m almost positive you’re the big guy here,” he shrugged, “most people call me Gabriel.”
“Most people?” Sam stood from the ground so that he had to look down at him, “what do the others call you? Shorty?”
Gabriel huffed, “I don’t think I like you anymore Samsquatch. I’m perfectly average height, thank you very much.”
“I didn’t know you liked me in the first place. I thought I was just stealing your dogs.” Sam’s tone was full of amusement as Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest.
“You better not, you’d give them horribly nerdy names,” he couldn’t hold a straight face when Sam started laughing loudly, the sound was contagious and he laughed with him. Tim and Tom decided that was the time they needed to finally come and see what their master was doing and Edith came right along with them, nearly knocking both men off their feet.
Sam’s hand shot out to steady himself on the ground as Edith licked a stripe up his face but Gabriel didn’t even flinch as his two dogs barreled into his legs. Years of practice paid off if it kept him from toppling to the ground.
Gabriel frowned as the wind picked up and made him shiver. He looked up at the clouds and frowned when he noticed it was getting darker, “I hate to end this date so soon, but I’d rather not be caught in the rain.”
Sam had stood from the ground again and followed his gaze toward the sky, but he looked at Gabriel with a grin, “It was a pretty lame date anyway.” The two of them laughed as they hooked their dogs back to their leashes. At the park gates they paused, but after discovering they were both walking the same way, decided they would just walk back together, learning random facts about each other along the way. Gabriel teased Sam for being a huge nerd—after questioning him about how a hotshot lawyer could get away with having all those tattoos (“As long as they’re covered in the courtroom, who cares?”)—but actually found it really attractive. Sam thought the fact Gabriel owned a dog shelter to be the best thing he’d ever heard. They weren’t but four blocks from Gabriel’s shelter when the bottom fell out and they had to run to get inside, after pausing to unlock the doors of course, only to be hit with more water as the dogs shook the excess water off themselves. Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh loudly as Sam tried to shield himself and ended up looking like a drowned rat anyway. He went back behind the counter and grabbed a stack of towels he kept handy; he tossed one to Sam and started drying off the dogs before they soaked anything else.
“Dammit,” Sam muttered under his breath which caused Gabriel to peek over at him, the taller man was staring out the window, “probably should have driven today.” He sighed and gave Gabriel an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry about this. I don’t want to bother you, but could Edith and I-“
“Wait out the storm?” Sam nodded, “Of course. I’m not making that poor dog go out in that.” Gabriel grinned triumphantly when Sam glared at him. He gestured to the door leading to the kennels, “I should put the boys up. Do you wanna see some of the others?” Sam hesitated but the smile that lit up his face at the thought of more dogs was answer enough.
Gabriel ushered the large dogs back into their cages before leading Sam around and pointing out some of the others. When he got to Rich he told Sam to watch his fingers, but Rich yapped happily at the large man and Sam laughed when the Pomeranian huffed at Gabriel. Gabriel whined about how he was the only dog that liked to give him trouble. “I think he just likes ruffling your feathers.”
“Shut it, Sasquatch,” Gabriel stuck his tongue out at both the man and the dog, causing Sam to start laughing again and Gabriel declared that a personal victory.
A few hours of playing with dogs later both men were covered in drool and dog hair but happier than they had been for a long while before that day. When Gabriel looked outside and noticed that the sun was shining again he almost didn’t want to tell Sam, but Sam caught him looking outside and sighed. “I guess it’s time for us to leave then?” Edith was still at his side, and lowered her head with a whine, like she didn’t want to leave. Gabriel reached over to pet her.
“I mean, if you have to,” Gabriel stuck his hands in his pockets, suddenly feeling awkward. He didn’t want this day to end if it meant he’d never see Sam again. Sam nodded and clipped Edith’s leash back on when they were back in the main lobby of the shelter. He paused at the door and Gabriel’s heart lurched for a moment, thinking that Sam was going to stay or give him a sign that he would be back, a number, something, but he just smiled.
“Thank you for today, Gabe,” Edith pulled on him and he nearly tripped, making them both laugh again, “I had more fun in these last few hours than I’ve had in the last few months.”
“Ditto, Sam,” Gabriel smiled at him as he left but as soon as the door closed behind him, his face fell and he kicked at the scuffed floor.
The next day was as uneventful as most days in the shelter, a small dog nipping periodically at his heels and the rest were rolling around in the fresh mud that still coated the ground. Gabriel cringed when he realized he’d have to spray them all down before he put them up for the night, but at least it would give him something to keep his mine off the beautiful man who wouldn’t leave his head. He was still kicking himself for not giving Sam his number or even telling him to come back whenever he wanted too. Not even the bell over the door perked up his mood, he just figured it was somebody coming in to see the dogs and then leave when they didn’t fit their posh standards, snotty bastards. Gabriel didn’t even move from his spot in the back watching the dogs in the yard until another large animal came barreling past him into the yard. He grabbed onto the door frame and glared at the Newfoundland.
“I thought you’d be back here,” Sam was standing at the other side of the room with his hands in his suit pockets, looking sheepish.
Gabriel fought back his grin, “What are you doing here?”
Sam shrugged, “Edith missed the other dogs.” Both men grinned at the lie and Gabriel leaned his hip against the door and waited for Sam to say whatever it was he had to say. Sam let out a breath, “I meant to ask yesterday but… How would you feel about going on an actual date with me?” Gabriel pretended to think about it, just to watch Sam rock nervously.
“No dogs?”
Sam smiled, “No dogs, just us.”
“I can do that.” Gabriel laughed loudly at how Sam visibly relaxed. The taller man glared at him again but dissolved into laughter with him. Gabriel knew the dog shelter was a good investment, not just for the dogs, but for him as well.