Dennis clung to Robby's elbow as the man signed the papers. The official legal documents that stated Dennis now belonged to someone. They scanned the hybrid's microchip between his shoulder blades and registered it under Robby's name and everything.
Dennis refused to let go of Robby's arm the entire time. His wide eyes watching everything that occured, tail swishing side to side. The only time his tail ever stopped wagging and tucked back in was when Robby pushed open the doors to leave.
Dennis planted his feet, staring at the next chapter of his life. The sunlight was streaming down and he blinked his eyes, watching as his owner turned to face him.
"It's okay baby, we're going to get you home and cleaned up and then later, if you want, we can go to the store to get you a few supplies. That sound okay?"
Dennis nodded, a little unsure. He let the man pull him gently towards a car. Robby opened the passenger door for Dennis who slowly sat down. Robby bent over him and buckled the seatbelt in place, grunting as he bent over Dennis to reach. He closed the car door softly and got into the drivers seat.
The ride home was mostly silent. Robby explained to Dennis that he'd never owned or been with a hybrid before and that he was new to this. He felt embarrassed that he hadn't gotten any supplies ready beforehand, but was excited to let Dennis pick out his own things. Dennis just sat there quietly, looking out the window and drinking it all in.
Robby started to wonder if maybe he'd made a mistake. The hybrid's entire demeanor had shifted and he was worried he'd done something to scare the pup somehow. No matter what, he would give the boy a good home. Even if that meant they rarely interacted. Whatever the pup was willing to give, he would gladly accept.
"It's not much, but it's home." Robby said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as the door swung open.
Dennis peered in the doorway with wide eyes, before hesitantly taking a step inside.
"It's okay, Denny. You can go explore if you want. What's mine is yours now too. . . just--uh--don't damage anything and if you need to go potty, there's a toilet."
Robby scratched his beard, wondering if the boy was even potty trained, let alone house trained. Dennis looked to Robby with an unreadable expression on his face. Robby nodded encouragingly at him and the hybrid took off running.
Dennis darted from one room to the next, running in a big circle and sniffing the air before taking off down the hallway to discover more rooms. His tail was wagging so hard it smacked into the couch, then the walls, and then the boy was running up the stairs. Robby chuckled as he saw Dennis excitedly exploring. Maybe this wasn't some colossal mistake after all.
He heard the boy's steps thumping around upstairs before everything went quiet. Robby sighed and walked up the stairs, looking into the office, guest bedroom, and guest bathroom and finding them all empty. He walked over to the last door--the master bedroom, and found Dennis standing there looking at his unmade bed.
Robby blushed as he realized he'd left dirty clothes strewn about in various spots on the floor. The sheets on the bed were rumpled and the nightstand held various bottles and cans.
"You--uh--you don't have to stay in here with me. You can stay in the guest bed if you want."
"Bed?" The boy asked, turning towards Robby.
"Yeah, I mean you can do whatever is most comfortable. We can look into getting you a dog bed as well, for in the living room or something, but you don't have to sleep there at night."
Dennis looked back at Robby's bed and pondered on his thoughts for a moment. Then he turned and kneeled on the ground in front of Robby. He slowly reached forward to tug down Robby's pants.
The boy's eyes snapped up to his, wide eyes brimming with concern.
"Did I mess up already? I-I know I need to please you a-and you're offering me a bed and I need to be a good boy and thank you for being so nice and please don't send me back, I can do better, I promise!"
"Shhh, Denny, I'm not going to send you back. A-and you don't need to thank me, kid. I don't expect anything from you. I mean--if you wanna go down that route we can certainly discuss it, but I won't force you to do anything you aren't comfortable with. But we don't have to take that step right now, I want you to get settled first before we discus anything of that nature."
The boy eyed him cautiously, pulling his hands back from where they'd paused while undoing Robby's pants. "Y-you don't . . . want me?"
"Jesus kid, of course I want you. But not as some type of "payment", okay? You don't owe me anything. We can live here, as equals, okay?"
The boy cocked his head to the side, his ears flopping. He sat there for a moment and considered everything before his tail started slowly wagging. He looked back up at Robby and smiled the most heart-warming, precious smile that Robby had ever seen. It was like the very sun came out and was warming Robby's cold soul.
