Graves x dog hybrid! Reader
Cw: Gender Neutral reader, hybrid unspecified aside from dog, light talk of injuries and fights, toxic relationships
When he first gets you into the Company, he isn’t quite sure what to do. He‘d worked with dogs during his time in the USMC, but dog hybrids?
He‘ll treat you like a soldier, he decides. Gives orders, corrects mistakes and praises jobs well done. It takes him a little to notice that doesn’t really work.
Your dog part handles his treatment a lot differently. Without precise instructions you are, despite all training, lost in the field. Even the smallest of praises sends your tail wagging wildly and messes your concentration up, and even a displeased frown results in pinned ears and a tugged in tail.
So Graves changes his approach, treats you more dog-like. He doesn’t understand that you weren’t brought up as an equal like most hybrids, but he‘s happy his methods work. You were lesser, always, that was something you followed, he realised quickly.
He makes you heel and sit. By his desk, in the cargo plane, during meal times. And it helps, oddly enough. Precise commands and a little work have you doing excellent field work, acting almost like his personal guard dog.
It escalates so much you follow him everywhere. Eating from his hand becomes the norm, sleeping at the bottom of his cot, like a real dog. You long for his hand between your ears, in your hair, rubbing over the collar that holds the Company logo.
You don’t realise the difference, and neither Graves nor the Shadows care much about it, between you and the average hybrid. You were a favour from one of his contacts, practically raised for the job instead of by a loving family. So you cling to scraps of affection, dig your teeth in and don‘t let go. Performing well will get you the love you yearn for.
Oh, but when Graves takes you to Las Almas to hunt down Hassan, does it become clear that you are more than a regular hybrid soldier with a fair contract and life. You stay by his side, like always, listen to his beck and call. But you can feel how the Vaqueros glance at you. Like a mutt, not an ally. Disgusted by how you act, too animalistic, too loyal. They don’t understand that it’s not just Graves treatment, it’s how you function.
While they keep a professional distance, the 141 dog hybrid, Soap, and his handler Ghost inquire. Soap greets you happily, sniffs you up and down and bounces off the walls like a puppy. You only inspect him with hesitation after Graves nods and places an encouraging hand on the back of you neck.
It doesn’t take the Scot long to realise there is something odd to you. When he tries to playfully wrestle and chase you around on a field after dinner on the first day, it ends with Graves sharply whistling you to his heel, scruffing you neck and pulling you off a shocked Soap with angry reprimands. You don’t realise that the bruises on Soap‘s face are bad, that you were supposed to blow of some steam, instead of establishing your strength and rank.
Graves shortens you leash after that, literally. Hooks it to your collar on base, muzzles you when Soap riles up your dog part too much with his careless energy and willingly instinctual behaviour. He knows that you are more instinct than control, unlike Soap, and that it will end with hurt and confusion for the other once more.
The 141 men quickly get a feel for who you are after the little incident between you and Soap; the attack dog that only seems to obey the shadows. They find your reliance on Graves odd, the way you always circle him like he‘s the center of your galaxy. Between him and his Sergeant, Ghost calls you unsafe, an unpredictable and emotionally reliant animal.
But they only truly understand the extend of your loyal and dependent temper when the Shadow Company Commander betrays them at the gate. The way his hybrid lunges at the smallest signal, taking down Alejandro and setting their eyes on Soap state a clear message. Don’t fuck with Graves, or you will regret it.
You‘re a blood hound, and when your beloved Commander, the only one to understand you, to show you what you see as true care, sets you loose to find them in the night of the city even Ghost isn’t sure they stand a chance at escaping.
