Can you do the out walking their dog who starts chasing after the other person’s dog AU
with soma, please? Thank you! I love your stories by the way!
She never put Crona on a leash because she never really needed to put Crona on a leash—the little papillon was generally timid and had never stepped more than a foot away from Maka when they were out.
Until today, that is, when the giant black rottweiler came charging up out of nowhere, its leash trailing ownerless after. Startled out of a squat on the ground, Crona bolted and Maka screeched.
"Crona! Crona stop!" she charged after her dog, now running as fast as it could away from the oversized black menace. Maka heard a low voice cursing, then shouting.
"Heel, damnit Ragnarok, heel!"
She was guessing the voice belonged to the dog’s owner, though she couldn’t glance back to check if she wanted any chance to actually get to her dog in time to rescue it from impending doom.
"Crona!" she shouted again. "Here Crona!"
The two dogs were fast, Crona because the little dog was scared out of its wits, and Ragnarok because it was massive with a long stride. The dogs were outpacing them and Maka, stupidly wearing flip flops, despaired of ever catching up, though the man she had heard was now running at her side.
"If your dog EATS mine, so help me!" she couldn’t help but to shriek because the beast was that big and mean looking.
"Calm down—tiny tits—" he panted out, clearly exasperated and out of breath. "Rag—wouldn’t—hurt—your pet—rat!"
"Oh, yeah," she managed to get out, far less out of breath than he was. "I’m going to trust the asshole who couldn’t—hold his dog’s—leash."
"I’m not—the idiot—who didn’t even—bother with a leash!" he panted out beside her, clearly annoyed.
They had almost caught up to the dogs now—Ragnarok had managed to corner Crona by a hedge, and in a final bound was on top of the little dog. Maka shrieked again, sure she was about to watch her baby die, not close enough to stop it, when the big dog did the last thing she expected: He gave the papillon a giant, slobbery lick, tail wagging happily.
The little dog blinked up at the bigger one, her tail down. Maka came to a skidding halt a few feet away, confused, the man who had run beside her rearing up next to her, hands on his knees as he panted for breath.
Ragnarok gave Crona another lick to the side of the face, tail going wild, and Crona’s tail followed suit as the little dog suddenly barked happily.
"See?" She heard the man drawl from next to her, quite a feat considering he was still catching his breath. "Told ya Rag wouldn’t hurt your little rat."
As the two dogs proceeded to sniff each other playfully, the danger seemingly past, Maka turned her head to eye the man still panting next to her. He was tall, though just how tall was difficult to tell with him slumped over as he was, with stark white hair, sporting jeans and a ratty t-shirt. With that hair, he must be ancient—it was a wonder he’d kept up at all. Then he straightened to eye her and her jaw hit the floor, she couldn’t help it, because he couldn’t be any older than she was with that face, and he had the most haunting red eyes. She snapped her jaw shut as he looked her up and down and just shook his head.
"Aren’t ya a little young to be out walking the dog without Mom and Dad around?" he grinned at her, and she had to work to keep her jaw shut as she caught sight of his too sharp teeth. Who was this guy?
"For your information," she said, straightening herself with dignity. "I’m twenty two."
He actually laughed at this, shaking his head. ”Probably time for a new hair style then, pigtails.”
"Sure, whatever you say, old man,” she shot back indignantly.
He just laughed again, thumbing towards their forgotten animals, who were now frolicking together near the hedge. “Well, ‘least those two get along.”
"I guess," she sighed, letting her bristling annoyance fade. "At least Crona is alright, I guess. Still. You really ought to keep a better hold on your dog’s leash if he’s going to chase other dogs.”
"Yeah, sorry ‘bout that," he suddenly looked a bit sheepish and she was surprised to see it. She figured he’d just get pissed or maybe throw out more snark, but instead, he apologized. "And, uh, for kinda being a dick. Earlier. Rag’s never done that before. Sorta caught me off guard."
"It’s okay, I wasn’t exactly nice myself." She hadn’t been, she knew. "I was just scared for Crona, you know?"
"Yeah," he nodded, then made a face. "What the hell kinda name is Crona, anyway?"
"Says the guy who named his dog Ragnarok," she smiled, because it never hurt to be polite, especially since he was being at least a little contrite even if he had just made fun of her dog’s name, and then held out her hand. "I’m Maka, by the way."
"Soul," he offered, shaking her hand warmly.
She raised one skeptical eyebrow. ”And you thought Crona was a weird name?”
He shrugged. ”It is. Can’t help it if my parents sucked with names. And anyway, it’s no weirder than Maka.”
"Mmm," she agreed, because he wasn’t wrong. "My Dad’s name is Spirit, so I guess I shouldn’t be shocked." She tried not to make a face at the mention of her father, but it wasn’t easy.
There was an awkward silence as the two strangers ran out of things to say. Maka finally turned her eyes back to the dogs, who were now curled up together happily. It was odd—Crona normally wanted nothing to do with other dogs, other animals, other anything, but the little dog had taken to the huge rottweiler, quickly and unaccountably. She almost felt badly that she would have to pry her pet away from a favored new companion, but she could feel her stomach start to grumble and knew it was time to end this.
"Um, anyway," she turned her head back to her strange new companion. "I really need to go. I didn’t eat breakfast and I’m starving, so if you could maybe get your dog so I can get Crona…?"
He nodded, then frowned, looking her over again for a moment. There was something in his eyes, not calculating so much as considering, and finally, he nodded again. ”Sure, I can do that. But you know? I’m sort of starving myself. There’s a cafe that allows pets across from the park. Could buy you lunch to make up for—well—for this, if you’d like. I mean, if it’s okay…” He trailed off, his hand working at the back of his neck in something like nervousness as his eyes moved away from her face and back to the two dogs.
She just blinked at him for a moment because she wasn’t quite sure how to answer. As a general rule, she studiously avoided strange men because men were all potential bastards and the number she had met who weren’t she could count on one hand. But Crona had taken to his dog and Crona never took to anything, and he seemed okay once you got past a clear propensity for snark, and it was just lunch, and, hell, she could use a free meal with her first semester tuition for her master’s due next month, so she nodded, slowly.
"Alright, sure, why not?"
"Great," he smiled back, and each collecting their dogs, they made their way across the park to the cafe.
It was only lunch, she told herself again, though a small, quiet part of her couldn’t help but sense that this was the beginning of something more.
