The Puppy
Pairing: Erik Stevens x Plus Size Reader
Series: Fix My Crown
Word Count: 2,374
Notes: Issa black ass reader as always. Enjoy my loves!
(1/?) January 12th Birthday Shorts! (That aren’t birthday related. Lmfao)
Erik couldn’t help, but to roll his eyes as his two favorite girls gushed at the pup that sat in the small kennel in the pet store. He was quite irritated to say the least. When he agreed that Laylah could get a dog, a Pomeranian is not what he had in mind.
“Why can’t we find another pet store or at least look around? We need a protector. Not some tiny ass dog.” Erik practically whined in your ear.
Ignoring E, you held Laylah on your hip and she placed her hands against the door of the kennel. The puppy began to gnaw gently on her fingers. A high pitched giggle filled the store as Lay happily stared at the dog in awe.
“I want dis one, Daddy!”
“Uh, how about we look around baby girl? You might find another puppy you like-”
“No, I want dis one.” she interrupted with a slight frown.
Erik rolled his eyes and you gently placed Laylah back onto her feet. Once she was down, you squatted down to her level with your hands on your knees and smiled sweetly.
“Why don’t you go look at the bunnies right there. Aren’t they cool?” you pointed right across the aisle. It would end up being a good distraction for her while you talked Erik down.
“Bunnies?!” She giddily skipped over then stood on her toes to see inside of the glass box.
Standing a few feet away, you hit Erik in the chest with the back of your hand.
“Stop being an ass hat. You were the one that told her that SHE could get a dog. That implies that it would be HER dog. It doesn’t matter what you want. If that was the case, your ass should have said that WE, implying you and Laylah, could get a dog. Which would mean you would choose a dog together. She promised she would help take care of it in every aspect. Let her have this.” you quietly ranted to Erik.
Erik groaned knowing you were completely right. He threw his head back dramatically in defeat knowing that he could hardly ever tell Laylah no. If he convinced her otherwise then it would be different.
“Now…” you smiled and sauntered over to Lay. She raised her arms signaling for you to pick her up. Once you did, she leaned over and whispered loudly in your ear.
“Can we get a bunny too?”
____
One month later and Laylah had bonded more with her new bunny, Lucas, than she did with her new puppy, Rocco.
Erik couldn’t believe you had convinced him to get Lucas the English Lop rabbit. He claimed he didn’t know you had him wrapped around your finger as well, but anybody could see that was a lie.
She still played with Rocco from time to time, but Lucas was a chill furball that Laylah loved to lay around with. Rocco was only 18 weeks, but he was quite a curious puppy. He was full of energy and had a case of the zoomies(loves running a lot). Rocco was a runner and you could always hear him before you saw him. The collar around his neck with his name tag jiggled back and forth as he ran around the backyard.
You sat on your favorite couch out on the patio half watching him play and half on Instagram. He entertained himself for the most part. Laylah slapped her hand on the glass patio door a few times to get your attention prompting you to walk over and open the door.
“Yes, pumpkin?”
“Can me and Lucas come outside?”
She must have gotten bored from watching tv and coloring with her bunny.
Chuckling, you replied, “Yes, you both can. Don’t tell Daddy though.”
Erik had a few things to take care of at work and you came over to keep an eye on Laylah and the pets. She carried Lucas as best as she could outside to the edge of the patio and he practically flew out of her arms. Lucas enjoyed running around the large backyard whenever you let him. Erik wasn’t a fan, but you honestly didn’t care. You only couldn’t stand the nagging afterwards.
Hearing your ringer, you glanced down at your phone in your hand and noticed Erik FaceTiming you.
“Hey baby,” you smiled into the camera.
“Hey mamas. What y’all up to?” he smirked leaning back into his office chair. All day, Erik longed to be at home with you girls, but he had been swamped in paperwork. It could have easily been done in his home office, but the need to be present with you and Laylah would have him walking away from all the mandatory reports that needed to be handled. It had only been 3 hours and he was itching to get back.
“Lil’ Bit is running around with Rocco in the backyard. You almost done?”
You thought it would be a good idea to omit the fact that Lucas was also outside.
“Maybe in a couple more hours. I didn’t realize how behind I was, but no more than that. Kind of anticipating getting home. I plan on cooking dinner and going for an evening jog before bedtime.” Erik explained with slightly tugging on chin hairs.
“Since when did we have a bedtime? I’m grown!” you playfully sassed at him.
Your faux attitude made him chuckle after shaking his head. Before he could give you a witty reply he heard Laylah yelling in frustration in the background.
“Lucas! Get out of da dirt! Daddy’s gonna know you were outside!”
Erik glared through the camera imagining what dirt she was referring to. Your eyes grew as big as saucers before you had the chance to hang up.
“That damn bunny better not in my garden!” was the last thing you heard prior to pressing the end call button.
----
After giving Lucas and Laylah a bath and getting every human and pet settled back into the house, you decided to make dinner.
You were hoping the spread of honey baked chicken, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, sweet peas and dinner rolls would make Erik forget about what he heard over the phone. Your trick worked and after an amazing dinner, Erik came downstairs in his running attire. He made sure to stop by the living room where you were braiding Lay-Lay’s hair for church in the morning and catching up on an episode of ‘The Resident’.
“I’ll be back, y’all. I won’t be long.” Erik said after zipping up his jacket.
“Can you take Rocco with you?” you asked finishing up a braid and placing beads on the end.
“What for?” He questioned somewhat annoyed. It wasn’t that Erik didn’t like Rocco, he just didn’t fuck with him like that.
Whenever Rocco was around Erik, he always wanted to be near him. E had always used the excuse of Rocco not knowing what personal space means. It was up to you to constantly remind him that he was a dog and dogs don’t know what personal space means.
“He has to go to the bathroom before we settle in for the night and as you can see, I’m busy. Take the damn dog, Erik.” you fussed while parting another section of Laylah’s hair.
“Ooooh, Ms. (Y/N) said a bad word. You put a quarter in da swear jar.”
You sighed after briefly glancing at the tv seeing your show had gone to commercial.
“Quarter in the jar, I got it. The leash is in the drawer by the door. See you when you get back.”
___
Erik couldn’t believe you forced him to take that damn mutt with him. The only thing that made the jog enjoyable was that he had his airpods in his ears with music blasting.
Unlike Erik, Rocco was unbothered and happily jogging ahead of Erik with his tongue flapping outside of his mouth.
The sunset was a mixture of orange and yellow hues making it easy to enjoy the scenery of the neighborhood.
Not paying attention to where Erik was running, he tripped stumbling over his own feet landing on the ground. He twisted his ankle during the fall and winced rolling over to sit on his butt. Examining his ankle the best he could with one hand, he didn’t notice the big black and rust colored Doberman that was running full speed toward them with no leash.
Erik caught sight of the dog aggressively charging toward him at the last second and the dog’s owner trying to desperately catch him.
“Bruce, stop! Stop running!” the middle aged Caucasian man said out of breath still chasing the Doberman.
Erik’s ankle hurt too much to try to get up and make a dash back to the house, so he squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the attack covering his face with his forearm. After a few seconds Erik heard high pitched barking in front of him.
Rocco stood firmly in a defensive stance and barked as loud and rapidly as he could. He growled after tugging on his leash that was slipping out of E’s hand to get free.
The Doberman halted in front of Rocco and whined cowering away. He took a few steps back and ran back in the direction he came from with Rocco running full speed behind him. His leash scraping against the pavement of the street.
Erik couldn’t believe his eyes as Rocco ran the dog halfway back down the road. He wanted to stop him before he got too far, so he whistled as loud as he could after calling his name. Rocco immediately turned around and ran back to Erik out of breath.
Impressed, E smirked a little after what he had just witnessed. It took his mind off of the pain in his ankle as he stroked the fur down Rocco’s back.
“I didn’t know you were thuggin’ it out like that, Roc.” he chuckled rubbing the puppy’s head with both hands. “‘Preciate you, bruh. Didn’t know you had it in you. Definitely owe you one.”
Erik smiled after making the decision to call you to come and get him. He knew he needed to go get checked out at the emergency room before the night was over.
----
Erik planned a surprise trip to Hawaii for the family three months prior to his sprained ankle. He looked forward to the family time. He especially couldn’t wait to take a walk through the upscale mall he planned to spoil you and Laylah in.
Erik made the noble decision to push through all the pain and make the trip as enjoyable as possible.
Laylah mopped around the hotel room and became restless waiting for Erik to finish getting ready. You thought it was best to take her downstairs to the lobby and change her scenery.
“I’m going to take Lay-Lay and Rocco downstairs. We’ll be in the lobby when you’re done.” you shouted from the living room. Grabbing your cross-body bag, Erik yelled from the restroom.
“Just take babygirl. I’ll get Rocco!”
Your eyebrows rose in confusion while our body involuntarily moved towards the bathroom.
“What?” you questioned from outside the restroom, leaning against the frame of the door.
You were confused as to why Erik had took a liking to Rocco over the last few weeks. After he injured his ankle, Erik was instructed to take it easy. In that time, you would catch Erik handing Rocco treats, playing with him more often in the house, and even letting Roc sit on the bed for a few minutes at a time. Erik didn’t really like the idea of having animals on the bed, but he made an exception for the little Pomeranian a few times and it’s usually when you catch him off guard that he’ll put Rocco back down on the ground.
It was like he didn’t want you to see him interacting with the dog he called a “mutt” on multiple occasions. It was hard not to notice the change, especially when Erik insisted on bringing Rocco on the trip after you had already made arrangements for the pets to stay with a friend of yours.
“I’ll bring Rocco down with me. Take Laylah down by the water fountain outside, please? I’ll be down soon babe.”
Sighing, you agreed and made your way downstairs with Laylah.
____
You sat on the edge of the water fountain handing Lay coins to toss inside the water and make wishes with.
It was hard not to keep a smile on your face when Laylah made her wishes after throwing the coins in beforehand. She knew it was the wrong order, but that was like Laylah. She did things her own way and it was hard not to love her for it.
"I wish for a pony!" She wished with her eyes squeezed shut. "Ooooh, and a turtle!"
Shaking your head, you smiled taking pictures of Laylah leaning over into the fountain and pointing at the different coins inside.
Something told you to peek over by the hotel’s entrance and you were not disappointed when you did. You couldn’t help the laughter that seemed to come from the pit of your stomach.
Erik had on a pair of men’s tan breaker shorts with a beach themed button up shirt. He topped off the look with a pair of circular shades, men’s flip flops, and a straw hat. Erik could make any outfit seem like it was fresh off of any runaway around the world. It was the confidence he had and he carried himself like a king.
The part that made you laugh is Erik rented a mobility scooter with a basket in the front. That basket had Rocco in it with the exact same outfit on, minus the flip flops. As E cruised over to you, Lay had her arms crossed in jealousy. Steam seemed to seep from her ears as she took in the scene.
“That’s my dog, Daddy!” she all, but shouted as he halted in front of you.
“Aht, aht! He’s our dog. Ain’t that right, Rocco?”
___________
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