pondering under-maintained guard dog dickie as you put it
he's looking for someone to protect, for someone to guard, for a good place to put all this protective possessive energy that he possesses.
he feels like there's nothing he can do about it. he's been like this since he was a kid. he was protective of his teammates growing up, always picking a fight on their behalf, always stopping a chirp from going too far, always skating over as quick as he can to defend them in a scrum.
he really channels this into michael misa. he's never gonna stop one of the guys from roughhousing with misa, but he's certainly gonna keep his eyes trained on it. he sleeps completely physically covering every inch of mikes body from view. he has an arm over misa's shoulders when they walk, makes him take a jacket as they leave the house, is the first to skate over when anything looks awry.
he's especially protective and grumpy early in the morning or after a nao. try to get a glimpse of misa during a pre-game nap, he dares you. wake him up. try to prank him in his sleepy. sam will bite. literally (unfortaunetly).
toff has learned that the hard way when dickie literally bit the arm he was using to shake misa awake for dinner.
Yes!! This is a huge part of his silly guy persona. That's who he is, but it's also an adaptation of some kind of instinct hardwired in his brain to be aware of anything and everything. It just happens to channel nicely with his sense of humor.
That being said, busy brain Sam thinks he's very normal and has a workaround for every misa thing he finds himself thinking about more than what's socially acceptable. He needs an outlet.
Misa can't chirp, known fact, but he can hold his own in a scuffle. Mostly. Sam just likes to supervise. It's basically part of regular practice to notice guy's fighting style and take mental notes. Everyone's gotta be ready to scrap
The jacket thing is a matter of fashion. The leather jacket is a crime. Handing Mike a better jacket, or even one of Sam's, is to save him from looking completely stupid in another walk-in photo
Etc etc etc
Sleep is a whole different ballgame. Misa's antsy on the road, especially on longer trips. He doesn't sleep well with the time change on the east coast. Sam has to plan around morning meetings and getting coffee with Misa tucked up under his arm because he's tired, he can't help it. One time Mike walked headfirst into a lamp post in Philly because he was fiddling with the alarms on his phone. Not worth it, best to keep him close.
That's why Misa's alleged sleep walking freaked him out! The idea that Mike would, unconsciously, just wander away from him in the middle of the night is kinda terrifying. It's not like Sam is his keeper but there's definitely something in the bro code about not letting your roommate on the road sleepwalk around the hotel in his boxers. Cuddling him is the responsible thing to do. Sleeping in his bed at Toff's is just like, maintaining the habit so they don't disrupt their routine before games
Sometimes Sam napped on top of him even when they didn't have games. It was comfortable. The hand on Sam's back was incidental, Misa probably got a hand free and was petting him for a job well done. Duh. So Sam kept snoozing. The hand on Misa's shoulder right by Sam's face was not incidental and actually pretty fucking weird.
So he bit it. Duh.
Toff should know to NEVER surprise a dog awake. That's like, totally asking to get bit when you catch them off guard! Toff was asking for it if you ask Sam. Which Toff did, and Mike, and then Cat, and Wenny, and Vin, and Will, and Shevy, and Delly, and Reavo, and it's a long list so yeah Sam kinda fucked up a little there.
Toff googles "rabies from stray guy living in my house probably not vaccinated" (he's fine)