Work Text:
It’s a breezy autumn afternoon in Japan. In late November, the trees are still in bloom, but this time around, the colour range is from pale yellow, through fiery orange, through crimson red to calming brown. Kids are looking up with big eyes, to the ancient trees, staring at the pretty coloured leaves.
And Dan’s no different, either. He’s had many autumns, but this is a first. Hopefully of many, but autumn in Japan is different. It’s not as breezy and damp as it is back home. It’s sunshine and breeze, clear skies and fluffy clouds, but only in the distance.
Maybe that’s an idealistic view, but he’s in a good place, a really good place, right now and the weather seems to reflect that. He wants to snort out loud at the thought of that and how cliche it is, but he’s happy so he doesn’t really care.
They’re taking a stroll around a park, still in Tokyo. They are here for the next few days, taking in all the sights, entertainment and weirdness Tokyo has to offer so they have the time for those. For now, they just want to take it easy and relax for a bit.
“Okay?” He bumps into Phil’s shoulder, ruining the picture he was framing. Phil gives him an angry look, but Dan just smiles. “We’re supposed to be on a holiday, limited usage of phones, you said.”
“But the trees…”
“We have trees in England, you know.”
Phil shoves him gently as they carry on with their walk. Dan’s happy to see that Phil put his phone in his back pocket.
For that afternoon, they have no plans. After their lunch (some very good ramen), decided to not plan. They haven’t got a place to get to, or a show to get to. Dan knows that they both need this.
It’s a relatively silent stroll. They’re listening to the distant murmur of Tokyo traffic, the chatter of people around them, even some birds flying around.
Then, Phil stops him, holding his wrist and pulling him to the side. Phil crouches in front of him and about five ideas spring into Dan’s head (four naughty, one that would eventually lead to naughtiness) when he sees the reason.
“Hello, baby,” Phil says with a soft smile.
In front of them is a small, beige coloured dog, with a sparkly pink collar. The dog has fluffy ears and a very eagerly wagging tail as she looks at the two of them.
“Oh, hello.” Dan crouches as well. He lets the dog sniff his hand, before going in for the ear scratch. “Are you lost?”
The dog turns her head in confusion and sits. She makes a quiet whining sound, then licks Phil’s hand.
“She likes me!”
“Of course she does, but I don’t think that should be your main concern. I think she’s lost.”
Dan turns the tag over, to see if she’s got a name or contact info. There are no numbers, but there’s something, presumably her name, written on there. In Japanese, unfortunately.
“Aren’t you a cutie?” Phil’s using his baby voice. “I know you probably don’t understand me, but you know this tone of voice, don’t you? Don’t you?”
She wags her tail even more. As Phil keeps talking to her, she tilts her head to left and right. When Phil says to her ‘who’s a good girl’, she blinks, as if she understands and as if she’s answering that ‘yes, I am a good girl’.
Dan looks around briefly, with no concerned owners to be found.
“What are we going to do?” he asks, more from the dog than from Phil. Judging from Phil’s smile and the telepathic connection they’ve got, Dan knows that he’s already got a plan in place. Unfortunately, that plan involves kidnapping the poor dog. “Can you uh… can you show us where your owners are?”
She blinks again.
“Is that a yes, do you reckon?” Phil says. “She’s clever.”
“Maybe, I don’t know. Let’s go?” Dan suggests to the dog. They even stand up, taking a couple of steps, but the dog remains still. “Alright, I don’t know.”
“Should we call Duncan?”
Dan scratches her head, to which she responds with more hand licking.
“Yeah, let’s.”
Phil takes his phone and almost presses the buttons when they see a lady in her thirties running towards them, saying something in Japanese. The dog wags her tail and runs to her, jumping on her legs. She picks her up and turns to Dan and Phil, speaking very fast and very Japanese.
After the shock of almost losing her dog dissipates, realises that the two giants in front of her probably don’t speak Japanese. “You found my Mitsuko!” The dog, Mitsuko, moves her ears when she hears her name. “Thank you!”
“She found us, rather,” Dan says with a laugh.
“She’s so cute.”
“Thank you again,” the lady says.
They scratch her ears one more time, before she and her owner leave, this time using the leash.
Dan and Phil carry on with their afternoon stroll, already missing the tiny dog. Dan is still thinking about the softness of her ears and her small tongue on the back of his hand when Phil bumps into him.
“Let’s get a dog when we get home.”
“Okay.”