Work Text:
It was almost three in the afternoon, you sat on the couch, your chest feeling tight. A case of the before work bout of anxiety. You sat up straight trying to breathe slow and deep, doing your best to concentrate. You needed to calm down before you left for work, or you knew you would be on edge all shift and have a dreadful day. The thought of having a bad day at work only made your chest tighten more. You groaned in annoyance, stood, and headed to the kitchen to make yourself some tea. Maybe that would help? You thought.
As you stirred some milk into your tea you heard a loud clatter outside the window, causing you to nearly jump out of your skin. You held onto the counted, trying to catch your breath, having a panic attack before work would NOT be ideal. You looked to where the noise had come from, and frowned, going to check it out. The noise had come from your garbage cans, and you were almost certain it was the neighbors kids trying to mess with you. This only annoyed your further. You flung the door open, preparing to give a startling shout to the kids, only to find none. You stared at your toppled garbage cans confused.
“Did they run off?” You asked aloud, usually they’d stay around to attempt more vandalism. As you approached the cans to set them right you noticed a large furry mass beside them. You jumped, giving it another, more cautious look, you saw that it was a dog. A very large dog, almost looked to be some kind of German Shepard, maybe mixed with a Golden Retriever. The most off putting thing about it however was the mass of hair down the center of the back of its neck leading up to the head, which almost looked like a mohawk, it made the dog almos look a little like a hyena. Your train of thought was interrupted when it suddenly moved, opening its eyes and lifting its head. It groaned in pain, and rubbed its head against its paws. You watched, ready to run back inside, not knowing how it would react to a stranger. It focused its vision and looked at you, at first looking confused before standing up and approaching you, sniffing at your feet.
“It’s okay buddy… I’m not a threat” you said, clear nervousness in your voice. The dog looked at you and smiled, its tail wagging happily. You felt yourself calm down a little. Obviously this dog is people friendly, you thought, reaching out to give it a cautious pet. When the dog bumped its head into your hand, you smiled, feeling better about the situation.
“Who are you buddy?” you asked quietly as you knelt down, still petting it, and looked at the collar that hung from its neck, the silver tag read [CAiN] but had no other information. You huffed quietly, knowing that if it had a collar and a name, then it must have a family to go back to, but finding them would be harder without an address, and the closest animal shelter was at least two hours away. The dogs tail wagged faster as he nuzzled into your hand happily.
“Cain huh? I wonder where your family is bud. How did you even get here?” You asked, glancing around, you lived in a pretty small community, and you knew maybe a few people had dogs around here, but they were small breeds.
“I fell.” You heard. You slowly turned your head towards the dog as he smiled at you, tail still wagging happily. Your eyes glanced around, you were alone, it was just you and the dog… Cain.
“I’m sorry?” You asked softly, quite freaked out at the prospects of a talking dog.
“I fell, right onto your trash cans, sorry about that by the way. I’ll clean it up though, I promise” He said friendly and smiling. You didn’t know how to process this, so you only stared at him.
“O...kay.” You said, watching him stick his nose under the fallen cans and maneuver them upright one by one, shuffling and pushing them back into place. He picked up any garbage that had fallen out of them and did his best to put it back in. Your mind was a bit razled with shock. First off, he came out of what seemed to be literally nowhere. Secondly, he talked, and third, he was so… polite? He sat in front of you, tail still wagging, smile still strong.
“There, all better, no worries!” He said happily.
“Yeah… No worries. I’m sorry, how can you talk?” You asked, rubbing your temple, trying to set your brain back on a logical track. He tilted his head to the side, the flaps of his button ears flopping off to the side.
“Same way you can, I just can.” he said, like it was a simple matter. He started to scratch his ear, the tag on his collar jingling as he did so. You continued to stare in disbelief.
“But that…” You started, narrowing your eyes. He opened one of his eyes and smiled, still scratching.
“Doesn’t make sense? I know. There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense, like water… is it wet? Or hotdogs, they’re not dogs, and are they a sandwich?” he asked.
“What?” You asked softly in response to his babbling. You were to perplexed by him.
“Speaking of hotdogs, I’m getting kind of hungry, and it looks like it’s going to rain soon. Is it okay if we go inside? I’m sure you have something to do today, and I know you’re going to need energy for it, eating is a great way to get energy. Food is fuel like they say!” He said happily, his tail wagging. You rubbed your face a little and nodded, standing up and opening your door.
“Uh, yeah, sure I suppose.” You said, letting him in first. As he walked in he wiped his paws on your door mat, smiling happily. You followed suit behind him and closed the door. Instantly he started sniffing around, common dog thing you supposed, you’d never had a dog before. When he got to the living room he looked back at you.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t properly introduce myself, you do know my name because of my tag, but, it’s only polite. I’m Cain!” He said happily, sitting and watching you, tail wagging. You nodded a little and poured yourself a bowl of cereal.
“Oh, yeah… I’m Y/N.” You said, grabbing milk and some cold hotdogs from the fridge. You put the hot dogs on a plate and set the plate on the ground.
“Y/N? Thats a nice name, I like it” He complimented. You couldn’t help but smile a little, it was a strange situation, but… it was kind of nice. You watched him start to eat, he did his best to keep all the food on the plate. You watched him as you poured the milk and started eating. A comfortable silence filled the room, broken only by the sounds of chewing and Cains wagging tail whooshing in he air.
When you finished, you put your bowl in the sink, Cain brought the plate over to you with a smile, being gentle with the dishware between his teeth. You thanked him and the plate joined the bowl in the sink. You looked at the time and frowned, you had to start leaving for work soon, with a sigh you grabbed your shirt off the back of the couch and gathered your things in your backpack. Cain watched curiously.
“Going on a walk?” He asked. You looked at him as you put your coat on and grabbed your umbrella, Cain was right, it did look like it was going to rain.
“Going to work… I wont be back for another eight hours.” You explained with a sigh. Cain smiled, walked up to you and sat down.
“That’s okay, I can wait right here for you. I’m a patient dog after all.” He explained with a smile.
“Are you sure, I can let you out and you can try to find your family…” You suggested, though that option didn’t quite sit well with you. Cain shook his head.
“I’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll wait for you” He said, doubling down on his decision. You bit your lip slightly and ran back to the kitchen. He watched you as you pulled the plate out of the sink and set a few more hot dogs on it, as well as took a bowl from the cupboard and filled it with water. You set them on the floor in the kitchen, and then went back to the livingroom, putting one of your throw blankets onto the floor, quickly folding it up into a bed like cushion for him.
“Like I said, I’ll be back in like eight hours. Please behave?” you asked. Cain nodded and sat up straight, tilting his chin up proudly.
“I promise, you wont have any problems from me.” He swore. You smiled and pet his head, giving him a scratch behind the ears. You put your shoes on and opened the door, grabbing your house keys on the way out. You set the lock and went to close the door behind you, pausing when you heard Cain call out to you.
“Y/N? You’re gonna be alright today. You got this, I know you do, you’re going to do great today, I can feel it!” He said. You smiled a little brighter and gave him a nod.
“Thanks Cain, I appreciate that.” You said before closing the door, making sure it was locked, and heading to work. You popped our umbrella open as it started to drizzle, and even though the sky was grey and it was raining you managed to smile and take a deep breath. Your chest felt less tight, and the day looked brighter. You were going to be alright today.