(word Count: 496) ~ His Favorite

(word count: 496) ~ His favorite

The dog’s ears perked up at the faint sound of footsteps. He sniffed, trying to identify who was coming upstairs: eucalyptus, sweat, something spicy – that’d be the boy-stag – books, chocolate and vanilla – my boy! he thought, my boy is coming!

He jumped off the bed and ran to the door, wagging his tail and barking softly – he knew that if he was loud, the boys would get in trouble. He waited in front of the door, unable to sit still. As soon as the door opened and he saw the lanky figure he knew so well, he jumped onto him, making him fall backwards.

“Padfoot!” he scolded, but his face was happy, and if he was happy, the dog was happy too. He licked all his face, making the boy laugh and try to push him away. “Pads, stop! Come on, stop!”

“Merlin, you’re so obviously his favorite, I’m starting to feel jealous.” The boy-stag said playfully.

“What?” his boy asked, confused, “what do you mean?”. He got on his knees and started scratching exactly where the dog liked, just behind his ears.

“Moons, he literally tackled you and attacked you with dog kisses. He only looks at me when he wants to play fetch!” he said indignantly. That made his boy stop with the scratching and look at the boy-stag.

“I… I don’t think so, I think I just give him more attention than you or Pete.” he said, but he looked thoughtful, a bit insecure.

The dog didn’t know why he was disagreeing with the boy-stag. Sure, he loved the boy-stag and the boy-rat. The boy-stag had a lot of energy, just like him, and they played together a lot. The boy-rat was sneaky and fast, and the dog loved to play hide and seek with him. But his boy was simply his person. It was his to care, to protect, to love, and in turn, the boy cared and loved him.

He was starting to miss the scratching, so he nuzzled into his boy’s hand, asking for more.

“See? That prick just likes you best.” the boy-stag bantered, “I’ll think better when he asks me to do his homework again.”

His boy laughed softly and got up. The dog whined, demanding attention. “If you say so, then. Come on, Pads.”

The dog followed him to his bed, where he laid down, head on his lap, while his boy started reading a book. He should be jealous of the books, and the attention his boy gives to them. He was once, and tried to eat one in revenge, but he only got scolded, so that’s not an option. In the end, he learned that he didn’t mind that much. They could just lay down together, like right now, and enjoy each other’s company.

He knew he had too much energy, and was always alert to anything that might be a threat, but when they were together, he felt safe. He felt like coming home.

~~~~

I’ve been thinking a lot about Sirius and his animagi form, so I wanted to make some small fics exploring more of this. I’ll probably make more and compile them in ao3 later