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Tony sits in his car in the parking lot breathing, just breathing. His knuckles white as he grips the steering wheel, hard. He takes a deep breath in, holds it, then a long exhale out. His fingers relax if only slightly, but it’s still an improvement. A month ago, he wouldn’t have been able to let go. A month ago, he wouldn’t have been able to drive himself. A month ago, he thought this was a stupid, pointless idea, but now… things change. People change, frequently. Tony takes another deep breath, holds it for longer than the first one, and then lets it woosh back out. He very slowly lets go of the wheel and gets out of the car.
He puts on a brave face for the lady behind the desk in the lobby, not quite the publicity smile he mastered years ago, but it’ll do to hopefully hide the pain and the haunted look in his eyes. She looks up from the computer as he walks in, her face resting into a relaxed and welcoming smile, but her eyes give her away. She knows who he is. Everyone does.
“Welcome to Wagging Tails Rescue Center. How may I help you today?” She asks.
And Tony has to stop in his tracks. God, she didn’t even do anything! She’s doing her fucking job, and you can’t handle this pathetically small amount of human interaction! He closes his eyes and breathes, doing his best to fight the anxiety bubbling up inside of him.
“Sir, are you-” He quickly cuts her off by raising his hand, his index finger held up to pause her. He keeps his eyes closed and just breathes. He’d assumed half an hour of breathing in the car would be enough, apparently not.
Something cold and wet bumps against his other hand causing Tony to jump. He looks down, and his eyes rake over golden fur and beautiful brown eyes. The golden retriever nudges his hand again, moving closer so it’s right at his feet. And Tony only hesitates a moment before reaching down to stroke through the dog’s beautiful fur. It’s incredibly soft. He pets the dog’s head a few times feeling the anxiety in his stomach slowly unclench. He kneels down without thinking about it and runs both hands through the fur on the dog’s back, scratches the thick main on its chest. Tony isn’t sure how long he’s been petting this dog, but he doesn’t want to stop, feeling calm for the first time in weeks.
“His name is Toby.” Says the girl. He notices she’s sitting on the floor just a few paces from him giving him space. “He’s my therapy dog. I bring him to work most days. He likes greeting the customers.” Tony nods so she knows he isn’t ignoring her. He runs his fingers over Toby’s velvety ears before breathing in deeply and letting it back out. He stands on shaking legs. The girl stands too, and Toby trots over to her side, his work done for the time being. “If you’re here to adopt a dog, you can just follow me to the back, okay?” She says carefully. Tony nods not trusting himself to speak.
They walk down a short hallway passing a few doors on either side. She opens the door at the end and holds it open for him to pass by. Loud barks and long whines bombard his eardrums the instant he walks in. Looking around at all the dogs, he feels a bit overwhelmed, but he doesn’t retreat.
“My name is Paige. If you have any questions about the dogs, just give me a hollar. Or you can ask Amanda instead.” Paige says gesturing to a girl working with one of the dogs out in the yard.
“Thank you.” Tony says. She smiles and retreats back to the lobby with Toby by her side.
Tony’s hands shake slightly. He clenches his muscles to stop them as he looks around at all of the kennels. There are some puppies in the first few kennels, all types ranging from chihuahuas to dalmations and every mutt in between. But he’s not here for a puppy, not exactly anyway. He’s not exactly sure what he’s here for, but he is. He walks in a little further. Now there are older dogs and just plain old dogs in the next kennels. He sees pitbulls and rottweilers, labs and huskies, followed by shepherds and mutts. Most of the dogs are at the front of their kennels ready to say hello to the new person there to see them. Some are more excited than others, but they all show a friendly amount of curiosity towards him.
Somewhere halfway down, he finds a little black thing with a squashed up face running in circles. The little black dog stands up on its back legs once it’s realized he’s stopped outside their kennel. The pug has big brown eyes for such a tiny face, its little piggy like tail wagging wildly to and fro. He slowly lowers down one hand so it can sniff his finger.
“That’s Sophie, would you like to say hello?” Tony jumps at the voice snatching back his hand without meaning to.
“Um…. yeah, okay.” He says eyes slipping from the dog to the other girl, Amanda. He’d been so caught up with inspecting the little pug he hadn’t even noticed her reentering the kennels.
Amanda smiles at him and steps forward to unlatch the door for him. “I hope you don’t mind getting a little slobber on your suit. Sophie tends to get a little overexcited during visits.” She says. Once the door opens, the little dog comes charging out, but Amanda catches her easily with a practiced hand. She holds the small dog with one arm while leading Tony towards the yard area she’d just come from.
Once outside, Amanda places Sophie back on the ground, and the little dog makes a beeline for Tony. It’s difficult for him to sit down without squashing her as she circles him, running round and round trying to sniff every bit of him at once. He doesn’t notice the smile crawling across his face. After he’s on the ground, Sophie is climbing into his lap. She licks his face and sniffs his tie. She makes the same snuffling and grumbling noises through her entire inspection letting out a single bark at the end as if to claim she deems him acceptable. Tony catches himself off guard when a small laugh comes rumbling up from his own chest.
He grabs one of the tennis balls near him and gives it a little toss. Sophie launches herself from his lap and takes off after the bright green ball. She struggles to lift it with her tiny mouth before cheating and picking it up by a small tear. She climbs into his lap again still chewing on the ball.
Tony runs his hand down her rolly little body. It isn’t the same calming sensation as stroking Toby’s long soft fur earlier, but it’s just as good. He enjoys the warm weight of her little body in his lap, the quiet little grunts and grumbles lifting the sides of his mouth into a bigger smile with no effort at all. He makes kissy noises at her and earns her attention immediately. She hops up covering his beard in sloppy little doggy kisses until he pets her again. He itches behind her little ears and she relaxes back down, focus back on the ball once more.
“Is she always like this?” He asks quietly not taking his eyes from her small little form.
“Pretty much.” Amanda says with a laugh. “Pugs were bred for companionship, so they’re all a very cuddly bunch.” Tony smiles. Sophie rolls over a bit in his lap exposing her pudgy little belly. He scratches it until she’s kicking and grumbling loudly.
“How old is she?” He asks. This time he allows himself to at least glance at the girl sitting beside him.
“She’s a little over a year old. I think her owners lost their job or something and couldn’t take her with them when they had to relocate. She’s only been here maybe three months.” Amanda says. Tony hums in acknowledgement.
He gazes down at the small dog in his lap and tries to think things over. He hasn’t been this relaxed in what feels like years as if this dog had come along and whisked all the weight right off his shoulders. He smiles without trying and feels the genuine happiness behind it.
“Hey Sophie.” He says using her name for the first time. She looks up at him with her large, bright eyes and sneezes in response. “Do you wanna come live with me, huh?” He asks the dog, feeling slightly ridiculous. She cocks her head to the side as if thinking over his proposition. They look at each other, brown eyes focused on brown eyes. Then Sophie grunts as if to say “sure, why not?” and licks him on the hand.
Amanda laughs. “Well if that isn’t a yes, then I’m not sure what is.” She says, and Tony agrees. “Let’s go see Paige and get everything sorted out.”
Natasha steps out of the elevator and into the penthouse of Stark Tower. “Tony?” She calls. No answer. She moves through the living room stepping around boxes. Her gaze sweeps curiously over the labels: Amazon and PetCo. So Tony finally got himself a pet? Interesting. She continues on, heading up the stairs that separate the over large bedroom from the rest of the living space. She’s about to call out his name once she reaches the top step and immediately bites her tongue.
Tony is laid back on the bed, one hand slack around the TV remote and the other hand resting on a small black dog body. The little pug lifts its head from Tony’s torso cocking her head from side to side as she inspects Natasha from afar. Natasha smiles at the tiny dog. She lifts one finger to her lips in a shushing motion. The small dog grumbles before laying its head back down and blinking at Natasha with its big brown eyes. Nat smiles and silently descends the stairs. Whatever she has to tell Tony can wait until later.
The End