InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Somebody help me!"

dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic,
@ 2022-02-15 10:20:00

Entry tags:

!: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: allison hargreeves, ₴ inactive: dan torrance

Dan & Allison

WHAT: The old man dog they took out for a fun afternoon, when they were first dating, is still available for adoption, soo...
WHERE: Their house
WHEN: Today
WARNINGS: Married people schmoop
STATUS: Complete

I know we told Claire no new pets, but I have to show you something.

Allison had seen the adoption notice on the network. She hadn’t replied because they weren’t really in the market for a pet even though Claire had begged and pleaded with her for a kitten or a puppy. She didn’t want anything that would annoy Azzie too much since she was their main pet. Claire agreed that Azzie needed to approve. Even if that had ended with her draping herself sadly on furniture and reminding Allison of her Uncle Klaus.

Of course, as she was searching through presents and ads online, she came across the website from the pet adoption service that they’d visited back when they first started dating. She hadn’t expected to see Joe was still available and she stood up quickly to go find Dan.

“Dan, honey, I know we told Claire no new pets, but I have to show you something!” She held out the phone with the picture of Joe on it. “I feel like it’s our co-Valentine’s Day present.”

Having just gotten home from the clinic, that meant he smelled like lemon oil and freshly cleaned floors - other spic-and-span products too but, either way, Dan was eager to pull off the scrubs and hop into the shower. In his and Allison’s bedroom, he was in the process of doing just that - though when his lovely wife entered the picture and offered him her phone (and was also talking about new pets), he nearly got stuck in the scrub top.

Alright, wait, hold on. Pause. Blink. Reassess.

He was finally free from the scrub top prison, tossing it into the hamper to add to the pile of clothes to be washed (and he had multiple pairs of scrubs, multiple replacement tools as well - like pen lights, Jesus, he was always losing those; it was like they got sucked up into an abyss, vines wrapped around the missing implements and dragged into darkness). Now, half-naked, he took the phone and was fondly reminded of Joe - who was the Australian cattle dog mix Allison had taken a shine to on one of their first dates.

“Well - he is cute.” Dan scrolled through the ad, and the multiple photos. “...are you sure though? I mean. Joe’s also pretty old, honey.” Was it going to traumatize Claire if this senior dog didn’t last another year?

Then again, this was Vallo. Maybe Joe was immortal. Dan wouldn’t put it past the place..

Allison took a brief moment to admire her husband’s shirtless form before redirecting her attention back to the situation at hand. “Well, I think it’s more do we want to consider how sad we’ll be if he stays at the rescue place until he’s passed.” She used her most serious business face and nodded to prove her point. “I think that we would definitely prefer to have him in a nice home. Even if he is old.”

She might have to talk to Claire about what it meant to have an older pet and that they didn’t always live as long as you expected for them to, but that it was nice to give them a home to live out their last years. Claire probably would cry when he passed, though. She was aware of that, but she couldn’t help but want to give Joe a home anyway. “Maybe he’ll make it longer than we expect. I mean, at least we know he’s house trained already and probably doesn’t need too much by the way of training. I mean, new house rules and things, but…he also walks well and that’s good in case Claire wants to walk him sometimes…with us around, obviously.”

Oh, damn, Allison had an irrefutable point there. The idea of Old Joe dying in the shelter, cold and alone and shivering on the floor like those ‘please donate to the save the animals fund’ commercials shown around the holidays was depressing as hell. Dan winced, and he was already crumbling - but he gave her the phone back, continuing his search for casual clothes to change into after he hopped into the shower.

And continuing the conversation while getting naked, because that seemed appropriate. “I can’t believe you’re arguing for another pet, after the mortuary situation where you were ready to move into a treehouse to get away from the sheer amount of furballs,” he quipped. And maybe he was teasing, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but still - he could tell that Allison had shouldered a lot during that time, and didn’t put up a fuss because the mortuary had been their home and they were all a family. Now that they’d gone their separate ways, all of them following their own paths (and Sabrina was grown - way grown) things were different.

“I’m not going to be too hard to convince though. Joe deserves a good home. You’ve already talked to Claire about it?”

Allison leaned against the doorway, just watching her husband continue to disrobe. She wasn’t going to ignore it if he was just going to undress as they talked about adopting Joe. She laughed softly at his comment about the mortuary. “For one, that was an entire house full of pets. For two, this is just two and then we’re done.” Probably. At least until Joe was comfortably over the rainbow bridge. She figured it would be a case by case decision and never more than two at a time.

“Do you think I’d have come to you myself if Claire already knew? I’d have waited until after you showered and were all comfortable and let Claire pout you into submission. But instead, I get to admire your naked body while convincing you to adopt a dog. So I’m not too upset about it.” She grinned at that. “But I can leave you to your shower while I go talk to Claire and you can rejoin us in the kitchen.”

By now Dan was down to boxer briefs, and those would be the last to go - he was tempted to whip them off and toss them at Allison (like all married people did) but he just crinkled his nose at her. An adorable crinkle (even if he believed that ‘adorable’ was sort of the last word to be used to describe him - goofy, maybe. Rarely. She brought those moments out of him).

“Then, yes, I guess we’re adopting a dog,” he allowed, throwing his scrub bottoms into the hamper to follow suit with the top. “We’ll take her to the shelter and see how her and Joe get along? But yeah, I guess you can talk to her about that and I’ll be right down.”

He had no doubt that Claire would be incredibly excited though. Joe could be a little yippy needle-toothed dog (please no) or a tired geriatric pup and she’d still be happy. Most likely. Even if it would be important to emphasize that older dogs didn’t always want to run around and play, they just wanted to rest a lot of the time.

Allison did find Dan to be entirely adorable almost all the time. Even when he didn’t consider it to be true of himself. It was one of those things. He’d taken time out of his day to make sure that she was taken care of and felt comfortable back when she first arrived and couldn’t talk still. So he was stuck in the role of adorable and anything else that would compliment him for his kindness.

Allison gave him her most beaming smile before moving to press a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I love you.” She’d give him the time to shower now because she understood the need to be clean after working in an environment where the potential for gross things happening was much more than her work at the salon. She did have a good amount of appointments over the coming days for the purposes of Valentine’s Day. Giving him another quick smile, she slid out of the room and shut the door behind her to find Claire and explain about the dog adoption situation.

“I love you too,” Dan made sure to say, hand falling to land on Allison’s waist when she was near - he gave her a squeeze and then let go, somewhat reluctantly, but he’d have plenty of time to be more thorough about how much he loved her later on, when Claire was in bed.

And when he didn’t smell like a literal, actual clinic.

The shower was a welcome sort of thing, even if he was quick about it - the steam was just regular old steam, sure, but it felt like magic regardless after such a long day, a perfect cloak of warm mist. Afterward he toweled off and put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, heading downstairs to see his favorite ladies and hear about all the fun decisions they had made.

They were getting a dog. That was exciting.

“So what did you two decide without me?” he asked teasingly, moving to kiss the top of Allison’s head before he began the search for fancy coffee he could brew.

Allison glanced up as Dan came into the kitchen. Claire was practically vibrating with the excitement of it all. “Oh, you know…just about everything. The color of the collar and leash. Hot pink, just so you know. She wants the heart name tag.” Claire nodded in agreement to all the points put forward. “The heart is the best one cause WE LOVE HIM,” Claire half-shouted as she jumped off the chair and ran over to Dan, hugging him. “THANKS FOR LETTING US GET A DOG!!!”

Allison laughed softly. “But remember, he’s going to be an older dog, baby, so we have to be very gentle with him.” Claire nodded. “Yes, Mommy.” Claire gave Dan one more hug before running back to her mom.

“Oof,” Dan laughed too, because getting attack-hugged by Claire was like getting cannonballed in the stomach - she was very enthusiastic, which he appreciated. She also was about to celebrate a birthday and would be a very grown up seven years old so it was probably about time that him and Allison introduced her to the wonders of dog care; Azzie, as a pet, was on a whole other level. “That all sounds good though - I’m sure we can find a pink collar and a heart-shaped name tag.”

He had planned to make coffee but decided to go with tea instead - since getting to sleep at a decent hour tonight was the goal, and the caffeine would keep him awake for an eternity. The tea was something that smelled like freshly baked apple pie, and would give the kitchen an aroma of fall-infused candles. “We’ll take you to meet Joe tomorrow after school,” he promised. “I guess it’ll give me time to break the news to Azzie too.”

The cat was currently sitting on the windowsill. Staring. Watching. Planning murder.

Claire squealed with excitement about the prospect of getting to meet Joe tomorrow. “You have to be on your best behavior while we’re there, okay?” Claire nodded. “Okay, Mommy! Can I go upstairs and play?” Allison nodded. “Yes, Claire. For a little while.” As she ran off, Allison glanced over at Dan. “I hope Azzie will take it well. We might have to give extra love and attention now.”

She moved over closer to Dan, hugging him around the waist from behind. “How was work? Since I didn’t ask before in my desire to get you to agree to my adoption request.”

Azzie was still watching in that I am plotting your demise, humans cat kind of way - or maybe he just sensed that there was about to be a change in the household again. He’d gotten along with the other cats in the mortuary, finding kind of a kinship with Salem, but it was really hit or miss on the other animals that passed in and out of the doors.

More like ‘tolerated.’ That was a better word, when it came to Azzie and that zoo. Sort of like Allison, really. Dan had been mostly neutral - he was just glad he didn’t have allergies.

He turned where he stood at the kitchen island, hands stroking over Allison’s arms. “It was fine,” he chuckled, pressing a kiss to her cheek, then the corner of her mouth - and finally straight on the bullseye, when he moved a little to the left. “I’m sure something else terrible will happen again soon but for now I’m just dealing with routine stitches and routine flus. And I was going to make tea but continuing to convince me to agree to your request seems like more fun.”

Dan laced his fingers on the small of her back, squeezing her close to him. “We can pretend I haven’t already agreed.”

Allison laughed a little as Dan turned around. “Oh, so you want to do the whole roleplay thing? Attractive wife convinces wonderful and attractive husband to agree to something he’s already agreed to using her feminine wiles?” Okay, so that got a bit rambly, but she felt like it was forgivable. “I’ll use my best and most persuasive arguments once Claire is in bed.” She winked before leaning up to kiss him.

The whole roleplay thing made Dan blush, though he wasn’t sure why - he certainly wasn’t some innocent flower, but it was nice when your spouse still had that effect on you. “I’m not as good at the acting thing as you, but I can do my best,” he promised, hands coming up to cup Allison’s face as he kissed her in return.

It was a bit like drinking saltwater - not in the feel, or the taste, but because the action only made him thirstier. And would always be a live wire, with the way he felt those telltale sparks.

“I guess I should eat real food - “ Sometimes he missed dinner, when he worked late. Or worked weird hours. But he tried not to do that too often. “And then help her get ready for bed?” They had a routine, and Dan did his best to stick to it - it was Claire brushing her teeth, pajamas, and reading a book before bed, and he usually asked her about her school day too. It was important.

Allison enjoyed the fact that she could still make Dan blush. It was nice that she could affect him. She would continue to try to pull out every single moment of adorable behavior in him until she couldn’t any longer. She hoped that they’d end up old together, but if she only got a few more years, she would be grateful for it.

“There are leftovers in the fridge.” Allison could now manage simple things or to heat up food that Dan made with instructions. She would eventually gain more skill because there was bound to be a day when she would need it, but she started small and was working up to bigger. “She does probably need to get ready for bed, yes. Then we can pick up on my very skilled persuasions.” She batted her eyelashes briefly before lifting up on her toes to kiss him again.

“Stop distracting me,” Dan groaned teasingly, although he wasn’t really complaining. He’d gladly be distracted by Allison on any day of the week. However, he had to appear as if he minded even if he wasn’t doing a very good job at it (as stated, she was the talented actor of this duo - not him).

But, oh well, fuck it. He just wrapped his arms around her fully and kissed her deep enough to see stars, right there in the kitchen - then he reluctantly let go. Leftovers, right. Tea. Domestic things. Domesticity before the x-rated ‘Married People After Dark’ part of the program, and he was fine with that - tomorrow, they’d get a dog.

Which was sure to add at least a little more chaos to their lives, but that was alright. It meant that he was actually alive and still thriving here in Vallo, and so he’d happily take what he could get.