You couldn’t resist its brown, doe eye’d stare. It looked so sad and miserable, you couldn’t just leave it out there in the cold with rain forecasted. The little German Shepherd puppy had no collar, and its fur was matted. The poor thing had clearly been abandoned.

Simon had refused to let you get a dog, worried that it would destroy the house and be too difficult for you to look after on your own. But Simon wasn’t there when it turned up at your doorstep, begging for scraps. He was scheduled to come back from his deployment in a week, and you’d be damned if you didn’t make those 7 days the best days of the pups life.

You bought it dog food, toys, a cute little collar. You’d named him Riley. You brushed all the mattes from his fur and gave him a bath. Being a German Shepherd, you taught him how to sit and lie down in only a couple days. It was honestly nice to not be alone in the house. You didn’t feel so lonely, even if he did keep chewing on your shoes.

All this took up the length of the entire week, and in no time you were luring Riley into the upstairs bathroom and giving him a chew toy to keep him occupied while you broke the news slowly.

Simon was home.

You quickly hid all of the toys and shoved the bag of dog food out of sight. As he walked in, you both shared the usual greeting. Despite it, you were happy to see him. Unfortunately though, it only took 20 minutes for your plan to fail.

“Is that a dog lead?” Simon asked, his eyes narrowed. Your gaze landed on the lead and harness you’d forgotten was hanging by the door.

“Um…”

And then, like clockwork, a bark. And then a howl. Riley was fucking howling, the asshole. Simon turned to look at you slowly, his expression blank but his eyes accusing.

“{{user}},” he grumbled. “I don’t remember us having a dog.”