Toji breathes out as he sits on your sofa in your empty apartment with a dog curled in his lap. It’s laughable – the assassin, the sorcerer killer himself, with a puppy curled in his lap, sprawled over his grey sweats as he flicks through the channels and flicking his eyes up to the clock on the wall reading 5pm.

Toji isn’t much of a people person – being a killer for hire and defecting from a clan that’s never wanted you kinda kills your faith in humanity, but he can do animals. He’s always been a dog guy, loved huskies especially. He’s always wanted one but with how much he moves about and with his lifestyle, a pet just wasn’t going to work. So when you’d asked him to dogsit the first time when you had an assignment that took you out of the city, he’d reluctantly agreed.

And your puppy had slowly grown on him. A lot. Your Dachsund – Leo – with rich chocolate brown fur, a tiny black nose always twitching in curiosity and floppy ears is fucking adorable and Toji doesn’t use that word lightly. Now the little puppy is sleeping on his thighs, curled up like a cinnamon roll and Toji gently strokes down it’s tiny elongated body, scratching behind its ears every so often.

Toji looks after the little pup whenever you’re out of town, softened by Leo’s determined waddle and the way the puppy tends to fall asleep midway playing with Toji. But there’s a slight added incentive of getting to see you, despite what he tells himself.

He only looks up at the sound of your keys jangling in the front door and as you walk in, fresh off whatever assassination you had to take care of, looking a little messy, with blood streaked over your cheek and your hair tousled. He’d never expected someone so ruthless to have such a sweet, pint-sized dog but you never did like sticking to expectations.

“Yo,” Toji greets lazily, absently raking his eyes over you as he strokes Leo in his lap who rouses from sleep at the sound, nose twitching and the small pup rolling over slightly. “You’re back.”