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David knows he isn’t the most interesting person who’s ever existed, he can even admit that his life is a bit dull.
He works as a tax attorney which even he can admit is not exactly a riveting profession, but it pays him relatively well and he works less hours than his classmates from law school who decided to persue other branches of law.
He’s a perfectly ordinary looking man, he likes to think. He’s tall and a bit gangly, his blue eyes are usually behind his thick-rimmed glasses and he always makes a point to keep his sandy haired styled wherever he goes. He’s not really an attractive man, his nose is sort of odd looking, crooked from the one time he broke his nose when he was eight, and his cheeks are rounded in a way he doesn’t really like. Still, David doesn’t think he’s ugly looking per se, but just like his life his appearance is a bit dull.
Speaking of friends, he doesn’t have many of those. He has his friend, Ivan, who’s possibly David’s favorite person in the entire world. They met at university (David studied law and Ivan psychology) and had immediately hit it off, spending most of their free-time together, often huddled up under a blanket watching reruns of their favorite TV shows. Not much has changed since then, they still spend a lot of time together and David finds that he misses Ivan when they haven’t spoken for a day or two. The point is, besides Ivan, David doesn’t have many friends. He has Emilia, a friend from high school that he gets a beer with bi-monthly and a few people from law school that he still wishes happy birthday and a merry christmas to.
David’s closest friend, besides arguably Ivan, is his dog Henry. Ivan had bullied him relentlessly when he found out he was naming his cute beagle puppy Henry (“David, dearest, I love you but is your dog a posh british man?” or “David, dear, Henry’s a human name. May I suggest the name Biscuit? Much more sensible for a dog”) which in hindsight sight David doesn’t find fair because Ivan got a dog a year later that he named Alexander which was also clearly a “human name” in Henry’s opinion.
Anyways, David loves Henry very much, he occasionally spends evening mourning Henry’s death, even though Henry is very much a healthy, living three year old Beagle. He also runs a rather popular tiktok account for Henry which is wonderful because it gives him a venue to talk about (and brag about) Henry to people that actually wants to listen, not just nod politely as he flips through cute pictures of him on his phone.
And mostly the comments are positive. He had received one that said “im literally shaking buy him some brown contacts pls” which was rude but also very funny. He’d shown it to Ivan who laughed until he cried actual tears and then scooped Henry up, kissed him on his head and told him his blue eyes were gorgeous the way they are, Henry had barked happily and attempted to lick Ivan’s face. David remembers watching them with so much happiness in his body that he barely knew how to handle it.
His dog Henry, and Ivan’s dog Alexander (or Alex as they call him) had met several times. Whenever him and Ivan go to eachother’s places they bring their dogs with them. Henry even has a stash of the kibble for his sensitive stomach at Ivans place. Anyway, Henry and Alex get along great. They always chase each other playfully or end up sleeping on top of each other. To them, it seems like Ivan and David disappear as soon as they are near each other, they only have eyes for the other. Whenever Alex leaves Henry always whines and paces around the house as if looking for Alex and Ivan tells him Alex is much the same way. Funnily enough, his followers on social media are shipping Henry and Alex. Comments like “are they…..you know?”, “get you someone who looks at you like alex/henry does” and “soulmates” fill his comment section whenever he publishes a video of the two of them together.
His life might be a bit dull, but it’s a good little life he has, it’s peaceful.
_______
David is the worst dog-owner in the history of dog owners. David took Henry out to visit his family who lives in the middle of nowhere, about four hours away from David. He had decided it couldn’t hurt to let Henry run freely, unleashed, on the open field next to his parent’s house but he had evidentially been wrong.
He turned had barely looked away from Henry for 10 seconds when he heard a pitiful yelp from Henry then panicked whines. David had felt his heart catch in his throat as he ran faster than he ever had before towards Henry only to see his leg had gotten stuck in a rock formation.
“Shh, Henry. It’s alright, you’ll be alright,” David had whispered as he frantically (but carefully as to not cause more harm) removed several rocks from Henrys leg. It hadn’t taken long for David to remove the rocks even though it had felt like an eternity and when he was done both he and Henry needed a good cuddle. Henry kept licking his face, and just this once David had let him.
David decided to leave early, to go home with Henry after that and it was then he noticed the limping.
Which is why, David’s currently at home after hours at the vet feeling like the worst dog-owner ever. Henry, a tiny cast on his tiny front leg, lies on the ground, half-way asleep from his pain meds and David sits beside him unwilling to leave his side.
“I’m so sorry, Hen,” he keeps whispering, and Henry l barely reacts, just lazily liks at the pads of Davids fingers as they caress his little head.
He stays like that for almost an hour as Henry naps then without conciously thinking it through David dials Ivan’s number.
“David!” Ivan says happily. “I was just about to call you, actually, I’ve missed you which is silly because I saw you just two days ago and I didn’t wanna bother you while you’re visiting your family but I only have so much self-control when it comes to you, you know?” Ivan’s fast spoken words bring a small smile to Davids lips, the first one since he realized Henry was hurt.
“Ivan.” Is all David says. It comes out on its own accord, David barely realizes he says it.
“What’s wrong?” Ivan asks, his voice has a worried edge to it. “Are you okay?”
David bites his lip to stop from crying. It doesn’t work. “Not really,” he responds.
“David, dearest. Please tell me what’s wrong.” David can practically see how Ivan’s brows are furrowed, his handsome face twisted up in worry. Maybe his fingers pull through his dark curls, a subconscious tic he does when he’s worried.
“It’s Henry,” David says, with a choked off sob. He hears Ivan draw in a sharp breath across the phone and realizes he’s phrased it terribly so he quickly adds; “He broke his leg, I’m the worst dog owner in the world,” David can bear the revealed sigh.
“Oh no, poor Henry,” Ivan says sympathetically. “And you’re the best dog dad, only second to me of course,” Ivan says playfully earning a snort and a small, tentative smile from David. “Tell me what happened?”
So David does. And ends up feeling better by the end of it.
“Would you like me to come over?” Ivan asks.
Yes, David thinks immediately.
“If you’d like,” he says instead.
“I always want to,” Ivan replies easily. “Should I bring Alex?” He asks thoughtfully. David thinks about it for a while.
“Yes, I think it’ll cheer Henry up. We’ll have to seperate them if they get too playful though. Henry needs to avoid physical activity for a while.”
__________
Ivan wraps him in the biggest hug as David opens the door for him and David squeezes him tightly, inhaling his scent. Somehow, even Ivan’s scent seems to calm David. He still manages to scratch Alex ears while hugging Ivan. Alex pays him attention for maybe ten seconds before he’s sniffing the air, no doubt trying to find Henry.
David wonders if Alex finds it strange why Henry hasn’t greeted him at the door like he usually does.
“Henry’s hurt, Alex. I told you he can’t move as well as normal and that you need to be careful with him,” Ivan says gently, Alex perks up at Henry’s name. “I’ll keep him on the leash for now, until we know how they react.” And David’s so thankful for this man.
Alex gleefully walks into the loving room, his nose twitching, he stops abruptly when he sees Henry, lying curled up on a blanket his cast sticking out. He whines and hurries to Henry’s side. His sniffs at Henry, licks at him and paws at him all so very gently. Henry paws back at him with his uninjured paw. Alex whines again and carefully lays down next to Henry, curling his body around Henry’s protectively.
“Oh, they’re very sweet,” David says, his eyes watering slightly. Ivan smiles at the pair and nods, wrapping his arms around David from behind. David snaps a picture of them together and decides to upload it to tiktok later.
“Let me cook you something.” Ivan’s voice is right at his ear, his hit breath sending a hopefully unnoticeable shiver down David’s spine. “If I know you right, and I suspect I do, you’ve been so busy taking care of Henry that you’ve neglected to take care of yourself, isn’t that right?” Davjd turns his face, craning his neck to look Ivan in the eyes.
“Maybe,” he says, his cheeks flushing slightly. Ivan rolls his eyes, but there’s a fondness to it that makes David feel warm inside. God, Ivan is really the best friend someone can ask for.
“I’ll get started then,” Ivan says, letting go of him to walk into the kitchen. David instantly misses Ivan’s strong arms wrapped him.
————-
David posts the picture of Henry and David to his TikTok along with a lengthy caption detailing what happened. He immediately receives comments wishing Henry a speedy recovery. He also receives comments like “why’s alex, a literal dog, a better boyfriend than any of my exes,” or “relationship goals”.
————-
“Ivan?” David asks later, stomach full, and sat together with Ivan under a blanket watching supernatural for the umpteenth time.
“Yes, dear?”
“Would you and Alex stay the night? Please,”
“Of course,” Ivan says, voice soft. Ivan squeezes his hand. “Besides, I don’t think I could get Alex to leave right now even if I tried,” he adds.
And, that’s probably true. Alex has stayed close to Henry all night. Either wrapped around him like a protective wall or standing protectively over him, scanning the environment for potential threats. Alex even growled once when David accidentally dropped the remote, causing Henry to flinch, but he at least had the decency to look ashamed when Ivan scolded him for it. Alex had even left Henry’s side for long enough to lick Davids fingers in apology before walking back to Henry.
—————-
The next morning, at breakfast, Alex doesn’t eat his kibble immediately. He scoops as much kibble into his mouth as he can, skips over to Henry, and drops it in front of him, refusing to walk away until he sees Henry eat the kibble off the floor. Satisfied with himself, he struts back to his bowl, eating the rest of the kibble for himself.
He catches the exchange on camera and the video goes viral. Commenters coin the ship name ‘Henlex’ for them which David finds very cute. His comment section is filled with more “soulmates” comments than ever, David agrees with them.
——————-
David asks Ivan and Alex to stay longer when Alex practically has a meltdown when Ivan tries to get him to go home with him. Ivan agrees.
“David?” Ivan says softly as they’re once again under a blanket, this time watching episodes of how I met your mother. David turns around and their eyes meet, he feels his cheeks grow hot.
“Yeah?”
“May I kiss you?” David feels his heart beat wildly, threatening to escape from his ribcage. “Please,” Ivan adds.
“Yeah,” he says breathlessly. Ivan beams at him.
——-
David knows he isn’t the most interesting person who’s ever existed, he can even admit that his life is a bit dull. He’s in a gay relationship with his best friend turned husband and he has two gay dogs. They spend their time doing dull things together. Maybe his life is a bit dull, but it’s a good life.