GerUk/GerEng Collection

Puppy Love

Arthur had never coloured himself to be a dog person. It wasn't that he didn't like dogs, but he never considered being a dog parent. But now that he was dating Ludwig, it was as if Ludwig's three dogs were now his. He couldn't complain though as the three were so well behaved and never failed to bring a smile to Arthur's face.

He had just arrived at Ludwig's house when a large german shepherd came barreling towards him. The dog jumped upon him, causing Arthur to stagger back slightly. "And hello to you too Berlitz," he greeted with a laugh, "Now down boy, down." Berlitz gave him one more lick before following Arthur's command and plopped himself down in front of the Brit. Arthur gave Berlitz a few head scratches before grabbing his overnight bag and heading inside. Berlitz followed.
Inside, Ludwig's other two dogs sat at attention, tails wagging as soon as they saw Arthur. Being older, they were a bit calmer than Berlitz but they still approached Arthur excitedly, licking and nudging at his hands. "Yes, yes hello," Arthur greeted, crouching down to the dogs' level, giving them their own head pats. "So where's Ludwig?"

Aster, the Hovawart was the first to get up and head towards the kitchen with Blackie and Berlitz following her. Ludwig must have been prepping for dinner already. He always seemed to cook Arthur a special meal every time he came over. Quietly, he entered the kitchen to find Ludwig chopping away at a collection of vegetables. A mischievous smirk spread across Arthur's face as he snuck up behind the German and wrapped his arms around his waist.

Ludwig tensed but as soon as he realized it was Arthur, he put the knife he was using down and turned to properly greet Arthur. "Guten tag mein Hase," Ludwig said before leaning down for a kiss. "Did you get here okay?"

"Mhm. And I had quite the welcome party," Arthur replied, his gaze shifted to the three dogs that now sat in the doorway.

"Of course you did." Arthur peeked over Ludwig's shoulder to see what exactly was cooking. As if reading Arthur's mind, Ludwig went on: "Stew and steak. How does that sound?"

"Delicious."

"Well, I was just about to take the dogs out for a walk. How about you go get them ready and I'll finish up here."

"Sure."

A few minutes later the dogs were leashed and Ludwig came out of the kitchen. "Ready to go?" he asked.

Arthur nodded before handing Berlitz and Blackie over to Ludwig. And so the couple and their dogs set off to the park. After one lap around the path, Ludwig figured it was best to head home, but the dogs seemed disappointed. Arthur also found himself slightly disappointed, wanting to give the dogs some time to run around. "Why don't we stay a little while longer?" Arthur ended up suggesting. "Let them run around a bit, you know?"

"I don't know," Ludwig began, "I still need to prepare some things for dinner." The German's gaze fell on the dogs who looked at him with big, round eyes, begging to stay a little longer. Arthur could help but smirk a little, knowing his lover could not say no to such faces.

After mulling it over a bit, Ludwig conceded and they headed over to the fenced-off area of the park to let the dogs off-leash. The two lovers sat down on the bench to watch the dogs play. It was entertaining to see them run and roll around, jumping on each other occasionally in a playful manner. Watching them play made Arthur wish he had grabbed a ball or some other toy to play fetch with them. At least they seemed happy tumbling around with each other. When Ludwig wrapped his arm around Arthur, the Brit leaned into his lover's side. "This is nice," Arthur sighed, snuggling closer.

"Yeah," Ludwig agreed. "But we really need to get back for dinner."

"We can just pick something up on our way home."

"But-"

"No buts. You didn't seem that far along."

Ludwig shook his head no.

"See. We could just cook what you had planned tomorrow."

Ludwig's face fell, but he appeared to think it over. He turned towards the dogs once more, his disposition brightening slightly. "I guess that would be fine. How about we make it a picnic?"

Arthur smiled. "That sounds like a lovely idea."

Translation:
mein Hase = my bunny