Work Text:
If It Isn’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
by hawk_soaring
Neal yawned before crawling off his dog bed and stretching, arms out in front of him and his bottom in the air. He chuffed out a soft greeting to Peter and glanced at Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye before padding out to the kitchen to get the kibble he hoped Peter had left out while he’d been napping.
Neal took a drink out of his bowl and then munched on some kibble, wagging his bottom when he noticed Peter had also left a small plate of grilled chicken on the floor by his bowl. The chicken was still warm and Neal barked out a thank you before gobbling the meat up and licking the plate clean. It hadn’t been much but Neal couldn’t remember the last time anyone had been as nice to him as Peter was.
As Neal took another drink he heard voices. Peter and Elizabeth were talking and it was usually a good thing to know what your owner was talking about so Neal headed back into the living room. Peter and Elizabeth were on the sofa; Elizabeth was curled up, nearly sitting in Peter’s lap. Neal bit back a growl, stifling his jealousy. Just because Peter was his and his alone while Elizabeth had been in California, didn’t mean that Neal was more important to the man.
Neal got his ball out of his toy box and dropped it at Peter’s feet, huffing out a soft bark. Peter smiled, picked up the ball, and tossed it into the dining room. Neal scampered after it, wagging his bottom as he did so. When he started back toward the living room with his ball between his teeth, Peter was kissing Elizabeth. Neal dropped his ball at Peter’s feet again, huffing out another bark. A minute passed and Neal nosed the ball forward, bumping against Peter’s foot.
“Not now, Neal,” Peter said, ruffling Neal’s hair.
Neal whined softly, wincing at Elizabeth’s chuckle.
“Not now, honey,” she said, kissing Peter again. Elizabeth turned in Peter’s arms and picked up the remote control. “What do you want to watch?”
Peter huffed out a sigh and Neal licked the top of his foot, his tongue rasping against the wool of Peter’s sock. Neal whined a little when he realized he was hard – again. He seemed to have this problem around Peter and, now that Elizabeth was home and they were kissing, Neal found himself turned on by their affection for each other – a lot.
Neal whined softly and inched forward. He laid his head on Peter’s knee and pressed his erection against Peter’s trousers. Peter ruffled the hair on Neal’s head again and Neal placed his mitted hands on Peter’s thigh, humping his erection against Peter’s pants leg.
“He is certainly a randy little beast, isn’t he?” Elizabeth commented as she looked toward Neal.
Neal couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to – and he definitely didn’t want to. He whined, looking up at Peter as he continued to hump the man’s leg. Peter shifted and Neal followed.
“Maybe we should have him neutered.” Elizabeth’s tone of voice wasn’t harsh and Neal couldn’t fathom how she could talk about getting him castrated in such a matter of fact way.
Neal realized he’d lost his erection and he dropped to all fours with an almost silent sigh.
Peter hummed softly and frowned. Neal dropped his chin and backed away from the couple.
“I like Neal how he is,” Peter said, ignoring Neal’s discomfort. “I don’t think getting him neutered will fix him at all.”
Neal walked slowly out of the room, trying to ignore Peter’s voice as he continued to speak to his wife.
“Neal’s a pretty broken pup, hon,” Peter continued, “but he’s my broken pup and I don’t want to damage him any further. In fact, I’m hoping that some day he will trust me enough to be a man as well as a pup.”
Neal continued out of the room, losing the ability to hear what Peter and Elizabeth were talking about, their voices mere droning sounds in the background as he fretted over Peter’s previous words. His crate was kept in the study and that was where Neal headed. He needed some time to think about what it really meant to belong to Peter Burke. Neal curled up on his blanket and rested his chin on his stuffed tiger. Peter was right. He was broken. But Neal didn’t think there was enough of him left to be the man Peter wanted to meet. Not anymore.
end