How Keith Met John
By: LilyGinnyBlack
Disclaimer: All the characters, settings, and etc. belong to ©Sunrise, Viz Media, Manga Entertainment, and Siren Visual.
Spoiler Warning: There is a minor spoiler here or there for episode 15, but nothing drastic.
A/N: This fic was inspired by this picture over on Pixiv (just delete the spaces) : http : / www . pixiv . net / member _ illust . php ? mode = medium & illust _ id = 20280033
I hope you all enjoy it! ^^
-()-
Keith Goodman had just started his career as a hero on Hero TV, and while he had been receiving some rather good fanfare, points, and overall views for the show, a large part of him was always, constantly, so anxious, nervous, and insecure. He was brought up to be a good person, to help those in need, and he wanted to do his best not only at that, but also at being a good entertainer and doing his best at his first "real" job.
He didn't want to mess up.
So, it was for this reason that Keith decided he would do night patrols of the city; he would be able to help protect the people of Sternbild even after the sun went down, and he would also be able to be first on the scene if he did happen to catch a criminal act in action, therefore helping his career. It was an overall win-win situation.
And it was on one of his nightly watches that Keith, or as he was at the moment: Sky High (the Wind Wizard), came upon the rather sickening sight in the park down below, of a man tying up a scruffy, battered, and obviously saddened golden retriever to a lamppost and walking away even as the pup pawed at the cement walkway and whined.
Hoping that the man would have a heart and not leave the dog behind in such a manner, Keith suspended himself in the air, avidly watching the scene down below. The man must have heard the pup's cries, but instead of realizing the horrible thing he was doing and redeeming himself by untying the dog and taking it back home with him, the man went and kicked the beaten down pup. Hard. A howl of pain came from the young dog's mouth, which eventually morphed into a high pitched growl as the man hissed at it to "Shut the hell up!"
Not being able to stomach the sight of such unprovoked and one-sided abuse, Keith unleashed a gust of wind, knocking the abuser clean off his feet. And, as he was descending to the park below, he went ahead and notified the police of the current crime. This was not something that really needed to be handled by a hero like himself, so he saw no need to let HERO TV know about it. The police would be able to deal with it fine on their own.
So, with the offender passed out on the walkway, it appeared as if the man had hit his head rather hard, Keith picked up off from the ground and waited for the police to arrive. The sound of shoes beating against the concrete actually came far sooner than Keith had been expecting, and the criminal was just beginning to stir out of his unconsciousness. Before the man could even open his blurry eyes, Keith passed him over to the police, whom he then talked to and gave a firsthand account of the incident that had taken place.
As Keith was reiterating the events his ears also picked up on the conversation two of the cops were having over by the puppy:
"What should we do with it?"
"I don't know. It won't let me get near it. Just barks and snaps if I get too close."
"Yeah, that same thing-"
Keith didn't need to hear another word of their discussion, he knew exactly what he had to do, and as the other police man thanked him for his eyewitness account and started to head off with the offender (now handcuffed) in tow, Keith walked over to the other two policemen and dog.
He got the usual warnings of "Be careful!" and "That dog seems to be slightly vicious!" But he just brushed them aside. Animals tended to like him, and though he usually got along best with birds, he got along pretty well with dogs too. Cats were the only pet-like animals that tended to scratch and hiss at him, rather than cuddle and lick, but he found it to be a rather mutual "hate-hate" relationship (though, for some reason, he still kept trying to help stray cats whenever he came across them, despite the scars they always left him with).
So, with his purple gloved hands and a smile on his face, completely disregarding the fact that his helmet covered it, Keith reached out for the pup that was still giving out its high and sharp barks and growls, indicating just how young it really was. Those barks ebbed away though, as Keith's hand was sniffed and poked by the slightly dried out nose of the golden retriever. The sniffing then gave way to licking and happy barking. Tentatively Keith reached out further and ran his hands through the dog's matted hair, noticing the amount of dirt, grime, and blood that was stuck to the once blond strands.
Feeling the two, stunned eyes of the cops on him, Keith turned his attention away from the puppy and toward them. Still in his uniform he asked them if he would be able to take in this dog as his own. And, without even a moment's hesitation, they answered yes ("Why, of course Mr. Sky High!" "You're a new, up and coming Hero, we expect good things from you, and after all, you helped us catch this guy. So, of course you can keep this little fellow!") By then Keith was quite used to such behavior, though he still felt a bit odd whenever he received it. Still, if it meant that he got to take such an adorable pet home as a pet, then it would suffer through it.
He shook both cops hands, waved good-bye, and shouted out the proper parting words, "Good night, and once again, good night!" as they headed back the way they came.
With the departing formalities done and out of the way, Keith returned his full attention to the golden retriever puppy that was now his, and who was still tied up to the lamppost.
'At least his tail is wagging,' Keith thought, as he untied the pup's leash from the lamppost. He was rewarded with a large, slobbery dog kiss. He simply laughed off the discomfort of having dog saliva all over his face, and focused in on the fact that the pup was in a much better mood now than he had been before…Though his physical state was still deplorable and would require a nice, long bath and scrub down.
Staying crouched down and level with the young dog, Keith took its two front paws in his hands and looked straight into the puppy's black eyes. He was going to need a name.
Looking the golden retriever over and thinking about it rather long and hard, Keith finally decided:
"I'm going to name you John."
-()-
And so, Keith Goodman went home that night with a new companion by his side: a puppy golden retriever called John. Unbeknownst to Keith though, his companion was actually a female dog that was now called John, and though many people (his fellow heroes included) know that his dog is female within minutes of meeting her, no one has it in them to let Keith know.
-()-
A/N: That last bit was actually partially based off a real life incident. My dad had a miniature Shetland sheepdog growing up, and so my grandfather him the dog Lassie…They eventually found out that their dog was a boy! XD
Anyway, tell me what you think of it in a review and take care~
-LilyGinnyBlack-