Peter warms up to Darwin the next day.
He assumes what the boy truly needs is comfort. Peter slept soundly through the rest of the night with Darwin beside him. May was a bit surprised when she woke up and the dog wasn't in her room, but when she went searching throughout the apartment and found him in her nephew's room, she smiled at the sight of them curled up together. Darwin manages to sleep for a few hours, but it seems his body isn't quite used to having something soft to sleep on so he doesn't rest for as long as he would have liked. Regardless, he stays in Peter's bed until the boy wakes up late on Saturday morning.
Breakfast is mellow and quiet. Darwin eats his kibble while May and Peter eat their breakfast. He idly notices Peter's large bowl of cereal accompanied by two pieces of toast.
'Growing boys must need a lot of food,' he assumes.
After breakfast comes the walk.
Darwin isn't used to having a leash on him, but finds he doesn't mind it much. He's lived in Queens for many years anyway, so he doesn't feel the need to desperately sniff and pee on every inch of concrete he can reach. Peter and May are relieved when he doesn't pull on the leash but simply walks beside them. He imagines his size might intimidate them.
During the walk, they chat about their plans for the day.
"I finished my homework yesterday," Peter says, "I know I fell a bit behind after… well… but I've caught up now."
May smiles, a hint of sadness coming off of her, and scratches his the back of head. "That's great, honey," she says, "So, what do you want to do today? We haven't gone out much in the past couple of weeks, although we might not want to leave Darwin alone for very long since we just got him." She seems to add the last part as an afterthought.
Peter shrugs. "How 'bout we find a dog park, then?"
"Hmm," May hums, "It might be better if we leave that for tomorrow. Darwin should get checked by the vet before we let him run around with a bunch of dogs. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Yeah."
Peter doesn't say anything after that, quietly watching Darwin as he sniffs at snow-covered fire hydrant. He seems to be contemplating something and May patiently waits for him to speak.
Finally, he asks, "Hey, Aunt May? Could I, uh, ask Ned if he wants to hang out?" At May's surprised expression, he quickly continues, "I mean, it's just, uh, we haven't hung out since- well, you know, and- and I figured it would be cool if he could meet Darwin and-"
"Peter, of course it's fine," May says, pleased, "What do you want to do with him?"
"He and I could take Darwin to the dog park," Peter suggests a bit nervously.
May, however, is clearly eager for her nephew to hang out with his friends like a normal teenager again. She instantly perks up. "That's a great idea! I could drop you guys off! And I'll get out of your way, I'll just-"
"No, no, Aunt May, you don't have to-"
"Don't worry, honey, it's fine, I probably have some errands to run anyway, you have fun with your friend!"
Peter feels like he wants to say more, but he's interrupted when they come across another dog owner walking their German Shepherd.
The dog is quick to approach Darwin and begin sniffing him. Darwin sniffs back politely, noting that her collar tag has the name Captain Snuffles.
'What an odd name,' Darwin thinks, suddenly grateful for Peter's good taste in names.
"Hey, I've smelled you around here before," Captain Snuffles rumbles as she sniffs Darwin's flank, "I thought you were a stray, though."
"I was," Darwin replies, "I just got adopted."
"Well, congratulations, then."
"Wow!" The man holding the German Shepherd's leash says, "And I thought my dog was big!"
May and Peter laugh. The man pats Darwin's head and moves to lead Captain Snuffles past them.
"Nice to meet you, Captain." Darwin begins to turn away, but the other dog's surprised voice stops him.
"How'd you know my name? I never introduced myself."
Darwin tilts his head and replies, "It's on your collar."
"You can read?"
'Oops,' Darwin thinks, realizing his mistake. Thankfully, Captain Snuffles' owner pulls her away and saves him from having to answer.
The rest of the walk is relatively uneventful, as is the rest of the morning and afternoon. May grabs his toys and plays with him for a bit, but the small apartment isn't a very good place for a woman and a large Irish Wolfhound to play tug-of-war. They play for about two minutes before Darwin's tail knocks a vase of flowers off the coffee table. Darwin has to settle for gnawing on some chew toys, which he doesn't mind.
They walk him one more time before going to the vet. It's a nicely-sized clinic and full of very nervous dogs. Darwin's never gone to the vet before and, admittedly, the obvious anxiety of the other dogs is a bit off-putting, but he's an adult so he forces himself to stay calm.
'The dogs are only nervous because they don't know what's going on,' he thinks, 'New experiences can be scary.'
Despite his calm attitude, May still whispers to him soothingly and scratches his head. They don't have to stay in the waiting room for very long and soon they're led to an office where a vet named Dr. Martha Wade meets them.
She greets them and gets to work pretty quickly once they tell her that Darwin was a stray. The first thing she does is check for a microchip, and to May and Peter's relief he doesn't have one. Darwin is surprised too. He assumes the scientists never saw a need for one as it was highly unlikely he could have escaped the lab on his own.
His vitals are taken, Dr. Wade pokes and prods just about every part of his body, and she watches him walk around. While she's weighing him, May asks her, "So, do you think you can tell what kind of dog he is?"
"He looks like an Irish Wolfhound, maybe a Scottish Deerhound. The breeds look pretty similar, but the Wolfhound is bigger," Dr. Wade replies.
"Is, uh, he going to grow anymore?" May asks a bit nervously.
Dr. Wade smiles and shakes her head. "Don't worry, he looks like an adult to me. A bit on the older side, actually. He wouldn't be acting so calm if he were a puppy." When she looks back down at the scale, she frowns a bit and scribbles on her notepad. "Hmm, his weight is one hundred and twenty pounds, which is a bit low for his size, but that's understandable given he was a stray."
Peter's eyes widen and May lets out an incredulous squawk.
Dr. Wade laughs at their reaction and adds, "He's thirty six inches tall at the shoulder. Try to get his weight closer to one hundred and fifty pounds."
"Geez, this dog's gonna be heavier than me," Peter says exasperatedly, "36 inches, that's like 3 feet tall, right?"
"See, that doesn't sound very tall, but it surprisingly is," May snorts, "And that's not even including his head!"
The veterinarian laughs at their antics. "The biggest Irish Wolfhound I've ever met was thirty eight inches tall and one hundred and eighty pounds." May wheezes and she continues, "By the way, they need a high-protein diet, so I can show you some good dog food brands later, but how 'bout we get some bloodwork and vaccinations first, yes?"
Dr. Wade draws his blood first. Darwin patiently lets her hold his foreleg and stays still while she sticks the needle in. May and Peter huddle close together behind the vet and watch. When Darwin looks at them, May grins and gives a little wave, making the dog huff.
"I swear, I've never seen a dog act so calm while getting his blood drawn," Dr. Wade says in a deadpan voice as she stares at the needle, "He's not even whining."
Peter giggles a bit. "He kinda just looks confused. He's like 'okay, but why?'."
'It's not like I haven't done this before,' Darwin thinks, glancing at the needle.
The two women laugh and Dr. Wade finishes taking his blood. She gives him a couple of vaccinations afterwards and advises May to bring him back a few weeks later for some more. She also gives her a list of high-protein dog foods for him.
He gets a treat when they leave, which is nice, and he takes a short nap on the ride back home. However, he doesn't miss May whispering, "One hundred and fifty." Nor does he miss Peter's quiet snickering.
It's around 6:30pm when they get back to the apartment. May starts cooking dinner and Darwin follows Peter as he walks into his room. The teenager takes out his phone and sits on his bed, feeling a bit anxious. He taps on the screen a few times but then hesitates.
Sensing his distress, Darwin pads over to him and puts his head on his lap. 'Don't worry.'
Peter smiles a bit and gently runs his fingers through his fur with one hand. With his other hand, he hits the call button.
Darwin hears the phone ring a couple of times before a young voice answers, "Peter?"
"H-hey, Ned," Peter greets. Darwin can hear his heart fluttering and feel his nervousness. The boy swallows and then says, "Hey, I know we haven't really hung out, um, you know, in the past couple of weeks but, I, uh, was wondering if-"
"Oh my God, yes- yeah, totally!"
Peter stifles a laugh. "I didn't even finish asking if you wanted to hang out."
"Doesn't matter, man, whatever you wanna do, I'm down!"
This time, Peter does laugh. Darwin's tail wags. 'I like this Ned already,' he thinks.
"Well, in that case," Peter says, "May came home with a dog yesterday."
Whatever Ned was expecting Peter to say, that was not it. "A dog," he asks, sounding bewildered.
"Yeah, this huge dark grey Irish Wolfhound. He was a stray, so we took him to the vet today, but he's really well-behaved. I wanted to see if you wanna come to the dog park with us tomorrow."
"Wow, that's awesome, man!" Ned sounds excited, "I can't wait to meet him! What's his name?"
"Darwin. Like Charles Darwin, you know?"
"Sick."
"I wanted to name him Chewbacca at first but May said no," Peter adds, ruffling Darwin's fur affectionately.
"That would've been cool too, but- holy shit!" Ned suddenly exclaims, "I just Googled pictures of Irish Wolfhounds and oh my God they are huge! How do you fit him in your apartment?"
Peter chuckles. "It's kind of a tight fit, but thankfully he's a bit of a couch potato. Although Aunt May tried playing tug-of-war with him earlier and his tail knocked a vase off the coffee table."
"Sounds like he could use a big park to run around in, then."
"Yeah, Aunt May said she could pick you up and drop us off there. Is noon okay?"
"Yup, I'll ask my mom but she'll probably say yes," Ned says. There's a moment of silence between the two, and then Ned adds softly, "I'm glad you called, man. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see ya," Peter says and then hangs up the phone. He looks down at Darwin, who still has his head on the boy's lap. "Well, that actually went pretty well. Be nice to Ned tomorrow, alright? I mean, you're nice to everyone, but Ned's my best friend, so be extra nice to him."
In response, Darwin licks his hand.
Later that night, long after dinner is over and May and Peter have just gone to bed, Darwin stays awake and listens for sounds of distress in Peter's room. Soon enough, the boy begins whimpering and crying in his sleep. Darwin glances at May briefly before getting up and going over to his room. He's noticed that May also becomes sad when she goes to bed, her gaze lingering on the empty half, but she seems to be content with clutching a large pillow against her body.
He decides that Peter needs him more.
Once again, he hops in the boy's bed and lies next to him. Peter doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around him this time. He falls asleep faster than the night before.
Darwin sighs happily and closes his eyes. 'I could get used to this.'
Btw this story can be found on Ao3. I primarily post on there now and I interact with my readers more there. Also I usually update first there.