A/N: Pre-Strike Modern AU

'Maybe I should find another way to earn more money. Selling has been slow lately, and what about getting something for Jack's birthday? Hmm,' Romeo thought to himself. He was almost thirteen, surely he'd be able to find a part time job.

As he walked to the Lodging House, a paper caught his eye. He did a double take and at the paper that had been stapled to the pole and went over to read it.

'Dog Walker needed part time. Call this number if interested.'

Romeo thought for a moment. He was perfectly capable of walking dogs. In fact, he loved dogs! 'Course the only dog he'd ever met was his English teacher's Pomeranian. . . . But he liked that dog! The feelings hadn't been mutual, but that dog was a grump. These dogs would surely be different. Right?

He scribbled down the number then ran to the Lodging House, diving for the phone. That was currently in use.

Finch grunted as his younger brother tackled him. "Rome, get off!" he exclaimed, pushing the younger boy off. Finch quickly stood and grabbed the phone. "Yeah, I'se still here. Sorry, that was my brother," he said into it.

"Finch, I need da phone!" Romeo shouted, standing up. "Why?" Finch asked, looking at Romeo with confusion. "Because I do!" he answered.

"Hold on, I'll be done in a minute," Finch replied.

Romeo waited what felt like an hour before Finch was finally done. It was actually on fifteen minutes, but to the twelve yr. old it felt much longer.

Finch watched Romeo in confusion as the boy called the number that had been scribbled on his hand as if his life depended on it before walking off, shaking his head slowly thinking that he'd finally gotten the number of that red-head at school.

"Hello? I saw your ad for dog walking and I was wonderin' if you were still lookin' for someone?" Romeo asked when the person answered.

"Ah, yes! Finally. I was wondering if anyone was going call. I'm Betty. Betty Grant. My little neighborhood is looking for someone to walk the dogs and since we have few children in the neighborhood, we decided to put up that ad. Could you start tomorrow?" 'Betty' asked.

"Um, yes! Yes, that works," Romeo said.

"Great! What's your name?" Betty asked.

"I'se Romeo," he answered.

"Well Romeo, you can meet me at the park at-." Betty read off the address that Romeo quickly scribbled down and said, "Ok, see you then!"

Romeo hung up and could hardly wait. He didn't tell any of his brothers about this in case they tried to come with him or wouldn't let him do it. He was twelve years old, he could do this on his own.

The next day after he'd finished school and finished selling (he didn't buy very many papes) he practically ran to the address Betty had given him.

When he reached the park, he saw a woman standing in a gazebo holding the leashes of at least five dogs.

Two of them were probably as big Romeo, and the other three were tiny Chihuahuas. Romeo's eyes briefly widened at the two large dogs before walking much slower up to the woman. "A-are you Betty?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the dogs.

The woman looked up from her phone. She had bright green eyes and short, curled, dirty, blonde hair. "Yep! You must be Romeo," she said, holding her hand out for him. He shook it, his eyes still never leaving the two dogs. They were huge!

"This is Petunia, Thrasher, and Tinkerbell," Betty said, pointing to the three Chihuahuas. 'The seemed friendly,' Romeo thought as he watched the small dogs lick his shoes, 'And a bit crazy.'

Betty then pointed to the huge dogs. "These two are a mix of Great Dane and I think it was Neapolitan Mastiff. The lighter one is Thor, and the darker one is Hulk. The owners are superhero fans," she explained.

Thor and Hulk seemed to just realize they had a new friend and nearly knocked Romeo over trying to give him kisses.

"Thor! Hulk! Heel!" Betty shouted and the two dogs immediately sat.

"Sorry, they love new people," she explained. Romeo nodded silently. He was beginning to doubt this idea.

"Alright, well, they'll need to be walked for about two hours. The park's rather big, and there's a trail behind those trees if you'd like to take them over there. A dog park is about ten minutes away if you'd like to go there. When those two hours are done, bring them back here. Any questions?" Betty asked.

Romeo thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Alright! I have to get back home, my husband's home alone with the baby. I'll see you later!" she said and walked off after handing the leashes to Romeo.

Before he could even start walking, Thor- or was it Hulk?- barked loudly and took off. Romeo, who was taken by surprise, didn't have time to register anything as the Great Dane/Mastiff mixes charged.

He was dragged along the grass by the dogs until he barely managed to spit out, "Heel!"

The dogs immediately sat, making him run into them.

He stood and ignored his potentially bleeding leg as he spit out grass and huffed before leading the dogs back to the sidewalk and down it, heading to the his selling spot. It was a somewhat quiet spot and a good place to bring the dogs.

Or so he thought.

Hulk saw a squirrel once they reached his selling spot and took off, dragging Romeo along the pavement. The Chihuahuas were right up there with the Great Dane/Mastiff mixes, even though Romeo was pretty sure they didn't even know what was going on.

The dogs only stopped The Great Squirrel Chase when they dragged him into a pond.

His legs were scraped up and bleeding, along with his elbows. He grumbled to himself as he began the trek back to the gazebo.

"Romeo?!" a familiar voice shouted.

Now he was in for it.

He stopped and turned as Race ran over to him. "What happened to you?! And who's dogs are these?" his older brother asked.

"I was trying to earn some extra money to get Jack a present for his birthday. I saw an ad for dog walking yesterday and thought it'd be good chance to get some extra cash. But, I met the dogs, and well, Hulk and Thor think they're in charge," Romeo explained.

"Rome, you could've just asked one of us to help you get Jack something," Race said.

"Race, I'm almost thirteen! I should be able to get my older brother a birthday present without having to borrow money," Romeo said.

Race sighed, but before he could say anything, Thor barked and took off again. Hulk followed Thor, along with the Chihuahuas.

Race ran after Romeo, who was trying to shout 'Heel!' but kept wincing because of his injured legs and elbows being dragged again.

Race understood what Romeo was trying to say and shouted, "Heel!"

The dogs stopped immediately and Romeo ran into them again. Race helped his brother up. "C'mon, I'll help you back to- where're we going?" Race asked.

Romeo led the way, with Race's help to stay upright, and soon the boys made it back to the gazebo where Betty was waiting. This time she had a giggly baby on her hip.

Betty widened her eyes when the two boys neared and after seeing Romeo's injuries asked, "Are you ok? What happened?"

"The dogs got kind of out of control. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to dog walk for ya anymore," he said. "It's ok, I understand. You're not the first to lose control of the dogs," Betty laughed slightly.

She handed Romeo the money, thanked him, then left.

"Let's get you back to the Lodging House," Race muttered. He practically had to carry the exhausted boy back to the Lodge, and once they reached it, Race helped clean Romeo's injuries then sent the younger boy to bed.

Romeo was able to afford a new paint set for Jack (with a little help from Race), but swore up and down that he'd never dog walk again.

A/N: This was possibly the most fun one-shot I've ever written. I hope you liked this one! IT'S THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER GUYS! AHHH! Anyway, you know the drill. Comment what you'd like to see. Sorry for the long hiatus by the way. My computer crashed and I lost basically everything, so I had to wait for my dad to get the Microsoft Word back up before I could write anything again.

I'll try to keep the updates more regular from now on. Sorry again! TTFN!