NOTE: A cute little Engie story. Please enjoy. :D
Pairings: None, really. Mention of Dell having a wife... that's about as close as it gets.
Disclaimer: I do not own Team Fortress 2 or the characters/world therein.
HOUND
After a long time of killing, being killed and general chaos over protecting his own team's Intel while trying to steal that of the other team and the equally chaotic days of living with eight men who were probably as chemically imbalanced as a human can be while still being able to function in a way their employer saw as useful, Dell was glad to get home. His trusty green truck was aged and he knew a few in his team wouldn't have thought it would survive the trip from Tuefort all the way back to Beecave, Texas, for the month long break the two teams were getting, but it made the drive without breaking down too badly. It was nothing that the engineer couldn't repair.
The first thing to greet the middle aged man was the sleepy town with its dust covered shops and country inhabitants who were more than happy to smile, wave, or nod at Dell as he drove by. Country folk really were a sight more polite than their busy city counterparts and it was refreshing to be surrounded by people who weren't trying to blow him up or stab him or carve him a structurally superfluous new behind.
After rolling through the small town, Dell navigated well remembered dirt roads until he came up on the cozy house he called home when he wasn't actively working for Builders League United. His wife and two kids were living in that house and he knew they would be thrilled when they saw his green truck pull up, but there was another who had been living there long before his wife moved in and their kids were born. One who was getting along in years, but would still run out to greet him the same way they had for years and years.
The truck's breaks squeaked as he came to a stop and the old door creaked when he opened it, his worn boot crunching on the gravel driveway as he stepped out into the evening sun. A light breeze played across the Texan's skin and he knew that, despite the heat of the day, it would be a mild night. He had missed the weather of his home.
Already, Dell heard an excited whine and the sound of four legs running towards him. The man knelt, a grin spreading on his unshaven face as his old girl ran to him, her tail wagging furiously and seeming to propel her on. This was his dog, and had been since he was a kid. He was well aware that some day she would break and he wouldn't be able to fix her, that there wouldn't be any respawn for her when she finally gave in, but that wasn't a concern at the moment. After all, he probably had another year or so to build some kind of robot body for her.
His calloused hand lovingly stroked the dog's golden fur as she licked his face with the same enthusiasm she always had, the familiar feeling making him grin wider. They were both getting old, but he still loved her and she still greeted him when he came home, even with her bad knees and arthritis. It was how things were. How they would be for years to come, if Dell had any say in it.
With his hound by his side, the Engineer strode towards his house. He had missed this feeling of coming home and planned to cherish all the time he had with his family until he would have to leave them again.