A sprint commission for  Kota-cub In which we get some cute interactions between a drowsy cub and an old dog ^^.

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Story Text: (Download for better formatting)

Something Cute:
“Go to sleep, Harley!” Master said, more frustrated than angry. Harley had learned Master’s tones of voice well, it had been necessary back when they served together in the order-pack, and still proved useful, even though his days of service were long over. Harley scampered down the hallway on all four paws, a bit droopy because of Master’s rejection. They had always slept together before Master’s mate had entered the picture, but that had been many years before, and Harley had long grown use to the absence of the warm bed, keeping Master close so that they would be together if attacked. He was fiercely protective of Master, he always had been, ever since Master had chosen him as a pup. But that had been so long ago that the memory had faded around the edges, bits of detail that had once been clear as day now disappearing. Harley knew that he lived but to serve and obey master, but now there was the new alpha to worry about, too. It wasn’t blood-kin of Master, Harley could tell by the smell, but Master treated it as such, and, obedient until the end, Harley treated it as so to, and, since Master had rejected him that night, figured that he might as well go check on the long-tail short-nose that Master had named Kota.

Kota was silly, even for a pup with eyes barely open. Harley had been skeptical of the little thing to say the least, even more so after it had pulled his fur and tried to bite his ears. He hadn’t been pleased by it, but had grown affectionate of the little lion cub over time. It wasn’t going anywhere, clearly, so they would have to come to terms eventually.

Harley limped slightly as he turned into the long-tail short-nose’s bedroom, his left hind leg still only half functional after one of the tall enemies of the order-pack had let loose lightning upon him. That had been the end of his service with Master, but thankfully he hadn’t given up on the old Sheppard, taking him into his home that he might protect the Alpha-female in his absence, and now their yearling pup.

Kota, the pup in question, far from being asleep, was crawling about in his crib, and bubbled happily as Harley entered the room. Kota clapped twice, too small yet to distinguish between anthro and feral, and raised his arms up that Harley might pick him up and play with him.

As it stood, Kota loved the old dog, and all the pestering was simply the lion cub’s way of showing that love. On some level Harley knew this, despite never having encountered another cub since he was one himself. It was instinctual, as was his desire to protect him. It’s what Master would have wanted, after all.

There were bars all along Kota’s bed like a cage. This had confused Harley to no end. He had seen the members of the enemy packs locked up in cages like it, so why put the future alpha in one to sleep? It made no sense, but he dismissed the thought. Master had scolded him for trying to tear the bars out with his teeth, thinking that someone had put them in to starve the pup, but he ignored them. He didn’t care about the bars, only the pup inside it, and, given the sheer size of the dog, Harley could reach over the bars with his head and pluck the wiggling, giggling baby up by the scruff of his neck.

Kota seemed less than pleased about being carried like that, but it was only for a moment while Harley scrabbled down the hallway, staircase, and into the den where his age old bed lie. What was the logic of keeping him so far from the pup? How was he supposed to protect them when he was all the way down by the door?

Master had moved dens twice since he had chosen Harley from among the police dog puppies. Once had been shortly after Harley had first seen Master’s mate, the Alpha-female. Their new den had been considerably bigger, and Harley had first encountered the problem of being forced from Master’s side, kept from him by a wall that sealed shut and wouldn’t open until morning. This had been before Harley’s injury, and part of the cause for it. Harley had thought that Master no longer had affection for him, and had charged the member of the enemy pack headlong and recklessly, resulting in his having taken fire. The second had been only recently, right before the cub had appeared. Fortunately, Kota was of a totally different sentiment from his parents, and took to cuddling the dog with no hesitation at all. Any sour mood from being carried around by his scruff had been lost as soon as Harley dropped the cub on the area rug downstairs, right by his bed. Kota immediately rolled onto his back, giggling, and started flailing his paws up in the air, which Harley had interpreted in past to mean that he wanted to be groomed.

Harley put one paw on Kota’s belly to keep him from rolling around, then leaned in and began affectionately licking his belly and face, the lion cub squealing in surprise and delight at the cleaning, and trying to clap despite Harley’s face, which was well in the way.

“Haaawwweey! Haaawwweey!” Kota babbled, doing his best to annunciate Harley’s name before rolling onto his belly to let the dog lick his back, which he promptly did. Harley avoided the crinkly white thing around Kota’s rear, knowing from experience that the pup would fuss if he touched it. Perhaps in gratitude for the bath, Kota crawled, not yet able to walk, over to the pile of dog toys next to Harley’s bed. Seeing what was happening long before Kota got to it, Harley let a touch of his inner puppy out and pressed his head to the floor, rear in the air and panting in a typical canine hunting pose, though his intention was only play. “Bawww!” Kota said, laughing full in full throat before tossing a squeaky rainbow colored ball across the room and watching Harley bolt after it, catching the thing with a jump before even it had stopped and promptly returning it to Kota, though it was no saturated with his saliva.

Master had played this game with Harley back before his injury, it had been one of his favorites. Running after the ball, disk, stick, or whatever else Master decided to throw for him made up some of the fondest memories that the Sheppard had with his owner, and he dearly hoped that the pup would play with him that way, one day, once he was bigger.

Kota squeaked and threw the ball again, almost falling over from the exertion. It bounced off a wall before being enclosed in the dog’s jaws, and made a noise that had nearly made Harley miss the ball, startling both him and the pup more than it should have. Harley had noted that the cub reacted badly to being surprised, especially with loud noises, he didn’t know why. The dog, himself, hated loud noises, though he had a very good reason to. Since his injury, that horrible crack of thunder and the pain it had caused him, anything that even remotely resembled that sound was enough to send him barking like a yearling in a temper and running full out away from whatever had caused it.

“Goo daaawwggii!” Kota said, clapping some more, putting his hands out for Harley to return the ball. He didn’t, too startled from the shock and memory to be in the mood for play anymore. Harley just wanted to sleep. But the cub, too, didn’t seem in the highest of spirits. Maybe it had been shocked by the sudden noise, or maybe it had some sort of instinctual understanding of how Harley felt that had dulled its mood to some extent. It didn’t really matter. All Harley knew was that the cub wanted to sleep, and, with the sun long gone and the house asleep, he might as well take to his slumber as well.

The bed that Master had gotten for him when he was a puppy had always been his place of total comfort. He loved sleeping with Master primarily because it kept him close, and, given the choice, he always had chosen Master’s bed over his own, but the dog bed, if properly situated, wasn’t bad in the least. It had a fur interior with a blanket and pillow, not that Harley needed either, his paws making fine cushion and fur providing all the warmth he would ever need, but they had been gifts from Master, so he kept them close in his place. Kota had crawled up and into Harley’s bed while the dog thought. Harley didn’t mind, of course. He had often gotten lonely in the days since his injury, no longer able to serve master, and had been forced to watch him come and go with the Alpha-female every day, smelling of another Sheppard when he returned. With his attentions divided between service to the order-pack, Alpha-female and now his pup, Kota had provided the affection that Harley needed in Master’s absence.

Watching the cub’s eyes droop, the long tail curling around it as it laid lazily down upon Harley’s pillow like a cat, Harley followed shortly, nosing the cub twice to make sure it was safe before curling about it protectively. He could never let anything happen to the future Master.

Harley panted for a bit, tired and a little sore from the exertions of play on an old dog like him, then nuzzled the future Alpha, who wiggled and babbled slightly from being moved. He felt it shiver, then recalled that the cub-room was always much, much warmer than the rest of the house, and that the cub’s fur looked brutally inadequate for the cool winter, especially in comparison to Harley’s thick coat.

Harley sat back up briefly and pulled the heavy blanket out from underneath him, matted with years of dog fur, never cleaned, and draped it over the whole cub, hoping it would be enough to keep it warm. The old police dog gave a satisfied snort, knowing that the cub would be safe and warm with him, and that Master would surely be pleased to find him so dutiful in the morning. Nuzzling the wiggling lump under the blanket, Harley curled back up around it, pulled his front right paw around and over it protectively, and then fell asleep with dreams of good times passed, and good times to come.