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It was maybe an hour - half an hour - until Billy arrived home from work. There was the rattling of the doorknob as Billy unlocked and opened the door. Walking in he almost missed the Ladon!lump on the floor. Billy stopped just short of stepping on him. he backed up a couple of steps and observed the lump breathing. Well, that was a relief...

"....You look absolutely plastered, love." Billy casualty dropped the terrible pun, smiling inwardly at his own cleverness.

"Something tells me it wasn't prime real estate..." Billy replied, stepping past Ladon to walk to the fridge and bring him one of the stiffer drinks they had, opening it along the way. He also stopped the bring the bottle of painkillers - a godsend when you were in their line of work.

"Would you like me to run you a bath or something?"

Sammy was hobbling behind Billy, following his every step, wanting attention. The rattle of the pain pills only aggravating her need for attention further. Billy finally picked her up as he sat down on the couch and handed the drink and pills to Ladon.

"my way was the usual - shitty customs in the shitty shoe department with their nasty a** feet." Billy hated feet. He hated the shoe department. But it was the department he was assigned to 90% of the time.

When Ladon sat up, Billy set to picking plaster and other things out of Ladon's hair. Billy was somewhat glad Ladon would be getting a job, but not for monetary reasons. No, it meant less time out in the field of war, and less coming home...like this. he didn't say that of course, but he was pretty sure it was implied somehow.

Speaking of implied...

"Well, it isn't like I would give you alcohol and then send you to have a bath alone. That would just be asking for you to drown yourself," Billy chuckled, "and we both know that's the last thing I'd want."

"Bigger bath, and we can get a bigger bed," Billy said with a nod.

Priorities. He had them right.

"Some place where we won't hear the neighbors arguing at three in the morning, or worry about some pot head burning the complex down." Now Billy was simply running his fingers through Ladon's hair.

"Some place we're not too embarrassed to show your mother." Billy hoped familial reparations were going well...

It was one of the things he wanted to see before pursuing the topic of marriage too far. Largely because he felt getting things straight on that level was important. Also because he wanted the ceremony to be more than a three-person affair. He also fancied being the one proposed to but that was another matter entirely, and not one he saw too likely to happen.

A life where no war was in the picture. That completed it, really.

Billy wanted to work on psychology, so there would be a lot of schooling ahead of him, too. That money bridge would be crossed when they came to it. For now, he had a job that kept them afloat, and Ladon would perhaps be working soon too... Things would happen in their own time. But Billy would make sure it happened. For the both of them.

"Yeah - before you nod off again," Billy chuckled. "You want the bathsalts, bubbles, or just plain ol' warm water?"

Billy did like luxurious baths. A bigger bathroom would definitely be nice.

"A dog's fine, if we can get a place with a yard. Maybe a fenced in back yard, when it can be let out to do its business and play..." Billy replied as he rummaged the cabinet for soaps and towels.

"Any particular breed in mind, or would you rather see what the shelter has?"

Billy would look in to finally getting a proper ferret cage for Sammy before they got the dog. She'd terrorize the poor thing.

He began unbuttoning his own shirt when he saw Ladon's bruised up back. In a war, bruises were nothing compared to the scars they sported. Thankfully being a part of the Negaverse, they healed faster than your average human.

"Back rubs are out of the question I'd wager." For Billy, who seemed to constantly have his hands anywhere on Ladon at any point in time, this would be something he'd have to keep in mind.

It was the lot they were dealt, these scars. Billy had a share of his own - particularly a rather large angry one that ran diagonally along his chest. The scar tissue stood out a pearly white and pink against his darker caramel skin. Other scars barred his legs, but were not nearly as apparent.

"Mixed breeds are supposed to be healthier, so they say," Billy replied, joining Ladon. "A lot of people who want to produce purebreds don't do the necessary background checks, and the pups end up inbred. You don't get that problem as often with mutts."

And the fewer vet bills they had to deal with, the better. At least the shelters usually went ahead and fixed the animals before trying to adopt them out.


If there was one trick of the trade that Billy had learned, it was the wonders of a bottle of Dawn with that hand renewal stuff. The stuff for hands actually soothed sores, and the dawn got off any hard-to-scrub-off gunk better than regular soaps. It didn't always smell that great, but it did the job. Billy used this as he carefully washed Ladon's back.

((the stuff works wonders for sunburns too. And on pets with flea bites - doesn't sting them as bad, and kills the fleas. XD))