This little fluffy one shot, believe it or not, is actually based on a true story of when my family and I went to go and pick up one of our Bassett Hounds from the breeder we bought him from. I remembered it when I was petting him the other day, and I had to write a fic about it.
And, yes, I know that "Miles Edgeworth" and "fluffy" do not belong in the same sentence, or even in the same discussion, but I love my precious little Harley-puppy.
Thanks to TheInsane for editting and for help in keeping Edgeworth stoic and all around in character.
Miles Edgeworth exited the freeway into what looked like a quiet, rural neighborhood about an hour eastbound from his Los Angeles apartment.
Over the past few months since he returned to Los Angeles from Germany and started his job as a prosecutor, he had been settling himself into an apartment as well. He was used to his dorm at law school which was literally cramped, and shared by his roommate, so now, living by himself in a spacious apartment made things seem empty and lonely.
Detective Gumshoe encouraged him to get a pet. He said it would be just like having a roommate, except having to feed them, play with them, and take them out so they don't excrete on the carpet. Miles figured that a dog would be his best bet. A bird would be too noisy in the early hours of the morning. A reptile or rodent of any kind was revolting and out of the question entirely. Miles never was very fond of cats either. That left him with only one plausible option.
Miles had been considering it for about a week when he stumbled upon an article in the local newspaper about eight week-old, pure bred Rough Collie puppies for sale. He called the breeder, Mr. Sheldreck, to ask if the puppies were male or female, and to arrange a time to see them. They had decided for Miles to come by on his next available day off, at a suitable time of day to avoid rush hour traffic.
As he continued driving through the area, the quality of it seemed to improve as he got further from the freeway. He finally found Mr. Sheldreck's street and he slowed his car to look for the right house. Once he found it, he pulled over and walked to the front door. After ringing the bell, he took a moment to look around. This part of the neighborhood looked much classier, and was only a few corners from a gated community. It was a track home area as every three or so houses looked the same, but they were fairly large. His thoughts were interrupted when the door was answered by a man in his forties or fifties.
"Miles, right? I'm Ray Sheldreck." He asked in a polite, but casual manner.
"Yes, Miles Edgeworth." Miles confirmed as he held out his hand to shake the other man's.
"Come in, the puppies are in the yard. I'm about to let the mother in to feed them."
Miles followed him through the house and into the small backyard where a wire fence was set up around five puppies. Ray walked away to fetch the mother dog, while Miles watched them for a moment. They were still very small, but looked healthy and didn't seem to have any visible problems.
After a few moments, he bent down on his knees in the grass and reached into the kennel to pet the closest one. As soon as he reached in, the puppies all rushed towards him and reached for his hand on their hind legs. He took a moment to pet each of them, observing their behavior towards him closely, trying to choose the best pup. It wasn't as easy as he thought, because they all seemed energetic and reacted to him in a similar manner, playfully licking and nipping at his fingers as he pet them, while shoving each other to get to his hand.
Miles stood back up and put his hands into his pockets. There was nothing that made any of the pups stand out amongst them and they were all fairly the same size. He also noted that they did an awful lot of whining. Perhaps he needed to reconsider if this kind of dog was for him or not.
"Excuse me." Miles heard from behind him as Ray had come out of a side door of the house with the mother of the pups. Miles stepped aside so he could open the kennel and let the mother inside to nurse.
"They are old enough to be eating kibble, but the mother's milk is the best thing for them. I still let them nurse at least once a day on top of the dog food. So, a twenty year-old bachelor just starting a new job and getting his first apartment in LA, huh?" He said trying to initiate conversation.
"Yes. I'm a Los Angeles district prosecutor." Miles didn't feel like going into the details of his private life or his transfer from Germany, especially with a stranger. Besides, he never was very good at small talk.
"That's really impressive for a young man your age. You should... Well look at that, Miles. You made a friend."
"What?" Miles was confused by his sudden change of the subject and the stop in mid-sentence.
Ray pointed behind Miles to the kennel, so he looked over his shoulder and saw that only four of the pups had gone to their mother for nursing. One of them stayed right by the edge of the fence, staring up at him with large brown eyes.
Miles couldn't stop a smile as he walked back to the kennel to pick up the puppy. Before he placed it on the grass, he looked under its tail to confirm its gender. It was male. The puppy immediately laid down by Miles' feet and rolled over to expose its stomach. Miles knew this gesture well. Phoenix, von Karma's granddaughter's dog did it often to indicate that he wanted a belly rub.
Miles crouched down and rubbed the pink part of the puppy's lower belly as the pup squirmed and kicked its hind legs happily, his smile slightly widening.
"My daughter calls that one Pess. He's the last of the male pups that we've got."
"Pess..." Miles repeated absent mindedly. The pup stopped squirming in response to hearing its name and looked at Miles again as if to ask, "Who, me?". Miles continued, rubbing Pess' belly a little faster.
"What do you want for this one?" Miles asked, still focused on Pess.
"Six hundred."
"Done."
Miles paid Mr. Sheldreck and shook hands with him again, and then made his way to his car carrying Pess in his arms. Miles had bought a pet carrier just before leaving to see the puppies, and placed Pess inside it on a small pillow. On the way back to Los Angeles, he stopped at a pet store and got advice on what kind of dog food and how much to feed a puppy his size and weight. He also picked up a leash, a large pillow for bedding, his food and water bowls, a few chew toys and treats for him.
When they got back to his apartment, Pess snooped around, sniffing the area and going from room to room, familiarizing himself with the new environment as Miles followed. Eventually Miles left Pess to wander, went into the living room and whistled loudly. The puppy immediately responded with a bark and came scurrying into the room. Miles took the box of dog treats and sat on the living room couch in front of him. He took a moment to remember how Manfred von Karma taught his granddaughter's dog, Phoenix how to obey simple commands, and attempted to mirror those lessons to Pess. He grabbed a treat, brought his hand above Pess and pointed to the ground. Pess panted, patiently waiting for the treat.
"Sit." Pess' ears perked up and his head tilted to one side as he temporarily stopped panting. Miles sighed, and figured that this might take a while. He was right as it took most of the afternoon for Pess understand "sit." But he wanted Pess to grow up obedient, so he persisted.
After attempting to teach him to lie down, Pess ran for the door and began barking. Miles knew what he wanted and took him outside to let him take care of business, then figured he had done enough training for the day. Pess would sit most of the time when commanded, but he still needed to know how to lie down, stay, heel, come, and go.
Several hours later, around mid evening Miles walked him one final time for the night. Once back inside, he brought the large pillow for Pess to sleep on, laid it down at the foot of his own bed and coaxed Pess over to it by whistling and soft clapping. While Miles stroked him, Pess made himself comfortable on the pillow and occasionally licked at Miles' hand. He eventually laid down and turned over as he had earlier that day. Just like then as well, Miles scratched and rubbed his lower belly gently to relax him, trying to make him tired enough to sleep. Miles continued for several minutes until he thought Pess might be settled, but as soon as he stopped, Pess would stand back up and whine for more.
This repeated two or so more times before Miles sighed in defeat and brought Pess onto his own bed with him. It wasn't too high off the ground, so in case Pess wanted to get down sometime in the night, he could jump down without an issue. Miles brought some paperwork to his bed to occupy himself as Pess stared, waiting for attention. However, unlike Miles, Pess was not so easily defeated. He rested his chin on Miles' forearm and gave him a heartbreaking stare.
"Alright Pess. You win." Defeated once again by the puppy, Miles put his papers aside and allowed Pess to sit in his lap. He closed his eyes and shook his head, wondering how a puppy could best him, but not an intelligent human being with a degree and license to practice law.
Not long thereafter Pess curled up and fell asleep, snoring quietly. Miles took this time to watch Pess, and eventually stroked the length of his little body ever so lightly while settling himself into a comfortable position to sleep as well. He thought that he would have to be much more firm with Pess about his obedience training, about sleeping on the bed, and careful of spoiling him too much. But for now he started to think about how easily his original problem was solved.
His apartment lacked the atmosphere of a home when he first moved in and spent the first few months by himself, but now, in just the past few hours, things already seemed to be changing. Miles could tell from the moment he opened his door and put Pess down to wander. Having someone else live with him did give coming home a more satisfying feel.
Miles briefly remembered days when his own father would return home from his office with a tired, worn look in his eyes as he would remove his glasses and rub his temples to relieve stress or stop an oncoming headache. But as soon as Miles would come to the door to greet him, he remembers watching that weary attitude fade into a relieved happiness to be home with his son.
To make it better, Pess was mostly quiet indoors, and he was already trained to alert somebody when he needed to go outside. Miles was particularly grateful for that, as most of his furniture was expensive and he didn't want his wood floors tarnished. With everything taken into account, Miles was pleased with his choice and found himself already becoming attached to Pess.
Before falling asleep himself, Miles smirked dryly as he thought that for once, Detective Gumshoe was right, miraculously. He made a mental note to thank him for his advice with a positive note in his next salary evaluation.
Forgive me for writing a fluffy fic with Miles. Thanks for reading/tolerating :D