CATEGORY: Fluff
FEATURING: neighbors!Ryden
TRIGGER WARNING: MILD SWEARING
PROMPT: Ryan's beagle is pregnant, and his neighbor Brendon's doberman pinscher is the only other dog on the block.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 2,100
Pretty sure I promised this AGES ago, so sorry about that. It's finally done, though!

It was seven o'clock on a Tuesday morning, and Ryan Ross was in his kitchen, drinking coffee and waiting for his English muffin to pop up from the toaster. While many people would normally be getting ready for work at this hour, Ryan was not. He was an English teacher at the local middle school, and since school was out for the summer, he didn't have any work. Well, not besides his other job.

Ryan was an aspiring writer. He loved words, the way they flowed across the page when he wrote them down. It was, as he felt, his sole talent in life. And one day, he hoped, he could make some money off of it.

The muffin popped up from the toaster, jolting Ryan out of his thoughts. He put the muffin onto the ceramic plate and buttered it before sitting down at the counter to eat his breakfast, and muse on the story he was writing.

Just as he was taking the last bite of his muffin, Ryan's dog, Daisy, trotted down the hallway and into the room. Daisy was a purebred beagle, with white fur covered in black and russet brown patches.

At the sight of his dog, Ryan smiled. Daisy was probably the closest he had to a friend, seeing as he was often busy with work and writing, and so didn't have time to just hang out with someone. Ryan poured a cupful of food into Daisy's food bowl, which she started eating quickly.

Ryan put his plate in the sink, deciding to wash it later, and poured himself another cup of coffee. Turning around, he was surprised to see that Daisy had already finished her food. Normally, she could take all day to finish her meal.

The beagle walked up to Ryan and sat at his feet, looking up at him with her brown puppy dog eyes and whining. Clearly, she wanted more food.

Ryan was actually rather worried about Daisy. She had been eating her food all at once instead of leaving some for later, and she was looking a little pudgy lately. A few days ago, he'd come into the kitchen to find that Daisy had thrown up on the floor. Additionally, she was much more lazy and lethargic than before, not even getting excited when it was time for her walk. Ryan couldn't help worrying that she was sick.

Seeing her so hungry for food, with such a sad look in her eyes, was the final straw for Ryan. He left the kitchen and returned with Daisy's leash. Normally, she would have leaped up at the sigh, but this time, she just sat there on the floor, seemingly uninterested.

Ryan clipped Daisy's leash onto her collar and picked her up, since she didn't seem like she would want to walk to the car. After putting her on one of his old sweatshirts in the passenger seat, Ryan got in the driver's side and headed out.

----  ----  ----  ----  

After waiting for about twenty minutes in the waiting room, with Daisy in his lap, the pair were taken into the back room. The vet had introduced herself as Dr. Orzechowski, though she insisted that Ryan call her Sarah. She asked Ryan questions about Daisy's behavior, and gave her a general checkup before telling him to go wait in the waiting room while she did a more thorough exam.

It didn't take her long to come to a conclusion, however. Ryan looked up as Sarah entered the room with a smile. "Mr. Ross, I have some big news for you."

Expecting the worst, Ryan looked up at her worriedly.

"Daisy is pregnant!"

Ryan almost fell out of his chair. "What? But I never take her out to see any other dogs, unless we're at the park, and I always keep a close eye on her!"

"What's the situation with your neighbors? Do any of them have a dog?" Sarah handed Ryan Daisy's leash; the beagle sat lazily at his feet.

"Yeah, the neighbor to my left. Daisy has gotten into his yard once or twice," he admitted, remembering how his neighbor had brought Daisy over. There was a hole in the fence, and Ryan had only recently gotten around to repairing it.

"It's likely that that's how it happened." Sarah gave Daisy a scratch behind the ears, and the beagle yawned. "We can talk options if you like."

"No, thank you, I'll just..." Ryan rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I'll have to talk to my neighbor about it."

"Alright then." Sarah nodded. "Well, besides the pregnancy, Daisy's in perfect shape." The veterinarian went on to talk about the proper care and feeding of a pregnant dog, and Ryan did his best to pay attention.

Later, as Ryan drove home, he tried to come up with a plan to talk to his neighbor. He didn't know much about him, except that he had a dog, a medium-sized doberman pinscher, and that it was a male; Ryan and Daisy had passed by their home a few times before on walks, and the dog always would bark at them from the window.

Ryan had no clue how to approach his neighbor about the situation, but he knew that he'd have to one way or another.

----  ----  ----  ----

The next morning, Ryan had a plan. He had baked a tray of his special caramel fudge brownies, and decided to bring them over to see his neighbor and talk to him about the situation. He was particularly protective of Daisy now that she was pregnant, and he couldn't leave her at home alone, so he had no choice but to bring her along.

After dressing in a red flannel button-up, jeans, and sneakers, Ryan grabbed Daisy's leash, along with the tray of brownies, and headed over to his neighbor's house.

Over and over again, Ryan had gone over what he knew about the man: he had a male doberman, he had lived there since before Ryan had, and as far as Ryan knew, he lived alone. These thoughts raced through his head as he knocked on the front door, dog and brownies in tow.

Almost immediately, the dog appeared at the window to bark at Ryan and Daisy, the latter of whom seemed to perk up at the sight. Soon after the barking began, the door opened to reveal Ryan's neighbor.

The man was just about Ryan's height, maybe an inch or two taller. He had dark brown hair, which looked as if it hadn't been brushed, and the eyes to match. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and black pajama pants, looking as if he'd just woken up.

Ryan was expecting the man to be annoyed, or a bit hostile, but he spoke in a calm, level voice. "Can I help you?"

It took almost thirty seconds for Ryan to remember that he was talking to him. He had to admit; the man was attractive. "Y-Yeah, my name is Ryan. I'm your neighbor to the right, the one with the beagle?" He nodded down at Daisy, as if to prove his point.

"Oh, yeah." The man leaned down to give Daisy a scratch the ears, which the beagle seemed to enjoy. Then he stepped back and opened the door wider, a faint smile on his face. "My name's Brendon. Come on in."

Ryan stepped into Brendon's house. It looked pretty similar to Ryan's architecturally, but besides that it was rather different. It was messier, the furniture older and more worn. Brendon led Ryan into the living room, with the doberman crowding around Daisy and sniffing her all over.

"So, what brings you here?" Brendon questioned, sitting down on the couch across from Ryan and looking to him expectantly.

Ryan decided to just say it. "I took my dog to the vet yesterday, because she's been acting weird, and as it turns out, she's pregnant."

It took Brendon a few moments before it dawned on him. He looked down at Daisy, who was sniffing the other dog's ear. "And you think it was Duke?"

Ryan nodded. "We never run into any other dogs, except at the park, and I keep a good eye on her when we do."

Brendon sighed as the information sank in. "Well, shit."

"Yeah." Ryan looked down at the dogs. "I thought I should come over here to, um, let you know."

The feeling in the air had suddenly become awkward. Ryan set the tray of brownies on the table. "I also brought these."

Brendon smiled and peeled back the foil curiously. "Caramel brownies?"

"Mhm."

"Thank you, that's really nice of you." Brendon wrapped the foil over them again. "Since this is my fault, I'm definitely going to share the responsibility of the puppies with you." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll help pay for any vet bills or anything, and I'll help find the puppies good homes when they're old enough."

"You don't have to do that." Ryan felt shy. He petted Daisy's head.

"No, I'm gonna do it." Brendon started to look a bit excited. "I'll totally help raise the puppies." He grinned at Ryan, who couldn't help the slight blush on his cheeks. Maybe this was going to turn out okay.

----  ----  ----  ----

Ryan was awoken the next morning by a knocking at his front door. Yawning, he climbed out of bed and stumbled through the house, nearly tripping over a pair of shoes he'd left in the hallway. Luckily, he was able to make it in one piece, and he opened the front door.

Brendon was standing there in a black skull t-shirt, skinny jeans, and converse, a bright smile on his face and Duke's leash in his hand. The dog himself was sniffing at the flower box next to the door.

"Good morning!" Brendon greeted. "I hope I didn't wake you. I thought maybe we could walk Daisy and Duke together, if you don't have anything planned."

The sight of the attractive man at his door startled Ryan, waking him up the rest of the way. "Sure, that sounds great. Um, would you like to come in?"

Brendon nodded gratefully and followed Ryan into the house. The latter felt a bit self conscious, as he was still wearing his Beatles pajamas. "I'm gonna go get dressed really quick. There's orange juice in the fridge, if you want some."

It took a little bit longer than usual for Ryan to get dressed. He debated over several outfits before finally going with a blue flannel shirt, jeans, and black tennis shoes. Daisy was asleep in Ryan's room, but she woke up when he came in, and followed him out into the kitchen.

Brendon was sitting on one of the barstools at the counter, scrolling through his phone. He stopped when he saw Ryan, however, and smiled, putting his phone in his pocket. Ryan decided that was a good sign. "Ready to go?"

He smiled back. "You bet."

After leashing up Daisy, Ryan led the way out of the house, and the two men and their dogs started walking.

Ryan had thought that it would be awkward, but in truth, it was actually pretty nice. As it turned out, Brendon was an avid reader, so he and Ryan bonded over favorite books. They got to know one another better, and Ryan learned plenty about his neighbor.

Brendon was a musician at heart. He currently owned a small music store downtown, and spent much of his time there. He wrote his own music and songs, and took inspiration from things he had read and conversations he had overheard. When he went to work, he took Duke with him, and he had become a staple of the music store, which as of recently featured a small doberman in the logo.

He also learned that Brendon was pansexual, but he tried not to get too visibly excited about it.

Now that she was pregnant, Daisy grew tired more easily, so the walk was shorter than Ryan would have liked. All too soon, they had returned to Ryan's house.

"This has been fun for me," Brendon said with a smile.

"Me, too," Ryan replied. "Maybe we could...do it again sometime?" he added.

Brendon's smile grew wider. "I'd like that. Thanks, Ryan."

Suddenly, Brendon leaned in, and kissed the other man's cheek. It was a simple gesture, but it made him blush.

Before Ryan knew it, Brendon was heading off, into his own house. "See you later!"

"See you later!" Ryan called back, still blushing. It was confirmed. He definitely had a crush on his neighbor.

A/N: I have a Brallon oneshot in the works so keep your eye(s) out for that! It's my first time writing Brallon XD