5Pack of Six- Chapter Two
Disclaimer- Nothing is mine. Characters belong to Marvel, and the breeds belong to their creators.
A/N First I just want to say, Iron Man was awesome. If you haven't seen it you need to 8D
Also sorry this took so long, I was having a really hard time making this longer than two pages, and I am really trying to work on my length. And then when I got the length it just never read right to me and I re-wrote this about five times. So I decided to just post it and see what you guys think.
Last, I thought about putting this all chronological I have an idea for chapter three that will either have to take place in the future or be totally ignored by chapter four. Does that make sense?
PACK OF SIX PACK OF SIX PACK OF SIX PACK OF SIX PACK OF SIX PACK OF SIX
When Clint and Natasha became his dogs, Phil had been way over his head. In the past all he had fostered where labs and golden, very easy going dogs. All they took was a kind hand and a soft heart and next thing you knew they had their own family. Clint and Nat on the other hand wouldn't step foot in the house for three weeks. Rain or sleet they slept outside, they ate outside, they did everything outside. Phil had to eventually admit he had no idea what he was doing and call for help.
Tony had been a handful all on his own. He was an older dog when Phil adopted him. Mark was guesstamating around four or five. So he should have had some manners, or at least been housebroken. But apparently a hunting dog is never in the house long enough to learn about housebreaking and every previous owner gave up on Tony before he could learn. So it was up to Phil to teach him.
Thor was a pretty easy going dog right of the bat. He had impeccable manners, never had an accident, always waited for Phil to give the ok to eat and was also a great walker. His only downfall was how he would always be the instigator in wrestling matches. At first only Tony would join in. But by the time Bruce came around, he had converted Clint and occasionally Steve.
Steve was the most well behaved dog out of the lot. Phil often joked he was a mother hen. He also happened to be the only dog Nick enjoyed coming to work with him. He was friendly with everyone and always knew when enough was enough. His only downfall; his mountain of health issues. Phil had lost count of how many vets have told him that it would just be better to put the poor dog out of his misery. But as far as Phil could tell, Steve was never in any pain, just sick a lot. So Phil figured as long as Steve was living a happy healthy life, then euthanasia wasn't even an option.
By the time Bruce had come around, Phil figured he had it down to a science. Thought he had figured the best plan to fit in the walks, and feedings, and getting the dogs on their best behavior at work. Only Bruce had presented a whole new problem.
All his dogs seemed to love everyone. He never had a problem with strangers, as long as Phil wasn't in danger. Bruce on the other hand was so nervous and shy he would flinch at his own shadow. For the first handful of weeks Phil had to leave Bruce at home, because the poor dog had an anxiety attack just looking at the car. Eventually he gained Bruce's trust, but only him. Even the sight of another human being, especially men, had the hunting dog running for cover.
They did share one downfall though. One that every single one had a problem with and one that Phil never really found a solution too. They all wanted to be top dog. Thankfully they knew Phil was alpha, and listened when he said to knock it off, but on days when he wasn't there, it could get messy.
He even had to take Tony to the vet once when he and Steve got into it. He never found out what caused it, but ever since then he and Steve had been best friends. When Tony had come back, with only a handful of stiches to show off, Steve had come over, with his head and tail hanging, and had been the first to greet him. Steve had even offered his favorite stuffless skunk as a peace offering.
The only one Phil never had to worry about fighting was Bruce, and while it broke his heart that his pup had no confidence, he was glad that he had to worry about one less fight. In fact every single one treated Bruce as the puppy in the pact and doted on him.
There had even been once where Phil had been relaxing on the couch and Tony would continually jump on him and try and get him to play. Phil would gently grab his collar and push him down. This would go on for a couple minutes and then he backed away.
Bruce had seen this and decided he wanted on the couch. Phil hadn't know Tony had left so when Bruce jumped up Phil had grabbed his collar and pushed him off. Not only had Phil unintentionally push a little harder than necessary but Bruce hadn't been expecting it and whet tumbling off.
Phil had immediately realized what he had done and tried to see If Bruce was ok. The spaniel had run out of the room and growled when Phil followed him. It had taken a week for Bruce to let Phil anywhere near him and for Thor to stop stepping in-between him and Bruce.
Eventually Phil realized that sticking to a schedule would helped minimize fights and confusion to peck orders. And so had figured the perfect way to fit everything in one day.
Every morning, rather or not he worked, he would wake at five in the morning to take the dogs for a walk. When he adopted Clint and Natasha he had only been doing night walks and maybe afternoon one if he had the time. Tony had changed that the minute he stepped foot in the house.
The hound had way too much pent up energy and had been begging to go out. Once that became a habit all three dogs had calmed down and gotten along much better. It was just obvious that when Thor showed up that he would be included. And then there was Steve, and because he had some, albeit a little, wolf blood in him, he needed the walk almost as much as Tony. With Bruce it had been a way to boost confidence. To convince him this was his pack and that he was safe.
Before the dogs, Phil was in shape but nowhere near what he could be. Too many days in the office and one too many sleepless nights. But one by one Phil took the dogs farther and farther each day to the point where they were easily running three miles.
Since one of things Phil had been warned about when adopting Clint and Natasha was bloat, he always feed the dogs after the walk. Never before. Mark had stressed this point many times. He made Phil swear to always wait at least two to three hours after eating before heavily exercising the dogs. He told him that bloat was dangerous in dogs their size and that it was caused from exercising right after feeding.
That had been the first thing Phil had established. As soon as they got back the dogs would cool of in the back yard while Phil would make his breakfast. Then would the dogs eat. It was only later that that was one of the reasons the dogs listened so well. Apparently alphas ate first.
Before his six unique dogs, feeding time had been as simple as pour the food into the bowl and walk way. No need to make sure the dogs weren't stealing food or getting themselves into trouble. It had been that way with Clint and Natasha too. He would give the dogs their breakfast, walk off and get ready for the day. By the time he was ready to leave both would be lazing around the living room or outside, both bowls empty.
Tony had changed that in an instant. His first day with the hound, Phil had filled all three bowls like normal and had begun to walk away to get ready himself. He hadn't even stepped foot in the living room when he heard a thud and growls. He whipped around to see Natasha pinning Tony to the ground with her teeth next to his throat
As soon as Tony showed his submission, Natasha let him up and he cowered to his own bowl. Phil had just shake his head, and assumed the dogs were just getting use to each other, when out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony slink his way over to Clint's bowl and try to steal some food. Clint had him pinned faster than Phil though of the large sheepdog.
Needless to say, the only solution Phil had found to work was Tony ate last. Which ended up working in the long run when he realized Bruce would refuse to eat until everyone else was finished and seemed a lot more comfortable with Tony at his side.
Thankfully both Thor and Steve didn't really seem to care when Tony would get tired of waiting and try to steal some of their food.
Another down side to having six mismatched breeds, were that they had to eat different brands of food. Or so Phil had learned the hard way,
Apparently Tony had needed a formula for high energy dogs. Even though he got the same amount of exercise as the other five, the hound had never seemed to gain any weight until Phil had switched foods.
Clint and Thor had a formula designed for large breed dogs. Phil had switched when the vet mentioned wanting to make sure they were getting the perfect balance of nutrition and not putting too much stress on their joints.
When Phil had gotten Steve, his friend, and Steve's breeder, had given him a recipe that he had found works great for his kennel. As Steve grew, Phil had just stuck to the recipe and never bothered switching him over.
Bruce and Natasha had to be his easiest dogs all together. Being able to eat dog food straight from the self.
Only after everyone was fed and Phil was dressed and ready would they head off to work.
Before his dogs, Phil would spend nearly every night in his room aboard the 'carrier, or whatever headquarters they would currently stationed at. The first time he tried that with his sheepdogs, it hadn't exactly worked, so he pack his few possession and headed back to his secure home.
At first Phil had been worried about Nick not allowing him to bring the dogs along with him. Worried about him distracting agents or even causing more trouble then was worth. Except both dogs had been on their best behavior and would spend the majority of the day lounging around his office and occasionally getting up to check everything out.
Then Tony arrived. Phil had made sure Nick knew it was temporary, said that Mark just needed him to learn a few manners and he would quickly find a new home. Nick hadn't been worried, said not to worry about it, just to remember he is responsible for whatever he wreaks. At the time he had been joking, thinking it would be more along the lines of Clint and Nat.
On Tony's first day at the office, he caused everything to short-circuit when he lifted his leg on an outlet. He sent an agent to the infirmary when he took a running leap at the poor man. Tripped countless people up when he would tear through the floors and seemed to get enjoyment out of jumping on desks and watching all the papers fall into one big mess.
No one had been happy that day, much less when Tony turned out to be a permanent addition to his family. He was just lucky he was high enough to be above everyone's head, and that Nick was a very good and old friend, or he would have been job hunting the very next day.
As it was that was the moment he instigated the three walks a day and was pleased to see the hyperactive hound calm down a notch. He still enjoyed getting in everyone's way, but had at least stopped racing around the hall ways.
Thor had been an accident no one had planned and Phil thought Nick would have had a heart attack right then and there when he showed up with four dogs in tow. Instead Nick made him swear it would be nothing like last time.
Phil had sworn, and promised Thor would be on his best behavior. Had told his boss that it was just until the dogs owners came to get their dog back. At the time Phil had been thinking about how well behaved Thor was at home. Sure he would rough house with Tony, but knew when enough was enough.
On the plus side, Thor made sure Tony wasn't tearing down the halls and causing a headache. On the down side, the agents now had to now work around a wrestling match going on in the middle of the hall. At least Clint and Nat still preferred to hang around the office, which Phil had told Nick when he was given a glare that would level cities and was told no more.
Three months later, he visited his old army buddy and came back with a Wolfdog. Luckily Steve was still a puppy and everyone was won over pretty damn quickly and by the time Steve lost his puppy charm, he had been too sick to do much roughhousing and spent most days curled around Natasha. And on the days that he wasn't too sick and had ample amount of energy he spent the day rounding up Thor and Tony anyway. Nick begrudgingly let Steve slid, as long as he was the last one.
Phil had almost been scared to bring in Bruce, just because he was honestly afraid Nick might murder him if he showed up with one more dog. He was lucky in a way that if had taken a handful of weeks for Bruce to climb in the car so he had ample time to warn his boss.
Not to mention, by the time Bruce was comfortable enough to come to work, most agents had been dying to see this mysterious dog they had heard so much about.
If Phil had thought Steve was everyone's favorite, he was gravely mistaken. Apparently the sight of a dog cowering in the corner can break even the coldest hearted agent, and everyone from the janitorial to the head honcho's had made it their mission to befriend the cowering spaniel.
Unfortunately Phil was almost always the last to leave, which meant most often Phil's dinner was the nearest drive through and that his dogs wouldn't be eating until well after dark.
On some days, Phil would have to skip the late night walks. Which he always felt do guilty about and made sure to make up for it the next day.
When the day was finally over, Phil was ready to crawl into bed and lose a few hours to blissful sleep. He would start off with nearly all the dogs piled on one another. But as the night wore on, Clint and Nat would plop down on the nearest vent.
Thor would get tired of scrunched in the corner and stretch across the couch with Steve laying on the floor beside him. Phil never knew where Tony would wonder off to, but by day break, only Bruce would be curled up next to him.
Waking up to Bruce curled up next to him and seeing Clint and Nat taking most of the cool air is what makes Phil get out of bed and do it all over again. Because even though the dogs have made his life that much more hectic and stressful on some days, he wouldn't change them for the world.