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It started like this: Crutchie in the park, enjoying the first warm spring day with a book and street food. The sun was warm and Wonderdog was asleep right next to him.
It was a kind of bad book, the kind that told some silly, fluffy romance and didn’t have any really clear plot other than the cheesy, overdramatic, unbelievable romance. It was as much of an indulgence as the hot dog and pretzel he was having for lunch.
On a day like this, the park was full of other people enjoying the day as much as Crutchie was, and plenty of other people had their dogs with them.
Before he’d fallen asleep, Wonderdog had watched them all play, lazily resting his head on Crutchie’s lap.
It was a beautiful day, and Crutchie was loving the warm sun and cheesy book and kind of bad but still good food and the other people playing in the park and the other dogs running around, some of which made him unbelievable grateful for his well-trained service dog and others that just made him smile to watch.
He had the day off, the sun was bright, and it was all too easy to drift off with his dog after reading most of his book.
It started like this: Jack also having the day off and spending the day in the park, because it was spring and his seasonal depression was finally leaving him alone and Shamwow the floppy Yorkshire support dog was having a grand old time thinking she was as big as the German shepherd she’d decided to befriend.
By the time Jack was sitting on a bench, just watching his dog have a good time in the fenced in dog park while he drew the various dogs around him, it was well past lunchtime and the perfect time to be in the park, with just enough other people and dogs around to keep Shamwow busy but not so many Jack couldn't just sit and enjoy the first really good day he’d had in a while.
His sketchbook had like ten new pages of rough dog sketches and color notes to finish later.
The trees were turning greener it seemed by the minute, and the sun felt so good on his face, and it was easy to just feel good.
It really started like this: Crutchie asleep with Wonderdog’s big head on his lap, Jack distracted by his sketchbook, Shamwow jumping almost into the dog backpack Crutchie had taken off when they’d sat down and tumbling into Wonderdog, startling both the Doberman and Crutchie awake.
“Shammy! No! Come!” Jack called from where he was hurrying to his feet, leaving his sketchbook on the table to come collect his dog. “I am so sorry. She must have gotten over-enthusiastic about whatever bug she was chasing.”
Crutchie had to laugh at the sight of a random, would-have-been-tough looking guy picking up a wriggly, yappy little dog and getting his beanie pulled off once she was in his arms.
The fact the dog had a tiny blue bow tied on each ear made the contrast even bigger, considering the man who’d picked her up looked like he could easily win most fights he got in.
“It’s fine, she just surprised us.” Wonderdog had his head tilted, watching the wriggling mass of floppy fur that had run right into his butt a couple seconds ago. “Relax, Wonderdog.” His dog stood up, stretching and wagging his tail, and started sniffing around the man and his puppy.
“Wonderdog?”
“He looks like the character from-”
“Superfriends, yeah. That’s cute.” Most people didn’t get the joke that easily.
“Shammy?”
“Shamwow. She was supposed to be Mopsy, but I started calling her Shamwow as a joke and it stuck.” Jack laughed and put his dog down so she and Wonderdog could get acquainted.
“I’m Jack.” He introduced himself, holding out his hand so Wonderdog could sniff him too.
“Most people call me Crutchie.” Crutchie tapped Wonderdog’s side so he would come back to work, flipping the bracing handle up so he could pull himself to his feet. Wonderdog was instantly back in work mode, standing at attention so Crutchie could steady himself and be more level with Jack.
It continued like this: Jack instantly respecting that Wonderdog was working and picking Shamwow up again so she wouldn’t keep trying to distract Wonderdog.
They chatted for a few minutes before Jack checked the time and realized it was probably time to start getting home, and Crutchie realized he should probably catch the next bus home. They went their separate ways, and Crutchie thought that was both the beginning and the end of a very brief relationship.
It started again like this: Crutchie in the park again, this time letting Wonderdog off duty the whole time since he only planned to stay for a little bit, spotting the little terrier with blue bows on her ears running with the other dogs, and then spotting her own relaxing nearby, scribbling in a sketchbook.
He considered saying hi, but since he’d just sat down and he’d just let Wonderdog off duty and didn’t really feel like collecting himself enough to go over. Wonderdog’s harness was off to let him roll and play as much as he wanted without hurting the bracer or himself, and so it would have taken more effort to get up than it was really worth.
He did notice that Shamwow bounced up to Wonderdog to play, and Wonderdog right away got down closer to her level. They were a funny sight, the massive Doberman and the tiny little Yorkie, playing together in the grass.
“Guess they remember each other, huh?” Jack slid to the ground next to Crutchie, sketchbook and pencil in hand.
“Seems like it, yeah.”
“Service dogs seek each other out. See the shepherd over there? Shammy made friends with her right away, and she’s a retired guide dog.”
“Wonderdog does the same thing.” Crutchie smiled at Jack. “I think he likes that they’re better trained.”
It kept going like this: Jack spending another Saturday in the park, enjoying the sun and feeling good again, and seeing the same guy with the big dog he’d met last time, and deciding to talk to him again, chatting about nothing in particular while watching their dogs play.
This time, Jack didn’t want to leave assuming they’d never see each other again, so he tore a scrap of paper out of the back of his sketchbook and scribbled his number on it, hoping they could keep in touch.
This time, Crutchie gladly accepted it, again appreciating the sight of a tough looking guy with five pounds of fur wriggling around on his neck and shoulders. Eventually, while they finished the conversation before Jack left, he let her steal his hat and ended up holding her inside it like it was a baby sling.
It continued like this: Crutchie forgetting he had Jack’s number in his pocket until he was doing laundry the next week, and not knowing what to send to start a conversation until he found a picture of a Yorkie and a Doberman together and he sent it with no context.
It continued like this: Jack responding with another picture of two ridiculously disproportionate dogs with no context, and that’s what that their conversation was for a few weeks, until there was another really nice Saturday halfway through June and Jack sent a text that just “park at three?”
It continued like this: Jack and Crutchie meeting at the park intentionally this time, sitting at a picnic table, talking and laughing and enjoying another nice day, their dogs out and about with the others running around the grass.
Jack drew a silly portrait of Crutchie and Wonderdog, with superhero outfits mimicking the cartoon Wonderdog’s name came from and added in a tiny Shamwow in a cliche supervillain outfit next to them.
“The Adventures of Wonderdog and El Hermosuro, featuring Shamwow the evil genius.” Jack grinned, pulling a tiny box of colored pencils out of his pocket and adding little details. He was a really talented artist, and it was fun to watch him work. When he focused, he stuck the tip of his tongue out the side of his mouth.
“What does El Hermosuro mean?”
“It’s Spanish. You can google it later.” When Crutchie reached for his phone, Jack laughed and snatched it away. “Not now! This park is a technology free zone.”
“Oh, definitely, that’s why so many people are on their phones around us right now.”
“Not us, though.” Jack gave Crutchie his phone back, smiling when Crutchie put it back in his pocket instead of googling it.
It escalated like this: Crutchie getting home and googling several spellings of the word until he found out that “hermosuro” meant “beautiful” and texting Jack just a single word, and Jack responding with a bad picture of a beautiful painted portrait of Crutchie, looking relaxed in the park with their dogs in the background.
It escalated like this: Crutchie unsure of how to respond to what he thought might be Jack flirting with him, and Jack unsure of how Crutchie had really responded.
It escalated like this: Neither of them bringing it up again, just texting each other silly pictures and meeting in the park on sunny days, falling into an easy friendship.
It escalated like this: Jack suggesting they go to the museum that he worked at for a special event, since he got a plus one anyway and didn’t Crutchie say he loved museums? and Crutchie finding out only when they got there that the reason Jack had a plus one was because it was the opening of an exhibit of his work, an entire gallery full of landscapes and portraits and abstract paintings that fit with the emotions they were named after, and Jack being charming and taking compliments and introducing Crutchie as “my best friend, and his Wonderdog” all night long to people who were there just to admire Jack’s artwork.
It escalated like this: Jack offering to take Crutchie home, sitting next to him on the almost empty subway, laughing when Crutchie let Wonderdog off duty just long enough to tell him to sit on Jack’s lap, which he happily did, and Jack walking Crutchie to his door, and coming this close to kissing Crutchie, but not quite making it there.
It escalated like this: Crutchie inviting Jack to dinner, not exactly meaning it to be a date but kind of hoping it would be, and the next week Jack taking Crutchie to a planetarium, and the next week Crutchie taking Jack to his favorite coffee shop, and the next week Jack showing him the art collecting he was working on for his next exhibit at his little studio behind a tiny gallery, and the next week...and the next week...and the next week...and the next week...and the next week.
None of them were really dates, but most of them came close, and every one came closer than the last.
It escalated like this: Jack and Crutchie meeting at the park, and Jack stuttering his way through trying to ask Crutchie out, unsure if he was communicating that he meant a date date, not just a hanging out, friendly kind of date, and Crutchie having to laugh at how nervous Jack was, but saying yes anyway, since wasn’t that what he’d been hoping for the last two months?
It was hard sometimes, like this: The summer fading, and Jack suddenly a lot more withdrawn than Crutchie had ever seen before, grumpier and more anxious, and Crutchie knew and tried to understand that it wasn’t Jack’s fault, or anyone’s fault, and it shouldn’t bother him so much, but it was still hard, except for when they were in a heap on Jack’s couch, Shamwow cuddled between their shoulders and necks, and Wonderdog draped across them like a blanket. Then it was warm.
It was hard sometimes, like this: Crutchie having a bad day and having to cancel plans they’d been so excited for, and that making Jack worry it was their relationship, and that bothering Crutchie a little bit because it felt like Jack didn’t trust him, but then it was better when Jack showed up at his door, arms full of takeout food, Redbox DVDs, and Shamwow, and spent the night making Crutchie laugh, distracting him from whatever pain he was in.
It was easy, sometimes, like this: Jack learning to tell what kind of day Crutchie was having by how he said good morning, and Crutchie learning to tell when Jack needed to be pulled out of bed to do something and when he just needed somebody to cuddle with him and watch Netflix all day.
It was easy sometimes, like this: Jack learning Wonderdog’s commands and Crutchie learning Shamwows, until they felt like one big family of two men and two dogs, navigating around each other in two apartments and then one, sometimes crying and sometimes even fighting, but usually laughing and knowing they had each other.
It was easiest in the spring: The first day of green weather, it had just rained yesterday, and Jack waking up feeling better than he had in months, even better than yesterday, and the day before, and the week before that when he was starting to feel better, and dragging Crutchie up extra early so they could have breakfast and lunch and dinner in the park, calling in sick and having fun instead of going to work.
Their story got longer like this: One year and then two years, winters and summers, springs and falls, trips to the doctor and trips to the vet, laughter and tears, learning more about each other and learning to love even the parts of each other that were the hardest to understand.
The conclusion of their first chapter started like this: Crutchie in bed, woken up by a wriggling mass of fur, both dogs on top of him and Jack laughing hysterically from the doorway, his plans for a romantic, sweet, quiet, calm proposal ruined by dogs with too high of emotional intelligences that had picked up on the fact something was up before Crutchie was even awake.
The conclusion of their first chapter went like this: Jack flopping down next to him and asking quietly if they could get married, both spending the rest of the day in bed, talking and planning and smiling, excited for the start of something new.
The first chapter of their story ended in two parts.
Part one went like this: Crutchie coming down the aisle with Wonderdog in a tuxedo to rival his own, looking like he was the richest dog in the world, and Jack coming after him, smiling like it was a warm summer day rather than three days after Christmas, a time of year when he’d usually be having a harder time, followed by Shamwow, who was shedding flower petals from Jack’s homemade petal dispensing harness.
Part two went like this: Six months later, on the first warm, sunny Saturday in May, Jack and Crutchie and Wonderdog and Shamwow splayed out together under a tree, Wonderdog asleep across all of them, Shammy not quite able to stay still, almost the same and yet completely, entirely, wonderfully different from the day they’d first met, complete with Jack lazily drawing the people and things around them and Crutchie reading a sappy, self-indulgent romance novel. They were warm, happy, content, and everything felt right in the world.