Notes: Hanzo is an akita inu. Genji is cross between an akita and a shiba inu. They share a father (I like the idea of Genji having a different mother to explain some of their differences in personality). Genji is a cyborg in this AU, so his tail isn’t as full as Hanzo’s like it used to be. Lucio is a black labrador. He has all the love for everyone, the excitement, and the loudness that the breed has, and he’s the type that would jump in and save any drowning person without a second thought. McCree is a mutt with a straight, bushy tail. Whatever breeds he is, he is slow to trust, sometimes needs his space, and has a history of being an escape artist. This probably points to a less-than-loving upbringing.
Three out of four of your pups are morning people. Genji and Lucio are already wrestling on the rug by the time you get up. Genji’s face is bare. He only wears his mask when outside the house, around strangers. They take pretend nips at each other, rolling back and forth. Lucio is grinning. He’s just here to play. Genji is smiling, but he’s more serious about winning. Hanzo is reading something on his phone, but he watches them from the corner of his eye on the couch in case it gets too rough for his liking.
You come into the room, and your two pups get up from the floor to come greet you. Lucio’s black tail wags as he smiles and kisses your cheek. You stick out your chin and offer both cheeks up for their kisses with a happy smile. Genji sneaks a lick to your neck. You shove him playfully and laugh. Lucio giggles, and they return to the rug to play.
You sit next to Hanzo. Wordlessly, he leans on you. He kisses your shoulder. His tail wags once, because he feels complete with you safe at his side.
Genji easily pins Lucio to the ground. Lucio was born the runt of his siblings, but he makes up for it with a big heart. Genji’s curly tail wags excitedly, but then he stiffens and looks to the door. As does Hanzo. They can sense someone approaching the house.
“Who is it?” you ask.
“The mail carrier,” Hanzo says. “She always comes too close. I don’t appreciate it.”
“Your tail says different.” It wags lazily. Hanzo is thinking about disagreeing, despite this, so you press the matter gently. “Why don’t you go meet her? You might like her.”
“I must decline, Master.”
You shrug. “Alright.”
The mail goes through the slot in the door. Hanzo gets up to fetch it. He looks it over before handing it to you.
“Thank you,” you tell him brightly. “Good boy.”
You offer your cheek to him, and he gives it a peck before going to the kitchen to make you breakfast, curly tail high and proud against his lower back. It’s white and perfectly fluffy from being groomed by Hanzo himself.
“OW!” is the sudden shout from Lucio.
Genji backs off and starts to apologize, but Hanzo is already in the kitchen doorway, telling his brother to come help with the food. Genji doesn’t immediately obey. Instead, he sits up straight and looks to you for orders. Partially because you’re the master, and partially because it irritates Hanzo.
“Go on,” you say.
He comes to give you a quick kiss on the cheek before going to the kitchen with a happy few wags from the affection.
“What’s all this darned racket?” grumbles Jesse.
He comes sauntering down the hall from the bedroom. Lucio’s shout woke him up. His tail hangs lazily as he walks, still in his pajamas.
“What’s up, Man?” Lucio asks him hopefully.
“I don’t wanna play right now, Bud,” he replies.
Lucio is a little disappointed. His floppy, black ears droop, but he quickly recovers. He goes to the kitchen to chat with the brothers. Maybe annoy Hanzo. Who knows.
McCree collapses onto the couch next to you and lays his head on your lap. He’s a warm weight on your thighs. You brush his messy hair back from his face with your fingers and pull gently on his soft, chocolate-brown ears.
“What do you wanna do today?” you ask him.
“Sleep,” he mumbles.
“We can’t just do that!”
The other three convince McCree to agree to a trip to the park, but only if they let him lay under the shade of a tree. They agree, everyone piles into your car. The ride there is with all the windows rolled down, of course.
Genji and Lucio race from the parking lot after you park the car. Hanzo is hanging back, fixing his ponytail.
“I don’t know why ya bother, if it’s just gonna get mussed every time we take a car ride,” Jesse says.
Hanzo hmphs and breaks into a run to catch up with Genji and Lucio. He won’t admit it easily, but he worries how the other hybrids will react to his brother. Genji won’t lose a fight, but it weighs heavy on his heart for hours afterwards if anyone makes a snide comment or otherwise picks on him.
“How’s it smell?” you ask Jesse as you both walk along a gravel path that leads to the park’s lake.
Jesse raises his chin to take a few sniffs.
“Smell’s nice. Like flowers and wet earth. One other dog here, but she’s far away. On her own, so she probably won’t bother us none. Also, wet dog. That’d be Lucio probably already jumped in the lake.”
You and Jesse catch up to the others. He’s right, Lucio is already swimming, with his dreads tied up on top of his head to avoid getting them wet.
“Throw me something! C’mon! I’ll catch it,” he calls to Genji with a daring grin.
“You’re on,” he replies.
Jesse disappears to take his nap. You have a nice sit to watch your boys have fun. Genji throws whatever branch he can find for Lucio to fetch. Eventually, Genji gets restless and goads Hanzo into chasing him.
As soon as Genji growls at Hanzo’s overbearing nature is when you know it’s time to go. They’ve worn themselves out. You stand up and bark an order at them all to come before a real fight starts.
“Genji in front with Jesse,” you say. “Lucio, Hanzo, heel.”
Being told what to do is what they need right now, they’re so tired. And they will sleep well tonight.
There are enough beds in the house for everyone. Sometimes even Lucio or Jesse sleep on the biggest couch if they feel like it. But they still insist on squabbling a little over who gets to sleep with you just before bedtime. Hanzo gets grumpy. Lucio gives you puppy eyes. Genji gets touchy-feeling. Jesse just sneaks onto the bed, and the others find him and pull him off. So you instituted a chart with their names on it in a certain order to fix the issue.
“Tonight, it’s Lucio’s turn,” you announce.
Three tails sag as the other boys walked away.
Lucio lasts two seconds trying to play it cool before he wiggles over to cuddle, his tail thudding repeatedly on the mattress. Hanzo normally goes to sleep with space between you, but you wake up with him protectively and awkwardly draped over you. Genji likes to sleep back-to-back, and sometimes he wakes you when he dreams of chasing something. His legs twitching and his tail wagging, which has somehow made its way between your legs. Jesse is the only one that sleeps keeping to himself and stays that way, like he had to sleep in a small space with many siblings as a puppy. He sleeps in, and you usually wake him with gentle pets.