You were sitting on the couch, watching Vivi get ready to leave for a trip for one of her classes. It was supposed to last for about a week and you were excited to have the place to yourself for a while. Vivi was great, but you were a fan of the quiet too.

Instead of leaving Karoo with you, she had a friends that wanted to watch him. The duck apparently had a following of people that adored him. That meant you'd have the whole week with just you and Meatloaf. Just like old times.

She had more bags than you thought necessary piled up by the door with Karoo in a cat carrier, ready to be toted off to his duck sitters.

"Don't you have to be to class soon (Y/n)?" Vivi came out of the bathroom with yet another bag on her. You could see the makeup and other things she deemed necessary pushing at the sides. The bag looked ready to burst open any second.

"Yeah. I guess I'll head out then." You got up, stretching your arms behind your back. "Have fun on your trip! I'll hold down the fort."

"Try and hang out with that friend of yours more." She chirped. "You and him seem to be getting along pretty well."

You rolled your eyes playfully as she winked. She swore there was more between you and Heat but he was just a friend. Him being a guy didn't immediately make him an option for dating. It was normal for a girl to have guy friends.

Vivi was still talking about you finding time to see Heat as you left the dorm and headed off to class. Usually Killer showed up right before class started while you preferred getting there a little early. Your roommate was right in getting you up and moving. Killer was leaving the building the same time as you were and you could just tell you were going to be cutting it close with getting to your seat on time.

"Morning." Killer nodded as he fell in step beside you.

"How late are we going to be?" You asked.

"Ehh, we'll scrape by."

"Good. I'm not keen on having professor Hancock yell at me today."

"I doubt she would anyway."

"She yells at you when you're late."

"She also doesn't like most men."

"Nah, I think it's just you." You smiled and he gave you a smirk. You were starting to like Heat's friends a little more each day.

----

Classes felt like they were dragging on all day and then you had a lot more homework than usual to work on. School hadn't been going for long, you were only a month into the first semester but none of your teachers were cutting you any slack.

You were thinking of heading home to get your work done but decided to visit the game room instead. Heat would probably be there and didn't mind when you came and worked on homework. It usually encouraged him to do the same when he had things of his own to work on.

Sometimes he'd even ask you for help on things he thought you might know more then him about. And even if you didn't know, you'd try to help him anyway. Occasionally he'd do the same for you though he didn't know most of the stuff you had classes on. It was the thought that counted.

You were a little surprised when you didn't see him in his usual spot. In fact, you didn't see him in the game room at all. You figured he was off doing something else and took a seat in the normal booth anyway. Work had to get done and you were already here, it didn't hurt to stay put and there was always the chance he'd come by eventually.

But the longer you worked, the less you thought he'd come by. It kind of bummed you out, but you could always see him another time. Maybe you'd gather up the courage to send him a text later. You powered through what you could before you felt too tired and hungry to keep up.

There was food at home and you had to go back to take care of your pup anyway. He was probably missing you a lot by now. Or sleeping. He liked to spend plenty of time sleeping when no one was home.

You walked back to the dorms in a pretty good mood. You'd gotten a lot done and you'd be able to get even more going after a bit of a break. It was always important to stay ahead whenever you could and you planned on doing just that.

The door swung open as you stepped in and called for your dog. "Meatloaf~"

Except he didn't come running like he normally did. You frowned as you stepped further in, glancing around for him.

"Loaf? C'mon pup, where'd you go?"

He wasn't in the living room and as you checked around the place, anxiety began to build up. He wasn't one to ever ignore you when you got home. You had a feeling you knew what had happened and your worries were confirmed when you checked in your room.

You kept your window cracked all the time for fresh air. He'd nosed the window up far enough to chew through the screen and get out. This wasn't the first time it had happened, but it was the first time to happen at school.

"Shit shit shit." You cursed as you checked out the window. He'd literally eaten through the screen and now you had no idea where he was. "Fuck!"

There was no way to tell where he'd go or how far he'd be from home by now. You needed help. You snagged his leash on the way out the door and headed upstairs. You knew the guys lived on the third floor but that was about it. But each place had name plaques by the door. You hoped they'd put their names on theirs so you could find them faster. Of course in your worry, you never thought to just call Heat.

It took some time until you came across a door that had all the guys' names by it and you breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like Killer's handwriting. He seemed to be a pretty responsible guy when he wanted to be and for that, you were thankful.

The need to find your four legged best friend overrode your usual nervousness when it came to bothering someone at home and you knocked without a second thought. After a moment of you bouncing on your heels and waiting for someone, the door swung open.

"We don't want anything." Wire growled, fully expecting someone else to be at the door. "Oh, what's up (Y/n)?"

"Is Heat here?" You don't know why you asked for him in particular, really any help you could get would be great right now.

"Yeah, one sec." Instead of leaving to get his friend, he leaned back and yelled. "Heat! Come here!"

"Hold on." You heard a grumble from further in. None of them seemed keen on company.

"It's (Y/n)." Wire said.

And that got Heat moving apparently. He was at the door quickly, looking a little surprised to see you there for him.

"Hey, what's up?" He took over Wire's spot, propping a hand against the doorframe that looked almost too small for him to stand under.

"It's uh, Meatloaf. He got out and–and I need help finding him. C-can you...?"

"Of course. Let me get my keys and we'll go."

Wire glanced at you as Heat swept past. "Want more help?"

"I-if it's not a bother."

"It's not. I'll get Kid and Killer."

And then you were standing in the doorway alone, feeling like you wanted to cry. Your dog had pitbull in him and it wasn't hard to see. While a lot of people saw him as just another dog, there were plenty of others in the area that either feared or hated the breed and it had you scared for his safety. All it would take is him running up to greet the wrong stranger and he could get hurt.

Great. Just thinking about it had a couple tears threatening to spill from the corners of your eyes. You wiped your face in hopes of clearing them away before someone came back. But Heat was back right as you were finishing up. He had car keys in hand and a jacket slung over his shoulders.

He stooped down until he could look you in the eye and placed a hand on each of your shoulders. "We'll find him, I promise."

You nodded. Saying anything would really make you start to cry and that wasn't an option right now. It was bad enough Heat saw you like this, it'd be worse if you broke down in front of the other guys.

"So where do we need to look for the mutt?" Kid came into view along with Killer and Wire. You had the whole crew looking to help find your dog.

"I'd say check around campus, maybe he stuck close by." Killer said. "Is there anywhere else you think he'd go?"

"Maybe the park? I take him there pretty often." You said.

"Why don't you and Heat start there then? We'll split up and look around here and call if we find him."

They started down the hall and you were amazed they were willing to drop everything just to find Meatloaf.

"Guys?"

They all turned to face you.

"Thanks for the help. Really."

"Yeah yeah." Kid hunched his shoulders and stared at the floor. "He's a good dog I guess. It'd be a pain to see something happen to him."

They started off again and Heat placed a careful hand on the back of your shoulder, nudging you forward. "Let's go."

He led you to his car and you slid into the passenger side. It was starting to get dark and you were worried about how much harder it would make searching for him.

As soon as Heat got in and had the vehicle moving, your eyes were scanning everything that passed you by, trying not to miss anything in case your dog was somewhere along the way.

"How'd he get out?" Heat asked, breaking the silence.

"I had a window cracked and he was able to push it up and chew through the screen." You shook your head. "He used to do it all the time back at my parents place, you'd think I'd know better than to leave a window like that for him."

"It's not your fault. Accidents happen and I'm sure he's fine."

If there was one thing you'd learned about Heat, it was how he liked to make himself smaller, less noticable however possible. That usually meant hunching over on himself and saying as much as possible in as few of words as possible.

You weren't quite sure what it meant, but right now, he was different. He was saying more and had a confidence, a determination you hadn't seen him have before. But it felt comforting in this moment. You felt scatter brained and stressed about the whole situation while he was staying calm and helpful.

"I'm worried he's going to scare someone and get himself hurt because of it Heat."

"He won't."

"People think he's scary."

"He's not."

"I know that. But it doesn't change how other people see him."

"(Y/n)." Heat reached over and pat your knee. "It's going to be fine. We'll find him and bring him home tonight."

Tonight. The sun had finished setting and it was completely dark out with the exception of streetlights. While the days were still warm enough to go out without jackets, the nights were beginning to get chilly. You didn't want to think about how cold he'd get with his short fur. At this rate, it was going to be a long night.