He wasn't sure how someone could go from zero to one hundred, then back again, so quickly. Trever glanced sideways for the fifth time while driving, noting that Ravi had passed out again. Ten minutes earlier he had been the literal definition of a pinball, bouncing from the front to the back so often that Trever'd finally had to put his foot down. 

The pup settled immediately at that moment, taking the order very seriously. It took him a few minutes to catch his breath, then he had lied down, curling up in the front seat. 

And now, somehow, he's out cold. 

Shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, he returned his complete attention to the road and drove in silence for just under six hours before feeling the need to stretch his legs. 

He ended up pulling into a rest stop near the state line. After parking, Trever gave out a tired sigh, then yawned before looking over at... a wiggling Ravi. He was still, thankfully seated, but he'd pushed himself up and was lifting his front paws in his usual little dance of excitement. 

"Want to get out and go bathroom?" he asked as he stood from his seat, then stretched before shutting his door and walking around to the other side. 

Ravi had long-since freed himself of the clothing he'd had on previously, so when his pup hopped out, it was unhindered and didn't hesitate to bolt as fast as it could out into a large stretch of lightly-forested picnic areas. 

Trever quickly shut the door and jogged a few feet forward before realizing that there was no way he was going to be able to ever catch the dog. 

Note to self. Invest in a leash. 

He immediately winced at that thought, then quickly brushed it aside and turned to begin walking over toward the large building nearby. Of course, he kept his eyes on Ravi's zooming form as he moved and, thankfully, was relieved when the dog met him right before he large building. 

"Do you want to come in and use the bathrooms or wait here?" he asked, hoping that the guy would want to go in. He definitely didn't want any accidents in his car. 

When Ravi tilted his head this way, then that before turning in a circle and promptly squatting, Trever felt the right side of his lips tilt up the slightest amount. It only took him a few seconds of glancing around the area before he noticed a doggy poop station with plastic bags. He quickly walked over and took one, then shoved a few extra into his back pocket before returning to the now-wiggling dog. 

"Good boy," he said, not really minding picking up the feces. 

He could handle dogs. Pat the head. Pick up the poop. Feed twice a day. It was humans that he couldn't deal with unless he was able to use an extremely firm hand. 

Guess that's why I'm so good at my job. 

Once he was done picking up after Ravi, he told the pup to stay in the area and headed inside the large building. He was just walking over to a urinal after washing his hands when he heard a faint sound of nails clicking on the tile floor, drawing his attention down and to the left. 

Uh...

Ravi sat down right at his side, as if he'd been trained as a service dog. Except, his eyes were most-certainly not on anything appropriate. 

Are you seriously going to watch me pee? 

"Turn around," he mumbled as quietly as he could, not wanting anyone else coming and going to hear him being embarrassed over a dog watching him go bathroom. 

Thankfully, Ravi simply twitched an ear and did as told, facing the empty stalls behind them without an ounce of hesitation. 

Thank god he listens well. 

 The pup's tail began swishing back and forth on the dirty floor, clearly doing its best to win the fastest Swiffer sweeper award, but at least it didn't have eyes. 

I'm so strange, Trever thought as he quickly relieved himself, then headed over to the sinks. 

He finished washing his hands and turned toward the exit, but realized that there wasn't a pup with him. Looking over his shoulder, he couldn't help but snicker a little as Ravi looked over his own fuzzy shoulder at him, his eyes wide with worry. 

I'm not going to intentionally leave you at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, you doofus. 

"Come on, Ravi. Let's get going," he said as he headed out. 

Ravi's dog bolted past him, disappearing around the corner in a blur of fur and dust. Trever walked around the corner a few moments later, nearly jumping from surprise when Ravi suddenly appeared abruptly and dropped something at his feet before backing up a few steps and whining. 

Leaning down, Trever eyed the... ball? 

Can that thing even be called a ball? 

It looked like it had long-since been freed from its fuzzy outer coating and now sported the darkest blown color he'd ever seen. Another whine from Ravi drew his eyes up to the pup, who immediately dropped down into a very sloppy, over-excited play bow. 

You look like a psychotic cat kneading the sidewalk with a terrible kink in your neck. 

Resigned to needing to wash his hands again before they left, Trever picked up the disgusting ball and straightened back to his full height. By the time he returned his attention to Ravi the dog was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, spinning every other step as he anticipated that the ball was actually going to be thrown! 

Shaking his head, Trever glanced down at the nasty ball in his hand one more time before winding up and throwing it as far as he could. Ravi watched it soar over his head, stunned into pausing his craziness for a whole five seconds before he gave a surprisingly-high jump into the air, turning as he seemed to hover for a moment. 

The second his paws returned to the ground he snorted and kicked his back feet up like an overly-excited horse, though Trever would have bet that he just slipped on the smooth bit of concrete, before he darted off into the distance. 

That's one fast boy. 

He probably shouldn't have thrown it so far, but it had been forever since he'd pitched in a baseball game. He'd just wanted to see how far he could still throw a ball...

It took Ravi nearly three minutes to find and retrieve the ball, then return it directly to the designated spot in front of Trever's shoes. He then backed up into his strange bowing pose, hoping beyond hope, that the ball would grace the air again so that he may retrieve and return it once more.  

"You really like to fetch, huh? I guess we can play for a bit. Maybe it will wear you out enough so that you can sleep some more," Trever said as he wound up and threw the ball again. 

They played that way for about thirty minutes before a second dog, a golden retriever mix of some sort, tried to join in. Trever thought that it was cute, but Ravi, evidently, did not. 

He put all of his effort into getting to the ball the fastest, and if he somehow wasn't the first one to it, he made sure to take it from the golden no matter how hard the other dog tried to simply bring bag its little prize for some praise. 

Eventually, the owner of the golden mix walked up to Trever, a frown on her face as she crossed her arms, holding her dog's leash in one hand.   

"Your dog is being pretty rude, you know?" 

Trever raised an eyebrow as Ravi brought the ball back again, snarling every few steps he took to try and get the message across to the golden that he didn't want to share the darn ball he'd found. 

"No he's not. My dog found the ball first and we were playing with it. We aren't in the dog yard, so I don't see why it should be shared?" he said as he picked up the disgusting ball again, but didn't get ready to throw it again. 

He had been watching Ravi's behavior slowly worsen as the other dog continued to try and intervene during previous throws, and now, even with the dog not outright bothering him, it was clear that he didn't like it so close. 

"You know what, Ravi? Let's get back on the road," Trever said, then turned his attention back to the young lady and lifted his hand holding the ball. 

"Here you are, ma'am. Enjoy your day," he said as she automatically put her own hand beneath his and caught the slimy, dirty, absolutely-disgusting ghost of a tennis ball. 

The look of sheer horror on her face had Trever biting back his own grin as he turned and, remembering Ravi's penchant for commands, tapped his leg for him to follow. Thankfully, he listened and immediately followed him back into the men's bathroom where Trever got his hands washed and wiped off Ravi's dirty paws one at a time with some paper towels. 

Once they were ready to head out again, Trever gave Ravi another order to stay directly behind him. He wasn't too comfortable with that lady who had bothered them about the ball, and, evidently, he'd been rightfully nervous. 

She was waiting at the entrance for them with her dog, though she had yet to put it back on its leash, thus allowing it to run forward and immediately start nudging at Ravi. 

"Behave please, Ravi," Trever said as he noticed the pup's hackles begin to rise. He had truly had enough of the dog, but thankfully he looked up when given his command and forced himself to calm down enough to keep from snapping... for now. 

Need to get going. 

"Hey, you rude asshole!" the young woman started yelling immediately when she saw them, even going as far as to jamb her finger into his chest a few times. 

His eyes narrowed on her face immediately, making her hesitate, then withdraw her finger before sneering at him. 

"How dare you drop that nasty thing into my hand!" she squealed, sounding much more like an upset piggy than a frustrated young woman.  

Unable to hold himself back, Trever burst out into a fit of laughter that was quite embarrassing, even for him. It was just that he'd never seen someone so contradictory before! 

"First you call my dog rude because he just wants to play alone. Then I give you the ball and decide to leave since you want to play with your own dog, but because the ball is dirty, you suddenly think that it's okay to yell at me?" he asked sarcastically, still trying to quell bits of laughter here and there. 

He could tell that the woman was losing her last shred of remaining patience as her face reddened with each word he said, but he hadn't anticipated what she'd actually do about her frustration. Thankfully, he'd been paying attention, and when she lunged forward and aimed a kick straight at the underside of Ravi's jaw, he was able to turn and reach down at the same time. 

Right before her kick could hit, Trever grabbed her foot in both hands and after shoving it backwards just enough for the attack to miss his pup, he jerked his arms upward abruptly, throwing her off-balance and onto her back with another loud squeal. 

He almost felt bad at how hard the lady hit her head on the concrete, but it had been her own fault for attacking his dog. 

"Is there an issue here, guys?" 

Looking off to the side, Trever frowned as he noticed a police officer approaching. Unsurprisingly, the woman, who had previously been rolling around on the concrete grabbing her head like it was going to explode, suddenly shot up and ran right up to the officer. Her hand shot out to point back at him and Ravi as she screamed. 

"That bastard let his dog attack mine then threw a nasty slobbery ball at me when I told him that his dog had to be nicer and then he flipped me onto the ground when I tried to discipline it since he obviously refuses to!" 

Dang, girl. At least use some punctuation and take a breath every now and then. 

The officer didn't seem impressed with her yelling, either, but none-the-less, he had to investigate what had happened since he'd likely seen the woman at least being thrown onto her back. 

So, Trever gestured for Ravi to stand at his side as he turned to face the officer that was now walking over to him. 

"Sorry for the trouble, officer. My dog had found a dirty ball somewhere in the picnic area and we were just throwing it for a bit to try and tire him out when that nice young lady's dog showed up and started trying to play, too. I'm still learning my buddy's personality, but it seems like he doesn't enjoy sharing when playing fetch, so he grumbled a bit and got a little reactive, but never bit her dog. When she came up to us to complain that my dog was rude, I decided to just give her the ball so that she and her dog could play without mine getting in their way. Surprisingly, though, when I dropped the ball into her hand, she got really mad and started yelling," he said, making the officer look back at the woman with a raised eyebrow. 

The lady tried to quickly interject, but the officer raised his hand, silencing her. 

"I listened to your story, now I want his. Without, an interruption."

The woman ground her teeth together but stayed quiet, allowing the officer to turn back to Trever. 

"What about when you grabbed her foot and flipped her onto her back? Why did that situation happen?" he asked. 

Trever reached down and gave Ravi a pat on the head for his good behavior, then returned his attention to the officer. 

"I guess she decided to punish my dog with a kick, but I didn't want to risk her getting bitten or my dog possibly being quarantined for said bite if I could prevent it, so I just grabbed her foot and pushed it back and up a bit, sending her off-balance and stopping the whole situation before it possibly got out of hand." 

The officer nodded a few times before turning to Ravi and kneeling down, then offering his hand for him to smell. Of course, Ravi wasn't really interested and simply leaned closer against Trever's leg and lifted his closest paw to settle on top of his shoe. 

"Is he a shifter?" the officer asked, surprising him. 

"Uh, yeah. He is, but he rarely ever changes into his human form. He's much more comfortable as a dog." 

The officer offered Ravi an understanding smile as he stood back up. 

"I don't blame him. There are crazy people everywhere," he said before glancing at the woman still seething nearby. 

"Ma'am, please take your dog to the fenced-in area if you want it to play with other dogs," he said, making the woman start forward again until the officer lifted his hand a second time. 

"Enough. I saw the majority of that situation and what he did was clearly in defense of his dog when you tried to kick it. And considering that the dog is a shifter, he could have requested to press charges against you for trying to hurt it, so I suggest that you simply count yourself lucky that he's a nice person and take your dog somewhere else to exercise." 

Trever didn't wait around to see the woman's likely-incoming meltdown at the officer's decision and calmly walked back to his car. Ravi stayed on his heels the whole time, then hopped up into his spot and sat down as soon as the door was opened. 

They remained silent for the first twenty minutes of their drive as Trever's mind focused on absorbing what had almost happened. He worked at troubled companies and was used to stress, but that situation could have gone much, much worse. If Ravi had bitten the woman, or even her dog, it could have been a huge deal. 

I also shouldn't have let him run off like that without any kind of identification on. 

Glancing at a road sign advertising some basic stores in the oncoming town, he noticed a pet shop and quickly but carefully got himself into the right lane to take the exit in order to get off the interstate. 

The store was quite close and he didn't even need to get his phone out to be able to find it. He hopped out of the car after parking and went to retrieve Ravi before walking up to the small store. It looked like it was going to close soon, but the door was unlocked and the owner greeted them with a crooked-toothed smile, so he figured that it was fine to look around. 

He didn't waste time finding the dog section, then the leash and collars. 

Oh right. I should ask before I just buy something like this for him...

He'd seen the marks on the guy's neck, likely from a previous, too-tight collar. 

Maybe I shouldn't even ask him to wear one.

He was just about to ask when he noticed Ravi's ears go up and his tail begin to do that strange windmill-sort of wag. 

You like that one?

Reaching down, Trever picked up the dark pink collar and raised an eyebrow. It definitely wasn't what he would have picked out, but considering how excited Ravi suddenly got when he grabbed it... 

"I'm going to assume that your dancing-paw jig means that you want this one?" he asked with a growing grin on his face. 

When Ravi nodded so hard that it made him bounce up and down, Trever gave out a quiet chuckle and patted his head so that he'd settle down a bit. 

"Alright, pink it is. While we're here, is there anything else you'd like?" he asked as he grabbed the matching pink leash for the collar... just in case. 

Ravi tilted his head one way, then the other, before turning and wandering off to a different isle. Trever hurried to follow him, but got distracted for a second as he grabbed a pink harness and car clip on the end-cap. When he heard an eager squeak a moment before he finally managed to turn the corner into the other isle, he knew what would be waiting for him. 

Ravi ran up to him and sat immediately, a stuffed duck between his panting jaws. 

"You like that ducky?" Trever asked, already knowing the obvious answer by the pup's wide eyes and wiggling body. 

Ravi nodded again, adding a squeak and a whine for good measure. 

"Alright, carry it up to the front for me please?" Trever asked as he started heading that way. 

Ravi quickly got himself situated at his side, heeling perfectly with his ducky held high with pride. Trever took the toy so that he could pay for it once at the checkout desk, and also added a little tag that he got engraved with Ravi's name and his telephone number, just in case. 

Once he'd paid and bid the owner goodbye, they walked out and hopped back into the car. He immediately returned Ravi's ducky to him, then got the tag fastened to the collar before reaching over and snapping the collar around his neck. He made sure that it wasn't too tight, then got the harness settled around Ravi's chest. It took a bit of work to fasten correctly, but once it was done and the pup was clipped in with the doggy seatbelt, he felt much better about driving with him. He'd honestly had no idea that dog seatbelts even existed, so to find one had been a great relief. 

Ravi didn't seem too thrilled that he could no longer run around in the car like a crazy... him, but he settled pretty quickly as he remembered that he had a squeaky duck between his teeth. 

Trever embraced the slightly-calmer calamity of squeaks for the remainder of their evening drive. They would stop once he got tired again, but until that time, he was actually enjoying the drive with his new, buckled-in passenger pup.