Zero grinned, Slick looking indignant. Vincent's mouth twitched, then he grinned, and then he laughed. He hadn't laughed in a good long time, and it felt good to do it.
  "Alright, I'll give you guys a shot." He said when he calmed down, a huge smile on his features. He looked a lot better, even with the burn and missing ear and leg, when he smiled instead of the gloomy and angry frown.
  "There ya go, you look a lot better with a smile." Charlie said cheerfully. Itchy nodded in agreement, his own small tail wagging. Zero patted Vincent's shoulder, and he could see the older Shepherd's tail was wagging.
  "Come on guys, let's go!" Slick said, in such a rush to move out that he bobbed on the spot, chased his tail a little, grinning in anticipation. They all watched him, amused by his antics, before starting to go.
  "So Vincent, what kind of home are you looking for?" Charlie asked. Giving it some thought, the burned-faced hound looked at them.
  "Well... Something where I can still see you guys. But I want to be with someone nice, who won't dislike me for... This." He jerked his head to his missing leg, then pawed his face after getting support from a lamp pole. "I don't wanna live with someone who's going to pity me, just love me for who I am and how I look." Slick gave a whistle.
  "Huh, hard bargain Vince my boy, but we'll find you that place, or my name isn't Slick." He said, wagging his bony tail. At that statement, Vincent had a little doubt. Not that his new friends would give up, but that he could find the home he wanted in his dreams and thoughts.

  Since it was late when they had picked Vincent up, all the dogs headed to the Apartment to get some shuteye before their big mission home-search the next day with him in tow so he wouldn't be alone. When they got inside, they saw Chandler and another of Zak's drinking buddies, Espee, trying to get the tan Doberman and Koko up the stairs. The duo were out cold, snoring, paws and ears twitching as they slept.
  "Woah, what happened to them?" Vincent asked, surprised.
  "This guy," Chandler pointed at Espee with his thumb, the Southern-sounding dog buzzed himself, "challenged these two to a drinking contest as we were leaving. He won obviously, but I keep trying to tell him it was unofficial since they were already buzzed." Espee merely shrugged.
  "Not my fault these hounds couldn't hold their booze when I arrived."
  "Yeah, and we all know Zak would have drunk you under the table if he had been sober." Chandler muttered. Setting down their charges, the two started arguing. Seeing a fist fight would break out, Zero went to his brother and started to drag him away by his collar. Espee, thinking he had an opening, jumped towards Chandler, who was struggling to get at him, but Itchy darted forward and tripped him up.
  "Hey, what was that fer?!" Espee growled, looking at Itchy. Before he could answer, Charlie picked the buzzed Shepherd up by his scruff ad collar, then getting his paws behind his back.
  "Easy guys, eeeeaaaaassssy." Charlie said slowly. The two stopped struggling after awhile, glaring at each other. "Okay, it doesn't matter who won or lost the contest, alright? Nothing was bet, right?"
  "No, it was just free-for-all..." Chandler grumbled. Even Espee shuffled his footpaw a bit awkwardly. After they were sure the two were cooled down, Zero and Charlie released them. After they shook paws and apologized, they went back to helping get the Doberman and wolf upstairs, and they had some help from Slick and Zero.
  Vincent looked confused, standing there wondering how things changed up so fast. Itchy looked up at him and chuckled at the look on his face.
  "This is a typical day, don't worry about it. Come on, I'll show ya a room to borrow." The Dachshund said, starting to lead the still-bewildered dog to a room. Vincent had a bit of trouble with the stairs, but he got up them with a bit of help from Itchy. When Vince was in the room and Itchy left, he looked around a bit.
  The room was pretty well furnished, with a couch and a bed, with a good view out the window. He limped over to the glass and managed to get it open, looking up at the sky. He looked around the room again, and sighed. He knew the others were in the place with him, but the room felt lonely, so he looked back at the sky, head on his paw. After awhile, he heard the door open behind him and glanced back.
  Zero walked up, putting his paws beside Vincent's one paw. He looked silently up at the sky awhile, Vincent watching him. Feeling a bit awkward, Zero scratched the back of is neck.
  "Am I interrupting something?" Zero asked sheepishly. Vincent shook his head, looking back up at the sky. Zero couldn't see his good eye, so he stayed quiet.
  "So Zero..." Vincent looked at the younger Shepherd. "What made ya wanna come?"
  "Well, you were by yourself in that alley when we found ya." Zero said. "Felt you'd want some company your first night here." Vincent was silent a good long while. Taking that as a dismissal, he hopped down from the sill and started to leave.
  "Zero... Don't go..." Vincent said. He didn't want to be by himself in a strange new place, and didn't want to be by himself in general anymore. Zero looked back and turned, going back and putting his paws on the sill again. After a few more seconds of silence, Vince spoke again.
  "Sorry if it seems like I don't want to talk... I'm just thinking about how lucky I am you guys found me." He said. "Could you stick around while I'm here?"
  "Of course Vincent. Can Slick be here also?" Vincent grinned at that.
  "The more the merrier." He said, tail wagging.
  "Someone say my name?" They both turned as the fast-talking Dalmatian walked in, tail wagging still.
  "Would ya mind staying here Slick?" Zero asked his friend. Slick shook his head so fast his floppy ears made snapping sounds in the air. "Well, since we're all here, let's go to bed."
  The other two nodded in agreement, and started heading for places to sleep. Slick and Zero took opposite ends of the couch, Vince took the bed. With his back turned to the two, he smiled widely.
  I finally have... Friends... He thought tiredly before falling asleep.

  The dogs looked for days for Vincent's new home, looking for abandoned houses, clean alleyways close to the apartment, and many other spots. Whoever was with Vincent on these hunts would always talk to him about anything and everything, enjoying their time together. Vince would sometimes forget they were even looking for his new home because he was enjoying his time. One night all the dogs were at the Fleabite to discuss how they were gonna find Vincent his home, figuring they should try to plan things out after so many unsuccessful nights.
  And the start wasn't very good, with Espee practically slamming his glass on the table after a considerable silence, the dogs wondering who should start. He glared ill-temperedly around at the others, who were looking at him in shock for his sudden reaction, because he didn't want to beat around the bush.
  "We've been looking for five days! Five! Damned! Days!" He growled, banging his paw on the table for emphasis with those three words, drawing a bit of attention to their table. "I'm not saying we need to stop lookin', but cripes let's at least have an idea where we're gonna search before practically chasing our tails an' shadows for a place!"
  Vince lowered his head a bit, ear flicking a bit. It was a bit of a bother for him to be asking for their help when he thought about it. He should have discussed what to do first.
  "Well... I agree." Zak said slowly, patting his drinking buddy on the shoulder to calm him down. "Minus the aggravation, we probably should have planned out what we were gonna do."
  "Well then, let's hop to the planning." Charlie said, nodding. "We already know the place he wants, so let's pinpoint the best places for that spot." Then, out of his fur, he pulled out a map of the city, laying it flat on the table and having Itchy and Zero hold the corners down.
  Looking surprised by the map, Zero glanced at Charlie. "Uh... Charlie...? Where'd you get this?"
  "Oh, I er... Borrowed it. Not important, I'll give it back. You wanna find our buddy a home or not?" Charlie said, pretending to look busy by looking over the map to make sure it was flat. Still curious, but figuring it was for the better, Zero quit asking questions about the map.
  After that, Charlie started pinpointing the best places to live, which people could be best to live with, and the directions there. When all that was handled, the mutt rolled up the map again, gave the canine's their instructions, and they all went their separate ways over Frisco. Vincent, Zero, and Slick took the east side, Charlie, Itchy and Koko took north, and Zak and Espee took the docks (much the the Doberman's dismay, Espee hated the docks and had only been stuck there cause he was with Zak).
  Zero and his two companions had the easier spot, because it was by the park. Figuring they should take a seat and discuss which neighborhood they should go to first, they went in and sat under a tree, watching the kids play.