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Headcanon that’s gonna sneak into my fanfic sometime is that Wallace was officially diagnosed with Autism at a later age. Something the doctor says stick with him, specifically that people with Autism may have more trouble with making and maintaining friendships.
Wallace actually has a moment of clarity and just… Looks around his house. He has a thousand little gadgets and projects that he’s busied himself with, getting by through odd jobs and such, but… He didn’t have a single close friend to show it all to.
Not one to sit around with a problem, he tries literally making a friend, but that doesn’t help. Programming a robot and all their reactions just… Isn’t the same.
It’s not until he’s out on a walk to the shops that he realizes, upon seeing somebody out walking with their pet, that he should get a dog!
Dogs are man’s best friend after all.
Gromit, at first, didn’t want to be “someone’s dog”. He thought the walking on two legs and reading books would clue his breeders in, but they had still tried to give him to three houses, only to have him returned for not “fitting in with their family” or being “too much work”.
Gromit didn’t want to be put away in a dog house and forgotten about until it was convenient. He wanted to be his own person and do things…
He wasn’t sure what, but, something.
The next guy that showed up was really the breeder’s last resort to just try and be done with him. And, really, he wasn’t sure about this weirdo who had taken him home. Impressions weren’t any better the longer he spent in the guy’s home with all his gadgets and things.
But something that was different about this guy was that he didn’t just try to put him on the floor or outside. He got his own room (???) his own bed (??????) his own place at the table (???!!!????) and was talked to like both a pet AND a best friend.
After a bit of time, a combination of these things as well as Wallace’s eternal optimism whittled away at Gromit’s walls.
Even more so when he realized just how much this guy NEEDED an extra hand- or two! How had Wallace survived this long? The guy was constantly making dangerous contraptions that backfired. Or, he’d forget things, make a machine to help him remember, then forget that, too! Wallace once fell asleep at his desk after pulling an all nighter next to something that caught FIRE.
He was mid work putting it out when the guy woke up again. There was the initial freak out, then the realization of what had just happened.
“You did that all by yourself??”
Wallace asked him. Gromit rolled his eyes and nodded, because who else could it have been?
Then, Wallace did something that Gromit had never experienced before. He grinned at him, chipping up with a “Well done, lad!” Before patting him on the head.
Gromit’s ears perked up a bit. His tail wagged.
Was this what it felt like to be a dog?
Maybe he wouldn’t mind being Wallace’s dog after all, if this is what it felt like.
Wallace wasn’t always easy to live with. He could be stubborn at times, oblivious, a little selfish. His hobbies turned into the dangerous and inconvenient more than not… But where it mattered, Wallace was kind and loving. It was strange to say that he felt most like a dog after helping to build a ship or make breakfast, but he did… Because he felt like he could do something to help.
And with Wallace, he was always needed. He always had a place in the family. Despite the difficulties, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
(Wrote this all out quick to get it outta my head so if it’s not entirely cohesive or there are redundancies and spelling mistakes I’ll fix them later!)