Coming Up Buck

Beanie Boys Trouser Tuck

Buck was quite irritated by his tail. His ears had kindly flattened to his hair and all but disappeared under the navy blue beanie he'd picked out to match his new LAFD uniform. The shirt fit nicely, a bit snug, but more comfortable than what he'd been wearing for most of his time in the lab. However, the trousers were also form fitting, which didn't leave any room for his tail. He was in a considerable amount of pain because of the angle that the appendage was bent at, and it only became worse as he walked into the Firehouse from his jeep.

Now, there was very little chance that the people he was soon to be working with were unaware of his additional body parts due to the government's widespread alert about it. Still, Buck didn't like it when people stared, so he wasn't about to give them a reason to.

"Hey, Buckley!" A yell came from the level above, Buck's head snapping around to look. He grew irritated when his retriever ears perked up a little. He was way too excited by this new freedom thing, and they needed to cut that out.

An older man of Asian descent rested his forearms on the metal railing of the loft, leaning over to peruse Buck with a certain look in his eye. Then he smiled widely, making a sweeping gesture towards the stairs with one arm, which caused Buck's eyes to be drawn to them instead. His tail began to twitch as his excitement spiked once again, his ears beginning to push his beanie off his head.

"On my way." Buck replied, reading the gesture as it was intended and pacing towards the staircase. He lowered his voice dramatically as he began to berate himself. "Calm down, idiot. You're just a freak. They probably only brought you in to prove that they can be diverse or something." By the time he made it up the stairs, his tail and ears had sufficiently flattened out. His tail was perhaps more painful than it had been before. It must have shifted without him realising, but he was going to be feeling it for the rest of the day. "Uh, hi." Buck tipped his chin to the older man, smiling widely until his eyes were pinched closed, because maybe it didn't matter if he was just a sign of diversity, maybe he was going to have a really great time being a good person and saving lives. "I'm Buck." He offered the other man his hand.

"Alright, Buck," the man batted his hand aside and moved in to hug him instead. Buck liked that a lot, his shoulders relaxing and his spine moulding until he was melting into the shorter man's hold. "I'm Chimney. Let me introduce you around."

"Thanks." Buck nodded, except he quickly stopped as the motion made him consider nuzzling Chimney, and he wasn't sure how the other man would react to that.

"Okay!" Chimney grinned. He moved to stand at Buck's side. One hand clutched Buck's shoulder, the arm that connected to it running across his back. "We've got a full house, so today it'll just be our team, and then, eventually, you'll get to know everyone else." Slight pressure was applied, and Buck began to move forward into the loft. He sniffed the air every few feet to get a feel for the area. He tried to keep it subtle, but the soft smile creeping onto Chimney's face suggested that he was well aware. "This area is called the loft, we hang out here between calls, and the kitchen is up here too. Come on, I'll introduce you to Bobby first."

As it turned out, Bobby was in the kitchen bent over a steaming dish with a ridiculously large beef joint in it that appeared to be fresh from the oven. Buck's mouth watered, and he began to obsessively rub at the corners of his lips to ensure that he didn't start drooling. As they drew closer, however, Buck realised that his head was tilting and his face was lowering to face the floor, all the vulnerable parts of him exposed, quickly squaring himself and returning to a regular human position. Bobby reeked of dominance. It wasn't overpowering or bad, and it certainly wasn't offensive, but it made all of the animal parts of Buck want to cower into the most demeaning and submissive pose to make way for the man who was so obviously the Alpha here. Buck's body began to fight itself, both half's believing that he should be in a different position, and then, suddenly, he whimpered.