COC #3: Magickal Creatures
Simon and Baz adopt... a... dog?
~ I had an odd amount of fun writing this. Enjoy! ~
Somehow, I roped Baz into adopting a dog with me. It took hours of convincing, begging and doing some other... things. (Him, mostly.) He said Snow, I'm not your keeper. If you want a dog, get a dog. To which I frowned and replied, But Baaazzzzz. I want a dog with you! Together! That seemed to soften him up. Plus, all I really have to do to convince him to do anything is kiss him softly and work my jaw the way he loves- that always seems to shut him right up. He finally relented, and now here we are at the pound, ready to get a little best friend.
As soon as Baz steps in, he picks his shoe up, inspecting the muck on it that I don't even see. "Snow, this... pound is as dirty as our room in the morning." I look around theatrically and then shush him.
"Keep our sexual habits to yourself, Basil," He rolls his eyes, but I can see a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. He walks toward the front desk and it greeted by a short blonde woman. I'm bouncing on my heels, ready to see the dogs, and my invisible tail smacks Baz in the arse. He shoots me a warning glare. (Warning for what, I don't know. He seems to like my tail, so...)
"Hello, lads! How might I help you?" Grumpy Baz collects himself and stands up straighter, more composed than he was when we walked in. After all this time away from his father, he still feels the need to be cool and nonchalant when he talks to people. I give his hand a squeeze.
"We're here to..." He looks back and sighs at me, finally giving in to being happy. A full smile appears on his face. (Crowley, I love it when he smiles.) "Adopt a dog. Show us your finest." The woman smiles brightly at us, looks down at our conjoined hands, and then smiles even brighter. She sports a pride pin on her vest.
"Right this way, dears!" She leads us into a separate room where there are dogs all around in kennels, categorized by breeds. "Take your time- this is a tough decision! We have some great options here. Just call me back when you want to take a walk with one of them." She leaves us alone with all of the dogs and they are all so cute that I think I might just explode.
I tug on Baz's sleeve hurriedly. "Oh, Baz! Can we get all of them??" I give him my best puppy dog eyes (pun intended), and he smiles a lopsided smile at me.
"Now Simon, this is of the utmost importance. We mustn't simply decide based on the 'cuteness factor'. We must take time to evaluate. In short, no, we cannot adopt every single dog in here." I frown at him, but he keeps dragging me along slowly as he scrutinizes each puppy in each cage dramatically. There are some bigger black dogs that are really energetic, but we don't have room in our apartment for a larger dog.
"Sorry, puppies," I say as I scratch them on the ear as I walk by. They whimper behind me and my heart breaks a little.
In another cage, I see five Cocker Spaniels, and I almost point them out to Baz, but then I think of Agatha and I decide to not say anything about them. I'm happy that I chose Baz; it was the best bloody decision of my entire life.
"Hey, babies? Will one of you come with us? Huh? Are you gonna get a home?" I put on my best baby voice while I talk to them. When I talk about a home, Baz looks down at me sympathetically, but I wave him off. I haven't even thought of my orphanage experiences once since we got here. I have a home now- with Baz.
Soon, we're almost to the end of the line, when Baz abruptly stops in front of a kennel and crouches down to see the dog inside. It's white with brown spots and it has... a forked tail?! So cool. It's jumped up against the bars and snuggling against Baz as he scratches his/her ear. His face breaks out into a grin.
"C'mere, Simon. Come meet this one," He sounds so happy that I can't help myself as I gravitate toward him and sit down in front of the dog. It backs away slightly at first, but then it hesitantly comes closer. I put out my hand and it starts sniffing me like it's on a mission. I tentatively pet it, and it lets me, but it kind of nips at my fingers a little bit. It reminds me of Baz- careful to not get too close, always scrutinizing me. But I think it would be very loyal and loving if we got to know each other.
"I dunno, Baz. I don't think it liked me very much..." But even as I express my concerns, Baz is already going to get the lady. She comes back (her name tag says Amanda- I hadn't noticed before) and unlocks the kennel with the single puppy in it. She holds it in her arms as she tells us more about it.
"This little guy is definitely peculiar. A Jack Russell Terrier... of sorts. He doesn't seem to like people to get too close, but," She pauses as the dog climbs out of her arms and jumps into Baz's. He catches it and smiles wildly. "He seems to have taken a liking to you!"
"What's its name?" I ask as Baz brings the dog closer to me, sniffing around where my wings are.
"Crup! It came on his collar when he wandered to our door two days ago. He hasn't been eating much, but boy is he energetic! And he's the only puppy I've ever seen with a forked tail. He's a pretty special guy. I reckon about three weeks old," She pauses, looking at the both of us petting Crup. "Would you like to take him out for a walk?"
"Very much so," I say as Baz shakes his head enthusiastically. I think he's more sure about this dog then he's ever been about me. It's nice to see him so... open and playful. Maybe he wants this dog more than me. I let out a little laugh despite myself.
Amanda takes us out back to walk and play with Crup a little, and I've never seen Baz so playful and happy. He runs around with him, finally having a companion as fast as him. When they get done, Baz comes to sit with Crup and I in the grass. The puppy wanders over to me and I let him sit in my lap, scratching him behind the ears. As the dog smells around me and licks me carefully, Baz looks at me, a joyful look in his eyes.
"So? What do we think?" He asks me urgently.
"I think," I lean in and kiss him softly with Crup still in my arms, wagging his forked tail. I lean back a little and rest my forehead on Baz's. "That we found our dog." He smiles back at me as he stands up and offers me his hand.
"Our dog. I could get used to that, Snow."
...
"Why won't he eat, Baz?" We've had Crup at home for a couple of days now, and he's been just bloody lovely, except he refuses to eat dog food! We've tried practically every kind so far. Baz huffs around our room, holding Crup.
"Snow, have you ever heard the word 'Crup' before? It sounds familiar..."
"Well, not that I know of,"
"Let me make a call. Hold the dog." He puts the dog back in my arms and wanders into our living room. I can hear him speaking urgently on the phone. When he finally comes back into the room, he pulls on his hair and mutters something frustratedly.
"Of-fucking-course, when we get a dog it would have to be a Crup-"
"What is a Crup, Basilton?!" I yell at him. I put the dog down for a second and grab Baz's hands, willing him to stop and look at me.
"Well, Mr. Scamander down in Essex says that we got the one kind of bloody dog that eats gnomes. Fucking gnomes, Snow. He's loyal to wizards, but an absolute terror to Normals. So," He sighs defeatedly and sits on our bed next to me. "What do you propose we do?" I look down at the little puppy, looking so hungry but still so kind as he curls around my feet. Maybe I'm not so Normal and boring as I thought. Maybe I haven't lost everything magic about me.
"I s'pose we just have to get some gnomes. C'mon then, Baz." I get up, extending a hand out to him. He sighs, looking down at Crup. Then he smiles and takes my hand.
As we walk down to his car, he looks at me thoughtfully. "Hey Simon?" He whispers.
"Yeah?" He takes my hand and pulls me in to gently kiss my temple. After all this time, I still get butterflies when he does that.
"Turns out you're not so Normal, after all."
"I guess not." I smile widely at him and use my tail to smack him on the arse again. He cocks and eyebrow at me and pushes me against the wall.
"Do that again, and we'll never make it out of here to get the gnomes..." I bite my lip, but stop anyway. For now, we have to go get our wizard-loving dog some gnomes.
"Let's go get our magickal dog some magickal food, you arsehole." He laughs as I bump into him with my shoulder and then take his hand.
Nothing about the dragon boy and the vampire with the magickal dog is Normal by any means.
I wouldn't have it any other way.