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Buck had no freaking clue what he was supposed to do.
He had managed to get to Tommy’s house without any trouble. He had to wait almost half a day for the man to get home, apparently he had been working a shift on Thanksgiving, but no one had disturbed him while he slept on Tommy’s front porch.
Upon Tommy coming home and looking at Buck with a mix of shock and surprise, Buck ran up and jumped on him. As he was standing over Tommy, the other man’s back pressed into the grass, it occurred to Buck that Tommy did not recognize him. Well that made a huge problem here if his (ex-)boyfriend didn’t recognize him.
Tommy had walked him around the neighborhood, stopping at a handful of houses and asking people if they recognized him. All of them said no. Of course they didn’t recognize him, Buck was a dog.
But no matter how many times Buck tried to tell him, or tried to get Tommy to go back to his house, nothing worked.
Once they had reached the final house on Tommy’s street and the residents still said they had never seen Buck before in this dog form, Tommy let out a long sigh and turned in the direction of his house, finally heading home.
Walking inside, Tommy went into the kitchen, Buck looked around the house, trying to find something he could use to tell Tommy who he was.
And damn, he really hadn’t left anything at Tommy’s place before they broke up. Either that or Tommy got rid of all of his stuff, which didn’t make Buck feel good. Shit, this was going to be harder than he thought.
Buck had followed where Tommy had walked into the kitchen, only to find the man eating a bowl of pie. Really?
“What?” Tommy said around a bite of pie as he looked back at Buck. “It’s Thanksgiving.”
Buck ignored that terrible logic and hopped up onto the couch and lied down next to Tommy, pressing into his side. He knew this probably wasn’t the best thing to be doing as Tommy’s ex but, he missed the man, alright?
Tommy turned on the TV, switching it to some movie that Buck couldn’t recognize. Eventually, Buck found himself falling asleep against Tommy’s side. They both stirred awake a couple hours later to Tommy’s phone going off. Buck looked over at him and watched as Tommy unlocked it, read something, and rolled his eyes.
Then Tommy looked over at him, “You hungry?” he asked.
Buck had to think about it for a second. The last time he had eaten was… Wednesday night? God he was starving.
“Well, bathroom first,” Tommy said as he walked to where Buck knew the hall bathroom was in the house. When he was finished in there, he walked to his back door, opening it up. Buck looked at him with confusion.
“Go on,” Tommy said as he waved his hand at the backyard. “Go and… you know… do your business.”
Tommy wasn’t implying what Buck thought he was, was he? Buck certainly hoped not.
Tommy shook his head. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those dogs that need an audience.”
No, Buck was not one of those dogs. But at the same time… Tommy was making him go pee out in the backyard? He really needed to figure out how to become human again.
Eventually they both walked out to the backyard, and stood at a stalemate, because Buck was not going to be going out here. They stood staring out there long enough to become very awkward, which made Buck eventually let out a little tinkle just so they could go back inside even more awkward.
They went back inside, and Tommy started cooking something in the kitchen. From what it looked like when Buck peeked in the fridge, Tommy desperately needed to go grocery shopping. He hoped there was something edible in there for dogs.
Then Tommy’s phone went off indicating a phone call, and as Tommy answered it, Buck overheard Chimney’s voice coming from the small speaker (one thing about being a dog, his hearing was a lot better) Buck thought he had another chance.
Buck nudged Tommy’s leg, trying to get the man’s attention, only for Tommy to try and wave him away. Buck rolled his eyes, and nudged Tommy’s leg again, adding a small bark this time.
Tommy looked down at him and whispered, “just give me five minutes.” But Buck couldn’t do that. Tommy wouldn’t get what he was trying to say if it was after the phone call.
“ Is that a dog?” Buck heard Chimney’s voice ask. Buck barked again, maybe if he couldn’t get Tommy to realize it, he could get Chimney. That was a longshot though through the phone.
“Yeah,” Tommy sighed. “It’s a long story.” Tommy then asked CHimney if he had called Eddie, which confused Buck. What were they talking about?
Then it occurred to Buck. They were talking about him. And how he was apparently, well actually, missing right now. Buck nudged Tommy’s leg again.
“I told you, just five minutes,” Tommy looked down and told Buck.
Tommy obviously wasn’t getting it.
The next morning, as they both walked back in from the backyard, since that was the only respectable place for Buck to relieve himself now apparently, the sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house.
They both perked their heads up and looked at it. Tommy mumbled something as he walked over to answer it. Opening up the door, Buck saw Chimney.
Chimney! Buck had never been so happy to see the man in his life. If Tommy hadn’t been able to tell Buck had been turned into a dog, maybe Chimney could.
“This isn’t some breakup thing, is it?” he heard Chimney ask. And, oh no, maybe Chimney didn’t recognize him.
“Breakup? No, what do you mean,” Tommy said. And if that didn’t make Buck feel bad, while he had been on a week’s long baking craze, Tommy had been handling everything well. Then again, maybe not exactly well judging by the pie for breakfast and lunch yesterday.
Buck ran up to Chimney, nudging the man with his nose and letting out a soft whine. “Is this normal?” Chimney asked.
“No,” Tommy said.
“Maybe he wants food?” Chimney asked. Buck nudged him even harder. Tommy already fed him, he wasn’t hungry. “I think he’s hungry.”
“I just fed him a big plate of eggs and bacon,” Tommy said. “He ate more than me.”
“Is that healthy for a dog?” Chimney asked.
Tommy shrugged. “For a couple meals it’s probably fine, I’ll buy him some dog food later.”
“So you are keeping him?” Chimney asked as he scratched Buck’s head. Buck shook his hand off, he didn’t need head scratches, he needed them to realize who he was.
Neither of them had seemed to be getting a hint. Is this what people meant when they said he and Eddie had one working brain cell when they were together?
“Just let me let him out and we can go,” Tommy said, as he walked to the back door. He wasn’t attempting what happened yesterday again, was he?
As Tommy looked towards him and made eye contact with Buck, Buck knew he was.
“Fine then let’s both go out,” Tommy muttered as he walked out back, and Chimney followed as well.
Oh no, peeing in front of Tommy was one thing. He was not going to pee while Chimney watched him!
“Why is he looking at us like that?” Chimney whispered to Tommy. That was one thing about being a dog, his eyesight now sucked, something he dearly hoped would fix itself when he turned back into a human, but his sense of smell and hearing were much stronger. Sometimes disorientingly so, but they were. He could overhear whatever Chimney was talking to Tommy about.
“He’s kind of pee shy,” Tommy said. Buck ruffed. He was not pee shy. Anyone would be uncomfortable with two grown men watching them pee.
“That’s an actual thing?” Chimney asked.
“Apparently,” Tommy shrugged.
Buck looked at both of them like they were idiots.
Tommy had gone out with Chimney. If he had heard them right, he was pretty sure they were going to his loft to see if he was there. So they’d hopefully figure out he was missing and start to look for him.
Buck wasn’t sure what they were going to find that would show them what happened. He didn’t recall anything being out of place when he left.
Tommy had come back hours later, long after the sun had set, and didn’t that man know you weren’t supposed to leave a dog home alone this long? Especially one you’ve had less than two days? Buck might not have that much experience with dogs, unless he counted the four or so hours he owned Hoover, but in those four hours he had done a lot of research. Research he was going to have to tell Tommy about - when he was able to.
At least Tommy had left out a water bowl and bowl of questionable meat. Another thing Buck was going to have to talk to the man about. The meat smelt horrible.
At least when he came home hours later, long after the sun had set, he carried a bag of dog food inside with him. Maybe Buck should have taught the man a lesson, not to leave an unknown dog alone in your house unless you wanted half of your things chewed on. But Buck didn’t have a vengeful bone in his body.
The next morning, things played out nearly the same way. Tommy went out who knew where with Chimney for a second day in a row, and Buck was starting to feel worried. What if they never figured out he had been turned into a dog?
As much as he liked being with Tommy again, he couldn’t just stay like this forever.
If one thing was obvious to him, staying at Tommy’s wasn’t going to help him.
Maybe he really did need to go all the way over to see Maddie.
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Tommy woke up the next morning to something cold and wet pressing into his cheek. He swiped a hand at his face, only for it to come in contact with something decidedly solid and… furry? What?
He blinked his eyes open.
God, it was the dog. Just how had the dog gotten into his bed? Tommy swore he could remember closing the door to his bedroom when he went to bed last night and leaving the dog in the living room.
The dog moved his head around Tommy’s arm, again pressing his cold and wet nose into Tommy’s cheek.
Tommy groaned. “What do you want?” he asked.
He wasn’t exactly expecting an answer. Neither did he get one - other than a loud bark sounding inches from his face.
Tommy winced as his ears rang and he groaned again. “Okay, fine, I’ll get up.”
The dog nudged Tommy’s face again, telling the man that he wasn’t moving fast enough. And that’s when Tommy’s eye noticed something. Right along the eyebrow of the dog’s left eye, the fur was slightly discolored. It was so faint, Tommy would have missed it if it wasn’t inches away from his face. It almost reminded Tommy of all the time’s he had studied Buck’s birthmark while they laid in bed together.
Wait-
No, that was crazy. There was no way that this dog was Buck.
It was a crazy thought, but when Tommy thought about the girl and her mother, the supposed Magic shop. In a crazy way… it made some sort of sense.
Tommy reached to the side table and grabbed his phone, quickly pulling up Chimney’s contact page. It wasn’t hard, Chimney was the last man he had spoken to on a phone call.
Chimney answered after only one ring.
“Tommy? ” Chimney said upon answering. “ What’s up? Why the call?”
“I think you might’ve been right,” Tommy said as he rubbed his thumb along the dog’s eyebrow.
“ Wha- What? ” Chimney said, his voice still thick with sleep, the same Tommy’s had been five minutes ago.
“I said,” Tommy started to repeat. “I think you might have been right.”
“ About what? ” Chimney asked.
“About the dog.”
“The dog?” Chimney said, confused. “ Oh! The dog!”
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “You should come over, we may need to rethink that plan of yours.”
“Yeah, okay,” Chimney said. “I’ll be there in about an hour.”
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“We could always just go to the shop and ask them,” Tommy suggested.
Chimney looked up at him. “You think it will be that easy?” he asked.
“No,” Tommy said. “But we have to start somewhere.”
An hour later, Tommy stood with Chimney outside the small little magic shop’s doors. It didn’t look that assuming. Glass windows on both the outer wall and front door showing racks inside of various items. But one thing Tommy noticed right in the middle of the front door.
“This place doesn’t even open up for two hours,” Tommy said, looking mildly annoyed at Chimney.
“How was I supposed to know what time this place opened?” Chimney asked.
“I don’t know, maybe the same Google page that told you the address and link to the website?”
“It didn’t mention the opening times,” Chimney muttered to himself as he pulled his phone out to show Tommy. “Oh, wait. It does.”
Tommy sighed as he turned and started walking down the street. “Where are you going?” Chimney asked.
“I’m going to get a coffee,” Tommy said as he pointed at the coffee shop on the corner.
Approximately two hours later, the two men returned. Walking into the small store, both Tommy and Chimney felt entirely out of their element. The old wooden frame of the front door cracked as a bell above them rang when they walked through. Tommy looked around the place. It had that old, slightly musty smell of a place that had a lot of old items and unknown things.
Gloria was standing behind the counter along the back wall of the store, and she immediately recognized them as they walked inside.
“Can I help you, gentlemen?” she asked, her voice curt, as they walked up to her.
Tommy pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, finding the picture he had taken of the dog that he used for the Facebook post. The woman raised an eyebrow when he turned it around to show her.
“Our friend went missing the same day that this dog showed up at my house,” Tommy started to explain. “We think he was turned into this dog.”
The woman hummed and nodded. “And you think I have something to do with it?” she asked.
Tommy returned the phone to his pocket. “He lives across the hall from you,” he said.
Chimney nodded where he stood next to Tommy. “You were one of the last people to see him. He texted me Wednesday night saying he was dropping a pie off with you.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said as her lips formed into a fine straight line.
“Also what your daughter asked us yesterday,” Tommy started but stopped as her eyes turned to glare at him. He kept going, not intimidated. “She asked us if something ‘worked.’ I have a strong feeling you know what she was talking about.”
They stared each other down for a long moment. Tommy wasn’t going to back down, now when it was becoming more obvious by the second that she knew something that was going on.
Right when it felt like Tommy was going to have to back down, Gloria let out a resigned sigh, moving the jar in front of her to the side on the counter and folding her hands. “You’ll have to bring him here,” she said.
“Bring him here?” Tommy repeated.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I need to see him to know what was done to him and tell you how to fix it.”
“You don’t know what you did to him?” Chimney asked, butting in.
She turned her gaze to stare Chimney down with her eyes. “I don’t know what my daughter did to him,” she said.
“Fine then,” Tommy said before Chimney could say anything else and derail them further. “We’ll bring him back. Let’s go Howie.” Tommy took a step back and turned to walk to the door, reaching it, he turned around and still saw Chimney standing there. “Let’s go, Howie,” he repeated. “Howie,” Tommy repeated his name. Chimney turned to face him. “Let’s go,” Tommy repeated himself as he walked towards the door, Chimney finally followed him then.
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“Now that we know he’s Buck, everything just makes so much more sense,” Chimney said as they got out of Tommy’s truck and walked up the driveway towards his front door.
“Yeah,” Tommy agreed. His mind had then flashed back to Friday when they had spent nearly the entire day lying against each other on the same couch Buck now slept on, and how Buck snuck into his bed at some point last night to sleep with him.
God, if Buck had somehow turned back into a human on his own at one of those points…
“Yeah,” Tommy repeated himself. “It also explains some things.”
“Some things like what?”
“The not wanting us to watch him pee, thing,” Tommy said.
“Oh… yeah,” Chimney said.
Tommy opened the door and walked into the house, and immediately something felt off… missing.
“Where is he?” Chimney asked as he walked in behind Tommy and looked around.
Tommy walked to the kitchen in the back of the housse not seeing any sign of the dog, looking through the window facing the backyard, Tommy didn’t see him out there either.
Checking the bedrooms, and even the garage, neither found any sign of the dog. “He’s not here,” they came to the same conclusion. Shit.
“Where could he have gone?” Tommy asked. “And why would he leave?”
Tommy went out the back, thinking that Buck might be around the corner of his shed in the shaded area of one of the trees, maybe Tommy had just missed him. Inside Chimney continued to look around, trying not to mess Tommy’s place up too much as he did so.
That was when his phone started ringing with an incoming call. He fished it out of his pocket and saw it was maddie. “Hey Mads, what’s up?”
“ Um… ” Maddie started. “ I think you have a friend here that wants to see you guys.”
“A friend?” Chimney asked. “Who-”
“Just come home,” she said.
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Getting to Maddie and Chimney’s house, they walked in and found Jee sitting on the living room floor, giving belly rubs to a large Golden Retriever next to her.
“Well, I think we found him,” Tommy said.
“Daddy, look at the dog,” Jee said as she looked from Buck up to her father. “Mommy said I have to ask you if we can keep him.”
“Oh, she did? Did she?” Chimney asked as he walked over and squatted down next to them. Buck rolled over onto his legs, still low to the ground.
Tommy walked in behind Chimney, doing a double take upon seeing Buck in Chimney’s living room.
“Well honey,” Chimney started as he spoke to Jee. “I don’t think we’ll be able to keep him, not if you ever want to see Uncle Buck again.”
Jee scrunched her eyebrows, looking at her father in confusion, while Buck perked up, his tail wagging.
“Yeah, yeah, we know who you are,” Chimney told Buck. “You don’t have to make it a big deal.”
“It took you two long enough,” Maddie said as she walked into the room.
“What can I say?” Tommy said. “It’s not like I knew Buck was turned into a dog to begin with.”
Maddie leveled both Tommy and Chimney with a look. “Look at that face,” she said. “How could you mistake him for anyone else?”
Tommy and Chimney both looked at Buck’s face. And Tommy had to admit, he was an idiot for never realizing it before. A big idiot.
They loaded into Tommy’s truck, Buck in the backseat and drove back to the Magic shop, luckily finding an open parking spot right outside.
Getting out and walking inside the shop, there was one customer on the side, Gloria standing behind the back counter. She took one look at the three men and sighed, motioning for them to follow her through a door behind the counter.
“First take this,” she said as she handed Tommy a large blanket when they all were in the small room. Tommy looked at it quizzically. Blue fabric with white stripes, nothing about it looked special, he was pretty sure he saw a similar one for sale at a store a couple months ago.
“What’s this for?” Tommy asked.
Gloria looked at him as if he was stupid. “Your boyfriend isn’t wearing any clothes.”
“We’re not-” Tommy tried to say before she dismissed him and walked to a shelf across the room.
“Sure, whatever you say,” she muttered as she pulled a couple jars off of the shelf. As she was puttering around, and mixing some of the ingredients into a small bowl, Tommy unfolded the blanket and draped it over Buck’s back.
Gloria then turned around, holding the bowl out to Buck and setting down on the floor in front of him. It was a brown looking paste, it didn’t look that appetizing to Tommy, and given the sniff from Buck and look of disgust on the dog’s face, it didn’t smell that appetizing either.
“Eat this and you’ll turn back into a human,” Gloria said as she took a step back.
Buck stared at the bowl for another moment. Before just accepting the fact that he would need to eat whatever this was, even if it was the most revolting food he had smelt in a long while.
Tentatively, Buck reached his snout down and took a taste. Just as he thought it tasted as bad as it smelt. But he was just going to have to get it done if he wanted to become human, it seemed.
As he finished the bowl, thankfully it wasn’t that large, Tommy and Chimney waited with bated breaths, watching for something to happen. But nothing did.
“So what is supposed to happen now?” he asked.
“It doesn’t work instantly,” she said, shrugging. She glanced at the time on her phone. “It’s four now, he’ll be human by tomorrow morning.”
“So we just have to… what wait?” Chimney asked.
“Yes,” she said, straightforward. “Now if you’ll please, I have customers,” she said as she walked out of the room and into the main store area.
Chimney sighed from where he stood next to Tommy, both men looking down at Buck. “So what should we do now?” he asked.
“Go home?” Tommy shrugged. “Where do you want to go?” Tommy asked Buck.
“You’re asking him?” Chimney asked, turning his head toward Tommy.
“Well… yeah,” Tommy said. He looked back at Buck. “Buck?”
Buck was conflicted for a second. He wanted to go with Tommy… so much he couldn’t explain. But he would have to explain it eventually, wouldn’t he? Especially if he did in fact turn back into a human.
If Tommy hadn’t pieced together what Buck was thinking, Chimney did.
“Man, you two are so complicated,” he said exasperated. “He’ll stay at your place until he gets back to normal. In the meantime, please drop me off back home on your way.
“Y- yeah,” Tommy said, caught off guard slightly. “I can drop you off.”
As they walked back out to Tommy’s truck, Gloria waved at them, and asked that they drop the blanket off once they washed it. Tommy didn’t know why she gave them the blanket in the first place if it was supposed to take a couple hours for Buck to turn back, but he was becoming too tired with this whole experience to question it.
Tommy dropped Chimney off at his house, Buck remaining in the back of the truck, and they continued on to his house.
When Buck and Tommy got back to Tommy’s house, they walked inside. “You want anything to eat?” Tommy asked as he walked into the kitchen. “I know Maddie said she gave you some food, but that was hours ago now.” He pulled a package of chicken out of the fridge. “I got chicken,” he said, showing it to Buck. Buck didn’t look that impressed. “What? I’ll cook it.”
With dinner eaten and complete, they went back to Tommy’s living room, Buck curling up into Tommy’s side as he turned the TV on, turning on some random action movie.
About an hour later, Tommy could feel Buck start to get restless next to him. There was a slight shaking underneath the dog’s skin. Tommy put a hand on his back, and Buck felt noticeably more warmer than earlier.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.
Buck let out an unpleasant groan, which did nothing to comfort Tommy.
Shit, what was he supposed to do with a sick dog?
“Um.. do you need some… water?” Tommy asked, racking his brain for anything that could help.
In answer, Buck just let out a pitiful whine as he turned his body and pressed into Tommy’s side.
Tommy sighed as he fell back into the couch, placing a hand on Buck’s back and running his finger up and down his fur in what he hoped was a soothing motion.
At some point Tommy must have fallen asleep. In the morning, he was woken up by the stream of sunlight shining through the living room window. Tommy groaned as he stretched his arms and legs from where he sat. His arm bumped into something heavy and solid, that did not feel like the fur he last remembered.
His eyes immediately snapped open and he jerked his head to look down to his right - at the now definitely human Buck.
Yeah, he was no longer a dog, alright.
Tommy put a hand on Buck’s shoulder and shook him awake. “Hey.” Tommy said. Buck grumbled something and blinked his eyes open, looking up at Tommy.
“Tommy?” Buck asked, still half asleep. Tommy saw the second Buck’s mind caught up with his body, for he sat up quickly, the blue and white blanket that had been laid over him last evening falling off of his shoulders. “I’m human!” Byck nearly shouted.
“Yeah,” Tommy said, nodding. His eyes trailed down slightly. “And you’re naked.”
“I-” Buck looked down, and Tommy could see Buck’s face heat up. “I am.”
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“You know, the last couple days really make me want to get a dog,” Tommy mumbled as he sank back into the bed, Buck laying his head on Tommy’s chest.
Buck picked his head up, looking at Tommy’s face, slightly askance. “As soon as we get back together, you want to replace me?” he asked.
“I never said that!”