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"Mr. White! You won't believe this, yo!"
Typically, Walt wouldn't bother to answer any phone call that he received at three in the morning. Although, it wasn't like it happened enough for him to deem it a problem that needed solving.
But, somehow, Jesse always found a way to make Walt's life just that bit more difficult than it already was.
Really, if the boy had been at all close to him, Walt was certain that his hands would be around his throat in a matter of seconds. He was surprised he had even made it so far without murdering Jesse, in any case.
Because what the hell was wrong with the boy to have possessed him to ring Walter up in the startlingly early hours of the morning?
Actually, that question was better left unanswered (as most inquiries related to Jesse were).
Squeezing the bridge of his nose between taut, calloused fingers, Walt blearily blinked his blurry eyes open, adjusting to the veil of darkness cast upon the empty bedroom of his empty house.
Taking a deep breath as to steady himself, Walt's voice almost growled as he brought the phone closer to his ear, "What do you want, Jesse?" There was silence on the other end, and Walt couldn't resist snapping out, "What could you possibly want at three in the goddamn morning?"
And, since Jesse was unfortunately lacking in smarts, the boy seemed to pointedly ignore his question, settling instead for a very distressed whine of, "Some crazy shit is goin' on, man!"
With a weighted grouse, Walt rubbed a large hand down his creased face and pushed himself up on to one of his elbows, frustratedly kicking at the duvet engulfing his long legs.
"Are you truly so incapable of telling me the issue?" Walt barked into the phone, voice gruff with remnants of his slumber.
The man could feel a dull ache pounding against his head, becoming increasingly more agonising with every second that he wasted on the phone.
As his inquiry was met with yet another bout of silence, Walt's exhaustion turned into scorching frustration, threatening to bubble over into merciless rage. "Or are you purposefully being an idiot?" His own words were drawled out with a sardonic lilt, hoping that Jesse realised his annoyance and left him alone.
"Fuck you!" Came Jesse's own answering bark, catching Walt completely off guard, the elder man spluttering at the - entirely unnecessary - exclamation.
"What?!" Walt floundered, steam practically billowing from his bright rouge ears, unable to process the audacity of his partner.
The audacity to call him up, at three in the morning, to only then get pissed off because Walt was getting frustrated over his lack of communication.
Walt was already planning out how and where he would hide Jesse's body the following morning.
Taking a deep - deep - breath as to steady himself, Walt's eyes squeezed shut and he fell back on to his bed, pressing the phone even closer to his ear as his other hand grasped his duvet as taut as he possibly could, in a feeble attempt to rid of the exasperation pumping through his veins.
"Look," Walt began, voice a low rumble as it reverberated throughout his chest (although, if it was to placate himself or Jesse, Walt was unsure), "whatever's going on with you, it isn't my problem."
Much to Walt's surprise, there was no desperate begging from Jesse's end, only another stretch of hush that had Walt sharply, pointedly, exhaling through his nose, brow twitching.
"So I'm going to hangup the phone now and continue sleeping. Okay?" Walt's query was rhetoric, of course - okay with it or not, either way he would hang up as he could truly not care less about Jesse's mysterious conundrum.
The boy would just have to figure it out by himself, for once.
Predictably, as Walt's thumb hovered over what he hoped was the button to hang up, a rambling of incoherent strings of words attempting to form an articulate sentence tumbled from the phone's speakers, tinny and grating against Walt's poor ear.
"Mr. White!" Jesse almost wailed, edging on frantic as he panted sharply into the phone, as if in the midst of an asthma attack. "I've... I've been turned into a dog, yo!"
And, well... Walt was truly at a loss for words, unsure of how exactly he was meant to respond to that.
Incredulity etched itself into Walt's wrinkled face, tired eyes twitching as they blinked open, his free hand dragging up so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose between two taut fingers.
"This is serious shit, man, I'm freakin' out!" Jesse continued to obnoxiously blather, hastily becoming more and more hysterical.
Perhaps if he weren't so tired, Walt would've felt sympathetic towards the boy - albeit still as frustrated.
Deciding that he had truly had enough, Walt began to pull the phone away from where it was clutched against his ear, heaving a hefty sigh, "... goodnight,
"No, no -" Jesse immediately opposed Walt's departure, who audibly groaned and began to rub comforting circles into the side of his head. " - c'mon, don't be a dick! I'm being for real!"
Walt couldn't help but doubt that.
"I'm some sort of dog-boy." Jesse insisted, "Tail an' everything." There was a pause, presumably so that the young man could check himself out, followed by a disbelieving gasp of, "Holyyy shit."
Scoffing, Walt bitterly advised, "Go to bed, Jesse."
He no longer had the energy to feel anything, wanting to end the goddamn call so he could just sleep. Forcing his eyes shut once again, Walt tugged the duvet back up his body, nestling into its warmth with a small sigh.
"You're probably just -" Walt paused, mulling over his words before he finally settled on a correction, " - no, you're definitely just high."
There was some shuffling on Jesse's end as the boy began to whine - terribly reminiscent to that of a dog's, although Walt assumed the comparison was a result of his hazy mind as it flitted in and out of sleep.
Eventually, Jesse pulled himself together, crying out, "You've gotta come 'round and help me, Mr. White!" Another bout of perturbed whining followed, "I don't know what to do! I'm freaking out!" Jesse's voice grew raspier as panic seized him.
"Mm," Walt hummed, feignining interest as lethargy soothingly lulled his conscience, dragging him back into the cushy warmth of slumber, "this is a... personal issue, Jesse."
Following that was yet another pitchy whine that grated against Walt's poor ears, before the line very suddenly went silent, a dull static following that buzzed throughout the isolated bedroom.
Not willing to look that gifted horse in the mouth, Walt heaved a relieved sigh and his tired eyes finally closed, engulfing the man in blissful nothingness.
Lady Luck had never been particularly fond of him.
"Fine." Jesse huffed, indignant. "I'm comin' to yours, then."
"What?" It was as though a bucket of bitterly glacial water had been dumped over his unsuspecting body.
At once Walt was jolting awake, springing upwards in his bed, eyes frantically wide as he insistently shook his head.
"Wait, no, no." Shoving away his duvet, that had long since lost its familiar comfort, Walt swung his bare legs over the side of his bed and fumbled to his cast-aside glasses, clumsily placing them upon his exhausted face. "Absolutely not."
Walt swore he could hear Jesse's sigh of relief, although he was far too focused on flinging open his drawers and yanking out a hasty outfit to care.
Hand involuntarily squeezing the phone tauter - only resisting his grip when he heard an audible creak from the device - Walt let out a particularly colourful string of curses as he struggled to tug his trousers on with only one hand.
Staggering, Walt's hip collided with the oaken drawers, an agonised cry tumbling past dry lips as he launched the phone at his bed in a fit of fury.
Fury that was directed towards both himself and Jesse, but more so to the latter, unconsciously aware of the fact that it was always just easier to blame his partner.
Slumping back down on his bed, trousers haphazardly tugged over his aching hips, Walt scrubbed a large, calloused hand over his weary face and scratched absentmindedly at his goatee which was in dire need of a trim.
Drawing in yet another deep breath - this one tickling at his chest, threatening a fit of coughs if he were to inhale any deeper - Walt twisted around on the plush, empty, bed and fumbled for his phone in the dark.
Upon scooping it back up, Walt was terribly surprised to find that Jesse had yet to hand up on him, apparently awaiting Walt's next command - as if he were his loyal mutt (ironic, considering the young man's earlier claims).
"Just - just stay put, I'll be there in half an hour."
____
True to his word, Walt arrived at Jesse's all too familiar abode within the time frame he had offered - hell, he even had a few minutes left to spare.
Briefly, Walt pressed his forehead against the cool leather of the steering wheel, head thumping to a silent rhythm as he took a moment to truly mull over why he had allowed himself to be so easily swayed by Jesse.
And why the hell he had even bothered coming to help Jesse out - even if the young man had appeared at his flat, Walt could have easily just locked him out and continued slumbering.
"Idiot..." Walt grumbled into the heavy silence of his car, jaw clenching as he ground his teeth together, unsure who exactly the insult was meant for.
After a few more agonising moments of mulling over his terribly rash decision, Walt begrudgingly pushed open his car door and stepped out, briefly pausing to wallow within the darkness cast upon the isolated street.
Grumbling, Walt stormed towards Jesse's abode. The gate had already been opened in anticipation of Walt's arrival, although that fact did little to soothe Walt's frustration that was fearing up again.
Upon reaching Jesse's front door he pounded a fist against it in a cacophonous rhythm - because if Jesse was going to disrupt his precious sleep, then Walt was going to be petty and return the boy's disruption tenfold.
"Jesse!" Walt barked, knuckles beginning to sting from the relentless beating against worn hardwood, "Jesse! Open the goddamn door!"
Just as he was pulling his hand away, as to swap for his other, there was a faint click as the front door unlocked, followed by a muffled, somewhat pissed, "Jesus, just come in, Mr. White!"
Grasping the handle, Walt flung the front door open, unbothered by the loud crash which followed it as it slammed back against the wall. "I cannot begin to explain how angry I am with you, Jesse!"
Walt noticed Jesse startle at the sudden bout of booming noises from where he was stood, frozen, only a few feet away from Walt's wrath.
The younger man's face was slack with distress, a hand squeezing the side of his signature beanie whilst the other clutched taut on to the heavy, fluffy blanket draped over his shoulders.
He didn't appear high - attentive, no redness about his cerulean eyes, the discernible stench of weed untraceable - but Walt was no fool.
As a result, Walt continued, hands flying about frantically as he proceeded to rant, "Have you lost your mind?" He took a step towards the boy, who cautiously moved back in turn, "Ringing me in the middle of the night to tell me that you're a dog?!"
A disbelieved, almost hysterical, laugh snapped past Walt's lips, unable to truly comprehend Jesse's idiocy - trying to do so only made the numb throb in the back of his head flare.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Walt sneered, crowding Jesse in against the wall, the young man's arms flailing to shove back against Walt's shoulders as Jesse growled at him in a purely animalistic manner, "And don't even get me started on -"
Although, his words withered upon his sharp tongue, tired eyes widening almost comically behind askew glasses as Jesse yanked his beanie off and let his blanket slump to the floor.
There, atop the boy's head, partly hidden by unruly brown hair, were a pair of floppy, sandy ears that were unmistakably that of a dog's; they were pricked, angling backwards, as though attempting to still deflect the loud noises prior.
Slowly, Walt dragged his aghast gaze down, raking over Jesse's scrawny body - for once not hidden by his ridiculously large clothes - to where he had dropped his blanket, eyes halting upon reaching the boy's... tail?
Akin to Jesse's ears, his tail was a sandy-blond in colour, with thick, fluffy fur that lined it, messy and spiky (much like his hair). It drooped down, its tip steadily swaying from side-to-side.
As though burned, Walt staggered backwards, bracing himself against the wall beside him with a quivering hand. He swallowed the hefty lump that lodged in his throat, wheezing out a hoarse, "Oh."
Scoffing, Jesse used the opportunity to slip away, scurrying behind Walt in a hasty movement - had he always been that fast?
"Done yet, asshole?" Jesse grumbled, words rumbling with a quiet growl that had Walt whirling around, unable to school his face into something more neutral. "Look, I wasn't lyin', yo! I've really turned into a dog!"
Gesturing to himself, Jesse uncomfortably shifted as Walt continued to wordlessly assess him, intent but wary gaze flickering all over his body.
When the shock began to wear off, the heavy smog of silence that threatened to suffocate the two partners eventually became apparent to Walt, who suddenly felt rather nauseous watching Jesse's... tail... nervously sway back and forth.
"This is..." Walt began, mouth heavy with unadulterated disbelief, unable to hide the quiver in his voice as he rubbed a cheek with his hand. "I am truly sorry for not believing you, Jesse."
Following Walt's halfhearted apology was a snort from Jesse. He crossed his arms over his chest and quirked a brow, lips pulled back into a sneer, revealing pointed canines that sat awkwardly in his mouth - as though Jesse wasn't quite sure what to do with them.
"But you have to understand, this -" Walt gestured wildly at the other's new limbs, " - this is not normal."
And that was certainly a generous understatement.
"You think I don't know that?!" Came Jesse's answering yap, face contorting heatedly, tail lashing behind him. He stepped closer and jabbed a pointed nail against Walt's chest, "You're the scientist, tell me what the fuck is happening to me!"
Grasping Jesse's wrist between calloused fingers and forcing it away, Walt scowled bitterly, "A chemistry teacher! I haven't studied biology in years!" He shook his head disapprovingly, "Besides, even if I had, this has never happened before."
"Shit." Wrist going limp in Walt's hand, Jesse slumped, floppy ears sagging down and tail drooping between his legs, accompanied by low, pitiful whines that Walt wasn't even sure the man was aware of.
It was almost upsetting; Walt couldn't help but take pity on the young man.
Something much more agitated creased Jesse's countenance as he tugged his arm back, hands entangling themselves in his hair, tugging hard enough to be painful. "Shit, man!"
He plucked the fallen blanket off of the floor and scurried to his sofa, practically throwing himself on to it with a soft thump, covering his body with the blanket - which looked somewhat strange, considering his tail which created an awkward lump.
"My life is over!" Jesse continued to wail, voice muffled.
Sighing, Walt observed the young man from where he stood, a considerably deep frown set upon his face as he considered the situation.
Whilst he was still irked that he had been abruptly pulled from his home to deal with an incoherent and emotional Jesse, Walt was aware that continuing to argue with the man would only evoke more perturbation within Jesse.
His decision to approach the boy was partly due to genuinely wanting to assist him, whilst the other part merely wanted to get it over with so that he could go back home and rest.
"Now, son, that isn't true." Walt grunted as he lowered himself on to the sofa, awkwardly perching on the edge before relaxing back into the plush cushions, albeit stiffly.
From where he was curled up, Jesse huffed and shoved the blanket off of his head, twisting his neck around to glare cautiously at his partner, frowning.
Although, his ears were pricked, giving away his attentiveness, which had Walt fighting back a pleased smile that tugged threateningly at his mouth.
Jesse already tended to wear his heart on his sleeve - it appeared that his new features were of a similar nature.
Reaching forwards, Walt grasped Jesse's shoulder and squeezed, pointedly ignoring his distasteful grimace. "Those hats of yours can easily cover up those ears."
As to enunciate that point, Walt moved his hand up to Jesse's head, the young man's sullen gaze following the action with confusion.
Hand heavy atop Jesse's head, the elder began to rub it back and forth through the boy's soft hair, earning a puzzled grumble from Jesse who made a feeble attempt to pull back.
It was to no avail, as Jesse soon became pliable underneath him, nuzzling upwards into Walt's hand. Hesitantly, Walt moved that very hand to scratch behind one of the boy's relaxed ears.
At once, Jesse's tail jumped to attention, thumping along to an ecstatic beat and wagging delightedly from underneath the blanket.
Walt felt his heart leap within his chest at the sudden movement, subtly moving his free hand to his heart and pressing down against it.
Still, he chuckled - not unkindly - and removed his hand from Jesse's head to peel the blanket back.
Fascinated, he watched the fluffy limb as it wagged, only glancing away when Jesse snarled defensively. The younger man turned so that his tail was partly hidden from Walt's view.
"Sensitive area?" Walt queried teasingly when Jesse grasped his wrist and tugged it back towards his head, happily obliging the silent request. "Good boy."
"Sh - shut up!" Jesse whined, an embarrassed flush heating his cheeks as he hastily batted Walt's hand away. "How much more homo can you get, man?"
Heaving a hard roll of his eyes, Walt sighed, "I was curious to see how you would react to such words, what with being a dog now." He raised a brow and glanced towards Jesse's still-wagging tail. "It's good to explore these things."
"Explore this, bitch!" Jesse snarled.
Scoffing, Walt pushed himself to sit forwards, firmly declaring, "If you're just going to behave like a child whilst I'm trying to help you, I might as well just go home."
That threat changed Jesse's entire demeanour; ears drooping, the young man leapt forwards, clutching on to Walt's arm desperately.
He didn't even seem ashamed of how clingy he was acting, most likely too stressed over the situation at hand.
"Yo, I was just jokin', Mr. White!" Jesse almost whimpered, "I'm sorry, man!"
Feeling his resolve crumble, Walt shook his head, reaching behind the boy to tenderly stroke his tail. It swayed leisurely upon receiving such a gentle touch.
"It's... It's okay, son." Walt reassured, deducting that they were both far too sleep deprived to be dealing with such a challenging conundrum. "How about we get some sleep?" He suggested, hinting, "Perhaps it will disappear in the morning."
"Maybe..." Jesse seemed to weigh it over in his head, only breaking from his thoughts when Walt placed a hand over the boy's cheek and cupped it, using the position to itch behind his sandy ears. "How are you not, like, freaking the fuck out right now?"
Truly, Walt was 'freaking out' - as Jesse so elegantly put it - but his exhaustion outweighed his apprehension.
Besides, one of them had to be the voice of reason in the situation; and Walt knew damn well that it wasn't going to be Jesse.
"I'm... processing it." He decided upon instead, offering a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Come on now, up, up!" Walt pushed himself to stand before assisting Jesse with the task, roughly yanking him forwards.
Yelping, Jesse only just caught himself before he went tumbling off of the sofa, standing on wobbly legs. "Hey!" He grunted when Walt continued to shove him away from the seating.
"Time for bed, hurry up." Walt persisted, wishing to get Jesse into his own bed so that he could hurry home and enjoy the remaining hours of the night before the sun peered over the horizon.
"Okay, okay!" Raising his arms in mock surrender, Jesse stumbled away from Walt, tail lashing to the side as he hurried over towards his stairs and began to descend them, grumbling, "You got sand in your vagina or somethin'? Chill, man."
Walt briefly paused on the stairs, attempting to process that comment before ultimately giving up, deciding that it was far too late to be dealing with Jesse's shenanigans.
"Purely for the sake of my own sanity, I'm opting to ignore that comment." Walt declared with vague frustration, "I will not hesitate to leave, Jesse." He added when Jesse groused about him having no sense of humour.
Glancing over his shoulder from the top of the stairs, Jesse visibly deflated, "Damn, sorry..."
His tail fell between his legs once again (Walt decided he would need to study dog behaviour if the change were permanent), a hand rubbing at his neck.
"You're not, like... gonna leave, are you?" Jesse inquired, uncharacteristically timid.
Meeting him at the top, Walt placed a reassuring hand on the boy's back as he guided him towards his bedroom. "No, Jesse." Came his reassuring murmur, "I'll stay here, son."
Still, Walt would certainly expect something in return for carrying out such a strenuous task. Whilst he was almost dead on his feet, nonetheless.
He decided to voice that thought, hand still cradling Jesse's back as he hummed, "Though, I will expect something in return for my very generous services."
As expected, Jesse wrenched himself away from Walt's touch, throwing an unimpressed look over his shoulder, a pout playing upon his lips. He turned back to the door of his bedroom and pushed it open, moaning theatrically, "Ugh, you suck, man!"
Upon entering his bedroom, Jesse leapt on to his large bed - unkempt and pillows thrown everywhere - and yelled when he fell on to his tail (earning a pained grimace from Walt), hastily rolling on to his stomach and burying his face into a nearby pillow.
Walt's appraising eyes scouted out a jagged hole cut haphazardly into the back of the boy's jeans where his tail poked through. He rolled his eyes, in a manner that was only somewhat fond.
"Can't even help a friend out?" Jesse questioned, hopeful, as he tipped his head back with a toothy - or fang-y? - grin.
Exhaustion crinkled his partner's dazzling azure eyes, mouth suddenly falling open as a hefty yawn squeezed past his lips.
Upon closer inspection, Walt noted a matching pair of puncture marks on both his bottom and top lip, as if he had been clumsy enough to injure himself twice on his new fangs.
Though, it was Jesse; Walt shouldn't have expected more out of him.
Staring at Jesse's plush bed, the boy sinking into the mattress, Walt could feel his lethargy sink its claws into his hazy mind, urging him to give into it and pass out.
A part of him was reluctant to do so, however - it would surely breach the line of what meth partners could do with one another.
Not only that, but Walt also certainly didn't want Jesse to get the wrong idea, unless he wanted an assortment of colourful names for gay people to be hurled his way.
"Well, I'm not helping a friend out, am I?" Walt eventually responded, voice rumbling within his chest as his drowsiness won over.
"Fuck you!" Jesse yapped pathetically, face still pressed into his pillow. "Such a bitch, yo."
Flicking the light off, room engulfed in the inky expanse of darkness, Walt toed his shoes off and slung his jacket over the back of a nearby chair that was already cluttered in Jesse's own clothes.
Grasping one of the many pillows littered over the bed, Walt patted it down before propping it up against the oaken headboard, clutching the thick duvet and pulling it back as he slipped into bed beside Jesse, letting it fall over both of their limp bodies.
Realising that Walt was laying beside him rather than ditching him, Jesse's tail started ecstatically wagging back and forth, rustling the duvet and almost completely tugging it off of Walt's relaxed form.
"Jesse." Walt snapped, reaching over to still the boy's tail - to no avail, as when he pulled away, it sprang back into action.
Whining, Jesse flipped over on to his side, huffing softly into the mattress. Despite the shift, his tail still caught on to the blanket, forcing it away from Walt who could have thwarted the boy for disturbing his sleep the second time that night.
Arm unfurling from where it was pressed to his side, Walt held it out in a subtle invitation for Jesse to move closer - so that the blanket couldn't be tugged so far off of his body, and Walt would finally, finally be able to sleep.
Jesse's ears - what Walt could make out of them in the dark and without the aid of his glasses - pricked up at that, tail halting momentarily before picking back up at a greater speed than before.
It was as though a switch had been flicked in Jesse's mind, the younger man practically lunging at Walt who was terribly startled to see such open affection from the younger man who had rejected such proximity only minutes ago.
Perhaps a shift in him relating to his new biology? Or perhaps it was a matter of sleep deprivation?
Either way, the change was one that was not completely unwelcome; Jesse was already proving himself to be a rather loyal partner, so Walt was enraptured by the possibility of that loyalty increasing tenfold as a result of his newfound dog-instincts.
If that were the case, Walt supposed he didn't have much to worry about in regards to the future of their meth business - as long as Jesse remained by his side.
Curling his arm around the younger man's waist, Walt pulled him in even closer and allowed his eyes to flutter shut, huffing out a soft sigh of content.
After a few hesitant beats, Jesse flung one of his own significantly skinnier arms over Walt's chest, burrowing into his side and nuzzling his face into the crook of the man's neck.
He followed up the movement with a pleased rumble - a sound which was a mockery of a purr, reverberating throughout Walt's body, a pleasant buzz flushing through the sleepy man.
"Night, Mr. White." Jesse murmured drowsily into his neck, the noise seeming to also lull him into the comforting arms of slumber.
No longer disturbed by the wagging of Jesse's tail - which had relaxed, all movements ultimately ceasing - Walt allowed himself to sink back into the cushy warmth of sleep.
With all worries and flurrying questions of the situation pushed aside to deal with the following morning, Walt succumbed to unconsciousness once grumbling out a slurred, "Goodnight, Jesse."