{"sf1_id":814483,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Dogs: Litany - Episode IV","author":"Aux Chiens","words":7989,"posted_at":"2015-02-02T20:31:00.000Z","tags":["Beagle","Brothers","Character Development","Dog","Gay Relationships","M/M","Male","Male Pregnancy","Plot Development","Secrets","Story Progression","Transformation"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/814483-the-dogs-litany-episode-iv","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/814483","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=814483\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"            Bligh was glaring at Andrew - and Andrew\nfelt it, he felt Bligh's eyes bore into him, and he kept his head facing the\nkitchen, watching Stephen root through his pantry like a raccoon, humming some\nderanged melody that Andrew suspected was a Smiths song, just to avoid seeing\nwhat he just knew was a glare of wordless outrage.\n            The three of them stood by the\ndoorway, having not moved since Stephen had greeted them, given Andrew a quick\nhug, waved at Bligh, and gone straight for the kitchen - all, as they watched,\nin floored silence.\n            \"The fuck, Drewseph,\ny'all ain't got candy?\" Stephens head appeared out of the pantry with a\ncocked eyebrow. \"You on a diet or something? Y'used to eat those little\nchocolates--\"\n            \"If you were hungry\nbrother, we coulda gone somewhere...\" Andrew said, trying not to sound as\nhelpless as he felt. \n            \"Look at him go,\" said Cody, impressed.\n\"I've never seen -somebody tear into food like that before...\"\n            \"Why the fuck he here?\" Bligh demanded of\nAndrew in a low voice. \n            \"I--\" Andrew\nshrugged, the sounds of his brother scavenging in the kitchen growing\nnigh-deafening under the watchful gaze of Bligh and Cody. \"I dunno, I -\nguess I forgot to lock the door--\"\n            A rustling, as of plastic,\nannounced Stephen's latest find in the pantry: \"Oh dude, Cheez-Its!\"\n            \"Ain't no damn excuse fer em bargin the fuck\nin,\" Bligh murmured. \"He used ta do this shit back home til Pappy got\ntired of tellin em ta stop.\"\n            \"Y'all hung out that\nmuch?\"\n            \"Do it matter,\nDrew?\"\n            Andrew shook his head, too\nirritated to deal with his own jealousy. \"And he smells like - you smell\nthat?\"\n            \"He smell like\nshit,\" Bligh affirmed.\n            \"He's getting into my\nCheez-Its,\" Cody protested. \"Andy, can't you--?\" \n            \"But no booze?!\" came the cry from the kitchen - up went Stephen's\nhead, his scrawny, shirtless body in the glow of the refrigerator, box of\nCheez-Its in hand, with a grin that seemed too clever by half. \"C'mon,\nBligh, no Killian's?\"\n            \"I dun drink cuz Drew dun\nwant me too,\" he said gruffly. \n            Stephen let the refrigerator\ndoor close behind him with a sour look, his cheeks swollen just slightly with\ncrammed-in snack food. \"And you just do whatever he says now?\"\n            \"It's called\nrespect,\" Bligh answered, now training his glare on the young intruder.\n\"Not that yew'd know...\" He shook his head briskly, as though he\nrealized the absurdity of the situation.\"Steve why the fuck yew here? How\nthe fuck--?\"\n            \"Drewseph here had his\nrésumé on Linkedin and it had his uh, his address on it.\"\n            Andrew felt Bligh's glare at\nhim turn near-murderous. He could not bear to look at him, to see how angry and\nupset Bligh would be at him for this unforgivable mistake - his ears struggled\nto flatten in the confines of his cap.\n            \"Fucking Hell,\" he whispered to himself.\n            Stephen moved from behind the\ncounter to cross into the living room, standing in front the television.\n\"All I had to do was Google you--\"\n            \"You can do that?\" Cody wondered aloud.\n            \"Why now?\" Andrew\nlet out a long, exasperated sigh. \"Why - why tonight?\"\n            \"Because--\" \n            He jammed his hand in the box\nof Cheez-Its for another helping before Cody spoke up:\n            \"Hey - um - Stephen -\ncould you...please not eat them all?\"\n            Stephen raised an eyebrow at\nhim, as through impressed that Cody had been able to do what Bligh and Andrew\nhad not - the box briefly bulged as he opened his palm to relinquish half a\nhandful, and his hand came up to eat part of what he had taken, placing the box\ndown on the glass and wood coffee table in front of him.\n            \"Thanks...\" Cody said.\n\"I really like them, and--\"\n            Stephen chortled. \"Dude,\nme too! We should totally--\"\n            \"Stephen, why did you come over tonight?\"\nAndrew cut in peremptorily. \n            His brother's good humor\nevaporated at once - his mouth became a firm line of annoyance. \"Because,\nDrewseph, I was tired of you ignoring me.\"\n            \"Ignoring you?\"\n            \"Ignoring me,\" Stephen answered back to mock Andrew's tone.\n\"Do you know how many times I've texted about hanging out?\"\n            \"Do you not understand\nwhen someone is busy?!\" Andrew\ncried.\n            Stephen shoved the remainder\nof his handful of Cheez-Its into his mouth and munched with a perturbed\nexpression that would have been comical had not Andrew, knowing how close\nStephen was to their bastion of truth and privacy in the world, been stricken\nso deeply in his heart by the notion that something terrible was about to\nhappen. He felt his ears strain in his cap, his tail stock-still, but his hands\nremained by his side, giving away nothing.\n            The silent standoff between\nthe two brothers continued through every chew and swallow, until Stephen,\nfinished with his purloined snack, took one final gulp, his tongue maneuvering\nto clean his teeth. His stare into Andrew was intent, but half-vacant, as if\nthe thoughts inside his own head were too numerous to be focused on one at a\ntime.\n            \"How the fuck you gonna\nbe busy for a whole damn month?\" Stephen demanded quietly. \"I moved\ndown here to be closer to you, then I get this kinda shit. I don't appreciate\nit, dude.\"\n            \"My life doesn't revolve\naround you,\" Andrew said frostily. \"When I'm busy, Brother, I mean I'm busy.\"\n            Stephen balked. \"The fuck?!\"\n            Bligh snickered, a cruel,\nmocking sound. \"We really gotta explain it ain't okay ta make yerself at\nhome where yew ain't wanted?\"\n            \"Bligh!\" Cody\nadmonished.\n            Stephen looked to Andrew,\naghast. \"Are you just gonna sit there and let him say shit like\nthat?\"\n            Andrew shot a glance of\nwarning - Bligh had indeed gone too far, even as scared as Andrew was he could\nnot let Bligh be as mean as he wanted to his own brother. Bligh looked to his\nboots - a brief grimace came to his face, and he exhaled harshly at his feet.\n            \"Aight - sorry...\"\n            \"No no no,\" Stephen\ninsisted, pointing. \"Fuck you Bligh. That was really fucked up.\"\n            Bligh suppressed a growl - he\ngritted his teeth, something he had always done since Andrew and Stephen had\nknown him, but his fangs flashed, and a frightened chill spread over the back\nof Andrew's neck in the spare seconds he wondered if Stephen had noticed.\n            He had not - but he seemed\nsad, actually hurt, by how Bligh was acting.\n            \"I - I thought - I\nthought you'd be stoked to see me--\"\n            \"Yew did this shit at\nPappy's n'he didn't like it I n'I still\ndun like it, why the fuck would\nI--?\"\n            \"Don't lie me to,\"\nStephen said with a laugh that sounded forced. \"Does it really matter\nwhose house I'm in? I know you, I\nknow you both--\"\n            \"But Brother you're in our house--\"\n            \"Which I have every right\nto be in!\" Stephen exclaimed, raising his arms. \"I'm your brother! Don't that count for\nanything?\"\n            \"That's not the\npoint--\"\n            \"Then what is the point, Drewseph? Why the Hell is\nme being in your house such a - such a big fucking problem?\n            Andrew felt an outrage build\ninside him - a revolt, an anger at something far larger than himself, an\nimpulse that overwhelmed him, that dwarfed his natural defenses, what had been\nbuilt into subroutines for the past month.\n            \"You wanna see, Brother?\nYou wanna fucking see why - why you -\nyou in my house is such a problem?\"\n            Stephen's eyebrow flicked up\nand down. \"What - what are you--?\"\n            Bligh must have sensed it, his\ntone was of dread surrender: \"Drew - Drew, man don't--\"\n            And Cody too: \"Hey, Andy,\nwait a sec--\"\n            But Andrew did not heed them.\n            He removed his cap, the USF\nhat he had bought his freshman year, and he flung it over Stephen's head so\nthat it sailed onto the couch, landing near-perfectly over the remote, having\nwatched Bligh do the same many times.\n            His ears - the ones that had,\non that same couch, elongated and made into fine points with a bloom of blond\nfur - sprang forth, released from the prison of conformity.\n            Stephen did not gasp - Bligh\ndid, a sucking-in of air at the face of the unthinkable, but Stephen did not.\nHe parted his lips, and he stared.\n            It was though all sound, all\ntime, all motion, had ceased, altogether - no one moved, no one spoke.\nStephen's eyes, wide, remained on his brother's ears, in a wonder that had\nfallen from the peak of the initial shock - his breath through parted lips was imperceptible,\nas he took several steps forward, arm upraised, to grab one of the corners of\none of the ears that Andrew had not been born with. \n            Andrew, in turn, shut his\neyes. He willed his heart - the heart that Stephen would soon know was not the\nheart that bled as he watched him, years ago, stare at the wall catatonic,\nglassy, and tearful, when Walker died - to be still, in vain begging the fear\nthat had torn its talons into his very soul to stop.\n            \"Drewseph...\" Stephen\nwhispered as he withdrew his hand.\n            Andrew opened his eyes to see\nStephen's were full of a deep wonder, something he had not expected - gone was\nthe vulpine mischievousness, gone was the cruelty and the apathy that had\ncurled in the corners of Stephen's mouth since the last time Andrew had\nproperly seen him, the day he left, years ago...his expression was as one who had\njust seen the birth of a star in deep space, so overwhelmed by the simple act\nthat something so beautiful and abnormal could exist at all.\n            His face moved - not quite a\nsmile - as Andrew turned around to nod at Cody and Bligh, who both, Cody at\nonce and Bligh hesitating, doffed their respective hats, their ears, the\nunmistakable mark of what they had become, springing free.\n            Stephen took a step back - he\nwas definitely smiling now, his eyes still wide with a nameless wonder he\nprobably did not understand himself.\n            \"You...all--\"\n            \"Yeah...\" Andrew\nmurmured, finding himself almost on the verge of tears, the ears that Stephen\nhad been touching flattened in terror. \"All of us - we - we three,\nwe--\"\n            \"Don't be scared--\"\nCody moved forward from in between the other two, smiling warmly at the\ninterloper in his home. \"Steve. Can I - can I call you that?\"\n            Andrew looked over Cody with a\nnew curiosity - he had forgotten, having been his protector for so long, how at\nhis core Cody was fearless, the years of street-living and homelessness having\ntaught him that, in life, one ultimately has very little to lose.\n            Stephen seemed amused at the\nboy - not truly a boy, a full year older than he was - and he flashed a\nflattered smile. \"Please,\" he murmured. \n            Cody nodded. \"Steve - I like to give people\nnicknames.\"\n            The flattered smile remained.\n\"Me too...\" came another murmur. \"That's why Drewseph's Drewseph.\"\n            Bligh moved to stand next to\nAndrew who had smiled, very well in spite of himself, at Stephen calling him Drewseph, catching his hand and giving\nit a reassuring squeeze - the fear was abating, if slowly, a slow stinging pain\nthat Bligh's touch could only somewhat heal.\n            \"You're not scared, are\nyou?\" Cody asked Stephen with his warm smile.\n            Stephen shook his head slowly.\n\"No - not - at all, Dakota--\"\n            \"Cody,\" corrected Cody, trying not to be offended.\n            \"--Dakota, no, I'm not\nscared, why - why would I be? You look - different but--\" He tilted his\nhead, and Andrew tried not to bristle as he saw what he was doing - he put his\nhand on Cody's face. He and Bligh shared a glance, and saw his best friend's\near falter in sudden concern.\n            \"Um - hi there?\"\nCody giggled, unsure. \"What um - what are you--?\"\n            \"Open your mouth?\"\n            Cody did as Stephen asked him\n- Stephen took a step back, folding his arms to meet where Walker's fang still\nhung on the necklace. \n            \"It's not just the ears,\"\nStephen observed with a smile that was now more impressed. \"Teeth too--\"\n            \"Yeah, they're\nreal,\" Cody said. \"Makes chewing meat easier.\"\n            \"Really now...\"\n            Andrew sighed, a hot breath of\nanxiety. \"They're not - they're not fake, or--\"\n            \"I didn't think they were,\nhonestly.\" He took another step back so that he could sit on the arm of\nthe couch, next to his discarded shirt, beholding the three of them with such\nintent study it may as well have been divine revelation. \"What's - what's\nweird is - y'all look familiar - and\nit's so weird how you - do...\"\n            All three of them were puzzled\nby the remark, but Cody was first to speak up: \"Wait - how can we be\nfamiliar? You've never seen--\"\n            Stephen shook his head,\nclosing his eyes as though trying, and failing, to recall the memory.\n\"It's - I can't explain it. Maybe - uh - s-something I've seen somewhere,\nI dunno.\"\n            \"One o'my movies?\"\nBligh guessed with a small smirk, oddly at ease. \"S'weird how made-up\nstuff sometimes gets real--\"\n            \"A werewolf movie...\"\nCody pondered aloud. \"None of the ones you've shown me,\" he said to\nBligh with a smile - Bligh ruffled his hair with a smirk, Andrew smiling at the\ndisplay.\n            \"Aww that's cute, y'all\nmarathon movies together.\" Stephen rolled his eyes. \"Giving me diabetes--\"\n            \"Dun be jealous,\nnow,\" Bligh said with a titter.\n            \"Trust me dude, I'm\ngood,\" Stephen said, opening his eyes - his smile had a small curvature in\nthe corner of his mouth, and it fleetingly occurred to Andrew, as well as he\nknew his brother, that he was hiding something. \"So like--\" He crossed\nhis legs at his ankles, hunching down into the arm of the couch. \"Is that\n- is that how it happened, though? Like - full\nmoon or--?\"\n            \"Duke changed me,\"\nBligh said. \"When I got down here, I changed them too.\"\n            \"Per - permanently?\" Stephen hazarded.\n\"Doesn't - doesn't go, like, back and forth, or--?\"\n            All three of them gave some\nvariation of a nod.\n            \"I see. So - how--?\"\n            \"S'contagious - one way.\nAin't blood, ain't sneezin - nuthin like that.\" Andrew heard Bligh swallow\nhard. \"Jest sex.\"\n            \"I let him change me\nfirst so we - so we could be together...all three of us,\" Cody finished - he\nsmiled some. \"I - I like being this way. I have to wear a hat, but -\nthat's okay. We're all the same and I like it that way.\"\n            Stephen gave a half-nod of\nacknowledgement to Cody before glancing back to Bligh, deeply askance.\n\"Sex...\" He said slowly. \"Then how...did you - with Duke--?\"\n            A long, dreadful silence\nfollowed Stephen's question - Andrew watched as Bligh's face turned a bright\npink, blotted by a grimace which meant he had come to an emotional\nimpasse...their hands fell away as his ears went flat.\n            Stephen began to smile -\nslowly, it crossed his face, warping his mouth, until it blossomed into a\nmerciless grin of complete, cosmic epiphany.\n            \"Oh,\" he said with a flick of his eyebrow. \"I always knew there was something - special about you - and that dog...\"\n            \"He tried to pass it off\nlike a monster attacked him,\" Andrew said with a mirthless sniff - Bligh's\nears twitched, mortified. \"Like Teen\nWolf.\"\n            \"Yeah yeah, or American Werewolf In London, same damn\nthing - I mean Duke was huge but I\nwouldn't - um, exactly call him a monster - but then again...\" He paused,\neying Bligh with the same knowing grin. \"He weren't no dog at all, was he?\"\n            \"Stevie--\" Andrew\ntried to interrupt.\n            \"That's why - that's why\nyou wanted to ask about the dogs in the county...\" His grin faded - a low,\nsinister chortle escaped him. \"And if they could talk.\" All amusement left his face. \"And now that's what\ny'all are - right? Talking - dogs? Because Duke was, and that's what he - he\nchanged y'all into - talking dogs--\"\n            \"I was always a\ndawg,\" Bligh interrupted. \"A - wolf - werewolf - dawg, half-dawg - I\n- was always sumthin else, Stevie.\" He took a hand to stroke one of his\nears. \"This? This ain't no thang - jest - what I always was, man.\"\n            Andrew felt his heart do an\nunnatural flutter - he looked to him with something almost like admiration, the\nprevious feelings of having failed him, the crawling panic that had set in ever\nsince he had given into the impulse to show Stephen his true self, melting\naway...he felt himself, despite all the latent bitterness, being proud of Bligh,\nnot just as his lover but as someone he looked up to, who had accepted himself\nin ways that Andrew still hadn't.\n            \"I figured that,\"\nStephen said. \"You give off that vibe a lot - there's a reason not - not a\nlotta girls liked you in high school, with that whole - what did they used to\ncall you?\"\n            \"Wolfman,\" Andrew\nmuttered.\n            \"Wolfman,\" Stephen repeated with a grin. \"Duuude, does\nthat take me back...\"\n            \"Stevie he - Duke\nwas...\" Bligh's voice trailed off, as though mere words to describe what\nthat magical creature meant to him would not be enough. \"Don't act like he\nwere jest a dawg, ya know damn good\nhe weren't no plain ol animal.\"\n            \"So I heard,\" Stephen rejoined unkindly.\n\"So I heard many - many times\nwhen we would chill at your place.\" \n            The old jealousy Andrew had\nfelt when Stephen had first told him they, Bligh and Stephen, had spent time\ntogether flared up again - he inwardly suppressed it, and it came out as a\nslight half-sigh.\n            \"Then dun judge me,\"\nBligh whispered, his eyes glistened for a second, maybe more, with sudden tears\n- Andrew moved to put his arm around Bligh's waist, pulling them together.\n\"Dun ya dare judge who I am--\"\n            Stephen's smile, meanwhile,\nhad vanished, as he seemed to, at least for a moment, grow serious for Bligh:\n\"I'd never - I know - pretty much better than you.\"\n            Bligh seemed offended at the\nnotion. \"Beg pardon?\"\n            \"You never believed me\nwhen he said he could talk,\" he said quietly. \"But he - he\ncould.\"\n            Bligh did not yield.\n\"Thought yew - could jest talk ta Walker.\"\n            Stephen shook his head slowly.\n\"No - Duke too. But you'd never believe that either--\" A smile - for Stephen it was oddly genuine,\nstrangely caring. \"I only did it two, three times. Everything else was let's go, gonna follow Bligh, and Bligh\nknows what he's doing, and that kind of - stuff Walker would - kinda say,\ntoo...\"          His voice drifted off\n- a flicker of vulnerability, no more than a second, seemed to pass before he\ncleared his throat and spat on the carpet beneath him.\n            \"Brother,\" Andrew\nmurmured, \"can you not spit--\"\n            \"I do what I want,\"\nStephen shot back. \"And I want\nCheez-Its.\"\n            \"What--?\" Bligh had a\nbare second to ask before Stephen cut him off.\n            \"Because I'm higher than\na motherfucker, can't you tell?\"\n            \"I - um--\" Cody tried\nto speak up. \"I didn't wanna say anything, but--\"\n            \"See? This guy gets\nit!\" Stephen gave a flippant little laugh.\n            \"So that's what I smelled...\" Bligh murmured. \n            \"Wait--\" Andrew took\na step forward. \"You crossed the bridge to get here stoned?\"\n            \"Dude, what? No, I lit up\nin the parking lot - around the corner so you wouldn't see the--\"\n            \"I dun care bout\nthat,\" Bligh cut in impatiently. \"I wanna know - what the Hell Duke -\nwhat he said, what he said ta yew.\"\n            Andrew and Cody gave Bligh a\nmeasure of space, standing close together, Cody putting his arm around Andrew's\nwaist to cuddle him where he stood.\n            Stephen shrugged. \"Y'all\n- never believed me--\"\n            \"Naw, I believe\nyew,\" Bligh blurted - Andrew looked at him with sudden concern, faintly\nremembering the half-faith that he had put into his brother a month ago. His\neyes had lit up, and nearly seemed to glimmer - the brilliant icy blue sparkled\nwith a new passion. \"I - I believe yew.\"\n            \"Yeah?\"\n            Bligh nodded rapidly - Stephen\nsat back, demure once more, the Delphic oracle he had always wanted to be.\n            \"Well - um - he...\"\nStephen paused, looking at Bligh, into him, as he seemed to try and remember.\n\"...you were his best friend. Something about - um, he trusted you, for\nrescuing him, he thought of you like a - like a packmate - it was off-hand, yanno, we um - you were gonna take me\nto that old rundown church with the creek going through it, that one, and when\nyou stopped to a take a piss he starts in with this - he just - Bligh's gonna show you where he found me,\nwhere my family's from - but my family's all gone and Bligh's my only family,\nthat's why I love him so much--\" His head was bobbing from side to side\nas he imitated Duke with a deeper voice, but he stopped as he probably noticed\nBligh's change of expression, which Andrew, watching him, also saw: the sparkle\nin Bligh's eyes had turned into the gelid glimmer of fresh tears.\n            \"He - he said that?\"\n            \"Yeah.\" Stephen\ncleared his throat, shifting some. \"Makes sense, since - you found him\nalone, living in that - uh, old church that was, like, bout to collapse at any\nminute.\"\n            \"Then why ain't\nyew--\" Bligh swallowed hard, his voice newly hoarse. \"Y'ain't said\nnuthin bout that when he died--\"\n            \"What good - would it do\nme - to tell you, that your dead dog could talk?\"\n            Bligh withdrew, his face\nbecoming the too-familiar grimace again. \"I...I guess...\"\n            Cody moved to give Bligh a\ntight hug, which the latter held him in, his face unchanged as buried it in the\nboy's hair. \n            Andrew turned his head slowly\nfrom the other two, back to Stephen, letting a respectful, but tense, length\npass, before beginning again: \"How did - how did you understand him, Stephen?\"\n            Stephen stared at him for\nseveral seconds before blinking hard. \"...what?\"\n            \"Wow,\" Cody giggled,\nturning to smile at Stephen. \"You are\nhigh.\"\n            \"Kinda.\"\n            Andrew facepalmed. \"God dammit, Stephen...\"\n            \"Shit,\" Bligh\nhissed, separating from Cody to regard Stephen skeptically. \"Yew\nserious?\"\n            \"Brother--\" Andrew\ntried to cut in.\n            \"Wha - y-yeah?\"\nStephen looked to the three before him. \"What - what?\"\n            \"How the fuck I know yew\ndidn't fuck up yer head drinkin and smokin all the damn time? Went crazy,\nthinkin yew could talk ta damn dawgs?!'\n            Stephen tilted his head back.\n\"Oh nice, popcorn ceiling,\" he said softly to himself. \"Uh -\ndude - dude.\" His head came\ndown, tilted askance. \"Who the fuck taught me how to smoke.\"\n            Andrew and Cody turned their\nheads to Bligh who looked back at them with a sheepish half-smirk. \n            \"Uh...th-that--\"\n            \"Would be you,\" Stephen finished for him.\n\"Same thing with not wearing shirts, but anyway - for the last time damn\ntime, I'm telling the truth.\"\n            Bligh seemed reluctantly\nsatisfied. \"Fine...\" \n            \"You smoke weed?\"\nAndrew asked with a raised eyebrow.\n            Bligh nodded, tittering\nnervously. \"Y-yeah, man, didn't ya know?\"\n            \"I--\" Andrew thought\na moment. \"...wait. Yes, I did. You just - haven't done it here...\"\n            \"You get high?\" Cody\nasked.\n            \"Why does this surprise\nanybody...\" Stephen groaned quietly. \n            \"Yeah, Pup, I--\"\n            \"Pup?!\" Stephen's mouth hung agape before he erupted into\nraucous laughter - Cody blushed and Bligh frowned indignantly at Stephen's\ndisplay. \"Fucking stop being so cute, give me some insulin, I'm\ngoing--\"\n            \"Stop it Stephen,\"\nAndrew ordered. \"Now focus--\"\n            Stephen scoffed. \"This\nagain?\"\n            \"Again - again with\nwhat?\" Cody said.\n            \"My brother keeps telling\nme to focus.\"\n            \"Yes, god dammit, now focus!\" The three others looked at\nhim in unguarded surprise at the force of the last word. Andrew sighed\nirritably, feeling his ears flatten. \"Brother - I need to know. How can you talk to the dogs? As in - do\nyou--\"\n            Stephen shrugged, almost\nlooking helpless. \"I - I dunno! It just - started - I could hear -\nuh--\" He paused, and a passing sadness came over him that left as soon as\nit came. \"Hear - uh - Walker...and understand him, yanno? Didn't I - didn't\nI tell you? Other dogs they don't - sound\nthe same like Walker did like - Duke - did...\"\n            \"When?\" Andrew\npressed.\n            A long pause followed Andrew's\nquestion - Stephen seemed to swallow back some new emotion before he sighed,\nrolling his eyes away, to the television behind him.\n            \"...always.\"\n            As he said it - quietly, a\nhalf-whisper that doubled as mere breath, mere exhalation - Andrew came to a\nsudden epiphany.\n            \"Oh,\" he said.\n\"Oh - oh that's - that's why--\"\n            \"Why I didn't talk to\nanybody until I was - nine? Whatever - whenever it was - it, um - yeah, it was\ntoo hard to differentiate between - how - Walker talked, and how Ma talked, and\nPa...\" He paused. \"And you.\"\n            \"I never knew...\"\nAndrew said in astonishment.\n            Stephen turned back to his\nbrother with an enigmatic smile. \"You'd never believe me,\" he\nrepeated. The smile faded some. \"Acquiring - um, language skills is some\nserious shit. You, uh - you remember they took to me to a specialist in\nCharleston a couple of times--?\"\n            \"What? What - no, I thought Pa just took you because\nhe wanted you to see--\"\n            \"To see what?\" Stephen chortled\nincredulously. \"Really? It's Charleston, homie. What the fuck is there to see?\"\n            \"I dunno man, they\ngot--\"\n            \"Not now, Bligh...\"\nAndrew said out of the corner of his mouth.\n            \"Nah, dude - specialist. Speech therapist.\"\nStephen shrugged. \"Didn't do much good at all. I only felt right talking\nto dogs like - like Walker, which was pointless because I talked to them both, uh, people and dogs the - the same way. But\nI still - I felt...stupid.\"\n            \"Stupid?\" Cody\nrepeated. \"Like you - could talk to dogs better?\"\n            Stephen smiled - for just a\nmoment, genuinely warm. \"Y'ain't as dumb as you look, boy.\"\n            \"I'm - not really a boy?\" Cody ventured. \"I'm -\nI'm nineteen.\"\n            \"You're my age?\"\nStephen asked with a raised eyebrow.\n            Cody nodded. \"Yeah, I'll\nbe twenty next March.\"\n            Stephen studied Cody for a\nmoment. \"Pisces,\" he pronounced. \n            \"Y-yeah!\" Cody\ngiggled. \"How did you--?\"\n            \"Just a guess,\"\nStephen said, the same fleeting warmth returning.\n            \"Focus, Brother,\"\nAndrew ordered.\n            Stephen rolled his eyes,\nfidgeting on the arm of the couch. \"You're such a killjoy.\"\n            \"I'm just trying to get\nto the bottom of this.\"\n            \"Is it science-time with\nDr. Andrew again?\" Stephen said with a sarcastic frown.\n            Andrew tilted his head and\nnarrowed his eyes at his brother to let him know he was about to cross a line -\nStephen gave his demure little shrug to hide from it. \n            \"Anyway - as I was saying\n- dogs like - Walker, and Duke...they...the way they would, like, whine and bark\nand howl - like, to me, to my ear, it would, um - it would come across as,\nlike, um - what's the word - phonemes, yeah--\"\n            \"Language?\" Andrew\nasked, floored.\n            Stephen nodded. \"Mmmhmm.\nAnd they spoke the same language -\nthey sounded different, they had different voices,\nbut - like - you know, you know how, when you hear like a Mexican talk? And\nthey're speaking Spanish but you can still understand them because - um, like, their words - you can translate them\ninto your own - uh, into English?\"\n            Andrew chuckled to himself as\nhe remembered the two Mexicans arguing at the gas station. \"Yeah - yeah I\ndo.\"\n            Another nod from Stephen.\n\"It's like that that. And - I didn't tell anybody that I - um - preferred talking to dogs...at\nfirst.\" Andrew saw him grasp Walker's tooth again. \"Then after I did,\nthey called me crazy.\" \n            He shrugged once more - Andrew\ncleared his throat uncomfortably, remembering he had, before, used the same\nword to describe Stephen to Bligh and Cody.\n            \"And then...right before, um, I entered junior high - it just - came\nnatural to me. I could talk to humans and not feel - stupid, like I said.\"\n            \"What changed?\"\nAndrew asked.\n            \"No clue.\" He smiled\n- leaning back, demure and unphased even with all the bizarre displays of emotion\nthat had taken place. \"But ever since I was a little boy, Brother - Bligh,\nDakota - I could talk to dogs.\"\n            The other three shared a\nquick, significant glance before Andrew withdrew. \"I see...\" He cleared\nhis throat. \"I - I had no idea.\"\n            \"Which reminds me - hey,\nBligh--\" Stephen tilted his head at him.\n            \"Yeah?\"\n            \"You still - you own that\nhouse, don't you? You never told me - what happened to it, if he left you it,\nyanno...\"\n            \"Gus?\" Bligh\nrepeated back. \"Oh--\" and then, with a quick nod: \"I - y-yeah,\nP-Pappy he left it--\" \n            For a half-second his face\nseemed to screw up, his ears going completely flat, and Stephen retreated.\n            \"I see - I see -\nsorry.\"\n            \"Who's Gus?\" Cody\nwhispered to Andrew.\n            \"Pappy - his grandpa,\nremember?\"\n            \"Oh - oh yeah...\"\n            Bligh smirked at Stephen - a\nhalf-smile of familiarity that Andrew, and Cody also he suspected, immediately\nrecognized. \n            \"Ain't - ain't no\nthang--\"\n            The gravity of the situation\ncrept back in as Andrew swallowed hard and moved in front of the other two. \n            \"Stephen,\" he cut in,\nhis voice grave. \"You can't - you can't\ntell anyone about us - or about Walker, or Duke - nothing, understand? Not a\nsoul.\"\n            \"Seriously, man,\"\nBligh added, clearing his throat. \"We're - trustin yew with this. If yew\never cared bout yer brother--\"\n            \"Okay just stop.\"\nStephen held up his hands. \"Don't jump on my ass for something I didn't\ndo, first off, second off, why the fuck would I tell anyone?\"\n            Andrew and Bligh looked at\neach other - Andrew shrugged, Bligh let out a reluctant sigh. \"Because...yew\ntell anybody it's gonna fuck up a lotta shit, man.\"\n            \"Obviously,\" Stephen\nanswered. \"Like - super\nobviously - but oh, wait, that's not a fucking reason, is it? So yeah - why\nwould I--?\" He scanned the three of them before leaning back some, laughing\nsoftly and sarcastically as the answer came to him. \"Y'all...y'all don't\ntrust me.\"\n            Andre shook his head. \"It\nain't that, Stevie, it's--\"\n            \"Don't Stevie me, fucker - you always Stevie me when--\"\n            \"I trust you.\"\n            \"Heeey!\" exclaimed\nStephen in triumph.\n            Andrew and Bligh looked in\nsurprise as Cody came from between them to sit behind him on the couch, putting\nback on his toboggan which he had been holding since he had taken it off.\n            \"Pup, what--?\"\n            \"I said I trust\nhim,\" Cody repeated.\n            Stephen turned to his\nunexpected new ally with a broad, almost manic grin, poking him in the\nshoulder. \"Dakota! I knew you were an alright guy!\"\n            \"Uh, thanks,\" Cody\ngiggled. \"But could you call me--\"\n            \"Okay, both of you, stop.\" Andrew gritted his teeth.\n\"Baby c'mon, I'm trying to explain to him--\"\n            \"I know he just - rolled\nup in here like he owned the place and, yeah, that was a little...\" His\nfrowned at Stephen, his ears briefly flattening - Stephen smiled demurely with\na little shrug. \"A little weird, but--\" He turned back to Andrew. \"You were the one who said we should\ntrust him, remember?\"\n            Stephen groaned again.\n\"Oh shit, please don't tell me y'all had a family meeting about me--\"\n            \"After I - after I\nc-called you, y-yeah--\" Andrew cleared his throat to steady his nerve.\n\"I mean - something, uh, Bligh brought up, um--\" He glanced to Bligh\nwho nodded. \"If they ever found out we aren't - exactly human\nanymore--\"\n            \"Who is they?\" Stephen asked with a\nsarcastic chortle. \"What, we gonna have Agent Mulder up in this\nbitch?\"\n            Andrew wanted to roll his\neyes, but the slope was just slippery enough for him to jump right off of:\n\"Yes - dude, yes!\"\n            \"This is serious shit,\nman,\" Bligh added. \"Y'understand that, right?\"\n            Stephen opened his mouth to\nmake a snide remark of some sort, but a loud buzz from his shorts interrupted\nhim. He made a strange, startled noise - \"Ayah?\" - and dug into his\npocket to obtain his phone. \n            \"Oh Hell yeah, I gotta\nsnap!\"\n            Bligh did not bothering\nstifling his growl this time: \"What the fuck are yew--?\"\n            \"Hold up, hold up,\" Stephen answered impatiently\n- he looked over his shoulder with a cunning, friendly smile. \"Hey Dakota\nc'mere, put your hat back on I wanna so something.\"\n            \"Uh - okay, but could you\nplease call me--\"\n            \"Selfie time!\"\n            Andrew cringed, his ears\npartway to flattening - Bligh let out another growl, softer this time.\n            \"Yer fuckin\nbrother...\" he hissed at Andrew.\n            Cody suppressed a sheepish\nlaugh as Stephen shut one eye and opened his mouth - a cartoonish rictus. The\nphone made a loud click to indicate the picture had been taken - Cody and\nStephen's heads came together to appraise it.\n            \"Oh I look okay,\"\nCody said.\n            \"Fuck that shit, you look\nhot,\" Stephen replied.\n            Cody blushed, bashful.\n\"N-no I don't...cut it out.\"\n            \"Hey Drewseph, tell your\nboyfriend to take a compliment.\" He looked to Andrew, who shook his head\ndisapprovingly, then to Bligh. \"Other\nboyfriend - or - whatever - anyway.\nGod damn that's a good picture! Gonna\ncaption this - what should I caption this--?\" \n            \"Caption it?\"\n            Stephen raised an eyebrow at\nCody. \"Y'ever use Snapchat?\" \n            Cody shook his head.\n\"Nope. I don't have a smartphone.\" \n            Stephen's mouth fell open.\n\"You serious?\"\n            \"I didn't want one!\"\nCody said with a giggle. \"I just needed something to call work and text\nAndy--\"\n            Stephen stopped him with a\nhand on his shoulder. \"Oh. Honey.\"\nHe leaned forward. \"There is so much\nI need to show you.\"\n            Cody laughed at him, blushing\nsome. \"R-Really now?\"\n            Bligh sniffed, having watched\nthe back and forth between the two boys with amusement - evidently seeing Cody\nsmile, especially, had brightened his mood. \"Oh dun get em started on that\nstuff too...\"\n            Stephen glanced to Andrew and\nBligh. \"Um - y'all been standing there awhile.\nWhy don't y'all sit down?\"\n            \"We're good,\" Andrew\nanswered.\n            \"Whatever.\" With a\nshrug, Stephen looked back to his phone. \"Right - yeah, gonna caption this\n- hanging with my brother's boyfriend,\nhe's cute as fuck--\"\n            Cody let out a loud, nervous\ngiggle. \"Wh-what? Don't say that, geez!\"\n            \"Too late!\" Stephen\nexclaimed.\n            \"Who are you sending that\nto, Brother?\"\n            \"The prime minister of\nthe people's republic none of your fucking business.\" \n            \"Excuse me?\" Andrew said.\n            He sneered with an unkind\nchortle, eyes never leaving his phone, as Cody, behind him, unsuccessfully\nstifled a sudden laugh - encouraged, Stephen's sneer was replaced with a smile.\n\n            \"I'm sending it to my\nroomie's girlfriend, why, who cares?\"\n            \"My hat's on, Andy,\"\nCody said. \"And my mouth was closed--\"\n            \"Wait, what?\"\nStephen's head shot to him, eyebrow raised.\n            Cody was patient with him: \"Well\nif anyone sees our - ears, remember, we--\"\n            \"Why do you think I told\nyou to put your hat on?\" Stephen said with a small chortle - his head\njerked back to Andrew and Bligh, who had let the conversation play out as it\nmay. \"Do y'all - y'all really\nnot trust me?\"\n            Andrew did not answer at first\n- he glanced to Cody, nodding at him. \"You trust him?\"\n            Cody nodded. \"Yeah, yeah\nI really do.\"\n            \"Then so do I,\" said\nAndrew, the confidence in his voice surprisingly not forced. He smiled at his\nbrother. \"You can, uh - you can come anytime you want to.\"\n            Stephen, whose thumbs were\nbusy twiddling sending what Andrew presumed to be distracted text-snaps, still,\nlooked up a smile that was self-satisfied and triumphant. \"Well,\nyeah,\" Stephen answered. \"That's why I came over here in the first damn place - we're family, dude!\"\n            Andrew yielded to the\ninevitable. \"I...I know...\"\n            \"I want you to show me\nhow to Snap...uh--\" Cody leaned over Stephen's shoulder. \"That.\"\n            \"Snapchat?\"\n            \"Yeah.\"\n            \"Uh, yeah! Okay, well\nlemme just--\"\n            Andrew turned to Bligh as Cody\nwatched Stephen toy with his touchscreen.\n            \"Hey - hey, are you\nokay?\"\n            Bligh's face revealed nothing\n- he shrugged lightly, a small sigh coming out of his nose. \"Dun I usually\nask yew that?\"\n            Andrew sniffed. \"Guess\nit's my turn.\n            Bligh shrugged again. \"I\n- I guess, man. Hearin him talk bout Duke, though...\"\n            \"I know, dude, I\nknow--\"\n            \"S'weird though, man, he\ndidn't really get ta see Duke much, usually--\"\n            \"Oh whatever,\" Stephen interrupted, apparently having overheard\nthem. \"Motherfucker - okay, like, whenever we'd hang out, oh can Duke come too, like, fucking\nasking my permission if the dog can hang out.\" Cody giggled at\nthe idea, which with his tone Stephen had made all the more absurd - it egged\nStephen on to complete the image: \"Like, how are you kidding, dude? Duke\nwas there all the time - shit I felt\nlike the fucking dog was the third\none in the relationship.\" \n            \"Uh?\" was the noise\nCody made at the final word.\n            \"Relationship?\"\nasked Andrew, near-automatically - something about the word made him deeply\nuncomfortable, an immediate eerie feeling that pressed against him clammily.\n            Stephen looked up from his\nphone, his facial expression going from confused to indignant. At once, Cody,\nAndrew, and Stephen all focused their eyes on Bligh, who shuffled where he\nstood in obvious discomfort.\n            \"Oh, fuck,\" Stephen\nmuttered. \"You mean you didn't tell them?\"\n            \"Tell us what?\" Cody\nrose from the couch and moved back to stand near Bligh, evidently concerned at\nhis hardened, discomfited gaze down at the floor.\n            \"Yeah...\" Andrew\nagreed. \"Tell us what?\"\n            Yet another unkind chortle\nfrom Stephen as he re-pocketed his phone: \"Really! Fuck - guess it's up to\nme, but - me and Mr. Bigdick dated\nfor a week after you moved.\"\n            Cody's mouth fell open -\nAndrew felt his blood run cold with immediate, abject horror.\n            \"Bl-Bligh--\" he\nstammered. \"Don't - are you--?\"\n            Shutting his eyes tightly,\nBligh managed a single, firm nod of affirmation. \"He right,\" he\ngrunted.\n            Cody made a series of confused\nnoises, half-words, trying to make sense of what he was hearing - Andrew\nstudied him, studied every part of him in this intolerable, oppressive\nawkwardness that now saturated them all, looking for a sign, something,\nanything, why Bligh would do such a thing and never tell him, ever.\n            \"Why the fuck--\"\nBligh managed, before looking away and exhaling a raw, irritated breath at\nStephen. \"Why would yew ever--\"\n            \"Wait...\" said Cody,\nfinally gathering his thoughts. \"Wait - hey, Steve, are you saying\nyou--?\"\n            \"Yep.\" Stephen rose\nfrom the couch, grabbing his discarded shirt from behind him, with a delighted\nlittle smile. \"Bligh made a man out of me.\"\n            Andrew's eyes slid slowly in\ntheir sockets back to Bligh, whose bright pink of morbid embarrassment had\nreturned. The pall that had been cast over the whole room choked him - he wanted\nto say something, to demand something of Bligh, for the secret held in the\nintervening years, but cogent words failed him, and instead all he could do was\nstare at him...Bligh, the man, the dog, he had promised his life to, who had\ntaken his brother's virginity, and thus by a transitive property lost his\nvirginity to his brother, in turn.\n            He paused - the tension in the\nair had become palpable, like a passing shower when the clouds grew too heavy\nin their aimless paths over Pinellas County. He looked over his shoulder to see\nhis older brother, silently seething, in a reverse of how they had started -\nwith Andrew's eyes boring into Bligh.\n            \"Hold on...\" Stephen\nwent on, and then with a sarcastic laugh. \"Don't tell me he didn't--\"\n            A grunt of dissent came from Bligh\nas his ear fluttered up and down like a dying butterfly, and he grabbed it\nirritably to arrest it. \"That - that was s'posed ta be atween us, dammit--\"\n            Stephen sneered. \"All\nthose months of being your boyfriend?\" he said. \"Just between us? Just between us?\"\n            \"Boyfriend?\" Andrew mouthed.\n            \"What?!\" Cody cried.\n            \"Is this seriously\nhappening?\" Stephen denounced them with his morbid sarcasm. \"Did you\nknow hear when I said dated?\" \n            Andrew was still utterly\naghast. \"But - but--\"\n            \"Fuck Bligh, I would\nthink Drewseph here - Dakota too -\nthey, they shoulda known - now that y'all married and shit.\"\n            \"You lied to me?\" It\nwas barely a question, how soft, nigh-inaudible, had Andrew asked it. \"How\ncould--?\"\n            \"It was a mistake,\"\nBligh grunted again. \"A fuckin--\"\n            \"I'm a mistake?!\" Stephen rejoined\nangrily. \"Me. I'm a fucking\nmistake.\"\n            His glare at Bligh attempted\nto be full of anger, of real rage, but it succeeded only in betraying a kind of\nhurt that Andrew had only seen in his brother once or twice - in fresh horror,\nAndrew snapped his head to him as Stephen slid off the couch, to the carpet,\nhis eyes set into a deadly glare of defiant outrage.\n            \"Fuck you. Like really,\njust the Hell with you.\"\n            Bligh's face was a constant\nshade of pink, but it gave away nothing, it was a stoic dam of emotion that was\nmere seconds, bare breaths, from bursting - Andrew could see it, and it fueled\nin him a burning, smoldering fire of confliction, not knowing whether to care\nfor him when he was this deep in emotional turmoil, or still feel betrayed,\ndeeply betrayed, down into his heart.\n            \"Oh my god...\" Cody\nmurmured, seeming unable to deal with the immediate sucked-out feeling in the\nroom.\n            \"And it wasn't a lie, Brother,\" Stephen was finishing,\nthrowing a glance to Andrew. \"A lie - a lie means - it means a falsehood, like he told you, yanno,\nsomething not true.\" He whipped\nhis shirt over his shoulder, folding his arms defiantly. \"But Mr. Bigdick\nhere--\"\n            \"Don't fuckin call me\nthat.\" Bligh shoved his hat back on, hanging his head. \n            \"...but Mr. Bigdick here\nactually did something - something way - way more fucked up. He hid it.\"\nHe let a second pass before shuffling back into his Pumas. \"From you. Because apparently I'm a fucking mistake.\"\n            Andrew's blood still ran cold\nin his veins - his ears were flat and had stayed that way from the time that\nStephen had uttered the word relationship.\n            \"I'm leaving,\"\nStephen said, his voice strangely hollow, one hand on his shirt to ensure it\ndid not fall off behind him. \"I can't - I can't fucking deal with that dude,\nI'm sorry, not right not fucking now.\"                His shoes on, his phone\npocketed, his shirt secure, Stephen made for the door.\n            \"If you're - if you're\nworried about me telling anybody I still ain't--\" He elbowed past Andrew\nand Bligh, and as he made his final approach, he looked over his shoulder to\naddress the three of them. \"Because I love y'all - all of y'all and I don't consider y'all mistakes as much -\nas - as much as...\"\n            He didn't, perhaps couldn't,\nfinish the sentence. He stared at Bligh - his eyes, already glassy from being\neye, seemed to grow liquescent with new tears, but without another word, he opened\nthe door and slipped out, the door slamming behind him. \n            The sound barely had time to\nresonate:\n            \"Fuck, dude.\" Loud enough that all three heard Stephen say it\nfrom outside the door.\n            Andrew kept his gaze on that closed\ndoor, kept it locked there, never moving, almost never blinking, because he\nwouldn't - he couldn't, like his\nbrother - look back at Bligh.\n            The silence gave no answers,\nand Andrew was too far gone, thrown into a quiet frenzy of agitation, to break\nit.\n            \"Andy...\" Cody said.\n\"I'm - I'm sorry, Andy, I--\"\n            \"That's why - Bligh -\nthat's why...\" Andrew said, deep in distraction. \"That's why - you\ndidn't want him to come...\"\n            Bligh's words were low mumbles\ndirected at nothing: \"Drew, man, I--\"\n            \"That's why,\" Andrew\ncontinued, \"you thought we couldn't trust him. And maybe we still can't -\nmaybe he does drink too much but -\nfuck, Bligh - you were so - obsessed -\nwith getting me you'd even - not tell me something this important...?\"\n            His eyes were focused squarely\non the door - the plain eggshell-white paint, the brushstrokes, all as if they\nwere the most interesting things in the world.\n            \"I just missed yew so bad, man--\" he heard Bligh say. \"I\njust wanted - I - man listen, I's so scared yew'd - anything - would ruin\nit--\"\n            Bligh's word were becoming\nstruggles, fragments, and they struck Andrew with revulsion - he let out a\nblast of hot air against the wood of the door.\n            \"I need to talk a\nwalk--\" he murmured, making a quick, retreating to the couch where he\nretrieved his USF hat.\n            \"Man, Drew dun--\"\n            \"I just need to take a walk,\ndude,\" Andrew repeated, coming back to the door, all the while avoiding\nBligh and Cody's eye contact. \"Just leave the chicken - put some - wrap\nover the chicken, I'll - I'll fix it some other time--\"\n            \"Drew...\"\n            \"Andy - Andy, hey,\nwait--\" Cody protested, vainly, the last word barely registering.\n            \"I'll see y'all,\"\nAndrew-near whispered, his eyes still focused on the door, tail still, ears\nflat. \n            He grabbed the knob and turned\nit, facing forward, and slid out the door, unwilling to look at Bligh behind\nhim, and so neither could see the other had both developed a single tear from\neach of their eyes. "}