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The Park - Monday mid-morning

Zack hadn't been sleeping very well over the past week. The twitchy puppy paws, Kaidan could deal with, but the sad forlorn whimpering and occasional bolt out of sleep just about broke his heart. Both dogs had stayed on the bed with him, Zack mostly under one arm because it seemed to help. He'd known Zack had PTSD - it was, after all, why he had Girl. This.. was more than that.

This morning, Zack had awakened them all with forlorn howling as he came out of sleep. Girl all but flopped across him. Kaidan wound his arms around them both and made quiet, soothing noises. Once Zack had fully woken up, he tried to hide by burrowing further under Girl.

There was no getting back to sleep after that, so Kaidan took a quick shower and got ready for the day. He threw together a daypack of Zack's clothing plus dog accouterments. He carried Zack down the stairs, then set him down and took them on a run to the park.

Once there, he pulled out a pair of tennis balls and began throwing them for the doggos.

There were worse ways he could spend his day off.

[Open park is open!]

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The ball, at least, was a good distraction. Zack was all for distractions, especially ones that let him pretend everything was fine. If he could scramble after a toy and get right into it with his big stupid puppy paws and his tail wagging behind him, then nobody would be thinking of the rest of the morning, right?

That was basically how he approached life even when he wasn't a dog. There wasn't much reason to do it differently now.

Ball in mouth, he trotted back triumphantly toward Kaidan for another round.

Kaidan was willing to let him pretend everything was fine. For now. It wasn't as though Zack could talk at the moment.

Mostly, he wanted to distract Zack from whatever had woken him that way, so there he was, grinning and throwing the ball and yelling encouragement.

Over and over again.

Hey, it wasn't squats but it was something.

It was most definitely something. A something that Zack would have been quite happy to do ad infinitum, really, if not for the fact that a good fifteen minutes in, just as he was really getting into it, a puppy leap ended in a person tumble, Zack missing the ball completely in favour of landing this one in a shoulder roll ending in a crouch, rather than just faceplanting into the dirt.

"Um..."

Points for the landing, anyway?

Kaidan blinked. That.. that was a whole lot of Zack goin' on.

He slung the daypack off his shoulder and tossed it in Zack's direction, politely turning around. "Clothing's inside," he called, "You ok?"

The pack landed beside him, and Zack didn't hesitate before pulling it open, grabbing pants and a shirt and pulling both on before even pausing to consider things like 'shoes,' or 'underwear.' He was too exposed, damn it. Modesty should have had him pulling on the pants first, but there was a mess of scars on his torso that he'd much rather cover up first, and so that was what had taken priority in the moment.

"Better now that I'm dressed," he called back a few moments later, standing up and looking down awkwardly at the bag in his hands. "Uh, sorry about that."

"No reason to be," Kaidan shrugged, turning back around, "Not like you did it on purpose. If you were gonna, I don't think you'd have chosen mid-leap."

"Nooot really," Zack confirmed, grimacing. "Or outside. With an audience."

At all.

"... Thanks for pulling dog duty this week, though. It went on way longer than I could have lasted without actually resorting to toilet water."

"I promise not to tell anyone you have six-pack abs," Kaidan said solemnly.

He waved a hand, brushing off the thanks. "No worries. Not like I was going to just leave you locked in there when I couldn't get ahold of Iris. Bonus, it made me think of what I'd need if I suddenly didn't have hands, so the doorknobs got replaced with something more accessible."

"Yeah, I'll probably be doing a round of doorknob replacing myself. Maybe change the knob in the shower too so I can get that turned on if need be."

He'd kind of been taking mental notes. As best as he possibly could with an excitable little puppy brain, anyway.

"Or get a set of gravity water and food dishes, the kind with a multi-liter reservoir," Kaidan suggested.

He'd put some thought into this.

"... I work at the shelter, you think I would have thought of that one myself," Zack said, after a pause. "At least that's useful for me. I already know what I typically turn into. It'll be harder for you to plan for that one, at least where food is involved."

He paused a moment, and then tilted his head a little.

"But if you ever need someone to bail you out, hook you up with whatever the proper food actually is, if you can get in touch with me, I'll be happy to return the favor."

"Everyone's betting on a dog," Kaidan said wryly, "but I guess we'll see, eventually. It's only a matter of time before it's my turn." The island was a jerk like that.

"Thanks, though," Kaidan gave a lopsided smile, "Hopefully it'll be awhile."

Zack considered Kaidan for a few moments, and then shook his head a bit.

"Wolf," he guessed. "Still a pack hunter. Less excitable."

What? If everyone else was taking bets, so would he. With all the authority that came from being a guy who worked with dogs. And who occasionally was one.

Kaidan's eyebrows rose, "Well, that's better than 'some form of spaniel', so I'll take it. Your guess is as good as anyone's right now. It'd be kind of funny if I turned into something like a badger or rabbit."

"Or some kind of bird," Zack supplied, smiling faintly. "Sometimes it really does pull stuff right out of left field. Though I guess 'puppy' was kind of a no-brainer for me."

"As long as 'bird' comes with 'knows how to fly and land', that'd be good with me," Kaidan grinned, "Being a bird and not knowing how would be a major bummer."

The grin widened, "Puppy was definitely a no-brainer for you. I'm just curious how the island stuck," he gestured at the all of Zack, "into something the size of a puppy."

"No clue," Zack laughed, shaking his head. He grinned and took a seat on the grass, patting the ground beside him to beckon Girl over. "It probably turned the rest of that mass into energy."

That probably tracked.

"And hey, if you end up a bird who can fly, you'd be doing better than me with stairs."

"That was pretty cute," Kaidan grinned, "I should've gotten video of that. I'm just glad you're not sick from all the stuff you were eating at the carnival."

"Apparently even as a puppy I have guts of steel," Zack replied, smirking a little as Girl sat herself down beside him and leaned into his shoulder a little. "I'll admit I'm kind of dying for a salad right now, though."

"I guess," Kaidan laughed, "Considering some of the deep-fried-everything all over. I don't eat that stuff even when it's not on the ground."

Except funnel cakes, ok, shut up.

Oh, it wasn't even the deep-fried aspect of it all. Zack was just quietly vegetarian after a brief stint as himself trapped in the body of his alternate reality vampire self.

Being completely himself and drinking somebody's blood in order to keep from going into some kind of bloodlust craze was... an experience.

"Puppies are like little vacuum cleaners," he laughed, shaking his head. "A bottomless pit with fur. At least I was cute, I guess."

It's a good thing Kaidan can't read the narrative.

"I sort of noticed that," Kaidan grinned, meaning both parts, "Girl was a little more discriminating."

Not much, mind. She was still a dog, after all.

"That says a lot, considering she was the first of us to crack and join Team Toilet Water," Zack laughed, reaching up to ruffle the fur between her ears.

Kaidan paused, "I mean.. it was clean toilet water, right? Not that whole 'if it's yellow leave it mellow' thing?"

Or worse.

He steadfastly refused to think about worse.

Blink.

Blink.

Slow look toward Girl.

"I mean," Zack said, finally, "we do flush our toilet."

Because the alternative was gross. Especially with a dog in the house.

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The Park - Monday mid-morning

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