The boys wandered through the mall looking for a bit of adventure. Ryan sees his ex across the food court and bolts after her looking playfully back at his brother.
"Not another chick-chase" moans Jeremy as he struggles to keep up with his athletic sibling.
Ryan spots her as she wanders into the pet store.
"Too good to be true." he says to Jer as he catches up. "This has endless possibilities!"
"I dunno man. This sort of thing always gets us into trouble."
"But now we're inVINcible!" says Ryan pulling his favorite double bicep pose. As always he failed to notice the wandering eyes of his brother, tracking the muscular arms down to his torso. "C'mon! What could go wrong? Just don't let her spot you. If she sees you she'll suspect something."
Ryan waits until she turns down an isle and bolts towards the puppy cages. "Too good to be true. I'll wring her heart as a puppy...and Jer's always around to save me. 'Cause I'll miss this perfect bod," another bicep flex, "but it's only for a bit." He reaches down and touches a 6 week old retriever. Faster than before he morphs into the puppy.
As Jer wanders the store looking for anything interesting he hears her high heels turning the corner. Desperate not to disappoint Ryan, Jer looks around and brushes the only animal within reach - a gecko. Swiftly, his form dwindles away just in time for her to pass by. Ryan watches the change with some amusement.
Finally, she strolls around the corner just in time to see the puppy Ryan. Playing with a ball, as puppies do, Ryan doesn't even notice her. "Man, this is more fun than I imagined. The life of a pup is great. Wow! So many smells, so many things to look at." She stares thoughtfully at the pup for a moment and heads off to find the clerk.
Sniffling in the corner, sits a scrawny teen. "Do you work here?" she asks tentatively.
"Today's my last day." he says. "I just can't take the fur. I thought I would be ok but my allergies..."
"Well, I'm interested in buying that pup for my little nephew. Can you take care of it for me? I'm afraid I'm in the same boat when it comes to animals. I'll take a carrying crate too. Little Billy, he just loves dogs though."
"OH. The dogs are the worst. By eyes itch and by dose clogs ub...unbelievable." the clerk says stuffily. "I'll take care of it."
The clerk sets off to find what he needs while the ex meanders over to look at the pup from a distance. Not even realizing she's standing beside Jer she says, "I can't believe how he reminds me of Ryan - the same goofiness, cuteness and general annoying habits. He probably even smells the same. Gawd!"
Jer thinks, "Hey, I always loved the way Ryan smelled." as he nibbles away at crumbs and bug bits on the desk, thinking fondly of his brother’s musky pits. “Man if I could spend an afternoon as sweat…’course it wouldn’t hurt him to have a good scare…might just break that smugness of his.”
At last the clerk has everything he needs. Before long, Ryan is blissfully following a trail of cookies along the floor. "Everything just tastes better as a pup. I can't wait to share all this with Jer. He's gonna be so envious." The pup climbs over the last obstruction to a final, distant cookie as the door closes behind him.
"Got him! There ya go Miss. And no hair or puppy snot on either of us!"
Ryan is in the process of gobbling down the last biscuit when his world moves around him. He looks up and is shocked to find he's stuck in a traveling crate as his despised ex-girlfriend pays and carries him out of the store. He whines, struggles and tries to reach his little nose out to touch anyone and return to a human form. The holes are just too small and sadly, the longer he remains as a pup the less he wishes to return to his muscular human form.
After a while, Jeremy begins to wonder what's taking so long. By now he expected to hear the girl run crying from the store, bitten by the puppy, or worse, peed on. Looking around he sees his formally gorgeous but still cute brother finally looking a bit threatened. “Well, let’s see. I know where she lives. Ryan doesn’t know what I am. I think I’ll just let this proceed for a bit. After all, what could happen to a puppy? I’ll have him back to a form I can appreciate soon enough.” With that, Jeremy goes back to eating crumbs and whatever else he can find.
Ryan is in a panic. “Where’s Jer? How will I escape? What about my killer bod?” As Ryan is carried from the store, against all odds a fly makes its way into the crate and lands on Ryan’s black, moist nose. The tingling begins again.
Finally, he escapes the crate and flies back to the pet store. “Ah, salvation! Bro’ll help me out.” Ryan makes a bee (fly?) line for his brother. “Soon I’ll be back to myself – perfect skin, perfect hair, tight musc…”
Jer fantasized about sleeping with his bother, watching him, smelling him, almost touching. Distracted, he nibbled at crumbs. Suddenly, a movement caught his eye. A snap of the jaws up and to the right as instinct took over.
A split second away from perfection, Ryan tried to stop as his brother’s head whipped around. The teeth. The maw. The predatory eyes. “Can almost make it…turn…higher, turn, TURN…”
The mouth closed, barely trapping the teen. Just before the teeth came down, the change began. Too late. A quick chew. A swallow.
The tiny lizard went back to fantasizing about his brother’s warm body. Slowly his mind would fade from human.