The next day, Saturday, Aidan worked on the school stuff Mark had brought him for some time after breakfast. Some time was spent on the laptop watching a video or two, but nothing important happened until Mark arrived at around three. And just Aidan´s luck, he had just started to suck himself, when Mark opened the door to his flat. In a bit of panic, Aidan jumped up before Mark could see him, and run into his bedroom to get his jeans back on.
“Hey Aidan.” Mark greeted as he came into the room.
“Just a second” Aidan called from his bedroom, and soon came back out, bright red. “Hi Mark.”
After a bit of time making them some tea, Aidan finally asked: “Got another idea what to test out?” While he still feared what Mark could do to him, he was sure his friend wouldn´t do anything cruel. How wrong he could be never dawned to him.
Mark thought back to his list at home, deciding what to do first now. “A few, but we don´t need to test them all at once. Let´s start with a funny one. From now on, Aidan, you will think about your feet as hind-paws, your legs as hind-legs, your arms as front-legs and your hands as fore-paws. Therefore, your flexibility with your fingers is rather low, but you will still be able to write and paint with them normally. But everything else you use your hands for normally will slip your mind when you sleep tonight.” Mark smiled at Aidan´s face.
Aidan, for his part, looked partly shocked and partly surprised. That wasn´t something he would have thought Mark would do to him. “What? Why should I think of them as paws? Mark, I can´t see how this is a funny test? I´m not a pet.”
Mark was a bit surprised Aidan wasn´t more protesting, but maybe he hadn´t realized what that change would embark as a whole. “Don´t worry, I switch it back later. It´s only for a bit of fun.” Then he grinned, knowing full well that had been a lie, but Aidan didn´t need to know that. “And no, you aren´t a pet” Mark added, only to let the “yet” behind it be left unsaid.
Aidan couldn´t say more, as he forgot the change. As a consequence of that, he suddenly stretched his fingers straight, dropping his teacup right in front of himself. He yelped as the bit of tea left inside hit his feet. “I know I shouldn´t have tried to hold that cup. Now it´s all over my paws, dammit” he cursed. Out of reflex, he bends his right leg up to lick it clean again.
Mark stifled a laugh at that. It hadn´t been his intention for Aidan to drop his cup, but thinking about it, a dog wouldn´t hold a cup like that, and he had only made an exception for writing and painting. But it also gave him an added idea, something he hadn´t thought about before.