Jon was sitting on the back step staring blankly at his clawed hands when Benjamin came outside holding a leash.
"Hey boy, I..I mean bro," he stuttered, worried a bit at how despondent Jon looked. His ears were drooping lifelessly on the sides of his head, and his tail didn't even twitch when Benji approached.
Jon seemed to snap out of it slightly when he sat down beside him, and the dog-boy looked over at his brother. "What do you think is happening to me? Why... I mean, Mom didn't even acknowledge me... Our parents think I'm a dog!"
Benjamin didn't return Jon's gaze and instead fiddled with the clasp of the leash - he didn't want to give anything away. Secretly, he was pleased with how things were progressing, though he didn't like how sad and confused Jon was. "I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now." he said instead, hedging a bit. "What if we go for a walk like Dad said, and we can try to take your mind off this for a few minutes?" He noticed that Jon's ears perked up a bit when he said 'walk,' so he got to his feet and held out the leash.
"Uhh, do we have to use that?" Jon pleaded, looking up at his brother with literal puppy-dog-eyes. "I'm already naked and wearing a collar, and I can't seem to get my hands to work to take even that off..."
Reaching out and ruffling the fur on Jon's head, Benji decided he should put his foot down if he wanted to see more changes. "I dunno, Jon. What if the neighbors see me walking with you off-leash and call animal-control or something? You want to figure this out, right? You don't want to spend the night at the shelter!" his brother's eyes had closed as he leaned into Benji's hand, unconsciously enjoying his second ear-rub of the evening. Fur had spread to cover his entire body in a short fuzz, and he was no longer looking quite as naked as he had. His tail was now about two feet long, and was gently thumping against the concrete patio.
"Okay, okay," Jon panted, contentment having somewhat replaced his former sadness. "Clip it on. But I'm not walking on all fours."
`That doesn't really seem to matter` Benjamin thought to himself.
As they strolled slowly down the street, Jon found himself noticing hundreds of new smells - every bush, mailbox and hydrant seemed to have messages written all over them that his nose was trying to read, but he resisted, not wanting to give in to his canine urges and cause more changes to occur.
A squirrel darted across the street in front of them at one point, and he suddenly felt a sharp tug on the collar around his neck - he had lunged after the rodent without thinking, reaching the end of the leash just before stepping off the curb and into the street.
"Whoa, buddy! You can't be running out into the road!" Benji gave the leash another tug to get Jon to return to his side, and his brother crossed the grass back to the sidewalk with his tail between his legs. He licked his lips nervously, and Benji realized with a start that his jaw had pushed outward slightly - Jon now sported a short muzzle. His hair was shorter, too, almost blending in to the light fur that covered his body and face. Benji reached over to scratch him under the chin. "Don't worry, bro. We'll figure this out. All I want is for you to be happy... do you want to walk down to the park?" Jon's ears perked up again at the word 'park.' "Yeah? You'd like that?" Benji confirmed.
Jon was nodding, his mouth opening into a doggy grin and his tongue lolling out to the side.