Michael had donned the nicest clothes he brought with him that weren't his suit. A black sweater, a pair of chino's he new from one ex showed off his backside nicely, though he had to do a little modifying to get them to work with his new tail, and boots. He really didn't have a choice with the boots, not up here.
Bix had invited him to stay for their family night, but he decided to let the three of them have the evening together to bond. Especially once he learned they had planned on doing so for the first time once Eric was back from his trip. So Michael politely excused himself, said he had made other plans, got changed and headed out.
His feet brought him to the house he had been thinking of. Part of him wanted to just turn away, maybe go bother Tom and Lars, though he had a feeling that was what Tess had done. Instead he came here. He knocked on the door, adjusted his parka, and ran his hands through his hair one last time. The door swung open and Otso stood there fully in the nude, and broke into a big, wolfish smile when he saw Michael. "Well, hello. Social visit or are you here to fetch me to check on Eric?"
"Eric's good, he's sitting up and talking, having dinner with Bix and Tag tonight. Which leaves me open, and I was wondering if you'd like to get something to eat." Michael cleared his throat a little as that wolfish smile turned sly.
A paw-like hand slipped out of the door and felt at Michael's ears. "If you tell me when that happened."
"After a conversation with Santa about giving things a chance." Michael replied honestly, and Otso stepped aside, motioning him to enter. As he did, he was hit with the smell of cooking meat and pungent spices, that set his mouth watering almost immediately.
"Can you take off those boots? Mud slush is hard to get out of rugs." The wolf said with another smile, and Michael kicked his boots off to leave by the door, near a towel he probably used for wiping off his paws. "Do you mind if we eat in? I'm making curry and it's always best fresh." Otso stepped into the kitchen where those delicious smells were coming from and Michael followed willingly.
"Curry? Are you kidding? Love the stuff. Where'd you learn to make it?" He asked, seeing the doctor in a new light for a moment as he checked on his pot.
"I told you I studied a few years in England, yes? They love their Indian curries there, and well, I got hooked. No place to get them up here so I had to learn to make them. It's a little different, I have to substitute some ingredients and spices for local stuff, not quite as spicy, but I think it comes out well, I call it wolf curry." He dipped a spoon and pulled out some orange-yellow sauce, offering it to Michael.
He tasted it off the end of the spoon and rolled his eyes back. "My god. That's good."
"Thank you." Otso stepped around behind Michael, placing hands on his jacket, he let him help him out of it and followed him with his eyes as he hung it on a hook next to the leather one he had seen him wearing. As he headed back towards the stove, Michael grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in for a kiss. Not teasing, or testing, or even lustful. A genuine kiss, confident and sure. It was the best kiss Michael had had in ages. Even if lips and muzzle didn't quite meet right, it was still a perfect kiss.
He felt his knees going week and rose on tiptoes as.. as.. he broke the kiss with a small hiss. "Sorry, you had me curling my toes so hard I think I got a foot cramp." He teased.
Otso looked down and shook his head. "Not a cramp, come sit down." Michael hobbled on tip toes over to the chair and dropped into it. The wolf put Michael's feet up on the footstool and pulled off both of his socks with a yank. Then he understood. He watched in almost rapt fascination as his feet reshaped in front of him, the middle and heel narrowing as the balls and tows reshaped into large, wide wolf paws.
Otso grabbed the foot paws in his hands and began to message them, the slight pain melting away into an almost pleasurable experience. His toenails turned black, narrowing to points as his toes rearranged, the skin on the bottom growing thick and padded. The fur growing in tickled, grey speckled with brown just like his tail, starting on the back of his new paws and up under the cuff of his pants, it felt like all the way to his knees.
"Sorry, probably not what you were expecting to deal with, today." Michael said sheepishly as he looked at Otso.
"Are you joking?" The wolf looked excited. "I barely got a chance to examine Eric or Tom, seeing it happen up close, spontaneous magical transformation without the use of a focal object. Not one case in fifty years and then three in a month." He shook his head. "I might have to write a paper." He joked. "Either way, I'm excited to see it happen before my eyes." He fixed Michael with an almost mischievous smile.
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A few hours later, and they were both basking in the afterglow of a delicious meal and a few glasses of wine. Seated side by side on the couch "So you really mean that about giving things a chance?" Otso asked.
"Well, I'd be an idiot to ignore direct advice from Santa." Michael said with a laugh. "Not a sentence I would have expected to speak just a week ago." Otso laughed as well.
"You don't know how hard it was to live among humans, and know, and have to keep it all to myself. I wanted to shout that magic and Santa, and everything was real. Humans just don't have enough natural magic in them to do anything other than the occasional oddity you guys just write off as coincidence." Otso shook his head as he spoke. "You really want to give something a chance?"
"Sure." Michael said, "If I can get a refill." He wiggled his wine glass and Otso obliged by filling it with some more red.
"Strip. If you're going to be up here you need to not only be used to being around us as we're naked, but used to being naked yourself." Otso tilted his head as he looked at Michael.
"Except you have fur." Michael pointed out.
"And you can borrow it for warmth." Otso smiled.
"Fine. Fine." Michael set his glass down and stood up. He peeled off his sweater and then the shirt underneath, folding both up to set aside. He felt a little self-conscious. He used to hit the gym more regularly, but he had gained a couple pounds around the middle in recent years as he let his routine slip. Still, he wasn't out of shape, just not particularly a shape he wanted to be in. Not next to Otso who was leanly muscled and, well, frankly sexy Michael could admit to himself. He slipped out of his pants next, revealing that the change had progressed to just about his knees, but his thighs looked a little altered to to help with his new stance.
Otso was watching in silence and sipping his wine, a small smile playing on his muzzle. Michael slipped out of his underwear, resisting the urge to hide his semi-hardened cock behind his hands. Instead, Otso stood and spread a blanket out along the couch, then sat back down. He had one arm out, silently inviting Michael to sit there. He picked up his wine and sat down, the blanket and wolf fur warm and soft against his skin. The wolf wrapped the blanket around them, trapping warmth under the blanket. "See? It's comfortable."
"Very." Michael agreed, leaning against the wolf's firm chest as he just let himself sink into the experience.