Scott’s trek to the pizza place was uneventful. No one could tell he had been a dog for the better part of the afternoon. He didn’t spontaneously grow a tail, he didn’t growl at anyone, and he managed not to chase after the mailman on his way back home.
John likewise had not managed to burn the house down in his absence. He had apparently been practicing some basic costume-making magic. He had managed to animate a tape measure to curl around like a snake and take measurements all on its own. Scott wasn’t sure why that was necessary when all the costumes were apparently form fitting, but it was a neat trick all the same.
After dinner, Scott eyed the massive pile of costumes in their office, “So… Can I be a tiger now?”
“Oh!” John looked up from his spell book, “Sure, knock yourself out.”
That was all Scott needed to hear. He snuck into the office and quickly found the orange tiger costume in question. He plopped down on all fours again… but felt much more empowered by it this time. He purred around the office on all fours, getting a kick prowling around the house until he finally slipped out of the costume.
Next came the werewolf costume. It had a different bundle of instincts, but an oddly similar experience to the tiger. Just, you know, on two legs. It took a lot out of Scott to not just slip out into the night and howl at the moon.
He bounced around a lot after that. The less said about the merman tail the better. He may have caused a ruckus in the bathroom and used every towel in the house. He gave a pair of centaur legs a try next. They were bulky and awkward, but not a huge change from the wait up. Finally there was the butler outfit. Whoops, so much for it being a super spy suit. Each time he usually needed John to unzip him, but he was otherwise left to his own devices. Finally Scott plopped down on their sofa back as a human again.
“Okay, that’s enough shapeshifting for one night,” he looked up at John, “Are you going to try anything on?”
“I’m happy being a wizard,” John grinned.
“Do you have any more of those?” Scott asked curiously. He reached out, rubbing one of the sleeves on John’s robe.
“Nope, just the one,” John laughed, “Dibs.”
His uncle, his robe. That seemed fair.
“So… You’re going to try and win the costume contest at work with a robe?” Scott asked curiously.
“What?” John looked up from his book, “Right, the contest. Uh, not sure yet. I don’t mind letting you win it.”
“John… Are we going to tell anyone about all of this?” Scott asked curiously.
“What? No! Of course not!” That finally got him to look up from his book.
“But it’s magic! We can’t just-“ Scott began to argue how crazy all this was.
John tightened his grip on his wand, “No, we have to keep it a secret.”
“John, come on,” Scott stared.
“I’m serious!” John lifted the wand, pointing it at his roommate, “I forbid you from revealing this magic to anyone!”
Scott sat up straight. The hair on his neck stood on end. This felt like being given an order as a dog but way more intense. Scott knew for certain he wasn’t going to be able to tell anyone about these magical outfits.
“Yessir…!” He blurted out awkwardly.
“Good boy,” John grumbled, “I’m glad we’re in agreement.”
Scott rubbed his neck, “John, what the hell was that!?”
“Don’t worry about it,” He turned back to his book, “We just have to keep this a secret for now.”
“Look, ordering me around as a dog is one thing…” Scott got up and started cleaning their plates, “I wouldn’t have told anyone if you had asked. Don’t make a habit of doing that!”
“Sorry, right,” John shut the book he was reading. He pocketed his wand and got up from his seat for the first time in hours. “Can I get you a beer?”
“Sure,” Scott let him try to ease the tension in the room. “And why don’ you take a break from that thing while you’re at it?”
“I-” John tensed. “Yeah, I guess I have been wearing it for a while.” He rolled his shoulders and slipped out of the garment. He tossed it onto a hanger and brought Scott a drink… but notably didn’t undo whatever that just was.
John didn’t have any more outbursts that night. They just sat around and caught up on some TV shows they’d fallen behind on. But he was clearly a little touchy about his robe. He grumbled about not being able to wear it to work the next morning.
Scott was honestly able to relate. Well, a bit. He wasn’t having outbursts or slinging spells at his roommate, but… Scott had tried out a half dozen species yesterday! It felt odd to just be a human for a couple of hours.
John naturally changed right back into his robe when the two got home. A wizard’s studies are never complete or something along those lines.
Scott meanwhile found himself poking his head into the office. He should probably go easy on these weird costumes, but he felt himself getting swept up by all the magic just as much as John had. Which just begged the question… what was he going to try on tonight?