[Closed]

[stalwartcane]

Characters: John Watson, Kurapika
Location: Clinic
Rating: G
Time: November 22, Morning
Description: It was a particularly cold morning.

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[ih8spiders]

Kurapika only really complained about the weather to Kuroro. As far as everyone else was concerned, he endured the variable weather silently, with the kind of clothing he was wearing at any given day as the only indication that he was being affected by the cold. Today he was wearing a nondescript gray sweater over his shirt, one of several jackets he already owned. He thought it looked plain enough for the clinic, whose heater was adequate but not enough to keep the cold from permeating through the thin walls of the building.

It still wasn't thick enough for his liking, however, and it was just as well that they didn't have any patients at the moment. Maybe he could see if Doctor Watson might be persuaded to brew some tea, but a quick peek into the older man's area showed him to be indisposed--and huddled under blanket in his dog form.

Watson had really sad eyes as an English Mastiff, and despite being aware that the doctor disliked his animal form, Kurapika couldn't resist wanting to bury his hands in the thick folds of fur behind his ears and around his scruff. He managed to avoid giving offense by laying his hand against the blanket over Watson's back instead, as if to smooth away an imaginary wrinkle.

"Are you all right, doctor?"

[stalwartcane]

He had heard Kurapika's approach -- smelled him, too, if Watson could believe his mildly damp nose (he could never tell what it was that he was smelling, exactly) -- but had not deigned to react apart from a vague quirking of his ears and canine eyebrows to look at Kurapika.

Watson was quite all right, but he wasn't certain how to convey that without resorting to speaking. His tail thumped dully on the mattress instead, and he gave a singularly resigned dog sigh to indicate his general disapproval of the coldness in the air. When Germany had built this barn-like clinic, not much of Nevada's coming winter had been accounted for.

[ih8spiders]

Kurapika also knew that Watson didn't like speaking while in dog form, although he wondered if the doctor himself knew how very human his nonverbal reactions were. It was--rather cute. Impossible not to find it endearing, despite the fact that the form supposedly facilitated a quicker descent into madness.

"Is it the cold?" he asked with some amusement, sitting down at the edge of the bed near the headboard. "I didn't think you'd be affected by it as well. It's almost the first thing I complain about when I wake up these days."

[stalwartcane]

Watson sighed again, and a louder thump to show that yes, that was exactly it. He was an old man with various injuries that tended to ache when it was cold -- this time of the year was the beginning of plenty of discomfort, going by the past decade of his life.

Ah, but it seemed that Kurapika was also feeling the effects of the chill? He moved his head to nose at Kurapika's hand, before lowering his snout to bite at the blanket, dragging it up a little as if to share. His eyebrows rose expectantly, despite the rather droopy eyes.

[ih8spiders]

"I'm all right!" he replied quickly, surprised and touched and infinitely amused by the sight of those eyebrows, made more expressive by the folds of skin all around Watson's eyes. He only managed to suppress the urge to laugh (not at the doctor's long-suffering sigh, no) by giving in to his other urge to scratch behind one of those floppy ears. Getting nosed was like being given tentative permission, he figured.

"I don't think we can fit on the same bed, anyway. But thank you for the offer. If it gets any colder I'll go put on another jacket. Would you like me to get another blanket?"

[stalwartcane]

He would have squawked in indignation at the treatment -- he was not a dog, even if he looked like one -- if it hadn't been so pleasant. It felt not unlike a massage to the scalp, only Watson was finding out now that dogs were far more sensitive to tactile sensations than humans. He gave a rumbling sound from his throat and snuffled at the pillow again.

But yes, he would like another blanket. Watson's face took on a contemplative expression as he tried to ascertain how to convey this idea to the boy, before shifting to free more space on the bed for him. The bed gave a ponderous creak but stolidly held.

[ih8spiders]

Kurapika tilted his head and regarded the interplay of emotions on the doctor's canine face. By now he was getting the feeling that Watson was quite determined not to speak, and so he must be the one to interpret the snuffling and the tail-whumping and the various doggy sounds, and the one to talk to fill the silence--which he didn't really mind so long as no one else heard him.

"I'll go get that extra blanket," he said to himself after another (long) moment of ear-scratching. It was either yes or no, and if it was no for now Watson might need it later, anyway. The blond slipped off the bed and was back quickly with the folded blanket in hand.

[stalwartcane]

Watson gave Kurapika an obliging nod to show his gratitude when he returned, and made sure to shift on the bed again to emphasize the fact that he had made space for the boy on it. The company was pleasant enough, and he liked listening to Kurapika speak; he wasn't asinine or rude, unlike some of the other guests, and he scratched Watson's ear.

The ear-scratching made him sleepy -- relaxed, even, more than he had been the past handful of days. Watson yawned widely, teeth flashing out for a moment, before carefully making sure that he hadn't drooled on himself by rubbing at his muzzle with his leg.

[ih8spiders]

The blond suppressed the urge to laugh at seeing Watson wiping at imaginary drool--his voice hadn't really broken yet, such were the wonders of nen's anti-aging properties, only it meant that he had the tendency to sound girlish whenever he giggled, unfortunately--by fluffing out the blanket and laying it atop Watson's back, over the first blanket. All the shifting the doctor had done gave him a bigger space on the bed, which he took obligingly, sitting down more comfortably, but still with his back to the headboard.

"The heaters here aren't very good, are they?" he asked conversationally, fingers going back to his previous task of ear-scratching. "The one in my room isn't really strong enough..."

[stalwartcane]

Watson contemplated on the feasibility of sticking his nose somewhere warm, but changed his mind upon finding it too dog-like. Would change his mind, too, and despair of the ear-scratching if it wasn't pleasant. He really should stop acting like a dog, he told himself, settling his nose against Kurapika's thigh and sighing.

His tail thumped slowly behind him, and that could have been a nod in agreement. Watson didn't really know what a heater was, but he regretted their fireplace immensely.

[ih8spiders]

"I should get it repaired," Kurapika continued. "It gives out randomly, and I sometimes have to bang on it to make it work again. It's almost winter, and if it breaks down completely..." he trailed off then, forgetting where he was for the moment, and his hand stilled, cupped around Watson's ear.

[stalwartcane]

Watson resisted the urge to nose at Kurapika's hand, to make the boy resume the ear scratching. It was certainly not dignified in either human or dog, and he resisted the urge well. Instead, he bite down on the blanket next to his foreleg and made as if to cover Kurapika's leg with it, an indication that perhaps Kurapika should invest in more clothing to compensate for the lack of heat in his apartment.

[ih8spiders]

"... I suppose it wouldn't be as big of a problem if I moved into the room Kuroro's using now," the blond mumbled after the long moment of silence, but it was obvious that he found his own idea to be disagreeable--his eyes had narrowed and his lips were pursed, and his fingers resumed his earlier scratching with more vigor, as if trying to chase away the repugnance with a flurry of action.

"I don't understand why it feels warmer than the rest of the flat. Maybe because it has a window and access to sunlight? And Kuroro's never bothered by the cold. It's ridiculous; he's like this big fat bear with a double pelt."

[stalwartcane]

The scratching distracted Watson enough that, if the boy's tone had not been unhappy enough, perhaps the dog in him would have neglected the statement entirely. His tongue lolled out of his mouth for a moment before surreptitiously pulling it back in. What outrageous habits these mastiffs had.

Unfortunately, his next remark was a fairly complex one, or far more complex than he could convey in thumps and bites. "Then perhaps you should propose that you exchange rooms instead, rather than sleep in his bed. It would be uncomfortable, wouldn't it?"

[ih8spiders]

Kurapika's busy hand stilled, and his face betrayed the surprise he felt at suddenly hearing Watson's genteel voice coming out of a canine mouth.

"I haven't thought of that," he replied honestly. "Although I don't think Kuroro will agree to it, either. The bed in his room is larger and a lot more comfortable than the one in mine."

And--how curious. Hearing the doctor talking should be reminder enough for him to check any form of disrespect, but instead the blond suddenly felt this intense urge to cradle that massive head in both hands--felt it, and quite immediately succumbed to it, whereas he would never have dared to do so if Watson had been in human form. "I'm sorry, I must seem like a great complainer to you. And I made you speak. I thought we were playing a game where I talk and you don't and I guess whatever your responses might be."

[stalwartcane]

Watson snorted, a great, massive sound from his great big dog head. "Think nothing of it. Not speaking is only my form of being petulant, and it is quite strange to manage it without the necessary vocal chords for the activity."

He rested his head on Kurapika's lap deliberately, as a way to reassure the boy that all was well. "If that's the case, then all the more that you should insist on the change. The man barely sleeps, in the first place, judging from his active lifestyle. What a wastrel."