Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was midwinter, not that the puppies knew much about seasons and time, and the fire was roaring in the hearth. Britney had already burnt his nose trying to sniff the flame and Hulk was nursing a slightly singed paw that had used to swat at the fire for hurting his friend. The were both sat on the furry rug in the center of the lounge, their eyes drooping from the hypnotising movement of the flame and the warmth that made them feel sleepy.

Britney swayed, losing balance and falling sideways, knocking Hulk over onto his back.

"Hey!" Hulk shouted, legs and tail flailing as he tried to right himself.

Nico giggled and rolled over to wiggle his legs in the air too. Their human, who had previously been sat watching the moving pictures box, laughed out loud too. Both puppies jumped, spinning to their feet, their eyes widening as they fell quiet with shock. They looked at her for a while, unsure what her laughter meant and wondering if they were in trouble.

After a moment, she stood up, towering above them,

"I think you two need some fresh air!" she said, tapping them both on the noses, before sticking her head out of the lounge door and shouting, "Toto, I'm taking the puppies for a W-A-L-K!"

"Okay Susie, don't be long though. The snow is supposed to be coming in heavily later!" the master from outside the room shouted back.

The lady left the room, closing the door behind her and the puppies looked at one another, confused by what was happening. Hulk biffed Britney on the nose with his paw to stop him from staring at him and before long they were play fighting, nipping each others tails and chasing each other around the room, giggling and squealing happily.

Eventually the woman returned with their leads and the play fighting stopped and turned into excited fussing, each wanting to be the first out of the door for their walk. They jumped up at the woman, each shouting at her for attention,

"Me, me first, pick me, I'm you're favourite!"

The woman laughed again, deftly attaching the clips at the ends of the leads to the collars around the puppies necks, before showing them some funny shaped bits of material.

"Now we have to wear coats today, puppies, or you'll catch a cold and get sick in time for Christmas!" she said, bending down and wrapping the material around Hulks body, clipping it together under his belly before doing the same to Britney.

Neither of the dogs moved while she did this. They both want to be protected properly. They didn't want to catch the cold - no matter how much they liked to chase - and neither wanted to be sick and miss out on whatever Christmas was. They'd both heard their humans talking excitedly about Christmas and it sounded like a lot of fun - they'd even heard that there would be turkeys!

"See you later, Toto," the woman shouted as they headed toward the front door.

Master replied a muffle sort of sound, and the puppies assumed he must have a new chew toy. If they weren't heading outside for a walk they'd have been jealous, their chew toys didn't have much chew left in them.

Hulk was the first to the door, leaning his front paws against it, trying to reach up to the handle, but he was too small. Britney stuck his nose between his back legs and pushed him on top of his head but Hulk still couldn't reach. Luckily the lady was tall enough and she opened the door and the puppies rushed through the crack, before coming to a quick halt on the door step.

Britney took a deep shocked breath,

"Do you think that's the cold!" he said to his friend who sat wide eyed beside him.

"It's everywhere!" Hulk replied, "I don't think these blankets will protect us, Britney! I don't want to get sick!"

The lady stepped over the puppies and placed her feet onto the cold. It crunched beneath the strange green boots she was wearing and when she moved the foot again, there was a pattern left behind.

"Wooooah!" Hulk said, nudging his brother, who slid off the doorstep onto the ground, "Did you see that? How did she do it?"

Britney was too busy panicking about the stuff he had fallen onto to reply. He was trying to scramble back onto the door step, but he was too small and his back legs kept slipping. He was trying very hard not to catch anything, just in case it was the cold. Hulk was edging back into the house, unsure about all this strange white stuff that had covered everything.

"It's just snow, puppies!" the lady said, bending down and picking Hulk from the door step and placing him on the ground, picking some snow up and running it through her fingers.

It hurt his feet. The lady didn't seem to be in pain, but his feet felt funny and he didn't like it. He lifted his paw to see what was wrong with it and saw that there was a hole in the schno, as lady had called it.

"Schno?" he said to Britney, "So this isn't the cold?"

Britney was busily hopping about in circles, causing a flurry of snow in the air around him. Hulk assumed his feet were hurting too. Some of the schno fluttered back down onto Hulk's nose and he stared at it, his eyes crossing. After a few seconds though, it was gone. It disappeared. His tail sprang upwards behind him, his ears pircked as he spun around trying to see where it went. Where did it go?!

"Britney! Stop! It distapeared!" he shouted, "I had some schno on my nose and it distappeared!"

Britney stopped jumping around and padded awkwardly over to Hulk, looking at the prints his paws left as he walked,

"And your nose is wet now!" Britney said, pressing his snout to his friends and licking the wetness from the end of his nose to see what it tasted like, "It's doesn't taste of anything!"

Hulk bent down to the schno and sniffed it, his tail wagging behind him.

"It doesn't smell of anything either," he announced, "Where did it come from?"

Britney licked the snow, it was rough against his tongue and it turned into liquid, which he had to swallow. He tried to bite it, but the mouthful made his brain hurt so he spat it out. Hulk laughed at him, rolling onto his back and wiggling, flicking schno at Britney with his tail, the blanket protecting his back. Britney pounced on him and they began play fighting again, their leashes tangling as they rolled over one another, schno being flung around them.

The lady tugged at their leads, interrupting their fight,

"Come on you two or we'll never get to the park!", she said, unwinding the mess they'd made with their leashes before picking the puppies up and setting them on their feet.

She started walking down the area that the puppies knew was normally the pathway. She pulled on the leads again, giving the puppies no choice but to follow her, hopping through the snow, wishing they had protective blankets on their feet. They followed the lady all the way down the street that led to the park, turning every now and then to check that their paw prints were still following them and hoping that the the cold didn't come and want to be chased.

Chapter Text

Lewis was so excited to get to the pond. It was his favourite place to play. His Master didn't seem to like him jumping in the water but he never stopped him. Sometimes Master would try to be angry about it, he always ended up laughing in the end. Lewis liked the pond best because it was full of fish and he liked to chase them.

Britney and Hulk were in the park but he ignored them today. They were sniffing at the pathway and he didn't really want to get caught up in whatever trouble they were making today. He carried on running for the pond, preparing himself to jump to see how big a splash he could make.

"Get ready fishies, I'm coming!" he shouted, gleefully as his back legs launched himself into the air.

He hit the surface hard, but instead of sinking in like normal it hurt and his legs were all crumpled up and his face hit something solid. He slid along for a while, nearly reaching the other side of the pond.

"Ouchie!" he said, rubbing his nose with his paw, his belly laid on whatever the solid sheet covering the pond was, his back legs splayed out to the sides.

This was strange. He could see the fish below swimming like usual, but he couldn't get his paws through the water. What on earth was happening? He wanted to play!

Lewis pushed himself up, trying to get onto all fours but his front feet slipped from under him and he hit his face on the surface again. He tried his back legs but they kept slipping outwards too. He tried all for legs at the same time and came crashing back to the surface, spinning and sliding back out towards the middle of the pond.

He heard giggling from the reeds by the bank. He hadn't noticed that the cat was there, watching with beady eyes. His grey fur was sleek and shiny as it always was.

"Aww you shut up, Jenson!" Lewis said, trying and failing to stand again. He started to panic, "Where did the water go?"

Jenson grinned, his pointy teeth glinting in the winter sunlight,

"Oh its still there, pup. You're... flailing on it!" he said, tapping the ice with his paw, "It's just iced over because it's so cold!"

Lewis looked at the ice beneath him, mouthing the new word he had learnt. He watched some of the fish below swimming by, almost taunting him because he couldn't chase them today. He tapped the surface again, wondering if he could break it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, you don't want to fall in and get stuck underneath the surface," Jenson warned, padding gently across the ice to where Lewis lay, having given up trying to move.

"I just want to get off now," Lewis said, sadly. Not looking up from the ground. His ears were sunken onto his head and his tail was twitching nervously, "I don't like ice."

"It's alright, pup," Jenson said, placing his paws on the back of Lewis, "You just have to use your claws a bit. I'll push you back to the bank."

And slowly but surely Lewis slid back to the bank, Jenson pushing from behind and muttering about youthful mayhem.

Chapter Text

Jenson was looking forward to seeing Mark today. He padded through the snow in the park and headed over to the pond. The park was always quieter when it snowed. Apparently a lot of dog walkers didn't enjoy it so much like this, but Jenson thought it was much better. The only dogs in the park were the Wolff's new pups and they were too entranced by the snow to bother Jenson.

He reached the pond with no trouble and sat by the edge to wait for Mark. He had some news about a new kitten down the road. He wanted to warn Mark to keep an eye on the fish. The pond was iced over today, though the fish were still swimming happily below. He lazily watched them, nose against the ice, flittering under the surface by the reeds.

"Afternoon, mate!"

Jenson turned at the approaching voice, his tail flicking from side to side. He watched as the duck waddled up to him before replying,

"Alright, enjoying the snow?" he asked.

Mark laughed,

"Nah mate. It's awful. It's alright for you with your warm house to go back to, but I have to live out here. Damn freezing at night," Mark replied, flapping his wings a bit, "Regret not heading South now."

Mark had stayed behind in the park because he'd been placed in charge of the pond. He had to check that the fish behaved and keep the local cats from eating any of them. His only real problem was dogs. He didn't like dogs, but some of the dogs sure liked the pond.

"Well," Jenson purred, "You have a job to do, and I have some information for you."

Mark turned to look at Jenson, nodding for him to continue.

"There's a new kitten at number 20. Lively thing, likes chasing string. I think he's going to be allowed freedom soon, so I thought I'd better warn you. Don't want him after the fish."

Jenson watched the fish flittering around, unaware of the conversation they were having. One of his favourite pass-times in the summer was sitting with his paw in the pond, trying to tap as many fish as he could. There wasn't really a point to it, and Mark made sure he didn't catch any of them, but it wasted time and it wasn't much effort.

"Well, thanks for the advice mate," Mark said, scoping the park and spotting the two Wolff pups playing in the snow. As he turned to the left of Jenson his eyes widdened and he flapped his wings, "Anyway, best be off. Things to do you see."

He waddled off, flapping his wings so he half flew, half walked away in to the bushes at the edge of the park.

Jenson turned to look in the direction of whatever had frightened Mark and saw that Lewis was bounding across to the pond. He chuckled to himself, knowing full well what was going to happen. He watched Lewis launch into the air and cringed when he landed on the ice. It looked painful.

He watched the puppy flailing and trying to stand before it was too much for him and he laughed out loud. He supposed he was going to have to help.

Chapter Text

Kevin's owner was attached something around his neck. It looked like a tail. He wasn't really sure what it was for or why he needed another tail, but he sat calmly and let the woman do whatever it was she was doing.

Just moments before she had been shouting at him about something. It was quite scary. He thought it was something to do with him having a poo, but he wasn't sure. She didn't make much sense to Kevin. She didn't seem to know how to bark. Not that he did really, either. He was only 7 weeks old.

The woman stood up and Kevin decided she'd obviously attached his new tail and decided to see how it ran. He wobbled off in the direction of the kitchen but after a few steps he felt his new tail being pulled backwards.

"Come on, Kev," the woman said, pulling the new tail in the direction of the door, "Time for your first walk!"

The woman was smiling and kept pulling at Kevin's new tail until he walked over towards her at the door. Once he was in reach, she scooped him up into her arms, cuddling him as she carried him through the doorway. He licked her face happily. She must not be angry now if she was cuddling him.

Kevin's owner carried him out into the front garden. It was very cold and he wasn't sure he really wanted to be out here. He'd rather be with his toys in the lounge near the warm fire. It smelled in there now though, because that was where he pooped. Maybe he needed to find somewhere else. The human's had a big bucket in one of the rooms but he couldn't reach the top. He'd tried but it was too high, and the lady had just laughed at him when she found him.

Outside, the woman placed Kevin on the floor. It was covered in white stuff. Kevin was sure that it was green when he'd been brought to the house a week ago, but maybe he just imagined that. He walked around in a circle watching how the new tail, that had a loop wrapped around his owners hand, followed him. The further away he walked, the tighter it got until he couldn't pull it any furthur.

He pulled as hard as he could, the lady was laughing so maybe the tail was tickling her. He pulled more - maybe this was a game - but he couldn't get any futher. The lady was laughing quite a lot. She bent down to the ground and scoop some of the white stuff up in her hands,

"Cm'ere, Kevin," she said, patting her knees. He trotted over to her, getting his legs tangled in his new tail a few times, "You can't pull on the lead, it's to stop you getting hurt or getting lost!"

She finished talking as Kevin reached her and she went to stroke his head. Her hand was so cold! Kevin shook his head, the white stuff she had picked up tumbling between his ears and over his face.

"Brrrr!" he said, shaking some more and hopping backwards.

Some of the white stuff was caught on his nose and he licked it off, but when he went to chew it there was nothing there. He searched the ground but there was so much of the white stuff he couldn't find it.

The lady scooped some more snow from the ground and patted it together. She showed it to Kevin and he realised she'd turned it into a ball.

"Ooooh play. Yay!" he shouted, bouncing up and down waiting for her to throw it.

The lady threw it across the garden and Kevin pelted after it. He was determined to catch, he was almost there. He was going to catch it.

Twang

Kevin's new tail jolted him to a stop and the ball hit the garden wall, smashing to pieces. He really didn't like this new tail. He hoped it wasn't going to be a permanent thing.

Chapter Text

"I'm borrrrred," Hulk moaned to Britney. Toto and Susie had been out for what seemed to the puppies like hours and they wanted to go to the park.

"Me too," Britney replied, patting a ball away with the back of his paw and flopping onto his belly.

"What can we do?" Hulk ask, leaning his chin on his front paws.

The puppies had been left inside the house while Toto and Susie went shopping. There were plenty of toys for them to play with, but they'd played with all of them and now they wanted something new. They'd even made a pact not to eat their food until they were really hungry - just in case Toto and Susie didn't come back - so eating was out of the question.

"We could explore again," Britney suggested, trying to catch Hulk's tail which was flicking from side to side, "We haven't explored near the front door properly."

"I suppose," Hulk said, climbing to his feet, unable to think of a better idea.

The puppies raced one another to the front door, kicking balls and chew toys out of the way as they ran.

When they reached the door, they sniffed along the edges of the walls, hoping to find an interesting scent, but there was nothing. Even the shoes that normally lined up by the door weren't there - Hulk had sniffed them before and decided they were rotten.

"Woooah!" Britney exclaimed, "Look at that!"

Hulk turned around to see what Britney was looking at and found his brother staring upwards, tail wagging excitedly. He was looking up a huge bumpy looking hill, each bumped was just slightly taller than the puppies.

"It's a mountain!" Hulk cried, jumping up and down excitedly, "We have to climb it, like real explorers!"

"But puppies don't climb mountains," Britney said sadly, dropping his back half to sit on his bottom, "Only wolves can climb mountains."

Britney and Hulk sat at he bottom of the staircase for a few moments looking glum. There wasn't a lot else to explore and Toto and Susie still hadn't arrived home. Neither of them were hungry enough to allow themselves to eat the food yet - they were both fearful it might be the last they would get.

"Well," Hulk decided, padding towards the bottom step of the mountain, "We could pretend we're Wolves."

He lifted himself onto his back legs, placing his paws on the first step and tried to pull himself up. He dropped back onto the ground twice before Britney came over and gave him a bump up using his head.

One Hulk was firmly on the bottom step , he lifted his head and howl a squeaky whimper. He quickly stopped howling and turned to face Britney who stood with his paws on the step wondering how to get up.

"Who is going to bump me?" Britney asked, his puppy dog eyes watering up, "I want to climb the mountain too!"

"Wolves wouldn't say that, Britney," Hulk replied, "Wolves would growl - Grrrrr! I'm gonna climb this mountain!"

Hulk leaned back on his hind legs and bared his teeth at Britney as h growled. Britney laughed, falling backwards.

"Wolves are more scary than that!" he said, laughing.

Birtney walked back to the step and placed his paws over the top.

"Help me up, Hulk!" he said.

"Hang on, I'll boost you," Hulk said, jumping down from the step and sticking his nose underneath Britney's bottom so he was lifted onto the step, "There!"

Hulk looked up at Britney with a triumphant grin on his face. Britney looked down at him, a confused look on his face.

"But now you're stuck again," he said.

Hulk looked at his paws in shock, spinning around and realising he was back on the ground.

"Oh no. Now you'll have to boost me again!" he said, placing his paws on the step, "Can you boost me again?"

Britney dropped down from the step and went to stick his nose under Hulk's bottom. He stopped, and stepped back.

"Hulk, if I boost you I'll be stuck again," he said, realising what was happening, "We need another brother."

"I don't think we're very good at being wolves," Hulk said sadly, curling his tail around his body as he sank to the floor.

The two puppies sat by the bottom step sulking for a while. They both glanced up to the top of the mountain, wondering what it would be like to reach the top. They imagined all the scary beasts at the top that they'd have had to fight, and all the energy it would have taken, and all the new places they could have explored.

While they were thinking, Hulk's stomach grumbled. Britney's ears pricked at the sound, turning to Hulk who had a sheepish look on his face.

"Maybe we could eat our food now," he said as his tummy rumbled again.