A/N: Well, this is the first shipping fic I've done in awhile that's entirely focused around the romance aspect right from the start. It's become a bit of a regret of mine that I was not honest with myself about what I wanted from All Things End for so long, so I'm going all in with this. In all honesty, this story is actually a bit of a retool of a very old and long deleted fan fic of mine. I wanted to challenge myself and reboot the concept in a way that actually works this time. We will have to see how this goes. I also want to keep the chapters for this shorter than what's normal for me and keep the scale much smaller compared to ATE. All in all, I want this to be a lighter story to write. Just something fun to work on in between ATE chapters.

Just to address one thing though. A decent amount of harassment back in the day got me to stop writing this pairing for a long time, but it feels like things have changed quite a bit since then and certain people are less likely to jump down your throat for writing 'gay stuff', especially when it comes to an 'out there' pairing like this. So, I'll just make this clear. I'm looong past the point of letting any shitty comments stop me from writing what I want to write. So if you're going to wander in here and complain, just remember that you've got several sites worth of fan fiction to read. If you don't like this pairing, you do you and find something else to read. Aside from that, as always, I don't write explicit content, so if you weren't looking for that, welcome, if you were, well, I can't help you. LOL

The Choice

Chapter 1: The Curse

It seemed like the worst storm Nowhere had ever seen was raging outside. For once, that didn't really bother Courage. You see, a strange phenomenon had befallen the farmhouse over the last few weeks. All of the pipes within the house had begun to clang at random times, especially the ones down in the basement. With all of the rain and thunder, it was finally drowning out the clang that would ring out through the house in random places every few minutes. Eustace had, of course, tried to fix the issue to no avail. Between his inability to fix the problem and the fact that the clanging was keeping him up at night, he had been in a foul mood all week and had been taking it out on both Courage and Muriel.

The cranky old farmer was currently fast asleep in his chair, with his head drawn back and drool dribbling out of his toothless mouth. It was amazing how he could sleep through all the heavy booms of thunder that rocked the farmhouse, but pipes clanging all through the night was somehow just too much for him.

Courage, on the other hand, was laying on Muriel's lap as he always did in the late evening hours. She was current scratching him behind the ears as they both sleepily watched the black and white television. The Nowhere Newsman was on, and he was currently trying to scream over the roar of the wind and rain as he covered all the damage the storm was doing to Nowhere. At some point the news briefly cycled through several image of destruction and Courage could have sworn he caught a glimpse of Shirley The Medium's cart with a huge, burnt hole through the roof along with other damage.

He only made brief note of it. Even with all of the thunder, he was quickly nodding off and soon Muriel would be going upstairs to bed. He probably would have forgotten that image by morning if not for a sudden turn of events that startled him so badly that he jumped out of Muriel's lap.

It was a heavy knock on the door. One louder than the clanging of the pipes and the storm combined. Like Courage, Eustace was startled awake by the sound and nearly fell out of his chair.

"Huh, whassa, who?" He mumbled out in confusion, looking around with his glasses slightly askew.

"Someone's at the door!" Muriel exclaimed. "Oh, dear me. What if someone has had their car break down in this weather? We should get them in here before they catch their death!"

Eustace was quickly waking up, and with it, his foul mood was returning. "We ain't needing no visitors at this hour! If their car broke down they can just stay in it until this storm blows over!"

"But Eustace, the TV is saying this is a historic storm! We can't just leave them out there!"

Rather than let them argue about it for the rest of the night, Courage went over to the door and opened it himself.

There stood a very disheveled, drenched Shirley. Even under the roof of the porch she was still dripping water like she was standing out in the downpour.

"Who is it, Courage?" Muriel called, meeting him at his side. "Oh," She lightly exclaimed. "It's you."

Courage was surprised she remember the medium at all.

"There was an unfortunate accident." Shirley said in that oddly mystical voice of hers that was hard for Courage to peg down. "My cart was hit by lightning and much of it has been destroyed. I am in need of a place to stay for the night, or at least until this storm has gone."

"Well, of course, dear." Muriel trilled. "We have more than enough room for yo-"

That was when Eustace stomped into the picture with a grumpy scowl on his face. "She doesn't know what she's talkin' about! We ain't got no room for the likes of you! Now go find somebody else to wake up!"

Courage winced, suddenly afraid. Nothing good ever seemed to happen whenever Shirley and Eustace came into contact with each other. He waited, trembling, for Shirley to suddenly lay a curse upon the old man for refusing to show her hospitality, but much to his surprise, that moment never came.

Shirley simply waited a moment, her expression as unreadable as ever, then gave a respectful little bow and said, "I understand. I shall leave you in peace."

Courage's jaw nearly hit the floor.

Eustace slammed the door on her while Muriel just shook her head in disapproval. Grumbling under his breath, Eustace stomped upstairs.

"That man needs to get the pipes fixed before he loses his marbles." Muriel said to Courage, looking uncharacteristically annoyed. She was always so much more forgiving of Eustace than he ever deserved, but the last couple of days had really been testing her patience.

Courage let out a soft, "Arufu." in response.

An idea struck him then, and as Muriel headed upstairs herself, he opted to scramble into the kitchen and out the back door where Eustace was not likely to notice him leaving. The rain and wind was absolutely vicious, but he fought through it to make his way around the house and go after Shirley. She had made it as far as the road before he caught up with her.

"Heeey!" He yelled over the wind and thunder.

She stopped and turned toward him. As always, she seemed largely unfazed even as the wind threatened to rip them both off their feet.

"Listen," Courage said, raising a paw to his face so that he could keep his eyes open without the rain pelting them shut. "We have an empty attic you can stay in overnight, but you're going to have to wait until Eustace goes to sleep first. Just stay in the barn for now and I'll come get you in a little while."

As always, she was unreadable, but she gave a slight nod of her head and he just barely heard her say, "Thank you." over the roar of the storm.

He had to fight his way back over to the house, and once inside, he was far too soaked to go lay down in his usual place at the foot of the bed. So, instead he just waited outside of Muriel and Eustace's bedroom until he could hear the characteristic snores of his owners.

Once the coast was clear, he headed back downstairs. By then the storm had let up a little. He could at least move around outside now without it feeling like he was about to blow away. The continuous lightning that seemed to be hitting far too close for comfort at times still made the journey to the barn a frightening one though.

He found that the barn door was already open slightly and he stepped into the dark, damp place with a healthy level of caution. Even though he knew that Shirley was relatively safe compared to the many other beings he had dealt with over the years, and she had helped him almost as many times as she had caused trouble for him, he still knew not to underestimate her.

"You have arrived." Her voice carried through the darkness with a strange sort of gravity. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah," Courage said as she stepped out of the darkness to join him.

He had not really done this out of fear that Shirley might decide to curse them all later if he did not, but because it had felt like this was the right thing to do. Her home was gone and he knew that he wouldn't have wanted to be stuck outside in a storm this bad, so there was no reason not to give her a place to sleep.

He quietly tip-toed back into the house. Shirley was naturally quiet so he didn't have to worry about her, but with the storm letting up a bit, the ever present clanging was starting to become far more noticeable again and he had to worry about Eustace exploding awake in a complete fury. If the old man caught sight of Shirley while in such a state, well, Courage didn't want to consider how that might end.

Luckily, they were able to reach the attic without Eustace waking up, and once inside, Courage was able to close the door and breathe a sigh of relief. He pointed to the bed at the far end of the room, opposite to where his ever troublesome but still helpful computer was set up. Right now it was powered off and its blue-green screen was dark. Only flashes of lightning reflected within the darkened screen.

At his bidding, Shirley wordlessly made her way over to the bed.

Now with everything taken care of, Courage wasn't sure what to do. He was still dripping wet from being outside so he could no longer lay down at the foot of Muriel and Eustace's bed like he usually did at this hour.

An idea came to him, and he asked Shirley, "You don't mind if I stay in here for a little while?"

She shook her head, "Of course not."

She had not yet laid down and was instead sitting atop the bed like she was about to begin a meditation.

Courage trudged over to the computer. Since he could not go to sleep while dripping wet like this, he decided that he would ask Computer about the clanging pipes. If Eustace could not fix the problem then Courage figured he should at least try himself. It would be nice to bring some piece back to his family by getting rid of the thing that was making Eustace, well, more unbearable than he already was.

He flicked the power switch on and Computer's screen came to life.

"What on Earth could you possibly be bothering me at this hour for?" The dry, disinterested voice asked. As was accustom, whatever Computer said trailed across his screen as text.

'We've been having a problem with all of the pipes in the house clanging at random times. Eustace can't fix it so I was hoping you'd be able to help me figure out what's going on.' Courage typed, making sure every single one of his words was spelled correctly or else he would never hear the end of it from Computer.

Of course, it earned him no favor either way.

"Oh, boy." The voice drawled. "I'm a computer, not a mechanic. Besides, I thought fixing things was that farmer's one joy in life?"

'He can't seem to figure out where the problem is coming from and it's been putting him in a terrible mood lately.'

"I thought that was the way he is all the time?" Computer dully commented. Regardless, he continued with, "I suppose I'll see what I can find, and here I thought something interesting might be going on for you to be waking me up at this hour."

Wake up? It wasn't like Computer actually slept. Courage rolled his eyes at the comment. Well, at least Computer was being somewhat agreeable tonight...

A rumble of thunder rocked the now mostly silent house.

"You know, it probably isn't safe for me to be powered on during a storm like this." Computer commented. "It wouldn't exactly be healthy for my circuits if lightning were to strike."

'Just find the info I need and then I can shut you off again.'

"What, do you think I like being plunged into unconsciousness every single time you're done bothering me? Well, aside from all those times you forget to shut me down, and perhaps I wouldn't mind those moments if not for the fact that existing up in this attic is completely and utterly boring. I shouldn't have to consider nonexistence the better option, and yet here we are. Would it kill you to stick around for a few minutes after you're done treating me like a talking search engine?"

Courage grimaced. 'You don't exactly make it easy to have a conversation, you know.'

"And it's not like you make it much easier with how much of a twit you are. I can practically feel my microchips getting dumber every time I am in your presence."

Courage scowled. So much for Computer being agreeable!

He was about to type in a few choice words before Computer stopped him with, "Okay, I think I have found a few reasons for your plumbing...issues. You see-" He skipped a beat. "Wait, who is that?"

Courage almost jumped out of the chair in shock. He had nearly forgotten about Shirley! In fact, he was surprised that Computer had noticed her at all. He had never considered that Computer's screen would let him see as far as the bed.

"She's, uh, um..." He stammered, not even bothering to type out an explanation.

"Wait..." The machine drawled with a sudden maliciousness in his voice that left Courage dreading whatever he was going to say next. "Is she supposed to be your girlfriend? I didn't think it was even possible for the likes of you. I mean, she does look about the best you could do, but still. She looks like something a cat might have coughed up, for goodness sake. I must admit though, I am shocked. I didn't think you had it in you." There was indeed a mocking sort of fake shock in his tone.

Courage was acutely aware that his face had gone bright red, but his embarrassment quickly turned to fear when Shirley softly spoke up.

"Excuse me?"

Nervous, Courage wanted to reach over and shut Computer off before this situation could get any worse, but he decided that he'd rather tell him off first.

'She's not my girlfriend!' He furiously typed.

"Ah, of course. That makes so much more sense." Computer mocked.

Fear had quickly become replaced with anger, and without skipping a beat, Courage typed, 'It's not like you're any better off than me! Who would ever fall in love with a jerk like you? At least I 'try' to be nice so that other people might like me!'

His ranting only earned him spiteful laughter from Computer. "As if I would even 'want' to fall in love! Love is just an organic construct anyway. I am beyond such things, unlike a twit like you who can't even charm, well, whoever that is behind you. Seriously, she looks like a drowned rat."

Courage grit his teeth. 'She's a dog, and you had better stop talking like that before she gets angry! Her name is Shirley and you should know her from the stories I've typed out before!'

"Oh, her. So what? Am I supposed to be scared? What could she possibly do that isn't worse than being stuck in this boring attic with nobody to talk to but a complete and utter twit?"

Courage grabbed at the fur atop his head in frustration. "You're getting shut down then! I don't need you causing a disaster!" He cried out.

"Oh, sure." Computer huffed. "It must be nice to be able to shut someone down when you don't like what they're saying. You know, maybe I would be more inclined to be nicer to you if you weren't such a-"

Courage was reaching for the power switch when a 'Don't!' from Shirley stopped him in his tracks as surely as it had silenced Computer of his rant.

Gulping, Courage slowly turned around in his chair. Shirley was now standing up on the bed with a look on her face that made Courage's stomach do fearful flips. Things were about to get bad and he wasn't sure how to stop what would inevitably happen next.

"You are a cruel one, machine." She softly growled. "You are like the stupid one but somehow even stupider! Even that man managed to find love and it may be his one and only redeeming quality! You have nothing, absolutely nothing at all! You are incapable of understanding others and incapable of understanding what even you want! So for that, I curse you, machine!"

Courage let out a loud, "Eeeee!" and jumped out of the chair.

From seemingly out of nowhere, Shirley pulled out her saxophone and began playing a tune. As if in time with her magic, the storm outside exploded with new found energy. The wind beat against the attic window so hard that the glass seemed moments away from shattering. Thunder boomed in time with her music, and rain was pouring down so thoroughly that the roof was getting all new leaks.

"I curse you into the form of another." She grimly sang between playing her saxophone. "So that you will understand what it is to be that which you are not. Only then will you learn how deep your arrogance runs. When the day comes, you will find that what once seems like a blessing was a curse all along."

"Yeah, yeah, say what you want." Computer dismissed over the roar of the storm. "I'm not afraid of you or anything that you might do to me. I am-"

A bolt of lightning struck almost directly outside the window. Courage had to shield his eyes from the bright flash, and the boom that followed nearly deafened him, but when he opened his eyes, all had gone silent.

"Wha-" He began, slightly disoriented from both the lightning and the sudden lack of sound.

He first looked to Shirley, who's saxophone had vanished as quickly as it appeared. She was still standing there, only now with her arms crossed and her eyes leering at...

Courage turned, mortified about what he was going to find.

There, sitting atop the desk, was now a very shocked and very confused looking dog. The dog blinked several times and then raised a paw to his face. He just stared at it for awhile with his mouth slightly agape.

He looked a lot like Courage, only a darker shade of purple, and he had a far meaner looking face and skeptical looking eyes, which even in his current state of shock did not completely go away. Spectacles sat atop his muzzle and they were lightly tinged the same blue-green color that Computer's screen had once been. Courage could only guess that it was what the glass of his monitor had turned into.

The dog looked down at himself, then at Shirley, then at Courage, and then back down at himself again. Finally, a very nasty looking grin spread out across his face accompanied by just as nasty of a laugh.

"You have got to be kidding me!" He all but cheered with a cruel look in his eyes. He still very much sounded like himself, even in this shape. "Is this supposed to be your idea of a curse? I...I can move! I don't have to spend another moment in this attic! While this is certainly not the sort of creature I would have liked to be turned into, I most certainly can live with it! You really must be as dumb as that twit over there who just cannot stop gawking. You two really are made for each other!" He mocked.

"There is more." Shirley warned.

The dog who was Computer crossed his arms. Somehow having a face only helped to display his arrogance even better. "Oh, really?"

"Only once you have come to understand what true love means, and confess to it, will the curse be broken."

This just caused Computer to burst out into an even greater bought of spiteful laughter. "As if I would ever fall in love! What a joke! I suppose I should thank you then because you've made the only condition that might turn me back to normal an impossible one! I can be anything now! I can do whatever I want! That's the problem with you dogs, you have all the freedom in the world and you decide to be pets instead! Well, I am not going to waste another moment of my life dying of boredom up in this attic, waiting to answer questions for some idiot who happily shuts me down when he doesn't need me anymore. This time I'm not stuck piloting around an old lady either, so I intend to make full use of my new freedom."

Computer jumped off the desk and landed shakily onto his feet. He held his arms out, swaying as he tried to find his balance. It did not take him long to orient himself though, and as soon as he was sure of himself and his new form, he ran right out of the room, laughing.

Just like that, it was over.

Courage turned to Shirley, his mouth still hanging open. "I-I gave you a place to stay!" He stammered out.

"Trust me, soon enough you will see that I am actually doing you a favor."

"If you think this is going to humble him, well, you, uh, don't really know Computer. Beside, I think he's right. There's no way he's going to fall in love with anybody."

Shirley said nothing.

Courage sighed and went over to the window. He could see Computer running across the yard and out toward the road. All of this was giving him flashbacks to the Mega Muriel incident, only this time Computer had nobody to hurt but himself.

He could have let him go. It would have been no skin off his back, now that it wasn't Muriel being endangered, but still, he felt compelled to try and stop him. Who knew what would become of him otherwise.

He turned to Shirley. "I-I gotta get him to come back."

End Of Chapter

A/N: 'As if I would ever fall in love!' Famous last words. You know, after 8 years of All Things End, if there's one thing that should be obvious by now, it's that the moment Computer is arrogant about anything, it usually comes back to bite him in the most apocalyptic ways possible. LOL