Man's Best Friend

An Avengers fairy tale

Humans are interesting creatures. They do such strange things. Take for example Steve Rogers. Mortals had made him into a super soldier. He was stronger, faster, blah, blah, blah. All that's good but it's not why I found him interesting. Nope. And even as I watch him cradle Shiba's head, poor dog by the way, I can see there's something different about him. He's not outright crying, Tony's doing that. Shiba's breathing is labored and I could put an arrow through him right now to end his misery but isn't how it's supposed to go. I need Steve to kiss him but he doesn't know that. He's the first mortal in years that could break this curse but I can't make him do it. "Steve we can…" Bruce's voice trails off because while they might have the tech, it's too late. Their witchy friend, Mindy, is tearing through her spellbook trying to find something, anything. But they don't see it. All Shiba needs is a kiss! Kiss him damn it! Steve brushes his fur. He's whispering now. Even a hardened assassin such as Natasha begins to have tears in her eyes. Shiba's breathing slows down. He tries to lick Steve's hand but doesn't. Kiss him idiot! Just before the last of his breath leaves him Steve leans down to kiss the top of his head then he's gone. At first I think I miscalculated, that I misread the curse. Nothing happens except more crying. When Clint tries to take Shiba's body, Steve clutches him closer. So they stay like that in the burned out building. A pityful group if I do say so myself. I feel my own frustration and want to scream because I've lost my friend, truly lost him. But then Shiba's body begins to move. Steve has to let go as it floats.

"Mindy what's going on?!" Steve asks. Of course she doesn't know. She's still pretty young for a witch.

"I-I think the curse is breaking!" Bingo! It worked! The Avengers can only stand there in shock as Shiba's body glows. The limbs stretch, the fur disappears as does the tail, the claws are gone. The dog is becoming a man shaped being right in front of their eyes. I could cry! The dog turns into a very beautiful but still unconscious man. I need to take him now. The curse needs to be completely purged from his body.

"Aja," A deep voice says from behind me. Shit. "What is going on? Is that...is that Raijin?" Thor takes a step forward. "IT IS! What is the meaning of this?"

"Well you see-"

"Do not lie to me." He can be so dramatic. I mean I could start right here but you wouldn't truly understand unless I went back someway.

-A week ago-

Nope, not far enough.

-Three weeks ago-

Closer, only a little bit further.

-A month ago-

Perfect! Now I suppose the day Steve met Mindy would be a more appropriate place to start because without her he would never have met Shiba but I don't want to start there. Let's begin after he's met her. Steve liked a small coffee shop not too far from the Tower. Clint said it was for 'hipsters' but since Steve had no idea what that meant, simply shrugged his shoulders and continued going. He liked it because no one bothered him. They all acted as if he were a regular person, not Captain freakin America. Anyway he liked this place and would usually sit, drink some iced creation and read. That's how he met Mindy Abe. Listen to me. After all that baloney about starting after they met...sigh...whatever. Back to Mindy, she'd come in, drink coffee and work on her computer a few times a week. Of course she knew who Steve was but never actually said anything until he accidentally bumped into her table, which caused the coffee to spill onto the computer. Most people probably would've laughed it off, it's Captain America!, or maybe asked for an autograph. Not Mindy. After cursing him out in Japanese, she slapped his hands away when he tried to help the barista clean up the mess then grabbed her ruined laptop and stormed out. Steve didn't see her again for a week. When she came back she apologized, maybe a little coldly. She did brighten up when Steve presented her with a specially built laptop from Tony Stark, who even left a note apologizing for super soldier clumsiness and asked her to forgive Steve. There were even tickets to her favorite Broadway show. Of course Mindy HAD to forgive him then. And so from that point on the two struck up a friendship. They made an interesting pair. Tall, blonde and muscular with short, dark, and skinny. On this particular rainy day Steve had just returned from investigating abandoned creepy HYDRA buildings. He was sipping a latte when Mindy walked in wearing one of her billowy skirts and her arms covered in bracelets. Trailing behind her was a dog. She exchanged a few words with the barista then came over to their usual spot in the corner. After plopping down in a chair, she pulled a treat out of her pocket and handed it to the dog who sniffed it then literally stuck his nose up at it.

"Fine, be that way."

"Cute dog, what breed?" Steve reached a hand out for it to sniff. The dog snorted then went under the table to lay down. "Not very social."

"He's a Shiba Inu. Got him from a friend."

"You hate dogs." Steve reached out again. This time the dog sniffed his hand then licked it. Steve scratched behind an ear.

"I do."

"Then why did you take a dog from your friend?" Now at this point Mindy could lie, she wasn't especially good at it but she thought she could pull it off. But Steve had a way of looking at someone when he knew they were bullshitting him. Her dad did the same thing. She could never lie to him either so…

"Look you know somethings about me right?"

"What do you mean? How you pretend not to speak or understand English when you don't want to be bothered? Or how you could do a lot better in your classes but don't? Or maybe you're talking about how you obsessively study Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in your free time?" Steve smiles. Mindy does too.

"Ahhh no. I meant the magic thing."

"Oh." Mindy was a witch and her mother before her and her mother before and you get the picture. They weren't evil witches, didn't ride around on brooms, didn't own black cats and certainly weren't green. In fact Steve didn't believe her until she showed him a peek of her spellbook. It was small so she carried it with her everywhere. Steve had looked over the pages then whispered a 'prove it'. Of course Mindy wasn't going to back down. With a few whispered words she made his frappuccino disappear. She explained that witches had existed for a long time and preferred staying in the shadows. She never used her magic around him after that example and never really talked about it either. Steve had almost forgotten about it.

"What does that have to do with the dog?"

"Shiba."

"I know, you told me."

"No that's his name too."

"You gotta be kidding me."

"Nope."

"Shiba huh?" He said to the dog who by now was now staring sadly at Steve.

"Well at least he likes you. He hates me. A couple friends and me were at this lady's house, rich witch. Anyway she's giving us the tour then takes us to the basement where that poor thing was locked up. She bragged about how she turned a god into a dog. Bullshit right? But whether she was making it up or not we couldn't leave him like that. Later that night, while she was out we snuck back and smuggled him out, using magic of course because there's no way we could've gotten in undetected without it. She had charms all over the place. It was decided I'd keep him because I live the farthest away. Less chance of her running into me."

"Wow. You stole a dog."

"Don't give me that look Steve!" Mindy hissed. She could have quite the temper in case you hadn't guessed. "He was dirty, looked hungry, he was being abused!"

"Calm down Mindy. I get it, I may not like how you went about it but I get it." Shiba was now laying down in between Steve's legs.

"He likes you a lot. He kept yapping at me and my friends, almost bit my finger off. Hey…"

"No."

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"I do and the answer is no."

"Steve."

"Nope."

"Why?"

"I'm too busy. When would I have the time to take care of a dog?"

"You have down time, I know you do."

"He's your responsibility Mindy."

"Thanks dad." She rolled her eyes and slumped in her chair, not caring that it was a bit immature. Steve smiled again and looked down at Shiba. He was curled as tightly as possible. Steve had always wanted a pet. He loved dogs and here he was with the opportunity to have one.

"Shiba you wanna come stay with me?" The dog was instantly on his feet, licking Steve's hands.

"It's settled then?"Mindy asked with hope in her eyes.

"Yeah it's settled." And that's how Steve Rogers got a dog.

Okay. So you now know the basics of how Steve came to own a dog. You're probably wondering why I was even keeping an eye on him in the first place. We'll come back to that later. Let's get back to Steve and Shiba. Steve took Shiba to a dog shop in the area because Mindy hadn't bothered to buy him anything except a leash. He ended up with bowls, food, a bed, treats and toys. He thought it was all overpriced but he didn't feel like going far out to find cheaper stuff. Besides Tony had given him a card for emergencies, this counted as one right? Shiba followed right behind him on the way back to the Tower. They didn't stop until they were safely on Steve's floor. The dog bed went in his room. The bowls in the living room with the toys. And the treats in the cabinet so they wouldn't be easy to get to.

"Alright Shiba ready to meet everyone?" Steve would swear later the dog actually shook his head but at the time he brushed it off as his imagination. Everyone was on the common floor. While each Avenger had their own apartment there was also a floor that was used as a common area. It had a kitchen, living room, game room, mini theatre for movie nights and a bar. At the moment they were all watching a soap that Clint loved. Shiba immediately began to growl.

"Where'd the dog come from?" Bruce asked from the couch.

"A friend. She couldn't take care of it."

"Mindy?" Tony asked but already knew the answer. "That kid can barely get through her general classes. What made her think it was a good idea to get a dog?"

"Being young and not thinking ahead?" There was a murmur of agreement.

"Hey boy! Come here!" Clint said and to Steve's slight amusement, he tried really hard to hide it, the dog growled even more. "Alright, alright. I'm backing off. That's weird. I'm usually good with dogs."

"Sorry dog whisperer, let me try." Shiba allowed Tony close enough to sniff then licked his hand. Bruce was next, followed by Natasha. Clint tried again but Shiba just didn't like him.

"Stupid dog," He mumbled from the couch.

"Shiba Inu's are gorgeous dogs. A colleague of mine had one," Bruce is sitting crossed legged on the floor rubbing Shiba's belly.

"What's his name?" Natasha asks from beside him.

"Shiba." Steve received several raised eyebrows as if to say 'Really?' "Hey I didn't name him. Where's Thor?"

"Just missed him," Tony answered as he scrolled through his tablet for any info he could find on Shiba Inu's. "Said something about Asgard, drama, prince stuff, he'll be back later." Now this is important because Thor ended up not returning for some time. Had he been there when Shiba was at the Tower I think things would've turned out differently. I certainly wouldn't have been able to watch them so much, he would've sensed me for sure. Also it was important for the curse that he not get involve. More of that later too. Steve walked to the fridge. Shiba followed, sticking his nose inside.

"I don't think that's a normal color for him," Tony stated.

"What do you mean?"

"He's all black. That's not a normal color for the breed and what's with the bracelets around his ankles?" Steve had been eating leftover Chinese but stopped when Tony pointed. On each ankle was a silver band with strange markings on it.

"I didn't notice. I'll have to ask Mindy."

"Oh my God! I can't believe she married him! What the hell!" Clint screamed.

"What's he watching?"

"The young and the restless. He records each episode in case he misses anything, we've been watching it since this morning," Natasha tells him. "It's stupid but for some reason I can't stop watching."

"It looks silly...why are they yelling?" And that is how Steve lost an afternoon. Before he knew it he's watching with the interest as the rest. By the time Bruce shuts it off "for everyone's sanity" it's late. So they ate leftovers and discussed what moves they're going to make next. Eventually they all parted ways. Steve took Shiba out for a walk. The dog refused to do anything unless Steve looked away. Finally they went back inside. Shiba followed Steve to his room and even watched intently as he undressed and put on pajama bottoms. It's only after the light is out that Shiba hopped onto the bed to rest his head on a pillow.

"Why can't you sleep on the floor?" He asked. Shiba licked his nose then closed his eyes. "This isn't a normal thing got it? You're on the floor, in your new bed tomorrow." Shiba snorted "Sounds like you're being a smartass." Shiba gave a happy yip. Steve smiled and turned over. I waited until his breathing deepened then made myself known to Shiba. He lifted his head.

"It took me forever to find you. How are you?" He nuzzled my hand. "You think he could be the one?" Shiba made a gesture that could be taken for a nod. "I hope so. You know I can't interfere but I'll let the others know about you and have them keep an eye out for that witch." Shiba yawned then rested his head on the pillow again. I hoped with all my heart that Steve would be the one to set him free.