The Magic in Our Chemistry

by namelesslunitic

Brian and Stewie set out on the road to becoming star magicians.

1. The Pledge

Author's Note: Ok, so something happened a few months ago. I was watching the episode The Former Life of Brian, and it just struck me how ridiculously cute Brian and Stewie were all set up for their magic act. And, that idea just sort of stuck with me. Now, I already really enjoy magic shows and the art of a good illusion, but the idea of combining all the fun of that with my two favorite characters took hold and it just would not let go. Long story short, I've been obsessed with this idea for months, now, and this is something I've been slowly chipping away at. This is the first of three chapters. I don't know how often I'll be updating this particular fic, though, because I do have a ton of other ideas that I don't want to put completely on hold for this. I will still be publishing content rather frequently, but the wait for the next chapter to this story might be about a month or two. We'll see. It will most certainly be finished. I'm a man of my word, after all. Enjoy my latest obsession!

Warning: This story will eventually contain pedophilia and bestiality.

Disclaimer: I do not own Family Guy or its characters.

The Magic in Our Chemistry

Chapter 1: The Pledge

"Ha! Remember this?"

The child pulled the item out of the box he was rummaging around in and held it up so that his canine companion could see. Brian pulled his attention away from his own box and read the title out loud with a sigh.

"Wish it. Want it. Do it."

Stewie chuckled as he set the book off to the side.

"Your one fleeting moment of fame."

Brian just frowned.

"Yeah, I guess… I don't really like to remember it."

He pointed at a pile of items that was over in the corner of the basement.

"That can go in the discard pile."

The infant's grin fell and he blinked at the dog, slightly stunned.

"Really?"

Brian just nodded his head.

"Yes, really. It's a terrible book, anyway."

Stewie stood there for a moment before finally shrugging and tossing the book into the pile of items to be thrown away.

The two of them had come down here to sort through some of Brian's old things that he had been keeping stored. Lois had bitched the dog out earlier about the boxes cluttering up the space, and he had figured it was just better to do as the woman asked instead of making a big deal out of it.

So far they had amassed a pile of old dog toys, notebooks, and various other trinkets that the canine had dubbed worthy of the trash bin. Really most of what was in these boxes was getting thrown out. They'd already been through three of them with these last two left to go, and there was hardly anything that Brian seemed to want to keep. It made Stewie wonder why he had held onto these things for so long at all…

Something else caught the boy's eye.

"Oh, wow! How long has this been in here?"

He reached in and pulled out a ragged looking faded red collar.

Brian looked at him again, eyes lighting up a bit as he caught sight of the item.

"Hey, let me see that."

He stood up and took a couple of steps over to the boy before snatching the collar out of the tyke's small hand. He began smiling as he looked it over.

"This is my first collar you guys got for me."

He ran his paw over the material, his mind going distant as he reminisced about his early days in the Griffin home.

"When was it replaced?"

Stewie's voice shook the dog out of his revelry. He handed the collar back to the boy.

"Oh, I don't know. It's been a little while. It wasn't much longer after that time I had to go bring you back home after you ran off to go live on Jolly Farm."

Stewie nodded his head, remembering that adventure vividly. Such early days in his and Brian's relationship... The memories couldn't help but bring a smile to his face, as well.

"So, I'm assuming you'd want to hold on to this?"

The dog placed a paw on his chin as he seriously thought over that question. After a minute or so, he finally just shook his head.

"No. I probably shouldn't. It's got sentimental value, but look at it. It's already falling apart, and it's not like it's ever going to be used again."

His smile fell slightly as he pointed at the discard pile.

"Add it with the rest, I guess."

Stewie responded with a curt nod. He turned around as if he was about to toss the item away, but as soon as Brian had turned around, he pocketed it instead and immediately went back to looking through his assigned box. He was getting towards the bottom, now.

More old toys.

A newspaper from years ago.

A now obsolete porno mag.

A wand.

A…

Wait a minute…

He looked back at that last item and retrieved it from the box, a huge grin on his face.

"You kept this!?"

"Huh?"

The dog looked up once again, eyes quickly locking on the wand.

"Oh! There it is."

The child waved the wand around playfully, swiping it towards the canine a few times as he pretended to put a spell on him.

Brian reached in and pulled something out of his box, a black top hat.

"The rest of the outfit is in here. I was beginning to think I'd lost the wand. Wonder how it got seperated…"

Stewie ceased playing with the wand as he stood up and pitter-pattered his way over to Brian to have a look for himself.

"You kept the whole magician's outfit?"

Brian shrugged.

"I kept all that magic crap. That stuff wasn't cheap."

Stewie reached into Brian's box and retrieved a black cape that he immediately placed over his shoulders before taking the top hat from Brian and placing it on his head.

"I mean, I get that it wasn't cheap but did you think you would actually ever need it again? Our last show didn't exactly…"

He paused for a second as he recalled that day.

"Well, we didn't actually get to put on a show at all."

He shook his head.

"Kind of a waste when you think about it. My outfits weren't exactly cheap, either."

He struck a dramatic pose with his wand and magician's getup as Brian considered him curiously.

"Did you...keep all those?"

The child chuckled as he jumped out of his pose, offering the dog a wink as he replied.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Brian's eyes went a little wide before he turned his attention back to the box. He cleared his throat.

"Well, like I said, that stuff was expensive. We'll call it a maybe, for now. We should hurry up and finish up down here. Lois is going to want you for your nap here pretty soon."

And, with that, it was clear that the dog was done with the subject.

Stewie frowned slightly, but didn't protest. Instead, he quickly gathered up the rest of the magician's outfit that was in the box before walking back to finish looking through his. He took off the articles of clothing that he had donned and placed those plus the wand in their own little pile beside the box. He regarded the outfit for a minute, hands on his hips as he continued to remember that day.

All that money spent on something that was never even really used. It really is such a waste…

He shook his head and was about to turn to start looking through his box again. He stopped midturn, though, as a thought suddenly rushed through his brilliant mind, and at that thought, the grin returned to his lips. A finger went up to tap at his chin as he began to mull this thought over.

You know, why not? It could be fun!

---

"You want to do what?"

The dog spoke the words through a yawn as he closed the door and shut off the light, leaving the baby's room in pitch black aside from the glow of the streetlamp outside shining through barely parted curtains. He began walking over to his usual spot on the floor as Stewie explained further.

"We should give our magic act another shot! I've been thinking about it ever since we found that stuff in the basement, and you know, would it really hurt to actually get your money's worth out of all that? Maybe actually turn a profit?"

Brian did his best to take all this into his tired brain as he took his place on the floor. He yawned again and shut his eyes.

"I bought that stuff ages ago, Stewie. I'm not exactly feeling the financial hurt anymore."

Another long yawn.

"Seems like kind of a hassle."

The canine heard the child huff. He could practically see the scowl on the boy's face in his mind's eye.

"Well, excuse me. I wasn't aware that you considered our activities together a hassle."

The canine groaned and opened one of his eyes so that he could look up at the boy who was still standing in his crib.

"You know good and well that's not what I meant."

The infant folded his arms and huffed again.

"Oh, do I? Well, tell me, Brian, what it is exactly that you meant."

The dog shook his head, knowing that he had no chance of getting any peace until this discussion was resolved.

I swear he's like a naggy girlfrie…

He cut that thought off quickly, sitting up so that he was almost face to face with the baby.

"Look, you know I like doing things with you, alright? Is that really something I need to prove, at this point? Because I would hope not! But, you also know how these things usually go, Stewie. It's never as simple as 'Oh! Let's just do the thing!'. Things always end up getting crazy. And, frankly, I'm not exactly into magic all that much, so I'm not sure it's worth the risk. Plus, I had to practice for hours just to get ready for that one show we were going to do, and I was barely competent enough for that. I was just trying to get laid, for crying out loud! I don't know, man… It just seems like a lot of work for, well...nothing."

Silence for a beat, and then, "Well, I think it could be fun."

The canine exhaled a deep breath through his nostrils.

"That's it? Really?"

He shook his head and snorted.

"You just want an excuse to wear those outfits, don't you?"

The boy's arms finally fell then, his eyes widening just a bit as he seemed to quickly try and come up with a response.

"I… So what if that's all it is? I mean, it's not, but also, I do think they're pretty cute… What's it to you? What do you have going on that's so important?"

Hands went to hips then as the infant regained his air of superiority.

"I don't really think it would be all that inconvenient for you. If anything it's something productive for you to do instead of sitting here at home all day watching television and slowly chipping away at whatever brilliant piece of prose you've conjured up this go around."

The dog actually winced, the sarcasm stinging him more than he would like to admit.

Stewie noticed. His expression softened a bit as he continued.

"It was...just an idea, Bry. Something for us to do. I know someone who has a birthday party coming up. So, if you decide to give this thing another shot, I can probably get us into that."

The infant moved to lie down, a quiet yawn escaping past his lips.

"Just think about it. Ok?"

He pulled the blanket up over his torso and rolled over, facing away from the animal.

Brian remained sitting there, not exactly sure what to say. Why was Stewie always the one in control of these conversations? What? They were just going to stop talking about it now that the kid had decided he was too tired to continue with the discussion?

Brian sighed and laid his body back down on the floor.

"Alright, fine."

He closed his eyes and yawned one last time.

"I'll think about it."

A part of him knew, though, that even by conceding just that much he had basically already given in to Stewie's wishes. That's how it always went.

He shrugged, fidgeting a bit before drifting off to sleep.

Heh. What else is new?

---

Brian helped Stewie finish setting up the table, frown never leaving his face.

"Hey, now, Mr. Grumpy. You can't be looking like that once the party guests start showing up. You're not here to depress everyone. You gotta be chipper! See?"

The baby jumped and struck a pose, landing on black pumps while flaunting his scarlet dress and tossing the red hair of his wig a bit as he motioned towards the table showily with long white-gloved hands and a big smile.

Brian's lips refused to upturn. He felt absolutely ridiculous in this outfit: top hat, black cape, red bowtie, all tied together with a black dress jacket and gray button-up.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

Stewie chuckled at the notion, straightening up an uneven section of the pink tablecloth that he had noticed.

"Well, I can't believe that you can't believe it."

The dog was about to retort, but just then, the birthday boy's parents made their way into the backyard from inside the house.

The father turned to address Brian.

"Are you two almost ready? We're about to send Kevin and his friends out here. They're getting restless indoors."

A familiar sensation washed over Brian then, and he was left standing there with his mouth hanging open.

Stewie rushed to step in, making sure to speak in his slightly higher-pitched disguised voice.

"We're all set out here, sir!"

The boy threw the man a wink, more of an instinctual response than anything. Though, he did get a little satisfaction at watching the scowl that appeared on his wife's face. It was always nice to know that others saw him as potential competition, not that he had any interest in wrecking a home just to get with such an average looking individual. So not worth the drama.

"Well, alright, then. I guess we'll go get the boys."

The man smiled at him before turning around to head back into the house with his wife.

Stewie looked back over at his show partner. The dog was still standing there looking dumbstruck. He nudged the canine's elbow with his own.

"Hey, you gonna be alright there?"

The dog jumped at the contact, shaking his head as he pulled himself together.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. I just…"

He laughed, mostly to himself as he continued.

"I guess I'm actually getting a little nervous? That's silly, though. It's just a bunch of preschoolers…"

Stewie nodded his head and gave his friend a pat on the back.

"You're right. That is silly. Come on! This is nothing! Things went so well in the rehearsal. You got this, buddy!"

The dog took a breath and straightened his bowtie.

"Right. I got this…"

The kids all began making their way into the yard, all of their parents directing them to walk in single file before they all took a seat on the grass in a perfectly organized line in front of their entertainment.

The dog gulped, unsure of how to even begin.

Luckily, Stewie had him covered. The infant cleared his throat and began speaking loudly while making showy gestures with his hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and...well…"

He chuckled effeminately.

"Boys! Prepare to be amazed as you witness feats beyond your wildest imagination! Brace yourselves for a stunning display of sorcery that will leave you both baffled and amazed! Allow me to present the most incredible illusionist this side of West Quahog! The Aaaaaaammmmmmaaaaazing Brian!"

The kids began clapping as Stewie gestured towards Brian.

The dog gave a little wave and took a few bows before the applause finally died down.

Silence.

Alright. You got this, Brian.

"Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Ste..."

The canine's eyes went wide as he barely stopped before making a huge mistake.

Shoot! Did Stewie tell me what his name was supposed to be? I can't use his real name!

"...eeeeeeeeelllllllaaaa."

He smiled awkwardly at the child who just simply smiled back, nodding his head to indicate that the name was fine.

"Well, what can I say, sir. There's a reason that you hired…"

The disguised infant struck a particularly flashy pose.

"...The Fabulous Stella to be your assistant. I've traveled far and wide searching for a magician worthy enough to be assisted by my talents. Let me just say that you are in for quite a show, folks!"

The baby did a graceful turn, grabbing a pitcher of water from off of the table before handing it to The Amazing Brian.

"Shall we proceed with the first trick?"

The canine nodded once before taking the pitcher and walking behind the table.

He smiled broadly, starting to feel some of the tension he was experiencing alleviating. He held up the pitcher.

"You ready to see some magic, kids?"

The children all cheered, further raising the dog's confidence.

"Alright, then! For my first trick, I will make this water…"

He grabbed a cup that was just off to the side and placed it in front of himself.

"...disappear into this cup."

The boys all began to ooooooo and ahhhhhh at the idea of the water simply vanishing.

This was an easy trick, though. There was absolutely no way it could go wrong.

The canine began slowly pouring the liquid into the cup.

"Watch carefully, now."

The crowd leaned in as the dog continued to pour the water, some of them starting to gasp as they saw him pour in more water than the cup should be able to contain. Eventually, the entire small pitcher had been emptied into the cup. Some of the parents went ahead and began applauding the display, but the dog held up a paw to silence them.

A serious expression washed over his face, all for show. He was actually starting to get into his performance, now.

He set the pitcher down and retrieved his wand, which had been sitting on the table this whole time. He began waving the wand over the cup as he spoke the magic words.

"Alakazam!"

The dog lifted up the cup, waiting a few more seconds both so that the trick would work but also as a means of building the suspense in the crowd. Finally, he turned the cup upside down.

No water spilled out.

The crowd cheered and began applauding once more. Brian took a series of bows, feeling quite proud of his performance so far.

But, then, the clapping stopped abruptly.

Brian heard his assistant gasp this time, causing him to look up quickly to see a soaked sponge now resting on the table. It didn't take him long to realize that the sponge had fallen out of the cup.

He gulped, realizing the secret of the trick had been exposed.

Shit…

He sat the cup down awkwardly, his brain working like crazy to find a way to fix this situation. The canine stammered a bit before finally saying, "Behold! I… I've turned the water into a...sponge…"

He laughed nervously, which probably didn't help to sell his now modified trick.

Stewie gasped again, this time feigning surprise as he began addressing the crowd.

"Absolutely incredible! How about that, ladies and gentlemen!?"

One person started clapping again, slowly, but they quickly stopped when they realized they were the only one applauding the poor display. Everyone else was either frowning or snickering.

Not good.

It was Stewie's turn to try and come up with something quick.

The child began laughing ruefully, though he tried to maintain an air of cheeriness with his expression.

"Ohhhhhh, man… We sure… We sure got you."

Everyone in the crowd gave the pair a look of pure bafflement. Not the kind of

bafflement Brian and Stewie were hoping for, though.

Stewie continued anyway, determined to save their show from its horrendous start. He scoffed at the crowd a tad mockingly.

"Pffft! Disappearing water!? Did you really think that was an honest attempt at a trick? How many of you honestly didn't know there was a sponge in that cup?"

The baby was trying to make the method for the trick seem like the most obvious thing in the world, and judging by the crowds reaction, it seemed to work. No one was owning up to having ever not known a sponge was in the cup.

Good. Maybe there was some hope for getting this back on track.

"What you just witnessed, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly the kind of kiddy trick you would have gotten if you had gone with your average party magician. But, let me assure you, The Amazing Brian…"

A quick gesture towards the dog behind the table who was trying to regain his composure after picking up on Stewie's crazy but admittedly kind of genius plan.

"...is not your average party magician. So, now that you've seen what you would be getting from the rest, have a gander at incredible feats of the best!"

It worked. The crowd began applauding again. Stewie's little speech had done wonders for rekindling their excitement. They were ready to see something truly great.

Brian stood there in astonishment for a moment before shrugging his nerves off once more. He gave a casual swipe to the cup and sponge, knocking both items off the table as he waved his wand with a flourish.

"Thank you, Stella! You know, it's always risky starting a show this way, but luckily, I have such a talented assistant to help me pull it off."

He cleared his throat.

"But, enough with the games. Let's move on to our first real trick for the day."

The canine reached under the table and procured three large, metal rings. He held them up high so that the audience could see, making sure to keep his paw over one particular section of the rings.

The crowd watched him carefully as he began showing them each ring one by one.

"As you can see, these three rings are solid all the way around."

He took two of the rings and began hitting the edges together, making a loud clinking sound as he continued his explanation.

"You couldn't possibly force them together."

The dog continued to hit the rings together as if to drive the point home, but then, miraculously, one of the rings slipped through the other linking them together.

The crowd gasped, and Brian smirked, feeling quite proud of himself.

"That is...unless you have a little magic."

The audience began clapping loudly.

Brian continued to show off the two now linked rings for a bit before moving on to the next move, the unlinking.

He gave the lower-hanging ring a spin for show, and then went to pull them apart, twisting one of the rings so that it would slip through a gap that he had been concealing in his paw this whole time.

It...almost worked.

It would have worked...

...if Brian hadn't moved his paw too far over and revealed the gap to pretty much the whole audience.

"Hey, those rings aren't solid!"

Uh oh…

Brian gulped.

Stewie facepalmed, turning to give his partner an exasperated look as he whispered under his breath.

"Don't expect me to save your ass this time!"

Just then, all the boys began to boo the dog loudly and obnoxiously.

The dog dropped the rings and began stammering wildly as he searched for coherent words to say, trying his best not to panic and bolt out of the backyard.

"I-I-I… Ha… Haha! I fooled you again. Y-You know what they say. F-Fool me once…"

"This guy stinks!" one of the boys suddenly cried out, and all the others began shouting out their agreements.

The canine felt his heart racing. His eyes began darting all over the table as he searched for something to distract the mob of preschoolers that was growing ever more restless. They eventually landed on a deck of cards. He grabbed it and held it up.

"How about some card tricks!"

A smile spread across his face that was borderline as he began shuffling the deck. Unfortunately, he paws were shaking so much that his attempt at a simple shuffled resulted in him simply spilling the cards all over the ground.

Everyone in the crowd erupted into uproarious laughter.

Brian couldn't help but let his smile fall as his ears took in the sounds of the audience mocking him. He looked over and saw Stewie with his head hanging low and shaking slowly. The dog's head followed suit as he resigned himself to his fate and endured the laughs and jeers of adults and children alike. He sighed.

Well, at least the kids are happy…

---

Brian and Stewie were sitting in their own little corner of Kevin's backyard at a wooden picnic table, eating some cake that had been graciously provided by the birthday boys' parents. The dog was still feeling pretty foolish. He wasn't sure that their show could have gone any worse, and he was just ready to finish his dessert, pack up his things, and get the fuck out of there. He wasn't even going to bother asking for his payment. Who in their right mind would pay him after such a disastrous display?

"We'll work on it."

The voice of Stewie ripped him from his thoughts. He looked over and saw the infant smiling as he popped another bite of cake into his mouth with his plastic fork.

Brian shook his head and set his plate down.

"We'll work on it?"

The baby nodded his head as he swallowed.

"Mmhmm. Look, this was the first show we've ever done. It was bound to be a tad...unprofessional…"

The dog snorted.

"I think it might have been more than a tad unprofessional, Stewie…"

Another bite.

"Well, you're right about that, but I was trying to be a little courteous. I think you've endured enough humiliation for the day, don't you?"

Brian didn't say anything back, just watched as Stewie took his last bite before daintily wiping his mouth with a paper napkin that had some weird looking cartoon character on it.. He picked his plate back up and began eating his own piece.

A few moments later, Kevin's parents began making their way over to the magic pair.

The dad spoke first.

"How's that cake treatin' ya?"

Stewie cleared his throat and replied in his disguised voice.

"Oh, it was just lovely! May I ask where you got it?"

"That would be my handiwork, thank you."

The man's wife interjected somewhat rudely

Under normal circumstances, Stewie would have pointed this out, but he was on the job, after all. Can't be snapping at paying customers. No, no.

"Well, you have my compliments. It was absolutely delicious."

The woman smiled a tad smugly, and Stewie had to fight to keep the smile on his face.

Luckily, as the tension began to become noticable, the father pulled out his wallet and moved to address Brian.

"Ok, so your rate is one-fifty an hour and you've been here for about two now sooooo…"

He pulled out three one-hundred dollar bills and offered them to the dog.

"I believe this will cover everything."

Brian almost choked on the last bite of cake that he was in the process of swallowing, causing Stewie to rush and slap him on the back a few times so that the food would go down. The canine had to stop for a moment to catch his breath before finally responding. Though, he regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.

"You're actually paying us!?"

Stewie facepalmed. He didn't care who saw.

Well, maybe not anymore, you dumb mutt!

The father simply looked at the animal, confused.

"Well, yeah… Why wouldn't I?"

Brian's mouth got ahead of his brain, once more.

"But, we were terrible!"

He could immediately feel the glare coming from Stewie.

"Hey, speak for yourself, buddy!"
The dog would have responded, but he was cut off by the man laughing.

"Haha! I was trying not to bring that up, but yeah, it was pretty bad…"

Brian shrunk back, feeling foolish for ever taking on this venture with Stewie.

"But," the man started again, causing the dog's ears to perk up.

"I understand that you guys have your off days, and the fact of the matter is that bringing all your stuff here and setting it up was still work. You still took time out of your day to offer your services, and really, I wouldn't feel right making you two leave with nothing, so…"

He held out the bills more insistently.

"We'll just call it a bad day at the office and leave it at that. How's that sound?"

The dog's paw was practically a blur as he reached out to snatch the bills with a big grin and a wag of his tail.

"Hey, sounds good to me!"

He pocketed the money and stood up from the bench.

"I guess we should start packing up our stuff and getting out of here."

The man nodded his head.

"No rush. You know the way out."

And, with that said, the man turned to walk away, his wife following closely behind.

Stewie stood up then, his arms moving to fold over his chest.

"Oh, well, look at you so suddenly cheery and chipper, but then again, I guess that is the power of the mighty dollar."

The canine turned to address the baby.

"Look, Stewie, I didn't even think we were going to get paid today! Excuse me for finding a silver lining here."

The infant just shook his head and allowed his arms to fall to his sides as he responded.

"Well, you can't keep skirting by on the generosity of others. If we're going to keep doing this, then we're going to need to work on a few things."

Brian had already begun walking away from their table before the child had finished, causing Stewie to shout after him.

"Brian!"

The canine turned around, still wearing that grin.

"Yeah?"

Stewie wanted to seem mad for being ignored, but the sight of the dog fully standing there in his magician's getup, smiling so genuinely quickly softened any anger he was feeling. He felt his heartbeat beginning to quicken.

"So, we are going to keep doing this, right?"

No hesitation as Brian began nodding his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Now, come on. We need to get all our stuff out of here."

He turned around and began walking away once more.

Stewie followed quickly behind him. He was looking forward to doing this again.

---

"So, I just move my hands like so, aaaaaand voila! The rings are unlinked!"

The dog sat there on a lawn chair in the backyard of the Griffin home watching the baby perform the trick he had failed. Stewie had repeated the motions several times by now, making it appear like the most effortless thing ever, and while Brian understood that the boy was trying to help him, it still irked him that everything seemed to come so naturally to Stewie. What? He was a professional illusionist, now? Sure. Why not..?

"Want me to show you again?"

Brian shook his head and reached out to take the rings.

"I know how the trick is done, Stewie. I mean, you've seen me perform it in rehearsal without any trouble."

The child nodded his head.

"Mmhmm. And I've seen you completely botch it when it actually counts. So, go on. Show me how it's done, Brian."

The canine groaned, and held out the rings as if he was presenting them to an audience.

"I show the crowd the rings to show them that they are solid, all the while keeping my paw over the gap in the one ring."

He went through a more sped-up version of the usual routine as he quickly showed off each individual ring, keeping the gap on the trick ring successfully concealed in his palm the whole time.

Stewie watched on analyzing him carefully for even the slightest error. So far, so good.

"Ok. Let's see some magic."

The dog set the rings up for the trick and began hitting two of them together.

"See? Completely solid. No way to put the together."

He hit them together a few more times before making the move, quickly moving the solid up and through the concealed gap in his palm. To the untrained eye, it looked like he had simply forced one of the rings through the other. A perfect maneuver.

The canine looked over at his partner, seeking validation for his good work.

Stewie was still simply watching him stoically. After a few seconds he motioned for the dog to continue.

"Ok. That's the easy part. Really 'wow' me, now."

Brian gave a little huff before continuing. He gave the solid ring a spin, and then, went to unhook it, twisting the ring around and through he gap once more, still keeping the secret of the trick successfully hidden. He held the two rings up and began rubbing them together as he slowly pulled them apart, making it appear as if the rings were phasing through each other despite already being unhooked. With one more forceful pull, he finished the move, revealing the rings to now be separated.

It was exactly how it should have gone at Kevin's party, and really, Brain was fairly proud of himself despite the fact that the trick really was pretty simple.

Stewie just continued sitting there wordlessly, going over the canine's display in his head. It wasn't until Brian began tapping his foot impatiently against his chair that he broke his silence.

"That wasn't too bad."

The dog smiled and was about thank Stewie for the compliment, but the child quickly cut him off.

"I mean, I guess it was good enough. It will definitely fool a bunch of kids, but you really need to relax, man."

The dog blinked at him.

"Re-lax? What do you mean? I was relaxed."

Stewie shook his head.

"Brian, your movements were stiffer than Herbert at a Boy Scouts meeting."

The canine flinched slightly at the crude metaphor.

Stewie stood up and walked up to the dog.

"Look, you've got the moves down, but they're so...mechanical. You have to make what you're doing appear effortless. There needs to be a sort of...flow to it all. You know what I mean? Like a dance. You need to dance with those rings, Brian! Let instinct take over. Don't think about it so much. That's what got you in trouble at the party."

He reached out and took the dog's arms and began gently moving them side to side.

"Graceful movements like this. It'll help the trick look better, and it'll make you seem much more confident to everyone watching you. It's all in the presentation, buddy."

The infant smiled at him as they both began swaying side to side in a motion that could barely be considered dancing.

Still, it was enough to make the canine feel a tad uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and gently pulled away from the boy's grasp.

"I...think I get it, Stewie."

A touch of red infused the boy's cheeks as he quickly turned away to retake his seat in the lawn chair across from Brian.

"We'll come back to it. Let's go over some other things."

Brian leaned forward, hands on his knees as he replayed his previous performance over in his head.

"You know, really, it all fell apart with the water trick."

Stewie chuckled ruefully.

"Oh, boy, did it ever…"

He began tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"We'll have to really make sure that sponge is secure. Maybe we should use less water…"

He looked over at Brian, then.

"You also probably shouldn't hold the cup upside down for so long. Just give it a quick turn over to prove your point. The audience doesn't need much."

Brian nodded his head, accepting the boy's feedback. At least Stewie was being pretty civil about it. He was actually surprised that there hadn't been much teasing going on as they talked about this. It actually felt kind of professional, which made Brian much more willing to take the baby's notes into account. They were working together here. It was kind of nice, actually.

"Wanna go over some card tricks? You seem to have those down pretty well, but some practice never hurt."

The boy snorted somewhat derisively as he finished with, "Plus, it would be nice if we could keep you from dropping the whole bloody deck again."

Brian frowned slightly. Ah. There it was. It was nice while it lasted, he figured.

With a barely audible sigh, the canine stood up.

"Sure. I'll just run inside to grab the deck. Be right back."

And he was. Back in a flash so that he and Stewie could continue to refine their act well into the evening. Considering Brian actually did want to put on a good show next time, he saw it as a very worthwhile endeavour. Plus, he found it pretty satisfying to work with Stewie toward a common goal. The time flew right by, and before they knew it, the pair was being called inside for dinner.

All in all, by the end of the session, the dog was feeling much more confident about the whole magic thing. He couldn't wait to show off at the next show.

---

"Ladies and gentlemen, The Aaaaaaamaaaaaziiiiiing Brian!"

The children and parents all clapped as the dog stood up from behind the table that had been set up for today's birthday performance. He waited for the applause to die down before addressing his audience.

"Who's ready to see some magic!?"

The kids all cheered as the canine began setting up for his first trick, grabbing a pitcher of water that was sitting off to the side as well as a normal looking red, plastic cup.

"Ok, then! Let's start today's show off with something truly amazing. Tell me, boys and girls, have you ever seen water disappear?"

One little boy responded.

"You mean like when it disappears down the drain?"

Stewie snickered and tried his best to respond to the child in a manner that didn't come across as too demeaning.

"No. No. No. That is not what The Amazing Brian means at all."

A wave of his hands.

A feigned look of awe.

"He means really disappear, vanish into thin air!"

The children all shook their heads.

Brian chuckled.

"Well, of course you haven't. Water can't just disappear without any explanation."

He picked up the pitcher then.

"Unless...you use a little magic."

He began pouring the water into the cup slowly.

"Watch carefully now."

The children all leaned in as their attention was completely held by what the dog was doing.

Just like before, a few people began to gasp as Brian poured more water into the cup than it was seemingly able to contain. Before long, the whole pitcher had been emptied. The parents began to applaud. The children soon followed suit.

The canine paused to revel in the praise for a few moments before motioning for them to cease.

He grabbed the cup, holding it aloft for all to see before tilting it completely upside down.

No water spilled out.

This earned more sounds of amazement as everyone began clapping even louder than before.

Once the applause started back up again, Brian returned the cup to its upright position on the table, shooting his assistant a smile as he did so.

Stewie smiled back before clutching his chest in faux shock as he began exclaiming, "Absolutely incredible!"

He turned towards the crowd.

"Are you beginning to see why he's called The Amazing Brian, folks!?"

Several people nodded.

Brian waited patiently for the applause to die down again before moving on with the show.

So far, so good.

He reached under the table and retrieved three large metal rings.

"Behold! Three rings made of solid metal."

He held the rings out for the audience to see, taking time to show off each ring one by one as he continued to explain his next feat.

"As even the young ones here know, you can not pass a solid through a solid."

He began knocking the rings together just like in his last performance, making that familiar clinking sound, a nice steady rhythm as he made his point.

"At least that's what the laws of physics would have you believe."

He went for the move then, continuing to conceal the gap as he quickly brought one of the rings up and through the small hole. To the audience it simply looked like one ring had passed right through and linked to another.

Another series of gasps rang out, with one little girl actually saying "Wow!" out loud.

Perfect.

He continued to casually mess with the rings, as if breaking the laws of physics was just the most natural thing in the world for a magician like him. The dog proudly displayed the two linked rings before moving to link a third. His paws were a blur as he gave one ring a spin before appearing to slam another ring through the one he was holding.

More gasps, and then, more applause.

He now had all three rings linked together, which he was more than happy to show off to the audience as they clapped their approval.

The canine basked in their amazement for a while, taking a look over at his assistant. Stewie was smiling at him, mouthing the words "Way to go!" before turning back to the audience.

"I know! I know! It's quite impressive, isn't it, ladies and gentlemen?"

He looked back over at Brian, nodding for him to continue.

The canine nodded back, and then, without saying a word, in a flurry of motions, proceeded to completely unlink the rings before simply setting them each back down on the table one at a time with a cocky smirk.

The cheering audience grew ever louder, totally enamoured by the display.

The dog took a bow, but didn't wait too long before raising his paws up to silence the audience.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're too kind!"

He waited for the sounds of clapping hands to die down before reaching over for another object on the table.

It was just an ordinary pencil.

He chuckled.

"Now, I doubt any of you have ever seen anything as incredible as this next trick."

This sentence was delivered with an extra bit of gravitas, all the better to sell the next part of his act.

He took hold of the pencil by the eraser end and held it out for the crowd to see.

"Here we have just an ordinary pencil, but…"

He began wiggling the pencil rapidly.

"Now, it's a rubber pencil!"

It was one of the oldest tricks in the book. He doubted anybody, even the children, would find it particularly impressive, but that was kind of the point.

It was just a little gag to amuse his audience, which most of them seemed to pick up on.

The kids laughed.

The adults shook their heads.

Some eyes were rolled.

But, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Stewie placed his hands on his cheeks and gasped loudly.

"Ohhhh, my! However does he do it!"

More laughter as Brian set the pencil down while trying to contain his own.

"Well, Stella, I'm afraid I can't give away all of my secrets."

He gave his partner a wink before moving on.

"But seriously now, ladies and gentlemen, how about a real trick?"

A few kids nodded as the dog retrieved a deck of playing cards and began shuffling them.

"Stella, would you please find me a volunteer from the audience as I shuffle?"

Stewie nodded and began scanning the audience, making a thoughtful humming sound as he looked the children over.

"Hmmmm. Let me see here…"

He eventually landed on a boy who looked just a bit less enthused with the show than his fellow partygoers were. He pointed at him.

"Aha! You there!"

The boy's eyes widened slightly, though he didn't say a word.

Stewie motioned for the boy to come up next to him by the table.

"That's right. You! Come on up, and assist The Amazing Brian with his next demonstration."

One of the parents, presumably the boy's mother, leaned down and whispered in his ear. The child looked at the woman, eyes seeming a bit uncertain, before finally standing up and walking up next to the magician's assistant.

Stewie smiled at him, trying to make their volunteer a little more comfortable.

"Can I get your name, young man?"

The boy looked down at the ground as he mumbled out his response.

"I-Isaac."

Brian stopped shuffling the cards and began walking out from around the table to join the pair in front.

"Everyone, give Isaac here a big round of applause."

Everyone clapped.

The boy smiled slightly as he shuffled his feet nervously.

Brian waited for the clapping to stop before fanning out the cards face down and holding them out for the child with a big friendly smile.

"Pick a card, any card, Isaac."

The boy considered his options for only a brief moment before quickly pulling a card from the deck.

The canine quickly turned his head away from his volunteer and audience.

"Ok. Look at it carefully. Memorize which card it is. Actually, just show the whole audience so everyone can see it."

The child followed the instructions, turning the card towards the children and parents and holding it up for everyone to see.

After a few seconds, Brian spoke again.

"Alright. Now, put the card back in with the others."

The boy did so.

The dog turned his head back around, making sure that all the cards were still face down before proceeding to shuffle them up again. As he shuffled, he spoke seriously to his volunteer.

"You remember which card you picked, Isaac?"

The boy nodded.

Brian nodded back.

"Good. What I'm going to need you to do now for me is think about that card. Think about it really hard, Isaac."

The child nodded again.

"Ok."

His face scrunched up then in a look of pure concentration as he began focusing on that single card.

The canine continued to shuffle his cards for a little while longer before turning to Stewie and handing him the deck.

"Stella, would you please hold these out for me just like I did for Isaac a moment ago?"

An effeminate giggle escaped the boy as he began fanning out the deck. It was kind of adorable to see his partner getting so into his role.

"It would be my pleasure, sir."

He held the cards out for Brian.

The dog took a breath and held out his paw over the selection of cards, scrunching up his face in a similar way to how Isaac had. He began waving his paw back and forth over the cards slowly.

"Keep thinking about that card, Isaac. You're doing great, buddy."

He continued to wave his paw over the cards, slowing down with each pass over the deck before stopping, hovering his paw over a specific card.

"Now, tell me, Isaac…"

He pulled out the card and showed it to the boy.

"Is this your card?"

The boy's eyes lit up.

"Oh, wow! How did you do that!?"

Brian snickered and turned to show the card, a three of clubs, to the audience. He was smirking proudly.

"Magic."

Everyone began clapping once more.

The dog took a bow, and then, handed the card to Isaac.

"Here you go. Keep it."

The child smiled ear to ear before taking the card and running off to show it to his mother.

The canine took one more bow before moving back behind the table. He grabbed a second deck that had been sitting on the table next to the one he had just used.

"I believe we have time for one more trick. I wouldn't want to keep you all here too long. I believe our birthday star is pretty eager to get into their presents."

A young girl in the group began nodding her head enthusiastically, causing the parents to laugh.

Brian began shuffling the deck.

"That's what I thought."

He spent a decent amount of time shuffling the deck before finally stopping and turning the cards face up on the table. He spread them out so that they were all visible.

"For this next trick, I need these cards to be in as random an order as possible. What do you guys think? They seem pretty random to you?"

The parents leaned forward to better see the cards on the table while some of the kids stood up to get a better look. Everyone nodded their heads and hummed in agreement. Brian smiled, satisfied.

"Well, if you guys are satisfied…"

He gathered the cards back up and squared them in his paw before turning them back upside down.

"Get ready to see something truly incredible."

He pointed at Stewie.

"Stella, tell me, what's the first card in a suit?"

The child batted his hand.

"Try and give me something difficult to answer next time."

He chuckled.

"It's the ace, of course."

The dog gave a firm nod.

"That's right. Now, let's see if I can find an ace."

He pointed at one of the men in the audience.

"You, sir! Can you spell ace for me?"

The man looked a little taken aback, obviously a little surprised to have been called on so suddenly.

"Uhhhh, it's just a-c-e."

Brian repeated the letters, taking a card from the top of the deck and placing it on the bottom for each letter he called out.

"A-c-e."

Three cards moved to the bottom.

"That's indeed how ace is spelled, so the next card should be…"

He flipped the fourth card over to reveal and ace of hearts.

"Ah. There's an ace alright!"

Oooooo's and ahhhhhhh's emitted from the crowd.

Brian didn't wait for them to quiet down before pointing at another adult, a woman this time.

"Lowest to highest, which card comes next?"

The woman quickly replied.

"Two."

Brian spelled out the word again moving the cards in the pile from the top to the bottom just as he did before.

"T-w-o."

He flipped the next card over.

A two of spades.

More shocked reactions from the crowd.

He pointed at a young girl next.

"What's after two, little lady?"

The little one exclaimed excitedly, "Three!"

The dog proceeded to spell that word next.

"T-h-r-e-e."

He flipped over the card on the top of the deck.

It was a three of spades.

His audience was completely enraptured by this point. He didn't slow down, though.

He called on another child to give him the next number, spelling out four after they said it. The four of clubs was then revealed.

This went on all the way up to ten, the crowd growing ever more impressed with each card that was successfully dealt.

After revealing a ten of diamonds, the canine turned towards his assistant. He went to ask for his next card, but the infant cut him off.

"I believe we're looking for a jack next."

The dog smiled and began spelling the word.

"J-a-c-k."

The jack of clubs was then dealt.

Jaws were dropping by this point.

He addressed on of the men.

"Next?"

"Queen!"

"Q-u-e-e-n."

Queen of diamonds.

He spoke to woman.

"So the last one would be..?"

"King!"

"K-i-n-g."

A king of hearts.

The canine set the deck down and motioned towards the thirteen that were now face-up on the table.

"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen."

Everyone began clapping and cheering loudly.

Brian walked out from behind the table to stand next to Stewie. The pair then both began bowing to the crowd, basking in the pride of having performed their first successful show, thanking the crowd as they did so.

It wasn't until the applause began to subside that they stopped.

Brian turned to the birthday girl.

"Thank you for being such a wonderful audience! But, I believe someone here is ready to open her presents!"

---

Brian was in the process of folding up the tablecloth after having taken most of the items for their show out to the car. Stewie had wandered off somewhere, probably mingling with some of the parents, seeing if anyone required their services in the coming weeks. Ever since they had started this whole thing, the child had been completely gung-ho about it, and he had basically taken on the full responsibility of scheduling their gigs. That was fine by Brian. He hadn't exactly been looking to put a ton of effort into this thing, anyway. Though, for what it was, the pay was nice, and he had to admit that he had actually had a really good time performing this last show. There was something absolutely intoxicating about getting to entertain a crowd of people, even if the majority of them were still children. He thrived on that energy that radiated from a satisfied crowd. So, yeah, this was turning out to be a pretty worthwhile endeavor, he thought.

He whistled happily as he began breaking down the plastic table they had been using, tail wagging slightly and causing his cape to swoosh about. But, his merry little tune was soon cut short when a man began approaching him.

"Hey, buddy! Pretty decent show you put on today!"

The dog finished folding the the legs and set the table down before turning around to see who was calling out to him. It was just one of the many guys he had seen in the crowd, someone's dad more than likely. The canine smiled as he responded.

"Uh, thanks. Glad you enjoyed yourself."

The man stopped once he had reached Brian, extending his hand in a friendly gesture.

"Yeah. It was pretty good."

Brian took the man's hand and shook it as he continued.

"Not exactly my thing, but better than a lot of crappy acts you see at these parties, you know?"

The canine nodded his head, having some idea what this guy was driving at.

"Yeah. I know what you mean, but hey, so long as the kids are happy, right?"

They released hands.

"Of course. I guess that is what it's all about."

A beat of silence, and then, "So, how long you been doing this for?"

Brian took a second to consider how to respond to this. Was it wise to admit just how inexperienced he actually was? Would that hurt their chances of getting work down the line? After a minute he settled on something a little vague.

"Well, I haven't been doing this too long, actually. I kinda just sort of fell into it, but it's an amusing little hobby."

A quick nod from the man before his next question.

"Ok. Ok. That's cool. Soooooo, uh, your partner there… You guys just partner up for this whole thing? You guys know each other long?"

The dog blinked at the man, the atmosphere becoming just a bit awkward at hearing this sudden inquiry about his young partner.

"What? Oh… Yeah, me and...Stella have known each other for a while, now. This whole thing was actually her idea."

The man smiled and snapped his fingers.

"See, I knew there was something going on there!"

Brian's eyes went wide. What was this guy getting at?

"E-Excuse me?"

The man chuckled and gave the canine a pat on the back.

"You and your assistant, man! I could tell that there was something going on between you two. You guys just have that whole chemistry about you. It's pretty obvious."

The canine could feel his heart beginning to beat rapidly as he hurriedly blurted out, "There's nothing between me and St-Stella! We're just friends!"

The smile on the man's face fell slightly.

"Oh…"

It quickly returned.

"Soooooo, she's single?"

The hairs on the dog's body began to stand up as he began scanning the yard for his companion. Unfortunately, Stewie was nowhere in sight yet, so it looked like he was going to have to work his way out of this strange conversation alone. He gulped, paws clenching and unclenching in a way that he hoped didn't seem too odd.

"N-No, she's not."

A sigh and, then, another snap of the man's fingers.

"Rats. Oh, well. That's not surprising, I guess."

There were several seconds of tense silence before Brian finally cleared his throat.

"Y-Yeah. It's a… It's a shame."

He motioned towards the table he had been breaking down.

"Look, man. I gotta get this stuff packed up. We actually have another house to get to in about an hour, sooooooo…"

The man's expression shifted into an apologetic one.

"Oh! My bad, dude. I wasn't trying to keep you. I'll just get out of your hair."

He shot the animal pistol fingers.

"Keep up the good work."

And, then, he turned and walked away, leaving the party magician feeling just a bit more tense than he had been just a few minutes prior.

---

"Stewie, I'm not sure this is a good idea. Besides that trick is as cliche as it gets."

The baby was gleefully making his way through the local pet store, searching for one furry critter in particular.

"If you don't think it's such a good idea, why are you here with me, then?"

It had been said with such complete nonchalance, but the question still left the dog a little stuck as he tried to come up with a rational response.

Why am I here? Why did I drive us here?
Stewie interrupted his thoughts.

"And, sure, it's cliche, but it's also one of the most charming tricks in the book. Any magician worth his salt can pull a rabbit out of his hat, Brian. You've got the hat, so let's find ourselves a rabbit."

The dog went to respond, but he was cut off by the child's squeals of joy as he found what he was looking for.

"Ohhhhhh my god! Look at them, Brian! Aren't they adorable!? Look! This one has babies!"

The canine peered through the glass that Stewie was looking through, unable to keep a small smile from appearing on his face.

"Yeah. I guess that is pretty cute."

He sighed.

"So, what? We're just supposed to keep one of these at home just so we can use it for a cheap trick?"

The boy turned and shot his partner a glare.

"Of course not!"

His expression softened a bit.

"I mean, this is basically going to be our new pet. It'll have to be."

Brian shook his head.

"Our new pet?"

Stewie nodded his.

"That's right, mister. Our new pet. I can keep it in my room. I doubt anyone would even care. Remember my ferret? Anyway, we'll have to take care of it. We're not monsters. It'll be our own little furbaby that performs with us!"

The biggest smile appeared on the infant's face then as he turned back to look at the baby rabbits again.

Brian wanted to offer up some kind of protest. He had in no way agreed to having a new…"furbaby" with Stewie.

He shivered, remembering a particularly horrifying incident from the past that he quickly shoved to the back of his memory.

"You guys are so cute! God, I wish I could take you all home! Hey there, little fella! You're friendly, aren't ya. Look at you, coming right up to the front to say hi. You wanna come home with me and this big lummox?"

Ignoring the jab that had been thrown at him, the dog quickly found himself smiling again. The innocence of the moment was nothing if not endearing, and he found a lot of joy in watching his little buddy get so excited over his potential new pet. The thought of breaking his heart was simply unthinkable.

He sighed again.

Looks like I'm getting a rabbit…

He kneeled down to get a better look at the little bunny that had seemed to catch Stewie's eye. It was a cute little thing; small and covered in snow white fur except for a small, circular patch of black just below its right eye. His ears were big and floppy, and he had indeed seemed to have taken an immediate shine to Stewie, little puffball of a tail vibrating as its whiskers twitched in curiosity. It seemed really sweet.

"He does look pretty friendly, huh?"

The boy nodded his head before turning to smile at the canine.

"I like him."

Brian chuckled. Just like Stewie, ever the quick one to come to conclusions about others. Kid knew what he liked.

Their eyes met, and it was clear in that moment that they had found their new pet.

The moment was interrupted, though, once Stewie's phone began to ring.

The baby jumped back, startled.

"Oh? Who could that be?"

He reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone, face lighting up as he looked at the number that was trying to contact him.

He answered it.

"Hello?"

A beat.

"Oh, hi, Don! How's it going?"

The dog's eyebrow raised a bit at the name "Don", but he quickly shrugged it off, going back to looking at the bunny while Stewie finished up his phone call.

"Yeah, we're still available. Yep. We have everything we need. Uh huh. Uh huh. Ok, so Friday, then? Next Friday! Got it! Ok. Thank you, Don."

He made a smooch sound into the phone.

"Talk to ya later. Bye!"

He, then, hung up.

Brian stood up and turned to address his companion.

"Don?"

Stewie nodded his head.

"Just some guy I know. Anyway, long story short, we've got another show booked. This ain't no children's birthday party, though. Oh, no. I actually got us booked at a pretty decent venue downtown. Nothing too big. Just a little local club, but hey, it's a step up, right?"

He nudged the dog playfully with his elbow, and then, pointed at the bunny they had been admiring.

"So, let's hurry up here and get Houdini to his new home. We have some practicing to do. The Amazing Brian is going to take this town by storm!"

---

"Alright, Houdini, ready for your big debut!?"

Brian and Stewie were backstage with their recently adopted pet rabbit getting set up for their first big show at Dusk, a local performance venue and bar in Providence.

Stewie was nuzzling the cute little bunny's nose affectionately, trying to calm it down.

Brian, meanwhile, was just trying to get his stage fright under control, taking deep breaths as he went over the routine he had been practicing for the past several days over and over in his head.

Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his arm.

He looked over to see Stewie offering up a lipsticked grin.

"Hey, don't get too worked up, now. You're going to do fine."

The dog took another breath and nodded his head confidently.

"Y-Yeah. It'll all be fine. I've got this."

The child gave him one last reassuring pat on the back before offering him the rabbit.

"Here, take Houdini. We're on soon, and we need to get him settled in his handkerchief."

Brian took the animal, holding him carefully as Stewie walked over to their new rolling table to search for the handkerchief they needed.

He stood there a bit awkwardly. He was still getting used to caring for Stewie's new pet. Well, actually, Stewie kept insisting that it was their pet, but the rabbit so obviously favored the young boy over him. Maybe it was because he was a dog?

Before he could think about that for much longer, Stewie had returned with the handkerchief.

"Ok, Houdini, just like we rehearsed! Don't be scared!"

He opened up the handkerchief and held it out towards Brian who carefully set the calm bunny down before wrapping the handkerchief loosely around the animal, securing the ends with some metal fasteners that were on each corner of the fabric.

Once Houdini was secure, Stewie slowly walked him back over to the table and hung the handkerchief on the backside, leaving Houdini to hang comfortable. It was almost like a little hammock, honestly, perfectly safe.

The infant then walked back over to Brian, motioning back at the table with his head.

"Remember, push the table out there gently. We don't want to startle him."

Brian nodded.

"I know. I know."

The lights began to go down, and a man walked up to them wearing a huge smile

"Alright. You two all set?"

Stewie was the first to answer in his disguised voice.

"We're ready to go. The real question is whether or not the audience is ready."

The man clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"That's what I like to hear!"

He, then, proceeded out onto the stage to address the audience.

"How are you doing tonight, folks!?"

The crowd in the bar cheered, and the man on stage waited for their shouts to die down before continuing with his introduction.

"We've got a little something different to start you guys off with tonight. Hope you guys enjoy magic because we've got a magician in the house that hails from our little neighboring town of Quahog. Please, everyone, give a warm welcome to our newcomer, The Amazing Brian and his lovely assistant The Fabulous Stella!"

Brian gulped as he grabbed the table and began carefully rolling it out onto the stage, allowing Stewie to lead the way.

The pair made their way to centerstage. Stewie was waving to the crowd and blowing them kisses. Brian couldn't help but notice a couple of wolf whistles in the cacophony of applause and approving shouts. He smiled warmly to the audience, taking his place behind the table once they had reached their place on stage.

The man began making his way offstage, only stopping briefly to lean down and whisper in the canine's ear.

"Knock 'em dead."

And, with that, he gave Brian a friendly pat on the back and proceeded to exit stage right.

The sounds of the crowd began to die down, allowing Stewie to finally speak to them clearly.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Tonight it is our goal to entertain and dazzle with spectacles beyond your wildest imagination. But, to start things off, we thought we would perform one of the most classic tricks for you. Now, watch as The Amazing Brian pulls a rabbit out of his hat."

He turned gracefully to face the canine before stepping off to the side.

"Take it away, sir!"

The crowd applauded briefly, quickly quieting down so that Brian could speak.

The canine cleared his throat and shook off some of the nerves he was still feeling.

It was showtime.

"Thank you, everyone. Let's get right into the magic, shall we?"

He removed his top hat and turned it so that the audience could see inside.

"As you can clearly see there is nothing inside my hat."

He reached over for his wand that was sitting on the table and began tracing the interior of the hat with it.

"Completely empty, no way to conceal anything."

A shout erupted from the crowd.

"Hey, Mr. Phony! Let me see the hat so I can prove that you're a big fat phony!"

The canine blinked at the sudden interruption, eyes traveling downward to see an obnoxious looking man in glasses sitting up front.

"Uhhhhh…"

Stewie cut in.

"Why, of course, good sir. But, just know, you will find no evidence of any trickery going on."

He walked over to Brian who wordlessly offered up his hat before hopping down into the crowd and handing it to the unpleasant bar patron.

The man took it and began to thoroughly inspect it. At first his grin was smug and cocky, but as he quickly realized the hat was indeed just a normal top hat, that air of confidence began to fade. After a while, Stewie cleared his throat and asked politely, "Are we satisfied, now?"

With nothing left to say, the man simply nodded his head and handed the hat back to the lovely assistant who quickly made his way back on stage to return it to its owner.

Brian took his hat back and offered a smile of gratitude towards his partner before turning back to the audience.

"Well, with that out of the way, I will now pull a rabbit out of my hat."

Stewie spoke then, a perfect diversion as Brian twirled his hat around for a bit, stopping it with the open end facing him. This made it so that he was able to quickly grab the handkerchief that was in front of him and, in one fluid motion, secretly place it into the hat while setting the hat upright.

"Prepare to be amazed, ladies and gentlemen!"

He redirected the crowd's attention back to Brian.

The dog took his wand and began to wave it in circles over the hat.

"Abra-"

He gave the hat a firm tap.

"-cadabra!"

He then set the wand down and reached into the hat, pretending to search around the hat as he undid the handkerchief to reveal Houdini still sitting there calmly. He grabbed the rabbit and carefully lifted him out of the hat.

The crowd gasped as the canine proudly presented the bunny for the audience to see.

"That's amazing!"

Stewie chuckled.

"Of course, what else did you expect from The Amazing Brian?"

Everyone began clapping for the magician who had managed to suitably impress them with his first trick.

Brian took a bow, and then, held out the rabbit for Stewie to take.

The tyke scuttled over quickly, obviously excited to have his pet back. He took Houdini and cradled him affectionately, hand immediately going to pet at the little guy's head, congratulating him for a job well done.

The boy walked back off to the side, continuing to hold the white rabbit as Brian moved on to his next illusion.

He motioned towards three cards that had been laid out on the table, two red ones and a blue. He, then, picked them up in a stack and held them up for the audience to see, turning so that the backs of the cards were visible as he fanned them out.

"I have here three playing cards."

He removed the blue one and then placed it back at the bottom of the small stack where the crowd could see its placement.

"Now… Watch carefully."

The canine then began to move the blue card around in a slow, circular motion. He kept this up for several seconds before, suddenly, the tip of the blue card began to peak out in front of the red card in the middle as if it was phasing right through it.

Murmuring could be heard coming from the audience as they began to discuss what the they were seeing.

Brian continued to slide the card up and down, stopping occasionally as if he was struggling to push the card through. Slowly more and more of the blue card emerged until, the dog finally just let the top card drop and reveal that the blue card was now on top of the red.

Sounds of pure surprise echoed throughout the bar as the crowd began clapping once more.

Brian dropped the two remaining cards and took another bow.

Stewie spoke up as the dog took a few more bows.

"Next, you're in for a real treat, everybody! This next trick is a crowd favorite!"

Brian grabbed a full deck of cards from the table and began shuffling them as he looked over at his assistant.

"So, Stella, tell me, what's the first card in a suit?"

---

For the remainder of the night, The Amazing Brian continued to dazzle the crowd with spectacles such as forcing a coin through a glass and the ole "pick a card, any card' routine. It was honestly pretty standard fare, but the charisma of the two stars on stage was more than enough to sell the magic on the audience. By the end of the show, everyone was cheering and having a good time. Some people even made their displeasure known once Stewie announced that they had reached the conclusion of their performance.

Once the show was over; Brian , Stewie, and Houdini made their way off the stage as the man from earlier made his way back on to introduce a band that was going to entertain the patrons for the rest of the night. The magic pair weren't sticking around, though. They had to get everything packed up and back out to the car, so they could get back home before too late. They had a birthday party scheduled for tomorrow morning, after all.

They just had one matter of business to see to first.

The man was making his way back off the stage as the band passed Brian and Stewie by. He stopped to talk to the duo.

"You guys were great! They loved ya!"

Stewie batted his hand.

"Not surprising in the slightest."

The man laughed heartily as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope.

"I'm definitely going to have to have you two back sometime."

He held out the envelope for Brian.

"Here ya go. Paid in full."

The dog took the envelope and thanked the man with a tip of his hat before allowing him to walk away. He pocketed the envelope and turned to talk to Stewie.

"That went really well!"

The baby smiled at him.

"Never doubted you for a minute…"

He giggled a bit before finishing with, "siiiir." dragging the vowel out in a manner that Brian took to be playful.

The canine chuckled a bit nervously and reached up to scratch behind his neck.

"You, uh… You really enjoy this role, huh?"

Another laugh from Stewie as he smiled warmly at his partner.

"I'm having the time of my life with you, Brian."

The two met eyes, and Brian could feel the air beginning to shift into something he couldn't quite describe. He pulled his gaze and motioned towards the table.

"Let's, uh, get all this stuff in the car. We need to get out of here."

The infant tilted his head slightly before finally nodding in agreement.

"Yes, of course. Gotta be all ready for tomorrow!"

He walked over to a chair that was currently holding Houdini's pet carrier. The boy placed the cute bunny inside, offering up some final words of praise before closing it and turning to assist his partner with the packing.

---

For the next several weekends, Brian and Stewie's schedule was completely packed. Word of their act was actually spreading rather quickly, faster than Brian could have ever anticipated. This whole magic thing was really taking off. Of course, that was all due to Stewie, who was constantly helping him come up with new tricks to try out, all while keeping in touch with his various connections, though Brian had to keep forcing himself to ignore what the origins of those connections might be. Why rock the boat when things were working out so well? The gigs were paying well, and making a bit of a living as a performer was something he always enjoyed. Plus, he got to do it all with Stewie, and that just made it all the better. He loved hanging out with that crazy kid.

"Brian! It's almost time to go on."

The canine was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by his partner.

Another night, another club.

He looked over to see the owner of the establishment greeting his customers, giving a little spiel about some sort of discount on shrimp or something. It didn't really matter. All that mattered was that he was alert and ready to walk onto stage on cue.

The moment came quickly.

"Everybody, give it up for The Amazing Brian and The Fabulous Stella!"

Before Brian had time to blink, Stewie was making his way out in front of the crowd. He had to hurry to catch up. Though, he was still careful not to jostle his table too much as he pushed it along with him.

The infant did his usual thing, blowing kisses to the crowd as he waved and smiled. As per usual, a few guys were obviously ogling his assistant, but he couldn't really blame them. It wasn't like they knew they were getting worked up by a kid.

The usual greetings were said before the child went into his opening speech, talking Brian up to high heaven and preparing the crowd for the first trick.

They would probably have to mix it up, at some point, but for now, pulling Houdini out of his hat made for a good opener. Plus, Stewie wanted to make sure that he wasn't in the handkerchief too long. He really cared about that rabbit.

So, the dog was quick to get through the trick.

He showed the audience his hat, slipped Houdini inside where the crowd couldn't see, and then presto! Rabbit out of a hat.

The audience applauded, and Brian gave Stewie his bunny to hold for the remainder of the show.

Next trick.

He grabbed a quarter and a small glass from the table and held them out for the audience to see.

Stewie spoke up.

"Watch carefully, everybody."

From there, Brian proceeded wordlessly, his expression growing serious as he took the coin and placed it in his palm. He then took the glass and, holding it from up top, tapped the bottom against the coin, making a loud clinking sound to demonstrate the coin could not pass through. He did this several times before slightly tilting his paw in a way that allowed the coin to slide down to the tips of his fingers. The audience wasn't able to see this, though, and they also weren't able to see, as he went to tap the glass against his palm again, the coin being flung up with his fingers up into his other palm and back down into the glass. It all happened too fast for anyone to catch, and to everyone in the crowd it appeared that the coin had simply passed through the bottom of the glass as the canine immediately held the glass out for everyone to see, swirling the coin around the inside to show that it was, indeed, in there.

A series of oooooo's rang out through the crowd before another round of applause.

Brian continued on, still without a word, as he retrieved the coin. He set the glass aside, and leaned down so that his elbow was resting on the table. He then took the coin and began rubbing it against his fur-covered elbow. After a few seconds, the coin slipped from his paw and landed on the table. Brian's eyes widened. He appeared genuinely surprised as he quickly retrieved the coin with a nervous chuckle.

"Heh. Oops. That wasn't supposed to happen."

Snickers could be heard coming from the audience as he began rubbing the coin against his elbow again.

"Ok. Let's try this again."

He continued rubbing the coin there for several seconds, slowly pulling his fingers away until finally revealing the coin was completely gone.

The crowd gasped, and the dog then held out his palms to show that the coin had seemingly vanished into thin air.

Any snickering that had been going on had completely stopped as everyone in the establishment began applauding once again.

The canine tilted his hat towards the crowd.

"Thank you, everyone. Now, for my next trick…"

He grabbed a cup and a pitcher of water.

---

The audience was enraptured by the time Brian and Stewie had reached their big finale. The dog and baby pair had successfully blown the collective minds of the crowd as trick after trick was performed flawlessly. It was probably their best show, yet, making it the perfect setting to try out their most impressive trick to date.

Stewie waved to the crowd.

"You've been a wonderful audience, ladies and gentlemen, but we're not done quite yet! To close out this night of incredible feats, The Amazing Brian and I have one last thing to show you."

The boy immediately turned to head backstage. He located Houdini's pet carrier and set him inside before taking a basket that was on a mobile platform and pushing it out onto the stage.

Meanwhile, while this was happening, Brian was grabbing several swords from under the table and placing them on top of it. By the time he was done, there were four swords out in the open, and the crowd was talking excitedly among themselves.

Stewie placed the basket out front and center, locking the wheels of the platform in place before taking his place off to the side.

Brian soon joined him.

In truth, he was kind of nervous about this one. There was some very real danger involved, but rehearsal had gone really well. And, anytime he tried to talk Stewie out of it, he was quickly shot down with responses about how they need to up their game and add a little danger to the act. This was mainly going to be on Stewie, though, and at the end of the day, he did trust the boy more than he didn't.

It'll be alright. Stewie's got this.

The baby spun around, dress flowing as he addressed the magician.

"Can I get a lift, sir?"

The dog chuckled and grabbed his assistant under the arms.

"Anything for my lovely assistant."

The crowd oooood as the canine lifted Stewie up and placed him inside the small wicker basket.

Stewie grabbed on to the edges so that he could hold himself up for a bit while Brian let him go and leaned down to grab the lid of the basket that had been leaning against it this whole time. Once the dog had the lid, Stewie began to slink down into the basket in manner that could only be viewed as provocative. Brian placed the lid on the basket once Stewie was all the way inside, and then, turned to retrieve his first sword.

Before proceeding, he spoke to the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to witness is very real and very dangerous. Do not try this at home."

Several members of the audience leaned forward as the dog positioned his first sword at the top of the basket.

Brian couldn't help but gulp as he began to slowly push the sword into the basket.

Be careful in there, kid…

Everything seemed to be going smoothly enough. The sword went all the way down, passing through the side of the basket as it was plunged all the way to the hilt.

The dog waited for any sign that something might be wrong. When none came, he grabbed his next sword.

The action was repeated this time at a different angle. Brian's heart was racing as he kept his grip steady, aiming the sword in a straight path down and out of the opposite side of the basket.

He waited again.

No indication that something was amiss.

He grabbed the third sword, this time pushing it down and through the front.

One more to go.

The final sword went down, cutting through the back of the basket as it came to rest.

Still no sign from Stewie.

Brian unlocked the wheels of the platform and slowly spun it around so that the crowd could see the whole circumference of the basket and how his swords were now occupying every side of it. He stopped the basket in the same position it had been in and, then, relocked the wheels.

Now, he just had to remove the swords.

One by one, each sword was slowly pulled out and placed back on the table.

The canine took a breath.

Moment of truth.

He removed the lid and set it down before clearing his dry throat.

"Come on out, St-Stella!"

For a minute, nothing happened, and Brian felt his heart drop as he began to worry.

His worries were quickly alleviated, though, as were those of the audience apparently as several sighs of relief could be heard as Stewie emerged from the basket unscathed, taking a seat on the edge and throwing his hands into the air as he shouted, "Ta-da!"

The whole room erupted into applause, and Brian found that he had to join in, as well, as he found himself both impressed by Stewie's performance and simply happy to know that he was ok.

---

Another night, another successful show.

The response from the crowd tonight had been the most positive Brian had seen to date, and he was reveling in the satisfaction of that as he finished up putting the stuff in his car.

He closed the back and locked it. His eyes went down to meet Stewie who was currently standing there holding Houdini in his pet carrier.

"I guess it's time for us to head out."

Stewie nodded. He turned to walk towards the passenger side of the car, but before they got in, the pair were suddenly stopped by the sound of the owner calling after them.

"Hey, Brian! Stella! Hold up! I got somebody in here who would like to meet you!"

The two of them walked back behind the car, giving each other curious looks before turning to respond to the owner.

Brian spoke first.

"Meet us?"

Then Stewie.

"Who?"

The man waved for them to follow him.

The pair shrugged and began following the owner back into the building as he explained the situation.

"You guys may have just made a big break. There was a talent scout in the audience tonight, and your show really impressed him."

Stewie's eyes lit up as he clutched Houdini's pet carrier to his chest.

"Really!?"

The man seemingly ignored the boy, continuing to speak as the three of them re-entered his establishment.

"He came and found me not long after you guys had left the building. I told him you were probably gone, but he insisted that I go make sure. It really is your lucky day. You must have really wowed the guy. Could be big things in your future."

Nothing more was said as the owner led them up to a table with one person sitting at it.

He was a pretty average looking fellow, dressed in a fairly nice looking button up with black hair slicked back. He greeted the pair with a friendly smile.

"Awesome! Good ole Ronald here was able to catch ya before you skedaddled! Wonderful!"

He motioned towards two empty chairs positioned across from him.

"Please have a seat. Take a load off. I'm sure you two are tired after such a compelling performance. Are you hungry? You can have whatever you like."

Brian answered for them as the two of them sat down.

"I think we're fine, for now."

Stewie cut in as he set the pet carrier on the table.

"So, you enjoyed our show?"

The talent scout didn't respond to the infant right away. Instead, he turned towards Ronald.

"I'll take it from here, Ron."

The owner nodded and walked away.

The talent scout then refocused his attention on Brian and Stewie, leaning forward on the table and folding his hands together as he began speaking.

"I didn't just enjoy your show, ma'am. I absolutely loved it!"

The dog and baby pair both smiled.

The talent scout went on.

"You know, magic isn't as big as it used to be. Not too long ago you had acts touring all over the country, and let me tell you two, I've seen plenty of them. So, I like to think that it's pretty hard to impress me, but you two? Oh, man. You got something really special here."

He leaned back.

"I'm gonna level with ya. The actual tricks in your show, they're pretty routine. A good trick is a good trick, don't get me wrong, but that isn't what is selling up there. No, what you two bring to the table is exactly that, you two."

He pointed at them, then, one finger per hand.

"You guys give off some really good vibes for your audience, and watching you work together… I don't know how to describe it. It's like you're the perfect pair. Now, I'm not saying you're some kind of Penn and Teller or anything, but there is definitely something unique that I think you guys can bring to the table. And, let me tell you, the magic world needs something new to freshen things up."

The man took a sip of some water that had been sitting on the table.

Stewie took this opportunity to finally get a word in.

"So, what are you proposing, sir?"

He swallowed before responding.

"I'm proposing that you two go on tour."

He waved his hand through the air.

"Nationwide, baby!"

Brian's eyes widened.

"A nationwide tour?"

Stewie squealed and shook his fists excitedly.

"Ahhhhh! We're going to be stars!"

Brian felt his mouth go a little dry.

This was incredible.

This was wonderful!

This was...happening so fast...

"Wait a minute. How soon is this supposed to happen?"

The talent scout tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, I'd have to organize the whole thing, but I think I could get you two on the road in about a month. You're new, so we wouldn't have to do much advertising outside of the places you'll be. This first tour is about showing the country what you got. With any luck, you'll have a pretty nice following by the time it's over. Then, we can really go big!"

Stewie squealed again and looked inside the pet carrier at Houdini.

"You hear that, little buddy!? You're going to be famous!"

The man chuckled.

"Houdini? That your rabbit?"

Stewie nodded his head rapidly.

"Yep! The cutest little bunny ever!"

The man laughed again.

"Well, let's see the little guy! Looks like he's a part of this, too."

Stewie didn't need to be told twice.

While the kid was grabbing his pet, the talent scout turned to talk to Brian.

"Name's Slade, by the way. Probably should have opened with that, but I wanted to cut right to chase with you. I think we're about to embark on something special together."

Stewie proudly held up his pet, recapturing Slade's attention.

"Here he is!"

He smiled at the bunny.

"Look at you! You're a small one. Really cute, though."

After admiring the pair's pet for a few seconds longer, he clapped his hands together.

"So, I take all this enthusiasm to mean you two are in?"

"Ye-"

Stewie stopped mid-word, smile faltering slightly as he turned to look at his partner.

"We are in...right?"

Brian wasn't completely sure about this, but that hopeful glint in the infant's eyes was simply irresistible. He sighed reluctantly before smiling slightly and slowly nodding his head.

"Yeah."

He looked at Slade confidently.

"We're in."

The man clapped his hands together again.

"Excellent! I guess we should celebrate. Surely you'll stay for a drink. I mean, this is probably a pretty huge occasion for you."

Stewie nodded.

"I would love a drink."

Slade stood up from his seat.

"Champagne for the table, then."

He went to walk away but stopped after one step. He turned back towards the pair and snapped his fingers.

"Shoot. I almost forgot. I guess I should get this cleared up before I make any more assumptions, but I just assumed due to the way you clicked on stage..."

He pointed at both of them again.

"You guys are a couple, right?"

Brian went to answer, but he was quickly cut off by Stewie's excited cry of, "We sure are!"