prompt? tuckington as urban fantasy with a street fair? maybe? idk...
(dude, you know how much I love urban fantasy, so like, this totally turned into a fic, and not a drabble, so I’m going to post in multiple parts, and probably also put it on Ao3. There’s no street fair in part one, but it’s coming! Anyways, here you go!)
(Part One,)
Living with Carolina wasn’t really a problem for Wash. She was an organized and clean roommate, if a little secretive. He was fairly certain she was a secret agent that worked for some top secret project that she’d have to kill Wash for ever finding out about. Why else would she have part of her deceased father’s spirit following her around all time? She clearly wasn’t a necromancer, her skills sets being primarily centered on force magic… She was quiet and respectful, forced Wash to go jogging with her in the mornings, and didn’t complain when one of his potions went wrong. Loudly.
She was a good roommate.
Her deceased father’s spirit, or what was left of it, on the other hand was an asshole. Epsilon, or Church as he insisted he be called, was loud, sarcastic, and just plain mean at times. Having met Carolina’s father before he was killed in some freak accident that left his spirit scattered in multiple pieces, Wash was not entirely convinced this spirit was really all that remained of Leonard Church…
Now, normally when Carolina left for work, as a “physical therapist for patients with magical ailment” and/or spy, Church went with her. So when Wash’s familiar plopped down in the sunspot next to his brewing cauldron, he was fairly certain she would be his only company for the next several hours.
He was wrong.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, as cliched as that sounds, and Wash wasn’t even sure what happened until later when he was sitting anxiously in the waiting room of the Blood Gulge Magical Monsters and Mishaps Veterinary Clinic. Church had decided to stay at home, having apparently decided that bothering Wash would be more entertaining than spending the day with Carolina. It was around 1 pm, when the spirit had popped out of no where and announced his presence.
Having been entirely focused on the complicated stabilizing agent that he was brewing, Wash had been incredibly startled, and he had let out a rather embarrassing yelp, jumped backwards and knocked over his cauldron, all in the span of a few seconds. Midnight, who had been fast asleep on his desk, had the unfortunate circumstance of being completely drenched in Wash’s incomplete and brink pink potion.
Which is what beings us back to the waiting room of the Blood Gulge Magical Monsters and Mishaps Veterinary Clinic. It was, fortunately, located less than a block away from the brownstone Wash and Carolina (and Church) lived in, and yet Wash had never even noticed the non-discreet office before. His normal veterinarian had recommended the clinic, because while they loved Midnight, they were not equipped to handle a black cat currently suffering from full body paralysis caused by potion rather than physical injury.
As was common in New York City, the clinic was much larger on the inside than on the outside. There was no one currently manning the front desk, but when he had entered he’d heard a shout from the back indicating someone was on their way to help him. Midnight was bundled in his arm, wrapped in his old Freelancer hoodie.
A large, young man suddenly appeared from the back door, and approached the desk with a large smile on his face. His bright blue scrubs were very dirty, and smelled strongly of sulfur.
“Hello! I was just feeding Freckles, lunch time is very important.” The man grasped Wash’s hand firmly and started dragging him towards the back door.
“Wah- Wait, where are we going? You don’t even know what I’m here for!”
“Nope! That’s Simmon’s job, he does all the computer things, I just play with Freckles.”
Before Wash could say anything else he was pulled through the door into a large hallway, lined with glass doors, behind which contained large pins for the boarding and injured residents of Blood Gulge. One room seemed to contain an entire hoard of pixies, while another contained a solitary merman, well, merboy and-
Was that a dragon?!
“That’s Freckles” The man in front of him waved at the massive slumbering dragon as Wash stood in shock. That was Freckles? What kind of hospital was this?!
Near the end of the hall, the man stopped and knocked loudly on a door. From inside the room Wash heard a shout. “Caboose! Stop that! I’m coming already!” The man, Caboose, grinned as the door opened as a rather short, disgruntled black man in teal scrubs and a white veterinary coat walked out.
“Hi Tucker! This is Mr. Washington, he petrified his cat! Why’d you’d petrify your cat anyway?”
“Uh…” Wash was stunned. He didn’t recall giving Caboose his name, or telling him what had happened? “How do you-?”
“He’s clairvoyant, dude, magic remember?” The doctor remarked, before gesturing for Wash to follow him into the room. Wash followed, clutching Midnight a little closer to his chest as he passed by the clairvoyant, dragon loving man who had yet to stop smiling at him.
“Seriously though man, why’d you’d petrify your cat?”
“I didn’t!” Wash was not going to take the blame this! He unwrapped midnight and placed the stationary cat on the patient table gently. The doctor took one look at her, before he started laughing. Wash glared at him.
“Sorry, sorry, I just… I don’t see a lot of black cats in my day to day work. Trolls, werewolves or vampires? Yeah, all the time. Cats who’ve been petrified? Not so much…” the man took a deep breath, gaining control of his giggles, before he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a glowing blue wand, the likes of which Wash had never seen before.
He muttered something quietly, in a language Wash didn’t recognized, before he flicked the wand towards Midnight. A stream of light poured out of the wand and bathed Midnight in a warm glow. As the light settled, Wash leaned forward anxiously.
“Merow?” Midnight shifted, moving onto all fours and arching her back in a dramatic cat stretch. Wash grinned.
“You did it!” He turned towards the vet, excitedly.
“Of course I did it! This is my job, dude.”
“What type of magic was that?”
“Sanghelii.” Mer-people magic? What kind of hospital was this?!? Who was this guy?
“So, you’re good to go man” the vet turned towards him, a small card in his hand. “Doesn’t really feel fair to charge you for this, but like, if you ever spill another potion or something on your familiar again, here’s our number.”
Wash took the business card, nodding. “Uh, thanks-“
“Tucker. You can call me Tucker.”
“Thanks Tucker.” Wash lent over the table and scooped up Midnight, who let out an indigent meow, before settling in his arms. Tucker moved over towards the door and opened it for him. Wash walked past him, and entered the hallway, before stopping and turning around. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Uh, nothing? Why, are you asking me on a date or something?”
Wash blushed brightly, before stuttering, “No, no, I um, well there’s a this street fair tomorrow that I’m working at and I want to pay you back and-“
“Cause I’d totally go on a date with you if you asked.”
“Wait what? You would?” Wash paused, starring at the man grinning at him.
“You have my number, call me tonight.” With that, Tucker waved to him, and shut the door. Shell shocked, Wash walked back down the hall, spared a brief glance towards the room with the dragon, and then exited out into the lobby.
Caboose was sitting behind the next and he perked up as Wash crossed the room.
“Bye Mr. Washingtub! Bye Midnight!”
Seriously, what kind of hospital was this?