this is all for you...
I'm in a good mood, all things considered, so have a drabble.
Shawzy/Bolly, Jonny/Pat, Sharpy/Abby, Duncs/Sseabs, set in the Wolves of Chicago 'verse. Fluffy, amusing fic because I'm in a ridiculously good mood. Enjoy.
*
"Werewolves," Brandon repeated flatly. "What -did Sharpy put you up to this?"
In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to flash his eyes and drop his canines.
*
Once Brandon got over his freak out -which just consisted of him staring at Andy for almost ten minutes before he visibly shook himself and seemed to accept what Andy said- he had tons of questions for Andy.
"So, this is -you've always been like this, right?" Brandon asked, his scent laced with the citrus of curiosity. "I mean, you weren't -"
Brandon made a face and waved his hand in the air; Andy snickered, but answered, "Nah, it's hereditary, you can't catch it or anything, that's an old wive's tale."
"Right. And is it just you?"
Andy looked away for a second before he focused back on his best friend. "No, there's -I mean, my family back home are wolves, too, obviously, but, uh, there's some here, in Chicago.
"I couldn't tell you before," he went on when Brandon didn't seem inclined to say anything. "We're taught from the time we're cubs to keep the secret, so I couldn't, not without my Alpha's permission."
Brandon nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get that. You said there's, uh, wolves in Chicago, right? Can I ask -"
Andy watched it hit Brandon, his wolf smug that his mate had caught on so fast.
"Holy shit, Tazer, he -Tazer's your Alpha, isn't he? No wonder he's so fucken bossy, Jesus. And that means, Kaner's one, too, yeah?"
"Yeah, Jonny's our Alpha," Andy answered easily, cheered by the fact that so far, Bolly hadn't seemed to be upset or disgusted, just surprised. "And Pat's his mate as well as his Skoll- his, um, second, I guess is what you'd call it," Andy explained at Brandon's slight frown.
"His A?" Brandon suggested with a smirk that Andy couldn't help smiling at.
"Yeah, kind of," Andy agreed. "It's more -like, if Jonny has to go somewhere, Pat takes care of us, disciplines us if he has to; his authority over us is absolute, the same as Jonny's is. Or if we're out of town and Jonny's not with us, Pat's responsible for us."
"Us," Brandon repeated, his eyes on Andy; he was still smirking a little, but he was as serious Andy had ever seen him. "So, there's more of you then?"
"Yeah. We've got more wolves on our team than anyone else in the NHL," Andy said, proud; his wolf preened a little, because their Pack was the strongest in the league and that mattered, made them better than all the others.
"Who -" Brandon started to ask but then interrupted himself with a small laugh. "Sharpy, yeah? And Duncs and Seabs."
"Yeah, Sharpy's Jonny's Hati, his third. And Abby, of course. Duncs and Seabs are more like, enforcers than anything else -they love to fight, man, you should see how much fun they have when they start shit with other packs," Andy snickered as he explained their positions within the Pack hierarchy. "And Crow, too. Plus, Tuevo- as well as Morin if he ends up here for more than a game or two."
Brandon was nodding as if none of this was a surprise. "The kids, too, right? All that fucken growling makes sense now."
"Yeah, we don't shift into our wolf-skins until we're older, but our instincts are always there, even when we're just cubs," Andy said fondly, a soft look in his eyes. "Our Pack is lucky to have as many cubs as we do."
"How much is it..." Brandon trailed off as he searched for the right words. "Is like the wolves in the, uh, wild or whatever?"
Andy shook his head and sprawled on the couch, tipped his head back so his neck was on display; Brandon might not understand what he was doing, but his wolf approved of the display of vulnerability. Mate, safe, ours.
"Kind of? I mean, Jonny's the Alpha and his word is law for us, more than the humans ones are. I can't -Jonny could tell us to do anything and we would have to do it, but it's not. Jonny's a good Alpha, he takes care of us, listens to what we want. Not every Alpha is like that.
"I can't explain to you, what it means to have a good Pack, to belong to Jonny and everyone, to have them belong to me. We're not suppose to be alone, it's not good for us," he added; it wasn't any where close to explaining how he needed the connection of Pack. How lonely he had been in Rockford with only Crow as company.
Brandon looked thoughtful, his head tilted to the side. "Is it hard, then, when you're back home for the summer?"
He had moved to the couch next to Andy, their legs pressed together; it made Andy's wolf rumble happily, the noise spilling from Andy's throat before he could stop it. Brandon raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't comment on it and Andy rushed to answer him. "Sometimes. I mean, I still have my family, even if they're not Pack any more and it helps some, just being around other wolves. But Jonny and Pat usually try to come see the rest of us during the off-season. And if they can't, we're always welcome in Buffalo or Winnipeg if we need to be with them."
Brandon was quiet for a long minute; his scent still smelled like oranges and sugar, layered over the crushed maple leaves and winter air that was Brandon's normal scent.
His next question wasn't one that Andy would have expected. "You mentioned Abby, right? Is she like you?"
"No, Abby's human," Andy answered easily, even if he wasn't sure where his best friend was going with this. "A lot of wolves end up mated to humans; there are more of you than us, so."
"Being mated, is that like being married?" Brandon's wondered, his voice casual -too casual, even, because Andy could smell the sharp scent of mold and dirt, strong enough to make him wince internally.
"Kind of. I mean, it's a choice, sort of like marriage is," Andy said, his voice even as he tried to figure out why Brandon was so anxious. "But our mates are chosen for us when we're born and once mates choose each other, it's for life. We can't just -even if we leave our mates, we still need each other, still want each other. It's not something that ever stops, no matter how much you fight or the amount of distance you put in between you."
"Chosen? Like an arranged marriage or some shit?" Brandon scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Andy curled a lip in discontent at Bolly's tone of voice; he comforted his wolf with the reminder that Brandon was human, had never been around wolves and didn't understand what it meant to get the chance to find your mate. "No. It's a -blessing, or a promise, maybe, from the moon. So we always have someone to hunt with, to run with. It's not, like, a joke or something," he added almost fiercely.
"Yeah," Brandon agreed after a second; he shifted around enough so he could bump his shoulder against Andy's. His voice was apologetic when he went on, "I just don't understand it, yeah?"
Andy nodded tersely, accepting the words for the apology they were.
"Can I ask how you know? Who your mate is, I mean," Brandon amended when Andy just tipped his head to the side and looked at him.
Andy inhaled deeply before he answered. "There's a couple different ways. After you meet your mate, your eyes will change to match theirs or their's will shift to yours -it depends who's the most dominant. And, um, if your mate's human, that doesn't happen -it doesn't mean less or anything, it's just that humans' eye color doesn't shift the way ours do.
"And, uh, there's the dreams."
"Dreams," Brandon repeated softly as he sunk back against the coach cushions.
Andy nodded and hunched his shoulders a little bit, kept his eyes on the carpet. "Mate dreams -they're always about the same person, and they repeat themselves alot, always with the same kind of, theme, I guess you could say. You get the dreams right before you meet them or right after sometimes. They're different than other dreams, more real, harder to let go of when you wake up."
He snuck a look at Brandon out of the corner of his eye; Brandon was just looking at the wall, frowning. When he spoke again, it made Andy start a little. "What do you mean 'themes'?"
Andy cleared his throat and briefly smirked at the reminder of the dream he had last night. "Well, they're about sex a lot of time; the youngest I've ever heard of someone having them is when they were thirteen and that was after they shifted into their wolf-skin for the first time.
"But, yeah, sex a lot of the time. Running and hunting together in the woods, singing a song to the moon to thank her for marking us for each other. Play fighting and wrestling, things like that."
The last words were rough and low, Andy almost twitching with how antsy his wolf was getting, pushing against his skin and urging him to go to Brandon. But Andy held himself still, waiting to see what Brandon was going to do.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" The question was quiet, Brandon's voice laced with something Andy couldn't place; he inhaled softly and almost cringed when he caught the scent of ice and hail. Disappointment wasn't something he ever got used to.
"I don't know," Andy answered honestly; evading the truth was one thing, but outright lying wasn't something Andy did unless he had to. "I thought about it, when I first started having them and I recognized you from them, but you weren't having them and I thought you were straight -at least, you were never attracted to me that I ever scented and I didn't want to lose you, you know? Being your friend was awesome and it, it helped me some, just having that."
There was a humming silence before Brandon sighed and moved closer to him, so they were pressed together from shoulder to foot.
"I didn't start having them until a week or two ago," Brandon finally told him. "And I'm not straight or kind of not-straight at least; I've always been attracted to guys, but it's just never been worth it before, you know? Hockey means too much for me to risk it on a hook-up.
"But, god, Mutt, I just -I think you would be worth it, but I couldn't work up the nerve to say anything to you about it. But now, maybe, do you want to give it a shot or whatever?"
Andy grinned, his wolf straining toward their mate, making Andy drop his head on Brandon's shoulder and turn into him. "Yeah, man, of course I do. I always want you."
Shawzy/Bolly, Jonny/Pat, Sharpy/Abby, Duncs/Sseabs, set in the Wolves of Chicago 'verse. Fluffy, amusing fic because I'm in a ridiculously good mood. Enjoy.
*
"Werewolves," Brandon repeated flatly. "What -did Sharpy put you up to this?"
In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to flash his eyes and drop his canines.
*
Once Brandon got over his freak out -which just consisted of him staring at Andy for almost ten minutes before he visibly shook himself and seemed to accept what Andy said- he had tons of questions for Andy.
"So, this is -you've always been like this, right?" Brandon asked, his scent laced with the citrus of curiosity. "I mean, you weren't -"
Brandon made a face and waved his hand in the air; Andy snickered, but answered, "Nah, it's hereditary, you can't catch it or anything, that's an old wive's tale."
"Right. And is it just you?"
Andy looked away for a second before he focused back on his best friend. "No, there's -I mean, my family back home are wolves, too, obviously, but, uh, there's some here, in Chicago.
"I couldn't tell you before," he went on when Brandon didn't seem inclined to say anything. "We're taught from the time we're cubs to keep the secret, so I couldn't, not without my Alpha's permission."
Brandon nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get that. You said there's, uh, wolves in Chicago, right? Can I ask -"
Andy watched it hit Brandon, his wolf smug that his mate had caught on so fast.
"Holy shit, Tazer, he -Tazer's your Alpha, isn't he? No wonder he's so fucken bossy, Jesus. And that means, Kaner's one, too, yeah?"
"Yeah, Jonny's our Alpha," Andy answered easily, cheered by the fact that so far, Bolly hadn't seemed to be upset or disgusted, just surprised. "And Pat's his mate as well as his Skoll- his, um, second, I guess is what you'd call it," Andy explained at Brandon's slight frown.
"His A?" Brandon suggested with a smirk that Andy couldn't help smiling at.
"Yeah, kind of," Andy agreed. "It's more -like, if Jonny has to go somewhere, Pat takes care of us, disciplines us if he has to; his authority over us is absolute, the same as Jonny's is. Or if we're out of town and Jonny's not with us, Pat's responsible for us."
"Us," Brandon repeated, his eyes on Andy; he was still smirking a little, but he was as serious Andy had ever seen him. "So, there's more of you then?"
"Yeah. We've got more wolves on our team than anyone else in the NHL," Andy said, proud; his wolf preened a little, because their Pack was the strongest in the league and that mattered, made them better than all the others.
"Who -" Brandon started to ask but then interrupted himself with a small laugh. "Sharpy, yeah? And Duncs and Seabs."
"Yeah, Sharpy's Jonny's Hati, his third. And Abby, of course. Duncs and Seabs are more like, enforcers than anything else -they love to fight, man, you should see how much fun they have when they start shit with other packs," Andy snickered as he explained their positions within the Pack hierarchy. "And Crow, too. Plus, Tuevo- as well as Morin if he ends up here for more than a game or two."
Brandon was nodding as if none of this was a surprise. "The kids, too, right? All that fucken growling makes sense now."
"Yeah, we don't shift into our wolf-skins until we're older, but our instincts are always there, even when we're just cubs," Andy said fondly, a soft look in his eyes. "Our Pack is lucky to have as many cubs as we do."
"How much is it..." Brandon trailed off as he searched for the right words. "Is like the wolves in the, uh, wild or whatever?"
Andy shook his head and sprawled on the couch, tipped his head back so his neck was on display; Brandon might not understand what he was doing, but his wolf approved of the display of vulnerability. Mate, safe, ours.
"Kind of? I mean, Jonny's the Alpha and his word is law for us, more than the humans ones are. I can't -Jonny could tell us to do anything and we would have to do it, but it's not. Jonny's a good Alpha, he takes care of us, listens to what we want. Not every Alpha is like that.
"I can't explain to you, what it means to have a good Pack, to belong to Jonny and everyone, to have them belong to me. We're not suppose to be alone, it's not good for us," he added; it wasn't any where close to explaining how he needed the connection of Pack. How lonely he had been in Rockford with only Crow as company.
Brandon looked thoughtful, his head tilted to the side. "Is it hard, then, when you're back home for the summer?"
He had moved to the couch next to Andy, their legs pressed together; it made Andy's wolf rumble happily, the noise spilling from Andy's throat before he could stop it. Brandon raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't comment on it and Andy rushed to answer him. "Sometimes. I mean, I still have my family, even if they're not Pack any more and it helps some, just being around other wolves. But Jonny and Pat usually try to come see the rest of us during the off-season. And if they can't, we're always welcome in Buffalo or Winnipeg if we need to be with them."
Brandon was quiet for a long minute; his scent still smelled like oranges and sugar, layered over the crushed maple leaves and winter air that was Brandon's normal scent.
His next question wasn't one that Andy would have expected. "You mentioned Abby, right? Is she like you?"
"No, Abby's human," Andy answered easily, even if he wasn't sure where his best friend was going with this. "A lot of wolves end up mated to humans; there are more of you than us, so."
"Being mated, is that like being married?" Brandon's wondered, his voice casual -too casual, even, because Andy could smell the sharp scent of mold and dirt, strong enough to make him wince internally.
"Kind of. I mean, it's a choice, sort of like marriage is," Andy said, his voice even as he tried to figure out why Brandon was so anxious. "But our mates are chosen for us when we're born and once mates choose each other, it's for life. We can't just -even if we leave our mates, we still need each other, still want each other. It's not something that ever stops, no matter how much you fight or the amount of distance you put in between you."
"Chosen? Like an arranged marriage or some shit?" Brandon scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Andy curled a lip in discontent at Bolly's tone of voice; he comforted his wolf with the reminder that Brandon was human, had never been around wolves and didn't understand what it meant to get the chance to find your mate. "No. It's a -blessing, or a promise, maybe, from the moon. So we always have someone to hunt with, to run with. It's not, like, a joke or something," he added almost fiercely.
"Yeah," Brandon agreed after a second; he shifted around enough so he could bump his shoulder against Andy's. His voice was apologetic when he went on, "I just don't understand it, yeah?"
Andy nodded tersely, accepting the words for the apology they were.
"Can I ask how you know? Who your mate is, I mean," Brandon amended when Andy just tipped his head to the side and looked at him.
Andy inhaled deeply before he answered. "There's a couple different ways. After you meet your mate, your eyes will change to match theirs or their's will shift to yours -it depends who's the most dominant. And, um, if your mate's human, that doesn't happen -it doesn't mean less or anything, it's just that humans' eye color doesn't shift the way ours do.
"And, uh, there's the dreams."
"Dreams," Brandon repeated softly as he sunk back against the coach cushions.
Andy nodded and hunched his shoulders a little bit, kept his eyes on the carpet. "Mate dreams -they're always about the same person, and they repeat themselves alot, always with the same kind of, theme, I guess you could say. You get the dreams right before you meet them or right after sometimes. They're different than other dreams, more real, harder to let go of when you wake up."
He snuck a look at Brandon out of the corner of his eye; Brandon was just looking at the wall, frowning. When he spoke again, it made Andy start a little. "What do you mean 'themes'?"
Andy cleared his throat and briefly smirked at the reminder of the dream he had last night. "Well, they're about sex a lot of time; the youngest I've ever heard of someone having them is when they were thirteen and that was after they shifted into their wolf-skin for the first time.
"But, yeah, sex a lot of the time. Running and hunting together in the woods, singing a song to the moon to thank her for marking us for each other. Play fighting and wrestling, things like that."
The last words were rough and low, Andy almost twitching with how antsy his wolf was getting, pushing against his skin and urging him to go to Brandon. But Andy held himself still, waiting to see what Brandon was going to do.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" The question was quiet, Brandon's voice laced with something Andy couldn't place; he inhaled softly and almost cringed when he caught the scent of ice and hail. Disappointment wasn't something he ever got used to.
"I don't know," Andy answered honestly; evading the truth was one thing, but outright lying wasn't something Andy did unless he had to. "I thought about it, when I first started having them and I recognized you from them, but you weren't having them and I thought you were straight -at least, you were never attracted to me that I ever scented and I didn't want to lose you, you know? Being your friend was awesome and it, it helped me some, just having that."
There was a humming silence before Brandon sighed and moved closer to him, so they were pressed together from shoulder to foot.
"I didn't start having them until a week or two ago," Brandon finally told him. "And I'm not straight or kind of not-straight at least; I've always been attracted to guys, but it's just never been worth it before, you know? Hockey means too much for me to risk it on a hook-up.
"But, god, Mutt, I just -I think you would be worth it, but I couldn't work up the nerve to say anything to you about it. But now, maybe, do you want to give it a shot or whatever?"
Andy grinned, his wolf straining toward their mate, making Andy drop his head on Brandon's shoulder and turn into him. "Yeah, man, of course I do. I always want you."