Darcy weaved his way through the Friday morning crowds, weaponising his elbows when necessary - and when certain he couldn’t be identified by the far bigger people all around him. With a dramatic inhale, he peeled away from the main horde. The corridor leading to his class was far clearer. Luca popped up at his side, seemingly out of nowhere. For the first time, Darcy didn’t jump out of his skin at the sudden sight of him.

“Wanna go for a run?” he asked before Darcy could think of a greeting. Probably for the best, he would have ended up with a squeaky and awkward ‘hi’ anyway.

“I spend plenty of time running from you, thank you very much,” Darcy replied, snippier in tone than he had expected to sound. He fought the reflex to apologise immediately. Being rude was not in the omega nature, but being rude to a beta was an offence against wolf nature itself.

Luca laughed quietly to himself. It filled him with annoyance instead of relief.

“It’s not funny,” Darcy whispered. “You don’t know what it’s like to have someone as big as you stalking someone as small as me.”

Luca’s expression turned uncomfortable and he looked away, but still kept pace with him. Either he didn’t catch the hint or decided to ignore it. “You told me once that you liked running,” he said.

It almost caused Darcy to stumble that he remembered such a small comment from such a long time ago. “I lied,” he replied.

Luca was not put off by his blunt response. “Let’s go back to the woods where they held the scavenger hunt. It’s protected land; we can shift there without worrying about humans.”

“Remember when you said I could tell you to fuck off?” Darcy asked cheerfully, expression heavy with insinuation. Darcy didn’t want to actually tell him to fuck off, at least not in public. They were still taking baby steps, at least as far as Darcy was concerned.

“You won’t even consider it? A fun afternoon out?”

Darcy gave him his best withering look.

They reached his class, not one that Luca shared, and stopped at the back of the queue to enter the classroom. Luca dropped his back against the wall, leaning over Darcy at a sharp angle that made his t-shirt ride up. The skin of his hip was as golden as his face, with a sprinkling of brown freckles. Darcy’s mouth watered. Darcy managed to drag his eyes from the exposed sliver and caught Luca grinning down at him. He flushed and wrapped his arms over his chest, hoping to look sulky and grouchy.

Luca watched him for a few moments before announcing, “I packed food for a picnic.”

Darcy perked up. “What kind of food?”

His face broke out in a beam. “You’ll have to come with me to find out, won’t you?”

“I need some details first.”

“I’ll text you.” Luca pushed off the wall and joined the stream of students heading towards the science block.

“I’ll be changing my number any day now!” Darcy called after him.

As soon as he was out of sight he couldn’t keep from laughing at himself. Darcy was in way too deep, it was embarrassing. Perhaps struggling against the quicksand was only prolonging his demise, though. Would a few weeks of fun with his mate cause him any more hurt than he was already expecting? Darcy would have to pry himself from him either way come June 14^th. Luca had already entangled him to the point of heartache.

A few of his classmates gave him cautious looks from the queue and it set off another wave of giggles. Darcy was a fool. An absolute love-soaked moron. But at least now he could accept it.

They arranged to meet at the front gate of the school; Luca would drive them to the reserve. Only alphas and betas usually had their own cars, it was a luxury reserved for the top point of their diamond structure. Darcy felt a little awkward walking the opposite way to the rest of his pack-mates  making their way to the bus queue.

Thankfully, Luca was quick to pull up in front of him. Before he had cleared the handful of steps to the passenger door, Luca was out and striding around to beat him there. Luca grabbed the handle and pulled it open for him with a mock bow. Darcy smiled gratefully and climbed into the car. Nerves barely contained. Luca shut the door for him gently and returned to his own side. When he dropped back into the driver’s seat, his attention was on pulling away, but Darcy’s was on his proximity. His body heat radiating so close to him, soaking into his skin. A warmth transfer from one soul-mate to the other. His scent was everywhere inside the car, and the warm day exacerbated its cling.

The small talk during the journey was maintained almost entirely by Luca. Darcy would like to say he was trying to protect his heart by being aloof, but the truth would be nerves and social awkwardness. That feeling of having a crush on someone and miraculously losing the ability to speak coherently near them. So near. Close enough to touch unintentionally.

After parking up and assisting Darcy out of the car, he plucked a backpack from the back seat and slung it over his shoulder with a grin.

“Picnic,” he explained helpfully.

As they passed through the gate into the forest, he slipped his fingers through Darcy’s. The skin between Darcy’s skinny fingers was stretched a little trying to accommodate his large hand, but the explosion of ecstasy that ran from his palm to the rest of his body made it more than worth it. Luca’s touch comforted him in gentle pulses through his bloodstream.

They plodded through the undergrowth for a while, Darcy couldn’t even take a guess at how long. Luca’s hand in his had all of his attention. Darcy was mildly dazed by his scent brushing against him as they walked side-by-side.

“This looks like a good spot.”

Darcy blinked. “Hmm?” He glanced around the small clearing that they had stumbled across. It looked like all the others they had wandered through so far.

“Picnic spot!” Luca peeled their hands apart to unpack his bag.

Darcy’s mouth slipped reflexively into a pathetic pout. The breeze tickling his now-empty palm brought a sting to his skin. Luca didn’t notice his slouched, lost demeanour. He flapped out a blue blanket in front of them and laid out a collection of plastic containers.

After sulking silently by himself for a few minutes, Darcy relented. Luca was not paying him any mind anyway. Luca was chattering about the snacks he had brought as he popped open the lids. Darcy dropped to the blanket cross-legged. The space around him quickly filled with food. A lot of food. Luca urged him to start picking at the selection.

As soon as he’d partaken in some sugar, he felt himself pepping back up. Darcy’s mood and energy rose with every bite. Luca took from every container, eating a piece of everything, one after the other. When a snack was down to its last piece or portion, he would slide the container to Darcy’s knee and encourage him to eat more. Darcy fought as valiantly as he could, but there was still food in front of him when he tapped out.

Luca took the last orange slice that Darcy had insisted couldn’t fit inside of him. “I want to explore,” he said, and popped it into his mouth.

“We didn’t explore enough last time?” Darcy teased, poking fun at his own lack of direction during the scavenger hunt. Darcy wanted very much to lie still and allow his body to digest the biggest meal he had eaten in weeks.

“I think we should explore my way. Your style is…” Luca scrunched his nose as he thought for whatever word he was looking for. In the pause, he slipped the last cheese sandwich into his mouth.

“Slow?” Darcy suggested. “Boring? Tiring? Time-consuming?”

Luca swallowed. “I just think that forests are made to be run around in.”

“Luca,” Darcy said with a soft sigh. Saying his name was addictive, it stroked his throat. “You should know better than anyone that I can’t run without tripping or slamming into something.” Darcy hummed a quiet laugh, adding, “and that’s only if you didn’t catch me first.”

Luca chuckled through a mouthful of pastry. It was adorable. “The only times I didn’t catch you first were when I wanted to see how long it would take for you to crash into something.”

Darcy gave him his best attempt at an irritated look, although he could feel the corner of his mouth fighting to smile. As embarrassing as it was at the time, it was a little funny to him now.

Luca dusted off his hands and hopped up. Darcy followed at a much slower and less enthusiastic pace. They ambled to the edge of their clearing, leaving the bag and blanket behind.

Luca suddenly halted right before the tree trunks tightened together again.

“Climb on,” he said, squatting onto his heels in front of him.

“Excuse me?” Darcy squeaked.

“Get on my back.”