He’s running like a maniac again. Always running around with literally no goal, other than running because he loves the freedom of the forest. He’s annoying. He smells. The way his tongue hangs out of his mouth when he runs is ridiculous and he looks ridiculous.

He caught a rabbit and was stupidly proud of himself. He loves how the tiny bones crunches between his teeth and how easy it has become to hunt after we moved here. In the beginning he was bad but he’s getting better.

He’s not the one who has to deal with the aftermath though.

 ***

I threw up again and groaned as my stomach clenched, trying to get the remnants of the wolf’s breakfast out of my body. At least this wasn’t happening again until tonight, so I had a full day to relax and regain some strength. One more night and I’d be free for another month.

Abel handed me a glass of water and I gratefully took it, rinsing out my mouth. He had been so nice. Used his days off to be at my place, look after Dave, brought Gary too so she wouldn’t be alone in his flat. He had also cleaned the house while I had been out running in the forest.

“You feeling better?” he asked and took the glass back from me, refilling it from the bathroom sink.

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted. Why does he have to eat? Can’t he just run around and be content with that?” I leaned back against the wall, pulling my legs up and resting my elbows on my knees, pressing my fingers to my eyes.

“I mean, if he’s hungry…”

“I always eat before the shift, hoping he won’t get hungry. And to be honest, I don’t think he’s hungry. I think he just likes hunting rabbits.” I removed my fingers from my eyes and looked up at Abel. “Probably knows I get super sick from it and enjoys making me ill.”

Abel snorted a little and held his hand out, offering me it to get off the floor. I gratefully grabbed it and let him haul me up.

“What do you wanna do?” He put his arm around my shoulders and steered me back into the living room. Dave had taken up one sofa, leaving the other for us.

“Honestly, just take a good ol’ nap, I think.”

“We can definitely do that,” Abel said and dumped down on the sofa, turning on the telly. “Will the sound bother you?”

“Not at all.” I sat down and then pushed him down on his back so I could nap on top of him. He chuckled but didn’t protest. He only slid his hand under my shirt, tracing my spine with the tips of his fingers. It was so comforting, and he was warm. He hadn’t turned the volume up to a point where it was annoying even, and occasionally he’d chuckle at something they had said on the telly. It was so domestic.

After my dad had died, I didn’t think I’d get to have something that felt like home, again. It was hard to even believe this was real. It was also not that big of a deal, really. I was just napping on top of the boy I was dating, while he was watching silly comedy shows on the telly, rubbing my back in the process.

I also knew this wasn’t something all of us would get. All of us in the queer corner of the world. Happiness was not often afforded to us in a world that sometimes actively worked against us, so I had so many feelings about this small moment. The absolute normalness of it all. I was happy because I got to have this – but I also mourned for the boy who never thought he would. I wished I could go back and tell him; things would get better in the future. If only I had known then, what I knew now.

I repositioned a little and sighed deeply. Abel stopped moving his fingers over my back for a second, but then continued as I sunk into him. Enough with the deep thoughts. Only think about how nice Abel smells. How nice it is when he chuckles, and it vibrates through your body. Only think about how surprisingly comfortable you are right now.

 ***

I jerked awake. Abel hadn’t woken me up and I was out of time and luck. I fell down on the floor, waves of pain flowing through my body.

“Gael?” Abel muttered tiredly. He must’ve fallen asleep too at some point.

“Abel, get…” I had to stop and groan, rolling on my side. “Get the telly and the pets. I’m shifting here. Lock the doors.” My voice was changing too, going down a couple of octaves. 

“D-do you want me to stay?”

“No!” I growled through my growing teeth. It was like biting into a block of ice, repeatedly getting brain freezes and my teeth aching. And then these tingles would spread over my skin, every single hair in his fur growing out of my skin. 

Abel was running around me, gathering valuables. Laptops, phones, the telly and my bluetooth speaker all went upstairs while he grabbed the sofa and put it up the steps, blocking my path. And his.

“You’ve blocked…” I couldn’t speak anymore. My throat was no longer human, nor was my face really. 

It was too late, and Abel was going to see this happening.

 ***

He slowly awakens and pushes me aside so he can take over. The best thing for him is right after the shift where he can shake out his fur, stretch his legs and get a good scratch behind his ear.

He becomes acutely aware he isn’t alone. The smell is familiar, and he was sure I knew that smell. That I liked it. 

The boy stands by the stairs, staring at him. He stares back. He is usually alone and has never had any other company than the rabbits before they died. Once he had encountered a deer which died too.

Instincts tells him to kill this strange animal he hasn’t seen before too, but he also feels the power radiating off him.

The boy slowly moves down in a crouch, seeming a lot less threatening. It placates the wolf somewhat, and he sits down too. The boy says something, but the wolf doesn’t understand him. Language is lost on him. All that matters is whether or not the strange boy is an enemy or a friend. The wolf is rather lonely. He doesn’t care if the boy is another wolf or not. All that matters is if he has food. He is already starving.

The boy says something again and moves closer, holding his hand out. Does it contain food? The wolf just wants something to fill his belly. He rises to his feet and walks up to the boy’s hand, his claws click-clacking against the hardwood floor. He gently notches the boy’s hand with his snout, sniffing it.

No food.

He loses interest and follows his nose into another room. He doesn’t bother to look properly around or wonder why he isn’t in the woods. He goes directly for the fridge, clawing at it with his paw.

The boy is beside him and opens it. The wolf makes a happy sound and looks through the different arrays of things within the cold cabinet. He goes directly for some steaks, grabbing the package with his mouth and pulls it out on the floor.

The boy crouches down again and opens the weird package and throws the steak at the wolf. He catches it and happily carries it back to the other room, settling on the floor and eats it.

He knows the boy followed. He could hear his steps and smell him. The smell is still boggling him a little. He likes it and wants the boy around. He feels possessive of the boy.

This boy is alright.