Hours later, in the evening, Hyde sat on the couch with his notebook again. Rune paced around the room.

Rune didn’t take it very well. The full moon thing. He’s been anxious for hours. I’ve tried calming him down, telling him it’ll be fine, but it didn’t help. Maybe for a few minutes, but then he was pacing around mumbling to himself again. I don’t think there’s much I can do at this point. There’s only about ten minutes left.

Hyde sighed and closed his notebook. He laid it on the coffee table. “Rune.” 

“Huh?” 

Hyde pat the space on the couch next to him. “Come sit for a moment, there’s only ten minutes left.” 

Rune only tensed more. Hyde stood up and walked to him. He grabbed his wrist. “Come on.” He dragged him to the couch and pushed him to sit. He sat next to him, facing him. “Let me try to explain what’ll happen, okay?” 

Rune took a deep breath and nodded.

“So, the moon will be up and I’ll shift. I’ll go into my room before then, so you don’t have to see it. And when I’m shifted—you’ve seen it before—I’ll be animal-like and hairy and everything. But because it’s a full moon, I won’t be fully conscious. More going off instinct. So I’ll act animalistic too, which might be aggressive—or the opposite, depending on my mood. And I won’t remember anything the next morning.” 

Rune stared at him with big eyes. “So it’s a coin flip whether you’ll be scary or not? Is that supposed to calm me down?” 

Hyde scratched his cheek. “Eh, I thought you should know what to expect.” 

Rune sighed. He rested his forehead on the palm of his hand. 

Hyde frowned, he tapped his fingers on his leg. “I’ll—I’ll go into my room now.” 

Rune nodded. 

Hyde stood up and walked away. 

Rune was left alone with his anxiety. Was he going to be aggressive? He wouldn’t hurt him, would he? They were friends now. What if he was aggressive? What was he supposed to do? Run? Or would that make it worse? Maybe he should act like he wasn’t even there? Ignore him? Or would that make him mad? Maybe he should leave the house altogether. But where would he go for the night? He guessed another night in the forest would be manageable. 

He flinched when he heard noise from Hyde’s room. He looked towards the hallway from the couch. He heard a door open. He jumped as Hyde came through the doorway. Rune stared at him. His ears pointed and furry, his irises big and golden, his pupils thin like needles, all his facial and body hair longer and thicker, nails like claws. Rune let out a breath he had been holding. 

Hyde growled, Rune yelped and scrambled to the other side of the couch. Hyde climbed on it as he kept his eyes fixated on Rune, Rune froze. Hyde crawled towards him. Rune leaned back as much as he could as Hyde got into his face, crawling over him. He leaned his head down and sniffed. Rune pinched his eyes and lips closed with a high-pitched whine. Hyde pushed his nose against the skin below Rune’s ear and sniffed more. He loosened his shoulders and purred. 

Rune opened his eyes. He turned his head to him. “Did you purr?” he whispered. Hyde nuzzled his cheek. He moved down and rubbed his face into Rune’s neck. Rune laid there, not knowing what to do. What was he doing? This wasn’t aggressive. So, was this that opposite Hyde mentioned? Was the opposite of aggressive, cuddly? He guessed it made sense. 

“Eh.” Rune pushed himself up onto his elbows. Hyde whined as he caught himself on his claws. He gave Rune puppy eyes. Rune was taken aback by his pupils. They weren’t thin anymore, they had grown into big circles now. Rune compared it to a cat’s pupils. Hyde nuzzled his cheek again with a smile. 

Rune put his hand on Hyde’s shoulder. “Hyde, could you-eh.” He nudged his shoulder away. Hyde pushed back and laid against him with a whine. Rune sighed, he leaned back. “Do you want to cuddle?” Hyde nodded. Rune relaxed and laid down. “Okay, then,” he breathed out. He put a hand on Hyde’s back and massaged it with his thumb. Hyde purred again. 

Rune wasn’t sure what to think of this. It probably didn’t mean anything. As Hyde said, he won’t remember any of it. 

Hyde opened his eyes. He glanced down at himself, he was on the couch, a blanket laid over him. He pushed himself up on his arms and sat. He rubbed his dry eyes with his thumb and index finger, then looked further into the room. He saw Rune in the kitchen with a can of blood in hand. 

Hm. Did Rune give him the blanket? He must have, who else? How cute. So would that mean he didn’t make him piss himself? 

Rune gave him a little wave and Hyde realised he was staring at him. He awkwardly smiled. 

“So, what did I do?”

“Hm.” Rune approached the couch. “I think you were in more of an opposite mood.”

“Oh, really? Huh.” Hyde looked down in thought. “Odd.” 

Rune sat next to him. “Is it odd?”

“Yeah, I know I can get pretty aggressive when I’m not in full control. Similar to my dad, I guess,” he mumbled. 

Rune raised his eyebrow. “Your dad?” 

Hyde tensed up. “Eheh… forget I said that.” 

Rune leaned closer with narrowed eyes. He exaggerated a sniff. “You know what I smell?” He got into Hyde’s face. “Daddy issues,” he whispered, then snickered. 

Hyde glared and pushed his face away. “Just forget about it.” 

Rune moved back. “Fine. For now.” 

“What did I do to make you think that? That I was in an opposite mood?”

“Well,” Rune chuckled. “For one, you purred.”

Hyde tensed. A deep, embarrassed blush came to his face.

“Several times.”

“Why?”

Rune shrugged with folded arms. “I don’t know, you’re the werewolf! You were very insistent that you wanted to cuddle.”

Hyde laid his forehead in his hands, now even more embarrassed. What on Earth? He’d never done that.

“Do you know why?” Rune asked.

Hyde shook his head. “Maybe because I’ve been alone for so long?”

“Aw.” Rune put a hand on his chest. “You wanted to cuddle because you were lonely? That’s adorable, and sad.”

Hyde shot him a glare from the corner of his eye. Rune snickered.