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The whole gang was snuggled around the tv, watching some marvel movie. It was a chill night and laughter filled the air, along with banter on which Marvel character was the best. Sean and Signe argued the Spoody man himself, whilst others proudly stating Iron man, and then there was Robin quietly on his single chair, saying it was Harry Potter that was the best avenger, and no-one could deny. Everyone gave him a soft chuckle at his lame attempt of trying to funny. It assumed this way until the was a loud knock at their door. It was sloppy, like almost someone was knocking and then dragging the knuckles down the door. Sean begrudgingly lift his arm off Signe and walked over towards the door.
As he opened it, in toppled Ethan. A goofy smile plastered on his face. Another guy was behind him with a somewhat sheepish look.
“Hey man, sorry to leave him with you… like this.” He gestured towards the boy hanging off Jack’s neck. “He had a little too much tonight. Then he kept saying things like ‘ need pack’, ‘wheres pack’. We think he might’ve lost his bag, but we couldn’t find anything.” There was concern laced in his voice.
“Aurhh, that’s okay man. I’ll take over from here.” Sean said, his tone a little hard. “Thanks for bringing him home.”
He shut the door, and Ethan had temporarily remained silent, but now he looked up. A huge smile plastered all over his face. A giddy giggle squeaked out of his mouth, and he let go of Sean’s neck.
“Hey B-budddyyy.” He said laughing slurring. “My pal, my pack, myyyyy brother!!” He swung his arms around, and twirled with the momentum. Robin had now come to investigate, he ventured in the hallway where Jack was just watching Ethan potentially tire himself out. Robin snuffed in an amused tone, and stood there watching with him.
“Hes wasted right?” Robin confirmed.
“Oh absolutely smashed.” Sean smiled, into a slightly evil grin. “Gonne get, absolute hell for this tomorrow.”
Ethan had stopped twirled and suddenly noticed Robin. Excitement filled him, as he ran over to a fellow pack-mate.
“ROB, Robbie, Robin!” He screamed in a childish voice. As came closer, he tripped over his feet and fell in Robin’s outstretched hands.
“Hey Ethan” He smiled down at his inebriated friend. “We’re gonna help you out here. Try not make a loud ruckus.”
Ethan looked up at Robin, a woozy smile on his face as he nodded in a vigorous exaggerated way. Both, him and Jack dragged Ethan into the living room. Everyone turned and stared at the small boy, being dragged by both of his arms.
“ETHAN’S WASTED!” Mark shouts in a mocking manner. Ethan looks up in the attention being put on by him.
“No’mnot.” He replies. “Jusss tipsy, juss, juss little- “
“We’re gonna take him out to make sure he doesn’t make any mischief, as we’ve all learnt.” Jack says eyes lingering humorously on Mark, who simply laughs back, being joined by everyone else. Signe gets up and asks if any of the boys need help.
“Nah woosh, I think we should be fine. I’ll let you know otherwise.” He smiles gratefully and gives her light kiss.
The outside air enveloped the trio as they entered the backyard. Ethan was now still giggling and making weird noises in general. Sean and Robin laughing to themselves as they dragged Ethan closer towards the woods.
“You can’t make this stuff up, I wish we could film this.” Jack sighed wistfully.
“Who says you can’t?” Robin grinned deviously and took his phone out, pointed towards his fellow friend who was now singing random tunes.
“You’re howling, into the night, won’t dOoOooo” He sings, but breaks it off into a more animalistic howl. The sober boys looking at each other in a grimace. Ethan stared at them, his eyes now glowing a golden hue. “Look at that beautiful moon. So – big and uhhh – SHINY! Shinieeee, brighty. HEY! You guys see it!! Up there in that big ole sky.”
Jack and Robin laugh softly at their friend’s demise. They cross their arms, and watch like parents supervising a child in the playground. In fact, thats was exactly what they were doing, making sure Ethan didn’t hurt himself as the alcohol poured through his veins, but until eventually the wolf side came out.
Ethan’s eyes grew brighter and more gold as he turned towards the older males. “Lets play a game!” He squeals, then runs over to Robin, he lightly taps his trembling finger tips, which were almost claw tips, across his forearm. “TIP! You’re in.”
He then bolts further into the dense and lush forest.
“There it is.” Jack sighs running after him, with Robin closely behind.
~~~
Jack and Robin, were hiding together in a bushed, tired and slightly puffed, they had played tip and now they were playing hide- and- seek. Ethan was in, and his voice grew more high pitched and child-like as he counted.
“5. 6. Hehe. 8.” He giggles and burps between each number, until eventually reaching thirty. The he raced off in one direction, trying to seek his tired friends hiding away. As he ran, nearly tripping over each log and branch in each path, he stopped his tracks to spot something furry in vision. His eyes saw that is wasn’t something like him, but round and fluffy. He couldn’t quite place what it was, his mind was blurred, but the thought of finding his friends was gone. He crouched and shuffled closer towards the furry thing. It turned and cried softly in his face. It was alone.
“Hey,” he smiled goofily, putting his hands out to touch the fluffy thing. “Hi”
The object moved away from his hands, crying louder. Ethan lowered his voice, and stumbled to put his fingers to his lips and he shushed the creature. He placed his hand out again for the creature to gain his scent. His body shivered slightly, and his hairs stood on end. A dark spot pressed above him and the fluffy creature.
~
Jack and Robin, couldn’t hear Ethan’s giggles or slurred words any more. ‘He must’ve gone somewhere father than he should’ve’ Jack sighed. The two males were exhausted, thinking that maybe Ethan would tire out easily, but it had been around two hours, and the boy hadn’t even pulled a sweat. Even werewolves needed sleep. They stood from their hiding spot, and trudged through the bushy forest, calling Ethan’s name. They were ready to head to bed and wrangle a drunk werewolf to sit still and just fall asleep.
Robin was leaping over a large bush that contained berries that smoothly shone in the moonlight. It wasn’t too dark underneath the moonlight, but even still dark corners loomed in the shadows.
“Do you hear that?” Robin tilted his head to the sky, straining his ears to hear some quiet noise. A howl, animal, but very clearly Ethan called urgently. They both ran in the direction of the source.
~
Ethan’s mouth felt raw, and his cheek was bleeding. A deep brown and large bear loomed above him. His golden eyes stared scared in the angry eyes of the bears. The bear roared and stood near the furry object, which now Ethan very much recognised as a bear cub. He shuffled away from the mama bear that stood on her hind legs and raised her arm in an act of aggression. Ethan squeaked out a ‘sorry’, as he raised his arms in protection.
The bushes rustled and out popped a breathless Robin. He stared at Ethan in his scared and huddled stance. He turned to the bushes.
“Jack! You better come!” He shouted, immediately a dark brown wolf jumped out of the same bushes and landed between the bear and drunk werewolf. The bear grew confused and lowered her paw. Jack growled loudly, showing his teeth and gums in response. The bear only mimicked his reply. Robin hurried over towards Ethan, who wrestled Robins calming hand.
“No, don’t hurt me! No!” He struggled against Robins hand.
“Ethan, calm down it’s me! Robin, I’m your friend!” he said calmly but with strong tone. Ethan slowly stopped wriggling and untangled himself. He stared up at Robin, quickly shuffling towards the blonde man. He had rapid breathing, and clutched the arm sleeve of Robin, staring behind him at Jack, who, had now calmed the bear down. He barked loudly, and they both shuffled away quickly. He then turned towards the men, his golden eyes shining, a loud huff came out of his throat, his eyes staring directly at Ethan.
“Mm’sorry” Ethan mumbled looking down on the rocky ground, still clutching Robin’s forearm. “Can wego home?” His eyes drooped, and he flopped into Robin’s lap.
The walk home was silent, albeit the rustling of leaves, and Jack’s panting breath, or maybe that was Robin, who still carrying a now asleep Ethan. They reached the house, that had the backlight on, and went inside. Signe looked up from the tv that she was surfing through, and laughed softly at the trio.
“Rough night boys?” Her giggles extending to her shoulders. Jack wolf huffed at her, whilst walking over and giving her a light lick on the cheek. She protested but he laughed in a dog-like way, barking softly.
Robin, left the couple and walked Ethan to his room, and inelegantly dumped him on the bed. The smaller boy didn’t move or grunt in anyway, which Robin sighed gratefully. He left the unconscious boy to his bed, and closed the door. Fifteen minutes later, Signe and Sean came in and laughed as the tucked the boy in, then left him cuddled under the sheets.
~~~
Daylight streamed in, and the headache in Ethan’s head bulged as if it were too big and trying to break out of his skull. He groaned loudly before burying under his pillow, trying to escape from the pain. The darkness felt softer, and not as loud as the screaming sunlight. However, he was not alleviated from his pain, in fact, it was made all the worst when his door bashed open, and reverberated on the wall.
“TOP OF THE MORNIN’ TO YA LADDIE!” Jack screamed at the top of his lungs, and Ethan was pretty sure people halfway across the world could hear him. His head throbbed painfully and Ethan shot his head out from his pillow.
“I hate you, you jerk.” He stared daggers at Jacks smug grin. The older male walked over and sat on the edge of Ethan’s bed.
“It’s yer own fault, you caused quite a ruckus last night. I mean you got attacked by a bear.” Jack explained, and tapped his cheek, and stared at Ethan. Ethan sat up and mimicked Jack’s actions, and felt a bumpy surface of a scar. His pillow had faded red marks of dried blood. He groaned loudly as the heaviness in his head hit him.
“I feel like total and utter crap.” He says with a laughing sigh. “I can’t believe I actually got drunk.”
“I’m actually kinda surprised too, you must’ve drunk a lot to get to that state.” Jack stared at the boy, who looked away, a pink in his cheeks. “Was there a reason?”
Ethan looked away even more, his fringe flopping in front of his face. He sighed even more heavily, his whole body moving with the exhale. The room grew heavy with silence, but when Ethan spoke again, Jack stayed silent, listening to his fellow pack-mate.
“It’s been real hard, this whole change. Becoming a …” He dragged his hands over his face. “I can’t even say it, it just sounds … so unreal. Like its fantasy. I mean, I’m grateful that I’m not allergic to peanuts anymore, but now everything is so different. I kinda – wish for the old things again. I thought maybe forgetting everything for a while would ease it a bit. But… I guess it only made things worse.”
Jack nodded but stayed quiet, waiting for Ethan to expel his woes and troubles. “You know, I was the same way, so was Robin, so was Mark. Everyone finds it hard when there’s a new shift in your life. In fact, when I moved here, I found it so hard, America is different from Ireland. But then I met Mark, and he helped me feel more comfortable. After a while I felt more at home here. And look at all of us now! We’re happy and more able to look after each other here. We gotchu Eth. I’m glad you told me how you’re feeling. We’re all here to help you, it will get easier. I promise. “
Ethan turned to Jack with a soft smile on his face. Despite his head throbbing, he gave Jack a hug. It was more a touchy-feely kind, but werewolves were like that. Jack patted the boy on the back. They broke apart and matched each other’s smiles, but now Ethan’s head protested, by feel light and his vision slightly darkening at the corners. A knock at the door stole Jack’s attention, with Robin walking in with a bowl of mac n’ cheese.
“A snacc for the suffering boy.” Robin laughed as he presented the bowl dramatically, dropping on his knee. Ethan took the bowl gratefully, but then groaned loudly as his body protested in response. “Oh right, you have to have, ‘the remedy’.”
“Oh yes!” Jack matched Robins grin. The boys ran down stairs to mix a concoction in the blender to help Ethan’s hangover. The boy smiled lightly and flopped back onto his pillow. He found it hard this new changed in his life, but he now gained a pack, a second family that will help. Most of the time.