Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Loki had signed one hundred and fifty copies of his band’s latest album, “Tree of Life,” before his nerves started acting up. There were alphas everywhere (and betas and omegas too, but the alphas were the worst), staring at him all want and desire, he could smell it in the air as well as see it in their eyes; he had known this would happen before seeking to join this life of fame and fortune, but the stares...all those eyes on him...it was still intimidating. It wasn’t like this was their first album, and the members of Decadence had done several signings before this one, so he wasn’t sure why it was getting to him so much like it was now, not to mention each and every time they went out to meet the fans. But right now? Right now it was too much. So, he snuck off to go pop some pills. Loki knew he could just pop them from a PEZ container (his current favorite was the Loki one from the Marvel movies) and no one would know, but he had left the container on the band’s bus. He thought the fact that Thor, Kali, and the twins, Apollo and Artemis, were there still signing would make it so he could safely sneak off without a stinking bodyguard. Boy, was he wrong! He could hear the whispers and footsteps of 20 or so people following him, they were still some distance behind him, but he could hear them behind him; thank the gods above for his good ears. He did what any person who was being followed by a crazy mob, he tucked tail and ran .   

Nearby Sam was enjoying a latte out in the sun waiting for his older brother to finish getting his copy of his favorite band’s new album when a man crashed into him, spilling the remnants of the coffee on him.

“SHIT!” Both men cried.

Sam was about to shout at the man about watching where he was going, but the beta fox staring up at him with wide panicked eyes got a different reaction. Sam’s eyes drifted up the hill where the fox kept looking and to his shock there was a mob of people rushing down it. It looked like something out of one of Dean’s favorite cartoons and Sam might have laughed if the fox hadn’t look so terrified. His instincts kicked in to play immediately, he quickly snuck a business card, the one for his private bodyguard business, into the fox’s back pocket before gesturing for the man to get going.

Once the man was far enough away Sam let himself shift to his animal form. He could tell that things were going to get bad fast for the fox if he didn’t help out. With a deep breath Sam let his animal form come forward. He didn’t really know how it worked, only that it did. He didn’t know where his shoes and clothes went when he shifted, just that they would still be there when he took his human form again. Sam’s shoes disappeared as his hands and feet turned into hooves. His jeans and plaid shirt joined his shoes as fur sprouted out of his skin and his bones shifted into a much larger frame. Sam dropped to the ground, onto all fours, and as Dean called it, he was ‘fully moosed out’.  

The crowd stood in front of him, shouting and trying to get him out of the way, but he wouldn’t budge. Some of them started hitting him causing the moose to snort and “lightly” headbutt them, careful not to knock anyone with his antlers. By the time that some of them figured out to go around the moose, the fox was out of sight.

Loki panted as he scrambled into the bus, grabbing his PEZ container full of Zoloft, he popped two into his mouth and swallowed. He had never actually gotten prescribed for it, he had gotten it from his cousin turned drug dealer, Balthazar, after Loki had told him about how anxious and jumpy he was getting. It slowly worked its magic and Loki soon felt calm and refreshed. He was about to slip the candy dispenser in his back pocket when he felt a thin hard rectangle already there. Confused, he took it out and examined it.

“Winchester Bodyguards, huh?” he said softly. “I’ll have to ask Fergus about them.” He pocketed both the card and the dispenser in his back pocket. Finally feeling like he could handle the crowd Loki took the back way to get back to the signing, but just to be safe he transformed completely into his red fox form. Just behind the building the signing was in front of he returned to his human form and walked back out to his adoring fans. Loki had just arrived back into his seat when a man with sandy hair and bright green eyes got his turn to see the band.

“I’m a huge fan of you guys! Could you sign my album?” The man was trying to reign in his energy, but his fluffy tail showed how excited the man was by twitching out of control. He placed the tape container down, the plastic clinked against the table. The band had always liked the retro feel of cassette tapes, but most people bought their music online these days, and when they didn’t it was CD’s. Fergus was always trying to talk Loki out of the cassette production, so it was nice to see one on front of him. He’d have to crow about when he next saw the raven agent/band manager.

“Sure, bud, who should I make it out to?” Loki asked with a smile, canines glinting in the sun.

“Dean, sir.” Dean chirped, then flushed just a bit for chirping like he had.

The fox scribbled out, “Stay Classic, Dean!” and signed his name before passing it to the rest of the band who signed quickly and then handed it back to Dean who thanked them and took off.

Sam was cleaning up, or rather trying to clean, the latte spill on his shirt with some napkins when Dean returned.

Dean was clutching something to his chest, tail waving excitedly, and blushing just a bit, like a schoolgirl who just received a love note from her crush, the captain of the football team. And knowing Dean and his crush on the members of Decadence, Sam would say that was pretty spot on.

“You’re blushing, Dean,” Sam teased his older brother.

“Shut up,” Dean mumbled, then a little clearer, “You’re just jealous.”

Not really. Not that Sam would ever admit out loud, especially to Dean, that he did kinda like the band. It was either like them or go out of his mind over it since there were some days Dean played little else on the stereo in his room, or while they were in the car.

“Sure, Dean,” Sam rolled his eyes while trying to mop more coffee off his shirt. Finally, he sighed, giving it up as a lost cause, and tossed the damp napkins into a trash can a few feet away.

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Dean asked as the pair of brothers began walking towards where their car was parked.

“Nothing, really,” Sam replied easily. Because, really, it was nothing. “Some guy bumped into me while he was running from a mob of screaming people. Poor little fox was just about freaking out. Couldn’t blame him, really. I would, too, if people were practically frothing at the mouth to get to me.” Sam shrugged before admitting, “Ended up shifting so he could get away.”

It took Sam a few steps or so to realize that Dean was no longer beside him.

While Dean been waiting in line for his turn he had heard a crowd of people run off screaming right before someone had come out announcing that Loki was taking a small break and would be back soon.

“Wait…” Dean spoke slowly as his mind worked. “Are you telling me that you saved Loki , the lead singer of Decadence from a mob of fans?!”

Sam blinked at his older brother. Had he? Was that how that was? “Maybe? I didn’t catch what the were screaming. It could have been ‘Loki’. Besides, how was I supposed to know he was the guy you have a crush on?”

Dean stared at this brother for a moment, then threw his hands up in the air. “Maybe because I tell you everything I can find out about Decadence? So you should know everything I do! ” Dean was nearly yelling by the end of his mini rant.

Sam just barely kept the smirk off his face. Sometimes Sam did pay attention, and had had his suspicions as to the identity of the little fox, but it was so much fun watching his older brother getting worked up over something that shouldn’t have been a big deal.

Dean sighed. “Dude about yea high?” Dean held out his hand, palm down, about level with his chin.

Sam nodded.

“Longish hair, not nearly long as yours, sorta golden brown, and curls at the end?”

“I suppose?” Sam raised a brow at his brother. What was with that description? And Dean kept denying he wasn’t a fanboy!

“And whisky colored eyes?”

Had they been the color of whisky? Sam tried to think back. All he remembered was how frightened the beta fox had been.

“They might have been.” When Dean narrowed his eyes Sam tried to explain with, “Dude was running for his life, Dean! What was I supposed to do? Make him hold still so I could see the color of his eyes?”

Dean was unabashed when he answered, “Yes.”

“Dean!” Sam reprimanded. “He was running for his life, Jerk!” 

“Bitch,” Dean muttered and began walking again.

Meanwhile on the tour bus for the band Decadence, Loki was talking with Fergus “Crowley” MacLeod, the band’s agent/band manager about the events that had happened. Crowley was fuming.

“You didn’t think to call me ? I could have gotten them for you and you wouldn’t have had to do the bloody running of the bulls!” Crowley snapped.

“Relax, some civilian saved me. I think he slipped me this as well.” Loki said trying to calm the raven. He took out the business card and handed it over. The raven read it over before calming down a bit.

“The Winchester brothers, eh? My mum actually uses them when she has to go out in public while on her heat, loves their service. And you know that witch is picky with the services she uses.” Crowley spoke sourly when he brought up his mother, just like whenever someone made him talk about her.

“Then give them a ring, wouldya, Fergie? Let them know we’re interested.” Loki said before heading off to his bed at the rear of the bus.

Chapter Text

“Sammy! Wake up! We got a job!”

Sam awoke to the his brother shaking him awake, chattering about a job. When he peeled his eyes open it was only to see Dean’s bushy gray tail shake in unconstrained excitement; it was even in the air, the high notes stung Sam’s nose as he tried, and failed, to brush Dean’s tail out of his face.

Sam brushed Dean’s tail out of his way just long enough to get a glimpse at the clock. It was a just a little after 5 AM, about the time Sam would have gotten up anyways he supposed. What was surprising was that Dean was wide-eyed and, well, bushy tailed. Dean might have been a squirrel, but the saying never applied to his older brother, who was never awake until he’d at the very least had drunk his first cup of coffee. Which was never more true as the brothers got older. So whatever the job was, it must’ve been good to get Dean like this, because when his tail didn’t irritate Sam enough to get up Dean pushed his face in Sam’s, and there was no coffee breath to be smelled.

Sam was quite irritated, mostly because Dean knew that he didn’t like waking up with his brother’s tail in his face. He snapped, “Then what’s the goddamn job, spit it out!”

“Did I wake the princess from her beauty sleep?” Dean cooed mockingly. “Crowley texted us, told us that one of his more popular clients is needing a bodyguard after yesterday’s events. I think he means Loki!!” The squirrel was practically bouncing on Sam’s chest, shouting.

Sam groaned and shoved Dean off and onto the floor. Dean landed with an oomph .

“You think it’s Loki? You didn’t ask?” Sam couldn’t help the Annoyed Little Brother tone that leaked into his words. It was a mix of sass and frustration.

“I did, Crowley wouldn’t say.” Dean huffed, his tail flicked with irritation as he stood up.

Which, come to think about it, was a very Crowley thing to do. So, Sam didn’t question it.

“Did you tell Adam?” Sam said, pointing towards their youngest sibling.

“I forgot he was here? The kid is silent, unlike you, Mr. Chainsaw,” Dean retorts.

As Sam climbed out of bed he gave his older brother what Dean called a Bitch-face. Sam even made sure it had epic proportions. Because really?

“ Dude , Adam’s been here about a month! Do you even remember that he moved in to be closer to school?” Sam took a breath to try and calm down. As he did he caught the scent of humor coming from his brother.

As realization dawned on Sam’s face Dean broke out in a cackle. “Man, ya should have seen your face! Of course I didn’t forget about my baby bro! I just wanted to mess with ya, and, boy, did I get ya good!”

Sam growled his irritation, but let it go. But not without grumbling that, “I do not snore.”

Dean laughed all the way out of Sam’s room and to Adam’s room to poke Adam awake.

After Sam was dressed and ready to start the day he snatched his phone off his nightstand. He searched his contacts for Crowley’s number as he walked into the kitchen/dining space of their shared apartment. Dean was already making breakfast, pouring pancake batter onto a sizzling pan, with Adam sleepily making some coffee.

When Adam had his coffee the way he liked it, black like his soul he once snarked when his brother’s asked how he took it, he took his mug and sat the kitchen bar (a poor attempt to actually divide the space into rooms). He eyed his older brothers. The two were polar opposites, Alpha and Omega, but then there was him, the balance between the two. The Beta that soothes the overwhelming and overwhelmed.

To be completely honest Adam thought moving in with his older brothers would be a complete disaster. Dean had always been a headstrong omega according to, well, anyone that ever met him. And Sam was a bit of a “control freak”, Dean’s own words. So when it came time for Sam to go off to college and Dean refused to let him go off alone it was reasonable when their parents were worried.

But it turned out that Sam was a decent alpha all around, and was a pretty good pack leader to their tiny pack (never mind that they were all different animal types. Who would expect a moose, a squirrel, and a dog to get along if they weren't related). It still surprised Adam sometimes that Dean never seemed to have a problem with that. Being eldest brother and all, and Dean was never one to let them forget that.

Sam finally found Crowley’s contact, while leaning against the door frame.

He read the message that had been sent to both brothers, and typed out a response.

“I’d like to meet the client before starting.”

Crowley read the message while in the back of a limo to meet the band at their next event. He chuckled to himself, responding

“Moose, I believe you’ve already met them, they handed me a card that had magically appeared in their back pocket. Sound familiar?”

The sass practically dripped from the text.

“I might remember something like that.”

Crowley could hear the grin through the line. “Don’t be coy, Bullwinkle,” he sent back.

“Can you be more specific? Cause I slipped a whole bunch of cards in back pockets yesterday.”

The message appeared right as Crowley stepped out of the limo. The moose was being cocky Crowley would give him that. But before he could reply to Sam Crowley had to deal with the band.

Really, he only had himself to blame. At the time it had seemed like a good idea to label himself both agent and manager. A mistake he never made again. Not that he could even back as one or the other even if he could. After all he’s written that contract himself, he knew just how binding it was.

But that was in the past.

Now? Now Crowley was trying not to roll his eyes at the tour bus. Why in the world did he let them paint it all white with ‘Decadence’ in gold calligraphy on every side? Crowley didn’t even have an answer to his own question. Just an excuse (and he hates excuses). It was a simple fact that sometimes giving in to their demands was...not exactly easier...maybe faster than dispute details with five overgrown children on various substances (that he pretended to know nothing about).

Crowley couldn’t hold a grimace as he looked up at the pretentious gold lettering once more before pushing the bus door open.

The scene inside was a typical one. Or at least one of the possible scenarios. It was actually pretty mild for what Crowley was used to walking in on.

He had once walked in on Apollo screaming about the agent manager being an alien from Pluto angry that his home world is not considered a planet anymore. Or there was that time that the inside of the bus was like a war zone, the furniture was on its side and water balloons, he wasn’t even sure where they got water balloons, were being launched at teams of the opposite sex, Kali and Artemis one side, Thor and Loki on the other with Apollo ‘Refereeing’.  And there was that time that Thor, Loki, and Kali were having a drinking contest while the twins were chanting “CHUG!”. Crowley had once regrettably walked in on Kali and Artemis making out intensely, while Thor did a line of coke.

The first thing that caught Crowley’s eye as he fully entered the bus was the Twins wrestling on the woven carpet in their wolf forms. With the wolves rolling and flipping each other end over end there was no way for the agent/manager to tell the twins apart, not that he wanted to (he couldn’t care less about telling the one from the other). As he stood watching one dark wolf flung the other off themselves and onto the couch. Hopefully they’ll destroy that tacky pea green couch , Crowley thought with a smirk. Because, really? Whoever thought good quality leather needed to be pea green ! In his own opinion the band as a whole had atrocious taste in decor. However, his opinion didn’t matter, the band liked it. So, really, he couldn’t complain too much, after all, they did make him quite a tidy sum.

Past the wolf twins Kali sat at the fold down table while Loki stood, one hand braced on table. Crowley could see Loki frowning from where he stood.

“No, no, no, we can’t word it like that!” Loki jabbed at the paper Kali was writing on with one finger. “It doesn’t make any sense when you word it like that.”

Kali slammed her hand down onto the paper to stop Loki from moving it towards himself. Her  orange and black striped tail flicking back and forth lazily. It was rare that anyone could read her moods from her ears and tail. Even the alpha’s scent rarely gave anything away. Even while seemingly relaxed.

“I’m writing, Loki. You can correct it, but I’m writing.” There was no hint of anger in the air or growl in her words, but Loki stitched his hand back as if he had been burned.

Beyond the pair at the table Thor sat on a bench against a wall, his thick golden tail waving happily between the seated alpha and the wall, as he lifted free weights.

That’s right. Bloody free weights on the tour bus.

Even though the stand had straps that kept the bloody things in place while the bus was in motion Crowley had nightmares of them coming loose and destroying everything. The decor might not have been to his own taste but it was expensive . He didn’t relish the idea that some bloody fucking weights might come loose and make him pay to replace it all.

The beta agent shuddered at the idea of how much it would cost before he was yanked from his thoughts by a poke. Loki stood next to Crowley, one finger outstretched.  “Fergus” poke poke “Fergie” poke poke poke “Fergalicious” poke “Fergus” poke poke poke poke. This went on for a while as the raven tried to ignore the annoyance that was the lead singer.  

“WHAT!?” Crowley snapped at the blond haired beta fox. The raven could feel his tail fanning out to show his annoyance. He hated that Loki even had the ability to actually ruffle his feathers.

“Bodyguard,” was all the beta responded with, it annoyed Crowley to no end, all that poking and annoying for just ONE word?! So in his annoyed state he sent a quick text to the Winchesters.  He just put down the name of the street, Decadence, and a snappy “2PM sharp, don’t be late”.