Work Text:
Velondale || Shadowhunters || Velondale || Part of the Pack || Velondale || Shadowhunters || Velondale
Title: Part of the Pack – Writer's Month 2020
Fandom: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments
Disclaimer: All rights to the Shadowhunters show reserved to Ed Decter, the books the show is based off and its characters belong to Cassandra Clare. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/m, fluff
Main Pairing: Bat/Jace
Shadowhunters Characters: Jonathan Christopher 'Jace' Herondale, Bartholomew 'Bat' Velasquez, Maia Roberts, Gretel Monroe, Alaric Rodriguez, Luke Garroway
Writer's Month Prompt: metamorphosis
Summary: Jace grows up with Luke and Jocelyn and, one day, he is accidentally turned into a werewolf. Now he has to adjust to his new life... and his new place in the pack.
Part of the Pack
Writer's Month 2020
The change was terrifying. Mainly because Jace didn't understand what was happening. His whole body ached and felt like it was no longer his own as it changed into something it was not. When the metamorphosis was complete, he blinked sluggishly just to see paws stretched out in front of his body. Paws. Golden-brown paws. Tilting his head, he turned the paws a bit to look at.
"Jace. Son. Look at me. You're fine, you're safe. It's okay."
Blinking a couple of times, Jace turned toward the voice of his father. Luke was crouching down in front of him, with his arms spread in invitation. Whining, Jace attempted to crawl toward his dad, because walking was not working – more limbs to be adjusted to walk than normal, it was confusing. As soon as he was in his father's arms, he relaxed a little. Luke made a soothing sound, running his fingers through Jace's fur – Jace had fur now.
"It's all good, Jace. It'll be okay", whispered Luke. "I'm right here, I'll teach you everything. You're going to be fine, son. I promise. Everything is going to be okay."
Luke's words soothed Jace, because he knew them to be true. His dad didn't lie. His dad was the best man he knew. If dad promised this was going to be fine, then it would be, even though right now, his world didn't feel like it would ever be okay again. He had changed.
/break\
It wasn't as easy as Jace had hoped, but I was definitely not impossible. Jace was a werewolf now. It had been an accident. Jace always spent a lot of time around his dad, including his dad's favorite restaurant – the Jade Wolf – which was apparently the local pack's hang-out. A young, inexperienced werewolf had accidentally turned Jace during a full moon when Jace had been well-meaning and went to the Jade Wolf to get take-out for himself and his sister Clary during exam phase. Jace hadn't thought much of it; it had been dark and he had assumed it to be just a feral stray dog that had attacked him and so he wouldn't worry his parents, he had taken care of the scratch on his flank on his own and not told them. Now here he was, a seventeen year old werewolf.
Luke taught him. To control his anger, his emotions, the change. To channel it. He also introduced him to the pack. Jace didn't like the Alpha too much, but since he was still very young and his dad was part of the pack, he at least had his dad to go through first then, instead of having to deal with the Alpha himself. Jace had a safe place in the pack. It was still weird. And scents were weird. Overwhelming. He had befriended the only other teens in the pack by now – Maia, Gretel and Bat.
They were protective of him, because for now, he was the runt of the litter, highly untrained. He had never even been big on sports; his mom was an artist and she had set her children out onto the artsy path. Clary painted, Jace was a musician – piano, guitar, singing. Fighting though? When and why would he know that? Maia had scoffed at him and decided to train him.
So there were definite perks to being a werewolf. The heightened senses and agility, the new friends he had made. His mom had been disappointed – not in him, but in the fact that his normal childhood had to end like this. Jace had just hugged her, smiled and assured her that he'd be fine.
"To your first successful hunt, kiddo!", declared Alaric with a broad smile.
Turned out that Luke's partner at the NYPD was also a werewolf. It was nice to have more family to support him; Alaric was like an uncle to Jace and Clary. Jace smiled as Alaric ruffled his hair. They were sitting around a camp-fire, the entire pack. It had been Jace's first real full-moon since his first turn. The pack spent the three days out camping high in the woods, far away from humans – where not even campers would go because the hike was too far and dangerous. They hunted together in their wolf-forms and then had a nice, big barbecue. Jace had caught his first deer.
"Your pup's all grown-up now, Luke", declared Alaric with a proud smile.
"Don't make me tear up", warned Luke, wrapping an arm around Jace's shoulders.
Jace ducked his head, a small smile on his lips. Being a werewolf was... amazing. It was a lot of fun though. The running, hunting, the wind through his fur, the fresh air. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The food was delicious, thankfully there were enough pack-members who could cook and prepare meat. Jace had learned too; Luke had shown him how to take the deer apart.
"You did great, Jace", praised Bat with one of his kind smiles.
Jace swallowed hard as he stared at Bat, nodding his thanks. Maia may be his best friend by now, but Bat was... Bat was something alright. The guy loved music – he was a hobby DJ – and seemed to enjoy listening to Jace play. Well, not just Jace; Jace was in a band called Rock-Solid Panda with a couple friends of his and his sister's. Bat was cool, he was sweet and kind. He had really helped Jace a lot settling into this new society. His whole world was turned upside down, after all. However, Bat was also very cute to look at. The problem was he was also Maia's ex.
"We're going to take a swim before bedtime", announced Gretel with an impish grin.
"Don't stay out too long. We have a long run ahead of us tomorrow", warned Luke.
"Yes, dad", chorused Gretel, Maia, Jace and Bat with impish smiles.
They laughed when Luke rolled his eyes and ran off toward the lake. On their way, they shed their clothes down to their underwear – they had all seen each other naked before, because turning while dressed was entirely impossible and turning back to human also happened prior to getting dressed. Jace dove right in head-first, sighing contently as the cold water engulfed him.
"So, how are you enjoying your first pack trip?", asked Gretel once they all resurfaced.
She brushed her white hair out of her face, grinning curiously at Jace. All three of them probably remembered their own first pack trip and how they used to feel about it. Jace shrugged, tilting his head back to look at the moon. His eyes glowed as he fixated on the large silver body.
"It's great. Being... out there, in our actual wolf-forms? All together? This feeling of pack is amazing", whispered Jace. "I love it, it's so... wild... and... free?"
"You're really getting the hang of the whole wolf-thing", noted Maia amused.
"I'm just glad you took well to it", stated Bat gently. "Being turned without your consent and without you knowing what happened and what's going on... it can mess you up."
All three of Jace's friends fell quiet at that. Admittedly, the part where everything was out of his hands had messed with Jace's head too, a lot. But he still had a better fate than Maia, who had been turned by her ex-boyfriend (not Bat; Bat was an absolute sweetheart. The douchebag she had been dating before Bat, before she had come to New York). For him, it had just been an accident.
/break\
Jace yawned and stretched as they sat in their tent together. Him and Bat. Sharing a tent. It made sense, they were the only teen boys. Maia and Gretel were sharing a tent too. The problem was just that he had a tiny crush on the adorable other wolf. Bat was getting undressed, ruffling his still slightly damp hair. He looked cute like this. Averting his eyes, Jace decided to change himself. They would be sleeping in their wolf-form, it was just easier during a full moon. Jace had gotten very comfortable with his wolf-body – paws, fur and everything. He whined softly when Bat snuggled up for him. For warmth, purely. Right? Nuzzling into the other wolf's stomach, Jace slowly fell asleep to the soft snoring of about two dozen wolves all around.
He slept so good against the fur and being a wolf during the full moon made things all the easier. The problem was that after the sun rose and the moon disappeared from the sky, the both of them must have shifted back to human on instinct, because when Jace woke up, he was naked and snuggled up to Bat's equally naked chest, with one or Bat's arms around him.
"Morning...", whispered Bat lowly, nosing Jace's hair. "...Uh. Sorry. Force of habit when waking up naked with a pretty person tucked under my arm. Oops?"
"Pretty person, huh?", asked Jace teasingly and sat up some.
"I mean, dude. You know you're pretty, don't fish for compliments", huffed Bat amused.
Bat looked good from this perspective; Jace leaning over him like this, watching him, all naked and sprawled out beneath him like this. Jace was tempted to simply lean in and kiss him. But no. Bat was his friend, part of his pack and also Maia's ex-boyfriend.
"Hey. What's going on in that pretty head of yours?", asked Bat softly, nudging him. "Too early for some big thoughts. Lay back down and let's sleep some more, it's way too early."
"I was just thinking...", started Jace, before shaking his head. "Never mind. You're right. It's too early. Let's go back to sleep, yeah."
He laid down, though stiffly so, with some distance. Immediately mourning the warmth of Bat's body and the feeling of Bat's arm around his waist. Bat rolled over onto his side to stare doubtfully at Jace. Okay so maybe Jace wasn't a good liar. Not his fault, his mom had raised him to be a good boy and his dad was literally a cop so lying had never really worked anyway.
"I was thinking how cute you look and how much I wanna kiss you", whispered Jace. "And how that'd be a tremendously bad idea because we're pack-mates and you're Maia's ex-"
"I mean so is Gretel, but that's not bothering either of us", interrupted Bat with a shrug.
"...What", grunted Jace, blinking a couple of times.
"Dating among the pack's not really unusual. I mean. We're all werewolves. Who else will truly understand us? What we've been through? The way our lives and bodies changed. No one can understand that pain like a fellow werewolf. And no one can understand the freedom and the good either", replied Bat as he slowly sat up himself. "So... neither the ex thing nor the pack-mate thing would be... deal-breakers. Would... you like to scoot closer again now so we can kiss?"
"So we can kiss?", echoed Jace with a wondrous expression on his face.
"Yes. Because... I would like to kiss you too and when I woke up, I really liked the view too. You're cute with bed-hair and that soft, sleepy look on your face", stated Bat with a grin. "Now... kiss?"
It took Jace a moment to really react, because that was definitely unexpected. He slowly rolled over to come laying half on top of Bat once more. Leaning down, he pressed a gentle kiss against Bat's lips, smiling as they parted again. Bat returned his smile and wrapped his arms around him once more, pulling him down so they could nap some more, together.
~*~ The End ~*~