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1. Potato Obsession
The thing about dating a werewolf was that Julie was never sure when the change would trigger. Sometimes Luke could do it on command, which used to be a fun party trick until he got stuck and she was the one who had to figure out how to take a pair of jeans off a wolf. Sometimes it was just the night of the full moon. Sometimes it was the whole week leading up to it. Luke could get a pill that would regulate it, but he was too damn stubborn to go to the doctor and ask.
The other thing was that Julie was never sure which behaviors would be carried across. Of the ones she expected though, this wasn’t it.
Julie's comfort food was mashed potatoes. Flynn used to give her a lot of flak for loving what was essentially baby food, but it was comforting. It was familiar. Luke made it for her on tough days, on days when getting out of bed was a little harder than usual. On the anniversary of Rose passing, he would make sure to have enough of it that she could eat nothing else for the whole day if she wanted.
Except this year he was a wolf because of the stupid moon, and she'd already decided to stay in bed all day.
Julie wasn’t expecting to be woken up by the feeling of a wet nose against her face and an insistent whine. She looked at where Luke was practically vibrating on the ground next to the bed, something at his feet. He reached down, grabbed it in his mouth and deposited it on the bed.
A potato.
It was hard to stay in bed when she was gifted a potato so early in the morning.
Since she hadn’t had any plans for the day, Julie decided to start with walking Luke. Much as he liked to deny it when he was in human form, he absolutely had zoomies when in wolf form and had to get his energy out, so Julie clipped him into his harness and got ready to walk out. He nudged at her hip, his eyes enquiring, as she got her shoes.
She smiled at him. “I promise I’ll be okay. Just might ask for some extra cuddles later. Maybe I could comb out your coat?”
Giving her a long suffering sigh that implied that he was doing her a massive favor, he nudged her shoes forward. Julie grinned – she knew Luke loved to have his coat brushed out more than almost anything else, but she equally knew that he didn’t want Reggie and Alex to find out, lest they tease him into eternity.
She reached over to pull on her socks, before frowning at her shoe. She reached in and withdrew a small object.
“Luke?”
Luke let out an inquisitive yip.
Julie held it up to eye level. “Why is there a potato in my shoe?”
Luke’s tongue lolled out of his mouth as he gave another small yip. Julie rolled her eyes and pulled on her shoe before reaching for the other one.
“You realize I don’t eat with my feet, right?” she asked with a snort, withdrawing a second potato. Luke let out a low grumble that sounded almost like a laugh, before nosing at the leash she had in her hand. Julie grinned and clipped it to his collar before opening the door.
“Park today?” she asked conversationally, walking him down the driveway. He let out a happy bark and bounded forwards, dragging Julie forcibly behind him. She quietly contemplated stopping to get the spray bottle before they were out of the gate.
The park was fairly busy, but that was good – that meant Julie could unclip Luke’s harness and let him go nuts. He ran to sniff in the bushes while Julie scouted for somewhere to sit and watch him.
“Jules!”
Julie shaded her eyes, trying to spot the person calling her. She saw a figure waving an arm, standing beside another figure tapping away at their phone.
“Reg!” she called back, starting to jog towards him. Luke, upon hearing Reggie’s nickname, turned from the no doubt fascinating bushes and bounded towards his best friend.
“Woah, man,” Reggie was saying when Julie got there. “You are way more enthusiastic in dog form. Dude, brush your teeth – your breath stinks.”
It was enough to have Luke fall back to the ground with a distinct whine. Julie bit her lip to keep from laughing.
“Hey Bobby,” she said, turning back to Reggie’s walking partner. Bobby smiled at her before turning back to the screen.
“Luke, you need to go on the pill.”
Julie watched in amusement as Luke’s hackles raised and he began to growl softly. Bobby rolled his eyes and growled back, shocking Luke into silence.
“For the tour, you have to go on it. I don’t care if it makes you feel weird – we can’t cancel on another venue because you went canine.”
Luke let out a distinctly grumpy whine that Bobby took to mean consent. Bobby turned back to her.
“Luke told us if we saw you today we should give you these.”
Julie accepted two potatoes with confusion. “I – huh?”
Reggie shrugged cheerfully. “Luke said you needed potatoes.”
“I don’t,” she said in bewilderment, putting the potatoes in her bag. “Luke gave me three this morning already. I don’t know where he’s getting them – we don’t have potatoes in the house.”
The three of them looked to their lead guitarist, who was conducting the important task of cleaning his front paw with his tongue. He ignored them, intent on his task.
“Well,” Reggie said after an awkward pause, “at least you know what you can have for supper. See you guys tomorrow?”
Julie nodded, giving them both hugs. Luke let out a cheerful bark when Reggie ruffled behind his ears.
“You go play,” Julie said when Luke gave her an enquiring look. “I’m going to sit under the tree. Please behave – if people threaten to neuter you again, I won’t stop them.”
Luke gave her a deeply betrayed look before bounding off. She smiled, watching his tail stick straight up in the air as he went to the bushes and carried on sniffing, before returning to her previous perch and sitting.
It was peaceful, sitting in the sunlight and remembering her mom. She thought about the memories they had in this park – this had been where Julie and Carlos had learned how to ride their bikes, where she’d first played music with the boys, where she’d first realized she was in love with Luke. This park had a lot of good memories.
She didn’t realize how long they’d been there until Luke padded over, setting his heavy head in her lap. She stoked through his fur lovingly, watching as his sides heaved with exertion.
“You all done?” she asked softly. He let out a low grunt, not unlike the noise he made in the mornings when she tried to wake him.
Julie stroked his ears once more before getting to her feet. “Come on. Time for us to walk home.”
Luke let out a distinctly grumpy whine before allowing Julie to clip the leash on again. His energy seemed to return when they got home and Julie spent the afternoon pulling potatoes from the dresser, her piano, his guitar, the drum set that Alex left there for impromptu jam sessions, the box of craft supplies Flynn had left behind, and about a million other places. When it was done, Julie had more than sixty potatoes lined up on their kitchen table.
“Luke,” she asked with barely contained laughter, “what are we even going to do with these potatoes?”
Luke sat on a chair, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. He gave a huff when she looked at him.
“We’re going to be eating potatoes for weeks,” she said finally, pulling up a recipe on her phone. “Potato bake for dinner?”
Luke barked happily and got down from the chair. It seemed like they had cooking to do.
2. Hiding Valuables
“Babe?”
Luke poked his head out of their bedroom. “Yeah?”
Julie held up her coffee mug. “We talked about this. You can’t keep doing this.”
Inside the coffee mug sat an assortment of items Luke had clearly decided were valuable. Some were – his rings were there, as well as his polished obsidian fragment on its silver chain. He had also stashed two pairs of Julie’s earrings – one pair had pearls suspended on gold chains, and the others were gold and ruby butterflies, both precious gifts from Rose before she died.
Other items were… not. A collection of half chewed guitar picks. A crumpled up note from a few days before, signed with a kiss when she had to go to the studio before he woke up. A rubber ball that he’d almost taken apart in wolf form.
“They’re important,” he claimed, turning back to whatever he was doing in their room. “You should appreciate me saving them – you’d throw out important stuff without me.”
Julie snorted and emptied the cup into their catchall tray for sorting later on. “Sure, Luke. But you realize there are places to put these, right?”
“Yeah,” he called, sounding muffled. “That’s where I put them – somewhere safe where I know I’ll find them again.”
She rolled her eyes and moved to carry on with the day. This was a situation that needed more than the twenty minutes they had before recording to handle.
At the studio, Julie was amused to discover that Luke had carried his hiding tendencies over – Reggie was cursing under his breath and looking under items, while Willie was helping Alex turn the couch cushions over.
“What’s wrong?” Julie asked, setting her bag down without unwinding her fingers from Luke’s.
Reggie scowled. “Mr. Organization over here rearranged the studio and now we don’t know where anything is.”
“Luke,” Alex said threateningly, “if you don’t find my drumsticks and hand them over in the next thirty seconds, I am going to make sure the next time you transform Flynn records you screaming in the bathtub and puts it on all our social medias.”
Luke frowned and moved towards the curtains. “It’s not that big a deal – they’re right here.” He plucked the drumsticks from where they’d been balanced on the curtain rail.
Alex opened and closed his mouth a few times in apparent disbelief. “Why would you hide them in the curtains?”
Luke shrugged. “It felt logical. Reg, your spare strap is under the couch. Everyone ready to record?”
That wasn’t the last of their hidden object woes for the day, because of course not. When the band got back to Luke and Julie’s for dinner, it was to find that all of their utensils were hidden in strange places around the kitchen.
Julie smiled and began to pick forks out of strange places. The closer to the full moon, the more Luke’s canine-like instincts came out – this was the equivalent of him burying a bone. It wasn’t so bad now that she knew to expect it, but the date had slipped her mind.
“We’re missing one steak knife,” Reggie called. “Luke?”
“It could be in the bedroom,” Luke replied, upending their laundry basket – if he found it in there, Julie would eat her meal with her hands. “Jules, mind checking?”
There was an unspoken agreement there – their bedroom was their sanctuary, and the guys didn’t need to breach that. Julie moved towards the room, pulling out her phone to text Flynn and Carrie about dinner.
When she put it away, she moved towards Luke’s most common hiding place – his sock drawer – and drew short at what she found.
Lying on top of the socks was not the steak knife. There were, however, an assortment of items she hadn’t expected to come across.
A note, signed with a kiss on one corner. A bandana she remembered wearing when they painted the front door – it still had small flecks of dried paint on it. A hair tie that had stretched out beyond usefulness. Her old watch, the battery completely worn out. A friendship bracelet with the knot frayed and beyond saving – Flynn had already replaced it. And there, at the back, a small velvet box that she was too overwhelmed to contemplate for more than a second.
“I found it!” she heard Willie call. “Luke, why do you keep cutlery in your milk jug?”
Julie quietly slid the drawer closed, trying not to blush.
Luke only hid what he thought was valuable.
The small pieces of their life together.
3. Must eat off of everyone’s plate even though he knows he doesn’t like the food
Luke seemed more canine than usual in the lead up to their annual Fourth of July celebrations, but he promised Julie it wouldn’t affect their plans for the cookout Ray had planned. Julie was skeptical, but it didn’t stop her from making potato salad (still using the potatoes Luke had acquired for her) and making large batches of her mom’s secret sauce for the glaze. Luke brought large batches of chocolate brownies and other desserts, and they got there early to help set up.
Julie almost thought they would get away with no incidents too.
Reggie and Bobby had come to help set up, and when Julie got out with the tablecloths, she saw them arguing over the sound system. Flynn and Carrie were setting up a games station for the younger cousins to try their hand at – Ray was saying something about water balloons being banned, and Flynn was pretending to be innocent. Alex and Willie were helping Luke to set up tables and chairs down the sidewalk. The Molina’s had started a tradition of a neighborhood party before Rose died, and this was the first time since then that Ray had agreed to man the grill. Julie was cautiously optimistic about it.
The cousins arrived in a whirlwind of small faces, grubby hands and gap toothed smiles. Julie watched in contentment as Carlos gathered them up for games before shrieking when Reggie handed them water guns and ran behind the studio. She heard them pass in a crowd of giggles, hopefully to terrorize one of Ray’s neighbors, but she stayed where she was for a moment in caution.
“Hey.”
Julie whirled around, hand on her chest, before sagging in relief. “It’s just you.”
Luke looked offended. “Just me? Babe, I’m wounded.”
Julie snorted before turning to peer past the wall. She couldn’t see much, but that didn’t guarantee an ambush wasn’t waiting for her – Carlos and Reggie both planned their pranks well in advance.
She felt Luke peer over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to keep an eye out,” she murmured. “Carlos has my cousins on attack duty, and Reggie isn’t helping.”
Luke leaned closer, and Julie shivered when she felt his breath feather over her neck. “You think we’re safe here?” he whispered.
“I think so,” she replied, trying to keep her mind on the situation at hand. “They don’t know about this place.”
“You sure? Maybe we should… have a cover.”
Julie slowly turned, peering up at her boyfriend and smiling. “You want us to have an alibi?”
Luke’s eyes were sparkling as he put his arms around her, drawing her close. “It would help, don’t you think?”
They were gone from the main cookout for a long time. When they got back, Reggie and Carlos had shifted the cousins to playing twister, and Flynn was mixing long island ice teas with Tia. She raised an eyebrow at Luke and Julie.
Julie tugged her shirt back into place, blushing furiously. Luke stuck his hands into his pockets and started whistling, and Julie turned to smack his shoulder.
“What?!” he demanded, holding his hands up. “I didn’t say anything!”
Julie let out a muttered string of Spanish curses and went to help Carrie set out plates.
When Ray called them to help, Julie was careful to make sure she stacked her brother and Willie between her and Luke. She accepted the barbeque her dad provided and loaded up on fresh bread and salads before taking her seat. A few moments later, Luke dropped into the seat on her left and Carlos sat opposite them both. Julie smiled and leaned into Luke’s side, her previous irritation vanished.
“Jules, you might want to come to me later,” Flynn whispered, sitting on her right. “You need some concealer.”
Flynn tapped on her neck and winked. Julie started blushing again, pulling away from Luke.
Reggie, taking a seat beside Carlos, caught the movement and started to chuckle.
“Luke, you dog.”
Luke picked up his napkin, balled it up, and threw it at Reggie. Reggie ducked out of the way with an instinct born of many years of having things thrown at him.
“Hey now,” Ray said disapprovingly, sitting at the head of the table and reaching for the butter. “We don’t make dog jokes. They’re in poor taste.”
“Like an old bone,” Carlos piped up helpfully. Julie snorted long island ice tea and had to have her back patted by both Flynn and Luke, one of whom was struggling to hold back laughter.
“You’re better than that,” Julie told Carlos when she came up for air. “Dog puns are beneath you.”
“Good fur him,” Flynn said, a wicked twinkle in her eye. Julie very deliberately reached for a piece of raisin bread.
“Jules?”
She took a deep breath before turning to face him. “Yes?”
Luke was eyeing the bread in her hand. “Can I try a piece of that?”
“You hate raisin bread,” Carrie pointed out, breaking her brief argument with Bobby over the condiments.
Luke was still eyeing the bread in her hand with a predatory gaze. “No I don’t.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “Yes you do, Luke. You hate raisins in general, remember? Bad texture.”
Julie, far more used to this than them, knew the only solution at hand. Internally bidding farewell to a quarter of her meal, Julie carefully cut a piece of the bread off and slid it onto his plate.
And it had exactly the result she expected. He slid the food into his mouth, chewed twice, and forced himself to swallow. He turned an accusing look on Alex.
“That was horrible.”
Julie snorted when Alex threw up his hands in exasperation. “That’s why I told you that you don’t like them!”
Luke, however, was not to be deterred. He begged a piece of chicken off of Alex (eaten with relish), some burger from Reggie (chewed for a while before being swallowed with a grimace – Julie knew the spicy finish on the patty was not his favorite), double chocolate chip ice cream from Carlos, given with much reluctance (Julie watched in amusement as he wolfed it down), and fruit salad from Victoria (forced down with a painted on smile – she had warned him he wouldn’t be a fan of the texture).
By the time their meal was finished, it was late afternoon and Julie was stuffed. She sat back with a groan, watching her cousins begin their reluctant clearing of the table. She smiled and ruffled Rafael’s hair, and he grumbled and dodged out of the way.
“Come on,” Julie said to Luke, taking his hand. “The family is going to get ready for fireworks, but I want to show you something.”
Luke followed her without question, snagging two drinks as she led him inside. She smiled over her shoulder, leading him towards her childhood bedroom. He raised an eyebrow when she closed the door behind them.
“Oh calm down,” Julie said affectionately, gesturing to the bed. “Sit for a second – I need to sort out the monstrosity you left on me.”
Luke watched with interest as Julie used a combination of foundation and powder to cover the mark on her neck, smiling proudly when she made a face at him.
“You’re the worst.”
He set his hands behind his head, grinning at her ceiling. “That’s why you love me.”
When she was done, she moved to the window and slid it open, stepping carefully onto the roof outside. Luke let out a worried yelp, not unlike the one he’d let out in dog form when she’d tripped at the dog park and he got his leash wrapped around her ankles but, unlike then, Julie was perfectly safe. She tested her weight on the tiles to be sure, but quickly stepped from foothold to foothold to get to the highest point. Luke followed more carefully, settling beside her gently.
“Mami and I used to come here to watch the fireworks,” Julie said, watching as the dusk came on quickly. “Our tradition. She said you could make a wish on the first firework of the night.”
Luke smiled and slid an arm around her waist. She set her head on his shoulder, drawing a hand into her lap to fiddle with his fingers.
“I like that,” he said softly, his arm flexing distractingly behind her. She forced her focus back to the conversation, but she was startlingly aware of the muscles behind her. “I like that your mom found wishes everywhere.”
“She was magic,” Julie murmured, watching as the first stars started to come out. “Not the way you’re magic – we don’t shapeshift or anything like that. But she was something more.”
Luke let out a low grumble in his throat, somewhere between his wolf and human vocal range. It made Julie flush, as his growl always did, but it was also soothing. If she could just ignore the heat flooding to her cheeks, she was sure she would be wonderful.
He stopped when the first shout came up, a warning specifically for them – this close to the full moon, Luke’s hearing would be far too sensitive for him not to plug his ears. Luke pulled out ear plugs and slid them in as the first firework shot into the air.
It exploded in streaks of gold fire, and Julie gasped before closing her eyes and making her wish. When she pried them open, she was met with curious green eyes.
His gaze was inquisitive, but she smiled and shook her head as she pressed her lips shut. Julie knew the rules about wishes.
She had, unfortunately, forgotten one of the rules about wolves and mouths. Luke’s gaze dropped to her mouth before he leaned in, breathing softly against her neck. She broke into a fit of giggles, and she felt his grin against her skin before his fingers moved to her waist.
“Luke, no!”
She fell back on the roof, trying to protect herself from the tickle onslaught, but it was only when she was crying with laughter that he propped himself over her and gave her space.
"What are you doing?" Julie asked, breathless with laughter. Luke grinned as he hovered over her, his form blocking out the fireworks exploding in the sky above them.
He was cradling the back of her head, his arms flexing slightly as he held himself above her. Carefully, he moved to whisper in her ear.
"I just think there are better ways of celebrating." He punctuated his sentence with a kiss to her neck, and her eyes slid half shut. "Don't you agree?"
Julie looped her arms around his neck. "Happy fourth of July."
There was no more talking after that.
4. Take the ball but don’t throw the ball
Julie could admit that at least this was a phenomenon confined to wolf form. Luke in human form was fun to play sports with, even if his height gave him an unfair advantage most of the time - Julie and Reggie maintained that they should be allowed to play as one person against Alex, leaving Luke pouting about feeling left out. But in wolf form?
A whole other story.
It was a pleasant fall day, warm enough that Julie didn’t have gloves or a scarf on, and she and the boys were taking it in turns to throw balls for Luke to retrieve. They’d learned early on to play with more than one ball, lest Luke refuse to hand back the one he had and then be grumpy for the rest of the day that no one wanted to play with him.
Julie tossed the ball back to Reggie, grimacing at the feel of Luke’s slobber - she loved this man, wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but there were certain things she was not fond of. Reggie unfortunately fumbled the catch - Luke bolted after the ball, ignoring the one Flynn had been poised to throw for him.
“Rude,” Flynn said, frowning as they observed Luke and Reggie wrestle for the ball. Julie laughed as Reggie let out a grunt - Luke’s paws had caught him in the stomach and pushed out air, leaving Luke to have victory. He nosed through the grass before picking up his prize and trotting over to Julie.
She scratched behind his ear affectionately, smiling when his whole body leaned into the contact. Uncharacteristically, he dropped what was in his mouth at her feet, intent on having her fingers scratch the right spot.
Julie frowned, leaning down and using her left hand to pick it up. It wasn’t the bright purple ball she’d been throwing back and forth. It was… a box?
“Oh no.”
Julie looked up at Reggie questioningly. He threw the ball, and Luke’s attention snapped to the chase. Reggie took advantage of the moment to cross to Julie, wringing his hands.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, throwing his own ball from hand to hand. Julie opened her hand to show the box. It was small, covered in black velvet, and it was startlingly familiar. It was the same box she’d seen when hunting down knives a few months ago, tucked into the back of Luke’s objects drawer.
Willie voiced what everyone was thinking.
“That’s a ring box.”
Julie nodded, not saying anything. She was trying to order her thoughts.
“Reg,” she said slowly. “You and Bobby are already engaged. This isn’t your wedding ring, is it?”
Reggie shook his head, eyes wide.
Julie turned to Willie and Alex. “And you two aren’t getting engaged right now, are you?”
Alex shook his head. “No, not yet.”
Before she could ask, Flynn shook her head. “Carrie and I have no plans right now.”
“Which means,” Willie finished, “that ring box is from Luke.”
“Reg, why do you have a ring box from Luke?” Julie asked, still looking at it. The light seemed to be absorbed by the surface of the box.
Reggie released a deep breath, his hand coming out to rest on Luke’s head. Luke seemed content to nuzzle into Reggie’s side and ignore the rest of them.
“Luke said this time of year is your favourite, and you guys were planning to go apple picking today before the change came on. And I have the box because I saw Ray more recently than Luke did.”
Julie frowned. “But I know this box. It’s been in Luke’s drawer for the past couple of months.”
“Yeah, but it had to get cleaned recently, and Luke wanted to get one of the diamonds replaced. Ray went with because -,”
Reggie slapped a hand over his own mouth, muffling the end of his sentence. Julie raised an eyebrow before handing him the box.
“Well, I guess… we wait to see if Luke remembers.” Acting calmer than she felt, Julie picked up the ball at Reggie’s feet and threw it for Luke.
That night, right in the middle of their picnic, Luke returned to his more human form and immediately groaned.
“Reggie!”
Reggie held up his hands, conspicuous with apple pie remains. “It was an accident! And you tackled me!”
Luke looked beseechingly towards Julie, who shook her head with a grin. “I refuse to have this conversation with you until you have pants on.”
Luke grumbled as he left, holding his flannel strategically to prevent one of the others from seeing something they shouldn’t. They continued their meal happily, making space for Luke when he returned.
“How much do you remember?” Alex asked, handing Luke a plate.
Luke took a bite of his pie, frowning. “Chasing, mostly. And getting the box.”
Julie smiled, sliding her hand into his. “It’s okay. I know you’ll find a better time and place.”
The next week he did, in the middle of their apple picking session. She said yes, and he slid her mom’s ring onto her finger.
Julie thought it was pretty much perfect.