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Jack looked out the window of his dorm room, taking note of the waxing gibbous moon. A cold chill ran up his spine in fear of the next few days. A few days before a full moon, he tended to be more impulsive and irrational with his actions. Luckily, he’s never harmed anyone but it’s quite dangerous for him. He remembers the one time he woke up hanging from a football goal, and the fall when he unhooked his legs all too quickly out of shock. His ears twitched in remembrance and he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Ya okay Jack?”
He was so caught up with looking at the moon that he had completely ignored the friend in his room. Epel had come over to visit, for no reason besides they wanted to hangout. “Ah! Yeah sorry it’s just… the moon is beautiful isn’t it?” Jack never turned to look back at Epel, he just perked his ears when he heard shuffling and footsteps behind him. “Yeah. It is.” The shorter boy lightly hip bumped the boy standing in front of the window so he could stand beside him. “Since when were ye so interested in the moon?” The smaller boy asked. “I haven’t been friends with you for long, but you have random days where you just can’t stop talking about it.” Jack’s ears flattened and his tail swayed a bit faster. “It’s just…,” Jack sighed, “You know how my signature spell is turning into a white wolf? I think it kinda has something to do with that.” Epel nodded, “I texted Vil earlier by the way, he said I could sleep over.” The shorter boy put his head down on his arms which were resting on the bottom frame of the window. It made their elbows touch, and all again, Jack felt that familiar rush of impulse. Like a sudden surge of words just started to build up at the back of his throat.
He’s had a crush on Epel for a while. It took him so long to realize, but it hit him when he was having a one on one talk with Ruggie, and it was the day right before a full moon, where he spilled out a rant about everything he liked about Epel. Things ranging as far as his personality to his history and culture and essentially a whole trivia of the little man. Ruggie just flat out told him that it sounded like a crush or some sort of odd fixation. It made the man think and after coming to a conclusion that he does indeed have a crush/admiration for Epel, he ran laps that same day and beat many personal records concerning speed and endurance.
Jack looked out the open horizon, mind swirling with anguish and impulse. Meanwhile, Epel took more time to look at Jack than the moon. “Jack, you know, if there’s anything going on. You can tell me.” Epel slowly placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. He wanted to comfort Jack through whatever he was going through but also because he was tired and wanted to sleep. “How long do you plan to look at the moon?”
“Just a few more minutes.”
Epel nodded and changed his position so that he was resting his head against Jack. He yawned and a tired tear ran down his cheek. On impulse, Jack turned to face Epel and turned the other’s head to face him. He leaned in closely and before he made the impulsive action of licking off the tear, he snapped back into reality and pulled away. “Sorry.” He mumbled, wiping the tear off Epel’s face with the back of his hand. The shorter one tried to laugh it off. “It’s fine really.” Epel looked away from the other, the room suddenly feeling very warm. Yet, he refused to pull away from Jack. The longer he stared at Jack, the stronger the swelling in his chest felt and blood rush to his face. “Jack… I” His mouth opened and closed; the shorter boy using those few moments of silence to muster up courage. “I like ya. A lot. Like… more than friends.” A hesitant, pale hand reached out to place over the other pair of hands.
White ears perked up and a tail swayed feverishly at such quietly said phrases. Then an abrupt stop. Brown hands pulled away and he stepped back. “It’s okay… If you don’t like me back. I’ll go back to my dorm to not make it awkward.” Sad, blue eyes looked down at the floor as he retracted his hands to his chest, fiddling with the uniform’s tie. Jack watched as the smaller boy dejectedly picked up his items with teary eyes. “I do! I do like you… like that too.”
Epel blinked away the tears and looked up at the beatman; his bangs covering his eyes and embarrassment. “Then, do you wanna-” At an inhumane strength, Jack pulled Epel into a hug, directing his head to his chest. “No. We can’t. I’m a beastman with a wolf as a signature spell. It would be unsafe for you, and it’s just because I’m a beastman that you like me. You think you do but you really don’t.” Epel’s arms wrapped around Jack’s waist as he buried his face further into the other’s chest. “I’m tall, inhumanly strong, and have light, welcoming eyes and strange white hair with soft ears. You just like me because of those wolf attributes. They’re part of the wolf inside me. You’re confused about your feelings.” He could sense the growing dampness on his shirt as he spit out such harsh words to the other. The teenager in his arms made a few muffled sounds in response before pulling his face away and staring at the amber eyes looking down at him. “Don’t tell me how I feel Jack. I know I like you. A lot. It’s not just because you can turn into some wolf or because you’re tall or strong. I actually dislike that I’m so small and you’re so tall. And yeah I like that you’re strong but it’s not just that because of those physical attributes that I like you. I like you for a lot of other, more important things. It’s because… don’t make me say it.” Epel shook his head to let more of his hair fall in front of his face; he felt embarrassed and wanted to hide. “But-”
“I like you because you’re so blunt about everything and you’re always striving for justice and I think it’s admirable. You come from cold mountains and I love the cold too! We have a lot of those things in common… And besides I wanna kiss you! I wanna hold hands romantically. I wanna talk to you all the time. I wanna go on dates! I wanna do those cheesy romantic things. I want to go to the gym together and spot each other! I want to take you to see my family and celebrate the Harveston festival together! I want people to look at us and tell us we look cute together! I’m gonna pretend to hate it but I’m secretly going to love it! I want us to be together for all of our years here and out of Night Raven College. Nothing about that has to do with you being a werewolf!” Epel had his eyes shut, arms tightening around the taller. “So please, can we date?” He opened his eyes when he felt solely fur in his hands. When he opened his eyes, he was once again met with amber eyes but also a wolf snout and white fur entirely taking over his field of vision. “Jack?” A small whine came out the animal and it flattened its ears. “Jack?”
It was way too early. It had been entire days too early for him to involuntarily turn into a wolf. He assumes it’s because of a mix of excitement and other intense feelings that it caused him to turn early. He stepped back and away from the human boy and briefly glanced at the window before giving a howl. “Jack? What in tarnation is ah goin’ on?” The wolf whimpered and climbed onto the bed, biting the hem of the blanket and doing its best to cover itself. “Can ya turn back?” Small hands reached to pat the blanket covered wolf, and with a small head shake, it was obvious the answer was no. “Well then, I’m gonna stay and take care of ya!” It made the wolf just huff out a gust of air. “No buts Jack! If you…If ya ‘re goin’ to be ma’ partner, I gotta learn to take care of ya in times like this one.” Epel wrapped his arms around the wolf’s neck and nuzzled his coat. “Plus, you’re so soft… You’ll be back by mornin’ right? We can make it but move over!” The boy chuckled and shoved the wolf to the side. “Goodnight partner.” Epel kissed the tip of his snout and the wolf laid there in shock, jaw open and eyes wide.
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The next morning, Jack woke up late. As he usually does on nights when he transforms. He looked to his side to see Epel still sleeping and his arm laid across his waist. He could feel his face get hot and he turned away from the other teenager. Holy great sevens. He saw me like that! He sucked in a breath and pursed his lips as a sudden surging feeling of sadness hit him. He saw me like that. He moved the arm that was over him back towards Epel and was about to slide off the bed until a firm grip pulled at the back of his shirt. “Where in the ever apple picking farm do ya’ think yer goin’?” Grumbled out the smaller one. “I almost just got myself a boyfriend. I ain’t lettin’ you go that easy.” He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I’m jokin’ but good morning Jack.” He chuckled. “Morning.” Replied back the beastman, “Um so… last night. I’m sorry. I get it if you don’t wanna be together anymore but I told you so." Now Jack felt like crying. He's beyond embarrassed and upset that he transformed so early. “It’s fine bro really! It was nice sleeping next to a big fluff of fur. But it got hot really fast.” Epel sighed. “That’s why your window’s open. I’m sorry.” The lavender haired slid off the bed and pulled down and locked the window. He came back and stood in front of the sitting beastman, ruffling his hair. “So Jack, um… Last night was a lot but I still don’t take back anything that I said. I want to be with you for real.” He hugged Jack, this time, bringing the beastman’s face to his chest. “Ma’ heart is beatin’ so fast being so close to ya’ and I’ve been like this for awhile. I really don’ even know how ah slept, but I really do wanna be with you Jack.” A fast thumping sound filled those few moments of silence. It wasn’t just Epel’s heart but Jack’s tail was beating against the bed. “I think you like that.” The shorter teenager giggled. “So… Are we dating or not?” The beastman nodded and abruptly pulled him into a hug and fell back. “Woah!” exclaimed the shorter teenager and blushed when he noticed that he was laid across Jack. “What was that for?” Epel huffed as he pushed his upper body up to properly look at the taller. “I just felt like it, and I’m really happy… and I want to kiss.” He mumbled the last part as quietly as he could and looked away. Epel couldn’t quite hear what he said but could make an educated guess based on how Jack was acting. “Me too! But I’ve never done it before.” Epel hid his face behind his hands.
“Me neither but I want to learn with you. Gosh what am I saying?” Jack covered his own eyes.
“Okay okay. Maybe not right now but eventually. When we’re not acting like fools.” Epel chuckled and stood up again. He glanced at the clock on Jack’s nightstand. “Oh holy great sevens! It’s late! Thank goodness it’s the weekend but my meemaw- I mean grandma would be so upset if she knew I was up this late in the morning.” Jack sat up from where he was laying down. “Yeah. So wanna eat breakfast together?”
“Breakfast with my boyfriend? Totally.”