Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     The porch of Sam's cabin was mostly lit as the sun slowly sank behind the treeline. Except for the one corner against the walls where Brighteyes pressed themselves as far back as they could. Light slowly inched up their legs. “Sam!” They called hopefully loud enough to be heard inside. 

   There wasn't a response and the panic was setting in. They searched the yard for anything that could help, and only then realized Sam's truck wasn't even there. He wasn't home, and Bright was about to burn. 

   It only got stranger. Their enhanced vision and hearing caught glimpses of gold and something heavy brushing through the fallen leaves. 

   A massive wolf stepped into the clearing. Bright gasped, frozen on the very tips of their toes. The wolf also paused, head tilted just as surprised to see the young vampire. It snorted and shook its great head before trotting over. 

   Bright had to look up to meet the wolf's gaze as it sat in front of them, blocking out the sun. Brighteyes let out a breath, “Holy shit thank you.” Their hand rested over their chest, heart still thundering. “You're a shifter right?” They asked, getting a much better look. 

   The wolf's gold eyes narrowed as it nodded. It looked between Bright and the door a couple of times. 

   “Oh, no I don't live here. At least not anymore. My maker, or close enough, does, I'm a vampire. You knew that though.” They toyed with the silver chain around their neck. “See, I came to see if I could crash here for the night. Got into an argument with my roommate. Need to lay low for a bit until he calms down. My jacket snagged the stupid rail though.” They gestured to the ruined jacket and shirt. Their whole side was exposed. 

   The wolf's ears twitched, and Bright caught the gold flashes from them. “Your ears are pierced? That's sick!” Leaning up, Bright tried to get a better look. The wolf had a lot of piercings down the outer edge of each ear. Though one had been ripped out, leaving a sizable tear that had healed roughly. 

   Ears snapping back the wolf growled. Bright practically vibrated and noticed how close they had gotten. “Oops, sorry sorry.” They waved it off, stepping back against the wall. “It's just cool. I didn't know werewolves got that done too. Also didn't know yall were like, actual wolves. I was kinda picturing Van Helsing or Underworld ya know?”

   The wolf rolled its eyes, not impressed. Bright went back to fingering their own jewelry. “Have you ever watched them?” They didn't really get an answer as the wolf turned to look behind them at the last rays of light dissipated. “Oh, neat. Thank you for helping me! I really appreciate it!”

   Before their eyes the wolf quickly shifted. The person left standing before them still towered over Bright. Arms crossed with a firm set mouth. “You are one lucky idiot.” 

   Brighteyes immediately slumped back against the wall. “So I've heard.” The person sighed, leaning against the porch railing. “Yeah, so Sam is at William's place right now. Sudden company meeting. He won't be back until late tonight.” 

   Frowning Bright looked over the shifter. They seemed rugged, dark circles framed their lupus eyes behind dark aviator sunglasses. They faintly smelled of redbull and Sam's cologne. 

   “You two close?” Bright asked, raising their eyebrows as they leaned forward. The stranger snorted, “I guess we're getting there. He's already warned me you'd be ‘the nosy sort’ though.” 

   “He talks about me?” Bright blinked rapidly. The stranger seemed dismissive of their disbelief. “Of course. You AND Freddy, man worries about you kids as much as he praises you. One breath he's pacing and stressing y'all haven't called him with questions. The next he's going on about how quickly you both learned trancing.” They chuckled fondly, staring off as they reminisced. 

   “Oh.” Brighteyes shook their head. “Wait, you're here, but Sam isn't.” The stranger nodded, “Yeah. Sun was up so I drove Sam to William's, then just circled around to get my bike.” They jerked their thumb to the ancient looking motorcycle in the drive. “You ride that? So cool.” 

   With a snort the shifter stood. “Sure. We'll go with cool. You do like asking questions, how about you answer a few?” Bright already didn't like the shift in focus. “You and Fred got in a fight. Are you okay?” 

   Caught off guard, Brighteyes hesitated and in the quiet the shifter quickly added “I won't pry into the why. That's none of my business. I just figured I'd ask, since it was bad enough to send you out of the house. I've been there. It sucks.”

   “No, it's okay. I'm okay.” Bright fidgeted, their arms tight by their sides as they picked at their nails. “I'm not even sure what the fight was about. He was talking about signing up for vampire classes. I thought we were just talking like normal and I guess I said something wrong. Maybe it was the way I said it? I don't know. He just got pissy about it and before I knew it we were both yelling, again.” Their eyes stung. “It's been like that a lot since we moved out. No matter what I say to try and fix things it only gets worse, so I left. Just grabbed my jacket. I even left my phone.”

   A handkerchief was pressed to their hands. Bright reflexively accepted it, finally looking at the shifter again. They seemed understanding as they nodded. Bright dabbed at their eyes, sniffing. 

   “You're both young. You've both been through a lot.” They slowly started, “I'm sure it's been nice having someone by your side that you know through it all. At the same time, it's not bad for you to need space.” They pulled their glasses up on top of their head. “I don't know if this is the ‘correct’ advice, but I'd say, take a few days. Figure out what you want, anything you want, make a list. You've got eternity to do it.”

    “A bucket list? How will that help?”

   “Things seem to make more sense when you know where you want to go.” The shifter shrugged, “If you don't know what went wrong with Freddy, there's no use kicking yourself over it. Better to do something that will help you.” 

   Bright took that into consideration. “Okay…I'm not sure I want anything though.” They clutched the handkerchief tightly, twisting the fabric in their fingers. “Like, I thought I wanted to be an urban explorer. Look how that worked out. I thought I wanted to get a degree, but kept bouncing between majors.”

   “Sounds like you have a lot to think over then.” The shifter nodded, pulling their phone out to check the time. “I gotta make a run for it. It was nice meeting you.” They smiled and offered a hand. “I know everyone calls you Brighteyes, they call me The Tank. I'll see you around.”

   Taking the offered hand Brighteyes nodded, “Oh, of course. See you around.” The words were hardly out of their mouth before the wolf was rushing over to the bike and firing up the engine. They were already pulling out of the drive as they shoved a helmet over their face.

   Still standing on the porch Bright watched for their taillight long after it was gone. Their head was a mess. It still was later when Sam's truck pulled in. 

   “What are you doin’ out here?” He was already scolding when his boots hit the gravel. “And what happened to your clothes?” As he got close Bright just felt overwhelmed remembering what Tank had said. They stepped forward, wrapping their arms around his middle in a tight hug. He froze for a second, but returned it holding them just as tight.

Chapter Text

    Sam had pulled into William's driveway an hour before sunrise. Now it was past sunset and he was just now driving home. The familiar crunch of gravel under tires was a welcome and a sore reminder. 

   As he pulled into the drive he noted the absence of any other vehicles, and was a bit disappointed. Him and his Darlin’ had only been able to exchange a couple of texts throughout the day. He considered giving them a call, asking them to come over, but thought better of it. They had been on a job that morning. They would be tired. 

   He trudged up the porch steps, and stared at the mass of fur laying there. He didn't smell blood, they were fine. “Darlin?” Sam asked, and was rewarded with a big bushy tail slapping the floor. Otherwise the wolf didn't move. 

   “What are you doing?” He carefully stepped over sprawled limbs until he could see their face. Their ear esr twitched but again no movement. Until he leaned down, their forelegs quickly wrapped around him, yanking him against their chest. 

   Sam allowed himself to be yanked with a startled grunt. Smothered in fur he snorted and shifted so he could breath. The Tank's snout was in his face, nuzzling and licking his cheeks until his laughter rang over the woodland. “Alright alright, you hooligan.” He rubbed their face, scratching along their jaw the way he knew they liked. 

   Darlin relented, moving so Sam could get up. “Damn your warm, don't tell me you've been napping here all day.” Darlin huffed with a nod, then rolled to sit up a bit better. “You know I gave you that key so you could come and go as you pleased, not so you could make my lawn your bed.” He grumbled, but his hand was idly petting Darlin's shoulder. 

   Their fur felt hot, sun baked after hours of napping. He leaned into the feeling. Laying against Darlin, resting his cheek against their back with a long sigh. So overcome with nostalgia he closed his eyes and let it wash over him. The slow rise and fall of Darlin's breath rocking him as the cicadas wept in the trees. 

   He was only brought back from the brink of sleep when a chilled breeze pushed across the slatted wood. He shivered, blinking awake. Darlin's ears perked as he moved to sit up. They followed suit, stretching with a yawn. The automatic light glistened off their large white fangs. 

   “Oops.” Sam grumbled before also yawning. “How about we take this somewhere more comfortable.” He chuckled, and Darlin nodded shifting back. Sam took in the sight of his mate, sleepily sitting on the floor in a tank top and shorts. Their long hair cascading down their back as they rubbed their eyes. His heart ached, straining against his ribcage at the sight. 

   He offered them a hand, and they smiled as they took it. 

   He wouldn't notice until the morning Darlin's bag, jacket, and phone piled just inside the door.