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It was always like this.
Valko would tell her he didn’t have enough time to watch the movie she’d picked, but he’d still sit next to her legs on the ground, balancing a bulky laptop on his thighs. While he was often busy, the Linkon Hunter knew better than to believe his rushed excuses of “really needing to finish this so the board doesn’t get on my ass about it,” or needing to write some complicated code. His fingers would clack across his ancient computer’s keyboard speedily, lulling to a stop after around fifteen minutes of whatever she’d decided to put on. She knew the truth he was terrible at keeping from her.
Valko was terrified of horror movies, and horror movies happened to be what she most often chose to watch.
Maybe a little bit on purpose, once she noticed the way he’d react to the tension-filled build to a jumpscare. He’d stop typing, then he’d start fidgeting, sometimes by adjusting his glasses and sometimes by moving his laptop around. After that, he’d slowly, almost carefully, begin leaning some of his weight against her leg, as if her mere presence grounded him.
If he was in wolf form, she’d probably see his hackles raise up in response to the screen. Sadly, she was quite sure that Valko made a concentrated effort to keep his tail and ears from emerging. Valko was already an extremely expressive person, though the addition of floppy ears (she wanted to nuzzle against all the time) and a massive fluffy tail (he curled it around her when she was cold) would totally give the game away.
Especially when he was trying so, so hard to keep his energy cool and collected. Like he wasn’t about to jump out of his skin every time a loud chord rang out through her apartment. Like she didn’t see his eyebrows knit in muted anticipation when he noticed her turning off the lights in preparation for movie night. Like he wasn’t about to climb off the floor, flop right on top of her, and wrap his entire, massive frame around her body like the heaviest weighted blanket she’d ever had in her life.
Tonight’s movie was an old favourite of hers, perfectly suited to the stormy weather pelting against the window of her apartment. She’d chosen it before she’d even known Valko was intent on making an appearance in her home. In fact, she’d been in the middle of making popcorn in her most unappealing (but comfortable!) pajamas before the wolf man buzzed at her intercom, looking like the soggiest, saddest dog in the world, backpack thrown over his shoulder.
So, really, he had no right to complain about her movie choices tonight. Or any night, mind you. He was the one who brought himself all the way to her little corner of the city; he could deal with the terrible consequences of seeing her look slightly disheveled, with popcorn two seconds from burning on the stove and a horror movie already queued up on her TV.
“I work better here,” Valko said, finger pressing his glasses back over the bump of his aquiline nose. He avoided her gaze for a moment, standing awkwardly in her doorframe. “Close to you.”
“You could always invite me to your place,” she said, half-jokingly, “because you always seem to catch me when I look like, you know, this.” She gestured at her oversized t-shirt, some rock band Caleb had been into in their teens, and her ratty flannel pants. “Hardly finding me at my best.”
Valko grinned a predictably wolfish grin, his hand clearly itching to reach out and grasp her by the waist. “I like you like this. It’s…nice. Home-y.”
Making things easier for him, the hunter inched closer, a physical sign that she was both ready and willing for him to touch her. Valko was a touchy guy, but he always waited for her to give him the go-ahead before he began squeezing her and nuzzling against the top of her head.
As she stepped, Valko immediately got the hint and gathered her in his huge arms, his biceps bunching as he squished her to his chest and lifted her off her feet in her excitement. She felt him nuzzle relentlessly against the crown of her head, his smile evident even through the vague nerve-endings of her scalp.
“Okay, okay big guy!” She giggled, her arms flailing in the air. Valko swung her slightly from side to side, still pressing his face to her hair like she was a lifeline. “Valko! My popcorn will burn!”
Immediately, he set her back on the ground. A blush rose on his cheeks and he murmured apologies. “Sorry, sorry.”
She ushered him through the door, and Valko immediately beelined for her kitchen. “Popcorn huh? Your microwave isn’t even on…”
Heaving a dramatic sigh, she stalked over to her stove. “I make it on the stove. Like Grandma used to. Better flavour that way, y’know?”
Almost to prove her point, she grabbed the handle of her popcorn pot and gave it a shake. The remaining kernels gave a metallic chime.
“Ah. Not even an air popper? You living in the dark ages?” Valko teased, immediately resting his elbow on her shoulder as he inspected her soon-to-be-snack with mellow interest. “Doesn’t smell burnt to me. How d’ya know when it’s ready?”
“Intuition at this point. If it’s burnt, I went too long. But, in this particular case it wouldn’t be my fault now, would it?” She gave him a teasing look, and Valko nuzzled against her once again.
“Well, you should expect me dropping in at this point. I could have sworn I sent you a message to tell you I was coming…”
“My phone is in my room charging, and wow, you didn’t even wait for me to reply? Pushy, Mr. Wolf. You gonna huff and puff and blow my house in so you can get inside, now, or what?” She elbowed him gently in the stomach, smiling her brightest smile. Valko laughed.
“Oh, like you haven’t just shown up at my place without even a text telling me you’re coming? Who is the real big bad wolf here?” Valko rubbed his cheek against her head again, and then moved toward her kitchen island, leaning his whole torso on the countertops.
“I feel like you were going to make a joke about me being a little pig, but thought better of it. Nice save. But I guess that makes you the pig in this story, huh, Valko? I’m the big, bad wolf, after all.” Gently, she moved the pot with her mouth-watering snack to a different, cool burner, then began preparing to melt the, frankly, illegal amount of butter she was about to bathe the popcorn in.
“I was going to make that joke and I did think better of it, thanks for noticing. And I’m okay with being the little piggy, as long as you’re the wolf. Regardless of me literally being a wolf and you being a, you know, human. Who, from what I know of science, might share more DNA in common with a pig than a wolf does.”
Melting the butter, she scoffed. “You are such a pain. If you keep doing this, you’re not getting popcorn at all, and I’ll banish you to my room while I watch my movie.”
Valko, sweet and eager thing that he was, couldn’t help when his tail appeared and began to wag. “Ooh, a movie? What movie? And please share, I’ll be good, you know I will.”
She smiled a small, secret smile that Valko knew spelled trouble - though he was intent to ignore it for the time being. Fetching a large bowl, she poured her cooled popcorn into it and then doused it with butter. “You’ll love it, I promise. It’s got the wilderness, and animals, and honestly it’s perfect for this weather…”
Valko did not, in fact, love it.
While he had plopped himself down by her feet, his laptop burning bright, he’d given up the illusion of working long ago. She hadn’t even had to count the minutes before his typing slowed and he began paying more and more attention to her screen - it seemed like he’d been invested from the jump. Nervously, he fidgeted with his glasses, then he shuffled closer to her, and then his massive hand was wrapped around her ankle.
She couldn’t blame him, not really; while the movie was a favourite, it had been a while since she’d seen it herself. Considering that and the loud thunderclaps outside, which were bound to put her on edge anyway, she wasn’t exactly surprised that she, too, was trembling in place. And she knew where each scare was!
After a particularly tense moment, followed by a screaming thunderclap and lightning that illuminated her entire darkened space, she found herself jumping from her seat and suppressing a gasp.
Valko fared no better; the moment the thunder sounded, he began to lean even more heavily against her, his laptop discarded to his side, his head pressing against her knees. He shuddered.
“Why do you do this to yourself? You were gonna watch this alone?” Valko asked, shifting his head so their eyes could meet. “In this weather? I know you’re scared of thunder, I can practically smell it when a storm rolls in. You’re as jumpy as me!”
God, his concerned expression…those big eyes, the way he was leaning against her for comfort when he was an entire six foot something, muscle-bound werewolf…it almost made her laugh.
Instead of giggling, she reached down and ran a hand over his short hair. A gentle, pleased smile pulled at her lips at the sensation.
“I like to get scared, sometimes. It’s like a relief. I do it at home, where I’m comfy, and I make a whole ritual of it - I haven’t seen this one in a while, so it’s a little scarier than I remember. And no, I don’t like thunder, but sometimes I think the movies help with that, like I can control the way I get scared, so the weather isn’t as alarming.”
Valko nuzzled against her leg, gazing up into her. The movie faded into the background, blue light illuminating her living room space.
“I get that, I think. But, you know you don’t have to do anything alone, right? If you call, I’ll come running. On all fours, if it’s faster.”
She was about to answer when a particularly loud scare chord chimed, making them both jump almost a foot into the air. To add insult to injury, thunder roared at just the same moment, further dragging them into unease.
“Nope!” Valko whined, adjusting his glasses, “Okay no, nope, no way, I’m coming up. Sorry.”
She held her arms open, and Valko collapsed into her embrace, his heavy, muscular body pressing her deeper into the couch. On instinct, the werewolf nuzzled against her neck, then lay his head against her collarbone.
A huff of laughter escaped her, her arms shimmying from their prisons beneath him to wrap around his shoulders. Tentatively, she pressed a little kiss to the crown of his head.
“You know, for someone as intimidating as you, you’re really quite the baby when it comes to scares.”
Valko, in turn, wrapped his arms beneath her, all the while burrowing closer to her neck. She felt the smile on his lips against the exposed skin on her throat.
“Well, I’m the youngest adult in the pack. They didn’t let me watch horror movies, and I never was super interested. Besides, why would I watch horror movies when most people would think I was the movie monster? I’m already living it!”
“Aw, you’re no monster, Valko.” She ran her hand in his hair, felt him shudder at her touch.
Valko raised himself up on his forearms, shuffling up so he could stare down into her wide eyes. His glasses slipped down his nose, and she found herself grabbing them and placing them on the ground - hopefully, neither of them would step on the spectacles, but she supposed he could afford new ones, regardless...
“I know, I’m just saying. Someone not as accepting as you might feel a little more conflicted about letting a werewolf into their home.” His golden eyes seemed to glow, catching the shine of the forgotten television screen and burning right into her. “Let alone let a werewolf come into their home in the night, then let that werewolf lay on top of them because he got scared of a movie.”
“Ah, so you were scared?” She ribbed, using the newfound distance to poke him in the side. “I thought you were a big, brave boy.”
Valko smiled wide, his defined canines evident as he stared down at her. Slowly, he began resettling his weight on her, piece by piece.
“I can be brave for you.” His forehead pressed against hers. His nose nuzzled her own gently, the shape of his words breezing into her skin. “I can be as brave as you need me to be.”
Her eyes fluttered shut.
“I’ll be brave for you, too.”
A soft, languid press of his lips to the corner of her mouth. Not a true kiss, not yet, but the cousin of one. The ghost of a promise, the budding bloom of his boundless affection for her, contained within the smallest touch of his mouth to her cheek. The rumble of his voice against her, sending goosebumps across every inch of her skin.
“I know you will.”