We Are Bulletproof

What the fuck was taking so long?

Josh paced up and down in front of his apartment building, arms crossed and a sour look on his face. He'd been waiting for half a freaking hour and Rae still hadn't shown up. If he was taking so long just to say goodbye to that little rat shifter he was dating, Josh was going to hunt the little pest down and have him for a snack on the next full moon.

What did he see in that cripple anyway? What did Aldon see in Ryland Ren?

Ugh. Right. "Love." Disgusting. Josh was determined to never, ever fall into that trap--he saw how much of a fool love made out of his best friends and he wanted no part of that. Besides, he liked his lifestyle. It was an indescribable high, albeit one which he needed to constantly chase. Sometimes... it was tiring. But most of the time he reveled in that vicious sense of victory, whenever he managed to have his way with someone. Especially someone already in a relationship--there was no point chasing the easy target, was there?

But what didn't please him was the fact that it was nearly forty-five minutes before Rae's car came into view, and the first thing that Josh did was poke his head in through the passenger's side window to hiss, "You're fucking late, asshole!" He slung his bag into the back seat, slid into the front passenger's seat and slammed the door hard.

"What took you so long?! I could've slept in for another hour if I'd known that you were going to be this late!"

"Well fuck me," he said casually in response to all Josh's snarling and thumping around. "Maybe you should've slept in if you're gonna go full tilt at me. Fuck."

Swearing just sort of happened, especially when it came to Josh. The words just slipped out, mostly because Josh sort of warranted them. It wasn't like Rae was cursing at Alva all the time--he had no fucking reason to. Alva was perfectly sweet. He was like the anti-venom to all of the toxicity that was Josh.

Sometimes, Rae wondered if Josh got the worst end of their feral stick. After all, Rae and Aldon could be perfectly fucking civil half the time. Josh was like... extra dosed with that genetic defect or some shit.

Rae's tires squealed as he turned the car abruptly onto the street and sped toward the highway.

"Feel free to get some sleep on the drive there, sweetheart. You need plenty of beauty sleep."

Josh was very civil--to people who didn't make him wait almost an hour, without any word. Not even a text, this fucker. In response to the slew of curses, he lifted his feet up and propped them onto the dash, just to piss Rae off. Which didn't work so well for him when the car jerked suddenly, as they shot away from the curb like a bat out of hell.

"Do you even know how to drive like a normal person?"

He didn't even have time to put on the seatbelt! On it went, although he doubted that it would do any good. Rae was a freaking psycho behind the wheel and if Josh's car hadn't been in the shop, he would've insisted on driving. Hell, he might have tried to drive Rae's car too, but he didn't feel like initiating a fight to the literal death at 1 in the afternoon.

"I'm very beautiful, shut your mouth." Josh reached up to facetiously smooth down his hair. "You're lucky I even let myself be seen in public with you, loser." His scornful gaze raked over Rae, over his pretentious punk hairdo and his... Well he had a nice body and nice arms, that Josh wasn't going to deny, but his attitude. Yech. That was enough to keep Josh far, faaaar away. He couldn't stand the stink of an asshole--literally and figuratively.

"And would you slow the hell down? Are you in a hurry? Is your hair on fire?" He reached over to flick at Rae's hair--probably not a good idea, since Rae was driving. "Not that it couldn't do with a little mowing."

The answer to that question was a resounding no. Rae didn't know how to drive like a normal person. Technically, he shouldn't even be driving right now--he was supposed to go back to driving school to get his license back but fuck the police. Seriously. He wasn't listening to the man. Humans were stupid creatures, thinking they could fuck with the supernatural.

Not that they knew exactly. Rae didn't transform and maul the officer who gave him the ticket although he wanted to. He thought about it, too. Just leaping through the window and snatching the man's throat and ripping it out.

He blamed thoughts like on the feral blood running in his veins. It was easier than caving to the idea that he was seriously fucked up in the head.

"Oh? So that's why we're going into the mountains?" he asked. "To be seen in public?"

He wished Alva could have gone. Or at least Aldon. Even Roe would have been better company. Being alone with his worst friend was like... he didn't even know. They were weird friends. With a friend like Josh, he didn't need enemies.

Batting at Josh's errant hand, he swerved slightly on the road, tires squealing slightly as he righted himself.

"No. And I'll cut it when I feel like it."

"Jackass, you know what I mean." Trying to be smart. Hmph. Obviously they weren't going into the mountains, to a secluded cabin--owned by Josh's oh-so-wealthy parents--just to be seen by no one. Actually he didn't even know why he was going. Oh, right--because if he didn't, Aldon was going to bring Ryland around, because this was the glued-to-the-hips phase that they always went through, each time they made up. Did he want to sit in a cabin and be pissed off at Rae all weekend, or did he want to sit around various places downtown and be pissed off at Aldon, Ryland, Rae and Alva all weekend?

Honestly, Josh should have gone alone. He side-eyed Rae. If Rae didn't have the only working car between them...

"Oh my god, watch the road! No wonder they revoked your license, you're a freaking maniac!" This time he didn't flick Rae's hair, he punched him in the arm for driving all over the road. "We're going to die before we even get there." Great. Now he was stuck for 2 hours with a guy who drove like he couldn't see straight. Josh slumped down in his seat and bonked the side of his head against the window in agonized defeat.

"If we die, I'm going to come back and kill you in the next life."

Rae laughed, even as he swerved again. Not on purpose--he was punched and he hoped--betted--it hurt Josh more than it hurt him. He grinned even as he righted the vehicle again. It was going to be a long drive if they bickered like this the whole way but Rae saw it as a different form of friendship.

"Better make it interesting, then."

If he was going to die, he wanted to go out in a blaze. Besides, if he killed Josh while driving, chances were high that Rae himself would be dead, too. They would go out together in a blaze of speed.

"You can drive in an hour," he said, mostly because he doubted he could sustain his speed for the entire trip and partly because he didn't fucking want to drive the full two hours.

"Shut up." Irritable though his tone was, Josh's lips twitched. Damnit. It was hard to be mad at a guy who laughed like that in the face of danger--like a completely deranged maniac. He didn't actually know what was wrong with Rae. Sometimes innocent things riled him up; other times full-on death threats made him giggle. Maybe it was the feral genes. Maybe they scrambled his brains or something. Lord if Josh knew!

Somewhat appeased by the offer to take over the wheel, Josh stopped trying to physically assault him. "Jerk," he muttered sullenly, sinking down in his seat and getting somewhat more comfortable. A few moments of relative peace passed before Josh spoke again, this time in a civil tone. See? He could be civil--when Rae wasn't pushing his buttons.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring your little boyfriend along. Isn't he always clinging around your legs, everywhere you go? He's not stuffed in the trunk, is he?"

Alva was kinda the reason he was late in the first place. They had been dating for five years, which was practically an eternity next to anybody else he knew. Most people would have grown bored at this point. That or they would have just gone and tied the knot because it was what, seven years before a couple became tethered to one another by default in the eyes of the law?

Not that Rae gave two shits about the law.

Things with Alva were weird and complicated and he loathed talking about him with Josh. He never had a nice thing to say about either Alva or Ryland and he guessed rightly so. Before Alva, Rae used to ridicule the little shifters too. They weren't the same as they were, even as wolves went. Little foxes, little clever, quick foxes.

Rae would be a dead man if it weren't for Alva though. That sort of gave a person a different view. He didn't expect Josh to understand that.

"He knows I'm gonna end up swinging from branches and jumping into the river and I don't think he wants to watch."

Rae didn't say the rest of it--that he himself didn't want to leave Alva alone or with Josh. Alva was just better where he was. The cabin in the woods with Josh? Josh and Alva weren't exactly close and Rae didn't feel like playing referee.

"I'm surprised you don't have some ass to bring along. Now what're you going to do with your morning wood?"

"I don't want to watch you swinging from trees like a goddamn monkey either. Last time you and Aldon almost cracked your heads on that rock."

There was a rock just barely submerged under the water that neither of them saw, and both of them decided to swing towards the same place. If they had gone another foot towards it, both of them would be dead by now and... Well, Josh would have to waste the time and energy into finding new friends. No thanks.

Truthfully, Rae and Aldon were the only two people that he felt remotely close to--people that he could trust not only because they shared a terrible affliction but because on some level, they all accepted one another. None of them were exactly nice people--and that didn't matter. They still stuck with each other, through thick and thin.

Unsurprisingly, Josh didn't have many friends. His haughty attitude drove a lot of people off. The ones he slept with tended to be in relationships, and therefore were obvious dead ends. Maybe he was trying to compensate for the love he never got from his parents, by chasing anything that moved, but he didn't feel like that was a problem. So what if he broke hearts left and right? Everyone who slept with him chose to do it; he didn't put guns to people's heads. And if they chose to fall to temptation and allowed themselves to be seduced then they weren't faithful to begin with. Simple as that.

"I think I'll be okay. Thanks for all the concern, Rae," he said loftily, if sarcastically. "I mean you haven't fucked anybody in five years and here you are. Two days won't kill me."

How the hell did Rae even do it? That miserable cripple couldn't possibly satisfy a guy like Rae--a guy who, previous to meeting that useless lump, used to be... desirable. Josh might have harbored some secret little fantasies about him, once. He might have started to develop a bit of a crush. Then Alva came along and reduced Rae to a pathetic sack of crap; it was unbearable to watch a once-virile man confined to a sexless relationship. Handjobs and blowjobs? Those couldn't possibly satisfy him and anything he said was simply to save face, Josh was sure.

But more so than the fact that both Ryland and Alva turned his best friends into angsting teenagers... They stole them from him. There was a reason that Josh was so nasty towards them; a reason why his tongue was extra sharp around them, why he was cruel and unrestrained in his obvious animosity.

Rae and Aldon turned into different people with them and Josh felt like he was always on the outside whenever they all had occasion to be together. His best friends were too busy making eyes at their lovers, too busy to hang out or go out with him and he... He missed them. He felt lonely without them.

Of course, that was utterly pathetic and he would never admit as such.

"At least we took the chance."

He would rather jump and take the chance than sit safely on the sidelines watching other people. Alva didn't have a choice, though. All he could do was watch from the sidelines while everybody else lived their lives but that didn't make him some pathetic cripple. Just because he was paralyzed from the waist down didn't make him useless. Rae couldn't stand useless people so that said it all, didn't it?

"Where the fuck are you getting this idea that I haven't fucked in five years? Like who the fuck is telling you this shit?"

Seriously! Just because a man was crippled from the waist down didn't make him useless, how many times was he going to waste his breath trying to explain that to Josh? Alva could show his affection for him in a number of ways. The whole dick to hole thing wasn't the end-all/be-all of sex, as far as he was concerned.

Josh rolled his eyes in a clear indication of scorn. Taking a chance was different than having a death wish and with how Rae carried on, he was definitely headed towards an early grave.

Not that it bothered Josh or kept him up at nights. That was Alva's job.

He scoffed openly, too, at Rae's defensive response and looked over at him with pity clear as day on his face. "Oh please. What you and that cripple have can't possibly be called sex." Not the real, satisfying kind of sex that left a body sore all over. Josh shook his head, also pityingly.

"You probably don't remember what it feels like to have a good fuck. Don't they say that after like a year, you're practically a virgin?"

For fuck's sake. He let out an explosive sigh and veered off to the right side of the road as he turned dark, annoyed eyes on Josh.

"Why are you so obsessed with how we fuck or don't fuck, anyway?"

It wasn't like Rae gave a fuck what Josh was doing with his dick or butthole. But Josh was constantly poking barbs into Rae's side and sometimes Aldon's, too--about how their fox boyfriends were inferior in every way to wolves. Maybe. Maybe not. Rae liked to think there were things about Alva that were superior. Maybe not to him as a person or whatever but...

It wasn't just gratitude that kept them together for five fucking years. It wasn't like he just fell over himself for a crippled fox. Time moved between them. Alva turned out to be a surprise. There were parts of himself that he could show Alva without worrying if he was "wolfly" enough for him.

"And it hasn't been over a year. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Uh. HELLO? You brought it up by dragging my dick into this!"

Seriously, Josh wasn't the one who leapt straight to his "morning wood" so what the hell was Rae getting his panties in a twist about? If you asked Josh--which nobody did but whatever--Rae was the one who kept bringing up the thing about sex.

Although, yes, Josh used it to needle him and he certainly didn't tread lightly around the fact that Alva was crippled and couldn't exactly perform. But Rae always took the bait and it was just too easy to get him riled up over it.

"Like I care if you fuck or don't fuck," he scoffed, settling back into his seat (after gripping hard onto the door handle, as the car swerved dangerously). "I like my partners to be experienced, anyway."

And Rae, for all of his insistence that he was "all right" in his relationship with a paralyzed man, hadn't used his skills for five years. That definitely meant that he was out of practice and Josh, for one, had no time to baby somebody in bed.

He did bring up the morning wood thing. Whoops. Well, it was still usually that bastard who was bringing up the whole lack of sex with Alva. Of course it needled at him and agitated him. For the most part, he was happy with his lover.

But yeah, there were times he wasn't enough. The problem wasn't even with Alva. They were two creative people and they could figure things out, how to make them interesting in bed together. The problem lay mostly with Rae himself. Alva made him want to be careful and loving. He treated Alva like precious treasure (and he knew that was partly why Josh hated him so much--it was so out of line with the Rae he knew).

Rae had other kinds of needs, though. He used to tear around with some of the others. Rarely ever anything serious. Just a lot of hard fucking, a lot of scratching, clawing, biting mid coitus. Violence was a turn on. Usually.

The closer to the full moon it became, the more those tendencies made themselves apparent. That was when he withdrew affection from Alva because he didn't want to do it to him.

It was complicated and it struck a nerve every fucking time Josh brought it up. And Josh knew it, which was irritating even if he didn't have the whole story.

"Nobody asked what you want in a partner." His scowl turned into a grin. "Why, were you thinking about getting it on with me for a second there?" His gaze moved back to the road.

"Joke's on you anyway. I've got experience in shit you've probably never tried."

"Hah! Funny, Rae. I never thought of you as a comedian before."

As. IF.

Rae was the one who had experience in things that Josh had never tried? Josh both rolled his eyes and shook his head in the same movement, looking out through the window at the changing scenery with hardly any restraint on his derision.

Good Lord, this sad, pathetic, delusional little wolf-man.

He had no idea what Josh was really into. Violence came with the territory. Clawing and scratching and biting were mild for him. He loved the taste of blood, the metallic tang; it brought out the feral side of him that he had to repress, just to appear 'normal'--for whatever meaning the word carried for them, as supernatural beings.

Josh's needs were definitely... not for the faint of heart. He wasn't a vampire, though. He didn't drink blood by the gallon and he didn't need it to live, it was just more exciting with a little nip here and a bite there.

"Believe me, Reagan, even if we were the last two people on the planet, I wouldn't fuck you." His voice was a low drawl as he turned back to Rae with a smug-ass little grin--the kind that people often said made them want to punch him in the face.

"I don't do pity fucks. That's just beneath me, you know?"

"Pity fucks?"

He didn't know why that annoyed him so much. It just did. What, was he making a remark toward Alva again? If he thought the only reason he was with Alva was pity then he was sadly mistaken.

"Asshole. I wouldn't let you fuck me anyway so it's fucking moot. Or whatever they say."

He wouldn't let fucking Josh anywhere near his body. Well, other than the usual punch exchanges and oh-so-friendly pinching and shit they did. They were kinda weird friends, honestly.

"Oh your vocabulary expanded. Moot. Impressive."

Josh shook his head again. God, Rae made it too easy sometimes. It was probably because Josh struck a nerve; some of his words, like pointed arrows, must have hit home. Otherwise, Rae wouldn't get so wound up. But after a while, baiting him got a little boring, too.

"It's going to be a long ride to the cabin if you're going to be this touchy the whole time," he remarked--in perfectly civil tones. Josh reached over to pat him patronizingly on the head. "Poor puppy. Settle down."

"My boyfriend is smart," he declared, like it was something to brag about. Well, it was. Just not to Josh, who didn't give a fuck about how smart his boyfriend was. It seemed like all Josh wanted in a boyfriend was the ability to fuck him, from the way he talked about Alva. It was like Alva had no qualities at all beyond that to him. Which annoyed Rae, who wanted to show off his boyfriend, despite the fact that it had been five long years now.

He growled when Josh pet him like a fucking dog.

"I won't be touchy if you just stay off that fucking subject."

Something about being around Josh always brought out the curse words. Rae cursed like a sailor regardless but Josh brought them out in full force. Even when he was speaking in calm or friendly tones, they slipped out.

It wasn't the same with Alva. Actually, he felt almost embarrassed if he cursed too much around him.

"I knew you had outside help with that."

Moot didn't seem like a word that Rae would pick up all on his own. Josh laughed while Rae growled like an actual dog and made a show of snatching back his hand, like he thought Rae would bite. That wasn't actually beyond the scope of possibility. Who knew the lengths that Rae would go to, when fully incensed?

"All right, all right, we'll move on to something else." He took a more reasonable tone, since he didn't feel like bickering like an old, married couple for two hours. Josh had his fun--for now. But inevitably the subject would come up again, because his disdain for Alva was boundless.

Just as he was about to change the subject, he spotted a sign by the side of the road. "Hey, pull over at the next rest stop! There's a food cart, I'm hungry."

Duh. Nobody ever claimed that Rae was some kind of genius. He just happened to date a smart man with a colorful vocabulary. It rubbed off on Rae a bit and he liked to look smart in front of Alva. Kinda didn't care how he came across in front of Josh though. They'd known each other so long at this point that they probably had way too much dirt on one another.

Like... about foxes getting eaten. That kind of thing.

Rae saw the food cart almost too late and he had to swerve past another car as he turned into the turn off for the next rest stop. The other car honked and Rae gave him a not-so-nice gesture through his window.

He parked at the rest stop without killing either of them. There were a number of other travelers loitering around, going to the bathrooms or waiting on family members.

"What the shit is going on?" Rae asked, mostly himself. "Some kind of family reunion in the hills?"

Reagan Ryang was definitely nobody's definition of a genius, that much Josh couldn't deny, although... he had his charms, too. What those charms were, he couldn't recount just at the moment, because he was too busy rattling around inside the rusty tin can that Rae called a car, as he swerved to get off the highway and towards the rest stop.

"Would you freaking stop driving like a maniac?!" Josh huffed and puffed, breathing somewhat labored as he tried to get over the fright of nearly cannoning into another car. He glared until they had parked and only then noticed the crowd.

"I'm definitely driving after this," he growled, while shoving the door open. "Also--duh. It's the long weekend, everybody's probably out camping or something." On an island there wasn't much else to do. Go camping, go to the lake, or take the ferry to the mainland--that was about it.

Sliding outside, Josh stretched languorously. His gaze fell upon the food truck, which was selling some kind of barbecue. "Come on, let's go check it out. You're paying." He tossed a dirty look in Rae's direction. "For making me wait so long this morning."

"No." He let out another wild laugh. Over his dead body--he was never going to drive safe. Which was a lie because when Alva was in the car, he was careful. Josh wasn't wrong when he thought Alva changed him. It was just that Josh seemed to think it was a bad thing, that Alva softened his hard edges. Meanwhile, Rae was grateful for it. Alva grounded him. They complemented one another. Yin. Yang. Dark. Light. Dumb. Smart. They were opposites in most things but still fit where it mattered.

Unfortunately, he was all too aware what Josh thought of it. Of Alva. Of Alva and Rae as a couple. He just wished Josh would get over it already. Five years and he still didn't think they were right for each other?

Oh yeah... He forgot that others would be taking advantage of the same weekend as they were. Slanting a sideways glance at Josh as he bolted out of the car, Rae slid out of the driver's seat.

Lifting a hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun, he squinted at the people milling around the rest stop. Closing the door, he slipped the keys into his back pocket and skirted around the front of the car to get a better look at the food truck.

"Whatever," he said. "But you only get to use that excuse once so you better hope this shit's worth it."

Josh gasped as though in deep shock. "Oh my god, you're being obedient! Is this a miracle?" He ruffled Rae's hair and then danced out of reach, before Rae could grab him. Laughing, he ran up to the food truck and inspected the menu that was written on the side.

Everything looked tasty. Or... Josh was hungry, since he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. He studied the menu while waiting in line. The ribs? Or the pulled pork sandwich? Ooh but there were smoked sausages and burgers.

"Ugh... I can't choose, Rae." His smile may have turned a little evil. "Can I get one of everything?" Or would Rae kill him before he made the order, since the bill was on him? Josh could've afforded to buy the truck itself buuut... Rae did owe him. Like a million times over, for giving him multiple heart attacks, by driving like a crazy person.

"He-eey!" He shook out his hair and ran a hand over it to try and calm it back down while Josh skipped off to the food truck. A few seconds later, Rae was running after him, not to be left behind.

As hungry as he was and as mouth watering as the food smelled, there was no way that Rae could afford the entire menu. He gave Josh a flat eyed stare. Between the two of them, who had more money? Yeah.

"Hell no," he said. "Pick one thing. I'm not made of money and you know it, asshole!"

He swatted Josh on the back of the head for emphasis.

"Ow!" Josh swatted him right back--an eye for an eye, and all that nonsense. He rolled his eyes at Rae's cheapness. "Fine, just one." God, being poor sucked. How did the others live the way they did? Aldon didn't even have a car--Josh couldn't imagine slumming it on a bus. Rae's car wasn't a junk heap but the way that he tore around, it was destined for it!

"I'll have a pulled pork sandwich," he said to the smiling woman at the window of the food truck, then stepped aside so that Rae could order too. Good thing it was just after the full moon--his appetite wasn't going off the charts and one measly sandwich would do for now. They had plenty of snacks at the cabin anyway, and whatever food was left in the freezer from their last outing there.

As he ate, meandering slowly back to the car, he sighed. "I can't believe Aldon abandoned us. For the fox." He exchanged a deeply offended Look with Rae. They had only been planning this trip for... oh, weeks. And Aldon, the ass, dropped out just because he happened to get back together with his stupid ex.

Since Rae was hungry too, he bought himself the same thing as Josh. After paying and getting their food, he ambled alongside Josh back toward the car. He wasn't in any particular rush, since there weren't any actual plans for the weekend. They were just getting out into the country, really.

"Whatever." Okay, he was slightly offended about Aldon ditching them for the Ryland thing again. After watching the same drama break out over and over again, he was sort of tired of it. He thought Aldon was better off with the guy but he couldn't even get over himself enough to make it official or whatever. So that wasn't anybody's fault but his.

Or their lifestyles. But Rae got over it enough to be with somebody consistently for five years soooooo. Yeah.

"If you had a choice between me or somebody you could fuck, you'd pick somebody you could fuck."

Okay, yes... given the choice between Rae and his death-defying driving or somebody to plow into the mattress, Josh would obviously choose the latter over the former. For one thing, having sex didn't usually lead to death. Sitting in the same car as Rae with Rae behind the wheel was definitely not an endeavor for the faint of heart.

"Still," he grumbled, unwilling to put aside his childish grudge. Without Aldon around, their weekend was going to consist mostly of fighting, bickering, arguing and possibly physical violence of some sort. (And Rae might not be the one to instigate, because Josh sure as hell had a temper behind his innocent-looking face.)

"I mean. It's not even the fox thing anymore." Lie: totally was about the fox thing. "They're so annoying. I've never seen anybody break up and get together so many times in my life!"

The whole thing tired Josh out. He leaned against Rae's car as though just the thought of all that drama had drained him. Then he contemplated Rae and made a face. "Both of you make me sick."

"Yeah, it's kinda annoying," he agreed--for once--with something Josh said. The whole on/off thing was so exhausting to watch that he didn't know how the hell Aldon did it. For a while, it seemed like he finally got Ryland out of his system. A whole year without him! But then it came back and it was obvious in full force... maybe even because it had been so long.

"But you can't help who you're attracted to." Or fall in love with but he knew better than to use the big L word in front of a skeptic like Josh.

Rae glared at Josh as he tossed him the keys to his car.

"Why the fuck? Just fucking drop it already."

"So you say," Josh replied flatly, shaking his head. Maybe it was true--one couldn't choose the direction one's heart traveled--but there was also such a thing as pride! ...which was probably why Rae didn't openly admit to dating Alva, whereas Aldon...

Aldon was the type of man to broadcast his feelings to the world. Yet, ironically, he wouldn't say the words to Ryland. What about boasting to strangers made it so much easier than telling Ryland the truth? It wasn't as if he hid it particularly well, either, so Josh also didn't understand the importance that Ryland placed on hearing the actual declaration. If you asked Josh, they were both just totally fucked up.

Rae, too. He caught the keys deftly and rolled his eyes at Rae's indignation. "Relax, I didn't even mention your little boyfriend this time. It's you and Aldon I can't stand. Sometimes." He smirked and ducked into the car. Time for a real driver to take the wheel!

"Okay, now it's your turn for a beauty sleep," he said to Rae with a sly grin, as he started the car and pulled smoothly out of the parking lot.

"You didn't have to." He was pretty sure before the whole Alva thing, Josh wouldn't have called him out on being sickening. Five years ago, Rae was amongst one of the roughest in the group. He had little disregard for other people and he was kind of an asshole.

Which wasn't to say he wasn't one now but he had been much worse before he met Alva.

He felt like Alva smoothed those edges, just the way Ryland did for Aldon. And Josh was... he didn't know. Jealous, maybe. Or disappointed. Let down that they had changed. When it was just the three of them, things were a lot different. They were truly wild and free. Now... Rae thought Josh thought that he and Aldon were held back by their mates.

They had to grow up some day, right? They couldn't just run wild forever.

Which ran contrary to the kind of shit Rae used to say.

Pushing the seat back after he got into the car, he only shook his head at the idea of beauty sleep.

"I'm too wired, what're you talking about? I couldn't sleep unless you cold-cocked me right now."

"That's real tempting right now," Josh said in a low voice, slanting a dangerous look over at Rae. He probably couldn't get away with knocking the guy out... Well, not for the entire weekend, since they were stuck in a cabin together.

All alone together, away from prying eyes...

Josh did love a challenge and seeing the way that his best friends had changed virtually overnight from wolves to pussies really disappointed him. Maybe there was a way to get them back, if they weren't too far gone. Aldon seemed like a lost cause but Rae...

Smiling to himself, he kept his eyes on the road instead of on Rae. The idea was only half-formed--not even serious, really. Josh's feelings for Rae had waned somewhat from the fierce crush of a few years ago but the embers still smoldered, deep down inside. He wasn't in love with Rae or anything like that. He was just... very fond of him, in his own antagonistic way.

"You know that new guy that Aldon's been dragging along everywhere? What's his name again? I think he's the one who stole my pants last time."

Smirking, Rae slanted a Look right back at Josh. He crossed his arms and then slouched slightly, stretching his legs out in front of him. Yeah, he bet it was tempting. Just clock him one and there would be no more bickering. Sometimes, he thought if they both kept their mouths shut for long enough, they would be better friends.

But where was the fun in shutting up?

"Ugh, you mean that Gregg guy?" Nothing against the guy and all but Rae similarly reacted to every new pack member. It took time to get used to them and it took time to slot them into their pack. He didn't know where Gregg would fall in but he sure better not think he was going to be higher ranked than him.

"Like he could even fit in your pants."

"Oh right, Gregg. And I know! I don't know why he didn't just steal somebody else's pants."

Like Rae's. They would have fit Gregg better than Josh's, even though he brought along loose-fitting ones just for the occasion. It must've been uncomfortable. Josh frowned. "Bet Aldon had something to do with it too." He wouldn't put it past Aldon to do a scumbag thing like that.

Of course, that only doomed some other sucker to losing their pants, because Josh grabbed the first one that looked like it would fit him and hightailed it out of the area before its owner could come around looking.

"Did you hear about the fight?" Josh took his eyes off the road briefly to look at Rae. "I heard there was a bad fight between two ferals. Somebody said it might've been... Jae." They both knew how that fight would end, if Jaesung was involved. Josh knew him well before he became infected; the difference was like night and day, honestly.

Leaning against the door, Rae let out a snort. Yeah, fights like that one were usually talked about at length. It was like their version of water cooler gossip, really. As for the participants, Rae ran a hand over the back of his head and yawned. Okay, he could use some beauty sleep too.

"Okay, so who was the other one, then?"

If there was a fight between two feral, then who was the other one, right? Jae was almost a given at this point. If there was a fight, even between ferals--especially between ferals--then Jae was almost always involved. Something about the virus or bacteria or whatever the fuck it was that got to them all, it really fucked with Jae's brain.

Maybe it was because he wasn't born with it.

"Somebody said it was Ryan."

Josh frowned as he turned his eyes back onto the road. Ryan was something of a mutual friend--or really, a mutual acquaintance. They had to stick together, though, as ferals. God knew everyone else looked down on them for being 'diseased.' They didn't need to be taking each other out!

A sigh slipped out as he leaned back a little, setting the car on auto. "Maybe we need to find some other place to change." Somewhere far away from Rae's crazy cousin, the one who hunted the hunters. Most ferals went after each other but... they were all basically matched in terms of strength. Something about Jae's craziness lent him extra strength, and more than one feral had fallen to him.

But, true to form, Josh glanced over with a smirk. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to... Aldon, after all."

Is he dead?

He didn't ask and Josh didn't say. It seemed like bad news, regardless. And one of these days, it might be one of them--himself, Aldon, Josh. Rae frowned slightly but turned his head away so that it wasn't apparent.

"Yeah," he agreed, although he was irritated by the way Josh said Aldon. Since it was obvious by his smirk that he was trying to get under his skin, though, he tried not to respond to it. He'd already taken Josh's bait several times that morning already.

"There's plenty of forests here in Washington. Not like we all have to change in the same one."

But his voice still held irritation and he could hear it, which annoyed him even more.

"Or we could just lock Jae up."

Lock Jae up? Josh's glance flicked over to Rae, noting the annoyance in his tone. Was it just the talk of Jae that put him on edge, or was it something else? Something was bothering him. Maybe because he wasn't the one Josh named.

What a dummy. Even though he knew Josh was teasing, he still rose to the bait. Ah, Rae was just too easy.

"That's kinda harsh, isn't it? He IS your cousin." Although cousins didn't necessarily have to be close. From what Josh gathered, Jae had never really been a part of Rae's life and when he was, he had already begun to change. Thankfully Josh had no problematic relatives like that! Just his parents, who had definite Issues of their own that Josh wanted no part of.

"Anyway, maybe we can bring it up with Andrew later," he said, as he turned off the highway and onto a smaller side road. "Ugh, I forgot how rough it gets around here," Josh complained as they jostled and bumped around. There was another hour of rattling around, and then they would come out onto the lake, and the cabin situated close by, backed by the forests.

...He didn't mean they needed to lock Jae up forever, just whenever he was taken over by the feral side of himself. Then again, something had really twisted Jae up. The rest of them were worse around the full moon but it seemed like Jae was just escalating with every passing day, no matter the phase of the moon.

"Yeah," he said, both to bringing it up to his father and to the bumpy road. He reached up and held one hand against the roof of his car as the bumps started to jostle him around.

This was also part of the reason he just let Josh have the wheel. If he was the one driving this part, they'd probably fling off a cliff.

"It'll be worth it when we're up there."

An hour bumping and jostling around later, Josh's ass was sore. And not in the way he preferred it to be sore, either. Grumpily he pulled up to the picturesque cabin, along the slightly smoother dirt path which led, winding gently, to the back entrance. Before them was the expanse of shining blue lake, and the long grassy slope leading down to it.

"Finally!" He all but exploded out of the car, rubbing his backside ruefully. "God, now I remember why we don't come out here anymore!" His parents likely couldn't handle the ride into the woods. It was taxing on anyone, but when he had to bear the road conditions and drive, avoiding potholes and flattening whole bushes sometimes, it was a nightmare.

"Okay, let's get inside with the stuff. We'll have to air the place out, too." He hadn't been here in months. Josh grabbed his stuff and hauled it to the door without waiting for Rae. He didn't need to--Rae was capable of getting his own junk. Josh fumbled for keys, found them in his keyring and opened the door to a blast of musty, dank air. He made a disgusted noise--his very sensitive nose couldn't bear all the dust, either.

The first thing that he did was to fling open all the windows, and soon a cool breeze was wafting through to clear the air. "So! What did you bring? I have the blankets and I brought a portable stove."

By the time they arrived, Rae was more than happy to get out of the car and stretch his limbs. They should have come by wolf legs--it would have been a much more enjoyable journey. Here they were, though. And anyway, the car was kinda necessary if they wanted to bring anything along. And clothes. That kind of thing.

Rae grabbed his shit from the car and brought it into the cabin. He couldn't help it; he had a sneezing fit when he first entered but it was more tolerable after Josh aired the place out.

"I brought everything we need for a good time," he said. There were the obvious things--clothes and toiletries. But in the cardboard box he hefted off the ground and onto the quaint "log" table, he presented bottles of various hard liquors.

"Music, drinks, food. What else do we need?"

Ah, that was what Josh was looking for. The booze. His eyes lit up at the sight of the bottles, even as he forced a nonchalant look onto his own face. "We need someone willing to get drunk and make a fool of himself by jumping onto the table to do a striptease," he laughed, recalling one vivid incident at a private party.

"But tequila is good too," Josh amended as he picked up a bottle and studied it. Good old Rae, he brought the hard stuff. Beer was fine and all--and there was plenty of it sitting around in one of the cupboards--but it was more like a refreshing beverage for most of them by now. Josh personally had his first taste of alcohol at age fifteen; he was no stranger to it by now.

"All right, let's get this party started! You take our suitcases into one of the bedrooms and I'll go start the grill. Speakers should be over there, put on some music. I think we have patties and hot dogs in the freezer."

He ambled over to check, bringing out various meats to toss onto the barbecue. Then he went outside to remove the cover from the grill and attempted to start it without setting his own hair on fire.

"Ha-ha." Nobody was going to be doing that tonight! No striptease, no dancing on tables. Just good old fashioned drinking and drunk shenanigans. Rae didn't know what those would be yet. He had to wait until the alcohol was running through his system. The ideas--the stupid ideas--would flow then.

"Let's do it!" He clapped his hands together like an overly enthusiastic camp counselor. Then he grabbed the suitcases and dragged them up to one of the rooms. He left them there--no need to unpack or shit right now.

Rae bounded down the wooden log staircase, skipping steps as he went. He skidded toward the speakers and flicked through his music playlist until he found a thumping hip hop beat. Turning it up, he started dancing over toward Josh and the grill.

"Guess what?" he said. "I'm taking dance classes now."

Cute, dancing his way over to the grill. Despite himself, Josh's lips twitched into a crooked smile. "Ballroom or tango?" he asked just to be a thorn in Rae's side, as he stepped back from the grill to let it warm up.

The patties and hot dogs had been laid out on a tray beside him; he had found buns in the box that Rae brought, too, and there were condiments in the mini-fridge in the kitchen. Their cabin wasn't a lodge, but it was still fair-sized and they could run a few smaller appliances (like a mini-fridge and a freezer) on the strength of the solar panels and the generator out back.

Crossing his arms, he leaned slightly back to give Rae the once-over. "Okay, show me your moves. What did you learn in dance class, RaeRae?" His voice was saccharine and teasing, but his eyes betrayed coy interest as his gaze remained fixed on Rae.

"Shut up," he said mildly, although the words were accompanied by a playful punch to Josh's arm. Neither, obviously! Did he look like the ballroom or tango type?

Dancing, he knew, could be made fun of but he didn't honestly care if Josh thought it was some kind of pansy move. The whole thing happened on accident, through a wrong number but he pursued it because... well, why the fuck not? It was a form of exercise and it was more fun than just jogging or some shit.

So, despite the fact that that he knew Josh was fucking with him, he decided to show him what he learned in class. A hip hop class, thank you very much. Not some kind of girly dance.

He moved in on Josh, taunting him to the tune of Usher's Caught Up. If Josh knew how to dance, they could have held a dance battle--those were popular before class when they were waiting for the instructor.

Oh, Josh knew how to dance but the sort of dancing that he did, he had a feeling that Rae wouldn't like... or that he might like a little too much.

He let Rae dance up to him, smirking, perfectly nonplussed, one plucked brow arched meaningfully. Is that all? the arched brow intimated, alongside his "unimpressed" posture and glance.

Not bad, though. Rae wasn't clumsy and the way that his body moved clearly indicated a latent skill. Dance class, huh? Now was that Alva's idea, or Rae's own idea? Hip hop wasn't as pansy as some of the other forms of dance, it was true, although it also did amuse him to associate Rae, of all people, with anything artistic.

"You're cute," he said patronizingly--a cover-up for what was a perfectly truthful comment. Josh stepped forward, into him, like he was challenging him. Was this where they dropped the beat and challenged each other with their moves? Rae probably couldn't handle Josh's moves, though. The thought produced a smug smile.

"But those only look like beginner moves, Rae. Is that the best you can do?"

Ugh. Cute. Not exactly what he would have called his moves. Sure, he was still a beginner but come on! Josh didn't dance! Did he...? If he did, he never said anything to any of them. Rae eyed Josh. Yet he was acting with all the confidence of somebody who had secret dance moves to share.

Out of curiosity, Rae tilted his head and smiled.

"All right. I'll show you beginner moves..."

A hand rested on Josh's chest for a second before pushing him back so he could get down to the music. He didn't have to take any dance class to be innately flexible, which he showed off in the form of his ability to hit the floor, thrust back upward, and then a spin around Josh. He looped around his back and then faced him again.

Josh was hard to impress though so he reached out and grasped Josh's shirt and pulled him in close as his hips gyrated in a circle. Yep. Right up against Josh. His smile was triumphant, as if he'd won whatever the hell challenge Josh was even trying to throw down.

"Face it, you can't do better."

Josh was impressed. Yes, he was, and there was no denying it. Rae had some moves. His body, lithe and tall, moved fluidly, suggestively. He looked cool, which seemed always to be such a big deal to him. Raezyr was a cooler name than Reagan. His hair, done up in that way, was cooler than any simple cut. His rebellious attitude, even, seemed to be an attempt to stand out. Being a jackass... not so much, but some people went in for that sort of a guy.

Josh did.

Still, his pride wouldn't let him admit any of that.

Instead, as Rae's hips bucked briefly against him, after he was dragged in by the front of the shirt, Josh laughed under his breath condescendingly--even as a thrill and a shiver cascaded up and down his spine. He almost made a noise. But he held it back. He was, after all, an actor--and this was nothing more than a game.

One hand slid up the length of Rae's chest, slowly, deliberately. Since they were in such close proximity, it was easy to lean in, too, like he was about to kiss Rae. He didn't. Hovering close, Josh flashed Rae a sultry smile and maintained eye contact. It was all rather intimate--but Rae brought it upon himself, really.

"You're right." His voice was honey and smoke, sweet and low, and carried a definite double entendre. "I guess I can't do better than you, Rae."

Hm.

He had
miscalculated.

Grossly miscalculated what he was doing. Even when he thought he was the coolest werewolf this side of the pacific, he somehow miscalculated Josh's ability to remain cooler.

Not that he would ever say that out loud or to Josh's face but he was certainly remaining Very Cool in the face of Rae's best attempt at dancing and intimidating him at the same time. Maybe something else, too. He didn't know. It wasn't like he did it on purpose--dancing just sort of innately became...

sexy.

Like the smolder in Josh's eyes. And his smile. And his voice.

Rae didn't know how to react at all. For an agonizing five or six seconds, he just stared back, aware that his smile was melting away and his body was still pressed intimately against Josh's. Aware that they were standing very close. Aware that Josh's words were weapons.

All he could do was breathe, exertion from the dancing warming his face and the look in Josh's eyes warming his groin. And for another scary couple of seconds, he actually did lean forward. One inch, a fraction of an inch. Their lips could touch if he...

Rae used the hand that was still tangled in Josh's shirt to push him back. Too disconcerted to even start a fight or swear at him, he only said, "Hurry up and get that shit on the grill."

Poor puppy.

Rae had no defense against Josh, it seemed. He leaned closer of his own accord, with only a smile and a certain Look. How easy he was. How easy to seduce, how effortless to pull in. Josh could have gone through with it without a second thought. He didn't care about Alva. He wanted Rae. All along, he wanted Rae.

But what was the fun in having the easy victory? What satisfaction could he get out of having his prize handed to him? The chase, the struggle, toying with his prey before he sank his claws in and broke them, was half the fun of it all.

"You're starving, aren't you?"

He didn't mean for burgers and hot dogs.

Smiling, pleased with himself and with the stunned reaction that he had elicited, Josh peacefully turned around to slap some patties onto the grill and acted perfectly normally, as though nothing untoward had just happened. "How 'bout some drinks?" he asked airily, looking over his shoulder at Rae. "Grilling's hard work, you know."

"No!" he said instantly, nostrils flaring briefly. He didn't like what Josh was implying. What was most annoying was that he said it right after the whole grill thing so he could play innocent behind his stupid words.

Bastard. Somehow, Rae's "win" no longer felt like a win. Where the hell did he go wrong? Probably shouldn't have brought up dancing at all. Now he was no longer feeling jaunty enough to dance to the beat of the music so when he turned away to get drinks, he turned the music down.

What to drink, what to drink? Not the beer. Fuck that. He went straight for the tequila he saw Josh eyeballing earlier and he opened it, taking a long swig from it before pushing it against Josh's back.

"Here."

"Hey!"

Josh arched his back in surprise, not expecting the bottle to be rammed between his shoulderblades. He half-turned to reach for it with one hand, while the other held a pair of tongs that he had been using to turn the hot dogs.

"Straight for the hard stuff, huh?" He grinned at Rae before taking a swig. It went down a little jagged, with some burn, but the second mouthful was smoother. Tipping it back towards Rae, he returned to the task of grilling. Where had the music gone? Ah--Rae turned it down earlier. Not so cocky now, was he? Josh enjoyed the fact that he had taken Rae down a peg or two for quite some time.

The savory smell of meat cooking was mouth-watering; he was reminded that the one pulled pork sandwich had been more than two hours ago. He was actually pretty hungry, all things considered. "Okay come and get it~!" Josh was already munching on a hot dog, straight from the grill, while waving Rae over.

Then he heard the crunch of gravel underneath car wheels and the rumble of an engine. Mystified, Josh glanced out at the path leading up to the cabin and raised his brows at the taxi bumping along towards them. "Think it's Aldon?" he said to Rae as he pointed to the taxi.

"Beer is for bitches."

Anybody could drink beer. Fucking kids drank beer and thought they were cool shit. Tequila, though, that was a man's drink. Even as he took the bottle back and took another swig, he was grimacing. Nobody ever said it was good, though. Just hard. The way Rae wanted it.

He drank a little more before the hot dogs were done and then he was moving over, setting the bottle down, and sliding a hot dog between a bun completely slathered in ketchup when he heard it, too. Car. Outside. He looked to Josh for answers but Josh had questions, too.

"Probably. Maybe he already fucked it up with Ryland," he said with a grin.

But that was before he saw the driver getting out to pull a wheelchair from the trunk of the car. For a moment, it just didn't connect. And then...

"Alva?"

He immediately dropped the hot dog onto the counter and went for the door, yanking it open and squinting out into the bright sunlight.

"Alva? What are you doing here?"

"Surprise!"

Alva waved cheerfully at a shocked-looking Rae--and a sour-looking Josh who hovered just behind him, glaring his eyeballs out for all he was worth. Part of Alva quailed at the obvious air of hostility radiating from Josh. And he wasn't even near the taxi!

The entire way here, he'd been nervous. Once or twice he almost threw up, although that could have easily been the jostling and bumping around that they did while getting out here. Rae wasn't kidding when he said that the cabin was far away--it was so deep in the middle of nowhere.

But beyond, he saw a glint of water and his interest was almost immediately piqued. Alva loved the water; as a pup he couldn't be dragged out of the creek that he and his brother and Ryland all swam in. Now... it was harder to be near water, knowing that he couldn't splash around or even wade in it.

Still, being near a lake was nice. He let the driver deposit him into his chair and paid the man, then waved cautiously at Josh, who ignored him, turned right around and disappeared back inside. Alva winced at the cold reception. At least Rae looked happy to see him!

"It is!" he put his hands up, too, mostly because he was halfway to being drunk and he saw Alva doing it. He met up with him and leaned down to kiss him, staring at him as he pulled back, still in shock.

"It's such a surprise!"

He turned toward the door.

"Alva's here!" he said for Josh's benefit, as if Josh hadn't seen him get out of the car. Rae grabbed his things and once they were inside, he shut the door behind them. Where the hell was Josh now, anyway?

"So... we got food, music, drinks. Now we got you~!"

It really was like night and day, the way he felt around these two very different people. But it also could have been the alcohol.

"You want something to drink? Eat?"

Rae was enthusiastic and, by the smell of alcohol on him, also somewhat tipsy. Not drunk-tipsy, though. Overly excited tipsy and it was kind of cute, honestly, to see him so energetic. Even his wave was exaggerated! (But the kiss was nice.)

"Wow, it's a big cabin isn't it?" Alva exclaimed once they were inside, his head on a swivel. Josh's family's wealth definitely showed here. It was no mere shack in the middle of the woods. Was that a mini-fridge?

Alva smelled the burgers, though, and his stomach gave a small and rueful rumble. He'd been so nervous that he couldn't eat in the morning. Being here now, with Rae's obvious happiness at seeing him here, relieved him of some of that nervousness.

"Maybe a burger? It smells good!" He looked around. "Um. But Rae. Do you think Josh would mind me being here? I can just stay for a few hours and get another taxi home..."

"One burger coming right up~" He started to march over to the food but he stopped at the hushed and almost conspiratorial tone in Alva's voice. Rae also looked around. Still no sign of Josh now. Where did he go? Just a second ago, he was right there. He should know. He was staring at his ass while he cooked.

Hah.

Remembering the weirdly intense moment after his dance earlier--not even that long ago--Rae leaned in closer to Alva, fingers sliding up into his hair and gently tugging back in a bid to bring his lips closer to his. Their lips met and he was relieved to feel something. Electric.

"Who cares?" Rae's fingers caressed cheekbones and soft lips, almost as if to hush any of Alva's fears. "I'm glad you're here."

Alva hummed low and soft in the back of his throat as they kissed, arms winding around Rae's shoulders. So affectionate. And they had only been apart for less than three hours! Since they couldn't act like this normally, though--at least not in the presence of other werewolves in Rae's pack--Alva soaked up the attention like a sun-starved plant.

"I'm glad you're glad I'm here," he laughed as they broke off, stroking Rae's cheek absently. "But still. This is Josh's cabin."

Which seemed to be empty of Josh, although Alva could've sworn he heard a noise from upstairs. "Maybe I'll ask him later... after that burger." Okay, he chickened out. Josh was mean! And Alva didn't get shaken around like a pair of dice in that taxi just to get yelled at for being an unwanted guest! He smiled winningly up at Rae, knowing that he was essentially being a gate crasher but not feeling TOO bad about it. "And a beer?"

"Yeeeeeah so? He'll get over it."

He thought of Josh earlier. That weird moment between them. Maybe it was a good thing that Alva showed up. Things wouldn't be weird with him around--just uncomfortable because Rae didn't feel like he could be the way he was when it was just him and Alva. And Alva wasn't exactly Josh's favorite person.

Well too bad. He's here now so!

He gave Alva another kiss, a peck on the cheek before he scurried off to grab one of the patties and place it on top of a bun. He groaned. Beer. Beer is for bitches. He didn't say it this time. He only complied, grabbing one from the fridge and presenting Alva with his lunch at the table after he shoved the chair there away to make room for him.

"What made you decide to come up?" he asked.

"What?" Alva lifted his head in time to catch Rae's groan. He frowned. "Stop looking at me like that. Not everybody wants--what is that?--tequila with their burgers!"

A beer was perfectly acceptable! (And why was Rae hitting the bottle this early in the afternoon anyway?) Alva reached for the tequila bottle nonetheless and sniffed it. He made a face and pushed it away. Yech.

Wheeling himself over to the table that Rae freed up, Alva had just taken a bite of the burger when he heard that all-too-familiar voice, in that all-too-familiar sharp and ironic tone, "I thought you said beer was for bitches, Rae." Alva choked and hastened to drink some beer to clear the obstruction in his throat.

There was Josh, coming down the stairs, looking non-too-pleased.

Ugh. He hated it when his own words came back to haunt him. Eyeing the bottle of tequila that Alva eschewed, he thought about taking yet another swig. How many had he had, anyway? That was the problem with drinking straight from the bottle. It was hard to tell just how drunk he really was. (But when he was drunk, it didn't much matter--he wouldn't know anyway.)

"I was just playing around," he said, turning steely eyes on Josh, who really did look like he was this close to going out and wrestling a honey badger just to relieve his annoyance.

"What were you doing?"

"None of your business," Josh said archly, treating Alva to one of his famous disdainful looks.

Alva was finding the burger extremely interesting. He nibbled it and kept his eyes on Rae's stomach--since that was eye-level for him. Now seemed like a bad time to tell Rae that he came to the cabin to save him from a weekend alone with Josh. Yeah... not the appropriate time at all.

"I'm going out for a walk." Josh barely looked at them as he swept out the door, leaving a decidedly awkward silence in his wake.

"That went better than I thought," Alva piped up suddenly, after he had left. But he deposited the burger and beer onto the table and then leaned forward to hug Rae around the middle, letting out a sigh. "He's going to murder me in my sleep, Rae, I can feel it."

"Okay..."

Rae watched Josh sweep out. The two of them could definitely be hostile friends but he thought they were doing just fine earlier. Now this. Alva showed up and Josh turned into Mr. Lone Wolf. Rae rolled his eyes slightly and his hand reached for the tequila bottle.

"I wouldn't let him," Rae reassured Alva. Besides, Alva would be beside him--he assumed--so he'd have to get through Rae anyway. Still, he couldn't really argue with the idea itself. He wouldn't put it past Josh to do something to Alva, especially during a full moon. Good thing there wasn't one tonight. Somehow, that didn't make Rae feel any better about the situation.

He toyed with the bottle and looked over at Alva.

"Just ignore him. He's just an elitist asshole." Which... so was Rae but he made a special exception for Alva.

The thing was, even though they were both half-joking, there was still a pervading air of tension left hanging after Josh's departure. Neither of them could be certain that Josh wouldn't... leap on Alva and tear his throat out in the middle of the night. At least, Alva couldn't be sure. But with Josh gone, he could breathe easy for a little while now.

"My hero~ I'll definitely let you be my meat shield," Alva said semi-teasingly, with a small laugh as he reached for his burger and recommenced eating. Rae contemplated the bottle of tequila like it held the secret to everlasting life and Alva... discreetly poked it further away along the tabletop.

"But about this... beer is for bitches thing..." He poked the bottle a little further away and then took a conspicuous swig of the beer.

At first, he laughed, because he was feeling pretty good with the alcohol in his system and Alva was teasing him and he looked pretty cute. But then he had to oh-so-subtly push the bottle of tequila away... while bringing up the beer was for bitches thing.

"It was just a thing I said." Rae shrugged. "I mean... I don't think any less of you for drinking it."

Which was kind of a lie... but nobody said he was especially honest all the time, even when he was half drunk. He didn't think less of Alva, anyway, so it wasn't a full lie. He just... thought beer was for bitches, that was all. It was a sissy drink. Even the fruitiest mixed drink was harder than a beer.

At least it wasn't light, though.

"Just, if you're trying to get drunk, beer is the worst way."

Honestly, Alva didn't care if Rae thought beer was for bitches. He wasn't a bitch so it couldn't be true. He just liked watching Rae sweat; it satisfied that little streak of fox-like impishness inside, that he used to be known for before the Incident. Alva used to be mischief personified, or so his mother told him.

"Oh are you the expert on getting drunk? Are you drunk right now?" He wanted to laugh at Rae's discomfort but he kept a straight face, looking serious and maybe even a little indignant. "What else do you say about me behind my back?"

"No!" He rubbed the tip of his nose and his cheeks felt slightly flushed. Now he felt awful, since Alva was watching him. Then, "Maybe. Yeah, a little. I don't know how much I drank out of that bottle. Josh had some, too."

Why did he feel guilty about it? They were just having a couple of drinks, like friends did. He had known Josh since he was practically a whelp so it didn't mean anything. The three of them--himself, Aldon, and Josh--they had an understanding. They didn't do that kind of stuff together.

But then they also had an understanding about shifters that ended up thrown out when Aldon started seeing Ryland and Rae started seeing Alva.

"I don't say stuff behind your back," he said, shifting uncomfortably. Now he really wanted that tequila. "I defend you when Josh talks..." He trailed off. "Never mind, just know..."

He reached out and took Alva's hand in his and leaned in to kiss his fingers, his knuckles. "I love you."

Well gee, if Rae was going to be that serious about it...

Alva felt bad but let him go on, a slightly perplexed look stealing over his expression. Rae was acting a little guilty right now--there were the usual tells. The way he was too quick to claim that he wasn't drunk--which meant he was, even if just a little, the fidgeting, the bits and pieces of sentences leading nowhere.

Either he took Alva very seriously or he had done something bad. Alva didn't know what could have happened, though. It wasn't like he and Josh got along particularly well, so the usual fears that one might have had didn't really occur to Alva. Besides, he wasn't the jealous type--and he and Rae had been together for 5 years so obviously they were committed to one another.

"I love you too, you big softie," Alva laughed, his heart softening at the sweet gesture. He ran his free hand up along Rae's arm, onto the back of his neck to pull him closer. "I was only teasing, I know you wouldn't say anything about me behind my back." His smiling lips met Rae's briefly, fondly.

Then, somewhat more mischievously, he put his lips to Rae's ear to whisper in what he imagined was a chilling voice, "Cause you know I'd totally destroy you if you did. I'd take you out at the knees and-and run you over with my wheelchair!"

See, he could be a not asshole when he wanted to be. Like right now. Something about Alva generally brought out his softer side, though. It had always been like that, even after he knew Alva was a fox shifter. Not only that, but he was crippled.

Never in a million years did he think he'd be in a long term relationship with somebody he would have mercilessly teased before. But it was Alva. He got all the exceptions.

His smile was fond as Alva drew him closer and kissed him. Then, for a second, he thought Alva was serious. It was the part about being run over by a wheelchair that clued him in. He laughed and turned his head so their noses brushed.

"Liar," he declared.

Alva scrunched his nose at Rae and then tried to look dangerous, slitting his eyes and pinching his lips together into a grim line. "No, I'm a cold-blooded killer, really I am! I've been practicing while you weren't looking!"

Cold-blooded killers probably didn't have to assert that they were, indeed, cold-blooded killers. And they probably didn't need practice. Alva laughed at the mental image of himself leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, all run over by his wheelchair. Okay, maybe not. He wasn't the killing type, as a human or as a fox.

Rae, though, and definitely Josh... They were predators, Rae in his wolf form and Josh--Josh was a predator all around. Alva was glad that he had left. The air felt lighter immediately and he and Rae could talk and joke and be affectionate without a pair of baleful judging eyes on them.

"But don't tell anybody, okay? It's just between us~"

Alva's 'mass murderer' look melted into a warm smile as he lifted his lips to Rae's again, in a less-than-innocent kiss. Hmm... how long would Josh be gone, he wondered... even as one hand slipped indecently low. Alva was not as innocent as he looked--not anymore. He used to be a little shy with Rae but after five years together, there wasn't much that he was afraid to try. That was one of the nice things about being with Rae--he made Alva bolder, and freed him from what would have been a very lonely existence.

"Mmhm..." His eyes closed as Alva's hand moved and then he was smirking, like it was a given that his assassin boyfriend would kiss him and then assert himself with his hand over sensitive body parts. Leaning into Alva, he swept a hand up through his hair.

"And who am I going to tell?"

Josh was stupid. An idiot. And wrong. He always came to this foolish conclusion that just because a man could not use his legs meant he was incapable of feeling love or romance or lust. Like he couldn't use his body at all. It drove Rae insane, constantly having to defend his boyfriend from all those annoying verbal assaults.

At the start, it was true that Alva was shy. Rae had to push quite a bit to get them where they were. But five years. Five years was a long time to be with somebody, to learn their quirks and their interests. It was nice to have that, instead of person after person.

But he'd never say that part out loud to the others. They would just laugh their asses off at him.

"So.... the room is upstairs," he said. And this place was not wheelchair accessible, unfortunately. "Want me to give you a lift?"

"People on the street maybe," Alva smiled as he tilted his head into Rae's touch. His scalp tingled where Rae's fingers gently slid through his hair, a highly pleasant sensation which sent a shiver through him.

As Rae mentioned a room, Alva's glance slid up the stairs. "A lift would be great," he said softly, ruefully. This damn wheelchair... and his damned condition. What Alva wouldn't have given to have a working body. A whole body, a normal one.

But these thoughts were commonplace and fleeting; they came as quickly at they went, leaving only a slight melancholy in their wake. Alva slipped his arms around Rae's shoulders to facilitate being picked up.

"We'd better hurry though. Josh might be back soon." He nuzzled against Rae but held off on doing anything too affectionate in case he distracted Rae too much and caused them both to take a tumble back down the stairs.

Right, like he was going to run around telling everybody on the nonexistent street out there about Alva's little secret dark side. Hah! He'd have to jog a long way down to even find another person... and the closest person other than Alva would be Josh. Not somebody who found Alva particularly intimidating.

"Hope the door locks," Rae said with a grin. He lifted Alva up with ease and started toward the steps.

He did glance at the front door, half expecting to be caught immediately by Josh. But he was probably out there hunting on his own. His whole weekend seemed ruined by the inclusion of Rae's boyfriend, which hardly seemed fair. Rae didn't think he would be so hostile toward any lovers of Josh's.

It wasn't quite so easy getting Alva up the stairs and he rued the day this cabin didn't come with an elevator up to the upper floor, which was really more of a loft with a couple of rooms.

Inside the room he'd dropped his luggage in, Rae set Alva down on the bed.

"So," he said to make conversation, "what made you decide to come up here to surprise me?"

"I came to rescue you from a weekend with Josh," Alva said easily now that aforementioned Josh was out of hearing range. He added, with a little smile, "And to make sure both of you come back from the trip alive."

There was a strong possibility of one of them killing the other, if past interactions were anything to go by. Then again, all that Alva saw of Josh was the ultra spiteful and aggressive side. He had a feeling that it might have been his presence which set Josh off--Aldon's descriptions of Josh was nothing like what Alva usually saw.

He leaned back slightly on the bed, watching Rae with an admittedly coy gaze. Maybe Rae rubbed some people the wrong way but to Alva, he was always sweet. It was strange, how he could be barking and getting in someone's face one moment, then turn around and hold him so gently. Truth be told, Alva liked the fact that he was special--then again, who didn't?

He was different around Rae, too, though. There weren't many people that Alva opened up to after the trauma of his childhood. He was afraid to let others in but with Rae that seemed to happen naturally.

Reaching out, he pulled at Rae's belt loop to get him to come closer. "Plus... you had to leave in a hurry this morning and I didn't get to finish saying good-bye."

He couldn't help smirking. So, this was a rescue mission, was it? Alva wanted to rescue him from his awful friend, did he? Rae understood the underlying concern, though. Josh and Rae together, alone? It was cause for worry. Without Aldon there to temper them, it was quite possible one of them would come away from this trip the worse for wear. (And of course, Rae thought it would be Josh--he considered himself the strongest of their trio... even if they weren't all in agreement about that.)

"Smart," he murmured, moving closer to Alva. The way he looked at him, lying back in the bed like that... it stirred the beast within.

Some people said eh, five years was a long time. Rae wasn't bored though. Sometimes, he missed the rush of somebody new but at the same time, he could replace that feeling with other ones. Rae could just as easily get butterflies from jumping high distances or starting a fight he wasn't sure he'd win or anything dangerous but exciting.

"You didn't," he said, voice growing rougher as he was pulled forward. His hands slid over Alva's face and he leaned in even as he brought Alva's pretty little face closer. When their lips met, he still felt that shiver in his chest. That was the difference between jumping off cliffs and kissing somebody he was one hundred percent comfortable with. Different pleasures.

Still, he deepened the kiss, pushing Alva back against the bed as he straddled him.

"And now we have to make up for that and say hello."

Alva did have a thing about saving people. Supernatural people, that was. The humans he wasn't so fond of, and while he wouldn't let one bleed out in front of him, he wasn't going above and beyond to help, either.

Falling back as he was pushed, Alva tried to hold on to the kiss for as long as he could. He loved Rae, and he loved everything about him from his daredevil streak to his softer and gentler side that few people knew even existed. Hand-in-hand with loving Rae was the fact that he wanted to please him, and while Alva was lacking in some areas, he made up for it in willingness and eagerness. There were creative ways to be intimate that didn't just involve two men in a heap together.

Besides, it wasn't as though Alva lost all interest in sex or stopped feeling desire towards Rae just because he was paralyzed. He couldn't move but he could still want him--sometimes very badly. Erogenous zones that he never knew he had were found through patient and careful exploration. Alva's disability brought them closer together, really, rather than further apart.

"My debt is piling up," he whispered with a soft laugh as they parted for breath, his lips moving against Rae's. Alva's hands slid low without hesitation, and groped with even less shame once they cleared the barrier of Rae's jeans and delved underneath fabric and cloth. He flashed another coy smile up at Rae. "Lose the pants."

See, the thing that Josh forgot when he looked at Alva was the fact that he was a fox. And in general, foxes were quite clever. They were smart and creative and cunning. It wasn't just a generalization--it seemed like the whole lot of them shared a lot of those features.

Alva was also mischievous. That dangerous little twinkle in his eye was enough for Rae to eagerly do just as he was told. It didn't matter what his friends thought. They didn't need to lurk in the back of his head, judging him for his every move. When he was with Alva, he knew he was with somebody who loved him.

Rae loved him right back too. It was all kind of crazy. If he didn't love Alva, though, he wouldn't be with him. He couldn't stay with somebody that didn't drive him a little crazy. All those months of questioning himself and hating himself and hiding his dirty little secret were worth it for the five years they'd stuck it out together afterward.

"Don't worry. I think you can take care of it... all... right... now..."

Okay so the last few words faltered because of the way Alva touched him. It sent a rush through his body and he was on fire. Alva was good with his hands. Really good. Dextrous. Arching into his touch, he fell forward, one hand bracing himself against the bed as he kissed Alva deeply. Then he moved back to remove the pants, tossing them aside along with the rest of his clothes.

Once, Alva was shy in bed. He had trouble even looking at Rae's naked body; it made him feel strangely hot and he didn't know what to do, how to act on the desires that he felt. He was also very young when he first met--and rescued--Rae. Only eighteen, he hadn't had much experience, especially with his condition pushing him further into hiding.

Rae was patient with him, though, and guided him through his inexperience. Now, Alva was the one driving Rae a little crazy--he could see it in the dark of Rae's eyes and he felt it in how his lover moved against him.

He liked that--that little tiny bit of control, of power over Rae who normally liked to be large and in charge. Like with most things, Alva was pleased to be the exception and his own dark eyes gazed hungrily, longingly, adoringly up at Rae.

As soon as the clothes flew off, his hands were back on Rae's body, finding all the sensitive places that lips and teeth and tongue couldn't reach. Conveniently, Rae had brought himself down close. Alva kissed him back with a sharp nip at the end to the swell of his lower lip.

One hand drifted around to grasp Rae, fondling and stroking and squeezing. His thumb slid over and circled the sensitive tip. The coy smile playing about his lips turned a shade wicked; Alva was a fox, through and through, just like his cousin Ryland. He couldn't help the fact that he liked to tease, to be playful around the people that he loved--and there was no one he loved more than Rae.

What Alva couldn't do with his own wasted body, he could make up for with other things. Like fingers. He left off stroking Rae to reach around, parting him, probing gently and teasingly, purposely avoiding that one magical spot deep inside. Five years was a long time to learn one man's body, to be able to play it like a fine-tuned instrument. Alva had nothing to prove but being here in Josh's cabin, he needed to demonstrate that he was a capable lover, even if Josh was nowhere near the bedroom. It was the principle of the thing.

Sometimes... Just sometimes, he found himself wondering what kind of person Alva would be if he could only move his limbs. They were just a part of Alva, really, and Rae didn't pity him. He'd never pitied him. But he understood that a part of Alva had been taken away--by filthy humans.

Being with Alva opened his eyes. Once, he saw shifters as little more than lesser beings. He still sort of did but when he was with Alva, all he saw was another person. More than that--he saw his lover. If he might be so bold, the love of his life.

He knew it ticked off his friends, especially Josh, but he couldn't help being smitten with Alva. It was hard not to fall for him when he admired everything about him. At first, it was something to laugh at--a crippled fox shifter. Ha. Ha. Ha.

But then he realized that there was a hell of a lot more to Alva than that. He was smart, bright, strong. He was tougher than he looked. He was clever as hell. And he knew what he was doing now. Maybe when he was younger and shy he didn't but he sure tried and that was what brought Rae around. Alva wasn't giving in to fate. He wasn't a victim and he wasn't going to let anybody see him that way.

So it pissed Rae off when Josh talked about him. But Josh didn't know. He didn't know anything. Sometimes Rae wondered if he was incapable of deeper feelings or if he just hadn't been opened to it yet.

But no Josh. No Josh right now. Only Alva.

Alva really did control a lot of their sexual encounters. He knew what to say, knew what to do. Rae's entire body felt heated and flushed under his ministrations and he wasn't hesitant to let him know he enjoyed it. Soft moans passed his lips as he leaned closer, kissing him as his heart burst.

"I'm so glad you're here," he whispered into his throat before he kissed it, before his teeth grazed over delicate skin. He arched his body into Alva's hand. For a moment, all he saw were stars. He panted, this time his lips pausing against Alva's pretty collarbone.

"Oh god," he moaned. There. His body ardently moved to feel that sensation. Again. Again. He lifted his head and kissed the side of Alva's head fiercely before he came in a blaze of heat and then he turned his head so that he could breathe his lover in.

"Alva..."

"Me too, Rae," Alva whispered back softly, sighing at the tingle that Rae's lips and teeth left along his throat. He was sensitive there at the crook of his neck and every graze of teeth against that particular spot drew out a quiet moan. Alva's lower body no longer responded but it didn't mean that he couldn't feel pleasure--there were other spots now that took the place of his wasted appendages, becoming hyper-responsive, forming new erogenous zones. It was a little like taking away one sense, only to have another heightened by the absence of the first.

Knowing that Rae enjoyed his ministrations was another source of pleasure for Alva, whose ego wasn't quite as big as some people's, but which enjoyed the boost anyway. Rae was so responsive; he seemed into the moment, into being with Alva. But Rae was always like that. He threw himself headalong into a thing, determined to stick it out (for better or worse). That stubborn streak was probably what kept them together for so long. That and being in love, which blindsided Alva as much as it seemed to have done to Rae.

He watched Rae avidly, mesmerized by the toss of his head and the fall of his hair, at the way he writhed and moved. Rae was without peer in Alva's eyes. Even the sound of his voice stoked the heat of arousal inside of Alva to unbearable heights. He stopped teasing, brushing the sensitive spot that made Rae move wantonly into him until he finally let go, and Alva felt as though he did too, drifting and floating on heady feelings of love and affection.

When he finally came down, he was smiling and drew Rae closer. Alva liked to think that he wasn't needy but he clung to Rae, holding him tightly and possessively. Josh was wrong about them. All of their critics, they didn't know anything about love--or they would understand how Rae could stay with Alva all these years, and vice versa.

Sometimes, he really wished he could fuck Alva. Like really fuck him, but he knew that Alva wouldn't feel it and it would be pointless. It wouldn't pleasure Rae, who needed his partner to reciprocate. It wouldn't pleasure Alva, certainly. But that was a small price to pay for having Alva.

There was nothing like the rest of what they had. He could still give Alva pleasure by nuzzling, kissing, breathing against skin that still felt sensation. Like he told Josh, it was a matter of creativity and he liked to think between the two of them, he and Alva had plenty of that to go around.

As he rolled over to lie next to Alva, he let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. His chest moved up and down as he caught his breath. Slowly, he looked over at Alva and smiled. Shifting to his side, he moved a hand over Alva's stomach, over his abdomen, then pulled him into an embrace. He kissed his temple. There was a bite to Rae, it was true, but it was rare for Alva to see it.

His friends, though...

His gaze slid toward the door but he heard nothing downstairs or in the cabin at all. Just the two of them, breathing together.

"I don't think we'll ever be even." He was harkening back to their talk of debts. Alva claimed he was in debt because they weren't able to finish what they started before he left for this trip. But then... Rae basically owed Alva his life. He was the one in debt--but he spoke of it affectionately.

"Good thing nobody's keeping track," Alva murmured, smiling into Rae's shoulder where he had lain his head. He stroked Rae's chest slowly, savoring the quiet moment after sex when they could simply lay with each other and be.

As far as Alva was concerned, they were even. He might have saved Rae's life by sheltering him from the hunter who injured him, but Rae did so much for Alva in return. He gave Alva a reason for living again, when before... Alva was in such a terrible place. It was bad enough being a cripple on its own, but he was also a useless shifter, traditionally seen as not even being worthy to join a clan. Their populations were dwindling, as they were being hunted to extinction, and someone who couldn't even pass on his genes wasn't welcomed.

In many ways, Alva had more to thank Rae for than Rae had to thank him for. Lifting his head, he gazed at Rae thoughtfully. The rest of the cabin was quiet; wherever Josh had gotten to, he evidently wasn't keen on returning anytime soon. That suited Alva just fine, not to have somebody giving him the death glare every two seconds.

"I've been going to the library a lot lately," he said at last, now toying with the damp strands of hair at Rae's temple, stroking his fingers through Rae's hair and then caressing his jaw. "Somebody said there might be a way to heal my body with magic. Like a spell, or a potion. I thought I'd look into it."

Rae looked right back at Alva, wondering what was going on behind those contemplative eyes. He looked so serious that for a moment, Rae was almost worried about what he'd say next.

Library? Yeah, okay. That sounded like a thing Alva might do. That didn't seem out of the ordinary though... At least, not up until the part where he was looking into magic. Spells. That sort of thing.

"Well," he said slowly. "I mean, there's white magic, right? Witches who heal people?"

Rae heard of them but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of them around, even though he thought they'd be in demand. If they could do all those healing spells or whatever, why couldn't they reverse Alva's paralysis? Rae edged up on his elbow, heart beating a little faster.

"What did you find?"

"That's what I thought too," Alva nodded. A skilled white witch could mend the severed nerves, bringing his lower body back to life again. Modern medicine couldn't yet but surely magic could. Otherwise what good was it for?

Healing magic was rare, though, and a procedure of that scope and magnitude would surely take a lot out of any white witch. Alva frowned gently in thought. He had yet to track a witch down, too, and even if he did, there was no guarantee that he or she would help Alva out.

"I haven't been able to find much," he said quietly, sighing as he traced absent patterns against Rae's arm. "There aren't that many books and the ones I find are too complicated." He could try to brew a potion by himself but what if he did it wrong? The risks were too great for a total beginner like Alva to attempt some complex potion to use on himself.

"I wouldn't want to mess up a potion and end up with six legs!"

Sounded like boring and frustrating work but at the same time, it could be Alva's ticket to a better life. Even though he acted like everything was fine, it was obvious that it bothered him to be left out of things all because of what happened when he was a little kid.

Fucking hunters.

He'd murder every one of them he came across for the things they put them all through. What gave them the right? They were scared and useless, soft but for the weapons they used.

"Don't," he said emphatically, grabbing onto Alva's hand even as he burst into laughter and lowered his head against Alva's shoulder. He looked up after a moment, adopting a severe expression.

"Don't you dare try and brew something yourself! If you do fuck up, how're we supposed to fix it? I'm sure we can find some witch somewhere. They're all over Hazleton, right?"

He paused.

"Although how do you go about that shit? I mean... it's not like we can put an ad in the paper or whatever..."

"We can go door-to-door!" Alva said with pretend enthusiasm, wrapping his free arm around Rae to yank him back down onto the bed. Yuck. That sounded awful, knocking on doors and asking if anyone could use white magic or brew a potion. Laughingly he nuzzled against Rae.

"Actually... there's a man who goes to the library a lot too, and we take out the same kinds of books. I think he might be a witch."

The handsome man seemed rather sad to Alva. There was something in the way he kept sighing, as though he had a great weight on his shoulders. Alva never went over to speak to him, but he watched him curiously when the opportunity presented itself, wondering why he was so sad, and what caused his melancholy mood.

"Would it be weird to go up and ask? I don't want to look like a weirdo."

Rae laughed at the absurdity of going door to door looking for a white witch. He could only imagine what the non-supernatural part of Hazleton would think. Also, the white witches themselves probably wouldn't out themselves. That would be weird. Feeling warm and affectionate and a little dizzy with alcohol, Rae snuggled up closer to Alva and smiled broadly against his shoulder.

"He could be somebody looking for one, too."

That would be kinda funny. Two people looking for a witch and checking out the same books. Rae wondered if the other person noticed that Alva was checking out all the same stuff. Could be stalking Alva. That kinda annoyed him but it probably wasn't true.

"We should do it together," he said. Not because he was jealous or anything. Pfft.

He could have been in search of a witch, too. Alva thought of that; maybe the man wanted to use magic to ease whatever saddened him, that was a distinct possibility. He found himself growing more and more curious about the stranger in the library but his interest was innocent. After all, nobody could come close to Rae.

Alva hugged him close, glad for his warmth and presence, to drive away the chill. "I'm not sure you'll like sitting in a quiet library all day, flipping through books," he smiled, with a hint of teasing in his tone. Rae was energetic; Alva was calm. Only one of them was suited to doing research and it wasn't Rae.

"Weren't you the one who said that books gave you allergies?"

"Not that part!"

Rae wrinkled his nose. Alva was right--there was no way he'd want to be caught dead sitting around with a bunch of dusty old books. However, he still thought he could be of some use to Alva. Like the part where he wanted to meet the other person. (Plus, it meant Rae would be there to keep any funny business from happening between them!)

"I could help you ask that guy what he's doing."

"Oh... I see..." said Alva slowly, looking at Rae with a swift twitch of the lips. Now, why on Earth would Rae want to be there with him just to ask someone if they were a witch? It wasn't as if the man would spring at Alva and try to kill him in a public setting like a library. (Plus the question was innocent enough.)

Somehow--his little fox senses told him--he didn't think Rae was doing that purely to be helpful. Besides which, Alva could never give up an opportunity to tease Rae and, well, it was silly to be jealous of a stranger! Being Aldon's friend, Alva was exposed to jealousy more often than he would have liked, especially since he was the go-to expert on Ryland, apparently.

"I don't think that's necessary," he said airily, settling back. "He looks like a nice guy." Alva's smile was bright. "I've been looking for an excuse to talk to him, actually!"

"You better not be thinking about him naked," Rae warned as he laid down beside Alva. Who was this mystery guy, anyway? This person that caught Alva's eye? It couldn't just be some old dude, could it? Although Rae hoped it was, he somehow doubted it. Alva was being too mischievous about it.

"Or think he's better looking than me," he added with a yawn as he curled up closer to Alva. He smiled in contentment, his fingers lightly strumming over Alva's sides, over his abdomen and his chest. As Alva had done, he created invisible patterns, loving and affectionate patterns.

He yawned again and closed his eyes.

"Barely got any sleep," he murmured, voice growing far away as he began to fall asleep. This was just what he needed--a little bit of alcohol in the belly, his boyfriend, a good time, and now this... a nap. His eyes closed and he sighed. Nothing else in the world could make him more content than in that moment.