Lucky Sevens

[Greggory Lennox]

Here it was: the dreaded "how did it happen?" question that anybody would ask in Aldon's place. In fact, if he was honest with himself, Gregg wanted to know how it happened to Aldon, too. Was he born this way or did it happen similarly to the way it happened to Gregg?

What he did know was that if he was going to lie, he'd better stick as close to the truth as possible. Half truths were more believable and less annoying to have to remember than some outlandish fairy tale.

"I was with some friends when we came upon some of your... some werewolves. My friends got away unscathed."

And he hadn't, obviously.

[Aldon Huang]

"You were the only one that got bitten?!"

Ouch! Talk about bad luck! Aldon made a sympathetic noise as he rocked back against his seat, shaking his head. It had to be admitted that he didn't feel bad so much about the biting itself as he did about the fact that Gregg was the only one who suffered the consequences. What did they say? Misery loved company, didn't it?

"But hey! Now you get cool--" He lowered his voice, since a woman was starting to look at him funny, talking about being bitten and all. "Now you get cool super strength and stuff, you know? It's not all bad being one of us!"

Like the fact that they were ultra strong. Some healed more quickly and all of them had heightened senses, which made a lot of activities far more enjoyable--like eating, or... certain other activities.

[Greggory Lennox]

After the attack, Gregg kept the wound to himself. At first, he thought it was little more than a nick but the wound seemed to be infected. Now it was a scar, a mark on his upper arm that he hoped nobody had spied so far. His fellow hunters would know that mark, the shape of that bite anywhere.

"I was already strong."

His muscles weren't for show. He actually used them for something more than modeling and looking good. Eyeing Aldon, he still wondered what his status was amongst the wolves. Not an alpha but he did seem to have some leadership qualities to him.

And he was feral, a previously unheard of branch, at least to his group of hunters. Sure, they realized some were tougher but just struck that up to time spent as a wolf. Older vampires were stronger so the same likely held for werewolves.

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon's gaze flicked admiringly over Gregg. Yeah. He was probably strong before being bitten. "Well. Yes, clearly." A flirtatious smile hovered on his lips as he touched one of Gregg's biceps. Yep. Muscle. They felt nice too, wrapped around him--he distinctly remembered feeling warm and safe when he woke up.

"But now you'll be even stronger! Just be careful when you shake hands, cause I totally broke a guy's fingers once." In his defense, he had been totally distracted and wasn't paying attention to how hard he squeezed. But it did sorta give him a bad-ass reputation... as someone who went around breaking the hands of innocent people.

As the bus trundled into the outskirts of town, Aldon took his attention off of Gregg's well-formed arms. "Almost there," he sang, ridiculously happy about the thought of going home to a nice, hot shower and a change of clothes. Also he needed his phone--badly. What if a certain someone tried to get in touch with him? (Not likely, but... still.)

"Do you have any brothers? A twin maybe?" It was time for personal questions! Aldon did love to get to know people and he loved talking about himself. New people meant a lot of both, which was why he kept chattering in Gregg's ear until it was time to get off the bus, and he bounded off energetically onto the sidewalk in front of his apartment.

[Greggory Lennox]

Since he doubted he was going to be breaking any fingers or hands while being polite any time soon, Gregg mostly shrugged off the advice. He noticed the gaze on his well formed eyes and had he been one of his siblings, he would have flexed slightly for the attention. He didn't. He wasn't one of them. Instead, he turned his gaze out the window.

Close, huh? He read some of the street signs as they passed them. They were close to the area where one of the other hunters lived, too. Elm... Not on Elm but he lived nearby.

"Seven brothers," he said as he stepped off the bus with Aldon. He watched the bus take off. Elm Street. They were here.

[Aldon Huang]

"SEVEN?!" Aldon's voice had gone up an octave. "Seven brothers?" And here he thought he had it bad enough, fighting with Roe and his other siblings for the attention of their parents but. Geez. Seven.

"And all of you guys survived living in one household?"

Seven guys living under one roof... The testosterone must have gone through the roof. It felt like somebody would've gotten killed, or at least severely injured. Even Aldon, who was by no means a physical person, sometimes felt the need to strangle Roe--and they didn't even live together anymore.

As he led Gregg towards the front doors, he shook his head. "Well no wonder you're all tough. Are you the oldest?"

[Greggory Lennox]

Seven. Seven brothers. It did sound like an absurd number to the uninitiated. Gregg used to wonder why the hell his parents kept going after the first one, since his oldest brother was a Class A asshole, but then... to them, he was their precious baby and his mother just kept right on having more of them. Babies. That became assholes.

"Youngest."

Did he seem like an oldest kid? He wondered if the youngest in smaller families were more spoiled. They were often referred to as the babies, which wasn't normally a word associated with adult Gregg.

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon laughed rather delightedly. "You're the baby?!"

Really... Gregg didn't look like the youngest of any family. Maybe it was just the air of capability about him, or the stern look that never hovered too far away from his face, or that certain intense Look in his eyes that might have warded off a far less friendly--or maybe foolish--individual.

But Aldon, unsuspecting of his new friend's real identity, was far less wary of him than he should have been. It was also because of the fact that they had spent the whole night together; it created a certain bond between them as wolves that carried through as humans. He led Gregg to the elevator and jammed a thumb onto the button to call it down to the lobby.

"I can't..." He looked up at Gregg and scrutinized him with almost exaggerated seriousness. "Nope. Can't see you as the baby."

[Greggory Lennox]

As with most people who learned of his place in the birth alignment, it seemed that Aldon found it amusing that he was the youngest. If one saw him alone, then yes... it did seem strange. One didn't always connect the people they saw to families. Gregg could have a wife and five kids and people would still disconnect that from what they saw when they looked at him. What they anticipated.

It seemed that Aldon was even trying to imagine it. He would never quite get it if he didn't know him as a youngster or saw the pictures and photos. He wasn't born with height, muscles, and tattoos, after all.

The older boys used to knock him around, which was great practice for the real world. When he began hunting, he found his purpose.

Although he seemed calm, he was still tumultuous beneath the skin. His purpose had been ripped from him but he was struggling to hold onto it. There was still the plan to sell out the wolves and their hideouts once he was in with them. He had that; it was still a branch of his purpose.

The problem was, he knew that wouldn't last forever but the lycanthropy would.

He stepped into the elevator and silently waited for Aldon.

[Aldon Huang]

Not even a twitch of the lips! Sheesh, talk about serious. Aldon didn't know anybody as serious as Gregg. It was fascinating and quite novel; usually he managed to get at least a giggle out of someone. What did it take to make Gregg laugh, he wondered? Was he ticklish anywhere?

Or was that cheap? Aldon wasn't above playing dirty, though. He slid into the elevator with a secretive smile and pushed the button for his floor. Nobody hopped on with them--perfect.

As the elevator ascended with a jolt, he snuck a hand over and lightly wiggled his fingertips against Gregg's side. Just. Just to test his theory. Gregg couldn't be a robot; something had to amuse him!

[Greggory Lennox]

He watched Aldon press the button for his floor and he tucked the information away. While he was still pondering over the details of his plans, he didn't even notice that Aldon was sidling up beside him--or that his hand was coming at his bare torso.

The touch was so unexpected that he actually jolted physically, contorting before he stepped away from Aldon with a mild glare.

"What," he asked, grasping Aldon's wrist to stop him from attempting to do it again. "Are you trying to do?"

[Aldon Huang]

"Nothing!" Aldon's eyes widened innocently as he gave his captured wrist an experimental tug. "Just... wondered if you were ticklish," he added somewhat sheepishly, though he wasn't really sorry. He may have looked it, but he regretted nothing!

Although, disappointingly, Gregg didn't burst out laughing the way he anticipated. Maybe his ticklish spot existed somewhere else. Since he had been caught, Aldon abandoned his plan--for now--but eventually he'd get a laugh out of Gregg. The elevator had taken them up, anyway, and soon they were slowing to a halt.

"This is my floor!" He jabbed at the opening elevator doors in the hopes of distracting Gregg from his sudden attack. "Come on! Hot shower! I need it! Right now!"

[Greggory Lennox]

Gregg was.

He was ticklish.

That was why he contorted in such a fashion. It was also why he grasped Aldon's wrist to stop him from continuing down that road. Years of inking his body didn't quite numb that reflex in his body but he was no longer a child. Laughter wasn't the immediate reaction anymore.

He let go of Aldon as he pulled away, having no reason to hold onto him any longer. Plus, a hot shower sounded more than amazing at the moment. After a night sleeping in the forest, he wanted nothing more than to soothe his aching muscles with hot water.

"Me too."