#aqua needs a nap so badly you guys

[sammystep]

No One Lives Forever- CH5

(AO3 link)

Stardust Crusader Wolf Pack AU

[From the beginning- CH1]

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You wake up to a gentle tapping on your arm and the smell of home cooked food wafting around the cabin. You sit up with a yawn, lifting yourself off the man who rescued you and freeing his legs. Looking down to your bandaged leg you can tell the nap (and the pain meds) really helped numb the area, at least until you’d have to move. The man – Jotaro, his name’s Jotaro- looks down at you from where he’s standing, blue-green eyes lingering on your wounded leg as well before he offers a hand to help you up.

You can’t help the slight whine of pain that slips from your mouth, but quickly rally yourself and shift your weight to your good leg. You refuse to let go of Jotaro’s arm; you know you won’t make it far without leaning on him. He seems to be a man of few words but Jotaro understands exactly what’s going on and holds his arm firm and steady as you grip it with both hands and hobble forward to the other room where the meal has been set out.

You make it to the dining room with his help and freeze when you realize how many men are here in the house. You make an effort to straighten up and lean less on Jotaro as you both make it to the empty seats. You realize no one’s started in on the food yet as Jotaro starts heap food onto his plate. They were waiting for him to start- oh god, he’s the alpha, isn’t he? Good thing you seem to be on his good side already. Less risk of being forced out of the pack’s territory and into the path of more hunters if you had Jotaro on your side.

The redhead at the table seems ready to burst with questions, you can tell he’s doing his very best to be polite about it at least, not like the guy with the silver mohawk. Your explanation and apology seem to set everyone on edge, but they’re not throwing out accusations at you, so it must be the fact that there were wolf hunters in their territory.

It’s quiet for a minute until the older man- Joseph- regales you all with a story from his youth, how he once… crashed a plane while battling a god?

By the end of dinner, you are full of delicious food and exhausted. Just sitting upright for an hour has taken a toll and you’re pretty sure the pain killers are wearing off. Your leg throbs as you shift a bit to get the blood flowing. The rest of the guys clear out of the dining room, bringing plates and leftovers to the kitchen. Jotaro stands and offers you a hand to stand up.

“Thanks.” You wince at how out of breath you sound and sigh as you take his hand.

He looks like he’s thinking hard about something before instead of pulling you to your feet he bends down and puts your arm around his neck. “What? Wait! I can walk, I’m fine!” You’re flustered to be back in his arms as he ignores you and lifts you from your chair.

“Its fine. You’re tired, and there’s no sense straining yourself just to walk down the hall.” You let out a little huff at his logic and can’t help the soft purr that builds in your chest and you accept your fate. He purrs back in response and you melt further into his hold.

He carries you out of the dining room, but you must be more tired than you realized because when you blink and open your eyes again you’re suddenly in a hallway. Jotaro has stopped in front of one of the doors, another very serious look on his face as he thinks. You hum a little to catch his attention, and it works as those aqua eyes snap to meet your gaze.

He sighs and averts his eyes, “We… don’t have a guest room here. You’ll have to get settled in my room. I’ll sleep in the lounge.”

“Oh! No, you don’t have to… I can sleep in the lounge! I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“No, you need proper rest. And a room with a door. You don’t know how loud the old man and Polnareff can be yet.” He wears a small smile as he opens the door and makes his way inside, setting you on the queen bed. Besides the bed there is only a cheap night stand in the room. They must have just been here for a guy’s trip or something, the space doesn’t feel very lived in.

He turns and rummages through a travel bag while you survey the room and turns around holding a bundle of clothes. “You can wear some of my PJs. Do you need help getting to the bathroom?” he nods over to the other door in the room that apparently is not a closet like you had thought.

“Thanks. Just to the door is fine. The hardest part is getting up again, I think I can put a little weight on it right now.” You nod as he reaches and helps you to your feet again. You are able to hobble to the bathroom with his help and he sets the bundle of clothes on the sink counter.

He lets go of you and rummages in a linen closet for a minute, turning back to you with a slightly dusty and mis-matched washcloth and hand towel. “Sorry, this is all that I have here, I’ll go see if the other bathrooms have a real towel or something.”

“It’s fine, this will do. I’ll just get the worst of it off right now.” You pause for a moment, trying to think of a way to word your next question. “You, uh. You guys haven’t been here that long, have you? Were you guys on a hunting trip or something? Guys weekend?”

Jotaro hums to himself, “Something like that. We were actually scouting it to expand our territory. This was our test run to see if we liked it enough to stay. But you’re right, we’ve only been here a few days now.”

“Ahh. Wow,” your eyes widen as you realize, “I must have used up all my good karma or something to run right into your new territory. What are the odds…” You trail off as you realize how badly today could have gone for you. You’re shaken from your worried thoughts by Jotaro’s hand on your shoulder.

“Hey. You’re safe now. You can stick with us as long as you need.” You smile and nod at him. “I’ll let you get cleaned up. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me.”

He turns to leave but something possesses you take hold of his hand before he can make it out the doorway. “I… Don’t want to be alone, tonight I mean… You don’t have to sleep in the lounge if you don’t want to, the bed looked big enough…” Oh jeez, you can feel how hot your face is from the blood rushing to it. You’re sure if you turned to the mirror instead of looking at your feet you’d see a previously undiscovered shade of red.

“Alright, if you’re sure.” He… agreed? You can’t help but smile as you look back up to his face, embarrassment forgotten. He’s smiling a little too and you have a feeling this is normally a rare sight. He heads for the door again, “I’ll get some more pillows while you get changed then.”

You shut the door behind him and turn to the bundle he left for you. T-shit and sweatpants. Good thing they were the kind with a drawstring, you had a feeling they were going to need rolled up at the ankle and the waist with how tall Jotaro is. You turn to your reflection for the first time tonight and are surprised with how pale you are, probably still anemic from your earlier injury.

You do your best to clean up the leftover dirt and smudges of blood and run your fingers through your hair as well as you can- a quick search of the bathroom had yielded no comb. You quickly don the sleep clothes and roll up the pants so you don’t trip on your short journey to the bed. You exit the bathroom and hobble your way to the bed, hand on the wall to support yourself. Jotaro comes back into the room holding two more pillows and a blanket he’s found. He must have changed as well, but you have to admit he fills out the simple clothes well.

You both settle into bed side by side. He’s opted to be a gentleman and keep a layer of sheets between you and let you have the thicker blanket all to yourself. You’re still tense, sharing a bed with a virtual stranger, but then you take a deep breath and all you can smell is him. Instantly you are calmed, enough that you unintentionally start purring again. What is up with your instincts today? You’ve never given into them so easy, were you still on edge from the chase earlier? That must be it.  The close call must still be on your subconscious mind, you’ve never been that close to…

Your thoughts are derailed again as he purrs in response to your distress, but the fear and stress you’d felt in the forest still lingers in your mind. You wish you could relax like you had been for your nap earlier. Maybe a little bit of embarrassment now would be worth a good night’s rest?

“Ok, so this may be a dumb question, but,” you pause and inhale to build your courage, “can I… just… hold your hand? So I know you’re there? That it’s you?”

He shifts around a bit and you hear a muffled ‘Good grief’ as he turns his head to you.

You look away to try and avoid the awkwardness as best you can, “Fine, just thought I’d ask. I knew it was dumb.”

“Hmm. That wasn’t a no.” He pulls his hand free of the blankets and holds it out next to you. You marvel a bit at how large his hand is compared to yours as you grasp it. You feel almost tingly as you both settle down to sleep again. This time your thoughts anchored to the present, not the terrifying chase through the forest.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Some eagle eyed readers may have caught that I’ve changed at least Polnareff’s appearance a bit. This story takes place sometime between 2014-2018 so I’m modernizing their outfits somewhat- including Polnareff’s hairstyle lol.

[the-wereraven]