M Werefox (Harcourt) x F reader - 1
➤ Pairing - M werefox x F reader
➤ Wordcount 1.9k
A lovely reader on Patreon liked Harcourt and asked about a Part 2 for this story and of course I said yes! I had to rewrite Part 1 though, so here it is! Part 2 is coming soon as well.
I don't think I've ever posted this to Tumblr because this story was from my glory days on Wattpad before my book got deleted. (If you’re reading this on Wattpad, maybe you remember it? Idk)
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It's your twelfth birthday and the sun is shining and your friends are due to arrive in an hour for your little party. Suddenly you hear your mother yelling outside.
"Shoo! Out, out!"
You scamper into the backyard to see what the fuss is about and find her chasing the scrawniest werefox kit you've ever seen away from the chicken coop. He's got egg yolk clinging to his chin, an undeniable sign of his theft. His black-tipped ears pin to his head as he deftly dodges the dishcloth your mother is wielding and leaps over the backyard fence, disappearing into the brush.
"I've heard all about him from Pansy down the street. She says she's also missing eggs now and then," your mother says, putting her hands on her hips and blowing her hair out of her eyes.
"But Ma!" You wail, "he's hungry! Did you see how thin he was?"
Your mother pats your head. "He's different from us, darling. Those creatures are half wild. I'm sure there's plenty of things in the forest for him to hunt."
"But he's so small," you reply anxiously. "Not much bigger than me. Maybe he can't catch anything."
"How did he even get in?" Your mother murmurs, checking the latch on the coop, and then tutting in dismay as she sees the side of the coop, where the kit has scratched and chewed through the thin wood planks, making a hole to squeeze through.
"Oh dear. This is going to take a while to fix," your mother sighs and peeks into the coop. "And now I'm a few eggs short for your cake. At least he didn't go after the chickens."
You hardly care about your cake now. "If he comes again, can we keep him?"
Your mother purses her lips together in the way she does when you ask her a question she doesn't know how to answer.
"He might be wild, but he's not an animal," your mother finally replies. "He'll grow just as big as you, and you can't keep him as a pet."
"Why not?" You whine. "He doesn't have a mommy or a daddy, does he? He's all alone."
"You don't know that, darling," your mother says.
"Pleaseee?" You hop from one foot to another and stare up at your mother with pleading eyes.
She smiles, but she doesn't say yes. "My soft-hearted girl," she says and hugs you. "Come, let's see if we can still put together something sweet for your birthday."
You pout for the rest of the week, but she doesn't budge, like any sensible mother. The little werefox has to have a den nearby and you hope the next time you see him, you can follow him to it. The next Saturday your mother is visiting the Pansy down the street with some soup for her sick son. You're alone at home, swinging in the backyard and trying to see how high you can go. Your stomach swoops as the swing brings you down, and just then you see a flash of russet through the corner of your eye.
The werefox boy sits down and pries at the planks on the newly repaired coop, bracing one hindfoot on the wall as he begins to pull. He's stronger than he looks, and you hear the wood beginning to splinter. You leap out of the swing and misjudge your timing, crashing onto your knees in the dirt. The noise startles him and he jumps up.
"Wait!" You clamber to your feet.
He hops over the fence and scurries away, darting glances at you over his shoulder. You grab your half-eaten ham sandwich from the porch and race after him. He's fast and agile, darting into the trees and leaping over fallen branches while you straggle behind, still calling for him to wait for you. You lose sight of him when you're forced to stop and catch your breath. The lettuce has fallen out of the sandwich, but you're pretty sure he wouldn't have wanted it anyway. You walk aimlessly in the direction he went, wondering if you'll be able to find him.
You come across a hole between the thick roots of a tree that looks just about big enough. You kneel and look into the hole. The dirt has been scraped away and smoothed down to make a tunnel.
"Hello?" You call down. "Is this your den?"
There's a rustle, and the werefox boy pops his head out, his eyes alert. You sit back on your haunches and look at him.
"Why are you following me?" He asks, his ears constantly twitching as he listens to the forest.
"You can speak?"
"Duh," he replies.
"I brought you this." You hold out the sandwich, which is crumbly now.
His eyes narrow and he leans forward to sniff your hand. He snatches it from you and scarfs it down, his pupils widening as he tastes the ham.
"Is it good?" You ask.
He nods and eyes your greasy hand. He leans forward and presses his muzzle against your hand, licking the taste of ham away.
You giggle. "You're like a really big puppy!"
He pulls back and disappears into his den.
"Better come inside. It's dangerous out there," he mutters.
You clamber happily in with no regard for your safety. His den is like a secret treehouse, but way cooler. The floor is lined with dry, crunchy leaves and soft downy chicken feathers.
"You might get in trouble for killing people's chickens, you know," you say, crossing your legs and getting comfortable.
There's just about enough room for the two of you.
"I'm not," he says. "I gather the loose feathers when I... You know." He looks ashamed.
"Where are your parents?" You ask. "They should be taking care of you so you don't have to steal."
"I don't know," he says, lying down and curling his tail around his thin body. "I ran away."
"Ran away from your home? Why?"
"It wasn't a home, it was a traveling circus." He stares at the dirt ceiling of his den. "We went to so many different places."
You glimpse a scruffy, dirty collar chafing the fur around his neck.
"Was that from the circus? Why are you still wearing it?"
"I can't work the latch," he says.
"Can I help?"
He squirms and shivers, but tilts his head to let you try. In a few seconds, you've removed it. His eyes brighten and he rubs the fur on his neck.
"Thank you," he says shyly.
You nod. "What was the circus like? Did they poke you with sticks like they do with the lions? To get you to do tricks?"
His shoulders quiver and he makes a barking sound that seems equivalent to a human laugh.
"No, I pickpocketed the crowd. I was small and quick, so nobody really noticed me.
"Where the circus people mean to you? Is that why you left?"
He shakes his head. "They were okay. But we were always in the cities when all I wanted to do was be in the forests and look up at the night sky. I couldn't leave because I had a contract, so I just ran away."
"And now you're here."
He nods, idly scratching the matted fur on his neck where the collar was.
"You can't steal any more eggs," you tell him. "I'll bring you food instead."
"Why would you do that?" His gaze follows you as you crawl over to the entrance of his den.
"Because we're friends," you tell him. "I have to go home now, or else my Ma will wonder where I am."
"Okay."
"You never told me your name. Friends need to know each other's names," you tell him.
"At the circus, everyone called me Harcourt, so I guess that's my name."
"So fancy," you giggle and tell him your name in return. "See you tomorrow!"
You keep your promise, showing up the next day with a whole sandwich this time, and a brush. You show him how to use it and help him pick twigs and clumps of dirt out of his fur. He hates the water, but you convince him to try it. Once he's dry, you brush him until he's fluffy and soft, and the sun dances in his fur. He begins to smile, and you never mind how sharp his teeth are. As time passes you grow apart from your old friends, but Harcourt remains close.
Your mother notices that the eggs are never stolen again. One day as you head out for your daily "walk" she packs some extra food and puts it in your hands.
"How long have you known, Ma?"
"Do you think I'd let my girl leave the house almost every day without making sure you're safe?" She says with a twinkle in her eye.
You wrinkle your nose, trying to picture your mother sneaking after you.
"So you don't mind?" You ask. "Harcourt and I are friends now."
"So his name is Harcourt..." She murmurs. "Just make sure to come home before dark, my child."
That's how you made- and kept- your unlikely friend. You spend most of your free time in the forest with Harcourt, eating sandwiches and drinking cool water from the spring nearby. You taught him how to swim and look for shapes in the clouds and in return, he showed you how to forage for berries and edible mushrooms. You brought some blankets out to his den and on cold days you would curl up together inside his den and you would read to him with the light of a lantern.
He began to put on a little muscle and get taller than you. He was also moodier, and would sometimes growl when he was in an extra bad mood. You got testy yourself, and sometimes you would argue and end up storming back to your house in angry tears. You had always told your mother everything and that didn't change. She listened to you, smiled, and sometimes even shed a tear at your woes.
She never complained about your friendship with Harcourt but as puberty hit she got more cautious, often poking around embarrassing subjects, which embarrassed you to no end. You would tell her it wasn't like that and you were just friends, and then you would run to your room and blush angrily into your pillow, wondering why she even had to bring that up.
Eventually, you had to leave for the capital to further your education. You cried the hardest that day, soaking Harcourt's fur with your tears and promising that you wouldn't forget him. You wrote him letters and asked your mother to read them to him. Your dear mother even wrote back for him now and then. Harcourt's letters were filled with stories about fishing, expanding his den, an incident with a badger, and even working in town to make some money. He had learned to read and promised to learn to write as well.
Half a year later he fulfilled that promise. His handwriting was chicken scratch and hard to read, but you stuck each one to your dorm wall and looked at them often. Your roommate got to hear the whole story from you, and would often tease you and tell you that you were definitely in love. After a while, you stopped denying it.
Finally, you completed your last year and graduated. You could hardly contain your excitement as you packed to go home, looking forward to seeing your mother, breathing in the crisp countryside air, and meeting your good friend again. You headed to the train station and before you knew it, you were on the way home.
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When you have the time I’d love to read more about werewolf Bruce💕
Bruce caught the scent of you on the wind and involuntarily his tail swished. Sweet and strange. A bit like medicine mixed with spices. Hard to explain. Tame but only because you allowed it.
So he followed.
The woods were dangerous, even for a witch. And the woods were a part of Gotham. It was his job. At least- that's what he would tell Izolda. She may not have warned him away from you but- he didn't think she was pleased either.
He didn't have to follow the scent long to find you. A basket of... something on the ground near you where you knelt near the creek. Watching the water trickle under the skiff of ice.
You should be freezing. But you look unbothered by the cold. Despite your bare arms and the fact that you're kneeling on your shawl.
Watching. He watched. Breathing slowly. Trying not to feel like he was hunting. Trying to ignore the cry of "Mine".
At least until Sana looked at him, eyes locked on his and his tail bottled. Growling.
"Sana, honey bunches," you hum, not looking up from the water, "you're not leaven an appetizer. Leave Bruce alone. He probably just wants to know why we're trespassing again."
The cat sneezed- stalking over to a rock to watch. And Bruce slunk out of the trees . Unable to keep himself from staying low. Making himself small. He didn't want to scare you.
You could be in his woods. He didn't mind if you trespassed. You could trespass your way right into his bed and he would even blink. And when you reached out tentatively, stroking his ears, he couldn't stop his hind foot from twitching.
If his wolf had had his way, he would have rolled over and showed his belly. Straight up begged. But- he remineded the beast you weren't a wolf. Submission wouldn't mean the same thing to you.
He protested.
But only until the hindfoot twitching made you giggle. He liked that sound. He liked it a lot.
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