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dominimoonbeam · 2 years

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What are you doing here?

Huxley/David have a meet cute in the wildness with a bear.

Slight AU! No Angel. No Darlin drama, so they’re just a solid part of the pack. Early in the audio timeline. Hux hasn’t met FL yet and David is still an asshole.

tags: getting together, meet cute with a bear, slight injury, care

What are you doing here?

Huxley hiked up the incline to the vantage point he’d found last year. It was early summer, the sun still high when he broke from the trees and stepped up to the drop off. It sloped down, giving a beautiful view of the forest stretching below and a long valley of tall grass.

He was surprised to see movement down there, soon followed by the yips and howls.

Wolves. Dozens of them. They were running and playing. It was chaotic order. And then out to the far side, a campsite of tents, coolers, chairs, and grills, with a bunch of kids and a few adults.

Not wolves. Werewolves. Huxley smiled. He had met werewolves in Dahlia, of course, but he’d never seen them wolfed out. He wondered if he should leave. Was it rude to watch them? He’d heard wolves in the woods before, but this was the first time he’d seen them here. They look happy. Running to run, playing.

“What are you doing here?”

Huxley spun around, his heart jumping into his throat. He hadn’t heard or felt the other guy coming up behind him. But there he was. And he was big. As big as Huxley. His energy howled wolf, even if he was standing on two legs. “Wow. What?”

The guy took a step forward. Huxley wondered if it was supposed to be threatening. He had his back to a cliff edge and this guy closing the space between them. A lot of people would definitely be worried right now. But Huxley felt the ground under his shoes, deep and rich. “I’m camping, dude. What are you doing here?”

“Bullshit,” the wolf snapped. His voice was deep, a low rumble in his broad chest. “You’ve been out here when we were here before and now you’re here again. You expect me to believe that’s a coincidence?”

“It’s a good spot.”

“Why are you watching us?”

Huxley glanced back over his shoulder, at the pack playing in the valley below. He felt the other guy move closer this time and when he looked forward again, they were within arm’s reach of each other. His eyes were so dark and so clearly pissed that he’d looked at them again. Did he really think Huxley was a threat somehow? To wolves? They outnumbered him. They could rip him apart if they wanted to—not that he thought for a second that they would. He hadn’t done anything.

“I’ll leave,” Huxley said. He liked this spot for the stars but he knew of others. He could move if he was making them uncomfortable.

“You didn’t answer my question,” the wolf said, the words grinding.

Huxley sighed, staring right back at him. “Yes, I did. I’m just camping, man.”

“Alone?”

Huxley was surprised by the little jab of pain in his chest. They guy was asking like it was absurd. But he was a wolf with a pack. Of course it would sound absurd to him. It wasn’t like Hux wouldn’t have liked to go with other people…he just hadn’t met anyone in Dahlia who liked to hike. Honestly, he’d had trouble making any real connections in Dahlia. Either people didn’t like him, he didn’t like them, or, in quite a few cases, they’d like to have him in their beds but that was it. “Yeah. Alone.”

“What’s your name?”

“Huxley. Yours?”

“David Shaw.” He said it like it was supposed to mean something.

Huxley blinked.

“You don’t work for the department.”

Huxley almost laughed. “No, dude. I go to DAMN. I’m just hiking on the weekend. I promise.” He offered his pinkie before he could think better of it. It was something his moms always did.

David glared at the offer, curled his lip, and turned away.

Huxley watched him shift. His wolf was huge. He disappeared into the woods, fast and silent.

When he was alone again, he sighed and collected his bag. He’d move south and give them their space. He hadn’t gone that way before. Maybe he’d find an even better spot.

David waited until the elemental moved out, heading in the opposite direction.

Was he telling the truth?

Maybe.

Was David going to put up with this guy lurking around his pack for the second year in a row?

Nope.

He headed back to the valley. It was a spot his dad had found when he was a kid. They had actually found it together. His dad had decided it was a great spot to bring the whole pack and so they had, every year. …Almost every year.

Asher was waiting for him when he came back, standing in human form with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. “Well? Was he a department spy? Or maybe some wolf-hating elemental hoping to pick us off one by one?”

David shifted human. “Fuck you.” He had never said anything like that. But maybe he’d thought it. Why did Asher have to know him that well?

“Was he hot?”

David shot him a look. “Are you looking to replace Babe?”

Asher curled his lip. He would have growled if it had been anyone else. “I wasn’t asking for me…”

“I told you, I’m not dating anyone. I’ve got enough on my plate.”

Asher frowned. A real frown, tinged with worry. “David… Do you really feel that swamped still?”

David sighed and stopped just when he was about to walk past Asher and back toward the camp. For a moment they were alone, everyone else playing and laughing. “No. It’s not that.” He knew how much everyone had tried to pick up the slack, to help him get the security company off its feet and stable. And it was. “I just…I don’t need that. It would be complicated.”

Asher looked unconvinced.

“Jesus, Ash, this is sort of a heavy conversation to take on just because I ran some elemental off.”

Asher smirked. “Yeah, I made that work for me. We should talk about it.”

David rolled his eyes.

“I’m not saying you have to jump into a relationship with the next person you see. I’m just saying—”

“Yeah. Yeah. I hear you,” David hurried to cut him off, not really wanting to hear him at all. He’d decided he wasn’t going to have a mate. His full focus needed to be being alpha of this pack and keeping them together. At least, that’s what he’d said when he started. Now it was just…safer. He had been grateful that he hadn’t been interested in anyone in his pack when he became alpha. The power imbalance might have driven him away from them anyway. But finding a mate outside seemed impossible. It would be hard to find a person he loved that was also good for the pack, good with the pack, and good with him and everything he needed to be to his pack. It was a lot to ask of a person.

He hoped he never found anyone he liked enough to ask that much of them.

Huxley had walked a straight line away from the wolves until he was deep in a part of the woods he hadn’t been in before. He finally let himself slow down and explore when it had been a while since he heard the howls of the wolves.

He found some black berries along the edge of a little clearing and considered it as a possible spot to make camp. He’d be able to see the stars. He liked that. In late afternoon, he started collecting downed branches and twigs, making his way back toward that clearing.

He realized the bear was there at the same moment she realized he was there. Too late for either of them to make a quiet exit.

Huxley’s heart rammed his ribs. She was beautiful but he was way to close. She huffed, staring hard. He dropped the dry wood and spread his arms, taking a step to the side and back. He was about to take another when he saw one of her cubs roll out from under a bush and knew that this was really bad. “Don’t,” he said, even if she couldn’t understand. He wished he could explain. He would leave. He wouldn’t cause her any trouble and she could go on. But bears weren’t werewolves and there could be no conversation between them.

She roared and rushed him.

Huxley backpedaled fast. It would never be fast enough, not even if he tried to run. He shook the ground underfoot, sliding the soil beneath her beating paws to slow her down and trying to roll her, stop her, scare her off. But she was singularly focused now.

He never stopped taking steps backward, trying to create space between them even when she was shrinking it. He pushed more power out, lifting and felling a tree in her path. It startled her but not enough to stop her for more than a few seconds. She climbed over it, scoring deep gashes into the trunk. Her body thudded on the ground when she landed in a run again. She was huge. She was doing exactly what instinct told her to do—protect her babies.

But what she didn’t know, what she couldn’t know, was the rules between humans and animals. If she mauled him, animal control would hunt her down. Huxley didn’t want to kill her, he didn’t want to harm anything.

He continued to lift and roll the ground, slowing her down but only making her angrier. She snarled and roared, clawing at the ground when it lifted in waves and beating her way through. He thought, that if they both survived this encounter, he would marvel at these memories—at how easily she slammed her body through those walls of dirt and roots. She was unstoppable. But he had to stop her.

She was so close—too close. He could smell the reek of her breath and see the black of her gums against those thick white teeth. He pushed both hands forward and she swiped the air at him, they nearly touched, and then he lifted the ground under her high and hard to throw her back, rolling her.

At the same time, one of his backward steps didn’t connect with ground.

He fell, with no idea how far he would go. The sky filled his vision and his hands grabbed at nothing but air. He was horizontal and then his hip hit stone, followed shortly by his back.

Huxley had had the air knocked out of him plenty of times, but this was worse than when he’d hit the ice in hockey or the ground in football. For long seconds, he couldn’t inhale.

He’d been playing sports, and exploring the woods, and doing shit he shouldn’t be doing since he could walk. One of his moms had taken up healing even though it wasn’t her natural gift and though she never said it, he knew it was for him.

He tried to relax and slowly, finally, inhaled. He couldn’t move yet, but his vision was coming back into focus. He could see the ridge where he’d fallen. It was only six or seven feet from where he’d landed, but he’d landed on a slant of rocks. He could hear the river somewhere below, beyond his head. His hips were higher up than his shoulders, leaving him at an angle.

He watched the spot where he’d fallen, willing the bear not to come for him. The only thing he’d be able to do now would be to use what he had left to throw her off the cliff. He didn’t want to do that. The sky darkened as the minutes slid by. No bear.

He moved his arms slowly. His back ached in a sharp jolt and he winced. He rolled onto his side, the one that hadn’t hit the ground first. He had to get up and figure out how to get down. Going back up was probably a bad idea. His head throbbed in a way he was all too familiar with. Had he hit it? Huxley reached up slowly, palming the back of his skull. His fingers came away wet. “Oh shit,” he mumbled before leaning into the heavy pull of sleep.

He woke up sharply and the sky was full dark. It could have been a matter of minutes or hours. The moon was bright, which was good since his flashlight was in his pack somewhere in the woods. Something rustled up above, on that ledge where he’d fallen. Huxley held his breath, like maybe the bear wouldn’t know he was there. When a large, dark head poked over the edge to look down at him, he had every intention of playing dead. It wasn’t like he felt like moving anyway.

But it wasn’t a bear that looked down at him.

It was a wolf.

They’d felt the tremors in the ground even at a distance. Some of the younger members of the pack giggled about earthquakes but the adults knew better. It was a slight difference—earthquake and earth elemental. But once a wolf had felt both, they never mistook one for the other.

Another tremor.

David realized Asher and Milo were staring off in the same direction as him. It was too far away to have anything to do with them.

“You said he was alone,” Milo said. It wasn’t really a question. He was pointing out a detail that brought up other questions. The real questions. What reasons could they think up for why the elemental was doing that? And was it their business? He was so far away that the unempowered might not even feel the tremors.

“Earth elementals might move the ground to make the hike easier…” Sweetheart suggested, but didn’t sound entirely comfortable either.

Another tremor, this one bigger, and then nothing.

David sighed. “I’ll go check on him.” His whole fucking camping trip seemed to be checking on this elemental.

“I can go,” Asher offered just when Milo was about to.

David snorted, even though he had to fight back the smile that pulled at his mouth. They were always ready to help out. He couldn’t have handled the last couple years without them. He still wasn’t sure that he was good enough to be alpha but they seemed to believe he was. Sometimes that was the only thing that got him out of bed in that first year after his dad passed. They believed in him. They needed him to try.

“No, you two stay with the pack. I won’t be long.”

Sweetheart huffed a laugh, crossing their arms. “You’re really going alone?”

David turned and raised an eyebrow. He would have been furious about that snarky question when they first showed up at Milo’s side eight months ago. But now he knew them well enough to hear the note of worry wrapped in amused judgement. “You want to come with, Stealth?” he smirked around the question. They both knew, that for all of Sweetheart’s incredible abilities and skills, they couldn’t keep up with a wolf in a run.

“It just seems silly to go alone when you have a whole pack right here…”

“He’s scared I’ll outrun him again.” Asher smiled, eyes lighting up. The sun had dropped below the trees, the sky losing color every minute that passed and more stars beginning to appear.

Milo laughed, but tried to hide it by ducking his face and pressing it into the back of Sweetheart’s shoulder.

David sighed but nodded. “Milo comes with. Asher stays put.” He exchanged a glance with Asher. The other was still smiling the way he often did, but there was something sharp in his gaze. He understood his role. He always had when it mattered. He was going to stay with the pack and make sure this wasn’t a distraction. It was far-fetched, but they didn’t take chances. Asher and Stealth would keep an eye on things while David and Milo watched each other’s back in the woods.

“I knew you were scared I’d outrun you…” Asher commented, to make the exchange easy even when he nodded once, agreeing to the responsibility that fell on his shoulders when David was gone.

“Maybe I just trust Milo not to run into a tree and knock himself out.”

Asher laughed, the sound loud enough to earn them the attention of some of the others. They were lighting fires and opening ice chests near their campsite in the clearing. “One time!”

Milo snorted. “Twice, Ash… You always forget the second one.”

“He was concussed. He forgot that whole weekend,” David reminded and then shifted and ran toward the tree line. Milo was with him, both wolves darting through the dark woods toward the origin of those quakes.

David expected to find the elemental, probably settled into his camp and looking innocent again.

The moon came out, the sky completely drained of daylight.

Milo growled low when they both picked up the scent of the bears.

For the first time, David allowed himself to worry. He’d told this elemental to get out of their space. He’d forced the man to move his campsite.

I don’t smell blood, Milo said what they’d both be able to sense. He could feel David’s worry through their link. If the elemental had been mauled, they would be able to smell it by now.

They found a downed tree, pulled right up from the ground. A whole stretch of ground was churned up, plants and stones all rolled together. The elemental was strong. So why hadn’t he buried or crushed the bear? It wasn’t dead.

It’s close by still, Milo told him. He knew that too, but he also knew that Milo was asking what he should do about it.

Stay close but keep track of the bear while I look for him, David said. He’d yet to meet a bear that would pick a fight with a grown werewolf, let alone two.

He followed the wreckage on the ground. He knew his scent from earlier and from a year ago when they were both in the area at the same time. Now the scent was spiked with panic and adrenaline.

David’s heart dropped when he saw the edge ahead, the ground tossed in a wave and the dirt-packed edge scuffed by a shoe dragging back over it. Fuck. He rushed forward and leaned over. He didn’t know what he’d find. He didn’t know if he’d be looking down at a body far below, or treetops and no sign of the body beneath. It was a mix of horror and relief when he saw the elemental on his side maybe seven feet below on a rock shelf. But he wasn’t moving. His heart was beating, David could hear it when he tried, but he could also smell blood now. Fuck, he thought louder. He felt Milo tense. I found him. He fell. Hang on.

The elemental. Huxley. His name was Huxley. He opened his eyes and blinked up at him, surprise clear on his dirt-smudged face in the moonlight. “Oh,” he said, voice rough and barely getting out. He coughed like he was trying to clear it but cringed. He tried to sit up.

David shifted human and jumped down. “Stop moving!”

Huxley sat up but had to stop to catch his breath, pressing his eyes shut like the world was spinning.

David crouched beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “Just breathe for a minute.”

Huxley did, but the breaths didn’t come easily, like his chest was too tight.

David looked back up at the ledge, imagining him falling backward off that. “Can I touch you?”

Huxley blinked at him, glancing once at his hand still on his shoulder.

David scoffed. “To check if you broke anything.”

It took him a few seconds too long to answer. David couldn’t tell if that was hesitation or a concussion, but then he shrugged and nodded. “Sure, but you don’t have to. Arms and legs are fine. I can get out of here.”

David snorted, doubting that. He was moving too stiffly to be able to just climb out of there like it was no big deal. He kept the hand on Huxley’s shoulder to hold him steady while the other gently touched his head through thick curls that had mostly escaped their messy tie. Huxley winced when David’s fingers brushed the cut on the back of his head. David muttered an apology.

“You might have a concussion…”

“Oh, I’m definitely concussed, dude.”

“How the hell would you know?” he argued even though the elemental was agreeing with him. David continued to roam his fingers down the back of the guy’s neck, watching his face for reactions.

Huxley smiled. “If they gave out punch cards for concussions, I’d have so many free yogurts by now.”

David continued to stare, not sure if that made sense or not. “I guess that explains a lot about you,” he spat and saw the other man’s expression when his words hit. His smile fell, a polite ghost of what it had been just seconds ago, and his eyes looked away, down. “I’m sorry,” David said, voice low with regret. He hadn’t actually meant to hurt this stranger’s feelings. He was just… well, he was an asshole sometimes. “I didn’t mean that.”

Huxley shrugged, easy expression back in place. He winced when David’s hand was low on his back.

“How did you land?”

“Hard?” Huxley smirked.

David tried not to. “Har har, asshole.”

“On my back, I think. No, hip first, then back.”

“And then head?”

“I don’t remember hitting my head.”

David frowned. Great. At least Huxley hadn’t passed out, thrown up, or started rambling yet. He let go of his shoulder and unzipped the elemental’s jacket.

Milo snapped off a bark and a growl somewhere overhead, warning off the bear when she got curious.

Huxley jerked a little, his gaze going high and toward the woods up there. “It didn’t bite me.”

David lifted the man’s shirt, getting a look at a huge patch of bruising on his side coming up from the waistband of his jeans and spreading over the side of his back. It looked bad, darker in spots where his ribs had taken the brunt of it. He ghosted a hand over them and the guy flinched away automatically, hissing a breath. Broken. He had at least two broken ribs. God, David hoped they weren’t puncturing anything. “What?”

“It didn’t. Just leave them alone.”

David put his shirt back down and looked at his face, wondering if his concussion was kicking in. What the fuck was he talking about? “Who? What are you—”

“The bear. She has cubs. She didn’t touch me so we can leave her alone, right?” I’ll climb down instead of going back up if—"

“Are you insane?” David snapped. Climb down? Maybe he hadn’t looked, but David had. If he hadn’t hit this ledge, or if he’d rolled a little farther, he would have fallen straight down a thirty-foot drop. There was no climbing down. He remembered the path of wreckage above, the overturned ground and the felled tree. “You didn’t hurt the bear.” It had been a choice. He could have but he hadn’t.

“It wasn’t her fault, man. She was just doing what she thought she had to.”

“Are you stupid?” David snapped before he could think better of it. Huxley winced. “You could have died!”

“I didn’t.”

“Because we found you! What if we hadn’t been in the area?” Although, if they hadn’t been in the area, David wouldn’t have pushed this guy out of the area he knew and straight toward a conflict with a bear. Guilt gnawed at the wolf’s heart, but Huxley didn’t even seem to think of that argument.

“I would have gotten up eventually, dude.”

David gawked. He was sure that if Huxley wasn’t injured, he would have shoved him.

“Not to downplay your help,” the elemental added again, as though worried for David’s feelings. It was salt on his wounds. “I really appreciate you guys coming all the way over here to check on me but I’m alright.”

“The hell you are,” David growled. He stood up and looked at the ledge. There were enough rocks piled together to create steps up to it. “Can you get up or do you want me to carry you?”

Huxley laughed before wincing and clutching at his side, still smiling despite the tears that pricked his eyes. “Don’t joke, dude. I think I busted a rib.”

He had busted two. “I’m not joking.”

Huxley dragged a couple careful breaths. “You can’t carry me, man.”

David stared at him, confused. “Yes. I can.”

Huxley met his gaze, looking for a joke and then…was he blushing? Huxley was a big guy. They were roughly the same size. David realized he was used to people being smaller than himself, which meant Huxley probably was too. David couldn’t remember the last time someone had carried him. It had probably been his dad. He pushed that thought away. He supposed Huxley wasn’t used to the idea of being carried. But David definitely could. If it wasn’t for those ribs, he would have already put him over his shoulder and started up the incline and back to the woods.

The bear left, Milo told him over their psychic link. Do you need help getting him out?

Huxley climbed to his feet and David caught is arm by the elbow just in case he fell. He swayed for a few seconds but then nodded, jaw tight as if determined to keep the world from swirling under him.

“So,” David said, trying to start some conversation that might help distract this guy from his own pain. “You fall off cliffs a lot?”

Huxley blinked at him.

“You said you’ve had a lot of concussions…”

Huxley huffed a thin, almost-laugh, and shuffled toward the stone wall. Every step he took looked stiff and pained, but he started climbing. “No, this is a first. I do a lot of sports though and I mean, I did fall out of a tree once. That was kind of like this.”

David laughed before he could stop himself. Jesus. Another Asher…

Milo stood at the top of the drop off in human form. He crouched and offered Huxley his arm.

Huxley blinked at the stranger and the arm. “I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to pull you down either…”

Milo looked confused.

David snorted, standing behind Huxley with hands hovering near his back. He didn’t want to touch or push if he didn’t have to, afraid it would hurt him more. “Milo this is Huxley, Huxley this is Milo,” he introduced them gruffly. “Milo could carry you if he needed to. You’re not going to pull him down even if you try.”

Milo’s gaze flicked between the two of them, his smile growing. David wasn’t sure if it was purely amusement or maybe a little pride too. If it was pride, then it deserved to be there. Milo wasn’t big for a wolf but he was still a wolf.

“Oh,” Huxley said in that odd tone that made David wonder if he was blushing again. He surprised himself by how much he wanted to see if he was. Huxley took Milo’s offered arm. “Nice to meet you, dude.”

“Same.” Milo carefully but steadily helped Huxley up over those last steps and onto the ground, not letting go of him until he was away from the edge.

“Thanks,” the elemental sighed, glancing around at the dark woods.

“It’s gone, went that way,” Milo said, pointing south. This would be a pretty elaborate ploy if he was out here trying to spy on us… Milo thought, smirking. David rolled his eyes to himself. Yes, he had been wrong about Huxley. And his mistake had nearly killed the man. If he got attacked by a bear and threw himself down a cliff just to get close to us, I say we give it to him.

Milo ducked away and came back with a hiking backpack. Huxley’s backpack. The elemental wheezed a thin laugh and took it by the strap from the wolf. “Shit. Thanks. You guys really saved me.”

David grunted and took the bag from Huxley before he could try to sling the heavy thing over his shoulder. He was busted up. The walk was going to be hard enough as it was. Huxley looked confused but didn’t fight him over the bag. David pointed north. “We have a healer.”

Huxley blinked and then that blush was back. “Oh. No. I don’t need that. Thank you, but you guys really did enough. I’ll just head back to the parking lot and get out of here.”

Milo shook his head. “That’s a bad idea. You hit your head, right? Have you passed out or thrown up?”

“I didn’t throw up.”

David rolled his eyes and put on the other guy’s backpack. “We already established that you’re concussed, right?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll go straight for the DAMN clinic. They’re open twenty-four hours and—”

“And that’s a three-hour drive from here,” Milo pointed out before David had to. “What if you pass out and crash?”

Huxley frowned hard, definitely not liking that idea, only David suspected it was more out of fear of hurting someone else in a crash than hurting himself. It definitely wasn’t that Huxley didn’t care about himself. He obviously took care of himself. David had gotten a pretty fucking good look at his chest earlier. No one accidentally had abs like that. And Huxley wasn’t pointedly reckless, he either just prized the lives of others so highly above his own or he didn’t actually think he could die. Maybe it was a bit of both.

David slid a hand under the other man’s elbow and started walking in the right direction. They let Huxley set the pace and David tried to decide on the best way to carry him without causing more damage or pain if his legs finally gave out.

He knew Milo was resisting the urge to make conversation. Huxley’s breathing was obviously a struggle.

He made it a lot farther than David expected him to, even keeping up a good march. Even in the dark and in pain, he was surefooted in the woods. A little more than halfway there, he stopped. Milo had been leading the way and jerked to a stop, turning back.

David had never let go of Huxley’s arm, his grip tightening as he stepped in closer to his side. Huxley closed his eyes, swaying on his feet.

“Go get Marie,” David said, not taking his eyes off the elemental.

Milo shifted and was gone. A howl ripped through the woods, calling to the other across that distance.

The sound forced Huxley’s eyes open again, pressed wide like he could will them to stay open this time. His heart was beating too fast. David stepped into the space in front of him, holding onto both arms now. “Do you want to sit?”

Huxley shook his head, blinking, seeming to try to get his vision to clear. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

David held on to him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” David had been the one that ran him off. David had been the one that pushed him in that direction and led him to this. “I’m sorry for… I shouldn’t have made you go. This wouldn’t have happened if I’d just left you alone.”

Huxley’s eyes were closed again but he smiled, dragging sharp breaths. “Instinct,” he wheezed.

David blinked. “What?”

“Like the bear, man. You were just protecting your family.”

David stared at him. Yeah. That was what he had been doing.

“You didn’t know,” Huxley added. “And you didn’t hurt me or anything. I’m responsible for my choices. I chose to keep backing up.” He didn’t sound like he regretted it either.

He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone.

David should have just left him alone.

Huxley started to say something but it broke off when his legs gave out. If his eyes had been open, they probably would have rolled back into his head.

David slid an arm around the back of his shoulders, above the bruising he’d seen. Shit. He curled his other arm under the man’s knees and lifted him, curling him into his chest, his head high on his shoulder and his curls against his neck and cheek.

Another series of howls in the distance. Marie and Milo heading back.

David started walking to meet them, terrified that every second might count. Huxley had seemed like this was no big deal, like maybe he got hurt like this all the time. But David had begun to realize the guy didn’t like to be a problem for anyone.

He felt the moment Huxley woke up, but David didn’t lose a step.

Huxley dragged a few breaths, they were tighter now. He grabbed at David’s shoulders, trying to sit up and look around. And then he made a sound, like maybe he was laughing but his chest was too tight. “You’re carrying me…”

David snorted. “I said I could.”

And then he saw Marie. She shifted from wolf to human, still hurrying to meet him. “Oh my,” she said, and David wasn’t sure if it was the damage of the human or the size of him. David stopped and gently set Huxley down, on his knees next to him.

Huxley blinked blearily at Marie. “Hi,” he said, swallowing hard and trying to introduce himself.

Marie smiled gently at the stranger. “Hi. I’m going to take a look at you and see what we can do, okay?”

Huxley sat awkwardly, like he wanted to slouch but his ribs wouldn’t go for it. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

David frowned.

Marie just hummed softly, gently passing her hands over him, checking his neck first.

“He hit his head, and his side is all bruised up, and I think his ribs are broken,” David said, pointing at the side that had taken the worst of the fall.

She nodded like that was no big deal. He supposed, compared to some of the wounds they’d been brought to her with when they were teens, it wasn’t. Darlin had managed to impale a leg on a fence once. They’d tried to pull themselves off of it and David had threatened to punch them if they kept moving. While they were screaming at each other, Asher trying to calm them both, Arden had had the sense to go get Milo and his mom.

David’s dad had to lift Darlin off the fence before Marie could mend that hole in their leg. Asher had thrown up and Darlin had laughed and made fun of him for two years.

Marie’s hand was around the back of Huxley’s head. She paused and David felt the magic moving between them. Huxley’s eyes closed and this time when they opened they were focused, pupils blown from the magic but otherwise good. He dragged another tight, pained breath but nodded. “Thank you, ma’am.”

She smiled brightly. “Have you been in Dahlia long?”

He exhaled. “A little over a year.”

Marie nodded, opening his jacket and carefully lifting his shirt to get a look at his ribs. “Are you studying at DAMN?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She poured magic into him.

He tensed like he expected pain that hadn’t come, exhaling slowly at first and then, when it didn’t hurt, dragging a deep breath. He took another and sighed. “Thank you so much.”

Marie smiled brightly. “No problem, dear.” She moved her hand down his side but he gently caught her wrist and drew her hand away from her goal.

Huxley held her hand between both of his. “The rest is just bruising, I promise. And I more than earned it. You’ve already used so much energy putting me back together, and I’m so grateful, but my moms would be pissed if I let you drain yourself.” He got up while he was talking, suddenly agile again and gently lifting her to her feet too.

David would have rolled his eyes and called him overly charming, if he wasn’t so blatantly sincere.

Marie beamed, squeezing his hand. “Okay, but only if you promise to tell me if anything smarts? I want a real promise.”

Huxley smiled and nodded. “I promise. Thank you. I’m totally good to go.”

David assumed he meant good to walk until he stared at him, awkwardly gesturing to his backpack on David’s shoulders. “I can—”

“I’ve got it.”

Huxley blinked. His pupils were huge. He was probably feeling pretty great despite the bruising because of all that magic in his blood. He’d be sore tomorrow though. “Um. I kind of need it, man.” He laughed a little. “My keys are in there.”

“Still not good to drive!” Milo reminded, already walking away and heading back toward camp now that crisis and danger were all averted.

Marie hummed in agreement but left David to deal with it.

“Oh. Yeah,” Huxley realized they were right, nodding. “I’ll sleep in the truck and head back tomorrow.” He still had his hand out, waiting for the bag.

David growled. He didn’t like the gesture because it felt like he was denying him something. He was not ready to unpack what that was about. “You can camp with us tonight,” he decided what he’d already known was the plan. He’d known it since he saw his busted ribs. “It’s late. I’m hungry. Can we just get moving?” David tried pressing and then winced at how heartless it sounded. “If you’re good to walk.”

Huxley stared. His skin was buzzing from the healing and he felt pretty great after feeling really bad for a while there. David was really inviting him to camp with them? After practically chasing him off earlier that same day? He could see how uncomfortable the other guy was, so he nodded and turned in the direction the other two had gone.

They walked.

David was still carrying Huxley’s backpack.

“It’s really not your fault, dude. You know that, right?” Huxley asked, voice low.

David jerked a little and stood straighter, his eyes fixed ahead. “Yeah. It is.”

Huxley sighed, bumping his shoulder into the other man’s. “Okay. It definitely is. You sent me toward that bear on purpose. Now you owe me food and someplace to sleep.”

David’s head whipped to the side, staring at him in so much surprise that Huxley couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m sorry. But now that we’re talking about it, I really am tired.”

David relaxed a fraction, nodding once. “It’s the healing magic. It—”

“Makes you tired. Yeah. Not my first time,” he reminded lightly.

David smirked a little. “Right. You’re an expert at getting injured. How many times have you broken a bone?”

Huxley whistled. “Let’s see…” He started listing them off, not in any particular order, but as they came to him. Just when he was worried he’d droned on for too long, David prompted him. He’d been keeping count.

They left the woods for the clearing. It wasn’t as lively as it had been earlier that day. Huxley figured most of the kids had gone to bed, the parents too. Only a smaller group still hung out around the fire.

Huxley slowed down. “Dude. Really, if I’m intruding—”

David grabbed the back of his arm to keep him moving. “You’re fine. I’m the worst of them. Well, except for Darlin, they actually bite.”

Huxley laughed, hoping that was a joke but not really sure.

“A bear?” one guy shouted, almost falling out of a foldable chair in his scramble to get to his feet. “I stayed behind and you got to see a bear?”

David rolled his eyes. They arrived at the group and the group went quiet, staring at Huxley and then at David.

Huxley felt like he usually did, like he didn’t belong, like he was trying to fit in places where no one had asked him to be.

David introduced people and Huxley could see the others relax, like they’d just been on edge until he spoke—something in his voice assuring them that this was okay. They weren’t all wolves, he realized. Milo’s mate was a stealth and Asher, the guy that had almost fallen out of a chair, was with an unempowered human. As soon as he’d gotten everyone’s names, David put his bag down by a chair and then headed toward the table with food. Hotdogs that had lost their heat and buns that were getting dry. They tasted fucking amazing. Huxley was so hungry.

Asher was easy to talk to, which somehow made it easy to talk to everyone. Asher offered him a beer, but David took it away and handed him a bottle of water. “Hydrate first.”

Huxley laughed because he was just thinking that. He pulled on a hoodie from his pack and a bunch of them sat around the fire talking. It had been about the whole bear situation at first but it turned into an exchange of stories. Theirs and his. When he finished the water, David offered him his beer back. It was half-drained but he took it.

He was exhausted, his eyelids heavy, but he still tried to stay awake longer. Some of the others had gone to sleep shifted, curled up around the camp, while others ducked into tents.

“Do you have a tent?” David asked, skeptical.

Huxley followed his eye to his backpack and smiled. “Nah. The weather’s good. I just have a sleeping bag.”

Something in David’s expression hardened again. “Do you always go camping alone?”

Huxley tried to keep smiling. He shrugged. “It’s not like a rule or anything. But I like being outside, you know? Can’t always wait for someone else to want to go too.”

David watched him for a while before nodding once like, even if he didn’t get it, he accepted the answer. He got up and stretched. Huxley watched him. This guy had literally pulled him off a ledge and then carried him to safety. Huxley had never expected that to happen.

David walked closer and Huxley held his breath, those dark eyes reflecting firelight when they flicked over him. He leaned down, closer still, and Huxley stared back. His heart beat faster. His skin and his head still felt gauzy from the healing magic, but it would take a lot more than clouded senses not to see how hot David was. He was close, really close, like he had been before. He’d had a hand on Huxley since he found him, until they reached the camp. It had never been bad, never threatening or grabbing. Just there, steady and reassuring.

David’s mouth twitched. Was that a smirk?

Huxley almost leaned into him. Almost.

And thank fucking god he didn’t, because David picked up Huxley’s bag and then straightened again, unzipping it to pull out his sleeping bag.

Heat rose to his face and Huxley jumped up from his chair with another laugh. “I can do that,” he said.

David rolled it out for him all the same, not too far from the low burning fire. “Things will get loud pretty early, as soon as the kids start waking up, but you’re welcome to sleep through it if you can.”

Huxley nodded, gravitating toward his bedroll. He really was beat. “Thanks,” he said and then stopped to look at David again. “Really. For saving me back there but also for letting me hang out tonight.”

David smiled a little, like he was trying not to. Why was he always trying not to smile? “Better than sleeping in your truck?”

Huxley laughed, dropping himself carefully down onto his familiar sleeping bag. He sighed, stretching out. “Way better.” He was almost out as soon as he was settled, but managed to stay awake just long enough to see David shift into a wolf again and settle on the ground not far from him.

( @zozo-01 I was so excited that I forgot to tag you when I posted this. Hopefully this works... <3 <3)

#huxley/david #redactedverse #fanfic #meet cute #slight injury #rescue #care #slight au #redacted asmr #dominimoonbeam #i love these characters so much!#crackship #rare pair #<3

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dominimoonbeam · 2 years

Text

What Are You Doing Here? - Part 2

The Hux/David relationship exploration of my dreams!! Hope you enjoy it as much as I seem to like writing it. They are so awkward but cute! I swear things will be steamy in the third part...

tags: new relationship, dating, cuteness, fluff! I FLUFFED! *gives self a sticker*

What Are You Doing Here?

part one on ao3. Part two below and also over on ao3. <3

Huxley wasn’t moving as easily the next morning. He was obviously sore from the fall the night before and yet his mood didn’t seem the least bit worn by it.

David walked him back to the parking lot, despite all his assurances he could handle it fine on his own. It wasn’t a short hike, but David could run back later.

“Really, dude, you didn’t have to. I know you guys have plans.”

They did have plans. Mostly activities for the younger members of the pack and then runs at night for the rest of them. “They’ll get along fine without me, and I’ll be back soon enough,” David said briskly. He couldn’t have sent Huxley to hike back alone. He couldn’t take the risk that something else could go wrong. “So, how did you find that valley?”

Huxley looked at him. “What?”

“The valley we camp at. The one where you were last year too,” he spat, harsher than he meant to. But it had bothered him before too. It was a place he and his dad had found. It wasn’t easy to get to on foot. They’d had to cut a trail to bring in camping gear for the younger members and food back when they first start using it a decade ago. David had never seen or scented any hikes that close before. They usually did day hikes off the dirt packed parking lot or took the trails to the other side.

“Oh. I don’t know. I was hiking and I just…found it. It’s the best spot I’ve seen so far.”

So far. Like there were better. David snorted, skeptical that he would find any better.

Huxley smiled but nodded, like he doubted it too.

“What I said before… kicking you out of the area… forget it, okay?” David said, the words getting grumblier the closer he got to what he wanted to say. Why couldn’t he just say it?

Huxley blinked at him, slowly smiling. “You mean you don’t mind if I camp there sometime?”

David huffed and looked away. “It’s not like I own it.” And then another thought struck him. “But maybe take someone with you next time, yeah?”

Huxley seemed to be considering it like it was some sort of negotiation. “It’s not really that likely I’d run into a bear again…”

“Are you fucking with me?” David snapped.

Huxley laughed.

David growled. “Asshole.”

Huxley shrugged, lifting his head when he spotted the edge of the parking lot up ahead, the trees thinning. “So… I mean, if you wanted to sometime… Maybe I could take you to dinner? For like, saving me. As a thank you?”

David’s head snapped to the side to stare at Huxley. “Dinner?”

Huxley exhaled and it was almost a laugh. He made laughing and smiling look so easy. Almost infectious. But was he blushing? “Yeah. I mean, or lunch? We could go get lunch if you’d rather. If you wanted to. You saved my life, and it just seems weird to like, get in my truck and never see you again, you know?”

They reached the edge of the parking lot. There was a family that had stopped to have lunch at the picnic tables, the kids laughing loudly while the parents tried to get all the right things out of their overpacked Subaru.

Huxley looked at him, waiting. When David took a little too long to answer, he exhaled and took a step back. Somehow, he still smiled, even when David thought he saw some hurt in his eyes. “Never mind, dude. You’re probably busy.” He rolled his bag off his shoulder and started digging into a pocket, probably for his keys, sidestepping toward a dark green truck. “I can’t thank you enough for the whole rescue thing though. You really went above and beyond—”

“Dinner,” David interrupted him.

Huxley’s gaze snapped up to meet his just when he had his keys out. The way his expression changed, from that carefully concealed disappointment to excitement, was breathtaking. This guy would be the worst spy. Everything he thought or felt seemed to be right there on his face.

“Dinner, but you can’t thank me anymore for…saving you,” it was hard to say. He didn’t feel like he’d saved him at all. He’d really just pushed him in the direction of danger and then came over after the fact.

Huxley grinned and nodded. “Deal.” He pulled out his phone, unlocking the screen and passing it to David for his number.

He put it in. “We’re camping for a couple more days, but I should be back in Dahlia by Tuesday.” He held out the phone to him, his number saved.

Huxley took it, their fingers brushing for second. It felt like a spark. An actual spark. You’d think the elemental was an electro. “Cool. I’ll text you.”

David nodded, frowning to keep from smiling like a fucking idiot. He felt like he wanted to shift and run. But Huxley looked so happy. It was worth it to wash away that moment of rejection. David had been too slow to answer, too wrapped up in a thousand thoughts.

Huxley got into his truck, still smiling when he pulled away.

David sank back into the woods. He’d walk for a bit before shifting, just in case that family caught sight of him. He wasn’t really surprised to see Milo and Asher there waiting, but he was surprised by the looks on their faces.

Milo was staring, eyes wide and Asher had his fucking mouth open.

“Shut up,” he snapped before he could even imagine what they might have overheard or made of it. He walked past them, shouldering Asher out of his imitation of a statue.

“Not going to date anyone ever, huh?” Ash laughed.

David felt heat creep into his face and walked faster to stay ahead of them.

“Wouldn’t have guessed him for your type…” Milo said, somehow keeping up.

“I don’t have a type,” he snapped and then added quickly, “And he’s not.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Asher began in that dramatic tone that screamed he absolutely was not sorry for whatever was coming next. “Is incredibly hot, kind, funny, and enjoys nature not your type?”

David growled. He heard one of them shove the other—probably Milo shoving Asher.

“Forget it!” Milo said. “No pressure, David! We were just fucking around.”

“Fuck you, we were!” Asher argued, half-laughing in a struggle. They were probably on the ground by now. “If you’re not interested in the hunky earth elemental then I don’t mind throwing myself on that muscly grenade for you, buddy!” he shouted louder the farther David got from them.

David shifted and snarled but didn’t stop walking away. Assholes.

It wasn’t a date.

It wasn’t like that.

Huxley managed to wait three whole days before texting David. He spent way too much time staring at his phone, trying to decide what to send. He thought about just calling for about a millisecond before checking that idea. He’d get tongue-tied and fumble it.

H: hey! it’s huxley. how’d the camping trip go?

He sent it. Looking at it, it seemed so dumb but what else could he send? No, that had to be good enough. He laughed at himself and put his phone on the coffee table. His tiny apartment had green plants in every corner. He had a routine every morning that involved checking on each one. His moms joked that he had names for them, which wasn’t true.

He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back. He was still sore, but it was mostly from practice now. His hair was still damp from his shower when he got home tonight. He’d told his moms about the hike and what happened with the bear—of course he made it all sound a lot less scary than it had been, like it was no big deal at all.

His phone chimed and Huxley sat up so fast that he almost slid off his couch. “Oh shit,” he muttered to himself, picking up the phone and getting a look at it.

D: Trip was good. Nice weather. No bears.

Huxley blinked at it. Okay. This was good. Contact. What now? He was about to try asking if he was still interested in dinner when the dots flickered. David was typing.

D: Did you go to a healer for those bruises?

Huxley leaned back on the couch with his phone in his hands.

H: ha! no. they weren’t so bad.

H: thank marie for me again?

D: Sure.

Huxley bit his lip. Should he leave it at that for now? Like, would it be coming on too strong if he asked if he was back in town yet?

The dots again.

Huxley felt stupid for being so excited but it was the sort of stupid feeling that only made him smile wider when the next response came in.

D: Have you eaten?

H: nah. just got back from practice.

The pause felt huge. Huxley typed. He was no coward.

H: you?

D: No. Want to meet up someplace?

Huxley rolled to his feet, still holding his phone in both hands. “Fuck yes,” he said.

H: yeah!

D: You live near the DAMN campus?

H: yeah but I can get wherever.

D: No. I’ll come to you. Have you been to that burger place on 5th?

H: nah but i know the place. i can get there in 10.

D: Give me fifteen. I’ll see you there.

Huxley stared at the messages for another second before putting his phone down and hurrying to change into something other than team sweats.

He dragged his hair up into a messy bun, pulled on a t shirt and jeans, and tried not to overthink it. Hux wasn’t really sure if this was flirting or making friends. Either way, he was absolutely onboard. David was great. He had this whole tough dude, grumpy vibe going on but was so obviously soft underneath. All bark and no bite seemed like the wrong way to put it though, seeing as he was pretty fucking sure David had plenty of bite if he wanted to. In the real way too what with being an actual wolf.

Grabbing his phone, Huxley headed out.

David knew it was a date. He knew it, logically, because it obviously was. But he was still going to pretend it wasn’t. He somehow convinced himself that he was making something out of nothing. Huxley had probably felt obligated to thank him with a meal. It was totally normal and not a date. Maybe it was a friend thing? Huxley had said he was from out of state and hadn’t really made a lot of friends at DAMN. How that was possible though, David struggled to believe.

When he got to the restaurant, Huxley was outside waiting.

His smile was just as big and honest as David remembered and it was impossible not to smile back. At least, he managed to keep his own small.

There was an awkward second where David thought for sure this guy was going to hug him, right there on the sidewalk, but then the second passed.

“Have you been to this place before?” Huxley asked, rocking his head back toward the burger joint.

David nodded. He used to go there with his dad. “It’s one of the best in Dahlia.” It was also owned by an empowered couple and close to DAMN.

David had called and booked a table after texting Huxley. Last minute didn’t have to mean without a plan…

They sat across from each other at a corner table, knees bumping once before David scooted back.

“How was the rest of the trip? Any more bears?”

David huffed. “No. No more bears.” Really, a bear would have to be sick to wonder anywhere near a pack their size. Huxley waited, honestly interested it seemed, so David told him about the rest of the camping trip. He paused a few times, thinking this definitely had to be too boring for someone outside the group to hear about, but Huxley was still listening, still prompting him with more questions.

They ordered and eventually the conversation slid to sports. The TVs over the bar on one side of the room were constantly showing whatever game was playing or replaying. Huxley had been excited to talk about teams, especially when it turned out they liked the same ones. David had been raised watching baseball, hockey, and football.

“My dad took me to every game in Dahlia before I could even walk. He kind of made a pack thing out of it, like anyone could tag along and hang out, but he was going either way.”

“Oh man, you’re lucky! My moms got over sports pretty much the first time I broke my collarbone.” Hux said and David felt a pang when he realized Huxley didn’t know his dad was gone. “Don’t get me wrong, they still went to everything I did, but they definitely weren’t into it once I got hurt. But they never tried to make me quit either.”

“So, what do you play? You said you were on one of the DAMN teams, right?” David asked, thoughts still half dancing on the fact that Huxley didn’t know his dad had passed away. How could he not though? Everyone knew. David was alpha of the Shaw pack because his dad was gone. Wait… His mind raced through all of their previous interactions. Did Huxley not know he was alpha? How could he not? But he wasn’t from Dahlia and he wasn’t a shifter…

“Hockey,” Huxley answered with a shrug and picked up his water, taking another sip before working on his fries.

David blinked. It was the flattest answer the other man had given all night. David had withdrawn from watching sports since his dad passed, but even he knew that the DAMN team was good. There was no reason for him to shrug it off. “You sick of playing?”

Huxley looked up, surprised. He recovered with a smile quickly. “No, not really. I like playing. I guess I just thought I’d be closer with the team? I don’t know. They’re fine but it’s…not as easy as it was in my hometown? That sounds stupid.” He exhaled a thin laugh at himself.

David shook his head. “It’s not stupid. You didn’t click with anyone?”

Huxley shook his head. “Most of ‘em grew up in the area and have been playing together since they were kids. We get along fine. It’s not like we fight or anything. It’s just… I don’t know.” He shrugged.

David nodded slowly, even if he found it hard to imagine any group of people not taking to Huxley. He had literally been with the pack for a handful of hours before leaving that morning and they were still talking about him. “Do your moms ever come in for your games? You’ve got one next weekend, right?”

Huxley relaxed at the shift in topic. “It’s a long way but they’ve been out to visit a few times and they try to time it to see games, yeah.”

David nodded, about to take another bite of his burger when Huxley asked, “Do you and your dad go to any of the DAMN games?”

David froze for a second, hating this whole situation. He had known that somehow not making it clear to start with, not saying something about his dad in the past tense to tip Hux off, would lead them to some awkward question like this. And then what? He was going to tell him the truth and Hux was going to feel bad for asking. If it were someone else asking, David might have shrugged off the question and changed the topic.

He put his burger down without taking a bite. “He passed away a few years ago. I kind of fell out of going to games since but it’s something I’ve been meaning to get back into the habit of, you know, to make it into something the pack can do together like he used to.”

Huxley stared at him, surprise and empathy naked on his features. His eyes misted. “Fuck dude, I’m sorry. I can’t imagine losing my moms. That has to be really hard.”

“It was, yeah,” David said.

Huxley leaned back in his seat, absorbing this new world shift.

David almost smiled at that, like he too needed a moment to adjust to this cataclysmic change, even though he had never known Gabe Shaw. His dad would have liked him though. If things had been different, they probably would have been at all of Huxley’s games. David would have probably known who he was when he saw him the woods that first time.

“The idea of making local games an opportunity for your pack to hang out is a good one, but I can totally see why it was rough for you to do it after he passed.”

David blinked. He actually said it. People usually tried to change the topic or dropped their sentences off into silence before having to actually say that his dad had passed away. It eased something in his chest. He knew the topic wasn’t off limits to the pack, but they were still so careful about mentioning it around him. And he understood. He had really struggled in that first year and everything since had felt like climbing back. “The camping was his thing too,” he admitted, surprising himself. “We used to go a couple times a year. Sometimes just the two of us to find good spots for the pack.”

Huxley nodded slowly. “Then it wasn’t his thing,” he said.

David stared at him.

Huxley shrugged. “It was your thing, right? You did it together, like going to the games. It was his thing that he shared with you, and it became your things, something shared.”

David absorbed that, nodding once and looking away when he felt his throat tighten and his eyes mist over. No fucking way was he crying.

“Dude! You should come to one of my games,” Huxley said, shifting the conversation and the mood. His knee bumped David’s under the table, and he mumbled a quick apology before going back to what he was saying. “Not to brag, but they’re pretty damn good. And you might get to see me get a real concussion.”

David snorted. “You get a concussion every time you play?”

“Only if I do it right…”

He laughed, his knee bumped Huxley’s again but David didn’t shift back this time. He just left it. Hux glanced at him like he was gauging his reaction. David ate his burger and pretended not to notice.

Conversation with the earth elemental was easy. Easier than most things had been in his life. David did fine at talking to people outside the pack when he needed to. He could be commanding or he could be patient, but he didn’t usually make friends or have long talks about nothing in particular. But that seemed impossible to avoid with Huxley. It felt good just being there with him.

Huxley nodded back to someone at the bar, tossing a casual wave.

David glanced in the direction. A couple of guys were sitting at the bar, glancing in their direction. “Teammates?”

Huxley hummed and finished off his fries.

David caught them staring at him. Huxley might not know that David Shaw was the alpha of his pack, but these guys definitely knew who he was.

He hadn’t really thought about it before, but he was relieved that Hux hadn’t known before, that for whatever reason, he’d liked David.

They argued over the bill when it came. Huxley insisted on paying because he was supposed to be taking David out to thank him—even though he wasn’t supposed to bring that up.

“Yeah, but I picked the place and, technically, I asked you out.”

The words dropped between them and they both blinked at each other.

David swore under his breath and let go of the bill. “Fine. You pay.”

Huxley did and it felt like neither of them breathed until they were on the sidewalk, the cold soothing the blushes they were absolutely not acknowledging. “This was fun,” Huxley said, hands in his pockets.

David huffed.

Huxley laughed. “So, like…Do you want to do this again sometime?”

David bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “Do I get to pay next time?”

Huxley took a step closer, nodding. “Sure.”

On the sidewalk, this close, he could smell Huxley’s bodywash.

“Is it cool if we hug? If you’re not into that, that’s totally okay. Like, I wouldn’t make you or anything.”

David almost laughed at the thought. No one could make David do anything. But he wasn’t sure Huxley realized that, just like when he’d been surprised he could carry him. He was obviously used to being the biggest guy in a room. “No,” he said.

Hux nodded and took a step back.

David winced. “No, I mean, no, I’m not not into that.” He rolled his eyes at himself and the tangle of words coming out of his mouth. Thank fuck Asher wasn’t around to overhear any of this or he’d never live it down.

Huxley raised an eyebrow.

David opened his arms.

As awkward as it all was, it was worth it for the way the guy grinned and then stepped up to him, hugging him.

When he came home smelling like an earth elemental and a body wash that definitely wasn’t either of theirs, Asher didn’t say a damn word.

“How did you end up hanging out with David Shaw?” one of the guys asked in the locker room before practice.

Huxley blinked, changing his shirt. “What? You know him?” Why did he say his name like that?

Another guy laughed. “Jesus, Hux… You can’t be that oblivious.”

Huxley flushed but put on a smile and shrugged. What were they talking about? What had he missed?

“David Shaw,” the first one repeated. “Like, alpha of the Shaw pack, David SHAW.”

Huxley shrugged, closing his locker and heading out. Alpha? He guessed that made sense. Maybe he should have known? David had definitely been bossy and he was all kinds of responsible.

“What did he want to talk to you about?” someone else chimed in.

“Was he offering you a job? He’s got that security company…but I didn’t think they hired outside the pack.”

Huxley pulled his hair up and started toward the door with another shrug and easy smile, so no one would take offense when he didn’t answer.

A week later Milo mentioned how his mom had taken Huxley out to brunch to check on him. He joked about how she was trying to adopt him, and it was only a matter of time before she got his moms phone numbers and started a damn group chat.

David asked Huxley about Marie the next time they got together and he lit up. It turned out Huxley thought Marie was hilarious and the two had hung out a couple times. She seemed to have convinced Huxley that she was on campus sometimes to volunteer at the campus clinic. David wasn’t sure if she was just lying or if she had started volunteering to make that true. He would definitely bug her about it later.

He went to Huxley’s next game, but of course he didn’t put it like that. He was just getting back into the habit of making local games an event for the pack to get together, it definitely wasn’t because Huxley was playing.

Asher didn’t say a word about it and when Darlin asked if that guy was “the guy” Asher elbowed them in the ribs and put a beer in their hands. David pretended not to see any of it.

Getting a bunch of them together for something fun was nice. There had been the initial pain at doing something he used to do with his dad without him, but then he saw some of the kids in the pack grinning ear to ear and let himself enjoy the way the others laughed and talked, and the way they screamed and cheered with every goal the Dahlia team made.

And then there was the yoga date.

Huxley invited him and David thought he was joking.

They’d met at the gym a couple times and he was still thinking the yoga class was a joke right up until he followed Huxley into a room he could have sworn didn’t even exist at their gym before that day. The floor was padded and the lights low, calming music playing.

Huxley grinned, like he knew David hadn’t believed him. “You’re going to love it.”

David growled.

“Okay, but don’t do that,” he laughed, catching David’s hand and pulling him into the room. He whispered hellos to people he knew and set up their mats. “Try it once and I swear I’ll never bring it up again if you really hate it.”

David sulked, just shy of rolling his eyes when the instructor came in and start talking in soft tones. Of course, he didn’t actually sulk or roll his eyes when things started, that would have been rude to a stranger who was really just doing their job. Admittedly, he liked the stretching. And he liked it more when he glanced to the side and saw Huxley arching his back.

He probably stole more glances at Hux than was entirely necessary. He even caught the elemental smirking a couple times, like he damn well knew what he was doing.

He liked the class, but the whole laying still and almost falling asleep at the end was a little much for him. If he wanted to nap, he’d go home.

Huxley didn’t ask him if he liked the class until they were outside, walking up the nearly empty sidewalk. David liked that—like he was making sure he’d be able to give an honest and fully asshole-esque answer if that’s what he had locked and loaded. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he admitted.

Huxley beamed.

“But I’d rather we go hiking or on a jog or something if I get a vote.”

“Of course, you get a vote!” Huxley bumped their shoulders together. “Do you really want to go hiking sometime?”

David scoffed. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

Huxley slowed when they were getting close to the café they’d stopped at last time they went to the gym together. David slowed too, raising an eyebrow when Huxley came to a full stop. He was hanging onto the strap of his gym bag like someone was going to try to steal it. “David?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we…friends?”

“Yeah,” he answered automatically. Of course, they were friends. He’d just done yoga with this man. But then he saw the subtle way Huxley’s broad chest deflated and that half-step he took back. Friends. Oh shit, he was asking if they were more than friends? He didn’t know, and David realized he should have known Huxley wouldn’t assume. To be fair, they’d hugged and leaned against each other, bumped shoulders and knees, and sometimes Hux took his hand to drag him someplace, but that was it. And most of the time, Huxley had been the one initiating contact.

David growled low and took a step forward, backing Huxley up against the wall. Huxley’s eyes went huge. They were face to face and then David was closing that distance. He kissed him, right there on the sidewalk, under the sun, after yoga, on their way to what was becoming their favorite café.

Huxley tasted like apple juice. His hand twisted in the side of David’s shirt. His body was so steady against his, meeting the press of his chest and his hips, kissing him back.

It was short but somehow they were both breathless when David stepped back.

Huxley was blushing despite that smile.

David was pretty sure he was despite the effort not to smile.

With a grumble, he started toward the café, Huxley on his heels.

When he got home, Asher finally snapped.

He didn’t even know about the yoga or the kissing.

It was the houseplant on the kitchen counter that finally broke him.

David put his keys on the hook on the wall and was toeing off his sneakers.

Asher was standing in the kitchen, hair still cowlicked from sleep, with a cup of coffee in hand. He stared at the little leafy green plant like it had appeared out of nowhere.

It hadn’t appeared out of nowhere. …Huxley had given it to him.

“Are we going to talk about this?” Asher asked, like the plant was a package of heroine.

“Talk about what?” David couldn’t resist being a dick about it, especially after how great his morning went—even with the yoga.

Asher frowned hard. “David…”

“Do you want to go to another game this weekend?”

“Is Hux playing?”

David shrugged, dropping his gym bag and crossing the room.

“David Shaw, I think I’ve been pretty fucking patient.”

“Yeah. What’s that about? You’re usually so nosey…”

“Milo said I shouldn’t push!”

David stopped and stared back at his friend. “You two talked about me?”

Asher exhaled in a sputter of offense. “We talk about you all the time! You’re like our third favorite topic.”

“Why third?” David argued, not sure if he should be flattered or offended now.

Asher pivoted to face him and held up a hand, one finger, “Babe,” second finger, “Stealth,” third finger, “David fucking Shaw.”

David almost physically jerked back. Flattered. Definitely flattered. He grumbled and ducked around Asher to get a bottle of water out of the fridge before he could catch him blushing.

“So, you and the earth elemental…”

David sighed, uncapping the water while the door swung shut. “Yeah.”

Asher grinned, his eyes practically sparkling like a fucking cartoon character. “Yeah?”

“Fuck you, I said yeah, so drop it.”

“Oh no. That’s not how this works at all. You said yeah, so now I want details.”

David scoffed and walked away from him, into the living room. The apartment was suddenly too small because it bought him no real distance at all.

“You’ve been going on dates?”

David scowled.

“And you went to the gym with him today?”

David shrugged.

“And he gave you the plant?” he pointed at it.

“Don’t try to water it. You’ll kill it.”

“Have you two fucked?”

David spit his water.

Huxley really liked having David at his games the last few times. Not just David, but a bunch of the Shaw pack. He knew they weren’t there for him specifically, but they still called his name and Darlin had very nearly gotten kicked out when two guys on the other team slammed Huxley to the wall tonight.

He was fine and luckily the plastic wall had kept Darlin from actually jump onto the ice, despite some very clear threats.

When he got back to the locker room and checked his phone, he had a dozen messages from the pack. Some congratulations, some snapshots of him, and a lot of all-caps rage from Darlin directed toward the other team on his behalf, ending in a lowercase ‘good game’ sent a half hour later after it was all done.

But the text that stole all his attention was the one from David.

D: I’ll wait for you by the exit.

D: You don’t need to rush.

Huxley did rush though. He was usually one of the last ones out but tonight he was one of the first.

His teammates noticed when he was walking down that long hall toward the exit behind them. His hair was still wet from the shower and his clean clothes sticking to damp skin.

“Looks like someone’s finally getting some ground and pound…”

Huxley almost missed a step, heat rushing to his face. He was used to people hitting on him and talking about him, but he still hadn’t been ready for that. He knew some of the disconnect between himself and his team had come from turning down some hook ups. He’d tried to keep it friendly but it had soured into something sharp and mean.

When he didn’t say anything, they laughed and pushed their way out the door, nearly running into David.

The two guys tripped over themselves to try to get around the shifter without actually running into him. Huxley smiled, walking right up to him. He might have hesitated to hug him though if he hadn’t uncrossed his arms for it. David gave him a tentative squeeze. “You okay?”

Huxley unraveled from him, confused. “What? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You got hit pretty bad on the ice…”

Huxley laughed and started walking with him toward the thinned-out parking lot. “No. I’m good. How’s Darlin?”

David snorted. “Uninvited to future games.” He glanced in the direction the other two teammates had gone. “What was that about?”

“Huh? Oh. Nothing.”

David looked at him, like he could read the answer on him if he tried. “You sure?”

Huxley smiled back. He wasn’t used to someone worrying about him. He could definitely look after himself. “Yeah. So where are we going?”

“Are you hungry?”

“Fucking starving!”

“Do you want to go out, or else we could pick some food up and go to my place?”

Huxley’s heart beat faster.

David unlocked the truck and popped open Huxley’s door first. “Or, if you’re tired, I can take you home,” he added, steady, like they’d done this routine a thousand times.

Huxley climbed into the truck and when David came around and got in on the driver’s side, he suggested a place for picking up food.

#HUXLEY/DAVID #redacted fanfic #longfic #sweet fluff!#so awkward #redacted asmr #redactedverse #dominimoonbeam #<3

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