cold branches and warm sighs
pairing: jack russell x reader
summary: transformations are exhausting for Jack, but you’re always there to find him and keep him safe
wc: 1.0k+
genre: worrying, sweet, comfort, sleepy
warnings: jack’s cuteness, honestly
a/n: hi loves! happy early halloween! this mcu short was so well done! i loved every moment of it!
“Jack!” Gunshots fizzed and sparkled in the cold air. Your feet crunched against the leaves and frost. “Jack! Where are you?”
Ted pounded over to your camp scared and white-eyed. It didn’t take many grunts and huffs from you to get the picture. Hunters, again.
The branches rustled in agitation, and they scratched against your skin, drawing angry welts. Your hurried breaths frosted into white clouds. The sleepy blue dawn threatened to spill through the trees.
It would be moments until Jack changed back if he hadn’t already. More leaves split apart as you tore through the trees.
“Jack! Answer me!” The flashes of the guns were getting closer now, emissions floating in the air colored orange and red. You stopped, splaying your hand against a nearby tree to steady yourself.
You wouldn’t be able to hear him if you kept running like this. If you stopped, maybe you’d hear a grow or a stumbling. The leaves and wind grew hushed. The clang of the hunter’s gear shot through the quiet, but just beyond, just out of reach, there were discombobulated steps. It had to be Jack.
More controlled this time, you moved over, the leaves parting instead of flying away from your feet. It was so dark he was hard to spot. Every patch of blackness could be tree or a bundle of branches.
Then you found one that moved. A voice, tired and cracked trickled through the dark. “Mi vida?”
Your stomach unfurled. You almost fell into him, crushing him against your body, arms around his neck. His forearms dug into your back, curling you against his chest, his cold nose brushing against your exposed neck. Your warm sighs tickled each other’s cheeks in sync.
He must have just turned back. All he had was a blanket, thin and scratchy. As he hugged you, he wrapped it around your back, drawing you into his warmth as much as he could.
Your shaky arms slowly loosened from his neck and you smoothed them against his upper arms. “You okay?” Your eyes searched his tired expression.
“I’m alright. Just a little tired.” His eyes drooped in tandem with his words. Then he started to fall, leaning into your chest. Your arms wrapped around his torso to catch him. “Just need to rest.”
Sparing a glance over his shoulder, the golden sparks of the weapons were getting closer, red twinkles from enchanted whips and daggers. You couldn’t stay here. Every moment put the both of you in danger of people that are a lot less forgiving than the dark, looming trees. The only thing they could do was intimate you.
Except for Ted. Ted could incinerate people. You had plenty of people behind you for him to become acquainted with.
You angled Jack so your hips were aligned, curling an arm around his middle to pull him forward. His legs were slow to cooperate but your determination more than made up for it. “Come on. Let’s get you somewhere warm.”
…
“Hey,” you smoothed your hand through his tussled hair. He began to stir, humming and squeezing you closer. His head rested near your neck, right where he always liked it. His arms rested around your center and his chest was half pressed against your torso.
By the time you’d gotten back to camp, he’d nearly collapsed, half from the exhaustion from the transformation and from avoiding the hunters chasing the wolf. You’d had to lay him down, tucking him under the blankets and breaking some heating pads to life.
He dressed when he felt some life in his bones again, sleepily slugging into his pants and shirt. You just returned from giving Ted a hot mug of coffee, refueling him for getting the hunters off your trail. You’d make sure to go later in the morning with him to help clean up the evidence.
Just as you pushed the flap to the tent open, he rolled over to face you, a soft smile on his face. “Come here,” he freed an arm from his blanket to hold out to you.
He was asleep a few moments later, mumbling his thanks and affection. You pressed an I love you into his scalp, thankful he was back in your arms again.
Now, his eyes peeled open, a contented hum slipping from his lips. “Good morning,” he grinned. He shifted higher so you could rest against his chest, rolling over so he lay beneath you. “How’d you sleep, amor.”
Snuggling against him, you breathed in the leaves and cold air still stuck to his clothes. There was something warmer and deeper there too; it was uniquely his. He said the same thing about you when he woke up in the mornings. He loved holding you close enough to memorize your scent. He wanted to keep it near him so he wouldn’t forget when he changed.
“Better now that you’ve gotten some rest.” His answering kiss to your crown sent a flare up your spine and warm jelly to spread through your core.
“How’s Ted?” His voice rumbled against your ears.
“He’s alright. He was worried about the hunters before. He thought they were getting close to where we were.” You could still see Ted’s wide-open eyes and rushed strides.
Jack frowned, holding you against him tighter. “I hope I didn’t scare him. I was trying to lead them away before I got close to transforming.”
“I’m sure he knows. He sent your knight in shining armor after you anyway,” you smirked, watching his eyes light up in amusement.
“Oh, amor, I see you take your responsibilities seriously.”
“I always do. It’s you we’re talking about.”
He didn’t answer, but his growing smile answered for him. His lips parted as he brought a finger beneath your chin, tilting your face up to touch foreheads and then gently eager lips. His kiss was soft and smooth but you deepened it, pressing your worry away with your lips.
As you broke apart, he trailed a pinky down your forehead, brushing your hair away from your face. “Thank you,” he sighed, a peaceful look in his eye.
“I love you too,” you hummed. He giggled.
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The Semi-Soulmate AU That Nobody Asked For
Something nobody ever told Danny was that, well. He was the king.
Everyone assumed that someone else had told him, and honestly, he was doing an alright job at the whole thing, so...
He had to know, right?
No.
No he did not.
Of course he didn't know! How could he have?
His first hint was when he woke up at the stroke of midnight on his twentieth birthday, falling apart.
He panicked, because of course he did. Panicking when you were dissolving into aether was something any sane person would do! But it didn't last, because then he was gone and there was only The Realms.
And it was beautiful.
You see, there are rules, and then there are rules.
And one of the rules was this: No King of the Realms can rule without knowing what, exactly, it is that they rule.
And so, typically, (typically, she says, when there's only been two Kings, and Pariah was anything but typical.) the newly crowned King would go on a tour of the realm. They would meet their subjects, and explore the far reaches, and, although it would take a while (ages, millennia, eons,) they would eventually return with at least partial knowledge of their domain.
Danny had done none of that.
Danny hadn't known, because no one had told him.
The Realms had waited. Patiently at first, and with slowly growing impatience.
One year.
Three.
Five years, and the new King gave no indication that he was even thinking about touring the Realms.
So the Realms took matters into its own hands.
And stole the king away.
He was everything. Everywhere. Everywhen, all at once. Forever and Always, all at once.
He could see everything.
Feel his subjects, going about their 'lives'. 'Living', and loving, and 'dying', and being reborn elsewhere in a cycle that took him eons (the blink of an eye, the beat of a heart) to comprehend.
Someone screaming caught his attention, such as it was.
One of his subject being dragged unwillingly into one of the 'living' worlds.
This wasn't too uncommon. It happened often enough, with the advances that the 'living' had made in medical technologies. But this one was different.
The portal was different.
Putrid and sickening, it was a blemish on Danny's The Realms' self.
He couldn't interfere. He tried. He tried to close the portal, to block it, to cut the summoning, but nothing worked.
Fate had her hand in this, and The Realms hated her.
He couldn't help. So he reached out, and embraced the subject, instead.
And for a moment, (an eternity of eternities), they were one.
Mixing, blending, learning, mourning,
and then the portal surged, and the other was gone.
And The Realms Danny mourned.
The Realms spat him back out onto his bed.
The room was still dark.
The clock read fifteen minutes after midnight.
His phone told him it was his twentieth birthday.
But he felt so, unbearably old.
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