#marvin's stubborn and doesn't really take no for an answer

[beerecordings]

Wolf Bite - Part 14

“Okay,” says Marvin, hugging his arms around his chest. “I didn't want to make a big deal, but now I am beginning to get worried.”

Jackie tugs on the handle to Sean's office again as if it's going to have unlocked itself since the last time he tried it. “He should be here,” Jackie says. “We have class every Tuesday and Thursday at six. It's six-fifteen, and it's Thursday. He should be here.”

“I know.”

“He should be here and he's not here.”

“I know, Jackie, we're going to figure it out, but try to be calm, okay?”

Marvin peers into the windows of the office again and takes a deep breath. Jackie's right. They had class scheduled today. The full moon is tomorrow, and Marvin was looking forward to going for a run. They were going to help Chase and Henrik practice shifting before tomorrow. Sean wanted more time to prepare them. He wouldn't cancel this for anything, and if he's just running late, then where are Chase and Henrik?

Yeah, he's starting to get a little worried.

Then again, they were going for a run tonight...

“Hey,” he calls, grabbing Jackie's shoulder. “You know what, they probably just had plans to meet at the park. They forgot to text us or we forgot Sean said it or something. We were going to the park anyway.”

“Right,” says Jackie tersely. “Okay, let's check.”

Marvin feels better, walking to the park, and Jackie loosens up a little too, although the last-minute change of plans has added some stress nobody needs. Marvin takes his arm and squeezes it, grinning up at him as they walk, pressing his scent into his shoulder for a moment. It's such a nice day, anyway, or Marvin thinks so.

“I love it outside after a storm,” he purrs.

Jackie snorts. “The street is half-flooded and all I can smell is the rain.”

“I like rain smell.”

It came down so hard last night Jackie's little house shook once or twice, and Jackie, unable to sleep in the noise and the lightning flashes, woke Marvin up to force him to play Battlefront at about one in the morning. There are worse ways to spend the night, though.

“I'm excited to see the new guys turn.” Marvin swings Jackie's arm as they walk. “Henrik is wound so tight all the time, I bet he's the most liberated wolf you've ever seen. He'll be rolling around in the mud and nipping at everybody's heels.”

“You don't think he'll be stiff?”

“We'll warm him up.”

Jackie grins faintly at him, turning back to the pavement too quickly.

“What?”

“Mh, nothing,” Jackie answers. “Just wonder what he'll do.”

“When he goes back to Germany?”

“You really think he'll go?”

“He's a pretty stubborn guy. I don't know, maybe he's close with his family.”

“I don't think they even know, from what I've heard.”

“Fuck's sake. Maybe he really will just – ”

“Isolate himself?”

“Yeah... yeah. We'll have to keep in touch. But maybe Chase will convince him to stay. They're cubs from the same litter. And hey, at least Chase sounds like he's staying around.”

“Yep,” agrees Jackie, spotting the park sign up the way.

Marvin watches him for a second, trying to phrase the question he wants to ask.

“He gets kind of lonely, too, I think. Chase, I mean. You seem to like taking care of him.”

“I like newbies. I like helping people.”

“So... I don't know, maybe we keep him around.”

Jackie blinks at him. “Yeah, he can hang out with us whenever! You need more friends cause you're rude to people.”

“Hey!”

Jackie cracks up. Marvin shoves against his side. “I mean it, Jackie. Maybe we think about looking after him a little more closely, you know? With you being an Alpha again – ”

Jackie stops short on the pavement, turning to stare right at him. “What? You... you would want Chase for pack?”

Marvin clasps his hands together uncertainly. If he says yes, will Jackie get excited and explain that he thought Marvin wanted it to just be the two of them? Somehow, it doesn't feel that way. “Just, um. Just wondering. Thinking. Like, he's a nice guy. Could use a pack.”

Jackie stares at him for a second longer, gears turning behind his eyes. After a second, he shakes his head. “Chase will find a nice big pack somewhere in town,” he says, heading into the park, the soft grass squishing beneath his feet. “This can just be for the two of us. I hope Chase will be a friend, and we will help him with anything he needs, but we don't have to take him in just because he doesn't have one right now.”

“Well, I just thought you seemed to like him.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I do, but, you know. Right?”

What? No, he doesn't know. He almost laughs, bewildered. It's not a very Alpha thing to say, that a new wolf can just find another pack, and Marvin's always known Jackie has strong pack instincts. Didn't he take care of Chase right from the beginning, telling him where he lived if he needed anything and walking him home? He's about to ask his cousin what the hell he's talking about when Jackie straightens up and freezes, nose turning up.

"What?" asks Marvin.

Then he smells it, half a moment after his cousin, beneath the heavy scent of the rain: blood.

"Spirits save us," he murmurs, and Jackie takes off at a run, all thought of calm abandoned. Marvin rushes after him, but he can't help but wish they could take some time to think before acting - what if it's strangers fighting, and they're about to rush into danger that isn't their business?

"Jackie!" he calls, but Jackie won't stop even when Marvin catches up to him. His teeth are extended, his hair getting thick at the nape and standing up, the rest of him human. "Jackie, Sean knows how to take care of himself. We don't even know if he's here!"

"That's his blood, I know it," pants Jackie.

"Jacks, you can't know that, you - "

He crashes into Jackie as his Alpha stops abruptly.

"Sean," Marvin whispers.

He's on his side on the floor of the forest, and it is his blood.

"Go look for Henrik and Chase," barks Jackie, racing to his friend's side.

"Well, I'm calling a fucking ambulance first!" Marvin cries, scrambling for his phone. "Maybe it was humans with guns, do you smell iron?"

"Sean, Sean, Sean," Jackie chants, falling to his knees next to him.

Sean's in his wolf form, his flame smell melding into the heavy scent of earth and rain. Blood leaks into the dirt around him. He doesn't move as Jackie leans over him, stroking his fur, searching for the injury.

"He could have been here all night," whimpers Jackie. "What happened, Sean, who did this?"

"This park is always full of wolves, Jackie. If no one's found him, he can't have been here all night." Marvin grips his phone as his call goes through. "Yes, I need an ambulance at the park on Crawford street, please, please! I don't know if he's - Jackie, is he breathing, is he - ?"

"He's breathing. But - here, they're bitemarks, a bite wound, another wolf did this to him. Circle, Marvin, quick, check for any other scents."

Marvin backs off and prowls the nearby trees as he chatters desperately to the phone operator, his nose raised. But he doesn't smell anything but the remnants of the thunderstorm, electricity and petrichor, and Sean's scent, bitter with blood and paprika-anger.

"Did you find Chase and Henrik?"

"No," croaks Marvin. "They must not have known he was out here either."

"But why weren't they with us at the office, waiting for class?"

"Maybe they were just running late?"

Jackie shoots him a look somewhere between skepticism and concern, and Marvin knows that they weren't just running late, much as he wants to believe it. He swipes into his messages, but there's no reply to either of his texts. Something's wrong.

"Why would Sean be out here alone?"

"Maybe he had... you know how Alphas schedule fights sometimes?"

"Oh, come off it! Sean's not an Alpha, and he's not violent. The only thing that even makes him angry are his court cases. Like when that red wolf bit that predator's hands off - "

"What? Oh, that's the vigilante Henrik and Chase mentioned."

Marvin stares at him.

He hasn't wanted to ask, hasn't wanted to jeopardize their new togetherness, their happiness. But he'd never been able to get rid of the idea that Jackie was the vigilante.

Why did he say 'what?' like he had no clue what he was talking about?

Jackie never lies.

"You're really not the one that did that?" Marvin manages.

Jackie blinks at him, wrapping his hoodie around Sean's injured side as he tries to stop the bleeding. "Bit someone's fucking hands off? I like a good fight, Marvin, and I know you've seen me vicious a couple times, but I don't truck with humans like that. Just gives them a reason to put you down like a dog who bites too many times."

Sean shifts in the dirt and Jackie gasps, leaning low over him to speak softly to him, swearing to him that everything will be okay. It would be easier for the doctors if Sean were human, Marvin knows, but Sean doesn't have the strength to shift right now. His red-brown fur is stained with mud and blood, but it's still that warm color. When the light gleams on it, it's not red-brown. It's just red.

"Holy shit," Marvin whispers. "He was so angry about that man touching the kid - and he told me, he said - the week before, he told me he had a case where mom was fighting for custody of a little werewolf girl after her dad touched her, and Sean was so frustrated - "

"What are you talking about?" Jackie demands, but then the paramedics are there, and Marvin thanks the stars for the camaraderie of wolves, because two of them he's never met before have helped the medics find them as soon as possible, following the trail of blood without question when they saw the ambulance arrive. A huge grey wolf trots up to Marvin and presses against his legs, and all he can do is try to breathe as Jackie helps the paramedics get Sean out on a stretcher, begging them to find a doctor instead of a vet, stroking Sean's fur. For a moment, Sean's rolling eyes find Marvin's, and he stares at his friend as Sean pants and gazes at him, jaw stretching. There's... something in his mouth.

Jackie spots it a moment later too, reaching tenderly down to Sean's teeth and extracting swirls of black caught there. He's finally pried away from the stretcher and he and Marvin both follow after the paramedics as they bring him back to the ambulance outside the park, and disappear down the road.

Marvin thinks he could faint. He checks himself for seizure warning signs, and he thinks Jackie does too, because he wraps an arm carefully around his shoulder like he might fall. But he's just... scared. The tears come then, blooming and spilling over, and Jackie squeezes him tight, his scent pounding with fury and fear.

"Let's go to Chase's and check for them," Marvin wheezes. "Please. I don't understand what's going on, they have to be there, they - "

Jackie shakes his head slowly. His eyes are hard in a way Marvin hasn't seen them since they were teenagers.

"They won't be there," he says, soft.

"What? No, no, they have to be. They were just running late, or they got caught up with something and couldn't come to class, or - "

Jackie hands him the black stuff he pulled from Sean's teeth. Fur, Marvin realizes, some of it with skin still attached at the end. Sean bit back. He pulls the fur close to his face and scents it, and there - beneath blood and saliva and the strong scent of the lightning-wrought storm - is lemon and chocolate and caramel.

"The wolf who stole them," Marvin whispers. "He came back, and Sean - Sean smelled him, somehow, went to confront him, tracked him down, but - "

Jackie takes the fur back from him. His hands do not shake, but his nails press into his palm as they squeeze into fists, tight, tight.

"The wolf has them already," he says.

.

The night of the storm, the crack of thunder roused Chase from sleep, but it shouldn't have.

He turned over on his bed, facing towards the window, and squinted out at the flash of lightning and the racing water down the glass before letting his eyes slide shut again, still half-asleep.

Something moved in the hallway, but he had a guest. Henrik was moving around, then. He was too sleepy for it to matter. The storm made the air cold, but it was perfectly hot in the security of his blankets. He snuggled into his own chocolate scent, snuffling. The smell of the rain, even inside his own house, seemed to dull everything else.

A creak, in his room. The door, maybe. He was barely awake. It was so warm.

The scent of the storm was heavy and electric. Familiar, in a way.

His eyes cracked open again. He sighed slightly to be disturbed from comfy sleep. What time was it?

“He's asleep, go get the other one.”

Chase froze, eyes flashing open. He didn't move.

There was someone in his room. Wasn't there? Did he dream that? A whisper, nothing more, but – no, he heard it. Not a dream.

There was someone in his room.

Henrik – but why would Henrik whisper that? Why would Henrik just be standing there, then, unmoving in the doorway, not waking him? Looking at him? Staring at him, silent?

There was an exhale of air in the doorway, soft. Like anxiety. Like uncertainty.

He wanted to turn over in a rush, but he couldn't move at all. He knew there was someone there, in his doorway, looking at him, but he couldn't turn over. Too scared to see them standing there. His eyes were watering, his heart jack-hammering in his chest.

“Oh, not asleep,” whispered that voice. “I scared you. I'm sorry. It'll be okay, pup.”

That was not Henrik's voice. Chase almost gagged on the whimper he tried to keep down, staring blankly at the wall as he struggled in vain to react. Please, please, please. He didn't know who he was begging, or for what. There was someone in his fucking house. In his bedroom. Looking at him.

They moved, feet padding against his carpet. They came close to him. He hyperventilated, no longer able to make a show of being asleep, panic overriding everything. The closer they came, the stronger the smell of the storm, and he recognized it as distinct from the smell in the air, then. The wolf came the night he knew his scent would be masked, blending into all else. Was he waiting for a storm? Or for something else? Did he finally find them, or has he always known? Has he always been watching?

The weight of the wolf sank onto the mattress.

Chase screamed at last, turning over and throwing himself back against his window, but the other wolf was faster; his hand shot out and grabbed Chase by the throat. Chase screamed again, coming face-to-face with his abductor, but the press of the wolf's thumb into his jugular vein made him choke on the noise, and he couldn't do anything but groan and grab at that hand, tears racing down his face. Lightning burst outside his window, illuminating green eyes in the darkness, only for a moment.

“Henrik!” Chase wailed. “Henrik, run!”

“Enough of that, now,” chided the wolf. “You did so good, bringing him home to you, making him smell like pack. He'll come with us too.”

“No, please, we don't want this!”

“You will, though. And things will be better. Once we get out of town, out to the real forest, we can live the way we were meant to.”

Chase's response was cut off as a second hand wrapped around his throat, the pressure so oppressive that he shut up instinctively, eyes blown in the darkness. That thumb soothed up and down his neck, the hands just tight enough to scare him, but not tight enough to cut his air. He couldn't move, bowed nearly in half by the sudden desperation of his body to just submit before he got hurt. He'd lost a fight, and now he had to obey. His head faltered, drooping over those hands, and his eyes met those of the wolf. That smell was so familiar, so fragrant and soothing, five times as powerful as the piece of fabric he gave to Sean. Of course, something in his body sang. My pack came back for me.

His fear cut in half and he went limp on the bed. The wolf rumbled at him and released his throat from one hand, helping pull him up. “Shift for me, Chase, come on. Time to go home.”

He got him to his feet. Chase felt dizzy and disoriented, his throat aching. He wanted to bury himself in the other wolf's smell. He wanted to rip the other wolf's heart out with his teeth. He couldn't move. As he pulled him towards the door, that hand on his neck shifted for just a second, moving away from his vein, and Chase –

Chase bolted.

“Henrik!” he screamed. “Henrik, run, call the police!”

Laughter followed him as he charged into his guest room, slamming open the door and then shoving it closed behind him, using his body as a barricade. In Henrik's room, the storm lashed the window. Chase turned as a strike of white light burst through the room, and in that glow, he saw the silhouette of his friend, limp as a doll and laid out on the ground. Above him stood a black wolf, and the wolf had its teeth in his throat.

[kangaroo-r00]

Unfocused

(A/N) This took me like two or three weeks. This short story kicked my butt.

His vision was blurry and unfocused even with his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. The words on the page didn't make any sense anymore—they hadn't made any sense in a while. They were being read at a snail's pace and even reading slowly the words couldn't compute in his brain. Somewhere along his constant work words became letters jumbled together. Irritated, dry eyes read the same line of text over and over, his mind trying to latch onto the letters in front of him and retain at least a few words.

Even though it had been a month since he had been rescued, he was still months upon months behind on work, papers and reports stacked in several piles with seemingly no end. The excuse of having months of work to catch up on was enough to convince the others that he needed to be alone for long periods of time to begin cutting the piles down. It was enough of an excuse to keep himself holed up in his office for long hours, only leaving for meals (sometimes he even ate in his office). Just like before. Except that nothing was the same as before.

His hands came up and pushed his glasses up as he rubbed his eyes beneath them. How long he had been up working he didn't know—all he knew was that he had to keep working. If he didn't keep working then he'd end up falling asleep. If he ended up falling asleep then he'd be back there again with the demon, trapped inside his own mind's delusions until he was thrust out of his mind and back into reality in a screaming, sobbing mess. That only caused worry and concern with the others.

Coffee no longer helped keep him awake. If anything the warmth lulled him further into a state of drowsiness. So he began drinking it cold. Not that it helped much. His blood was basically coffee at this point. He vaguely wondered if he could fill a syringe with coffee and inject it into his veins to mix the caffeine into his bloodstream. Would that help?

It wasn't helping that if it was quiet enough then he could hear the faint static in his ears, the sound eternally burned in his brain. He kept forgetting to turn background noises on when he was alone. The permanent sound made him want to claw at his skin, slap his hands over his ears but he knew from experience that it wouldn't help. He was scared for when the soft, nearly inaudible static grew in volume, signalling his approach. It hadn't happened yet but that didn't mean anything.

His eyelids felt as if there were weights attached to them, throbbing pain around his eyes and sockets that only was alleviated when he blinked sluggishly, eyes closing for too long every blink. The feeling of blackness creeping up on his mind scared him. The half full mug on his desk beckoned him over. Arm heavy as lead, he reached for it unconsciously. Hopefully the cold liquid would perk him up enough or at least make him need to use the bathroom. If he drank it all, he'd need to go into the kitchen to refill it. Then he could go back to work and continue on—

Crash!

The flinch and wide eyed reaction was several seconds too late. Schneep stared blankly at the destroyed mug and cold coffee on the ground, ceramic littering the floor and coffee splashed all over the tiled floor, wall, and side of his desk. Glassy eyes were fixated vacantly at the mess, his mind being unable to comprehend what had just happened. A simple overreach, his arm moved out too fast and his hand didn't open to grab the mug, instead shoving it off his desk.

As soon as what he'd done clicked in his mind, the realization that he had to cleanup the mess dawned on him. If he didn't, the mess would bother him—eat away at the edges of his mind until he gave in and cleaned it anyway. Someone could step on the ceramic and hurt themselves and the coffee on the ground was going to be slipped in or tracked everywhere. Thinking about cleaning the mess made him sigh heavily—he didn't want to move.

For once something overpowered the compulsive urge to clean the mess.

Why even bother? Why bother trying to catch up on nine months of work while more piled up as he frantically struggled to claw his way back? He wasn't going to ever catch up. Why bother cleaning up the mess? It wasn't like it was important. Was anything important at this point? The static in the back of his mind seemed to agree with him and got a little louder (it was probably his imagination; nothing to worry about).

When he felt his eyes sting he brought his hands up and pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. He wanted nothing more to lay down and sleep but he was scared. Of nightmares, of waking up in the room he'd been trapped in, of finding the demon standing above him. He couldn't cry because then he got tired after he shed all his tears.

A shaky inhale... hold... slow exhale. Schneep repeated this until he was no longer on the verge of crying. Crying would only make things worse. He cried a lot—too much.

A quick glance down to the mess on the ground determined his next course of action. He couldn't just leave it, no matter how much he wanted to. The static seemed to lessen a bit.

His hands gripped the armrests and squeezed them briefly before he pushed himself onto his feet. A wave of vertigo washed over him as darkness was all he could see for a moment. Blinking several times and rubbing at his eyes returned his vision, albeit slowly. Practically falling to his knees, Schneep reached out and began collecting the shards one by one in the palm of one hand. Once all the shards were collected, he dumped them in the trash bin by his desk and stared unseeingly at the dark puddle of coffee. He didn't know what to do with it—he didn't have anything on him to clean the mess up with. After a moment of silent thinking, he shucked off his lab coat.

That's how Marvin found him—on his hands and knees mopping up spilled cold coffee with his lab coat.

"Schneep? What the hell are you doing?"

The doctor nearly screamed, jolting hard and head snapping up to see Marvin standing at the bottom step. He hadn't even heard him come down—when did he come down? Marvin looked tired, shoulders slumped, mask slightly askew, and hair falling past his shoulders in tangles.

The sound of a sharp clap broke him out of his musings. "Did you even hear me?" The magician asked, irritation bleeding into his voice.

It took him a moment to remember how to speak. "Ah—sorry, yes." Marvin's expectant staring confused him. "What?"

"You didn't answer my question."

A confused noise. "Oh... what was it?" He shrank a bit under Marvin's scrutiny. Right: questions are bad.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" The man in the cat mask bit out deliberately slowly. Insultingly slowly even. But Schneep couldn't really comprehend that at the moment.

He was confused. "Cleaning?"

"With your lab coat?"

"... Yes? I couldn't think of anything else."

Marvin sighed heavily. "What about the box of tissues on your desk? There are literally paper towel rolls in your desk drawers."

Schneep blinked, brain working overtime to try and process the information. "There... there is? I did not see it."

Marvin sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's your damn desk. You work here every day for hours upon hours. You should know where things are."

This was true. Before everything that happened he'd have known that, even if he was sleep deprived past the point of function (it'd take him a while to find it but he wouldn't forget its existence entirely). It had taken him a while to remember where everything important was and even now it still slipped his mind. He feels like an imposter—he doesn't feel like the same man who sat here almost an entire year ago.

He tried to choke out an apology—clearly he was in the wrong for forgetting something so obvious—but all that came out was a shuddery sob. Hands left the coat on the ground and buried his palms into his eyes to wipe at the tears threatening to fall.

Marvin's annoyance fell away as he drew in a sharp breath. "Aw... Schneep..." He took a small step forward before continuing slowly forward.

This time it was too much for Schneep to stop. Tears blurred his vision and dripped down his scarred cheeks regardless of how hard he tried to prevent it. Everything just felt heavier than normal, pressing down painfully on his shoulders and mind. Drawing in a shaky breath, he wiped at his eyes with the edges of his long sleeved shirt.

Marvin knelt a foot or two away from Schneep, hand hovering, unsure of how to proceed. "Hey... don't..." He cut himself off from what he was going to say and instead stared at Schneep's face for a moment. "When was the last time you slept?"

A helpless shrug. "Don't... don't know," Schneep managed to choke out.

Marvin's annoyance rekindled and it showed in his voice. "Why aren't you taking care of yourself?"

It was probably a good thing that Marvin was asking questions that required more than one word answers. They forced him to collect himself enough to answer lest he respond with something in German, a mix between the two languages, or something too broken up to understand.

Truth be told, normally Schneep would never answer that question directly if he was calm enough and awake enough. It'd usually get brushed off with a dismissive answer or a topic change. This time however: "Can't sleep."

Marvin sighed, "You need to sleep eventually."

He took a deep breath in, realizing the tears had stopped and left him feeling even more tired than ever. Head shaking slowly, Schneep mumbled, "Do not need to. Perfectly able to keep working."

"That's fucking bullshit!" Marvin snapped angrily, startling Schneep into flinching. He gestured to Schneep exasperatedly. "You're cleaning the floor with your lab coat and literally crying over forgetting that tissues and paper towels exist! C'mon, you're going to get some sleep. Now," Marvin insisted, grabbing Schneep's frail wrist. The sudden movement was enough to make him flinch and gasp in surprise, tearing his wrist from the other's gloved grip before averting his eyes guiltily. Marvin immediately let go, mouth opening to say somethi—

"Is... is fine. Wasn't expecting it is all," the doctor mumbled. He didn't see the uncertain look the magician shot him but felt Marvin's hand loosely grab one of his. The brief, gentle squeeze was unexpected from such a brash person happened to be enough to startle Schneep yet again.

"C'mon.... Get up." His voice was much quieter than normal, its usual edge gone and leaving a softer tone behind, drawing the doctor's eyes back to him.

"The mess—what about it?" Schneep protested weakly, glancing back down at his stained white coat.

"You can clean it once you've gotten some sleep." Marvin grabbed Schneep's other hand in his free hand and tugged lightly on both once he stood. The other man obeyed, standing on shaking legs.

"Is not going to work," he yawned. "Already tried and it didn't work."

Marvin lightly pulled him to the stairs, leading him slowly up the stairs. "Why didn't it work?"

"Too scared." Schneep was too tired to even consider lying at this point.

Marvin hummed lightly. "We're going to try something new."

The words struck a chord in Schneep, gray blue eyes widening in fear. He recoiled, feebly attempting to wrench his hands from Marvin's. In his clouded mind, he forgot they were ascending the steps and nearly to the top. Luckily Marvin had tightened his grip at the last possible moment and pulled him back forward.

"Jesus you're light!" Marvin gasped in shock.

"Don't want to try something new!" The doctor blurted, trying to wriggle his hands out from Marvin's grip. The steely grip was enough to make his bubbling panic boil up violently, threatening to overflow.

"Calm down, Hen—it's nothing bad. I'm just going to try and use my magic to calm you down enough to sleep," the magician assured.

By the time Schneep processed this and was shaking his head, he was being gently pushed down to sit on the couch. He practically melted into the plush seat, the feeling of slouching into such a comfortable surface relaxing his exhausted, tense muscles against his will. Marvin took a seat next to him, taking a moment to readjust his crooked mask.

"This is going to work a lot smoother if we remain in physical contact. Keep your breathing steady and try your best to stay calm," Marvin instructed softly, gloved hands giving trembling ones a soft squeeze.

"Marvin, I really do not want to do this," Schneep pleaded though he didn't pull away from the magician's grip. He wasn't sure if he was scared to or oddly hopeful that something might actually get him to sleep.

The main in the cat mask nodded. "I know you don't but you need to sleep now. Just listen to me and you'll feel much better about the whole thing." He curled his fingers and entwined them with Schneep's so their palms were pressed together.

Schneep realized belatedly that he wasn't going to get out of this and decided it'd be best if he stopped resisting altogether. Just go along with what Marvin wanted and he'd be happy. Swallowing nervously, he nodded, eyes squeezed shut.

"Marvelous. Now pay attention to my voice and do as I say," he crooned softly.

Maybe this was a bad idea—

"Deep breath in..." the magician began, drawing in an exaggerated breath of air. Schneep did his best to mimic it to the best of his ability without rushing it.

"Hold it for five seconds." Neither breathed.

"Now let it out slowly." Schneep breathed in sync with Marvin.

He didn't know how long they went through the breathing exercises, drawing in deep breaths and holding them in for however long before releasing them. It was weird to feel so relaxed and sleepy.

At some point his hands were growing warm and a quick glance down at their joined hands revealed bright green mist curled around both of their hands and lower arms. Somewhere in the back of his mind something was screaming that the demon had tricked him again but he felt oddly detached from reality—like he had absolutely zero cares in the world and that his mind was disconnected from his body. Besides, the longer he stared at the magic, he managed to spot differences in their power. The demon's glowing green eye appeared a crueler shade of neon green while Marvin's magic was a much softer shade and warmer to the touch. The demon's power was cold unlike Marvin's.

"There you go, Schneep. Just keep breathing... and let you eyes slide shut." Everything was beginning to sound muffled—as if everything were submerged underwater. The staticky sound in his ears and the pounding of his heart seemed to dim but Marvin's voice remained perfectly clear, cutting through the weird silence.

It was easy to just listen and do what he's told.

(A/N) Marvin only wants to help but he may be doing more damage than good. I swear to god this was supposed to have a happy ending but Schneep does get to sleep so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯