Okay, these keep going long, and getting a little sad. I’M SORRY. It’s my brain lately.
This is for @vashti-lives who donated, and asked for Theo/Zeki, babysitting.
Theo slid the last tray of cookies into the oven with a satisfied hum, and then surveyed the many racks of cooling sugar cookies around him. He stopped humming, and blinked back to the awareness that he wasn’t in his kitchen, he was in his parents’ house, and he’d gone into their kitchen a while ago to find a snack.
He glanced around guiltily, although his parents had learned over the years to leave him alone while he was baking. It allowed him to focus, while keeping him from wallowing in painful thoughts, or worse, not feeling anything at all.
He stopped before he could search for powdered sugar for icing. Because of course, he didn’t need to wallow now. Zeki was here. His mate was here and wanted him, and had claimed him probably far too early but neither of them could seem to care about it.
Theo blinked down at the dozens of heart-shaped sugar cookies, at the room almost literally overflowing with the power of his full heart, and didn’t have to wonder why he’d gotten distracted enough to bake.
( Read more... )
Since he had a few minutes to wait—and probably some apologies to make to his family for forgetting about them—he poked his head out of the kitchen to look out into the living room. He expected to his parents, and some of his visiting cousins. What he saw was his mate, sitting awkwardly on the couch while two of Theo’s young cousins played on the floor in front of him.
There wasn’t a sound from the rest of the house, as if everyone else had left. He couldn’t tell when they’d be back, or when Zeki had arrived, but he’d clearly been asked to babysit, and for some reason, he’d agreed.
Zeki hadn’t been raised around a lot of relatives or children. That much, Theo knew. He could also tell that Zeki hadn’t been around kids when he’d been in school either, because he staring at the two children in front of him with a blank expression. That was Zeki when he hadn’t worked out what to do about something.
He must feel so unprepared right now, and yet he’d been roped into babysitting anyway. Zeki was… unnerved by Theo’s parents, guilty, around them. They weren’t… well, he had some reason to be. Not guilty—none of that was his fault—but worried about them accepting him. They would in time of course. Zeki’s was Theo’s mate, and more than that, actively trying to prove to them he would protect Theo. But in the meantime, Zeki had probably thought babysitting would impress them.
Theo looked to his cousins. Seven-year-old Lupe’s attention seemed split between the cartoon on TV and Zeki and keeping an eye on her older cousin. Mai was going through some things, or, her mother was, and her father wasn’t around to help, which would probably explain why Mai was currently a wolf. Being upset as a wolf was much easier than being upset as a human. No one made you talk.
Mai’s mood had nothing to do with Zeki, but Zeki probably didn’t know that.
“Are you, um, okay, over there?” he asked Mai, whose ears flicked in his direction, although she didn’t turn to acknowledge him.
Zeki just nodded. “Okay, cool. Um. I know you’re old enough to play outside, or by yourself, and let’s face it, even a young wolf can take care of herself, but let me know if you need anything. Okay? You don’t even have to talk. I’m getting pretty good at figuring out all the were-speak… or at least I think I am.”
“Mai thinks you’re itchy,” Lupe offered. Mai swiped a paw over her nose. Lupe rubbed the sleeve of her Oscar the Grouch T-shirt over her face, although Lupe was only half-wolf, and hadn’t ever shown a hint of shifting that anyone had seen.
“Itchy?” Zeki perked up. “That’s the scent of my magic. It’s uncomfortable at first I know. It’s hard to quantify.”
Lupe exchanged a frown with Mai.
Theo smiled to himself, just a little, for Zeki’s inexperience with talking to children. But Zeki always was quick to learn.
“Oh,” he said, as if correctly interpreting their silence. “Um. I mean that magic smells like a lot of things, but also like nothing else. So a lot of weres find it strange, or unpleasant. But that usually goes away if you’re around it long enough. You get used to it, or I think, maybe you learn to parse it out.”
Lupe put her head in her hands and sighed dramatically. After a moment, she turned toward the TV.
Zeki, unexpectedly, sighed with her. Instead of being relieved, he stared between the two children with that adorable frown of determination on his face. It was similar to how he looked after realizing that if he wanted to tire out a werewolf—sexually—he had to up his game.
Which he had. Very much.
Theo felt himself flushing. Luckily, it was time to check on his cookies, so he did that while he sorted his thoughts out. When he was calmer, he crept back to the corner. He should announce himself, but there was something about the set of Zeki’s shoulders that stopped him. Zeki was up to something.
“Are you guys hungry or anything?” Zeki prompted. “No one made me a list, but I could see what’s in the kitchen. Like my mate, for example, who has forgotten all about me.”
“Never,” Theo breathed, far too softly for Zeki to hear. But since he had gone into the kitchen over an hour ago to get snacks, he could see how Zeki might think it.
“You can cook?” Lupe wondered, voice full of scorn.
Zeki, in purple skinny jeans and a long black cardigan, with rings on every finger and a huge, delicate, fairy-knitted scarf around his neck, made a face as if wounded. “Of course I can. My dad is a chef. I grew up in kitchens.”
Mai’s ears flicked toward him again, but he wasn’t lying. Zeki could cook. He just generally didn’t bother.
Lupe made a doubtful noise. “My mom says you mess around in the kitchen.”
Theo put a hand over his mouth. Zeki, far less shockable than he was, only hummed thoughtfully. “What does she mean by mess around?”
“I don’t know,” Lupe told him, as if this was obvious.
Zeki’s tiny smile was smug. “Well then yes, yes I do mess around in the kitchen.”
“With cousin Theo?” Lupe wondered. Mai tilted her head in Zeki’s direction.
“With Theo, yes.” He was facing down two children, but Zeki raised his chin with proud defiance anyway. He was… well this town had made him defensive about some things.
Lupe shrugged and made a big deal out of staring at the TV. “’Kay. Just make him feel good.”
Theo froze. Weres grew up with a lot more awareness than human children, or fully human children, but Lupe was still eight.
“What?” Zeki cleared his throat. Now he blushed. “What was that?”
“My mom says before we got here that I had to be nice so Theo would feel okay. She always says that when we drive here.” Lupe made it clear this was a burden. Theo frowned a little, although it was nothing to how serious Zeki suddenly was.
“What else does she say?”
“She always says he’s a good place for naps. Which I guess.” Lupe shrugged. “And that if I thought he was sad, I’m supposed to play with him.”
Oh. Theo’s heart felt heavy.
“Did Theo need the cuddles?” Zeki asked softly, knowingly. Theo shook his head, but Lupe looked up.
She responded to Zeki’s serious interest with an adult-like tone. “My brother says his scent is dark sometimes. My mom naps on him too, when we visit. And when they drive out to see us, people hug him a lot. Ooh!” Lupe sat up excitedly. “Even cousin Beautiful Pixy.”
“Cousin Beaut—” Zeki paused. “Do you mean Violet?”
Mai let out a small whuff of amusement.
“No,” Lupe corrected. “Cousin Beautiful Pixy. Violet only sometimes.”
“Right.” Zeki nodded. “My mistake.” He studied the two in front of him, then cleared his throat again. He wasn’t going to let the subject drop, not Zeki. “Theo needed that, huh?”
“I guess.” Lupe glanced to Mai, who sat up on her haunches.
“Mai?” Zeki turned to her. “Theo didn’t smell itchy?
Mai tipped her head to one side. She looked at Lupe. Lupe frowned.
Zeki clucked his tongue. His tone grew lighter. “Did no one tell you Theo was a powerful wizard?” He nodded forcefully in the face of their doubt. “It’s true, he is. That’s why he needed you to help him nap and make him feel better. Magic takes a lot of strength, and he’s so powerful that he lent me his strength while I was… while I was away.” For a moment, Zeki’s smile wasn’t quite real. “I’m a powerful wizard too, you see. That’s why Theo and I were meant to be together. And it’s why I came back. I had to return what he gave me, and make him strong again. But I’m glad you guys were here to help him when I wasn’t.”
Theo’s mate was so beautiful. He was lying, or half-lying, to children who, in a few years, would know he was lying. Mai might be able to tell already. But he was beautiful all the same.
“You’re really a powerful wizard?” Lupe demanded, unconcerned with anything else now. She rubbed her nose—probably mimicking weres she’d seen do that. Mai whuffed again.
Zeki lowered his head to consider them. The light in the room seemed to dim. The wind whistled outside, then rushed past the windows with an impatient howl. For a moment the air smelled of lightning, and then slowly, slowly, Zeki reached over and bopped Lupe on the nose. “Got it,” he called out in delight, and the room was bright and quiet and warm again.
Lupe slapped a hand over her face in horror, then remembered herself and pulled her hand away. “You didn’t take my nose,” she insisted. “That’s not magic, that’s a trick.”
“Oh yeah?” Zeki, unfazed by her doubt, held out his hand. In his palm was one of her barrettes.
Theo hadn’t seen him take it. Neither had either of the children, he guessed, because Lupe gasped and Mai jerked back.
Of course Zeki knew sleight of hand. Of course he did. Non-magical illusions probably amused him.
Lupe screwed up her little face. “That’s still not magic.”
“Nope,” Zeki agreed, smiling and so casually powerful that Theo wanted to pet him. Zeki turned toward Mai. “That’s not magic. But this is.” Theo couldn’t see his face any longer, but he’d seen Zeki concentrating before, felt his stillness and the rising, invisible presence of something his were senses couldn’t identify. It was maddening and frightening for a were to be confronted with that. And awe-inspiring too, once he’d realized Zeki never used it to harm anyone.
Mai’s hackles were raised, but she hadn’t run or back down, or even growled. Her gaze was fixed on Zeki. Theo opened his mouth, although he didn’t know what Zeki planned and if he should interrupt, but then it didn’t matter. Between one second and the next, Zeki was human and bright on the couch, and then a slight, fluffy dark wolf, and then a human again.
Theo took a step backward in astonishment, but Mai flinched, and then shifted in a too-fast blur that probably left her with aching bones.
Lupe cried out in excitement, and Zeki jumped to his feet, already apologizing. “Oh, Merlin’s beard, I did not mean to scare you. It was just an illusion—a real one. I’m so sorry. Here.” He yanked off his cardigan and held it out, with his face turned away and his eyes closed tight. “I’m so sorry, Mai. You can shift back if you want. I forgot that kids don’t have the control like adult weres. Guess I’m not so powerful.”
Theo had never seen an illusion like that, and Zeki was going to claim his magic wasn’t strong?
And oh, but Zeki imagined himself as a beautiful wolf. Little, with fur like his hair, and sharp, crackling energy.
“How did you do that?” Mai and Lupe asked in unison, although Mai’s voice was rough. The sleeves of the cardigan dangled over her hands, but she didn’t get up to go find better clothes.
Zeki opened one eye, then both. He looked over the two of them, and when there was no more shifting or any other signs of trouble, he slowly sank back onto the couch. “Well,” he said nonchalantly, as if his heart wasn’t still racing from accidentally scaring a nine-year-old. “Magic like that takes years of study. If you want to know, you’ll have to work hard.”
Two disgruntled faces answered that.
Zeki waved them off, then leaned down again. “But, if you want to get a feel for natural magic, you should work hard at what you love best. Like Theo does. Then you can see if you’d like to learn other kinds of magic.” The fact that both children seemed uncertain didn’t appear to bother him. “I’ll tell you another secret….” Zeki began to whisper. “Do you know why Theo’s cookies are the best? Because he makes them with magic for you, to make you happy, to make you as happy as you made him. And you know what else? I know he’s been making some for us today, so when you get them, let me know if you can taste the magic.”
“You’re weird,” Mai announced. She had the cardigan tight around her, like a big robe. She was rubbing her nose too. But she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I hear that from wolves a lot.” Zeki shrugged, giving no sign that it hurt for so many weres to reject him, although of course it had.
“Because you aren’t one?” Lupe wondered, scooting a little closer to Zeki. She was… half-were with no signs of being were. Oh, Theo thought again, she was going to feel so alone whenever she was around all her cousins. Like a human in a town of werewolves.
“For a lot of reasons, but we can go with magic, sure.” Zeki answered her seriously, before glancing to Mai. “Also because my pack was just me and my dad, and they didn’t understand that. And I looked different than most of the kids in my school. I was alone a lot. Weres aren’t used to that. They didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe some of them… weren’t nice.” Mai lowered her eyes.
Theo’s mate was kind and smart and wonderful. Theo’s parents were going to be so pleased with him, and grateful they had trusted him with the most precious members of the family.
“But you know who was always nice, even then?” Zeki raised his voice. “Theo. Hmm. He should have been back ages ago. Where is he anyway?”
He possibly hadn’t expected an answer, but both children simultaneously pointed in Theo’s direction. “There,” Lupe announced grandly. “Duh.”
Zeki jumped and swung around to stare at him. His cheeks darkened. “Oh. Hello.” But his slow smile was warm with welcome. “Have you been there the whole time?”
With a clear view of his face, Theo could tell Zeki was tired. That illusion had taken a lot from him, or maybe that was the babysitting.
“Hey,” Theo greeted him, soft and stupidly shy. Sometimes Zeki made him feel that way, he couldn’t help it. “Hold on, okay?” he went on, before Zeki could say anything. Then he ducked back into the kitchen to load a plate with cookies. “They aren’t frosted, sorry,” he said as he handed the plate to Lupe. Lupe, who often mother-henned anyone close to her, related or not, crawled over to Mai to give Mai her share.
Theo kept two cookies for himself, then sat on the couch next to his blushing mate.
“Um, so,” Zeki began, only to stop when Theo kissed his cheek. He slid a questioning look Theo’s way, then sighed and leaned against him. “I’m sorry. I wanted them to know this Theo too, and not just you from before. And you are powerful, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Was that was he was embarrassed about? Theo’s mate was so hard to understand sometimes. He shouldn’t be sad. Theo’s family had been here to help him, the way Zeki was going to be here for Mai and Lupe, and any other Greenleaf or other were who needed him.
“Pack.” Theo buried his nose in Zeki’s hair. “Mate.” Two heart cookies rested on his palm. He held them up until Zeki took one. He made a surprised, sweet sound at his first bite.
The children, already dusted with crumbs, had wide smiles on their faces, although Mai grumbled, “I didn’t taste anything magic,” while Lupe announced smugly, “I did.”
“Look what you’ve done,” Theo warned Zeki quietly, while Mai licked a new cookie in search of the magic taste. She was smiling, and couldn’t seem to stop. They were very happy cookies. “They’re going to want to learn magic now. You’re going to be surrounded by children soon.”
“Everyone should want to learn anything they possibly can about the world,” Zeki responded, with sugar on his breath. He pushed the other cookie at Theo, quietly insistent. “Anyway, I can’t believe we’ve been mated less than a month and you’re talking kids already.” He was teasing, but he was close and warm, and the fast beat of his heart was nothing to the thunder in Theo’s chest at the idea of mate and children and their children. There were always weres in need of homes, and other children too. Zeki might like human children as well, someday.
“Ah, Zeki,” Theo murmured, a little overcome with the rush of instinctual need.
Zeki kissed his cheek.
“Gross,” Lupe declared, and turned to watch TV.
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