existence: chapter nine
#10 of existence
Chapter 9.
John opened his eyes, his corneas burning slightly because sun's bright orange, warming rays that poured through the window in the early morning, lighting up the whole room. He began rubbing them, trying to get whatever gunk he could out of his eyelids, and slowly, everything came into focus. Once he had his head together, he slowly sat up. Saturday. Usually, a normal teen would be excited about waking up on a Saturday morning. Then again, John wasn't normal. Lifting his arms, he stretched and felt several of his bones snapping, a sign that they were awaking from their dormant state. Once everything was awake, he slid out of bed.
Once his warm feet touched the cold, hard brown wood, shivers went through his body and he had to fight the urge to jump back in his bed. Instead, he headed for his closet to grab himself a pair of pants. If there was one thing he noticed in the past couple of days, it was that he was more comfortable exposing his body to the two wolfs, well, one wolf since the other was at work all day. Now, this didn't mean that he would run around the house in his briefs (or stark naked for that matter). As he reached into his closet, he chuckled at the image of it. Once he found a pair that was suitable for him that day, he quickly slipped them on and headed out of his room and into the upstairs hallway. The next thing on his mind was to get into the bathroom and get cleaned up, but before he entered it, he glanced to the left and saw that Marcus's door was open. He bit his lip, 'I wonder if he's awake?'
Quietly, he walked towards the room. When he approached the door, he placed one arm on the frame, and peeked into the den. Everything was the same as it always was, save for a couple of new clothing pieces on the floor. It was dark and very, very cold. It was like the wolf had his very own personal winter land. Then, his attention shifted to the bed. Wearing nothing but a white pair of boxer briefs, the wolf lay there, sprawled out with his arms and legs stretched. His face was calm, eye brows lifted slightly. Every now and then, his ears would flick and his head would turn. All together, the wolf looked... well... cute. Hearing what his mental voice had just said, John lifted an eyebrow, 'Cute?' It was funny how a simple word could throw him off his mental horse so easily. He thought that with all the struggling he went through in the past, his mind would be built like a brick shit house. But apparently, this one word was able to do it.
Something struck him a little odd though; it was something about the wolf's mid-section. It was weird; everything was flat, except for a large, tent shaped bulge...in between his legs. At first, John didn't know what to think, but for some reason he felt like laughing out loud. Instead, he let out a stifled one and put his hand over his mouth. Then it hit him, this must be one of those awkward family moments that he's heard of so many times, he just thought that he'd never actually run into one. The wolf's nose twitched, and his eyes slowly opened. He stretched both his arms out, opening his jaw as much as he could to yawn, his long, pink tongue curling out of its dark, moist home. From where he was, John could hear several of his bones snapping. A small smile cracked on the corner of his mouth, the wolf was completely oblivious to the fact that his wolf hood was creating now a much larger tent in his briefs.
Once he was done waking his body, he looked up and noticed John. He smiled and sat up halfway, the bed board supporting a small part of his back, "Morning."
John still had his smile, "Good morning. How'd you sleep?"
Marcus still had a lazy look on his face, "Actually, pretty good. The best sleep I've had in a while."
John nodded, "That's good... had any good dreams?"
The wolf looked up to the roof for a moment before replying, "Hmm.... no, no good dreams. Why? Did you have any?"
John shook his head, not wanting to push the boundaries and openly point out the evidence of the wolf's contradictory statement, "Nah... I slept like a baby."
In actuality, John wanted to tell Marcus about the dream with the door, and how the wolf had left John to fight on his own. Now that he was thinking about it, would Marcus ever do that? Just forget about him, abandon him? He knew that the wolf cared for him, but still... he'd been tricked before. Throwing the thought away, he decided to ask a question, "Hey, is your dad home? I feel like I haven't talked to him in days."
The wolf just blinked his eyes, "You haven't talked to dad since the day he told you the news about school. Hell, even last night at dinner, you didn't even say a word the whole time. Although seeing about what happened yesterday, it's completely understandable. Well, in my eyes at least."
John raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
Marcus sat up a little more, "Well, if I know dad, he already knows that something's up. But with the way he is, dad won't pester us into telling him, it'll be up to us. He's a very patient man John; he doesn't butt into anyone else's business. I think that's what I love about him the most, he allows us to be free, with a little rule here or there."
John slowly nodded, "Oh... well, I wonder how Link is doing."
As soon as he said that, John bit his tongue, 'Shit! What the fuck was I thinking! God damn it John, you're so stupid!'
Just as he expected, Marcus's expression went blank, and his tone completely changed into a clear 'I don't give a fuck' tone, "I'm sure the mutt is okay."
John just sighed, "It's not going to be easy to get you to get along with him, is it?"
Marcus made his reply, "John... I just don't see how you could trust him so easily."
John began rubbing his fingers, anxiety slowly building up in his body, "He's a good guy Marcus."
The wolf's tone became more serious, "How do you know that John? He could just be pretending!"
The conversation was quickly turning into an argument, something John didn't really want to do right now, especially with Marcus. So he decided to end it, "Marcus, he risked his life to protect me! If you'd think about real hard for a sec, you two are almost the same."
Marcus scoffed, "What the hell are you talking about?"
John held up three fingers, "One, you're both seventeen. Two, both of your mothers have passed away. And last, you're both trying to protect me." The wolf was about to protest, but saw that he was defeated and decided to stay quiet. John felt a little bit of hostility in the air and he needed to kill it, "Look pup... it's a Saturday. Now, you probably know by now that I'm not a normal guy. So-"
The wolf raised an eyebrow quizzically, a small smile on his face, "So?"
John took a step forward, "So...I was kind of wondering if you could show me what a normal teenager does on a Saturday, if that's okay?"
A wicked grin sprouted on the lupine's face, "Sure skinbag, I'll think of something fun for us to do."
John smiled and turned around to head out the door. Once he was out, he leaned his head back in, "Oh... and Marcus?"
The wolf perked his ears up, "Yeah?"
John pointed a finger towards the bed, "You've got a boner."
He didn't even wait for the lupine to reply; he turned around and walked away towards the downstairs living room, a small grin sprouting on his face when he heard profanities sprout in the air, along with the sound of a thud, which he was sure was Marcus falling off his bed. He quickly strolled down the stairs, making a small jump to skip the last three steps. He landed on the hard floor with a thud, and headed for the large, tan coloured sofa. Taking a seat, he waited for the wolf to come downstairs.
Sure enough, Marcus made his way downstairs. As soon as his eyes were set on John, he pointed a finger at him, "You didn't see anything skinbag!"
John just grinned and raised both of his hands innocently, "I have no idea what you're talking about pup."
The wolf headed towards the sofa, but stopped halfway. John just stared at him, "What?"
Marcus sighed, "Well... it's just that you're sitting on my side of the sofa."
John raised an eyebrow, "Your side?" Instead of scooting over, the human simply spread his legs out, taking up more room, "Well pup, I've some bad news for you... I think I like this spot. Oh! Would you look at that? It seems like to me that there's no room for you."
Marcus remained silent, thinking for a minute. When an idea formulated in his head, he just snickered, "Well skinbag, I guess I'll just have to sit on you!"
Before John could react, Marcus threw his body on top of him. Jesus Christ! This fucking wolf was heavy! Marcus weighed at least twice as much as John, so of course the smaller human began squirming from underneath the massive bundle of fur and muscle, his arms flailing up and down as he tried to escape. "Holy fuck Marcus!....You're too God damned fat!"
The wolf simply ignored him, instead of moving, he pressed even more weight onto the human. John felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head, "Can't breathe!...Need...oxygen..." He closed his eyes and let his arms go limp, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he played dead.
Marcus noticed the sudden silence, and he jumped off the couch. He turned around with a dissatisfied look on his face, "Damn... I guess he's dead." He looked to his left, then his right, then he shrugged his shoulders as he sighed, "Eh, I might as well hide the body." He leaned over and picked up the human, throwing him over his shoulder. He took a step until he felt a sudden shift in John's weight, and the next thing he knew, his body was pinned onto the floor, with John's arms holding him down. It took Marcus awhile to understand, and he frowned, "Wait... what the fuck just happened?"
John grinned, "Simple, I just waited till you got me off the ground so I could do this," he leaned a little closer, a lips distance, "You should never let your guard down around me pup, especially when it comes to things like this."
Marcus chuckled, "Alright, you win skinbag. Now let me up so we can make something to eat!"
John did as he asked, "You know, food is always the one thing on your mind, isn't it?"
Marcus patted the little bit of dust off of his shorts, "Well yeah, I mean have you seen how massive I am? If I was probably a different species, maybe I wouldn't have to eat so much just so that I have enough energy. We wolves have to eat a lot."
John just raised an eyebrow, "Then how come Michael doesn't eat as much as you? I see him eat every night at dinner."
Marcus just put on a cocky smirk and pointed a finger at the questioning human, "Ahh...but you haven't seen dad in his 'Midnight frenzy,' state."
John smiled, "Yeah right."
The wolf pointed a finger towards the kitchen, "Check the fridge, how much you wanna bet that last night's spaghetti is all gone?"
John strode into the kitchen towards the fridge; there was no way that food could be gone! There was at least half a pot full leftover from last night, there was no way... He opened the fridge, and sure enough, the food was gone. Taking its place was a small note. John picked it up, "Sorry Marcus! I got the munchies in the middle of the night, see you at eight!"
John turned around, "Why'd he leave it for you?"
Marcus entered the kitchen, two shirts in his hand. He tossed one to John as he put his on, "Oh, that's because leftovers are what I usually eat throughout the day."
John put the note on the counter, "You can't cook?"
The wolf let out what sounded like a "Phffft" noise.
John just shrugged as he began to put on his shirt, a plain white t-shirt with skulls on the back. "So if you can't cook, what are we gonna make?"
The wolf looked slightly offended, "Well, I know how to cook SOME things." He walked towards the fridge and opened it, pulling out a carton of eggs and what looked like some sausage. Laying the food on the counter, he crouched down and pulled out a small pan from the cabinet below him. He placed it on the stove and reached up to open the cabinet above him, pulling out a small container of vegetable oil. He poured a small amount into the pan and moved it around, just enough to slick up the cooking instrument. He set the heat to medium, and then opened the carton off eggs, pulling one out. He looked over at John, with a cocky grin on his muzzle, "Watch and learn skinbag."
John just stood there, arms crossed and waiting for disaster to strike, a small smile on his face. Marcus cracked the egg on the edge of the pan, but applied too much force, and the once perfectly shaped oval, was soon a gloppy mess of white and yellow, slowly spreading in the wolf's huge paw. Marcus blushed, and chuckled softly, looking at the human. He walked to the sink and washed his paws, cursing at himself for looking so stupid. When he turned back around, John was standing there, with his hand out, a gentle smile on his face, "C'mon pup, I'll show you how to do it."
His voice, something about his voice, made things seem better to Marcus. It was so friendly, kind and gentle. It could be the darkest day outside, and a simple voice could spread the light throughout the world, brightening the wolf's day. Marcus took the helping hand, and John led them back to the counter. Pushing Marcus in front of him, he stood directly behind him and took the wolf's paw. As if he was a ventriloquist controlling a puppet, John directed Marcus's fingers. He placed his other hand on the counter and leaned to the side so that he could see, his face brushing against the lupine's shoulder. "First." he said gently, "We grab the egg."
Usually, Marcus hated it when people showed him how things were done. It made him feel like he was incapable of doing something by himself. But the way John was speaking, the way he showed and explained, it didn't make Marcus feel like he was stupid. Instead, it felt like John was speaking to him as an equal. His hand felt gentle as it directed his paw, which was now holding an egg, towards the pan. For no particular reason, John spoke softly, "Now...to crack the egg, you gently tap it against the edge of whatever pan you're using. Not too hard though, or you'll end up with another sticky mess."
John flicked his wrist, so of course, Marcus's paw followed suit. A small tap could be heard as the fragile, white shell made contact with the iron edge of the pan. Sure enough, a small crack sprouted across the white surface. John smiled, "Now, here comes the tricky part."
Marcus focused all of his attention to John's words; he glanced down to see his face, only to notice that he was also completely focused on their current task. His hand, it felt so smooth and soft, its incredible warmth actually sending a shiver down his spine. How was that possible? That something so small could have such a huge impact. Now that he thought about it... impact.
Marcus just used to wake up every morning, get ready for school, and head on out. Sure, he would see his friends, but there was nothing unique going on in his life. He would come home, to find it empty. He would spend hours trying to figure out how to keep himself entertained. He didn't have a girlfriend, despite the fact that he had plenty of them dying at his feet. To be honest, Marcus didn't like most of the girls. Well, he did like women...Just ... Wait, what? He'd had relationships before, it was just that usually they were with him because of his looks, or because they were leeching off of his popularity. He didn't want that. Marcus wanted someone he could talk to, someone he could share his feelings with. But he didn't want somebody just because of their looks; it was their personality that mattered. He wanted someone kind, loving, caring, independent, and friendly. Someone like... he glanced down towards John once more. John. These feelings... he didn't know where they were coming from. They were un-explainable, and really scary. For some reason, he didn't want John to let go of his arm. He wanted him to hold on forever, that way he'd know that he would be safe. Completely oblivious to it, Marcus began to softly murr, he even bent his head and started to nuzzle his back a little, his eyes closed.
John heard and felt this, and he chuckled softly, "Marcus, what're ya doing?"
The wolf's eyes shot open, "Uh...What!?"
John looked up at him, "Nothing, forget about it. You think you can handle the rest of these eggs?"
Marcus nodded, "Yeah, sure."
John smiled, "Good, that way I can work on cooking these sausages."
Marcus raised an eyebrow, "If you were moving around so much, how did you learn how to cook?"
John just laughed as he rubbed the wolfs soft, elegant fur, "Well, I didn't steal all of my meals pup. Once in a while, I would get food that I'd have to cook. Most of it over an open flame."
Marcus grinned, "Wow... and you know so much more than me, skinbag."
John reached up and rubbed the wolf's cheek, "Aww, don't worry pup, I'll teach you everything I know. Now, let's hurry up and finish, I'm starving!" He pulled himself away from the giant wolf, completely un-aware of the paw that tried to hold on, or the sad, lonely eyes that followed him.
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Edit performed on 24/12/2011 as a gift by RuthofPern, at Madfire's request.