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Arthur rested his head against his arms, before lifting it up again and letting it gently thump down.
I have got to get another job he thought, for the 5th time that day.
It’s not that Arthur wasn’t enthused by the aquarium, or its attached zoo. He was! Animals were great, wonderful, ten out of ten. Its just that his job actually involved dealing with a very different kind of animal
The human animal.
As he saw another person approaching his desk from the queue, Arthur straightened up quickly, reaffixing his best customer service smile as they stopped in front of him.
“Hi, how are you today?” Arthur asked with pep turned up to maximum. Eyes scrunched, cheeks maximally grinning.
“I just wanted to ask,” the customer began “If they’re real?”
“If… I’m sorry sir, could you clarify what you’re asking in regards to?”
The customer lifted a finger, pointing at the sign for the aquarium behind Arthur, “The fish, are they real? I want to know before buying tickets”
Arthur paused for a moment, brain cycling through standard customer responses, before some kind of auto pilot thankfully took over and he found his mouth saying “Yes, they are! If you’d like to see them, its just forty dollars per adult for the aquarium”
After a strangely disbelieving sounding hum from the customer, they eventually decided to purchase a ticket, before blessedly leaving Arthur to try and digest what had just happened.
Arthur didn’t get very far in recovering from that interaction before a shadow fell over his desk, causing Arthur to quickly turn around and slap on another grin.
Smile with your eyes, man, you can do it Arthur thought, before he actually saw the customer in question and had to make sure he had a customer appropriate smile on for a very different reason.
If you had taken Arthur’s ideal man from the most shameless depths of his own Id, you would have ended up with the giant standing in front of him. The man was something like six and a half feet tall, with very large arms that looked like they could juggle Arthur just as easily as they could deliver absolutely fantastic hugs.
The man was staring at Arthur, his nose flared and his mouth visibly open in shock, though it was obscured a little by his beard.
Arthur was taken aback by the staring before he realised that he, the employee at this fine establishment, had in fact also just been silently staring at the man without saying a word. A moment of panic went through him, and he calmly gave his usually friendly greeting
“Herckle doi!” Arthur said, smiling, before realising that was literally nonsense, and trying again “Uh, haha, I mean, uh, English, is the language I speak.” Arthur then, as if a rider in his own body, watched aghast as he found himself verbally imitating a rewinding video clip before saying “There, I’ve rewound back to the start!”.
The man just continued to stare at Arthur. Arthur began to turn bright red as the embarrassment set in.
“Er, Hi, how are you going today?” Arthur continued his desperate attempt at doing the job he was paid in real money to do.
“I-I’ve had a bit of a surprise recently,” The man said “But… a good one I hope”
“Oh!” Arthur felt extremely unequipped to actually receive a sincere answer when he asked how a customer was, but decided to try and roll with it “Like, it’s not clear if its something you want or not yet?”
“No…” The man blinked, the shock finally fading from his features “No, it’s definitely something I want” He smiled “I’m just unsure how its going to… work, I guess”
“Well, uh, I’ve definitely got my fingers crossed for you!” Arthur said cheerfully, holding up a pair of crossed fingers, before promptly turning red again. A moment passed, and Arthur realised he was supposed to be selling tickets but before he could try and do so the man spoke up again.
“Thank you” His smile got a bit wider “For uh, for the crossed fingers” The man held up his hand, before crossing his own fingers
The two stared at each other, before Arthur gave a quick cough, tapped meaninglessly at the computer in front of himself to steal a moment to recover, then turned to smile at the man
“So, may I ask which attraction you would like to visit today sir? The aquarium, or the zoo?”
“Luke” the man said, before shutting his eyes and cringing
Arthur blinked “Umm… I’m not sure if any of the animals are named Luke, but I can try and contact one of the keepers?”
“No uh, you called me sir, my name- my name is Luke” The man, Luke, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand, before opening his eyes and smiling back at Arthur “You’re, uh, Arthur?”
“Yes! How did- oh right my name badge” Arthur laughed “I constantly forget I have that on.” Another couple of meaningless taps on his computer before he turned back to face Luke “Alrighty then, Luke, which attraction did you want to visit?”
“Uhhh….” Luke looked at the signs, “Which one would you recommend?”
“Oh well, it depends what you find more interesting! The aquarium is a bit bigger though, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t have much time”
“I have time. I have the whole afternoon free. The evening too.” Luke stared into Arthur’s eyes.
Man I wish he’d spend the evening with me Arthur thought, and then very almost said, as he stared back into Luke’s warm brown eyes.
“Haha, I don’t have anything on this evening either!” Arthur’s mouth said without proper notification or permission from the rest of his body
“Would,” Luke paused a moment “Uh, look, I get that you’re doing a job, and people, um, hitting on you and shit is probably not good, and I promise I’ll take no for an answer, but uh, if you wanted to hang out? This evening? I could?”
Arthur stared. Luke stared back, red faintly showing on his cheeks above his beard.
Arthur knew that the proper customer service response he should give here is a no. This is inappropriate, and against the good sense and values of the business.
But Arthur also knew that Luke was fucking hot and if he did not seize this chance he would hate himself for a thousand years.
Be cool, Arthur, be cool!
“Yes! Yes, I’m free, where do you want to go? I can go wherever!”
As Luke smiled back, Arthur couldn’t help but feel oddly confident that he knew this would somehow work out.
1. Dinner
‘Wherever’ turned out to be a nearby restaurant. Arthur found himself approving of its appropriateness for a first date. Not too fancy, check. Not too un-fancy, also check.
Thankfully Arthur’s work uniform had a collared polo shirt, which while hideous, did feel suitable for the specific level of fanciness of the venue.
When they arrived at the table, Luke pulled out Arthur’s chair, gave him a smile, before quickly sitting down himself.
Arthur sat down, wondering if he should be saying anything about heteronormativity and date behaviour, before deciding to fuck that, ‘cause a handsome guy just pulled out a chair for him and all Arthur wanted to do was grin and swoon.
The conversation they had as they looked over their menus was also top-quality stuff. Arthur was beginning to feel like this had to be some horrible prank, because Luke was proving at every turn to be the best fucking guy Arthur had ever talked to.
Oh, you wanted a sweet giant muscle guy with a beard? Check! Let gives him a secure well-paying job as an accountant, and make him an excellent conversationalist as well.
Arthur was just contemplating how he could make ‘I’m a university drop out’ sound mature and thoughtful when the waiter stopped back at their table and asked for their orders.
Arthur, having strategically struck off everything from the menu likely to give him bad breath or to get stuck in his teeth, asked for the soup special of the day.
Luke looked very embarrassed as he ordered a rare steak, glancing back at Arthur as he did so as if expecting some kind of reaction
Is he wondering if I’m a vegetarian? Arthur wondered, before forgetting all about it as the evening continued on
2. Zoo
One of the advantages of working at an aquarium with an attached zoo (or a zoo with an attached aquarium – relativity was one of many subjects Arthur did not finish studying) was free tickets
Free tickets for dates, with a very sweet and handsome boyfriend.
Arthur had held off on taking Luke to his own work for a date for a few weeks, wanting to make sure he didn’t introduce Luke to any of his co-workers only to be immediately dumped for whatever reason handsome sweetie pie’s like Luke dumped people.
But at this point, Arthur felt comfortable enough to smugly walk around holding Luke’s hand, giving cheerful nods to any co-workers he recognised as they walked through.
Luke attentively listened as Arthur rambled off all the facts he remembered about the different exhibits, including the ones that customers wouldn’t usually get to know
“Here,” Arthur said, pointing to a part of the side of a glass barricade that was a slightly different colour, “is where a guy smashed the glass with a rock and tried to free the animals”
“Seriously?!” Luke grinned down at Arthur, swinging their hands
“Yes seriously! One of the managers had to tackle him and everything!” Arthur pulled on Luke around the corner “And here are my favourite good boys and girls!”
In front of them was the wolf exhibit. They were mostly just lounging around at this point, though as they watched one of the walls at the back of the exhibit swung open and a keeper climbed through
“Oh! Feeding time, heck yeah” Arthur did a fist pump with his free hand “We have lucky timing, right Luke?”
There was no response, and if it wasn’t for the fact that they were still holding hands, Arthur might have thought Luke had been left behind. Arthur looked at Luke’s face and then continued to look at it to try and figure out what the fuck was going on
Luke was… smiling? Maybe? Except it looked more like grimacing, his teeth exposed, his nose scrunched up, his eyes glaring.
“Luke…? Are you okay?”
Luke blinked, then turned to look back down at Arthur, giving a strange smile.
“Oh yeah, sorry, just got distracted watching the feeding. Oh, does that sign say they have elephants here? Let go have a look Arthur!” Luke pulled Arthur away from the wolves.
Arthur continued to think about that smile Luke gave him throughout the rest of the day, and as he laid down on his bed at home could only think that compared to the usual radiant sincerity of Luke’s smiles, that one seemed very fake.
3. Clothes
Luke’s apartment was the fucking best, Arthur concluded, as he flopped back on Luke’s queen bed after getting out of the shower.
If we get to the point of moving in together, I’m going to beg him to let us keep this place Arthur decided, before rolling over to try and find his clothes.
After discovering that his shirt was… not appropriate for wearing after a shower, Arthur hunted around the room for something else. He thought about opening the wardrobe and grabbing something, but they hadn’t had a specific discussion around boundaries when it came to looking through Luke’s stuff, so in the end Arthur just grabbed Luke’s shirt off the floor.
He can always grab something out of the wardrobe for me if he wants Arthur thought, satisfied that this was a suitable enough excuse to wear his hot boyfriend’s shirt.
Arthur was lying on his stomach on the bed, amusing himself by leaving bad reviews for his former workplace, the aquarium with attached zoo (or vice versa), when the door opened to the ensuite (Arthur felt very fancy every time he could say that, and persisted in doing it with what Luke repeatedly informed him was the worst French accent he had ever heard) revealing the best boyfriend in this entire world.
Arthur almost felt offended at how attractive Luke looked as he finished toweling off his hair. As Arthur stared, Luke turned to look at him, the towel slipping from his fingers the instant he made eye contact.
Before he could even react, Arthur had his handsome cutie pie looming over him, nose flaring as he…. Sniffed?
“Is that my shirt?” Luke sounded like he was barely breathing
“…Yes? I can take it off if you want?”
“No!” Luke said very loudly, before turning red and continuing in a normal tone of voice “Uh… no, its fine, keep it on”
Arthur gave Luke a long look, thoughtfully tapping his fingers against the bed. “Do you… like me wearing your shirt?”
The red on Luke’s cheeks got even deeper, and he gave a quick nod
“Well, its nice to wear it, its comfy!” Arthur grinned up at Luke, before leaning up to give him a peck on the cheek
“You just-“ Luke cut himself off, and took a deep breath through his nose, before leaning in and putting his head on Arthur’s shoulder “You just smell so good right now?”
“Oh really?” Arthur gave himself a sniff “I mean, I didn’t think your soap had any scent?”
Luke gave a strangled chuckle, before snuggling in even more.
4. Picnic
Arthur had planned out the best date he could think of for the most darling man in the world, his boyfriend. Ostensibly, this was a celebration of Arthur’s recent job offer, but Arthur had decided the best celebration was making Luke have the best possible time.
Arthur had noticed Luke was a little bit of an outdoorsy type, and was definitely a bit of a glutton as well (Arthur had no complaints about this, especially if it helped maintain Luke’s soft belly which was just absolutely fucking great for cuddling)
By synthesizing these parameters, Arthur successfully had come up with a POA (Plan of Action) (Arthur was practicing office lingo for the new job, and felt that it was going excellently)
“A picnic?” Luke smiled as Arthur pulled the basket out of Luke’s car
“Yup!” Arthur grinned, grabbing Luke’s hand and leading him into the park “I made sure to pack a lot of your favourites”
Luke’s smile grew even wider, and Arthur had to struggle to keep his balance as Luke leaned in and gave what could only be described as a nuzzle.
“Thank you, Artie, this is great!”
“I know, I know, but please hold your applause until the conclusion of this afternoon’s festivities”
Luke gave a laugh, and continued grinning like an absolute dope.
The two of them had an excellent time at the picnic, Arthur growing smugger and smugger with every smile that Luke gave him with every reveal from the basket.
It was all going so well, in fact, that when they were driving back to Luke’s place and Arthur absent mindedly mentioned sleeping over, Luke’s response caught him completely off guard
“Not tonight”
Arthur blinked, then turned back to look at the driver’s seat “Not tonight what?” He said, like a complete fool
“You uh, you can’t stay over tonight” Luke began drumming his fingers along the steering wheel, staring straight forward
“Oh. Uh, just to clarify, I didn’t necessarily mean to have sex? I just meant sleeping, uh, literally”
“I know” Luke grimaced, still facing forward.
“Right.” Arthur paused for a moment. He wondered what he was feeling, exactly. Was he being entitled? It’s not as though Luke owed him access to his space at all times.
Its just that, well, Arthur felt kind of like Luke wanted him to have access to his space at all times. Luke had literally given him a key and everything, and had also literally told him to come over as often has he wanted.
Still… Arthur realised that this was probably a pivotal couple’s moment, and took a breath before giving what he felt was the best response he could.
“That’s alright then” Arthur smiled, and gave Luke’s thigh a quick pat “Everyone needs a night to themselves now and then”
Luke turned to look at Arthur, and that night the thing Arthur thought as he looked out his window at the full moon, was that Luke had almost looked like he wanted to cry.
5. Family
Arthur found himself poking at the slightly pink beef on his plate.
Luke’s hiding something
It wasn’t the first time Arthur had felt like this, but it was only since the picnic that he had found himself thinking it in so many words.
He didn’t think Luke was lying per se. It was just that sometimes, when they were talking, the conversation hit these inscrutable dead ends. Arthur had no idea why they occurred half the time, and every attempt he had made to try and hint to Luke to open up had been met with a change of topics
So maybe I just have to be clear with him about it Arthur stirred his mashed potatoes listlessly for moment
“Are you going to finish that” Gwen asked, fork eagerly approaching Arthur’s beef
“Gwen!” Luke’s mum (“Call me Eliza,” She had insisted when hugging Arthur at the door) “You have your own food!”
Gwen sighed, leaned back in her chair, before turning to look at Luke’s plate. Luke instantly hunched over his plate, sliding it away from Gwen
“You’d think you were raised by wolves!” Demetrius, Luke’s dad, said with a wink, before the rest of his family turned in unison to deliver what Arthur considered to be a pretty intimidating glare. Demetrius went pale said “Uh shit, I mean, uh, don’t eat you’re brother’s food Gwen” before promptly shoving half his steak in his mouth and making a show of chewing it
Arthur didn’t think that the glaring was exactly a proportionate reaction to Demetrius’s statement, but it was probably one of those family inside jokes. Arthur still couldn’t talk about grapes around his own brother without getting into a fight.
“So, Arthur, sweetie, Luke mentioned you’ve started a new job recently?” Eliza turned to face Arthur, giving a slightly manic grin
“Yeah! It’s been going well, still in training though”
“What kind of job is it?” Gwen leaned forward “Did you leave the zoo one for… any particular reason? Maybe you, uh, disliked some of the animals in particular?”
Arthur opened his mouth to start answering some part of the question, but then the table jolted and Gwen turned and whacked Luke on his shoulder “Don’t kick me you dork!”
“Er, I work in insurance now, so I may or may not have abandoned my sense of morality” That caused a polite chuckle from Eliza, emboldening Arthur, “And uh, I left the zoo just because customer service got a bit exhausting. Um, I like all of the animals, I think?”
“See!” Gwen said, as if Arthur had proved some kind of point “he likes all the animals in zoo” Gwen levelled a smug look at Luke “All of them”
Arthur was very confused, but also felt he had very little room to judge, considering that he and his brother had started pelting grapes at each other when Luke had come over for dinner.
“Gwen!” Eliza hissed, as if Gwen had committed some kind of serious faux pas. Gwen rolled her eyes
By now Demetrius had swallowed the mouthful of steak and said “You’re being a bit of a lone wolf there Gwen!”
Arthur meekly started eating his steak as the rest of the table turned and hissed at Demetrius.
+1
Arthur paced back and forth in front of Luke’s door, feeling awkward for the first time about entering Luke's home.
Disagreements are normal in relationships Arthur repeated in his head. It didn’t really make him feel any better, but it did help him breath through the anxious panic that maybe he had ruined things.
Calling what had happened earlier that day an argument was probably accurate, but it had certainly been a strange one. Arthur had decided to be upfront about feeling like there was something important that Luke hadn’t told him. Luke had promptly gone completely white, stepped back, and then look awkwardly up at the ceiling before saying that he hadn’t been keeping anything secret.
Arthur had felt skeptical
Thus began 15 minutes of Arthur trying to get Luke to admit that there was a secret. Arthur didn’t really care what the secret was and had told Luke as much. Luke could keep the secret, that was fine, Arthur just wanted to honestly discuss the existence of the secret.
But Luke had refused to admit that there was one.
At this point, Arthur felt a little lost. He felt that he should probably be trusting Luke, but also, Luke was very obviously keeping a secret!
Was this gaslighting? Arthur would have to google that later because he was pretty sure he had heard that gaslighting was being overused as a term and didn’t want to contribute to the problem.
Arthur fiddled with the keys in his hand, before turning back to the door, quickly unlocking it and stepping through. He did have a proper reason to be here, he had left his wallet on the bedside table when he had left earlier. Still, he had to admit the forgotten wallet was a good excuse to come back and try and talk with Luke.
Arthur stepped into the apartment, the light from the full moon shining from the window opposite the door. He had just flicked on the light when he heard Luke’s voice.
“Artie?!”
It had come from the bedroom, but it had sounded oddly distorted. Like someone had taken Luke’s voice and made it even deeper.
“Yeah It’s me, Luke, uh sorry for coming without a heads up, I left my wallet here earlier, on the bedside table”
There was a pause, and what sounded like some very loud footsteps, before Luke responded “That’s fine, I’m just having a shower”. A moment passed, and then Arthur heard the shower turn on in the en suite.
Arthur opened the door to the bedroom, noticing that Luke’s normally well made sheets had been completely undone, piled up in a messy circle near the middle of the bed. One of Arthur’s shirts that he had left in Luke’s drawers was in the center of the pile. Arthur stared at it as he walked over to the bedside table and picked up his wallet, quickly dropping it in his bag.
Arthur tapped his foot for a few moments, gave his hands a shake, before straightening up and walking over to the door of the en suite.
“Hey, Luke?”
Another pause, before the reply came “Artie? Did you find your wallet?”
“Yeah, I did. I uh, wanted to talk, before I went though”
“Now?!” Luke replied, his pitch rising and almost sounding like his voice normally did
“Well uh, it’s just, I felt really bad” oh no Arthur thought, as his voice began to get sniffly “that I kept pushing you, to-today” Arthur’s voice hitched as he spoke and to his own horror his eyes had started to get wet “Um, and I really wanted to talk it out tonight, cause I really” Oh god he was literally crying. Arthur frantically tried to will the tears back into their ducts. “I really don’t want to go to home with this hanging between us.”
There was silence from the bathroom, with only the steadily increasing sound of Arthur’s sniffles breaking it.
“Are- are you crying” Luke’s voice was right on the other side of the door now
“I’m trying not to! If you can’t talk now that’s fine, but please please promise we can talk about it tomorrow?”
There was a long pause, then some quiet sounds from the other side of the door, before the door unlocked with a sharp click
“We can talk about it now,” Luke said “Just. Promise you’ll, uh, stick around for the full explanation”
“Oh, sure? Explanation about what though?” Arthur said before his understanding of the world got turned on its head. The instant he had said ‘sure’ the door began swinging open, and by the team he had finished the sentence he properly saw what was on the other side
A giant, furry creature was standing there. It had hands the size of plates, sharp claws on their ends, a tail hanging behind it’s back, and a wolf’s head atop it’s shoulders. Looking down at Arthur from that head were a pair of warm brown eyes.
They stared at each other for a moment, before Arthur reached for his own arm, pinched it, then looked back up at the creature.
“So.” Luke’s voice came from its mouth “Um.”
Arthur wasn’t always the brightest bulb in the janitor’s cupboard, but even he could connect dots this clear.
“Oh my god are you a werewolf?!”
“Yes? I mean, yes. I am” Luke said, staring down at Arthur, baring his fang like teeth in a grin before quickly reconsidering and covering them back up.
“Werewolves exist?!” Arthur definitely said in a very normal tone of voice, with no screeching whatsoever
"Yes. I am one, so is my family”
Arthur’s eyes grew wider “Is that why you were all so weird when Demetrius made those wolf jokes?”
“Yes-“
“Oh my god and this is why I couldn’t come over after the picnic, it was a full moon! This explains everything!” Arthur began gesturing wildly, pacing around the room
“Yes, but Artie-“
“What, pumpkin?” Arthur span on the spot to face Luke
“Is this- are you okay?”
Arthur looked at Luke in confusion, before going “Oh! You mean me pinching myself before? It was only a gently pinch, it’s all good!”
“No. I mean, I’m glad, but I was talking about… are you okay? With me being a werewolf?”
Arthur gave Luke a look as if he had spoken a different language. “Yes? Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”
Luke stared down at Arthur, and then to Arthurs’ alarm, tears started running down Lukes’ face, dampening his fur.
“Uh! Sweetie? Are you ok? Are you hurt?” Arthur stepped forward, gently rubbing Luke’s arm
“I – I was so fucking worried, that you would, that you would be scared of me” Luke’s body heaved as he sobbed, before he fell to his knees, pulled Arthur in, and put his slightly wet nose to Arthur’s shoulder, breathing in. “Artie,” Luke took another deep breath “You’re really ok with this?”
Arthur lifted his hands up, circled them around Luke’s back, and took a moment. He hadn’t realised, he thought shamefully, that Luke had been so scared. So he took a moment to think carefully before speaking, to make sure he wouldn’t be misunderstood.
“Saying I’m ok with it, is maybe not the best way to phrase it? Um. So, I love you, yeah?” Arthur felt Luke nod against him, giving another quiet sob into Arthur’s shirt “And I love everything that made you who you are, right? So, if you weren’t a werewolf, you would’ve been a different person. And maybe I would’ve loved that person too, I don’t know, but I love the Luke I have right here in front of me. And you’re this Luke because of all the things that you are, and that have happened to you, including being a werewolf. So, because of that,” Arthur gently tilted Luke’s snout up so he could look into his eyes “It would be more accurate to say that I love that you’re a werewolf, because its part of how you’re you” Arthur gave Luke a peck on the nose “Does that… make sense?”
“Yeah” Luke gave a teary sounding chuckle “It makes perfect sense” Luke took a few breaths through his nose, and Arthur was beginning to wonder if maybe he smelt weird, before Luke continued speaking.
“I uh, have a bit more of a confession, Artie”
“I won’t be scared, whatever it is honey” Arthur gently rubbed one of Luke’s ears.
Luke took a deep breath in, released it, and spoke “You’re my mate”
Arthur thoughtfully tapped his fingers along the top of Luke’s head “I… feel like maybe you mean something specific by that?”
“Uh, yeah I do” Luke somehow impossible snuggled his face in further to Arthur’s shirt “Artie, sometimes, when a werewolf meets someone, they sort of know. What they could, uh, be with that person. We call it ‘mates’. Um. It isn’t always romantic, but usually it is and, well what I’m getting at is you’re mine.” Luke looked up at Arthur, before straightening up and caressing Arthur’s face with one of his paws.
“So…. When you first saw me, at the aquarium and slash or zoo, you… knew?”
“Yeah, Artie” Luke rubbed the side of his face against Arthur’s “I knew”
“Well, jokes on you, you dork” Arthur gave Luke’s cheek a kiss, feeling love towards this silly man, this wonderful wolf. “Because I knew too.”