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Thomas rounded the corner of his duplex to see his roommate's boyfriend sitting cross-legged on the kitchen table, happily gorging himself on what appeared to be body wash. It was a fancy kind, kept in a glass container with gold labeling.
"Hi Thomas!" Remus greeted, blue foam oozing out of his mouth, "want some?"
"Um, I'm good, thanks." Thomas said, waving him off.
He really wished he could say it was the first time he came across Remus unexpectedly in the duplex consuming something seemingly unsafe for human consumption, but it had become such a frequent occurrence, it was almost routine.
The first time it'd happen though…Thomas had stumbled into the kitchen for a midnight snack and flicked on the light to find Remus grinning at him maniacally as he took a bite out of a deodorant stick.
Thomas had a fairly natural human reaction—he screamed. His roommate Janus bolted to the kitchen at once, an old-timey fashioned night cap nearly flying off his head.
"Oh," Janus straightened his posture, calmly fixing his cap, "It's just Remus."
"Just R-remus?!" Thomas exclaimed, gesturing dramatically towards the deodorant stick.
Janus took a closer inspection, sighing, "Unfortunately, Remus was raised by a pack of wolves with no sense for manners. I'll get you a new one."
"W-what, that's not the point—is that my deodorant stick?!"
It was. Yet, somehow, it couldn't be. Like how Remus couldn't possibly be drinking body wash because the man would be severely ill or hospitalized over it. Thomas was sure it had to be the guy's idea of a prank to freak Thomas out by thinking he really ate Tidepods like they were candy or gargled cleaning solution like mouth wash. His roommate had to be going along with it. Janus was the eclectic type, he had a strange sort of dry humor that complimented Remus's absurdist humor.
Thomas resolved to grinning and bearing it, pretending that it was a really, really normal thing to witness and hopefully, Remus would give it up eventually. But, as evidenced by the body wash, Remus had yet to break.
"Remus, dear, please tell me that you are drinking a perfectly normal acceptable human drink, and not my body wash."
"Ah!" Thomas startled, giving a sheepish wave to Janus. Somehow, he had a way of seemingly appearing out of the air.
"Okay, it's not body wash." Remus said, while clearly holding body wash. When Janus scowled, he merely cackled, "What? I'm just doing what you asked."
He set the body wash onto the table, wiping off blue foam off his face as he sauntered towards Janus, "It's not my fault you prefer body wash that really has a way of disintegrating my intestines that's better than—"
Janus lunged forward, pinning Remus against the wall with ease, "Really, did no one ever teach you not to take what isn't yours?"
"Janny, you should know better by now. I do what I want." Remus stuck his tongue out.
"Um, okay, I'm going to head out now—" Thomas started to say, but he was quickly interrupted by his own stomach rumbling voraciously. He ducked his head, trying to ignore the flush of embarrassment rising to his cheeks.
Janus let go of Remus, who collapsed to the ground like a marionette doll cut off of its strings. He propped himself up with an elbow, head cocked to the side like an inquisitive dog. His roommate strode forward, reaching out to cusp Thomas's chin with his hand and wow—he was really too gay for this. He swallowed, looking respectfully towards Janus, noticing how the setting sunlight creeping into the kitchen window cast a golden glow onto his features.
Janus looked as though he could've easily stepped off the pages of a shonen manga, as the cool mysterious side character that overshadowed the protagonist in popularity. He had pale yellow blond hair that appeared almost white in direct sunlight that he kept long and meticulously maintained. He had distinct heterochromatic eyes, one was a rich brown hue while the other was a hazel green with flecks of yellow around the iris. What was most striking was the scar that stretched from that eye all the way to his jawline. It was jagged and uneven, faded milky white with the vestiges of time.
(Thomas had never asked about the scar. Janus, however, divulged from time to time unprompted. The story changed with each iteration, sometimes dramatically, even. It was a freak bear attack. A medieval times enactment gone wrong. A run-in with a mugger.)
Janus often dressed a century out of style, such as today with his three piece tailored suit and fedora. Somehow, he pulled off a fedora.
Remus meanwhile, couldn't be more opposite. The man's hair was a rat's nest, no matter how much Janus fussed with it. Curly and wild, often with sticks and leaves and even a wad of gum one time. A grey streak of hair dashed across the front of his bangs which earned him a loveydovey "Raccoon" or "Skunk" from Janus. Yet somehow, his mustache was perfectly trimmed and maintained. His eyes were amber, but Thomas swore under the right sort of light, they were a scarlet red. He often showed up in the same spiky leather jacket with an obscure band t-shirt, ripped jeans and clunky black boots. It was questionable how often he did laundry given the stench.
But they do say opposites attract, and even if Remus pulled odd stunts, it really wasn't that bad—
"Thomas, dearest, have you eaten anything today?" Janus asked, the intonation of his words suggesting it was not the first time.
Thomas blinked a few times, his mind sluggishly processing the question. He was really having a hard time focusing right here, wasn't he? While he was sure he had some undiagnosed ADHD going on, it was rather ridiculous how his brain kept chasing rabbit trails.
"Yeah, I had…food." Thomas said, even as his stomach rumbled even louder than before. It was his whole reason for coming into the kitchen in the first place. No matter how much he ate since he woke up this morning, nothing satiated him. It was reaching The Hungry Caterpillar levels of ridiculous proportions. Bagels, waffles, breakfast tacos, an entire pizza, ice cream, a whole bag of chips, another entire pizza, several PB&J sandwiches, pizza again. It might be easier to list off what he didn't have today, then what he did have.
"Aw, baby's first cravings." Remus crooned out, standing on his tippy toes to peer over Janus's shoulder.
"I suppose I have to get a little more specific with you...have you been eating any meat, Thomas?"
"I had pepperoni pizza?" Thomas thought about it some. "I had, um. two whole pepperoni pizzas. Uh, three actually I think? Pepperoni counts as a meat, right?"
Remus staggered back a bit, laughing.
"Well, yes, but technically no." Janus tsked, "Remus, please. Have some decorum for once."
When Remus just laughed harder, Janus rolled his eyes before refocusing his gaze towards Thomas, "Your body needs more meat than just what is on a pepperoni pizza. The changes you're undergoing right now will certainly be helped by your unchanged eating habits."
"Right, right, right. The werewolf thing." Thomas said, biting his lip.
The werewolf thing. Which had to be a prank just like Remus eating incredibly toxic to human stuff. Or, at least, a very weird attempt at some sort of coping strategy for him. Why was it werewolves of all things, one could ask.
See, every so often on a clear night, Thomas would stargaze at the local park. And every so often, he spotted a stray white husky wandering through the foliage. The first few distant sightings Thomas was almost convinced it was a ghost. It always disappeared before he could get closer to it. Slowly, over the course of a year, Thomas worked at gaining its trust. The poor thing must've had a traumatic past—as it had a distinct scar over its eye and it ambled with a slight limp in its back left leg.
Thomas named it Scar—because it was both a Disney reference and he was bad at coming up with a more creative name.
Then one night, it appeared with a companion. A black husky with a streak of white across its forehead and a friendly demeanor. It came right up to Thomas, tail wagging furiously as its tongue lolled out of its mouth. So naturally, Thomas petted it. It was a very good boy. Until it opened its maw wide and chomped down on his arm, hard. There was no warning sign. He was petting an over-enthusiastic dog, who was whining and pressing his head into Thomas's hand for more pets and then.
Screaming, growling, blood.
Thomas barely remembered the brief snatches of time between the bite and when Scar pressed himself against Thomas, howling mournfully. He barely allowed Thomas to pet him before that night. There was no black dog anymore—Scar must've scared it off. But there was so much blood on Scar's coat, a nauseating amount. Thomas almost threw up. Maybe he did, even the moments after the bite were hazy.
All he knew was that Scar tolerated him running his hands through his thick coarse fur as he babbled a nonsense stream of words.
Janus apparently found him and saved him. He knew that part because he had the fuzzy feeling of being gently carried back to their apartment. He woke up to his arm bandaged up and Janus breaking the news he was a werewolf now. Supposedly.
A savory, sweet scent encapsulated his nostrils. Thomas's mouth was opening to reach forward and take it into his mouth before his brain could have begun to catch up.
"What—"
"Here, eat." Janus offered him a slab of steak. When did Janus get steak? It was a juicy red and ordinarily it would make Thomas's stomach queasy at the thought of eating it in that state (he ate his steaks well done), but he almost drooled at the sight.
"See that's real meat right there." Remus said, grinning, "Raw, unprocessed, fresh meat."
Thomas gave a muffled response of something to Remus. His mouth was occupied the moment Janus drifted the meat closer to his face. He tore into the meat, ignoring the ache in his teeth. Oh, it was tender and succulent, in ways he'd never comprehended meat to be. Sure, he wasn't exactly a vegetarian, he had a relatively balanced diet, but there was something about this steak that finally satiated his unsettled stomach.
"Can I—is it okay—" Thomas stumbled over his words. His teeth felt wrong. Did he somehow dislocate his jaw? The worrying thought dissipated as Janus offered another piece of steak. Remus cackled, and Janus said something. It was probably a dry remark of some sort. Thomas heard the words but it was hard to focus on anything except the hunger consuming him.
The next time he wanted more, he whined for it like a dog begging for scraps underneath the dinner table. Janus easily obliged. There was someone petting his hair, their hand rough with callouses. Distantly, he was aware he was on the floor, laying in Janus's lap.
There should be at least a sliver of fear coursing through his veins. The odd hunger, the short sporadic lapses in memory…factually, it was concerning.
Thomas shuddered, as a sensation of pins and needles swept over his whole body. Was he sick? Did the raw meat make him sick?
"You're okay," Janus reassured, "You're going to be okay."
"The first time always fucking sucks." Remus said, lackadaisically reaching for a leftover piece of steak, "but you get to be a sickass wolf so, it's worth it."
No, no he needed to go to a hospital. All of this had gone too far.
"Please—I need—hospital." Thomas choked out, the words heavy and unwieldy. He couldn't speak any further. His successive attempts only resulted in a high pitched whining noise.
Remus brushed his forehead against Thomas's own, his eyes holding a startling steely gaze, "We're not going to take you to a hospital. They'll just tie you up and vivisect you while you feel every carve of their blades—"
"Remus, enough." Janus said, pushing him away from Thomas. He swept Thomas's bangs away from his face. "shhh, you'll be okay. It'll be over soon."
Thomas shook his head, which did not help with the black dots spreading across his vision as the world began to turn lopsided on its axis. His teeth continued to ache, pressing and crowding against themselves. He broke his jaw, he must've broke his jaw on the steak. That was a reasonable explanation, surely.
He panted, unable to breathe through his nose. It was congested and wrong and—then it hurt. Like someone was taking a morning star repeatedly to his face. There was a dog whimpering. Did Scar—no it couldn't be Scar. They didn't have a dog either. Thomas's ears popped, sound briefly going muddled. Something pulled on his ears, weighing them down. He shook his head but he couldn't dislodge it. When his ears decompressed, sound came roaring in.
He could hear his heartbeat. It thudded loudly and off-kilter, was he having a heart attack?!
"It's almost over." Janus promised like a liar.
The rest of whatever was occurring was a slow, agonizing process. The vertebrae of his spinal cord ripped themselves apart, pushing and protruding in unnatural ways. His limbs seized up, flailing of their own volition. He was having a seizure, a stroke, a heart attack—perhaps all of them, at the same time. He was dying. All the while, his roommate and his boyfriend sat there and watched.
When it was truly over, he laid there heaving for air. He should be dead. He almost thought he was dead when he was finally able to lift his head up, too exhausted to do anything else. Remus grinned, inches away from his face.
"Hi there."
Thomas growled, ears twitching back as he snapped at Remus. Then he whimpered, ears pressed against his skull, as something curled tight against his legs, because what was that—he didn't growl, his ears—he whined loudly.
"Aw, Tommy Salami, it's okay, I'm thrilled to be your first growl." Remus said, patting his head.
It should've been demeaning, but the touch was soothing against his hair. Thomas leaned into it. Remus chuckled, his hand running down Thomas's neck and across his back, and there was hair there as well, long and floofy like fur.
Thomas jolted back, finding the strength to push himself away from Remus into a corner, whining because he wasn't human, somehow he had fur and a tail and paws just like—like a wolf. The werewolf thing.
Something nuzzled against his face, licking at the underside of his jaw. His ears pricked forward, the movement horrifically natural. He whined and they whined back. Their own whine wasn't fearful, it was…friendly, warm. Thomas couldn't explain how, he just knew.
Slowly his tail wagged as he peered up to see Scar by his side. When did he get here? Thomas didn't know and he didn't care. He was caught up in a joyous excitement of seeing his friend who was also wagging his tail back in a more relaxed manner. He whimpered happily, nuzzling his face against Scar's own, instinctively giving a few licks in greeting.
"Aww, of course Jay gets to be your first tail wagging…" Remus teased, crouching down close beside them.
One of Thomas's ear swiveled at the sound of Remus's voice, while the other flicked the opposite direction from the soft growl emanating from Scar. He whimpered, was the growl a bad noise? But Scar licked him in reassurance, so it must be more akin to a person rolling their eyes.
Remus reached forward to pet Scar and surprisingly, he tolerated the touch with little more than a huff. With his other hand, he scratched Thomas just behind his ears at just the perfect spot. Thomas whined, tilting his head up so he could lick Remus's face graciously.
"See, it's not so bad, is it?" Remus said, beaming, "we'll be a pack, just the three of us, how does that sound?"
Thomas whined, tail wagging furiously. He was confused and uncertain about all of this, but the idea of pack sounded good. It was necessary and important and Remus wanted him. He wanted him! But did Scar want him?
Scar was staring down Remus, ears flicked slightly back. Thomas whimpered, licking at Scar's muzzle. Please, please, please.
Eventually, Scar acknowledged him, a hesitant wag of his tail as he gave affectionate licks of his own to Thomas. He also gave a few to Remus, who let out an excited holler. Thomas returned his holler with a small howl, the noise shaky and unsteady. A third voice broke in with a howl much stronger than Thomas's own and Remus's screechy one. Thomas kept howling until his voice finally gave out, his throat already strained from the earlier ordeals.
He could only give a short whine, which earned him soft touches and licks of reassurance. Remus was rattling off a stream of consciousness, his hands drifting up and down Thomas's fur as he let him lay in his lap. Scar pressed his back against the front of Thomas, ears flicked back towards Remus's rambling. He seemed alert for any possible dangers, which was comforting even though they were in their kitchen, where the only danger was the precarious stack of dirty dishes Thomas and Janus had been pretending didn't exist for the past week and an half.
Thomas's eyes flutter shut as he rested his head against his paws. He was tired. There was an insistent part that demanded answers now, that gnawed at him stay awake, stay alert. It was drowned out by the comforting fact he was warm and safe here with his pack.
"Goodnight, my wretched prince. And may flights of demons sing thee to thy rest." Remus whispered. It had to be in a teasing way, even if his tone held an odd endearing quality to it.
Thomas gave a small twitch of his tail all the same. He fell asleep to Remus giving a snort of laughter as he traced circles across Thomas's back.