#I am unwell and I am aware

[banannabethchase]

Hungry Like the Wolf - also on AO3

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Yuta accidentally walks in on his boss as a werewolf. A literal werewolf. Why does he find that hot?

~

Bingo square I3 complete! Also how did I write a 16k AU in 4 days? Please don't ask me because I don't fucking know.

~

It’s late. Like, stupid late. Like, so late he’s got eight texts from Chuck asking him why the fuck he isn’t back since it’s his night to take the dog for his late night walk, stupid.

I’ll be back soon I’m still at work, he fires back as he fixes something in his spreadsheet with his other hand. Tell Walter to wait like half an hour.

Can’t wait that long he has a shityt bladder Chuck replies back, and Yuta knows the fight is lost. Chuck is going to yell at him that he’s a bad roommate, Yuta will feel like trash because he’s right, and he still won’t have everything done at work that needs to get done.

Yuta sighs and saves the document, flipping it shut. At this point, he may as well start living here.

He looks up to see the rest of the room empty, his light the only one on. The saving grace is that he’s hourly and his boss is cool with giving out overtime like Halloween candy. Maybe he can offer to pay the whole electric bill this month as penance.

Snapping off the light in his cubicle, Yuta gathers his things and makes his way toward the exit, only to see a light still on in the boss’ office. He pauses. He really shouldn’t interrupt Mr. Castagnoli, since it’s late and there has to be a reason he’s still here. But he’s stupid and he’s tempted to show off that he’s here, too.

“Mr. Castagnoli,” he says, knocking as he pushes the door open. “I just wanted to say –” He cuts himself off as he tries to process the sight in front of him. “What the flying fuck?!”

A wolf the size of a sedan turns to him, dark eyes eerily familiar.

“Oh dear,” says a voice equally familiar yet unquestionably canine. “Mr. Yuta. You were supposed to be gone.” The wolf sighs. “What an inconvenient way for you to find out. As you can see,” he gestures to the mess of blood and filth around the room, covered in a thick plastic tarp, “I am rather busy. If we could continue this conversation tomorrow, I would be much obliged.”

Yuta blinks for a few seconds, trying to get his eyes to register what the actual fuck he’s seeing, then processes it. Everything. All at once.

He sprints out of there, hightailing it to his car, and slams the door behind him. His breathing is heavy, his heartbeat is too fast to be safe, and his brain is spinning. He gets home five minutes faster than usual, terror wreaking havoc on his system, and runs in the door.

“What – how the hell did you get back so soon?” Chuck asks. He’s on the couch with his boyfriend in his lap, Yuta’s former boss. “I thought I had at least ten minutes of macking time post walk.”

Cassidy slides off of Chuck’s lap languidly, looking disappointed. Well, as much as he ever has an expression.

“I – had to get home,” Yuta pants. The memory still reigns, stark and bloodred, in his mind. “You’ll never believe what I just saw.” He runs it over with them, talking so quickly he can barely keep up with himself. Chuck looks at him with a distinct lack of belief. Cassidy looks so unaffected Yuta’s pretty sure he’s fallen asleep under his sunglasses.

“I think you had a nightmare,” Chuck says, and it’s so reasonable Yuta feels himself automatically relax. “Like, think about it, okay? You were at work until,” he checks his clock, “like, ten at night. You got there at nine in the morning. You’re burnt out, dude.”

“Probably envisioning your boss as a blood covered carnivore is a representation of your distrust of him as the individual siphoning your labor for his own gains,” Cassidy says.

Yuta turns to him. “The fuck did you just say?” He looks at Chuck. “I worked for him for three years and I’m pretty sure that’s more words in a row than I’d heard him say within, like, a month.”

Cassidy shrugs. “Your fault for leaving my shop, dumbass.” He stretches out on the couch and passes out. Yuta thinks.

“Orange is right,” Chuck says, resting his hand on Cassidy’s forehead and playing with long blond strands. “Your subconscious is making him a literal fairy tale villain because you were stuck at work.” He nods toward Yuta’s room. “Go to sleep and get into work late tomorrow morning. You’ve earned it.”

Like he only does when he knows Yuta’s had a really rough day, Walter pads in after him into his bedroom and curls up against him in bed. Yuta falls asleep in minutes, and doesn’t dream.

~

He gets into work the next morning just before noon, holding a tray of apology coffees for being late and a whole lot of fear.

“Hey,” he says Mox, the security guard. “Uh. Here. I got coffee.”

Moxley stares at it. “What kind?”

“Um. Latte?” He pulls it out of the cardboard tray and checks the label. “Yeah, regular latte.”

“Gross,” Mox says, and he chugs it in a few seconds, shoving it back into the tray empty. “Thanks, though.”

Yuta throws a wary glance behind him, unsure of how to process that moment, and pushes into the full building. The office area is – well, it’s not modern, exactly. There really are cubicles, and there really are bigger offices for the higher ups, but the place still feels more comfortable than the place from Office Space, so Yuta considers it a win.

Or, at least, it had. Before the nightmare.

“Maybe I need to go back into retail,” Yuta mutters, but, even as he says that, the trauma of getting a guitar thrown at his head and the idea of living in a tiny apartment with Chuck and Cassidy for the rest of his life say otherwise. He sets the tray of coffees down at the receptionist desk.

“You okay there, Wheels?” Renee asks. She types in something on her computer, then turns back to him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Yuta hands her the hot white chocolate mocha latte and nods. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

“I do,” she says sternly. “You didn’t clock out until 10:02, you fucking idiot.”

He smiles at her. “Love you too!”

He sips his own coffee as he gets to his workstation.  “Marina!” he calls to the woman who works the next cubicle over. “Hi. I got coffee.”

She looks up, eyes fierce but silent, and raises an eyebrow.

“Yes, it’s a hot blonde roast, no cream, sugar free vanilla,” Yuta says, handing it over the top. “Four pumps.”

Marina takes a hesitant, suspicious sip, then nods. He thinks, if he looks closely enough, he could see something like a smile there.

He settles back down into his seat, and throws open his laptop to see his work from last night there.

All of it.

He frowns. If he’d fallen asleep, like he’d assumed, there wouldn’t be anything there past the collaborative data review he’d done around 7:30 with Bryan. But there it was – the two and a half hours’ worth of analytical review.

He slumps back in the chair.

If he hadn’t fallen asleep.

If he hadn’t dreamt.

He shakes his head. “Nope,” he insists. “Nope, we’re not going there.” He picks up where he left off, yawning only a bit, and cranks out a couple hundred more words of analysis before he feels a presence over his shoulder. A shiver runs down his spine.

“Mr. Yuta,” comes an eerily familiar voice from over his shoulder, and it’s that exact second he’s sure it wasn’t a dream, “a word, in my office, if you will.”

A cold sweat breaks out over his body as he stands and plasters his best facsimile of a smile on his face. “Certainly, sir,” he says, swallowing.

Yuta follows Mr. Castagnoli to the office, and Renee’s eyes catch his. She raises an eyebrow, but he shrugs, doing his best to look sheepish as he smiles back at her, like he doesn’t know what this is about.

Mr. Castagnoli gestures for him to push the door shut behind him. Reluctantly, Yuta does.

“Please sit, Mr. Yuta.” His boss gestures to one of the comfortable chairs in front of the giant desk. Yuta assumes Castagnoli would sit in the fancy one like a throne behind the desk, but instead he plants himself in the seat one away from Yuta.

Yuta lowers himself gingerly. No plastic tarp, no blood, no stray fur or teeth or indication of violence. Castagnoli’s smile, while definitely sharp white and toothy, doesn’t betray any carnivorous tendencies.

“I would like to discuss the incident from the previous night.”

Yuta fights the urge to curl in on himself. “Uh, yeah,” he hedges, wishing he could sound like an normal person about all this. “Right. The uh.”

“The wolf,” Castagnoli clarifies. “Yes, of course. That was me.”

“Sorry, can we – wolf?” Yuta asks. “You’re weirdly chill about all this.”

Castagnoli shrugs, looking not an ounce ashamed or hesitant about this conversation. “It has been my life since birth. A legacy of the Castagnoli line, one could say.” He chuckles a bit. “My mother says it’s why we are so talented in the board room.” He leans toward Yuta a little bit. “We have a taste for blood.”

A shiver runs down Yuta’s spine, but he can’t be exactly sure why. “Are you gonna kill me?” he blurts out, white knuckle grip on the chair. “I get why. But, like, make it quick.”

To his shock, Castagnoli lets out a laugh, open and beautiful and wildly inappropriate for the level of conversation they’re having. “Oh, my goodness,” he says, coming down from it. “No, Mr. Yuta, absolutely not.” He gestures around the door. “Do you see a tarp? I never chance blood without a good old fashion layer of protection.”

Yuta swears he sees Castagnoli wink.

“No, I assure you, murder is not in the cards for you.” Yuta absolutely did not miss the qualifier – for you. “I actually was here to propose something akin to a promotion.”

Yuta raises an eyebrow. “A promotion?”

“Now that you managed to see my…hidden side,” Castagnoli says, “I suppose we’ve become closer. And I would do to have someone else be in charge of some of the more complex components of my moonlight changes.” He tilts his head, studying Yuta. The only word that comes to Yuta’s mind is predator. He shouldn’t like it so much. “You’re in a unique position where you are privy to the complexity of my condition without being also hindered by it. If you know, then it’s only right that I invite you to understand some of the more complicated components of the company, along with increasing your salary.”

Yuta’s ears perk up. “Increasing my salary?”

“Of course,” Castagnoli says. “I would find it rather abhorrent to expect an atypical job requirement beyond the original contract to not be compensated with a pay raise.”

Yuta nods slowly. “What, exactly, would being your assistant entail?”

“Well,” Castagnoli says, “there are obviously some components about my condition that require additional planning. I do it myself, as of now, but I could use some help. Generally, my transformations happen at night, when I’m alone in the office, but…” He trails off and meets Yuta’s eyes. “You often stay late, correct?” Yuta nods. “On nights when the moonlight cannot be blocked out, particularly full moons, that is when I transform. I can generally prepare and control it using the weather predictions, but more often than I’d like my transformation occurs…unexpectedly.” He sighs. “On those nights, I would request your support to gather the necessary materials.”

“So, like,” Yuta says, carefully, “food and tarps?”

“You say that so casually,” Castagnoli says. His knee brushes Yuta’s. “Were you not afraid last night?”

“I mean, yeah, I was,” Yuta says, and he resists the urge to laugh. “Of course I was. You were a big ass wolf man in place of my boss, covered in blood.” He gestures to the room. “Then I come in here today and you’re back to – my boss.” He slumps in the chair. “I thought it was a nightmare, man. My roommates were sure of it.”

Castagnoli’s eyes go carefully blank. “You spoke of my condition to them.”

“Sure, but they didn’t believe me,” Yuta says. “They were sure I’d fallen asleep. One of them, Cassidy, said he thought I was imagining you as a bloodthirsty carnivore because I was stuck at work so late and you were draining my labor from me or something.” He frowns. “I didn’t say it right, but you get the gist.”

Castagnoli’s eyes remain blank, but the subtle tilt of his head tells Yuta he hit a nerve. “And do you feel that way?”

“What way?”

Castagnoli leans in, forearms braced on his thighs. “As if I am forcing you to work solely for my own gain?”

Yuta lets the words sink in, allows himself the time to be honest. “No,” Yuta decides. “No, I – I’m never scheduled to work that late, and you pay me a frankly insane rate for overtime.” He relaxes in his chair.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Castagnoli says. He mirrors Yuta’s posture: a leg crossed, arms on the chair, back relaxed into the chair. “And, if you could, please refrain from mentioning the truth of my condition to others.” He offers a slight smile. “It is my story to tell, as the saying goes.”

“Oh, right,” Yuta says. “I’d never out anybody.” He frowns. “Well. It’s not the same, but I get it.”

“Not the same as what?”

Yuta tenses up. “Uh. Well, I had a guy tell my whole college campus I’m gay when I was in school, and that fucking sucked.” He shrugs. “I’d never make anybody feel that way.”

Claudio eyes him. “That’s kind of you, Mr. Yuta. And thank you for the window into your past.” Yuta would swear he saw a glint in Castagnoli’s eye. “I can give you further information as the day goes on, however this evening appears to be cloudy with little hint of moonlight coming through. If it does, though.” He eyes Yuta.

“Just send me a to-do list,” Yuta says. “And I can, uh. Do it.”

Castagnoli nods once. “Well then. I suppose we are done here.” He stands and checks the clock. “And if I keep you here much longer, I’ll be late for a client meeting. Until later, Mr. Yuta.”

Yuta knows when he’s dismissed, and he stands and reaches for the door.

“Oh, and Mr. Yuta,” Castagnoli says, as Yuta is about to leave the room.

Yuta turns around, surprised he’s surprised that the other shoe is dropping. “Yes?”

“Please call me Claudio.” His smile is intriguing. “After all, you know my deepest secret. The least I can do is offer you my name.”

Yuta nods. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Claudio.”

He leaves the room and sits in his cubicle, and does literally nothing for two straight hours.

~

There are to-do lists. Lots of them. He’s in charge of coordinating with a local butcher to acquire whole animals for the wolf to tear apart if the moment strikes, ensuring delivery of the tarps for Claudio’s office, and locking every door prior to Claudio’s transformation. He’s not sure why that part is necessary; his encounter with the wolf was weirdly cordial. Nothing like he’d expect from interacting with a supernatural killing machine.

The first clear night of the full moon, Yuta is ready. He says goodbye to the rest of the office as they leave, smiling sheepishly as they all tell him to go home. Renee literally throws a pillow at his head, which was somehow both sweet and aggressive.

“Overtime isn’t worth it,” Renee yells over her shoulder.

“It is,” Yuta yells back, but he’s lying. It’s not the overtime. It’s the chance to spend time with Cas-Claudio. It’s the ability to know something so private about Claudio, to be trusted that deeply.

And, you know. The time and a half.

He peeks over the top of the cubicles to confirm that everyone else is gone, then steps into Claudio’s office. “Hey,” he says gently. “You okay?”

“Perfectly fine,” Claudio says. He slides the papers on his desk into his folders, then moves the décor to another bookshelf. “Would you be able to get the tarp and the other necessities, Wheeler?”

Yuta’s not sure when Claudio started calling him by his first name, but he sure as hell won’t ask him to stop. “Sure. I’ll be right back.”

Claudio offers him one of those rare, small smiles, and it powers Yuta through practically running down the hallway. He first gets the tarp from the basement, after a brief debate with himself about whether or not he can make it all the way up the stairs with the tarp and the deer at the same time, and brings it upstairs.

“Um,” Yuta says. “What, exactly, do you need from me?” He pulls the tarp out of the bag slowly. Claudio’s already moved the desk out of the way, propped against the door, and has draped a smaller sized tarp over it. “When you transform, I mean.”

Claudio sighs, looking like a model as he leans against the bookshelf in his pristine office wear. “We’ll have to see what the wolf prefers,” he says. It’s too vague, like he’s hiding something. Yuta waits. “If I can be honest, I’ve never had someone out of wolf form see me. No human, at least. I suppose I don’t know what I need from you.”

Yuta nods. “We’ll play it by ear, then.” He offers Claudio a smile, hoping it’s some sort of comforting. “I’ll go grab the deer, then. Throw it over my shoulder like some sort of lumberjack.”

“Don’t lumberjacks haul wood?”

Yuta opens his mouth, ready to make a crack about how he’s always hauling wood, then freezes. Claudio is still his boss. “They’ve got to get food someway, right?” he says, pivoting.

Claudio’s still looking at him though. “Alright,” he says. “I’ll be in my office, preparing.” He peeks in. “Ah. The first strands of moonlight have appeared.”

Yuta doesn’t wait, and instead hauls a big ass, plastic-covered deer from the basement, to the elevator, and then up to the office.

“Do I have any blood on me?” Yuta asks. “Did the deer leak?” He turns to Claudio and sees the wolf instead. “Oh. Oh, hello.”

“Hello, Wheeler.” It’s strange, how it’s Claudio’s voice at the same time as being the wolf’s. He wishes it were more distinct, like he could easily know who was in charge. But, then again, if it did count as someone else, perhaps he wouldn’t feel so safe in the room. Claudio is curled up in wolf form in the corner, giant clawed paw rolling around a metal ball. “You have no blood on you at all, though I’d have to admit that would –” He pauses, eyes averting from Yuta’s. “Well, I assure you, you are perfectly clean.” He pushes the ball toward Yuta.

Yuta rests the deer in the middle of the floor and stops the ball with his foot. “Are you asking to play?” he asks, fighting the urge to smile.

As much as a wolf can, Claudio shrugs. “I feel unable to resist the urge.”

The metal ball is heavy, but Yuta can push it with a little effort. He sits on the floor and rolls it back toward Claudio, who stops it with his snout and pushes it back. “Have you ever, like,” Yuta has to lean over to catch the ball before it flies off into the wrong direction, “played with anyone during your transformations?” He rolls the ball back, and Claudio scoops it up with a paw. It’s almost cute with the way he fiddles with it between his paws.

“Never a human,” Claudio answers. He pushes the ball back to Yuta. “Those in my pack my same age and I would play, but it was never this docile.” When Yuta rolls the ball back, Claudio catches it between massive, white teeth. “Far more blood involved.”

Yuta snorts. “I mean, if you want blood, we have blood.” He nods over to the deer. “But, uh. I’m in work clothes, so I’d rather not be covered.”

Claudio bares his teeth, the ball falling from his mouth, and Yuta freezes. He’d forgotten he was in the room with a bloodthirsty predatory, one with human intellect and animalistic desires. “Right,” Claudio says, and the exhale reminds Yuta of a sleepy puppy. He stretches out, reminding Yuta just how big the wolf is. “Would never want you to sully your professional wear.” He growls, low in his chest. “With that in mind, I do recommend you return to your office space now.” He licks his teeth, long tongue red as blood. “I feel the need to tear.”

Yuta nods and stands, swallowing hard. “Do you, uh. Do you need me to open the deer for you?”

Claudio’s laugh is low and menacing. Yuta should not be getting – this is the wrong feeling in this setting. “I assure you,” he brandishes his claws, “I am more than capable of doing so myself.”

Yuta nods. “You, uh. You need me overnight?”

Claudio nods. “If you will.”

Yuta closes the door behind himself as he goes over to his cubicle and pulls out the little cot Claudio had purchased for him the week before. He’d brought a blanket and now, thanks to Renee, he has a pillow. He curls up, plugs in his phone, puts on a Bigfoot related video essay on YouTube, and falls asleep.

~

“Wheeler.”

Yuta stretches, yawning. “Chuck?”

“No.”

Yuta’s eyes fly open and it takes a moment before he remembers where he is. “Oh. Right.” He rolls his shoulders. He’s less sore than he should be after a night on a cot and decides to call it a win. “How are you feeling?”

“More relaxed than usual after my transformations.” Claudio looks tired but happy, offering Yuta another one of those smiles. Yuta’s entire chest flutters, and he resists the urge to crack a stupid joke, just to stop the impossible feeling. “I cannot thank you enough, Wheeler. I have never felt this secure as the wolf.”

That feeling blooms brighter. “Of course.” He smiles. “Do, um. Do you need me to clock in or something?”

“Certainly not,” Claudio says. “I will approve it with HR myself if needed.” He exhales. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be down in the showers. Please, feel free to do so yourself as well.”

Yuta decides to banish that mental image from his mind, because the idea of showering with Claudio is too fascinating for him to stay normal about, and instead nods. “Yeah, maybe in a few. I’m going to catch up with my roommate really quick.”

He watched Claudio walk away and Yuta whips out his phone. There aren’t any texts from Chuck panicking, so he thinks his cover story that he was on a business trip overnight worked out better than he’d planned.

It’s early, only six in the morning, but getting a little too close to clock in time for comfort, so Yuta grabs clothes from his bag under his desk and makes his way down to the showers.

He almost runs into Claudio, shirtless and clad only in a towel, and his heart about leaps from his throat.

“Sorry,” he says, forcing himself to avert his eyes.

“No need to apologize.” Claudio claps a hand on Yuta’s shoulder. “Feel free to use my shampoo.”

Yuta snorts. “Funny. That’s cute.” He holds up a little bag of toiletries. Well. It’s a bar of soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. It counts. “I’ll stick with my own.”

He doesn’t intend to acknowledge his dick. He doesn’t. He’s at work, doing work things, being an employee or whatever the fuck he does here. He doesn’t need to jerk off about it.

But then he gets a memory of Claudio’s body, still glistening with water, abs for days and a line of hair leading under the towel, and all of Yuta’s resolve collapses.

“Stupid fucking hot wolf man,” he grumbles, and he reaches down to stroke his dick. He drops his head back against the tile wall of the shower, canting his hips up to meet his strokes. He thinks about the glint in Claudio’s eye as the wolf, about Claudio’s smiles, about the way Claudio looks at him sometimes.

What gets him whimpering, though, is the trust. That Claudio shared the wolf with Yuta, that he trusts Yuta to take care of him, that he’s willing to ask for help for once and it’s because of Yuta.

He comes with a cry, wordless but too loud all the same, and takes an extra five minutes to make sure the shower is all the way hosed down.

He leaves around 7:30 to pick up coffees from Orange’s Beans, Cassidy’s shop he used to work at. It’s a decision made by himself and Claudio to keep it looking like he didn’t sleep here overnight, and comes back into work with a little too much energy for a Wednesday morning.

“You’re chipper,” Mox says, holding his hand out for his coffee. “You do it right this time?”

“Don’t be a dick or I won’t give you the coffee,” Yuta says, putting the one labeled Mox in his hand. “Jesus.”

Staring at him, Mox takes a sip. “Okay, yeah. You got it right.” He punches Yuta in the shoulder so hard he staggers. “Good job, kid.”

“Ow!” Yuta says. He aims a kick at Mox’s shins, but Mox jumps out of the way, grinning.

The day is almost too normal, and at the end of the day Yuta’s hesitant to leave.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks. “I mean, I know last night was the full moon, but there’s still moonlight.”

“Any day other than the full moon, I’m able to control the transformation,” Claudio explains. “Truly, I can shift between the forms of the wolf at any time, but I’m unable to shift back to human during the full moon.” His expression turns almost sad. “The wolf takes all control those nights, I’m afraid.”

Yuta wants to tell him there’s nothing wrong with that, explain that he doesn’t see much of a difference between Claudio and the wolf, but he stays silent on the topic. “If you’re sure.”

Claudio nods. “I appreciate it more than you know, Wheeler.” He holds out a hand, and Yuta shakes it. “Go have a good evening with your friends.”

Yuta does. Kris and Trent come over, and all five of them play board games. Yuta’s on an embarrassing losing streak when Chuck suggests werewolf, and Yuta snorts.

“What’s with you?” Kris asks. “You don’t like the game?”

“No, he does,” Chuck says. “Probably too much, actually. He just had this fucked up dream about his boss a few weeks ago where his boss tried to kill him, werewolf style.”

“I think he was into it,” Kris says.

“I was not!” Yuta says.

“Look, he’s blushing!” Trent says. “You want to get railed by a werewolf, don’t you.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Yuta mumbles. He shoves Kris in the shoulder, she falls over a little and lands against Trent’s shoulder, and Trent shoves her so she bonks back into Yuta. “Let’s go back to making fun of Trent for refusing to ask Rocky out.”

“No, no, I like this conversation,” Trent says. “Go back to mocking Yuta.”

The game gets lost to good natured teasing, leading to Yuta in a headlock by Kris that he doesn’t hate as much as he probably should, and he’s having fun. It’s a great evening, and he’s tired as he goes to sleep in his own bed.

But he does wonder what Claudio is doing. And he does feel a little strange falling asleep without the soft snores of the wolf in the background.

~

After the first full moon, he takes it upon himself to create a code to automatically populate certain moonlight intensities into Claudio’s lower tool bar of his computer to warn him, just to be helpful, and Claudio straight up beams when he tells him.

“You were able to do that?” Claudio says. “How?”

Yuta shrugs. “It was easy. All I had to do is write a code and apply it to your computer.”

Claudio laughs a little, shaking his head. “I assure you, writing code is not easy to everyone. I appreciate it.”

The next few weeks before the next full moon are shockingly normal. He and Claudio talk as they always do, but then again, if he had been speaking to anyone else, he would have called their banter flirting. There are time to time touches to his arms, a greater frequency of those smiles. Yuta can already tell he’s falling for Claudio, and he should know how to turn this off.

He can’t.

“Hey,” Yuta says, working late one night. He leans against the open door of Claudio’s office. “I have a question.”

Claudio’s eyebrow raises. “Is this a question you should be asking with others in the building?”

“We’re alone,” Yuta says. He pretends that idea doesn’t thrill him. “Is there an in between wolf thing?”

Claudio tilts his head. Every time he does that, Yuta’s reminded of the wolf. “Could you elaborate?”

“Like,” Yuta throws himself into his typical chair. “There’s got to be something in between the wolf and,” he gestures to Claudio, “the businessman, right? You can’t just swap between them.”

“Ah,” Claudio says. “Well, I can stop somewhere in the middle. Care to see?”

Yuta nods.

Claudio stands and loosens his tie, hands going to his jacket. “I must warn you, I’ll have to remove parts of my clothes. I wouldn’t want to damage them.” He looks a bit haughty, with the way he speaks about his clothing. Always does. “Armani, you understand.”

Yuta nods, beginning to regret this idea because a naked Claudio is not something he’s prepared for. It’s also not something he can refuse. “Of course.”

Claudio takes off his jacket and unbuttons the shirt underneath, then unbuckles his belt slowly, eyes still on Yuta. Yuta’s brain threatens to bluescreen, but he champions on. “So, we have the general human condition,” Claudio says. “And then…” He closes his eyes, in concentration, and…changes. It’s not the wolf Yuta is used to from their moonlit evening. Instead, it’s a harsher, more jagged edge human version of his boss. Darker eyes, a thin layer of fur across Claudio’s body, sharp nails and teeth. “There is this version, in the middle.”

“Huh,” Yuta says, shifting in his seat. “Yeah, I get this. Sort of the, uh, hybrid version. What’s this work for?”

Claudio frowns. “Work for?”

“Yeah,” Yuta says. “Like, there’s got to be some sort of evolutionary reason to have this form, right?”

“I hadn’t considered that before,” Claudio says. In front of Yuta’s eyes, he transforms back into his normal form, and the abs stare at Yuta again. It doesn’t feel fair. “I suppose, perhaps, it’s a way for my people to – to connect with other wolves without the violence attached.”

“I thought you all played as little wolf puppies,” Yuta says.

Claudio grins, not smiles. It’s dark, maybe even a little dirty. “That’s not the connection I was referring to, Wheeler.”

Yuta feels his entire body grow hot with desire, with the sudden need to experience what that would be like. To be on the receiving end of that connection. “Oh,” Yuta manages to say. “Yeah, uh. That makes a lot of sense.”

The tension in the room feels like a weight on him. He shouldn’t feel these things for his boss, for the person trusting him to take care of him in the most vulnerable moments of his life.

But, maybe, if all that were true, Claudio wouldn’t have shown him every part of himself, and wouldn’t have brought it up.

Claudio clears his throat. “Well, we should be getting back to work now, yes? Or you should be getting home.” He puts his belt back together, and Yuta resists the urge to tell him to take it all the way off, because that would be weird. “I’ll see you tomorrow for work?”

Yuta nods. He fights the urge to lick his lips. “Yeah,” he says, swallowing hard. “Certainly.”

~

It’s too easy.

Chuck and Cassidy are too busy at Orange’s to recognize the pattern of when Yuta has his overnight business trips, even six months into it. Yuta’s able to buy them each everything on their gift lists for their Christmas, before Thanksgiving even hits. For the first time in his life, he feels like he’s got his shit together. Even his parents, visiting for Thanksgiving, remark on his change in demeanor.

After weeks of deliberation, he gets a pocket watch, with a cup of coffee and a tiny wolf at the ends of the minute and second hands, for Claudio’s Christmas gift, and almost swoons with the way Claudio cups it in his giant hands.

“Wheeler,” he murmurs. “This is too much.”

“It’s really not,” Yuta says. “This is the first time I’ve been able to give every Christmas present I’ve wanted thanks to this job.” He looks up at Claudio and meets his eyes. “Thanks to you.”

Claudio opens his mouth, and Yuta’s eager to hear the response, but there’s a knock on the door and they spring apart.

“This looks…festive,” Bryan says, a knowing smirk on his lips. “Yoots, kid, I need your help with one of the spreadsheets. I think I fucked up the coding.”

Yuta groans, throwing a knowing look at Claudio. “Who are you, Mox? Usually you’re not the one screwing up the technology.”

“It wasn’t me!” Bryan argues as they walk out of the office. Yuta throws a smile over his shoulder to Claudio, who smiles back, hand in his pocket. “Well, not entirely me. Regal came over from the UK division and requested I show him the code’s formatting.”

“You should have waited for me,” Yuta says. He nods over at Mr. Regal, Claudio’s British counterpart. “Good afternoon, Mr. Regal.”

“Afternoon, Sunshine.” Yuta doesn’t know when the nickname showed up, but, at this point, it feels weird to correct him. “I do apologize for the error. I had not intended to damage your code.”

“I can probably fix it,” he shoots a glare at Bryan, “but I’m locking the document for editing for everyone but me, you dick.” He pauses. “Not you, of course, Mr. Regal. Genius over here.”

“Hey!” Bryan says, but Yuta absolutely hears the laugh in his tone. “Little shit over here thinks he’s a big man because he’s flirting with the boss.”

Yuta’s fingers freeze on the keyboard. “Am not,” he mutters.

“Yes you fucking are,” Bryan says, flicking the back of his head.

“Ow!”

“You didn’t deny it, and Mox says you remember all of our coffee orders but change up Claudio’s every day based on how you think his mood is going to be,” Bryan says. “You have a crush.”

“I’m going to crush you,” Yuta mumbles, curling up in his chair.

“I’d like to see you try,” Bryan scoffs. He claps Yuta on the back. “Seriously, though, kid’s a genius. We’d be working at half pace without his tech skills, and I wouldn’t be headed out to Joshua Tree with the family for two weeks’ vacation without him.” He claps Yuta on the back again. “Don’t poach him.”

Yuta lifts his head. “What?”

“I assure you, I plan on doing nothing of the sort,” Regal says, but his little frown suggests otherwise. “We should all be getting back to work, now. Wouldn’t like Mr. Castagnoli to see us slacking.” He winks at Yuta, like he knows something Yuta doesn’t, and makes his way over to the guest office.

“You are such a dick,” Yuta says, punching Bryan in the shoulder. “I’m not flirting with Castagnoli.”

“Oh okay,” Bryan says, “you’re flirting with each other hard.”

“I – shut up!”

“He doesn’t buy anybody Christmas gifts,” Bryan says. “And he got you something.”

“No, he didn’t,” Yuta says. If he could get some privacy, he could repair this code.

“He did,” Bryan insists. “He told me.”

Yuta lifts his head. “He did?!”

“Oh, you really like him,” Bryan says, grinning. Yuta, for the first time, notices his teeth are also…almost wolflike. “Fix that code then go visit him again.” He winks. “Then have a good holiday with your family.”

Yuta rolls his eyes. “Jesus, you never let up, do you.”

“Nope!” Bryan walks away whistling, hands in his pockets, and Yuta can barely focus on fixing the code.

It’s the day before the company shuts down for the full Christmas week, Yuta’s done with the code early, and he knows it’s going to be a while before he can see Claudio again.

He just can’t come up with an excuse.

“Go home!” Renee yells from her desk. “Christ, Yoots, I know you’re hourly. But it’s Christmas.”

“Not until the day after tomorrow,” Yuta yells back. “And I’ll leave. Soon.”

“Go home.”

“You go home,” Yuta fires back. “You’re hourly, too.”

“Yeah, but I still have work to do,” Renee says, grinning. “I’ve been slacking off today, like normal people do the day before a holiday.”

He waits until everybody else is done with their work, when everyone is beginning to mill about to say their goodbyes before the break. Then, he walks up to Claudio’s office. He should knock, but, instead, he pushes open the door.

“Hi,” he says, not sure what he’ll say next.

Claudio lifts his head and smiles. Yuta’s begun to think it’s one only he gets to see. “Wheeler,” he says softly. “What do you need? Is everything alright?”

“I’m having a party,” Yuta blurts out, standing in the doorway like a dork. “At my house. With my roommates.” He doesn’t know why he’s talking. “The 28th. Our friend Kris declared she hates New Year’s Eve years ago, so we do a little thing in the boring week between Christmas and New Year’s to hang out. Do you want to come?”

Claudio’s jaw drops. “You are inviting me to a party?”

Yuta nods. “Only – only if you’d like.” He presses his lips together, willing himself not to ask anything else.

Claudio smiles. “I would love you, Yuta,” and he’s about to let him down gently, Yuta knows it, “but I’m afraid I’ll be in Switzerland until the evening of the 30th.”

“Oh, right,” Yuta says, trying not to let the disappointment show on his face.  

“But we have the office party on New Year’s,” Claudio says. “So I hope to see you that evening.”

Yuta blinks. He’d forgotten about that. He hadn’t realized Claudio would be there, for some reason. Or maybe he’d been scared of what he’d do if he was. “Yeah,” he says automatically. “Yeah, of course I’ll be at New Year’s Eve.”

Claudio’s face brightens with the nicest smile Yuta’s ever seen. “Wonderful.” He glances at the open door, then stands. “Come sit with me in my office. I have a gift for you.”

Yuta’s heart begins to race. Bryan was right. “Sure,” Yuta says, and he ignores the way Marina is staring at him over the top of her cubicle.

Claudio closes the door behind him and gestures to the chairs, and Yuta falls easily into his. “You yourself have been more of a gift the past few months than I could have ever asked for,” he says, voice almost a murmur. “I wanted to give you a token of my gratitude.”

Yuta can feel his eyes on him as he opens the gift, a box larger than he’d expect from an office gift from a boss. It feels special, as he tears the paper. Like it means something. His heart begins to race. He takes all the paper off of the box, then flips it. And gasps.

“How – Claudio.” He holds the laptop in his hands. Sleek and deep blue, is favorite color. He looks up. “How did you know?”

“I have my ways,” Claudio says, and he nods toward the door. “Marina has seen you open that page and sigh for the past few months. We could tell you were coveting it.”

Yuta doesn’t even know what to say, how to respond. “This is too much,” he says quietly. He knows the cost of this computer. It’s why it’s the one thing he couldn’t bring himself to purchase, even with his paychecks. “Claudio…”

“It’s not,” Claudio says firmly. “It’s not enough, truly. You deserve…” He trails off, and Yuta looks at him. “You deserve the world, Wheeler.”

Yuta doesn’t know what’s about to happen next.

“Go home!” Renee says, slamming open the door. She freezes. “Oh, shit. I interrupted something.” She smiles apologetically, almost a grimace. “Anyway, have a good holiday. Bye! Sorry again!” She continues that grin as she closes the door.

“I really need her to finally hit on Mox,” Yuta says, laughing as he drops his head into his hands. “Their chaotic energy might cancel each other out.”

Claudio laughs, and Yuta thinks that might be his new favorite song. “I’m glad someone else has seen it, as well.” His smile softens. “You should be going home, Wheeler. Enjoy your gift.” He pulls the pocket watch from his pocket and cradles it delicately in his hands. “I will certainly cherish mine.”

~

Christmas with his parents is the best of his life.

“Wheeler!” his mother says, opening the earrings. “Sweetheart, how did you…?”

“I told you,” he says, beaming. “I’ve got a great job. I can do things like this now.”

She throws her arms around his neck. “I’m so proud of you, baby,” she murmurs into his neck. “You’re so grown up.” She pulls back. “Now we’ve got to find you a nice man to settle down with so I can get some grand babies.”

“Okay, let’s cool your jets on that, honey,” Wheeler’s dad says. “He’s gotten you new earrings and me a lawn mower. Let’s be happy with where he’s at right now.”

Wheeler grins. “Yeah, we’ll talk about the son in law later. When I meet him.”

He doesn’t want to admit that, in his dreams, he’s already met him.

~

He resists the urge to text Claudio when he’s trashed off of Kris’ Space Juice during their holiday party. Kris is making out with Willow, finally, who is sitting on their clothes washer. Chuck and Cassidy are singing terrible Disney karaoke curled around each other. Trent and Rocky are snuggled up with each other on the couch, heads so close they might as well be kissing.

And Yuta’s got his phone in his hand, tempted to text his boss and dump all of his feelings.

“It’s, like, 6am in Switzerland,” he tells himself. “Calling is a bad idea.”

“Who’re you talking to?”

Yuta lifts his head. “Oh, hey, Willow.” He looks around. “Weren’t you just making out with Kris?”

Willow beams, leaning against the door frame. The word ethereal comes to Yuta’s mind. “Yeah,” she sighs. “But she had to go refill the Space Juice, so I figured I’d come find you and say hi.” She studies him. “Whoever it is, you’ve got it bad. Like, Danny bad.”

“I done! I mean, I don’t!”

Willow raises an eyebrow. “You done?”

“Shut up. I’m drunk.” He throws back the rest of his cup, like he’s trying to prove it. “I’m totally normal about my boss. And don’t talk about Danny.”

“I think,” Willow says, adjusting her sleeves. She’s got a new tattoo. Maybe Yuta should get a tattoo. “If you were normal about your boss, you wouldn’t be insisting so hard about being normal about your boss.” She adjusts his collar. “I think you should go for it. The worst he could do is say no, right?”

The worst he could do is turn into a wolf and rip my throat out, and I think I would kind of be into that, Yuta very intentionally does not say. “The worst is he could fire me.”

“Doubt it,” Willow singsongs. “Oh! They’re playing Third Eye Blind!” She grabs his arm. “Come on, you dumb lovesick idiot, we’re dancing.”

And they do. Well, sort of. He ends up squished in between Willow and Kris in a way that makes him wish he was bisexual as they dance to a bunch of 90s hits. At one point, karaoke becomes the event of the evening, and Yuta warbles his way through early 00s hits he’s not sure how he knows. Just like they always did back in college, the three of them fall asleep in his bed, drunk and happy.

He can’t help but wish though, as sleep overtakes him, that he were sharing the bed with Claudio instead. Especially when Willow and Kris curl around each other.

~

Yuta sleeps through the 29th, deciding to keep the hangover at bay by deciding it doesn’t exist. Sometime around 5:30, he wakes up to see the house a mess with Chuck and Cassidy on the couch.

“This place is trashed,” he mutters.

Chuck nods. “We just got up, like, an hour ago. He was hungry.”

“Ordered pizza,” Cassidy deadpans. “Got your favorite.”

“Aw,” Yuta says, even if the thought of food makes him a little queasy. “That’s – that’s really nice.”

“Least we could do for a guy who cried singing Everytime We Touch.”

Yuta winces. “Goddamn it. I thought that was a nightmare.”

“Nope,” Cassidy says. He’s smiling, even under the sunglasses. “That happened.”

“You were great, man,” Chuck says, shit eating grin saying otherwise. “Love the way the tears started when you sang, ‘Without you it’s hard to survive.’ Very melodramatic.”

“I’m taking a shower and eating pizza and going back to bed,” Yuta mumbles, digging out a bottle of Gatorade.

~

He wakes up the next morning feeling better, and decides to get the house under control since Chuck and Cassidy were stuck at work. The 30th of December, he decides, is a useless day, and he’s elbow deep in the sink when he gets the phone call he had been fighting not to make for days.

“Wheeler,” comes Claudio’s voice, and it almost sounds fraught. “Hello.”

“Hey, Claudio,” Yuta says. He balances the phone between his arm and the dishes, frowning at how much is still left to clean after their holiday party. “You okay?”

Claudio sighs deeply. “Well,” he says. “I’ve been – working, of course, you know how it is, but I’d lost track of the calendar.”

Yuta checks. “Oh,” he says, softly. “The full moon.”

“I shouldn’t ask it of you,” Claudio says. “You’re on vacation…”

“No, I’ll be there,” Yuta says. “When do you need me?”

“Prior to six, would be best,” Claudio says. “I – I should not have called you. This is wrong.”

“No, it’s not,” Yuta says. He wipes off his hands. “Why would it be wrong?”

“Because I shouldn’t be asking for your help during your vacation,” he says.

Yuta doesn’t know how to tell Claudio that’s the only place he wants to be. “Claudio,” he says, as gently as he can. “I want to be there.”

“Okay.” Yuta can hear the stress in his voice, wonders what happened in Switzerland that made him miss the full moon. “I’ll see you at the office soon.”

Yuta hangs up. He shoots off a quick text to Chuck, explaining he’s going to stay with his parents for the night, and he hopes he doesn’t get caught in the lie. He texts his mom as well.

“Why do you need me to lie for you?” she asks on the phone.

“Just – I have to – it’s not a date, but it sort of is.” He winces.

His mom, to his surprise, is quiet. “Not a date,” she says. There’s a laugh behind her words. “Sure it isn’t. I’ve got your back, baby. Just stay safe. And use a –”

“Love you, Mom, bye!”

He’s twenty-six goddamned years old. He does not need a sex talk from his mother. But, in a weird way, it’s kind of sweet that she cares enough to offer it.

And he does want kids. Eventually.

He shakes himself out of it, and puts on an old playlist he made in middle school. Everytime We Touch plays first, and he can’t decide what the omen is.

He puts together a bag, including the suit he’d bought specifically for the company New Year’s party the next night, and finishes the dishes as quickly as he can. A quick glance, and he’s pretty sure the apartment looks acceptable. Except for his bedroom, which is a mess. But that’s nothing new.

“Okay,” he says. “This isn’t a date.”

The butcher’s shop is open, a sweet older lady running the counter, and Yuta’s able to make the purchase and a little small talk as he waits for his order. He leaves a massive tip.

“Oh, honey, you don’t have to do that,” she says, frowning. “That’s far too generous.”

“It’s the holidays, right?” he says, grinning. “Generous is the whole thing.”

He gets to work and swipes in to the door, the automatic clock in registering. He frowns. He’ll have to check in with Claudio about taking that off.

He drops his things by his desk and pulls out the cot, setting it up with the blanket, then makes his way downstairs to grab the tarp. He’ll have to wait until it’s dark out to pull out the deer, as always.

He’s playing a game on his phone when he hears footsteps.

“Claudio!” he says, grinning. “Hi!”

Claudio looks almost haggard, tired. “Hello, Wheeler,” he says softly.

“You look – what’s wrong?”

Claudio sighs, mournful. “Switzerland was less than pleasant.” He glances to the office. “Did you already…?”

Yuta nods. “I got the place ready for you. I hope that’s okay.”

Claudio finally smiles. “Thank you. I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you…” He trails off and sighs. “I appreciate you, Wheeler.”

Yuta wants to ask why he looks so miserable, who made him look that sad. He wants to ask what happened in Switzerland. He wants to ask why Claudio came back from holidays looking like he’d rather be at work.

But instead he stays silent.

“Do you want me to come hang out with you?” he asks. “We can roll the ball around.”

Claudio shakes his head. “I think the wolf and I would like to be alone tonight, but thank you.” He turns. “But knowing you’re here makes it much easier.”

Yuta wants to push, to insist. But he doesn’t.

It’s earlier than it usually is for Claudio to need privacy. Usually, Yuta hangs out with him for a while. More than once, Claudio had nudged him with his snout as he began to doze, insisting he go to bed. But never has Claudio asked him not to come in at all.

Yuta curls up with Jurassic Park, an easy comfort, and snuggles in as the automatic lights dim. At first, he hears muted tearing. Then, silence.

In the middle of a dinosaur chase scene, he hears a whimper from the room. He sits up.

“Claudio?” he asks.

Another roar from his phone, and then he hears the kind of whimper only heard from injured dogs, an aching howl. He pauses the video, grabs his phone, and darts into the office.

Claudio, in wolf form, is shaking, eyes shut firmly, and whimpering loudly.

“Hey,” Yuta says, kneeling beside him. He pets the thick fur, trying his best to be a comfort. “Claudio, wake up. You’re okay. I’m right here.”

The whimpers grow louder, a leg kicks out.

“Claudio,” Yuta says more firmly. “Come on, baby, wake up.”

A loud, miserable growl, and the wolf’s eyes snap open, locking on Yuta’s. There are tears.

“You’re okay,” Yuta promises. “You had a nightmare. You’re okay.”

“Where am I?” Claudio demands, hackles raising. He bares his teeth at Yuta.

“It’s just me, and we’re in your office,” Yuta answers, trying to stay as calm as he can. “It’s just us.”

The wolf relaxes. His eyes soften. And then he wails.

“Oh, no, you’re okay, baby.” Yuta wraps his arms around the wolf’s neck. “Hey. Breathe.”

“I hurt them,” he gasps. “Yuta, I hurt them.”

“You didn’t hurt anyone,” Yuta says, and he shuffles closer, trying to get more of Claudio to comfort him. “I promise. Everything’s okay.”

“The growling,” Claudio says, almost a question.

“Claudio,” Yuta says, pulling him into his arms, despite the blood. “Hey. Breathe. You didn’t do anything wrong. Nobody’s hurt.” Claudio is shaking, but buries his face into Yuta’s lap and exhales. “What – this isn’t usually how you react.”

Claudio lifts his head. “I – there were noises,” he says quietly. Yuta’s never seen him panicked, never seen the veneer of concentration and focus and CEO gone. “I heard people. I remembered.” His eyes go wild, just for a moment. But not like a rabid wolf. Like a scared child.

“I was watching Jurassic Park,” Yuta assures. “There’s nobody else here.”

Claudio relaxes immediately. “No one could get hurt,” he says. “Except for you.”

“Have you ever hurt someone as the wolf?” Yuta asks, as gently as he can. He pets the soft head of the wolf, the fur sliding smoothly through his fingers.

Claudio’s eyes are closed as he speaks. “Never,” he murmurs. His voice is a soft growl against Yuta’s thighs. It’s almost too warm, but Yuta never wants it to stop. “But I could. I could.”

Yuta keeps petting the wolf’s head until his breathing steadies. “What happened when you were in Switzerland, Claudio?” he asks.

And he waits.

“My sisters,” Claudio finally says. “They say I – I play with my food.” He exhales, relaxing into Yuta’s lap.

“Meaning?” Yuta asks. He finds a spot behind the wolf’s ear that makes him relax even further, and smiles.

“In the past,” Claudio murmurs, “I’ve been…unkind with my compatriots. Demanded my authority instead of earning it.” He hums as Yuta continues petting behind his ear. “I told you we played as puppies, yes?”

“You did.”

Claudio sighs. “Sometimes the play was my attempt to prove I was better than them. Than everyone.” He curls into Yuta’s space more. “My sisters run the Swiss branch of the company,” he says quietly. “I am not in the United States voluntarily. You could call it an exile. A punishment.”

Yuta’s hand stills. “Because you hurt someone?”

“Me,” Claudio says. “Not the wolf.”

They’re quiet briefly. Yuta doesn’t want to break the spell of solace, of truth that seems to whirl around them.

“I no longer feel this place is a punishment,” Claudio murmurs, voice thick with exhaustion. “Not for a long time.”

He falls asleep, head still in Yuta’s lap. And Yuta curls up. And sleeps with his head rested on the wolf’s giant shoulder.

~

He wakes up with Claudio, naked, curled around him, a hand splayed across Yuta’s stomach.

“Oh boy,” Yuta mutters. He’d forgotten about the naked part last night when they’d fallen asleep together. As he shifts, he very intentionally looks away from the hard length that had been pressed up against him when he woke up, and shuffles out from Claudio’s grip. Claudio’s fingers grip his shirt.

“Claudio,” he murmurs. “Hey, I’m right here, but I’m going to get up now, okay?”

There’s an almost cute little sound, then Claudio opens bleary eyes. “You stayed?” he asks. “All night?”

“Just about,” Yuta says. “You feel okay?”

Claudio pushes himself to sitting, then seems to notice he’s stark naked. He opens his mouth, but Yuta tosses his pants and a shirt over to him.

“Thank you,” Claudio says, and the little blush across his cheeks is so charming Yuta wants to paint it. “For – for everything.” He looks up as he pulls his pants on. “Truly, I do not deserve it.”

“Bullshit,” Yuta says. “You do.”

Things aren’t exactly awkward as they set up the place for the party, but Yuta doesn’t change out of his pajamas until around 4, and can tell Claudio’s got his eyes on him more than a little bit.

“I forgot to mention,” Yuta says, adjusting the Christmas tree, “the door clocked me in automatically last night. Make sure to take that off before the next paycheck.”

“Take it off?” Claudio asks. He comes over and takes the ornament from Yuta’s hand, settling the ornament with ease. Yuta can’t decide if it was annoying or hot. “Why?”

“Because I wasn’t here last night to help my boss,” Yuta says. “I was here to help my – my friend.”

Friend’s the wrong word. He knows it. But he doesn’t know if he’s allowed to call Claudio what he wants to: his.

Claudio looks almost confused. “Are you certain?”

“Claudio,” Yuta says, resting a hand on Claudio’s arm. “This isn’t part of the job. Not anymore.”

There’s an exhale, controlled and careful, from Claudio. “Yuta, I –”

“Alright, fuckers, how badly did you decorate this place?” Mox walks in, chugging a coffee so quickly Yuta wonders how he didn’t burn his mouth. “Why the fuck is the kid in pajamas?”

“Sorry if I didn’t want to put up decorations in my suit,” Yuta says. He looks Mox up and down. “You’re in jeans and an undershirt, man, you can’t talk.”

Mox shifts his backpack on his shoulder. “I got a nice shirt and my good jeans in here. Claudio always asks me to come help set up, so I figured I’d dress normal then get all fancy later.”

“Trying to impress Renee?” Yuta grins at him, and Claudio chuckles.

“Fuck off,” Mox mutters. He glances toward Claudio. “Make him shut up before I throw something at him.”

“I find it hilarious you think I could ‘make’ Wheeler do anything,” Claudio says.

Yuta laughs. “Alright, well, if people are starting to get here, I might as well get showered.” He wants to continue the conversation with Claudio, but can tell the moment is long gone. “Later.”

His bag over his shoulder, Yuta makes his way down to the showers and has time alone for the first time all night. It doesn’t take long for him to imagine where his conversation with Claudio may have gone, and it only takes a few moments longer than that for him to sigh and give in to the urge to get off. He closes his eyes, hand around his cock, and imagines it’s Claudio’s hand, Claudio’s mouth. On impulse, he slides a hand behind himself and pretends it’s one of Claudio’s fingers slipping inside him. He whimpers, desperate, and comes faster than he expects, all over the place.

“Shit,” he murmurs. He tries to angle the showerhead to get the mess taken care of, but it takes some talent to get it off the glass door. “That’s what I get…”

“Are you alright, Wheeler?”

Yuta freezes. “Claudio? Yeah, I’m good.” He won’t make it weird. He won’t make it weird. “You showering?”

Goddamn it. That was a weird thing to say.

“Um. Yes, of course.” He can hear Claudio step into the shower next to him, the water turning on.

He’s too close, close enough for Yuta to smell the body wash he uses, and he wishes he hadn’t just gotten off. He thinks he could come from the proximity alone, if he was really worked up.

“Uh, so, I won’t waste the hot water,” Yuta says, rinsing himself off again. He turns the water cold. “You want to borrow my shampoo?”

Claudio laughs, and Yuta thinks he’d do anything to earn it every day. “Very funny, Wheeler. Go get dressed and leave me to shower in peace.”

Yuta wants to do anything but that, but he’ll respect Claudio’s wishes.

He steps into the changing area, a spacious mini room in front of the showers separated by the glass curtain, but he can still hear Claudio. He’s sure Claudio knows he’s there, dressing.

So why can he hear something slick and a low grunt?

Yuta’s heart races as he dries off, trying to make a little bit of noise to make it clear he’s still there. But they noises don’t stop.

He wants to walk in.

He wants to step in the shower with Claudio, give him a better way to make the shower messy.

But he can’t move. Yuta’s frozen in place.

“Later,” he whispers to himself, and he continues to dress. When he’s done, he hears a moan from Claudio’s shower stall, and tries not to see the mental image.

~

“Chuck,” Yuta says, turning the mic toward his mouth so no one overhears. “Chuck. Claudio is in a suit and I am only a man. A very, very gay man.”

“Jesus Christ,” Chuck grumbles. “Fuck. You can’t go anywhere without getting an inappropriate boner, can you.”

“What do I do?” Yuta hisses. “Do I act normal? This party goes late – do I ask him if he –” Yuta catches himself before he can divulge Claudio’s secret.

“I’m sure you can keep it in your pants for a couple of hours,” Chuck says. “Breathe, dumbass. You and your hot boss can flirt all you want tonight.”

Yuta whines a little. “You could be a little nice to me about this. I never made fun of you about liking Cassidy.”

“You definitely fucking did,” Chuck laughs. “This is payback.”

He hangs up, and Yuta is too gay for this, and maybe, just maybe, this is the night he finally loses it. Looking at Claudio, he can hear the sounds he made when he came. And he knows that’s what he was doing.

Yuta exhales and grabs a glass of champagne from a passing tray, and throws it back.

“Slow down, sucker,” A tall woman laughs, arm around Marina’s waist. “That shit is, like, thirty dollars a glass.”

“Then where do they keep the cheap shit I can chug?” Yuta asks, grinning. “Also, hi. I’m Yuta.”

“I’m Nyla,” says Marina’s wife. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

Yuta shakes her hand and glances over his shoulder to see Claudio talking it up with some hot, younger woman.

“Oh, wow,” Nyla says, chuckling. “You weren’t kidding, Marina. The kid’s down bad.”

“I am not!”

Marina straight up laughs in his face and claps him on the shoulder. “You keep telling yourself that, kiddo.” And she walks away.

Yuta glues himself to Mox’s side for the rest of the night, since Mox doesn’t seem able to talk to Renee, and it helps. A little.

“Would you leave me alone?” Mox asks. “Jesus, you’re like a baby koala or something.”

“You like me and you know it,” Yuta says. “Just admit we’re friends.”

“No,” Mox says, sipping his diet Coke. “We are not.”

“We are, and you love it,” Yuta says.

The chimes go off to announce a minute away from the ball dropping, and it’s sooner than Yuta had expected.

“Midnight,” Mox says. “Are you gonna kiss Claudio?”

“Are you going to kiss Renee?”

Mox’s eyes widen. “What?”

“You are so obvious and so is she,” Yuta says, rolling his eyes. “If you’re going to shit talk me, I’ll shit talk you, back.” He grins. “So. Go see if Renee will kiss you at midnight.”

“I can’t!”

“You should,” Yuta says. “If I kiss Claudio, will you kiss Renee?”

Mox’s eyes flit around Yuta, to where he can only assume Renee is standing. “Yeah,” he says, scoffing. “Yeah, if Claudio kisses you at midnight, I’ll kiss Renee.”

“Alright then.” Yuta strides over to Claudio. “Hey.”

“Wheeler,” he says, smiling. He seems more relaxed than the morning. Yuta thinks he knows why. “How lovely –”

“I’m going to kiss you at midnight,” Yuta says firmly. He forces himself to keep his eyes locked on Claudio’s. “And if you have a problem with that, I suggest you walk away.”

The woman grins, stepping away. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” She winks.

Claudio visibly swallows. “Is – are you sure you want that?”

“Are you – seriously?” Yuta leans in, his lips by Claudio’s ear. “We fell asleep together last night. You jerked off earlier when you knew I was changing one stall over.” He grabs Claudio’s tie and yanks him closer. “I’m tired of pretending, Claudio. I’m tired of waiting and wanting and not knowing.” They’re so fucking close. “Are you going to kiss me at midnight?”

“No, Wheeler,” and there’s that growl. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Claudio hauls him in by the waist and presses his mouth to Yuta’s without another moment’s hesitation, and Yuta swears he sees fireworks behind his eyes. He whimpers against Claudio’s lips, throwing his arms around Claudio’s neck, and his skin burns as Claudio’s hands splay against his back, reminiscent of the morning. It makes Yuta’s head spin with it, and he deepens the kiss, clinging to Claudio.

Somebody wolf whistles. Somebody else swears.

Everyone else counts down to one, but it doesn’t matter.

Everything new started for Yuta the second his lips touched Claudio’s.

~

The party goes on far too long. Yuta stays close to Claudio, hand in his, for the party. Mox and Renee seem to have kissed, sure, but Mox also ran off somewhere else around 12:15, so he doesn’t know what actually happened there.

Around 2am, the party starts to wind down and people leave. The anticipation is too much for Yuta – he wants Claudio. He wants him now.

“Claudio,” he says, standing on his toes to speak into his ear, “you should probably kick everyone out now.”

Claudio laughs. “Patience, Wheeler.”

Yuta rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like working here for almost a year hasn’t been patient enough. Jesus.”

But finally, finally, everyone else is gone.

“Get your ass over here,” Yuta growls, and he practically throws himself into Claudio’s arms. The growl from Claudio is almost more on his wolf side, and isn’t that intriguing how it makes Yuta harder. “If you don’t fuck me right now,” Yuta says, lips still pressed to Claudio’s, “I’m going to lose my fucking mind.”

“Hold on,” Claudio says, and for a sickening minute Yuta worries he misinterpreted something. “I want to.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “God, do I want to. But I want to make sure you know what you’re asking for.”

In the middle of the room, Claudio strips his clothes and turns into the wolf. “This is also who I am, Yuta,” he says. “If you – if you choose this, you choose all of me.”

Yuta strides up to him and pets his fur. “Yeah. And?”

Claudio grabs him with one hand and picks him up, depositing him into his office. He runs his tongue along his sharp teeth. “Are you afraid, Wheeler?” he asks, eyes on Yuta’s mouth. “Does this make you want to run?”

“It should,” Yuta says, heart racing again.

Claudio – the wolf – Claudio leans in, nose at Yuta’s neck. “I don’t smell fear,” he says, and the low growl is clearly a chuckle. “Intriguing.”

“I – okay, that’s not fair.” It’s not embarrassment that’s running his mouth at this point. “You’re not allowed to be all hot and huge and whatever and not expect me to get a boner about it.” He slams his mouth shut. “Also, fuck off. You knew all of that already.”

Claudio grins. “I did, but it was delicious to hear you say it.” He leans in again and inhales. “You would tell me to stop, yes?”

“I sure as fuck wouldn’t,” Yuta says.

Claudio freezes, pulling away. “I am so sorry,” he says. The regret on a wolf face looks bizarre, like a kicked puppy standing in the room full of spilled kibble but with gigantic fucking fangs. “Of course, this is a breach of trust. I’m your boss.” He steps away, transforming back into the wolf-human hybrid, and steps back out the door to gather his clothes. Yuta’s too stunned by Claudio’s naked body to react, and instead just watches him begin to dress, which is the opposite of what he wants. “This is an abuse of power.”

Yuta stares. “For somebody so goddamned powerful, who can smell my fucking dick being hard, you’re pretty bad at reading subtext.” He leans in and does the stupidest thing he can think of: he throws himself at the wolf hybrid, his boss, at Claudio, and kisses the fanged human mouth before he thinks about how easily it could shift into a true wolf. Claudio kisses back. Yuta tastes blood and feels claws on his back.

“Silly me,” Claudio murmurs, fangs dragging down Yuta’s neck. “I had missed the subtext, indeed.” He grabs Yuta’s hips and throws him on the desk. “You’ll be pleased if I ravish you on my desk then?”

“Ravish away, you big – wait.” Yuta pushes himself up on his elbows. “You don’t have, like, some wolfy dick, right?” He’s read some porn about this. Hell, he’s watched some. Read some. “I don’t – I feel like wolf dicks are different.”

Claudio laughs. “Not like this, I don’t.” And he winks.

Yuta decides to examine his distinct and insistent interest in what that means later, and hooks his legs around Claudio’s waist. He reaches up and rips Claudio’s shirt back open, buttons flying everywhere.

“That was Armani!” Claudio says, looking shocked.

Yuta shrugs. “You had champagne on it anyway from when I jumped you earlier. Figured it was a goner.”

“I have dry cleaning to fix champagne,” Claudio mutters, but he dives back in, kissing Yuta thoroughly.

It’s not like kissing a person, is the thing. The fangs dig into his lip, piercing tiny holes that Claudio’s long and intent tongue lick blood from before diving back in. Claudio’s skin is covered in hair, but it’s not the wolf’s, not quite.

He feels something nudge between his legs, and pulls away to look down.

“Fucking Christ,” he mutters. “Where the fuck do you expect me to put that thing?!”

Claudio smirks. “Oh, darling, I’m sure you can take me.” He throws Yuta’s legs over his shoulders. “But, for this time, I assure you I can make adjustments.” He closes his eyes and Yuta watches as his size shifts, and he returns to the normal Claudio from day to day. Well, as normal as an Adonis with a genius IQ can be. “Better?”

Yuta sighs and grins, leaning back on the desk with his hands behind his head. “In a way, I guess.”

Claudio presses a kiss to the inside of Yuta’s thigh. “Delightful. I’ll resume, then.” He dives in before Yuta can react, sucking Yuta’s cock into his mouth, releasing it, then dragging his tongue along Yuta’s balls down to his hole.

“Oh, you brilliant fucker,” Yuta whines. “God – don’t stop.”

Claudio pinches his thigh, as if to say I never intended to, and goes to work. Yuta resists the urge to make a joke about Claudio’s tongue, since it seems in poor taste, but he feels himself worked open with incredible precision.

“I bet you do this to all the office assistants who walk in on you covered in blood,” Yuta jokes, and he’s punished with the distinct lack of Claudio’s tongue in his ass. “What?”

“I assure you,” Claudio says, gaze hungry and intense, “I have never done this before with a human, and I have never had an office assistant as irresistible as you.”

Yuta gets hit with a wave of intensity. “Fuck,” he breathes. “Jesus fucking – get something of yours in me before I lose my fucking mind.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Claudio says, frowning. “I don’t know if we have –

“Go get my bag,” Yuta demands. “You could call it wishful thinking.”

Claudio’s grin goes – well, wolfish. “Gladly.”

Yuta takes the time to catch his breath while Claudio’s gone, and also gets rid of the rest of his clothes. He may be well off now, but he’s definitely not in a place where he can afford to fuck up a suit.

Claudio comes back and tosses the bag to Yuta. “Wishful thinking indeed,” he says as Yuta pulls out the bottle of lube. He sucks two of his own fingers in his mouth, eyes locked on Yuta’s. “First, however.” He presses Yuta back onto the desk, the cool wood a stroking sensation against Yuta’s bare skin, then slides both fingers into Yuta like it’s nothing. Yuta’s eyes roll back in his head as he drops it onto the desk.

“Fuck me,” he mumbles, head spinning. “Just – like that, goddamn. Keep doing just that.”

Claudio’s fingers work magic. “I bet I could get you to come like this,” he says, almost clinically, like Yuta is a client who needs a certain kind of sweet talking. He adds lube and another finger. “Not even giving you my dick.” He smiles, and Yuta knows that style too well. He strokes his fingers with the right angle, and fuck. “Have you ever come untouched, Wheeler?” Claudio murmurs, stroking again and again. “Have you ever come dry, so you’re minutes away from coming again?”

Yuta’s entire body is a live wire, twisted into sparking knots by Claudio’s expert fingertips. “No,” he chokes out. “I – haven’t.” His chest is heaving, and something’s building inside of him, something new and just different enough to make him ache for it.

“Hmm,” Claudio says. “I’ll have to change that, then.”

Claudio fucks him with fingers only until Yuta is squirming, aching, and then he gets hit with a wave of unyielding pleasure. Unyielding, also, are Claudio’s fingers, stroking against him, hitting him with wave after wave of overstimulation.

“Claudio,” he half sobs. “Wait, I have to – give me a second.”

Claudio pulls his fingers out slowly, leaving Yuta a strange combination of relieved and devastated. He thinks he can feels tears in the corners of his eyes.

“Interesting,” Claudio says, leaning forward to lick up Yuta’s cock. His entire body jolts, and Claudio grins.

“If you don’t get your cock in me,” Yuta whimpers, aching with need, “I’m going to lose my goddamned mind and quit.”

“I’m sure you would,” Claudio says, and he yanks Yuta down the desk. He throws Yuta’s legs over his shoulders again, blunt head of his cock teasing at Yuta’s entrance. “But I would never make you do so.”

Yuta feels like he’s transcending time and space as Claudio slicks himself up and enters him. Maybe it’s the whole supernatural bullshit, but Yuta feels irreversibly changed and transformed being split in half by Claudio’s cock. “Okay, even your human dick is huge,” he says, shifting his hips as he adjusts. “This is fucking stupid.”

Claudio exhales deeply, settling all the way deeply into Yuta. “You will get used to it, I’m sure.” His grin goes a little soft. “But you tell me when you are ready for me to move.”

“Now, obviously,” Yuta scoffs. Claudio raises an eyebrow. “What, you think I don’t want to be wrecked into oblivion? You already know I’m stupid. I agreed to be a personal assistant for a werewolf who uses tarps to keep the blood from staining the carpet.”

“You are far from stupid,” Claudio says, tilting his hips back. Yuta’s eyes flutter shut as the head of Claudio’s cock grazes his prostate. “I would never have hired someone stupid.”

Yuta exhales as Claudio pushes back in, like he doesn’t have room in his soul for oxygen and Claudio all at once. “You hired Mox.”

“I would appreciate if you didn’t discuss our colleagues while I’m inside of you,” Claudio says casually. He pulls out almost all the way, the head of his cock catching on the rim of Yuta’s hole, and suddenly, irreversibly, Yuta gets the thought that maybe Claudio’s wolf form…

But then all thoughts are fucked out of him when Claudio shoves back into him.

“God damn,” Yuta gasps. “Yeah, that. That’s what I’m looking for.”

“Good,” Claudio says. “Because that is what you will get.”

Yuta always thought that, in this scenario, he’d be out of his mind. Unable to focus, unable to do anything but feel. Instead, he is hyperaware of everything. Of the furrow in Claudio’s brow, of the way the wooden desk feels under his grip, of the way his heels feel digging into Claudio’s shoulders. He feels like the moment has consumed him, like he’ll remember this night forever.

“Claudio,” he manages to say, “I –” But he doesn’t know what he’d planned to come after those words. He doesn’t know what word comes next.

“Are you alright?” Claudio asks, slowing to a stop. It’s the absolute last thing Yuta wants in this moment. “Do you need anything?”

“I – I need you to fuck me!” Yuta half yells. “Oh my god. Maybe I do want the wolf after all. I think he’d be less careful with me.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” and that growl comes out again. Yuta wants to hear his name from that voice, wants it to claim him and make it known. Claudio does his best to say it with his movements, a grip on his waist like iron and focus in his eyes. Yuta lifts his hips to match Claudio. As good as this is he’s unwilling to let Claudio have all the control.

He lets go of where he’s gripping the table to reach forward and wrap a hand around his cock, bucking up into his grip. “Not gonna make me come untouched this time?” he teases, stroking more emphatically than he ever has.

“Not this time, Wheeler,” Claudio says. He winks, eyes still more wolf than human. “Perhaps in the future.”

With a cry, Yuta paints his hand, Claudio’s chest, his own stomach, with come, devolving to a whine as he clenches down on Claudio’s cock. For the first time, he hears Claudio swear and then he feels it: Claudio comes deep inside him, hot and thick.

“Oh my god,” Yuta whimpers, as Claudio fucks his oversensitive, twitching hole before stilling. “Jesus. Is that wolf come or something?”

“How vulgar,” Claudio says, tracing the rim of Yuta’s hole where his softening dick slips out of it. Yuta whimpers again. Claudio slides his fingers inside of Yuta, pumping experimentally, and he pulls them out to trace patterns on Yuta’s thigh. “I expect decorum from my employees, you know.”

“You’re talking a lot of shit about vulgarity and decorum for a man drawing on me with his own come,” Yuta mutters. “Is this a marking thing?” Claudio does it again, and Yuta doesn’t know how to tell him both that he’s too sensitive but also to not stop. “Will it tell all the other wolves that I’m off limits or something?”

He can feel Claudio’s gaze boring into him, so he looks up to meet possessive, insistent eyes. “Yes,” he says. “The whole world will know you belong to me now. Wolf and man.”

He lowers Yuta’s legs gently. “Due to the wolf component, you may find yourself,” he pauses, “leaking more profusely than you’re used to.” He winks.

“Oh, god.” Yuta starts blushing. “Thank god nobody else is in the office, right?”

Claudio laughs and pulls Yuta toward him. “You have to know,” he murmurs, forehead pressed to Yuta’s, “that I’ve been hoping for a moment like this between us for a very long time.” He inhales again. “Now you smell like me. They know you belong to me,”

Yuta exhales slowly, consumed with the idea. “They know,” he says, and he tilts his head up to catch Claudio’s lips. “And so do I.”

~

Mox’s head snaps up as Yuta comes to the door two mornings later, trying to hide his still a little sore walk, with his usual tray of coffees. “Holy shit.”

“What?!” Yuta asks, frowning down at the coffees. “This one is yours! Not the frappucino!”

Mox shakes his head and leans in. He inhales like Claudio does. “Holy shit, you fucked him.”

“I – you all saw we kissed.” Yuta feels himself blush.

“Yeah, but you fucked him,” Mox says. His grin goes – it looks –

It dawns on Yuta. “You motherfucker. You’re a werewolf, too!”

Mox’s grin goes, indeed, wolflike. “I’m the guard for a reason, baby. I can smell traitors.” He winks. “How was it? You go for full wolf form?”

“I am not talking about this to you,” Yuta says, feeling his cheeks burn. “Take your stupid coffee and shut up.”

“I won’t!” Mox yells after him.

Yuta tries to get himself under control in the elevator up to their floor, his entire body zinging a bit with the knowledge that somebody knows.

He wonders who else in this building is a wolf.

He wonders who else Claudio’s mark will be obvious to.

The elevator pings and he steps out, and Renee smiles up at him. “Oh, hey, Wheeler!” she says. Pleasant smile, kind eyes. But it doesn’t look like she knows. He relaxes.

And then her expression changes as he walks over.

“You seem like you had fun the other night,” she says, smile turning sly as she takes her coffee.

“Shut up,” he grumbles, but her smile is contagious and he grins back at her. “Yes.”

“I’ll put in a request for a custodian to bring you a standing desk today,” she says with a wink.

“I’ll take that coffee back, I swear!” Yuta says, but he laughs as he gets back to his desk.

Marina’s head snaps up as he walks closer to her. “I knew it,” she says, face blank.

“Knew…what?” He hands her the coffee.

“I knew Claudio had a thing for you.” She takes a swig of the coffee, burning hot, and doesn’t flinch. “I can smell him all over you.” He sees a hint of smile on her lips. “Did you choose the wolf?”

“Why does everybody keep asking me – you’re one too!” he hisses. “And quiet. I don’t want everybody to know.”

Marina scoffs. “Then walk less like you just got freshly fucked.”

Yuta doesn’t have a response to that. “Is anybody else here a werewolf?” he asks in a whisper.

She counts off on her fingers. “Me, Claudio, Mox, and Bryan. All from the same pack.”

“Not Nyla?” Yuta asks. “All her socials call herself the Native Beast.”

Marina scoffs. “My wife thinks it’s funny she’s married to a werewolf and she’s not allowed to tell people, so she makes fun of me about it with TikTok or whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “Other than that, nobody you know.” She looks him up and down. “Well, unless you have other werewolf friends I don’t know about, but I think we would have smelled them on you.” She turns back to her computer without another word, taking a sip, and gets back to work.

Yuta settles into his seat, setting his coffee down. The ache is too good. He’s in the zone quickly, headphones on and fingers typing and developing a report, when he feels the familiar figure standing over him.

He turns in his chair, grinning up at Claudio. “Hey, big man.” He winks, trying to throw Claudio off. It doesn’t work. “Need me for something?”

Claudio’s eyes sparkle, but his face remains otherwise steady. “I was hoping to review last night’s data exchange.”

Yuta snorts. “Sure. If that’s what we call it now.” He stands up and follows Claudio into his office, trying to resist the urge to look behind him like, yeah, I’m fucking Castagnoli, what of it?

“I can smell your eagerness,” Claudio says, and he sounds amused. He leans against his desk. “So.”

“So,” Yuta says, leaning against the door. “Here to fuck the charming young ingenue on your desk while the rest of the office blindly works on the other side of the door?”

“Certainly not,” Claudio says. “As you found out from Mox, many of them would be able to figure it out in moments.”

Yuta sighs. “About that – I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that a decent number of your staff are also wolves. That would have made my job so much easier.”

Claudio raises an eyebrow. “Would it have? I doubt it.” His grin goes a little dirty. “How would I know you wouldn’t go to one of them for your interests?”

“None of them are you,” Yuta says honestly, and he tries not to feel too vulnerable with the confession. He looks up into Claudio’s eyes, who is eying Yuta carefully. “Wait, do you think I fucked you just because you’re a werewolf?”

Claudio’s gaze remains blank, carefully blank. Too blank. “There is intrigue in the supernatural,” he says, tone neutral. “I would never hold you to the expectation for more, should you consider New Year’s Eve to be a bucket list encounter.”

Yuta waits. He learned a long time ago that staying silent sometimes gets you more answers than asking the insistent question itching in the back of his mind.

Claudio slides into the chair behind his desk, folding his hands together. “I understand that you may be reflecting back on the evening as a one-time experience,” Claudio continues. “I have no problem with that, and have been extremely pleased with your performance both as an employee and as an assistant.” He looks up at Yuta. “I assure you, regardless of your response to the prior evening, which I assure you I enjoyed, you have a job here.”

Yuta pauses before he answers. “Do you think we had sex just because the opportunity presented itself and I was like, ‘hey, why the fuck not’?”

Claudio sighs and leans back in his chair, looking more casual than Yuta’s ever seen him. “I would not be surprised, nor would I hold it against you.”

Yuta settles himself into the chair across from Claudio, kicking his legs up on the desk. “So you brought me in here to preemptively break up with me.”

Claudio frowns. “Absolutely not. I brought you in here to clarify that I expect nothing more than your request from the other night.”

Yuta fights his smile. “So, you’d be okay with whatever my interest would be.”

“Certainly,” Claudio says. “I would never request from you what you could not give.”

Yuta hops the chair closer to the desk so he could be the one leaning on the desk all dramatic. “So, if I were to ask you out, you’d be cool with that.”

Claudio blinks, surprise crossing his face. “Ask me out?”

“Yeah,” Yuta says. “If I wanted to take you to a nice dinner, maybe feel you up during a movie.” He grins. “Since I already know you’ll put out.”

Claudio lets out a little bark of a laugh. “What a way to describe our night together.”

“Fine,” Yuta says, “since I already know you want to make furious love to me on top of your desk.”

Claudio blushes, actually blushes, and Yuta feels a weird rush of power he can’t quite figure out. “You’re teasing me,” Claudio says.

“Sure,” Yuta says, “but I mean it.” He reaches out to catch Claudio’s fingers across the desk, where they’re anxiously tapping. He gets a quick flash of what else they’ve done on this desk and smiles a little. “Have you had a lot of people fuck you for the wolf thing and then dip?”

“Dip?”

“Leave,” Yuta explains, “after the two of you had sex the first time. You know. Hit it and quit it. Dick down and leave town. Fuck it and chuck it. Rail and bail. Blow and –”

“Understood,” Claudio says, and the little laugh he lets out makes Yuta want to punch everyone who ever made him so sure he wasn’t worth more than a night. “I suppose so, yes.” He sighs. “In the past, I have been less than successful with…partners. And never a human before.”

“They suck,” Yuta says. “You were waiting for me, obviously.” He smiles at Claudio. “What are you doing Friday night after work?” He sits on the desk. “Wanna get a steak or something? See a movie?” He leans in. “Feel each other up on my couch?”

“You have roommates,” Claudio says, tilting his head up to catch Yuta’s lips. “We’ll do so on mine.”

The two of them kiss on the clock, which is rather intriguing, but Yuta pulls away after what is probably too long. “If I stay in here, even the normie humans will know we’re fucking.”

“Fair enough.” He runs a hand through Yuta’s hair. “There. Much better.”

“One more thing,” Yuta says, playing with his fingers. “Um. Can I tell my roommates about you?”

“About how we’re dating?” Claudio asks.

“And the wolf thing,” Yuta says. “Just – so I can talk to somebody about it. So they know.”

Claudio considers it for a moment. “Can you be sure of their discretion?” he asks. “I ask because, in the past, our pack has had problems with that.”

Yuta nods. “Chuck won’t say anything, and I don’t think anything fazes Cassidy anymore.”

“Then, I suppose, yes,” Claudio says. He reaches out and rests a hand on Yuta’s thigh. “At this time, I think I need to be a little more trusting, wouldn’t you say?”

He leans in and kisses Claudio quickly. “I would.” Yuta smiles at Claudio as he pulls away. “Alright. I’m going to go pretend I can be productive for the rest of the work day.” He leans in, one more kiss irresistible, and reaches the door. “Oh. And fix your tie. Somebody messed it all up.”

“Somebody,” Claudio harrumphs. “Like you don’t know you were the culprit.”

Yuta shrugs and throws open the door, striding out to his desk and sitting.

“Aw,” he says, frowning. “My coffee’s all melted.”

“Yeah, I pointed my office lamp at it,” Marina says from the other side of the cubicle. “Your weird boner for Castagnoli was so loud it was getting in the way of my productivity.”

~

“I can’t believe you’re dating your boss,” Chuck says, shaking his head. “Dude.”

“I – you’re dating your boss!” Yuta shrieks. He gestures to Cassidy, who is curled up on the couch against Chuck’s side.

“That’s different,” Chuck says, seeing none of the irony. Yuta throws himself into his chair. “We haven’t even met this guy, and he’s, like, super paying you, right?” He kisses the top of Cassidy’s head. “Orange here is on my same level.”

Cassidy gives a half assed thumbs up. “Our power dynamic is minimally impactful to our relationship due to the inherent dehumanization of retail work.”

“You’re barely awake,” Yuta grumbles. “Go back to sleep.” He turns back to Chuck. “And it’s fine. He actually was trying to tell me we didn’t have to.” Yuta frowns. “I think he’s been burned in the past by people who, like, wanted his big ol’ wolf dick and then dumped him.”

“I still can’t believe werewolves are an actual thing,” Chuck says, shaking his head. “You think you could send him to the shop to yell at shitty customers?”

“Probably,” Yuta says. “But he’s kind of self-conscious about being in wolf form, so it would probably just be as himself.”

Chuck shrugs. “If he’s as hot as you say he is, that might work.”

The three of them and Walter are in the middle of an old episode of Ghost Files when Yuta gets a text. He fumbles the phone, earning a point-and-laugh from Chuck, and opens the text.

Is it weird to text you?

No, Yuta texts back. Texting is normal when you’re dating somebody.

So we’re dating now.

Yuta rolls his eyes, and he can sense how dopey his smile is. Aren’t we?

The call comes through seconds after he clicks send.

“No phone sex!” Chuck yells as Yuta practically skips to his bedroom. “Our walls are thin!”

“You’re not my dad,” Yuta yells back, but he falls into bed, answering. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Claudio says. “I, um, wanted to talk to you.”

Yuta stretches out. “Yeah?”

“I know I just saw you, at work, a few hours ago,” Claudio says. His chuckle is soft, maybe a little embarrassed. “But I wanted to hear you – outside of work.”

“You really don’t have experience dating, do you?” Yuta says. “You can text me whenever you want, and we can talk outside of work just to talk.” He pulls his pillow to hug it. “Just to hear your voice.”

Claudio’s exhale is audible. “Great. Mox said I was being stupid.”

“Mox is stupid,” Yuta corrects. “He won’t even ask out Renee and the two of them have been making eyes at each other at work for, like, months now. And I’m pretty sure they kissed at midnight, so he really has no excuse now.”

Yuta has to shove his face in a pillow at the sound of Claudio’s laugh. “You’ve got a point there,” Claudio says. “We may move in packs, but we also struggle to branch out.”

“No kidding,” he plays with a loose thread on his comforter, something he can now afford to replace but can’t bring himself to do.

The two of them talk for longer than Yuta had planned on staying up on a work night. Claudio discusses the struggles of growing up different, and Yuta relates on a more surface level due to growing up bilingual and gay and struggling with juggling two cultures and two languages. They discuss college and the transition to being an adult.

“My father was always the leader of the pack,” Claudio explains. “He owned the company before I took over. He…died, a few years back.”

Yuta lets that sink in before he says, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s been years,” Claudio says, but Yuta thinks he can see the look of careful blankness over Claudio’s eyes, like he’s trying not to feel anything. “But, I think, perhaps I inherited his general sense of disdain for anyone not in the pack. A mistake of mine, I suppose. One you helped me determine.”

“Glad to be of service,” Yuta says. “Sorry. That was weird.”

Claudio’s laugh is lovely. “It was, but that’s what I like about you.”

Yuta intends to respond, to say pretty much anything, but instead he yawns so widely and so loudly that Claudio can’t have missed it. “I like you, too,” Yuta says, deliberately misquoting.

“It’s late,” Claudio says, “and I’ve already kept you up far too long. Go to sleep, Wheeler, dear.” He pauses on the pet name, like he’s waiting for Yuta to fight it.

“Night, baby,” Yuta tries, and the little intake of breath on the other end of the line warms him top of his head to toes.

They disconnect the line, and Yuta shoves his face in his pillow again, kicking his feet like a teenager. He leaves to brush his teeth and runs into Chuck, stretching in his pajamas.

“You look happy,” he says, scanning Yuta. “Jesus. You look really happy. Like, how you looked before everything went to shit with Danny.”

Even the name of his ex doesn’t take away any of his excitement, a first. “Yeah,” Yuta says. “I’m – excited.” He grins. “I think he’s as damaged as me, you know? I’m taking him on a date Friday night.”

“You’re taking him?” Chuck asks. “Isn’t he, like, fifteen years older than you and stupid rich?”

“Yeah,” Yuta says, “but he’s never been wooed before. Nobody’s ever, like, taken care of him.” Yuta leans against the wall. “Chuck, I’m gonna marry that dude. I’m gonna propose and he’s gonna be so stupid and cute about it.”

Chuck raises an eyebrow. “You’re talking big game for somebody you only started officially dating today.”

Yuta turns to him, grinning. “It’s the call of the moon, baby. Written in the stars or whatever.”

Chuck groans. “Fuck, you’re annoying.”

“Yeah,” Yuta says, sighing. He lets his possible future fly across his vision. Their date Friday night, when Yuta asks to call Claudio his boyfriend, what they might do about living situations. He wouldn’t hate to move out of Chuck’s apartment. “I know.”

~

Mini playlist:

Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran

Everytime We Touch - Cascada

I Want It - Two Feet

Nonsense - Sabrina Carpenter

[heart-of-the-morningstar]

Don’t let this picture fool you, I also want him in a way that’s concerning to feminism :)

[myownsharky]

this ep was too good him writhing on the ground in pain??? covered in blood and sweat??? the shirt being unbuttoned??? him babbling all weakly when hes half unconscious??? yes pls

[altraes]

[mariposas8494]

Oh thanks…😒

[barb-l]

I am both very flattered and irrationally anxious over being perceived outside of my blogs

[uncanny-tranny]

You know... it's okay to trust your body. If you are separated from your body to such an extent you feel you cannot trust it, I truly from the bottom of my heart empathize and feel grief for you, but you can trust your body.

It's okay to listen to your body and to heed what it is telling you. I wish you (and your body) well wherever you go. You deserve the peace of mind to feel able to do what you want.

[heewongirl]

I am a just some guy kdj truther btw you wouldn't look at him twice if you see him on the street

[autistic-britta-perry]

ok SO. some celltw thoughts under the cut

I can't stop thinking about how the only thing keeping pac from absolutely ruining cellbit's attempts at recovery is that he's a good person and that he feels so much self hatred over his fucked up wants that he wouldn't go seek it out again. But if he didn't?? If instead of happy pills these were like, 'no morals' pills or he just turned evil for whatever reason? I think he'd be the person who'd be the best at making cellbit go back to his old ways (both in eating people and just going on a murder rampage) if he ever wanted to, not only they have a "history" wink wink but also because how do you even convince someone who's fucked up BECAUSE of you. And it could be VERY interesting in regards to cellbit's relationships with other people in the island as well, we've already seen he lets his closest people off the hook no matter what they do...

also this is me not knowing who knows what but other people finding out about the leg eating in general would be juicy because anyone reacting like a normal person about it would probably require Pac to justify it and be like no it's okay hkdjhvjhd specially since Cellbit canonically regrets what he did but still feels he's right to be hurt about the betrayal so I don't know that he'd be convincing enough about how sorry he is and how that's not him anymore

[sydmarch]

hold onnnnn I'm dressing up harry & why do the flare cut trousers make his ass look so much fatter like

what is this!!!!

[widevibratobitch]

dunno if ive mentioned before but there is literally nothing in this world that i wouldn't sacrifice to hear just one more Mozart opera composed after Clemenza

[the-last-quest]

Maybe it’s time to stop sitting on my ass and get my act together

[freedom-in-the-dark]

ok. exposing myself as someone who unfortunately cares about an unimportant tumblr fandom poll right now.

hello beloved black sails fandom and especially those who participated in The Pirate Poll War.

I’m SO sorry to pollute this sacred space with mention of this, but…

have you been Online enough in the past decade to be aware of fandom history as a general concept?

are you aware of the infamous marvel ship steve/bucky?

would you agree that steve/bucky has been more impactful in fandom history than The Other Gay Pirate Show which came out [checks notes] last year?

if so:

would you be willing to click a button.

[prostocupoftea]

I didnt post in a while so i though that i might post at least that

My light and shadows on skin study with @blackkatdraws 's Narrator bc apparently he just lives in my head rent free now (also get well soon, Kat! Please eat moderate amount of vitamins-)

If someone interested i am making my game now and consequently I am doing all art and coding and rn i am making monster designs and this is suprisingly hard so all my time is spent on that... also on procrastinating that... //subscribe 4 updates on that disaster)

[elphabasthropp]

wish i could have a normal and fun relationship w ouat (like so many other people do) as a show that was very important to me when i was young and therefore riddled w nostalgia and also has a lot of silly unserious vibes but unfortunately my opinions are too strong and deeply ingrained in me and generally unpopular and it makes it very hard to engage w most content abt it sjkhfjk

[dangerous-advantage]

(yagi-no-eda here~)

Totally would circle back /pos. I’m also pretty new to the fandom!

My wife has liked Usagi Yojimbo and associated stuff for years but it’s only this summer that my brain has allowed me to really get into it, and make it past the first 2-3 comics. Not for lack of trying - it was just never the right time in an ADHD way*. Something always would distract me. I’ve inhaled all the comics I can in just the last couple of months and yeah, Stan came at me with a steel chair too. I did not expect …this whole situation. I’ve been a fandom lurker since 1999 and yet suddenly I have blog I use near daily, a sketchbook, and bunch of fic WIPS...

Mainly because I am Unwell over UY.

I have accepted my fate. This is always going to be a Thing now.

Though I did admittedly also inhale TMNT 2003 and Rise.

Travels with Jotaro is one of my favourite volumes, but I’m also weirdly into Bridge of Death rn and just….in general having a moment over Usagi’s time with Mifune. To the point I’m doodling intros for a fake show called The Mifune Years. He had this whole expected future and friends - denied.

* to be fair this is also the summer I found out its def ADHD driving this media analysis machine I call a brain

Hope this was an okay way to get back to you! /lil anxious

Feel free to network (or share thoughts) in my tags anytime, I love hearing what other people think. Also happy to chat anytime. Or feel free to tell me to back off and that's chill too :)

(been waiting to answer this for when i had more time but gave in; should be working on my fic(s) but you know how it is lmao. stay tuned for a very long post, because i love talking about things with people, especially things i like haha

very cool to see another person very passionate about this series! i grew up on 2003 (and the 90's movies-- my parents had the third one on cassette and i remember i wore that fucker out lmao) but it was always more of a "scattered interest" rather than something i was fully pulled into

i started getting into rise (read: The Algorithm came for me) probably mid-July of last year, but didn't fully fall into it until after the movie came out. it renewed my interest in tmnt overall, and i've been here ever since!

i did attempt to watch the usagi chronicles a couple of times, and i remember thinking they were fun but not really my thing. (i definitely want to revisit it, even though i know it won't hold a candle to usagi yojimbo. it does look fun in a silly way, which i can get behind.)

i knew vaguely about how big usagi yojimbo was, and that it was a commitment, but i'm surprised how quickly it sucked me in. i've never been super interested in stuff within the genre, but damn if it doesn't satisfy the autism. entire chapters devoted to infodumping about the edo period of japan? sign me the fuck up!

i especially did not expect how much it would make me feel. like. wow. ouch. usagi is just Some Guy but he is also so well characterized and you really feel for his internal conflict, 10/10.

i've been looking for series with older protagonists, especially those more focused on the familial/platonic aspect rather than romantic (i am just an nd queer on the interweb, can you blame me for yearning for found family?), but hadn't found any i really liked other than the tarot sequence by kd edwards (very good read, would highly recommend.)

also not to be a nerd but ohhhh my god i am so obsessed with the plot with mifune.

like i know the series takes place after that, and after the fallout of that, but just. wow. imagine devoting your entire being to another, to the point where you would readily die for them and their word, and then they die. they die, and you did everything you could to honor them in that death, but they're still gone.

like... that emptiness stays with you. you don't just get over that. maybe it's the "being raised in a cult" but wow, do i empathize with that.

idk if we explore more about the fallout/exact history with mifune/immediately following mifune's death but there is so much writing potential there. if i was not embroiled within turtle hell and 50,000 words deep in a multi-chapter fic already, i would absolutely write something for it.

like. this is adjacent to your interest in the topic, but can you just imagine (/rhetorical /general you.) as far as we know, he spent five days on the battlefield before he made it out to the tangled skein.

(which is one of my favorite additions like good god holy shit. that is so cool and angsty. your lord, days after dying, appears as a fucking ghost and saves you. like, if i were to be silly and funky, i would absolutely headcanon that as the reason that he was able to stand up and continue on. because i mean... what else? what else could motivate you to stand up once more after something like that?)

(well. honor. but mifune is the physical manifestation of honor in the narrative, so same difference? it's like both thematically significant and emotionally significant and-- ok im shutting up now. but i could talk for days, istg.)

but like. how do you reconstruct yourself from that? we see him holding tight to this sense of honor, even after his lord is gone, sent reeling (adrift in the waves) with only his soul and moral compass to hold to.

which makes it hurt so much more when we see these ideals of honor-- this ghost of a man, of a life, still haunting him years after the event-- still woven through the narrative, made to specifically conflict his deepest wants.

i joke about it a lot on my fic discord (i have a whole channel called 'father-material' devoted to just pictures of him hanging out with/taking care of kids), but something that seems very important to him is wanting to be a father figure, and wanting these connections to family and friends.

but that is contrasted against these ideas of honor, the very thing he built and rebuilt his foundation off of after it was torn away from him. and it's just so incredibly painful but also it makes sense, because he can't just give up the side of himself that is a samurai. too much of his person, his characterization, is built off of this.

to see it constantly clash with this want to settle down and finally rest, devote himself to his relationships/family rather than the code of bushido-- the very essence of honor itself-- ourgh ourgh ourgh its so good

(put aside the fact that he once said he could never serve another lord, and we know from the story that the idea of a "lord" can be more than just a person... he never stopped serving mifune, not truly. he still upholds the ideas of honor that mifune stood for/represented. as if his lord never truly left him.)

...i was going to say more, but then i realized this turned into a whole-ass mini-analysis, so i'm forcing myself to stfu. but basically: i have feelings about this series, man (/gender neutral).

anyway. if you ever do put something together, i would love to read/follow it! if i ever wrote something, it would probably be exploring the direct fallout of losing mifune, so hey, different niches but similar (:

also: never be anxious about talking to me ever in any way possible. i will probably be even more annoying than you in tags/asks/everything under the sun, and i do genuinely love talking to people who share my interests (typically about those interests.) i like to pretend i am an internet Cool Guy, however, it is a flimsy veneer to hide all the cringefail swaglessness and unending mental illness about my blorbos

(...i am so tempted to just invite you to my og turtle discord server so i can annoy you about usagi on the regular. also about what my reimagining of yuichi would be, because i have so, so many ideas.

i will refrain, but if you would be interested, it has been kinda dead as of late, so it would be nice to enrich the ecosystem a little by slowly collecting other usagi-interested individuals and slowly taking it over, one by one (/j /lh).)

anyway, same thing goes for me with my posts/asks/reblogs/messages/whatever. i am so very earnest, so if that puts you off, that's very chill and fine. however, as long as you're down to vibe, i am similarly down to vibe >:D

i once more apologize for this monstrosity of a reply. i would say it won't happen again, but my reading comprehension apparently does not extend to the "all things in moderation" maxim. instead i choose maximalism (to the max)

(sorry for that joke. yeah that will also happen again. sorry. /lh /pos)