#If you're an immortal mythical creature it makes sense you're gonna run into the natural march of humanity's development

[letiel]

A Grim's Job - Werewolf/Modern AU

CW: Implied Abuse, mentions of Death

Ty would’ve preferred to avoid public transportation. Not just today, as a rule. The train and monorail were okay, buses were worse. Whenever Khasar would drive them was best. He endured it for Kai’s sake. Being out around people did seem to help even if Kai avoided interactions at all costs. He had an iron clad personal bubble and people seemed to notice and give him space. The combination of giant, scruffy man with a bad aura and a giant black dog with a bad aura would do that but it didn’t stop people from giving them funny glances and it didn’t stop people from smelling.

The train car they were in rattled a little on its track. Ty could feel every bump under his belly and chest. When they were seated, Ty lay underneath Kai, behind his legs, to avoid being stepped on. It was the proper service dog thing to do, and it was easy to smell if Kai became distressed from this close.

He could also smell everyone else.

Four seats up there was a man with weed in his backpack. The lady standing to Kai’s left had a mango matcha smoothie. Someone needed to change that baby’s diaper twenty minutes ago. The oil on those train wheels was new. Thank goodness they regularly disinfected these seats…

Those were the good smells.

There was an elderly lady sitting a few seats away. Ty could smell her struggling kidneys and hear her choking on each breath. She had protested when the young lady had offered to give up her seat but relented after the train had started moving. He could smell the time she had left, only a few weeks. She had a lingering hospital smell about her. Undoubtedly, she had received the grave news from her doctor earlier that day.

A business man on his phone was trying to whisper to be polite, but it was obviously too urgent to wait. Some risky investments weren’t panning out the way he had hoped, and he was frantically promising more late nights to whomever he was speaking too. Ty knew from the smell of the coffee, the upcoming lack of sleep, and the preexisting heart condition the man had, that a year from now there would be a small and intimate funeral.

Ty could smell the cancer in the man at the end of the car. He was a young guy who likely had no idea what was growing inside him. It was too late to treat now; it was stage three by this point. It wasn’t a sense he could describe if he had access to his words, but Ty knew the bike messenger had maybe three months left. The man was attributing his exhaustion, upset stomach, aches, and pains to stress from his job. Ty had heard him whispering on the phone earlier to a lover, discussing vacation plans for the following year.

There was a thud sound from immediately across from Kai. There was a woman and her daughter seated there. The six-year-old was trying to entertain herself by swinging her legs back and forth, letting the heels of her My Little Pony shoes hit the pole on the underside of the seat she was too small for. She had been staring at Ty since they had sat down at the prior stop. A healthy, energetic, obnoxious little child. Bless her mother trying to instill good manners, struggling to explain why service dogs needed to be left alone.

“Can I pet that puppy?!” the little girl called across to Kai.

One of Kai’s legs squeezed a little tighter into Ty’s side. Even as dissociative as Kai could be in public there was still an instinct to protect.

“You can’t pet that puppy,” the mother calmly explained.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because it has a job. Do you see that it has a vest on? That’s to tell people that its busy and needs to focus.”

“What kind of job?”

“I don’t know.”

The little girl kicked her legs some more. “Is your puppy a boy or a girl?” she called to Kai.

“Boy,” Kai said stiffly.

“He’s really pretty.”

“Thanks.”

The little girl looked at her mom and then back to Kai. “Can I pet him?”

Ty could smell Kai’s annoyance but to his credit the man managed to keep it from his very firm response. “No.”

She seemed disappointed but didn’t cry or scream or throw any tantrum.

Ty flicked his tail and then bumped Kai’s leg with his nose, wiggling his way free to stand up. He shook himself to get the blood flowing back to his legs and to fix the harness that always shifted uncomfortably when he laid down for long periods.

His priority was always going to be Kai; they were brothers, Kai was his ‘church’ and Ty loved him dearly. But Kai didn’t need him right at this moment.

Ty stretched and yawned, all long legs and white teeth and then stepped across to the little girl to put his head delicately in her lap.

She gasped and very gently pet his face with both hands before either Kai or her mother could protest. Her little fingers gently patted his nose and she scratched behind his ears, barely getting into his plush fur at all.

“What’s his name?” she asked reverently.

“Ty.”

“Hi, Ty,” she whispered, and he wagged his tail for her. Very slowly Ty wiggled his back legs forward so he could sit in front of this little girl without moving his head from her lap.

They stayed that way for a while. A couple stops passed by and she didn’t once stop petting and whispering to Ty. Even putting her face in the fur behind his ears as if everything she told him was a secret.

Her name was Elena. She was in first grade and loved her teacher and school. When she was all grown up, she wanted to be a scientist or a ballet dancer (she was still deciding). Macaroni and cheese was her favorite food but not if there were peas in it. She didn’t like peas. Elena liked trains but wasn’t very excited to be on this one today. She usually lived with her mother but for the first time in a long time, she was going to spend a weekend with her father. Elena told Ty that her father would yell a lot and throw things when he was angry and make her mom cry but that she was going to try and be brave anyway.

All the while, Ty listened, leaning into her, letting her tug on his fur and put little braids in the longer tufts until he heard the announcer and felt Kai gathering up the leash.

The train came to a squeaky halt and Ty stood up when Kai did.

“Thank you for letting me pet your puppy,” Elena said politely. She gave Ty a kiss on his nose, and he very softly licked her cheek. She giggled.

Kai grunted in response, and they stepped off the train where Ty made them stop off to the side. Elena was waving to them from the window as the train started to move again and he watched until they were gone. The weight of things settled on Ty’s shoulders then and when he walked with Kai it was with equal dissociation.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Kai grumbled a little as they crossed the street. Ty knew his brother was more annoyed that he was forced to interact than upset at Ty for comforting a little girl.

It was his job to care for Kai, but it was also his job to be a herald of death.

Elena had less than a day.

It was the least Ty could do.