#Lumbus gets the perfect pack

[swedishgoaliemafia]

Your werewolf AU is one of my favourites, not least because avoiding the cliche players means a whole different dynamic to other variants. If you're still taking requests for what else to write in the series, I'd love to read more about the Columbus pack and Bob the cuddliest alpha.

Sorry this took a bit longer than I’d hoped. First of all, THANK YOUUUUU trying to write about guys who don’t normally show up in fics (especially in wolf AUs) is one of my favorite things about these fics, even if it’s challenging at times. That challenge is part of what took me so long, at first I was going to write about the current CBJ pack but then I’d have to read a primer and watch a few videos, then I thought I’d write about the Seth Jones-RyJo trade (which will be seen from the other end in the third Nashville fic), and then I thought, why not go back to CBJ’s first real pack human?  I.e., this is about how Scott Hartnell joined a team entirely consisting of werewolves.

~~~

The ironicthing was, Jarmo Kekäläinen wasn’t even a werewolf.  By all accounts, he, like the vast majorityof the populace, continued to function under the assumption that werewolvesdidn’t exist.

It was justa strange coincidence, then, that he accidentally assembled a professionalhockey team made up entirely of werewolves.

In Kekäläinen’sdefense, there were already a lot of wolves on the team when he was hired in2013.  If anyone had bothered to sit downand do the numbers, they would see that the Blue Jackets already had morewolves than any other team in the league by a wide margin.

There wasjust no way that the very human general manager could know that with every movehe made, with every trade and every draft pick and every new signing and everyfree agent he let walk, more humans left the team and more wolves joined.

It was onlyby pure, ridiculous chance that as his team looked towards the 2014 offseason,it no longer contained any humans.

Well, untilKekäläinen traded R.J. Umberger back to the Flyers in exchange for ScottHartnell.

Then itcontained one human.

~~~

Sergeihadn’t set out to be an alpha when he came to Columbus.  He hadn’t had much of a plan at all, really,other than a general hope that Columbus would be more functional than whateverhad gone on between Richards and Briere and the rest of the Flyers.

When Sergeiarrived in Columbus, there was no captain, no alpha, and a metric shit-ton ofwolves, all of whom seemed to be warily dancing around the obvious power vacuumin the team.

Sergei mayhave been a goalie, meaning he couldn’t be a captain (Luongo had tried it for abit, but if he couldn’t make it work, Bob doubted it would be any easier forhim), but there was nothing stopping him from being an alpha.

He took onelook around his new team on that first day of training camp, put off so long bythe never-ending lockout, and he started putting his ideas into motion.

Maybe afterall of his time watching the feud in Philly, he’d expected someone to put up afight.  Nobody did.  Even the veterans seemed relieved to havesomebody step up and take control of things, even if it was the brand newgoaltender whose English wasn’t always that great.

(His mostardent supporter, right from the start, had been the new forward traded fromOttawa.

 (“I’ve gotyour back, Bob,” Nick Foligno had said with a bright-eyed smile.

(Sergei hadsmiled back, and the rest was history.)

Sergei hadgrown up in a family and a pack who believed strongly in having close packties.  A close pack was a happy, healthypack.  And the best way to stay close toyour pack was to enforce regular pack bonding through whatever means necessary.

It wasn’teven that hard to convince half of the team (the wolfy half) that it was agreat idea to pile in a hotel room together in their wolf forms, so obviouslythey agreed.

The packflourished, even if the team didn’t.

Sergeihonestly didn’t struggle much to control a pack that consisted of the majorityof his teammates.  Sure, it was at timesa little difficult to figure out the logistics when everyone wanted to pileinto the same bed with their alpha after a rough loss, but in general Sergeiwas a very attentive and involved alpha and had few problems with his pack.  He mediated fights before they really got achance to begin, often by forcing the offenders to hug it out (they had allscoffed at this at first, but when they figured out that hugging each othermeant that then their alpha would hug them,everyone was more willing to go along with it). He kept up with their personal lives, asking after their families,checking in with guys who were in a slump or were out with injuries.

His packwas his priority, equal with the success of his team, and being an alpha washonestly just as fulfilling as being a professional goaltender in the NHL. Sergei loved being able to care for his pack,supporting them through thick and thin, buoying them up in the hard times andsharing proudly in their successes.

As theiralpha, his packmates also took their cues from him as to how they behavedaround their human teammates, who numbered in the few during Sergei’s secondseason with the team.

At times ithonestly got a little difficult to remember who was pack and who wasn’t, whentheir team was already pretty tight-knit. It felt rude not to include human teammates in pack activities, when thefew humans who were left might then feel that they were being left out of whatwould look to be team get-togethers. After all, if you were consistently not invited to some sort ofactivities that involved more than half of your teammates, you might start tothink that people didn’t like having you around.

Sergeihated the idea that his teammates might think that they were unwelcome.  And given that their team was so full ofwolves, their dressing room and all of its inhabitants often smelled verystrongly of wolves, to the point where at times everyone smelled like a wolf.

It wasn’tso hard, then, to forget who was who and just start treating everyone like theywere pack.

The pack,looking to Sergei for guidance, tended to follow suit.

They didn’tbring their human teammates in on the sharing-a-bed thing, because that wouldbe a bridge too far, and they certainly didn’t shift in front of them, but ifthey got handsier with their human teammates, hugged too much or too long,cuddled up to whoever sat within arm’s reach...well, they were a friendly groupof guys who cared about each other.

You didn’thave to be a werewolf to care about your teammates.

That systemworked until Sergei’s third year with the team, when all of his teammates werewerewolves.  Sergei had paid attention tothe team’s new acquisitions over the summer once he’d noticed the trend, andall signs pointed to a team entirely consisting of werewolves.

He couldn’tsay he wasn’t excited.  He’d called Nickas soon as he’d figured it out.

“We’re allgonna be wolves this year!” he’d said.

Sergeicould hear the smile in Nick’s voice when he replied, “We’re taking over,babe.”

And soSergei spent his summer dreaming of a team of werewolves and all of the thingsthat they could do together now that everyone would be on equal footing, nowthat everyone would be in the know.

No matterhow the season went, it was still going to be pretty cool.

It wasn’tuntil he’d arrived for training camp that Sergei remembered one fatal flaw inall of his plans:

Despiteliterally everybody’s assumptions, Scott Hartnell, Columbus’s new forward, wasnot, in fact, a werewolf.

Sergei hadknown that, of course, back when he was in Philadelphia, but it had beensurprising back then too.  Hartsy seemed like the kind of guy who had tobe a werewolf.  His looks, his demeanor –if you were to make a random guess at who in the league was a werewolf, youwould probably peg a guy like Scott Hartnell.

(Thenagain, Brent Burns seemed to be a prime candidate for a half-man half-beastforest creature, and he was entirely human. Just goes to show what happens when you make assumptions.)

Honestly,it was Hartsy’s own fault that Sergei forgot he wasn’t actually a wolf.  If he didn’t want Sergei to forget, heshouldn’t have acted so wolf-like.

“Are you sure he’s not a wolf?” Jared had askedon the first day of camp, bumping his shoulder up against Sergei’s.

Sergeicould understand his confusion, especially seeing how the cubs were alreadypiled up around Scott, seeking out his attention like he was the coolest guythey’d ever seen – or the toughest wolf.

“Completelyhuman,” he’d replied, shaking his head in disappointment.  “And he doesn’t know about wolves.”

Fedya stoodat Sergei’s other side, catching his eye and raising a brow.

“What do wedo?”

Sergeithought about it for a moment, about what it would look like if they kept justone teammate separated from the rest, if they treated him differently, if theymade him feel left out of the group.

He alsothought about what it would look like if they didn’t differentiate betweenhumans and wolves, if they treated him like a full member of the pack.

Heshrugged.

“Team ispack.”

The othertwo, the longest-serving veterans on the team, gave only the slightest ofpauses before they both nodded.

From thatmoment on, whether or not he knew it, Scott Hartnell was pack.

~~~

Sergeitried to ease him into it slowly, figuring that he would give Hartsy some timeto get used to a new team and a new city before springing some of themore...eccentric aspects of the pack on him. Let him get a feel for the team, make some friends, start to feel athome, before bringing out some of the weirder stuff.

In thisinstance, for the first time, his pack really failed to follow his lead.

It startedwith Wennberg and Dano, the two newest cubs on the team who seemed to havedecided that Hartsy was their idol in all things both werewolf and hockey.  Hartsy reacted to their clinginess withaplomb, likely brushing it off as rookie hero worship, which in a way it was.

He stilllooked a little confused when he found Wenny sniffing at his hair, though, andit wasn’t really normal for Dano to keep grabbing onto the hem of his shirtlike he might get lost crossing the locker room if he didn’t hold on.

Sergei hadto round up the cubs the night of their first road trip and corral them intohis own hotel room just to keep them from trying to spend the night in Scott’s.

“You knowhe doesn’t know about wolves,” he told them, looking down into two equallyguilty furred faces.  “He does not expectteammates to sleep in his bed.”

They hadwhined pretty pathetically at that, but Sergei had to put his foot downsomewhere, even if they were cute.

He hadreally expected better from his older packmates, though.

Maybe theyjust took treating all of your teammates as pack a little too far.

First therewere Joey and Cam, who were young but were certainly old enough to know better,having absolutely no reservations about plopping their asses down in Hartsy’slap on a team night at Sergei’s house. Hartsy had just laughed and put an arm around each of their waists,making a comment about Giroux doing the same thing when he was drunk. Sergeicould attest from personal experience that Claude Giroux would sit in justabout anyone’s lap when he was drunk. Joey and Cam, however, were entirely sober at the time, and so Sergeididn’t feel too guilty giving them a look.

They bothducked their heads and blushed, but didn’t move from their seats.

Then it wasMark, who was really old enough tobehave himself, growling playfully at Hartsy when he stole a french fry off hisplate when some of the team went out for lunch.

“Got a frogin your throat there, eh?” Scott had asked, a smug smirk in place as he chewed.

“More likea wolf,” Dubi had muttered, adding himself to the list of people with whomSergei had to have a Conversation.

And Sergeihad really expected better of Tema than to help Boone and Ryan make off withsome of Hartsy’s clothes so that the pack could scent them.

“He doesn’tsmell enough like pack,” Tema had said with an unrepentant shrug.  “We’re fixing the problem.”

“Stealinghis clothes is not fixing the problem,” Sergei said, even as he sniffed atHartsy’s sweatshirt and gave it a cursory swipe against his own neck beforehanding it back.  They’d already done thestealing, after all, he may as well make use of it.

“Besides,”he told Tema, “When he washes them the scent will be gone.”

Tema wasentirely unbothered.

“Then wewill just steal them again.”

When Hartsycame into the dressing room asking if anyone had seen his sweatshirt, they allmade a point of not looking at him.

Things cameto a head when Savy let his Quebecois roots get the best of him.

They wereall at Sergei’s house again, this time for ayay-we-have-an-off-day-and-the-weather-isn’t-awful-yet cookout that wouldprobably as the night went on (and after Scott went home) devolve into wolvescovering every soft surface in the house and Sergei having to fight for a placeon his own bed.

Some of theboys had been chirping back and forth, as they were wont to do, and it hadturned into Hartsy and Savy getting into a scuffle, laughing and cursing asthey rolled around on the floor.  That inand of itself wasn’t particularly abnormal even for human teammates (hockeyplayers were, in a general sense, not too far removed from wolves when you gotright down to it).

The abnormalpart was when Savy bit Hartsy on the arm.

As someonewho had been on the receiving end of that very same treatment before, Sergeiknew intellectually that it was probably less of a true bite and more of aprolonged mouthing that involved too many teeth and a bit of gentlegnawing.  For reasons that Sergei hadnever been able to understand, this was the culturally accepted practice forQuebecois wolves expressing their affection. He’d gotten somewhat used to having his tail nipped and his ears gnawedon during his time in Philly.

It was safeto assume, however, that Claude Giroux had probably never tried to chew onScott Hartnell before (it would be even more surprising if Briere or Lecavalierhad done it, but then again, you never knew).

It wasn’t surprising,then, that Hartsy froze and yelped, “Dude, what the fuck? Are you bitingme?”

Savy, whenhe pulled away, did not appear nearly as guilty as he should have. The worst part was, Sergei couldn’t reallygive him a speech about keeping his teeth to himself without coming off asculturally insensitive.

“You’re notbleeding,” Savy said with a shrug, like that was the problem at hand.

“You bit me,” Hartsy repeated, his voice highand incredulous, like he might start laughing at any moment because he justcouldn’t believe it.

“Hey,didn’t Letang say you bit him once?” Wiz asked. Sergei couldn’t tell if he was trying to distract Hartsy or if he washonestly curious, but either way, he looked far too amused for what could be adicey situation.

Hartsyfrowned immediately and pointed at Wiz. “That didn’t happen.  Also, he just bit me.”

“It meanshe likes you,” Chaput said helpfully. “You only bite the people you like.”

Nickgroaned and dropped his head into his hands; Sergei couldn’t do that, becausehe had to do some emergency damage control as Hartsy’s face quickly grew moreincredulous.

“What the fuck?”

BeforeSergei even got a chance to bullshit up an explanation, or just try to layeverything out in a calm and logical way that wouldn’t send Scott running forthe hills (or the GM, asking for a trade), the sound of nails skittering onhardwood came clattering through the house.

A furryWenny and Marko came rocketing around the corner and vaulted into the room,feet sliding out from under them as they failed to gain traction and cameskidding across the floor.  Jared cameright after them with two legs too many for present company, freezing when herealized that the two wayward cubs he’d been pursuing – likely to keep themfrom doing exactly this – had launched themselves at Hartsy, who was still onthe floor from his bout with Savy, and were currently making themselvescomfortable lying atop him, looking back at Jared as if he couldn’t possiblydream of removing them.

Jared atleast looked suitably apologetic, for a wolf, when he met Sergei’s gaze. He carefully slunk forward, gently bit at thenape of a squirming Marko’s neck, and yankedhim away from Hartsy, a chastising growl rumbling low in his throat the entiretime.

Markoyelped in surprise and then whined miserably, craning his head to send apitiful look back at Scott and Wenny. Jared growled again and shook Marko slightly, just enough to make himshut up.

Everyonefell silent.  Scott stared at Jared andMarko, both of whom were staring at Sergei. Sergei stared at Scott, completing the triangle.

Sergeicleared his throat quietly.

“Alex,please get off of Scott.”

Wennypinned his ears back and immediately started to whine, but Sergei only had toraise an eyebrow for him to slink away towards Cam and Joey, who werenotoriously soft touches.

Hartsywatched him go, pulling himself at least into a proper sitting position, andlooked up at Sergei.

“Dude.  Dude, what the fuck.”

Sergei gavehim a small smile.

“We, ah, wehave some things to tell you.  Aboutteam.”

“Are thosefucking wolves?”

Markowhined and the tip of his tail wagged, even as Jared still held him in place byhis neck.

Jared’stail was wagging just as much.

“...Yes,”Sergei conceded, “These are wolves. Also...these are teammates.”

He took adeep breath, put on his best smile, and said, “We are werewolves.”

“Surprise!”Nick, bless him, actually did jazz hands.

Hartsylooked between the two of them, then back at Marko and Jared (who had finallylet go of Marko).  Marko, impulsive likeonly a pup could be, took that as his cue to shift right in front of Hartsy,who looked like he might be sick.

(Sergeicouldn’t quite blame him for that. Shifting came naturally and painlessly toevery wolf, but the process was, from a very objective standpoint, visuallydisgusting.)

“What thefuck,” Hartsy whispered.

Marko edgedcloser to him, entirely uncaring that he was currently completely nude.

“You’re notmad, are you?” he asked quietly.

Scott staredat him with wide, wide eyes before he looked back at Sergei.

“Thisis-”  He stopped and swallowed.  “You’re saying that – you too?”

Sergeinodded, and then shrugged.

“All ofus.”

“All of you?  You’re all...?” He waved a hand at Jared, whowas still shifted.

“Werewolves,yes.”

The guysaround them nodded, but remained thankfully silent.

Hartsy’svoice went up another octave. “Is everyonein the league a, a werewolf? Were theFlyers all werewolves?”

“Danny andG, Richie, Lecavalier, Bryz, Kimmo, Jagr...but the rest are all humans!” Sergeiwas quick to add that in as Scott’s face grew paler and paler.

“All ofthem, they could all do that?  Turn into wolves?”

Sergeinodded slowly.

Scottdidn’t say anything for a few seconds, and it was as if everyone held theirbreath, waiting for him to pass judgment.

When hedid, his face turned into the severest of frowns. Sergei began to bracehimself, wondered how he could defend his pack, when-

“Are youtelling me that Claude Giroux was a werewolf and I wasn’t able to figure itout?”

“I mean,literally all of us are werewolves and you didn’t figure it out either,” Wizsaid.

Everyonestarted nodding.

“There weresome pretty clear signs, man,” Joey added. “I mean, we’ve pretty much been allover you.”

“So was G-son of a bitch...”

“You aren’tvery observant, are you,” Dubi said, his voice full of mock-pity as he shookhis head.

“It’sokay.” Savy, the biter himself, patted Hartsy on the head. “We still love you.”

Hartsyblinked at him, and then turned to stare at Sergei once more.

“Just tomake this clear,” he said. “You all – every single one of you – turn into furryfour-legged creatures.  And you’re incharge.”

Here hegestured at Sergei.

“And youall trust me enough not to expect me to go running off screaming into thenight.”

“Eh, moreor less,” Wiz muttered.

When thecubs all gave him their most affronted expressions, he held up his hands andsaid, “Christ, I was joking, yes, we trust him.”

Sergei felta bloom of fondness in his chest for his ridiculous pack.

“Yes toall,” he told Scott.  “We say that teamis pack, so you are pack too.  If youwant.”

“We wantyou in our pack,” Marko said very solemnly.

Hartsy eyedhim briefly.

“Yougetting cold there bud?” he asked in a leading voice, obviously trying not tolook at Marko who was, yes, still entirely nude.

“No.”

“...wellokay then.  To answer your question, yes,I will be part of your pack- oof!”

He wassuddenly crushed back to the floor under the weight of not only Marko, but Savyand Chaput, and then Wenny rushed over with Cam and Joey, and Calvy and Murraywere sneaking in too, until Hartsy was veritably buried in overly happy wolves,most of whom were currently just extremely handsy humans.

“-I will bepart of your pack on the contingency that you put some damn pants on, JesusChrist!” Hartsy yelped from under the pile.

Sergeiexchanged glances with Nick.

“Not what Iimagined, but...” He shrugged.

Nicksmiled, that bright-eyed, toothy smile that grew like a sunrise across hisface, his blue eyes intent on Sergei’s like he’d never want to look anywhereelse.

“All’s wellthat ends well,” Nick said, clapping a hand on Sergei’s shoulder.

He left itthere, the warmth of his hand a sure and steady weight, as their pack descendedinto happy chaos around them, guys shifting left and right, Hartsy squawkingabout not wanting to see that, God, theveterans joining in on the impromptu wolf pile and not even mildly attemptingto rein anyone in.

They were allbeautiful, and they were Sergei’s.

“You know,”Nick said in a slow, conversational tone that he only got when he was playingcoy, “I hear it’s good for pack cohesion if the alpha participates in thepack’s activities.”

Sergeismirked.

“You want towelcome Hartsy to the pack?”

The hand onSergei’s shoulder squeezed slowly, edging the slightest bit closer to his neck.

“It’s onlyright.”

“Well then,we cannot make them wait.”

Somewhereunder a pile of squirming, yipping wolves, Scott Hartnell was complainingbetween bouts of laughter about how he would turn them all into rugs.  Nobody seemed to really care.

Yes, Sergeithought with a smile, he really did have the best pack.

[swedishgoaliemafia]

#easterwolves

This is for @scribetuesday, who provided the idea and convinced me to write another one...

~~~

When the team had a day off at home for Easter, Tyler figured that Marcus would be planning something good.  Marcus took the whole “werewolf holiday” thing very seriously, and he didn’t like his brother showing him up every time – or completely discounting all of his efforts.

So when Marcus didn’t mention anything in the days leading up to Easter, Tyler (and everyone else) had just assumed that it would be a surprise.

And when Easter morning arrived and Marcus didn’t contact any of them, Tyler thought that maybe Marcus just had some sort of big Easter extravaganza planned for that night.

And when the evening came and Marcus still hadn’t said anything, it occurred to Tyler that maybe Marcus actually wasn’t planning to do anything for Easter. Which, that was okay.  It wasn’t like he had to do anything, it wasn’t his duty or something and holiday wolves wasn’t some sort of tradition they were breaching by not doing anything.  It was totally up to Marcus if he wanted to do anything or nothing at all.

Well, except that Tyler had been so ready for Easter wolves.  He’d bought rabbit ears. There were egg dyes.  He may or may not have had bags overflowing with Easter grass shoved in his closet.  It was possible that Easter wolves was going to be his distraction from thinking about how many games he’d missed this season out on injury.

Marcus didn’t have to do anything for the holiday, but he probably should have told Tyler that first, because Tyler had been prepared for the biggest, wolfiest Easter ever, and now his bro had left him hanging.

He wasn’t outraged, but he certainly was more than a little disappointed.

Tyler had planned to broach the topic at morning skate the next day (he wasn’t skating, but he had to come in to do some work with the trainers anyway, and he liked being around the team), but Sam beat him to it, looking for all the world like the kicked puppy he probably was as he whispered rather unsubtly to Marcus.

“So did you guys, like, uh, do something yesterday, and I just didn’t get the invite?  Or like...”

He looked so upset at the prospect of being left out that Marcus must have taken pity on him, because he shook his head, mumbling, “No, we didn’t do anything.  Easter wolves aren’t, like, a thing.”

Zemgus, who had been not so subtly eavesdropping nearby, frowned suddenly.  “Who says?” He looked almost offended.

Marcus shrugged and busied himself with changing into his gear.

“It’s all just made up, man.  It’s dumb kid stuff.  Nobody else does it.”

Well now Zemgus really did look offended, and Sam looked hurt.  They all knew how much Sam enjoyed holiday wolves.

“Nick does it,” Zemgus said.  “His whole team does it!  What about that, I thought you wanted to beat him.”

Marcus wouldn’t meet their eyes, which was an obvious tell that he cared a lot more than he was letting on.  “Yeah, but like, it’s not like it’s a competition or whatever. It’s just a stupid thing we do sometimes, it doesn’t matter.”

Zemgus looked over at Tyler, hovering a few feet away but not directly involved in the conversation, and the look they shared expressed just how much none of them believed that.

But Marcus changed the subject after that and refused to let them bring up Easter wolves again, shrugging off Rasmus and Mark’s later questions about what had or had not happened on Sunday.  Despite all of his insistences to the opposite, his downcast eyes and subdued behavior betrayed just how much he probably actually cared about this.

It might be dumb, and it might be childish, but it was their thing.  Full moon or not, holiday wolves were fun, even if they all chirped each other about it from time to time.  Tyler knew that Marcus took the competition with his brother seriously, even if Marcus refused to call it a competition.  Always losing to Nick, in some way or another, had to be grating on him.

His pack member was upset, and now that Webby was gone, Tyler was alone as the de facto alpha for his pack.  He may have been a human, and he may have been out on IR, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t do something to fix this.

It looked like he’d have to take this into his own hands...

~~~

Holiday wolves were pretty difficult to do on the road, because it was hard to find a place for over twenty werewolves, two humans, and way too many Easter decorations.

But they had the day off in Washington, and parks always were a great place for Easter egg hunts, so Nick and Bob made do.  Even if they had to fill the little plastic eggs with dog treats because Nick had seen what happened when wolves ate chocolate and Marcus still wouldn’t let him forget it.

Speaking of Marcus, Nick had sent him a text that afternoon, as per usual.  Or rather, Hartsy had sent Marcus a text from Nick’s phone, because Nick was too busy being climbed on by cubs proudly showing off the plastic eggs they’d found to take the picture himself.

Peter Cottontail better watch out #easterwolvesftw

He was a little surprised when he checked his phone before bed that evening to find that Marcus hadn’t responded, if only just to gripe at him if not with a photo of his own.  It wasn’t that unusual – he could just be busy, after all, or maybe his phone was dead or he just hadn’t seen it yet.

But something sat poorly in his stomach, a feeling that maybe it was something a little worse.

“You okay?” Bob asked, glancing over as he prepared to shut off the light. Bjorky was already passed out in his wolf form between the two of them, but otherwise they were surprisingly alone – even if most guys had their own rooms, they didn’t often make use of them.  By Nick’s estimate though, Hartsy was probably holding court over at least a few guys in his room – for a human, he was very popular with the pack.

Nick shrugged, setting his alarm for the next day and plugging his phone in.

“I guess.  I don’t know.  Marcus hasn’t replied yet.”

Bob knew him well enough to know as to what Nick was referring.

“Could be sleeping,” he offered quietly.  “Or busy.”

“Yeah,” Nick sighed, “That’s what I was thinking. You’re probably right, I’m probably just worrying about something stupid.”

“Hey.”  Bob reached over the cub between them and passed a hand over the back of Nick’s head, fingers trailing through his hair before resting firmly on the back of his neck. “It’s not stupid.  You’re a good brother.”

He gave Nick a small little smile that Nick couldn’t help returning.  He was about to thank Bob, for being a good alpha, for always knowing the right thing to say, for always being there for him, when his phone buzzed on the table next to him.

Thinking it was finally Marcus he grabbed for it, but the new message was from an unknown number with a Buffalo area code.

hey i stole ur numbr from ur brothers phone im not sorry. can i call u? we need to talk

Nick frowned and squinted at it like maybe that could make things make more sense.  Before he could show it to Bob, another message came in.

lol too late

With that his phone promptly began to ring, a call from the same unknown Buffalo-area number.  He shrugged at Bob’s questioning expression and accepted the call.

~~~

The Blue Jackets played in Buffalo on Friday, April 8th, almost two weeks after Easter.  It was long enough that Marcus had been able to get around the awkwardness of refusing to acknowledge his brother’s series of text messages on Easter and get back to talking with him normally.  Well, almost normally. Nick was getting squirrely about making plans for when the team came to Buffalo, which was weird for him because the Blue Jackets would have a full day in Buffalo before the game and Nick was usually all about family time together when they were in the same town for once.

“We’ll see,” Nick had said when they spoke on the phone on Tuesday night.  “I might already have plans.”

Marcus had agreed and acted like it didn’t bother him, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t a little hurt that his brother was going to be in town and was apparently making plans that didn’t involve him.  It was now Thursday morning and Nick still hadn’t given him a straight answer.  Marcus figured he was operating on the assumption that Nick must not want to hang out, and so he went home after practice, ate a sandwich, and fell asleep on the couch with the tv showing reruns of the Crocodile Hunter that Zemgus kept recording on his DVR.

When he woke up, the tv had been turned off, the clock on the DVR said that it was past six in the evening, and Enzo was hovering over his head, peering down into his eyes far too intently.

“Are you awake?” Tyler asked solemnly.

Marcus would admit that he jumped, but he wasn’t going to cop to the yelp of surprise.

“What are you doing?”

It wasn’t worth asking how Tyler got in, because in a fit of stupidity they’d all given Tyler a copy of their keys.  But as impulsive as Tyler could be, he was usually very good about giving some sort of forewarning before he showed up on your doorstep – or in your living room.

“Come on, get ready.  We’re going on an adventure.”

“I don’t think I’m really ready for an adventure right now.”  Marcus sat up and stretched, wincing at the kink in his neck.  “Unless it involves beer and at least one thing that Coach would frown on.”

Tyler’s face took on a considering look.  “Well, I don’t know about sinning against Disco, but there might be beer.”

“Is it worth trying to get you to tell me where we’re going?”

Tyler thought about it again.

“Nah.”

Marcus sighed.  “Let me get my shoes on.”

With Tyler, it was really just better not to argue.

The big surprised turned out to be a trip to Delaware Park, which was really rather underwhelming, seeing as it was the main place where the pack went to run when they were at home.  It was one of the few places nearby that was actually large enough for a couple of wolves to run around in without being noticed.

“Look, man, I don’t think I’m really up for a run tonight-”

“Did I say we were going for a run?”  Tyler actually stopped walking to pretend he was trying to remember.  “No?  I didn’t?  Well then, you know what they say about making assumptions.”

 Marcus succeeded in not rolling his eyes, but it was a hard thing.

“Okay, then if we’re not going for a run, what are we doing?”

“It’s a surprise!”

Tyler waggled his fingers in Marcus’s face like he was sprinkling him with pixie dust, and really, Marcus needed better friends.

He felt a little bit better when Mark appeared on his other side, a sunshine smile in place, a bounce to his step and smelling a little...off.

“You’re here!” He reached over to put a hand around Marcus’s arm, and Marcus took the opportunity to lean in closer and smell him. He frowned.

“What have you been-”

“Come on,” Mark interrupted, tugging at his arm, “We’ve been waiting.”

Marcus didn’t bother to ask why anyone was waiting for him, because with these two, he knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer.

He found out soon enough, anyway, when after walking a trail for ten minutes they veered off a path and through the brush, following a path somebody must have made recently, until they reached a small clearing.

A small clearing made even smaller by the number of wolves currently occupying it.

Marcus lost count somewhere around twenty.

“Happy Werewolf Easter!”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when somebody hugged him from the side, the growl dying in his throat when he was overtaken by the familiar scent of family, of home.  When he turned his head, Nick was smiling even more than Mark had been, his eyes bright with it and obviously all too pleased with himself.

 It was then that Marcus realized that this, whatever this was, had been what Nick was planning. And his own pack had been in on it.

He unconsciously reached up to wrap his own hand around Nick’s arm, holding it there, even as he asked, “What the hell are you talking about?  Easter was weeks ago.”

Nick didn’t at all seem to mind losing custody of his arm, simply moving so that it was around Marcus’s shoulders.  “Yeah, well this was the soonest I got to see you, so.” He shrugged.  “This is your werewolf Easter.”

“You already did one of those,” Marcus said slowly, still feeling like he was ten steps behind everyone here.  He didn’t acknowledge the fact that this showed he’d obviously seen Nick’s texts.

“But you didn’t,” Nick said, and there was something a little more meaningful behind his smile.  “And it’s no fun showing off what a great holiday I’m having if you’re not having a good time too.  So I heard that you guys didn’t do anything for Easter and we decided to bring Easter to you!”

“It was my idea,” Tyler interrupted.  “I stole his number from your phone.”

It was so typically Tyler and so well-intentioned that Marcus didn’t bother letting himself get irritated.  Everyone showed their affection in different ways. Sometimes it involved stealing your friend’s phone.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Marcus said, to the both of them.  “I wasn’t upset or something.”

From the looks they both leveled him, along with Mark, it was abundantly obvious that nobody believed him.

“Well I was upset on your behalf,” Nick said, “And so we’re having a nice big friendly multi-pack Easter.  We’ve got an Easter egg hunt and everything, and no, there isn’t any chocolate.”

They both knew that had been the next thing that Marcus was going to bring up.

He looked around the field, at the dozens of wolves mingling about. Somewhere under a pile of them he thought he spotted Hartnell and Jones. The only ones yet to shift were their little foursome at the edge of the clearing, and Bobrovsky, who was approaching them now. Sam was tumbling after him, all legs in his wolf form and a bright orange stuffed carrot in his mouth that he was keeping away from the cub chasing him.  When he saw Marcus he rushed over, triumphantly squeaking the carrot at him before squeaking himself when the other cub pounced on him.

Bobrovsky smiled fondly at the exchange.  “Bjorky’s made a friend.”

Marcus looked at him, and then at Nick and Tyler. “You guys didn’t have to do all of this. Seriously.  This is...a lot.  You didn’t have to-”

“We did,” Bobrovsky said, still smiling.  He touched Marcus’s shoulder, briefly, just next to wear Nick’s hand still rested.  “You’re Nick’s brother.  That means you’re family.”

“Besides,” Tyler drawled, “Turns out that werewolf egg hunts in the woods are like, super hardcore, so.” He shrugged, his face as schooled and impassive as it could ever be, but Marcus could tell that he was trying not to smile.  He mussed up Tyler’s hair, just to hear him squawk in protest.

“Well thank you anyway.  To all of you,” he added, glancing around the assembled group.

“Does this mean they can start?” Hartnell called from the pile of wolves about ten yards away.  “The kids are getting rowdy.”

All of the kids, apparently, because it was certainly Rasmus, unmistakably gangly with fluffy white fur, who took a running leap on top of the pile.

Nick squeezed his shoulder, his eyes sparkling mischievously.  “What do you say?  Think you can beat me?”

Marcus smiled back, feeling like his chest could burst with how happy he was, how grateful.  How much he loved his brother, his family, his pack – and, apparently, his extended pack too.

“Dude, we both know I’m going to beat you.”

They looked at each other for only a moment longer before they both raced off into the throng of wolves, already competing to see who could change the fastest, passing a laughing Bobrovsky and a smug Tyler with Mark, Sam and Bjorkstrand running in their wake.

Maybe this was what he’d been getting wrong all along: competition was fun, but holidays were for togetherness.  Competing together, it turned out, was the most fun of all.

~~~

Living out of a hotel room in an unknown city was a hard adjustment for Mike after years of owning his own house.  Going home after a game didn’t really feel like going home.  Especially when there wasn’t anything he could do to remove the aching, gaping sense of loss in his chest where his pack was supposed to be.  The guys in Washington weren’t bad, but the pack wasn’t his.

And maybe, in his few scant months as a co-alpha, his had taken on a whole new meaning of ownership.

He was just getting into bed after a game against the Penguins, the sheets smelling too anonymous, too much like hotel bleach, when his phone buzzed and a familiar name flashed across the screen.

Eagerly he opened the message.

It was a photo, dark and taken outdoors with the flash turned on, of Tyler, along with what appeared to be Scott Hartnell and Seth Jones, surrounded by a formidable sea of wolves.  The picture wasn’t of the best quality, but Mike could make out Sam wrestling over a stuffed orange carrot with a smile stitched on it with another cub, plastic eggs scattered on the ground all around them.  And there in the foreground in front of the trio of humans was Marcus, pinned to the ground by a very similar looking wolf who was apparently extremely intent on grooming his ears.

is this a belated werewolf easter? It IS! #moveovereasterbunny

Another text followed as Mike was reading.

miss u buddy <3

Mike smiled and turned off his phone, pulling the covers up around his shoulders.

He slept better that night than any night since the trade.

[swedishgoaliemafia]

Just a quick snippet after @bigneonglitter‘s request.

~~~

Apparently, Jack still hadn’t gotten over the idea of seasonal werewolves.

“Okay, so if there are Christmas werewolves, there have to be New Year’s werewolves too, right?” he asked after morning skate on New Year’s Eve.

“There’s no such thing as-”

“Let me have this, Samson.  Just this one thing.  So, if there were New Year’s werewolves.”

“Tinsel,” Ginner called over.  “Just like at Christmas.”

Ryan shook his head. “I think it’d be more like confetti. You know, just roll all around in it.”

“But it’s not a full moon,” Jack said, “So do you think they’d still be wolves or would they just like be naked humans in confetti?”

Bogo walked by on his way out of the room, shaking his head in disappointment.  “You’re all wrong,” he said. “Three words: Super. Drunk. Werewolves.”

Everybody nodded.  That seemed the most likely.

And indeed, little did they know, but they were 100% abso-freaking-lutely correct.

Wolves didn’t have to change on New Year’s without a full moon, so they were just as free as the rest of the team to get absolutely, ridiculously, ludicrously and perhaps just a little inhumanly plastered.

Or at least the Sabres did.

Marcus felt his phone buzz sometime shortly after the New Year began, and it took him more than a few tries to key in the correct code after they had spent the last few hours in this loud and very enthusiastic and celebratory bar.  When he saw the text he’d received, he couldn’t do anything more than groan loudly and slump miserably across the team’s table.

It was a text from his brother’s phone, but it once again featured a selfie of a supremely smug Scott Hartnell surrounded by a full pack of wolves decked out in party hats and sparkly 2016 glasses – and yes, there was confetti, and even tinsel.

#happywerewolfnewyear #quittersneverwin

“Valentine’s Day,” he hissed, pointing a finger at a somewhat stunned looking Rasmus.  “Valentine’s Day is going to be ours.”

[swedishgoaliemafia]

helenorvana replied to your post:helenorvana replied to your post:helenorvana...

Imma say yes, although they’re probs mainly Tyuts’ purview. T for homesickness/culture shock stuff, H for funtimes rookie stuff, and F for Dadliness Dad stuff? But mainly Tyuts looks after them. (such a snuggly happy family, absoLUTELY)

I like how they organize their duties for maximum rookie care.

I have so many fic ideas right now for their snuggly happy family and I have SO MANY THINGS TO WRITE, I have a literal list and I’m trying to write that sequel to Yours (I made significant progress today! by which I mean I finished a scene and actually wrote over 1.5k which is a big deal for me because this story is like having to arm wrestle a hammerhead shark for every word) but I just keep thinking about writing happy Lumbus snuggles where everyone loves each other and takes care of each other and ugh

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helenorvana replied to your post:helenorvana replied to your...

He’s been called the Godfather of the Russian Mafia in Col. by Fliggy (basically guides/mentors them) - older defenseman, 2nd-longest tenured Jacket (he and Boll are the last two Jackets to play in both playoff runs) - 32, married w/ 2 daughters

So he’s a reasonable bid for CBJ Team Dad then, eh?

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lurkinginmysecretshamecave replied to your post:helenorvana replied to your...

I just discovered nick foligno (and his man handling of bobrovsky…i know i know) this summer. So I leave the specifics to the experts. But would like to mention I like the man handling.

Nick Foligno’s manhandling of his goalie, an unexpected shot at beating the Penguins in the playoffs in 2014 (and winning their first playoff games!), and their twitter snark is pretty much what put the Blue Jackets on the map in fandom lately. So yes, there is a lot of manhandling in that pack. Except Bob enjoys doing a lot of it himself, because he is the alpha and he knows when you need cuddles, okay?

(In my head I can never stop thinking of Nick Foligno primarily as the brother of Marcus Foligno, like in my head that’s his top claim to fame followed by goalie adorableness.)

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helenorvana replied to your post:lurkinginmysecretshamecave replied to your...

Hartsy, probs. Idk if Saad’s already a wolf in your ‘verse, but he could be human? Tyutin for hilarity’s sake as 2nd-longest-tenured Jacket: he just Does Not Understand why his team’s so Cuddly all of a sudden? But he’s not gonna rock the boat.

Saad was already supposed to be a wolf in Chicago, and I have an inkling of an idea for him joining the pack so I’d rather leave him as a wolf. Hmmm...now I’m between Hartnell and Tyutin, because given their situations it’d be a different sort of dynamic to them “joining” the pack - tell me about Tyutin.

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lurkinginmysecretshamecave replied to your post:moggiesandtea replied to your post...

“Or do they treat him like he’s pack and get really tactile with him and protective, hanging off of him and treating him like he’s theirs and he can’t figure out why his team is so weird?” YES YES YES YES.

I feel like while I’d love to include just a little angst (because I can’t help it), it just fits them better to be the cuddly pack where they’re just so used to snuggling that they really forget that they shouldn’t be treating their human like that, and then they’re just like why bother treating him differently, he’s team, he’s pack, he should be treated just like everyone else! Which means cuddling him to death, obviously.

helenorvana replied to your post:moggiesandtea replied to your post...

Seeing as CBJ really became what they are starting in the lockout season, probably you could start from there? (And because I’m curious, I’m going to do a thing I’ll link you to if you want). And I feel like they’d be super-tactile. Perfect pack, no?

So maybe like the pack really started growing around then and their number of humans just started steadily decreasing until now only wolves are left? (I’m not sure what the thing is but go ahead!) Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I’m considering that maybe they’d try to treat a human like an actual human at first, but frankly they got terrible at remembering to treat their past humans like humans as time went on and the pack got bigger, and now they just feel like they’re rejecting a packmate if they don’t snuggle him just as much as everyone else. They worry that he’s not being hugged nearly enough, even though humans don’t quite have the same tactile needs as wolves...

But the question remains, who should be their human?

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moggiesandtea replied to your post “moggiesandtea replied to your post “moggiesandtea replied to your...”

Well, Carlson and Alzner do local car dealership commercials together and mock each other's driving... So yeah, I could see Carlson being the one driving him around.

I like the idea of them being partners in crime. They know they aren’t supposed to drive around with Alzner’s giant wolfy head hanging out the window but like, have you seen that face? Who could say no to that?? (I haven’t decided on their alpha yet but I imagine that he is rather unimpressed with this.)

punklilypotter replied to your post “moggiesandtea replied to your post “moggiesandtea replied to your...”

I fully support your decision to have the entire team be wolves for the sake of cuddles. Maybe someone in management/scouting/something is a wolf and plans it that way?!

I think that would be hard for him to swing with the rest of management - wolves are in the vast minority, so he’d have to be arguing for very specific players, and it’s not a good idea to argue for a team full of wolves seeing as the more wolves you have, the more likely there is to be unruliness/unrest.

But if we’re going with a full team of wolves - when did they end up with just wolves? Was it last season, or the start of this season? What happens if they get one dude who’s human in a team full of wolves? I like thinking about how that would work, would they be wary of him, would he get inadvertently left out because they’re used to “team things” being “pack things” and so they leave him out of invitations so they can enjoy things as a pack? Or do they treat him like he’s pack and get really tactile with him and protective, hanging off of him and treating him like he’s theirs and he can’t figure out why his team is so weird? And would Hartnell still be human-only or should he be retconned as a wolf?

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moggiesandtea replied to your post “moggiesandtea replied to your post:helenorvana replied to your...”

Well, Alzner's twitter bio reads "Husband and Dogfather." Also he likes fast cars--I bet he would be the wolf dangling his head out the window, pretending he's just a large dog. In fact, he'd probably be the wolf embarrassing all the other wolves.

I’m trying to decide who in the pack would be giving him the most shit about it. Actually, if Carlson was a wolf, would it be believable that he’d drive the car for Alzner?

helenorvana replied to your post “punklilypotter replied to your post “helenorvana replied to your...”

Articulate in that I've heard him do some ~lengthy interviews on various podcasts, and he's always been well-spoken, which cannot be said for all hockey players. Maybe not Fliggy-levels, but above-NHL-avg :) And re: Boll, I retract any objections :D

So you’re saying he’s one of the minority who doesn’t actually just repeat the same five canned and prepared answers to the press?

In this case, I’m leaning heavily towards “the entire CBJ team are wolves because cuddles.”

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punklilypotter replied to your post:punklilypotter replied to your post “helenorvana...

hockeyplayerswithpets.c… See? So cute

Thank you for sharing that picture with me, that is just so precious, and now I’m imagining him last year, holding Wennberg and Dano like that, because they were obviously just big floppy puppies and ugh, I just love the way he’s looking at them, it’s so cute.

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helenorvana replied to your post:punklilypotter replied to your post:Are there any...

…I feel like the Jackets would be the best at keeping a whole-team pack secret, somehow? Everyone’s too busy hearing all these stories about Bob being the best alpha, they don’t think to count how many pack-members come up in these stories…

I like the idea that nobody ever actually sat down to count how many wolves were on the team - like, they hear a certain name and might think “oh yeah, he’s a wolf” and hear a story about another guy and think, “yeah, he’s a wolf too” but they never actually add up all the guys they know of as wolves and then look at the team as a whole and think “wait, he’s a wolf, and so’s he, and him, and that guy might be, and...wait a minute here.....” People just don’t pay enough attention to them - or the right kind of attention, at least. And packs tend not to be too knowledgeable about each other anyway... I’m imagining someone who leaves the pack just casually mentioning on his new team that the whole Columbus team are wolves and the new pack is just like ????? What the hell?? (I’m thinking Marko Dano could drop that bomb...given how small Chicago’s pack is now, the info wouldn’t spread far.)

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helenorvana replied to your post:werewolfzero replied to your post:punklilypotter...

I would suggest against Jared Boll only because, if one’s basing his wolfiness on his fightiness, I’d like to point out that he only fought when he was starting out because no one else on the team would/was able to - “need” more than choice?

Well, I’m not quite sure if he was suggested because he used to fight, though I don’t usually choose people based on fighting reputations - honestly, I choose more based on “do I like them” and “what is their relationship with their teammates/do they have a cute relationship” and “are they a goalie” and “do they look cuddly.” So yeah, ability to fight/not fight doesn’t really factor in for me, though honestly fighting because nobody else could (with the connotation that he’s therefore defending his team) sounds very wolfy to me. Unless you have other reasons why not Boll? I’m always open for counterarguments too!

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menacherie replied to your post:werewolfzero replied to your post:punklilypotter...

well like, the edmonton oilers luck flies in the face of statistics, i mean LOOK HOW MANY FIRST PICKS THEY GOT, and yet, statistically, first picks help ur chances right??

This is...extremely true. Every year I tell myself, “the Sabres have been bad for so long, they can’t possibly be worse this year!” and yet they always somehow blow all of my expectations out of the water. And with the bad luck of the Oilers and that record Taylor Hall doesn’t wanting anyone screwing up...well, obviously statistically logical outcomes don’t always apply in hockey.

But I just can’t help but boggle at the idea that the entire team would be wolves, especially without anyone mentioning it before in a fic seeing as that would be a seriously noticeable thing. Unless the “everyone is a wolf” thing was both relatively new and they were good at keeping it waaaaayyyy down on the down-low.

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werewolfzero

replied to your

post

:

punklilypotter replied to your post:Are there any...

It might be funny/interesting to have a team where they entirely wolves

This is an intriguing idea and I like it a lot, but oh my God, the statistical chances of that happening (based on the statistics I made up about wolves) would be so astronomically low. But I want it.

punklilypotter replied to your post:punklilypotter replied to your post:Are there any...

Just so many choices! All of these guys plus like everyone else…*coughs* Jared Boll

I regularly forget that Jared Boll is a player on that team (which is sad seeing as he’s the longest-tenured guy there) but YES HIM TOO, do you see my dilemma?? There’s so many people to pick from. :( :(

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punklilypotter replied to your post:Are there any other guys on the Blue Jackets who...

I was going to be helpful and suggest a few but honestly every single of the Blue Jackets could be a cute cuddly happy wolf

That is my problem exactly. Boone Jenner? Ryan Murray? Alexander Wennberg? They’re all adorable. And like, Dalton Prout dropped Milan Lucic, that always earns points in my book.