#all the pups get seatbelts mahim and carrie can tank a crash

[ollifree]

No Wolf-Man's Land

Fic for @barbwritesstuff's IFs 'Blood Moon' and 'Thicker Than', featuring @atypicalacademic's Mahim.

[Ao3 Mirror]

A vampire and a werewolf go to the movies, and neither knows exactly who is trespassing. Set during the time skip between parts one and two of 'Thicker Than'.

Obviously I should have waited to see how the pack's going to cameo in the game before writing this. However, and I cannot stress this enough, Barb's writing is my cocaine. The setting and the characters do things to me I don't have words to adequately describe. Either I write the fanfic as it comes to me or I start mauling.

“Okay, what seats do we want?”

“Up front!”

Hyun picks the ones they normally do. Fourth row up, two from the aisle.

Chris has an aunt-related emergency. Which is unfortunate, because Hyun likes that aunt, and annoying. Because vampires can’t pick up their sons during the day no matter how much they want to. They can’t even pick up their phones. They’re dead.

But, arrangements have been made, and now Hyun and Seong have a few nights to spend together. So what if Hyun took their toddler to a late-for-toddlers movie? It’s the weekend! Plenty other people here seemed to have the same idea.

A group ahead of them in another snack queue draws Hyun’s attention. Five kids, the oldest in her tweens and the youngest about Seong’s age, and one adult. Her buzzed brown hair reminds Hyun so much of Tracy they have to double-take and make sure it isn’t her. Three of the kids look so alike they can only be related. The two girls and the adult couldn’t have passed as relatives if lives depended on it.

“Do you have any water cups for the little guy? I’ll pay for a small.” A cashier tells the babysitter her total. She shifts the youngest boy further up her hip, opens her wallet, and frowns. “Could you make those sodas medium?”

“Can do!”

Hyun hates how chipper the cashier is. They much prefer when one’s openly bored. At least they’re honest.

“Customer service always begins with a nice, big smile.”

Hyun just about stamps down the revulsion the memory brings when the oldest girl wrinkles her nose.

“What’s that smell?”

In almost comical slow motion, the babysitter lifts her head like a dog. Then, impossibly, it whips to Hyun almost too fast to follow. Worse yet is the naked loathing on her face. Worse than that is her golden eyes.

Gold eyes, black fur, lolling tongue.

No. No, no, no. Hyun did not fuck up so bad they brought Seong into werewolf territory.

Shouldn’t they be nice and pricey somewhere further in? Not asking for a downsize at the cheapest theater in what’s technically Hyun’s domain?

Is it Hyun’s?

Shit. They’ve gone and landed themselves in the grey zone, haven’t they?

Hyun picks Seong up and clutches him close, planning the fastest way to the exit. For a split second the werewolf’s golden eyes flash down to Seong. Then her cashier presents her with popcorn, drinks, and several kinds of candy.

There’s still palpable tension: the kids crowd close to her even after she’s distributed the snacks, but the immediate danger is gone. A bored teenager asks Hyun what they’ll be getting.

Hunger fills them at the flush in the teenager’s cheeks. They order a small popcorn and drink for Seong.

~

Vampire.

It’s a testament to how held-together the pack is—so the complex she’s developed can go away now—that the theater isn’t immediately plunged into chaos. Her head, however, is a different matter.

Quiet, Olli orders. As best she can, she parses the overwhelming smells of the lobby and howls the information. Carrie?Carrie?Carrie?

I hear you, dog.

Can you sense the vampire?

Her no is a snarl of frustration. Olli pushes the image harder.

“What’s going on?” Nik asks Iz.

Change of plans? Sergi asks.

No. Tell Minjo.

Yes Alpha.

Vicky. Mahim. be ready.

Yes Alpha. Their confirmations overlap.

She feels guilty about Mahim. Hani came along so he and Farro could have a date night. Not that they’d have much of a date knowing a leech is in the theater. Next to Vicky, Mahim’s the one Olli trusts most not just to protect the pups, but to put the wolf away and get the pups comforted again.

Nik grabs her hand after they show their tickets. “Alpha, what if it tries to take us?”

Olli squeezes his hand and smiles. “I rip their head off.”

“What about Mum?” JiAn asks.

“Your Mum’s with the pack.” Olli hopes she hasn’t accidentally lied to them. If Minjo isn’t spending her night at the den, Sergi likely isn’t the only one racing to her. “Wanna guess what the pack will do?”

“Rip their heads off?”

“That’s right.”

They take their seats near the back row. Nik swaps with JiAn to sit next to her. Olli settles Alek on her lap. She owes Mahim and Farro a date night, but she’ll succeed in her original mission to give Minjo a night without the pups.

Probably a night worrying about them being near a vampire, but a night without the pups! Speaking of.

She unlocks her phone and goes to the pack’s group chat. don’t howl for me unless it’s an emergency. the pups are enjoying the movie.

Olli nearly puts her phone away, but thinks twice and scours her contacts for Lee’s number. vampire in the theater. not planning a scene rn but if things go south we wouldn’t mind a crossbow if you’re not busy. She follows it up with the address.

Lee replies surprisingly quickly. Ed already messaged me. In the area on alert.

you’re the best lee

I’m going to start charging you.

“You guys wanna take a picture?” Most the pups lean in. Alek gnaws a fistful of popcorn. “Everyone say, movies!”

“Movies!”

Olli sends the picture to Lee. you would charge a single mother? ☹ She backs out of the conversation and puts the picture in the pack chat.

Lee replies. That one on your far right looks half your age.

you would charge a teenage mother? ☹

Do NOT say you were a teenage mother. It arrives so soon after hers he had to have already been typing it.

lmao

get teen mumed bullet boy

really tho. Thank You for dropping anything else you had lined up. anything changes ed’ll contact you

She goes to her messages with Ed, which consists mostly of Pokémon Go screenshots. good call on texting lee. anything happens be sure to keep him up to speed. Olli makes sure the text goes through and turns off her phone.

There’s still time before previews start when the vampire walks in.

Fuck off.

She realizes she didn’t keep it in her head when Iz and Hani giggle. “I don’t think it heard you, Alpha Olli.”

“That’s why no one likes a leech,” Olli agrees.

She doesn’t look away from the vampire through the entire hour and a half jukebox musical. She can’t even say if there’s anyone else in the cinema. The only times she moves is when Alek howls popcorn or thirsty.

“Can I have your soda if you’re not drinking it?” Hani whispers halfway through the movie.

“I want some!” Iz hisses.

“Share,” Olli reminds them. She hears them pouring it out between their cups. On her other side JiAn and Nik split a bag of candy. Good. They’re focusing on the movie. Having fun instead of worrying what a vampire in the theater means. Or if it means anything.

killkillkillkillkill

Good thing it’s new moon, so she’s the only one who hears how damn right it’s being.

The final number plays out on screen, and the characters dance over the credits. People block her view as they stand—so there were others here—but her nose tells her the vampire hasn’t left. Like hell she’s tucking her tail and running before a leech.

Eventually, it’s just them and the vampire. It turns its head as if to check, yes, the werewolf’s been the one boring holes in its head the entire movie. Changing during a new moon is so effortless now. The wolf in her wants it to try. She wants it to try. On four legs she’d be across the cinema in a blink. Pin it below the seats where the pups can’t see and

ripripripriprip

It picks up the kid and leaves.

Between the three buckets there’s about half a tub of popcorn left. They dump it into one, and Olli scoops out some for Alek in the water cup after wiping it down.

A surprise waits for them in the lobby. All of Team Former Stray. Including Carrie.

“Mahim!” Hani and Iz squeal. They launch into his arms and bombard him with the plot of the movie.

Vicky and Carrie stare in the same direction. Olli just makes out the short form of the vampire slipping through the dense crowds.

“It’s not someone I know,” Carrie says at last.

“Can’t win ‘em all.” Olli addresses the pups. “We’re all using the restroom before we go home.”

Ed takes Alek, and Vicky goes with Olli. While Iz and Hani enter the stalls, Vicky pulls out her phone and opens the notes app.

How’s a leech get a kid?

Nice to know someone else has been thinking the same thing for the last ninety minutes. Vicky passes over her phone.

probably the same way a human gets a werewolf one. or vice versa

Vicky arches a brow.

they looked VERY similar

They don’t need to howl to know what the other is thinking. Fuck.

“Can I ride with Mahim?” Hani asks when they’re all back together. Then it’s a shuffle of getting the booster seat into Vicky’s car, and figuring out whose legs fold easiest. Carrie and Mahim wind up smooshed together in the back of Vicky’s car. Ed gets his usual spot in Vicky’s passenger seat.

Iz waves to them from the back of Olli’s. Mahim and Ed wave back.

Turn around, Iz. Vicky howls. Iz sticks her tongue out before sitting down and doing her seatbelt.

Olli frowns at the number of unread messages in the pack chat. Not the mention private texts and smaller groups, let alone the chats she’s not in….

“Alpha?” Nik pipes up. “What are you howling?”

“M’not howling, bud. Just thinking.”

“Oh. Thinking what?”

She opens the spoofed version of Spotify (affectionately named Spoofy) that believes she pays for premium. “I’m thinking how catchy those songs were.” The pups cheer when the movie’s soundtrack starts.

Farro howls. A bus leaves their territory. follow?follow?follow?

No. Meet back at the den.

Hi Dad!

Hi Hani.

As Olli waits her turn to leave the garage, Marco catches her eye. She manages a tight smile. He takes her hand and massages the knuckles below her claws to turn them back to nails. The gate arm lifts and it turns out to not be the best thing to do while she’s driving stick. But the comforting rub he gives her thigh does the job just as well.

~

Do werewolves not blink?

Hyun feels eyes on them all throughout the movie. Eyes and wrath. They forget to act. Shift, cross their limbs, blink. Even werewolves know better, right? Not in front of so many humans. Not in front of kids.

They decided against calling Iliya. Yes, he’s the strongest vampire they know. Outside whatever freaky feats Dominus is capable of. And yes, Iliya’s as good at keeping secrets as he claims to be. But this is Hyun’s son. Tracy and Marcel already know about him. The more vampires Hyun tells about Seong, the more likely it is a vampire Hyun doesn’t tell finds out.

Hyun waits after the movie ends. One of those five werewolf kids needs to pee. Right now.

Damn the big one for getting mediums.

Gradually the cinema empties. Maybe…the werewolves already left? Out the door on their side? It’s the lingering emotion Hyun’s experiencing. Surely. Against their better judgement, Hyun turns to look. Golden eyes glare down at them.

Hyun grabs Seong and books it.

More werewolves wait in the lobby. Hyun’s not sure what instinct tips them off, but something draws their eye to the group. The way they watch Hyun cinches it. And the one in the black tank top—

Black fur, lolling tongue.

Clutching Seong, Hyun runs for the exit. Of course the werewolf phoned for backup. They’re so stupid. Why didn’t they call Iliya? They’re here for their kids, they’re here for their kids, they’re here for their kids. Why is the lobby so damn bright? They burst into the night and the shadows at last converge over them.

What follows is the most agonizing eight minutes of Hyun’s life and death. Constantly checking the crowds and what they can see of the lobby. Unsure if shadows even work on werewolves. No taxis drive by, and they aren’t letting go of Seong for anything. Least of all finding out an Uber will be longer than the bus.

Finally it pulls around. Hyun drops the shadows so the driver knows to stop. Fuck the grey zone. Hyun isn’t stepping foot anywhere near here. They’ll worry about the ramifications of losing more of their domain later. Some other vampire can get themself mauled over a movie.

As the bus turns a corner, Hyun spots graffiti a delivery van covered on their way to the theater. Even more on the nose than their cup literally runnething over. A giant red paw print.

Shit.

#olli writes #blood moon #thicker than #fic #sona things #mahim my beloved 💖 #wolf olli: *becomes alpha* #wolf olli: *immediately develops anxiety and imposter's syndrome* #wolf olli: 'surely these things aren't connected' #poke go is ace culture i will not be taking questions at this time #mahim: what did we say about expressing emotional needs? #wolf olli: *sweats* #sorry hyun i love writing you but you live in the same world as my self-insert only one of you's getting top billing #all the pups get seatbelts mahim and carrie can tank a crash