Day 28 - Borrowed Clothing
Day 28 for @fluffyjuly
Freedom in Fur
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Jackson kept his expression neutral as Elijah stepped out, dressed in a few of his old clothes.
He hadn’t thought much about the size differences between them; Elijah as a vampire was as solid as marble and managed to take up space from his present alone and yet in Jackson’s shirts and jeans it was suddenly noticeable.
The undershirt's neck was loose around his neck showing far more skin than normal, even without the collars of the vampire’s suits; sleeves of his flannel hung over the man’s hands leading him to roll them up as he left the cabin.
The jeans needed the salvaged belt from Elijah’s suit to keep them up fully.
The suit itself was a torn mess of fabric that had started to be more of a hindrance as it had done nothing but serve as a reminder of Elijah’s failure to control himself and only partial shift and so itself helped triggered his new anger issues- or rather his control and management of that anger, since Jackson had overheard Elijah shout at Ansel that he had always been this angry.
Jackson was honestly impressed by the mess Esther Mikaelson had managed to make.
Klaus’ controlling and clingy behaviour caused by being a wolf kid raised outside a pack, no one to truly understand why he felt things so sharply and now Elijah dealing with sudden wolf emotions and instincts on top of and warring against whatever he felt as a vampire.
Not that Jackson could say any of that out loud; he respected Ansel too much to bring up the obvious sore point that was his son, even if he didn’t change how Jackson felt about Klaus Mikaelson, and any enjoyment he had at seeing Elijah Mikaelson lose control died when he realised how much it shook the man.
It wasn’t like Jackson was unfamiliar with what he was feeling and mocking him for it felt to much like doing it to someone who had just triggered the curse which Elijah pretty much was.
And wasn’t like he missed what Elijah’s wolf looked like; millenia old vampire or overgrown wolf pup? It was giving Jackson a headache from the outside let alone how Elijah must feel and that wasn’t getting into the fact his mother had apparently tortured him to cause the need for the change.
So here Jackson was doing a favour for Hayley, watching over Elijah as Ansel tried to teach him all he needed to control himself and balance both sides of himself, in case the witch in question came for them.
It wasn’t just for Hayley, Jackson was very aware Elijah had been captured alongside Oliver, attempting to help the kids and while Jackson had failed to save Oliver he wasn’t letting Esther win here.
“Thank you for the borrowed clothing.” Elijah said as he paused beside Jackson for a moment and Jackson couldn’t stop noticing how the other man had to look up at him.
Looking up at him through dark eyelashes and sharp cheekbones.
His mouth and throat ran dry and he coughed awkwardly to fix it, shifting stiffly a little away from Elijah, the other man gave him a confused look before Ansel called him away.
The raised eyebrow and knowing look Ansel shot him as Elijah passed him made it clear that while Elijah had missed the signals still getting used to wolf senses alongside vampires’, the elder werewolf hadn’t. ‘Hayley must never know’ he thought even as part of him wondered if Hayley saw the same when she looked at Elijah, ‘probably’ he acknowledged given her feelings for the man. It was the same part of him that wanted to know if she had kissed him and what that was like.
