#tmitr chapter 13

[thelastpilot]

The Monster in the Room- Chapter 13

Okay holy crud, I capped it at just below 16k. I was GOING to do everything all at once but decided against it, so believe it or not this is actually cut in half. I hope its okay, I had to do a lot of work shopping but hopefully it hits the right notes. Let me know what you think! 

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 , Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12

“Okay, everything seems to be in order then. Please remember what I’ve asked, you and your friends are welcome to the campus but please don’t go causing any trouble. Remember that this is still a school, alright?”

Ms. Bustier folded her arms in an attempt to be serious but she couldn’t help the smile on her face, her tone far from scathing. She just couldn’t manage it as she looked down on her newest and most in-need student, practically glowing with relief to see him standing readily out in the open with his tail thumping steadily on the tile. Even as she spoke he scrabbled a little in place impatiently, something almost like a wolfish smile on his face as she looked over the last of what she had brought him.

A positively derelict television was left in the corner on an equally as dated cart that still moved easily enough. She was mostly unfamiliar with human technology but had used and experimented with some of their simpler contraptions out of curiosity before. She had a great long-standing appreciation for the complexity of human story-telling and their recorded programs were among her favorites, even if she always did struggle to get them working. She was hoping Marinette would be able to live up to her promise to oversee all the more intricate needs of their proposed ‘movie night’, trusting her to see to it that it all went smoothly.

She was glad the empathic witch was not there in a moment to detect the slight worry that rattled through her, knowing that the children would be alone for the night.

Really there was no threat… the moon was ages away and the children were all capable of critical thinking and self-defense, not that any of them would need it of course but…

She shook her head a little, attempting to rid herself of her anxieties and just be happy for them all that they were boldly making progress in the earnest, open way that children do. If any of the other teachers found out that she had allowed this… she wasn’t sure what would happen. She had refused to admit to the children at the time that no one else would have ever let this happen, siteing a thousand ways it could go poorly and how the school would be held liable for anything that took place.

In truth… Ms. Bustier had broken perhaps a dozen very serious regulations in the way that she cared for Nino. If her superiors discovered even a single thread of what she had waved or overlooked then she wasn’t sure Mr. Damocles could or would protect her in the slightest. Perhaps he’d sympathize with her decisions, surely no one would morally disagree, but that didn’t mean that it was sanctioned or supported. If her peers were simply turning a blind eye then she was grateful, but she had urged the students not to advertise their intentions regardless.

She would take all responsibility, in the event of an incident.

The cervitaur took a deep breath as she quickly overlooked the extra mats and blankets taken from the abandoned nurses office on site. They were far from perfect, but hopefully no one would mind too much.

When she was satisfied she looked back to Nino to see him nod, standing and crossing over to her to nudge her foreleg gently in a gesture she was sure meant ‘thank you’. She leaned down to press the weight of her hand on the space between his ears as an approximation of the gesture in return, glad to see his eyes close in contentment instead of seeming uncomfortable with it like he might have been a week ago. He really was coming so far… and her decision to allow the sleepover in hopes that it would help him seemed suddenly all the stronger.

She knew she was doing the right thing here.

“If that’s everything you need from me I should probably be leaving then, don’t want to ‘cramp your style’ or anything like that,” she giggled a little at herself, laughing again as Carter reappeared from his scouting mission out in the hallway and demanded her affection before she left. The wolf rolled his eyes, but whether it was at what she had said or Carter’s eager dance on his hind legs she wasn’t sure. “Remember,” she reiterated, “don’t leave campus, don’t make a mess, and don’t be too loud. You’re all pretty far from the other live-in students but if you all decide to wander around then I don’t want a noise complaint, it would leave me with a lot of explaining to do. Oh and if there’s an emergency-,”

Despite the wolf’s uncharacteristic good mood Nino finally groaned, sighing as audibly as possible and interrupting her.

“Okay okay fine I get it, I’ll leave you to it, but please remember to reach out to me if you need me. I taught you how remember? The others can do it for you too.”

Nino groaned again, nodding moodily… but he didn’t fool her. Despite his increasing range of comfort with his new form he still hadn’t gotten the hang of controlling when his tail was wagging, always managing to give himself away.

Madame Bustier took a moment, and smiled. She nodded once and said, “Alright then, I hope you have fun Nino I really do. I know it will be great, I hope to hear all about it on Monday so please enjoy your weekend, alright?”

He barked at that and jumped forward, nudging Carter out of the way and sending him skittering backwards a little so he could lean his full weight into her legs. His weight and strength forced her to shift her footing but she knew to interpret this as both a friendly gesture and as a goodbye, until next time. She returned it as best as she could and said her final goodbye, holding her hope in her heart as she went.

  Nino watched Ms. B as she left, relishing in the surge of gratefulness he always felt in her presence and prayed that he had been able to communicate how much he appreciated her while also having a little bit of a back and forth. He still hadn’t gotten to a place where he could communicate in this form the way Alya did, but regardless he was still leagues better at expressing himself then he had been a week ago. The animalistic body language and motions were still stiff and awkward but… it was coming more naturally to him by this point. It wasn’t so repulsive to indulge at least, and it made him more easily understood.

Friday had come again and it found Nino in a much better place then the last one had. He wasn’t… perfect. He honestly wouldn’t even go so far as to say good but… it was Friday. The only real major change his mood had undergone was the fact that he was looking forward to something, which was a new development in his numb, ambling routine. Poor Carter was going mad from sheer boredom and lack of exercise, but as always he was faultlessly patient. Well mostly faultless, he did complain a little but it wasn’t something he blamed Nino for, he genuinely considered the circumstances and Nino’s condition to be completely unrelated things.

But Nino was going to make it up to him, tonight. He had made up his mind as soon as his friends had started to make plans, Adrien having been eager to run back to him after school on Wednesday to tell him that their ideas had been approved. Nino knew that they probably wouldn’t mind playing with Carter if he asked them too, and that maybe this sleepover could be something for Carter to look forward to as well, not that the Shepherd needed any prompting. Even after Ms. B had left Carter was energetically pacing the room, zipping back and forth to sniff all the new cushions.

‘Gross!’ he proclaimed, sneezing at one of the bigger ones but sounding pretty happy about it for whatever reason, just glad for some new stimuli maybe. Nino felt a wave of guilt at that, but shook it off, trotting over himself to investigate a little.

‘Yikes, these do smell really bad… I hope they won’t be able to tell. Is there anything we can do to make it better you think?’

‘We can do this,’ Carter stated, climbing onto it and getting nice and settled before leaning down to start rubbing his face all over it.

He was already on his back rolling around on the sterile, chemical smelling cushion before Nino could say anything, the wolf barking out a laugh as he charged forward to push Carter off of it.

‘Dog smell is not a better smell!’ he growled playfully, laughing again as Carter wiggled out from underneath him to finish what he started. Nino shoved him off at least twice more before giving up, shaking his head as Carter got good and committed to rubbing dog hair over literally everything. ‘Ah yes… thank you Carter.’

‘I’m here to help.’

‘Thanks buddy.’

‘Is the cat coming? Where will he sit?’

Nino paused, looking down his muzzle to glare slightly at the mischievous looking dog, perched readily above the largest of the cushions.

‘…I don’t know what you’re gonna do with that information, so I’m not going to give it to you.’

‘I’ll wait then.’

Nino gave him a solid warning glare but his dog seemed unperturbed, tail wagging happily as he jumped from spot to spot trying to pick his favorite. After a moment Nino huffed, sitting in place and hoping that Adrien would have a good sense of humor about whatever antics Carter might indulge in over the course of the night.

School had ended about three hours ago, the massive crowd of weird and wicked leaving to wherever it is they all went when the bell dismissed them. Nino had gotten used to passing the time by sticking his head out in the gap in the door, listening to the school as it swelled and bowed and quieted, until he was seemingly alone again with his dog. This time however he was listening for something slightly different, hoping to pick out the footsteps of his friends before too much more time passed away.

Adrien was the only one who had stopped by briefly before running home, checking in to let him know that everyone would be back in a few hours after they picked up some things. They couldn’t bring all their stuff to school without people asking a lot of questions, so for his sake they decided to be subtle about the whole thing. Still though he had hoped that Marinette might arrive first, since she apparently lived very nearby. He wasn’t sure what they would do on their own but… he would try and encourage her to talk so he could listen, as was usually his method when Adrien came by himself. For the thousandth time since Wednesday it occurred to him again that he really wasn’t sure how this was going to go, knowing he was going to be slightly on the outside just because he couldn’t speak as easily as they could. Still though… if they had fun and he was allowed to sit and listen then that would be nice too.

He sank into himself a little as he continued to reflect, and he settled down to wait. He had been fending off his nerves all day and was genuinely really trying to just be excited and not worry about anything at all. What was the worst that would happen? He had spent enough time in this form to know that he wasn’t going to lash out at anyone and hurt them, not unless something entirely new overcame him. And if that were to happen, what could he possibly do regardless? No… it was comforting to him that the idea seemed paranoid, even considering the circumstance. No, it was much more likely that a dark mood would overtake him rather than anything else, and his friends had taken great pains to assure him that if that were to happen that he had every permission in the world to excuse himself. No one was expecting miracles or leaps and bounds. No one was trying to fix something that couldn’t be fixed. They just wanted to spend time getting to know him as best as they could… and he wanted to give them something to know. Something other than this…

Something to know him by. That was all.

He sighed deeply, pushing out the huge huff of air and using it as a physical que to get over himself. He promised he wasn’t going to ruin it, so he needed to keep it together.

 He jumped a little when Carter unexpectedly slumped down next to him, the Shepard rolling into his side and sighing a little as well if only because it seemed like the thing they were doing right now. Carter rolled his eyes up to look at him to check that yes indeed this is what we’re doing right now, just to make sure, and the action made Nino chuckle a little despite his swelling of nerves.

‘How are we doing?’ Carter asked him gently, rolling his head a little to make eye contact a bit easier and looking pretty adorable in the process.

‘I’m a bit nervous for my new friends to come over,’ Nino admitted after a while, deciding to be honest. ‘I’m not sure how it’s going to go…’

‘It’s okay! I’m here. And the fox and the girl and the cat will be here soon. Does that make you nervous?’

Nino considered the question, not sure how to phrase it in a way that Carter would understand and still trying to keep an ear out for their approach. It wouldn’t be too long now.

‘I just…,’ Nino laid his head down on the ground. ‘I want them to like me. I want them to know me a little better and I don’t know how to do that.’

‘I can help! I know a lot of things about you, the things that matter. I can tell them, if you want. But I think they already know.’

Nino paused, rolling his own head to the side to look at Carter after a moment. He felt that familiar fondness for his dog creeping up on him again and he couldn’t help it as his tail wagged just a little.

‘Oh yeah? What kinds of things.’

‘The important things. You like the rain and staying up late, and food that makes me sneeze. You don’t like it when I get your bed wet but you never get too mad even if you pretend to be. You’re good and kind and lonely, and you let me help even if I don’t know how. You try really hard. And you’re very brave.’

Carter’s own tail was thumping as he looked at his boy, muzzle parted in a happy grin while relaying his list. He had many more things he could think of, but he was trying to think of the most important ones that his new friends might need to know if they didn’t already.

The wolf was staring at him in shock, something undeniably soft present in his eyes.

‘You laugh a lot! And you’re laughing more, again. You take care of me even when you don’t feel well and you try and make other people happy even when you’re not very happy-,’

‘Carter…’

‘You share your food and keep me safe, you like cats which is fine. You like me more, which is good-‘

‘Carter, stop. I can’t handle it when you do this.’

The dog made to speak again but Nino elected instead to roll on top of him, squishing him down in a desperate attempt to get him to stop. Carter yipped in surprised and started trying to wiggle his way out but Nino effortlessly prevented it, looking down at him and quickly stooping his head to nudge him gently. He took the time to say what he should always say more.

‘I love you. You know that right?’

Carter paused instantly in his struggle, seeming to consider the question for a moment from his position at the bottom of the dog pile.

‘… of course I know that!’ The Shepherd barked and leapt back into his struggle with earnest, seemingly outraged at the suggestion that he didn’t and Nino pretended to be thrown by it, when in reality the canine didn’t stand a chance against him. Nino allowed himself to be pinned instead by an indignant Carter, who stood over him to say. ‘I love you! You know that right?’

‘Of course I know buddy. I know.’

‘I love you!’ he reiterated, just to be sure. ‘So don’t be nervous, alright? I know you and I love you. And they’ll know you and they’ll love you too. And maybe you’ll get to know them too. Or maybe not. It’s just one night, they’ll come back for lunch and you can try then too.’

Nino let out a breath he had been holding, focusing on what his dog was saying and letting it fill him with warmth, nodding his head awkwardly after a moment in an attempt to curb his unease. Carter was right, he was usually at least sort of right… it was just one night. He couldn’t put the weight of the world on one night in, he had more time… so long as they kept coming by and he kept up the strength to go and meet them.

That was something that kept popping up, something in his darkest moments he had distantly been resigned to never feeling again.

Just a vague kind of assurance that there was some sort of future out there. Something even small to look forward to. Like lunch or friends, or school. It was okay to feel scared and hopeless now… maybe it would be better soon.

He just had to keep moving forward to find out.

 Carter looked like he was going to keep on with his list of important things given the opportunity when he abruptly became aware of Nino’s distraction, the wolf angling towards the door and growing still in a way that Carter knew to copy as soon as he saw it.

Sure enough, his boy had heard something he hadn’t right away.

‘I think that’s them, off boy!’ Nino said in a hurry, shooing Carter off of him and scrambling to his feet. Nino gave himself a quick and nervous shake, trying to dislodge some of the dust from his fur. He fussed for a second, trying to sort out how many of them there were and focusing on the sound.

It was easiest to sort out their voices, still indistinct and far away but they all had different tones. Adrien was the easiest to separate quickly, and Marinette’s high bouncing words second. Alya didn’t seem to be speaking much in that exact second, but the moment she spoke up at all her more alto oriented range was clear to him, directly in the middle.

He couldn’t help that his tail was wagging, his anxious discomfort surprisingly not enough to quell his eagerness, in the moment. His room was unpleasant and the cushions were… kind of a mess and sure it was about as dusty and crappy as always in here but… his tail slowed, just a little, embarrassment taking its place in his mind. As they got closer the feeling grew, and he hung his head a little as he absorbed his poor attempt at having tried to be ready for them. But after a moment he shook his head again, letting the shake spread through his whole body once more and stood firmly on his paws, forcing himself to hold his head high.

He was going to have a sleepover. He was going to watch a movie with his friends and he was going to have fun doing it, and nobody not even himself was going to ruin it. He let his natural born stubbornness burn in his chest and stood with as much power as he could muster, facing the door and prepared for it. And although Carter would never say it to him for fear that it might upset him somehow, in that moment Nino looked very much like a wolf.

And his dog was very proud of the boy he knew was inside.

 Nino and Carter waited together in the middle of the room as their friends finally arrived, the trio still chatting amongst themselves as Adrien knocked on the door politely, calling out ahead.

“Nino! It’s us, we’re gonna come in okay?”

Adrien waited a beat for a deep bark to answer, and when it did he stepped inside with the biggest smile he could offer, barely managing to hold on to all the stuff he had in his arms.

Nino perked up in instant curiosity, looking away for a moment as Alya came in second bearing a box full of something (food, he imagined, based on the smell) and Marinette came in third, seemingly holding nothing.

Marinette actually had less on her than she normally would have, her bag she used for school presumably left at home and only a very small clutch bag hanging on her side. Despite its miniscule size however, she seemed to be struggling with it, flashing Nino a somewhat strained yet warm smile as she hefted it onto one of their dragged out desks they often sat in. The thunk it made on the desktop seemed ridiculously out of place, and it took Adrien running up to him to finally distract him from the oddity.

“Hey man! Sorry we took so long, I was the one who was taking forever and then Marinette and Alya were waiting for me cause I said I’d be right there and- uh, sorry,” Adrien cut off his rambling awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly as if he really had something to apologize for. Adrien knelt down next to him to be more on his level, laying a hand on Nino’s back as he said it and starting in surprise when the massive animal leaned into him, abruptly turning the motion into a hug of sorts. Adrien was shocked by the sudden affection, but rushed to reciprocate as quickly as he could, a laugh slipping out as he wrapped his arms around the creature and ruffled the fur slightly, reassured by the wolf’s wagging tail.

Adrien figured he could safely take that as an apology accepted, and he was beaming when he stood up again.

“I brought a bunch of blankets from home and some stuff for myself, and also a few other things I thought you might think are cool!” he continued brightly, gesturing to the big ball of stuff he had dropped unceremoniously off to the side, too eager to greet his friend to find a proper place for it just yet. Nino started to head over towards it to investigate, but suddenly remembered his manners and turned back to face his other friends.

Alya was standing near her preferred lunch desk with her box of assorted things left discarded on its tabletop, the kitsune too distracted by Carter’s energetic greeting to unpack it. The Shepherd was bouncing around Marinette’s legs, woofing at her happily as she stooped down to return his enthusiasm. Even as she did though she looked over Carter’s shoulder and made eye contact with Nino, laughing as she battled the dog just to say “Hello Nino! Sorry we’re- oh Carter PLEASE- sorry we’re a little behind! It took me forever to pack up everything I wanted to bring.”

“Girl seriously you’ve practically got a whole building in there,” Alya spoke up. “I TOLD you you didn’t need all that! You could literally just go home for anything you forgot anyways!”

“I had a lot I wanted to bring!” Marinette defended herself, about to say something more before Carter knocked her off balance, sending her sprawling on her back in a fit of giggles.

Alya burst into laughter at that but tried to smother her budding laughter, chuckling as she turned at gave Nino a friendly wave. “Hey Nino, I was on time, for the record, I was just trying to get this menagerie moving.”

In one motion she put her hands on the desk in front of her and seemed to sort of leap, forcing herself up and shifting forms as she did it. Her hands shifted instantly into paws and she was suddenly a fox vaulting clear over the box and the desk and landing agilely in front of him, her two tails swishing out behind her and swaying in greeting.

He reacted this this naturally and lowered his head to her level, tail wagging happily as she sauntered up to him, unafraid of their difference in size. She prodded him once with her angled snout and headbutted his chin and he reciprocated as best as he could without squishing her, the actions making him happy in that weird, unfamiliar way that some things did.

He first felt it when Ms. B had found him in the alleyway, the teacher able to use her body language to get something across to him that he might not have understood normally. And he felt it again, much more potently in Mr. Damocles’ office when he mimicked Nino’s instinctual bow of respect. Every once in a while, there was just a movement or a gesture that appealed directly to this other part of him and though at first it brought him a lot of discomfort Alya had been carefully working with him throughout the week to not mind those things so much. She triggered those odd animalistic responses all the time from him, and he was slowly starting to get used to it.

‘Hi Alya,’ he said finally, though it wasn’t needed. ‘Thanks for coming, sorry the rooms sort of-,’

‘Your rooms fine,’ Alya quickly interrupted him, opening her muzzle in that big foxy grin. ‘It’s gonna be something else by the time Marinette’s through with it, seriously you’ve got no idea how much stuff she’s got in her bag.’

Nino paused, titling his head before looking up at the clutch that had confused him before. ‘Does she have a different bag? Or just that one? Cause uh, that one’s tiny. And heavy I guess.’

He looked down when the fox visibly brightened, the creature running off towards Marinette and laughing out loud. Before Nino could ask Marinette was suddenly struggling to her feet, passing Carter off to the kitsune that came to say hi.

She ran her hands over her dress in an attempt to straighten it out a little as she laughed, putting a hand out towards Nino who gladly came towards her. When he did she placed her hand flat on his head and looked him in the eye, patting her bag with her free hand as she smiled.

“Okay! We’re all here finally so first things first! This is gonna take the most work so I wanted to start right away, if that’s okay with you Nino.” She beamed at him sweetly and he swore you could just feel the kindness that radiated off of her sometimes. She only looked away to open her bag, reaching into it as she continued to talk and ignoring the fact that Nino was openly gaping at her as she did.

Marinette was still leaning into it as she talked excitedly about her ideas, her entire arm lost inside this completely tiny completely ordinary looking bag, and Nino was suddenly reminded that oh yeah. This girl was a witch. He only just remembered.

“So! I know how much you hate your room and how it’s not the most accommodating place ever. It’s fine really, but it can be better and much more comfortable I bet! So I asked my mom about it and she was saying that the first thing to do was to get to cleaning it and then start working with the space! Soooo- oh where is it- ah yes!”

She seemed to struggle with something for a second before getting a grip on whatever it was inside, holding the brim of the bag with one hand as she pulled out the very beginnings of what looked like a long wooden stick.

Nino scrambled backwards and watched in awe (very aware of the fact that Alya was openly laughing at him) as Marinette pulled out an entire broom from her clutch bag, leaning it against the seat and immediately reaching back in for something else, producing what looked like a purple velvet bag and then finally a little duster, attached with its own little purple velvet bag.

Aside from the glamours he had seen and the enchantments around the school, this was the first example of actual magic he had seen up close. Like not the spooky supernatural kind with monsters and beasts, just the sort of…

Mary Poppin’s kind.

Marinette held up her items triumphantly, grinning at him and acknowledging full well that she was showing him something he’d never seen before. She was just hoping she was erring on the side of ‘cool’ as opposed to ‘scary’. So far the wolf’s shocked expression seemed to be favoring the former.

She held the broom out to him so he could see it, letting him investigate it thoroughly and giggling a little when he sneezed. Sometimes enchantments could do that to people, the misplaced static is exuded sometimes tickling the nose. Or maybe it was the fact that it probably had a lot of dust on it, that too.

“This is my moms!” Marinette explained, clipping her bag shut with one hand until she would need it again. “The cleaning stuff that is, the bag is actually mine. I made it myself and then wove in all the enchantments over the summer, it’s one of the most useful kind of bags a witch can have. It’s called a ‘Bottomless Bag’. I’m sure you can guess what it does,” she giggled, enjoying Nino’s slow rise in interest and excitement and the radiating humor and energy that was present all throughout the room. She could sense Nino’s slight caution too however and thought it would be best to explain.

“You see, my family lives in a bakery and it can get really messy all the time in there, flour settles on everything like you wouldn’t believe, especially if you’re as big handed about it as my father is. And my mom’s workshop can get really out of sorts too. The bakery part of our house is just actually a bakery if you can believe it, I mean my mom puts a little enchantment on the bread sometimes just to be nice but… don’t tell anyone though, that’s actually against the rules, even if it’s usually just good luck charms and other nice things.” She paused for a second, her face screwing up as she attempted to regain her train of thought. “Oh! But my mom has a workshop too where she makes charms and magic objects and repairs stuff for other people, and that gets so torn up when she’s really busy. So, ages ago my mom made this broom to clean around the house for us and she’s letting me borrow it for now so long as I bring it back. And she lent me the duster too for the little spots, I charged them both before I came.”

“That’s great Marinette!” Adrien exclaimed, crossing over to the desk to examine them curiously. He turned the duster over in his hands before seeming to realize something, putting it down quickly and backing away. “Oops, uh I’ll let you do that one.” And Marinette giggled a little.

Nino was sitting now, looking between the two in confusion when Alya leapt to his side (followed by a panting Carter), helpfully explained ‘Adrien’s got a feather allergy. Combine that with dust and he’d probably be miserable before too long.’

‘Wait so, are they seriously just going to clean the room themselves? Like, the objects? They just magically move around and clean it all up?’

“Yeah you got it,” Alya answered out loud now, attempting to keep everyone involved. “Witches can enchant all kinds of things, this is just one of those household spells that magic users have to make their lives easier. Some assembly required, but no labor needed. Pretty handy.”

‘That’s so cool!’ Nino barked, bouncing up on his paws to stand against the desk, sniffing at her bag curiously. ‘Tell her I think that’s really cool. What else does she have in here?’

“Nino says that that’s awesome,” Alya relayed, smiling at his eagerness and glad to see that he was in a good mood so far. “He also wants to know what else is in the bag.”

“Oh gosh everything,” Marinette said, sounding a little exasperated with herself, which made everyone laugh. “I was trying to think about stuff that you might need so I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff my mom gave me, stuff to help clean the room and decorate it a little, stuff for Carter, a DVD player, like 40 DVDs.”

The wolf grew still for a second, his large ears swiveling up at her voice and were eventually followed by his eyes, looking at her as if he hadn’t quite heard her right. Then after a moment, his ears swiveled back on his head and she could feel an abrupt flood of emotion. Guilt, gratitude, shock, embarrassment. Something warm and hard to name, something cold and hard to beat.

A whine slipped out as he looked between her and the bag, and Marinette didn’t wait for Alya to translate, already shaking her head.

“Nino I want to give you these things. They’re old and my family doesn’t need them anymore, my mother set all these things aside so we could give them to you, they want to help. I told them how barren your room was and it was everything I could do to keep my parents from charging over here themselves. Trust me it’s nothing grand really but, I hope they’ll be useful to you.”

“I brought you some things too! I’m not sure that you’ll like them or need them for anything but I wanted to share some of what I had.” Adrien walked back towards his things and pulled out a large woven bag that was of a style that Nino couldn’t say he had ever seen before. From it though he pulled out a handful of normal looking clothes for Nino to see, smiling at him softly. He packed them away and also patted the side of the bag, taping something solid and metal sounding. “I also have some uh, Never Never things, if you’d like to see them at some point. I think you’ll like them but I’d understand if you didn’t.”

“I didn’t have much to bring I’m sorry,” Alya said genuinely, gesturing with her head at the food she brought. “Kitsunes don’t really own a lot of physical things, so I brought some food.”

‘No one had to bring anything!’ Nino interjected, Carter tense and on alert now at the sound of Nino’s distress. But… it wasn’t quite angry. No, there was still something stunned about it that told Carter that perhaps this wasn’t a bad thing. ‘I- I appreciate it so much but please, I have no way to pay any of you back. I’ve got nothing to give I just-,’

“It’s not a loan that needs repaying Nino,” Alya answered immediately, her voice soft but gaze unyielding in that intense way of hers. “There is nothing to pay back. You don’t pay people back for gifts.”

Adrien nodded quickly in agreement, seeming very firm on this but still smiling gently. “You don’t owe us anything Nino I promise, we just want to help.”

There was a sudden and great silence that fell over them then. Adrien and Marinette looked nervously to Alya but she had nothing to translate, the fox waiting in as much suspense as anyone else as the wolf fell silent.

Nino fell back onto all fours and took an uncertain step backwards towards his bed… and everyone waited. Waited to see if he would retreat, or argue, or anything at all. Marinette reached out into the web of emotions that colored her life and tried to make sense of what she saw there, and it was so confusing.

The boy was overwhelmed, emoting through the body of a wolf whose head hung low not in anger but in deep thought. He shifted on uncertain paws and inside himself he was grappling with a concept that confused him. How kindness for the sake of kindness could have any place here. In this borrowed, mismatched room.

Eventually, the animal seemed the sway, a deep sound getting lost in its chest as it cast about for a moment as if it were lost. Marinette looked at Alya in the corner of her eye, hoping for something to go off of but the foxes head was tilted, struggling herself to grasp what he must be saying.  

Nino looked a little helplessly between Alya and Marinette, a whine escaping him again as Alya fretted a little in place.

“I- just slow down a little that didn’t… I don’t quite understand.” Alya suddenly sounded in the silence, apologetic as she tried to focus.

Abruptly though Nino huffed in frustration, casting around a little bit more for help before dropping to all fours. Marinette gasped when he pushed his weight gently against her, bumping her legs with his head and whining again. It prompted her to quickly stoop down and hold him almost sheerly out of instinct, the creature pushing against her in a desperate bid to communicate.

“It’s okay,” Marinette suddenly assured him, her heart aching with sympathy as she boldly wrapped her arms into the thick fur around his neck. It was so warm and dense, Nino pushing his head into the space of her neck to be as close to her as he could manage. “I think I understand… It’s okay.”

“I- um, Marinette,” Alya interjected, padding quietly alongside and firmly fixed on reading whatever Nino must be saying. “He wants you to try and feel what he’s feeling. He knows you can do that, he just, wants you to focus on it. He doesn’t know how to say it.”

Marinette stiffened a little at that, mentally preparing herself for it. After a moment she nodded into his fur, growing still as she allowed herself to fall into that web that no one else could see.

 It was nearly physical, condensed into the space the animal occupied and having a kind of color to it when she closed her eyes. It was green and dark, inky blue, pearls of moonlight white trapped beneath dark spreading fingers. She found the things that she had seen before, that something cold and hard to beat… and something warm that had no name.

It was the color of gold.

 Nino could feel it as Marinette leaned into him, doing as he asked as he did everything he could to pour what he was feeling into his mind. He didn’t know how to say it, or if there were even words for it. And he knew too that this must be so overwhelming for her, but that’s how it was for him. He thought about the forest and finding Carter. He thought about the alleyway and that day at lunch, where a monster flinched and he lost his grip. He knew that maybe it was too much, but he needed to show her that so he could show her this.

So he could show her how much better she was making it, how much better they were all making this.

He held on to that warm, impossibly grateful feeling and let it overstep any shame or weakness. He just leaned into her… and did what he could to say thank you.

 When he pulled away Marinette had a hand to her mouth, and she nodded once. He felt guilty that she looked like she was going to cry, but when she dropped her hand she was smiling.

Nino was partially worried that he had shared too much… but sometimes it felt like there were only extremes these days. Maybe that’s why he had been so excited about a normal movie night, but here he was making everything heavy again…

He just wanted to be understood.  

Marinette seemed to get that, on some level at least. She looked around a little embarrassed, trying to collect herself but still absently holding onto him with one hand.

“Oh, Nino…” she finally spoke, laughing a bit though it sounded breathless. She smiled, her entire expression soft. “You’re welcome.”

 His tail wagged even if his ears drooped, looking a little exhausted by the effort. For a time it seemed like no one knew what to do, the emotional moment slipping slowly into awkwardness, before abruptly and a little bit clumsily Marinette stood up, laughing weirdly and fumbling for her broom.

“Well, I um, I didn’t bring these gifts for nothing! It’s probably going to take them awhile to do their job so I should probably set them going. There’s a lot of dust to, uh… dust!”

“Yeah, for sure!” Adrien chimed in for the first time in seemingly ages, smiling in a picture-perfect way in an attempt to deflect the weirdness in the room. “Uh, I bet you’ve never seen anything like this before Nino, it’s really cool!”

The wolf was still a little wilted in on himself, his tail thumping slowly but lacking energy. Marinette and Adrien traded a quick glance, coming towards each other in mutual understanding. Despite her best efforts to do so in the past, Marinette could not completely disregard the fact that her and Adrien did tend to make a good team, when it counted. They weren’t as flawless as he claimed and there was a lot that got in the way but… that was a story for another time.

In this moment though, they didn’t need to say it to know that they needed to work together. For Nino’s sake.

 Nino was somewhat jarringly thrown into an in-depth magic lesson, a combination of equal parts awkwardness and good intentions leading to a slightly ungraceful effort to change the subject. It was weird, and sudden, and clumsy… but it was earnest.

Marinette was still a little thrown off from the encounter so Adrien took over at first, explaining briefly how magic things like brooms got made. He appeared to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject, but Nino was not retaining much of anything, and that didn’t seem to be the point of it. He gratefully took the cover it offered him, using the lecture as an opportunity to get his act together.

He hadn’t meant to make everything so serious. He just got so frustrated. It was horrible, not being able to say what he was thinking, not like he was ever particularly good at that even when he could talk. Still though, he didn’t even have the chance to get it wrong, and it had gotten the best of him.

At the thought he briefly glanced behind him, looking for Alya who was laying on the ground a short distance away with Carter. The two of them were waiting, Alya allowing the conversation to move on without her and Carter nervously keeping an eye on his boy, a little lost but trying not to intrude.

Nino waited to try and catch Alya’s eyes, but she didn’t look at him in time and Nino was forced to turn back around in order to be polite, Adrien still explaining something. He didn’t want too much time to pass before he had the chance to apologize for getting frustrated with her, it hadn’t been her fault that he couldn’t get it out. She was doing something great for him, it wasn’t fair to only use her as a vehicle to talk to the others.

“-it might be easier just to show you!” Marinette said pointedly all of a sudden, Nino snapping to attention with a little anxiety, afraid he had been asked a question when he hadn’t been listening. Luckily though that didn’t seem to be it, Marinette taking her broom and holding it out in front of her.

“So this here,” Marinette lectured smartly, tapping a nearly invisible band of marks set into the wood around the middle of the handle, “is the enchantment line Adrien mentioned! And it holds all the power needed to make it work. So now, with all the enchantments set and prepared for all I have to do is activate it!”

“Which,” Adrien chimed in, “can be customized by the witch or wizard who enchanted it the first time!”

Nino nodded, totally confused but pretending like he hadn’t been absorbed in his own thoughts. Blah blah Mary Poppins, Fantasia, Harry Potter. Yup yeah totally got it. Please don’t quiz me.

“In the case of these ones, my mom always sets similar items to activate with the same signal, so that all the cleaning stuff cleans and all the baking stuff bakes. For these two guys, it’s the same activation. A snap!”

To prove her point Marinette cheerily raised her hand, looking at Nino excitedly as she did exactly that, and snapped her fingers.

Instantly the broom quaked in place, shaking only briefly before sitting up from its position in Marinette’s hand with an air of duty and intention about it. Carter was on his feet immediately as the broom ghosted across the floor, too busy with itself to notice that it was being fervently tailed by a very unhappy canine.

‘Don’t like that!’ he barked very pointedly, ‘No no no, I don’t like that!’

Carter inserted himself into the situation all at once after a long period of sitting patiently on the outside, letting the others do as they liked but he had to put a paw down on whatever it was exactly that was happening right now. He was content to sit out and let Nino have his time but somebody had to see to this situation, and it only occurred to him that perhaps he shouldn’t when he felt the full weight of Nino holding him down.

‘Stop! No don’t touch it it’s okay, I know it’s weird dude but it’s fine!’

Carter twisted underneath the hold somewhat indignantly, once again frustrated that he and Nino didn’t ever seem to be on the same page about what was and wasn’t a priority. ‘That is not something I like, I don’t like it.’ Carter looked away to see the culprit moving about the place busily, starting to kick up an awful lot of dust that got quickly sorted away into another thing that Carter didn’t like, a limp sack of cloth that gathered whatever the broom thought fit. Something else moved over head and a bundle of feathers started getting awfully busy with itself doing nearly the same thing and he was not having that at all, aware of the fact that the others were laughing but deciding that he was the only reasonable one.

‘Carter please! I said no! This is not something we bark at, Marinette brought them it’s okay! It’s actually kind of cool!’

‘It is not!’

Nino was at a slight loss for what to do, looking up at the things Marinette had thought to bring and feeling something weirdly giddy in his chest, somehow distracted enough from his funk to laugh a little. It- they really just snapped to! He had watched her do it! Just like that she snapped her fingers and they sat up and got to business! Even right that second the broom and duster were lazily whizzing about, not even particularly rushed as they got about doing their jobs and drifting purposefully though the air like they floated on strings he couldn’t see or touch. They both had that weird static about them that magic seemed to have, only just barely perceptible and making that giddiness he felt swell.

But here he had Carter, who had always to this point managed to follow Nino’s orders no matter how much he disagreed with him. It seemed though that this was some kind of line that he was very firm on.

Nino tried not to laugh at his loyal canine friend as he continued to postulate about why this time he was definitely right, knowing that this almost definitely had everything to do with Carter’s dislike of brooms in general. And mops, he’d had a very firm stance on the issue since he was a puppy so Nino was made abruptly aware of the fact that he might not actually win this argument.

Alya was giving a play by play of the situation as Nino argued with his dog, the trio laughing into their hands and trying not to draw attention to themselves as Nino attempted diplomacy. But seeing as he couldn’t give a very convincing reason as to why the broom was moving, he seemed to be getting nowhere fast.

‘Okay Carter listen! I’ll make you a deal okay, I will let you watch the broom and the duster. You’re in charge of them okay, how about that? If you really think they’re a big deal then you can be on guard duty and make sure they don’t come after anybody. Yeah, that’s your job, okay?’ Nino looked his dog in the eye, the German Shepherd struggling less as he came to the conclusion that Nino might be taking him seriously. And, despite how funny it was, Nino was actually trying to take him seriously.

After everything that this wonderful dog had put up with to this point the least Nino could do was validate his concerns.

‘Okay bud, you keep an eye on these guys. If they smack somebody or leave the room you let me know and we’ll take ‘em down, but until they do that then please leave them alone and let them do what they’re doing okay? We got a deal?’

Nino waited until Carter was completely still, the dog still locked on target but at least hearing him out. After awhile Carter finally said, ‘Okay. I will watch them.’

The wolf sighed audibly, signaling to everyone that some peace had been brokered as he finally let Carter out from underneath him. The dog gave himself a pointed shake but wasted no time getting into position, looking to all the world like a police dog ready to go should anyone make an unexpected move.

 “Oh man,” Alya snickered, the fox sitting up high on a desk now with a paw to her muzzle and mirth in her eyes. “That was so funny.”

“I guess I should have checked in with Carter before I did that huh?” Marinette tried to sympathize but giggled a little anyways. “I shouldn’t forget that he’s here that’s not fair to him.”

“Oh dogs are like that, you probably couldn’t have convinced him to like it even if you tried,” Adrien shrugged, surprised when Nino came up next to him but looking away at Alya and failing to notice that Nino was shaking his head

‘Don’t tease him please,’ Nino came to Carter’s defense, even if it was pretty funny. ‘How is he, supposed to know? He’s never seen it.’

He waited for a beat before looking at Alya, who was laughing still and had once again missed what he said. He felt a spark of irritation at that as everyone continued to giggle… but on second thought he smothered the feeling, reminding himself of his earlier sentiment. It wasn’t her job to be official translator, it was up to him to try and make himself clear. So after a second he just let it slide, giving everyone the same grace they always gave him and let it go with a sigh.

 Nino had watched the magical items work for a while, doing his best to let them distract him from more complicated thoughts and just trying to enjoy himself. After only a handful of moments though there was just too much dust in the air for him to handle, soon enough all the critters in the room were sneezing.

“Okay guys maybe let’s step out for a sec and let the broom do it’s thing?” Alya suggested before long, already edging towards the door with her snout all wrinkled in distaste.

“That might be a good idea,” Marinette agreed, Adrien already out the door and letting out a mighty sneeze that echoed down the hallway, rousing a giggle from the girls. Nino hesitated a little, looking over his shoulder at Carter.

‘Carter, we’re going to be leaving the room cause it’s too dusty in here. I think it’s really okay if you just leave them to it, doesn’t it bother your nose? Come out with us.’

‘No, I don’t want them wandering off,’ Carter announced simply, his guarded position a lot closer to the door then before for the sake of some sort of clean air, but the dog not looking keen on leaving.

‘I don’t really want to leave you here by yourself, what if we walk around? I don’t know if they’ll need to go to the restroom or something. Do you promise you’re okay with it if I leave for a second?’

Carter didn’t answer right away, looking back over his shoulder at his boy and then farther back still at the fox who stood waiting in the doorway, considering the question.

After a moment he looked back to Nino, tail thumping a handful of times. ‘I trust them with you. I’ll watch our stuff, and howl if I need you.’

‘Promise you’re good?’

‘Promise.’

Nino decided that this final sentiment was good enough, trusting the school enough by this point to be comfortable leaving him on his own. Plus, Carter had wandered off on a few scouting missions of his own since their arrival, so it wasn’t unreasonable to separate for a while.

The wolf turned and headed for the wide-open door, the two-tailed fox agilely turning as well and padding out into the hallway with him. Nino was distracted briefly by her presence next to him, looking down at her and feeling that slight pang of guilt. Before he could stop himself he nudged her slightly, ducking his face to manage it and prodding her shoulder with his snout. She turned and looked up at him as soon as he did, but found no reason in his expression or words offered. It was just a touch, and after a moment she returned it, having to pop up on her back paws to do it and making him laugh.

‘You good?’ she asked subtly, only to him as they joined their friends and made a circle, the others talking amongst themselves already and gesturing to the hallway.

‘Yeah I’m good. Thanks for translating, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it… I shouldn’t have snapped at you back there. I’m sorry.’

Unsurprisingly she rolled her eyes, and he at least had the good humor to be pleased that he had seen that coming. ‘Oh please, that was nothing. I’m the middle child of three other siblings, that was not what snapping at someone is.’ She snickered, ‘You’re good Wolfie.’

‘Wolfie?’ he scoffed instantly, the fox making a high pitched and very odd chittering sound that mixed perfectly with his mental imagining of her laughter, the two completing each other somehow in his head. ‘You can’t be serious.’ He put as much disbelief into it as he could, huffing even. ‘That’s rich coming from you Tails.’

‘Oooh,’ she cooed, swishing her two tails at him and chuckling again, ‘Very creative.’

He scoffed again but laughed too, allowing a chuckle at it and shaking his head. Whatever, he supposed, he was surprised he had made it this far without a nickname anyways. And it was a relief to know that she wasn’t angry with him.

Their little moment ended when Adrien suddenly referred to the entire group, leaning against the hallway wall with his arms crossed and gesturing down one way with his head. “Interested in looking around at all Nino? I don’t know how much you’ve gone and seen, would give us something to do until we can get back to setting up your room. Marinette says it should only take like twenty minutes, but we can just wait here if you’re more comfortable with that.”

The group waited on his response, and it didn’t take Nino very long to decide. Sure he hesitated but… the sun was nearly set and he had his friends with him, it was a little different then looking around with Carter would have been. Neither of them knew what was what when it was the two of them, at least with this group he had a little more information. It didn’t make him entirely comfortable but… he was trying to branch out a little today.

After a moment’s consideration Nino nodded, and was happy to receive Adrien’s encouraging smile. “Cool! I’ve never been here after dark before, and the only non-used classroom I’ve ever seen is yours. Do you think we could get into any of the other human ones?”

“Adrien!” Marinette wasted no time in scolding him, the Cat Sidhe already pushing off from his lounging position and starting down the hall further into the wing. “We said look around not break in.”

“What are we breaking? I just want to look! They’re all unused, aren’t they? Maybe we could find some cool human stuff!” Adrien looked over his shoulder to grin at her, beckoning her to follow as Nino and Alya had already started to. She opened and closed her mouth once as if to protest, but he could see her curiosity starting to take over slightly.

“Well… I mean if they’re open they’re open I guess.”

“That’s the spirit! Come on let’s go look.”

With Adrien’s exuberant cheer the troop started off down the hall, thankfully going further into unused territory rather than closer to the active center. As far as Nino was capable of sensing there was nobody in this wing but him, and while he had looked down the hall at the line of doors and gone off to find a bathroom in the past he hadn’t looked much further than that. If they were all truly human classrooms before getting taken over by the other realms then he had a somewhat reasonable expectation of what they would see anyways, but if it was interesting to them then he’d tag along.

They trotted off down the hall, Nino unable to keep himself from always keeping an ear out but trying to stay engaged in Adrien’s commentary as well. Being out in the open put him on edge… but he was giving it his best effort.

They all came to a stop in front of a rather large classroom, Adrien peeking around through the windows that looked inside like a fishbowl and announcing what he could see, Marinette curiously joining him. But for the animals low to the ground who didn’t feel like expending the energy to try and look, it was a little less interesting.

‘Um, so uh,’ Nino spoke after a while, keeping an ear in Adrien’s direction for keywords that might mean he needed to listen but facing towards Alya. ‘You’ve got sisters?’

‘Mhm,’ Alya answered, somehow still looking entertained at his poor attempt at small talk despite the fact that surely no fox could be that expressive. ‘Three of them, one older and two younger. The younger ones are twins.’

‘Oh cool! That’s cool. Um, what are their names?’

‘Nora is my older sister, and then my twin sisters are called Etta and Ella. My mom’s name is Marlena, she is a very, very strong Kitsune, everybody respects her. My father’s name is Otis,’ she suddenly parted her muzzle in a foxy smile. ‘He’s human.’

‘H- wait what?!’ Nino barked in shock, Adrien about jumping out of his skin in surprise and clinging to the wall.

“Nino come on, warn a guy!” Adrien whined crossly, but it took one look down to realize that Nino wasn’t listening, gaping openly at a snickering fox.

‘How can your father be human!? Are you serious?’

‘It’s true! He’s as human as they come, only one in the family, obviously.’

‘Wait so you’re… part… human?’

‘Well, no.’ The fox paused, leaning down to scratch at her ear in sudden thought. ‘I guess you wouldn’t know but, Kitsunes marry human men all the time. Well not all the time, but it does happen. My mom is pretty old and has been knocking around the human world for a really long time, but one day she found a human man and fell completely in love with him. Any children born from a kitsune are a kitsune, so me and all my sisters are like my mother. My dad is still just a regular human, but he loves my mother very much. It doesn’t matter to him that they aren’t the same.’

She watched his face carefully, still finding it funny but understanding that it was probably a big deal to him.

‘I- so, your father is just a totally normal human, how did he meet a kitsune? Does he know? Like, he must know right?’

‘Of course he knows! My family is honest, no matter what anyone says,’ Alya huffed, her tone suddenly a little sharper. ‘Maybe some kitsunes don’t tell their husbands the truth but not my mother. She pretended to be human for a little while when they were dating but that’s not the same and she didn’t like doing it she just wanted to get to know him better. When she decided she was in love with him she told him the truth.’

‘… how did he take it?’

Alya didn’t respond right away, looking off down the hall and aware of the fact that Marinette and Adrien were watching them closely, obviously interested but not wanting to interrupt. Eventually, as they started moving on to look at other rooms she said, ‘Not well, at first. My mom said he panicked and ran away and it broke her heart. She knew that could happen, but she didn’t think it would. When she tells the story she says that she wandered the human world lost and heartbroken. She lost her ability to shapeshift too, she was so distraught. She was locked in her fox form for a year.’

The wolf blanched at that, and Alya suddenly regretted saying it. ‘An entire year?!’ Nino barked, and Marinette recoiled at the sudden fear she felt in the air though she couldn’t hear what was being said. ‘A whole year? Are you serious, really an entire year?’

‘She wasn’t trying to get better! She wasn’t trying to move forward or pull it together, she was devastated. She didn’t want to find herself again, and you have to understand how short a year is to her Nino. My moms over a hundred and twenty years old, I know that seems extreme to you, but to her it was probably like nursing a breakup for a few months.’

Nino paused in his fretting, distracted slightly by the whole 120 years thing so Alya leapt on the opportunity, trying to cover up her faux pas. ‘The way she tells it she says that she was so bitter about human men that a year later she found herself being tracked by a foolish human hunter who didn’t realize what he was really following. She outran him effortlessly for ages, but he never gave up and never stopped tracking her, so finally one day she said she just turned around and headed straight for him, wanting to terrify him and drive him away for good. But you know who she found when she got there?’

The fox paused, tilting her head and waiting. She gestured with her paw impatiently, twirling it in that kind of gesture that urged Nino to participate.

‘Was it, your father?’

‘Yup!’ Alya yipped, grinning again. ‘Can you believe it? A year later he left home and dedicated himself to tracking her down. He had spent that entire time trying to learn about the things that are secret from most humans, and by the end of it decided that he wanted to find her. He hunted everywhere for her, and stayed on her trail no matter what, and when she finally ran at him to confront him he told her he was in love with her and that he wanted to know her, the real her. That it didn’t matter to him that she wasn’t human, that he didn’t believe the lies he had uncovered about Kitsunes when he investigated. He knew my mother was an honest soul and asked her if she would let a human love her.’ Alya narrowed her eyes happily, her tails swaying behind her. ‘And they’ve been together ever since. Pretty amazing right?’

‘I can’t believe it… he just, loved her so much that he gave up his normal life and married her?’

‘Well he didn’t really give up anything, he might live in the Farlands now but he still goes home for the holidays and keeps up with his family. My mom goes too sometimes but no one knows about us, their children. They decided a long time ago that they didn’t want us to have to pretend, so I’ve never met any of my human family. Maybe one day when I can pretend convincingly enough that I’m human, but for now I’d give myself away I think.’

‘Well whats so bad about them knowing? Like, your dads human and he knows, maybe they’d understand.’

‘Or maybe they wouldn’t. My mom told my dad the truth because she loved him and trusts him, but my cousins? My aunts? It would be a big decision to tell them anything, and probably against the law. There are a lot of rules about exposing humans to the other realms, but it’s honestly a little hard to discipline anyone for. My mom gets away with it because she married the guy, and that places HIM under a lot of laws too. It’s a little taboo maybe, but Kitsunes are kind of taboo anyways.’ She shrugged, stopping as Adrien found a new room to investigate.

Nino lapsed into silence at that, the creature abruptly in very deep thought. Alya padded alongside him and couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable, worried now that her attempts to relate to him had just gone south. He was so quiet and serious sometimes that it was hard to tell, but he didn’t keep her waiting for too long. Eventually he turned to look at her again.

‘That’s a cool story. I didn’t know that humans could… get involved in anything. I just- I thought that… humans being near things that aren’t human like, wouldn’t that put them in danger? I’m not trying to be offensive I’m sorry, I’m just trying to understand.’

‘You’re fine, and that’s what my mom is for, obviously.’ Alya snickered, talking through a light argument that had broken out between Marinette and Adrien off to the side. ‘Trust me, you’ve never seen a Century Kitsune, that’s what my mom is, and what I’ll be one day when I’m old enough. Nobody messes with a Century Kitsune, nobody ever. He’s her mate so he’s safe just by association, plus with my mom’s illusions and how well protected our territory is, nothing bad would ever happen to him. He can walk around the Farlands no problem. People notice that he’s married and they just leave him be, because if a human is happily married to something that holds territory in the area then odds are they don’t want to risk making anyone angry.’

‘She sounds kind of scary.’

‘Oh yeah! The scariest, and the best. I love my mom; you’d probably really like her. I bet she’d like you too.’

‘Yeah, for sure…’

Nino fell quiet again, looking off towards where Marinette and Adrien where bantering about something but not really paying attention.

After a while Alya sat next to him and poked him lightly in the side.

‘You okay?’

‘Yeah,’ he answered, surprisingly. Smiling wolfishly even, but his tone seemed… sad. ‘Just thinking about something, is all.’

 Alya was on the verge of deciding whether or not it was just best to let that go, when a very audible click hit her ears. Her and Nino both looked up at the source, Marinette doing a deliberately poor job of keeping Adrien from opening the door he had found.

“Adrien I’m not sure we should go in here,” Marinette warned halfheartedly, clearly looking over his shoulder anyways into the windowless room. “We could get in trouble…”

“Come on Mari I know you want to look, and you said!” Adrien argued, opening the door all the way now. “You said if it was open it’s open, you said that. And it’s unlocked so it’s clearly not off limits. It doesn’t count as breaking and entering if all you’re doing is entering.”

Adrien looked around the group for support, Alya and Nino seemingly done with whatever they had been talking about and looking into the room curiously. Adrien tried not to notice that Nino seemed to have lost energy again, lost in thought but temporarily distracted by the unlocked room.

That was all the justification Adrien needed to do something arguably mischievous, stepping inside without any more deliberation. Marinette gave another hollow complaint but followed right after him so he knew it was all for show, the witch immediately looking for a light switch so they could start looking around, and he rolled his eyes.  

‘Uh oh, Adrien found an unlocked one,’ Nino muttered to Alya, changing the subject in a way that brooked no argument, so even if it made her huff a bit she allowed it. It was his business, she supposed.

‘Mhm. Ms. B said we could walk around didn’t she? And it’s not like anyone even uses these rooms.’ Alya was going to enter but Nino walked in first, forcing her to move along behind him. He looked around once inside but didn’t seem terribly interested in it. She on the other hand was a little more intrigued.

Nino knew without having to look too hard that this was clearly some kind of side conference room meant for faculty, probably even used as a break room for teachers who didn’t want to walk clear across campus to eat their lunch. It was stale and dusty and boring like his room was, the tile and wall paneling pretty much identical but there were a whole lot of cabinets that he didn’t have, implying that this space was probably also used as storage.

There was a low counter along one side that Adrien was investigating while the girls headed towards the cabinets, and Adrien was pleased to see that Nino electing to join him instead of the others. He had been right in the middle of investigating a very weird smelling spot on the counter, the whole thing coated in an old bitter smell, when Marinette suddenly gasped.

“Oooh guys! There’s stuff in here!”

Adrien immediately whipped around at the mention of random human objects, leaving Nino to sniff at the counter alone as he charged off to take a look.

“Nino come on! Look at this stuff, maybe you know what it is.”

The wolf didn’t come right away, letting everyone bicker between themselves and drag out a few of the more interesting looking boxes. He only left when he concluded that this must have been where a coffee maker used to be, all the useful utensils having been cleared out a long time ago which was a shame. It might have been nice to find a microwave he could come use.

By the time he finally sauntered over Marinette was elbow deep in a massive nest of wires and bulbs, giggling excitedly to herself as she struggled to explain.

“Oh my gosh this is perfect! It’s exactly what Nino needs, its perfect for you! You know what these are right?” She suddenly addressed him, pulling up a large handful of what he easily recognized to be string lights. It was the white and yellow kinds that buildings usually used to decorate for dances or office parties, and by the look of the massive tangle she was holding it was quite a few of them.

Nino nodded in confirmation, sniffing at them curiously when she held them down for him.

“Wouldn’t this be great for your room? I mean I know these are in the school but, I mean they were left here after the school was abandoned so… people don’t need them. We shouldn’t take things but, I mean think about it! You said the overhead lights in your room bug you because of the noise they make right? So you always keep your room dark, but maybe if you wanted to have some lights on anyways that these might not be so noisy! And on top of that they look super cute!”

“Oh, so they’re lights?” Adrien asked, pinching one of the plastic bulbs gently in his fingers. “That’s so cool! I’ve never seen little lights like this, how do they work?”

“You just plug them in! They have to be powered but human buildings have these little spots where you can connect stuff like this to give them energy. Then when they’re activated they have the power needed to give off light. It’s sort of like a luminous charm actually, just with electricity instead of magic.”

Adrien glanced down at Nino for some indication that she was right, not because he particularly doubted her but more so because he wanted to keep him involved. Nino nodded briskly in confirmation again, his tail starting to wag as he looked at the odd bundle of wires Marinette was holding.

“We should take them!” Alya asserted out loud, jumping up onto the table they rested on and tapping the cardboard with her paw. “No one would even notice but we can just tell Ms. B about it on Monday. If she says no we can put them back but I bet you anything she’ll say it’s okay. It’s not stealing if you tell somebody.”

‘Well usually you ask ahead of time,’ Nino said in response, mostly to himself since Alya was busy again and missed it. ‘I don’t know guys, I don’t want you to get in trouble, Alya tell them I don’t want them to get in trouble.’

The fox didn’t hear him, busy discussing why it was fine to do it when she felt something poking her leg, looking down into Nino’s eyes.

‘Alya.’

‘Oh, sorry I’m sorry. What?’

He bit back a sigh and repeated himself, the others already picking the box up with all it’s contents before Alya managed to get it across. By then they had all pretty firmly convinced themselves it was okay, Adrien addressing him directly.

“We won’t get in trouble! Like Alya said we can just bring them back if Ms. B says we can’t use them and I’m almost positive she won’t care. I want to see how they work they sound pretty.”

Nino for the most part was also almost positive that no one would care one way or the other, since the human part of the school was essentially superfluous anyways but still. He couldn’t help but feel like he would have made a more convincing argument himself if he could just…

He sat out as everyone loosely looked through the rest of the cabinets, finding nothing else nearly as interesting and deciding to head back anyways. As they finally left Nino trailed behind, just a little, Alya jumping into conversation with Marinette.

This was almost perfect. He was having a lot of highs and lows as he had expected, but he was for the most part keeping his head up. Okay well maybe he wasn’t, but had he been left to his own devices it would be way worse. He was having fun, he was, and he didn’t actually care about taking the lights, in fact he thought once again that it was very sweet of Marinette to think of how it might help him.

He just felt like he was always a little bit on the outside. Not that they weren’t trying really hard, he knew they were. It’s just that there was only so much to be done. He wanted to jump in and tell Adrien how the lights worked, maybe amaze him a bit with other seemingly mundane human knowledge. If he thought string lights were cool maybe he could tell him about video games or something else but, to do so through Alya would take so much time.  

He was stewing in his frustration by the time they arrived back at his room, sure that Marinette was starting to pick up on it from the way that she kept looking over her shoulder at him. Whenever they made eye contact though he would open his muzzle and smile, trying to assure her he was fine. Thankfully she didn’t call it out, but she seemed relieved to have a new angle for distraction.

“Oh great! It looks like they’re done, oooh this looks so much better!”

Marinette darted inside, dashing over to where her cleaning utensils now sat dormant. She was patting them nicely and thanking them for their hard work as everyone else came inside as well, Adrien stowing the lights off to the side and looking around with his hands on his hips.

“Alright this looks great! It’s sparkling clean now, this is so much better. Right Nino?”

Nino barked once, looking around at everything as Carter came trotting up to him smugly with a report.

‘Nothing bad! They kept on moving stuff around and getting under everything but I kept an eye on them and they never made for the door. It went on for awhile but then they just stopped all of a sudden. I kept watching them anyways just to be sure, but I think they’re done now.’

‘Great job buddy, thanks for holding down the fort. This is nicer right? No more dust!”’

Sure enough Nino figured he would be hard pressed to find even a single speck of anything out of place right now. All the cushions he had scattered around were stacked neatly in a pile (carefully cleaned of all dog hair it seemed) and even his bed was made. The desks were organized like tetris pieces and looking a lot more stable and even their used approximated counter space had been pushed smartly off to the side and left together with their contents. The scraps of clothes he had left behind and pushed into a corner had been gathered up and disposed of and every trace of food trash, dust, lint or loose fur was completely gone from every single nook and cranny. The cold tile no longer felt grainy underneath his thick paw pads, and as he moved further into the room the air was finally clear. The dim failing light from the windows with no dust motes to illuminate, just weak beams of uninterrupted light as the outside world descended into twilight.

It was a huge improvement, the room as a whole still deeply clinical but at least it was clean. In the time he’d been living there he had really made a mess of the place, so this was a nice change.

Nino made a show of darting up to Marinette to gently headbutt her legs as a thank you, the witch patting him once on a head and giving him a friendly wink. “Oh we’re not done yet! It’s gonna be even better! If it’s okay with you can we start putting some other things around? Then once that’s all finished we can set up the movie!”

“And eat!” Alya added, shooting a hopeful glance at her unused box of food.

“Yes, and eat! This is gonna be so fun Nino, we’ll show you everything we have and you can pick where to put it all! Sound good?”

Marinette waited until Nino barked again, the wolf running towards her bag expectantly with his claws clicking on the tile.  He looked back at her with a goofy smile, and she was deeply relieved to feel the wave of his emotions start to shift in their momentum. That frustration was still there, but now running side by side with gratefulness and anticipation.

 The following series of events was a great old mix of things. It was partly ridiculous, just the never ending depths of Marinette’s tiny clutch bag looking increasingly bizarre and hilarious like a clown car gag that just didn’t stop. He was legitimately frightened that Marinette was going to fall straight into it, Adrien having to help once or twice for a longer reach to grab whatever it was and Alya cheerfully offering to just dive inside to see if she could find it.

He felt so guilty, but also just so… warm. Marinette dragged her bag into the center of the room and started to fumble for books, blankets, pillows, towels, sheets, and rugs. She had so many rugs, some of them so large and colorful that he couldn’t even IMAGINE where she’d gotten it from. They were a ruffled on the edges and weirdly burned in some places but the pattern was stunning, woven so complexly that he really didn’t feel like the burns were enough justification to get rid of them. They were thick and far more inviting then the tile, Alya shifting back into her human form for awhile to give Adrien a hand laying them down. By the time Marinette stopped pulling them out the only space without one was the underneath of his bed and the cluster of desk in the back. She had explained as she pulled them out like handkerchiefs that her family had a billion of these things, given to them as payment by a regular fae customer who never seemed to have money but was always weaving beautiful things.

They really didn’t match each other but he loved them, already grateful for their much more comfortable padding. The mismatched explosion of color continued as Marinette stretched out the bed set she had brought, a size too big for his mattress but he kept pointing at his bed insistently until she understood that he still wanted them anyways. He gladly sank his teeth into the crappy, grating awful nurses office sheets he currently had and ripped them off himself, feeling silly but allowing himself to feel giddy again, dragging them out into the hallway so he didn’t even have to look at them as Adrien hopped to putting on the new ones. It was a loose fit and bound to fall off but whatever, probably infinitely better still.

The comforter came from Adrien, surprisingly, the boy darting over to his (now neatly folded) pile of stuff. It was arguably the thickest and softest looking blanket Nino had ever seen in his life, and weirdly made. It didn’t look like any kind of cloth or material Nino had ever seen, one side something almost like fleece but much, much finer and not nearly as hot. The other side was a deep, dark green and looked woven together, but even through the spaces he could not see the bright white almost-fleece on the other side. Adrien confirmed as he settled it on top that it had been made in the NeverNever, so Nino just assumed that the materials probably weren’t available on earth.

Carter leapt up onto his bed once it was all set up, making everyone laugh as he got good and cozy, loudly announced to his boy how everything smelled. Carter’s smell commentary was nearly constant, vacillating between ‘Nice’ and ‘soft’ and ‘weird’ and ‘cat!’

He wasn’t wrong, some things smelt like a- well, like a bakery, and some other things smelled wild as heck and he had no name for it.

Marinette and Alya tag teamed folding and putting away all the linens, Adrien taking the opportunity to go through all the clothes he had brought for Nino for when he changed back. There wasn’t too many, but it certainly bolstered his meager collection and added more variety. A lot of it looked like regular cotton but some of it was a bit old looking, like something a nomad might wear.

Adrien sheepishly apologized for the wear and tear, saying that they were all his personal hand-me-downs. He promised him though that they had always been a bit baggy on him so it was his hope that they would all at least loosely fit him. Regardless of how often Nino would ever use them, it was a very kind gesture.

After that they went through the books and supplies Marinette had thought to bring, some of it reassuringly human and some of it very not human at all.

His very favorite thing of all was the best possible gift he could have ever been given. Everything was kind, everything was great, from the rugs and the towels to Carter’s brand-new dog bed and the huge array of treats. Every gesture, and action and kindness was so much more than he ever could have asked for… but it was the music player that did it.

“It’s really old,” Marinette immediately defended it, the small black box with speakers and a cd slot making a slight clatter as she set it on the ground for him to see. “It’s one of the very first human devices I ever bought and a favorite of mine. Don’t worry though! I’ve got a new one my dad bought me so you can have this one. I only have a few CDs but, maybe if you could tell us what you like we can find some more for you. It’s hard to find discs now but that means they are always really cheap! I’ve tried to figure out how to get music online but… computers don’t like me.”

Nino just stared, his tail starting to thump slowly against the rug covered floor. It thumped, and thumped, and picked up its pace, getting faster and faster until his whole body was moving with it. He on his feet suddenly, and the wave of emotion that hit her made Marinette just start laughing, the feeling so warm she couldn’t contain it.

He couldn’t help it. He felt like such a dog but it seemed like the final straw, like he just couldn’t handle that huge nameless feeling that dominated his chest. It got so big that his body couldn’t contain it all, having to move to get some of it out.

He had been excited as they decorated, explaining everything that had been given to him for Carter just to tell somebody since no one could hear him at the time. He had felt warm, and grateful, and guilty and relieved, all wrapped up together with no where to go, no outlet. He kept saying to Carter how grateful he was but it wasn’t right, he couldn’t say it. Once again it was just too big, he never stood a chance at making it clear.

The rugs, the blankets, the clothes, the help. The conversations, just… the company, the effort, the attempt to bridge that gap he couldn’t stand.

The good nature of the boy in the lunchroom. The show of faith from a fox in a borrowed space… And the generosity of a witch and her family, who gave all that they could.

The exuberance he felt was quickly punctuated by something else, his relief and gratitude growing heavy and huge. It had been building up for so long now… and he kept thanking them but no one could hear. Maybe there weren’t names to the emotions, which is why he could find none. It was something sad… but something warm. Something grateful, and something just too huge.

It was hopeful when so much hadn’t been.

 “Nino, Nino it’s okay, I understand. It’s okay,” Marinette was suddenly speaking, and she wrapped his arms around him quickly, no doubt drowning in it with him as the others hovered helplessly, Alya quickly shifting forms hoping to help. The witch sounded startled, like she was trying not to cry…

Ah.

He had spiraled so fast, getting lost in it, making it hard again. No matter how happy he was there was still that risk, that pit fall. He hadn’t thought he was losing it but… he realized too late that he was shaking, Carter suddenly pressing his face into his back. Nino looked around over Marinette’s shoulder, wanting to tell them everything was okay, to apologize. But everywhere he looked his eyes landed on another of their gifts, on their faces laced with empathy. Too kind, every one of them. And he couldn’t say anything. Again.

A whine wracked through him as he leaned into Marinette, the sound weird and strained. He made another odd, misplaced sound and Adrien found himself looking to Alya, trying to find anything. But once again she had nothing to say, not understanding.

“I think he- maybe this is too much,” Adrien was suddenly saying, getting nervous as he looked around. He looked clear over Nino, trying to come up with some kind of game plan. “Maybe we should step outside or, or give him some space?”

‘Nino talk to me’ Alya urged him with a yip, reaching out to him another way as Marinette and Adrien started to quickly talk above them. ‘Are you okay? We can-,’

No. They didn’t understand, he couldn’t explain.

It happened then, quite suddenly, quite literally out of nowhere, all at once as some things do.

Nino said,

 “Thank you.”

 He forced it out and felt it leave him, like a sound that hung above everything else. The words shook and were barely there, as if they were said on the very last dredge of air in someone’s lungs.

The wolf inhaled sharply, shaking still as he felt everyone around him gasp, except for perhaps Carter who never noticed such things. Marinette drew back instantly, looking him in the eyes with a look of complete shock.

“Did you just-,” she gasped.

“He DID!” Adrien suddenly cheered, laughing in disbelief and drawing back himself, looking him over before laughing again, the sound of it triumphant

“You- Nino!” Alya cheered, mimicking the same tone he had finally just managed, those disembodied words that hung around them and allowed her to be heard, no matter what her form. “You did it!! You spoke out loud! You did it!!”

“… did I?”

“YES!” everyone cheered, so loud that it hurt his ears and stunned him a little. They all watched as the wolf looked around a little bit blearily, like he was pulling himself out of a well of thoughts and a little disassociated from the climb. Marinette released him so he could back away a little, getting a little distance as he tried to access what was going on.

He was so deep in his own head that he had just said it, rambling the sentiment as he must have done a thousand times by now. His frustration at not being understood had reached a breaking point, where even he couldn’t make sense of anything he said. Just a little on the outside from the incredible people who reached so far. He just-

… he just wanted to be heard, to have some hope of being known.

“Can I- can you still?” Nino looked between them urgently, shifting in place. “You can hear me?”

“Yes! It’s just like you’re talking out loud, I can hear it clear as day!” Adrien assured him, still giggling in giddy relief. “Oh my gosh, this is so great! This is really, really good Nino!”

“But… why?” Nino asked slowly, too nervous to be hopeful but his ears swiveled at the sound, trying to decide whether or not it had really come from him. “Why now? What happened?”

“I have no idea! I wasn’t even sure werewolves could project out loud,” Marinette said after a moment, laughing through her words like she was glad that she was wrong. “My dad said you should have been able to right away, when you couldn’t I just assumed something was wrong.”

“I said he could!” Alya yipped pointedly. “All shifters can do it, but you just- your transformation was really bad. You lost your grip on everything, you couldn’t even talk.” The fox tilted her head curiously, but she was clearly excited too. “If you can suddenly do it now then, it must be a good sign! You’re getting your grip back.”

Nino hesitated, feeling slightly frantic and afraid every time he said something, like it was going to fade and he’d be right back where he started. He didn’t think he could stand it if it did, he couldn’t just go back to square one.

… but he wasn’t. He realized.

At square one.

 His friends were gathered in front of him with eager expressions shared between them, relief so real in that moment that he might as well have returned from sea. And maybe he had, in a way, or perhaps he was just a bobbing head found treading water above a sinking ship.

The ship sank steadily down into darkness and had taken him with it, for a time. And though he might still be drowning… he was treading water, and others were coming to help.

He could almost sense the gaping darkness underneath his bed watching him, looking for a monster to hide inside it. But it found none here, not right now. Not when friends were here and things were better.

Nino’s tail began to wag again, a shaky laugh slipping out as he took a deep breath,

And spoke.

 “I guess it’s progress, huh?”