The Stars Are Brightly Shining
Xander looked up from the book he was reading, staring at the paint-splattered Claudio with a quirked brow and a tilted head. The cambion-'wolf had his hands shoved into his back pockets; his jeans having seen better days. Most of the things he owned had seen better days, though, unless Xander had gotten him something.
He didn't get him stuff often, but once in a while he liked to get him a shirt or a pair of jeans. There was faded and then there was being able to see his boxer-briefs, after all.
"That I am, mon chiot. What about it?"
"Have you ever had to teach someone how to shift?"
Xander put down his book, which was apparently open invitation for Claudio to plop himself on his lap; straddling his hips and taking off his glasses while waiting for the spiritwalker to answer him. Xander let him, hands resting on Claudio's thighs while he looked at him; thumbs tracing idle circles along the tops of his thighs.
"You want me to help you?"
"...werewolf transformations aren't exactly the... same, as spiritwalker shifts," Xander said delicately. Claudio leaned his head into Xander's shoulder, his back tensing, and Xander sighed a little. "But we can try on the full moon."
"...Thank you." He nuzzled against Xander's jaw, kissing his neck and smiling faintly into his skin. "Now, then, to get away from such serious conversation..."
Xander snorted as he was lightly pushed back, flicking Claudio's nose. "You're the worst."
"You obviously meant the best."
He came over to Claudio's shabby apartment in Seaside Town just like he did every full moon.
Unlike in Mountain Town, where it was starting to threaten snow and Xander felt completely in his element, Seaside Town was still relatively warm for the winter. He opened the unlocked door and shut it with his heel, making his way to Claudio's room where he knew the 'wolf would be sitting waiting for him.
The cambion was drinking from one of the water bottles he kept on hand for these nights, breathing heavily and already sweating a bit. Xander frowned, dropped his backpack, and wernt over to Claudio, running his fingers along his scalp and pressing cool skin to a heated scalp. Resting his forehead to Claudio's, he smiled at him.
"Mon amour, tu es comme de la merde."
"Tryin' to butter me up with pretty French words calling me shit, babe?"
Xander smiled, bumping his nose to the other's. "Maybe. Is it working?"
"Yep." Claudio closed his eyes tiredly, before shaking his head. "Shall we?"
"So eager to go," Xander mumbled, shaking his head and pulling back. "Try shifting."
"I need to see it, Claudio, just humour me."
Rolling his eyes, the cambion nodded and sat back. He closed his eyes, then, breathing in deeply before he seemed to fall into some sort of deep concentration. Xander looked at it like he was staring at one of Xander's advanced math equations and his brain had momentarily shut down.
"Relax your shoulders, babe," Xander said quietly; softly enough so that he wouldn't interrupt Claudio's concentration. "Your neck, too. And your back. Just relax - you're tensed up like a coiled spring. I'm waiting for you to go flying." He reached out when Claudio wasn't relaxing like he shoulder, rubbing at his shoulders, neck and back to push him into loosening up.
"Shifting isn't just turning from human to wolf - shifting is a fluid thing. You gotta imagine yourself changing over. You don't have hands; you have paws. And these paws have claws. Your body is different. Everything is different, and you have to slide into that new body. Don't jump - glide."
"...that's the dumbest advice," Claudio muttered, and Xander smiled, shaking his head.
"Take it anyway, it's what you're getting."
He stayed close to the other, feeling his muscles tense and relax. Shoulders shifted and a whine sounded from Claudio's throat, but Xander merely pressed his face to his neck and pressed cool fingers to heated skin, urging him to keep trying.
As the moon rose higher up in the sky, the heat under Xander's hands seemed to intensify, and he was about to give up and tell Claudio to stop trying when something changed. Shifting back, the 'walker watched as the cambion seemed to almost melt from his human guise, adopting a more lupine one with a crack of bone and a growing howl in his throat.
He scrambled back as Claudio changed, eyes widening and smile growing on his lips. When golden eyes stared at him with a vague sense of comprehension, Xander held out his hand. The 'wolf weakly leaned forward and nosed his palm, and Xander lurched forward, wrapping his arms around him tightly.
He felt him abruptly change back, but neither seemed to care; Claudio clinging to Xander tightly and Xander grinning like an idiot.
