// ❝ quarter past midnight ☽

[wilde]

𝙁𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙍𝙊𝙄𝙓


the slight stirring of movement was enough to wake fionn up. normally, he was a heavy sleeper but he wasn't exactly sleeping in the best environment. sitting up, he quickly regretted his decision to sleep on the forest floor. his back ached. for a second, he wondered why he was here. then he remembered. the wolf. his eyes widened looking around the area. he was gone. the events of the night prior felt like some kind of fairy tale. coming across a great white wolf that was willing to be pet and slept with. anyone that heard this would thing that he's gone insane. fionn was almost convinced that it was some odd dream or hallucination, but no, he was sure that it happened. the white fur on his clothes was enough proof for him.

as he stood up, fionn noticed shoeprints on the ground that he swore weren't here before. or it could have been that it was so dark, that he didn't see them. in what could have been a stupid or wise decision, he decided to follow them. he had no idea how to get out of this forest and guessed that whoever this person was, they were heading in that direction. if all things failed, he could try to call a friend to get him out of here and feel like a bigger idiot afterward. he started to pick up his pace into a jog, those years of cross country helping him out.

just as fionn was nearing the edge of the forest, he spotted a figure in the distance. it looked like they were bending over to pick something up before running away. he was only able to get a glimpse of their back, but their clothes seemed familiar. like they were a student at the college. yet, fionn would know if there was another student in the forest. it was early in the morning, near eight, so it would be odd to see someone else here.

he continued to walk towards his car, but the thought of the person he saw kept bugging him. the more he thought about them, the more familiar they seemed. those clothes, he's definitely seen them before. recently, too. he remembered that they had light hair like... danny? fionn shook that thought away. it couldn't have been him. danny was (or claimed that he was) at a party the previous night and should be arriving at his class right now. fionn started his car and drove onto the road. they'd have the chance to talk to each other when they're done with their classes.

[ghast.]

( 🗡 )t𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘠 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
────────xxx𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙨,





xxxxxthe ironic thing about danny was that he'd never had much of a bark. he'd strike without warning if he felt cornered, but he'd never give any indication that he was about to, other than maybe a hitch in his breath and a murderous glare. he could remember, before the fight he'd got in detention for, the other dude was eyeing him down, doing his best to piss him off. and danny wasn't the most brawny dude ever, but the last he'd seen of the guy, his nose was all bent out of shape, like he'd broken it. got what he deserved, he could remember telling himself as he marched to the principal's office, pridefully aware of the stupid smile lingering on his face. he didn't start it, he only ended it. he'd never throw the first punch.

but right now, a splitting migraine was rolling through his head and his death glare followed everyone around him. all he could think about was punching someone, everyone in their stupid, judgmental faces, then wishing he could've smashed his face in the wall to escape the manic environment of a classroom on the first day of a semester. he cracked his knuckles, leaning back in the desk he'd taken near the back of the room. anything would've been more satisfying than showing up looking like a homeless serial killer, but here he was, same clothes he'd worn yesterday and all.

fancy, he thought to himself, burying his face in his folded arms.

unsurprisingly, as first days often did, his classes passed by in one long, continous blur of introductions and strangers he'd never seen once before in his life. college seemed a lot friendlier than high school - the most popular people might've been cheerleaders or jocks, but there were less cliques and nobody even tried to approach him anymore. might've been from the messy hair, though.

his mind hadn't wandered back to the presence of fionn until he was walking back to their dorm. his mind flooded with questions, many that he'd never be able to ask without giving up last night. if he'd made it home safe, then his worries could subside, but he found himself fiddling with the keys to the room in his pocket. a quiet sigh, and he unlocked the door. "honey, i'm home!" he jokingly snorted, walking in and throwing his bag on his bed without even searching the room to see if the other man had arrived, yet.

[wilde]

𝙁𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙍𝙊𝙄𝙓


first day of classes seemed to go by like a breeze, and thank god for that. people's attitudes seemed to calm down compared to high school. he guessed what brought them together was the fact that they all were going to struggle through this. they wanted to get this done already and be set free into the adult world. that didn't stop fionn from feeling a bit nervous. it was the fact that he was stuck with new people from all over the country and professors he didn't know. maybe it was because being a nervous mess was in his nature.

his classes were done by the afternoon. like a godsend, one of his professors decided to let her students out early, which gave him some time to relax in his dorm. good thing he decided that he'd be taking two classes on this day, but then that meant he'd be taking more tomorrow. in the morning, he was able to change his clothes. he left his previously worn clothes on his bed to remind him to get them cleaned up later. it was going to be a pain to make sure that every strand of that wolf fur was going to get cleaned up.

fionn was in the middle of watering his plants when danny came in. he turned around to greet him but stopped when he came into view. "wow, you look like a mess," he commented as the first thing that came out of his mouth without thinking. worn dirty clothes and messy hair. danny didn't look bad, he had to admit. in fact, he made it work out in a way. though, it probably seemed like he just insulted him. "no, wait, i mean it in... a good way?" he tried covering up his previous statement. "like a- a hot mess." smooth. he quickly turned his head away, realizing that he was staring for a bit too long. he should probably stop talking before he embarrassed himself further. was he blushing? he couldn't see if he was blushing.

"sorry, how were classes for you?" he went back to tending to his plants, mainly because he didn't want to be facing danny right now. damn it, those were the clothes he was wearing last night. those were the clothes he saw the person in the woods wearing this morning. and to make things worse for him, he wasn't actually looking that bad today for reasons that he's never noticed.

[ghast.]

( 🗡 )t𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘠 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
────────xxx𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙨,





xxxxxhmm. at least it looked like one of them had gotten any sort of sleep last night, because danny's hobo chic was nothing to envy. a while ago someone had told him the baggy, old black ripped jeans that he wore so often fit his awful rbf and killer glares. his aesthetic was literally not caring -- just mindlessly floating along the lazy river of life. he could remember asking, 'why, aren't i just a ray of sunshine?' and getting a huff of amusement in response. then he'd roll his eyes, with a shrug. hey, he was happier than most people he knew.

he also knew a lot of unhappy people. but hey, maybe college would change that. between student loans and constant studying, what was there to worry about? he's just shine his pretty little smile at them, and --

'wow, you look like a mess,'

daniel rolled his eyes at the man, shoving his bag under the cheap bedframe while he sat down. "a hi back would've been nice, but thank you," pulling his phone out of his pocket, the cold had remained within the center from when he'd left it on the edge of the forest yesterday night. it hadn't been fully drained of it's battery, because he rarely ever charged it, and he rarely ever used it anyway. it's only purpose was to receive and answer, and danny hadn't fully figured out how to use it. he just poked around on it like some eighty year old man, squinting and yelling at anyone who tried to correct him on it's usage.

"jeez, take me on a date first," he playfully grinned, tapping some button on the screen - google maybe? he had no clue. he knew how to navigate a computer but he'd never gotten around to learning anything touchscreen. "you don't look too bad yourself," aha! the search bar. the wonders of technology. "in a good way." daniel would never understand how people could make phones look so easy, but maybe he'd just never put actual effort into using one. plus, he heard they rotted your brain, so...

his gaze lifted to watch fionn for a moment. "first days suck," he simply stated, running a hand through his hair. "not that bad, though. how 'bout you?"

[wilde]

𝙁𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙍𝙊𝙄𝙓


"in your dreams, buddy," he jokingly scoffed at him. "but thanks." sitting down on his bed, fionn grabbed the pair of jeans lying on his bed and looked closely at the clumps of white fur. he made a mental reminder that he needed to buy a lint remover whenever he can. it would be a lifesaver especially if this wolf-thing was going to be a normal occurrence. "classes were alright," he answered, tossing his jeans to the side. "people seem nice enough, at least." though, he wondered how much of it was real and how much of it was a front.

he couldn't help but watch danny fiddle with his own phone. fionn had to stifle a laugh in an attempt to not seem rude. it was just amusing to see someone around his age so technologically illiterate. there's all of these stereotypes about teenagers being unable to get off their phones, and here was danny. there was something oddly endearing about this. just another one of those little quirks that fionn couldn't get enough of. "my grandma learned faster than you," he teased. "no wonder you didn't answer my call last night."

last night. his mind went back to the events of the night prior. right, he was supposed to be talking to danny about it: the party, the forest, and all the other crap. "speaking of last night, how was the party?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head. "since i wasn't able to talk to you then." fionn rested his chin on his head and tried his best to look convincingly curious. a part of him really hoped that he wasn't lying about all of this. he wanted to believe that he was telling the truth, but, god, that nagging feeling inside of was starting to eat him alive. all he wanted was closure.

[ghast.]

( 🗡 )t𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘠 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
────────xxx𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙨,





xxxxxjeez. if he was preparing to get attacked on the first day of school, he would've immediately assumed it'd be the rando who he was forced to live with. not the dude he'd been best friends with since preschool, who he lost connection with after elementary school. but, y'know, here he was, staring daggers at the man with a slight, playful grin. with most people danny would've probably flipped a loving middle finger, claiming it took a lot to get him mad. words never really offended him, anyways.

in his dreams? rolling his eyes, he continued his task of searching the phone. ehh. he'd seen four year olds who were better at it than him, and they'd been on the earth for nearly a fifth of his life. another death glare went to fionn, which he deserved for the grandma comment.

he was previously somewhere higher-up on the popularity scale of his last school, yet he never asked anyone for help with the device. there were a few questions about why he didn't have social media and he'd say, 'oh, i'm just not into it,' or something stupid like a simple 'i dunno,' when in reality he had no clue how to use it. he'd never understand why people used it anyway, he'd heard girls complain more than once about how all their pictures looked bad and using facetune or whatever. plus, there was way less drama on the message app.

"yea, i lost my phone last night," he simply murmured, continuing to poke around on the thing. fionn would probably hate him forever if he ever even came clean about it, with putting so much into the lie that it almost already sounded fake.

last night. ugh, he'd like to say he'd shoved it into the back of his mind like he normally might have, but along with the killing headache he had, he couldn't leave the thought of it alone. he was such a jackass for not coming clean, but he just gave an indifferent shrug. "kind of boring, i went home early," maybe that wasn't as bad? maybe...

"how was your night?"

[wilde]

𝙁𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙍𝙊𝙄𝙓


"it was nice," he answered, a fond smile on his face. there really weren't any other words he can use to describe it. everything thing about his night was so surreal, and he still wasn't sure if it actually happened. "i made a friend," he continued, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "a white wolf, a really pretty one. and massive, too." fionn let out a laugh because now that he was talking out loud about his night, it just sounded so ridiculous. normally, he wouldn't tell anyone else because they'd dismiss it as a story or would pester him about where the wolf was. the last thing he wanted is for this to spread across the public and have someone hurt the animal. danny was the only person he felt like he can trust with this.

he let out a sigh, lying back down onto his bed. "i want to see him again but," he ran his hand through his hair. "i sound insane, don't i?" fionn wasn't sure if he'd ever stop thinking about that night. it was the closest thing he's ever had to some supernatural experience. the only proof he had of it happening was the fur on his clothes and the pictures of those pawprints on his phone. maybe his mind was exaggerating a bit. things like that have happened before, right? someone's dog went lose last night and he just so happened to be there. but, that even seemed crazier than the whole wolf thing.

"if you came home last night, i could've had a more comfortable night of sleep." his mattress sucked but it was better than sleeping on the muddy floor. "slept in the forest, like an idiot." fionn decided to humor danny for a bit. act as if his stories were genuine and ignore that feeling that he was hiding something from him. though, there was one thing that he needed to get out of his system. he sat up and looked directly at danny. "where you at the forest this morning?" he asked. "when i was leaving the forest i saw... ugh, nevermind." he went back to lying down. it was early in the morning, and his mind was still hazy. plus, what was the point of asking if he was probably not going to get a proper answer back.

[ghast.]

( 🗡 )t𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘠 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
────────xxx𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙨,





xxxxxlistening, he nodded, as if he were invested, though his face read indifference, as if he'd never heard of a white wolf before in his life. to be fair, he hadn't. but he also hadn't intended for his first four-legged interaction with a human to be with his childhood friend, or for it to ever happen at all. he'd always expected to get walked in on my his parents - in the winter, when white rolled over the fields and the cold air became too much for him to bare, he'd sleep through the full moons in his house, curled up in his bed and snoring.

but it'd never occurred, so he never told anyone. his old friends would've made fun of him, called him some kind of wuss that made up stories to get out of hanging with them, and his parents would've called him sick. he was hesitant to tell anyone, because werewolves were a thing out of old wives' tales that he probably wouldn't have believed in either.

"nah," he murmured, the goddamned phone that he couldn't figure out still held in one of his hands as he mindlessly poked through it. "it sounds cool." god. he was such a dumbass. such a goddamned liar, he should've just leaned forwards and said it fast, get it over with. but he couldn't do it. his mouth wouldn't accept the words, and any that he might've had died in the back of his throat.

leaning back onto his palms, he thought for a moment. he could just come out and say it. no harm in that, eh? but the mention of seeing him at the edge of the forest only stole any confidence that fionn didn't know it was him. "yea, i'm-," he started, blinking nervously. "i thought i dropped my phone somewhere," he still couldn't say it. he didn't know why it was such a big deal, because the other boy was the one who he would've trusted most to not tell. "didn't sleep well, either," maybe he'd get it, danny trying to tell him without using words directly linked.

well, he could try.

[wilde]

𝙁𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙍𝙊𝙄𝙓


"yea, i'm-," the words brought some excitement to fionn. was he finally going to give him some closer to this? then danny continued to talk, and he can feel the rush of disappointment through his body. there was something he was about to tell him, but he couldn't figure out what. "oh." that was the best he can say. "sorry for bugging you." he didn't want to corner him or force answers out of him. fionn wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he did. it obviously wasn't a comfortable topic for him. danny looked tired, but when didn't he? he's only seen him for around two days yet it was the most noticeable thing about him.

fionn has always had a habit of thinking too much about things. he'd often ignore what was on the surface and try to dig deeper than that. people used to tell him to get out of that active imagination of his, which was something he never outgrew. he liked to think that he was living in some fantastical world full of myths and monsters. as a child, he even thought that it was unfair that he'd never have the chance to properly be a part of that. that's why this entire wolf situation has been a bit frustrating for him. he felt like there was a bigger picture that danny was keeping away from him.

"well, i'm going to take a walk." he quickly stood up from his bed and grabbed the guitar that was lying underneath. he slung it across his back. why he decided that he wanted to bring it with him, he didn't know. it made him comfortable to have something with him before he went out. taking his phone out of his pocket, he thought about calling a few friends and see if they wanted to hang out somewhere. he put that thought on hold when he glanced back at danny. "you can come with me if you want," he suggested. "unless you're not feeling well enough or something."

[ghast.]

( 🗡 )t𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘠 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘈
────────xxx𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙨,





xxxxx"you're not," he murmured, throwing his phone down on the mattress with a defeated huff. "unlike this goddamned thing." better make light of the tension in the room, they were pretty much stuck together for the rest of the year. he'd have to come clean soon enough, and then it'd probably be even more awkward, but for now he could cling to the ounce of self-confidence he had left and continue spewing lies about how he was a perfectly normal human boy and totally, totally not some bloodthirsty, rugged and freaky wolf monster out of a seven year old's nightmares. the scar upon his shoulder only added to the fact, and his eery blue gaze had fangs of its own.

he'd never been a very open person. yea, he could belt his whole life story out to some random kid he met on the street if they got along well enough, but that never constituted the secrets he'd hidden within the dark corners of his mind, keeping them safe from the wicked hands of people who might've torn him down for them. and he knew way too many people who would react poorly if he ever were to tell them, so he just kept himself from telling anyone. even your best friend could turn on you when you pissed them off.

he wanted to believe so badly that fionn wouldn't do the same, that he was different.

but he didn't know the difference between right and wrong anymore. "sure, why not," he simply stated, pale gaze focused on the other boy. he could sense a state of doubt in his mind, like he knew the lies that danny continued to tell. the first day of school and he'd already done his best to trash a relationship, in pure daniel vierra style. dark circled optics and a sullen face read exhaustion, though he rarely ever was tired, more so done with the world itself. but hey, it could always be worse, right? he honestly didn't know anymore.

the world was just way too tiring. he pushed himself off the bed, slowly following fionn.