Bug's Grotto

Amazing how you can look back on your life and see how far you’ve come, all the struggles you’ve overcame, all the things in life that pop up like a roadblock to delay you in life, and the small accomplishments that you achieve along the way. From illnesses like a brain injury and cancer effecting my life to my dad being a truck driver all through my teenage years, I have overcome a lot. The brain injury caused me to lose all my math facts and having to relearn them numbers from 1, 2, 3… etc. I am now on my way to getting my high school diploma where all I have to do is finish my math course. (Which I am currently doing between writing stories and other activities). I can see how I’ve grown and changed over the years, going through several good things and bad things happening, yes, several typical milestones have been delayed due to my own lack of motivation or drive to achieve said goals because I thought the process was too hard or I was afraid of what would come after, I am still scared, but I know I can face the next chapter of my life with the support system I have built around me. I don’t know what the future holds for me and honestly, when people said that the world is scary out there, they were right. The world is a scary place and there are people out there with the intention to make your life hell, and make you have a bad day/week/month/year. I don’t know who needs to here these things, but this is my advice after all the bad things I’ve experienced so far: The best thing to do is to avoid these toxic people and surround yourself with people that will support you and lift you up. Do not stress yourself with driving a car at 16, graduating at 18 and being in college before you’re 20. Everyone is on their own path and the people who judge you for that, they don’t know what you’ve been through and you shouldn’t take those judgements to heart. Its that person’s opinion and that’s all it is: their opinion and that’s that. You don’t always have to respect your elders. There are instances where its okay to say no and tell that person off if they keep repeating something that rubs you the wrong way (This is a situation where you could have someone mediate and listen in on the conversation so things don’t get too out of hand.) One quote I found  on my journey while living with a narcissistic cancer patient was to “Those who complain the most about your boundaries are the most likely to violate them repeatedly. Hold firm against the storm. You are worth protecting.” – Jean-Luc Picard.

The sun was hardly rising over the buildings when you were out at your small food truck, stocking up on all the mochi you’d need for the day. You placed several boxes of mochi that you had been preparing for the past few days into the large fridge in the back of your truck. You had two counters where you and your workers would prepare and assemble the many trays of mochi to fulfill orders for your customers.  You made sure that there were more than enough trays for your different sizes you had available: a four-piece set, a six-piece set, an eight-piece set, a ten-piece set, and a twelve-piece set. You lined up all the trays in order of smallest to largest and put any extras in the space under the counter for later when you knew that you’d need them. You also made sure your drink fridge was fully stocked with soda, ramune, tea, and water to sell alongside your mochi. You also had ice cream that could have mochi bits chopped up and mixed into the ice cream.

You took one last sweep through your truck for any last details that you were missing. You had your gloves, aprons, face masks, tongs, scoops for ice cream, and paper linings to go in the trays. You checked your cold stone to make sure that everything was running correctly before you arrived at the stadium to set up for the day. The stone looked like it was working alright, so you checked that off your list and headed to your car to drive your food truck to the stadium to set up in your stall. A few minutes later, after getting checked in as a vendor by the staff in control of the vendors, you drove to your slot where you’d park your truck, detach your car, and park your car nearby so it wouldn’t take up so much space. You walked back to your truck and started setting up. You started with plugging in and turning on your cold stone to get it frozen, since that took the longest. You were working on setting up different cold trays that were displayed in a window to be filled with the various flavors of mochi you’d have to sell that day. After this was done, you took your giant blackboard, set of chalk pens, and went outside of your food truck to write out what that day’s menu and specials would be. You wrote out the list of flavors you had in stock with you today, such as the usual vanilla, chocolate, red bean, peach, coffee, caramel, and a seasonal Sakura mochi that just came into season since it was springtime. You highlighted that the special today was the Rainbow tray of mochi containing six pieces of different flavored mochi. You used different colors of chalk pens to draw what the different colors and flavors of mochi would be in the six-piece tray. You used pink for strawberry, orange for mango, yellow for yuzu, green for matcha, blue for blueberry, and purple for taro. You wrote out the prices next to the different sizes that you offered before standing the blackboard sign up on its rack on the outside of your truck. You stood back and looked over how your truck looked. Everything seemed to be in order, so you opened the window where people could line up to make their orders, turned over your sign to signify that you were open, and went inside to wait for your first customer.

While you waited, you watched the Jumbotron screen for the opening ceremony of the festival, and watched the preliminary obstacle race start. At the beginning of the event, you only had a few customers, who were made up of the heroes patrolling the area and attendees of the festival who arrived a bit late or were stuck trying to find a parking spot. You were able to catch glimpses of the calvary event, where sixteen of the students participated by gathering in groups of four with the intention of obtaining headbands with numbers printed on them, resembling how many points each player had. Everyone was going after the kid who had green, messy hair and a nervous expression whose headband read ten million points. You paused taking a customer’s order as everyone in the immediate area had stopped to watch the jumbotron with bated breath as the cavalry battle came to its conclusion, resulting in the team that had Endeavor’s son as the leader winning. You then returned to taking the customer’s order with an apologetic expression on your face as you took their payment and got to making their order.

After the calvary battle, an interlude event where any of the students could participate in some recreational games, get lunch, or plan out what their strategy would be for the next part of the Sports festival, which was a One-on-One fighting tournament. You took a deep breath as you and your co-workers braced for the onslaught of customers that would come by your food truck in the next hour or so. ~~~ By the time that the lunch rush had died down, the one-on-one tournament had started, and there were only a few people milling about, more interested in the vendors selling merchandise of Pro Heroes than your mochi. This is when you temporarily close your truck for you and your co-workers to take an hour lunch break. You left your truck to hopefully get some food before the other food vendors closed up to take their lunch breaks, too. You were lucky enough to catch a vendor who was selling chicken karaage donburi in a bowl that you bought and enjoyed as you sat on a bench where you could watch the recreational games as you ate your lunch. You enjoyed the flavors of the dashi, soy sauce, and mirin that the rice was cooked in. The meat of the karaage was soaked with flavor and was well seasoned. After you finished your lunch, it was time to go back to work. You reopened your truck, taking the last surge of customers before the Fighting tournament would begin. You noticed a surge of orders containing the four-piece and six-piece options, along with cool drinks or ice cream, due to the hot day and bright sun beating down on the people attending the Festival. There was a lull in customers as the tournament went on. You and your coworkers were able to watch the first round of matches while restocking the mochi, a few of the ice cream flavors that had run out, and some of the drinks that were getting low in the fridge. Between the rounds of matches, there was a trickle of customers, mostly getting some ice cream and maybe some mochi, while others went to the other vendors who were selling other kinds of cooling treats. Some have themed treats based on famous Pro heroes like Endeavor or All Might.

You noticed the one kid, Bakugo, you thought wasn’t that well-mannered after he won first place when his opponent, Endeavor’s kid, had passed out due to overuse of the flame side of his quirk that he hadn’t used in a while, according to what you had overheard from the customers when engaging in small talk with them. You watched with disgust as Bakugo was raging on the podium, absolutely refusing to accept his reward as he wanted to end the fight in a different way. You didn’t know what he was talking about, almost annoyed that he was acting in such an ungrateful way. You watched the last of the closing ceremony wrap up, selling the last scoops of ice cream and mochi to the straggling customers who were leaving the arena and heading to their cars.

You sold the last of your strawberry and peach mochi with vanilla ice cream to one of the U.A. Students that didn’t make it to the final round. It was one of the girls from class 1-A whose name you remembered; her name was Uraraka. Her face was puffy, and her eyes were slightly red, probably from crying after losing her match. She was being consoled by a couple of her friends. The girl with black hair in a ponytail paid for the food while another, whose quirk was a tree frog, told Uraraka that she did well in her match despite being paired with Bakugo. You remembered that match and how brutal Bakugo was on her. Yeah, he did want her to perform at her peak performance during their match, but he didn’t have to be so rough on her. You offered to give them sodas for free since it was the end of the day and you were going to close up soon. They accepted the drinks and walked together to go home.

After the girls were out of sight and there was no sign of any more customers, you closed up your truck, locked everything down, and drove back to your shop in the middle of Tokyo. As you drove down the mountain, you could see the sun setting over the cityscape and the first stars of nightfall appearing in the twilight. You took a deep breath, heading into the city and weaving your way through traffic until you arrived in the parking lot of the strip mall where your ice cream and mochi store was located. You parked your truck in the back, cleaned everything up, and locked your truck and the store up for the day before heading home. Today had been a good day, and you had sold more mochi and ice cream than you thought you would. You were looking forward to next year’s Sport’s Festival to watch the students compete again. The End.

Sun streamed through the windows and shone on your face, making you stir from sleep and shift to find the warmth of your husband in your bed, only to find his side of the bed empty. Right. He had insisted on locking himself in the spare bedroom of your hotel last night. You wondered why he didn’t want to share the same bed with you on the first night spent in your hotel room, but you shrugged it off and got out of bed to go check on him. You walked across the hotel room to the door of the spare bedroom and knocked on it to see if he was even awake. You heard movement from within the room, and Shouta walked to the door.

“You can unlock the door, Y/n.” You heard his voice from the other side of the door. You unlocked the door, and he opened it a little. You saw the same dark circles under his eyes, like he didn’t sleep at all last night. This was the same thing that happened every month around the same time. You had recently caught on that his lack of sleep and isolation in a separate bedroom from the one the two of you shared only occurred during the full moon. You didn’t know why he did this; he wasn’t a werewolf… you’d know if your husband was a werewolf.

You quietly sipped your coffee, listening to the birds’ chirp outside as the sun rose. A few moments later, Shouta came into the bedroom with two plates of food in hand and sat next to you on the bed. He handed you one of the plates laden with eggs, toast, bacon, and some sliced fruit. You thanked him and started eating, the two of you enjoying the quiet morning before your hike. Once the food was eaten, Shouta took your plate and went.

into the kitchen to load the dishes into the dishwasher before he would make sure that everything the two of you would need for your week in the forest, staying in a special log cabin that Shouta had books just for the two of you.

After you had exited the bathroom, now wearing a pair of jeans, brown leather hiking boots, and a traditional black and red plaid jacket over a plain t-shirt, and your hair was tied up in a headscarf. You found Shouta changing into his clothes in front of the bedroom. He had his jeans on and was pulling his black t-shirt up over his head. He looked over his shoulder to see you staring at him, and he smiled. “Are you enjoying the view, Sweetheart?” Shouta asked, turning to face you as he pulled his shirt over his pants. “Yes, I am. Are you almost ready?” You asked, sitting at the step at the front door, to pull your hiking boots on.

“Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes to add a couple of things to our packs. I want to make sure we have absolutely everything, since the cabin that we’re going to will be a few miles from any form of civilization.” Shouta spoke. Your head snapped up to him as concern filled your mind. Being miles from any civilization, which concerned you. You had observed that Shouta had been antsy all week and even more so the night before. You had noticed, like every month since you had met him, that he insisted that he didn’t sleep with you in the same bed, acting all tense and on edge for about a week during the full moon.

Like always, he requested that you lock him into the soundproofed room on the other side of your house, insistently reminding you each time not to check on him until dawn, no matter what you think you might hear coming from the room; he had slept in the second bedroom like he always did during the full moon. You were worried that he was losing interest in you, so you thought that this trip was a way to mend your relationship, until he said he’d be sleeping in the spare room instead with you. Hopefully, you’d get some answers while the two of you were staying in the cabin over the next week. After you had laced up your boots, Shouta handed you your backpack before he laced up his boots and shrugged his backpack on. You noticed that the circles under his eyes were dark, and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all last night. You followed him out of your hotel room and outside, following Shouta to a trail marked as “The Lone Wolf Trail”. This worried you slightly. There had been legends surrounding the area, specifically the trail, that there had been sightings of werewolves in the area, and reports of wolves howling in the distance during the full moon. Tonight would be the second night of the full moon, and despite Shouta looking exhausted, he was walking quickly on the trail, eager to get to the cabin by nightfall.

You followed him, keeping a few steps behind him as the two of you followed the trail through beautiful, thick forests. There were tall coniferous trees that stretched up to the sky, enclosing the two of you in quiet. There were sounds of birds chirping and the occasional rustle of foliage where squirrels and rabbits would dart through the leaves and even jump across the path in front of you and Shouta. About Midday was when fatigue hit you like a tidal wave. “Shouta, I’m tired. Can we stop for a moment to rest, please?” You asked, panting hard, leaning against a tree, and resting in the shade. “Yeah. Not too long, though. I want to get to the cabin before the sun sets.” Shouta said, stopping with you, leaning against the tree, and taking a long swig from his canteen. You took a long drink of your water and caught your breath before noticing Shouta staring off into the woods. He did this often around the full moon, staring out a window and zoning out, like he was zeroing in on something. But he was listening for something this time. A snap of a twig makes his head whip around to face a majestic eight-point buck staring back at them. Shouta’s eyes were wide, and he had his mouth open slightly, salivating a little as if he was imagining sinking his teeth into the throat of the buck, and devouring it whole. You felt a little unnerved with this odd reaction from him at the sight of a deer, looking away from him to screw the cap back on your canteen, and find your way back to the trail. Shouta took a moment before realizing that you were no longer near him and heading back to the trail. He looked around for a moment before hearing you snap a few twigs behind him. He turned around to find you heading back to the trail without him.

“Y/n! Wait.” He called after you, scrambling to catch up with you as you were walking faster, wanting to keep your distance from him. Shouta grumbled and jogged after you, eventually catching up to you on the packed dirt trail and grabbing your arm. “Y/n. Wait, it's not what you think it was.” He started. “Not what I think it was? What exactly do you think I was thinking when I saw my husband acting like some bloodthirsty animal, salivating over the idea of sinking his teeth into that bush back there? Tell me, Shouta. What were you doing back there? It scared me.” You responded, stopping in your tracks to spin around and face Shouta.   “It was a primal instinct. One of the few instincts I’m sure you’ve caught me doing over the past few months around the full moon, right?” Shouta asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“Yes. It was. I don’t know why you did it just then, with that buck in sight. It was weird, and it scared me a little.” You told him. His eyes softened a little when he realized that his instincts were scary to you. “I’m sorry I scared you. I will try to refrain from doing them in front of you, but I can’t exactly control what comes as instinct.” Shouta told you. “I forgive you. I understand you can’t control instinct, but I will want more answers when we get to the cabin.” You spoke, turning around, and continuing walking down the trail. Shouta sighed and followed after you.

A few more hours passed, and the cabin came into view after the two of you crested over a hill. The log cabin was beautiful, two stories with a deck that overlooked a lake down at the bottom of a gradual hill. The cabin and the lake were surrounded by a thick forest of trees and an invisible, electric fence that acted as a boundary for the private property. You followed Shouta up the steps of the cabin, taking in the floor-to-ceiling bay windows that gave a perfect view of the lake from the comfort of the cabin. Under the deck was a grill, a set of patio chairs with a matching table, and the underside of the deck was built to look like a trellis and was interwoven with string lights. There was a high, wrought iron fence barricading the patio, protecting any wildlife that might pose a threat to the people living in the cabin.

Now that the two of you were in front of the door, Shouta searched his pockets for the key and unlocked the door. He let you go inside first, following after you and setting his backpack in the bedroom with the reinforced door. He locked the front door behind him before taking his boots off. You set your backpack next to the kitchen counter, noticing where Shouta had placed his backpack. You sighed and sat next to your husband as you took your boots off, placing them next to his. The two of you walked into the kitchen, where you checked on what had been stocked by the people who were renting out the cabin. There were the essentials, like milk, bread, meat, cheese, and various vegetables and fruit, all stocked for the two of you to eat over the next week. You noticed that there were several expensive cuts of meat, wondering why Shouta would’ve put that on your grocery list. You pulled out one of the drinks and a pre-made sandwich that was stocked in the fridge and uncapped it, taking a long sip while you waited for Shouta to come out of his room, now wearing looser clothes. He went to the fridge and grabbed one of the energy drinks and a sandwich too, before joining you at the kitchen table.

“You want answers, yes?” He asked. You nodded, leaning back into your chair and waiting for an answer from your husband. Shouta looked nervous, not touching his sandwich, trying to think of an explanation. “I need you to not be afraid of what I’m about to tell you... I am a werewolf. I have been ever since I was little. I was born with this… condition, and there isn’t a cure for it. Theres natural remedies I can take, but they are expensive and hard to find.” Shouta started, watching your face for your reaction. You were stunned speechless. Your husband of a year was a werewolf, and you were just learning of this now? As you processed this revelation, Everything made sense now, the ritualistic routine of locking himself away in your spare bedroom each full moon, looking like death warmed over for about a week after the full moon. It made so much sense now. You looked over at him, noticing how he was bracing for the worst. Almost as if he was expecting you to get up, grab your backpack, and leave him alone in the cabin. You then reached across the table and took his hand in yours. Shouta looked down at your smaller hand in his larger one, then looked you in the eyes. After you had locked your gaze with his, you gripped his hand tightly. “Shouta, thank you for telling me that you’re a werewolf. I’m not upset, I just want to know why you didn’t tell me sooner.” You told him in a reassuring tone. Tension eased from Shouta’s shoulders, but didn’t leave them completely.

“I hesitated telling you because I was scared that I’d lose you. I’ve told other humans in the past, and they left me or made excuses as to why they didn’t want to be around me anymore.” He confessed, his voice cracking a little as he rubbed his thumb across the back of your hand. You gripped his hand tighter to reassure him that you weren’t going anywhere. You were happy that he could open up to you like this, trusting you with this information. “Shouta, I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with you no matter what. I married you for you. I don’t care that you’re a werewolf, but I’m happy you told me. I was beginning to get worried that you were losing interest in me or that you were upset with me about something.” You told him honestly. Shouta’s gaze softened completely, and tension left his shoulders. He leaned forward and held you close. When he pulled away, he cupped your face and kissed your forehead. “I still need to sleep in the reinforced room for the next few nights for your safety. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He responded, sliding his hand down to hold your hand in his. “I understand, but will you let me help take care of you in the mornings after now?” You asked, curious if he would let you care for him now that you know the truth. Shouta hesitated, taking a deep breath in and out before making eye contact with you and nodding yes. “Yes, you can help me in the mornings. You can come in after the sun has risen. Don’t come inside the room, no matter what you hear. I won’t risk harming you.” Shouta responded.

“Why do I have to wait until after the sun is up? Why can’t I go inside the room when the sky is lighter?” You asked, not quite understanding why you had to wait until that specific time before you could go inside and care for your husband. “Because that’s when my transformation is over. I don’t want you to see my bones and muscles literally reforming themselves as the sun comes up. Sometimes, my mental state is still in… a primal wolf-like state in the moments after I transform back into a human.” He explained.

“Won’t you recognize me by smell? Can’t wolves recognize their pack members by scent?” you asked, remembering something about wolves that you read a while back, that wolves could recognize their mates, pups, and other pack members by scent and sounds. “I would, but I won’t put you at risk to be scratched or bitten by me. I don’t know what I’d do if I realized that I had hurt you in that state.” Shouta explained, rubbing his thumb across the back of your hand in a caring manner. “Okay, I understand. When do you have to go into the room?” You asked. Shouta looked up and saw that the sun was going down outside. He quickly finished off his sandwich before leading you to the reinforced bedroom and quickly showing you the lock on the door. “We don’t have much time. The sun is setting, and the moon will be up soon. The one thing you need to remember is to keep the door locked from the outside where I can’t reach it. In the case that I manage to escape, you need to arm yourself with the can of aerosolized silver and wolfsbane. If that doesn’t knock me out, you will have to use the rifle in the master bedroom closet and load the barrel with the silver bullets. Make sure to hit my shoulders or legs. Do not aim for my torso where the vital organs are.” Shouta instructed, keeping your gaze locked with his. You were scared and confused. Why would you have to shoot him? You didn’t want to shoot your husband. Shouta noticed your expression and placed his hands on your shoulders.

“I know you’re scared, and I know all of this is new for you. But for tonight, I need you to lock me in this room, then immediately go to the master bedroom on the other side of the cabin and lock yourself in there until morning. Do not come out, whatsoever. No matter what you hear during the night, it is not safe for you to come check on me.” Shouta said with emphasis, making it clear that you were not to check in on him at all during the night, and you were to stay in your room for the entire night. You nodded quickly in agreement; Shouta pulled you into one last hug before gently pushing you outside of his room and shutting the door. The first thing you did was observe the heavy, multi-faceted lock that had several bolts, knobs, and latches that you immediately turned or deadbolted so the door was securely locked and wouldn’t budge.  You then ran across the house, stopping by the front door to grab the backpacks, grabbing some of the pre-made food from the fridge to last you the night, and sprinting across the cabin to the safety of the master bedroom as night arrived outside. You chucked the backpacks into the bedroom before locking yourself in the master bedroom, deadbolting the door, and throwing down the tungsten and steel bar to reinforce the door further.  After you had caught your breath, you turned to see a checklist on the wall behind you: Checklist of Preventative Measures to execute during the Full Moon. 1. Lock the Wolf in his room. 2. Make sure all exits to the outside are secured.

3. Grab provisions and entertainment to last you through the night. There’s no way you are sleeping with a Wolf in the Cabin. 4. Lock yourself in the Master Bedroom, turn the deadbolt, and pull down the barricade. Then go to the closet and arm yourself with the Wolf Spray and rifle. Silver bullets are on top of the dresser in the jewelry box. Load six of the silver bullets into the barrel of the rifle and keep the Wolf Spray and rifle nearby. 5. Do not, for any reason whatsoever, open the door if you hear the voice of your loved one on the other side, trying to convince you to open the door. If you open the door, you have sealed your fate. You read over the list and panicked slightly since you didn’t know you had to lock all the windows and doors before securing yourself in the master bedroom. You at least took a moment to check the windows and doors to the bedroom before finding the Wolf Spray, the rifle, and the silver bullets all where the list said they would be. You loaded six bullets into the barrel of the gun before settling yourself on the bed with your backpack next to you.

Dawn couldn’t come fast enough. You wanted to pass the time by watching your favorite TV show, but you feared that the noise would attract Shouta to your room. You wanted to read your book, but you couldn’t focus on the text in front of you. You finally decided to pull your headphones out to connect them to your phone so you could listen to something quietly while you cooked your dinner and did your best to pass the time without going crazy. 

You watched as night fell over the forest outside and the moon rose over the trees, casting its beams into the windows of the cabin. As you sat on the bed, eating your dinner, you could hear muffled sounds of Shouta’s painful transformation from the other side of the cabin. His groans of pain turned into wolf-like pants and growls. He howled a few minutes later. The howl rang through the cabin, sending a shiver down your spine and making a wave of goosebumps erupt over your skin. You shuddered and made sure the rifle was close, and the Wolf Spray was within reach, before going back to what you were listening to. Your heart clenched when you heard the distant whining and scratching at the door, a clear sign that Shoutawantedg to be let out of his room. You shut your eyes and shook your head before pushing the headphones tighter over your ears and focusing harder on your show.  You desperately wanted to let Shouta out of his reinforced room to ease his distress, but you knew you could get ripped to shreds if you did so.

You took a deep breath and did your best to tune out the noises coming from Shouta’s room. You pulled your backpack onto the bed and dug around for the project you brought to work on in case of some downtime in the cabin during the weekend. You settled into watching your show, unaware of the hours ticking by. Hours passed, and you pulled one of your earphones off to check if Shouta was still whining for attention, when you heard that the noises of Shouta’s distress eased up after he realized you weren’t coming to let him out anytime that night. Tension eased from your shoulders when you no longer heard any noises coming from his room. You looked out the window to see the sky turning blue as dawn approached. In a few moments, you could go check on Shouta to make sure he survived the transformation back to a human as the first rays of dawn began to stream through the windows. You paused your show and climbed out of bed, and slowly unlocked your door. You peeked outside with the Wolf Spray in your hand. The living area and the kitchen were both vacant, and quiet groaning noises were coming from where Shouta was still locked inside. You snuck out of your room, creeping across the cabin until you were outside Shouta’s bedroom. You pressed your ear to the door to listen for any signs of life on the other side. You heard a groan, shifting of blankets, and creaking of the bed from inside. There were no noises that a wolf would make, so you thought it safe to unlock the door and go inside. Before you unlocked the door, you set the Wolf Spray down and grabbed the first aid kit. You then unlocked the door, opening it slowly, and stepping into the room. Once inside, you found Shoutalyingg on the floor at the foot of the bed, shirtless, and exposed to the sun’s rays. You went to his side, kneeling in front of him with the first aid kit in hand. He had numerous bruises and cuts on his back and arms from what you could see. He had long black sweatpants on to cover his legs, so you didn’t know what wounds he had on his legs, but you would get to them later. You gently pushed hair out of his face, trying to be as gentle as possible.  He stirred, groaning as he pushed himself onto his elbows and looked up to you. “I see you lasted the night… what happened?” He asked groggily. You were a little concerned about his sudden amnesia, but you would tell him what happened anyway. “I stayed in my room, and you stayed in here. I heard you scratching at the door, wanting to be let out, though… it hurtnot tot let you out.” You told him, looking at the door to see deep lacerations in the wood from where he was scratching at the door to be let out. Shouta pulled himself into a seated position, cupped your face in his hands, and gently kissed your forehead. “I’m proud of you for holding out for as long as you did. I’m sure it was hard not to let me out. There have been stories where partners couldn’t stand hearing their mate in distress and let them out. You can think of what happened afterwards.” Shouta told you, leaning against the foot of the bed and watching your face for your reaction. Your nose scrunched in disgust at the thought of werewolves being in such a mindless state that they would even attack their mate.

You shook your head of the thought and opened the first aid kit to tend to Shouta’s wounds. He watched you lovingly as you treated the cuts on his arms with exhausted eyes. You knew that he hadn’t slept at all last night, figuring that he was in a constant state of pain and discomfort. “Is there anything that I can do for you today? I want to help you in any way that I can.” You said, wrapping up the last of his cuts, and putting the first aid kit off to the side. “Can you just hold me, please? I missed being next to you.” He said, holding your hand, and rubbing his thumb across the back of your hand. “Of course. Do you want me to hold you here on the floor or on the bed?” You asked. “On the be,d please… Can you help me up? I’m not moving so well.” Shouta asked. You nodded and stood up first, then bent down to help Shouta stand up to his feet. You then guided him to the bed and helped him lie down before climbing into the bed with him. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you close to his chest.

He inhaled the scent of your hair and let out a sigh of relief. He finally felt safe and at home.