Chuck put his bag down by the door as he followed Hank soon after into the kitchen. He took a seat at the table and smiled over to him, waving a hand in his direction at the offer to beer and sugary beverages. Hank knew better, but he was a good host – he made sure that his guests were never wanting of something he could provide.

“Come to think of it I think the last time you touched any equipment there was when you went to the bathroom. Even the touch of iron is bad for your skin, hmm?” He teased as he took a bite of the burger. The charred crispness and moist, meaty patty made Chuck groan out. Just for a moment, anyway, before he regained his composure. After taking more than half of the burger, he set it back down and looked over to Hank with a raised brow.

“ – It’s a good thing I don’t come here every night. I’d eat everything on my plate and hope for seconds. And for the next day I would be running, and running, and running some more to burn it all off.”

Hank just smiled as Chuck waved away the offer of drinks, having figured that he’d be turned down but it had only been polite to ask.  So he just got the other wolf a bottle of water and slid it toward him before grabbing up his own plate and drinking and joining the Omega at the table.  The question drew a laugh from the professor, who raised his shoulders in a shrug.

“It’s very, very bad for my skin, yeah.  I break out into these awful hives, really gross, I don’t think you want to witness it.  You should just be thankful I avoid touching the equipment, really.”  Hank snickered a little when he heard Chuck groan as soon as he’d tried the burger, the Alpha secretly pleased that his food was at least that good.  Not that he was worried, always fairly confident about the food he made.

He tsked softly, shaking his head with a dramatic grimace.  “I don’t know how you can do that on a daily basis, anyway.  It sounds exhausting.”

“Yeah it’s fine…just…hey wait here.” Dallas flipped his hair over his shoulder and made his way through the line, returning to the table a few moments later with his own frothy coffee and another simple coffee. He set the plain coffee down next to the papers and hovered for real this time, watching for a few moments. “I’m guessing you’re a teacher…” 

The Beta pulled out a seat and sat himself down. “If so you have extra reason to be snappish, but I was being a snit too. So let’s start over. Hello, my name is Dallas, like a stripper but classier. And you are?”

Hank quirked an eyebrow up as he was told to wait, but simply turned back to the papers in front of him.  He managed to make it through the first one that he’d been grading before the other wolf returned and Hank settled back in his seat.  “Yeah, I am.  I’m the history professor at the university.”

Eugene smiled as his professor invited him to sit and engaged in the conversation. He had always enjoyed talking to his professors, feeling that he didn’t necessarily ‘fit’ with his peers. He had been told more than once that his mind was older than his young face made him seem, and Eugene tended to agree, despite his nerves causing him to fumble his words on occasion.

“You would?” He chimed happily, smiling. “Oh, I’d be very grateful, Professor Waterson.” Eugene’s passion would always be art, but he wasn’t foolish enough to think he could just open a gallery and expect immediate success. He needed a backup plan, and teaching others seemed like a very good one. “If it’s all the same… I’d really prefer working with you.” He shrugged, blushing a little. “It’s just that… I feel much more comfortable being under someone I know.” If there was a dirty connotation to his phrasing, it was purely accidental, and Eugene didn’t realize it in the least.

Hank was mostly just glad for an excuse to stop grading the papers for the moment.  They’d all just kind of started to blend together by that point and he needed to take a break before he went back to them.  The Alpha took his reading glasses off and set them on the table, leaning forward to reach out and grab his drink before settling back into his chair.

“Yeah, of course.  I’m not gonna turn my nose up at some help, especially since you’re trying to figure out if you wanna be a professor at some point.”  Hank smiled, tapping his fingers against the cup and not entirely able to stop a little laugh at just how suggestive those words had been coming out of Eugene’s mouth.  It didn’t seem like the younger wolf even really realized just his his words could be taken.  “No, no, it’s perfectly understandable.  It might take a bit of time to sort out, but I can let you know the details once I figure it all out.”

“Yes, Alpha.” He nodded his head in understanding. Don’t call him Sir. He would remember that face so as to not anger him. He folded his arms across his chest and watched as people passed him. “Gilly.” He nodded his head. “Or Gullimero if you uh… l-like that better.”

“Oh, no -- you can just call me Hank, if you want.”  The Alpha started quickly, noting the younger wolf’s posture.  He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile, clearing his throat.  “It’s nice to officially meet you, Gilly.”

“Bite the bullet, my friend.” There was a little mischief in the smirk Kieran gave the older wolf, “They say the best way to deal with phobias is to dive in head first.”

“Oh, no.  Nope.”  Hank stated with a laugh, shaking his head.  “I’m okay with never getting a tattoo in my life, thank you very much.”

Nixon had dropped in for his habitual suagry coffee drink when he spotted a familiar face hunched over a stack of papers. It’d not been terribly long since he’d graduated from Vollmond’s university but he wondered if coming over and pestering his old professor would been be worth the effort. Before he’d even made up his kind officially, his feet carried him over, chocolate brown eyes straying on to the paper the teacher currently took his red pen to. Stealth wasn’t exactly his strong suit and it was no surprise he was caught. So, Nixon pulled up a chair, setting his coffee on the table.

“Just wondered about the new inventive ways you intend to use to make these college kids cry.” He nodded toward the marked up page, “ I don’t feel so bad about failing your class now.”

Hank didn’t bother to glance up right away as the younger wolf spoke, recognizing the voice to be one of his former students.  The Alpha just finished up what he’d been writing on the paper, underlining a sentence quickly and then glancing over at Nixon with an amused little smirk.  He shook his head, leaning forward and rest his arms against the table as he considered the other man, chuckling a little.

“I have yet to make a student cry this year, I think I might be getting soft in my old age.”  Hank sighed somewhat dramatically, fiddling with the pen in his hand before he reached out to grab his coffee.  “I wasn’t that bad, was I?  Admit it, you secretly enjoyed my class.”

Chuck laughed as he was greeted at the door by an alpha that smelled like barbecue and a plate of food. He reached for the heaping plate of food in one hand as he closed the door behind him and stepped inside. Chuck brought it up to his nose and gave it a sniff – of course it smelled delicious. He might have to work a little harder to burn off the calories but it was worth it. Hank was a good cook, and he wasn’t about to refuse good food for steak and … rice. Chuck had that most every day anyway.

“Hank. Hello.” He laughed and gave his head a shake. “Burgers are good. If I would have known we were having burgers, I would have stopped off to get stuff to make shakes.”

Chuck looked to Hank, to the plate, then back to Hank.

“ – Real, good, fatty shakes. Not the ones I have. Or the ones you should have after the gym.”

If Chuck had told him that he wasn’t in the mood for burgers, they both knew that Hank would have just put those away for tomorrow and then made something the Omega actually wanted.  Not that he was really worried, always careful to make food that he was sure Chuck would enjoy.  Maybe not as healthy as the younger wolf normally ate, but Hank wasn’t about to eat what he usually termed “rabbit food”.  Maybe he should have because he was getting up there, but screw that.

“Nah, it’s alright.  I’ve got a couple of beers, if you want that.  Or pop or water, whatever you’d like.”  As he spoke, Hank moved to head back toward the kitchen so that he could grab his own plate.  He glanced over his shoulder, making a face at the Omega.  “Ew, is all I’m going to say to that.  I’ve told you, I’m allergic to exercise, I only ever go there to catch up with you.”

He dropped his briefcase down and his reading glasses on top of those before starting to cook.  By the time that he heard the knock at the door, Hank had already put the burgers and fries on plates and then made his way to the door, opening it with a grin and holding a plate in his hand.  “Chuck!  Hi.  I made burgers, that okay?”  The Alpha asked, holding up the plate as he spoke.

Shuichi was hyper aware of the comings and goings of the pack house these days, it was his job to feed his pack after all since Ben’s cooking lessons weren’t going very well. He’d only very briefly been introduced to Mr. Waterson, but he’d noticed him packing up and leaving without food and something in him had told him to go and  make sure it was delivered. The Omega was just a little bit distracted as he entered the cafe, waving lightly to the staff behind the counter. 

He jumped at the voice, nearly dropping the little covered box. “OH! O-oh I’m sorry…you um…you just left the pack house b-before they were finished….so I um…I thought I’d deliver them…um…I made…cookies…” Shuichi set them on the table and then backed away nervously, as if feeding an angry lion.

Glancing up to see just who it was that had approached the table, Hank almost immediately felt guilty as he recognized the Omega.  If Shuichi’s reaction was anything to go by, especially with how he placed the box down as if Hank was going to bite him, then his tone had been a lot sharper than Hank had meant it to be.  He was usually careful to watch how how he sounded whenever he spoke to most of the Omegas in the pack, mostly because he knew he had to make some of them a little nervous.  His brother who was an Omega had been twitchy around Alphas as they were growing up.

The line for the cafe was always long if you waited too long into the day to try and get your coffee. Apparently the new owner was a treasure of a barista that knew exactly how to make a good cup, but that meant the place could fill up when you most desperately needed the caffeine. So Dallas hovered at the edge of the line with a frown on his painted lips, ignoring the stares he got. It was the price he paid for crashing at Xavier’s house, strutting the walk of shame home in a dress. 

Worth it for the fun conversation and the concussion control though. 

The voice had Dallas glancing to the side, frowning at the Alpha, because of course it was an Alpha. Like they had a corner on the asshole market, but instead of scowling he let out a little laugh. “Oh geez I didn’t realize that the line went right through the air you owned! I’ll inform the management to move the store entrance to keep from bothering you next time.” 

Hank had the tendency to go into his own little world whenever he was working, so he hadn’t even realized that the line in the cafe had gotten as long as it was.  The Alpha glanced up, opening his mouth to say something, but then pausing as he glanced around and realized just how crowded it had gotten.  With a little frown, Hank looked back at the other wolf and cleared his throat, looking him over briefly.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize...”  He frowned, capping the pen again and tapping it against the table a moment, shaking his head.  The Alpha moved his hand up to push his fingers through his hair.  “I didn’t mean to snap at you, I apologize.”

“Oh um!” Eugene stammered out, not having realized he was hovering so closely over his professor. “I… I had a question about next week’s essay, but if you’re busy, I can come back some other time, during office hours maybe…” 

Despite his offer to return during proper office hours, Eugene sat down across from his history professor, nibbling his bottom lip as he rested his chin on his hand. “I, um… I also wanted to talk to you about any… internship opportunities? Or teaching assistant positions? Unpaid, of course, I understand. I’d just… like to see if maybe I might want to do that sort of work someday…”

Recapping the pen, Hank finally looked up and offered the younger male a smile.  “Hello, Eugene.  And, no, it’s fine, I was just about to take a break, actually.  What did you have a question about?”  He set the pen down and adjusted the papers a bit before leaning back in his seat and picking up his coffee.  The Alpha tapped his fingers against it, cocking his head to the side as he considered Eugene once he did sit down.

Hank stayed quiet for a moment, just letting the Omega talk before the professor hummed softly.  “Ah, yes, maybe.  I might be able to take you on as a teaching assistant, if you’d like.  If not, I can see if any of the other professors have anything open.”

“But that would take all the fun out of watching you ruin the hopes and dreams of all your students,” Owen had said with a smirk. He used to avoid the pack house before he started wooing Shuichi—yes, wooing would be the term he’d use since the two of them were moving slow despite what had happened last week—so it had been no surprise when Hank started being a frequent flier at the cafe. “I came to see if you needed a refill. You usually need one by now.”

“Oh, c’mon, I’m not that bad.  I mean, I know some of my students claim I’m the devil, but still.”  Hank joked a little.  “I just -- I really can’t even understand what this is supposed to mean.”  Hank muttered, snorting softly as he underlined a sentence and then looked up.  Taking the cap from between his teeth, he put it back on the pen and then flashed a grin at the Beta.  “Yeah, I could use a refill, thanks, Owen.  How you doing?”

Gilly had really just walked into the Cafe to get out of the cold air. He was unsure if they would allow him to sit down and not buy anything, so he had hovered, standing there in his oversized clothing. When the Alpha spoke, Gilly had jumped. He immediately felt guilty, almost like he was in trouble. “S-Sorry, sir…” He thought he knew this Alpha, had seen him around the Bellerose house. Which meant he needed to be even more cautious. So he sat without another word.

“Oh, god, don’t call me ‘sir’, I feel old enough as it is.”  Hank squinted down at the paper that he’d just finished scribbling on and then recapped the pen, finally looking at just who he was talking to.  The kid was from his pack, that much Hank knew, but he’d never really officially met him.  There was a bit of guilt in the Alpha’s expression as he noticed he’d apparently scared him.  “Uh...Gilly, right?”

“Wouldn’t make much sense for a tattoo artist not to have any tattoos, innit?” Kieran chuckled softly, “The pain’s not so bad. After the first few, you stop feelin’ ‘em.”

Hank just continued to eye the tattoos for a moment, not bothering to hide a little wince as he did.  “Well, no, I guess it wouldn’t make sense for you to not have any.  That just looks a bit painful, that’s all.  Never liked needles too much myself.”

Pat’s Pets wasn’t one of those retail chains that were paradise for pet owners so, whenever the owner got short handed, Gem helped out and worked the register. No animals needed saving today, apparnently, and no doggies needed little stupid looking sweaters. He’d seen maybe five people total. Villmond in general was kind of quiet but today things were a unique sort of dead. That epithet about an idle mind being the devil’s workshop occurred as a relevant anecdote because, eventually, Gem decided to drum up some fun of his own.

He took one of the little turtles that was on display and brought up on to the cashier’s counter. As it waddled across the flat surface, Gem put odds and ends in front of it, to block its path. Yeah, he was having a grand time watching the thing run obstacle courses beneath his amused blue eyes. He would’ve been pretty content with that for a while had it not occurred to him that he wasn’t alone.

He hadn’t noticed whenever this guy had walked in. Hopefully they hadn’t been standing there long. Gem had a bright, albiet embarassaed smile on his face, the little turtle now fruitlessly trying to make it past an eraser that was bigger than it.

“Oh, fuck. Sorry about that. What can I do for ya?”

Hank wasn’t entirely sure what had made him walk into Pat’s Pets that day, a store in Villmond that the man hadn’t really visited all that often.  In fact, he could probably count the number of times that he’d stepped into the store on one hand, a couple of months ago when he’d been debating if he wanted to get a pet of some kind or not.  Shaking his head, Hank pushed open the front door and stepped inside and his gaze was almost immediately drawn to the kid behind the counter.

The alpha couldn’t help but snort as he watched the turtle struggle to get over the latest obstacle put in front of it, shaking his head again at the question and offering a smile.  “Ah, nothing right now, I’m just looking.”  His gaze flicked to the turtle and then back up again.  “Slow day, I’m guessing?”