#katnuts thread

As much as she loved their little house in the country - the place which felt like home - it was forever cold. Or felt like it. Jonas’ presence usually helped - he was so tall that she usually fitted perfectly into the alcove of his body. It was always fun to wiggle her cold toes against him, making him get up to find some socks for her before cuddling once more. It was normal to wake up cold, to burrow into him, pressing cold fingers to his stomach and her nose to his shoulder. Which always made her smile when he made his sleepy little noises and they’d have another little cuddle as she melted enough to get out of bed. Or he did to put the damn heating back on.

Waking up to cold and a yelp from some distance place which was usually the rest of the house had Kitty going from sleepy, dozy land to flailing in 0.2 seconds. The first thing she noted was that she was on the wrong side of the bed - which felt wrong. Had she flailed that much? had Jonas got up early and she’d sought out the heat of where he’d slept? She rolled over and instantly became trapped in their blankets, her body feeling awkward as she moved to peer over the bed to see… her?

“J-jonas?” she whispered, a look of horrified shock on her features. Kitty wriggled, untrapping herself from the blankets and instantly pausing, legs half swung out of the bed as she realised those legs weren’t hers. Well, they could have been if she had her winter growth of hair leg but no, no, no. “What is going on? Jonas? please tell me that is you in me? Oh my god! Why am I you? is this a dream? obviously. It must be. Pinch me!” As Kitty rambled her voice grew higher, panic setting in as she tried to wrap her brain around what was going on.

If he had any doubts, the words that fell from her--his?--mouth confirmed the identity of the person inhabiting his body. Her flailing loosed his foot from the blankets, dropping to the cold floor. He was still stunned, but Kitty was freaking out, and a part of his mind clicked into action.

“Hey, shh,” he said, climbing onto the bed and wrapping arms around shoulders, much wider than he was used to holding. He rubbed her back, murmuring to her in the familiar but wrong voice. “Calm down,” he said, “it’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out.”

It was a rough storm, and the forecast showed it getting worse. Jonas didn’t mind too terribly much right then, but Kitty seemed to trying to drown out the sound of thunder with some video game that he wasn’t familiar with. He was in their bedroom, looking for something in the closet when the power died. “Crap,” he muttered, backing out of the closet and turning around. The cit outside had turned into a grey blob with no power on this block, the only lights coming from the few cars struggling through the downpour. Lightning forked across the sky, and the sharp crack of thunder made him jump a little, backing away from the window. 

Poking his head into the living room, he looked for Kitty. “Are you okay?” he asked, then his eyes fell on the darkened television. “Did you save?” he added. 

He woke up freezing. The heater probably gave up in the night, he mused, dragging the blankets further up his body. God, if he was this cold, Kitty must be an icicle. He felt to his left for her, but came up with the edge of the bed. Funny. Maybe they’d cuddled so hard they’d switched sides last night he mused with a smile, rolling the other way and reaching out for her, finally cracking open his eyes in the grey of the morning…

And giving a strangled sort of yell, then retreating away as quickly as possible, getting tangled in the sheets and falling off the bed with a thump, one foot still stuck in a blanket. It gave him enough of a view though to realize that this was not his body–which was actually the less frightening possibility, seeing as his body was still in bed, beginning to stir–but still one he was familiar with. Looking down, pulling long brown hair forward, examining the small hands… yes, he knew this body, and could almost imagine the wide-eyed expression he was showing to the person on the bed. 

Jonas had come on this little trip with optimism and amusement. He was a bit flattered that he was chosen to come with Nate, something that didn’t officially mean anything, but sent a message nonetheless. And he was looking forward to getting his first glimpse of the infamous city wolves. He’d heard stories his whole life, of course, but only a few in his pack had ever actually met any of them. They had no reason to venture into that maze of metal and trash, and from what he’d heard, they were too pampered and scared to come out past their city boundaries. Plus, he’d wanted to see the alphas’ interactions for himself. 

So when they’d pulled up to the bar that was the packs’ meeting place, he’d been grinning, piling out of the truck with the others, looking around for sign of the other wolves. There were a few sleek cars parked in front of the place, impractical little things, so he figured they were already there, and was proven right when they walked in.

The otherwise empty bar had a large table situated in the middle of the floor with a few chairs around it. One half was already filled by unfamiliar faces, but the general scent was telling. Jonas had taken a spot standing to the side, not being important enough to warrant a chair, but it allowed him the opportunity to stare around at these new creatures. They all seemed so cold and pale, but maybe it was just the lighting, he mused. 

He admittedly had lost track of the meeting--he had nothing to add, of course, so why worry--and took a moment before he stepped forward at Nate’s signal. 

“And for ours, we offer Jonas Walker,” Nate said in a stiff voice. Jonas frowned, looking from his alpha to the people on the other side of the table. Standing opposite him was a woman, situated just behind the alpha. Just like him. Her face was in shadow, so he couldn’t tell if she was confused as well, and he looked back to his leader. 

“It is official then,” an older man--the bartender, it seemed--said from the middle of the table, writing something down. “The two packs shall form a bond for the mutual protection of their people, as modeled by the two chosen members, to be linked together in marriage. I need the signatures of the two alphas,” he added in a less official voice, sliding the paper first to the city’s leader, then to Nate, who signed it quickly and stood.

“You look like you’re going to be sick, Jonas,” he said, peering into his face. “Buck up, man, it’s not like we got you an ugly one.”