#wolfsong server

AU where mark and gordo actually meet much later in life

The bennetts are still wolves and gordo is still a witch

The bennetts have a different witch for their pack, just some guy i guess he’s not important because he leaves later

Anyway instead of gordo owning an auto shop he owns a tattoo shop

Ox apprentices there

The shop boys are all still there

The bennetts still have like their whole ‘business’ of whatever they do with the wolf shit, but mark has his own little business on the side

It’s a flower shop right across the street from gordo’s ink

Mark’s shop is called bennett blooms

Gordo knows about the bennetts, of course, and he knows what they are

They know who Gordo is too, and they know he’s a witch

But it’s just coincidence that they both live in green creek

The bennetts never left green creek because joe never got taken because maybe richard doesn’t exist and thomas and maggie never die?? Idk it’s a nice thought isn’t it

So for years, gordo has watched this guy who owns the flower shop across the street from him. He knows his name, knows his family, knows what he is, but they’ve never spoken to each other

And for years, Mark has watched this guy who owns the tattoo shop across the street from him. He knows his name, knows his father (robert livingstone left gordo and fucked off somewhere and gordo has basically been on his own since he was like 18), knows what he is, but they’ve never spoken to each other

But they’re both very curious about each other

The bennetts and ox have lived next door to each other forever but they never actually met before because Ox and his mother are human (and maybe one day gordo showed up at the bennett house when ox was a little kid and told the bennetts never to get ox mixed up in their shit because he wants to keep ox safe. Gordo only spoke to thomas, no one else. And maybe gordo also used some of his magic to keep ox and his mother from getting too curious about the house at the end of the lane)

But then one day, inevitably, ox and joe meet

gordo freaks out because oh my god joe’s a bennett and the future alpha, and he sits ox down and explains to him that the world is very different than ox thought it was

After ox gets over his initial anger at gordo having kept secrets from him, he’s like “cool, witches and werewolves exist” and he asks gordo to show him some magic

Gordo makes his tattoos move and then ox is like “so do you give everyone who comes in here magic tattoos” and gordo is like “no they’re just normal tattoos”

Chris and tanner and rico are all like “wtf i want magic tattoos” and gordo has to spend an hour convincing them that he cannot give other people magic tattoos

So then Ox and Joe become best friends and they get closer and maybe gordo finally has a reason to talk to Mark Bennett

One afternoon, about a week after ox and joe meet, gordo gives control of the tattoo shop over to the boys for a little bit and walks across the street to bennett blooms

He’s assaulted with smells and colors when he walks inside, big and beautiful and bright flowers everywhere, of every kind

He thinks about maybe getting a bouquet for Ox’s mom because her birthday is coming up and she’s his friend and she deserves something nice

Then gordo hears, “it’s about time. I was wondering when you’d find your way over here.” and mark steps out from behind a wall of flowers

Literally it’s like a fairytale and gordo is like i absolutely cannot with this shit

He frowns at mark and says, “i told your alpha to keep away from my kid.”

Mark just shrugs and says, “we tried. Carter and kelly have always been curious, but they stayed away. Joe, though. He asked questions, of course, about the people in the house down the road. We diverted. But he saw Ox from the window one day and went running out. We couldn’t stop it.”

Gordo is mad because he was forced to tell ox the truth about the world and he didn’t want to have to do that. He was always afraid of it but he hoped he could keep ox sheltered and safe, and now he can’t, he doesn’t have a choice

Mark sees all this on his face even though gordo tries to hide it, and he smiles softly and gordo promptly ignores what that smile does to him

“We won’t hurt him,” mark says gently. “He’s a special kid. He’s special to joe.”

Gordo wants to believe that, he does, because really the bennetts have never done anything that bad, they’ve never done anything to gordo, they’ve left him alone and gordo left them alone in return, they’ve always just coexisted

But gordo’s father had this unexplained hatred and distrust of the bennetts, and some of that unfortunately rubbed off on gordo before robert left

Gordo decides he’s just gonna have to watch and wait and protect ox as much as he can, and he’s gonna have to spend more time with the bennetts to see if he can trust them and prove his father wrong

Gordo clears his throat and says, “i need flowers, anyway,” and mark gives him that smile again. He helps gordo pick out a bouquet for maggie (which he lets gordo have for free) and asks gordo about his tattoos

Gordo shows him the magic ones, and then shows him a few normal ones he did on himself, and he ends up telling mark some of the stories behind them (some of them have stories, some of them don’t)

Eventually Gordo leaves the shop and goes back across the street to his tattoo parlor, and mark watches him the whole time until he’s inside the store

You see, mark is in his 30s but has never found a mate, has never had anyone to give his wolf to

But he’s been watching gordo for years and he thinks he might be something

So time passes. Joe gives ox his wolf after a few weeks. ox and joe grow up and grow closer, they start courting (and one day ox gives himself and joe little matching tattoos at gordo’s shop. The tattoo is two wolves, a black one and a white one, in a circle with triangles around the outside so it looks like the sun, and in the middle the wolves are forming a yin-yang symbol; the phases of the moon are inked in between the triangles)

Gordo is kinda mad but also impressed because the tattoos are well done and that means he’s taught ox well

So as ox and joe grow closer, gordo and mark grow (slowly) closer too

Gordo tries to resist it, but he can’t

They start spending more time together, during mark’s breaks at the flower shop he goes across the street and watches gordo tattoo people and he’s fascinated by gordo’s skill, he’s amazed by his concentration and by how much attention to detail he gives to each tattoo

And during gordo’s breaks at the tattoo shop he goes across the street and listens to mark teach him the language of flowers, and he’s amazed by how much mark knows, how he knows what every flower is called and what the meaning behind each of them is

After a few months they sleep together and gordo is like well fuck

Then mark gives him his wolf, and gordo knows what that means

He hesitates at first, and then he says, “okay.”

It takes a while for gordo to get to the place where mark is, but then he falls fast and hard and he realizes he loves mark like holy shit he loves mark so fucking much

They’re mates

And then gordo starts to get jealous of the bennett witch (who is around the bennetts just as much as gordo and ox are, he’s just been in the background this whole time)

But that doesn’t matter because the bennett witch (who shall remain nameless) wants to leave green creek and go work for another pack that his lover is in or something idk?? Yeah like he’s worked for the bennetts p much his whole life because he was assigned to them or something but he never really wanted to do it because it meant he was separated from his lover who lives somewhere else

Thomas lets him leave because he can understand love and soulmates but then he’s like “now we need a new witch”

And mark just smiles and says, “i think i may have someone in mind.”

Gordo becomes their new witch

Ox and the shop boys and Jessie and Maggie are pack still (Ox is still an alpha because it was inside him all along, and in this AU he took the bite from thomas when he turned 18. Thomas doesn’t die but he steps down as alpha as he was meant to and joe takes over, with ox as his alpha and mate by his side) also robbie is still there somehow

They all live happily ever after with no one dying ever except of old age