Becoming the Luna

Hayden looks up at this, pleasant surprise on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's good but I thought she wanted to work at the Pack Clinic." Hayden hums.

"She still will but she says she wants her space as well, just like me so she'll show up for her shifts and come back home to me." Mae explains, looking out the window for the first time no doubt trying to catch a glimpse of Shana.

Hayden just sighs, glad that they sorted things out and he wonders how it would go with Virgil and the issue of where they'd stay.

"I see her!" Mae exclaims after a while of an uninterrupted period of staring out the door window, Hayden had been going through the bookshelves taking note of which books would have to be restocked.

"W-What?... Ow!" He yelps, holding his smarting head. He had been squatting by the lower shelves only to get up too fast and smack his head.

"Hay?" He hears Shana call him, her voice sounding strange and familiar at the same time.

He peeks out of the shelf and his mouth drops open when he gets a good look at her before rushing into her embrace. "W-What happened to you?" He asks in disbelief, cupping her face and studying her new haircut.

Shana just laughs happily, kissing his cheeks and squishing them simultaneously. "The same thing that happened to yours." She replies wittily, splaying out his shirt hair.

"It got in the way and I missed you, I can't believe the three of you got together to trick us." He pouts.

"Mae nearly killed me." She rolls her eyes, settling her jaw on my head.

Mae gets flustered, touching her hair. "I was taking a nap and you sneaked up on me."

"It's called a surprise, babe." Shana says dryly.

To me, she leans back and squishes my cheeks again. "Someone grew taller." She notes, ruffling my hair.

I bat her hand away and cross my arms. "You sound surprised."

"No, no, I'm not." She refutes quickly. "I guess I expected you to finally hit your growth spurt and shock me but you only grew a couple inches."

Hayden just levels her a blank look and walks away. "Why was I missing you again?"

"HayHay…" She whines, giving him puppy eyes.

He pauses and glances at her. "Acknowledge my height and maybe I'll hug you again." He bargains.

Mae slaps a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter when Shana cringes.

"Lying is bad, Hay." She says seriously and Hayden just rolls his eyes with a smile.

"Why did you decide to cut your hair anyway?" He asks curiously, taking up the last of the boxes to the backroom.

Shana shrugs. "Just because, besides…" She trails off giving her girlfriend a knowing look.

"I love it!" Mae says in a giddy voice sidling closer to her.

"Of course she does." Hayden mutters, more to himself as he steps back out and nearly trips at the sight in front of him.

"What the hell?" He complains, slapping a hand over his eyes. "Lick your girlfriend's throat somewhere else." He scolds them.

Shana bursts out laughing at this. "Don't be a sore third wheel." She teases.

"Who's third-wheeling?" Virgil sweeps in, glancing absently into his phone which immediately starts ringing but he just ignores it and slips it in his trouser pocket, coming around to meet Hayden.

"Me." Hayden immediately replies, walking straight into his boyfriend's arms. "And Shana called me short."

Virgil just lazily kisses his complaints away, a hand sliding well past his lower back.

Hayden can hear Shana clearing her throat loudly and muttering "Hypocrite." But he ignores her, reaching his hands up to cup Virgil's face.

"Where's Dale?" Shana asks impatiently when he still doesn't make an arrival after several more minutes.

"Most likely on his way." Virgil responds, taking his constantly vibrating phone out of his pockets and tossing it on a random table.

"Isn't that important?" Hayden asks on a gasp, he had kept the closed sign out because he currently wasn't in the right state to attend to any customers.

"Most likely Ian spamming me." Virgil waves dismissively, settling his hands around Hayden's waist.

Hayden doesn't understand why he can't sit on the sofa like everyone else but he's really not complaining, anticipation thrumming under his skin as they bide their time till Dale makes an appearance.

Dale knows he's stalling and that he's also overthinking this, these are his friends and although it isn't easy to admit, it was fine to be not okay.

He keeps telling himself all this in repeat in his head but still, it takes a lot to convince him to make the drive from the Pack House, his mom had been happy to see him as expected but her welcome felt fleeting like she only wanted him back just so he could get mated and give her a grandson.

She even already set up a date with some girl from the Pack that he doesn't even remember meeting and it's taking lots out of him to just live.

The bookstore still sits quietly the way it did the day before, nothing out of place, it's not like he expected the sky to fall out of the sky just because there were a couple of bumps in his life.

He pushes open the door slowly, not sure what to expect, it's definitely not Hayden screaming his name and jumping on him.

"Dale!" 

His breath gets kicked out of him when the slender body slams into his, a wide smile on his face.

"Doll?" He mutters in a shaky voice, still confused.

"What took you so long? I thought you were coming anymore." Hayden pouts, legs casually thrown around him like someone else wasn't holding up all of his weight.

Dale tries to piece words together but they don't come and he just stares at those kind grey eyes, staring up at him with a true and deep happiness.

"You look so grumpy too." Hayden notes, a cute furrow in between his brows as he leans forward to better inspect Dale. "And are those eye bags? Are you not sleeping well?" 

He accuses, glaring down at him in accusation.