Melodramatic Metathesiophobe

Uncomfortable

The sound of something sizzling awoke him. It felt bad to realize he was alone, without Mikey there with him, but he could see him walking around in the kitchen. He was making something, something that smelled amazing, and the voice decided to yell at him to get up and eat. Well, it told him to feed, but it was pretty much the same thing. Just more frightening.

He got up, his limbs feeling sore and heavy in the same way they did the last two times, and managed to limp his way over. "Mikey...?"

"Oh, hi! You're awake, good afternoon," he smiled, "I was just making bacon for you," he glanced over his shoulder, rolling the turner in his hands.

"Afternoon?" that was all Ray picked out, "what do you mean afternoon?"

"I mean it's three in the afternoon?" Mikey cocked his head to the side, "you slept for a while, I didn't want to wake you up because you seemed like you needed it," he returned to the stove and flipped the bacon over. Ray's stomach rolled with it.

"Oh," he said, swallowing, "oh, okay."

"What time is the moon supposed to hit its highest?" Mikey asked, as if he didn't think sleeping that long was odd, "do you know? Or do you change when the moon starts to come up? Or when you see it? Or-"

"Mikey," Ray wheezed, overwhelmed and uncomfortable, "I don't know, okay...? I don't know... it just happens... I don't... I don't want to talk about it, okay...?" he felt more tired than before, but he was hungry, and he hated how the feelings conflicted.

"Are you okay...?" Mikey said after a moment, "is something wrong...?"

"Yeah," Ray sighed, "I'm gonna turn into a wolf tonight, I'd say that's a bit of an issue," he rubbed his face, slumping into one of the chairs by the table and itching at his arms. He was getting hot again. He didn't miss that.

"Sorry..." Mikey sounded quiet, putting the bacon on a plate and bringing it over, "I didn't mean to upset you..."

"You didn't, I just... I... this isn't good, okay...? I don't feel good, and I'm worried, and I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to go through that again because it just hurts so much and-"

Mikey was hugging him. His voice was airy in his ears, soothing him, quieting him, and he slumped against his shoulder. He managed to calm him enough to eat and stay relatively relaxed.

It was when the sun started to set that things got rough.

Mikey had helped him change into shorts, that being all he was wearing, but he was still hot. They had relocated to Ray's room and Mikey was sleeping even though he said he wouldn't. Ray was restless.

The sky started to get dark and Ray watched with wide, frightened eyes, feeling his heart start to beat quicker. Mikey was sleeping so calmly, he didn't want to wake him, and he'd take any chance he could get to avoid letting him see, so he got up and limped to the living room, curling on the floor and leaning on the couch. He was hyper aware of everything on his body that felt even slightly different and his chest was aching. He would have genuinely taken a heart attack over something like this because a heart attack was treatable.

He held his knees, rocking slowly, watching the blue and orange of the sky fade to navy, to black, and his fingers started to pulse and he could feel his nails forcing at the edges of his fingers and his heart sank.

Mikey came out of his room.

"Ray?" He called groggily, looking around, wandering a little before centering on him.

"Oh," he was barely whispering, "oh.. it's.. is it time..? Is it time already...?" He sank to the carpet near him, his eyes glued to the way Ray's nails were pressing out to form claws and how his ears had started to wriggle past his hair.

Ray nodded helplessly. He was scared, Mikey could see it in his glistening eyes as he looked up, and it almost pained Mikey to see. He felt a bit sick.

"Hey, you're okay, you're okay,"  he opened his arms, watching as Ray immediately sank into them, "breathe, you've done this before, you can get through it again, okay?" he knew he was speaking nonsense, he knew it hurt Ray far more than he could imagine, but any comfort he could give was better than none. It was still hard to grasp--impossible, even, because just the thought of it was making Mikey's head spin, it was insane to think a human could be turned into... that.

Ray pressed his face into Mikey's shoulder, the edge of his ear tickling Mikey's chin, and he tried not to focus on it. He tried not to pay attention to what was happening. He pretended it was just a normal night, and Ray had just gotten sad, so they were hugging to calm him.

That became hard to believe very quickly.

He could hear Ray start to pant, feel his clawed fingers dig against his back, and he barely had time to open his mouth and say something before a tremor took over Ray's body, forcing a cry from his throat. He tried to calm him again, pleading that his words could at least stop his screaming, but he didn't seem that fortunate.

Another tremor washed over him, shaking him worse, and Mikey could feel the muscle below his bare skin surge, winding him thin like it was going to split him apart. Bile scorched the back of his throat. It was so unreal still, Mikey thought he could genuinely be dreaming this all up, but he realized as Ray convulsed again that he couldn't even come up with this in his nightmares. He clutched so tight that Mikey got nervous he'd rip his shirt, yowling as another tremor came over him and Mikey was honestly shocked that it hadn't torn him up yet. It was incredible, in a horrible way, how far it could push him without him being able to fight back.

He let himself look. He opened his eyes, just a bit, biting his lip as he watched Ray's spine ripple and press, his tail extending along the floor and his hips moving just a little too far away from his ribs. Mikey reached, tried to help Ray get his shorts down so he wouldn't ruin them, but that became a useless thought as he yelped, a series of cracks beginning. He could barely watch as Ray's legs changed, his ankles pressing away, claws pushing through and digging into the wood of the floor, his thighs bulking before his hips crunched, pulling another cry from him and forcing his claws deeper into Mikey's back.

He closed his eyes again. He didn't want to watch anymore.

He just whispered, quietly saying things he hoped would help, running his fingers up and down his trembling back. He pressed tiny kisses to his cheek and stroked his hair and pretended not to notice as the lines between his hair and skin became blurred.

He opened his eyes again when Ray yelped, pulling his hands away from Mikey's back, and he watched with fear and slight amazement as the pads of his fingers thickened and darkened, his knuckles cracking into place. His hair had spread down over his body and it almost seemed done, but he must have been wrong, because Ray hunched and choked and his skin trembled and another surge rushed over him. It got quicker, the changes almost hard to keep track of, only indicated by Ray's sobs and yowls. Mikey wasn't sure he was breathing as he watched Ray become something else, growing larger than he remembered him being the last time, but he could have been wrong. He was just big. His hair--was it fur now?--thickened and lengthened over him and his ears were flipped right back and it only took one more surge of muscle for him to lean back on his haunches and howl up weakly to the ceiling.

//Author's Notes\\

Poor Ray.

~XO, Vacant.~