Moving Forward

Warmth (9)

When Max woke up, he was warm and insanely comfortable. Rolling over, he pressed his face further into the source of the heat. A pleased rolling chuff rumbled from his throat, and the weight over his waist tightened, not unpleasantly. River's scent filtered into Max's and for a moment, he was in absolute bliss.

And then his brain followed. Why was River in his bed? Why did River have an arm around him? Why were they asleep together?

The events of yesterday came back to him without preamble. They weren't in Max's bed at all, still intertwined together on the blankets on the porch and as he tried not to be lured back into the comfort of it, he was also trying not to panic.

But then River gave a low groan of protest. "Lie back down Kitten." He mumbled, and pulled Max closer.

Heat flushed Max. "K-Kitten?"

"Yeah, a big kitten that's keeping me..." River's eyes opened, awareness and recognition seeping through. "Waters? Are you the jaguar?" He sounded confused.

"Are you a wolf?" Max replied, despite already knowing the answer. He needed to be sure though.

River sighed. "Yeah, I am Max." His fingers carded through his hair. "Is... is that okay?"

Max buried his face into the crook of River's neck. "That's perfect."

Well, that was a lot less dramatic than had been expected, though Max couldn't deny the warmth he felt at the first time River had used his first name.

"Why do I make you nervous?" His normal soft tone seemed to slice through the early morning silence.

"You said I smell good." River's reply wasn't an answer.

Max nodded, both attempting to press closer to River and trying not to pay attention to how little clothing they each had. "You do smell good. I don't know what it is."

River hummed, cuddling Max closer. "I love how you smell. Since I met you, every single time I saw you, I..." he trailed off.

"You what?"

"I..." River sighed. "Damn, all I've wanted was to wrap myself around you." He pushed his nose into Max's hair.

It tickled the back of Max's neck to feel River breath, but he couldn't complain. Not really, since he was barely refraining from rubbing his face against River's bare skin.

"You called me cute." Max whined.

River chuckled. "I thought you were sleeping."

Max nodded against River's neck. "I was, mostly."

Neither man spoke after that. Max had to wonder if River had fallen asleep again after long moments of stillness. The longer they lay there, the further the sun rose in the sky. With nothing to do, Max wasn't complaining.

Somewhere in the forest, birds began chirping, and squirrels nattered between themselves. There was no one to take notice of the two men so absorbed in the sensation of just being together; Max sliding down to push his face against River's chest; River curling over, accommodating him perfectly. Occasionally, one would shift to wake up his muscles, but not enough to disturb the other.

Max's eyes were lightly shut as he dozed when the ringing of a phone disturbed him. Just barely managing to lift his head, he glanced around. It was late afternoon, the sun just beginning it's decent in the sky. How had they managed to do nothing? Nothing but cuddle. Max flushed at his thoughts.

The ringing stopped. And then started again. "Is that your phone?" Max asked when River tugged him gently.

"Probably." River muttered without opening his eyes. "I left it in the car. Lie down." He groaned.

It stopped and then started again. Max shook his head. "You should answer it. It sounds urgent."

River peaked up at Max through one eye. And then gave a long, loud, indecent moan as he stood and stretched. Max couldn't help the stubborn blush that coloured his cheeks, despite his darker skin. Not to mention both of them were nude, surely River understood that adding the moan really was not conducive to helping Max's mental health. Although, Max wasn't helping himself either, staring at those muscular thighs and perfect ass.

River could squish melons with those things.

Nope. Not going to go there. Definitely not...

He went there - and moments later found himself needing a pillow to hide the little issue in between his legs.

River returned with a grim expression and a wan smile. "I have to go." He muttered.

Max found his little issue solved with those four words. "Do you have to?"

His neediness didn't surprise him, but River's reaction to it did. With just a couple long strides, River was through the porch doors and had Max in his arms, burying his nose in Max's hair.

"Yeah, I have to. Pack drama."

Pack. Of course. Wolves live in packs. And that meant River had people who were probably much more important to River that Max was.

"Of course." Max murmured.

River hesitated to let go. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Just being pathetic.

River gave a quite growl. "You'll tell me when I get back."

He sounded annoyed, and looked annoyed, and even the way he went about grabbing clothes from his car and dressing and then driving away seemed annoyed. But Max could only think about the way River had said he'd return.

'When I get back' as if it was a given that he'd come back.

Ugh. Pathetic, Max gave a quite whine before getting up and dragging the duvets inside with him to stick in the washing machine. He was reluctant to do so, finding River's scent all over them... but they were in desperate need of cleaning.

A warm bath soothed Max's body but his mind continued to whir with thoughts of the wolves and yesterday's events and River. Always River. The werewolf was never far from Max's mind.

Through with his bath, and feeling the first pangs of hunger, Max went through his cupboards and was unimpressed with his ability to ignore the fridge until there was nothing in it to eat.

Another shopping trip then.

He didn't want to. That meant putting on clothes and going outside where people were and since it was quite late, there was no guarantee that the supermarket was even open. His laziness dictated that he eat cereal on the roof. It wasn't really enough to fill him up, but it was enough to tide him over for now until he could go out tomorrow morning when he wouldn't be as reluctant to see people.

"Waters?" River's voice at the front door had Max throwing the (luckily) plastic bowl and himself over the roof to get to the front porch. "The roof?"

"I like heights." Max justified with a shrug.

"And the bowl?"

"I'm hungry."

River blinked twice. "Would you like to go to dinner with me?" He asked with a smile.

It was the one that reached his eyes and melted any thoughts Max might've had to refuse. Not that he would have, but it was definitely an added reason.

Max nodded once. "Come inside. I'll get dressed."