Truly Ours ✔️

Chapter One

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒪𝓃𝑒 / 1 / 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝐼𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈

    When the car stopped, Taz nearly broke his neck as the strange safety contraption around his body held fast. Cadence let out a soft laugh, and helped Taz free himself, leading the shifter up the stairs and through the door. Micah and Trinity had already gone inside, and Trinity offered Taz something to eat. Taz blinked, and nodded, signing out a thank you just as his stomach gave a little grumble. He blushed, and Trinity simply grinned widely.

    "Want something to drink?" Cadence asked, as he wandered over to a large white box with handles. Taz wasn't too familiar with many things in the human world, especially when it came to... appliances. He hadn't had many options in the orphanage.

    He had rags that clothed his body, a barely there mattress he slept on, and a thin blanket that did little to nothing to keep him warm. The children were never really well fed, and because Taz was of a "lower priority", as, according to the headmaster, the younger children needed more food to grow, while Taz had stopped growing, he was never properly fed.

    Taz tilted his head, and inched forward as Cadence gestured to him. There was an almost overwhelming amount of things to look at, and so Taz just pointed at the first thing he saw: an orange looking liquid.

    "Orange juice, great! I'll get a glass. Do you want to take a shower and get some clean clothes on before, though?" Cadence asked. Taz blinked, and glanced at the rags that adorned his body. Micah stood, and approached, crouching down to look up at Taz.

    "Come with me?" Taz looked over at Cadence, who nodded encouragingly. Taz followed Micah up the staircase, who led him to a smaller room that Taz recognized as a bathroom. It was in much better condition than the one in the orphanage. "Do you need help with anything?" Micah asked. Taz peered at the knobs on the wall, then back up at Micah before nodding.

    Micah spent a few minutes teaching Taz how everything worked, and left to get some clean clothes. Once Micah showed Taz where the towels were to dry off, he shut the door to give Taz privacy. The shifter turned the water on, stripping from the rags - leaving his choker on - and stepped into the warm water. He let out a soft gasp, almost awed at the warmth, and immediately put his face beneath the spray, tail flicking behind him. The water had always been cold at the orphanage, and there was typically no soap.

    Taz spent a few minutes just relaxing under the hot spray of water, letting all the dust, dirt and grime wash from his body. When the water was finally running clear around him, Taz searched for the bottle labelled "Shampoo". He knew that much. After finding it, Taz popped the cap open, and put a little bit in his palm, reaching up to scrub his hair. It felt amazing.

    Taz already felt cleaner even before the soap was rinsed out after the thorough washing. After soaping the rest of his body up and rinsing, Taz took a few moments fumbling to figure out how to turn the shower off, before climbing out, bare feet pressing into a fluffy rug.

    He stood there, wiggling his toes and just reveling in the soft feeling of the fabric, before finding the towels that Micah showed him, patting himself dry. Taz was careful and meticulous with everything that he did, and looked up to glance at himself in a mirror. It had been years since he last saw himself clearly.

    He was thin, collarbone and shoulders jutting out almost painfully, and he could count every one of his ribs. He almost looked like a walking skeleton. Pulling his gaze away, Taz dressed, taking note of a small packaged item, with a small note reading, "Use me! :)"