Yarrow and Summer adjust to domestic life together despite different expectations.
A continuation of Summer's Run because Yarrow is adorable and Summer has some brewing PTSD. Still a work in progress!
Yarrow, despite all his Alpha's reassurances, was determined to be as useful as he could, as quickly as he could. Mornings, he woke early with Summer curled around him, nose buried in his now quite glossy and plush coat. Their shared bed was a huge circular cushion made of sheepskin, big enough for the both of them and almost too warm even without a blanket unless he left the window open at night. He disentangled himself gently, though he hadn't yet mastered doing so without waking her. Summer was a very light sleeper, getting up in the night to investigate weird sounds outside or just to check on the house. She was used to his morning routine though, and closed her big amber eyes when he crawled his way out of bed and found his crutches. It had been nearly a week since she'd brought Yarrow home and he'd spent every moment he was lucid enough from the painkillers to learn how to use and look after the house. The Betas had been patient in teaching him how the appliances worked and he had been brought to joyful tears when he first discovered the bounty contained in the refrigerator and chest freezer. In his old family, he had considered himself quite an adept cook, but campfire cooking forage and game for wolves was quite a different exercise than what he was trying to do now. This fancy kitchen allowed for more complexity and subtlety and he was only just getting a feel for the more refined tastes of his domestic pack.
Breakfast was simple and similar to how he grew up though - he alternated the bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee meal with a cheesy savory porridge, sage sausage, and tea meal. Today was an egg day and he leaned against the counter for balance on his one good leg as he cracked and scrambled a big bowl of them. The rest of the household started trickling in as he was starting on the coffee. Patches was first, energetic as always. He offered his neck for nosing before she took a spot at the low table nearby.
"Let me know when you are done and I'll help carry," she said. Petunia and Misty came in, scented him as Patches had, and joined her.
"Any trouble with the coffee machine?" Petunia asked. She'd taught him how to use it the day before.
"I don't think so, but I'm not sure if it tastes alright yet. Miss Patches, do you mind helping with the plates now?"
The Betas shuttled breakfast out as he went to rouse Summer. She was sprawled, her shirt pushed up to expose her belly and the underside of one of her breasts. Yarrow couldn't resist staring a little before he got back into bed to wake her with a kiss to her muzzle. "Alpha, breakfast is ready," he said. She opened her eyes halfway, then pulled him into her chest with arms wrapped around his neck before rolling on top of him with a sleepy huff. He offered his throat her her, a thrill of pleasure jolting down his body and caught her smirk out of the corner of his vision. He definitely wasn't going to meet her eye pinned to the bed like this. "Mmm, I think I'll have you for breakfast instead."
He was treated to a long, sloppy lick and an affectionate nibble.
He moaned sweetly for her, head swimming with the concentrated scent of her bed and her right up close to him, which set her tail wagging with excitement. “A-alpha, your breakfast is going to get cold…” he managed to get out finally and she rolled off of him to go eat with a final lick. He had to settle the racing of his heart before following after.
By the time he settled in his place on the floor by Summer's knee, the conversation was in full swing. The girls had taken a full week off work to go on their significantly shortened camping trip and were planning out the last day off before their schedules went back to normal. There was a mountain of laundry to get through and Yarrow had been surprised to learn that the chore did not involve beating cloth with sticks in the river.
That explains how everyone changes clothes so often, he thought as Summer fed him a piece of bacon from her plate.
"Besides that, I was going to get a run in, then do some shopping, said Misty.
"Mm, I should probably do the same," said Summer. "Alright, I'll let this digest another minute and get changed to go."
An hour later, Yarrow watched the last of his pack head out the door for a nice long run by the river, leaving him home alone for one of the very few times in his entire life. The last time had only been a week ago, when he'd been running away from Roland and Ruby in the woods. Then, solitude had been preferable to being beaten and otherwise abused by his former captors. Since, Summer had barely allowed him out of her sight and if she had a reason not to be around, she assigned one of the other girls in the pack to keep him safe. Now, it was just the lock on the door between him and the outer walls of the packhouse for the next two hours. It was exhilarating, being entirely unsupervised, and he felt his palms start to sweat when he realized he didn't actually know much about what he was and wasn't allowed to do in the absence of the pack.
Chores were always a safe choice, but the dishes only took 15 minutes (thanks to the marvel that was the dishwasher) and when he finished he was left with an uneasy sense that he was doing something bad by being alone in the solitude unoccupied. Laundry needed doing, but he hadn’t learned how to use the machine yet and carrying it all into the laundry room was going to require some creative effort. He could feel the anxiety rising - it was too quiet and too open and too alone.
Stop being ridiculous, Yarrow, nothing’s wrong, he told himself. Make yourself useful!
He managed to scoot Misty’s basket down the hall to the laundry room with a series of hopping kicks and crutch nudges. By the time he finished with the other two Beta’s things he was panting with the awkward effort and with keeping the spiral of his own thoughts tamped down.
Ok, just one more room to go, he thought as he slid down the wall in the hallway to rest on the floor. This would be so much easier if I could use my hands.
He had saved the room he shared with Summer for last, partly because he knew it would be the heaviest and partly because he knew that once he found himself in that cozy familiarity, he wouldn’t want to leave. He puttered about the room, the window still open for the breeze from the courtyard and the bed in welcoming disarray. He was so very tempted to crawl back in and hide until the pack came back. Instead, he fluffed and arranged the bedding before shoving the last basket to the hall.
The girls returned to the sight of Yarrow inchworming backward on the ground, bum leg stuck straight out while he used the other to propel forward, pushing the basket with his back. “What in the world are you doing?” Patches was giggling in the doorway.
“Laundry,” he said tartly before scooting again. “This works better than kicking it. And welcome back.”
“I’ll show you how to work the washing machine once you’ve finished…scooting,” Petunia said, trying not to laugh, and made room for the others to file in after her. Summer smiled and shook her head as she walked inside. Her boy really was turning out to be far more fun and resourceful than she could have hoped.
The house hummed with machines and running water and muffled voices. Yarrow sat on the floor by the low table drinking coffee as the last vestiges of anxiety lost their grip on his chest. Summer had come back and he could breathe again.
I’ll get better soon and then they won’t have to leave me behind anymore. It’s just a small pack, that’s all. He tried to soothe himself, then remembered, work starts tomorrow, Yarrow, and they aren’t going to bring you.
He was going to be alone every day. All day. He was staring so hard into his lap with the dread of it that he didn’t notice a freshly showered Summer come in. She was getting a cup of coffee for herself, but the noise of her mucking around in the kitchen wasn’t enough to shake Yarrow from the gloom. Her voice when she appeared suddenly beside him on her chair, however, was.
“Have you had a nice morning, sweetheart? You were very busy,” she asked.
“It was very quiet, Alpha” he said. Don’t make ridiculous demands of her, idiot.
“Not for me. Misty wouldn’t shut up the entire run. She’s really into true crime stories and told me gruesome murder facts the whole way to the bridge. Nauseating.”
Summer absently played with his fluffy cinnamon hair and he leaned into her touch, willing the preemptive loneliness away.
“When we finish this, I’m going to take you clothes shopping and maybe we can have lunch at a restaurant. Think about anything else you still need as well. I’ll probably be too busy catching up at work to go out again until the weekend, unless it’s an emergency of course.”
Yarrow nodded, his cheek pressed into her hand. “I’ve never been to a restaurant before.”