Bjorn
Which was why he’d settled on this idea: an adults-only evening at a science museum in the nearest city. Not ‘adults-only’ in the ‘clothing optional’ sense – he’d double-checked on that – but there would be a bar and nibbles and a band, and they could wander the museum freely.
He thought it was a well-balanced idea; enough to do and see to keep things from getting silent and awkward, but they could stick together – which they couldn’t have done at any den events, where Dennis would be pulled aside by the curious – and talk freely - which they couldn’t have done at a movie.
It didn’t work, and by the time he had his head inside the room, both Gran and Dennis were sitting still and waiting for him with smiles on their faces.
Dennis rolled his eyes and scoffed playfully. “Yeah, because your poor bear is clearly the one who gets a bad night’s sleep when we share. Since I regularly kick him off the bed and all.”
“I’ve said I’m sorry!” Bjorn pointed out, not sure how to take the accusation: was this play, or resentment? “Once we leave the den, I won’t ever make you sleep with me again, I promise,” he offered desperately.
Dennis’s eyes widened. “Hey, whoa, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I was teasing, Bjorn. I’m getting used to sleeping with you. You’re literally a giant teddy bear.”
Oh. Oh, that made him happy. “Still,” he tried, “the pushing you out of bed…”
“Ok, yeah, that kinda sucks,” Dennis agreed, “but once you get your shifting under control…” He shrugged.
Did…did that mean he’d have the chance to get his shifting under control?
Because unless Dennis rejected him and he got stuck in one form forever, there was only one other way for that to happen, and Dennis, at least in theory, knew that.
But maybe he didn’t remember. He’d been hit with a lot of information this week.
“Under control?” he ventured, biting his lip worriedly.
Gran, who’d been watching this exchange avidly, took a loud slurp of the cup of tea Dennis must have made for her. “When you mate!” she announced loudly after swallowing the tea.
“Gran…” Bjorn winced and glanced back at Dennis, expecting to see panic or resentment. Instead, he found…fondness? He blinked. “Dennis?”
Dennis gave himself a visible shake and then smiled slightly at Bjorn. “Let's start with the date. Speaking of which, when is the date?”
“Oh, uh.” Bjorn’s breath stuttered in his chest. “I thought…could we do tonight? I got tickets for a, um, thing.”
“What sort of thing?” Gran demanded, putting down her teacup and leaning forward in bed eagerly.
Dennis smirked and pointed at Gran. “What she said.”
“Ok, look, so…” Bjorn gulped. He described the museum event as best he could, trying to make it sound utterly fascinating, and ending with what he hoped wasn't a desperate look on his face. “So I thought…maybe we could go to that?”
Dennis looked kind of stunned by the offer. “A science museum?”
Bjorn’s hands twisted together of their own volition. Had this been a horrible idea? “We don’t have to, if you don’t want to!” he hastened to tell his mate. “We can do anything you want to do for our date. Just tell me!”
“Hey, whoa.” Dennis patted his arm comfortingly. “Breathe, big guy. I think this sounds like a cool idea. I was just surprised because I was expecting something boring like a fancy restaurant.”
Oh, thank god. Bjorn’s tension deflated all at once, and he sagged where he stood.
Hoping to disguise that, he leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms to hide his shaking hands.
“Uh, no. I did consider a fancy restaurant, but then I thought they wouldn’t take kindly to me suddenly shifting and breaking all their plates.
Plus I don’t really think either of us is a ten different forks type of guy. ”
Dennis snorted and grinned. “Yeah, no. Ok, so science museum party. If you shift, I’ll protect the exhibits. What time tonight do I need to be ready?”
“Well, it’s about an hour’s drive to the city from here, and the event starts at 6 and runs until 1am, but we don’t have to be there at any particular time, and we don’t have to stay until the end. So it kind of depends on what time you want to be ready.”
Dennis contemplated that for a second, then did a little counting on his fingers.
“Ok, so if we wanted to get there at 6, we’d need to leave around 4:45, to allow for a little bit of traffic.
But that feels really early. How about we aim to be there at 8?
That would let us make Gran an early dinner first.”
“Oh,” Gran said, waving this off, “don’t you worry about me. I’m out of bed as of tonight, remember?” She mumbled something that might have been fucking finally.
Dennis frowned at her. “Doesn’t mean you need to be bustling around, cooking for yourself, right away.
We’re here; take advantage of us. Well, and by ‘us’ I mean ‘Bjorn’ because my cooking talents mostly extend to burgers and fries, and I don't think we want to give you a heart attack on top of pneumonia.”
Bjorn nodded enthusiastically. How was this man so damn perfect for him?
“I wanted to try a new casserole recipe for you tonight, so you'll have something substantial before Dennis and I go out on the town.” A problem occurred to him suddenly. “Oh, but if we’re drinking there…and it’ll be late…
and an hour back to the den…” They wouldn’t be able to truly enjoy the bar, or stay late at the museum. He sighed. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“What? No!” Dennis shook his head vehemently.
“This is an awesome idea. We just need to think outside the box. What about, uh…” He looked away, eyes on nothing in particular that Bjorn could see.
“We could get a hotel room in the city overnight,” he said quickly.
“Well, if we can find someone to stay with Gran.”
A hotel room? With Dennis? Out of choice, for once? Oh, fuck yes, he wanted to scream, but he restrained himself and forced himself to think about it. “We’d definitely need someone to sit with Gran. I don’t want to leave her alone so soon after all this.”
“Gran is right here and can think for herself,” the woman broke in snappishly.
“And I’ve been taking care of myself since my mate died thirty years ago.
I can survive a night on my own, especially if it’s so you two can have some time to yourselves.
You’ve been stuck with me and the den nonstop since you got here. ”
“Oh, Gran, we didn’t mind,” Bjorn said quickly, not wanting her to start feeling guilty for being ill. Then, after a second's though, he allowed, “Well, maybe we minded my parents a little."
Dennis snorted at that. “Just a little. But yeah, we didn’t mind taking care of you.
And working with the alpha on the business stuff has been pretty interesting.
” He waved away the concerns. “But the point remains: you’ve been very sick, and we don’t want to leave you completely on your own just so we can go out partying.
Do you think Fiona will come sit with you? ”
Gran made a rude noise. “I’m so sick of her fussing over me.”
“Well, this will give you a chance to fight it out,” Dennis offered, and Bjorn almost laughed at the mental image that popped into his head: two elderly matrons, wearing boxing gloves and going at each other.
“And you can prove to her that you’ve gotten better and she can quit fussing over you so much. ”
Gran’s eyes sharpened, this idea clearly having not occurred to her.
“Well, that’s true.” She sighed. “Oh, very well. I’ll give her a call and ask, if it means you getting on with your date.
Please.” She flapped a hand at Bjorn. “Go find a hotel room. Something nice,” she added sternly. “You need to impress your mate.”
“Standing right here,” Dennis threw in calmly. “And I’ve got pretty low standards when it comes to hotels. As long as there’s no cockroaches and the towels are clean, I’m pretty much good.”
Oh, Bjorn could do better than that. A lot better. He barely held in the evil little chuckle that wanted to escape him as he whipped out his phone.