Oh God, Mondays
"Rudy, did you happen to see Dylan's backpack when we were unpacking?"
"Does he have a different backpack from Collin?"
"Sorry, it was blue with sharpie all over it."
"Uh... if you want to take over the cooking, I can go run up and take a quick look, but I don't remember."
"Crap. I thought we had all of this set out last night!"
"Mommy, have you seen my new jacket?"
"Wha- the new one I just bought you? Like literally two days ago?"
"Yeah! That one!"
"Honey, how did you lose- did you look for it?"
"Yes."
"Where did you look?"
"I dunno."
"Did you check the car?"
"I dunno."
"Oh, my go- DYLAN!"
"What? I'm right here."
"Can you check the car for Lucy's jacket? Where is your brother?"
"I think he's still in the bathroom upstairs."
"Okay. Go check the car for her jacket. Where's yours?"
"Uh..."
"Please don't tell me you lost it."
"Okay, I won't."
"So where is it?"
"... You told me not to tell you."
I was going to tear all of my hair out and eat it like a sandwich.
"I'll go look in the car," Dylan said, throwing up his hands and quickly darting out the front door. Just as well; right on the other side was Aegis, looking perplexed as one of my sons ran straight past him.
"Good morning?" He said, coming in and looking at me with raised eyebrows.
"Hah!" I said, in the middle of chasing Lucy down and to start working on her hair. "Honeybun, please sit still. Let me put your hair in pigtails."
"Mama, I don't want pigtails!"
"Then what do you want?"
"Braids!"
"Oh, sweet mercy... honey, I don't have time for-"
"I found the backpack," came Rudy's voice from upstairs. "How is the bacon? It's not burning, is it?"
I looked in agony at the stove, from which the very pointed smell of something burning was beginning to waft over.
"Okay," Aegis said quickly, striding over. "You go grab that. I'll get Lucy's hair."
"But she wants-"
"French braids?" He asked, ducking his head low to her level.
Lucy's green eyes lit up. "Yes, please!"
"You got it, kiddo." He plucked the hair-ties from my fingers and, without any preamble, got to work, expertly parting her hair into perfectly portioned out sections.
Well, then.
I quickly jumped up and sprinted around the counter to the stove, where I was able to get the pan off the burner and sort out the nearly-burned bacon. It was past done, but not quite unsalvageable, so I shoved that onto a napkin for patting down the grease and dumped the next batch in.
Rudy came running back down the stairs with three backpacks in hand, and glanced up to grin at Aegis. "Come to join the party?"
"Wouldn't miss it."
Dylan appeared at the door sporting not just Lucy's jacket, but his and Collin's as well. "Got 'em!"
"Nice!" I said, relieved as Rudy stepped in. "Where's Collin?"
"He's not coming out. I think he's struggling with... you know."
Crap.
I quickly took the stairs two at a time and skidded to a halt outside his bathroom door, trying not to look too closely at the time on my phone. "Collin, sweetie, we have to get going."
"No!" His voice was thick with panic and fear on the other side of the door.
"Collin," I said, my heart twisting. "You saw everyone at the bonfire. You're not the only one who's shifted."
"Most of them are all older than me! I'm like, one of two others my age who look like this! Everyone's going to think I'm a freak!"
"Shifting is normal, here! You're not a freak! You're completely normal!"
"Yeah, easy for you to say! You're the one who's not got fur growing out of weird places and drool constantly dropping all over your stuff all day! I eat like a trash can, and I hear everything happening, and I smell all sorts of stuff I don't want to smell- I don't want to do this anymore!"
That last part came out as a wail, and my heart just about broke. I kicked myself for the thousandth time for not telling them. God, why hadn't I told them?! It seemed so stupid now, so obviously dumb, that I couldn't imagine why in a million years I would have ever kept this possibility from the two of them.
But I had, and now Collin was suffering for my stupidity.
More ways I'd let my kids down.
"Let me try."
I looked up to see Aegis standing at the top of the stairs, expression soft. Wordlessly, I backed up, because Collin had a point, really. What right did I have to talk to him about 'normal'?
"Collin," Aegis said, gently rapping his knuckles on the door. "It's me. Open up."
"No. You don't care. You're just here for my mom."
Aegis snorted, and I covered my face in horror. Thanks a LOT, kid.
"I am not," he said evenly. "I specifically went and hunted out some stuff to show you. It'll make you feel better, I promise."
"What, some stupid newspaper about what a great werewolf you are? I'm not you. I don't look half as cool as you do."
"Open up, and I'll show you."
There was a very long moment of silence, and then an audible Click! as Collin unlocked the door. He cracked it open, and Aegis had to squeeze through; the second he was in, the door snapped shut and locked once more.
I probably should've left to give them a moment, but I wanted to know what Aegis had brought, too. I stood there, debating what the right thing to do was, when I heard them speak again.
"...That was you?"
"Yup. That's me."
"No, it's not."
"Why?"
"Because that doesn't look like an Alpha."
"You're right. It doesn't. That looks like a kid who just hit puberty, because everyone looks like that, here."
I put a hand over my mouth, emotional. He brought pictures of himself, when he was about Collin's age to show him...
"You are not a freak," Aegis said calmly, from inside the bathroom. "Not for this, anyway. If you are a freak, it'll be because you like blueberry pancakes."
There was a surprised laugh from inside the bathroom. "Everyone likes blueberry pancakes!"
"Not me, and as I am Alpha, my word is law, and I say all blueberry pancakes are disgusting."
"Dude, you're blatantly and objectively wrong."
"Guess you'd better go to school so you can tell everyone that I'm the freak."
There was a long beat of silence, and then another Click! as the door unlocked. It swung open this time, revealing Collin in one of his brand new outfits, looking anxious. He had clearly tried to do something with his fur, and then given up; it was hard to manage, as patchy and uneven as it was.
Without looking at me, he pushed past and clumped down the stairs, where Rudy exclaimed over his presence before dumping a plate-full of bacon in front of him.
"Thank you," I said quietly, looking at Aegis as he stepped out.
He shook his head. "It's my job." He frowned suddenly, stiffening. "Not that I'm here... just because of my job."
I laughed. "It's all right, Aegis. You're an Alpha. It's what you do."
His frown deepened, like what I'd said wasn't right either, but I didn't have time to deep dive into his motives. Pity, maybe? He'd said he didn't pity me, but pity wasn't something you could just... turn off. It was perfectly human. Er, werewolvian? Half human?
Whatever.
I jogged back downstairs and we got to work rounding up all of the kids and all of their things, then getting Lucy's booster seat into Aegis's car, and then finally, we were on the way.
Lucy was up first. Her school was the closest, and as usual, she took off like a shot through the gate, even though she didn't know a soul.
"Wow," Aegis said, standing next to me in disbelief. Lucy was already down the line and chattering at a startled girl her age, pulling her doll that she definitely wasn't supposed to have from out of her backpack.
"She's never had issues making friends," I said, smiling fondly at her. "She's a total people person."
"Reminds me of someone I used to know."
The middle school was next. Dylan was out first, but Collin took several deep breaths, looking around at the students walking peacefully into school.
"Dude, come on," Dylan begged. "Seriously. I want to go catch up to Annie."
"Why?" Collin said, making a face. "Her mom's the enemy."
I rolled my eyes. "Who her mom is doesn't matter. You be nice, or I'll come kick your butts myself."
"But, mom-"
"Annie is not Brittani," I said, making a point to look at both of them very sternly. "You are allowed to be friends with Annie. What is going on between Brittani and I is expressly between the two of us adults, got it? You do not treat that girl or any of her siblings any different."
"Yes, mom," they both chorused.
"Good. Now, get out and go learn stuff."
Collin snorted, before sliding out of his seat and sidling up behind Dylan. The latter was too excited to notice Collin's anxiety; he led the way, looking eagerly around, and Collin followed closely.
I settled back into the passenger seat and nearly collapsed, relief flooding me. I managed to get them to school, somehow, on time. Well... Aegis did, mostly. I just sort of ran around like a headless chicken...
"You ready?"
I looked over at him, and this sudden silence fell on us, thick and heavy. I nodded and sat up straight. "Sure thing, boss."
He made a face. "Don't call me 'boss'."
"Alpha?"
"Oh, please, God, no."
"Senpai?"
He looked at me, confused. "What?"
"Nevermind."
Aegis shook his head, pulling out into the school traffic. "Collin will be okay. Don't be anxious."
I glanced at him. "You read me like a book, huh?"
"I just know you better than you think I do."
I snorted. "All right, bossman. Let's just get to work, yeah?"