11. Bjorn
Bjorn
Bjorn made up the bed in Gran’s guest room with a resentful-looking Dennis hovering over him. “I could take the couch,” Bjorn offered for the fifth time, hating the look on his mate’s face and wanting to fix it.
Dennis scoffed. “You’d have to be two feet shorter and at least a hundred pounds lighter to fit on that thing. Just make the bed. We’ll make do.”
Bjorn bit his lip, searching his mind for another solution as he bent to fasten the corner of the sheet to the corner of the bed.
“I just really hate that I know you’re uncomfortable,” he sighed when he failed to come up with one.
“It’s been one thing after another for you since we met, and that’s not fair to you. ”
His mate sighed and plopped down on the made-up side of the bed.
“It’s fine. It’s not like you’re not having a hard time, too.
At least I’m not shifting into an animal at random intervals.
” He looked down, studying his hands. “And I know I’ve been bitching at you a lot, but I do know it’s not your fault.
It’s just…how things are. Which sucks for both of us. ”
Bjorn popped on the fourth corner of the sheet and reached for the top sheet, draping it over the bed with a flourish he couldn’t resist. “I’m fine,” he assured Dennis.
“I’m used to shifting.” Was he used to uncontrollable shifting that always seemed to happen at the worst possible moment?
Ok, no, he wasn’t, and he couldn’t say he was a fan of it.
But it wasn’t Dennis’s fault, either that the fates had put them together or that Dennis didn’t feel for Bjorn the way Bjorn felt for him.
Maybe that was a human thing – after all, they didn’t have the immediate signifiers of “this is your mate” like shifters did – in which case it could change as Dennis got to know him; or maybe it was just Dennis’s true feelings: he wasn’t interested in Bjorn.
Holding in the urge to either sigh or flat-out ask Dennis which it was, Bjorn finished making up the bed, tucking the bottom corners tightly like his Gran had taught him. “The situation does suck, though,” he agreed after a few too many seconds of heavy silence. “I’m sorry you’re caught in it.”
Dennis gave him a sardonic look. “Are we talking about the random mating, the being stuck with a guy who hulks out randomly, or the being stuck in some kind of hostile commune that wants to turn you into Business Barbie?”
Business Barbie? Bjorn chuckled, feeling a little bit of the stress melt away at the knowledge that Dennis could still make jokes.
“If I were Barbie, I doubt my mother would be pushing me into business,” he said after getting control of himself again.
“It’s because I’m a son, their ‘legacy’.
A daughter would only have been useful for marrying to someone else. ”
“That’s some bullshit,” Dennis commented tightly. “Both that they expect you to do what they say, and that they'd see a daughter as being of less value. Gotta tell you, my man, I am not liking your parents so far.”
“Few people do,” Bjorn said with a shrug.
“But Papa has power in the political hierarchy of the den, so they do what he says anyway. It’s part of why I moved across the country when I could.
He and Mom can’t control me if I have my own home, my own income, and my own life.
Not that that stops them from trying,” he added, and if he sounded a bit bitter, well, what of it?
“It's bullshit,” Dennis repeated, “like I said.” He paused. “You are an only child, right? There’s not some sister your parents are going to try to auction off to the highest bidder?”
“I’m an only child,” he confirmed. “I used to wish I wasn’t, but now…yeah.”
Dennis scooted up the bed until he could put his head on the pillows, then flopped back and crossed his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.
“So, I’m not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think your grandma really needs to get back up and running? Is three days going to do it?”
Did Dennis want out already? Well, Bjorn could hardly hold that against him; he wasn’t particularly happy about being here either, and he at least had the advantage of already knowing everyone.
He tried not to picture Dennis peeling out of the parking area and leaving him behind.
“Well, the healer very firmly said bed for three days, so it will definitely be at least that. If she’s supposed to stay in bed, she can’t cook and clean for herself, so she’ll need me for as long as she's stuck there.”
Dennis grunted an acknowledgement of that fact. There was silence for a few seconds, and then: “Why can’t your parents take care of her? I’m not saying you shouldn’t or that we should leave,” he hastened to add, “but just…they live right here. Why weren’t they the first call your alpha made?”
Bjorn almost snorted. “Consider what you know about my parents. My mom has the warmth of a wet eel. My papa has the emotional intelligence of a cauliflower. Nobody thinks they’re capable of caring for a sick elderly woman.”
“And yet the den let them care for you as a small child,” Dennis commented darkly. “Delightful.”
Yeah, his home hadn’t exactly been a warm and caring place, Bjorn mused, but it had nevertheless been home for him until he’d moved to Gran’s and discovered the genuine love he’d been missing.
“I had Gran,” he defended half-heartedly.
He felt duty-bound to defend his community, but honestly, his heart wasn’t in it.
His parents had been crap to him, were still crap to him, and his community hadn't done nearly enough to protect him from it.
The den putting him with Gran rather than just letting his parents kick him out wasn't enough to make up for the first decade or two of his life.
A deep, childish part of him wanted to scream Fuck all of them.
“Good thing,” Dennis replied, “or I’d have run at first sight. No emotionally-unintelligent eels for me, thanks.”
Had that been a joke? An actual joke, out of his grumpy, out-of-place mate? Bjorn felt a smile creeping across his face. Maybe he was finally starting to soften Dennis up. “Does that mean you’re open to relatively touchy-feely, emotional bears?” he asked eagerly.
“Whoa there, cowboy.” Dennis sat up and gave Bjorn a mock-stern – at least, Bjorn was pretty sure it was mock – look. “Let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves.”
Bjorn pouted. Yes, he pouted. On purpose. “You’re no fun.”
“I live to ruin your fun,” Dennis deadpanned. Then he glanced at his watch. “God, it’s almost midnight, and we’ve been going since eight in the morning. No wonder I feel exhausted.”
“And you did all the driving, too,” Bjorn pointed out.
His mate truly had gone above and beyond what Bjorn had any right to expect of a man who’d just met him.
“I think you’ve earned the right to sleep late tomorrow.
Don’t worry if I’m gone when you get up, though – I’ll probably get up and cook some breakfast for Gran and then sit with her. ”
Dennis patted the bed beside him. “You’ve had a long day, too. Take a load off, big guy.”
Bjorn didn’t mind if he did. He dropped immediately to the bed, scrambling up to plant his butt next to Dennis’s. “You sure you don’t want me to try the couch?”
Dennis rolled his eyes, then stood up and moved to his suitcase. “We both know neither of us will fit on that couch. I’m gonna go piss, brush my teeth, and put on my pajamas, then you can have your turn.” He snatched some clothing out of the suitcase and disappeared into the en suite bathroom.
Bjorn took the opportunity to change into his last remaining pair of his own pajama pants – he’d shifted in his sleep and ruined the two other pairs he’d packed.
He’d need to run to the store tomorrow if he didn’t want to risk having to explain to Dennis why he was going to bed nude.
He added that to his mental to-do list, which was growing rather long.
A minute later, Dennis re-appeared from the bathroom and settled himself into the bed.
Bjorn got up to take his turn in the bathroom, reluctant to abandon the bed but also not wanting to go to bed with a fuzzy mouth.
He brushed, used the toilet, and washed his hands.
By the time he made it back into the bedroom, Dennis had turned out the overhead light and turned on the bedside lamps instead.
It gave the room an intimate, maybe even sultry, atmosphere.
But that was probably just Bjorn. Mentally chastising himself for reading too much into it, Bjorn gingerly climbed into bed beside his mate.
It was a double bed, and quarters were tight.
They were unavoidably pressed up against each other, with very little wiggle room.
As Dennis’s ass pressed into him, Bjorn was alarmed to feel his dick starting to perk up.
Now was not a good time for a hard-on; he didn’t want to send his mate screaming into the night.
But his dick didn’t listen and grew even harder as Dennis wiggled a little to get comfortable.
Eventually Bjorn just held himself as stiffly as possible, hoping his overall posture would disguise the most particularly stiff part of him.
He should have known it wouldn’t work, though. After a minute of charged silence, Dennis snorted quietly. “I guess you’re happy to see me.”
Bjorn groaned and covered his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry. It has a mind of its own. Just ignore it.”
Instead of ignoring it as bidden, Dennis ground his ass back playfully. “I’m choosing to take it as being specific to me instead of just because of ‘mate’. I could use the ego boost.”