"How's the leg feeling these days?" Fred asked and handed me some coffee in a paper cup. Reminded me of the shitty coffee from the uni tuk-tuk. I craved that coffee. I craved what came with it. The studios. My degree. My dreams. My friends. Everything had been ripped from me, but I was fighting my way back.

"It's the same. It hurts. I wake up with it cramping."

"At least it's not getting worse. That is also something." She tried to smile a little and I appreciated it.

"Are the wolves treating you alright?" I asked, mostly to get the focus off me.

"They're mostly polite. I liked Frank's wolves better than Dee's. They weren't so tightly bound, you know?"

I nodded a little. I had spoken to Dee's wolves, explained some things about the traps and how they felt. How they smelled. They hadn't been as friendly as Frank's group, but they were friendly enough. They didn't say anything about Abel hanging out in the kitchen, so I couldn't complain.

"They seemed on edge," I said and nodded. "But we're not trying to be their friends. Trying to keep them alive."

She shrugged. "Yeah. Wouldn't want them to... You know. Be less hostile."

"I think they're mostly scared. Some probably haven't tried being targeted before. Or maybe they have, and it had a really bad effect on them." I shrugged too.

"Whole other thing but remember Christian from our course? He actually pissed on a canvas and said it was groundbreaking," Fred said, laughing through the whole thing.

"No, why? No one wants piss art. It was done after Piss-Jesus. All done." I cringed and didn't even wanna imagine how the studio smelled right now.

"Needless to say, I'm working from home now."

"I can imagine." I shook my head. "Have you heard from Meera by the way?"

"Nope. Why?" She took a sip of her coffee.

"She just dropped off. Thought maybe she had reached out to Cal?"

"Not that I know of. And I'd probably know. But Cal has also been really busy. Some guy wanted these custom-made grills for his car over at the shop, so she's been welding a lot. It's so hot." Fred's voice turned all dreamy and she looked out into space. Probably imagining her girlfriend's massive biceps.

I sat awkwardly and waited for her to come back to this reality.

"This is a cute town," Dee said and looked around the bakery. "Everything smells like you too. Smells almost as sweet as everything in this bakery."

"Yeah, so I've heard," I said, absentmindedly swirling my crutch around on the floor.

"Thank you again for extending your help. I know my people may seem a little wound up." She grimaced a little. It was hard to not get distracted by her eyes. I couldn't stop thinking I wanted to paint her. Which kind of stopped me in my tracks. I hadn't been having those kinds of thoughts in ages. Once you start seeing the world through a lens, it's so hard to turn it off. A photography teacher said it was an occupational injury. I had managed to turn it off while I was recovering apparently, but now it was back. It might've sounded ridiculous, but it filled me with joy. It was one step closer to normalcy.

"They're a little tight, yeah, but as long as they treat Fred with respect, we're all good."

"Don't know if I'll ever get used to how you do things here though. It seems unrealistic and unsustainable in the long run."

"Don't know about that," I said and scratched my head. "Liza who served you coffee is a banshee. The idiots across the street checking out your car are griffins and run the local garage, it's where River, a wolf of mine works. This whole community works because of mixing, not despite of. You live with humans too, don't you?"

She gave a single nod.

"This is the same, but like... More diverse."

"Looking like a leaflet for a small-town uni," Dee muttered, her eyes fixed on Coop and Con checking out her car. It was a nice car. One of those small ones without a roof.

"I guess. If unis advertised for supernaturals." And if it was a draw to advertise for all the different supers mixing. I didn't say that though. It felt like Dee was at least somewhat warming up to how we did things here, or at least not hating it so much she didn't wanna work together.

"What does your witch say about your leg?" Dee asked then, twirling her cup around in her hands.

"There's really nothing to say at this point. It might get better with time, but it's most likely that it won't. It's not so bad when I'm shifted though so that's nice."

"Your wolf protects you. That much is clear."

"I guess. It's nice to have a break with him. It's also nice to have more wolves around."

There was something about Dee that made me really comfortable. I felt like I could talk to her. Like I felt like I could be very honest. I hadn't felt like that with anyone. Not even Abel.

"You're not used to having so many around you."

I shook my head.

"Good thing you have River. He has worked so hard to make all of this work."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she said softly. "Your boy has been in everyone's ear. Singing your praises. Telling us all about the community you've built. Your strength. Your strong sense of leadership. You didn't send him?"

I shook my head, not really knowing what to say to that. I hadn't expected River to ever go out and do lots of work without wanting praise for it. He kept surprising me, that idiot.

"I know what you've been up to," I said and sat down at River's dinner table. I had finally gotten him to allow me to come visit him. He had taken some time to move in, he said. It was a nice studio flat with only one room. The bed was half hidden by a wooden screen, so it wasn't right out in the open. It was still next to the kitchen and the dining room table. It was still really cosy. I hadn't expected him to be this good at decorating. There were some trinkets around. Something that looked like an ornament, but it also looked like it was from a car. Maybe something River had made himself? He also had car posters framed. One was a cool looking blueprint of the insides of a car.

"Oh fuck, did Creek tell you?" River asked, cringing hard.

I frowned. "Tell me what?"

"They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Uh, nothing then, I guess." River looked so immensely uncomfortable; it was almost funny. His shoulders were almost up to his ears, his entire face super red.

"Nah, you're definitely telling me right now."

River sighed deeply, knowing he wasn't getting out of this. "We're sort of... dating."

"Sort of? The fuck does that mean?"

"That uh... we go on dates. And other stuff." River squirmed and I had never seen him look this nervous.

"Okay I was not at all talking about that, but we're definitely talking about that now!" I said and laughed, leaning forward. "How did that even happen?"

"Wait, what did you wanna talk about? If this wasn't it, then what?"

"Oh, that does not even remotely matter now. I wanna hear all about this."

"I just gotta know first... You're not mad?"

I threw my arms out to the sides. "Why would I be mad? I mean, I will be mad if you do anything to fuck with him. But same goes for them. Neither of you can be an asshole."

"Oh, come on. You know that's way too much to ask of me," River said and winked dorkily at me. Even smirked and everything too.

Arrogant little shit.

"I honestly expected you'd be mad," he said then, sobering a little.

"Why?"

"I don't know. You're very possessive of your things."

Okay, I could see some truth in that. "Right," I murmured looking down at the table, flicking a couple of pages of a car's magazine. "But I know Creek has been wanting someone for a while. If you're that for him, then I'm happy for you. The more reason you have to stay..."

"You really want me to stay around?" He arched his almost non-existent brows.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but yeah. I want you to stay around. You're better with people. Also, why I came over here actually. Dee told me you've talked to the other wolves. Without you, I don't think they'd even wanna meet with me. Or let me join the group chat. If I wanna do this, I need help. I need you."

"Alright."

I thought for surehe'd ride my ass for asking for this. Like he'd dick around and be a dick aboutit. But he didn't. Maybe he could feel this wasn't the time. That I especiallyright now was not in the mood. Or maybe he pitied me and my dumb crutch and howI had to struggle up the stairs because his dumb building didn't have a lift. Ididn't think it was the last one. I had never felt like River pitied me. Heseemed more annoyed with the fact that I was slower and sometimes felt sorryfor myself. He was the only one who could do that. It was also oddly comfortingbecause he was the only one who hadn't drastically changed since the wholething happened. Everyone had changed how they were around me and it was justnice at least one person hadn't.