It was difficult staying away from Fox but Peregrine really didn't want to expose her to this potent reek. What if she caught it too? What if the fumes were not just foul but toxic? Could they affect her pregnancy? This thought, while largely irrational, made him feel a little sick. He kept his distance. Besides, Fox was doing her own thang: catching up with the pack mates she'd missed during their hiatus, readying the nest and otherwise keeping herself busy.
He couldn't stay away forever, though. Finding himself missing her badly, Peregrine climbed up to the area near their den, though he didn't approach. Rather than call her name, he made a strange noise somewhere between a growl and a mewl. "Foxy lady? I miss you," he muttered loudly, plopping to his haunches and rolling onto his back, legs pedaling in the air. "Come love on your minging man..."
While Fox hadn't entirely avoided the father-to-be, she had only managed to get a few whiffs of the overwhelming odor that had been following him around for the past week or so. Already, she could tell it was starting to fade away, but she had a pretty good feeling that it wouldn't be entirely gone for a lot longer. However, when she'd spilled the beans to Finley, she knew word would get around sooner or later, and Fox wanted to be the first one to tell Peregrine that he was about to father a dozen babies.
No sooner had she awoken from her midday nap did a pungent odor seep through the opening of the den, followed shortly by that sound Peregrine made when he was being all lonely. And even though he smelled like total shit, she popped out of the den and pranced over to him, holding back a gag in the process. "No luck finding a cure, eh?" she asked, her tone filled with pity for the stinky old man.
"But enough about that," she replied, her expression changing from pity to rainbows. Is that an expression that one can make? Because Fox was making it. "Look at these!" she exclaimed, doing a repeat of her belly-up routine that she'd done to Finley just yesterday.
When she pranced from the den to stand over him, Peregrine gazed up at her with doughy eyes. "You're the cure to all my ailments..." he said poetically, his tail thumping slowly on the frozen ground. He bent up to kiss her on the chin. "Hi—" Before he could say whatever it was he wanted to say, she cut across him.
He didn't mind, though, especially when his mate flipped onto her back beside him. If not for her words, he would have thought she was simply giving up and joining him in his stinky bubble. Peregrine propped himself up on an elbow, eyes alight with curiosity, and scanned her underbelly with his jade gaze.
He was as eager as anyone to see real, tangible proof of her pregnancy, yet for the life of him, Peregrine couldn't see anything different about her. He even leaned over her, sniffed and gave her a closer look. Her belly was still flat and slim, her fur was still sparse and so soft it tickled his nose... but he couldn't find these, whatever these were.
"Your nips look amazing, babe," he joked, giving her an apologetic I don't know what we're talking about look, unaware that that was actually exactly what she meant.
"They're bigger." Fox explained, "And there's less hair there overall. It means there's actually babies in there somewhere." Had he been so unobservant of Hawkeye? Had she not told him what to look for? Maybe she didn't even know what to look for. But Fox had been taught before she'd even left home. Still laying on her back, she gave Perry a wide-eyed look, wondering if he understood the implications of what was going on. "We're pregnant!"
Saying it out loud still felt foreign, seeing as Finley was the only other wolf who knew. Then again, she'd probably already spread the news to Elwood, and pretty soon the whole pack would know about it. But it was true. Redhawk Caldera's first litter was being cooked up right at this very moment. And this little fireball was doing all the cooking. Of course, she still had a few weeks before she was even going to think about taking it easy, but that didn't mean she wouldn't take all the pampering she could get in the meantime.
She blatantly pointed out their size and Peregrine took another look. "They are? They are!" he said in a single breath. He fell silent when she pointed out the thinning hair too. He was about to make a joke about her balding belly when something clicked in his head. Even as he realized what all this meant, she said it out loud. There were babies in there; they were pregnant!
Peregrine felt a rush of excitement and, forgetting all about his smelly fur, clutched at Fox and pulled her into a celebratory hug. "Aw yiss, we're preggo!" he shouted, his voice echoing quite loudly off the caldera's rocky facets. "How do we know? Her nips are fat and balding!" Grinning foolishly, he planted a kiss on her cheek.
Suddenly, he remembered himself and gasped quietly, pushing away from his mate. "Oh shit! Is it already too late? Did I stink bomb you?" Had he just poisoned their tiny fetuses? Recognizing that fear as ridiculous, Peregrine pushed it away. Still, he looked at her apprehensively. Maybe this meant he wouldn't have to isolate himself anymore. Perhaps he and Fox could revel in their mutual stank.
Watching Peregrine's delight only made Fox shine even more. Even when he planted a rather stinky kiss on her cheek, Fox barely noticed the smell. Flipping back right-side up, she wrinkled her nose. But, truth be told, she wasn't as appalled by it. In fact, no matter what Peregrine smelled like, she was pretty sure she'd still want to stick by him. "I've rolled in worse," she said with a sheepish grin. Fox had spent far too much of her childhood rolling in dead and rotting things. Her own parents had spent countless hours cleaning off the filth, only for Fox to undo all their hard work hours later.
Taking a step back, Fox gave Peregrine a wistful glance. "I can't believe we have to wait so long to meet them." She wanted to see them right now, even if they were no bigger than beans. Tiny, tiny beans. She'd spent so much time daydreaming about this moment, it felt so surreal now that it was actually happening. "We're actually doing it, Perry. And we're gonna be awesome." With that, she pressed herself right into his stink-covered fur, caring little about the stench right then.
"Same here but nothing has ever stuck like this," Peregrine said, wrinkling his own nose. "Som mentioned that it's like an oil: impossible to wash off. I wish I could find some tommy-toes or some ash. But, alas..."
Anyway, there were much more interesting things at hand besides his malodorous cologne. "Two months, right? Or... more like... a month and a half now, right?" he replied, grinning eagerly. He welcomed her with open arms (per se) when she hugged tightly against him. He put his muzzle over the back of her neck and purled in her ear, his muscular body veritably vibrating with happiness.
"Speaking of doing it, would you wanna...?" he invited teasingly. "We only have a couple weeks left, then you'll be too uncomfortable for it. Then we'll be pretty fucking busy, in the best possible way." His smile never faltered, though he added more soberly, "Though I promise I won't let it consume me. As soon as we can stand to part from them for a few hours, we'll still do date nights and everything. I wanna make sure we still focus on each other."
Letting his first marriage fall by the wayside following the birth of the pups had led to its demise. Although that had allowed him to move on to find his real one and only someone, Peregrine definitely didn't want to repeat the past. He had learned from his mistakes.
My body is very sad at me. I think cramming Monday and Tuesday full of stuff might actually be my cause of death. And I didn't even get to run today. :(
Fox nodded when Peregrine calculated the timeline. She was ecstatic, to say the very least. To think that their little fuzzbutts would be wriggling around... well, there was nothing she could imagine that would be more perfect. And just as he vibrated happiness, so did she, pressing against him and trying to picture what their life would be like as the months and years went on.
When Peregrine suggested they get in some intimate time before the children were born, Fox giggled. Though her expression turned more serious when he mentioned that he wanted to make sure they continued the trend even
after the children were born. Normally, Fox wasn't nosy, but she wanted to know.
“Is that what… happened with you and Hawkeye?” she asked. Truthfully, Fox didn't have any reason to dislike the former Alpha of the plateau. Aside from the fact that she was somehow involved with Ferdie. Before that, Fox had been nothing but polite.
“Is that why you drifted apart?”
The two of them had not discussed Hawkeye much, so hearing her name pop out of Fox's mouth was a little disconcerting. Peregrine paused, nodded and said, "That was definitely a part of it. It was like she became a ghost once they were born. There wasn't a second to spare for me. She gradually ghosted out of all our lives, not just mine. She just stopped being a good wife, a good Alpha, a good mother..." He almost said she might have never been any of those things in the first place, yet he stayed his bitter tongue.
"But the real reason it ended was because she cheated on me with my brother. I didn't find out from her. He came clean. He was single at the time and very much infatuated with her too. I forgave him. But I could never forgive Hawkeye. As soon as I found out, it was really over," he finished, blinking and meeting Fox's eyes, wondering what she made of it all.
Peregrine explained what had happened. It seemed that, as he had promised not to do, the children had consumed her. Along with everything else. A part of Fox even feared that she might end up doing the same, although she knew such a thought was ludicrous. But if Fox was all those things (a good wife, Alpha, and mother), was it possible that she could stop being like that? Could she let things slip away from her? She wanted to think she was invincible, and there was a time when she had thought that... but as she broke past her second year, that naiveté had become smaller and smaller.
"But the real reason it ended was because she cheated on me with my brother." Fox's eyes widened, then hardened as she thought of Atticus and Hawkeye, then finally turned soft. Truth be told, Fox had been weary of Atticus from the start. He had been the father of Bones, and seemed to be easily swayed by women. It seemed that had never changed, even though she was pretty sure Perry had defended him of this when it came to Cutlass. "He sure knows how to pick 'em," still rang true.
"What a bitch," Fox said, though there was little venom in her voice. "Not in the literal sense, but in the 'she's a real hag' sense. That sucks that you had to go through all that." Now, knowing that Hawkeye had straight-up cheated on Peregrine, Fox knew she could never be as terrible. Even if she stopped being a good wife, Alpha, and mother, it simply wasn't in her nature to be attracted to anybody else. "Remember how she treated you after we got together? Like you were moving on too quickly? She moved on before you even split up! Ugh!" It was leaving a sour taste in Fox's mouth, and as much as she wanted to continue shit-talking her lover's former lover, she knew he was probably done with the topic. Fox shook her head, laying the topic to rest. For good.
"Why don't we head out to Lake Rodney? We can take a nice long walk, get away from the hustle and bustle, and make love on the shore." It would give her time to block out thoughts of Hawkeye. Not only that, but Fox hadn't actually spent much time by the great lake.
Hearing Fox badmouth Hawkeye was actually quite cathartic, he found. Perhaps it was because he had long since ceased talking about her to anyone because even those closest to him—Osprey, for instance—inexplicably gave Hawkeye the benefit of the doubt. For a long time now, he had taken the higher road, yet this little side trip was definitely a joyride. He smiled, then before they rightfully moved on from the subject, he decided to indulge himself knowing his mate wouldn't refute anything he had to say on the matter.
"Hawkeye was a piece of shit," he said blithely, "and a gigantic fucking hypocrite. I legitimately hate her." Short, simple and to the point. It felt good to get it off his chest and then he was quite ready to stop thinking about her altogether again.
Fox proposed a walk by Lake Rodney and he smiled. "After you," he said, motioning for his petite partner to lead the way. "I'm glad we can be dank together. I just hope the smell goes away by the time the pups are born. I don't want them growing up with stinky ass parents. All the other kids will make fun of them and stuff," he quipped.
"What other kids?" Fox asked, a smile glued to her face that would likely not disappear until she was on her deathbed. Unless the caldera took in a young stray (something Fox was highly unlikely to do, and she was fairly certain Perry felt the same), there wouldn't be any other kids around besides their own. Then, she added, "If anybody makes fun of my brats, I'll bite their heads off. The bullies, I mean." Fox had no inclination to bite the heads off of her own children. Unless, of course, they were defective. She briefly wondered how Perry felt about that, but decided to keep that thought to herself.
She sauntered toward the lake, Peregrine at her side. Was this what life was to be like from here on out? If so, Fox felt content with it. She had her life partner, her best friend, and all the other wolves of the caldera were becoming close friends as well. Soon, she'd have her children. Redhawk was teeming with prey. And really, what more could a girl ask for? Dreamily, Fox looked over to Peregrine and smiled as they walked on, pleased as punch.
"You know... kids... from elsewhere? I don't know," he said with a laugh and a shrug. The closer the two of them came to being parents, the more possessive Peregrine found himself of that very privilege. He would have handed it out pretty easily back at the plateau but here, it just seemed like a right that belonged to them alone. They had put in the footwork to find the perfect place to raise their offspring, not anyone else's. Plus, it was inevitable: just as he had rubbed off his skunked smell on his mate, so had she rubbed off on him in some ways.
They made their way to the lake, moving leisurely side by side, and Peregrine returned Fox's dreamy look with a dorky smile. His mind wandered, the specifics varying but the theme consistent: their kids. Eventually, he recalled their recent conversation with Finley about being a godmother, which made his lips twitch as he recollected the way they'd behaved with each other. He was glad his mate had such a close female friend.
Pausing to take a drink, he lifted his head, licked his chops and asked lightheartedly, "So, I was wondering... I know that we'll kind of be tied up with each other and the kids for a little while and this is purely a hypothetical question anyway just for fun but... do you think you'd ever look at another lady? Like... you know... Finley? I mean, for real." They hadn't talked about the openness (or lack thereof) in their relationship in a while and he was suddenly curious. And like many typical guys, the idea of his woman getting with another woman was something he wouldn't mind, regardless of his own polyamorous notions.
Technically Raissa's thread comes after this one, but it's more convenient (and not time-breaking) to have it come before this one. <__<
"Look at Finley?" Fox echoed, trying to figure out what he meant by looking at her. She looked at her bestie all the time. They were friends after all, so why would she avoid looking at her? It was at least half a second later that she realized what Peregrine meant.
"Oh... you mean look at her like... in a romantic way." Fox thought on it for a moment, trying to decide if that was even a road she wanted to go down. Finley was awesome, but... not really her type. As a best friend, absolutely. As a lover? Well, no, probably not.
"Nah," she replied.
But then she remembered Raissa.
"Have you met Raissa?" Fox asked.
"Now there's somebody I'd consider getting frisky with. That girl's just... really pretty." The mother-to-be felt her face flush and her heart race a little faster.
"I totally have a tiny lady crush on her." Of course, Raissa was all but taken by FitzDutiful, and Fox wouldn't dream of messing that up. The two of them seemed happy to be with one another, and Fox was no home wrecker (lol, she totally is).
Peregrine felt a tiny stab of disappointment, though did he have any right to feel that way? While he pondered that, Fox took him by surprise by telling him she actually did have a crush on another female, just not Finley. His eyebrows lifted and he stared at her for a beat, before grinning and laughing. He loved that she always kept him guessing.
"I have not," he replied. "Isn't that Duty's girl?" He cocked his head. When he did end up meeting her, he would not find her to be his type, though he didn't concern himself with that now. All he cared about right now was how Fox felt about her. "What... what would you like to do with her... or to her?" he wondered, trying to keep it light but finding himself breathing a bit more heavily than normal.
"Yeah," Fox replied. She had a pretty good feeling that neither Fitz or Raissa would be entirely comfortable with... that kind of arrangement, even if it was fun and exciting to think about. "Honestly?" Fox said, looking at Perry, "I wouldn't even know where to begin. I mean, I can't just go around humping things like you can. I don't have a dingus!" If she did, Fox knew exactly where she'd put it. Somehow, she was pretty certain that girl on girl humping wouldn't prove to be too fun. Maybe she was totally wrong, and it was actually way better than being humped (or humping) a boy.
"What did you and Lasher do?" Fox asked, before realizing that Perry might not want to bring up that barrel of monkeys. "You don't have to answer. I know that him going back was rough for you." What Fox didn't know was that she was the main cause for their breakup. She had been trying quite hard to make amends with her lover's lover when he had returned to Blacktail Deer Plateau. Fox had always assumed he simply didn't want to make the move. It was probably better that way.
He gave a quick, encouraging nod in response to her, "Honestly?" Fox admitted she didn't see how the mechanics might work. Peregrine snickered to himself but didn't deign to interrupt her as she bemoaned her lack of a phallus. His face straightened somewhat and he slowly wetted his lips when she brought up Lasher. He was more or less over his former flame, though the question still caught him off guard somewhat.
"Well..." Peregrine looked into her eyes. Did she really want the tawdry details? Would they bother her? Or, like him, would she actually find the idea of her mate's same-sex dalliances rather titillating? "At first, we just used our mouths. Ladies could do that too. Licking is nice, ehm..." He tried not to smile but failed. "We also did butt stuff. Um, I only let him do it to me once." Peregrine didn't mention that he had only done this as part of their final tryst. "Mostly, I did it to him. But it took me a while to work up to that. It started with the beejes. He did that a lot more for me than I did for him. I... was actually a pretty selfish lover."
Fox listened as Peregrine explained what he and Lasher had done together. Something about... licking and butt stuff. “You licked each other’s butts?” she asked, her face twisting into a grimace. How could that possibly be pleasurable? Fox tried to imagine it, but it only made it seem more absurd. “Wait,” she said, taking a step back, “Do I even want to know that?”
Of course, Fox had completely misunderstood everything that Peregrine had said and turned it into something way less sexy by doing so.
Peregrine blinked at Fox's misapprehension, then felt a laugh building in the pit of his belly and climbing up his throat. "What? No," he replied, trying to hold it back. A few little snorts managed to break free, though he was able to regain his composure and add, "I mean... yeah, we did that. But that's not what I meant. And... no, probably not." He chuckled, then caught her eye. Fox didn't seem too disturbed by the information.
They walked in a companionable silence for a while. Peregrine switched between gazing at the lovely views and his even more lovely mate. They loved the caldera, though it was good to steal moments like this all the same. It would be even harder to do once the pups came, though Peregrine was sure they would succeed where he and Hawkeye had failed, dismally.
"You know," he said, breaking the silence after a long while, "I would lick your butt, if you wanted." He chuckled, clicking his tongue, then gave her a sweet kiss to the corner of her eye.
Last post for me, I think! We have an updated one anywho. :)
Fox chuckled, still unsure if they had actually licked one another's butts. The world fell silent, then, sans the ever-singing noises of the great outdoors, and the two walked on, making their way toward Lake Rodney and the view that it most certainly had to offer. Fox had expected to walk the rest of the way in that blissful, comfortable silence, so Peregrine's question half-startled her, and she jerked slightly when his voice broke through the air.
"What? No!" she protested, curling her tail beneath her so he had no chance of doing any such thing.
"I mean, I'm all for eating and rolling in the poop of other animals, but that's usually long after it's been pooped out." Kicking up her heels, Fox took off at a gallop, letting Peregrine chase her tail (in the literal and metaphorical sense). Once they got to Lake Rodney, it would be hanky-panky time.