Broken Boulder used to know

ulf just stole my heart tbh and maybe ali's

He swallowed hard when he felt Ulf press into his neck, leaning his head down to embrace him. Alarian was no stranger to the ignorance of dogs— they all seemed perpetually young. Perhaps it was cruel to think of them that way; as somehow less aware than his own kind. But what could be equal that, by its nature, could never truly be independent?
So it had not startled him that his friend did not realize his own handicap— it had not startled him when the other had seemed so confused in the middle of the pack's territory.
That Ulf sought his touch startled him. Alarian absently began to preen at the fur between the base of the wolfdog's skull and the back of his neck, masking the fact that he was quickly working himself into a panic over it. Already he harbored affection for his new friend— but he did not think the wolfdog would ever understand it, and more than anything he feared the budding affection becoming more than just that.