A strigele, a witch, and a werewolf walk into a bar…

It was the start of a bad joke, a horribly bad decision, and Frankie knew what it could’ve done to him—knew what the repercussions might’ve been. But that was a five grand cash in for three hours. It wasn’t something he could turn down. He couldn’t rework his schedule the way he wanted, so each house call happened within the span of eighteen hours. Mundanes were a lot easier, a lot more dispensable if they couldn’t work with his hours. Frankie was less inclined to eschew his own community.

Little did he know, the strigele he dealt with in the few towns over was shy of his 2,000-year-old birthday. The older the strigele was, the more complex their emotions tend to be, the deeper the skeletons ran, and the harder it was to perceive such. It wasn’t stated in the application form, but the form was more protocol than it was legally binding.

Frankie didn’t make it home, just driving through high street. He’d parked off on the side of the road, feeling the sick swirl in his stomach before he started throwing up out of his window.

Lithe arms wrapped around him, holding him up, and through blurred watery eyes, the face of someone he vaguely knew had come into his view. A concerned Carla looked down at him, urging and hauling him into the passenger seat. He didn’t remember much of the conversation that they had, only that her voice was firm and harsh, decisive, and unwavering, but when he opened up to her, concern rolled out of her in heavy waves.

There was a suggestion for a hospital, but Frankie had sobered enough to decline it. Reluctantly, Carla drove his car to his home where she led him inside and helped to clean him up. Frankie was frail, dark circles deep beneath his eyes, his skin an unusual pallid colour. Anything Carla fed him was thrown back up almost immediately, so she simply left water and hot broth next to his bedside.

“Don’t--,” Frankie reached out to touch her arm, sputtering a soft cough. “Don’t tell Seth.” Frankie paused. “Please.”

Carla’s brows furrowed. “As if, Frankie.” She disappeared into the bathroom, getting a wet flannel to put on Frankie’s forehead. When she did that, she called Seth and told him everything.

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Seth was slowly but surely finding a balance with his new change,  settling into a pattern, but more importantly finding peace with it. He knew it was permanent, here to stay, and Seth knew the sooner he got to grips with it the better. It wasn’t a death sentence and just because his dad was a certain type of Alpha didn’t mean he had to be or was going to be. Seth wasn’t his father, he was the exact opposite in fact, and his mother had reassured him of that fact after he’d turned up on her doorstep a few days ago.

It was no secret that out of everybody in his life Seth was closest with his mother and if anybody could help him get his head screwed on right it was her.

He’d started going back into work, reducing his hours and leaving when he thought he might snap or he found himself struggling and fielding questions as best he could especially when they came from those with a better sense of smell, not giving away too many details about what had happened to cause the shift.

Seth still didn’t know when and if something might tip him over one way or another, it was definitely a work in progress, but he was making progress and that was what was important. So far he’d identified that his Alpha instincts as new and fresh as they were absolutely leaned more into who he was as a person, which meant protective won out over possessive, and concern was amplified in particular about those he cared about.

Both of which flared into life when he got a call from Carla, informing him that she’d found Frankie collapsed over on himself throwing up and seemingly totally out of it that meant that Seth cancelled his afternoon clients and drove over to Frankie’s with haste. Carla was waiting for him at the door and Seth wrapped her waist with his arm, leaning down to drop a kiss on her temple. “Thanks for calling me, how is he?”

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“He’s…” Carla struggled to find the words, not wanting to tip the alpha into a worried rage. Normally, Carla wasn’t one to sugar coat. She said things honestly and fully, though this situation certainly called for a different approach. Just before Seth had arrived, Carla helped Frankie brush his teeth for the sixth time that night, wiped a damp cloth over his neck and back trying to get the fever down and currently had a wet flannel draped over his forehead. “Not dying,” Carla said weakly. “He’ll be fine. Think he’s more worried about you, really. He didn’t want me to call you.” Her eyes rolled, giving a little snort.

Before Seth could enter Frankie’s room, Carla held his hand. “Listen. He’s getting better, but he’s not great, okay? So when you see him, you just need to… be calm. As much as you can. Don’t strain him, he’s been through a lot.” From her pocket, she took out a pill bottle and pressed it to his palm. “These are some serious pain meds I found in his bathroom. No idea how he got a hold of these, but he can’t have them until he eats something. Broth doesn’t count.” She offered a little smile. “I’ll leave you guys. Call me if you need anything.”

Frankie didn’t need enhanced hearing to know Seth’s voice, as quiet and muffled as it was. He groaned quietly, running a hand through his hair.  

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Calm? Yeah, okay. He could do that. Better now than he had been days earlier, much more like his normal and centered self.

"Did he say what happened?" He figured not, given the state he'd been in when Carla had found him, but worth asking.  He was making mental notes of everything that Carla was telling him, glancing down to regard the bottle of pills that Carla had pressed into his palm. "No pills until after he's eaten some actual food, gotcha. I'll give you a call later, let you know how he's getting on.”

Seth waited for Carla to leave before he shut the door, shrugged out of his jacket, and removed his boots in order to pad through to the kitchen as soundlessly as he could which for a man as large as Seth was impressively quiet where he rummaged out a glass, filling it with water. He waited in the kitchen for a few moments, using the precious minutes to gather his thoughts, quell and silence the racing thoughts which he knew would just feed into his emotional state and that was the last thing that Frankie needed right now.

Only when he was certain that he was as clear as he could be did he head into Frankie's bedroom, pausing in the doorway before stepping over the threshold to approach. Frankie looked... well, awful. He looked small, frail, and lacked the same familiar energy that was so intrinsically linked with who Frankie was that it caused a distinct tightening in Seth's chest until it honestly felt like he couldn't breathe.

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Clothes had been discarded on the floor, but then the sheets were to his neck feeling his shoulders quake and shiver. Before he knew it, the blanket piled at his waist suddenly, the hot flashes coursing through him in unbearable waves. It was a ruthless fever that had the blankets on and off, and by the time Seth had entered, Frankie was in a strange entanglement with the sheets. The flannel still draped over his head, and his long limbs sprawled over the bed. Despite all that, when Frankie saw Seth, he flashed the same mischievous, crooked grin that he’d done a hundred of times, except that his eyes were tired and spent. “Hey pup,” he said weakly, offering a flicker of a wink.

It was harder to keep the barriers up, feeling the worry scorch out of Seth, felt the same tightening in his chest, felt the need to grapple with the sliver of control Seth was holding onto. Frankie’s smile softened. “Baby, baby,” Frankie cooed softly. “Breathe. I’m fine, okay? Look at me, I’m fine. I’m fine.” His head turned, slowly and wincing in the process. He nodded for Seth to approach.

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Seth hadn't realised that he wasn't actually breathing until Frankie called him baby and coaxed him to breathe at which point he felt like it left him in one rush resulting in the wolf moving.

The glass of water was placed down on the nearby bedside table, his hand initially reaching out to catch Frankie's, squeezing, feeling the pulse for a fraction of a second before he crawled onto the bed. It could have gone horribly wrong but Seth was being very careful, making sure he didn't hurt Frankie as every inch of him craved or rather needed to be closer until he was all but wrapped around the empath.

No words, nothing said, just pure unadulterated physical connection that was accompanied by the nuzzling of Seth's face into Frankie's neck.

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Frankie watched Seth carefully, letting the easy smile pull from his lips. Frankie inched to the side as best as he could, his arm wrapping around Seth as the large wolf settled into him. Every part of him ached, and Seth’s body was notably warm as it pressed against his. Frankie’s hand reached up to cup the back of Seth’s head, running fingers over his scalp and hair.

He pressed a kiss to his temple, several kisses actually. For a moment, he let the silence linger, allowing the feel of Seth’s warm body to comfort him. Squeezing the nape of his neck, he flickered his eyes down to peer at Seth. “I can only imagine what I look like right now. You still think I’m attractive?” he chuckled out lowly.

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What Frankie would definitely notice about Seth was that in spite of his previous inability to breathe he was a lot calmer than he had been in previous days as he was clearly getting to grips with his new Alpha status. He felt more like himself than he had in the days leading up to and the actual event that took place in San Francisco.

He huffed out a few gentle breaths as he continued to nuzzle against Frankie’s neck as the witch ran his hand over his scalp and hair with kisses accompanying it, his own touches whilst firm were also gentle as he was very aware of just how fragile Frankie was feeling.

Eventually he leaned back but just enough to be able to look at Frankie, snorting gently. “I’d still fuck you.”

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Frankie did notice it. Initially, he hadn’t wanted Seth to know, wanted to hide this from him because he knew just how vengeful the alpha could’ve possibly been. There was so much that Seth was going through that Frankie didn’t want to add to the notable stresses upon the wolf—he didn’t want to be the cause of further tension. However, just as much as Seth was melting into his touch, Frankie felt himself relaxing visibly into the sheets. He did feel frail, he did feel weak, but he also felt safe.

And a bit confused, but that would… that would be addressed later.

He snorted, a gentle shake of his body indicating that he was attempting to laugh. “You flirt,” Frankie commented, the movements of his fingers never stopping. “…I’m glad you’re here,” Frankie added. “Even if I didn’t want you to be at first.”

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Seth smiled slowly. “Yeah, me too.” He reached up and ran one of his hands through Frankie’s hair, gently applying a small amount of pressure and circling his fingers around points he knew carried tension. “I’m glad Carla ignored you and called me anyways.”

He searched Frankie’s face intently.

“What happened?

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Frankie nodded her head. “Your friend is nice,” he said idly, making a note of having to thank her for all that she had done. Frankie had been so distracted, so caught up in his own self pity, that he probably didn’t show her enough gratitude that he should’ve.

At the question, Frankie closed his eyes for a moment. “I did something stupid,” he answered ambiguously. “Don’t be mad, okay?”

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“She’s the best,” Seth answered honestly because it was true. Carla was his best friend and despite their… sexual encounter they’d managed to recover, for the most part, but still a work in progress. Still, she was too important to Seth for something like that to irrevocably (pardon the pun) screw everything up.

His eyes narrowed as Frankie almost grimaced at the thought of telling Seth what had actually happened.

“What did you do?”

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There was a guilty sort of look on Frankie’s face, that only indicated that he was well aware of the absolute stupid thing that he had done. But as Seth only saw the nicer parts of Frankie, there was a part of Frankie that was devastatingly greedy, enough to put his own life on the line. Part of him was afraid of what Seth would think of him when he did find out.

“It was–it was for a lot of money,” Frankie preempted as if that would’ve helped his case, still being quite vague about it all.

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“Frankie…” Seth said slowly and in a tone that suggested the other man better hurry up and get to the point especially given the guilty look on the witch’s face. The wolf already had a feeling where this might be going but it would be good to have his suspicions confirmed.

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“I—um. I picked up a few cases recently.” Well, the last twenty-four hours, but Frankie left that part out. “Difficult ones. What I mean is… when I do a house call, mundanes tend to be easier. Uncomplicated. But if they’re from our community, it gets trickier,” Frankie explained. “If you’re witch, werewolf, fae, strigele, you have to deal with other aspects that you don’t worry about with mundanes. Anyway. Last night, I was with a witch, and today it was a werewolf and a two-thousand-year-old strigele so.”

Frankie paused, not quite making eye contact with Seth just yet. “You can imagine what happened after.”  

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“Jesus, Frankie,” Seth said as he shook his head. “What were you thinking?” Now the witch’s current predicament made a lot of sense, too much sense. “You have got to start taking better care of yourself and quit pushing this hard. Are you really that strapped for cash?”

The wolf was careful with how loud he spoke and just how much emotional response he gave but it was clear he was worried.

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Frankie winced as Seth raised his voice, knowing that he had probably deserved it but it wasn’t nice to receive either. “I’m not strapped for cash,” he said weakly, feeling that his breath was laboured. The explanation itself took a bit of a toll on Frankie. He tilted his head back, sinking it into the pillow.

“It was five grand in my pocket, plus I didn’t–I didn’t know how old the strigele was. They didn’t tell me.” Frankie paused. “I didn’t know this would happen.”

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“Okay, okay, take it easy,” Seth murmured as he reached up to rub his hands through Frankie’s hair and over his scalp. “I think you get a reprieve on this topic for now, but as soon as you’re feeling better we’re having this conversation.”

And he meant that, they would definitely pick this up again when Frankie was recovered.

“Right now I need you to try and rest, alright? And I’m going to make you some food which if you eat you can then take some pretty impressive painkillers that Carla found in your bathroom.”

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Frankie suppressed a groan. He didn’t do well with conversations about his job, not if it meant being chastised or highlighting everything that was wrong with it. Because he, out of everyone, knew just how unsustainable it could be at times.

He also didn’t like the idea of eating.

Frankie shook his head. “Not right now,” he said, sounding exhausted. What was a normally large, strong arm, now moved slowly and lethargically to wrap around Seth’s waist to bring the wolf closer. He looked up at him with tired eyes, but the same charming crooked grin still on his lips. “Just stay here with me, yeah?”

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Seth looked at Frankie for a long very serious quiet moment before he leaned down and pressed a kiss to his temple followed by his cheek until rounding to brush a light fleeting kiss over his lips.

“Not going anywhere, Frankie.”

He shifted in such a way that he was no longer atop of Frankie but rather at his side and manuevered the other into position so he could rest against his chest, Seth’s arms firmly wrapped around him and one hand running through his hair. “Get some sleep.”

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Frankie’s eyes fluttered closed, feeling Seth’s lips graze lightly over his face. But even as Seth held him close, Frankie felt notably unsatisfied. He raised his eyebrow accusingly at him, with his lips still poking up into a smile.

“Oh, c’mon baby, I’m not that fragile.” Frankie leaned up, cupping the back of Seth’s head and closed the space between their mouths in a firmer kiss.

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Seth chuckled before he curled his fingers around the back of Frankie’s neck, grip tightening and lips parting to return the kiss as it was given, a gentle teasing rake of his teeth along the witch’s lower lip.

As the kiss broke Seth nudged Frankie’s nose with his own.

“Is that better, gorgeous?”

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Frankie felt like he was quite literally melting into the kiss, feeling like he was sinking further. He hummed contently when the kiss was broken, and closed his eyes, his entire body feeling quite heavy.

He grinned to himself, leaning into Seth. “For now.”