Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to Being Human. I petitioned for the right to buy Josh though, and was told that that was considered slavery and, is in fact, illegal. Dammit, I'll get him yet!

Unquestionably Them
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Last Edit: Saturday, February 12, 2011; 1:40AM

Series: North America's Being Human

Spoilers: Still only to episode four.

Rating: T; for language.

Pairings: Aidan/Josh, if you tilt your head and squint. (I do.)

Warnings: Mild language. An irrelevant mention of an OC. There is no Schaeffer in the show guys, fyi. Me; attempting witty humor and my horrible punctuation skills. I apologize.

Inspiration: NinjaWaffle! Thank you so much! This one was spawned completely by your simple mention of not being able to imagine the "voice" of the wolf. I hope this helps make what I mean a little bit clearer. :D

Sometimes, life was a questionable quandary of happenings. You could spend hours analyzing something that could never be solved. Perhaps though, all those endless hours of fruitless searching prepared you for the one time you would be completely baffled by your results.

"Why are we doing this again?" Josh huffed contemptuously.

Aidan barely spared him a glance as he continued flipping though the stack of cards in his hands. He periodically made humming noises that set Josh on edge.

"We've already been over this, Josh."

You didn't have to be a werewolf to pick up on Aidan's exasperated tone.

"Yes, but why did I go through with it again?" Josh continued on as if oblivious; further showing his distain for the situation by picking invisible lint off his cardigan and making a show of flicking it at Aidan.

"You realize that you aren't fooling anyone with that act, and the only thing you are doing is making holes in your sweater right?" Aidan earned himself a glare for that one, but really that wasn't a big accomplishment, because Josh had a tendency to shoot glares at people on a regular basis. Aidan had learned over time that the brunette used it as a way to stall for a comeback.

"It's a cardigan."

Not that Josh often managed to think of good comebacks. Aidan smirked.

"Do you really want me to retaliate to that one?"

"Lemme-," Josh paused a moment to shake himself and subconsciously splay his fingers as he tried to straighten his thoughts, "Let me get this straight. You're playing the whole psychological 'I see things in cards ruse' to...what? Tell me that I'm crazy?"

Josh's eyes seemed to slowly dilate, before getting that hysterical edge to them. The lines around them creased, and his mouth parted a little wider. When he did that, Aidan could hear the others breathing get deeper, like he was staving off an anxiety attack. It happened a lot. Living with Josh was like living with a continuously hormonal woman. Who was either on her period or pregnant. Possibly pregnant, because it seemed to Aidan that Josh really just wanted to cry more than throw a lamp.

Not that Josh hadn't already thrown a lamp, or three. Sally had been pissed about the Tiffany lamp in the upstairs bedroom. Apparently it had been a gift. Now whenever Josh got irate, Sally would stand next to him like his referee and appear next to whatever he could throw.

The method worked so far.

Before Aidan could even attempt to soothe the temperamental young man, Josh plowed on: "Because I already know I'm insane! Believe me! You don't start morphing into a mythological mammal on a monthly basis and not get the memo that you're nuts."

His tone had taken on that desperate lilt to it that let Aidan know it was time to stop his tirade.

"You aren't nuts. A little squirrel-y, but not nuts. Now if you would just relax, I will explain to you, again, why I had to steal these from the hospital."

"You said you borrowed them! As in, Schaeffer let you have them for a little while. Not as in, you flitted in and swiped him from under his nose!" Josh ranted, his arms rising up in an attempt to get his point across. Aidan thought it looked more like he was begging for Jesus, which he privately always found funny because of Josh's religion.

"They'll be back in his drawer tomorrow, chill. And why do you insist on labeling it that? It's not flitting, it's just running. Really fast. This isn't Cirque du Freak, you freak."

Josh chuckled at Aidan's sensitivity on the topic of referencing pop culture comparisons. While Aidan may not have liked what he was, he was always affronted whenever someone made a misinformed comment based off of modern literature. He wasn't sure if Aidan realized that Josh now purposely did it to get a rise out of him.

"I love how you know the name of everyone of my references. You totally read every vampire book that comes out just so you can feel big when you pronounce them as being wrong, don't you?" Josh grinned widely at Aidan's sulky posture.

"I read them ironically, so that I can mock their sad fantasies. Half the authors just write whatever tripe sounds better anyway." He huffed.

"Ooooh," exclaimed Josh, exaggerating his enlightenment to further annoy the other man, "I see. A vampire reading book about vampires. Original."

"Perhaps not, but look at you! Trying to be all clever and witty, that really is original!" Aidan quipped back in an over excited voice one would use on a puppy, causing Josh to glower at him.

"I sort of hate you, you know."

"Only sort of? Because I really would like it, if we could get back to the matter at hand, that is."

Aidan raised a brow for Josh's acquiesce. What he got was a huff and a childish: "Fine."

"Fine-ally, you mean."

Aidan could distinctly make out a sarcastic 'how witty' from Josh at the other end of the couch. So Aidan kicked at him and continued on as if nothing had transpired.

"Now, the other night you completely spazzed about being able to hear the wolf. And while you seemed to know what it wanted and what it was saying, you couldn't tell me what it was saying."

"Hey, you make it sound like I didn't try! It's hard to translate, you know?"

Aidan slouched back on the arm of the couch.

"You said it talked, hence my confusion when you couldn't tell me what it was saying."

Josh's head shook frantically as he raised a finger.

"No, no, no. I said it talked. I didn't say it spoke English."

"Well you didn't not say it either! Was I supposed to guess!"

At Aidan's incredulous tone the lithe brunette's body language screamed a resounding 'duh!'.

"This isn't Naruto, Aidan! It's an animal, not a demon, it can't speak English. When have you ever run across a talking dog!"

"Oh, I'm the one who reads useless stuff? Now who looks lame Anime-man?"

"Oh shut up, you-"

"You're both lame and you both need to shut up right now!"

Sally made her presence known with a resounding shatter of the last two remaining lamps in the living room. Their bulbs busted and managed to ignite the shades on fire. One of them happened to beside Josh, who jumped up just in time to avoid the now flaming lampshade as it tipped over.

"Holy shit! Can't you watch that?"

"No, because all I can see are two grown men fighting like children!"

She stood there, in all her righteous fury, while the two males in question attempted to quench the flames before anything else caught on fire. Aidan shot her a bewildered look as he threw a smoldering lamp in the trash. Because that was safe.

"Since when did our banter bug you so much?"

"Yeah, it's like, what we do. I thought you kept a tally on who wins each argument anyway?"

Josh finished wiping away the water from putting out the fire, and went to get the pledge for the wood.

"Don't even think about it."

He wasn't even half way through the kitchen doorway before he had to turn around with a whine.

"But Sallllly, the finish is scratched from scrubbing with the rough towels!"

"Sit, dammit."

Aidan sniggered at how Josh trudged back to the couch and plopped down with his hands folded in his lap. Maybe Josh couldn't see it, because he was to busy staring forlornly at the dulled sheen on the lamp stand to his left, but Sally's eyes softened at his display. She took the time to walk over and sit on the coffee table in front of them.

"Normally I'd be glad score your verbal spars, but I wasn't even paying attention this time. I just got mad that you two wouldn't hurry up and start the experiment."

"Don't sweat it, I won anyway. Again."

Aidan could only puff out his chest proudly, even as Josh stuck his tongue out at him for the comment. Sally shook her head, and Aidan almost felt like a child, but then he remembered that he was the oldest one here. So he had seniority, or something, and he could do what he wanted.

"Either way, can we please start?"

Josh snorted.

"So glad to know my opinion on this is wanted. No, that's fine experiment away. I'm an animal anyway so go ahead."

Aidan reached over and ruffled Josh's already wild hair, making the boy grimace.

"It's not like that; I just want to help you understand yourself a little better."

"Have you ever noticed that every time you try to help, bad things happen? Rebecca's a bit psycho, Sally nearly got molested, and I became friends with a guy who turned out to not only be a douche, but a dick too. I don't think you should be allowed to help anymore."

Josh held up his hands in surrender at Aidan's particularly nasty glare. The vampire didn't seem to get the meaning up surrender, and smacked the brunette with the deck of 8"x8" cards anyway.

"Boys, please? Please, please, pleeease?"

They turned to her, nearly in sync, with identical looks of confusion. Josh commented warily:

"Why are you so keen on this?"

Wishing she was mad enough to hit them, she burst out her impatience.

"Because, I wanna know more about Dingo!"

Aidan startled: "Who?"

"Uh, Fido, maybe?"

Josh gaped at her in disbelief.

"Oh, I had a friend who named theirs Simba once! Mufasa might fit better though..."

She tapped her lips while she attempted to come up with more names. Aidan looked like he was starting following her train of thought, if his slow curling slips were anything to go by, but Josh looked for all the world like his last thread to reality had just snapped.

"Are you seriously trying to name the monster in my head?"

She looked at him, mirroring his own look of exasperation.

"I told you that you needed to name it. You had your chance, and now it's mine. I've just gotta find the right one."

Aidan attempted to stop his quiet chuckling and began to play mediator.

"Alright, alright. That's a conversation for a later date. Maybe we should focus on getting to know him better, eh Sally?"

She squealed and seemed to pulse her excitement through the room. Even Josh, as reluctant as he was, could admit that the idea did seem intriguing. If it worked.

"So, what do I do?"

Aidan shrugged.

"You do nothing except tell me what's going on inside that pretty little head of yours. I'm going to hold up a card, with certain items on them, and you just need to try to focus on what Fido's feeling."

Josh had taken the time that Aidan explained to try and relax. He had just been in the middle of a deep breathe when the dark haired man mentioned the word 'Fido' and had instantly tried to huff. The end result was Josh looking for all the world like he was trying to imitate a fish. Or a petulant child. Sally couldn't contain her giggles.

"Aidan, you are so going to be sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Or in a grave." Josh threatened mildly.

"Been there, done that." Aidan winked while Josh rolled his eyes. Sally initiated a mock high-five with the vampire for dead-people humor.

After a few more moments of bickering, and Aidan telling Josh to relax, the trial began.

"What do you see?"

It wasn't an ink blot test like he had thought. They were portraits. The first one being of a forest. Josh was going to say something akin to how he thought this was a test for the wolf, when his entire body lurched.

Sally lost her concentration and wound of sinking through the coffee table.

"Woah, what was that?"

"Josh, are you okay?" Aidan slapped the card down, but the emotion was already there. It was mind blowing. He hadn't realized until now just how much he, no, the wolf, hated being inside this tiny apartment. There was a soft growling in his head. A whiny almost, begging to run. The desperate need, and the utter want. To smell, and scent, and chase, and hunt and-

"Josh!"

"Wha-?"

The brunette shook his head, snapping out of his connection. Looking up he realized both Aidan and Sally were right in his face. Sally seemed frustrated that she couldn't manage to grab his shoulder like Aidan was, but her concerned manner more than made up for it.

"Are you okay? Your body looked like it was attempting to do the worm while sitting."

"Ye-yeah Sally, I'm fine. Just, it really hates this apartment."

After explaining what he had felt, the want that rushed through him at the sight of freedom, the other two cautiously looked at each other.

"Josh, I've never heard of this with any other werewolf."

"No offense, but seeing as how most vamps and wolves don't get along, I can't see why the vampires would know something like that about wolves."

Aidan's pensive expression seemed to loose a bit of strain.

"Yeah, maybe….but still."

Josh waved away both their concerns.

"Anyway, show the next one."

Both seemed wary, not quite sure if this was something they wanted to continue anymore or not. Josh was just about to wheedle them some more, by mentioning that this had been their idea in the first place, when Aidan spoke up.

"You don't have to Josh. I'd understand if you'd rather not."

Josh just shook his head, and with a shrug from they other two, they began.

And so it went. The next picture had been of an ocean. He hadn't lurched, but he could feel something warm roll in his tummy. He hardly had to concentrate before he could make out a low rumbling in his head. The ocean was big. Like the wolf, it was strong and unyielding, temperamental but respected. It was himself, the wolf that is, in another form.

Next had been a portrait of a woman. Subconsciously his mouth parted wide to try and scent and his nostrils flared while he tried to hear a pulse. When the wolf couldn't, all Josh got was a low snort and a sense of disappointment.

The line continued, and Josh had been shown pictures various miscellaneous things from clothes to french fries. At first he had been unwilling to be 'experimented on', but as soon as he realized he could understand the wolf, it seemed to ebb away the fear of it.

It wasn't a monster. Not really. It was an animal. It had instincts, and Josh realized he could manage most of them now that he knew what to expect. It may have been a separate entity, but by being able to learn how it reacted to certain things, Josh could learn how to handle or evade those things. It helped. If only a little.

It did nothing but worry the other two though.

"This is...I thought it was going to be like an instinct thing and you were just confusing it, but it sounds like your wolf has actually manifested into...an actual entity."

"That's what I told you. And you've been calling it an entity! Are you saying that you just thought I was confused and you had decided you'd play along!"

"No, I just thought you hadn't paid attention to your instincts before and that you had just now noticed them! I didn't realize..." Aidan trailed off looking lost.

Sally rolled her eyes.

"Well duh, give Josh a little credit. Even I managed to get that Lassie was different from the actual Josh. If it really had just been instincts he would have complained about 'feeling' different, not hearing voices."

"It wasn't even a 'voice', so how was I supposed to know what he meant?" The pale skinned man complained.

"Are you still on that? Really? I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough on what I meant in my panicked state of mind. I'll try harder next time, promise." Josh declared sarcastically, glaring at Aidan while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, I'd really appreciate it." Aidan intoned back at him.

Sally threw her hands up and sat between them.

"You two are impossible."

"Actually, myth logically speaking we should be. That's why they call us 'mythical' beings. By all rights we shouldn't exist."

Aidan sank comfortably into the couch at Josh's comment.

"No way, really? So, if I close my eyes does that mean you might disappear?"

"You're an ass."

"You like my ass."

At Josh's sputtering, Sally added an invisible tally to Aidan's scoreboard. Maybe the guy would catch up one day. He was only a couple hundred behind. But then, Josh insisted that half of them didn't count because Aidan had lived longer and, apparently, had more time to prepare comebacks.

"Because I totally spend my spare time thinking of ways to win verbal spars."

"You probably do!"

"I hate to break it to you Josh, but it doesn't take that much effort."

"Jerk."

Aidan laughed and reached behind Sally, because that was an unwritten ghost courtesy, to playfully punch Josh in the shoulder. The brunette attempted to mimic it, and even though he'd done it to Aidan a hundred times, he still managed to look awkward doing it. They relaxed a bit, still not turning on the TV and just enjoying each other in the silence.

"We need new lamps." Sally suddenly blurted.

"Why, so Josh can throw them and you can set fire to them?"

"We should probably get ones that can't catch flame. They sell those, right?"

"No, I really don't think they have those."

"Oh."

Thinking back on the conversation, Josh interrupted with an incredulous expression.

"...Did you call me a squirrel earlier?"

Instead of questioning this odd train of thought, Aidan tried to think back.

"Most likely, you remind me of one. A lot. And for the record, I think Mufasa would be a kick-ass name."

Author's Note: I would just like to thank EVERYONE from 'Unapologetically Us' who favorite'd, reviewed, alerted and just generally kicked my plot bunnies into overdrive. You guys rock something fierce!