AUTHORS NOTE:
Listening to the Skyrim soundtrack is totally counter productive when trying to write. All I want to do is play Skyrim. God damn it. Moving right along then...
Sorry.. I just love cliffhangers! So here is Chapter 3 of Housemates. I don't know if you're like me but part of me is all WHEN WILL SOMETHING HAPPEN.
Also, the page break is back. I think I may have found a compromise. I'll put it in the middle, so it's out of the way but it's still.. my page break. As always, typos and writing errors are sure to be abound (I feel like I don't need to say this anymore, but if I don't someone will review and be all harhar this is terrible and my heart will break.) But HystericFreak has once again helped edit out most of the creases.
Also: Oh god so many reviews! I will do my best to respond to them all! I may have to just start responding to questions.. but hopefully not for a while! :)
CrystalBlues, tsuki107 - Ahh, I just can't help but put cliffhangers in. It's okay, the wait is only short! (I hope).
emo assassin pandas - Thanks.. Strangely I think all the characters are starting to reflect my friends.. I'll try not to break them.
Elfin69! Hehe, you review all of my chapters! And well...Jacob has plenty of issues to handle! You get to find out just what they notice now.
Zane Makura - I hate it when they make harry a weak creature.. well, perhaps hate is a poor word, but Harry is just so strong!
Patty Potter - They did, but Harry had glasses on and a mind skilled at occlumency!
3689070 - Interesting name! Haha. Thank you for pointing them out! I will go back and amend.. This chapter has less "whilst!" I brought back the page break just for you. Thank you very kindly for your offer of beta-ing.. depending on how long this story goes for I might just take you up on that offer!
Lientjuhh, xxSlyherinAtHeart, Sir Ezquisitoh, cheekysorceror - Haha, I'm glad you like it!
Hayan - Jacob may just do that. It will take a bit of time though, you'll just have to wait and see! :)
MichieviousCuriosity - Your review made me smile all day! I'm not THAT evil...
Gina619 - I am glad.. the page breaks are back! And Jacob does feel MIGHTY awkward.
Luv 2 Cry - Yeah.. Jacob/Harry is like my crack. Speaking of which.. I should write a Jake/Harry crack!fic.
LunaticV, AriLivesnotDylan - You'll see!
CHAPTER 3:
The lion's gaze shot through Jacob's soul, and the wolf stood in awe, ears perking up and tail flip-flopping against his hind. The lion tilted his head to one side, chest reverberating as it thrummed with a soft purr.
Harry's curious green irises inspected the almost puppy-like beast before him. The wolf was vastly larger than any he had seen, almost matching Harry's enormous size. He had russet-red-brown fur, and the kindest, softest eyes. He was also sporting a look of perfect adoration.
With a wide and lengthy yawn, the Lion slowly slinked his way out of the trunk and towards the other creature, causing it to take a nervous step back. Harry felt immediately at ease; there was a strange heat pressing in on his mind, which felt so familiar and yet slightly distant. He could smell the woody, masculine scent of the canine. He was definitely an alpha of his pack.
The wolf cautiously placed one paw forward, approaching his new-found companion. When it did not back away, he leaned in, slowly pacing one black, wet nose against the cat's pink one. The wolf's eyes slid shut as the corners of it's mouth turned up in what only could be described as a look of bliss.
The lion purred louder at the sudden contact, instinctively nuzzling the long neck of the wolf, mind lost as if in a haze.
The two giant creatures, so incompatible by nature, circled each other, bodies brushing together as they passed. The wolf re-postured itself, gazing once more into Harry's emerald orbs. Hebegan to notice the pressure in his mind intensifying, pushing him out of the hazy state as he felt his feet lock into place. He felt his magical core twitch and shudder as if being bound, his pulse quickening. War-trained reflexes kicked in as mental barriers stronger than iron slammed down around his core, his mind going cold and numb, razor-sharp warding any further intruder away.
A whimper came from the Wolf's throat, as the lion retreated. His ears pulled back as the muscles in his imprint began to tense. With Harry's hind quarters lowered, the feline made a mighty bound over the stump he had inhabited and before Jacob could move, Harry shifted with crunch of flesh and a loud crack reverberated around the forest.
The smell of cinnamon and fire was only fleeting. Jacob's imprint had gone. He shifted and crumpled into a shaking heap on the damp forest floor.
-Oooh. Page Break-
"I think I've found a place," stated Hermione. "I need to do some further investigation and chat to the boys that live there but I'm sure it will be appropriate." She looked across the desk at Harry, who was perched cross-legged on the library chair, a thick book in his lap, with glasses hanging off the tip of his nose. He was absent-mindedly toying with the foil on his chocolate bar, and she was fairly aware that he was not listening to her. "Oh! That book sounds interesting, I've marked it down for course reading potential!"
Harry did not issue a response, lost in concentration.
"And then I walked into town and transfigured a car into a flock of giant birds."
Nada.
"Not knowing what to do, I summoned an electric storm to try and dispose of them."
Harry's eyes continued scanning the pages intently.
"But it was too late as they had been eaten by a pack of flying Zebras" she continued, before pursing her lips.
"Suddenly there was a pack of giant Wolves," she added sardonically.
"Huh? What now?" Harry blurted, finally meeting his best friend's gaze with a startled look.
"Are you okay, Harry? You seem a little... distracted." She raised her eyebrow, a concerned frown crossing her face.
"Oh, yes.. yeah.. I'm fine," he said, eyes no longer making contact. "I was just really absorbed in this book."
Hermione took a cursory glance down at the page, which seemed to be documenting the wolf packs of the area, and made a small note of it in her textbooks margin. The two were seated in the library, taking advantage of the quiet that had settled over the study area whilst most of their fellow students sat in a nearby exam hall taking their semester finals. It was grey outside (as it always was), the sunlight filling the aisles with a dull gloom, the study area sitting in a pool of warm light from the lamps on each desk.
She cleared her throat and resumed. "As I was saying, I think I've found a place for us to move! No more of that horrid hotel!"
"Oh? Sounds good." Harry's attention began to drift back towards the book.
"I just have to contact the two boys that live in the house."
It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Are they hot?"
She sent him a well-deserved eye roll. "Well, I have the mobile number of one - Seth, from the lecture a week ago. I'll contact him later this evening and hopefully we can discuss moving in. If all goes well, we should be able to move in within the next few days. I know it's presumptuous but I have a good feeling about them."
"What would I do without you, 'Mione?" Harry asked sheepishly, not having given the idea of moving much thought outside of wanting to flee to hotel they were staying out.
"Suffer immeasurably," she supplied, smirking.
"True."
Meanwhile, in a nearby lecture theatre, Jacob felt the tension he had felt since his imprint had fled melt away as he sat down to take his exam. He skimmed the paper and smiled with ease. He was going to ace this.
-Oooh. Page Break-
Hermione was waiting patiently in the booth for Seth to arrive, having arranged an interview with him earlier that day. She'd been at the diner early, of course, and had ordered some tea which she was watching slowly grow tepid. Just as the drink started to reach the point of being undrinkable, a large man slid into the chair opposite her, a white-toothed grin lighting up his boyish face.
"Hey Hermione! I thought it might have been you; I'd never heard that name before and you're the only student aside from Harry who has a British accent."
She couldn't help but smile at his friendly - if a little energetic - greeting. "Oh, yes, well, I suppose you've guessed then that the two applicants are myself and Harry. I know you've met us before but I'm sure there's plenty you'd like to ask before we move in."
Seth's good mood seemed infectious. "Well, not really. You two seem pretty great, and usually we- I mean... uh.. I, have a good instinct about these things. Actually, knowing it's you two makes me happy. You hang out in the library a lot so you must be reliable."
Hermione laughed. "Well, yes, I'm not sure if that's a sign of reliability but I'll take it to be a compliment. Well, if that's the case, what do we need to discuss? The cost was on the flyer you put up, and we are more than happy to pay that as necessary."
"Oh, really? How fast can you move in!" Seth paused, suddenly remembering his sister had told him not to appear too eager. "Well, uh, maybe I should warn you about Jacob. He was just dumped and you're a pretty girl and-" he began, before his stomach rumbling interrupted his train of thought.
As if by chance, two large slices of apple pie were placed down in front of them, the waitresses overtly sexual glare raking over Seth before walking away.
"I took the liberty of ordering some pie," Hermione said as began to unravel her napkin and place it down on her lap. She took her first bite. "Mmm, it's good! Not as good as Harry's, but definitely good!"
"Wait. Harry makes Pie?" Seth said mid bite, a torn edge of pie crust hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, Harry's a great cook," Hermione agreed, slowly setting into her pie, just as her dining companion finished his. She was sure she saw him drool ever-so-slightly.
"Well, you're in! But.. Look, Jacob's been a bit down in the dumps lately. Something happened a week ago, I thought it was just exams but he's been a little, uh... hormonal lately and-" he paused, struggling for words, "I don't know how well he'll deal with a pretty girl, and Harry's been causing a bit of a thing with the girls at college, so the extra competition isn't gonna be so great..."
Hermione blinked as she took in Seth's word vomit. "Well," she began, carefully composing her response. "I have a boyfriend back home, and Harry isn't going to be competition for Jacob."
"Wha? He isn't?"
"N-no. You see, Harry's type is much more likely to be, uhm, Jacob himself, rather than the girls Jacob is interested in."
"Ohh, right, right. No problems, then!"
With an understanding reached, they finally took the time to discuss the logistics of moving in together. Whilst the apartment was close to the campus, it wasn't close to town. The boys apparently had no troubles running to town, at which Hermione gawked, but because of this, the car spot was currently unused, with Jacob's motorcycle parked out the front of the building.
Hermione knew she wasn't much of a driver, but she knew Harry was, and so, shaking hands with one of her new house mates, she took off back to the Hotel to inform her best friend of their new lodging arrangements.
-Oooh. Page Break-
Harry hopped off the bus and made his way up to the local car repair shop Hermione had found on the Internet. Their site had mentioned they sold a few of their older repaired cars, and some were reasonably priced. He'd done his best to look sharp, dressed in neat navy slacks and a button-down shirt, professional enough to hopefully avoid the ministrations of any annoying car sales assistants pitching at hapless students.
What he found as he approached the Black Repair Shop was a big red barn acting as the main workshop, with a few patched up cars scattered about the yard in front of it. His shoes crunched on the gravel as he looked in the windows of the old green BMW parked out the front of the shop.
Jacob was working in the shop, wearing overalls and covered in grease. His ears began to ring as his nose caught the tail end of a very familiar scent. The sound of a customer outside snapped him out of the strange sensory overload, forcing him to push it to one side. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, leaving a brilliant streak of oil across the entirety of his face. Cringing, he stepped out of the workshop to greet today's first customer.
What he found was a shorter, well dressed man looking intently in the window of one of the cars on the yard.
"Hey! Name's Jake, nice to meet you!" he hollered.
"Oh, H-hi," came the answer, the man not looking away from the car. "I'm Harry, I was told I could find a used car here."
"Sure can, what're you after?"
"Well, I'm not entirely certain," the man said, making to stand up and face Jacob. He froze as their eyes locked, and suddenly the pressure he'd felt days earlier pressed in on his brain.
Jacob paused. There was something so familiar about those green eyes, he just couldn't place his finger on it. He noticed his customer glance away and scan the forest rapidly, his posture adjusting into one that spoke of being used to threats. Jacob didn't recognise the imprint connection inside him bristling against Harry's mental barriers. In his defence, Harry didn't exactly look like a lion.
"Sorry, I just... do you have wolves near here?" asked Harry.
"Well, I-I guess we probably do, they wouldn't dare come this way though," he replied, carding his fingers through his hair awkwardly.
Harry sharpened his mental defences. He couldn't pinpoint the source of the mind but wherever the wolf was, he shot out a heated spike of mental energy to warn it away. "Well, okay. I guess, I just need a car, I can pay for it today."
Jacob smiled, eye twitching from the sudden bout of pain. He tried to remain friendly despite it, knowing he needed the sale. This would help get Seth off his back about the rent for another month at least. "Sure, well, I'll show you what we've got and we can go from there."
They toured the yard, Jacob explaining what kind of car they were looking at each time. Every hair on his dark arms bristled under the mental attack. Eventually they made it full circle and returned to the front of the workshop, where Jacob's own car, the Rabbit, was parked.
"Oh, I like this one. It's cute!" Harry said.
"Cute?" Jacob replied, frustration peaking. This was his bad-ass rabbit they were talking about.
"Oh, yeah. How much do you want for it?" A million bucks or you naked on top of it.
Jacob bit down on his tongue. Where the hell had that come from? He shook his head and pushed that to the back of his mind. He really needed the money for the rent but there was no way he was going to sell his baby. Harry edged closer to him as he rounded the car, and the ringing in his ears got louder. "Oh it's very... very expensive. Lots of repair work, scratches all over the paint."
Harry reached into a pocket and extracted his glasses, opening them and pushing them up onto his nose. He stared at the car intensely. "I don't see any issues with it." He turned to the salesman.
With his glasses on, he could see the salesperson much clearer, regardless of the grease obfuscating his face. "Wait... I remember you! You ran into me and ruined my tea! And you broke my glasses!"
The sharp pinpricks exploded down Jacob's neck. "That was not my fault!" he said, recognising the man now he had his glasses back on. God now I look like such an idiot and he wants the rabbit and my head is pounding so hard I want to shift. "The-car-is-not-for-sale!" He replied briskly, and perhaps a little sharper than he had intended, as he stormed back into the workshop.
Harry frowned, not entirely sure what had garnered such a reaction. Looking around and ot seeing anyone else around the yard, he made to leave empty handed. Walking back down the path, he heard a shout from the house on the property to see an older man in a wheelchair making his way unsteadily towards Harry.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Billy Black," came the kind voice. "Please ignore my son, he's been acting a little weird lately. Whatever he did, it probably was his fault." His features wrinkled as he smiled openly. "Can I help you get a car sorted?"
Harry smiled in response, joking with the old man easily as they traversed the yard.
-Oooh. Page Break-
Harry lifted the boot of the BMW as Hermione fished around for her trunk, inconspicuously resizing it before heading into the building. Harry retrieved his own luggage before struggling up the path to meet Hermione in the lobby of the apartment building.
"I'm surprised we get to move in so fast, I mean, we haven't even met Seth's friend!" Harry grunted, as he hauled his items into the lift.
"Well, we should count ourselves lucky. Besides, it looks like an absolutely stunning apartment."
Hermione quickly made her way out of the lift and strode towards the door, whispering an incantation to remove the weight-reduction charm on her trunk.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Harry complained, hefting it towards the doorway. Hermione smirked, before knocking on the door only to have it immediately opened by Seth.
"They're here!" he shouted back into the apartment, receiving a muffled response from the kitchen.
Making small talk and introductions as they entered, Hermione went wide-eyed as she gazed around the apartment, with it's exposed-brick walls and floor to ceiling bookcases along the pillars.
Harry too made a cursory glance at the apartment, interrupted as his eyes laid to rest on the very attractive backside of Seth's friend. He felt his heart race as his new roommate began to bend over to place a cup into the dishwasher, causing his denim shorts to slip down ever-so-slightly over his incredibly well shaped arse.
"Isn't it gorgeous Harry?" exclaimed Hermione.
Harry stood transfixed. "... Yeah."
Jacob spun around at the sound of the accent.
Both men stared at each other, momentarily stunned. Their mouths opened simultaneously.
"YOU!"
END NOTE:
I have a plan, I do...
As always, next update, next Thursday. I can't totally leave you starving.. here's a bit from the next chapter. Jacob's going to have to live with him, how's he going to win his new housemate over?
Jacob mentally face-palmed himself for his foolishness. Why am I so riled up that Harry was checking out my ass? I don't have any problems with Harry being gay. I mean, I'm not gay myself, I just... imprinted on a male animal. Who he reminds me of. Damn it.
He sighed before wandering back into his room and falling face-first into the covers.