When Tucker returned with Junior to the Sanctuary from his son's parent-teacher conference, he sent him with his school stuff to Andersmith who supervised and helped the kids with their homework.

Tucker for his part went to his room and abandoned his formal outfit. He slipped into some loose pants and a white shirt before going over to Wash's as the werecat hadn't been around, but Tucker knew he was there due to the bike standing beside the entrance of the building.

The parent-teacher conference had been this annual fuck he had to go to every year. It was annoying as nothing else but he had to play the good parent and go to this conference for Junior's sake.

In the end, there was nothing major coming up. Junior was doing good and getting even better, which was only thanks to Wash but Tucker restrained himself before he started to brag too much about him.

Junior seemed to be on the same page, just saying that he was doing his best. They both knew at least how important it was to keep their secret and the Sanctuary safe.

Junior's grades were getting progressively better and his behavior was getting better too. He was stable and not having fits like he used to have before Tucker and Wash started to date, and his teacher was pretty proud of him for doing so well.

Tucker was extremely proud of his son as well, and they were soon able to leave and return around noon to the Sanctuary where he had enough time to send Junior to do homework at Andersmith's and talk to Wash a bit to inform him about the conference before going to dinner.

But when Tucker entered Wash's room, he immediately forgot about what he wanted to say when he saw his boyfriend sitting on the bed like the world was ending.

He looked so sad and crestfallen, it made Tucker cringe in anticipation. The werecat was sitting on the bed, holding something grey and yellow in his hands, which looked like a shredded piece of clothing.

Wash's face showed clearly that he was extremely sad about this thing being shredded and Tucker could imagine him crying over it too.

Walking over to the bed, he sat down beside his boyfriend and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Hey there, Wash. What's up?"

It was then, when he seemed to notice the Incubus being in the room, that his head jerked up and he looked at him with wide eyes.

It took him a second to realize in what situation he was in before he sighed deeply and clutched the cloth, "I was with Aki today as I had a day off. I tried getting her used to my human form."

Tucker remembered Wash being with Aki as they both were werecats and Wash was trying to socialize her. She had been extremely shy and aggressive at first, but Wash soon managed to at least teach her rudimentary manners when it came to their shared cat form.

Today, Wash told Tucker, he had tried for the first time to approach her in his human form without first meeting her in his cat form.

This obviously didn't turn out well…

Tucker forced himself back to reality to listen to his love.

"She didn't react well to me coming in in my human form without first appearing as a cat." He sighed deeply, again looking at the shredded cloth, "She attacked me and tore my favorite hoodie." He ended, looking extremely crestfallen.

Tucker waited a moment, letting the information sink in, before trying, "So she's still extremely aggressive towards humans? Even if they are of her own kind?"

Wash nodded, sighing again. "Something bad must have happened to her in the past, although she hasn't told me what exactly. There must have been something involving humans, although she's even more aggressive towards men. Whatever happened, men must have been the main aggressors given her reactions to them."

Tucker hummed to inform Wash that he understood what he meant, before asking, "But do you still have other hoodies lying around or do you have to go out nude now?"

A mischievous grin appeared on the Incubus' features.

He could see Wash turning pink, but his reply made the Incubus stop trying to talk dirty.

"Of course it's my only hoodie." Wash deadpanned, obviously in a sarcastic tone, before continuing, "It was just my absolute favorite hoodie since I got it from an old woman."

"You mean after the project?" Tucker asked, actually never having heard of it in detail.

Wash nodded, "Yeah, I mainly survived the collapse of the building and the project only because I had been on a solo mission back then to retrieve intel. When I heard about everything going to waste and the public starting to judge us and reacting negatively to what had happened, I decided to haul ass and get as far away as possible. I didn't want to get in the crossfire, even more considering the fact that some of the previous Freelancers before I came were said to have disappeared when they were no longer meeting the project's requirements anymore." Wash shortly explained, sighing again and throwing the torn hoodie into the bin.

"I started fending for myself for the first time. I tried pickpocketing people and all sorts of other things. I'm not proud of it." Wash added quickly, "But I had to in order to survive. Anyway, after my clothes were torn after I got beat up by several gang members when I tried pickpocketing one of them, I started wandering around as a cat since I noticed that people were more likely to give me food when I looked like that." Wash grinned unhappily at the memory.

Tucker could imagine it. Nowadays, people were more friendly to animals than to their own kind.

"Some time after that, I was found by an old cat lady. You might not know it, but cat ladies aren't ladies who just keep a hoard of cats in their house. Back in the day, cat ladies had been people knowing about werecats and giving them shelter. Something like a safe house." Wash explained.

Tucker blinked in surprise. He had never heard about that, actually.

"During the time when werewolvens were being killed off, it also happened to my kind and the cat ladies. Almost all werecats and cat ladies were killed off and the initial meaning of 'cat lady' got lost during the centuries." Wash continued his explanation.

"Anyways, the cat lady I met was one of the few who was a real cat lady and also knew how to tell the difference between real cats and werecats. She knew from the beginning when she saw me what I was. She knelt down beside me while I was playing the nice cat and pressed up to her leg. While she was scratching behind my ears, she said that she was a real cat lady and knew who I was. She told me where she was living and that I should come over whenever I needed shelter." Wash let out a huff of a laugh, continuing.

"I was frozen with anxiety at first and almost peed my pants. However, sometime later, my curiosity got the better of me and I went over and checked it out. There were some other werecats, coming and going as they liked too. For my part, I decided to stay and help the old lady whenever and with whatever I was able to do."

Wash sat a bit straighter, rolling his shoulders, "As a thank you, I was allowed to stay there and got fed. She even offered me some clothes."

Tucker assumed at this part, "One of the clothes was your hoodie, right?" he asked carefully.

The freelancer nodded, "Yes, it was a steel grey hoodie and I loved it. It was so comfortable and warm, and I often slept in it as a cat when not wearing it as a human. I guarded it like a treasure." A rueful smile appeared on his lips.

"Soon after that, the old lady was killed by some kids intruding who wanted to steal her stuff. She only got in their way." Tucker opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Wash, "I couldn't be a witness or anything like that as I was a fugitive ex-special-ops of a project that had fucked up people rather badly. I would have gotten arrested and interrogated. I would never have seen the sunlight again. Also York, North, and Carolina hauled ass after they got out. We all are mostly known to be dead, taking up other names when being out in public. Like I use Brendan Corwell."

Tucker nodded, having closed his mouth again. He could understand the conflicted feeling Wash had towards the death of the old lady. He liked her, but due to his state as a wanted soldier of an unofficial and illegal project, he couldn't help without getting caught himself. It was a fucking hell of a predicament.

Nodding again, he waited for the werecat to continue, "Anyway, after again living on the street, a sprayer once found me at one of his favorite places, thinking I was going to take this spot as I obviously looked like a sprayer too. He attacked me with the yellow spray can he held in his hands and, well…that's how the hoodie got its streaks. It took me weeks to get the color out of my hair." Wash sighed again, this time more agitated when thinking of what happened.

Tucker grinned at the mental image that provided, "I would have loved to see you like that."

The werecat threw him an angry glare out of the corner of his eyes. Tucker grinned broadly.

When Wash's ears were visible, he would have them pressed flat on his skull as a display of annoyance.

Again, the werecat sighed before getting up.

"Well, I guess it's time to move on, although I would have loved to keep it a little bit longer." Wash ended the excursion into his past before looking up to Tucker, "How was your parent-teacher conference?"

Tucker needed a second to register the change of subject before starting to grin broadly, "Fucking awesome. The teacher is fucking proud of Junior for increasing his marks and getting better with keeping his temper in check. He's extremely impressed by his progress and couldn't praise him enough. He's doing fucking great."

A warm smile appeared on Wash's features, observing the Incubus speaking vividly with his hands flying through the air.

That was until a warm smile appeared on the dark skinned man's features, before he added, "He owes all of that to you. And me too. Thanks for that, that's awesome. You're awesome."

Again, a dark shade of pink appeared on the werecat's features when he heard that. "I gladly did it. I like spending time with Junior and you, no matter what it is. I am happy when he is doing good and gets praised for it." He replied with a smile that was a blend between awkward and happy.

This small smile was returned with a broad one from Tucker, before the Incubus shortly leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

"I'm really glad I didn't fuck it up with you back then." He returned with a relieved sigh before getting up, "Anyways, I guess it's around lunchtime and Junior is done with his homework. How about getting something to eat and then we can watch Junior's favorite movie together to celebrate?"

"Sounds like a great plan." Wash returned, getting up too to get Junior and do exactly what Tucker had proposed.

Some days after Aki shredded the hoodie, the Incubus was wearing a long hoodie although it was hot as balls outside. It was an unusually hot summer and Tucker had to wear a hoodie. He felt like sweating to death in the fucking thing.

Of course, this wasn't lost on Wash as he came back from his work as a bicycle courier. He was freshly showered as he entered Tucker's room, Junior playing in his room beside Tucker's.

The Incubus himself was sitting on the couch.

Did he already mention that he was sweating like crazy?

He had a wrapped gift on his lap, it being about a hand high, broad, and felt both fluffy and smooth.

When he saw Wash enter, he called for his son, who came over not a second later and flopped on the couch beside his father.

Wash raised an eyebrow and looked at the father-son team, standing in the room a bit lost.

"Why don't you have a seat, Wash?" The Incubus asked with a sheepish but anticipating smile.

"Uh, okay?" The werecat muttered, but sat down on the couch before asking, "Why are you wearing a hoodie? It's hot as balls and you look like you're sweating like crazy." The werecat mustered the Incubus with an attentive stare.

"Oh that…. Well… Uhm… Donut said something about losing weight like that. Yeah, that's it." Tucker muttered, a little blush appearing on his cheeks.

The Incubus received from both Junior and Wash disbelieving and doubting glances, although Junior was doubting his dad's sanity more and ability to lie while Wash doubted more the very obvious lie.

Luckily, the werecat decided to not comment on it anymore and just sat there, waiting for the Incubus to say something more.

He didn't react, however, until Junior shoved his elbow in Tucker's side and muttered, "Dad!"

They both knew that Wash had fucking acute hearing and that he would hear everything they talked about.

The call from Junior, however, seemed to snap the Incubus out of his reverie.

He started smiling broadly, shoving the present into his boyfriend's chest, "We got this here for you. I hope you like it."

"We?" Wash asked, looking at both the broadly grinning Tucker and a frantically nodding Junior.

"Yeah we did. Come on, Wash, open it." Tucker pressed.

"But I don't even have a birthday anytime soon and it isn't Christmas or something." Wash replied, surprised and confused.

His reaction made Tucker huff in annoyance.

"Dude, seriously? Do you always need to have a birthday or it needs to be a special occasion for your boyfriend and his son to offer you something?" Tucker frowned slightly, struggling with Wash sometimes being so slow on the uptake and rather complicated when it came to simple social interactions.

"Uh, of course not. I am just surprised." the werecat muttered, his cheeks again turning pink in shame.

Carefully and slowly, the werecat then started opening the present, unwrapping it like a precious treasure he didn't want to destroy. Tucker knew he hadn't gotten much presents and that every present is something special to him.

This slow opening, however, was agonizing for Tucker. He seriously wanted to get out of this hot as balls hoodie!

When the paper finally was open and the present revealed, Tucker could see Wash's eyes widening in surprise. He took the grey hoodie up, holding it up and staring at it.

It was a steel grey hoodie as his previous one had been. Tucker had a pretty good eye for colors and was able to find a hoodie with almost the exact same color.

There were some streaks on the flanks and the arms of the hoodie. Instead of looking like wildly having paint sprayed over it, they more resembled the stripes of a tiger. On the back of the hoodie there was even a tail sprayed on.

Lifting the hood, he could see cat ears having been sprayed on with the yellow color and on the front, where the pouch was, were four hands.

Or more accurately, the negative of hands.

When Tucker had been finished with the design, he got Junior and instructed him to press his hands beside each other in the middle of the pouch and Tucker sprayed over them. When they were dry, Tucker held his hands on each side of Junior's, as though he were framing them, and let Junior spray them, only saying that he had to be careful to not overspray his handprints.

When both were dry, he thought hard on what to put on the front. It took him until yesterday, when he asked Junior to just spray over it like Wash's old hoodie had been.

Of course this also hit Tucker's hands which was why he was wearing a hoodie although it was hot as balls. He didn't want to give away the surprise by showing the yellow streaks on his arms.

It was silent for several minutes, until Wash let the hoodie sink and looked at the Incubus and then at the changeling.

"You did this?" He asked, still completely baffled by the surprise.

Tucker considered that a win.

"Sure, dude. Junior and I had plenty of fun doing that."

Tucker now slipped out of his hoodie, showing the yellow streaks on his arms with a grin while Junior was nodding frantically with the same wide grin plastered on his face.

"That's…" Wash began, but he had to stop himself to take in air, "That's awesome." He choked out.

"Thank you very much, Tucker and Junior. I am extremely happy you made that surprise for me." He added, smiling brightly.

This little gesture made Tucker's heart flutter and his broad smile turned into a warm and fond one.

"You're welcome. After you told me that, I thought this would be a good surprise for you. It's not the same and it's something personal made by us, but it's close to what you had."

"I wouldn't want another hoodie being exactly the same as the old was since the past would be missing still. But this one here is a new one with my favorite color combination and I can make some new memories with the hoodie together with you and everything. It's perfect in its own way." He explained, his smile turning into a fond one as well as Wash got up to hug Junior and to thank him.

The boy soon after disappeared into his room to get ready for his evening two hours with Andersmith and the other kids.

Wash and Tucker then sat on the couch together, smiling at each other fondly.

"Oh, one more thing." Tucker then spoke up as if he had forgotten something. Wash blinked at him confused, but didn't say anything in order to get the Incubus to continue, "Just don't wear it when being around Aki, okay?"

This time Wash chuckled lowly, before replying, "Nope, not this one. I did learn a bit out of that incident."

After that, they again smiled at each other before both leaning in at the same time to meet in the middle for a kiss.

It didn't take long for the kiss to escalate into something more, the couple sinking down on the couch and starting a make out session which only marked the beginning of what was to come.