Well hello. Thank you to anyone who reviews, it makes me so happy when I get them. I can't think of much else other then the fact that you guys are AWESOME!

Small chapter warning: Jim acts like a cat.

I don't own trollhunters. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Trollhunters meeting; Trollish instincts.

"So, you're saying…" Justin couldn't help himself from laughing, he now sat comfortably on the floor leaning against the counter. "There was like ten of you, all over the house?"

I shrink lower into my stance, my ears fall slightly, I turn to Claire sitting on my leg. "Of all the stories, you had to bring up the duplicates?"

She raised her hands defensively, "At least I'm not the one who coined 'crispy'."

I snarl underneath my breath, and cover my face with my hand. My ears twitch at the sound of someone coming up the steps. I slide Claire off my thigh, and crawl over toward the entrance. We should see about a door.

I hear Blinkey, ARRRGGG!, and NotEnrique coming up the to the ledge. I turn back to Justin still laughing. "Okay, it wasn't that funny. Besides, we have guests." I say, standing to my full height. Blinkey and the others come inside. As I expected, Justin shrieks. I had my ears flattened against my head in anticipation for it. He scrambled behind Claire, who grabbed his neck and pushed him in front of her, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, Master Jim, do you plan on revealing us to the whole city?" Blinkey asks, using one hand to gesture to Justin, two folded across his chest and the last on his hip.

I pinch the bridge of my nose shaking my head. Then point at him. "You, make terrible first impressions. Blink, ARRRGGG! this is Justin. Justin… Justin stop trying to hide behind Claire, your hurting your ego." My hand falls to my side, I shake my head.

Justin scrambles around the floor and latches onto Claire's wrist, making her wince in pain. Anger flares and my vision goes red for a moment. My body tries to move on its own accord, I force myself to stop. Otherwise I might tear the poor kid in half… "Let. Go. Of. Claire." I snarl loudly through my teeth. Justin's eyes are wide with terror and my in my stomach I feel guilt rising momentarily. But his grip only tightens, Claire cringes at the pain. I take another step forward, "NOW!" I roar. He drops her wrist and scrambles back away from her, placing his back against the wall.

My posture relaxes, and I stand straight, my ears twitch, agitated.

"What the heck man! What was that?" Justin yells at me.

"That," NotEnrique jumps onto the counter top. "Was you about to get yourself killed, by unchecked rage of blue boy watching you hurt his mate." He laughed, "I would have liked to have seen that."

What the heck is that supposed to mean? Mate? I push the thoughts aside for now.

ARRRGGG! grumbles "Hmm, new friend?" he held out a bag that rang with the sound of pots and pans. I gingerly take it from him, taking it to the kitchen, then answered his question.

"Only if he can keep a secret, ARRRGGG!." I say, removing a few pans, a metal tray and utensils from the old sack. Then walk to the fridge and begin pulling out ingredients. Realizing there wasn't much, I decide on a salad… without a dressing. Veggie slices for dinner! I turn back to the others.

"These are your friends?" Justin yells. I nod, and start cutting up the food.

"You gotta problem with dat, fleshbag?" NotEnrique says from the counter. Justin just shrinks.

"His name is Justin," I whisper to NotEnrique. "You don't like being called an it or a thing." I move the sliced vegetables and fruits onto the tray, then head to walk it over to the middle of the empty half of the room. NotEnrique jumps onto my head, and leans over to look me in the face.

"Eh, your right. Hey, didn't you say you had some grub? What's a guy gotta do to get some of that?"

"Give me a sec will ya?" I say, straining my eyes to look at him. I bend over setting the tray down. "Alright everyone, team meeting." Something flashes across Justin's face.

As Blink and ARRRGGG! come into the room sitting awkwardly on the stone floor, I grab the bag of smashed soda cans from under the sink. Claire's pulled out her sleeping bag to sit on, and Justin is still firmly against the wall. Rolling my eyes I walk back into the odd circle.

I rest in a crouch and open the bag, and toss several next to NotEnrique.

"Yum!" His eyes go wide and he licks his lips.

I pull one from the bag and take a bite of it as NotEnrique eats his, and pass the bag to the other trolls. Claire grabs a few carrots and apples. Justin stares at me wide eyed and aghast. I lower my head and sigh.

"Justin, get a grip. Come over here, now. I don't care if you don't like what I eat, just be glad I'm not eating you." I growl.

He slowly moves into the circle, and grabs some food off the tray.

"Thank you, now the first order of business." I hold up my hand stopping Blinkey from going off on a tangent. "First, how is NTM coming along?"

Blinkey glares at me momentarily, then begins. "Each troll has found a cave or domicile for themselves. The buildings aren't coming along as well as we would like, we do not possess the means for that to happen yet. Everything else is going as planned."

I nod, "Good, second," I draw in a deep breath. "When Claire and I went to town, Detective Skinner alerted us about a creature that has been plaguing the city. We checked all the possible places and heard it inside a warehouse just on the edge of town. Claire and I went inside and found…" I drag my hand down my face sighing. "We found a Stakling." ARRRGGG! and Blinkey gasped, ARRRGGG! had a can in his fingers toward his mouth and dropped it.

"A what!?" Blinkey breathed, momentarily frozen.

"It's dead! It's dead now! So it's fine, I killed it."

They both let out a sigh of relief. NotEnrique just laughed saying something about the looks on their faces.

"Alright, last but not least. Justin, this is Blinkey and ARRRGGG!. Tell them what you saw."

"Well," he began. Eyeing the larger trolls warily. "I was helping Jim and Claire find the creature, when the warehouse shook and there was a screech from inside. Jim did this weird thing, and got all low. He was growling and I thought that was really weird. Then Claire sent me home."

"Didn't go home." ARRRGGG! said. I shook my head, then gestured for Justin to continue.

"Well, I was still curious because Jim said that maybe I could join his team some day…"

Everyone whined and moaned with a chorus of 'Jim' and 'Really?'

"What? A couple of hours ago he was acting like a mature stable kid." I say defensively.

"Anyways, I went back around the corner and I saw Jim, he threw aside a mask and he turned into a…" he stopped himself, "then he looked like that. Then I ran back to the warehouse after I couldn't see him from the corner. And I looked in the window and I saw a giant bird thing. It grabbed Jim's leg and threw him into the ceiling, then I saw him come down and stabbed it with his sword. After, he jumped onto the catwalk where I couldn't see him.

"Then I went over to see what he had thrown aside. I went and found the mask thing, then Claire walked up. I told her what I saw then she was all like, 'I think we've heard enough' and I was really confused, then she said she wasn't talking to me. Then Jim walked out of the shadows all creepy like and said 'she was talking to me' I tried to get Claire away. But, she's really strong…

"Then Jim picked me up by my coat and just held me above the ground."

"Hehe, you got scruffed." NotEnrique laughed.

"I don't know what that is… anyway, I found out that Claire was in on Jim being… not human. And they talked about what to do with me like I wasn't there."

"Facts Justin." Claire said.

"Pht… well, Jim took my phone. And texted my mom to tell her I was at someone else's house and that I was staying the night. Then Jim set me down and I ran back to the city. I got pretty far, and everytime I looked back I saw Jim just standing there. Then I look back and he's gone. Then I turn back and he was in front of me! Like ten blocks from where he was! Then he basically prisoner marched me back to the bridge, then we went inside the magic door and Jim jumped off the stairs. Then ran straight up the wall to this cave. He told me some stuff and we were being cool then he freaked out at me again and looked like he was going to murder my face off! So here we are."

"You forgot the part about threatening to tell." Claire said.

"That is a rather important piece of information, and the reason you are here." Blinkey said. "Justin, do you understand why you are here?"

He slowly shook his head, I pinch my nose and crawl over to Claire and sit next to her on her sleeping bag. I give a long rumbling sigh.

"You here, so you not tell." ARRRGGG! put it simply.

Justin looked around, then visibly relaxed, slowly laughing. "Is that all?"

The rest of us nod, eyeing him carefully.

"Why didn't you say so?" He laughs

"We did, you threatened to tell Detective Skinner." Claire states.

"Well, at that point, I thought Jim was gonna eat me. Now I know that the trolls aren't going to eat me. Except Jim, I'm still not sure about him."

"Still not going to eat you." I say, and grab another can to eat. "This is my lunch." He winces as I bite into it.

"That is so weird." Justin shivers

"Yeah, but you get used to it." Claire smiles, she places her hand on the one I'm leaning on.

"So, Justin, are you going to tell?" Blinkey asks.

"No, well I at least don't have plans to. I kinda think it's funny though."

"What's funny?" I ask.

"That Detective Skinner hired a monster hunter, and doesn't know that he's a mons...troll. I just think that the irony is kinda funny." Justin smiles laughing a little.

We all look at one another, then Blinkey opens his overly large mouth to speak, but I stop him. "No Blink, let him find out on his own." I laugh to myself at how that might go down.

"What are you talking about?" Justin asks, then lets out a prolonged yawn.

"Nothing you need to worry about." I smile.

"Justin need sleep, not troll." ARRRGGG! says.

"OMG! I totally forgot," Claire says.

"What is it babe?"

"Justin isn't nocturnal." She facepalms, and I follow suit and sigh.

"Wait, you guys are nocturnal? Even Claire?"

"Well, technically trolls don't sleep. But being half troll and half human, I still need sleep. And over the last three months Claire's just kinda become nocturnal." I explain.

Claire nods, "That and the sun would turn him to stone."

"Oh, like the trolls in The Hobbit." Justin says.

"I don't know what that is." I say

"It's a book, Jim." Claire rolls her eyes.

"Oh…"

Justin yawns again looking barely awake.

"Alright, it's time for you to go to bed." Claire says sweetly. He only nods and gets to his feet.

"I'll show you were to go." Claire pulls the zombie like kid in the direction of the bedroom.

I realize that at some point NotEnrique had left, and ARRRGGG! And Blinkey were getting up to leave.

"Hey Blink, can I talk to you for a sec?" I say, getting to my feet. Wanting to talk about something nagging in my skull.

"Of course, ARRRGGG!, my good friend, go on without me. I'll catch up." Blinkey says, ARRRGGG! nods and leaves. "What is it, Master Jim?"

"Something NotEnrique said… Also something I did… When you walked in and Justin freaked out…" I speak my sporadic thoughts, and tug on my horn.

"Ah, yes. See, as you are now part troll your aggression is heightened as well as all of your other emotions. As for your already intense feelings for Claire, well, those must be incredibly powerful… I'm curious, how are you able to not be with her every second of every day.

"Well, of course I'd like to be but that's irrational and… wait you're saying those feelings are my new instincts?" I pause.

"Indeed. And when you saw another causing her distress, those instincts took over. How was it you were able to not attack the poor boy?"

"I felt that if I didn't stop myself I would tear him limb from limb… Ah, that's what Draal meant." I briefly think back to the night we had Strickler over for dinner, the whole thing was a recipe for disaster. Draal had wanted to tear Strickler, limb from limb. I now see where it's coming from.

"Yes, and what you feel for Claire is no mystery to anyone. Not to me, not to her… although it may be a little unclear to you."

"Heh, so why did NotEnrique call her my… mate."

"Well, I'm not sure that would be the entirely right word for someone with a human counterpart. But with trolls, instead of husband or wife, we take mates."

"What?" I shout. "But, I'm not even 17 yet, I can't be married…"

"Master Jim, a mate is not necessarily a husband or wife. I only mean that you view Claire with such devotion and love that, in turn, she has become your mate. Not officially of course, not by troll or human standards. For lack of a better word, a mate would be considered a partner. Someone you share everything with. Who you would do anything to protect her and make her happy."

I nod slowly. "I… I think I get it. So, should I, um, tell Claire."

"Most definitely, however, wait till the boy is gone or asleep. You must take this seriously."

"I will, thanks, Blinkey."

"Of course my boy, I will be here for you as long as you need it. And then some after that." He laughs, and pulls me into a hug. Then quietly leaves, leaving me to my thoughts.

I think about Claire, her beautiful brown eyes. The white strip in her hair with the colorful clips, her cute little nose. I smile just thinking about every little detail of her, of my mate.

Claire comes out, pulling a pile of blankets behind her. I pick them up and pull them to the corner where we had slept the nights before. And roll the edges under, making it like a flat bean bag. She looks at the pile of old, dirty blankets.

"Said he wasn't comfortable sleeping in the same room with a troll."

"Ouch! Kicked out of my own room. Wasn't expecting that."

"I talked to him about the silence thing, he'll keep quiet. Kinda reminds me of Eli." She laughs.

"Yeah, he does." I laugh, then take her hand and lead her back to the makeshift bed and sit, pulling her down next to me. I lean against the wall and she settles next to me under my arm, and yawns. "Long day, right?" Claire says.

"Mhmm, sure was. But for now, lets stop letting people know our little secret. K?"

"No argument here. If I have to go over the events of this last year anytime in the near future, I'm going to need therapy." I laugh with claire, and pull her closer, tighter to my side, my arm behind her and her head laying gently on my chest. We stare at the empty room, the bag of soda cans, the tray with fruits and vegetables. The kitchen with a few pots and cooking utensils, Claire's tent and other belongings laying against the far wall.

"Claire," I begin, thinking of a clever way to flow into the desired topic. "How's your wrist?"

"It's going to be bruised, that kid has quite a death grip, but I think you scared him more than Blinkey and ARRRGGG! did." She looked at her wrist in front of her, turning it to view it from all angles. "I'll be fine though. What was that about anyways?"

"Well, that's kinda what I want to talk to you about. I was just talking to Blinkey, and he said that just like with everything else, my emotions have been… intensified." I move to see Claire better so she is in front of me. "And I care about you, I feel a need to protect you, to be with you. At first I just choked it up to being a teenager, but now I've realized it's the new me, wanting to be with you every second. And having to stop myself from shredding Justin to pieces, because he was hurting you." She laughs at the last bit. "I have to stop myself from that, and some other things. Then NotEnrique said something and it kinda just clicked. And it just makes sense it just, feels right to me, it just sounds right." I smile, holding Claire's hand in my lap.

She giggles, "What does?"

"You... well, you being my mate." I stare into her beautiful eyes, and her face freezes. Unreadable and still.

"What?" she says.

I move onto the balls of my feet, unsure what to do. "Before, when I was human you were my girlfriend. Now, I want you to be my mate. Because in my eyes, that's what you are. My mate." My ears twitch nervously. "My partner, the person I want to share everything with, the person I would do anything to protect or to make happy. Because I would do anything to see you smile. And because… I love you." I'm about to back up away from her and hide in a hole never to show my face again. When her face finally softens.

"Mate." She says quietly smiling to herself. I slowly sit back down, still facing her. "You're right."

"I… I am? About what?"

She giggles, "Mate, It does sound…ah, well, right."

I slouch against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. "I thought you were about to reject me."

"If I came all this way, do you really think I would reject you?" She laughed, settling back next to me.

"I don't know. My emotions have been nuts these past few months. And now that the armor is off, It's like they are flowing freely. And nothing in my head is like it used to be. So, I don't know what I think."

She laughs a bit harder.

"No, really. Like the things I constantly have to stop myself from doing… there's a lot."

"Really?" she turns her head to look up at me. "Like what?" She smiles up at me.

"No, you'll think I'm nuts." I shake my head.

"Jim, I'm on the other side of the country, who knows how many feet underground, sitting in a nest of blankets, with my mate, who is half troll." She says, and my heart flutters when she said mate. "My life is plenty nuts. And I want you to be able to be yourself with me. Even if it's only when it's just you and me. You can't help what you've become, don't try and force it away. Just be yourself, your trollish Jim self."

"You sure?" I hold my breath then she nods. "Good. Because, for some reason, I've wanted to do this since I got my armor off."

I lean down next to Claire and rub my head against her face and brush our cheeks. An inevitable purr rumbles quietly in my chest. I slowly pull my head back from hers, feeling somewhat bashful.

Claire's cheeks are pink, "What was that?" She asks.

"A… nuzzle… but if you didn't like it, I won't do it again."

"No, that felt really nice." She moves her head on my chest and gently nuzzles me. I purr and nuzzle her head back. Then she suddenly pulls away.

"What, I thought you liked it…"

"What else?" she says abruptly.

"What?"

"What else have you been stopping yourself from doing?" On her face is a huge smile. It's contagious.

"Well, most of them are circumstantial. But right now…" I pull Claire closer and move her legs over mine so she's sitting in my lap. I pull my legs closer and she falls into a small hole I'd created between my body and the wall. She pulls her legs close to her chest and buries her face in my chest, giggling.

"Mmm, you're surprisingly comfy. Anything else?" she peaks up from the hole her brown eyes sparkling.

"I don't know, this one you might not like." I tease seriously.

"Com'on Babe." She whines playfully.

"You asked for it." I say. I bend forward, and lick her cheek once with my longer than normal tongue. Then I pull away to see her reaction.

"Well," she paused looking at me. "I wasn't expecting that."

My heart drops for a moment before she speaks again.

"But like I said, I want you to be yourself around me. So if that's what your brain is telling you to do. Than do it." She giggles again.

I lick her cheek again, longer this time. Running my tongue from her chin to her hairline as she tries not to laugh.

"That tickles Jim!" She says.

"You're the one who asked for it." I taunt playfully.

"What's that even about anyways?"

"I'm thinking it's halfway between kisses and a bath."

"Jim, you should not be the one giving me baths." she scolds, teasing.

"Really, because I think my mate needs one and I'm the only one who can supply it. So…" I lick her face again, closer to her ear and licking her hair more than her skin. I tilt my head slightly and look at her face, her hair tastes dusty and I have to make myself stop from diving in immediately to cleaning Claire's hair. "Can I clean your hair?" I ask, tilting my head.

"You wanna lick my hair?" she sputters out, laughing slightly.

I give a slow firm nod. I can feel my ears twitching, they seem to do that whenever I resist doing things like nuzzling Claire or when I'm not constantly with her.

"I guess, but on one condition." she says sitting up. "You have to purr. And let me take out my barrets, I really don't want you eating them on accident."

I sit up as well and help Claire with the plentiful clips in her hair. "Babe, I don't think I could think I could stop myself from purring if I wanted to."

Claire runs her fingers through her hair and sets all the clips on the bed in a pile of color next to her. "Ok, I'm ready." She says.

"Not really," I say. I use my large hands and lovingly pull Claire by her legs and waist onto my lap and lay back against the wall. She falls on my chest and I let myself purr violently. "There, now you're ready."

I begin licking her hair, starting at her hairline and lowering my head to reach to the end of her short hair. On her forehead, I can taste the salty residue of sweat, the salty almost sweet taste goes into her hair. I move down to the hair behind her ears, occasionally licking just her ear to make her giggle. I continued to clean her hair in sections until the dusty taste was gone. I finished with the crown of her hair, and one side. I lick the hair behind her neck, trying to stay away from the front of her neck, out of respect.

"Roll over, I need to get the other side." I say simply, pausing my purring

She turns over, placing her small hand on my chest right above my heart, for a briefly nuzzling me. "Keep going," she smiles at me. "It feels really good, it's like having someone playing with my hair, but way better." She hums.

I repeat the process and relish in the salty taste of my mate's perspiration (and that's not weird at all). I finish and lick Claire's ear again, and clean behind them both. When my cat like urges finally stop, I rest my head against the wall as best kind I can with my horns. My head sits forward starting at Claire, resting her head and hands on my chest.

I smile down at her slightly damp hair. And nuzzle the top of her head with my wide trollish nose, and take a deep breath of her scent.

"Jim, are you smelling me?" she asks.

I pull my nose out of her hair, "Maybe… awe common, if I know what you taste like, I have to know what you smell like."

She reposisions herself in my lap to look at me better, "And what do I taste like?"

"I don't think I could explain it… umm. Well, your sweat it tastes sweet, and a little bit salty. But you don't taste like that, I… I can't put it into words. Same with how you smell. All I can say is that it's my favorite smell in the world." I smile down at her, my ears twitching. I move back against the wall moving to my side and let Claire fall again into the crook of my body facing me, I curl myself around her.

Claire smiles, "I like sitting like this, your body heat, it like comes around me like a blanket." She places her hand on my chest, "Can you purr again?"

I do as she asks, "Why?" I ask as my vocal cords vibrate.

"Because, it makes me feel safe." She moved her head forward, I stretched out my neck to meet her face, gently nuzzling her face. I give a quick lick on the corner of her mouth before pulling away.

"If it makes you happy, I'll do it forever." I purr and set my chin above her head, "Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you, umm, kiss me?" I ask.

She moves her head and kisses my cheek gently.

"Okay… Let me rephrase that. Claire, will you lick me?"

She laughs, "Okay, now that is nuts."

"Please?" I get up on my elbow.

"I know it's what you do now, but it just seems really weird for me to do it."

"Common, you literally just let me lick your entire head and face. And one little flick of the tongue is weird?" I laugh. "How about just on my hand?"

"What?"

"Like this." I take her small hand in mine, and lift it to my mouth and gently lick with the tip of my tongue from her knuckles to her wrist.

"Maybe," she smiles and rolls over, and moves so her back is against my chest. I lay back on my side, and drape my arm around Claire, scooping her hand in mine. Her head sits just under my chin. My purring stops. And I just relish in her presence.

For a while we just stare at the wall together. Then, after stirring for a moment, I feel a warm wet tongue move across the back of my hand. I can't help but let a large toothy smile come across my face, and a small chuckle escape my lips.

"That was so weird." She gasped.

"That, was amazing." I whisper.

"Well, I'm glad I could make you happy. Just… that's not going to happen very often. M'kay?" she gave a shallow laugh.

"Okay," I sigh, "but it's alright if I do it, right?"

I feel her nod under my chin, "Yeah, but, let's keep some of that to just the two of us. It's… very intimate."

"Claire, if you don't like it, I won't do it." I say firmly.

"No, I actually really like it. Surprisingly. But if it's a bath to you, then I don't want anyone else involved in that."

"Oh, that makes sense. But I'm still going to kiss you." I say.

"You mean lick, don't you."

"Yes," I laugh shyly. "I'm also going to nuzzle you."

"Well that one is fine. But you know, if you ever did any of these with the Glamour mask you would be committed."

"That's true."

"Could you purr again? If it's not hard."

"It's not," I purr again, "It's really just a subconscious thing."

She hums happily, "Can we just sit like this for a while?" I ask.

My only response is to purr louder.