Author note: Huh, late again. I'm going to try and set an alarm on my phone or something...
Warning: Sex, pseudo-science, Henry being emotional.
Pair: William Zimmerman and Henry Foss.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sanctuary, because if I did the ending would be more of an ending, rather than just stopping like it did. Stupid cancellations...
"Fucking human nature." Will growled.
"I'm sorry?" Helen looked up from her tablet. They were in the middle of re-housing their newest arrival – a Lygtemand from Denmark – into an artificial swamp. Will was kneeling in the peaty water, arranging mosses and plants for the Wisp as it danced around him. The habitat was shallow enough that it was safe to assume the Lygtemand wouldn't manage to drown Will even if it tried, which was highly unlikely, considering how happy it was.
"Nothing." He grumbled. Magnus hummed disbelievingly, but kept typing. Will glanced at the Lygtemand to see if it liked the position of the new plant. The Lamp Man had stopped dancing, and stood beside him, looking up at the human with wide blank eyes, small flame flickering by its side. "What, you don't like it? Where'd you want it then?" a small black hand reached out and gripped Will's finger.
"I think it senses your inner turmoil, Will." Magnus watched curiously. "It doesn't look like it's trying to pull you under at all. It seems to be just... holding on."
"It is." Will frowned. "What's wrong little guy?" The Wisp blinked slowly at him, then let go and resumed its aimless dance. "Well, that was weird."
"Very." Magnus agreed. "Let's leave it to settle in, shall we?" Will gratefully climbed out of the enclosure, removing the muddy over-garments and dropping them into the bucket Magnus held out. "So, are you going to tell me how things are going with Henry?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest." Will admitted. "This whole 'mate' thing isn't what I signed up for. I mean I'll do it – I can't exactly back out now – but it's not..."
"Not your thing?" the Brit finished. Will nodded. "You aren't interested in men, we understand that, and we're all grateful that you agreed to help Henry anyway. And it can't be easy for you knowing that it's gone the way it has."
"You mean knowing that he's all but in love with me because... of what we did." Magnus covered a smile.
"Yes, pretty much." She agreed. "Do you know what you're going to do?" Will nodded.
"Yeah, I was thinking about it last night." The look on Magnus' face said that she knew Will hadn't been alone. "I thought, you know, humans are designed to respond to that kind of emotion. Someone offers what basically comes down to..." he looked uncomfortable for a moment while he worked up the courage to say it, "unconditional love, and the kind of devotion this implies, and it's hardwired into us to try and respond in kind. The longer it's like this, the more I should feel it too."
"So you intend to try being his mate? Truly?" Will nodded, earning a smile. "Good. We'll work out any ramifications when the mating season ends. It shouldn't be too long now. Have you said any of this to Henry?"
"Not yet. I was going to go see him after we finished up with the Lygtemand. I'm heading down to the lab now."
"In that case, Will, I shall wish you luck with your prospective, protective, possessive, borderline domineering, werewolf boyfriend." Will blanched.
"I'm not sure what part of that sounded worst, but thanks anyway."
He made his way down to the lab, her comments still ringing in his years. Henry was purring over what Will assumed was his latest invention of some description. The profiler went against his usual system, and cut straight to the chase. He marched across the room, grabbed Henry by the back of his t-shirt and hauled him away from his new toy.
"Dude, how awesome is this?" Before Henry could launch into a long and overly-detailed explanation of what the new gizmo did, Will cut him off with the three magic words.
"Good work, Henry." The lycanthrope looked confused, but pleased with the praise anyway. "I need to say this now, man. When I'm done you can tell me all about your new... whatever it is." Henry cocked his head, and sat down on his desk, waiting silently for Will to speak. "You and I are not going to be the world's happiest couple. Right now, you're dominating to a point where I don't think I can take much more. I am not a passive partner. I've never been interested in guys. I don't know if I can do anything with you without those pheromones of yours." Will took a breath, watching as Henry's face fell. The instinct in the werewolf told him to keep his mate for life, but with an unwilling mate... "But... I'm willing to try."
"What?" Henry's gaze jerked up to meet Will's blue eyes.
"I said: I'm willing to try and be your mate." Will explained. "Properly."
"You mean it?" Henry grinned. Will nodded.
"Yeah."
"That's great. Thank you so much for this, Will." The technician sighed in relief. "I promise, I'm not usually like this. Hell, I'm normally the most submissive guy you'll ever find. If this was a proper wolf pack, I'd be the Omega." Will snorted.
"H, you are anything but bottom of our proverbial dog-pile." He moved forward, until he was standing between Henry's parted knees. "So you're saying that it's the season that's making you so controlling?" Henry winced.
"Not how I'd like to put it, but yeah." Will stepped that little bit closer, until they were breathing the same air. Henry's eyes flicked down to Will's lips, before shooting back to his eyes. Will raised an eyebrow and shifted closer again, and slid his hands up Henry's legs to rest on his hips. The lycanthrope bit his own bottom lip, teased by the warmth of the other's body.
"No pheromones, got it?" Will warned. Henry nodded, wide eyed. The taller man leant forward those last few centimetres to kiss him. To kiss his mate. It was soft and chaste, unlike the rest of their kisses so far, and Henry was careful not to push Will to hard. The psychologist's hands wandered slowly up Henry's body, gripping his sides gently.
Under the wolf, and the mating urge, Henry's naturally eager-to-please nature kick-started. His arms snaked up over Will's shoulders to wrap around his neck. Will leant into it, forcing Henry to lean back across the desk. Will crawled onto the desk with Henry beneath him, making them both thankful that the tables were reinforced for the sheer amount of weight that some of the things they encountered forced onto the desks.
Will kept himself supported, refusing to put more than his chest in contact with Henry's body. He broke the kiss and shifted a hand to support himself along the other's side. He propped his head up on the palm of his other hand. Henry was panting, looking up at Will with flushed cheeks and parted lips.
"I'm sorry." He choked out. "I can't..." Will nodded, and pressed another kiss to Henry's mouth.
"Its fine, go on." Henry nodded briefly, and then Will's senses were assaulted by the pheromones as Henry lost control of them. With that simple slip, Henry's wolf reasserted itself, and he rolled over to pull Will back into a frantic kiss.
"I hate this." he whimpered when he pulled away. "I hate being this horny. I hate needing sex. I hate needing anything." Will allowed his hormones to react to his partner's.
"It'll be over soon." Will soothed. "Magnus knows why I came down here; she won't expect either of us to be available for a while. Why don't we go find a bedroom?" Will gave him a seductive smirk. Henry shook his head slightly.
"Is that a good idea?" Will shrugged, and sat up slowly.
"I want to try and spend time with you without the hormonal interference. If we have to exhaust them first, then so be it." Will slid off the desk and held a hand out to Henry. The werewolf chuckled and accepted the support until he was on his feet.
They walked the corridors to Henry's room without touching – they always did. Kate saw them kiss once in the corridor, and she made comments about them being 'lovey dovey' until Bigfoot had smacked her across the head.
The moment the door closed, however, there was a change. The atmosphere was thick with tension and hormones, and as Henry turned the key in the lock to ensure their privacy, Will started work on some meditational breathing exercises Bigfoot and Two-Face had suggested. They helped reduce the effect of the werewolf pheromones.
He would go as far as he could with Henry without their influence, but they would be in the air in small quantities if he started to lose his nerve. He intended to allow Henry's own personality and attraction to him work on his own emotions. He knew it could happen – he already cared for him as a friend, crossing the boundary into more than that should be relatively simple.
Should be.
TBC