Guest: Wolf's knowledge of Human/David basically extends to knowing that they are the same person and that David hates unhumans and enjoys the thought of hurting them. He won't "out himself" because he's afraid David would hurt Alex, rather than allow an unhuman to live. He doesn't understand the transformation David has gone through and is unaware of the friendship that has built up between Kurt, Alex and David.
As for Paul, Wolf and he have what could best be described as a "courteous" relationship with one another. They acknowledge each other and Paul allows Wolf his freedom, but they don't see each other aside from perhaps 5-10 minutes three times a month. Wolf has no idea how Paul would react to Alex.
Wolf may be an unhuman, but he's still very much an animal; he'll protect his son and mate, even from "himself", at any cost. Yes, Wolf wants to help Kurt, but protecting his son is more important.
xoxoxo
Tina, Mercedes and Rachel sat down at the lunch table across from David without a "hello" or "how-do-ya-do?" They almost looked like they belonged there. Almost. "So, you up for babysitting Wolfy Junior while we kidnap Kurt for mall crawling?"
David's eyes flicked nervously between the three girls as they stared intently and eagerly at him. Like predators. "Uhhh…"
xoxoxo
David sat on the kitchen counter, his cell phone pinned against his ear by his shoulder. "No, Dad….yes, it's house trained….It belongs to that kid I'm tutoring, I've told you about that…I know you love dogs, but he's picking it up around seven, I think; you won't be home, yet…Nine, right?...I can get Dominos if you want...Yeah, I can drive out for KFC, instead. Extra mashed potatoes?…Original or crispy?...No, that's Popeyes, not KFC…No, I hate Popeyes…Ok, that's fine…I'll pick it up at nine so we should get here around the same time…nope, that's great…See you." As Paul hung up on the other end of the line, David's phone automatically hung up his end with a boop boop boop. Placing it aside, David started digging through the fridge for something to give Alex to snack on.
"You want some ice cream?" Alex came scampering across the floor, slipping on the cracked linoleum, his ears sticking straight up from the top of his head. "Well, well, well…you do understand some of what we say." Alex let out a rapid-fire barkbarkbarkbark; he sounded like a semiautomatic rifle. It was the same kind of happy yipping David heard when he rang the doorbell at the Hummel house. "Ok, but I'm only giving you vanilla. I don't know what werewolf puppies can have. I know most animals can't have chocolate, but can werewolves?" David emptied two cups of French vanilla ice cream into a bowl for Alex. He scooped out a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough for himself. Balancing the two bowls of ice cream in one arm and his best little buddy in the other, he nudged open the basement door with the toe of his sneaker. Kurt was letting David babysit at his own house this time, once he'd seen how clean David could make it.
When they got to the basement, David placed Alex on the floor and watched, amused, as Alex immediately began sniffing curiously at all the different "toys" David had collected over the years. Alex would have to go out of his way to actually hurt himself on any of them; the dangerous ones were either well above Alex's eye level or locked up. Once he placed down Alex's bowl of ice cream, Alex immediately lost interest in the canopic jar he had been sniffing at and lunged at his ice cream, running over David's hand in the process. "Holy…chill out little dude." Alex's muzzle was already covered in the slimy, wet ice cream. His frantic panting and licking was thawing it far faster than David's own ice cream, quickly turning it into a melty puddle. David sat back in his father's recliner and relaxed as he started indulging in his own ice cream. David took his time eating, scooping around the chunks of cookie dough. He liked to save them for last and then eat them all at once. He did that with most of his foods: start off with the worst part and then work his way up so that the food would get progressively better and he would finish off with a great taste in his mouth.
Alex was quiet as he focused on attacking his bowl of ice cream, giving David some down time. He'd been watching Alex for an hour already and that time had consisted of nothing more than playing fetch and tug-o-war. Alex had more energy in his tiny body than the entire football team combined. It was a shame his registration as an unhuman would preclude him from any organized sports once he got older.
As David scooped up the last bit of cookie dough from his bowl, he looked down to see Alex flopped on his side on the floor. He looked like he'd eaten too much, too fast. David placed his bowl aside and leaned over to pick up Alex. Alex was like a limp weight in his hands and stretched himself out on his back once he was in David's lap. His tiny belly was extended. David rubbed little circles on Alex's tummy, prompting a happy purr-like growl to bubble up in Alex's throat. "Serves you right for eating like a pig."
David pushed back on the arms of the chair, causing the footrest to pop up. He lay back and cuddled with Alex while Alex's stomach got back under control. After a half hour or so, when Alex started acting normal again, David put the chair back in its normal position. He left Alex in the chair while he got up and collected a few things from around the room.
Making certain Alex was still seated, David pried open the mouth of one of the bear traps. He had gone around to collect the traps after the full moon had ended a month or so ago, but was surprised to see that each had been set off but had nothing in its jaws. David blamed his father; he probably tracked down each one and dismantled it so David wouldn't get in trouble. Once the metal maw was securely open, David picked up Alex to make sure he couldn't touch it. "Pay attention, Alex. This could save your life." David kneeled down a safe distance away from the bear trap, a rope in hand. "This is a bear trap. People use them to hunt werewolves. You gotta make sure you never touch one. Never. Touch. One." He jostled Alex a little bit to make sure he was paying attention. Once he was certain Alex was focused on the bear trap, he pulled the rope, prompting the trap to snap shut. Alex jumped in David's arms, whimpering from the loud, startling noise. David dropped the rope and cuddled Alex close, "Shhh…yeah, I know. It's scary. That's why you gotta stay away from it."
David placed Alex back on the recliner, but Alex kept his eyes firmly fixated on the bear trap. "Oh, great. I've traumatized you." David thought about that for a minute, "Well…I suppose that's a good thing. The only time you'll ever really see bear traps is when they're a threat to you. Or watching Saw, in which case you're meant to be afraid, anyway."
David picked up a handgun off the floor beside the armchair. "This is a gun. Guns are bad. If you see someone come at you with a gun, you need to be afraid. If they're police, the guns will probably be loaded with silver bullets which will kill you." David debated shooting a blank off into the air, but didn't want to scare Alex any worse, so he just placed it aside. He could always show Alex how guns worked later.
David picked up his father's shotgun from beside the recliner. "This is a shotgun. Shotguns aren't too bad. It's either going to have regular shot in it, which your body will just take care of, or tranquilizer shot. Tranquilizer shot is regular shot that has somehow been filled with powerful tranquilizers. Your body will break down the shot, releasing the tranquilizer directly into your bloodstream. It'll only keep you down for an hour or so, but that could be more than enough." He knew Alex didn't really understand, but the younger he started explaining it to Alex and the more often he did, the better Alex would remember when it mattered in life. Not only that, but at least his young mind would associate fear with the weapons he was showing Alex. "There are also sniper rifles that shoot silver bullets…but you probably won't ever see one of those. Not until it's too late, anyway."
Alex sniffed at the shotgun before he tried chewing on the muzzle. His hackles rose up and he growled as he held the metal in his mouth. When he took his mouth off the muzzle he scrunched up his nose and scraped his tongue across his teeth. There was a small streak of gun grease on his tongue. "Yeah, my dad isn't too great about cleaning his stuff." David pulled up the hem of his shirt and stuck it into Alex's mouth, wiping the grease out.
The final weapon David needed to show Alex was his archery set. Putting back the other weapons, David picked Alex back up and took him upstairs. The hall leading to the porch contained only the equipment cubes Kurt had picked out with David and the equipment stored in them. His bow hung on a hook he had affixed to the side; the quiver sat on top. David grabbed both with his free hand. The porch itself was nothing more than a raised cement slab in the ground built by the previous tenants to level out the backyard for grilling. David put Alex down, trusting him to stay close by. Alex scuttled forward a few steps, but overall seemed too nervous to get any farther away from David. David opened up a zip pocket on the side of his quiver and got out his finger tab and arm guard. It took him only a second to slide them on, adjust them, and use his foot to scotch Alex back where he wanted him.
David held out an arrow for Alex to sniff; of course, Alex took that as invitation to chew on the shaft and feathers. "Hey, that's ok, the fletching is only three bucks an arrow." It was said sarcastically, but if Alex could barely understand English, it was doubtful he could understand sarcasm, yet. "This is a bow and arrow." He didn't hold the bow out for Alex. He wasn't sure how strong Alex's teeth were, but he didn't want to risk him biting though the sting or cables; he couldn't begin to imagine what kind of injury that would cause to Alex. "Unless the arrow is silver, it isn't going to do much of any damage to you. But you're more likely to encounter someone hunting you with a bow and arrow than any other kind of weapon. These are usually just assholes who like to torture werewolves." David left out the part about how, if there were any kind of werewolf population in the area, he would be one of those 'assholes'. "They'll shoot you, cause you a shitload of pain, and then you'll heal up, eliminating any evidence. It's like wedgies; you only get in trouble if you get caught in the act."
David stood back up and straightened out. He took the arrow he was holding and nocked it. Drawing back on the string, he aimed at a tree at the edge of the property (the Redzone edge so that in the unlikely event he missed his target, the worst it would hit would be an unhuman). Releasing the string, the arrow sailed through the air, silent until it hit the tree with a quiet 'thwunck.' While the other weapons had rightfully frightened Alex (he hadn't stopped quivering until David had picked him up and brought him outside), the arrow fascinated him and he chased after it. David hadn't expected that reaction; he had expected Alex to stay fearfully by his side while he practiced. Apparently not. David jog-walked after Alex. Alex jumped up the bottom of the tree, trying to "fetch" the stick David had "thrown" for him.
David watched Alex for a minute and contemplated intentionally shooting the ground with arrows so Alex could chase after them, but quickly dismissed the idea as being too stupid to even comprehend. There were far too many ways that could go wrong. "All right, let's go give you a bath. Your daddy will not be happy if he comes to get you and you're covered in ice cream, dust from the basement and dirt." Leaving the arrow in the tree, David picked Alex back up and took him inside.
xoxoxo
"I'm sure your dad would bitch me out for using dish soap instead of high-end, designer, 80-dollars-a-bottle baby shampoo specially crafted for werewolf pups with dry scalp, but if Dawn's good enough for oil-slicked penguins, it's good enough for me." Alex responded by trying to bite the stream of warm water as it flowed from the sink faucet, his teeth clicking together when they met halfway through the cascade. "I'm sorry if I scared you earlier, but I'd rather you be scared – terrified even – if it meant the difference between…" David sighed. "I like you Alex. I like you and your dad a lot. If anything ever happened to either of you…how sad is that? I sound like some kind of creeper, probably. Not that you care; you don't understand a damn thing I'm saying, do you?" Alex splashed in the water, frothing the soap and creating piles of bubbles to his endless amusement. "Not a damn thing."