Claire could write a book about how weird having your boyfriend turn half-troll was. But it's not like anyone would read it so she refrained, only keeping a detailed diary on all the new… things connected to Jim.

And boi was that diary becoming thick with the number of post-its and such that she put inside.

Like the recipes slightly adjusted so both her and Jim could eat them, since as it turned out while he couldn't eat a majority of human food, he still could eat some. Like tacos. It seemed like every species on Earth and not on Earth could enjoy a taco. Even if he ate it alongside the paper wrapping, apparently that added some flavour.

She was not about to question it, she has seen him adding glitter to the ice-cream in the same way one would add chocolate chips before.

Another minor thing that has changed was Jim's choice of clothes. As a human, he was known for his undying blue jumpsuit that clung to his lean form snugly, but since becoming a half-troll he was really feeding into Toby's theory that trolls were allergic to shirts because the only piece of upper clothing that could be forced onto him were spacious hoodies. Blue of course.

Not that Claire complained, it kinda compensated for the hardness of his skin that made it harder to get comfortable on him when he was shirtless. Harder but not impossible, still the soft material in the way of the stone-skin was appreciated. Even if he was starting to look like a blueberry with how... blue he was.

And then there were… bigger changes.

For one Jim couldn't go into the sun. They tried multiple things, but no amount of sunscreen or other filters worked, he could only exist in the shadows. At least he didn't turn into stone upon singular contact, that would be a nightmare. But still, it hurt, so the experiments became less and less common until they stopped.

Jim was half a human half a troll—a creature of shadows now, and that was it.

And that led to another… maybe not issue… but it was hard getting used to. Trolls have way different love languages than humans. And you might think 'Claire, but wasn't Jim raised as a human? Surely he doesn't bother you with troll customs?' and that's true, that's correct, but customs weren't the only thing that had to be accounted for in trolls. Jim had their instincts.

He started wanting to cuddle a lot more. That was nice and perfectly normal, right? Except he nested too.

It took some research and some questionable shopping choices, but they found a perfect balance between the trollish need to nest in a literal pile of rocks and a human need for comfort in a form of a hard, rounded stone base and a lot of pillows. Claire could even admit it was comfortable.

With cuddling came another thing: nuzzling.

The first time Jim did it he was half-asleep and cuddling with Claire in the nest which he refused to call a nest by the way, because it sounded undignified and absentmindedly pressed her closer, tucking her head under his chin and slowly rubbing his face over hers.

And then he passed out before she could ask him what that was about, thus avoiding the embarrassment.

But it happened again and again and she finally confronted him about it while both of them were coherent and he confessed to having an urge to do it nearly all the time. And so nuzzling and scenting started, at the beginning awkward and delicate, but at some point they both learnt how far the boundaries go, and Claire figured out a way to leave some of her own scent on Jim which pleased him endlessly. So maybe she had to sacrifice using perfumes since they covered her natural scent, but it was worth seeing the wide toothy smile in exchange.

But that was not all, no no, all of that? She was fine with it, it was cute, it took her a few seconds to figure out what Jim was doing and embrace it as a new way of showing affection.

But that was not all.

The first time she has heard him growl her heart nearly escaped the ribcage in fear because hol— holy fuck wHaT!? But he needed support at that moment so she squashed the fear and went to comfort him. He was lost and so, so scared himself. She understood him, kinda.

But that was in a prelude before a battle. She genuinely didn't think for a second she'll ever hear him growl when he's not angry or annoyed or— feeling literally any other negative emotion.

So she wasn't ready when he started growling at her.

It was a peaceful night, they were cuddled up together in the nest, and her fingers found their way into Jim's back fur (and wasn't that one a surprise), to comb through it lightly. It always helped him relax after the long days, or well, nights out, spent on doing small Trollhunter tasks. The job was never finished, even after defeating Gunmar…

Lost in thoughts she nearly hasn't noticed Jim moving so that he was pressing her into the ground. And then this harsh and terrifying sound broke out of his throat and she froze, attention immediately snapping back to identify where the danger was, what was happening—

"Claire, you're glowing. Calm down," he sounded sluggish, on the verge of sleep. Then why was he growling.

"Jim, what was that sound?" she hissed out, just now noticing how uncomfortable it was to have him leaning on her with that much weight. Another minus of having a half-troll boyfriend— he weighed as much as a rock. "Get off me."

Her hackles rose as he gave her another breathy growl, but thankfully he rolled away without an issue or any comments.

"What's the matter?" he asked her, crouching, ready to spring into action at any moment. He looked way more awake than seconds before and Claire felt a pang of guilt go through her, but she squashed it and breathed in deeply. Looks like they had to have another conversation. Great.

"You're asking me? You just growled! You tell me!" Judging from his dumbfounded expression, he had no idea that it had happened, and Claire found herself sighing, a wave of tiredness sweeping over her. So this would be this kind of conversation. "Sorry… it just— caught me off guard."

"Did I scare you?" he was curling in on himself, his position changing into one where it would be easier to flee. They talked this one out before. It was instinctual and made it harder to discuss things, but thankfully he was working on it and could stop if reminded.

"Jim, you're not going anywhere, we're talking." His eyes went wide and he reluctantly sat down with his legs crossed. Good.

"Okay, but— Did I?" and wasn't that a hard question. Of course he did. The last time she has heard him growl was when he nearly killed her, under Arcane Order's control! Her more logical side knew he was no danger to her, but her body still froze in fear at the sound.

"... Yeah," she admitted quietly. "I'm not scared now though, it— It was just… unexpected."

"I see… I—" he was biting his lip which looked frankly hilarious with his huge bottom tusks. "I dunno why I did that. I just felt… happy."

"Happy?" she couldn't help her surprised exclamation. It just… did not add up in her mind. At all. In any way.

"What. Why are you surprised? I like cuddling with you, okay?" Jim hissed out, a light shade of purplish blush settling on his cheeks. Claire giggled, immensely pleased by his confession, and pushed herself closer so she could lean her head on his shoulder.

"Good to know pretty boy, but I'm still confused." She reached behind her to get her phone, trying to think up a good way to formulate the search.

"Me too— What are you doing?" he effortlessly put her on his lap to have a better look at the screen.

"Research." She slowly typed the phrase into the search bar, deleting it a few times until she was happy with it.

"'happy growling animals'... Really, Claire?" he snorted, clearly amused.

And then he stopped sounding so amused and instead started reading the first article which popped up.

"Well… that's new." It actually… made sense.

"I'm not a dog Claire," he was whining, really not helping his case.

"But you sure act like one sometimes." She felt a teasing smirk pull at her mouth. "I mean, you do do this... p—"

"Don't you dare."

"Ple—"

"Claire, do not say it." It came out with a threatening growl and somehow that one didn't make her scared… quite the opposite actually.

She bursted out laughing, springing to her feet before he could catch her and whispered out theatrically: "Pleasure growling!" right before sprinting away.

"CLAIRE!" he cried out, embarrassed, and ran after her.

He chased her, as she disappeared in the portals all around the New Trollmarket and she was reminded of that first night of him being a half-troll. A sparring turned a chase turned...

She got too distracted and suddenly Jim was wrestling her to the ground with a playful laugh escaping his lips. He twisted them in the air so that he would take the brunt of the fall and Claire landed on his sturdy chest, her breath knocked away nearly painfully.

It wasn't important.

"Well, well, well, you caught me, oh mighty beast," she intoned, unable to keep her smirk out of her voice. "What are you going to do with me now? Eat me?"

"Perhaps!" Jim pressed her closer and buried his face in her hair murmuring 'om nom nom' in a bad imitation of eating her ear.

She couldn't help the new wave of laughter that escaped her, even as she noticed some curious troll or two looking at them. Right, they weren't in private.

A well placed portal fixed that problem, and they landed softly in the nest, laughing maniacally and uncaring if they looked crazy. Worst came to worst Blinky would come in to scold them for showing 'public indecency'. But Claire really didn't care at the moment. She was just happy neither of them came out upset out of the talk, and that she understood her boyfriend that little bit more now.

She would have to do some more research and put that in the diary too now…

Jim released a content murmur that turned into a growl, and Claire found herself freezing again, but she forced herself to relax, and curled into his embrace more, letting him take deep breaths filled with her scent.

Actually… she could get used to that sound.