The Best of Friends
Disclaimer: Blah. Must be this high *holds up bar with the symbols 1-8 y-e-a-r-s o-l-d* to read. If you do so otherwise, this protects me from sue-age. (Yes, I know it's not a real word.) Halo is © whoever made it. (I forgot...)
This is also a memorial of sorts to Steve Irwin. He died too soon. *sniff*
On October 31, Jack Rip stepped out of his room. He was wearing a safari jacket, shorts, and hat. He walked downstairs past his mother, dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, and his father, dressed as Frankenstein's monster.
He jumped from the porch and ran to his friend's house, a few blocks away. His friend was Derrek Thrope, who was supposed to be dressed as a crocodile. He reached Derrek's front door and saw the green shape of his friend approach through the glass.
The door opened and Jack looked up at his friend in his costume. The costume had the dark green back scales and cream belly scales of a crocodile. Of course, Derrek was wearing clothes seemingly made to fit the costume, a blue shirt and jeans. Derrek, normally standing at a 5', stood at a good 6' that night. "G'day, mate!" Jack said in a perfect imitation of Jeff Irwin. Derrek's crocodile mouth opened into a smile and he stepped to the side, waving a clawed hand for Jack to come inside.
"That's one ripper of a costume you got there, mate." Jack had noticed how, every year, Derrek's crocodile costume acted as if it was really Derrek, but he had just thought his friend was just skilled in costume making. He stepped inside and saw what looked like an anthro Rottweiler. "G'day, Mr. Thrope." The head came up and smiled upon seeing Jack.
The mouth, which looked so real, opened. "Good evening, Jack. You two going trick-or-treating?" Before Jack could answer, a brown hand came down on his shoulder. He looked around to see the horse costume of Mrs. Thrope.
"Yes they are. And then they're coming back to hang out until 3 o'clock in the morning, doing who knows what." A brown eye turned to Jack, whose idea it had been to sleep over. "And they're going to have fun the whole time, right Jack?" Jack smiled and nodded. The Thropes' were his favorite family. Sure they wore all the same costumes every year, but they were so good it didn't matter.
Derrek's younger brother, Derran, walked into the room with a couple of shoulder canvas bags the two were using for trick-or-treating bags. They both hooked the bags off Derran's claws; he was dressed as a tiger.
Derrek and Jack stepped outside. Jack jumped from the porch while Derrek walked down, his tail swinging behind him. Jack looked over at his friend. ~That suit looks so real. It's as if he really is an anthropomorphic crocodile rather than just being a suit. ~ Derrek noticed his friend's gaze and looked back at his friend.
"What? You getting tired already? We haven't even started!" Jack ran to catch up with his friend.
"Actually, I do have something I want to ask." Derrek's crocodile head cocked to the side. "Why is it that every year you guys wear the same costumes and how are they all so lifelike??" Derrek shrugged and opened his mouth, but Jack interrupted him. "And, also, why is it that every Halloween, you can never have a sleepover?"
Derrek shook his head, the yellow-golden eyes of the costume closing. "I'll answer your questions tonight. K?" Jack looked Derrek over, making sure there were no crossed fingers or anything. When his eyes were done searching, he nodded.
Later, when they were done trick-or-treating, they sat together up in Derrek's room, playing co-op Halo. Derrek was still in his costume, lying on his belly, his tail twitching imperceptibly. At least to Jack, who was sitting upright, cross-legged.
At about 11 o'clock, after beating another level, Jack pumped his hand into the air and held it out to Derrek for a high five. Derrek's yellowish eyes shifted from the TV to the hand. ~Creepy how lifelike that suit is. ~ Jack thought. Before he could pull his hand away, Derrek had shifted and grabbed Jack's hand in his own.
Jack was surprised at the touch. Usually Derrek never let him touch the suit. Not only that, but the scaled hand was cold. ~Aren't full body costumes usually warm? ~ He pulled his hand away and stared at Derrek.
Derrek caught his friend's gaze. "What?" Jack only shook his head slowly.
"There's something weird going on here, and I want to know what it is." Derrek opened his mouth to answer, but Jack put his hand on the tip of Derrek's 'nose' ~Definitely cold. ~ "Before you speak, let me tell you what I want to know." He took a deep breath. "Why is your suit cold? Why do your families suits look so real? Why has it taken so long for your parents to accept a sleepover? Why..."
This time it was Derrek's turn to place a cold, webbed finger on Derrek's lips. "Hey. Calm down. Breath. I'll answer your questions, but you have to wait until I'm done, ok?" Jack nodded and Derrek sighed before taking a deep breath of his own. "Ok, for your first answer.
You want to know why my suit is cold? It's because it's real crocodile skin." He held up a hand to stem Jack's flow of questions. "Wait. The reason my families suits look so real... is because they are. This is really me. And the reason it took so long for the sleepover because we didn't know how much information you could be trusted with."
Jack blinked a few times. "Ok, that made little to no sense." Derrek sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Jack, we're were-creatures. We change into" he indicated his body with a hand. "this every full moon, Halloween, or any other time we choose to. I just happened to be a crocodile. And as I said before, we didn't know if you could be trusted enough not to blab to anyone else about this."
Jack blinked rapidly again. "Whoa... Ok, that explains a lot and seriously scares me at the same time. If you don't mind, I'm going to faint now." And with that, he keeled over.
Later, Jack woke up in a bed. ~What? How'd I get here? That was one weird dream... ~ He looked around. ~This is Derrek's room! So maybe that wasn't a dream...? ~ He relaxed for a second, then stiffened up again when he heard the door opening.
He took a quick intake of breath when he saw the half crocodile form of Derrek enter the room. Derrek's golden eye glowed slightly as it looked at Jack. "Good, you're awake. Are you going to faint again?" Jack shook his head as Derrek pulled up a seat next to the bed and sat down. Derrek noticed Jack's look towards the chair. "Yeah, that's why all the seats have a hole in the back, for our tails. And believe me, we're not going to do anything to you. That is, unless you tell someone about us."
Jack shook his head. "I doubt it. So why'd you choose to tell me this? I mean, why me, why now?"
Derrek blinked and looked away. "Um, well... Truthfully, we've never told anyone about this. You'll be the first. And the reason we're going to tell you is because you're my best friend. As I said before, we trust you."
Jack smiled and nodded. "I'm glad you trust me. And you don't have to worry, I won't tell anyone." He sat up slowly and closed his eyes, smiling. "In fact, if you remember, I told you once I had always thought were-beings were cool and how much I would like to meet one. Now I have one as a friend." He opened his eyes again and met his friend's gaze.
Derrek looked away from his friend again, a slight red color rising to his green cheeks. His body language practically screamed 'embarrassed'. "Well, actually, there is another reason." Derrek's tail curled around the chair into his lap and he began to fiddle with it. "This is hard to say, but... I love you, Jack."
Jack's mouth hit the floor. The only sounds he could make were incoherent. ~My friend is gay?! For me?!? ~ Jack moved away from Derrek slightly and collected his jaw from the floor. "Uh, I'm sorry to say this, Derrek, but I don't know if I could go along with that." Truthfully, Jack was still in the process of deciding whether he was straight, bisexual, or gay.
Derrek lowered his head and his tail flopped to the floor. "Oh... ok. As long as you know what you want..." Derrek stood. "I'll leave you to change and whatnot." Derrek walked slowly to the door. As he walked, Jack saw a tear fall from Derrek's closed yellow eye. And after the door closed, Jack heard a sob.
He got dressed and sat on the bed, thinking for a few minutes. ~So. My best friend who is a werecroc wants to be my boyfriend who is a werecroc. ~ His mind wandered back to what he saw and heard as Derrek left. ~But he is my best friend. Can I really just deny being with him? ~
Later, Jack exited Derrek's room. He followed the sound of quiet crying to Derrek's parents' room. Derrek was lying on their bed, on his stomach. His body was shaking slightly; he was the one crying. Jack walked up to the bed and sat down. Derrek's crying stopped and he sat up. He rubbed his eyes, removing the tearstains. "You don't have to stay, you know. If I've made you uncomfortable, you can go home."
Jack leaned against the cool scales of his friend. "Nah, that's ok. I'm comfortable right here." Derrek looked at his friend and blinked. Jack looked up at his friend's yellow eye and smiled slowly. "Yes, I'm staying. I'll be with you forever, Derrek." Jack hugged his friend.
Derrek could only sit in shock for a few minutes before he returned the hug, placing his scaled hands around his friend. Derrek's head lay on top of Jacks. Derrek's eyes closed and a few crocodile tears dropped onto Jack's head. "Thank you, Jack..."
(Sequel on the way. I just need to figure out how to write it...
And yes, I know, this story actually doesn't have yiff! OMG!
Relax. There's a first for everything. ? )