Multifandom Oneshot Book

Scene ~ Mercer-Ray ~ Side Effects

Marisha couldn't quite remember when she'd found out her, then, boyfriend; Matthew was a werewolf, but if you asked her she'd probably point to one Thursday when they'd been supposed to play on the night of the full moon. He'd called off the game, citing another sciatica flare up, and retreated to the office; much to her confusion.

In truth, he'd been making excuses to avoid everyone on the full moon for years now, since shortly after they'd met, and it'd been a little hurtful to begin with, but after talking with his parents she'd found out that he'd been attacked by a large dog a few weeks after their first meeting and that'd he'd been showing signs of unusual aggression spikes in the week surrounding the full moon.

The week after he'd proposed to her, she'd confronted him gently with her suspicion; one which he quickly confirmed.

"I... I didn't want to worry you I guess." He'd said, "but I suppose, in hindsight, not telling you probably worried you more huh?"

"Kinda yeah."

Now though, Marisha was well used to it. They'd hired a storage space which they kept several heavy duty punching bags in for Matt to attack when he transformed, and on particularly bad nights, Marisha would stay with him, dressed in one of those tough suits that trainers would wear when training guard dogs.

However, there were several more pleasant side effects to Matt's state that Marisha enjoyed playing with.

It was Monday, a quiet Monday for a change, and Matt was reading through a pile of letters from the Critters that he'd retrieved from the PO Box, when Marisha noticed his head start to twitch. Years ago, that might have worried her, but now she just smiled and walked over; reaching out and scratching her husband behind the ear.

Matt gave an involuntary, yet contented, little whine and leaned his head towards Marisha's hand.

She laughed and scratched a little more, "there you go baby," She cooed, "is that better?"

Matt's shivered slightly and gazed up at her with his big green eyes and tried to look grumpy, but it was impossible for him to keep the smile off his face. "Much better, thanks Marisha." He pouted, "just please don't talk like I'm an actual dog?"

"I make no promises." She joked.

Matt rolled his eyes and went back to the pile of letters, handing a small stack to Marisha. "Here, I see you've gone through yours."

Marisha accepted them with a smile and sat down on the footstool, moving the tennis ball that Travis had left and throwing it across the room.

Immediately, Matt perked up, only just able to stop himself from lunging across the room after the ball. Immediately realising what he'd almost done, Matt blushed the tips of his ears turning a vivid pink, and a sheepish smile on his lips as Marisha began to howl with laughter.

"Oh my god Matt, all these years and this is the first time I've seen you do that?" She went back over to him and scratched his head again, "babe, if you wanna play fetch you just gotta ask."

Matthew's blush deepened as he let himself snuggle up to his wife. "Maybe some day. But as for today I kinda fancy some steak. You game?"

She smiled sweetly and kissed Matt on the forehead, "Yeah, why not."