Win Metawin
Though it had been a very nerve-wracking year at school studying, and also joining the club activities in order to co-mingle and socialize with people - it's finally winter break. And it's amazing because then I would have all the time in the world to be with my - friends. Okay, not only my friends though, I am specifically excited to be able to spend another Christmas with Bright. And this time around, I truly made sure to have a gift ready and prepared for our little exchange on Christmas Eve. We can never make the same mistakes twice. Though I was grateful that Bright ended up getting my gift last year and well, have three dates with me with the coupon - none of the said paper was used.
We could have used the first one during our movie date with the pack members but I used the same event as an excuse to still have three dates with him. Nonetheless, Bright had been very much busy these days not only with his studies but with things around the packhouse and the family business. Sky had also been constantly making herself available for the family, but it was mostly Bright since he would be taking the Alpha duties when he finds his mate in the future. And when he asked me a year ago if I would support him with whatever decision he would be taking in the future - those words that I said still remained true. That even though he never contacted me on our first date, I was still thankful that he was finally allowing himself to take on the responsibilities that he was asked to do. It was hard not to see him and be with him, but knowing that he would soon be our Alpha - everything was really worth it.
However, since it was winter break and we don't have school - Bright was finally able to have some time for us to spend and I would be lying if I say that I wasn't happy - because I was really very happy. Though had been a little awkward at first too since we haven't spoken for a while and yet our friends were very supportive of us that they were constantly giving us some weird and suggestive looks. The sister, Sky, had been nudging me with her elbow and was crowding my space so Bright and I could sit beside each other with literally zero millimeters of space between us. What was even more amazing was our friends were actually sitting five million lightyears away from each other. I wasn't complaining though.
"Win~" Chase chimed and I turned around to be met with his not-so-cute puppy eyes. "Where are the cookies that you baked for us~? My baby worms are hungry for your cookies~," he inquired and though reluctant, I stood up and made my way into the kitchen leaving all of them alone in the living room.
Just in time, the cookies were ready to be taken out of the oven and so I grabbed the mittens and carefully took it out so I could cool them on the rack. Surprising as it may seem, Bright was leaning at the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and somehow with an annoyed expression.
Confused, I placed the tray on the counter, removed my mittens, and gave my full attention to the still pouting male.
"What happened, Alpha? Why are you sulking?"
Bright sighed. "Win, why are you so sweet with everyone else aside from me? You didn't even make any second thoughts when Chase asked you for the cookies. Aren't I, your cookie monster?" Bright brushed his forehead on my shoulder and I chuckled lightly.
"Cookie monster," I parroted, and gave his hair a gentle ruffle. "If Chase didn't remind me, the cookies would be burnt into a crisp. I don't want my cookie monster to eat that, right? Stop sulking and just help me out with the cookies. Please?"
"Fine," Bright conceded and took out some plates from the cabinets. Due to the fact that I was whipped to the core with everything that Bright was doing - I accidentally touched the piping hot tray, screamed a bit, and flailed my hand around to lessen the pain of the burn.
"What happened?" voice panicking with too much worry in his eyes.
"I...uhm...I forgot that it was hot," I mumbled. Bright took my hand to his and checked the said burn all the while shaking his head in utter disappointment. "I'm sorry."
"That's okay. But please be careful because I don't like seeing you get hurt," he said with a small, concerned, and handsome smile before blowing on my fingers.
I kid you not, him, doing such a domestic act made my heart work that it was sending my warmth all the way to my face. And by the feel of things - I was becoming a shivering tomato.
After a bit more of blowing, and making sure that it didn't hurt as much as before - since I thankfully was able to retract my hand quickly earlier, we made our way back to where our friends were seated with plates of cookies.
Whatever we were discussing carried on as usual when Bright reached over and took my hand into him and gave it a comforting rub. "Does it still hurt, Win?"
"Don't worry, it's a little better now than earlier. Thank you," I admitted and Bright was still rubbing my hand but not touching the part that was burnt - and our friends were still chattering about something while subtly looking in our direction with knowing looks.
"Thank the Moon Goddess that you have a fast reflex, it could have been worse," he added until he was looking straight at me.
"You always make me worry, please be more careful from now on though."
I nodded in response before gazing over back at our friends who were already smiling so wide that it was rather - annoying, and yet Bright didn't let my hand go anymore. His fingertips lingered on my hand ever so gently whilst doing some imaginary circles that it was driving me insane - because it was as if his fingers weren't there at all, and yet sparks after sparks were traveling throughout my body. I badly need to take a hold of myself and control these emotions because I might just blurt it out, confess to him and shout to the world that he was my crush, and forget that Bright was supposed to wait for his lifemate.
"Alright, let's play truth or dare," Chase suddenly piped and we all gave him a judgmental look.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, babe, but we're definitely not middle school students to be playing truth or dare," Sky scoffed after which Chase leaned closer to her and whispered something. Then she looked over to where Bright and I were sitting down and made small nods with a smirk. "I changed my mind, I am still a middle schooler and I love me some truth or dare. Besides, Chase always has the best ideas in mind. Everyone in?"
The rest of the group agreed in unison with a cheerful grin while I just wanted to not play because I do remember clearly that they give the worst dares in the history of mankind. Aside from that, if anyone would choose truth, the worst-case scenario would be them asking the most embarrassing questions in the entire universe that would then make you question your dignity.
"We're in," Boss, Fenris, and Drake answered in chorus.
"We're in," Pear and Earn parroted.
"Count me in," Man even said, and we all gasped at his response as he scowled. "Oh please, I know how to have fun. What about the two of you, huh? Couple of the century?"
Being the best boy that I was, and Bright just rolling his eyes playfully - we let the last comment slide from one ear to the other before giving them our own nods of approval.
And so the hunger games began.
Thankfully, the questions were not as extreme and intense as I have expected them to be, and the dares were also pretty cute and decent. Like what's the most embarrassing thing you did in high school, who was your first crush, or something like touch the bottom of his feet for ten seconds, wave your hand around that like the idiot that you are kind of a thing.
Pretty reasonable.
We were having the best times of our lives until being in the game for five minutes, and the bottle of empty bear landed on Earn, and the game took a turn for the worse...or maybe, better? Well, not that Earn would rat me out or anything since she knew what I feel about Bright because she was one of my girlfriends. I do trust her completely.
"Aha, it's my turn to ask," Earn spoke. And it was also a pretty weird rule, that the person who the bottle had chosen would be the one who would ask for truth or dare from his/her chosen person among the group. She then proceeded to let her eyes go over each and every one of us before finally landing on her prey.
"Bright."
"Uh-oh," Bright responded, still his hands on mine. "I pick truth."
"Coward," Fenris chimed, and by now, we were laughing with such a bold comment to the Alpha who just raised an eyebrow playfully.
"Truth is not fun, do a dare or something," Drake added and Bright just shook his head. "Like let Drake sit with Win kind of thing," he added and Bright scoffed.
"Hey, you guys have also been picking truth the entire game so don't come at me like I just betrayed our friendship or something like that," Bright said in defense, and the rest of the boys were giving him a boo whilst Bright just laughed it off until everyone surrendered in defeat. Bright had been adamant to not doing any dares at all.
"Okay! Since you, our dear Alpha, chose the easiest path which was the truth, I have the best question for you," Earn smirked, and wriggled her eyebrows which Bright mimicked making her scowl for a moment.
"Would you..."
Tension was in the air, and just hearing those words made my heart skip a million times that it was almost as if I would run out of air, and my brain was doing backflips and whatnot from those words alone. I knew it then that Bright chose the wrong pick, because though Earn was not the one to rat me out - she was the serious and curious one among all of us, and there wouldn't be stopping her from wanting to know the truth. But, of course, I'm not sure if she would ask the question that I was expecting her to ask Bright - but that lingering stare at me, and playful grin made my palm sweat like it was Niagara Falls.
"Would you ever consider adopting a cat?"
I'd be lying if I say that I wasn't disappointed - because I was.
Though confused, Bright was ready to answer, and Earn let out a chuckle. "No, no, no, that's not what I was interested to know about, I was just kidding."
Uh-oh.
"Okay, I'm going to be seriously asking this time," she continued, and again - tension filled the air. "If there aren't any mates involved in our universe, would you consider dating my dear best friend Win?"
Oh my Moon Goddess, that was the question that I dreaded to hear - especially after mentioning the word mate which was the most important thing in their universe. I know that I should have been more prepared to hear that question from my friend, and yet I wasn't really ready to be rejected by Bright. But Earn said, no mates were involved, which made the question even worse because the male would have to answer from the bottom of his heart. Once again, it would be so hard on my part if I get rejected by my crush - I don't think I would be able to recover if he'd said no to my face.
Bright stayed silent for one second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Almost a whole damn minute - it wasn't but I was just being so dramatic.
Until he cleared his throat and gently rubbed my hand thus forcing me to take a peek at him.
"I...would probably date Win."
My heart combusted right there and then while everyone was practically swooning over Bright's response, he draped his arms around my shoulder to pull me in closer to him. Thankfully, I didn't pass out but what made me even more confused was I could feel the loud beating of his heart on my arm. He was nervous.
We made a couple more turns into the game until Chase finally decided that it was not fun anymore, and opted to turn the TV on so they could play Overwatch with the Xbox. The girls were having the time of their lives painting their nails, and I joined in the fun while Bright was just beside me with his arms around my waist. And though he didn't want to, Sky was already painting his nails with baby pink making me laugh so hard.
The time had passed quite quickly and we were gathered at the kitchen table to eat the pineapple pizza and chicken wings that we ordered moments earlier. First of all, everyone protested about having Hawaiian pizza just because of the pineapple, but Bright was the one paying and he was very much not letting anyone of us choose otherwise.
"Hmm, it's not that bad as I thought it would taste," Pear confirmed, tasting every last bit and amount of flavor from her pizza. "It would take a little bit of being used to, but it's not that bad like there's a bit of sweetness in every bite but not that overwhelming kind of sweet."
"Not my cup of tea but I wouldn't say that I hate it - rather, it's so-so. Like I can actually swallow it and not feel disgusted at all. Not bad," Earn commented and everyone else agreed with her statement.
"Uh-huh," Bright nodded and bit on his own slice of pizza, starting from the crust whilst letting the cheese stretch out making me sicker with his action. "You guys just don't know how to enjoy pineapple in all its beauty, and I assure you that Hawaiian pizza is the best pizza in the entire universe."
"Probably yours, but not ours. I still prefer cheese pizza though," Chase said with a little pout.
"What are you? A kid? Only small kids love cheese pizza. Well, except when it's like a triple kind of cheese pizza, and it's still so hot when you bite into it and the mozzarella would be very stretchy. That's the only thing that matters," Sky chimes.
Everyone else was sharing their own way of making their pizza, and it was somehow weird when one of them actually said that they would rather have cauliflower for the crust and an alfredo sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. Not that we're judging - but we can never tell the monstrosity that our taste buds have.
"Oh, by the way, will you guys be spending your Christmas here in the packhouse this year?" Bright interrupted our little debate because we were already throwing banters at each other - except for me, I was enjoying my pineapple pizza with Bright who was eagerly eating his piece.
"Dad wanted us to spend it with our pack this year, but we might come over after. You never know, I might get a coupon for my gift this year," Drake winked at me, and as embarrassing as it may sound - I blushed! Not because of the wink, but due to the fact that I was reminded that Bright hasn't used any of those coupons for a whole year.
"Keep dreaming," Bright scowled. "Since we're doing it in the packhouse, why don't we do tree hunting so we could already start decorating since we only have four days before Christmas Eve."
"I want to go with you," I suddenly said whilst I raised my hand in the air, and though embarrassed - I couldn't stop myself from wanting to be with Bright. Gently, Bright ruffled my hair before he draped his arms around my shoulder again. "May I go with you?"
"Did you just say May I?" Boss exclaimed and I threw a napkin at him. "So polite, is that what our teachers had been teaching us? Because clearly, no one in the group was listening except for Win."
"You never listened anyway, so what are you saying?" Man countered Boss and smirked.
"I would be more than happy," Bright finally answered amidst the total chaos.
"Woops, I guess that would take out the burden from us since Win and Bright are excited to have their date," Fenris shamelessly announced, and for some unknown reason - I thought he was Chase for a moment.
"It's..." I trailed but only I didn't when Bright threw something to Fenris playfully.
"It's a date alright with or without a coupon," he added whilst giving Drake narrowed eyes. "I told you, keep dreaming."
"Show off. Stingy. Jealous rat. Annoying kid. Childish brat," Drake ranted.
•••••
Did I spend a lot of time inside the shower to make sure that I was squeaky clean for our date? No.
Did I spend a lot of time deciding what to wear underneath my coat even though I know that Bright wouldn't see it? No.
Did I spend a lot of time pacing back and forth inside my room whilst constantly checking the time until Bright arrived? No.
But if you know me, you would definitely know that I did all of those mentioned above - and also being so nervous even though I know that this wasn't really a date - we're just tree hunting, or tree finding, or whatever. And yet, I almost ran to the front door when the doorbell rang and was met with the most beautiful werewolf in the whole universe with his lovely smile.
"Hi, Win" Bright greeted me the moment I opened the door for him, and my eyes trailed on his outfit because he looked so warm and cozy. "Are you ready?"
"I am ready."
We made our way into his truck making small conversations and Bright stopped me midway as he opened the car door for me. Though embarrassed, I managed to playfully give him a slight bow which was then reciprocated with a gentle laugh before he closed the door, and ran into the driver's side of the said truck. Once we were buckled up, we hit the road right away while Christmas songs were playing softly in the background from the radio.
The drive was short but comfortable and once more, Bright opened the door for me making me just shake my head in complete amazement because he was being such a gentleman. There wasn't a need for that, but he insisted so I just let him do whatever rocks his boat. We both walked around the vast land whilst looking at a tree that we would be bringing with us back to the packhouse. And by tomorrow, we will be decorating the said tree with the same ornaments that we used last year since it was still usable - and it would be such a waste to buy new ones when we still have the old ones with us. Besides, it was still in good shape and nothing about it was out of place.
Bright continued to walk around and I was following him all the while looking around. "I want a tiny tree this time," Bright suddenly said and I gave him a curious look.
"Tiny tree?"
"Uh-huh."
If it was tiny that he was looking for, then we were definitely in the wrong area of the ground because the trees were all towering in height. And why would he want a tiny one for the packhouse? What would the pack members decorate and light for Christmas if t's a tiny one? I know that we had always had a large tree, so what was the sudden change of hearts for?
"Would it only be for inside the packhouse?"
"Yes, actually, Man and Boss already picked up something a few days ago."
"Oh."
"This was just merely an excuse to spend some time with you because I missed you a lot these days. It felt like I haven't seen you in forever because I've been bombarded with work after work, and you were busy yourself with the school," Bright paused and reached out for my hand.
"I missed you so much, Win."
"I...missed you, too," I said in almost a whisper, and surprisingly, my shoes were suddenly interesting as I averted my gaze from Bright.
"Really? So why aren't you looking at me? Are you being shy?"
"Oh, stop it already," I whined and Bright chuckled. "So, tiny one? Maybe a bit smaller than you? Why don't we ask the guy at the entrance to help us out?"
Bright conceded to my suggestion and it was perfect because we were able to meet the tiny trees that he badly wants. Aside from him dragging me around, Bright was holding my hand throughout and would only let go when he needed to feel the groves. Also, he would pull me closer to him and hug me from the back whilst explaining why he loved a certain tree and whatnot. Truthfully, I wasn't listening to him because I was already on cloud nine with his gentle touches. And my face had been burning a lot.
Bright was finally able to decide what he wanted plus three more, and the helpers from the area were already loading it on his truck whilst we were just on the side - flirting.
"Was it necessary to have four trees?"
"No," Bright snickered. "One would have sufficed but I fell in love with the other three so we are going home with them at the packhouse. Uhm, do you have anything else to do after this?"
"No, nothing. Why?"
Bright's smile widened and he practically ran to the other side of the truck and disappeared for a moment before finally peeking out with skates that he whipped out of nowhere.
"Let's go ice skating!"
"But...I don't know how."
Bright smirked and gave the bottom of my chin a fond tap. "I'll teach you and..." once more, he pulled out something from out of nowhere that landed on the palm of my hands.
"I'm claiming my coupon."
I died.