Tucker: On my way

Levi: Good! Can’t wait to see you then!

With apprehension, Tucker slid his phone into his pocket and exhaled as the car came to life. Despite the autumnal equinox just a week and three days earlier, cold had already settled on the Michigan town he called home. “I can do this,” he reminded himself. The car breathed warm air into his face, as if to answer him.

Levi didn’t live that far away—their respective suburbs found themselves separated by a colossal gash of dense forest. It took Tucker just shy of eight minutes to get there—leave his neighborhood, merge onto the main road around the woods, and then find his way to Levi’s house from there.

As he drove, his stomach transformed into a Gordian knot. He told himself again and again not to worry, especially when matters related to Levi, but worry was and is human nature; there is no shortcut, no detour around it. The overcast skies enhanced his sense of dread. Perhaps, he thought to himself, I could be better once I step into the door. No worrying. Worry-wart.

Tucker parked the car on Levi’s driveway and stepped out. Levi endorsed Halloween like an approaching political race. Purple, golden, and pumpkin-orange lights adorned his porch; an aromatic wreath was pressed against the door. Styrofoam tombstones littered the yellowing grass. It was even worse inside. Tucker didn’t mind, of course.

He knocked on the door, and his heart did a somersault when he heard Levi coming down the hallway to let him in. The door swung open, and Tucker hid his lips within his mouth.

Levi, dressed in a fuzzy orange sweater and dark sweatpants, only said, “Hi there!” Tucker couldn’t help but grin, and Levi beckoned him inside.

The scent of vanilla and cinnamon flooded the interior of Levi’s house. Playing on the television in the living room was some cartoon Halloween special, most likely from the 50s, wherein a skeleton performed the tarantella awkwardly in a moonlit graveyard, flanked by black cats and an owl with a pair of bifocals.

“It’s only the second day of October, man!” Tucker teased. Levi looked away and clicked his tongue.

“If there’s twelve days and twelve nights of Christmas, I believe there can be thirty-one days and nights of Halloween, too,” replied Levi. “The lady down the street said once Thanksgiving comes, she’ll be pulling out her Christmas stuff.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. He used to be a Halloween fanatic, but that changed a few years ago. And not just his holiday inclinations, but arguably, the course of his whole life.

It all changed when he received the diagnosis.

“Lycanthropy,” said his pediatrician. Tucker, only fifteen, had never heard the word before. The doctor produced a tablet and gestured to a graph depicting several rudimentary waves, made up of bright purple hills and trenches. “These should be red,” she said, tracing the shape of one wave on the screen. “Yours are not red.” The declaration, which Tucker assumed should’ve been grave, was instead sprinkled with a laugh.

“What—what does it mean?” asked Tucker’s mother impatiently.

The doctor said calmly, “It’s a relatively new affliction, I mean, one that we have been able to document. It means—it means he’s what you may call a werewolf.”

“A what?!” shrieked Tucker’s mother. “You’re saying—”

“Your family was attacked during last week’s vacation. He came into close contact with another werewolf, who, as you said, bit him. Their saliva, which carries transformative properties, made its way into Tucker’s bloodstream. He is now one of them.”

“Is there a cure?” Tucker asked, speaking up for the first time throughout the whole appointment.

“There’s your voice!” answered the pediatrician with glee. Her tone darkened as Tucker looked down at his feet. “No. There is no cure. But I promise you, if

you and your family take correct precautions, you can go on with your normal life. I assure you, this is nothing to worry about.”

“How? How and why is there no cure?” asked Tucker’s mother.

“Our technology can recognize the presence of lycanthropy in the bloodstream, but it’s not necessarily what can be considered a viral or bacterial infection. It’s magic.”

“Magic,” she repeated back at the doctor, skeptical.

“Miss Prescott, I’m going to need you and your son to sign a few documents. He is one of the only documented cases in the state, and we have certain protocols related to illnesses of magical nature. You’ll have to be sworn to secrecy.”

It wasn’t a diagnosis, it was a death sentence.

Seven years later, after innumerable full moons and downloading a widely acclaimed werewolf dating app, did Tucker find Levi, and for once, things seemed to be better. Less anxiety when it came to full moons. The tides of hopelessness receded dramatically.

Tucker reentered reality.

“I’m cooking some pasta tonight. Chicken alfredo? You like that, right?”

“’Course I do,” said Tucker, “anything you cook, that is.”

Levi smirked. “Stop with the flirtation,” he said, laughing. “What else do you have on the itinerary tonight?”

“What else do I have?”

“Yeah. We could watch this movie, but if you don’t want to—”

“We have until around eight when the sun sets,” Tucker replied. “About three and a half hours together before… you know…”

Levi sighed, and his eyes fell to the floor rather than on Tucker’s face. “I know, I know.”

Tucker pouted, but remained standing like a pillar on the polished wooden floor. Part of him yearned to go over to Levi, to run a hand across his cheek, to pull him into a helpful hug, but insecurity curled like brambles around his body. How long had he known Levi? Would Levi want it? Would Levi want him?

“Something wrong?” Levi inquired, his lips in a pout as well.

“This is our first full moon together,” Tucker stated blandly. Levi could only nod. “I don’t know how I feel. I’m sure you don’t mind…”

“No, don’t get me wrong, I’m scared, too. I’ve always done this alone. Just because I’m always giddy around you, Tuck, doesn’t mean I’m not scared—”

Tucker bit his lip. Giddy. “Don’t worry. I know we’ll be fine.” In spite of Tucker’s words, dread grappled with his senses.

His pout turned into a smile. “Let’s cook together, Levi. Just relax, okay? You tell me that all the time, now it’s your turn.”

Tucker led Levi into the kitchen, and they prepared the meal with gusto, joking and enjoying one another all the way. An hour and a half had passed, and by then, the meal concluded.

Another hour and a half was dedicated to a horror film that almost forced Tucker to soil his pants.

By then, the curtain of daylight was gradually pulled away. In no time, the full moon would arrive to hog the spotlight of the night sky.

“Ready now?” Levi asked, antsy.

“Sort of,” said Tucker. “I’m just—”

“Don’t be scared,” Levi assured him. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything.”

“Can I hug you?”

Tucker beamed. “Yes, of course—”

With inhuman speed, Levi rushed to Tucker and pulled the other man into him, holding onto him with borderline brute strength. Tucker sighed and closed his eyes, smiling. “I’m glad I met you,” he said. Levi opened his eyes, and Tucker’s lips brushed against Levi’s cheek—

“Wait, no, not yet!” Levi said with a snort. “How about after the moon? Besides, I got us some cute flannel pajamas to snuggle in tomorrow morning. Then, we can kiss, okay?”

Tucker was dumbstruck for a second, but then, he regained his composure. “Oh, so that’s why you asked for my shirt size.”

Levi giggled, and confirmed it. “We have to head outside now, Tuck.”

Without apprehension, the two moseyed out of the house and into the backyard, where the woods hovered above the houses menacingly. Levi began to undress, and Tucker was defeated by the urges to admire him.

His hair fell in scruffy waves of polished amber. That mesmerizing contrast between the violet of Levi’s eyes and the golden orange of his hair had attracted Tucker to him first. In no time, Levi was now nude, exposing golden freckles plastered upon his back and chest, though he was still clad in black boxers decorated with the images of bright purple, comical vampire bats. Levi chortled. “You did bring your pair of stretchy underwear, right?”

Tucker’s face brightened. “You betcha.There’s already a full moon on the horizon, you don’t need to see my—”

Levi laughed over him, and said, “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we? Full moon will pop out any minute. Promise me you won’t hurt me?”

“How could I?”

“Just in case. Don’t trust werewolves.”

The pair set off into the forest, leaves fluttering behind them. The moon appeared, sending silvery beams onto the ground.

Two howls echoed through the night.

Next Chapter: entry #3 — apple bobbing and owl feathers