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The thing, the worst part was that Nick didn’t even know he was doing it. Baby-Grimm had no fucking idea how all of his actions added up to Eddie’s inner wolf. The wolf refused to acknowledge this lack of intent, just kept adding up clues, making arguments to his more human side. It was eerily like a puppy at times like this, those moments of see, see he really likes us, wants us, wants us to be pack. There is a small part of his nerdy human brain that regrets reading and especially watching Lord of the Rings because it makes his wolf and human sides sound like Gollum, especially when they fight. Except maybe less murderous, though if you counted junior year, fuck. The point was that it was an incredibly creepy analogy that couldn’t be unthought and makes Eddie feel even more unstable than usual when it pops up unbidden.
But that’s not the point. The point is that the eager puppy’s argument is getting more and more credence with every impromptu Grimm adventure. It started with I need you and I trust you and protect my aunt and please. And it’s been so long since Eddie’s been wanted that he just couldn’t say no. Also, it was (still is) clear as day that Nick’s in over his head. He’s trained to be a cop, trained to have a partner, not used to working alone even if you discount his vast, achingly huge lack of knowledge about a world he never knew existed. And Eddie blames Marie, blames faulty parenting for knowing that one day this would be passed on to Nick and not preparing him in the slightest. (Which is something that he’ll never never say and will only even think now that she’s dead and buried. Not that Eddie hasn’t known those who haven’t been stopped by that. Either way, terrifying woman.)
Anyway, the point is Nick keeps coming and asking for his help. Keeps saying because I trust you and implying that if Eddie won’t come, then he’ll just go by himself. And then Eddie doesn’t have a choice, never did, because he can’t, just can not have another death, more blood on his hands. Not if he can help it. And that would be bad enough, the trust falls and the words and the being wanted, needed even. But then Nick keeps showing up in his home, leaving his scent god damn everywhere. On the threshold, in the kitchen, on the couch, in his damn car. It was almost like Nick was scenting him, claiming his territory (and Eddie for that matter) for his own, his pack. And fuck if Eddie didn’t try to fight it, push down the wolf that started to growl when Eddie scrubbed and washed and buried Nick’s scent as much as possible. But then, every time, Nick would just be back, spreading his scent everywhere, making the wolf stand up and take notice, convincing Eddie to take the jump, make that leap, accept, claim and scent in return.
But that’s just wrong because Nick really isn’t trying to woo him with the gifts and the food and the company. He can’t be. He’s just doing it because he actually listens to Eddie, which is another thing that Eddie isn’t used to at all. Eddie’s been alone for a long time now, his time split mostly between his clocks, pilates, his cello, stargazing, and the grocery store. He has control over himself and his life and if that means avoiding the hell out of the populace so nothing sets him off, then so be it. But it also means that Eddie has taken to talking to himself, to grumbling and saying whatever he thinks sans filter. What he’s just not used to at all is anyone listening to them or acting on the contents thereof.
And the worst, the absolute worst of it, is when Eddie lets himself slip just a little. Because after Nick brings him back from a creature caper, he’ll usually stay awhile. Patch Eddie up, let Eddie patch him up. Hang out on Eddie’s couch in the same spot that is getting harder and harder to wash out the deeper Nick’s scent goes. And then when Nick goes home, right in that moment after he leaves, the whole house smells like him. And sometimes Eddie can’t resist, can’t resist the call of it. Snuggles down into his own couch, face first into the corner that Nick just vacated.
And in those moments, when the wolf whispers, it’s so goddamn alluring to just give in and listen. Listen when the wolf tells him that Nick is claiming him, wants him, all of him for his pack, for his own. But they have a pack of two. And with two, the line between pack and mate is so goddamn thin. The seeking and the dependency and the claim is just so damn similar and desired. Fuck, but has it been a long time since Eddie’s been wanted. And then there is the mutual dependency, Nick’s claiming him, but he also needs him. Eddie is the sought after and the protector and there is just so much that’s equal about them. His lovely Grimm who doesn’t know all that he’s capable of.
There’s just so many ways that they’re similar, complementarily different, and so very compatible. Because there is a code for the Grimm, a history, and Nick is consciously defying that. Nick is taking what is in his blood and ancestry and instead bending it to a new task, a new route. And there is no way that Eddie can’t respect that. Respect that and help to cultivate it, help to keep his fledgling Grimm from kicking it before he gets a chance to figure this all out. And there’s the rub, Nick with his scent and his need and his trust has flipped a switch inside Eddie, exacerbating every protective instinct he never knew he had.
And Nick may not see it (again, with the obliviousness), but Eddie is claiming him, too. Every time Eddie vouches for him, explains to another one of their kind that Nick is not that kind of Grimm, that he won’t hurt them. Every word of confidence and (there’s that word again) trust is another claim on his part, another validation of Nick’s claim. And this echoing, this tit for tat, this partnership of equals is friendship and dependency and pack and the wolf echoes with his nostrils full of Nick’s scent in his home, mate.