Chapter Text
Ch.2 part 1, better prepare
The sun was shining bright in the sky above, warming up the earth and giving life to verdure. A rather large herd of deer consisting of six cervids, a huge buck and does that slightly differed in size, were peacefully browsing at the edge of a forest next to a vast field of grass. The deer had just arrived, but unknowing to them, two pairs of eyes had been waiting for their arrival for hours now, and were ready to strike. A large bang echoed and the deer quickly scattered away from the scene, but one of them had clearly been struck. The bullet was small but the shot had successfully landed on a fatal area on the neck, making the animal fall down before it got to escape from the hunters. As the prey barely squirmed on the ground gasping its final blood-filled breaths, it saw two bipedal creatures approaching it. The doe tried to make sounds in distress but as blood filled its mouth it couldn’t do much but try to inhale for air. The hunters were looming above her and the one who had wielded the gun now held an axe above her bloodied face. A wet crack was heard and she no longer moved.
“We’ve been here for half the day now… I’m getting hungry” the zombie whispered as he pouted.
“Keep quiet, I’m hearing something” Shiro whispered back, irritated that the zombie wasn’t being silent. The zombie rolled his eyes, having long gone bored and impatient. It took ten minutes for something to rustle from within the forest and appear from behind the trees. The deer were wary of their surroundings, but they didn’t notice the two predators in the bushes. Shiro took a better grip of his pistol, aimed, and hoped it would be a good enough weapon for such large prey. He observed the animals and decided to go for the easiest kill. The tiniest doe of the bunch seemed like it would take the most damage from Shiro’s small handgun, even if it would be hard to hit. The deer were close enough for Shiro to get confident and sure, but still he was trying his best to not make a single mistake. The zombie watched the deer and waited for Shiro to do his thing. He was a bit bummed, such a majestic creature being shot wasn’t something he was a fan of, but he knew it would be best for the both of them. Shiro’s hands were sweating up and his eyes starting to hurt from having to focus so hard, his glasses weren’t helping him as much as they used to anymore so he took them off. His vision had somehow improved within the last three weeks, it still wasn’t perfect and he only kept his glasses because they didn’t fully function anyway. He swallowed a lump as he pulled the trigger and watched the doe fall down.
“YES!! We got one!” Shiro stood up and took brief eye contact with the zombie. He put his glasses back on and turned towards the catch.
“Come on, let’s go!” Shiro was clearly happy about securing the animal as he bolted towards the fallen cervid. Zombie followed behind and stared at the prey as the stench of fresh blood filled the air.
“Ah shit, it’s still alive, I have to use my axe” Shiro felt sorry for the animal, for not giving it a quicker death, he lifted his axe out of his backpack and swung it at the doe’s face finally ending it. Blood spurted out as bone and brain matter exploded everywhere, staining the grass and a few drops and bits of viscera got onto Shiro’s shoe.
“Ew…” it was nasty, but somehow Shiro wasn’t too upset as he just wiped off the filth with some grass. He had used excessive force, so the result was messier than intended. Shiro had gotten much stronger after the events that went down a month ago, and hadn’t yet adjusted to it despite such a long time having gone by.
“Did you bring the rope, like I asked?” Shiro questioned the zombie
“Yep! Right here” the zombie took the pale-yellow backpack off his shoulders, dug out a worn-out rope and waited for Shiro to finish digging up a tarp from his backpack. It took a while for them to wrap up the deer, but once they had it neatly packaged, they could begin to drag it up to their base.
The dark green sack slid across the ground as it was dragged with the rope, two people holding on to it as they walked. It resisted a little when it got caught on a tree root or bush, but never actually got stuck.
“So, you’re sure it had to be a deer, right?” The zombie asked the human walking beside him.
“Yeah, well, at least I think so” Shiro answered the zombie’s question.
“But that’s just because I remember that I ate one, I don’t know if a smaller animal would help… especially because I ate that deer almost entirely” he added, still bewildered by the fact that it happened.
“Right, but did you eat anything before you turned?” the zombie was still unsure if an entire cervid was necessary.
“No, but I think I threw up whatever I had eaten before the night began” Shiro didn’t want to risk anything so just went with the deer plan.
“We don’t even know if you’ll turn again…” the zombie muttered
“Oh, come on, you know I’ve changed, of course it’ll happen again” Shiro turned his face away from the zombie and frowned with slight anger. He was frustrated at the zombie for not being able to put two and two together.
“Sure, your appetite has definitely changed and you’re growing hair below your ears now, but that could just be something that lingers for a bit and then-“ the zombie was interrupted as Shiro suddenly raised his voice
“I can feel it, okay! And the hair is not just on my face, its literally everywhere! I’m so hot all the time I feel like I’m boiling! And a man should not want to eat raw meat for fuck’s sake!!” The words sounded painful and tears started to form in the man’s eyes. The both of them stopped walking as Shiro stopped pulling the rope and took his grasp off. The human put his hands on his head and tugged on his hair.
“I can hear everything from what feels like miles away and I swear I can smell movement! How do you even begin to explain that?! Why is it harder to fall asleep now and why are my teeth- …” Shiro realized he had lashed out when he saw how startled the zombie looked at him. Tears fell down Shiro’s face and he hid behind his hands.
“I- I’m sorry!” He was crying now. The zombie let go of the rope too and let it fall on the ground.
“I yelled at you again… I didn’t mean to!” Shiro really hadn’t meant to do that as he didn’t like being so emotional. The zombie got close and took the crying man into a hug, and he calmed down a bit.
“I know” the zombie whispered and put his hand onto Shiro’s hair. It felt smooth and soft; the zombie liked it and squeezed it to feel the texture better. Shiro was shaking a little as he tried to stop sobbing, he took deep breaths and let the zombie’s warm gesture do its thing.
“Okay, l-let’s just keep going” Shiro pulled away from the zombie and wiped tears from his face. The pair walked in silence the rest of the way.
“Why have my emotions been so damn intense for the past week… I don’t get it!” He felt awful with his thoughts, but he had to stop thinking and focus on the task at hand. They had a lot to do before nighttime so they had to hurry.
The makeshift sack containing the deer was opened to be more accessible as the two men removed the rope and threw it aside. They had arrived to the creek, where they had planned to begin the night, and now all they had to do was to go get supplies from the shack and bring them here. They had also agreed to moving things around in the shack a little bit.
“Okay, what did we need again?” the zombie asked Shiro.
“A blanket, a shovel and food… Nothing else comes to mind” Shiro couldn’t think of any other items that would be needed at the creek site.
“Only about half an hour until sundown, let’s get going” Shiro didn’t wait for zombie to reply before heading off. The zombie closed up the tarp and put a rock on top of it so it wouldn’t reopen and headed towards the shack after Shiro. The tarp had to be closed so it would be hidden from animals, but not tied up so it didn’t break when something eventually reopened it. The zombie caught up fast as Shiro walked slower to let him catch up, but the zombie still had to catch his breath because he had run a bit.
“Didn’t want to wait?” Zombie was unhappy about having to run after his boyfriend.
“Ah, sorry… I guess I just want to get everything over with” Shiro replied, only making slight eye contact as he had to watch his steps to not trip on a tree root. It didn’t take long for them to have arrived at the shack, and they didn’t waste time and got straight to work.
“If I’m going to get in here again, we should move some of this stuff aside” He pointed to the seats that were a bit too in the center of the room, and their supplies like gardening tools had to be placed outside altogether. They got to work, the blanket pile was moved to the very back of the shack so it wouldn’t get dirty if a muddy paw stepped on it, the tools were placed outside to lean towards the shack’s wall and every other small accommodation was done in no time. Shiro felt satisfied by the results and breathed a small sigh of relief.
“Okay, take the shovel, I take the blanket and canned fruit” Shiro was already reaching for his items, but zombie had to look for the shovel.
“Uhh where is it again?” The zombie didn’t see the shovel anywhere.
“I put it outside with the rest of the tools, remember?” Shiro was heading outside with his hands full.
“Ah, right!” The zombie went after him and grabbed the shovel that was right next to the doorway. Shiro felt dreadful as the sun was almost down already, and he could feel something was going to happen. He didn’t know exactly what was wrong with him, there seemed to be no cause for the unease his body was feeling, as the sun was still up. Shiro was getting a headache and his shoulders felt stiff, but he could tell that nothing was happening just yet.
They had arrived back at the creek, placed the items to where they were the most accessible, and made small talk. The sun wasn’t going to stay for long anymore and Shiro was truthfully scared for what was going to happen when it disappeared behind the woods. He knew it would happen any second now, he felt it in every part of his body, and his mind was trying to slip away.
“Turn around” Shiro ordered the zombie
“Already? … Are you sure?” The zombie didn’t seem to understand why Shiro was in such a hurry, after all he had only turned in the middle of the night the last time it happened.
“Why do you think that I got bit right after the sun had gone down? Maybe it just took longer for me because the… thing hadn’t gotten to my entire body yet… or something… Argh! I don’t know, just don’t look!” The zombie turned around to let Shiro undress in private. Shiro placed his clothes on top of a boulder under a tree and picked up the blanket to cover himself. It was a nice, pink and soft blanket, and it was comforting for the anxious wreck of a man. He sat down on the ground and tightly wrapped the blanket around himself, getting as cozy as possible.
“Alright, I think I’m good” he signaled to the zombie to let him know that he was no longer exposed.
“You look silly” the zombie snorted a bit as he saw the pink cocoon with a face just slumped on the ground.
“Haa haa, really funny” Shiro didn’t like that the zombie was mocking him.
“Sorryy, I’m just messing with ya, you look very cute” the zombie gave a soft smile and walked to sit next to Shiro.
“Oh, I’m cute huh? Pfft!” Shiro rolled his eyes and faced away from the zombie. He liked being called cute, but didn’t want to admit it, so acted as if he was offended. The zombie saw right past this and got even closer to Shiro.
“Yess, you aree~” the zombie was getting a bit too close, and Shiro had to start moving out of the way, dodging the smug undead man trying to get him to feel embarrassed.
“Stop, you’re gonna get drool on mee!!” Shiro yelled trying not to start full blown laughing.
“Whaat? No, I would never!” zombie’s face was pushed away by a hand that emerged from deep within the blanket. The zombie took a gentle hold of the hand to not let it retreat back into the pink fortress.
“Got ya!” The zombie was proud having captured the arm.
“No, let me go!” Shiro laughed out, he was having a lot of fun despite the weird and uncomfortable situation that was happening. The both of them laughed harder than they had in over a month, even getting teary-eyed. As the laughter slowly died down, they turned to look each other in the eyes. Zombie noticed Shiro had used his right arm, his left holding the blanket wrapped around him, and shifted his gaze to the scarred bite mark. It had healed well, but it still looked fresh. Zombie moved his hand to carefully feel the red and uneven spots from where the teeth had sunk in. Shiro pulled his hand away when he saw the old wound again; he didn’t like looking at it.
“Ah, sorry! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable” the zombie apologized for being intrusive.
“It’s fine, I just…” he didn’t know what to say, the zombie had not done anything wrong but Shiro still felt uncomfortable. He sighed and put his head to rest on the zombie’s shoulder, which surprised the undead man, but he was happy to receive affection so tilted his head to reciprocate the loving act.
Ch.2 part 2, recurrence
Shiro was taken aback by sudden itching and lifted his head from the shoulder.
“Huh?” the zombie didn’t know what this sudden movement was for. Shiro’s skin felt odd, and for a split second he could have sworn he saw red before the itching turned into a burning sting, and he instinctively closed his eyes. He yelped and threw himself onto the ground as his muscles tensed up and blood vessels expanded rapidly. The zombie got up and took a few steps backwards; he was startled by how quickly this had begun. Shiro screamed, twitched and squirmed, barely under the blanket anymore. His body was making awful sounds as bones broke and reconstructed. He could no longer wail as he started coughing up blood and stomach acids. Something made him turn to stand on four limbs and immediately he begun to grow rapidly. His face stretched, his teeth sharpened, hands contorted into claws and a tail violently burst from under his skin. The zombie was frozen in fear, shaking and trying not to throw up. Blood pooled under Shiro and the blanket laid on the ground next to the huge puddle that just kept getting bigger. The zombie couldn’t take it and ran behind a tree to not witness this horrible sight any more than he already had. The zombie’s bloodlust was making it hard for him to keep calm and he was panicking. His body wanted to run towards the bleeding mess and bite, but not a single thing in him would let him do that. All the zombie could do was listen as the amalgamation took a more coherent shape and let out a deafening screechy howl when it finally finished transforming. The werewolf growled and shook itself. Bright red glowing eyes stared at nothingness as the wolf foamed at the mouth. It coughed up a final bit of blood and turned around, it heard heavy breathing from somewhere behind it, and stared. The zombie was hyperventilating as he heard the wolf snarl and approach him. He turned around and saw the wolf staring right at him. They were both hungry, drooling and shaking, though the werewolf only seemed to slightly shiver. The wolf didn’t make any movement; it was analyzing the zombie. Did it not want to eat him? The zombie stared at the huge monster. Somehow it didn’t look at him like Shiro would have. It had done that the last time, it had clearly been Shiro, what was so different about it now? The wolf then shifted its face towards the tarpaulin like it knew what was wrapped in it. It creeped up to the tarp and used its enormous claws to tear it open. The thing ripped a little, but now that the small deer carcass was exposed, the wolf swung the tarp away and went for the doe.
A minute of crunching and a squelching later there was not a single bit of the deer left as the werewolf had eaten the small cervid entirely this time. It was satisfied as it licked its lips, cleansing its snout, and headed towards the water to get a drink. The zombie had managed to calm down, and stepped out from his hiding spot. He was really hungry so he reached for the can of mixed fruits and opened it from its pull tab. The zombie retreated back and sat down to eat, not taking his gaze off of the werewolf. It raised its head and was standing at least 6 feet tall, water drippling down its snout as it just stared at the zombie. The werewolf took a few curious steps towards the undead man who was munching on the canned goods, and sniffed the air. The zombie didn’t know what to think of this as the werewolf still didn’t seem like his beloved human. It stared at him with an expression only made by an observant and wary animal, its eyes sharp and void of any emotion. For a while the wolf just stared as one fruit after the other was eaten and the can got lighter. Last bite, the zombie had emptied the whole thing.
“I finished…” The zombie felt like he had to say something to the thing in front of him, but regretted it since it got even closer. Now the werewolf was only inches away from the zombie.
“Wow! Hey, don’t you try anything!” he lifted his hand to gesture the wolf to back off, zombie was scared of it because it didn’t have clear intentions, and it wasn’t trying to communicate with him. The zombie knew this wasn’t Shiro, he didn’t know what it was but it was scaring him. The thing only looked at the hand and sniffed it. It kept sniffing and inspecting it. The wolf seemed to untense and its gaze softened. It licked the hand but zombie pulled it away, thinking it was trying to taste him, but then saw how its expression had changed.
“Now you look… Shiro?” The werewolf wagged his tail when he heard his name and took a step closer to zombie, but recognized he was not a human and jumped backwards, his fur puffing up. Shiro whimpered and spun in circles as he realized he was a wolf again, panic taking over and again he remembered consuming an innocent animal. He was crying and distressed, the zombie knew that Shiro likely had just gained control over himself, and tried to talk to him.
“Shiro! You’re okay, I’m okay, nothing bad happened, everything is fine!” The zombie tried to get Shiro to look at him, and put his hand on the furry shoulder, which did get the weeping and moving wolf to pause and look at him.
“I’m here” The zombie couldn’t think of anything else to say. The werewolf whined as he pushed his head against the zombie, he wanted a hug, but then changed his mind and slumped to the ground and buried his face in his huge paws. Shiro’s whining made the zombie feel bad, he wanted to comfort him but nothing he could say would make the frantic wolf stop crying. Then, the zombie saw the pink blanket lying next to the puddle of putrid red, and got an idea. Shiro felt something soft land on his upper back, he lowered his paws, turned his head back and saw the zombie adjusting the blanket to be more spread out.
“There we go” The zombie said with care and he sat down next to the big distressed canine.
“Better?” The zombie didn’t expect an answer but was astounded to see Shiro get up and flop down on him. Shiro pushed the zombie to lay on the ground as he himself dropped with gravity. The zombie was half under the werewolf, his arm pinned under the fluffy neck and a big arm-like leg on top of his chest. The zombie felt like he was being used as a stuffed animal for a bigger stuffed animal, and it made him laugh a little. The werewolf still whined but seemed calmer and more composed as the zombie wrapped his arms around him.
“Mmm~ you’re so big and fluffy, I love you!!” The zombie buried his face in the silky-smooth fur of his boyfriend and took a deep breath; the werewolf smelled nice. Shiro couldn’t think, he did feel better because the zombie was having fun, but he hated what he had become again.
“See, you’re fine!” The zombie started scratching Shiro behind his ear. Shiro didn’t want to resist the scratching, it did feel nice, even if it was weird. In reality the scratches did help, and it was relaxing, so Shiro thought of it more as a scalp massage and finally felt himself calm down.
“Let me pet youu” the zombie whispered playfully as Shiro made a brief murmur; he had forgotten how good getting scratched actually felt since last time. Zombie snickered and moved on to Shiro’s chin. His tail started to wag and he moved his head closer to the zombie so he could scratch better.
“You’re so awesome… So soft, nice and cuddly… I could do this all night” the zombie was taking full advantage of Shiro’s cuddliness. The chin scratches were even better, but this time Shiro couldn’t come up with a coherent thought. After a while Shiro couldn’t even think, but his body turned on its side to get comfortable. The zombie saw the wolf expose his stomach, and took this as an invitation for belly rubs, so he jumped at the opportunity and threw both of his arms into it. Shiro couldn’t have an opinion about any of this, his mind had been taken over by relaxation and the zombie’s loving, so he couldn’t do anything to resist. As the zombie rubbed and scratched Shiro, he turned to lay on his back, the wolf in him wanting even more rubs. No way this was Shiro anymore, he was so utterly senseless, obviously no man would ever behave this way. The zombie didn’t think too much of it though, and just kept on loving the big pupper. Shiro made loud lovey growls and rumbles that made the zombie even more excited.
“This is the best day of my entire undead life ever!” thought the zombie as he cried happy tears, this was too unreal, too bizarre. Shiro was somewhat aware of what was happening, but couldn’t control himself as his wolf mind had taken over again.
“Hehehe~ You’re such a good boy, Shiroo~” That seemed to do it, Shiro quickly got up and rapidly shook his head, wanting to reclaim his mind and shoo away the werewolf. He gave a deadly glare towards the zombie, who was still sat on the ground, and blew air from his nose.
“Too much?” The zombie realized his foolish mistake and regretted saying anything. Shiro just turned to look away from the zombie and pouted. Shiro didn’t want to get talked to like an animal.
The zombie picked up the blanket from the muddy ground, Shiro had rolled on it which had made it very dirty so it had to be washed. The zombie put it aside and went to pick up the shovel, he had to scoop the red off the ground. He dug into his pant pocket and took out a clothespin, and put it on his nose so he wouldn’t smell the blood while working on it. As the zombie was shoveling away the tainted mud into the creek, Shiro was dragging the tarpaulin into the water, he was going to try washing it. It was hard to hold on to the tarp without risking damage, as Shiro’s thumbs were far back behind his other fingers, and could barely get an actual grip. His sharp nails weren’t making it any easier either, the tarp almost slipped out of them because of the current. Shiro was using both of his front limbs now, sitting in an awkward position and trying not to tip over into the water. He rubbed the dried stains and was relieved to see they came off without a struggle. The tarp would probably be useful in the future as well, but Shiro was still unsure if they’d use it like this again. He hadn’t attacked zombie, so did that mean the wolf wouldn’t hurt him? Could he just let the wolf take him somewhere and hunt for its own prey? Or was the deer more appetizing, and the wolf only ignored the zombie because there was a better meal. Shiro got uneasy, he didn’t know how the werewolf behaved and what it could possibly do. And why was it even a thing? Why did he have his own mind right now if the werewolf was a separate part of him, why would it not take over for the entire night? It felt like a demon, Shiro hadn’t mentioned this but sometimes he felt like something was watching, observing him from within himself. Some days he did things he didn’t want to, like pause to listen to his surroundings, or he got weird urges and shivers. He was never truly alone it seemed.
The zombie belly flopped onto the pile of blankets, he wanted rest after the hard work of shoveling blood and washing a muddy blanket. Shiro had trouble going through the doorway, a bit of his fur got stuck on a splintering piece of wood on the doorframe and tore off a little. Either he had gotten bigger or he just didn’t remember how large he was the last time he had been in the shed as this huge beast. Shiro positioned and lowered himself right next to the zombie, facing him.
“Got enough space?” the zombie asked to know if moving things around had come in handy. Shiro made a small throaty sound and closed his eyes as approval.
“That’s good” the zombie reached out his hand.
“Boop” the zombie touched Shiro’s nose with his index finger, the irritated Shiro opened his eyes, scrunched his nose and growled.
“Sorryy, I just had to” the zombie’s cheeky apology clearly wasn’t sincere and Shiro’s growling turned to snarling. The werewolf lifted his upper body and curled up, turning his line of vision away from the zombie.
“Hey, I’m just having fun! … Well… haah I’m sorry, I guess you really don’t like this, huh?” the zombie got up to sit and used Shiro’s back as an armrest. Shiro didn’t make a sound.
“I just… don’t want you to feel bad about this, okay? I know this must be stressful for you, but it can’t be all bad…”
“All bad? What the hell good is there about this??” Shiro couldn’t think how the zombie did.
“I mean, you can sense everything from much farther away, your vision got better, you look stronger and it’s only one time a month when this happens, so I’d say it’s not so awful…”
“Stop…” Shiro didn’t want to hear it, in his mind nothing could make this good. He did appreciate the zombie trying to make him feel better, but his mind was set, this was awful and he didn’t like it. Zombie just kept talking.
“And right now… I just like that you’re awake.” Shiro questioned this.
“I really miss you when you’re sleeping… and I get so bored! And not being able to even touch you or anything just makes it worse…” Shiro turned his head slightly towards the talking zombie.
“I don’t want to do anything with you that you wouldn’t know about. Even looking at you feels like a crime most nights.” Shiro didn’t know what to say, sure he couldn’t speak physically, but no words came to his mind either.
“And… sometimes I just can’t help but think that maybe I like you too much for my own good…”
“What does he mean?” Shiro didn’t like the sound of that.
“You just look so cute when you sleep… I just want to cuddle you… to slide my fingers through your hair and talk sweetly to you” The zombie may have not even realized he was actually talking.
“I wish I could hold your face and feel how warm you are… I want to swipe my fingertips over your eyebrows… gently rub your adorable red cheeks and carefully touch your oh so pretty lips…” Shiro’s heart was pounding hard and he felt his body temperature rising.
“Some nights I just want to get real close, to just hold you in my arms, make the tips of our noses touch and feel your breath…” the zombie was almost whispering, softly rambling with a huge blush on his face.
“You’ve let me do a lot of things with you like this… I guess I might be selfish for wanting more of you, but you’re everything I want, Shiro” the zombie felt the werewolf’s chest rise and fall with its breathing and put his face against the jet-black fur.
“Please allow me to enjoy this” the zombie closed his eyes and slid his arm across the silky fluff. Shiro was awestruck, he wasn’t expecting the zombie to ever say anything like this. Sure, he knew the zombie really loved him, but this seemed unreal. Shiro wished he could have been able to tell him how much he loved him too. He stood up leaving the zombie a bit panicked as he thought the wolf was trying to leave.
“W-wait I didn’t mean it like- …“ The zombie stopped trying to explain himself when he saw Shiro approach, get back down and put his head on zombie’s lap. The werewolf nuzzled him and gently stared up at him. Zombie sighed and relaxed again.
“You won’t mind if I play with your ears…?” Shiro just closed his eyes and let the zombie love him.
“Yeah… he’s right, this isn’t so bad.”
Ch.2 part 3, the woods calling
Shiro stretched his legs, he was getting energized and wanted to go do something other than lying down, even if it was nice. Shiro sat up and made eye contact with his boyfriend.
“You want to do something?” Asked the zombie, he figured out Shiro was getting tired of just resting and wanted to go explore. Shiro got up entirely and turned towards the doorway, not looking away from the zombie.
“Okay! What do you want to do?” he asked innocently. Shiro just stared at him with a face that clearly showed what he would have had to say.
“Really? He knows I can’t talk” Shiro just turned away and slow walked out the door, the zombie picked himself up and followed the werewolf. He took a deep breath of fresh air and yawned, his jaws opened wide and his very huge and sharp teeth almost sparkled in the moonlight. The zombie watched this and the only thought he had about it was how super cool it looked. Shiro arched his back and shook slightly, he was stretching again, but now that he was standing, he really looked huge.
“Biiiig streeetch” The zombie commented on what Shiro was doing. Shiro let out a small grunt in agreement. Shiro was done with his stretch and shook his head. He looked at the zombie and felt a little playful so got closer to the undead guy and jumped a bit.
“Eh?” the zombie didn’t know what the sudden movement meant. Shiro’s tail started to wag and he begun to pounce and trot around the zombie.
“Woah wait what are you doing?” The zombie kackled and tried to keep up with the silly wolf. Shiro was careful to not accidentally hit his partner when he circled around him, he was having fun, and he knew the zombie was amused. Shiro then got an idea and came to a halt right in front of the zombie.
“It was actually quite fun last time… and it would make the night pass by quicker” Shiro thought to himself as he dodged the zombie and rocketed into the shack. The wolf hit the doorframe a bit too hard and the whole shack rattled.
“Shiro??” the zombie had no idea what the werewolf was doing now. It didn’t take long for a head to pop out, Shiro had something big in his mouth.
“Ayo! You want me to ride you again!?” The zombie perked up with a huge smile. Shiro swung the saddle on the ground and turned to look for a cushion. He found the small blanket they had used last time and carefully picked it up with his teeth. The werewolf came out of the shack and gave the cushion for the zombie to fold it properly. Shiro watched, and offered his back when the zombie finished up with folding the blanket. The cushion was placed down and zombie went to pick up the saddle to bring it over. The saddle didn’t weigh much to anything for the wolf, he barely felt it be placed on his back.
“Uhh, how do I tie this up again?” the zombie had forgotten how they had done it last time. Shiro side eyed him.
“This guy can’t be serious…” with the amount of struggle they had the last time, Shiro thought zombie would have learned something.
“… Rrrright… Let me think” zombie inspected the saddle.
“This part went under… and it attaches on the other side…” Shiro watched the zombie crouch and crawl under him. He fiddled with the latch a little bit before he got it to work, even though it was the simplest invention ever. The zombie tightened it up to the best of his ability, and got it a tad bit securer this time.
“Yes! I got it!” The zombie was proud of his accomplishment.
“What’s next? … right, the other strap… “ and he again passed under to find the front strap and got back to the side with the buckles. Shiro was relieved to see that this time it wouldn’t take forever for the two to get going, and did a small gentle tail wag.
“Okay, just this last one and we’re good to go” the zombie held the breast collar and got it over Shiro’s front legs to get it in place. A click and some tightening later the saddle was neatly in place. Shiro tested how properly it was staying on as he shook and trashed, the saddle didn’t move so he deemed it well put.
“Good to go?” the zombie asked, and watched Shiro puff and jump in agreement. Shiro lowered himself to make it easy for his boyfriend to get on the saddle. The zombie sat down and put his feet through the stirrups, adjusted a little and prepared for lift off. The werewolf got up with ease and took a few careful steps to see if the zombie was doing okay, and sped up when he didn’t make any signs of being uncomfortable.
The zombie’s grip on the edge of the saddle was so strong that his nails left marks on the leather. Shiro wasn’t going fast but the zombie was still not brave enough to not hold on tight. His hands were getting sore as they had been on the move for a few hours now. Exploring the fields was just as fun as last time, jumping rocks and climbing hills was something else when it was nighttime. Seeing the wildlife scurry away when the two got near was exciting. Shiro was getting thirsty so he was trying to find a stream of water from somewhere, and tried to listen if he could hear anything. He was panting and so the zombie figured the werewolf was looking for a water source.
“Want to go to the creek? I don’t think it’s far from here” he said, but a bit unsure. He didn’t have the best memory so he’d just let Shiro handle it. The wolf turned towards the creek but stopped in his tracks when his nose caught a scent from the ground. He turned to sniff the earth to locate where the smell was coming from and took a few careful steps towards the direction where it seemed to originate from. He saw a small hole in the ground with some grey colored tufts of fur around the opening. Shiro used one of his nails to widen the opening so he could see what was in it, and as soon as he did his eyes widened and he immediately slumped down and vigorously wagged his tail.
“What is it? Did you find something” the zombie jumped down and came closer to whatever Shiro had paused for and what was making him excited. The zombie looked down to see something, but he couldn’t make anything out in the dark so got even closer. Now he did see something.
“Is that… are those bunnies?” the zombie was looking at what seemed to be about seven baby rabbits. They didn’t look a week old and were curled up in a ball of pure cuteness and bliss. Shiro was fixated on the kits, he wasn’t concerned with finding water just yet. He wondered where their mother was as he hadn’t seen any rabbits lately. He hoped she was okay.
“You’re not thinking of eating them, are you? The zombie asked the dumbest question ever and Shiro turned around to scold him. He loudly growled and scrunched his nose, scaring the jokester.
“It was a joke!! I didn’t actually think you’d want to eat them!” he tried to explain but Shiro didn’t think it was a good joke. The werewolf turned back to take a final look at the nest and covered it back up. He signaled the zombie to hop back on, the zombie did so, and they were headed back towards the creek.
Shiro had decided to just get to their little beach spot to rest for a bit before continuing their explorations. As Shiro drank the zombie noticed himself getting hungry again.
“I’m going to head to the shack; I’ll be making food” the zombie turned around to walk. Shiro wasn’t in a hurry, he knew he walked faster than the zombie so took his sweet time scooping the water down into his throat. When he felt hydrated enough, he began to head to the shack just like the zombie did, and quickly caught up with him.
“Good drink?” Zombie asked when he heard the wolf approach from behind him. Shiro just grunted in reply. It didn’t take long for them to have arrived at the base, and zombie had already started preparing a midnight snack. Shiro was watching him in the middle of the single room, curious to how the zombie worked with cooking. He had acquired a can of spam from somewhere in their food supply, and was now slicing it up to fry it. The stove was lit, the zombie was wearing his mask and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
“Should I eat something with this or do I just keep it simple?” the zombie asked, but Shiro couldn’t tell if the question was directed at him or not, so just tilted his head in confusion.
“I mean… plain spam?” the zombie asked a follow up question, and now Shiro was confounded. The zombie knew he couldn’t answer, yet he was still asking. Shiro tried to come up with something.
“Maybe… if I showed him where I keep the seasonings?” And so Shiro got up and went to look for the small container somewhere in the corner kitchen that he kept some spices in.
“Do you… want something?” the zombie didn’t know why Shiro had come up to him, but saw him reach out to a small box and drag it in front of the zombie.
“Something in here?” he watched the werewolf use his finger shaped claws to point at the pan the spam was now searing in. The zombie opened the container and examined the contents.
“Are these the seasonings you sometimes use? I uhh… I don’t know anything about these…” The zombie was unsure if he could use them as he didn’t even know what each of them was, besides, he couldn’t even see properly in the dark. The dim light coming from the lit gas stove was the only thing illuminating the place, other than the moonlight from the doorway. Shiro pointed at a specific spice jar, and so the zombie took it out.
“You want me to use this?” The werewolf nodded to it and the zombie got closer to the pan.
“Just a little bit though… right?” the unsure zombie questioned. Shiro nodded again and waited for the zombie to open the lid. There were a few small holes, the zombie counted six, and he guessed he’d have to shake the small bottle to get the powder out. He noticed flakes fall onto the pan with every shake, and got excited. Shiro watched the zombie, and made a small bark-like sound when he thought the zombie had put enough garlic powder.
“Oh… uhh, too much?” he asked, but Shiro shook his head.
“So, that’s enough?” Shiro nodded and pointed to the box again.
“Putting this back. Got it!” But saw Shiro point to another bottle.
“More seasonings?” the old bottle was put back and the new one taken out.
“Same amount?” Zombie asked but Shiro didn’t nod this time. He was trying to show a pinch, but his thumb was too far back so that wouldn’t work. He then nodded instead, thinking how the zombie wouldn’t be bothered by too much flavor. The zombie just did the same as he had before and put the other bottle back too, but then was a bit shocked to see Shiro point at a third bottle.
“No way, isn’t that too much?” The zombie tried to refuse but Shiro was adamant.
“Alright then… wait this one looks different, is this a twist cap?” The zombie was surprised to see Shiro shake his head.
“Ooh, is this the one that you have to twist so something comes out, and it makes a crunching noise?” the zombie had seen Shiro use this one a lot. Shiro jumped up and wagged his tail again.
“Okay! … How much…?” The zombie regretted asking when Shiro stopped and looked disappointed.
“You know what, I’m just gonna do something” and proceeded to put a fairly okay amount of black pepper on the spam. The zombie sniffed the air and was surprised how great the cooking was already smelling. Just a minute or two and the zombie would have a good meal.
Zombie put the dirty plate in a tray designated for used dishes; he had finished his meal, and wanted to take a little break so dropped himself onto the blanket pile.
“That was so gooood! Shiro, you really do know a lot about cooking!” Shiro didn’t think that seasoning spam was impressive, but took the compliment and plopped down next to the zombie.
“I would have never imagined you teaching me how to cook at three am… Let alone as a werewolf” he turned to his side so he could reach out his hand and hold Shiro’s paw.
“It was fun… Want to teach me more when you’re human again?” The zombie blushed knowing this could become a thing for them since he loved spending time and doing random stuff with Shiro. The werewolf wagged his tail as a yes.
“Yeyy” the zombie said quietly but sincerely, he had high hopes for the future. Shiro was still quite energized, the saddle was still on him and the zombie hadn’t asked him if he wanted it off, so Shiro expected that they’d be going for round two. He wanted to go to the opposite direction this time, however the lack of open space within the woods meant that they couldn’t go too far. Maybe just a quick trip to the meadow would be a good idea. Shiro wanted to see if anything had changed within the last month. But he also wanted to see if there’d be signs of the fight he had with that other werewolf. Surely rain would have washed away the blood by now, but Shiro still felt like he had to return to the scene, as it was like something was calling out to him.
“Thinking something?” The zombie saw Shiro’s blank expression. Shiro looked at him and nodded.
“Oh?” zombie wondered if it was something about Shiro’s condition or something he wanted to do. Shiro stood up and looked at the saddle and zombie alternately to tell him to get on and let them go where he had thought about. The zombie was unsure if Shiro wanted the saddle off, or him to get on.
“You want that off?” he decided to ask. Shiro shook his head and crouched to let the zombie get on him. The zombie understood the assignment and got up to jump onto the saddle.
“So, you want to do more exploring?” he saw how close the doorframe was getting and quickly lowered himself so he wouldn’t hit his head.
“Careful! I almost got beheaded…” Shiro had tried to stay low but he was just too big.
The zombie wasn’t fond of riding in the forest, branches and sticks constantly scraped him and he was getting irritated. Shiro had tried his best to dodge the foliage. Finally, they arrived at the familiar meadow, and Shiro slowed down.
“Oh, heyy this is where you got attacked… is this where you wanted us to go?” The zombie didn’t get a reply, Shiro just made his way to the spot where he had been bleeding. There was nothing behind the bush, just as expected, but Shiro guessed that the reason he wanted there was not just to see this.
“I did hurt the other werewolf pretty bad… I wonder what happened to them” Shiro could only get one thought in before he smelled something. The smell was faint, and it came from what felt like not too long of a walk away so he decided to go towards it.
“Hey uhh… Shiro, we’re not going deeper into the forest, are we? … Are we??” The zombie didn’t want to get any more trees on his face so refused to keep going.
“Let me down at least! I’m done with these plants!!” Shiro halted and let the zombie off of him.
“Just don’t walk too fast, okay? … because I can barely see where I’m going” the zombie didn’t want to go but couldn’t say no to his beloved. Shiro thought of something and got an idea. Shiro made a small yelpy sound to get zombie’s attention, turned his head to bite on the saddle and walked forward. The zombie was very confused to what Shiro was trying to say. Shiro thought of another way to show his idea, and touched the zombie’s hand with his nose and then the saddle.
“Do you… want me to touch the saddle? What??” the zombie put his hand on the saddle, but didn’t grip on it and so when Shiro walked forward he let go. Shiro backed up and showed the same thing again.
“Do you want me to hold on...? So that I don’t trip!? Is that what you’re trying to say?” the zombie didn’t have to ask twice, Shiro jumped and seemed affirmative.
“Alright then!” the zombie took a hold of the breast collar, as it was the easiest part to hold on to, and they headed off somewhere into the forest.
The smell had gotten so bad even zombie had noticed it, and the both of them were trying not to just turn around and give up on finding whatever had died. Shiro, however, had an awful gut feeling, a feeling that he needed to be wrong. One last bush, and there it was. The carcass was clearly old; it was almost thoroughly eaten and decomposed. The bones and ligaments were the only thing, aside from the tail, that was left. Shiro froze, he had confirmed the worst, he had hoped it wouldn’t be so, but this was the werewolf Shiro had slit the throat of. It felt sickening so see it dead on the ground. Shiro had killed it, sure he had been protecting himself, but he also knew something gut wrenching.
“If that’s what I am… I killed someone… I…“ Shiro’s fur puffed up again and he was shivering.
“Shiro… w-what’s wrong? This isn’t- … You- h-hey just look at me, okay?” The zombie tried to get his attention but Shiro was too disturbed and hysterical to react. He had killed a person, a person who had probably not been themselves at the moment, a person with a life like his. How could he ever forgive himself for taking an innocent life? Shiro’s breathing was rapid and he backed off from the corpse with tears flowing down his cheeks.
“Shiro, please just calm down! … It’s okay, I’m here for you…” The zombie really was trying his best to help the panicked wolf. Shiro finally looked at zombie and just broke down completely, he cried and put his head on the zombie for a hug. Zombie put his hands around Shiro’s head and gently pet him. Shiro didn’t want to be there anymore, he backed off and crouched, the zombie knew what to do. He didn’t care about branches anymore, he knew Shiro wanted somewhere else and fast, so just got as low as possible. Shiro had never run this fast before, the zombie was barely holding himself together when they finally arrived at the shack’s yard. He jumped off and puked, but Shiro was too deep in thought to realize and just crawled into the shack. Shiro wanted to hide, to disappear and vanish into thin air. He buried his head under the blankets and wept. The zombie staggered into the shack and saw Shiro shivering and hiding in the pile.
“Shiro… hey, just- just listen, okay? You didn’t do anything wrong, it was either you or that thing, you didn’t have a choice… don’t beat yourself up about it” the zombie tried his best to come up with something actually smart and reassuring.
“Shiro… sweetie, please, you didn’t do anything wrong” the zombie felt so bad, he hated seeing Shiro cry. He got up to his boyfriend and hugged him, his arms couldn’t reach all the way around the big wolf as he sat down to be with him. Shiro pulled his head from under the blankets and now the zombie saw how truly sad his boyfriend was. Again, Shiro put his head to the zombie’s reach, and the undead man moved forwards to hold the werewolf’s face.
“Oh, honey…” zombie was so loving, Shiro lowered his head on the lap again.
“It’s okay” he really wanted Shiro to feel better. The two were safe and sound in the shack as it slowly started to rain outside, but it was fine, they wouldn’t go outside for a long while anyway.
Ch.2 part 4, calm after storm
Shiro opened his puffy eyes and saw the zombie laying down with him. At one point they had gotten comfortable with each other and had fallen asleep cuddling. The zombie was still asleep; half snoring leaned against the furry wolf’s side. It was heavily raining outside and morning was almost around the corner. Possibly only around two hours until sunrise and he’d be back to normal. The zombie was drooling on to Shiro’s fur, and so when the wolf noticed this, he quickly jumped waking up the zombie.
“Wha- whuh? Did something happen!? What?” The spooked zombie was groggy and dazed having woken up so suddenly. Shiro wanted to wash off, so sprinted outside into the pouring rain.
“Shiro, what are you doing?” the zombie had no idea what he had accidentally done. Shiro shook himself to really get the slimy substance off of his coat, and then remembered something.
“Shit! My clothes are still at the creek… they must be soaked; I better go get them.” He darted off into the forest, leaving the puzzled zombie behind.
“H-hey! Where are you going?! … Do I follow or…” the zombie didn’t want to get wet, but not knowing what Shiro was doing made him nervous.
“If he’s not back in two minutes I’m going after him.” The zombie was restless. Had something happened?
“Gaah! I can’t wait two minutes!” He sprinted to where Shiro had sped off. He didn’t have to hasten for even a minute before Shiro emerged from the woods in front of him with a pile of wet clothes in his mouth. The zombie almost bumped into him, but the both of them halted before they could collide. The zombie saw the clothes and now knew what Shiro had gone to do.
“Oh, you just got your clothes… Graah! I got wet for no reason!” The zombie was upset at having not just waited. Shiro felt a bit sorry for the zombie, but it had been his decision to chase after him, so didn’t think to blame himself. Shiro pushed the zombie forward, he wanted to get out of the rain too. They got back defeated and soaked; they’d have to dry off somehow. The couple did have towels, but not enough to properly dry Shiro due to him being absolutely gigantic, and the thick fur wasn’t a help either.
The zombie entered the shelter before Shiro did, the wolf had to shake off all the water he could before getting inside, but a little water still drippled down from him when he got indoors. Shiro swung his clothes onto the floor and spread them out so they’d dry easier, even if they were on the ground. The zombie had already gotten himself a towel and was drying his hair. Shiro walked up to him and pointed his nose to the saddle.
“Ah, yeah let me take that off” the zombie put back his towel and worked on the saddle. It came off and Shiro shook off the cushioning. It fell on the ground and he kicked it to the pile with the rest of the blankets. Shiro backed up to his clothes, to try and put them to hang somewhere, maybe the few chairs would be good enough. The zombie stood at the opposite side of the shack, he hated having wet clothes, and wanted to take most of them off to dry and get under a warm and not so wet blanket. He had a pair of Shorts he kept in his backpack for if the weather got too unbearably hot, and went to grab those so he’d at least be wearing pants.
“Hey, Shiro, I’m going to change, could you um… keep looking that way?” Shiro heard the request and kept trying to claw his clothes up on the chairs, not looking back. Zombie undressed, put his clothes to dry on top of the barrel with the saddle and put on the shorts, but he didn’t have a spare shirt so just scrambled under a blanket.
“I’m gonna stay here” The zombie said, and Shiro turned around to see him cozied up in the soft pile. Shiro kind of thought the zombie would even attempt to help Shiro dry off properly, so the werewolf frowned.
“You’re just going to slack off and leave me to handle this somehow? Nu uh, not happening.” Shiro wished he could have said that out loud as he picked up a towel with his teeth and walked on top of the zombie.
“What are you doing…?” The zombie dared to ask. Shiro dropped the towel on top of his confused boyfriend and he made a sound in surprise, not having expected the towel to be dropped on him.
“You don’t want me to dry you… do you?” The zombie hoped it wasn’t so. Shiro just nodded.
“H-hey, I’m shirtless! Save me some respect, okay!” Shiro didn’t care, he didn’t want to feel like a wet rag so tore off the blanket, startling the zombie.
“AAAH!!! NO PLEASE, JUST LEAVE ME BE!!” the zombie cried out while trying to hold on to his cover. Shiro now had another weapon up his sleeve, and let go of the blanket. He pleaded the zombie, his eyes huge and sparkly. He had somehow figured out the puppy dog eyes, and it totally seemed to work on the zombie as he saw how utterly cute Shiro was being.
“Shit… that’s too cute I can’t” thought the defenseless zombie.
“Argh! Okay fine! You humongous rat…” The zombie picked up Shiro’s towel and aggressively started rubbing his neck. Shiro was satisfied, sure he had been called a rat, but he had succeeded in getting his boyfriend to attend him. Besides, maybe Shiro deserved to witness the zombie unshirted, he had been tricked into becoming some sort of toy for the zombie to just play with, so now was Shiro’s turn to pull the strings. The towel wasn’t doing a great job, but zombie figured he could just squeeze the water out as it accumulated. It was taking long, but Shiro was gradually getting less and less damp.
“Okay, last round and you’re as dry as we can get you” the zombie said from the doorway as a huge amount of water got squeezed out of the roughly used towel. The zombie moved to Shiro’s tail, which was the last thing that needed treatment, and scrubbed away the moisture. Shiro thought his fur had gotten messy and remembered picking up a hairbrush a while ago on one of his travels. Shiro had given up on the back of his hair and it was quite long now. The zombie was finished with scrubbing and threw the towel on top of his one. Shiro walked up to the spot next to the blanket pile where he kept some small every-day items, and grabbed the dark maroon-colored hairbrush into his mouth. The zombie was almost under the covers again when Shiro walked up to him and shoved the brush onto the zombie’s lap.
“… really? I have to brush you too?” The zombie had already given up and got up with the brush.
“Fine, but just a little.” He had already been shirtless for long enough to not be so embarrassed anymore. The zombie brushed Shiro to not look so disheveled, he didn’t have to look perfect, but presentable was enough. Shiro’s tail wagged gently, the zombie was glad he was making him comfortable. Even the rain outside seemed to calm down, as it was only a drizzle anymore.
The two of them had gone to lay down again, zombie wanted to finally have his peace being covered up, and Shiro had gotten comfy next to him not wanting to feel alone. It was almost daybreak now, if not already. The two had rested so peacefully neither of them had noticed the light outside brighten, and the rain completely disappear. The zombie was scratching Shiro’s cheek when the werewolf lifted his head having felt something. The familiar sensation spooked him and he wasted no time darting outside.
“Shiro?! It can’t be morning yet… Oh shit it is!” The zombie grabbed the blanket he was using and rushed to the doorway. Shiro was scared, he had been itching for a few seconds now, and he knew what was next. Sure enough, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, which suddenly spread to everywhere else on his body. His legs gave out immediately, blood started pouring from his mouth and nose, his limbs twitching and shrinking. The zombie held his breath, he had seen this before, yet he still internally panicked like last time. Loud cracks and fleshy explosions sounded terrifying and painful. The transformation seemed to be quicker each time but it still felt unbearably long. Big spasms and jerks rocked the shrinking figure as it slowly took shape. Shiro couldn’t think, even as his head shrunk and cracked, the unbearable pain had luckily knocked him out cold right as the shift began. The zombie felt his bloodlust return, but thought that if he just thought of Shiro’s safety, it’d go away, or at least be easier to ignore. The awful cracking sounded to tone down, and the shape didn’t twitch as much anymore. It was human again. The zombie got closer and saw steam rising from Shiro’s sweat-drenched and limp body. Now the zombie ran towards him, but came to a stop as he saw how much blood there actually was.
“I should move him out of that puddle…” the zombie put down the blanket and rushed to carefully relocate the man out of the blood. He hoped the gravel didn’t dig into Shiro’s skin as he got dragged a short distance away. The zombie lowered him and rushed to get the blanket on top of the man, he wrapped him up and sat down.
“Shiro, please wake up already, you’re scaring me…” The zombie lifted his unconscious boyfriend on top of his legs and held him. The man was limp, his body temperature seemed dangerously high and his face was covered in blood that had come out of his orifices.
“Shiro... j-just open your eyes, please… please” the zombie teared up, fearing the worst, but was relieved when Shiro groaned and shifted his head.
“YES! You’re alive!” He let out a laugh, he was very happy to see Shiro move. The zombie lifted him higher so he could hold him in a hug. The human was hurt and confused, but the undead man was comforting, so he could rest for a bit more before trying to get up. Shiro thought the zombie felt cold, it wasn’t a bad thing since he himself was overheated and everything stung, so he put his cheek against the zombie’s neck. The zombie thought Shiro had gone limp again.
“Are you okay?? You’re not talking, is something wrong?” the zombie asked a bit frantic.
“T-tired…” Shiro could barely talk, his voice sounded weak and fragile.
“Well, I’m getting a bit tired from holding you, so… think we can get inside?” the zombie knew Shiro might not be able to pick himself up, so was ready to help him as best as he could. Shiro pushed himself up with aid from the zombie, the man staggered but didn’t fall, and the pair walked back inside.
The two men laid on the pile, the zombie had taken back his towel and was wiping away the thick sweat that had come off from the human. Zombie gave the towel to his boyfriend.
“That’s yours, you sure I can use it?” Shiro asked but took the towel.
“Yeah, I just wiped your sweat off of me and your towel is too damp anyway.” The zombie’s answer was logical. Shiro took his arms out of the blanket, wiped whatever residue was left on them and his upper torso, and also wiped the blood from his face. The zombie now noticed something.
“Huh… I guess that’s what he meant by saying that hair had not only grown on his face… GRAAH! NO! STOP LOOKING, STUPID!!” The zombie felt like he had just seen something he shouldn’t have.
“I don’t think we have any dry clothes at the moment, right?” Shiro’s memory was foggy but he knew what had happened.
“W-well, no… other than my shorts and underwear” zombie thought for a few seconds.
“You can have these; I can deal with just my boxers” the zombie was taking off his shorts without Shiro having even said anything yet.
“W-wait you don’t have to-“ the shorts were thrown at him and the zombie turned around without saying a word.
“Okay…” Shiro struggled to get up a little but managed to get dressed in the single piece of clothing.
“Thanks” the zombie heard Shiro and turned around to get up to him and hugged. Shiro was a bit surprised but returned the hug immediately. The zombie was holding on tight, fearing that Shiro would disappear if he didn’t keep him close.
“I’m exhausted, could we lay down?” Shiro felt his body trying to give up.
“Ah! Yes, of course...” The zombie let go and watched Shiro get comfortable before laying down next to him. Shiro didn’t want to lay on his own however, he wanted cuddles, and turned towards the zombie. Shiro took his blanket and threw it on top of his dead looking boyfriend.
“Lift your arm up” Shiro demanded kindly.
“Wh- huh?” zombie lifted the wrong arm.
“No, the other one” Shiro wanted the zombie to get what he was trying to do. The zombie did as he was told, although reluctantly, and got very nervous when Shiro laid down on him. Shiro placed his arm under the zombie’s, rested his head on the cold shoulder and put his other arm and leg on top of the nervous undead man. Zombie couldn’t move anything but his raised arm, and lowered it onto Shiro’s back. His heart was pounding out of his chest, he hadn’t been ready to be all cuddled up with Shiro under the same blanket, especially because the both of them were shirtless. Shiro was drifting off, sleep catching up to him pretty much immediately. The zombie slowly got comfortable with this arrangement and now rested his eyes a bit. Shiro was here, alive and mostly well, cuddled up to him and peacefully snoozing. The zombie felt brave enough to put his other hand onto Shiro’s hand. It felt warm on his chest, he held it in place and wished Shiro wouldn’t move it. He had to have been the happiest man in this entire apocalypse, even if he had died.
Shiro opened his eyes, it was midday from what he could tell. He estimated that he had been asleep for about five to six hours. He was still laying down on the zombie, even he had fallen asleep and was now silently snoring. Shiro didn’t want to wake up the zombie so tried to get up carefully, but didn’t succeed, and the zombie jolted awake mid-snore.
“Whah?? Oh, morning” the zombie stuttered
“More like day, but thank you” Shiro politely replied back and sat up. He wiped sleep away from his eyes and yawned. The zombie thought Shiro yawning was the cutest thing ever, but this time he saw something that caught his eye.
“Wait, what’s up with your teeth? They look sharp…” The zombie cautiously asked.
“What? I could have sworn I’ve mentioned them before… Gaah! Whatever, yeah, they’re sharp now… been since my last turn” Shiro didn’t want to talk about them more than that. The human stood up, holding the too large shorts so they wouldn’t fall, and went to check on his clothes. The zombie realized to check on his as well, so got up and walked towards the barrel they were on. Their clothes weren’t the driest, but good enough.
“I think I’m going to get dressed since these aren’t too wet anymore.” Shiro said to let the zombie know to keep his back turned for a second.
“Same here.” The zombie was already half dressed.
Two hot bowls of rice were on the shack’s floor as the couple were waiting for them to cool down. Shiro had taught the zombie the basics for boiling the white grains properly, and the two were still talking.
“It’s so cool that you know all this, it seems like a lot to be honest.” The zombie had a hard time keeping up with things, but was trying his best to learn new things.
“I mean, I always kinda liked cooking, but I wouldn’t say I’m a professional or anything… Maybe just experienced.” Shiro was moving the rice in his bowl around with his spork, speeding up the cooling process.
“Wait… did you teach me because I asked you to last night?” zombie looked a bit perplexed, he hadn’t thought Shiro would remember much since he hadn’t talked about anything after his previous turn.
“Well, you said you’d want me to teach you, so I thought this would be something at least” Shiro didn’t understand the zombie’s confused expression.
“Does that… does that mean you remember everything I said?” Zombie had hoped Shiro didn’t remember his ramblings about wanting to get close to him while he was sleeping.
“Well, yeah I was awake and … mostly myself, so of course?” Shiro was sort of able to tell where this was going to. After all, now that Shiro reminisced the night before, he remembered how the zombie had confessed his want to get a bit personal. He also remembered feeling flattered about it, but now he did see how creepy it sounded. The zombie had been slack jawed for a few seconds now.
“I… S-Shiro, I swear I’m not a creep!!“ The zombie panicked.
“I never thought you were!!” Shiro replied back, also panicked. Now the both of them were silent and embarrassed.
“Ahem, I think my rice is cool enough” Shiro broke the silence and started eating. The zombie also picked up his meal and took a bite. Cool enough, it was okay to eat. It only took a few minutes before the both of them finished eating and put the dishes away.
“I think we should start cleaning up now…” Shiro took a look outside, and just like last month, they’d need to shovel up an unpleasant puddle out of the ground.
“The shovel is still at the creek, right?” The zombie asked, knowing they’d need it.
“I can go get it” The both of them said at the same time.
“Uh… together..?” The zombie asked, he didn’t really want to leave Shiro alone anyway.
“Together” Shiro smiled and took the zombie’s hand.