It was well into the morning by the time Otso was able to drag himself home. Not that there was anything other than the clocks telling him it was morning. He didn't know which he wanted more, food or bed. Luckily there had been a few developments overnight. The Resort had agreed to cancel all excursions and transformation packages until the magic crisis was solved. Fiia and Lars apparently had their hands full coming up with new activities for a worried guest population.
The other good news was Toki and Anneli had finally made it up to the resort after his desperate call the day before. The two younger wolves, both in medical training were only too happy to take over from the weary doctor. Toki was just about to finish his time in the human hospitals anyway, and Anneli was in her final year of medical school. He was only too glad to leave things in their hands and get some rest.
Otso opened the door to his home in the village, his tired brain expecting it to be as it always was when he got home. Cold, quiet, and lonely. But the inside was lit with candles and a warm fire in the hearth, the smells of cooking drifted from the kitchen, and the quiet sound of conversation drifted to his ears. He made his way to the kitchen, staring at the two reindeer and the wolf hard at work making a meal. "Is it almost ready, he'll be home soon and I'm sure he'll want to nap after eating." Came the gruffer voice of Michael, the wolf was setting the table.
Clyde stood at the stove, looking more than a little worn out himself and he had Otso's book of recipes open next to him. Well, really it was a cookbook he had been working on in his spare time, one he had only shown to Michael so far. He didn't begrudge him sharing it though. Eric was pouring out glasses of water, his missing antler surprisingly replaced with a wooden one that had Clyde's handiwork pretty mch written all over it. The younger reindeer was the one that spotted him first. "Isäpuoli, you look beat, here.. one sec." Eric moved around and pulled out one of the wooden chairs, for Otso.
The wolf found himself laughing. Almost as much for what Eric called him as pulling out a chair for him. "I'm not a.." He started then swallowed what was going to be one of his quips and nodded. "Thank you. I see you shared my book with them." He said with a pointed look towards Michael, he didn't even have the decency to look ashamed, he just came over and kissed Otso on the head between the ears, keeping it a bit more chaste in front of his son.
"It's wonderful." Clyde said as he leafed through it. "A whole cookbook for inter-tribal meals. Each recipe marked off for which tribes can eat it? You should publish it, the elves will help I'm sure. With more humans coming up here I bet we'll end up with more weird families like ours." From the smell, Clyde had decided to make one of his curries, one with a lot of squash that wolves could eat as well as reindeer.
Otso found himself smiling as he leaned back in the chair, unwinding. Families like ours? Was it really that simple? This was his family now? His pack? Hands rested on his shoulders from behind. "I hope you don't mind. I wanted to see the boys, and when I mentioned how hard you were working they wanted to do something nice for you."
"Your son called me stepfather." Otso said pointedly, though in a low whisper he knew would only carry to Michael.
"Maybe a little premature, but I'm hoping that will be the case." Michael responded, giving one of Otso's ears a playful nip. "That boy is starting to collect new fathers. I hope I just don't get lost in the shuffle."
"Dad? Can you take this?" Eric was asking as he held out a large bowl of rice. "I gotta get the rolls out of the oven." Michael beamed as he headed over to take the bowl and bring it to the table, his tail thwaped against several pieces of furniture as well. That was the first time Otso could remember Eric calling Michael anything other than by his name. Soon they were all digging into the meal, sitting around and chatting like any normal family. Christmas magic may have been failing, but for the first time in many years Otso felt like it was Christmas. He at least got his present.
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"Dad, it's like eight in the morning." Eric said as he sat down on the couch next to Clyde as his father handed him a small glass of scotch. Clyde had one, and his father was already pouring himself one. The doctor had declined in favor of his bed, but he told them to stay an enjoy, with how tired he was he claimed to be able to sleep through anything. Eric suspected Otso just enjoyed having company, even if he wasn't awake for it.
"We just had dinner and it's dark out. We can do a little morning drinking. I wanted to talk to you and this talk is going to need some social lubrication." Michael took the chair across from the couch, closest to the fire.
"If this is about you and Otso, we figured that out." Eric joked, at which point Clyde elbowed him in the side, gently. Ever since the accident he had trouble being anything other than gentle with Eric. That'd wear off eventually. At least Eric hoped it would, he didn't want to be treated like a weakling, not anymore. Maybe a rough night in bed.. Eric shied away from that thought. He wasn't wearing pants and didn't need to have an annoying popup in front of his father.
"No." Michael said seriously. "I.. owe you and your brother an apology. I'll get to Tom later, but it was worse for you. I." Michael swallowed. "I never intended to abandon you the way I did. But I'll see them next birthday became next Christmas became next year and before I knew it you boys were grown and I'd missed my chance."
Clyde looked a bit uncomfortable and started to get to his hooves as if to leave, but stopped as Michael held up a hand. "Stay, please. You're family and this concerns you, too." Clyde looked at Eric who could only nod. He needed his reindeer here, with him. He looked across the room at his father, intending to reply in his usual way, but found he couldn't. It just wasn't there anymore. The resentment, the pain. Regret that they had missed time, yes. But it was a sad thing now, not anger and bitterness.
"I forgive you, dad." Eric said instead, then looked to the stairs up before regarding his father again. "You really love him, don't you?"
"Surprisingly. Yes." Michael said with a small laugh, "More than almost anything."
"Almost?" Eric found himself asking. He knew if someone had asked him the same of Clyde that the answer would have been a straight yes.
"I'd like to stay with him, and I intend to. But I need your blessing first. It means I'll be around and in your life, and I know that's not something your used to or even wanted a few weeks ago. But I will give up anything to make you happy." Michael downed the rest of his scotch and set the glass aside.
Eric was on his hooves and pulling his father out of the chair before he could think. His father was right, a few weeks ago he wouldn't even have contemplated what he did now. He just hugged him. "Of course you can stay, and I'm sure Tom wouldn't say any different."
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Eric and Clyde had excused themselves shortly after, claiming they needed to sleep before Rudy started working them again, which Michael couldn't fault them. Lately they had been walking around looking exhausted, he was surprised they had stayed up through the night just for him and Otso.
Michael climbed the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible and slipped into the bedroom. Otso hadn't even climbed under the covers, he was just laying curled up on the bed, a smaller but still warm fire made by Clyde still burning away up here. Michael sat on the edge of the bed and opened the top drawer of the nightstand. He dug into the back and pulled out the black velvet box he had hidden back there.
He flipped open the lid and looked at the simple loop of braided silver sitting in the ring box. It was like Otso, simple but intricate. He didn't know how this thing was done among the werewolf tribe, but he knew how he wanted to do it. He shut the box and put it back, Christmas couldn't come soon enough.
He lay on the bed, scooching up so he was pressed against his lover's back, reaching across him to his hand, twining their fingers together. Otso stirred a little but fell right back asleep with a satisfied sounding murmur.