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softquietsteadylove · 8 months

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How about more wildfire au? Maybe something tense?

Gil watched with a scowl. Two trucks, five men in total. He wasn't sure what they were doing here, but no one ever found his cabin 'by accident', it had to be said.

And Thena was in there.

They had gotten to a point where he could radio in and ask how she was doing without her telling him to shove it up his ass. He considered that a win! Every once in a while he would radio while she was in the shower or having a nap, and the worry that would consume was probably best kept to himself.

The five men walked calmly, looking around them and at what surrounded the cabin in its little clearing. They didn't seem to be here for any trouble, but Gil didn't want to rule anything out. They went up the stairs and knocked on the door.

Gil tensed, gripping his hatchet in his hand.

As soon as the door budged the men flooded into the cabin, their larger bodies obscuring Thena's tiny frame completely.

Gil ran from where he was hiding and up the driveway, almost slipping a few times in his hurry. "Thena!"

There were loud shouts coming from inside the cabin, the door left wide open.

"Thena!" Gil repeated as he slid over, hatchet raised, ready to defend his temporary and cranky roommate. "Get away from-"

"White Wolf! White Wolf! White Wolf!"

Thena laughed as they hoisted her above their heads, cheering her name. She patted their heads, pushing at their faces while she was seated on their shoulders. "Okay, boys, that's enough!"

"Well goddamn, Thee, we had to go through a hell of a lot of trouble to find this place!" More than one of them jostled her in a friendly matter as they set her on her feet again. They pushed and shoved, squeezed her shoulders and ruffled her hair. And each gesture would be reciprocated in the form of a punch on the arm. "When you hide away you hide the fuck away!"

"Hey Thee," the tallest one bent over to get closer to her face, "where's my welcome kiss?"

"Who the fuck are you?!"

Six heads turned as Gil tossed his hatchet aside loudly and pulled his own damn front door closed. The men traded looks, already looking agitated, "we could ask you that, buddy."

"Boys!"

Gil had to admit, he was impressed when one word from Thena had the men's backs straighter than a lightning rod. He watched as Thena parted the sea of meatheads and moved closer to him, as if to shield him from her little wolf pack.

"Leave him be," she said more quietly, but she obviously didn't need to shout to get her point across.

"But Thee-" Gil didn't like their nickname for her.

"Gil's been good to me, that's all you need to know," she said with some finality to it. She stared down each of them, "and it's his property you're barging into here."

The men - her boys, as it were - all looked at him. Gil didn't even blink, not willing to let any weakness show to the pack of wild animals with him. He shrugged a little, "it is my cabin."

The men nodded between themselves. Obviously their concern was with Thena, and Gil probably couldn't blame them for being wary of some guy who had suddenly offered her a home out in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere while she was injured.

"So, you're the boyfriend?"

Thena positively smoked the big guy in his smallest ribs, hard enough for him to double over. "He's not some boyfriend."

"Okay," he wheezed, trying to catch his breath after the bony little rocket of a punch.

Gil wasn't sure if he should be grateful for her defense or offended by the vehemence of it. "Yeah, I'm just...a patrol fighter."

The most softly spoken one gestured among them, "we're Thee's old search and rescue team. Some of us have even been with her since the Montana fires a couple years back."

Gil nodded. They were more than just a work team. Out in the wilderness, even the most unwilling had no choice but to trust their crew. But these guys...they truly and deeply were bonded.

"Boys," Thena took a more stern tone and nodded her head between them. She looked back at Gil, and he really thought she looked at him a little differently from how she looked at them. But what did he know. "Gil. Gil--boys."

"Uh, hey," Gil greeted, although he didn't feel the need to move away from Thena to shake anyone's hand.

"Hey man," the tallest - the inappropriate one - nodded his head at him, as did the rest. "Sorry to, uh, bust in like this."

"We didn't expect to get word from Thee until she was on the move again. She said she was holed up in some cabin and..." the soft spoken one shrugged, "this is the only one for miles."

He supposed they had a point. Thena had basically gone completely off the grid, but obviously the bond with her team hadn't suffered from whatever made her leave in the first place. They were here for her, not for any trouble. He swallowed the lump in his throat which had crawled its way out of his twisted stomach, "no hard feelings."

Thena, however, crossed her arms at them, "still not a single fucking manner between the lot of you."

The quieter one shrugged, sliding away from his rowdier comrades. He was leaving them to the slaughter.

"Aw c'mon, Thee, we said we're sorry," the big guy practically whined at her. "How 'bout I...make it up to you?"

Thena herself gave him a pat on the cheek (maybe more like a gentle slap). "You keep asking that but I'd sooner fuck a wild bear than let you cop a feel."

Gil blushed.

"Why's the boyfriend allowed to!"

The gentle slap turned into a harder one. "Not the boyfriend!"

"Then why're you wearing his sweater?"

Gil blinked, but they were right, she was wearing his sweater. It was just a thick knit sweater he liked to wear around the house, but she had it on over her long sleeves and yoga pants.

She looked cute in it.

"Okay boys," she declared, skipping over the sweater comment entirely. "Patrol's in ten, party's over, say goodnight."

"Fine," the big guy grumbled but gave Thena an undeniably gentle pat on the shoulder, "glad you're okay, Wolf."

Gil stood back as the team gave Thena their well wishes and then filed out in an orderly fashion. He gave them all the same uncomfortable half-smile he would give a stranger at the gas station.

"Take care of yourself, Thee," the quiet one said, although between looking at her and looking at Gil, it felt a little like he was saying it more to him than her. "See y'around."

Gil nodded to him; at least the quiet one hadn't made any sex jokes.

Thena inhaled once the door closed behind them. She watched them pile into the two trucks again and slowly make their way back to the main road. "Sorry."

Gil blinked, surprised not only at the apology but at the quiet tone of it. She toyed with the sleeves of his sweater, obviously and hilariously long on her.

"I didn't exactly invite them in, but I guess they were a little worked up when I radioed the station to check in with them."

Gil shrugged easily, as if he hadn't been ready to fight every single one of them if they hadn't been on Thena's good side. "That's okay, they're happy to see you. I was a little surprised when I saw them pull up, but no harm done."

Thena still looked a little annoyed by it all. "I was always telling them not to traipse in places uninvited. They barged into my room enough times before I had to start beating it into them. Roughhousing is the only language most of them speak."

Gil rolled his eyes but chose to skip over the barging into her room comment. It technically wasn't his business--since he wasn't a boyfriend or anything. "Well, they could have wiped their feet, but that's okay. They're all search and rescue, right?"

Thena nodded as Gil moved inside properly, kicking off his boots and slipping on the birkenstocks he wore around the house as slippers. "Some of them were jumpers with me back in the day, too."

Gil chuckled, "then I can't be too mad at them if they're like your family, right?"

Thena smiled at him gently, maybe still energized from the reunion as she hovered close to him, "I guess they are. You can still be mad at them, though."

"Deal," Gil laughed as he sat down in his chair with a groan. It had been a long day, and the adrenaline draining out of him was pulling him deeper into the seat.

"Are you okay?"

He would be lying if he said he wasn't charmed by her softly asked question. So, they were becoming closer. He smiled, "I'm okay."

He had been completely terrified that something might happen to Thena in his absence. Not that she was helpless by any means, but it was hard not to feel protective of the woman who slept in his bed, shared his food, whom he heard trembling after her nightmares in the dark. Muttering about what made her quit search and rescue in the first place.

Thena shifted in her chair, angling herself away and changing her smile to a more playful one. "It was sweet of you to come charging in, all knight in shining armour."

Gil blushed, but also employed rolling his eyes as a means to avoid the feeling behind it, "okay, ha-ha, funny. I was worried, I'll have you know."

"I know." She was up and out of the chair before he could look at her. She moved behind him, and he almost felt as if she had put her hand on his shoulder, but maybe he had imagined it. "I'll put some coffee on."

Gil turned himself to try and look at her, "kinda late for coffee, ain't it? What about tea?"

"I'm not making your fucking leaf water, it's coffee or nothing."

Gil chuckled. That was more like the White Wolf he was used to. "Hey, Thee?"

"Don't call me that."

"Thena?" he tried again, and she did poke her head out of the kitchenette to look at him. He grinned, "that sweater looks good on you."

"I changed my mind, make the coffee yourself."

#Thenamesh Wildfire AU #The boys are absolutely her crew from Those Who Want Me Dead #I don't think they were given names though #and I haven't looked it up so #we'll start here #that one guy loves making innuendos #and look dude I get it #she's gorgeous #but Gil quietly is like #okay they're not so bad #but this one dude...#if he makes one more pass at Thena hands are going to be thrown!#he's also a little pouty over the boyfriend comment #he's like...you didn't have to say it like that #she's like are you kidding me #he grumbles a little #she sighs and says it's not like he'd be a bad one she just doesn't need to give those boys any kindling #they're a wolf pack #she may be their matriarch but she has to keep them in line #letting them make boyfriend jokes are not going to help with that #he says okay okay you're right #Thena's like okay great #he says fine then take off my sweater #Thena: absolutely not

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