Chapter Text
Jacob knocked on the door and stepped back, holding his breath and hoping that Charlie would answer.
“What are you going to say to him?” Edward asked.
“Dunno, I’ll figure something out.” Jacob whispered.
“He’s a cop, won’t he just take you back to your dad?”
“Maybe, but hopefully not.”
“Jacob-” Edward started but the door opened to reveal exactly the man that Jacob was looking for, Charlie Swan.
Charlie was Jacob’s dad’s best friend and also the father of Bella Swan, a childhood friend of Jacob’s that lived with her mom down in Arizona. Charlie had always told Jacob that if he needed anything that he would be able to help him, although Jacob hadn’t spoken to him for a while.
“Jake? What the hell are you doing here so late?” Charlie asked, then looked over at Edward. “Who’s this?”
Shit, now was the time to say something, anything! Come on, Jake, come up with something!
“Mr Swan, I’m really sorry to come here at this time but… me and my dad got into a fight and I really didn’t know where else to go.” he bowed his head. “This is Edward Cullen. He’s my… boyfriend.”
Charlie’s eyes opened a fraction and Jacob could feel Edward stiffen behind him. Jacob held his breath again and prayed that Charlie wasn’t going to slam the door in his face when he said that but he was just given an, “Oh, Carlisle’s kid.” Charlie nodded. “Nice to meet you, son.”
Edward nodded back, staying quiet.
Charlie stepped back to make room in the doorway. “Why don’t you boys come inside and you can tell me about what happened.”
“Thank you, Mr Swan.” Jacob grabbed Edward’s hand to lead him inside, squeezing it while trying to fill his head with apologies and instructions to just go along with it for now. Luckily Edward didn’t seem to question it and squeezed Jacob’s hand right back.
They were sat down on the couch with Charlie sitting on the armchair next to them, hunched over with his elbows on his knees.
“Alright, I won't dance around the issue. What happened?” he asked.
Jacob looked over at Edward, who looked at him. Jacob took a deep breath and got prepared to lie the most he had in his entire life, and that includes when he hide the fact that he had first imprinted on Edward.
“I introduced Edward to my dad and he got… really upset at me.” Jacob said, cringing internally at throwing his loving father under the bus like this. “I-I thought that it would be okay but he was just so mad that I brought home a boy and he told me to get out of his house. He said some other hurtful things that I don't bother to repeat, but the gist of it was that he wasn't happy with who I had chosen.”
Charlie knit his brows together, mouth pressing into a line. “What about you, boy?” he turned to Edward.
“I… I didn’t think my dad would let Jacob stay over either.” Edward replied. “I don’t know what you know about our family, but Mr Black and my dad have a complicated history. He wouldn’t exactly be fond of letting his son stay over, much less of our, um, relationship.”
Charlie then suddenly stood up, shaking his head. “Well that’s just not right.” he said. “I never thought that Billy would be so close-minded.”
Jacob felt a wave of guilt lying like this. He didn’t actually think his dad would be opposed to him dating a man, just opposed to him imprinting on a vampire.
“I think he was just mad in the moment?” Jacob stood up as well, trying to reason. He didn't want to break up his dad's and Charlie's friendship over this.
“No, Jake, this isn’t right.” Charlie told him. “You can stay here as long as you need, alright? I’ll talk to Billy in the morning-”
“No!” Jacob stopped him. “No I… I’ll talk to him, okay?”
Charlie crossed his arms. “Jacob, are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I’ll call him tomorrow and try to see if he’ll listen to me. I promise.” he said. “You don’t need to do anything other than provide a place for us to stay for a while.”
“Of course, Jake, anything.” Charlie clapped him on the shoulder with a smile. “‘Sides, house has been too quiet ever since Bells left. Would be nice to have some liveliness around for a bit.”
Jacob gave him a soft smile. “Thank you.” he said. “I promise we won’t be a bother at all, I can even help with chores if you need.”
“Well I mean, if you’re offering.” Charlie joked. “Did you boys eat dinner yet?”
Jacob then realized that he hadn’t actually had anything since breakfast and his stomach grumbled accordingly.
Edward let out a little snort and Charlie chuckled. “I guess that answers that.” he said, winking. “I’ll order pizza.”
The rest of the night wasn’t as awkward as Jacob was thinking that it would be. Charlie was very kind and didn’t pry too much into their relationship, although he did give Jacob some advice about what to say to his dad, and then general dating advice the more beers he got into them.
“Don’t rush into anything too fast, I know how young love can be, but you should at least know each other for a couple years before gettin’ married.” he rambled.
“Sure, Mr Swan.” Jacob laughed, not missing how Edward moved over his piece of pizza to Jacob’s plate when Charlie wasn’t looking.
“And just fuckin’ communicate with each other if you have problems like Jesus Christ…” Charlie started mumbling.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Mr Swan.” Jacob leaned back and almost on instinct wrapped his arm around Edward’s shoulders. Edward was frigid as usual but he was also a little tense at the contact, almost as if he was not fully expecting it even though he could read minds.
“I wasn’t the best with that in my relationship and I regret it every day.” Charlie took another swig of his beer and kept mumbling incomprehensibly.
Edward furrowed his brows and tilted his head, Jacob guessed that Edward was probably reading his mind and discovering Charlie’s story. How him and his ex wife, Renee, had gotten married and had their daughter, but she was much more of a free spirit and Charlie was more grounded. Renee ended up with full custody with their daughter only visiting during the summer. Except for the past six years.
“Meh, I won’t bore you boys with my life story. I should be heading to bed.” Charlie groaned as he got up. “I’m not givin’ you a bedtime but just lettin’ you know that you can sleep in Bells’ room.”
“Are you sure?” Jacob also stood up.
“Yeah, the couch isn’t a pullout and at least Bells’ room has a real bed.” Charlie chuckled. “Although I do request that you keep some kind of decency for your friend if you’re not gonna make your boyfriend sleep on the floor.”
Jacob felt his ears turn red and he let out an awkward laugh. “Jesus, Mr Swan. I’m not an animal.”
Well…
Edward stood up last and spoke up. “I think I’m ready for bed too.” he said.
After a quick clean up Jacob ended up being the one to lead Edward upstairs to the room they would be staying in. It was mostly empty, but you could tell it used to be a teen girl’s room. The walls were painted a pale pink, some slightly darker spots where posters must have covered them. There was an inactive lava lamp on the desk and some washed-out stickers covering it. Edward sat down on the bed while Jacob turned the lamp on.
“I’ll take the bed, I mean you don’t sleep so there’s no reason for-”
“What are we?” Edward suddenly asked.
“Huh?” Jacob replied, pausing in the middle of unzipping his coat.
“You called me your boyfriend.” Edward said.
“Oh, um.” Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that was just so I didn’t have to explain the whole wolf and vampire thing to Charlie. My dad would definitely kill me if I told him our biggest secret.”
Edward frowned, almost like he didn’t believe him.
“You said that imprinting is romantic.”
“I said that it’s like soulmates.” Jacob took his jacket off and hung it on the doorknob. “But it’s romantic sometimes. Sam imprint on Emily was.”
“How do you know if it’s romantic or not?”
Jacob sighed, running his fingers through his hair before walking over and also sitting on the bed.
“It’s actually up to you whether you want it to be romantic or not.” Jacob explained. “From what Sam told me, imprinting connects the wolf to the person, and then the one who’s been imprinted upon decides their relationship. This can be rivals, friends, siblings…”
“Or lovers.” Edward finished his sentence.
Jacob swallowed hard and looked at his own lap. “Yeah.”
Edward raked his eyes over Jacob’s form, going down then back up again to his face.
“And what do you want?” he asked, tilting his head.
Jacob looked back at him, biting the inside of his cheek.
Honestly, Jacob felt like he was in imprint purgatory because Edward hadn’t defined their relationship outright yet. He felt weirdly stagnant, mostly between friends and lovers. He felt protective over the vampire, and he wanted to be close to him at all times, but it didn’t feel like a crush. Then again Jacob hasn’t had a crush in years, maybe he’d forgotten what it felt like? He could have sworn there was supposed to be butterflies in the stomach though.
“I don’t know, it’s up to you.” Jacob told him genuinely, because he didn’t know what else to say.
Although his thoughts seemed to show his true feelings, could describe it better than his words ever could, because Edward reached up to tilt Jacob’s chin towards him ever-so gently, cocking his head just a little.
“I can’t always read minds in structured sentences.” Edward said. “Usually people think in abstract. The mind shows their true nature. The emotions that imprinting bring forward manifest in a way that reminds me of those in love.”
He leaned in close and Jacob held his breath, eyes blowing wide.
“I don’t know if it’s your instincts affecting me, or if this would have been the outcome anyways, but my feelings seem to mirror yours.” Edward kept talking, although Jacob was hardly listening because Edward supposedly had no blood running through him and yet his lips were pink and they were so close to him and shit their noses were bumping together and Jacob’s eyes fluttered shut because surely Edward was going to kiss him now-
The contact pulled away and Jacob waited a few heartbeats before furrowing his brows, eyes still closed.
“But who could ever love a monster like me.” Edward’s voice came out quiet and almost breaking.
FUCKING HELL.
“Edward.” Jacob opened his eyes, absolutely fed up with the self-deprecating talk. “I am as much of a monster as you, I have never cared what you are, only who you are. And if you don’t kiss me right now then-”
He didn’t even get the chance to finish because cold lips were suddenly pressed against his own. Jacob gasped, not expecting the softness that greeted him. A new rush of emotions greeted him, butterflies roaring in his stomach and a desperate need to touch, kiss, love came over him like a tsunami. The butterflies had arrived. He reached up to cup Edward’s jaw and move his head in a direction which would make their lips slide together better. For that he was rewarded with a soft sound escaping the vampire’s throat.
God, this felt right. Like this was always meant to be. Quickly enough Edward’s lips warmed to match Jacob’s and it felt even better. Jacob’s head was spinning, but he’d never felt more grounded in something before.
He changed the angle, fuck that felt even better. He dropped his hands to wrap around the curve of Edward’s waist and squeezed. Edward gasped into his mouth and dug his fingers into dark hair. In response Jacob swiped his tongue along Edward’s bottom lip.
They were making out, making out on Jacob’s friend’s bed and Jacob felt like he was soaring. He’d never made out with anyone before but nothing else would ever come close, he was certain.
He felt so lightheaded that he felt himself tipping backwards, and Edward was going right along with him, lips moving against him in a hypnotizing rhythm. Finally it was too much and Jacob fell back, hitting his head against the pillows and pulling Edward’s body on top of his. They parted on impact and even that was a second too long. Jacob wrapped his arms around Edward tighter, pulling him against him so that he could share his body heat with him. His imprint partner was cold, way too cold, Jacob needed to heat him up, needed him as close as possible to warm him and make him feel good and-
Jacob gasped and parted, titling his head back and taking a few deep breaths. There was a soft kiss to his chin, trying to bait him back into another kiss but Jacob squeezed his eyes shut.
“As much as I would love to keep going I promised Charlie that I would be decent while in Bella’s bed, and I don’t think I would ever be able to look her in the eyes again if we kept kissing here.” he explained, cheeks ruddy.
Edward stared at him, read his mind for double meanings, then blew his eyes wide and lifted himself up on his hands and knees to get away from the um... problem area.
“I’m sorry.” he apologized.
“It’s fine. Jacob said, hands still on the vampire’s waist. “I’ve just… never kissed someone like that before.”
Edward looked at him, lip caught between his teeth and Jacob could see the little indents of the canines that were his fangs, longer and sharper than the rest of his teeth, but only just barely enough as to not cause any questions. Jacob’s teeth had gotten sharper when he first transformed as well, top and bottom canines short but more pointed.
“If you keep looking at my mouth then I’m not going to be able to resist kissing you again.” Edward told him, adjusting so that he laid next to Jacob instead of on top of him.
“You have got to get better self control.” Jacob chuckled. “And I thought you didn’t need to sleep?”
“I don’t.” Edward admitted. “I just… can I lay next to you?”
Jacob gave him a half smile and stretched his arm out. Edward understood immediately and moved over so that he could press himself against Jacob’s side and the werewolf could wrap his arm around him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.
“You’re really hot.” Edward mumbled.
“Thanks, I know.” Jacob replied with a smirk.
“Not what I meant.” Edward rolled his eyes.
“I know.” Jacob told him.
“Like, seriously, you feel feverish, are you sure this is normal?”
“It’s fine, I run at 108 degrees on a typical day. Meanwhile you feel like you’ve been sitting in an ice bath for the better part of a century.” Jacob joked. “Embrace my warmth.”
"108 degrees? Fahrenheit?"
"No, Celsius." Jacob replied deadpanned.
"104 degrees is when you start getting brain damage. Maybe that's why you imprinted on a vampire instead of a regular person."
"Oh my god, don't even start that shit with me after you gave me a boner."
Jacob couldn’t tell if Edward liked his jokes or thought they were stupid but he did put his head on Jacob’s chest and closed his eyes, ear right above his heart. Jacob gently rubbed his shoulder, reveling in the quiet for a moment before he spoke again.
“Are we together for real now?” he asked.
Edward snorted. “Back when I was alive we wouldn’t even be in the same bed together until marriage.”
“Okay, well, gay marriage wasn’t legal back then.” Jacob reminded him.
Edward hummed, then simply replied with. “Yes, we’re together.”
And just like that, Jacob had confirmation of what Edward wanted from him, and something inside of him changed. He wasn’t stuck in imprint purgatory anymore, and his heart swelled with a new emotion, and he couldn’t resist holding onto Edward tighter.
A lover.
─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Watching Jacob sleep was so… interesting.
It was morning now, the sun peaking through the curtains just enough to make a golden stripe across Jacob’s face, the rest of the room darkened. The werewolf was asleep in the same position he was last night, arm still around Edward, head tilted to the side, eyes closed and full lips slightly parted. He wasn’t dreaming about anything right now, although he was earlier. He probably wouldn’t remember what it was about when he woke up, but Edward had watched with fascination as his eyes had moved rapidly behind his eyelids before settling, then kicking up again as he went through the cycle of REM. He was snoring quietly, not obnoxiously, more like a low rumble in the back of his throat. All of the muscles of his face were relaxed, making him look younger and softer.
Edward hadn’t needed to sleep ever since he was turned into a vampire. Sometimes he missed it, the quiet lull that would refresh his body and mind, wrapping himself in warm blankets and letting his brain shut off and finally being able to lose himself in the quiet and dark of the night.
There was nothing that could replicate that, and Edward mourned it.
So he watched Jacob sleep instead, curled up against him, listening to his heart beat softly and his lungs expand and contract. It was peaceful in a way that Edward hadn’t felt in a long time.
Charlie woke up. Edward could hear his morning thoughts as he got out of bed and started to get ready for work. Edward tried to tune them out, focusing more on his lover next to him.
Lover… god, Edward never thought in a million years he would get to have something as precious as that. No matter how many times Carlisle offered to find him someone, no matter how many people that he met, it never felt right. Always like there was some imbalance, that his species made him inherently more powerful. To fall for a human meant to spend every day in agony longing for their blood to stain his teeth but refusing to out of love. A predator cannot fall in love with prey, a lion cannot fall for a lamb.
But a wolf is not a lamb.
The door opened softly and Edward sat up, gentle enough not to wake Jacob, although he was pretty knocked out.
“Oh, sorry.” Charlie whispered. “I wanted to see if you boys were awake, I’m headed off to work so you have to house to yourselves.”
“Okay, thank you.” Edward whispered back.
“Just don’t burn it down or throw any raging parties.”
“We won’t.” Edward promised. “Thank you, officer.”
Jacob stirred and Edward looked down at him, but he didn’t wake up.
“God, I’m so sorry that both of you have to deal with this. There’s just no good reason not to love your kids unconditionally. Shouldn’t fuckin’ matter if you gay or straight or not.” Charlie mumbled, also looking at Jacob.
Edward looked back at Charlie, seeing a tiredness behind his eyes that no amount of sleep was ever going to heal. Edward could practically smell the regret and longing on him.
“You’re a good dad.” Edward said, surprising Charlie.
“Oh… um… thank you.” Charlie gave him a half smile, then cleared his throat. “I should probably head out, you can head back to sleep.”
Edward laid back down when Charlie closed the door, letting out a soft sigh.
It wasn’t much longer that Jacob finally rolled over, scrunching his face up and blinking his eyes open.
“Good morning.” Edward mumbled.
“God, what time is it?” Jacob asked, voice rough from sleep.
“Charlie already left for work. He said not to burn the house down.” Edward told him.
“Mm. No promises.” Jacob pulled Edward against him to kiss him on the cheek.
“I already told Charlie we wouldn’t.” Edward scrunched his nose. This easy affection that Jacob was giving to him was foreign to Edward. He hadn’t been held like this in a long time, and never really kissed anyone before either.
Jacob ignored him in favor of wrapping both arms around him and continuing to kiss his face, no dissimilar to how a dog would lick at its owner to show affection. Clearly he had no trouble adjusting to their new relationship at all. He was practically wagging his tail on the inside.
However Jacob had only just moved his kiss attack to Edward’s lips when he heard a vibrating noise from the door. Jacob groaned and rolled over to stand up, going to get his phone from his jacket. Edward sat up on the bed and checked his own, frowning at the multiple missed calls from his family members and several texts from each of them.
“Shit, it’s my dad.” Jacob said. “He called me, like, twenty times last night.”
“Did Sam try and contact you?” Edward asked.
“No, but Emily texted me. And so did Quil, although he’s mostly cursing me out.” Jacob frowned.
“What do you want to do?” Edward asked.
Jacob turned off his phone and Edward read the decisiveness in his head before the werewolf even approached him again, falling onto the bed with his head in Edward’s lap.
“Right now I want to go back to sleep.” he told him.
“We have to figure out what we’re going to do about all of this.” Edward reminded him.
“Yeah, but… later.” Jacob smirked.
Later… Edward gently laced his fingers through night-black hair, scraping his nails gently against Jacob’s scalp and taking note of how the werewolf leaned into the touch.
Later works.