The second he crossed the boundary that separated Nova Falls from the rest of the world, Nathan Grimes parked his car on the side of the road so he could dry heave into the bushes.

A concerned hiss sounded from the passenger seat. His familiar lifted her head high enough that she could peek out at him from through the rolled down window, her red beady eyes watching him with as much concern as a snake could show, which – it probably went without saying – wasn't a lot.

Nathan waved a hand to get rid of the taste in his mouth, wincing when the spell came out more powerful than he was used to, leaving his mouth stinging and tasting sharply like mint.

He glanced at Mjolnir, his features twisted into a grimace, hands balanced on slightly bent knees. "I'm fine."

Mjolnir's expression didn't change, but Nathan could feel the disbelieving eyebrow raise.

He laughed despite himself, though the sound was dry and lacked any true mirth. "Yeah, yeah."

He straightened and glanced down the long road that would lead him to the heart of the small town. Village. City. Whatever.

Home.

He swallowed. It hurt, thick and heavy like he'd swallowed a fist-sized rock. Except the rock remained lodged in his throat, even as he swallowed again and again.

Mjolnir hissed again. Nathan. Her voice sounded in his head, sweet and warm like his grandmother's. When Nathan had finally bonded with his familiar – though he'd take that moment to his grave – he'd cried the second he'd heard her voice. He couldn't really remember his grandmother anymore, but he remembered how much he'd loved her, and she him. So when Mjolnir had first spoken, it had felt like a piece of him returning home.

"I hear ya." Nathan huffed out a breath, walked around the mini cooper and got into the driver's seat. He gave a cursory glance to his things piled in the back seat, the rest hidden within the boot. Eight years away from home and everything in this car was all he had to show for it.

Mjolnir hissed in disagreement, ever so attuned to his thoughts.

"Yeah, all right. I accomplished a lot. Blah, blah, blah."

His familiar bobbed her head slowly, as if to say, yeah, that's right, you fucking did. Nathan started the car, and eased back onto the road. On both sides of him was nothing but forest, thick trees framing the road in an almost picturesque shot.

As the trees began to thin and the first few buildings began to appear, Nathan's grip on the steering wheel tightened, turning the deep brown skin of his knuckles paler. He'd made his trip north painfully early because he wasn't ready to face anyone on his first day back, which meant almost all the businesses of Nova Falls were yet to open, the sun itself barely peeking in the horizon.

Cooper's mechanic shop was the first place he passed by of course – or Cooper's and Daughter's, as the sign now read, the two extra words slapped onto the overhead signboard in fading glittery pink paint. He was so emotional he didn't need to touch the sign to see its history: there was Miranda Cooper in oil-stained jean overalls and a plain black t-shirt. Her dark skin glowed underneath a bright sun, her thick black braids made into a short bob around her head, hidden underneath a hairnet so thin it was practically invisible. She stood perfectly balanced on a ladder with a bucket of glittery pink paint in one hand, paint brush in the other.

"Miranda?" her father yelled, running out of his office after one of the bootlicking shop boys had snitched to him about what was going on. "What the hell do you think you're doing up there, young woman? You get down here before I whoop your ass!"

Miranda ignored her father, cackling like a witch.

The vision faded away, leaving nothing but the closed shop behind, shutters pulled down tight.

Nathan felt like he was being repeatedly slammed with déjà vu as he drove further into the town, his eyes leaping from one place to another, while memories flooded his senses.

There was Clara's Motel, where he and the rest of the Queer Quintet, as they'd dubbed themselves, hung out during their secondary school days, when they wanted to pretend they were anywhere but here, for just a moment. There was Rebecca's, where one could find only the best burgers in town, and where most of them celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, and anything else important. There was Malibu's ice-cream shop, where Nathan had kissed his first serious partner and girlfriend, Bebe, for the first time.

His breath hitched when he passed by Catherine's & Hannah's, previously known as Grimes's Café & Bakery.

"You can't just change the name! We've been called Grimes's for generations; we've got to keep the tradition alive," he could hear his father complaining, his voice as real and clear as if he were standing there right now.

"Traditions change, daddy!" the girls sing-songed, laughing and high-fiving each other as they did every time they said the same thing simultaneously.

"And it's been what? Only four generations? Honestly, Daniel," his mother interjected in exasperation, arms crossed over her chest, her voice thick with emotion. She was in her scrubs, probably on her break at the hospital, but even though he hadn't been there, Nathan knew his mother would be damned if she missed the occasion.

It was the day their father was finally handing over the reins of the shop to his daughters, only after they'd hounded him for months, of course.

"Admit it, darling. You're really just upset because our little girls are growing up."

"I am literally twenty-eight years old," Catherine deadpanned.

"Speak for yourself, I'm already the ridiculously dreaded three zero," Hannah added dryly. "We're way past grown, mummy. Honestly."

Despite their near-death grip on the wheel, Nathan's hands trembled. The sensory overload was too much. He shook the silver bracelet hanging on his right wrist down so one of the charms dangling off of it could settle into his palm. The charm was shaped like a baseball bat – because it was a baseball bat, magically resized to fit onto the bracelet.

Once he made contact, clenching his hand around the charm, his skin buzzed, and he was enveloped in an overwhelming familiar warmth that nearly made his eyes sting. The visions around him faded and disappeared.

"Fuck." He abruptly switched on the radio, distractedly flipping through the channels with a flick of his finger on the steering wheel, but the crackling sound of the news and the music and the interviews were grating instead of calming, so he switched it off.

Mjolnir began to move, sliding slowly from the passenger seat until she was coiled into his lap. She lifted her head until it was resting on his shoulder, her own version of a hug.

Nathan's eyes stung, but he refused to let the tears fall. "This is nice, but you do know you're not as light as you think you are anymore, right?"

Mjolnir's tongue flicked out, tickling his ear. Stop speaking, my darling human, and enjoy the hug.

"Yeah." Nathan laughed a little, the sound genuine this time. "Okay."

He made it through the residential area in one piece, until he was driving the old dirt road up to his family's house, the trees on either side of him thickening until he was completely surrounded in hues of brown and green.

He didn't know how to feel when he finally stopped the car in the driveway, and saw Miles Cooper waiting for him on the front porch.

For a second, all Nathan could see was the other man's aura; the pale white translucent shape of a wolf around his head, wisps of red around the edges signifying an alpha, white and pale yellow forming his core, representing his kindness and sense of responsibility, and the deep, deep blue of grief overflowing from his heart.

Nathan closed his eyes and shook his wrist, clutching the baseball bat charm like a lifeline. When he opened his eyes again, the aura was gone, leaving only his former best friend behind. Still best friends? Nathan didn't know anymore. Their communication over the years had waned the more time had passed. Nathan didn't know what to expect from having Miles here, waiting for him, like he'd known Nathan would try to show up unannounced.

His heart pounded. Was he here to shout about where Nathan's been? About how he'd kept promising to come back – to at least visit – but he never did? Would he yell about how many years had passed, and why Nathan had only returned now?

Was everything going to be harshly, painfully different?

Darling human. Mjolnir's sweet voice brought him back from hyperventilating, her forked tongue gently tickling his cheek.

Nathan inhaled shakily, and gently patted the snake's back. "Thanks, Mo."

Mjolnir flicked her tongue again.

He climbed out of the car, Mjolnir following after him, coiling around his feet, but lifting her head up high. She could tell the man standing on the porch wasn't a threat, because her pose was relaxed, her body waving from side to side almost lazily as her head bobbed in the air.

Miles glanced at the ten-foot-long albino python with barely an eyebrow raise, and Nathan suddenly missed him so fucking much it hurt, even though he was standing right there.

Mjolnir's tongue flicked out. He's not a usual human, is he? she murmured into his head. He smells strange.

Nathan smiled, a wobbly thing. "Miles, meet Mjolnir, my familiar. Mjolnir, this is ... Miles. Or should I say Sheriff?" Nathan wagged his eyebrows.

Miles blushed. "Shut up, Nate. You know it's deputy."

The nickname didn't help Nathan's emotional state. He managed a small but genuine laugh. "Miles is a werewolf, Mjolnir."

Mjolnir hissed. I see.

"Also, Mjolnir? Really, Grimes?"

Nathan grinned. "What can I say? She comes when I call. Are you really surprised?"

Miles shook his head, but his smile was fond. "Not at all." His expression sobered and he titled his head slightly, the movement completely predator-like. "You seem different."

"I mean, it's only been eight years, am I right?" Nathan raised a sarcastic brown, evading the thinly-veiled question. He was still clutching the baseball bat charm. "And look who's talking. You look like a freaking movie star."

Miles blushed again and rolled his eyes. "Still the same old, Grimes."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Nathan mock bowed.

Miles snorted.

Fucking hell, but Miles had grown, hadn't he? He had a fucking beard now, and while he'd been buff when Nathan had last physically seen him – which was back in secondary school – he was even bigger now, his broad shoulders straining in his uniform. The light tan of his, okay, yes, slightly pornographic getup – sue Nathan for being one of those people – greatly complemented his dark brown skin, his afro cropped close to his scalp, his beard neatly trimmed. He even had fucking aviator sunglasses hanging off his breast pocket. The man was a walking wet dream.

Nathan couldn't help it. He whistled, giving Miles a slow, deliberate onceover. "Damn, Cooper. Looking like that, you must be fighting off all the singles left, right and centre."

"Shut the fuck up and get in the house, Grimes." With that, the other man turned around, heading up the porch steps.

Nathan's eyes dropped to his taut, round, well-defined ass in those tan cotton trousers, forgetting briefly that as an alpha werewolf, Miles had metaphorical eyes at the back of his head.

"Jesus fucking Christ," the other man snarled when he felt Nathan's admiring gaze, but Nathan could tell he was blushing.

Nathan laughed.

Maybe things wouldn't be so different after all.

"Mum's been coming over," Miles explained when two of them were in the kitchen, while Nathan's things floated themselves out of his car, into the house and up the steps to his room.

Mjolnir had made a home for herself on the kitchen counter, watching both of them with flickering red eyes.

The werewolf was busy filling the electric kettle underneath the kitchen tap. "She cleans up the place, airs it out and all. We didn't touch anything, of course. Didn't know what you wanted to keep and all that."

"Right." The rock was back in Nathan's throat. "Apart from you, who else is around? Yvonne finally back from her coming-of-age thing?"

Miles snorted. "Nope." If he knew Nathan was deliberately changing the subject, he didn't show it. "Silas is still around. His mum owns Darla's now, and he works there. Rezi left town after his A Levels. He's in London, last I heard. We keep in touch."

Nathan winced, even though he was sure it wasn't meant to be a reprimand. The car doors, the front door, and his bedroom door chose that moment to shut, signalling to Nathan that all his things were now inside the house.

Mjolnir lifted her head at the noise, tongue flicking, before dropping it back down, resting on her coils.

Miles turned around while the kettle was boiling, crossing his arms over his chest and resting against the counter. "Nate, man. It's fucking good to see you."

Nathan clutched desperately at the charm. "Same here." His voice came out unintentionally thick.

Miles softened and dropped his arms. "Come here."

Nathan swallowed with difficulty. "Miles ..."

"Come here, Nate."

Nathan did, jerkily, like he was being controlled with strings.

Miles enveloped him in a tight hug, burying his face in Nathan's throat, rubbing his arms all over him. The wolf in him was re-familiarising itself with Nathan's scent, marking him, trying to make him a part of his pack again. Nathan's chest heaved.

"I'm sorry," Miles whispered, holding him tight, and that was it.

Nathan buried his face in Miles's neck and let out a choked sob. He'd been kidding himself when he'd naively hoped nothing would be different.

His entire family was dead. Everything was going to be different.