Chapter Text
This wasn’t the usual escort job Wolfwood was called to do. Often his job called him to escort a girl home after dark if she didn’t have a ride, or the occasional sex worker who needed him to stand outside of the room and hope they don’t have to shout the safe word he told them to call if their client started abusing them. But he supposed all kinds of people need protection every now and then. Even if they look like they can handle themselves just fine.
Working as a bodyguard for hire was a convenient job to have when you needed a flexible schedule the way he did. He could work his ass off as much as possible and take the necessary days off for the full moon so he and Livio could transform and recover the next day in peace away from human eyes.
Still, it was a lot to juggle at once. Livio happened to be taking classes on the same campus as his client, as Wolfwood elected to work to help support himself and his brother. Once Livio was done earning his degree, he figured he’d investigate getting certified in a trade of some kind. But for now, protection was his bread and butter. Besides, he didn’t really have much of a choice but to work his ass off right now anyway. Keeping Livio and him away from their old pack leader had been his top priority for the past year.
Wolfwood opened his work app on his phone to make sure he had the correct address as he approached the front door after parking his bike. “Vash Saverem,” he said to himself as he looked at the request on his phone. The name sounded like a guy’s name. He didn’t typically get men, but he wasn’t going to judge a paying customer.
He raised his fist and knocked on the door of the apartment, the sound of light footsteps grew louder as the front door opened. A young man around his age peaked from behind the opening door, a halo of sunny blonde hair gently fluffed upwards and cascaded over his forehead. Delicate features graced his face as if he was modeled after an angel of God himself. Bright blue eyes, adorned with a beauty mark under the left, gazing at Wolfwood, who stared at him slack jawed.
“Gorgeous…” Wolfwood muttered under his breath.
“Uh, excuse me?” he asked, puzzled.
Wolfwood cleared his throat snapping himself out of his head, willing the blush off his cheeks “Uh, Hi. Hello. I’m the guard you ordered. We can leave when you’re ready.”
The blonde raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I’m sorry sir, I think you might have the wrong apartment.” His voice was just as soft and graceful as his face, Wolfwood almost didn’t register what he said.
“Vash, right?” Wolfwood asked, awkwardly holding up the proof on his phone to the perplexed blonde, “Vash Saverem?”
“Yes…?” He said as he leaned in to look over the screen. He examined it for a moment before his eyebrows furrowed as he groaned, “I apologize, but I think my brother ordered this for me.”
Vash pointed to the name under the card payment reading “Nai Saverem.” Wolfwood looked over the order and the wall of text under “special instructions” he hadn’t noticed before, eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he saw the request.
This order is for my younger twin brother. You are to escort him on campus to his first scheduled lab for the day. I should already be there as my day starts much earlier. You are not to let him cancel this escort. If you are not with him as he is escorted to me, I will assume it was canceled or you are a fool who cannot follow basic instructions and I will get a refund on the app. I need someone competent to look after him since I cannot always be with him. DO NOT LEAVE HIM WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN ME. That includes his friends, a teacher, or any random parasite who seeks to pick on him. This shouldn’t be too difficult to handle. Do not disappoint me.
Yikes. And Wolfwood thought he was protective of Livio, but this guy was on a different level. Fraternal love was one thing, but this was a Freudian wet dream. This man should be studied. He slowly looked up at Vash, awkwardly, “uh, it says I won’t be paid unless I’m with you during the drop off.”
Vash already had his phone to his ear dialing his brother. It didn’t take long before he heard a stern “hello” from the other line. Wolfwood gestured he would stand down in the hallway to give Vash the illusion of privacy. His wolf-like hearing abilities wouldn’t make it possible to give Vash real privacy unless he left the apartment building in general.
He could hear the phone ring two times before a serious “hello” echoed on the other side.
“Um, hi?? Did you order me an escort?” Vash demanded; his cheeks were red from embarrassment.
“Of course I did. What did you expect after what you told me?” His brother sounded extremely abrasive. The note said they were twins, but it seems like they couldn’t be more different.
“I was really hoping you would just let that go, Nai. It was just a stupid incident at a party.” Vash complained.
“Oh? Just a stupid incident?” His brother started to lecture him before he was cut off.
“Ok, it was serious, but I handled it ok?” He insisted.
“Running away isn’t handling it.” Nai scolded. “Mom and I were worried, so we agreed to try this.”
Wolfwood cringed as his sensitive ears rang, Vash’s shriek piercing them from down the hallway, “you told mom??”
“Well, what did you expect me to do, Vash? You usually talk to her all the time and went radio silent after that happened. She called me worried, and I wasn’t going to lie to her.” Nai’s tone softened a bit when their mother was brought up. Judging by how Vash went silent, Wolfwood assumed this sort of scolding was routine between the two of them.
There was a sigh on the other end of the phone, “look, just let the bodyguard get you to me today. We’ll talk about this later.”
“But,” Vash started to protest before his brother cut him off.
“This is not a negotiation Vash. That’s final,” Nai seemed to raise his voice a bit, his patience running dry.
Vash sighed, defeated. “Ok. See you later.”
Wolfwood looked over to Vash after hearing the phone hang up. His head hanging, face in hands as he gently rubbed his temples. Wolfwood cautiously approached him, unsure of how to handle the situation. Vash sighed then looked up at him with an empty smile.
“Ok! I’ll grab my bag and we can head out.” He said cheerfully as he turned on his heels back into his apartment to get his things. Wolfwood raised an eyebrow. Despite his tone sounding genuine Wolfwood could tell he was faking it. When Vash returned, he smiled at him again and locked his front door.
“Okie dokie! Let’s go,” he said as he started towards the parking lot downstairs. Wolfwood stared for a moment before following, ultimately deciding it was better not to ask.
Vash was quiet until Wolfwood straddled his motorcycle; a helmet being shoved into his hand. The blonde’s eye’s darted from the bike back to the man who sat on it.
“Um…” Vash started; discomfort written all over his face. Wolfwood cut him off right away, as if he’s had this conversation on a regular basis.
“It’s not far, I won’t go too fast, never had a wreck in my life, and I’m a real safe driver.” He assured him.
“Uh, right…” Vash mumbled as he shoved the helmet over his head, hopping on the back of the bike. He jumped as the engine roared, the rumbling doing nothing to calm his nerves.
“Hang on tight, Blondie,” Wolfwood shouted over the loud bike, his stomach flipping as he felt Vash wrap his arms around his waist tightly like a child clinging to their favorite stuffed animal. Wolfwood could feel the timid shaking and gasps against his back as he took off towards their destination.
Wolfwood kept his word to drive safely, but Vash still seemed rattled as he parked his bike and turned the engine off. His hold on Wolfwood wasn’t letting up, even after the engine was cut. A calloused hand reached down and gently tapped Vash’s right forearm, a small, started squeak escaping from under the helmet protecting Vash’s head.
“We’re here Blondie. You did good.” Wolfwood said as he removed his helmet. Vash quickly retracted his arms from around the strong waist he clung to, removing this helmet as well, “s-sorry!”
Wolfwood chuckled a little, “don’t apologize. Sorry for scaring ya.”
Vash stumbled off the motorcycle, gangly legs seemingly tangling up with each other as he almost fell to the pavement. “I wasn’t scared!” he insisted, cheeks turning pink.
Wolfwood stifled a laugh as he leaned down to help him back to his feet.
As they walked into campus, Vash began leading Wolfwood to the labs to meet his brother. It would have gone smoothly had they not been stopped by another student. Vash stopped in his tracks and his body went rigid. Wolfwood could sense this heart rate spike and his adrenaline climb.
The way Vash’s body language changed, Wolfwood assumed this was the reason he was hired. He didn’t get the full picture of what may have happened from the phone call, but he figured it had to do with some jerk who peaked in high school. He took a strong step forward, instinctively put himself between Vash and the other man.
“Something I can help you with?” Wolfwood asked him flatly.
The other man was eye to eye with Wolfwood, shooting him a glare.
“I’m just trying to have a word with my friend there,” he casually said, gesturing to Vash.
Wolfwood made a ‘tch’ sound and shook his head, “doesn’t seem like you’re his friend to me, judgin by the way he went white as a ghost when you came up to ‘im.” He looked over his shoulder at Vash, “you friends with this guy Blondie?”
Vash jumped, pink dusting his cheeks, “uh, no. We’re…not.” He admitted.
Wolfwood nodded and turned back towards the stranger. “There you have it. You got no business here.”
The man sighed, frustrated, but smiled, trying to placate Wolfwood. “Look, I just wanna have a word over an encounter we both had over the weekend. Just wanna make sure it needs to stay between us, and there’s no need to get college faculty involved.”
Wolfwood’s eyebrows started to furrow as he began to piece together what may have happened. Then this guy places a hand on his shoulder. Wolfwood’s eye twitched at the touch. He could feel his blood boiling over as the guy continued to try to relate to him.
“C’mon, you’re a tough guy. You know how it is. Ambitious guys like us take what we want when we see it. I’m sure you understand.”
Wolfwood balled his hand into a fist, trying to keep his voice even, “can’t say I relate. Take your hand off me. Now.”
Vash began to panic, sensing the situation escalating, “h-hey guys… I’m sure we can resolve this without violence.” He looked at the guy Wolfwood was staring daggers at, “look I’m not gonna tell anyone ok? You don’t have to worry.”
His tormentor smiled, “good to hear it.” He patted Wolfwood’s shoulder, “see tough guy? No need for violence. Besides, I was just trying to do the little freak a favor anyway. Girls who do that to themselves just need some good dick, right? Then they quit with all that ‘trying to be a boy’ crap.”
Vash’s face fell in defeat, averting his gaze away from the other two. The tight angry thread in Wolfwood’s gut snapped. Without thinking he raised his fist and struck the man across the temple, dropping him.
Sullen hurt turned to pure shock as Vash stood mouth opened, stunned and unable to speak as he stared at his bully lying unconscious on the cold hard pavement.
Other students around gasped and whispered to each other. Vash alternated between staring at Wolfwood then to the man he laid out on the ground until he fully processed what happened.
“H-hey! I thought I said there was no need to get violent!” Vash shouted as Wolfwood took him by his hand and proceeded to walk in the direction they were meant to meet Nai.
The furious adrenaline began to cool down as Wolfwood pulled Vash towards their destination. He began to think about what he just did as the cogs in his brain started turning, attempting to justify striking someone who didn’t hit first.
“Yep. I heard you. He uh. Put his hands on me first. My job permits me to get physical if the situation calls for it,” Wolfwood said quickly. It wasn’t exactly a lie. He had the license and met all his credentials for his job and was permitted to enact force when it was called for. But whether this situation called for it or not…? That was up for debate.
“Yeah right!” Vash shouted, “all he did was pat your shoulder. You just lost your temper!”
Wolfwood was quiet as Vash scolded him on their way towards the labs. He hoped that he’d run out of steam by the time they reached the building, but Vash was still chastising him. At that point he had had enough. Wolfwood, still with a hold on Vash’s wrist, pulled him closer so that they were face to face, making piercing eye contact with the blonde.
Vash squeaked at the sudden movement, cheeks reddening under Wolfwood’s stare.
“Look Blondie, your brother hired me to do a job, and I’m doing it. If you don’t like how it’s done, take it up with him.” Wolfwood grumbled as his eyes averted Vash’s stunned gaze.
“Besides,” he continued, “you might be cool with letting go of it when someone is spewing that hateful crap, but I’m not.”
Vash’s expression softened a bit as Wolfwood released his hand and continued towards their destination. He hesitated before continuing, breaking into a light jog until he caught up with his guard again.
Things fell silent between them until Vash broke it. “It’s not that I’m cool with it. I just don’t like violence.” He mumbled sheepishly.
Wolfwood sighed, eyes glancing over to look at Vash’s pout. He couldn’t help thinking what a stupid take it was to have, given the circumstances.
“There you are,” Nai said, concerned, as they both entered the lab he was working in. Wolfwood assumed they were both working on some sort of environmental science judging by the looks of all the textbooks Vash’s brother had opened at his desk.
“I was getting worried we got an incompetent escort.” He continued, “what took you so long?”
Wolfwood’s eye twitched again. He had a feeling Vash’s brother was going to be a bigger pain in person. Vash set his bag down on their desk and cringed, “I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that my escort knocked that guy out cold in the commons area.”
If Nai was happy, he sure had a subtle way of showing it. All he did was raise one eyebrow and panned his stare over to Wolfwood.
“That so?” He asked.
Wolfwood stared back at him, nonchalantly shrugging.
“Yeah…” Vash mumbled.
Nai hummed and pulled his wallet out from his back pocket and approached Wolfwood with no change in his expression. He reached in and pulled out a 50-dollar bill and held it out to Wolfwood.
“Your tip. Thanks, I can take it from here.”
Wolfwood hesitated but accepted the money, nodding in gratitude as he took his own wallet out to store his generous tip. He glanced at Vash who quickly averted his gaze, as if he was caught staring at something he shouldn’t be.
“Nice meeting you, Blondie.” Wolfwood called to him.
Vash waved at Wolfwood, cheeks pink as he watched the rugged man turn and leave. Despite the scolding he gave him and what a pain his brother was, he was surprised that it wasn’t entirely untrue that it was nice. It always did his conscious good to make things safer for someone else, and Vash sure was fun to look at. Even when he was yelling at him.
Wolfwood doubted he’d see him again, though.
Usually repeat customers happen when they are at risk of being in danger regularly. Typically, guys like the one he socked are cowardly, they just act big until someone else comes along who bites way harder.
It was probably for the best though. He couldn’t get so carelessly involved with humans like that, especially one so cute.
Even still, thoughts of Vash clouded his mind as he fumbled to return his wallet to his jacket pocket and made his way home for the day.