{"id":182,"date":"2023-04-22T01:00:28","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=182"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:15","slug":"six-floors-up-and-settling-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/six-floors-up-and-settling-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Floors Up and Settling Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hotel balcony, just before dawn<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city was still sleeping. Even the traffic sounded like it had hit the snooze button. Pale lavender hues tinged the skyline as the sun began to rise, casting a soft gold light over rooftops and quiet intersections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane leaned on the hotel balcony railing, elbows resting on the cool concrete, a can of diet Mountain Dew cracked open beside him. The chaos of the previous night still echoed faintly in his ears\u2014the lights, the roar of the crowd, the crash afterward\u2014but now, it felt like he was watching it all from a distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sliding door opened behind him with a quiet whoosh<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel padded out barepaw, still in his band T-shirt, fur sticking up on one side like he’d been battling the pillow and lost. He looked groggy but grounded. No trace of the whirlwind from before. Just him, raw and real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn’t say anything at first. Just stepped up beside Thane and leaned in with a quiet sigh, both clawed hands wrapped around a cup of coffee like it was the only thing tethering him to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few beats of silence, he murmured, \u201cSo\u2026 that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane chuckled softly. \u201cYeah. Sure did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStill vibrating a little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not. But your tail twitched like four times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel gave a tired laugh, sipping his coffee. \u201cI just wanted to impress them, you know? Like\u2026 we\u2019re the new guys. And I didn\u2019t want them thinking we were just the gimmick with claws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane turned to him, resting a forearm on the railing. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to impress anyone, my wolf. You already are<\/em> impressive. You\u2019ve got talent, heart, and a terrifying relationship with caffeine. That\u2019s more than enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel gave him a side-eye and a crooked grin. \u201cTerrifying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTruly. Like, OSHA should be notified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They stood there for a while, watching the sun come up in companionable quiet. The air was crisp, the city slowly waking below. Somewhere in a room across the way, a curtain twitched, and a dog barked once, as if to confirm that yes, the day had officially begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel shifted closer, shoulder brushing Thane\u2019s. \u201cThanks for being there last night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou really mean that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane gave a small nod, eyes fixed on the horizon. \u201cEven if you dive off the deep end, I\u2019ll be the one swimming after you. With a rope. And a fire extinguisher. And probably Mark yelling in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel chuckled again. \u201cI\u2019m really lucky, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane finally turned toward him and met his eyes. \u201cWe both are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They stayed there as the sun rose higher, casting long, golden rays across the world\u2014and just for a moment, it felt like everything was exactly where it needed to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hotel balcony, just before dawn The city was still sleeping. Even the traffic sounded like it had hit the snooze button. Pale lavender hues tinged the skyline as the sun began to rise, casting a soft gold light over rooftops and quiet intersections. Thane leaned on the hotel balcony railing, elbows resting on the cool […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3299,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/3299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}