{"id":65,"date":"2023-03-24T01:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T06:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=65"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:15","slug":"still-standing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/still-standing\/","title":{"rendered":"Still Standing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Backstage, moments before the lights go up<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rigging was fixed, the cables coiled, and the stage lights hummed back to life \u2014 finally. The crew had mostly scattered, retreating to their posts or melting into the dark corners where they could do their work unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Thane lingered in the wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stood there, arms crossed, ice-blue eyes flicking across the stage where Gabriel adjusted his tuning in quiet concentration. That red bass gleamed in the glow of the fixed spotlight, and Gabriel \u2014 back turned \u2014 was nodding faintly to the beat in his head, tail swaying ever so slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guilt pricked at Thane like a thorn in his paw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a slow breath, he padded forward. His clawed feet made the faintest clicks on the wood floor, but Gabriel didn\u2019t look up. Not until Thane stood beside him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey,\u201d Thane said, voice low \u2014 quieter than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel glanced up, his expression unreadable at first. Then came that slight tilt of the ears, the same look he always gave when he was trying to decide if he should be mad or amused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was out of line earlier,\u201d Thane muttered. \u201cYou didn\u2019t deserve that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel blinked, slowly resting his clawed hand over the strings to silence them. \u201cNo,\u201d he said, gently, \u201cbut I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane scratched behind his neck, visibly uncomfortable. \u201cI wasn\u2019t just pissed about the light. It\u2019s everything. The venue\u2019s understaffed, we\u2019re down a fog unit, and I haven\u2019t even checked the comms board. I snapped. I shouldn\u2019t\u2019ve snapped at you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel gave him a long, slow look\u2026 then reached up and pressed his nose softly to Thane\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quiet nuzzle. No words. No dramatics. Just warmth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane let out a low rumble of relief and leaned into it, his claws brushing Gabriel\u2019s arm in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou always make it through,\u201d Gabriel said, voice barely more than a whisper. \u201cEven when you’re claw-deep in chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Thane said, with the faintest smile, \u201cbut it\u2019s easier when I\u2019ve got my wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That drew a grin from Gabriel. \u201cDamn right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stagehand’s voice crackled over the comms: “Feral Eclipse, five minutes to go time.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel backed off just slightly and gave Thane\u2019s chest a soft tap with the back of his hand. \u201cLet\u2019s go melt some faces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane chuckled, his earlier tension finally breaking. \u201cJust don\u2019t fall off the stage this time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel smirked. \u201cOnly if you promise not to fall off the ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backstage, moments before the lights go up. The rigging was fixed, the cables coiled, and the stage lights hummed back to life \u2014 finally. The crew had mostly scattered, retreating to their posts or melting into the dark corners where they could do their work unnoticed. But Thane lingered in the wings. He stood there, […]<\/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-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","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=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3325,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/3325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}