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When Arawn is born, his parents and the doctors, nurses, everyone thinks there's something wrong with him. He doesn't have a familiar.
When Arawn starts paying attention to his surroundings, his parents get worried all over again. He keeps reaching for nothing, babbling at empty air, giggling straight out of nowhere.
Aleksander and Claudia are so, so worried but no-one can tell why it is that their precious little boy doesn't seem to have a familiar. But it's fine. It has to be fine because otherwise their little ray of sunshine will end up living a lonely, shunned life and neither of them wants that for him.
When Arawn is four, he tells them that he has a dog called Grim "'cause he's like the ones in Mama's tales about the dogs in the cemeteries". Claudia has absolutely no idea what to make of his son, apparently, having a black dog as his familiar. A familiar no-one else seems capable of seeing.
***
When Peter is born, everyone expects his familiar to be a wolf or a dog or at least a pack animal of some kind, just like his older sister and his mother and his father and most of the rest of the family. None of them know what to make of the huge snake that curls around Peter as soon as he's put down in a crib and doesn't let anyone but Olivia, Peter's mother, anywhere close to him and even that's accompanied by a warning hiss every damn time. A hiss and eyes that never stop accusing and suspecting until Peter is safely among the snake's coils again.
When Peter is five and sees The Jungle Book for the first time, he names the snake Kaa. By that time everyone knows it's a python. Talia rolls her eyes and mumbles something about being obvious. Olivia just coos about how cute it is.
When Peter is twenty-six, Kaa becomes even more protective than usual, more clingy, more suspicious. It gets to the point where Peter can't even meet with friends because his familiar scares them too much. (no-one cares that everyone knows that a familiar is a reflection of a soulmate's soul and his is clearly suffering)
Until one afternoon, when Kaa just suddenly goes limp, seems to stop caring about everything and anything. The only thing that stays the same is the way Kaa refuses to let Peter leave him anywhere.
***
When Arawn is ten, he becomes Stiles. He spends more nights crying into Grim's fur than he spends sleeping. Grim growls at Jackson more than ever before, even if the boy can't hear it, even if the boy's words don't hurt as much as Mama's. Grim curls around him wherever he can fit, which isn't in that many places, mostly Stiles' bed. Grim is the only solid thing in his life, it seems. (and isn't that ironic considering he's ethereal more than anything)
Until one afternoon when Stiles does what Mama asks and Grim howls in mourning while Stiles cries and cries and listens to the never-ending high-pitched wail of the heart monitor.
When Stiles is ten and nine months, he wakes up to Grim howling and whining and rolling on the ground like he's trying to put out a fire. Stiles' frantic questions and pleas for what's wrong bring the Sheriff running to the room (and for the first time he stops and just stares at the huge snow white wolf next to his son's bed) just a moment before the phone rings downstairs and calls the Sheriff to work on what ends up being one of the worst nights of his life on the job.
***
When Peter is twenty-seven, he burns and burns and burns.
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When Stiles is ten and nine months, Grim stops moving and just sleeps and sleeps and sleeps.
***
When Peter is twenty-seven, Kaa curls on his chest and refuses to let anyone close. The doctors are amazed when they start seeing marks of healing even without treatment. They attribute it to an uncommonly strong bond between soulmates.
***
When Stiles is fifteen, Grim stirs for the first time in years.
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When Peter is thirty-two, he feels Kaa's tongue flicking against his face just for a moment.
***
When Stiles is sixteen, he shows up to school with a monstrous white wolf that has terrible scarring on its right side and mean red eyes.
***
When Peter is thirty-three, he gets to run under the Moon's light for the first time in years. Kaa is draped around his shoulders.
***
When they meet for the first time, Stiles bursts into tears and runs to Peter.
When they meet for the first time, Peter wraps his arms around Stiles and swears he'll wipe out the Argent family for his soulmate.