The Other Animals

Chapter 15

There was an uncomfortable silence amongst the three men at the dinner table, the only sound that could be heard was the silverware scraping against the ceramic plates. William kept his head low, indulging in his son's delicious pasta while he examined the pair of men across from him. He knew something had changed, judging by the way they snuck side glances at each other and emitted little chortles of laughter whenever one of them would poke the other. It was just like one of those nauseating couples from high school that could ever seem to stay out of each other's personal space in the hallways.

"So. . . Nikolai, what made you interested in my son?" William asked, keeping his eyes down to his plate as he stabbed pieces of penne onto his fork.

Nikolai looked over to Oliver slyly, grabbing his hand under the table as they both adorned love sick grins. "Well, when I saw him at the restaurant, I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and he was sweet, funny, hard working. . ."

William hummed, leaning back in his wooden chair, clasping his hands over his stomach. "You seem like a good man Nikolai, I hope I can trust you to take care of my son. He's my entire world, you know."

"I understand, sir. I care about Oliver a lot, I would never hurt him and I only want the best for him," Nikolai replied sincerely, squeezing Oliver's hand. William continued to look at the two with a calculated stare, and Nikolai would be lying if he said the man didn't intimidate him. Although he was much larger, and could probably beat William to a pulp if he wanted to, it was something about that stare of his that felt like he was psychoanalyzing everything Nikolai did. Nikolai guessed that it was just the scientist within William.

Glancing at Oliver, who seemed completely unaffected by his father's unnerving gaze, had a stoic look on his face.

"Nikolai and I just made our relationship official today," he said nonchalantly, finishing off his plate.

"Oh? Did you now?" William inquired, staring at Nikolai. Of course Oliver saw no issue in bringing that up, but Oliver's father would be less inclined to put the blame on him than he would Nikolai.

"Well, I suppose I should say welcome to the family," he smiled tightly, holding out a hand across the wooden table. Nikolai shook his hand firmly with a tight smile, and William had a mischievous smile of his own.

"I couldn't help but notice. . ." William trailed off, folding his napkin delicately and setting it next to his plate. He crossed his arms and leaned heavily on the table, before continuing: "You're a pretty big man, that kind of thing run in your family?"

The werewolf was caught slightly off guard, and he could feel himself tense, which William seemed to note, making him even more nervous. Nikolai knew his size was a tad off putting, and it didn't help that werewolves were naturally taller and had an easier time gaining muscle mass. They also had the metabolism of a cricket, and he still felt hungry despite the large serving of pasta he had. "Yeah. . . my mom and dad are both tall. I was always a tall kid."

"Sounds like your family has some real good genes," William nodded.

"I guess I never really thought of it like that. . ." Nikolai trailed off in discomfort.

"Okay! Well, dad, I'm sure you have made my boyfriend incredibly uncomfortable, and I think Nikolai needs to be heading off now, right?" Oliver smiled reassuringly, placing a hand on Nikolai's shoulder gently.

"Right, I don't want to overstay my welcome," Nikolai agreed, and the two started to get up.

"Nonsense, you're welcome over here anytime Nikolai!" William eventually got up, clapping his son's boyfriend on the back.