twelve
"howl with me!"

—

—

   "I'M SORRY, YOU'RE SAYING YOU went on a date with Buck?"

   Lynn rolled her bright blue eyes for what seemed like the millionth time today, and she glared daggers towards Hen sitting across from her. The two woman were relaxing in the living rooms, on the somewhat couch. Lynn was curled up with a book on her lap, where Hen was fiddling away on her phone.

   "It wasn't a date," Lynn stated firmly, and then she dramatically flew her arms up to cover her eyes, from Hen, from the light, from everything. "Why does everyone keep saying it's a date?"

   "Oh, I don't know, Lynn," Hen fake pondered for a moment, placing her fingers underneath her chin for amusement. "Maybe because what you just described sounds like the perfect date?"

   "We both said it was a friend thing," Lynn countered, picking her soft covered book and tossing it back on the wooden coffee table in front of her.

   It had been two shifts since the little get together Lynn and Buck shared on Valentines while getting accidentally matched together. The two were awkward at first, which was odd because it was almost always just a fumbling Lynn with a confident Buck, but the tide seemed to take a shift. But, eventually they croaked back to their old ways of teasing and bullying each other, so it was all normal again.

   "Evelynn, be totally honest," Hen replied, placing a supportive hand on Lynn's thigh. "If you had that but with a man you had never met before, and not Buck, wouldn't you have thought it was the best date ever?"

   Lynn opened her pink lips to snarkily reply, but no words seemed to fall from her lips. Hen huffed in achievement, moving back on the arm of the couch with a proud smile. Lynn clasped her mouth back shut, and she almost glanced down her hands on her lap with utter confusion.

   Henrietta was right. Lynn would've thought the amazing night would've been the best date in history, if it had been any other person other than Buck.

   "God, why couldn't it have been any other human being on planet earth?" Lynn whined, stretching her arms out into the air as she laid backwards in the couch.

   Lynn's annoyed attitude and rolled eyes seemingly stopped when Buck slowly made his way up the stairs, and the smallest of smiles stretched onto her face at seeing his contagious one. But before anybody could notice, she quickly composed herself.

   "Hey, yo, Evie, you wanna head down to the carnival with me?" Buck questioned, and Lynn confusingly at the boy, curiosity bubbling in her eyes.

   "You do realize we're on shift right now," Lynn pointed out, glancing over to Hen while the two women let out small laughs.

   "Cap said he wanted two of us down there with the whole, you know, divide and conquer quest on our full moon shift," Buck grinned, and Lynn had no idea why he enjoyed working the full moon shifts, even though he had only worked one previously.

   "The craziness and excitement of full moons dies down after a few shifts, so, when are you gonna get over your fun?" Lynn questioned, jumping up from her seat on the couch as she adjusted her uniform.

   "C'mon, the freaks and the creeps are out tonight, how can't you be excited?"

•••

   "I wonder how the rest of the guys are doing, probably enjoying their full moon while we get nobody to save."

   The full moon shift was surprisingly going swiftly and smoothly, at least for Lynn and Buck who were comfortably enjoying a stroll on the wooden pier near the carnival. They had only dealt with one person, an older woman who had a panic attack while going on the ferris wheel, but other than that, it was a relaxing night.

   "Take that as a win," Lynn retorted, adjusting her medic bag swinging gently on her shoulder, squeezing past a young adult couple who thought making out on a bench was a good idea.

   It was a cooler night in California, for once, it wasn't smoldering hot where she could sweat all of her body's water. It was especially dreadful while on duty with her heavy uniform, so the chilling wind was a nice touch.

   "I don't know about you, but I'm climbing the walls," Buck explained, letting his arms stretch out above his head before falling back to his hips. "My last full moon was fun, you know, we had this guy—"

   "—Evan, I was there," Lynn interrupted, letting a chuckle roll from her lips as she shook her head. "The guy was completely and utterly high where he stripped naked and started running the streets claiming Jesus was calling him, he's lucky he didn't die."

   "You know what, Evie, you never have fun," Buck stated, stopping in his steps while moving a few feet out of the way of oncoming foot traffic. Lynn did the same thing, and she slightly narrowed her blue eyes at the man, waiting for him to continue. "I mean, you can let out a laugh or two when there's a funny call, you don't have to be a robot all the time."

   "I am most definitely not a robot," Lynn protested, warningly waving her index finger towards Buck's face. "I have fun."

   Suddenly, making Lynn jump in her skin, the man standing beside her starting howling like a damn wolf as loud as he possibly could. She let out a snort that she couldn't hold back, and she had to cover her mouth with both hands to stop her laughs from echoing any louder. An older man and woman sent glaring daggers towards the two paramedics as they walked past them.

   "Howl with me," Buck stated, his grin growing by the second, his blue eyes not even landing on any of the questioning people. "If you're not a robot and complete fun vacuum, then you'll howl."

   "Evan, I am not howling at a damn full moon with you," Lynn snickered, glancing over to another man who was staring awfully hard at them. "We're on a shift! All someone has to do is call and—"

   "—See, this is why you don't have fun," Buck sneered, and Lynn tried her best to make a fake hurt expression, the one that he always dramatically sends to her. "You need to just let lose! Don't look at them, you always overthink things, you just gotta stop worrying about things way out of your control."

   Lynn's amused face dropped a bit and a more serious one replaced it as she listened, and she knew deep down that everyone word Buck said was completely accurate.

   If you had known Lynn as a child, you wouldn't be able to recognize the bright and cheerful brunette from then to this sadder, more stressed version from this moment. A lot of things drastically changed the way Lynn was, her personality, her life, everything about her seemed to shift in a different direction.

   She used to flip people the bird who sent her weird glances, she used to dance with random boys and go on dates whenever she pleased. She didn't plot out every different event that could possibly take place, and she was comfortable in her own skin. It's not that Lynn got decreasingly attractive as the years went by, because if anything, she grew more into her body as she got older.

   People changed Lynn with their bad experiences, and then certain life events took place that changed her view on the world.

   She couldn't even recognize herself anymore.

   Without another word, the same toothy grin returned to Lynn's face as she glanced up to the moon. She let out the loudest, more annoying wolf howl she could muster, closing her eyes as she rose her arms up in the air, almost in a victory.

   "Yes! Exactly!" Buck exclaimed alongside her, leaning his head up as he let out a howl with the girl.

   The two howled for another second, before stopping and letting laughs fill the air. Lynn glanced to the rippling water at the end of the pier, shaking her head as a wide grin covered her face. She didn't see, but Buck was gazing down at the girl with a prideful smile.

   "You're a dork," Lynn replied, glancing up towards the boy beside her, and he tried his best to be nonchalant about staring at her.

   "Um, ma'am, if you didn't hear," Buck started, stifling laughter as he spoke. "You also howled with me, so evidently that makes you a dork as well."

•••

   "Alright, folks, coming through."

   Lynn and Buck tried their best to squeeze and wiggle through the crowd, but most people must be deaf now because they weren't listening to a single word they were saying. Thankfully, it wasn't a full on emergency, otherwise that would've sparked trouble.

   "Excuse us, please!" Buck announced again, and they came upon a claw arcade game with the stuffed animals, however, there was a smiling young girl stuck inside with a plush kitty in her hands. Buck grinned towards the girl, and he spoke again but with a higher voice. "Hi. Whatcha you doing in there? I'm gonna have to take you out if that's okay with you."

   The little girl smiled happily, throwing around the plushie while giggling, and the child was making both Lynn and Buck melt at her adorable sight.

   "You're gonna be just fine," Lynn stated, tapping the glass with her index fingers while Buck pulled out the screwdriver gun so he could unhook the side of the glass. She gained the girls beautiful eyes on her, so she didn't seem too frightened by the loud drilling noise. "Hi there, you like kitties? You know I used to one that looked just like the one you're holding!"

   Lynn liked to think she was good with kids, and she hoped that everyone else thought so too. Bad calls with kids seemed to hit her heart harder than the others, maybe because it reminded her of past memories with her father.

   After a moment, Buck was able to pop open the glass door easily while gaining the attention from Lynn's little story. He waved his arms out in front of him, and sent the girl a caring smile.

   "Hi, are you ready?" Buck questioned, his tone of voice still higher pitched. When the girl nodded, Buck scooped her up in his muscles arms with a grin. "Yeah? Watch your head. Oh, I got you."

   Lynn stared at the image of Buck with the little girl in his arms, her giggly smile with his goofy one. He seemed good with kids, from the few times he's been seen interacting with them. Buck was getting more and more perfect as the days went on.

   Buck passed off the little girl to her mother, who thanked the two paramedics with a broad smile. "I can't believe they didn't have a key for this."

   "Don't worry. It's, uh, it's one of those nights," Buck replied, simply waving the girl off. Then, his eyes landed back on the little girl, and he reached his hand back into the machine to grab that same all-black kitten plushie she was holding previously. "And here. Congratulations on your meow-meow!"