Lauren awoke to crashing thunder and her bed jumping several inches off the ground.
"No, honey, come on-" She groaned, groggy, as another crack of thunder boomed through their apartment and her bed was jostled nearly hard enough to toss her right out of it.
Daisy hated thunderstorms, which, sure, if Lauren had dog hearing she would probably also hate them. Completely understandable. 100%.
Lauren got out of bed and onto her hands and knees to look under it, her vision blurry and not adjusted to the dark.
"Sweetie you can't hide under the bed, we talked about this."
Daisy whined pitifully, and a flash of lightning briefly illuminated her cowering with her tail between her legs before the thunder made her jump again, nearly flipping the bed entirely.
Daisy was not small most days, but the moon gave her a few extra inches of height and filled out her physique with muscle. She did not, by any means, fit under the bed. Even when she was still, the bedframe was off-kilter, lifted on her back.
"C'mere Daisy, I've got you. We can go watch TV in the living room, the thunder won't be as scary." Lauren cooed, trying to coax her out. Daisy just kept whimpering into the armful of plushies she had dragged under the bed with her.
"Come on, come here, you're okay..." Lauren said softly, reaching out and taking one of Daisy's hands. "Let's go, it's okay..."
She managed to guide her halfway out from under the bed before another thunderclap rang out and Daisy jumped onto Lauren, squeezing her tight and whimpering into her.
"Oof. Okay. It's okay. We're safe." Lauren groaned, squished under a mountain of anxious werewolf. She reached her arms around her and buried her hands in the thick tufts of fur running down Daisy's neck and back, petting her softly. "We're good. 'S aalllllllll good."
Long minutes passed in Daisy's crushing grip, stroking her fur to calm her down.
"I promise you'll feel better in the living room, Daisy." Said Lauren. "Let's go, okay?"
Daisy slowly, slowly, released her and sat up, giving her the saddest of sad puppy eyes. It broke Lauren's fucking heart, it made her want to fight the sky for doing this to her girlfriend.
She managed to drag Daisy to her feet and herd her into the living room, and deeper into the apartment the thunder didn't come through quite as loudly. She flicked the lights on and sat Daisy on the couch, scratching her behind the ears as she went back to their bedroom.
She grabbed their blankets and Daisy's favourite stuffed animal Mr. Shark, and took them back into the living room where Daisy was sitting, motionless, looking at the black TV screen.
"Oh, hun..." Lauren breathed, draping the blanket over her broad shoulders and placing Mr. Shark in her lap. She grabbed him and wrapped herself in the blanket, which made Lauren a little less worried. "Let's get you some distractions, yeah?"
She put on a nature documentary and snuggled up to her on the couch. The werewolf seemed so much smaller than her body really was, crumpled in on herself like this. She twitched and buried her face into Mr. Shark every time thunder struck outside.
But she was watching the show, and she was letting Lauren pet her, and when the wolf the documentary was currently focused on started chasing down a hare, her ears perked up and her tail swished just a little.
Lauren's stomach grumbled and she checked her phone. 3:41 AM.
That was pretty much breakfast time.
"You want some toaster waffles?" She asked, and Daisy glanced at her and gave a tiny nod. She made her way to the kitchenette and put some in the toaster, leaning on the counter and watching Daisy. She was engrossed now, and when thunder struck she seemed not to notice at all.
The waffles sprung out of the toaster, and Lauren jumped, which she thought was a kinda funny reversal. She put one in her mouth and more in the toaster.
Once those were done she brought the plate back to the couch and cuddled back up to Daisy. They quietly munched on their bounty of frozen food, low-effort but yummy and comforting.
"...Thank you." Mumbled Daisy.
"No problem, puppy. I love you."
"I love you too."
They stayed on the couch, Daisy drifting off to sleep after a few episodes. She shifted back as the moon dipped below the horizon, gradually shrinking and becoming softer. Lauren wormed her way into the blanket and snuggled into her chest, joining her in sleep.
