Darian woke up early simply because he was in charge of patrol, even if he hadn't been, knowing Leon, the Head Warrior would have most likely forgotten he even had a job.
It would be just him, exactly how he preferred it.
It was a weekend so only an emergency would require the other Warriors to show up.
He and Leon were basically the only full time Warriors, the others had other jobs they did, some were still students and joined for clout.
Darian didn't care why they did it as long as they could do the job, he was fine.
He drove out of the Pack House, his patrol route today would just be the route of the Pack run, he would just shift, run through and back and he could make his way back to his apartment.
He took off his shirt after driving his truck as deep as it would go, while it would be rare to find a human in these parts, there was always that insane one who would be going hiking or adventuring in the pines of Pine Creek.
Now while he wasn't against an early breakfast, he rather liked his food cooked.
He shifted and took off, wasting no time. He wanted to be back early just because, also he was pretty sure that Leon would be a wreck that morning, he couldn't pass up on that.
The patrol went on smoothly, there had been an intense watch the week before, plus patrols only got serious when there was something to look out for otherwise, occasionally checking in did just fine.
On a whim, he wandered around on his way back to his car, no direction in mind as he looked around.
Moving around in his wolf form meant that he covered a lot of ground even while trotting, it wasn't long while wandering that he found Leon's cottage.
Had he been subconsciously heading here? Why would he do that? He wasn't interested in the other Warrior's extracurricular activities.
Snapping out of his brief spell of distraction, Darian spun around and made his way back, this time around he would leave for sure.
The sun was slowly rising, he had been out long enough.
As he drove back to the Pack House, the first rays of sunlight pouring around, a memory came to mind.
It was of him and Leon returning from a joint patrol like any other and Leon, the idiot had made him stop the car to watch the sunrise.
He knew Leon wasn't sentimental like that and had just wanted to tick him off, what he didn't know however was why the memory resurfaced.
Maybe it was because it was sunrise and he was thinking of teasing Leon, that made sense.
The Pack Houses came into view, two large buildings standing side by side, he drove straight for his parking lot, already out of the car before the engine fully stopped.
He swept up the stairs quickly. Curiously, Jaxon hadn't told him about his date with Leon.
It intrigued him to know the reason why because Jaxon never hesitated about these things, if Leon did something, he usually ranted about it to Darian.
Darian, who was already long aware, most times before Jaxon but he wasn't about to tell him that.
So why wouldn't Jaxon tell him now?
Did he feel guilty somewhat? That would only mean that he was also interested in Darian and boy if that wasn't a win.
He was surprised to bump into Leon as he was about to make his way into his apartment.
Leon was also doing the same a couple paces down but instead into his twin's apartment.
He was wrapped up in thick blankets like a croissant, clutching a far too big mug of what smelled like hot chocolate.
"Leo?" He called in disbelief, his eyes wide with apparent surprise.
Leon perked up at the other's voice, he had run out of marshmallows and was about to bother his twin for some but Ian slept like a log and refused to wake up.
"D, man, good thing you're back." Leon exclaimed, hurrying over in his direction.
He had lost count of the mugs of hot choco he had drank and might be a little drunk on the dark, sweet liquid but it was still far better than alcohol plus he felt much better now, less nervous.
Darian had already opened his front door, his mouth dropping in a gape as Leon waddled past him, right through the open door like he had invited the annoying werewolf in.
"Do you have any marshmallows?" He asked seriously, already heading for the kitchen without waiting for his response like they lived together.
"My hot choco is getting cold." He complained, his voice trailing off as he disappeared from view.
Darian did not recover at all, Leon still looked every bit as threatening, his piercings in, as expected but yet he managed to pull off a calm, sleepy look…
Crashing sounds from his kitchen spun him into action and he dashed forward, closing the door behind him.
"Leo! What the fuck? Leo…" He stopped at the door to the kitchen, stunned.
Leon was on the ground, his blankets spread all around him with marshmallows everywhere.
"How the fuck did all this even happen?" He demanded in disbelief, striding forward.
Luckily, Leon had wisely kept his drink on the counter before reaching for his precious marshmallows or the dark liquid would have added to the fray as well.
Leon cursed, rolling to his side while clutching his head. "Why do you have so many rolling pins? And why are they in the same cupboard as the marshmallows?" He muttered in a tight voice, obviously in pain.
Darian easily ignored him, starting to clear up the mess, he took a large bowl to gather up all the spilt marshmallows.
"My mom." He shrugged, it was true.
Dia kept forgetting that she had already given him a lot of rolling pins before he left the house to stay at the Pack House and occasionally sent him rolling pins.
She was most likely panicking that her first son wouldn't get the chance to bake because he didn't have enough rolling pins. It was a ridiculous thought but it seemed to work for her.
And Darian did not have the heart to tell her that he had enough of the rolling pins, with the number he had then, he could probably survive a couple months on a snowy mountain.