Title: Scratches
Fandom: The Thick of It
Rating: Mature
Length: 1371
Content notes: Swearing, sexual references
Author notes: So despite not having written any canon Grey/Malcolm here's their werewolf that fits into the canon of something I'm writing for a Big Bang.
Summary: Grey's finally ready to talk about the scars.

Malcolm’s fingertips trailed idly over the scars on Grey’s right breast as they laid in bed together. They were silent but Grey was sure she could feel the question in Malcolm’s head.

What happened?.

“You can ask me now,” she said. The first time he had she hadn’t wanted to think about it, let alone talk about it, but that was three months ago when everything had been utter shit, now she was safe in Edinburgh with Malcolm Tucker and oddly everything felt almost okay.

“Hmmm?” he said, unaware of what he’d been doing, it was just where his hand tended to fall, without being able to see them it was incredibly easy to forget about the scars altogether, to forget what she was altogether.

“You’re stroking my scars again,” she pointed out. “is it a fetish? Cos y’know if it is I’m cool with that, right?”

“It’s not a fucking fetish,” he protested. “They’re on your tit. I like your tits, the scars don’t come into it.”

Grey shifted, turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

Malcolm frowned, pulling his hand away. “I haven’t got a fucking scar fetish!”

“Shame,” she said. “Cos I kinda liked that about you.”

Malcolm eyed her for a moment, trying to work out if she was taking the piss or not.

“You ran your tongue over one, that first night, in the hotel,” she reminded him.

“I was looking for your nipple.”

Grey smirked. “Lex wouldn’t even look at them. After what happened...I had to wear a fucking bra when we had sex.”

“Aye well slightly different fucking circumstances, yeah?”

“S’pose. But anyway, okay so it’s not a fetish. but it doesn’t bother you, if doesn’t put you off. I like not having to hide it. I like you touching them. And the rest.” She turned away again, resting back against him, as he slipped his arm back around her, his hand finding her breast again.

After a few moments he spoke again. “Okay, so...what happened?” he said.

“He’d barely even started changing,” she said, feeling his other arm wrap around her, pull her a bit closer. ”He wasn’t even in the cage. It was fucking stupid really, we were…” she trailed off. “We were in bed,” she said quickly, as if saying it like that meant Malcolm wouldn’t hear the words, or understand, or know what a fucking idiot she’d been.

“You were fucking him that close to a full moon?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Any particular reason? You’re not a secret fucking furry are you, darling?”

She turned her head to look at him. “Do you want the full gory details?” she asked. “Actually considering what we’re talking about let me rephrase that, cos there was no gory. The full sordid details.”

Malcolm didn’t reply for a moment, trying to decide how much it would bother him. Not at all, actually, what did all that matter? He knew about the, now dead, boyfriend, what difference did it make?” “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah I do I want to know why anyone’d be that fucking stupid.”

Grey might have glared if he hadn’t been completely right. “Okay,..I risked it, because just before the full moon Lex was…different.”

“Aye, he had a fucking hairy back.”

Grey kicked him. “Normally he was, not sweet, that makes him sound dull, but he was pretty submissive. which y’know suited me, but before the full moon, he was...an animal.”

“You can fucking say that again,” Malcolm replied.

She kicked him once more.

“You liked fucking the wolf.”

“Actually I liked being fucked by the wolf,” she corrected, “small but vital difference.”

“And how did the wolf fuck you?” Malcolm asked, dimly aware he was starting to get a little turned on. Fuck, that was bad, wasn’t it? That was weird at the very least.

“Hard, and fast,” she swallowed, pressed herself back against him. “And kind of relentlessly. A lot like the way you fuck me when you’re on top come to think of it.”

Malcolm growled at that comment.

“So, we were-”

“Fucking like animals,” Malcolm finished for her.

“And the wolf was getting closer.”

“In more fucking ways than one I imagine,”

“And he scratched me. His nails...they’d already started turning into claws. He stopped the second he realised. He was…” she shook her head. “He was mortified. Ran out, locked himself in the room, and in the cage, so I couldn’t even get in there to make sure he was okay.”

“To make sure he was okay?”

“It was just a scratch,” she said. “It was just a fucking scratch! He hadn’t even started changing properly. It was just a fucking scratch!” Grey didn’t quite realise why Malcolm was suddenly holding onto her so tightly until she noticed she’d started crying somewhere along the lines

“Grey, you don’t have to talk about it. You don’t have to fucking tell me.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I want to. I’ve never told anyone. But I mean, I like you, and you know you’re the only person I’ve been able to talk to since Lex and…” she shrugged. “I’m okay,” she said, trying to convince herself of that fact.

“Okay,” he agreed. “So, after that..?”

Grey laughed bitterly. “Well I ignored it, didn’t I? Because he hadn’t really changed so obviously I was gonna be fine.”

“Obviously,” Malcolm said, like he hadn’t seen the photos.

“And then it got closer to the full moon and-and I knew, I could feel it. Everything was different, Lex always said he could smell when I was horny a couple of days before and after a full moon. I always figured he was bullshitting but I could smell everything, it was horrible.”

“You can smell when someone’s turned on?” he asked. “So...that morning, after you’d changed?”

“I could hear your heart racing and smell the pheromones on you,” she confirmed.

“So you knew?”

“I didn’t take it personally. You’re fucking basic creatures - men, let them see tits and it affects them, I don’t have the kind of ego that assumes everyone wants to fuck me.”

“Good, cos I didn’t.” There was a moment of silence as Malcolm thought about it properly. “I mean I never thought for a second it was worth wanting to shag you. Like I couldn’t even risk thinking about you like that, didn’t want to complicate things, y’know?”

“Nice save. But it’s okay, I knew you didn’t really look at me like that, not until I made the move.” She rested her hand over his. “I wanted to shag you,” she told him. “Just so you know.” Closing her eyes she leant back against him more. “I thought...if I could just keep on ignoring it it wouldn’t happen, like I could just will myself out of it, like being sick or something. Obviously that didn’t work.”

“So what did happen?” he asked.

“Lex had already gone to lock himself in the cage, I was pretending I was fine even though I could feel it starting. I waited as long as I could, then I had to accept it, accept what I was, what he’d made me, what I’d become. I went, and I locked myself in with him. I’ll spare you the rest, yeah? Cos it wasn’t very nice. It’s never very nice, but I deal with it. And I like waking up to a hot bath and you with a tube of Deep Heat.” She turned her head to kiss him. “And I’ll never be stupid enough to risk anything like that again. The thought of hurting you,” she bit her lip.

Malcolm smiled. “I’ll remind you of that next time you’ve got your teeth in my neck. You sure you’re not a fucking vampire, darling?”

“Positive, you just make a really hot sound when I bite you. Promise I’ll never do it anywhere near a full moon though, you’re difficult enough without being a werewolf too.”