Chapter Text
Everyone was astonished when Nerys settled. Foggy had tried not to be too upset about that.
He’d kind of understood the reactions, for the most part. A cheerful, sweet little boy settling as a lynx - he could see where the confusion was coming from. But equally Foggy remembers being so upset, so hurt, that so many people in his life apparently didn't know him very well at all. In every shocked reaction was an admission that people weren’t seeing the important parts of him, the strength and determination Nerys represented. Somehow nobody was seeing the boy with the ferocious curiosity and the keen eyes, with the maddening drive to keep punching above his weight as long as it meant doing the right thing.
Nerys’ form fit perfectly, in Foggy’s eyes.
And she was perfect. She was sleek and powerful, truly beautiful, with sandy yellow eyes and rich, luxurious fur. She’d lope alongside Foggy, enormous paws padding a reassuring rhythm on the concrete, his beloved partner in whatever the opposite of crime was. Foggy loved her more than he could ever put into words, and when she'd settled, that love had found a home: familiar, constant, dependable.
Predictably, his peers hadn't seen it that way. Foggy's classmates had been ruthless, made cruel by jealousy, intimidated by the imposing creature at Foggy’s side. They'd decided Foggy must be insincere, untrustworthy, hiding some kind of unknown danger within.
(It isn't until much later in life that Foggy would realise they'd actually been right about that last part, and that it wasn't such a bad character trait to have in his line of work.)
Nerys never trusted strangers much after that. She'd go along with the mask of pleasant friendliness Foggy would give to win people over, but she always held stubbornly onto her cold suspicion, her instinct to protect Foggy from unknown intentions. She'd sit rigidly beside him during conversations, ears pinned back, eyes gone cold.
So when Foggy's lying in the dark opposite his brand new college roommate, head tucked safely under Nerys’ chin, he's floored by the words she rumbles in his ear.
'I like them.'