it would make her happy

As soon as Artorias entered the great hall Haiku knew who he was. The Destruction boy could have been considered naive more often than not but he had his perceptive moments. It wasn’t difficult to pick up on the confidence in his gait or the way he held himself. Across all of the pack leaders he had seen and met, which was relatively few but he counted his dad even though he wasn’t an alpha anymore. They had a different swagger to their stride.

Haiku’s bright gaze lifted to the young man as he approached, he lowered his head in respect as the man directed him. At least he knew what he was, if not his name. He tried not to think too hard about if it was Bowen not mentioning his name, or Artorias forgetting it. It didn’t matter, Haiku was here as a guest, he didn’t want to cause any undue trouble. The fire eyed man before him cared about Bowen, they had the same goal and that was all that mattered, not his preconceived notions.

”Hey, uh…” Haiku started eloquently. ”I mean. Yeah, Bowen really loves the ocean doesn’t she?” He took a breath to try and steady his heart as his face flushed. ”I mean, actually. You. For you... I uh. ...I was looking for you.” The boy very nearly placed his palm to his forehead in defeat. Talk about a first impression, Artorias probably already thought he was an idiot.