dare you to move [birth]

Comforting and supporting Venom while she relaxed and recovered from the fortunately uneventful birth of their four wonderful and amazing children, Maverick couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming swell of pride and love growing in his chest. All his life, Maverick had spent his time living for the here and now, never giving any consideration to what came around the next corner or what the next page in the book of life would bring him. In many ways, life was simpler when he had been nothing more than a scruffy vagabond. Simpler—but empty. Maverick had not known what had been absent from his life until Venom came into his world. The love she showed him gave him a purpose, and the family he’d made with her gave him a reason to think of tomorrow. Looking down at the nursing pups at his fiancée’s stomach gave him a reason to be afraid. It was an exhilarating sensation of totality, a thrill of the emotions life had to offer that he never imagined were possible!

As he went about describing their children to her, Venom’s happiness radiated off of her in infectious waves, and the giddy brute wrapped around her was practically vibrating with glee. He held Venom to his chest with a protectiveness while he let her rest her tired body, her commentary about her father showing through in their brown son’s coat answering his confusion. Mav gave a soft “Ohhh” of understanding, briefly wondering about Venom’s sire who he’d never get to meet. Venom’s weary sigh and comment about naming their pups perked up Mav’s attention, and a fresh wave of panic hit him. Oh shit, they still had to name the little jellybeans!

"Uhhh… I’ve never named anything in my life," he admitted with a sheepish smile and mismatched ears folding to his head, gazing down at the four tiny wolf nuggets. In all his days, Mav had never been responsible for another living being up until he’d gotten his companions here in Ashen, and even then he hadn’t thought to name them. Nervous eyes moving from pup to pup, Maverick began to feel the stress creeping in on him. Curling a little bit tighter around Venom for the security she provided him, Mav carefully rested his giant head over the back of her neck, nuzzling into her scruff while deftly avoiding her scruff quills he’d long since memorized the locations of. "I don’t even know where to begin… How did you pick the names of your first litter?" Hopefully Venom could offer him some insight into the finer mechanics of being a parent.

"Venom & Maverick"