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"Stop taking pictures Giffy I am trying to teach!"

"Aw come on Addy. I'm just having a bit of fun! And the class seems to be enjoying this, right?"

A few of the students clapped or called out in response. Geoffrey could see that his twin's head was nearing the exploding point so he slowly lowered his camera and his butt back into a chair in the corner, keeping a crooked grin on his face. "Alright, alright. But only if you teach them about Timothy Borat!"

Adrian stared at his brother. Younger and shorter and with a poor grasp of the English language on the occasion. Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if Geoffrey's intelligent had been affected by the curse of the skinwalker. If only there was a real way to find out. But, the two were in rough waters with no paddles and a really shitty boat and he was mainly focused on keeping them afloat so the sharks wouldn't eat them. With a face that could peel wallpaper but could not phase his brother, Adrian corrected him curtly. "Are you talking about trimethyl borate?"

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever. That. Teach it."

How were they related?

Rolling his eyes, Adrian turned to the class and smiled his own crooked smile. "Yes well... I suppose we could have some fun, seeing as this is my first day." He crossed his arms and eyed the class carefully. "Very doubtful but, I shall ask anyway. Who knows what trimethyl borate is?"

Dead silence. Adrian opened his mouth to explain the substance but Geoffrey pipped in with a reply. "It's a organoboron compound. It does something cool that I won't spoil."

Adrian gave his brother the peeling glare once more. "Perhaps the biologist would like to teach the chemistry class.

"The biologist is lazy. Perhaps the chemist should show everyone what Timmy can do!" Adrian could tell from the face alone that Geoffrey was promising to not make anymore comments. Miracles were known to happen. He gave it a good five minutes before he spoke up again.

"We'll look into organoboron compounds later because my brother here wants me to show off Timmy." The class snickered. At least he was getting on a good page with them. He doubted it would last long. Adrian reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of the substance. He then proceeded to cover the desk with the liquid. "Giffy... you have a lighter, right?"

Geoffrey's eyes widened for a moment, apparently having realized that he didn't think that far ahead before narrowing them and pointing at a far off student. "Mr. Hale has one. Smoking is bad for you young man." The kid looked startled by the revelation but tossed Adrian the lighter anyway. Sometimes, the telepathy was helpful.

"Thank you," Adrian replied, lighting the lighter. He smiled and spoke, "Keep back." before lighting the edge of the desk on fire. The entire thing lit up and soon the flames rolled around until they covered the entire desk in a steady and beautiful green flame. The class became quite engaged at that point, staring and chattering. Adrian did his best to ignore Geoffrey snapping pictures of him.


『 ☆ ☆ ☆ 』


"I kinda of wish we didn't do that," Adrian reflected once his first day of teaching had ended. The two had gone to a nearby park to sit on a picnic table and get some fresh air before the sunset. Thankfully, it wasn't winter. Yet. He could see Geoffrey was still twitchy even though he knew he had hours to spare. Adrian forced himself to not show his brother any pity, though he felt it quite badly. If only there was a way to make him human again... he'd go to the ends of the earth to make that happen.

"Eah. They were going to be disappointed either way," Geoff replied, snagging and sipping the whiskey they had brought with them.

Adrian glared at his brother once more. "Thank you for your vote of confidence."

It was now Geoff's turn to roll his eyes. "You know it as well as I do. It's your first year of teaching and you're twenty-five. It's not going to be an easy first year you know."

Adrian sighed, taking his turn at a drink. Staring at the bottle, he asked, "Do you think I'm going to regret going into teaching?"

His brother shrugged in reply. "That will be entirely up to you Addy."

He didn't feel so confident. He felt like he was going to regret it. But, he knew he needed some stable ground. Their childhood had been pure chaos and he didn't want his adult life to be the same. Geoffrey needed the wild and random life to keep himself sane and Adrian needed a stable and tame one. It was as simple as that.

Catching onto his brother's worry, Geoffrey changed the subject. "I have a mission for you."

Adrian looked up from his drink, arching an eyebrow. "I am not dressing like a woman and tackling a monkey again."

Geoffrey waved off the comment with a, "Pfft no. Though you are still on standby for such a task." Damn it. "Your mission is to get married and have children."

Adrian stared. He stared for a good minute before managing to stutter, "What?"

"A niece and a nephew. One of each. Doesn't that sound lovely? Get a smart woman too. Well, you'll have to or else she'll bore you to tears and you do weird things when you're bored and she won't like that one bit!"

The human twin stayed silent. Talk of having children had never come up before and he was curious as to why it was a sudden topic. "What if I don't want to have a family?"

Geoffrey looked hurt by the question. "Well... you have to."

Adrian arched an eyebrow once more. "Why?"

Oh God did he regret it now. The silence felt deafening and his brother began to fidget with the edge of a sleeve. He knew it was going to come out before his brother even said it. "It will happen for you."

"No... No it won't and you know it," Geoffrey replied, any joy and merriment gone from his voice. "How can I keep a marriage and raise a family if I'm barely ever human? Who would want to be with someone they can't snuggle in bed or go on late night dates or have sex with after a romantic dinner? No one would. So... you have to do it, okay? One of us has to have a happy ending and you know as well as I do that I won't ever get that." Geoffrey locked eyes with his twin. "Promise me you will at least try."

Adrian kept the eye lock for a few moments before nodding. "Yeah... I promise." More deafening silence. Then he asked, "What do you want to name the children you are blackmailing into having?"

"Well I definitely want one named Jiji."

Adrian snorted out the whiskey he had just started drinking. "Is that the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service?"

"Of course. One of the best cats in the universe!"

"That is a stupid name!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is. That is an awful name. He'd get punched in the face constantly."

"Eah. It would be some good character development... hey hey!" Geoffrey nearly fell off the picnic table trying to avoid the whiskey Adrian had begun to flick at him. "I am not naming my son after a cartoon cat!"

________________________________________

April 26th, 2013

Loranna lounged in the sunroom at the back of the house, laying amongst various...well pretty much everything at this point. It had become a stash room full of stuff that didn't really fit anywhere else. The blanket underneath her had a few small spots of blood but her body was pretty much healing up by now, showing no where near the level of abuse that Scott had taken. Unlike Scott though, she'd forgone the layers of clothing for normalcy sake and was lounging in a loose beach wrap and that was about it. She was still sore from having to mend a lot of the major bones overnight. Not to mention heat weak still had her skin all prickly and hot.

And unlike Scott, she made no move to try and pretend otherwise when she sensed Stiles at her front door. He smelled pissed. And was he carrying a metal bat? That thing smelled like it hadn't been washed or polished in a while. Hint of rust where the hand grip was no doubt. What was he doing with a metal bat? The redhead had a feeling she was about to find out.

Stiles typically had a normal sense about things, and he was almost certain about this one. The instant he’d made it in front of Loranna’s house, he was sure it was hers. He pulled himself out of the car, and pulled out a blacklight flashlight, looking down on the ground, the sheer amount of stains from blood causes Stiles to cringe. Yup, this was the house no doubt. Stiles swung his bat over his shoulder, and walked up to the front door, never bothering to knock, but letting himself inside the house. ”LORANNA!” Stiles yelled into the house. ”I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!” no he didn’t but if she wasn’t than she would never know that he said that anyway, so might as well say it right?

"I am - back here. Did you want a cookie or something for having the right answer?" Loranna asked, only partially sitting up in preparation for the angry teen. " 'Fraid I'm out of cookies...Xavier has gained a sweet tooth. And it's his sleeping time right now. So quiet or shut up entirely, you get to pick."

Stiles felt his heart rate increase the moment he heard her voice calling through the house, asking if he wanted a cookie, or what ever she was offering him. It all seemed a little strange to him after thinking about it. She then told him that Xavier was asleep, and like he cared about that. He wouldn’t be surprised if the kid was already crying because he sensed him in the house. There was something about that kid that hated him and Stiles didn’t understand it. He didn’t care that much, perhaps he was just bad with kids. That wasn’t news to him. ”Well, if you’re worried about waking the baby, then you shouldn’t let me in the house in the first place. But I don’t care if a lion is asleep, you have to be crazy to think that I’m just gonna stand by while you kick my friends a**. Yeah, I’m not gonna. What the hell were you thinking? What kind of training was that suppose to be?” Stiles asked.

"The kind that will probably save his life in the future. If he ever gets better at it," Loranna responded calmly, with a slight surprised look on his face.

For someone who was so quick on the uptake in other things, Stiles sure didn't understand what had happened. Sure she'd been a bit rough on Scott but she had been just as rough on herself for the whole thing too. And she didn't even go for any kill zones - which was what she usually did in a real fight. Unfortunately for her ears and her nose, Stiles must not have noticed that. Or he did and didn't care. Which brought up a whole barrel of other topics.

Stiles hadn’t even really asked scott what had gone on, really. He assumed based on the way he looked that Loranna tore him a new one, for no earthly reason. It was all ridiculous to him, and he didn’t see a rational reason as to why any of this could happen. ”Did it ever occur to you that you are his English teacher, and NOT his Alpha? An Alpha doesn’t need an Alpha. Scott doesn’t need another Alpha to tear him limb from limb, what was it suppose to prove anyway? What was the benefit? Was it some sort of post Vampire exercise? Was it to prove that you’re better or something? Cause Scott may be new at this, but we’re learning how these things go on the way. . . uh - what exactly was it about, I don’t think Scott actually told me. . .” With the realization that everything Stiles said could have a valid reason, Stiles surrendered his anger.

"Instead of asking him you decided to come here and yell at me?" Loranna asked with a teasing smile. "Did you want to see me undressing to tend to wounds that much Stiles? You could have just asked, no yelling involved."

Stiles shook his head. ”Nn-no I do- didn’t want that. Nope.”

Loranna slowly relaxed back into the sunbathing position she'd been in before he'd come to the house. Sure they weren't actually outside but the warm spring, nearing summer, sun shown through the sun room's windows like heat lamps. And she didn't want to be visibly wounded incase another predator for whatever reason jumped her fence. The house let her soak up the sun while still having some visual protection, sorta. But the point of the matter was that the teasing smile as she laid back down didn't diminish in the least. In fact it may have gone to the level of 'cat ate the canary'.

"I promise you, it's a better sight when I'm not all bruised. Although I've been told sore is a good look but that's usually only after a few days of fun."

Stiles couldn’t feel more out of place. His face lit up, shaking his head and turning another direction. ”I uh-” he stopped talking when Loranna added something more.

"And then it's usually in the shower," Loranna mused as she rolled onto her stomach, arms supporting her chin and not bothering to consider Stiles a threat as she relaxed. "Then again, the shower moans are a bit of a turn on either way don't you think? Hmm...the hot water hitting your body, watching it slide down your lovers. Beautiful don't you think Stiles?"

There was some pants action at that one, but not because he wanted his English Teacher, but because it reminded him of a couple encounters he had with Malia, and probably was taking for granted the past could days. The boy shifted awkwardly in his seat. ”Am I going to be able to get a straight answer from you? Cause There are so many things I could be doing instead.” the boy said, clearing his throat mid sentence.

"Hmmm, don't I know it. Be careful little human for your scent is a beacon and not everyone is as nice as Cora and I. But you know that by now don't you? Longing for your mate or wishing you had better morals?" Loranna continued to tease in a softened voice.

It was rather hard to miss the scent of a coyote all over him. She had rubbed herself so deep into his pores that it was a wonder he couldn't smell it himself. There was something a little different about the smell too but she was trying very hard not to scent him too much considering what time of the year it was.

Stiles furrowed his eyebrows squirming in his seat a little. ”Is - this what you did to Scott?” Stiles asked, almost intrigued. No, no! there is no way, Scott wouldn’t end up that beaten up. Wait - No. No. ”No. ew. Sorry. Look, I didn’t come over here for this. I didn’t - and will never - want this. Whatever this is.”

"Want what?" Loranna asked in a whisper as she stretched her shoulders.

Why was it that shoulders always got so sore? Okay, so she knew the reason but that feeling of 'why' always popped up no matter what. So ignoring that, Loranna twisted her body to look back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"An attractive female stretched out before your eyes?" Loranna tossed out playfully. "Your scent and pants say differently. It's okay to look, Stiles, that's animal nature. It would be the touching that gets you in trouble with your little coyote girl."

Stiles shook his head totally confused. ”Nope. Nope. I don’t wanna do this.”

"Then where's the fun in life? If you never want to do anything how is that entertaining?" Oh she knew exactly the pickle she had put him in. He was a good boy, better than a lot she'd met before, but that didn't mean that teasing him wasn't fun. "Because I was going on the theory that you were having too much fun to complete your test. Or start it really. You realize it's completely blank and right now counts for half of your grade, don't you?"

Where the hell did Loranna get off? Stiles shook his head. ”My test? Seriously my test?” Well, way to kill an unwanted boner. . . so thank you. Stiles shook his head. ”Are you serious about that? I mean, I know - that it’s important, but - I mean I’m not like - going to fail. . . am I?” No, Stiles came here for Scott. No she was just distracting him now. ”NO! Hey! I came here to talk about Scott. . . you’re just trying to distract me.”

"Hmm, not really. Just letting you know what's happening. Even if you got a hundred percent on the essay you currently have zero on the test. As they count equally if I remember correctly, that puts you at a max of fifty percent in the class. Remember we agreed to forget whatever your sub had on the first day? So yes, you'll fail if you keep being distracted in class."

Fifty percent. Woah. Stiles shook his head. He’d been so distracted there was much he’d really done for himself in so long. He’d even been more recently focusing on Helping Malia get ready for her GED test that he had forgotten to complete assignments in other classes he was currently in. Not to mention the vampire stuff, and - well, then there were the many episodes of not being able to read. But he couldn’t explain that to anyone. He wanted to first blame stress, then maybe tiredness. ”Well, friday was just - a really really long, kinda stressful, no scratch that super stressful day. And - I mean, well, Do you remember that I passed out in class? Or were you not there for that?” Stiles asked.

"People pass out often in my class," Loranna remarked casually as she shifted her head to lay straight back on her arms.

Stiles nodded, yeah, that was true. ”Okay, yeah, okay. So, is there a re-test? A make up?”

"Normally no. But maybe we'll make an exception for...exceptional circumstances. Did you want to make it up with me right now?" Loranna's voice dipped down teasingly before she smiled, a short laugh following to make sure he realized she wasn't serious on the innuendo part of her question.

She tended to remember not everyone could sense the small changes in the body responses to tell if she was serious or not at the last moment. But hey, poking fun at him was still entertaining. And he was a no risk just incase her mental state made her say things she otherwise wouldn't mean.

”N-now?” he said slowly, scratching the back of his head.

"You don't like to live in the moment? Shame," Loranna said, slowly turning back around so she could sit up to see him.

Her eyes flickered up and down taking him in. Oh she was going to get herself in trouble one of these days but she tried to comfort herself with the fact that it was really hard not to at this time. The more mental resources she wasted trying to deny her nature, the less she had to pay attention to keeping everyone safe with. Besides, at least she wasn't like Cora and took someone in a janitor's closet between and during classes.

"I thought you would have been good at in the moment things but I guess I was wrong."

Was that suppose to sound really sexual? Stiles shook his head quickly, and more scratching followed. ”Test. . . right now. Yeah. What was the book again?” Stiles asked.

"I'll give you a hint - it's about a man fighting to get back to his lovely wife. Only along the way he slips up and finds a lover."

Stiles couldn’t think of the book. Like at all. ”Catch 22?”

"More blood to the brain is needed, Stiles."

”Is that a boner reference?” Stiles said, leaning in closer to her.

"Tsk tsk, making my words seem sexual when all I was commenting on was how hungry you might be. After all, you took such a long trip to come here and see me. Why don't you stay a while, forget about the outside world, and enjoy yourself?"

And yes, she was taking on the role Calypso to try and jar his memory. Couldn't make everything easy for the distracted boy now could she?

"Relax. Feed all your hungers, quench all your thirst," Loranna continued as she stood up, momentarily making sure that the wrap was tight enough around her chest so it wouldn't fall off.

Stiles shook his head. ”I’m going to fail this test. I haven’t read any of the book. And. . . Is it the Odyssey?” Stiles asked.

She stepped closer to him, a smile on her face as she leaned down to where he was sitting. She blew on his nose with a small laugh following after at his expression, "Bingo."

Stiles smiled. ”OH! Well, then yeah, let’s take this test now! Or, maybe I can take it on monday.”

Loranna shook her head as she stood back up straight, offering him her hand so he could stand up. "We're leaving tomorrow."

”Leaving tomorrow? Leaving tomorrow for what?” Stiles took the devilishly warm hand, and rose.

"Fun in the sun. Or in anonymity, you take your pick. Cora and Derek get to be all work and no play in this town." Loranna paused and tilted her head up, a laughing smile appeared on her as she heard something in the near-distance.

Stiles was genuinely surprised. ”Why won’t you be at school? Are you gonna just -”

"Calm down boy. It's just spring break," Loranna broke in as she traced the back of his hand idly with her fingers.

OOOOOOOOOOH! yeah, that made more sense. ”Seriously!? Where the hell has the time gone? But, since You’re asking me to take this test thing on a Saturday, can’t I just take it like, the Monday we get back - or like when you get back. . .” Excuses, sure.

"Don't you think that's unfair to the other students? After all, you weren't absent, you were actually in class...but yet you didn't complete the test. Unless you can come up with a good reason why you didn't, Stiles, you'll have to take it now."

Stiles sighed, crossing his arms. ”I - well, okay, this is going to sound, kinda crazy, I swear. But - uh - well. I got the test. Tried to write my name on the test, and managed to fail at that. . . then tried to read the rest of my test, but I couldn’t.”

"Have you tried since the death of the parasites?" Loranna asked as she led him by the hand back into the main part of the house.

The Vampires? Oh right, them. ”Well, uhm. No, I should try probably. Probably try that thing now, or something. . . maybe?” It crossed his mind maybe once that he might be able to read again, it was probably just that friday, it was a crazy friday. ”It’s probably just like stress, and tiredness, and, the Vampires. God, that sounds weird saying.”

"You'll get used to it," Loranna said calmly, slightly pushing him onto the couch and going to grab a book before plopping down beside him, handing him the reading material.

Stiles plopped into the couch reluctantly, crossing a leg over his other, and collecting the reading materials from Loranna. He propped the book Open, and let his eyes scan the title page, and it wasn’t like the words were melting away or anything, which was a good sign right? ”What language is this in?” Stiles asked, looking up at Loranna with every ounce of question.

Loranna watched with curiosity as his eyes scanned the book with no form of recognition. That answered that question. He was having trouble reading.

"I just handed you Dracula. In English," Loranna said. "Is it like dyslexia or something acting up?"

Stiles turned back to the page quickly, flipping through the pages quickly. ”I’ve never had this problem before. . . is it common for Dyslexia to just appear? Well, I mean, I remember doing some reading about something called Dysgraphia. It comes from a part of the brain shutting down that makes it difficult to interpret different signs and symbols. Could be letters, numbers, or any other kind of symbol. But, that would have to mean I had some sort of stroke or something that caused that part of the brain to simply become inactive. There is no history of stroke in my family - there is no history of-” Stiles paused. ”No.” he said softly. ”Can you just tell me what you did to Scott, and then give me reasons why what you did was merited, and we can worry about this some other time.”

"It's related to why you should take your test," Loranna said calmly, kicking her feet up on Stiles' lap and relaxing backwards, though the teasing smile on her face still hadn't relented. "For your guy's future. If he doesn't learn he probably won't have one. If you don't show that you're learning, you probably won't have a good one either."

”Or a very long one.” Stiles muttered under his breath. There wasn’t a lot of signs just yet, but Stiles had a feeling he knew what he was dealing with. Well, no he didn’t, but he had some sinking ideas.

"Hence the necessity for the lessons." Loranna tossed back, wiggling down until her butt was in the middle of the couch despite the fact that Stiles as on there too.

Did she have an idea of personal space? Sometimes. Most of the times the answer was 'not really'. At least with people she was pretty sure wouldn't seriously try to kill her. Stiles had come in angry but anger didn't make people killers. Even if he had come in with a metal bat.

So this is what it had come down to. A series of lessons. ”I understand that there is a lot Scott doesn’t know, but it would make me feel better if you would use words, like simple words, to try and help. We have our own methods for training, and we could benefit from a few pointers, as long as they don’t send us flying across the room.” Stiles pushed Loranna’s legs off of his lap, and scooted farther away from her (which caused her to pout a little). ”New idea, we take the this test verbally. You can read out the questions to me, I can answer them verbally, and - the essay will just be like a speech I guess. I don’t know if this is temporary, or if this test is really going to matter at all, but - I’m not going to fail English.”

"It would kind of suck to have faced down vampires and then fail a class," Loranna commented.

This might have been the first time she'd seen vampires, or fought them, but she knew how it felt to have to fend of something or another while trying to get an education. Or holding down a job, or pretty much anything really.

"Hows the recorder on your cell phone? I'd get mine out but as you can see, I don't have it on me," the redhead, gesturing down to the minimal amount of clothing (if it could be called that) she was currently wearing.

Stiles wiggled in his posture to pull his cellphone out of his pocket, and attempted to turn the device on. ”I think it’s been dead for a couple days.” Stiles posed. Of course, it was definitely charged yesterday, but the days seemed to really mesh into each other.

"Alright new plan. Time to bring out the brother," Loranna said, standing up. "I'll be right back. You should make yourself more comfortable. You look ready to jump out of your skin and that's my role."

With that, Loranna sauntered off up the stairs behind the living room area. She had a brother to go get so he could be a scribe. While she had good memory, she wasn't perfect at it. And having it written down would be better for both of them. Now she could have done it herself,sure, but why would she when she had a brother currently under punishment?

Once she'd collected Varo, who'd been watching something with his headphones on in her bedroom, Loranna moved back down to the living room. There was a pencil and stack of papers in the tweenage boy's hands. He sat down on the other side of the coffee table as Loranna fell back onto the couch, legs crossed at the ankles for decency and all.

Stiles was a little confused by the entire works of it all, but he realized that it was all probably completely necessary. ”So I guess we’ll start with my name then. Stiles Stilinski. S T I L E S is how I would go about spelling it, and S T I L I N S K I. Least I can spell.” he collected.

"So because he's trying to write you have to remember to order what you say and moderate how fast you say it," Loranna remarked.

And from that point on, the questions slipped from Loranna's mouth. There weren't that many of course, seeing as she had needed to fit the test into about forty-five minutes worth of testing. She gave him, more or less, the same questions she'd written up for the in-class exam. Instead of timing for the length of a class, because he had to speak slower so it could be written, she allowed ten minutes per question after up to five minutes of reflective thought so he could order what he wanted to say. From what she could tell he had no issues with it so it really was just the fact that he suddenly couldn't read.

At the end, Varo went back to his movie in her bedroom and Loranna sat the hand written test with the others. They'd have to forge his handwriting later because after all the crap that happened at the school, she did not want to end up taking s**t from the educational board for a student potentially 'cheating' on his test.

"Feel better?" Loranna asked as she neatly restacked the pile of papers.

Stiles shrugged. ”Then getting a zero because for some reason I can’t read, much.” Stiles explained, but there was still the problem that he couldn’t read. If that skill didn’t come back to him, then he had no idea what kind of life he would lead. Any job he ever wanted to get in the future involved reading. If this was some side effect from the Nematon, then he might as well just give up on life now. Stiles thought to ask Loranna what she knew about the Nematon, but part of him didn’t know enough to even form a question.

"You really should go have that checked out. Did Scott recently bite you?" Loranna asked curiously. "Mike told me that for the first half day, his eyes felt so weird that it was like he couldn't focus on anything to read. Not that he really was doing anything that needed reading but...point is it was probably the different things forming in them to allow for the low-light vision. Although lasting more than those initial hours I've never heard of it happening."

Stiles shook his head. ”I don’t come from a family of mediums, and I feel like at this point, given everything that seems to happen, if Scott were to bite me, I would probably die.”

Loranna paused, blinking. Oh, right. Mike the medium. That's the only mike that he knew she knew. "Sorry, I was talking about a werewolf shift. Not Mike Kaplan. He didn't end up dying, thankfully. Why do you think you would?"

Stiles nodded, well, now he felt dumb. He didn’t know all the werewolves in the world, though, so saying a name he was so close to was a fault on her end. ”It’s not really a ‘I would die’ to like insult myself, I just kinda think that since that’s an option for some people, or like a reality for some people, and we haven’t met any people in that some people category, I would probably end up being that one unlucky case that ends up dead. I don’t know - you know that saying people say you become what you are, like Jackson became that weirdo Kanima thing, and Mike became a Medium, and - well - I feel like I’m that near death dude who seems to cheat it too much, and is close enough to be a bite away from the grave. No special powers, no super anything, just dead to everyone, the world, and myself.” Elaborate, but do you know Stiles to be any different?

"And depriving the world of your pretty face would be a shame," Oh, that lasted longer than expected.

She went the whole test without teasing or flirting. She'd also gone this whole time without actually telling Stiles anything he really wanted to know. But that's what she was used to. She was honest with the people in her pack. Anything they asked she told them. She expected the same in return. And while she didn't normally lie to people outside of her pack she did tend to skirt around information like it was a dance and she a ballerina. Safety reasons and all that jazz.

”Scott didn’t bite me. I mean, plenty has happened. I basically died for my dad, and now there is suppose to be this darkness inside my soul or whatever, and yeah, i felt it, but like, I didn’t think that I would take away my ability to read. I’m probably dying. Oh well. Anyway, thanks for being no help at all. I’m glad I did my test, I guess. So, I guess I should just leave now, and go spoon my best friend.”

"You may want to wait on that," Loranna said with a casual smile, her eyes mischievous.

The paused for a minute on a way to move outward. He gave a very focused confused gaze to Loranna. "There is always a catch to everything... Isn't there. Is there a trapdoor you're trying to tell me about? Cause any and all trap doors should be revealed now, thank you. Is there a different part of the test I haven't done yet? Cause if that's the case, than you should really consider shortening your tests in any hopes your students finish them in a class period times. Do you have something against male spooning? Because it's becoming pretty socially adaptable now days... And we knew it was only a matter of time between Scott and I. He knows about all the speckles on my butt... He knows about just about everything. We can spoon. You can't stop u- this isn't about that. Why?" Stiles wondered.

"Why what? Why is this not about you two spooning or why should you wait?" The redhead tossed back cheekily.

Stiles' eyes widened briefly before falling to a disinterested. "If you answer those two questions correctly I'll string you a third one." the boy quipped, scratching the back of his head

"Well we can always make this about you spooning. But I'd advise against turning it into action, at least with Scott right now. Kind of has to do with why you should wait. Do you want to try and take a guess as to why?"

"Cause abstinence is key."

Loranna's expression went to a surprised sort of confusion. Really, he was trying to play that card as her reasoning? Did the boy not kno---oh, he didn't know her. Good point. No wonder he thought that might be her reasoning. Then again it did kind of play a part of her reasoning, just not in the normal way.

"I suppose. It was more to do with sparring the baby alpha some embarrassment though."

There was a little confusion there for sure, but it was mixed in the middle of her play. Stiles was everything of annoyed. "If this is about size, Scott shouldn't worry on the embarrassment front. I love him the way he is... Okay, I'm clearly more lost than I could ever be. So if you'd like to do the honors and initiate the blunt portion of our conversation, I think that'd be best."

"You're human; you have a human's sense of smell. Scott is a werewolf - an alpha. He has a heightened sense of smell even within the supernatural community. With me so far?" Loranna's voice was the epitome of teasing.

"Mmmm, I'm pretty sure Scott knows I'm here. I was gonna take him with me. If that's what you're getting at."

"Nope, just leading you up to the concept. Now, with an enhanced sense of smell you can tell a lot of things. Who you're with is one of those things. And an individual's scent gets broken down many different ways. Easiest way to describe it is that you can smell someone's hormonal balance - rough physical age, level of certain inner chemicals for that lovely cocktail. And then there's the emotions they had going on in the system at the time. Now there's also the soups and stuff that everyone uses on their body too but that's not the point. Back to the hormone balance. Hormones and pheromones. Right now all the female shifters in your life are in heat. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"Did a little research, it's a heightened period of sexual desire... In simple words. Trust me, Malia has well demonstrated." Stiles stated, a proud smile on his face.

"Careful little human, don't want to end up a father so early do you? Takes the fun right out of the relationship - so I've heard," Loranna said as she stretched from her spot on the couch, trying to work out the kinks from last night and that morning. "Malia is demonstrating high desire for you right now because her body is in it's most fertile period. Like extreme fertility. Kind of a thing with shifters - the extremes. Extreme anger, extreme love, extreme everything. You get used to it after a while. Point is she's ovulating like crazy, the hormones to mate are all skyrocketed and she's reacting accordingly."

"Ovulating like crazy you say? So like, say my sperm count is like, hella crazy awesome and I can like I don't know, over produce. We have sex, hmmm, three times last night. And - condoms... I only had two of them but - s**t. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SCOTT!"

"We can smell it. Really smell it. Think about animals in the wild - how one attracts mates at that time is through scent. We're all putting off that scent. Now we've got the human mind to sort through the stimulation but it's still there, in the back of the mind with the wild side. And if a Beta's sense of smell...if their smell is strong...imagine how strong an alpha's is. I've done nothing to hide my scent today. I'm tired. So it's all over you like a fine coating of sugar dust."

Stiles nodded. "So I'm desirable? Ha, awesome. Fortunately for us, I cannot in any way shape or form become pregnant. So - no matter what happens tonight, fingers crossed, nothing will come of it. And knowing my track record, I will most likely forget about it in the morning."

"Oh you'll remember it alright. Heat ******** can get intense when you get a male shifter. Strength is fun to play with normally but it tends to get a little out of control right about now. And unlike me you don't have the healing ability. Point as poor Scott is already confused with life enough. Best not add my scent to the mix all over you. His little brain needs time to learn these things."

Ooooookay. Yeah that made sense. "You know, you don't have to be such a kill joy. I'll just go home and get a blow up Scott to spoon."

"Oh you can spoon him all you want. I just thought it was fair to warn you that if you get poked, that's my fault...sorta. Your fault, my fault, and the way biology works."

"Why do you assume I'm the little spoon! I'm out of here." Stiles made his way toward the door, and let himself out, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and Dialing Scott. The phone rang on the other side and Stiles walked out to the jeep, pulling himself in and waiting for his friend. The phone went directly through the voicemail, and Stiles sighed. What ever. Stiles drove over to Scott's house and climbed up to his room just like he had before. "Hey, so - things could be better. And you didn't answer your phone so I'm just came over. I was at Loranna's and - well - I probably smell like her. And if you don't want that here. Then I'll go home - but - I shouldn't have to go home! We haven't had time to just be girly smelling men together! So I don't care if there is a boner in my back scoot over!" Stiles stated walking over to Scott's bed and laying down beside him.

"What...the…?" Drowsy Scott didn't have time to finish his muttered question before Stiles scooted him over. "Dude, why are you in my bed?"

Stiles turned over his shoulder to look at his friend, scooting back into him. "Just get over it man. You do not realize the day I've had...... Okay, maybe some of it, but If I want to cuddle my best friend, I will."

"If you're trying to cover up whatever you did at her house so Malia can't smell it, man, probably be easier to take a bleach bath," Scott said with a tired smile as he stretched upwards on his bed, admittedly taking up less room than he was before but refusing to relinquish most of the space.

Stiles turned over his shoulder again, this time letting his body follow. "Does the scent tell a story?! Read it to me! I wanna know how dangerous seeing Malia right now might be..."

"Scale of one to ten?" Scott offered up.

"Wasn't exactly the tear jerking story I was expecting but sure, a scale could work."

"Hmm, eight. No nine. Yeah nine. Her scent is all over you. Pretty heavy on the lap. What did you do, man? Have her sit on your lap and read her a story?"

Scott had never really been good at painting a situation with his words. That was the best imagery he could think of really. The scent told another story, a less innocent story that Scott was trying not to smell too much into. The young alpha knew it wasn't the right one though. He knew Stiles better than anyone. Stiles was a one woman kind of guy and he was with Malia now so there was no way anything like that happened. Although considering how jealous Malia had gotten over Erica…

"I take that back. Twelve. Definately a twelve. I hear Mexico is nice right now - maybe you should go."

Stiles pulled his shirt up to sniff it and then turned back to Scott. "Couple things, I'd never go to Mexico.... Ever.... Also, I didn't do anything with Loranna, just at her house. She put her feet on my lap, but - unless she emits pheromones from her feet-"

"It's all over the skin Stiles. Like…" he was trying to think of a way to describe it, but again, Scott wasn't the best with imagery. "You produce scent from everywhere. Some places are just stronger than others. Right now everything is strong."

"Wait - so do you smell her? Or me? Or both? Whatever it doesn't matter. I didn't do anything with Loranna, I'm not gonna see Malia today anyway."

"Good cause you reek of her and...she wouldn't be happy with it," Scott replied in a murmur, unsure of how else to phrase that idea especially considering the fact that he didn't like that Stiles smelt like her.

Stiles groaned, slipping off Scott's bed. "Where is your bleach?"

Scott sat up slowly, "...I don't use bleach anymore Stiles."

"I'm not going home. So - you're gonna have to suck it up."

Scott muttered something unintelligible as he sat on the edge of his bed before looking back up to Stiles. "This heat thing sucks dude. I mean you've got Malia's, hints of Erica, Cora, and Loranna all over you so you're pretty bad. But it's not just you, it's all over the town."

Although they didn't know it directly that was probably because Loranna had this oh so nasty habit of running around beacon hills for morning jogs. Just because Scott was there didn't mean she wasn't going to mark a territory with her scent - no matter how temporary that territory was.

Stiles placed a hand on his chin and paced a little with a smile. "I think I'm gonna make a separate page in my lore about this stuff. We all know I like talking about sex, and - well - this whole smells things is gonna be a gooooooooood future reference. Also the fertility thing. That'll be good."

"The what?" Scott asked with a hint of confusion.

Sure he had been a werewolf for a while but he never really researched too much into it. He knew what Derek had taught him and what he'd learned along the way. He knew to trust his senses and how to use them to help him, of course, but he'd never connected the dots between the shifting scents and the human cycle much less anything in the supernatural world. Unlike Stiles, Scott's mind just didn't usually work that way. He was more of a do things and figure it out as he went along kind of guy.

"Well Scott, after all this goes down, and I wanna settle down with the girl I'm pretty certain I'm stuck with, I'll wanna know when we should have sex when we're ready for kids. . . Which will be eventually. Apparently heat makes Girl's ovulate like crazy. Or something." Stiles jumped back on Scott's bed. "So - I got a long day tomorrow, so - lets get some shut eye, big guy. Let those alpha wounds close. And get close to me!"

"That sounds creepy dude," Scott said as he shook his head in amusement.

________________________________________

November 18th, 2012


Once again, the balls were loaded up into the parachute and the group of teenage boys got to work on playing. Only this time it wasn't so chaotic. The parachute swirled and bounced as they tried to keep track of the multiple small, bright called balls bouncing around the bright colored parachute. Scott wasn't sure how long they kept it up, he only knew that the Coach had wandered away at some point muttering something about needing a drink.

This certainly went on far too long. Stiles felt himself getting quite bored of the game really quickly. It turned into almost falling asleep standing up until he noticed coach had wandered away. He dropped the parachute in his hands, and soon enough the rest of the team dropped their handles. Coach didn’t specify whether or not to keep going or stop. It was all better now anyway. No more weirdo Parachute. ”Do you think any of this will have to do with Lacrosse? I don’t know why I didn’t think of an excuse to not be able to come to this. I guess it’s not too late.” Stiles admitted.

"Could be worse," Scott said from across the parachute.

And just as luck would have it, the first few drops of rain fell on their noses. Then suddenly the sky let loose and it started to pour.

Stiles felt a drop first on his cheek, and then brought his hand to meet it, unsure if it was bird s**t, but it wasn’t, because not even a moment later, the sky started to heavily pour onto the team. ”Well, isn’t this lovely.” the boy stated his face smug and uninterested.

"It's just a little rain, Stilinski, suck it up," Coach Finstock said as he walked back over, big red umbrella over his head and a steaming cup of coffee in the other hand. "The nice camp counselors have scheduled a full day of team building activities for you bozos and a little rain isn't going to stop that from happening."

Perking up as if the rain had no effect on the boy’s composition, Stiles nodded. ”Alright, Coach, anything you say, Coach.” the boy hollered. ”What do you have for us next?” he asked.

Bobby Finstock looked over to the person who'd brought out the box, who also had a bright red umbrella over head. After a minute of them hesitating he took the clipboard out of their hands and balanced it with the one holding the umbrella. When he saw the words, a smile went to his face and he laughed. "Oh this is too good. You guys have rockclimbing up next."

Anticipation left the boy stricken until his face completely fell in result. ”Is that even safe?” Stiles wondered. He wasn’t a horrible rock climber, in fact, he was really light weight, and carrying himself up a wall had never been so easy. Though, in pouring rain. ”Is it indoors?” Stiles asked.

"Oh I hope not," The coach said with a laugh.

If there was a definition of coach somewhere in the dictionary, Coach Finstock was probably the opposite of that. He wasn’t for the team even a little bit, or well, at least for their favor at all. Then again, Stiles knew he deserved what the Coach was dishing. He could care less what happened because of it, but he wasn’t going to die climbing some sort of slippery vertical waterslide. ”Well, It’s time to go find my stunt double.” the boy announced, unitentionally breaking the fourth wall. ”So, this rock wall, climber thing, yeah, are we like, gonna race? Or like, all climbing together?” Stiles lead on.

"Groups of two. You guys are going to strap one hand and one foot together and try to make it to the top. So pair up."

”Groups of tw- SCOTT!” Stiles hollered, turning over his shoulder.

Scott blinked owlishly at Stiles, even though he already knew exactly what it was about. Sometimes it was just better to let Stiles think he had no idea what was going on in the world. That way when he really had no idea what was going on it wasn't a surprise.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Coach mumbled to himself as he handed the clipboard back to the camp counselors.

Stiles jogged over to his buddies side, and slung an arm around his shoulder. ”Alright, so, I know we haven’t worked on this much, but I’ll feign this whole climbing thing if you think you can hoist us both up that slip n’ slide.” Stiles said in a hushed voice.

As Stiles spoke, the Coach and the counselor lead them to the area where the rock climbing wall was. It was probably just over a story tall and was just as wide as the one they had back at school. It was, however two sided and the top of it seemed like it was meant for them to climb over it as well. Scott looked at it through all the rain and frowned.

"I don't think I can...not without digging into it, Stiles," Scott said, mildly looking at his own hand as though that might have been a valid choice at one point.

”Your point?” Stiles added. ”I’d like to attempt a living chance at this course, and I don’t see that as even slightly reality without the help of your. . . let’s call it a handicap.” Stiles said, taking hold of Scott’s hand he was surveying. ”Put those strong nails to use boy, give me something to work with here.” He slapped his butt at the same time. ”Least you’re not worried about maintaining your recent manicure. . . Those things are way too much money for a job that returns your nails to the exact same status they were before the procedure. . . not that I would know.” Stiles admitted. He’d only really ever done research on the things, after Lydia talked about getting them Stiles had to make himself an expert on them.

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked - this time he really did have no idea what was going on.

The whistle blew and up went the first pair of teammates. Danny was paired with a newer person who'd joined the team a few months ago to replace Jackson. They seemed to be doing fine right up to the point they hit the a blue stone which hadn't had curled up edge around the middle the first half. And then it was all slip and sliding from there until the safety rigging caught them, jerking them both from the pelvis before they hit the ground.

Stiles watched with anticipation, almost hoping they’d fall so coach would see how much of a horrible idea the whole thing was. The boy brought his right hand to his mouth, nails between his teeth, carving away at what little he had. It was a nervous habit, something he hardly ever did, but as the anticipation grew, Stiles found himself more and more antsy. It wasn’t even half way up the wall when Danny and Marcus made a plummet back down the wall, being caught by the harnesses they were strapped into. Well, damn, that’s gotta hurt. Stiles winced. ”Okay, Scott that can’t be us. there tends to be a general sensitivity in that area for most guys, and - while i’d much rather feel an unbearable rush of pain than die, I’d rather come out of this completely unharmed. It can’t be that sli-” Stiles paused, watching the next group fall right off just like the group before them. ”I guess ball crushing pain is inevitable.” Stiles added.

"On the bright side, you don't need them," Scott said with a friendly smile as he stepped up so they could be properly tied together and get the safety belts on.

Stiles turned to his friend, and merely gave him a completely disgusted look the entire time they were being hooked together. ”I don’t even know you. Lemme ask you a series of questi-” He stated being cut off by Coach's whistle. ”Less talking more Slipping.” the coach called sipping his coffee. ”Ha, you mean climbing and getting to the top, right coach?!” Stiles called turning back to the man. ”Nah, something tickles me about watching you all fall to your adolescent vasectomies.” Stiles gave a fake chuckle. ”Well, at least it’s not twelve hundred dollars.” Stiles said as if it was something enjoyable.

Scott nudged Stiles and pointed up with a tilt of his head when they were finally all ready to go. "Let's just take this slow. Less chance we'll fall."

Stiles turned to his friend and nodded. ”You got it, Scotty boy.” he said, taking hold of the wall. ”Good lord it’s like trying to catch soap.” the boy said, digging his hands into the walls. ”Think we could use our teeth?” Stiles asked. ”Or, your teeth?”

"Oh yeah, turn it into a Were-wall," Scott mused to himself as though it were the funniest thing he had ever thought of. "Think of how hard it would be to climb then Stiles."

”It’s already a were-wall, were-the hell did they come up with such a horrible idea for a team building course-wall.” Stiles said, moving the hand that was joined with Scott’s.

"Not the blue one," Scott said to Stiles on the next grip. That was where Danny and his partner made their mistake. His eyes quickly searched for the alternative and he found it a little stretch up. "There, the orange one. It's curled."

Stiles turned up toward the rocks, and spit rain water out of his face, trying to see through the rain. ”You can still see color? I sorta thought all this time you were color blind. . . weird of me to think.” stiles reached up and grabbed said orange rock, and lifted his lanky self up higher, looking down at his feet. His pants were growing heavy with rain water, but he was thankful for the tight hugging harness keeping his pants around his waist. . . and displaying all his goods to his teammates below. Curse the gym shorts he insisted on wearing that day.

Scott shook his head, thankful that he'd cut his hair a long time ago or seeing through it would have been difficult. "No. I mean, I do see the world in shades of red…" He let that trail off a bit, smiling before continuing on with: "But that's only when, you know, I'm trying to see things you can't."

Stiles’ gaze flashed over to his friend’s whipping water of his bangs into Scott’s direction. ”Oh, really, now? Hmmm, sounds like the horror version of fifty shades of grey. Which I guess is like fifty shades of grey and Sweeny Todd mixed together in a movie. Fifty Shades of you better not ******** eat that pie. Ya sex them, and then turn them into pies. Have it your way Scott, I’m not judging. I’ll just warn Allison.” Stiles said, taking another step onward.

From below, Coach watched them with careful eyes. The kind that darted back in forth in almost a sense of disbelief. They were almost to the top and they had yet to fall. That was either a great sign or… the world just didn't want him to be happy. He sure did have a special place in his heart for Stiles' brand of discomfort.

Back with Scott and Stiles, Scott would have shrugged if he could but with half of his left arm strapped to Stiles he really couldn't. Not to mention the whole rock climbing motion.

"Well if I mess up, it's all your fault yoda."

There it was. Stiles paused. ”DID YOU JUST MAKE A STARWARS REFERENCE! Oh young padwan, I’ve taught you well. Continue to mentor under me, and you might even be able to describe Jar Jar Binks.”

"What's a padwan?" Scott asked.

”Forget it.” Stiles said completely disappointed.

They were so close to the top that Coach had stopped sipping his drink to watch them. Scott could hear the kids making bets on the side if they could do it, or if they'd choke at the last moment. Wasn't that encouraging?

"Just a few more…" Scott said in an encouraging tone to his best friend, trying to navigate their bound legs to the right stepping stone.

Stiles had surrendered his leg to Scott, knowing he’d make better judgement on placement, but there was a moment of hesitation when Scott placed his foot in a place where Stiles could barely reach in his own flexibility. ”Wait Scott.” he started. ”I can’t rea-” he stopped as Scott pressed forward, and Stiles felt his body jerk in a direction he couldn’t appease to. ”BLA- Scott!” Stiles hollered, holding desperately onto Scott’s arm with the one tied to his, and onto a slippery rock, his feet both dangling underneath him. ”Don’t let go jack!” Stiles called, finding footing for himself again, and trying to catch up speed with his friend. ”I’m pretty sure I just pulled my groin.” Stiles groaned.

Scott winched in sympathy as Stiles made his way back up to an even playing field. "Well at least we didn't fall."

He really hoped that no one else made it to the top of this rock climbing wall before they left because where his hand was supposed to have been clenched there was now four puncture marks going down at least an inch into the tough material. And one on the bottom of it too from his thumb. Oh yeah, it was permanently scarred. He really hoped no one else saw the damage until they left.

Stiles groaned every step of the way up. ”Yeah, that was way better than falling.” the boy said with an angry look toward his best friend. They managed to reach the top and as they did, Stiles let his hands cradle himself, yup, that meant one of Scott’s too.

"Dude," Scott scolded, ripping his hand away, Stiles' included, from the boy’s genitals.

”Hey, this is your fault.” Stiles said, altering his harness before starting down the wall again.

Once they were down, Coach Finstock clapped them over the shoulders without actually getting too close. "See. This is how you do it boys. Like an old married couple."

”An old couple where the Stiles denies all sex until his groin stops hurting, thank you.” Stiles growled, pulling his harness off of himself.

"We weren't having sex anyways, Stiles," Scott said, his voice hitting at the amusement he felt.

”Aww, you’re right, I’m too snarky to become someone’s pie.”

"Too gamey," Scott agreed.

"I...don't want to know what this is about," Coach said as he backed away slowly. "I never want to know what it's about with you two."

That whole chain incident must have really spooked him out more than either of them ever thought.

Stiles got himself free from the harness, and leaned over on Scott’s shoulder. ”So, did you break it?” the boy asked. ”If anything you just made it easier to grip for other people.” Stiles added.

Scott flinched at the idea that he'd just damaged public property. It wasn't like he could even replace it or anything - not without explaining how he magically had knives strapped to his fingers for only that second. Somehow he didn't think the whole 'I'm a teenage werewolf' bit would really go over too well. Might get him thrown into that one place for all the crazies. Something Ike...Like the candies or something.

"Yeah, I guess so," Scott said slowly, casting his gaze back up to the one he'd sunk his claws into. "Let's just hope that coach doesn't find out we ruined the equipment or he'll have us running suicide laps."

”Two things, Coach isn’t gonna find out, because no one is gonna care that there are bonus grips up there, second, if there are suicide laps, I’m not running them. . . I’ll literally find a stunt double.”

Scott shook his head as they took their spot back with every other person who had tried the rock wall. Another couple went after them and they didn't even get up to the halfway mark. Then another and another. No one even got close to finishing like they had and even though it shouldn't, Scott felt a sense of pride over that. There were times when he really liked the fact that people on his team had a hard time keeping up, especially recently. Which was probably why he'd resigned as captain of the team - there had been a lot of temptation to cheat just to make the points.

Stiles managed a smile when he realized that he and Scott were the only pair to reach the top. His groin really held it together up there. Stiles leaned on his friend and almost asked him for a lift to their next location, but for the sake of his pride, he decided to push through what ever made up diagnosis he gave himself. ”Do we get to go on a real slip n’ slide now?” stiles asked walking up beside coach, and nudging him with a wet shoulder, even though coach had managed to stay out of the rain.

From the corner, Coach was yelling out: "Danny put your shirt back on!"

Scott turned to see that yes, Danny had taken his shirt off and he had a rebellious 'lets burn him' expression on his face when looking to their coach. Probably because of the fact that Finstock was underneath an umbrella, completely dry.

"It's soaked through," Danny shot back as he held onto the wet shirt.

"Everything is soaked through."

"Exactly coach."

"So what do you want? A change of clothes and to wait the rain out?" Coach asked with a sarcastic tone.

There seemed to be a unanimous nodding of the head at this point.

”Who on earth would want to prevent a cold? What morons.” Stiles spat sarcastically. ”Coach is right, we should just suck it up, rub some dirt in it or something. Become a pack of men. You know, like Mulan. LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS! TO BECOME A TEAM!” Stiles sang. ”Take a good mental image of this moment. When I look around, all I see is teenagers who have to be on some sort of steroids. I mean damn, am I the only one with out a six pack?”

From another area, there was the sound of laughter. It was in such contrast to the sound of rain that it had been easy to hear, even over Stiles' singing. The source of the laughter you might ask? Well, a group of girls in rain slick jackets who had started to jog by. They seemed to be in a rather large group themselves, Scott counted five of them.

"Yeah, pretty much," Scott teased in that light tone of his.

Stiles’ eyes stopped surveying the boys around him when he noticed a pack of perky girls wandering past with giggle echos. His heart panged, and his eyes grew. Girls! Stiles turned to Scott. ”Girls like disney references, right?” Stiles asked, basically falling forward as he watched the girls walk out of sight.

The coach's whistle sounded off before his voice, "Stilinski! What are you doing?"

Stiles perked back up at the sound of the coach’s voice. ”Just observing some beautiful creatures as they walk past and mock me for my horrible singing. They can call me whatever they want, as long as I can watch them say it.” Stiles chuckled, nudging scott. Yeah, the teenager was still a little on the ‘must eventually get sex somewhere’ mindset considering their last villain first took the lives of virgins, it’d be nice to be taken off that list. ”I think that red head was digging me.” Stiles insisted, as he took steps onward.

"I think she was digging Danny," Scott said, hoping that shattering his friend's dreams now saved him pain in the future.

A frown creased over Stiles’ face. ”It’s like they know he’s gay, and they still want him!” Stiles grieved.

Scott patted him on the wet shoulder, gripping the fabric and skin underneath slightly before letting go. "Hey, don't worry. If they don't notice you they aren't worth it Stiles. When it happens, it'll happen."

It seemed to take a considerably longer amount of time to get a nine year old ready now days. Stiles was absent in his getting ready, thinking only about how tired he was after staying at the hospital for grewling amounts of hours. His mother was in critical condition, losing her memories, and functions slowly. Over time, she’d eventually stop remembering Stiles and his father, and then it’d just be heartbreak from there. Sheriff John Stilinski tried to keep those days from the boy. Instead he helped him get excited for the days coming. Like this one, the first day of school. Stiles had been all of counting down the days till he would crack out his brand new notebooks, and open up the Avengers pencils that he bought. Nothing was more exciting than being a third grader.

Sheriff Stilinski had to take Stiles pretty early, and personally walked him to his classroom. His teacher had yet to show up to the classroom, and the Sheriff looked around, checking his clock. ”Hey, I have to go to work, alright. Your teacher will be here soon though. Are you okay to be here on your own?” the male asked. Stiles looked up to the door then to his father and nodded, sliding down the wall and pulling out some of the random knick knacks from his backpack. He seemed to always bring along some sort of toy, and this time he brought a couple of rubik's cubes of different sizes. Most of the kids his age couldn’t solve them, but Stiles had gotten them down. It’d become a new distraction, one that kept him a little quieter.

About a half an hour later, his teacher finally showed up to the classroom. She had moderately wavy auburn hair, more on the light side than the dark and soft gray eyes. She looked to be fairly young but that might have just been the happy glow and the smile on her face.

"And what's your name?" The teacher asked Stiles as she started to unlock the classroom.

Stiles only became slightly startled when he heard a voice over him. He’d heard her shoes coming down the hallway and even heard her stop at the door, but something about her talking directly to him caught him off guard. The boy looked up at the female and then into the classroom that was starting to light up as she opened the doors. ”I’m Stiles.” he told her, before walking into the classroom, giving her nothing more than just that.

The boy started to do a few laps around the classroom, finding out who was in the classroom. He quickly found his own name, but didn’t put his backpack down just yet. He continued to walk around peering over names written on a long strip of dotted paper, taking no time to look over them a second time, that was until he saw two names he recognized. Scott McCall. The boy double took, before running over to the desk that had his name on it, and tearing the tag off of it, and walking over to the desk adjacent Scott’s and taping it on while he brought the other name back to his old seat. He proceeded to take a seat in his new seating arrangement.

Even as he did this mad dash around the classroom, the teacher was writing her name up on the whiteboard. Her penmanship was almost perfect which was always surprising given the medium in which she wrote; it spelled out Mrs. Martin. The other kids were also filling into the classroom as the ten minute warning bell rang through the school. One student in particular walked up to the desk unit that Stiles had re-claimed as his own. Her strawberry-blonde hair was in youthful ringlets, partially held up with a pink bow on the back of her head and her clothes looked straight out of a child's magazine. She sat down without really talking to him, pulling out a pen which a fluffy pink loop at the top and a notebook with a cute depiction of some puppies over the cover. The next person to sit down at their group was a boy who looked energetic, but more excited for the first day of school than the wild energy that Stiles possessed. He sorted through his backpack and pulled out a shiny red apple only to run up to Mrs. Martin to give it to her.

Stiles’ eyes fell first and only on the Strawberry-blonde now sitting directly in front of him. Boy had he’d picked a good seat. He could feel his cheeks burn, but more than anything wonder filled him. The girl seemed almost prideful in the way she held herself with readiness. Her pen plastered the most proper of ways in her left hand. ”YOU WRITE WITH YOUR LEFT HAND!” he asked, grabbing his pencil in his left hand and trying to make use of it in his note book.

"Yes...so?" the redhead asked as she looked up at him, her pink pen pausing mid doodle.

Stiles watched with admiration, trying to drag his pencil in a manner that made words appear on the paper with no use. ”That’s really cool. I can’t do it.” he admitted. ”I can solve a rubik’s cube!” he said, pulling out a six by six from his backpack, and messing it up, trying to grab the girl’s attention.

The little girl, however, was not paying any mind to him. In fact, she sat up straighter to be the ever dutiful student as the school bell rang. Scott had still not taken his seat adjacent from Stiles by the time that Mrs. Martin rounded on the class.

"Welcome to your first day of third grade. My name is Mrs. Martin," She said, indicating to the white board and underlining her name. "I'm glad that everyone found their name tags," Her mirthful eyes went to Stiles before scanning the rest of the class, "because that seat will be your assigned seat for the quarter."

”I don’t wanna move, we can stay like this all year, that’s okay with me.” the boy said out loud speaking his own mind as if it were the mind of everyone else as well. The boy did however look over at Scott’s seat with a nervous look in his eyes. Hmmm, what could have come of his best friend from there.

He bounced his leg as he worked on the rubik’s cube just a moment longer, watching the door in case it moved.

Mrs. Martin took his outburst with a patient smile. "I'm sorry Stiles, but we will be moving the desks after your family gets the first report card. This way you get to know a lot of other kids, not just three."

Stiles tried to remember his manners. He knew the kind of verbiage to take for this kind of thing. ”No, thank you.” the boy stated as if it were an option. ”I’ll just stay here.” he continued to speak out.

"if it makes you comfortable, you can stay there all year," Mrs. Martin said with a laughing smile - saying nothing about the fact that the other three people in his group would be moving. "Now,how about we get the rolecall out of the way? Who would like to volunteer to take it up to the office when we're done?"

The boy beside Stiles had his hand up in the air before Stiles had time to blink.

Stiles was almost startled by the immediate movement. ”Goodness Gracious, did you practice that?” the boy asked, noticing how quickly the boy got his hand up in the air. ”If there is ever a hand raising relay, I want you on my team.” Stiles joked, like the silly kid he’d always been. He still internally wondered where Scott was. He had to find out soon, or he would explode. He hoped the Loch Ness Monster didn’t come out of the lagoon and eat him like he did in that one nightmare of his.

The boy just grinned and waited until the teacher called on him. Of course his duty to the classroom couldn't occur until after the teacher made sure all the students were present and accounted for.

When Natalie finally got to Stilinski she paused. There was a name in that spot that she couldn't pronounce and that was saying something, it really was. Maybe that was why he'd introduced himself by such a strange moniker.

"...Stiles? Stiles Stilinski?"

Stiles had by this time slumped into his seat, turning and twisting at his Rubik's cube like it was a life line. Where the hell was Scott? The boy had grown to develope some pretty gnarly anxiety, but he didn't have a word for it yet. He didn't turn up until he heard his name called. "What?" he asked looking around, already distracted so much that he hadn't realized what was taking place. after a few blank stairs registered, he caught on. "Oh! here! I go by Stiles - wait you said that... So yeah..." he said turning back down to his Rubik's cube.

For now, Natalie had resolved herself to ignore the clicking and grinding of the rubik's cube while she took the role call. When she got around the bottom of the list, the classroom door opened. A little mop of dark hair peaked through, followed by a partial face as though they were unsure if they were allowed in or not.

Melissa tried her best to hurry her son to his classroom, well aware that he was now late for his first day. It started with a mess of things. First Melissa had to take care of a marital problem, and when she got up to Scott’s bedroom, he wasn’t ready. She knew it was her fault for not acting as if there was a fire in the house to get Scott motivated, but as she watched her son peak inside of his new classroom, the first thing she noticed was the teacher in the classroom, a fair face at that, turned their direction. ”I’m so sorry we’re late. This will be the only time.” Melissa stated, as she patted Scott on the head.

Stiles knew that voice when Melissa started to speak up. All worries aside, Stiles turned his head up to look toward the door, his eyes lighting up at the highest voltage thinkable. ”SCOTT!” the boy hollered, pulling himself up from his seat, and all of tossing the Rubik’s cube on the floor before running and slamming his small self into Scott’s body. ”We’re sitting by each other!” Stiles said, pulling Scott by the arm to lead him to his desk. He didn’t care if the rest of the class watched him, because it didn’t matter in the end what they thought of him. ”Scott! Remember the Rubik’s cube your mom had and she let me borrow, I solved it like ten hundered and four times! And my dad took me to the store after we visited my mom at the hospital, and I got a brand new Rubik’s cube, and it’s a six by six! So challenging. Now I have a four by four and a six by six.” Stiles said with a bright smile on his face. ”Here! Mess it up!” Stiles said. ”I bet I can finish it by recess!” Stiles challenged.

Instead of being as excited as his friend, Scott looked as though someone had just admonished him when he took his seat at the his desk. A normal reaction for being so noticeably late to a class without the excuse of bathroom time. Stiles, however, didn't seem to have such moral reservations and Scott wasn't sure if he should be glad or if he should be worried. Though at this point he expected nothing less so he was going to go with glad.

"Sure Stiles," Scott said as he took the cube and stuffed it into his desk. It was for his friend's own good. "Has anything important happened?"

Stiles wiggled in anticipation, even being almost nine years old, the boy was certainly the worst at waiting. ”Hurry!” he stated first before looking around at the girl and the boy with them. ”Uhm, no the teacher said our names, and - didn’t even question mine, which was cool. And that kid is gonna take the attendance record to the office for her, and he was so fast at getting his hand up in the air, we might as well call him the raise master! And - she’s left handed.” Stiles said, pointing to Lydia across from him. Boy what information he’d come across already! just so exciting!

Scott smiled and turned to said left handed girl. "I'm Scott. So you're left handed huh?"

"Lydia," she introduced herself quickly.

And when Scott turned to look at the boy who was going to take attendance, he was beat to the punchline. "Everyone calls me Greenberg."

"Alright class, settle down," Mrs. Martin said from the front of the classroom. "We're going to jump right in it today. Can anyone tell me what they remember of division?"

Stiles’ hand immediately shot up in the air, almost just in attempts to beat Greenberg’s hand. ”It’s like seeing how many times a smaller number can fit into a bigger number.” Stiles said, his definition easily readable. Course, he didn’t actually wait till he was called on, he just simply said it, and returned to the other Rubik’s cube while Scott continued to mess up the other one in his desk.

"Very good. Why don't you come up and show us?" Mrs. Martin invited Stiles up to the board.

She neatly wrote fifteen divided by four for him to solve before he made it to the front of the room.

Stiles took a brief look up from his Rubik’s cube before planting it back down on his desk, and scooting out of his chair. The boy looked up at the division problem and scrunched his face. ”Four doesn’t fit into fifteen without remainders, or would you like me to take it into a decimal?” Stiles’ parents had put him in a few advanced courses over the summer to get him out of the house, it was more so to give them time to relax.

"Remainders will do just fine," the teacher replied.

Stiles brought his hand up to the board, but then brought it back down. ”Show work?” he asked.

"Yes. Remember class, sometimes showing how you got to an answer is just as important as the answer," the brunette teacher said with a smile.

Stiles’ face fell groaning at the idea of answering an easy question like this with work. The boy wrote a 3 at the top, then a twelve underneath the fifteen, did the subtraction, to find a difference of 3, which couldn’t break down any farther, meaning, it was three remainder three. ”Three remainder three.” the boy stated, placing the chalk back on the board and walking back to his desk, and taking hold of his Rubik’s cube again. He leaned over to Scott, with a nudge. ”Are you done messing it up?” he asked.

Scott blinked. "I thought you said you'd be able to finish it at lunch."

Oh look at all the little white lies he was good at telling.

Stiles reached into Scott’s Desk, pushing him aside. ”I didn’t say that, i said I could finish it my recess. From right now.” he admitted. ”Ha, you know what, okay! You’re on! Give it to me at Lunch!” the boy smiled, sliding it back to his friend. Challenge accepted! Stiles reached over his desk and started to notice his name tag was curling up, since he’d taken it off and tried putting it back on a different desk. He ran his fingers over the tape, until it adhered better. ”What did your mom pack you for lunch?!” he asked.

"We didn't pack lunch," Scott said in a bewildered tone.

He knew he'd been forgetting to do something. Hopefully whatever was on the menu wasn't that bad.

The girl who introduced herself as Lydia sent the two of them a very judgemental look. "Are you two going to keep talking? We're supposed to be in class."

Stiles turned to Lydia with a horrified look after taking time to think about What Scott said, very basically. ”You can share my lunch, Dad bought me a pizza lunchable!” he smiled as he whispered in Scott’s direction, staring still at Lydia. ”You’re allowed to talk in class. There is no rule against it!” Stiles said, unsure why Lydia had gotten so angryish.

"Actually, Stiles, there is," Natalie Martin said as she pointed to a sign to the side of the board that read:

Please stay quiet and courteous
Raise your hand if you have a question
or if you know the answer.

Among other rules, of course, but only a short list of them. It was that first one (and the one about staying in their seat) that was probably going to be a challenge for Stiles, Natalie Martin had already figured that much out.

Stiles’ mouth hung open at the sight of the sign. ”That’s not fun! Are we gonna have talking and moving breaks?” Stiles asked.

"That's called Recess, Stiles," the teacher said kindly. "You're in third grade now. You'll get your recess after lunch."

There was a shift in the room, or maybe just for Stiles. ”What if I have to go to the bathroom! I can’t stay in my seat, or there will be pee everywhere! I can’t wait till recess!” Stiles said.

"You raise your hand or come to my desk when it's quiet work time and ask for a bathroom pass. Just remember your grammar and that this is a privilege, not a right so please do not abuse it."

”Peeing is a right! If I am denied the right to pee, I’ll pee in the classroom. Watch me! I’ll do it!” Stiles was adamant about making his point clear.

"If you do that, I will have to send you to the office for punishment. So please refrain from emptying your bladder in the middle of the classroom."

”Can I go to the bathroom now?” he asked.

"May," the teacher tried to correct him.

”IN MAY! I DEFINITELY CAN’T HOLD IT TILL MAY!” Stiles shouted.

"Uh, Stiles, I think she just wanted you to ask the question better," Scott pipped up, vaguely remembering a similar incident in second grade.

Stiles turned to Scott with a confused look. ”Better? How better?” he turned back up to Natalie and tried again. ”Can I please, your teachership, go to the bathroom now?”

The teacher shook her head and continued to talk, turning this into a grammar lesson. "You need to ask 'may I'. To ask 'can I' means that you're asking if you're physically capable of something. Asking 'may I' implies the request for permission to do something instead."

”I am asking if I have the physical capability to go to the bathroom right now! Would permission ever be granted at this time?” Stiles continued. ”Whatever, I don’t even need to go anyway.” he continued, slumping into his seat. Stiles pulled his rubik’s cube close to him again, and started to fiddle with it to mess it up again. Least he could be doing something until Recess came around.

And so the lessons continued. When eleven fifteen rolled around it was finally lunch time. The teacher had everyone put their stuff away their desks and lined up in two lines before leading them to the lunch room. It was a pretty plain room - high ceilings and long bench tables that had been unfolded for everyone to sit at. The lunch line curved around the room where students of all ages had to wait unless they packed their own lunches. Scott hadn't which meant that he had to wait in that long line, antsy as any young kid was.

If anything cause Stiles pain, it was lines. The moment he realized Scott hadn’t brought his lunch, he knew what had come to face him. ”Don’t worry, buddy, I’m gonna wait in line with you!” he stated determined. Stiles cracked open his pizza lunchable while waiting in line, eating all the components separately, even the marinara sauce drinking that up like yogurt. The boy was content. He didn’t need anything to be put together, it looked like more food when you ate everything separately. But the line stretched longer than it took for Stiles to finish off all three little pizza crusts, the pepperonis the cheese, and the marinara sauce. The only thing that remained was the kit kat bar at the bottom that he was determined to save till after lunch to split with Scott. He bought the pizza lunchable just because of the kit kat bar he could share with Scott. ”Is this line gonna take all lunch long?” the boy had had been in line all of four and a half minutes by that point, and it was driving Stiles crazy. He basketballed with a miss his trash into the trashcan but didn’t care enough to go get it and pick it up. He slid the kit kat bar into his pocket, and then pulled out his Rubik’s cube. ”Can I start this now?” he asked his friend.

"Go ahead," Scott said as he moved slowly ahead.

Stiles immediately started to turn and twist the cube In a certain pattern until an entire face was the same color. He was completing the cube far quicker than he had ever before but he looked up to see Lydia staring at him for a moment and he almost completely dropped the cube. She turned away and then he looked at Scott. "Have you ever looked at a girl and decided she was the best girl you've ever met?" Stiles asked.

"No. Is this about your mom?" Scott asked in a hushed voice, as though that was going to make a difference.

Stiles thought about that briefly. His mom was pretty great. "Remember that girl in our class who is left handed. She's really cool. I think she's the best girl I've ever met. My mom is the best mom I've ever had. Just like your mom is the best mom you've ever had." Stiles corrected.

_____April 29th, 2013__

With everyone now at the Stilinski residence, things have sort of - well, heated up. Not entirely in the way you’d think, but in a way that came off more like “ignore the main problems, and try to enjoy yourself whilst not hinting at anything supernatural". Stiles wasn’t sure from what crevices of the world Adrian crawled out of, and why his timing was so - impeccable. From what he was told, he’d been in town a couple weeks, and was waiting for the right timing to show up. It was fortunate enough that Adrian was out of the way of harm through the entire Vampire epidemic, but the fact that he’d lived through the missing people reports, and what not, and didn’t really suspect anything strange, kind of made Stiles wonder what was wrong with him. Back in the days, when Stiles was into minor Sleuthing, (considering everyone even a mass robbery was a minor sleuthing case now that the supernatural has been revealed), Adrian was kind of always on his side, taking on leads, helping him discover the grey spots, and put color to them. Why had things changed?

Adrian left first, which was a bit of a relief to Stiles, because Malia was on edge as it was, and now that Stiles had another “best friend” she was far from impressed. She’d come over to cheer him up, and hoped none of the pack would worry about her and Stiles for the rest of the night. Course, Malia texted Scott, who’s phone was currently broken. . . and totally off the radar, and she had no way of knowing that because Scott hadn’t thought to tell anyone about the matter. Well, at least not at a time that anyone would remember it as he'd said it on the night of the mass attack. Stiles knew. . . but Stiles knew everything.

With the pack being over at the house, Stiles completely emptied the fridge to try to be a good host to his friends. Leftover chinese take out, that he didn’t remember, a jar of pickles, a half loaf of bread with a few molded pieces toward the front, some expired turkey meat, that still smelled decent, aaaaaand a heck ton of condiments. That was about it. Stiles took the opportunity to throw out the perished items, a few heads of lettuce, some carrots, some reaaaaaallly old pizza, and a spoiled milk to the point of curtling. That was almost nauseating to pour into the sink.

Once Stiles realized he was stalk out of food, he put his credit card to use and ordered a few pizzas, thankful that they were open late.

Once things started to settle, and everyone was in the Stilinski living room watching Star Wars Episode IV, and as engaging as it was, Stiles lifted himself up from his seat toward the back of the room to get a little separation from the pack, and snuck up the stairs, and up into his bedroom. He had a feeling if someone would follow him, it would either be Scott or Malia, and he would be ready to talk to them if they wanted to, but parts of him kind of hoped he’d get some space. He hadn’t gotten much of it - purposefully - while conscious that is, but it wouldn’t be a bad time to kind of tell someone everything. Everything.

Once Stiles had gotten up, Scott stopped pretending to pay attention to the movie. He knew that Stiles had wanted him to watch it for a long time but Scott had just never been able to align his interest in it long enough to sit down and watch it. There were more important things to do; especially considering everything that had happened in his life recently. So it really wasn't a hardship, at all, when he got up to follow Stiles to his bedroom. The night had flashed by so quickly that it felt a little hard to breath. Everything seemed to be crashing around his head lately but he wanted to make sure that Stiles could get a few breaths in. If anyone deserved to survive this onslaught of supernatural crap it would be Stiles. As much as he was beginning to like Liam...Stiles had been there first and had been there for him the most out of anyone else.

Without knocking, Scott walked into Stiles' room and closed the door behind him. The young alpha looked at his friend who looked so war torn that there was a ghostly, gauntness to his face. Even after all the sleep that Stiles should have gotten today it was not enough to make up for however long he'd been going without. And no doubt (judging by the fridge) he hadn't been eating very well on top of that. It wasn't like he wasn't being active either; fighting aside, Scott could smell all the stuff that Stiles and Malia had been getting up to all throughout the house. Of course, he wasn't going to mention that. Normal people couldn't smell left over emotions; though they might be able to smell all the sex, it wasn't exactly that descrete of a smell at this point. The last thing Scott wanted to put on Stiles' shoulders was how much Scott could smell around his house.

"Hey...what happened to you? Tonight I mean," Scott asked as he leaned back on the door. "Did something happen while you're asleep? Cause my mom knocked you out pretty good. She gave you a double dose and that should have kept you out all night."

Stiles could hear Scott enter his room, and kind of knew he was on the way to it while he was making his way there. Stiles began in a bit of a pace, turning toward Scott, and crossing his nervous arms against his chest for lack of better placement. ”Uh - I don’t really know. I know it could have been worse, but - I mean, from what I can imagine sleepwalking. . . Maybe. I have never wandered so far before. When Malia called me, I was over by the school, or at least that’s kind where I thought I was heading. I don’t know if I’ve ever walked to school though.” Stiles admitted.

Everything that had happened had been just as much a mystery to Stiles than it was to any of his friends. He wished he had answers, but in a sense he really had no means of even getting them. There were a few doctors that had their suspicions, ones they’d fought to keep Stiles’ nosiness away from, that there was something eating his mind, some disease, and as easy as that was to just believe, and accept, Stiles still felt like the entire thing was flawed, even being highly possible. ”Has your mom told you anything?” he asked.

Scott shook his head. "No. Just that you needed some sleep and that we should keep everything downstairs...well should have kept everything downstairs. She's been pretty tight lipped since she found out how well I can hear. So what's going on?"

Stiles nodded. ”She hasn’t said much more to me, for what it’s worth. I think we should be worried about me. I don’t know to what extent yet, but - I have a feeling I’m - dangerous.” Stiles admitted.

Though he knew it probably was a serious matter, Scott's smile was rueful. "Because we've never handled dangerous before."

His smile faded though as he stared at his friend. This really wasn't the time for jokes, even well meant ones. Scott pushed himself away from the door and closer to where Stiles was. The scent of anxiety was a thick cloud of rotting low grade acid around him. Scott's hand slowly went out to Stiles, gripping onto his shoulder slightly.

"But whatever this is Stiles, we'll figure it out. Even if we have to sneak a peek at the hospital," Scott said quietly.

Now, normally breaking the law wasn't his first go to. But if he overheard something the doctor was saying to his father or a nurse on behalf of Stiles...well that couldn't really be helped now could it? After all, if he wasn't trying to block things out he could hear for miles around and Scott knew now, more than ever, that he didn't have perfect control of his own body. Or so he'd justify and tell his mother if she found him listening in around the hospital.

Stiles nodded, bringing in a deep breath, and turning away for a moment, not to have to look into the sympathetic eyes of his friend. Stiles walked over to his desk, and cleared his chess board, putting pieces back into their starting positions, names still stickied onto them like he’d set up for his father. A small smirk rose on his face, he couldn’t bring himself to remove the names. He turned over his shoulder and look at Scott. ”My house is a little bit of a wreck right now. Guess it kind of personifies mine and my dad’s life.” Stiles admitted. ”His hearing is on Friday, and he’s been sleeping at the office, and we haven’t really crossed paths in a couple weeks. Other than to sit at the doctor’s office, and wait for the doctor to stumble on my name. And - well - I’m kind of surprised the power is still on to be totally honest.” Stiles admitted. ”The last thing we should have to worry about is my well being. . . It hasn’t really been a problem up until now. And my dad takes these things so heavily, and - I can’t imagine what kind of anguish he’s in at work right now. . . You didn’t tell him I went missing for a little while, did you?” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head. "The only people that found out was everyone at my house. And most of them came over with us so if you don't want your dad to know, you should probably tell them too."

Stiles shook his head ”Well, it’s more of a in the moment type thing. Sleepwalking is already on his symptoms list.” Stiles admitted. Though, his destination was rather far this time, and he was entirely sure why he was headed for the school. Course, when sleepwalking there is hardly ever a reason, but it was just such an exact location. ”I don’t really know what to believe anymore. What about you. . . . What happened to you?” Sure the sentence wasn’t the best, and it maybe would have taken a few brief moments of introspection, but Stiles knew he wasn’t the only one losing his mind. He could see that Scott was being trivialized in his own ways, questioned on the inside and out, and regardless what can be said from the Vampires - there had to be something more. If nothing else, losing Allison could have been enough to damage the once powerful true alpha.

"Remember those smoke ninja's?" Scott asked in an unsure tone. He knew that Stiles had never actually seen them but he'd been told about them more times than Scott knew about, no doubt. "They got to my house. And...they tagged Kira, Liam and Todd."

Scott looked down at his hands. He could remember what it was like to feel that searing cold, the inability to properly move. Somehow watching those three go through it had been worse, in a way. He'd told them not to fight it because no matter what anyone did, no attacks seemed to work on them. And when no one fought then they didn't seem to get worse. But it was a gamble he took with their lives; albeit it was one he won but he didn't like that feeling. Was that what it was like to be an Alpha? To have to constantly gamble with other people's lives?

"I don't think they're here to hurt us, not if we don't fight. But they are looking for something and I don't know what it is. For all I know they could just be tagging the supernatural like those scientist do to wild animal populations."

Stiles nodded. ”They’re called Oni. I found a term for them online, course it’s just a term I came up with, it could be totally wrong again. They’re demons, brought on or called on to serve a purpose, mostly to end a life of someone possessed. Isaac, Erica, Malia and Geoff got tagged the other night. And from what Malia says, she has that backwards five thing on the back of her ear. . . Isaac had one too -”

"Yeah, I know. Everyone does."

”Well, that is a Japanese kanji for Self . . . The Oni are looking for someone who isn’t them self.” Stiles walked over to his wall, and pointed at the printed out mask (in spotted ink since he is out of toner) and then turned to Scott. ”Funny to me to think I’d let something like this keep happening without research. Course, I don’t totally know what they’re looking for. That’s the mystery, the grey space. . . you said Kira was marked. . . what is she?” Stiles asked.

Scott blinked in surprise. He'd almost forgotten that Stiles hadn't come with him to go see Loranna and Derek. Which was funny considering the stink he'd put up about the unintentional exclusion afterwards.

"She's a fox."

Stiles’ eyes widened. ”Moving on there quickly, eh buddy?” Stiles said with a bit of disbelief. ”I have a couple websites you might be interested in. . . Had no idea you had an asian fetish.”

"No, Stiles, she's an actual fox. Like uh...mythology stuff. Kit-sunday or something?"

Stiles chuckled with himself, because that was necessary. ”Kit-sunday. . . Uhm, yeah I’ve never heard of that.” He admitted. ”Buuuut! With the horrible misspelling and what not, we’re sure to get some sort of suggestion from google! TO ASK JEEVES!” Stiles said, jogging over to his computer, and opening it up. The screen was completely black. ”Son of a b***h.” Stiles said, looking around the room for his charger. He had no idea where he’d placed that thing, and there were some things in Stiles’ room that disappeared without reason. Stiles looked under his desk, then over to his bed he went, pulling up the covers and pillows. ”Scott, can you help me find my computer charger?” he asked, walking over to his closet and peering inside, looking around for the chord.

Of course, it was right behind Stiles’ computer in a neat coil, but something in the boy made it hard for him to see that. Scott, however, had no trouble seeing that. He reached around Stiles and pulled it out so he could see it.

”Perfect thank you!” Stiles said, reaching down and plugging the computer charger and plugging it into his computer. The thing jumped into life, a large lifelike picture of the Oni mask, like Stiles had left it. Stiles opened up a new Google search, and typed in “Japanese Kitsunday Fox” and pressed search, and there was a correction for “Japanese Kitsune Fox.” ”Kitsune?” Stiles asked, looking over at Scott, and clicking the first link.

Stiles glued his eyes to the screen. ”Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox, alright so this is definitely it. Foxes are often a common subject for Japanese folklore; in English, kitsune refers to them in this context, blah blah blah. I don’t really wanna read this now.” Stiles admitted. ”BUT! Kira does get a spot on my wall now!” Stiles said clicking the Beacon Hills High School directory for a picture, only to find that she wasn’t in it. ”Damn.” Stiles said. The boy grabbed his phone and smiled lightly for a second. ”Be right back, stay here.” Stiles said running down the stairs, and walking into the front room where Kira was sitting on the floor, and walked over to her. ”SAY CHEESE!” Stiles said, taking a quickly shot, flashed photo of Kira, and jogging back up the stairs. ”Alright, got the photo, lemme just - WHOA!” Stiles said, looking down at his phone.

Scott looked at it too and his mouth dropped. "Hey, that's what I saw when I--Uh that's what I saw around her last time too."

”Huh? When you what?” he asked.

The young werewolves' face looked years younger as he stared at Stiles. "Nothing, don't worry about it. It's just something I gotta work on…"

Stiles stopped in his track, and dropped his phone on the desk. ”Scott. . . What’s going on? Did something happen? You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Stiles asked, putting a hand on Scott’s shoulder this time.

"I know that. It's just all the old things, nothing new. It's just getting stronger. It's not like what's happening with you."

”Something is happening though. . . to you. Right?” Stiles wondered. ”Something - seemingly unexplainable.”

"I'm...losing control," Scott said quietly. "It's like my body knows what it's doing but I don't. Kind of like what you're doing with the sleepwalking. But I mean, yours is just when you're asleep right?"

He kept wondering if this was some sort of consequence of the Nemeton. Deaton had told them that the sacrifice replacement would have left a dark mark around their hearts, like a scar or tattoo. Maybe it was just starting to take effect or something.

”I knew it!” Stiles said softly. He walked over to his wall again, pinning up the picture of Kira, and tearing another stickynote off his desk, writing her name and Kitsune on it. He then walked over to the drawing of the Nemeton that Lydia had made several the copy of. ”Okay, so - I know it kinda took some time to realize it. Several months of just going through with the motions, and trying to live everyday and pretend like we’re okay. But let me remind you of some of the things that happened in that time. Allison, went missing. We didn’t see her for like - what, three months, after we sacrificed ourselves for our parents? She was dealing with her stuff. . . let me bring us back to the early vampire days. The nightmares. Mine normally linked me back to the Nemeton. . . That - that seems suspicious. Am I right?” Stiles pulled down a small thing he wrote about his nightmares and handed it to Scott to read. ”The loss of control at the club. You know, when you bit Liam. . . Vampire trance, you know, why would Victoria want another werewolf?” Stiles asked.

"...it happened before then too," Scott continued in a quiet voice. "With Mike."

He really wished he could forget what all that flesh and bone felt like under his claws. Sure he had dispatched some Vampires at Friday but...those had been much cleaner.

”EXACTLY! Mike. Right. How could I forget about that.” Stiles continued. ”What ever happened at the Nemeton. . . what if that’s still affecting us?”

"That's what Deaton said it was going to do," Scott nodded to himself.

Stiles nodded, walking over to grab a notebook off his desk and started to jot some stuff down. "Great, so we got a source - now - how do we fix it?" stiles wondered.

Scott shook his head slowly with a downtrodden look on his face. "I don't think it's something we can fix if this is because of the Nemeton. I think it might be the trade off for saving our parents…"

Stiles shook his head. "There has to be a way... Some sort of exercise or something. There has to be..." optimism wasn't in Stiles' normal personality, but he was desperate at this point. He walked over to his wall for another glance over and crossed his arms against his chest, and putting a hand to his lips and biting at his nails. "Scott - we - "

"We'll get through it," Scott said with a lopsided smile. "We always do right? This time will be no different. It'll just take time."

Stiles shook his head. "We don't have time, Scott. We - don't have any time. If we don't figure this out Scott... We can't do anything."

"We're doing stuff now," Scott rationalized. "And hey, we've figured out everything on the go before right? We'll just have to continue doing that now. Besides there are more people to talk to. We just...have to figure out how to do that first."

Stiles turned back to his wall, and felt the whole room shift, his stomach started to stir, and he watched the room turn. Stiles put his hand out, reaching for his desk to hold himself up. He took hold of his chest for a second before looking up at Scott, his face blurring into the background.

Scott, who had hurried up over to Stiles when he saw that his friend was losing his balance. There was something off that he couldn't put a name to. Almost like when Erica had her seizure but not exactly.

Stiles' eyes rolled with the room, his head pounding as he tried to adjust his eyes. It was almost like he was falling under the sedative again. Stiles tried to hold his eyes open, and he held onto Scott's shirt trying to keep himself up. "Whaa-" he asked, gaining his strength back again, and gaining his footing again.

"Hey, you need to rest," Scott said in a concerned tone, trying to lead Stiles over to his bed. "Something's...wrong. I felt that. Maybe we should call your dad?"

Stiles shook his head. "Don't tell my dad... Don't tell my dad. I'm gonna go sleeping now."

"Okay. We're going to stay here okay? Make sure that you're...okay," Scott replied, letting his response trail off as he realized he was repeating himself rather obviously.

It had been two weeks since the departure of the Alpha Pack. In that time, the town had been settling back to normal. Or as close to normal as Beacon Hills was likely to get. No more teenagers being rushed on stretchers to the hospital (not in the last two weeks at least) only to get almost stole by a vengeful female Alpha. That didn't mean that the residents had nothing to do. After all, life went on.

Like right now. Scott had found a way to amuse himself. This time it happened to be at Stiles' expense. The sun was barely up above the horizon and he was already inside of Stiles' room. Seeing as he didn't want to wake the Sheriff he'd gone through one of the open portals known as a second story window. It was increasingly becoming his usual way which was only slightly disturbing but more amusing.

Rest was a rare thing for the Stilinski boy, who’d taken advantage of his weekend to catch up on a few z’s. Of course, his bed had only recently become his best friend, after a long night of making sure cases were closed, and homework was finished (to an extent). Another part of Stiles was incomplete. The boy had to turn his Jeep keys into his father, after having almost completely killing the engine on some crazy rush to school, causing the entire thing to go up in stinky smoke, that caused Stiles to sound like an avid smoker for the rest of the day.

"Stiles…" Scott called out to his sleeping friend.

But all of that was besides the point now. Stiles was so deep in a REM cycle, that his name sounded sexy, and seductive when Scott called out to him. The boy raised a smile, as his lips pursed. ”Mmmm, hey sexy.” Stiles spoke, unintentionally audibly for Scott’s ears to witness. ”Why don’t you finish taking that off for me.”

Scott grinned down at his friend. Well...he's asked for it.

In a quick yank, he had the covers and the pillows in his hand which left Stiles on a near empty bed. Considering that winter was coming, or what passed for it in California, and Stiles' window had been open all night there was quite the chill in the bedroom.

”WAAAH!” Stiles freaked, his eyes ripping open to see all of his bedding in the hands of his best friend. ”Scott!” Stiles groaned, reaching for his pillow, with failed attempt, and clumsily falling off of his bed. ”Who let you in!” Stiles said, rising to his feet now, before grabbing his pillow away from Scott and putting it over his midsection. (hiding that morning wood, no biggy) ”Did you make an appointment?!” Stiles asked.

Scott shook his head, tossing the covers far behind him. It hit the wall behind and crumpled into a heap. "Coach did."

Stiles’ eyebrow rose, just one, as he gave Scott the most confused look ever. ”Coach, as in Coach Finstock? As in Coach Finstock who has NO SAY ON WHAT A BOY DOES ON HIS WEEKEND OFF!” Stiles hollered.

Scott shrugged, "He called an early morning practice. We've gotta be there in ten minutes. But I figured you weren't going to answer your phone this morning so I came to get you."

Stiles froze, looking at his friends with a look of despair. The boy looked over to his side table, and tapped his phone screen, seeing as it didn’t shine with life. ”Dead.” Stiles said, still deeply phased by what was going on at the moment. ”Well - I should probably get ready then.” Stiles said, his sarcastic tone rich. Part of him wasn’t sure if Scott was telling the truth, but he was going to assume this was a joke. ”Lemme guess, It’s four hours long, and the first hour will be physical Training, followed by an hour of power yoga, then we’ll sit there and listen to Coach attempt to be funny for a few minutes while he explains the rest of the practice, and then we’ll spend thirteen total minutes in drills because our lacrosse team can’t afford more than one ball. . . Then Coach will question putting me back on second string, and then I’ll come back home and pass out, and hate you for the rest of my life.” Stiles stated, as he walked around his room, pulling his pajama shirt off of his body, and replacing it with an underarmor shirt.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it will go," Scott said in a good natured tone, far more awake and happy about it than Stiles.

”Well, what are we doing just standing here, when the best day of our lives awaits us!” Stiles asked, dropping his pajama shorts, and grabbing a pair of running pants up his body. ”Let’s not be late. Don’t want to miss up on our morning stretch.” At least Lacrosse get up was comfortable, right?

Scott grinned and nodded. "Right. So did you need a ride or did you fix the jeep up last night?"

Stiles sighed. ”Unfortunately, Roscoe won’t be with us until thursday. . . Apparently the duck tape left some of the adhesive behind that melted on the alternator, and messed up the oil tank somehow. . . I don’t know I think I just made that up, because the guy who was talking to me made things seem really complicated and complex, and told me I might want to invest in a second job. . . Anyway, yeah, A ride would be nice - did you get your mom to lend you her car?” Stiles asked. ”Well, I mean, unless you ran here. . .”

"I brought the bike. You can use my helmet," Scott offered.

Out of the two of them he was much more likely to survive a crash. Especially since broken bones now took seconds to be completely healed up compared to minutes. He should know, he'd been testing that little bit out when his mother and Stiles weren't their home.

Stiles started to protest, and then gave up. That didn’t sound thaaaat bad. ”I call shotgun.” the boy joked, patting his friend on the shoulder, and walking out of his bedroom the civil way. He walked down the hallway, and down the stairs, grabbing a banana off the counter, and then realizing the banana was completely brown and squishy so he tossed it into his neighbor’s yard before walking to Scott’s bike. ”Are we really going to Lacrosse right now?” Stiles asked, hoping Scott had just been good at hiding this surprise for once.

"Yep," Scott aid, handing him the helmet and waited for him to get on the back of the bike. Bromance, nothing really gay about it.

Stiles groaned a little, stepping over the bike, and holding onto Scott’s Torso. ”Gentle, okay, this is my first time.” Stiles said in a sexy voice into Scott’s ear, after putting on his helmet.

"You got it," Scott said with a grin.

He revved the bike up a little to get it to warm up and pump gas into the proper place, of course not too loudly or for too long because Stiles' dad was still sleeping. When he took off it was slower...for about three seconds. Then he opened it up and went down the road with the most amused expression one can muster with wind hitting them in the face. He wasn't worried about crashing at all. The neat thing about being a werewolf was advanced reflexes and so, even as a car turned without waiting at their stop sign, Scott was about to avoid any accident that may have happened which would have surely killed Stiles at the speed they were going.

Stiles held onto Scott with the hardest death grip he could manage. His eyes were closed tighter than he had ever closed them before, and his legs were gripped so tightly around the bike, hoping he wouldn’t lose his seat. There was a lot of movement, and Stiles could tell Scott was being reckless, but he knew deep down that Scott wouldn’t kill him. . . And if he did, he’d feel worse in the end than Stiles, and that is all that mattered. When they pulled to a stop at the closest parking lot to the field, Stiles started to vocalize how he felt about the trip.

”I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.” Stiles repeated over and over again.

"I know you do, Stiles," Scott spoke out in a placating tone as he waited for Stiles to get off the bike.

Stiles held a scowl, pulling the bike helmet off his head and shoving it toward Scott. He ran his fingers through his now very messed up hair and climbed off the bike, looking around to see no one else in the parking lot. "I thought you said we all needed to be here in ten minutes..."

"We did if we wanted to be able to use the full time. The soccer team is having a practice in two hours and they booked the field."

Confusion took over Stiles face again. "Okay, Then? Where is the team?" Stiles questioned as he continued to look around. But Stiles was no idiot. "Oh god... This is just you and me - isn't it?" Stiles asked, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Looks like it," Scott said. "I tried calling the rest of the team an hour ago to set up the practice like the Coach said to but no one was picking up."

of course, somehow it had slipped Scott's mind that people did not pick their phones up at five in the morning. Maybe it was the fact that he woke up at four-thirty completely energized that had addled his brain. Or the fact that he'd been doing that for the better part of the last one few two weeks as well.

Stiles grumbled "You'd think at least greenberg would answer." The boy placed his hands on his hips. "Well Scotty, you tried. Guess we'll just go home and try again next weekend." Stiles said grabbing the helmet back from Scott with a smile.

Scott pulled the helmet back. "We're not going back home Stiles. Coach wanted the team to practice, so we're going to practice."

He was still the team captain after all so it was his job to make sure that his team, even if it was only one person at the moment, was up to the task of the daunting season. Plus this way he could tell Coach he did call everyone and no one came. That way it was just everyone else that would be getting the lecture. Considering that they were about to head out to one of those weekend Lacrosse camps, Scott was sure that the Coach was going to be in an extra lecture-filled mood and he was going to do everything in his power to avoid it.

Of the people on first string, Stiles probably needed the most practice, but it didn't matter the boy was tired and grumpy and he definitely didn't want to spend his Saturday practicing. "You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding - you're not kidding... Of course you're not kidding." Stiles groaned.

"Come on, let's get to it," Scott said, patting his friend on his back, though it might have been a little to hard in Scott's distraction when he started to the equipment.

Stiles groaned quite audibly before walking after his friend. "Can we at least get breakfast first?!" the boy said crossing his arms as Scott got together some of the equipment. "I think imm gonna put up some best friend for hire signs, cause after today, you're totally terminated."

Scott didn't mind anything that Stiles was saying. It wasn't that he was set on ignoring his friend, it was just that Stiles made these threats pretty often. Like that whole scarlet nerded ordeal. Man, that seemed like another lifetime ago at this point

"Heads up," Scott said, tossing Stiles the goalie gloves.

Stiles ducked watching the gloves fall in his direction, and fall on him. "Goalie? Alright Chief, I am going to be the worst at this - can't wait to meet absolutely none of your expectations of me, and go home with a hundred welts... This is so exciting to me." Stiles stated sarcastically, making his way over to the goalie net with a sarcastic stance, taking hold of the goalie stick, with a stupid smile, before pulling a helmet over his face.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short. Remember that game I missed? You scored all those goals. We just gotta get you to do it again," Scott said in an encouraging tone.

”How would you know Scott? You weren’t even there to see them!” Stiles admitted, getting into a terrified stance in the goal net. ”So, before we start, I’m playing against mostly human Scott right? Not tear nets werestrength Scott. . . right?” Stiles asked, actually slightly terrified for his well being.

Scott's grin was about as mischievous as he ever got. "Let's just practice and you'll find out."

Stiles shook his head, taking tight grip on his stick as he waited for something to happen. ”Alright - Scotty. . . lemme have it. . . easy. . . easy is better.” Stiles said, almost cringing knowing something was coming.

The newly turned Alpha set up and scooped the ball into his stick. He took a half step forward and tossed the ball directly to where Stiles' gloved hand currently was. This time he didn't put too much power behind it, just enough to make it into his friends' glove really. Hopefully by doing this he could get Stiles' confidence up even if it only lasted till the end of the practice.

Little did Scott know that Stiles didn’t find his catching the ball all that impressive of himself. Scott threw the ball to him - threw it into Sitles’ net. . . how could that possibly be impressive of Stiles? ”If this is what we’re gonna do for the next forever Scott, we might as well stop now, neither of us will be improving much at all. . . Why are we doing this?!” Stiles groaned.

"Aw, come on. I was just making sure that you weren't afraid of the ball like Greenberg. Did you see him last practice? He practically dove out of the way."

”As should any Lacrosse player when teamed with a Werewolf who doesn’t know his own strength just yet! Scott, I quite literally hid - did you see me all game?” Stiles asked. ”I wasn’t there for any more than to run past Coach a couple times to show him I was still on the field. . .”

Scott winced, peaking out at Stiles through a scrunched up eye timidly. "Was it that bad?"

Now that he thought about it...that poor net had suffered more than it usually did. And there was that broken arm of the other team's goalie….

”Depends on how you look at it. Won the game 29 to 0, other team forfits before half time, goalie breaks his arm, none of that really seems that bad.” Stiles joked. ”I will admit, that I over heard Coach calling you a genius, pretending to suck at lacrosse for almost two years then randomly being amazing just to become captain. . . If only he realized how stupid that sounded.”

"Right...because I was already Captain…" Scott mumbled to himself with a smaller frown.

With Jackson gone there was no Co about it, Scott had actually become full on Captain. But if he was putting guys in the hospital and getting people to quit playing, not to mention making his own teammates afraid to be on the same field as him...then what good was he as Captain? Especially considering that all of that was because of an unfair advantage he had which he hadn't learned how to control just yet. Sure he knew how to do it in principle but after becoming an Alpha everything was maxed out and he was still trying to test the new levels to figure out which would be back to human.

"Alright, we'll practice some on the right to get you warmed up for real. Ready?" Scott asked, holding the stick out in front of him as he waited for Stiles to set up again.

”So you want me to just hold this right here so you can throw the ball in there again?” Stiles asked.

"No, I want you to actually catch it on your own. I'm just going to aim to the right," Scott said, intentionally leaving out whose right it would be on.

Without any more warning, Scott scooted the ball back into his stick and tossed it to his right. Of course it might have been a little faster and harder but it shouldn't have been at bone breaking level, he hoped. It was a lot easier when he knew exactly where he was throwing it instead of just a general direction. So he was aiming for stinging or just under.

Groaning Stiles took a Stance, holding the goalie stick with a tight grip in his hands. He waited for the ball to leave Scott’s net before moving to his right, and holding the net out to his left, waiting for the ball to enter his net. Miraculously, the ball went right into his net, without being directly aimed at it. Stiles’ eyes widened. ”HA!” Stiles said with a prideful smile, before chucking the ball back out at Scott and entering back into a stance, ready for the next ball. ”Alright, Scotty, let me have it.” he said.

Smiling, Scott started to fling another ball. This time he added the half jump that a lot of player did to add power or to confuse the goalie, either or. Of course he didn't need either but he wanted to prepare Stiles as best as possible. Which meant that it was ball after ball for fifteen minutes with no breaks, like a mad dash to the end. The second that Stiles caught one and dropped it, Scott had started to fling another.

April 15th, 2006; Saturday

One week and one day; that's how long it had been since Stiles and Scott had their escapade in the wood instead of staying on the planned field trip. The time directly after the trip was a little fuzzy of course, considering that they'd run for their lives from what they thought was a crazy man. Anything other than that was even worse as they had both mysteriously been knocked out and returned home...safely if not exhausted. They would never know the lengths that Deaton had taken to keep them safe that night because he simply was too good at keeping secrets at this point.

Regardless of the attack or not both boys had already gotten into quite a bit of trouble from their parents for the field trip events itself. Which meant that when the school's annual spring fundraising event came around there was even discussion about the boys not being allowed to go at all. Unfortunately, both Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa McCall, the parents of the delinquent boys, had already paid their dues for the event weeks ago. Plus there was the added bonus that both Scott and Stiles were part of the clean up committee...so when the end of the day came around everyone's trash became their responsibility.

Thankfully the weather for said event was almost unexpectedly good. It had rained off and on during the week but the sun had decided to rear its head all day for the event itself. As though there was someone up there trying to make up for all of the crap that had been bestowed upon Beacon Hills. Which meant that all the tables and make-shift student run booths had been put up as well as the special event times announced via flyers being handed out.

Melissa herded Scott in the car as best she could to get off to the event. ”I hope you know that you and Stiles are still in trouble.” She told Scott as she opened the door to let him out of the car to go sign in for the event. She wanted to have a good time with her son. She had to request this time off months ago for her to actually get it off, and she knew that it wasn’t Scott’s idea to run off into the forest, but she still gave him responsibility. ”But I still want to have fun today.” She also stated.

Sheriff Stilinski had always had a problem getting Stiles to do as he was directed. Getting him off of a case he’d started to unpackage in his room. He’d gotten him dressed, his almost eleven year old son, and out the door in a timely manner, hoping not to run late to the event. His father didn’t talk to him at all on the way there, even though Stiles asked a million questions. But it was to be understood. Stiles was a questioner. When the doors to the car opened, the first thing Stiles did was look around to see where Scott and his mother where, to take off in that direction. The biggest thing that their parents had taken away from one another, was each other. After school, they weren’t allowed to be with each other, and it drove Stiles insane. He wasn’t coming home to with Scott, or following him home as usual, and his father even took away his video game privileges.

Then again, most of the time he was going to the sheriff station after school. (Scott had yet to get the tv in which to break...so that had never been an option up to this point.)

Stiles spotted Scott and his mother in the distance, and booked it, as his father started to walk toward the tables to check in. Stiles leaped onto his friend and hugged the crap out of him, even given that they were in the same class and saw each other everyday. ”Scott! I have so much to tell you! Remember the gold we found. Well, I was-” Stiles was interrupted by his father slapping a name tag onto his chest. ”We’re not going to talk about that today.” His father stated, looking over to Scott. ”We have to get ready for the first event.”

"What's the first event?" Scott asked in an inquisitive tone, having paid next to zero attention when the school had planned it all out.

Melissa looked down at an itinerary, and turned to Scott. ”Says the first event is a relay race. Teams of four to six.” She looked up at the Sheriff and shrugged. ”Would you like to combine forces and be a four, or -”

”YES! No more questions! We’re a team! Let’s go!” Stiles said, grabbing both Scott and Melissa by the hands and dragging him toward where the rest of the families had started to collect.

Melissa took Scott by the hand, and smiled at her son, as she followed behind Stiles. ”We’ll make sure to keep your inhaler extra close today, okay. We’ll let Stiles do most of the running.” she said.

"Mom," Scott spoke out in an imploring tone.

He didn't want to remind everyone that he was the asthmatic kid. Especially considering the fact that it was getting better...sorta. Well he was at least learning to control it a bit better and to figure out when an attack was about to hit full force. Plus there was the whole thing that he had it in his head that big boys didn't need inhalers and as he was ten years old, he was a practically an adult by now.

"I can do this. Can you?" He tossed back to his mother.

Melissa offered a worried look before making it to their starting destination. ”Scott is gonna do great! He’s fast enough!” Stiles smiled. ”Plus i’m really fast.” Stiles added.

The Sheriff shook his head with a little bit of a chuckle. ”We don’t even know what the relay race is yet.” the man stated. ”Who says it has anything to do with running?”

"It's a relay race," Scott's tone implied how obvious that should have been to the Sheriff. "You guys can do relay races right?"

...he didn't know how his mom and Stiles' dad ran after all. Or if they even could.

Melissa nodded at Scott. ”I can do this.” she chuckled, turning over and patting the sheriff’s shoulder. ”Can you do this?”

The Sheriff gave an interesting look to Scott’s comment and nodded in his own dignity. ”Of course I can do this.”

The announcement ding went off as the person in charge of the race stepped forward to explain the rules. "We're going to start this relay off with the age old egg and spoon walk. The first person will hold the spoon between their teeth and lips with raw egg balanced on it. If the egg falls off of the spoon, you will need to get a new egg back at the beginning. They will get over to the second and third person who will have their legs tied together as well as be placed into a sack. These two people will have to hop to the last team members who each have a carrot. Once the hoppers get to their mark the person or people with the carrot must eat the carrot before racing back to the start. So when everyone's ready and decided where they're going to be for their team, we'll start setting everything up."

Stiles talked the entire duration of the announcements, stating his excitement levels and which even he thought he’d be best at, and had mentally draw up a plain. “Alright, so this is what’s gonna work. Dad, you’re trained to have the balance and focus of a flamingo, you’re go for the egg part. Scott and I are the fastest, so we’re going to do the jumping tied together sack race, we’re the most in synch too. And then lastly, Meli- Ms. McCall, you’re going to eat the carrot, cause you’re a nurse and you can eat healthy food. JUST EAT IT FAST WOMAN!” Stiles said, grabbing his team again. ”READY BREAK!” he hollered racing to the starting line. ”Don’t you dare drop that egg, Dad, I’m counting on you.”

Sheriff knew how important this was to Stiles- nay, how competitive his son was, and knew that since he was the starting of this race, he’d have to do well. ”Don’t worry Stiles, Just don’t expect me to rush. Slow and steady wins the race.” his dad said.

Stiles shook his head. ”That’s not even a real thing!”

"Fast and perfect would be better," Scott said with a fairly innocent smile on his face.

”YES! Thank you Scott! You know! Alright buddy, let’s get into position and figure out how we can work this leg thing to our advantage!” Stiles said, grabbing Scott by the hand and taking him to zone two. ”Your mom likes carrots right? I hate carrots.”

Scott shrugged as he and Stiles walked over to where they needed to be, "I don't know...we mostly get take out now, she's busy at the hospital most days."

”Yeah, but there is carrots in the chinese stuff right? She likes carrots, I know she likes carrots.” Stiles assured himself. ”So let’s figure this out, this has to tie our legs together.” Stiles said, picking up the bandana, and look around at how other people were tying their shoes together. ”Those people are idiots.” Stiles said, leaning in to Scott. ”If those guys fall wrong, they could totally break their ankles, or like - worse, if that’s possible. It’s actually better to tie it further up your leg, like, closest to the crotch without it being uncomfortable. We’ll do knee. When it comes to jumping, we’re going to use the hand of the foot that is not tied together to hold the sack, and the other to hold each other, that way when we bounce it’s not two uneven balances, it’s one force. Sac races are hard enough on their own, let alone with another person, and tied together. So, we have to plan this out.”

"Uh Stiles, we should get in the bag first," Scott pointed out even though his friend had thought of everything else. "Then we can tie our legs. And we could always do a rowing thing, where we say 'jump' and then jump instead of just flopping around."

Stiles nodded. ”That way we are in synch and we don’t fall. Getting back up would be a real bi- bad word. Uhm, yeah. This sounds like a good plan, now let’s go up talk your mom!” Stiles ran over to Melissa and put a hand out on her shoulder. ”Alright, Melissa, you gotta go in there, and eat that carrot. Eat it like it ate the one you love most for dinner. Don’t let it suffer slowly, just scarf it down and show those men that women are the alpha gender in this community. Also, run as fast you can back to my dad, and you’re the anchor, so if we don’t win it’s your fault.”

"No pressure," Scott said towards his mother while Stiles paused a fraction of a second.

Stiles smiled, turning to Scott with a smile. ”Let’s go get in that bag!” he said, running back to their starting point.

Scott hurried after him and got into the bag, waiting for Stiles to hop in before they figured out how to tie the bandana around both of their legs. Thankfully at ten years old it wasn't that hard to put it right above their knees. That way they could still bend all the way to get the most out of their spring and it was high enough to satisfy Stiles' ideals of what was best to do as well.

"Ready?" Scott asked in nervous anticipation.

Stiles finished tying their legs together and nodded. He was only a little bit taller than Scott, but it wasn’t going to depriment the plan, they were the closest in height, yet another reason why they were the best choice in this part of the race. ”I was born for this kind of Stuff, Scott. Are you ready?” he asked with a smile.

"We're about to find out," Scott replied as the whistle sounded, signaling the first person to go.

Sheriff Stilinski was a Stilinski all of his own, and had discovered something particularly interesting about his leg of the race. He’d licked his spoon to add a little bit of resistance between it and the egg, to add more traction with the grooves of the egg and the plastic of the spoon. The man was ahead by a long shot by the time the other families (mostly kids) had sent off their racer. He was well on his way over to Scott and Stiles, his focus not only on the egg, but also on his surroundings. He noticed that there were small obstacles on his way to the boys, but regardless of it, he was the first racer to make it to the second section. The man smiled, seeing that Stiles was cheering like a wild child.

Stiles was cheering like a wild child as his father made it to them the quickest. ”THat’s what I’m talking about Daddio! Come on Scott!” Stiles shouted, bringing the bag up to their waists. ”On my call, one two three, Jump! I’m gonna say Jump and Jump and Jump and Jump, like beats in a song, you follow?” Stiles stated, looking at Scott, before starting in his rhythm. ”JUMP and JUMP and JUMP and JUMP and JUMP and JUMP and JUMP!” Stiles started to holler, as the two boys jumped.

The first few jumps had been the most interesting of them all. It felt weird to be tied to Stiles as they tried to jump but Scott soon forgot about that. He focused in on his mom at the end and on Stiles' voice, ignoring anything about his body except that he needed to go on and on and on. So what if those cuts on his knees from...he wasn't sure where he got those again but the point was that he was ignoring them in favor of focusing on getting this done. They were going to do it and they were going to win. As a team. That's all that mattered. So after the first few jumps it really did become a rhythm that both boys jumped to in order to get to Melissa leaps and bounds ahead of their competition.

Like most spring weather, it fluctuated in almost a predictable pattern. The rain of the previous day still clung to random patches of grass and whatever low plants hadn't been disturbed. Yet the current day was balmy but it wasn't unbearable. Two teenage boys were out to enjoy the day for what it was, far away from any air condition.

Scott launched himself over the ravine, finding it easier than it used to be. As he tucked and rolled, he turned back towards the other side to see how the other teen was keeping up. So far, he'd been impressed. Liam seemed to be a natural at just about everything he tried. Scott wasn't sure if he should feel jealous...or if it was weird to be proud of him. Whatever it was, the young alpha decided to just go with it. After a few days of silence it felt like everyone needed some way to unwind. And despite how many bad things had happened in these woods, Scott still remembered all the good times as well. Probably more fondly now than when they'd happened.

As opposed to Scott who chose to run on the ground, Liam chose to take the higher route and jump from branch to branch as though he were a flying squirrel. True enough, each and every branch was not exactly fit to hold a human being on top of it, but the thrill of hearing it creak beneath his feet pushed him to move faster. Strangely enough though, he was having a lot of fun. Scott had invited him to go for a run in order to clear his mind of all of the stressful things that had been happening over the past couple of weeks and it seemed as though a chance to clear his mind was all he really needed. Liam had never truly given his Alpha the time of day given everything that had happened between them but Scott was still the same person that Liam had looked up to on the lacrosse team. Having him as an Alpha just made it easier to admire how he took everything in stride. His methods were definitely more different than the other Alpha he met and definitely less violent that some of the hunters he had met in passing, but he managed to get the job done so that had to mean something right?

In any case, as he jumped from branch to branch, he could spot a clearing between the trees and as he drew closer the clearing showed itself as a ravine. Scott was on the other side and he was going to run out of trees soon if he didn't do something. So, he pushed himself to go faster. Harder. Each time his feet landed on a tree branch, he'd push off them harder, cracking some of them in the process until he came to his last tree branch. With as much force as he could possibly muster in his legs, he launched himself forwards, lifting his legs as he sailed in the air and as he did so he couldn't help but laugh before he began to close in on the ground. His sneakers hit the dirt with a thud before he rolled forwards in order to slow himself before popping back up and onto his feet. "Wow. I swore I was going to die but I didn't....Do you always do this?" he questioned as he wiped some of the sweating from his brow away.

Scott shook his head as he stood up. He had an easy smile over his lips as he spoke, "Not anymore. But I used to come out here all the time. I had to learn on the go. It was better out here than in parking lots. Getting hit by a car kind of sucks."

Of course, all of the things he learned from Derek he kind of put to use getting to Allison faster. Which was probably the only time he had enjoyed actually being a werewolf. It did come with its perks when getting from point A to B; not having asthma was nice too.

"Wait, you got hit by a car? Did it hurt? Was the car moving fast or was it like, the light turned green and they were just putting their foot on the gas?" Truth be told, it would not have mattered either way to Liam. The fact of the matter was that getting hit by a car didn't seem to phase Scott at all. What else could they endure without it causing them any form of harm? "What else? I mean, is there anything that can actually hurt us? Do silver bullets really work on werewolves?" It was only after asking the question that Liam realized just how little he actually knew about being a werewolf. There were nothing but werewolves around town and he had never bothered to observe or even ask what could potentially kill him without his knowing so. So, he figured today would be the day for questions and hopefully answers as well.

"Only if they're filled by wolfsbane," Scott answered him. "We found that out when Derek got shot by Argent's sister Kate. He was ready to cut his arm off before the infection spread but we took car of that. But yeah pretty much, silver's not going to be the issue. That's just based off of the whole 'Argent' thing. It's 'Silver' in french...and the Argents used to be the strongest werewolf hunting family I guess. The whole wolvesbane thing like in the movies still count though. I haven't been shot by a bullet with wolvesbane in it but I can tell you from experience that breathing it in makes you feel like you're dying. And you will if you can't get away from it."

Or so he'd heard. He didn't take Victoria as someone who made idle threats or promises. Especially considering how vicious she'd been when she came back as a vampire.

"It hurts a lot more than getting hit by cars, I can tell you that," Scott continued to try and answer the million and two questions thrown at him. "Argent hit me with his car once or twice, and if you're racing by a car as it's backing up they're probably not going to see you."

The fact that they got up to their top speads on their hands and feet, they really didn't come into normal views of cars. There were the ones that had cameras in the back to help with backing up, but Scott knew from experience that they tended to move too quickly for those cameras to really help the driver. Thankfully he'd gotten used to that in the early days and had enough sense to get out of site before someone saw him. Of course, he hadn't been bumped into in almost eight months. He figured it was just a rookie thing which was probably why it had come out when he started talking to Liam. If the younger werewolf could learn anything the easy way instead of the hard way like Scott had to learn, then the teenage alpha would be relieved.

So, avoid silver bullets only if they're filled with wolvesbane. Otherwise he could take the bullets on? Did that mean that they could easily survive being shot as well? A strange part of him wanted to test it out just to see if it was true but a bigger part of him hoped that he would never be shot or shot at any time soon. "Argent had a sister?" Somehow he could not picture that man having a sister but he had heard a majority of the details surrounding the Argents and also knew of Allison and what she meant to Scott. So, out of respect he would not bring her up though he wondered how a huntress and a werewolf ever dated without killing one another. Still, when the topic of the cars came back it still seemed as though being hit had not phased Scott which proved that getting hit by a car wouldn't really stop him. But what would slow him down was wolfsbane and he intended to find out how to avoid it at all costs.

"There's gotta be a way to avoid if without actually being hit by it, right? Does it smell like anything?"

Scott shook his head slowly as he took a deep breath, "No. It's not that you can't compare it to anything - it's that you won't even be able to smell it. I don't know why but we just can't. I mean, not until you feel like you can't breathe but still there's not an actually scent. Not like how you can smell any of the trees or plants around here. But I mean, thankfully it's not that common of a plant; it doesn't normally grow around here. Mostly I think it'll be hunters and emissaries who'll have it."

"So we have to watch out forany of the hunters in this town because they've got a special wolf killing plant that can't be smelled by us until it's too late and even then we can't really smell it. It's like our very, very, very bad Kryptonite. Okay, I got it. But, what about the Full Moon? Does it ever get easier to deal with? I mean, I....I didn't have control over anything." His voice trailed off as he stared down at his hands. His memories of the night were vague but the scent of blood that had been on his hands never went away. He had killed a lot of people. Granted, they were undead vampires with no souls, but they had lived at one point and he had torn plenty of them to shreds before. "Is it still hard for you, I mean, when there's a Full Moon?"

"Sometimes yeah. It feels like there's stuff inside of me, bottling up and wanting to explode. I think I spend about half of my attention making sure to keep that lid on. Which is probably why the vampires kept choosing full moons to get into my head but..." Scott shook the thought off. He needed to stay focused on what could actually help Liam, not distract him. "It does get easier when there's something to help remind you that you're human too. Like an anchor. It can be whatever or whoever works best for you - there's no magic 'it has to be this' type of deal."

"Hm." Something to make him remember that no matter what, he was still human. Did that even work? Technically they were only half human and not entirely human but he understood the logic behind it. Sorta. In any case, he still had energy to burn off, so after looking towards the rest of the forest, he took off running. Something about feeling the wind brush against his skin as he ran felt invigorating. Like, he felt alive. When he thought of whether or not he had left Scott, the thought was erased when he realized that the male's footsteps were close if not in sync with one another. "Next question; what happens when you run into another wolf? Like, an actual wolf? What do you do then?" he questioned as his speed began to decrease rapidly.

"Like, werewolf or wolf-wolf?" Scott asked as they moved through the woods, his voice carrying easily enough.

"Wolf-wolf." he stated calmly as his run slowed to a light jog before a complete stop. "See. Wolf-wolf. Well, wolf-wolves?" His finger pointed directly forwards at a small pack of wolves before them.

Scott looked ahead of them. Each of the wolves had their coats raised with back legs spread apart. Their tails stayed low, just lightly curled and from what he could see most of them started to bare their teeth. It was obvious that they'd just moved in towards one of their hunts and were percieved as a threat. Scott could tell from the posture that the wolves didn't know what to make of them either - they weren't exactly used to werewolves yet regardless of the one or two they'd already run into.

"Are we gonna fight wolves?"

Instead of answering him, Scott's eyes flashed red. He took a step forward, closing into the defensive animals. There was no need for a sound to rumble out of his chest; the animals, however, did make a sound. The sound was low as their posture changed. The pack quickly changed from an attack posture to submissive, eyes looking anywhere other than where Scott and Liam were. Scott turned his gaze back towards Liam, the red taking a moment or two to fade back down to brown.

"Wolves and dogs aren't a problem. I found that out before I even knew I was a werewolf, but I didn't get it till after," Scott spoke back to Liam with a off-handed smile. "You don't have to really do much...I guess just don't be afraid. Everything else comes kind of naturally. You can probably pet them; they won't mind. From what I've read, wolves are pretty social creatures."

"Cool." The wolves had practically given up on attacking simply because of a look from Scott. It wasn't until the red eyes of his Alpha were back upon him that he actually understood the reasoning. Those piercing red eyes unconsciously made Liam straighten his posture for a moment before he realized what he had done. In turn, he attempted to relax his shoulders as quickly as possible. They may have been intimidating red eyes, but they weren't a threat to him. There was a kind of safety behind the red of his eyes and one that calmed him down a lot faster. "Okay then. Here I go. Alpha Dog Liam in the house." Hesistantly he took a step forward before dragging his lagging foot forwards as well. Needless to say, they could smell his fear and given that Scott's eyes had gone brown, one wolf switched it's positioning slowly causing Liam to pause for a moment. If he thought on Scott's words then he'd be fine. "It's my new pet dog. My pet dog. What do I name it? Does it need a name? Wait..." Names didn't matter, just the concept.

This time, he took a confident step forwards before the slow steps began a normal paced walk over to the same wolf that had switched it's positioning. When he went to extend his hand the wolf bared it's teeth prompting Liam's eyes to glow slowly. Recognizing the same glow and the scent of the Alpha's Beta, the wolf's position changed again just as Liam bent down to pet the top of it's head. Then, strangely enough, the wolf licked his hand. "Okay. This is trippy. Now what? Do I sit with the wolves and tell them about this horrible week?" he questioned before doing just that. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he waited for the wolf to rest it's head on Liam's leg before speaking up again. "Is that what you want? A story of how broken this town really he is?" he questioned with a laugh.

"I think she likes you," Scott joked from where he was, watching this unfold.

It was nice to see something happen which was good for a change. Especially considering the fact that when most people thought of being surrounded by a wolf pack, it wasn't exactly the best outcome. Scott had to admit that it was kind of cool. He bet there wasn't too many people who would say that they got to pet a wolf in the wild.

"We should keep going. They were probably hunting for dinner. Besides, you don't want her to start naming her kids after you," Scott said with a laugh in his tone.

The wolf was pregnant, but just barely. The scent wasn't like the other ones exactly, it was a little off. And he wasn't sure exactly why but it was almost like he could feel it. Maybe it was a connection thing that they had with canines; he hadn't been wrong before when people brought in dogs to the vet. Scott wondered for a moment over if it was a good thing. If the pack size increased what was that going to mean for the wildlife in the area? Or for the people who still walked in regardless of the danger?

Nodding his head, he pet the top of the wolf's head once before moving his leg slightly in order to stand tall. "Bye-bye." With a wave of his hand he walked back over to Scott's side before watching as the wolves resumed what he finally figured must have been a hunt.

"Come on," the seventeen year old Alpha encouraged before taking off.

He made sure to stay at a speed with which Liam could keep up with. The younger werewolf was learning a lot, and he was improving by leaps and bounds (literally) but Scott found that when he pushed himself he could get a whole lot faster than he used to be. It came easier, like he didn't have to put on as much gas before he was already zipping through. Which was why he kept looking back to Liam to make sure that he wasn't flooring it too much. Thankfully, again, Liam was really good with all of this.

This time it wasn't just a random run through the woods that they went on. Scott was intentially leading them towards one spot he wanted to show Liam. It was pretty easy to guess as they kept climing up and up, the altitude increased with every leap and bound. Scott pulled to a stop, however, when they got to a rock which overlooked the cliff. It wasn't the one they could pull cars up to and peer over; it was actually taller than that one. Which meant that it wasn't a place that Liam had probably ever been just yet - unless he was a bit more of a daredevil than Scott knew.

Without any fear of falling over, Scott straightened up walked out towards the edge of the large, pointed rock. He looked back to see if Liam was going to follow him.

Their run was met with Scott looking back at him again and again and again. It got so bad that Liam ended up taking his phone out mid-run in order to check his reflection and see if there was something on his face that he was trying to tell him about. When looking revealed nothing, he slid his phone back into his pocket before hurrying along to keep up with the male before him. When Scott came to an abrupt stop, Liam ended up digging the heels of his sneakers into the ground in order to skid to avoid slamming directly into Scott's back. The male walked straight out and towards the ledge of the rock causing Liam to look around twice as though the male had lost his mind. Did he want him up there as well? If he died it was Scott's fault. And so with his breath held, he followed suit before standing directly behind the male. "Okay. Scary height achieved. Now what?" he questioned wishing only to feel the joy of the ground beneath his feet and not a rock.

"After everything, this is what you're afraid of?" Scott asked with an ironic laugh. "It's not so bad up here. I mean you've got the reflexes how and the balance. You're probably not going to fall off. And even if you do, I'll be here to catch you."

Trusting the male's words, for some reason or another, Liam moved out slwoly from behind Scott in order to look ahead. "It's..." It was beautiful. From within the town there was no chance to actually appreciate anything about it, but from a lookout's view, Beacon Hills was a beautiful place to admire. "Okay. Moment done. Let's get off this please." And of course, as he turned around, his foot slipped causing Liam to begin to fall off the rock itself.

Scott reach out quickly, faster than any human's eye would have been able to keep up. He wrapped his hand quickly around Liam's forearm with claws already out. Despite the fact that they were out Scott didn't even stratch a single line onto Liam's skin. Without saying anything, Scott slowly helped Liam until the younger werewolf was stable and back on the ground he was so interested in getting back to. Then he went back to sticking his hands in his pockets like he hadn't just saved Liam from a fall which could have actually killed him, maybe.

"Were you trying to see if I was lying about catching you?" Scott tossed out there with a well meaning expression. "Or were you wanting to see just how fast you could heal after a fall like that? 'Cause I don't think you want to do that. We might heal pretty quick but everything still hurts."

"Oh yes, that fear of absolute terror that was plastered on my face was totally planned." he mumbeled before placing a hand to his chest. His heart hadn't jumped out of his chest, which was a good thing, but he was never climbing any high rocks simply for the sake of seeing the city again. Once his heartbeat returned to a semi-normal state, he took a calm breath before looking to Scott. "...Thanks...for saving my life. I owe you." Smacking his cheeks twice in order to remove what little tinge of an embarrased blush had appeared on his face, he stood tall once again before stretching his arms outwards.

"Don't worry about it," Scott said with a small smile. It was refreshing to see someone who wasn't so used to being in danger everyweek that it didn't even phase them anymore. "That's what friends do right? Look out for eachother. Besides it was my idea to come out here in the first place."

Scott started to walk back into the forest line. The trees weren't that dense up where they were, but there was still plenty of shade from the miday sun. The scent of pine and oak filled the air and there were plenty of little things scattering about. Though of course, considering the fact that he didn't know how to bottle up his scent or his aura yet, none of them showed themselves. The fact that the wolves had showed just how connected werewolves could be with real wolves to begin with - of course, Scott didn't know that but it was there all the same.

"Look, I know being a werewolf isn't something you asked for but there are a lot of things you'll like once you get used to it," the young alpha spoke out, trying to breach what was probably an emotional filled subject. "Like the run we just had. If you ever get too messed up in the head we can always come out here for another one, whenever you want. Just let me know and I'll be there. The senses can be helpful once you get them down and learn how to ignore some things. Then there's the healing. Aside from wolfsbane, everything else we can pretty much handle. Even regular bullets - I've been shot before, right here," after he said that, Scott puled up his shirt to show Liam the area. It was completely flawless. "It was gone after a few minutes and I didn't even bleed as much as you'd think."

Friends. He had never really thought of it, but at some point in time Scott had stopped being the boy he looked up to and had turned into a friend he knew he could trust. Even if in the beginning he avoided him the plague, a large portion of his being knew that the male could be trusted, it just took a bit of convincing for him to actually open his eyes to the full truth of the matter. Their walk back was a quiet one until the male began to speak. The subject of his being a werewolf came up and he immediately felt bad. He shouldn't have felt bad given that his only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but if he felt bad about it then Scott must have been blaming himself ever since he had become a werewolf. So, he waited, listening to every word he said carefully before smiling softly. His words were sincere and he didn't need to be a werewolf to figure it out either. "You're right. I definitely didn't ask to be a werewolf and if you had asked me, I probably would have said no regardless. But, I am one now, thanks to you." Realizing how that might have sounded, he quickly continued. "I heard about how some people die when an Alpha bites them, but I wasn't one of those people. I survived....thanks to you and while I didn't tell my dad the specifics of everything, he said that things tend to happen for a reason; that everything happens for a reason. So, you biting me that night must have been for this." He paused in order to point betwen himself and Scott. I was supposed to be a werewolf......or something.... What I'm trying to say is, I forgive you."

"Good, cause I totally wasn't looking forward to you trying to test to see if the cure works," Scott said with a small smile, relief hidden behind his eyes in ways he couldn't express outloud.

Maybe he'd eventually get over it himself, maybe. But for now it was just good to know that Liam wasn't angry at him anymore. Neither of them had very much of a choice that night. Scott was glad that he hadn't killed Liam, that he'd pulled out of their control before they had him kill the young teenager. But what he thought after...that was what was going to haunt him. It was for those thoughts that Scott was trying to forgive himself and it was proving harder than he ever would have thought.

"There's a.....No. Nope. Nope. After going through all of this to learn how to deal with being a werewolf, I'm not gonna wimp out. " Puffing his chest out triumphantly, he placed his hands against his hips as though he were Superman.

"Okay Superman," Scott said with a grin. "So what else did you want to try out today? We've got plenty of time and no one is around to disturb us for miles."

Well, no one that they had to worry about.