Bleeding Out ▸ Teen Wolf (3) | Discontinued

BONUS: CARSON + MALIA

          But here she was back at square one again, all because of Malia Tate.

          Which was a little nerve wracking because a) Malia had kissed her and Carson had never felt her heart do that many backflips at once and b) Carson had never felt her heart do that many backflips at once over a girl.

          It wasn't like she'd never noticed girls before. She'd always thought girls were pretty and funny and nice and all that but ... she'd never really thought her fleeting thoughts and feelings were anything more than just her seeing a girl look super cool and wanting to be their friend? That was normal right?

          Except now she'd met Malia and despite her tendencies to run through the woods at night and wake her up at odd hours, Carson thought Malia was quite possibly one of the coolest and prettiest girls she'd ever met and Malia had kissed her.

          Yeah ... there was no doubt that Carson's lines were being extremely crossed and tangled on whether Malia was just super cool and quality friend material when all she wanted was to be kissed by the werecoyote again.

          Part of her wishes she'd been able to keep this secret under wraps for a bit, so she could have more time to process this whole thing, to figure out who she was. But it was kind of hard to do when Malia liked to climb in through her window and spend an inordinate amount of time with her. And somehow, despite years in the woods as a coyote, Malia was oddly perceptive.

          Which meant she called Carson out on her bullshit excuses for trying to avoid her before Carson could even give said excuses. Which led to Carson babbling out the issue at hand, leaving Malia to look at her like she'd grown seven heads.

          "You're acting like this because I kissed you?" Malia asked bluntly. But her tone was one of confusion. She'd been a little troubled at things like normal social conventions and social cues for the past few months, having a hard time adjusting to the human world again and it wasn't surprising that to her, this kiss was a non-issue.

          "I ... I mean, yeah," Carson replied, biting her lip as she tucked her legs under her. They were sat on her bed and Carson was hyperaware of how close Malia was to her, how soft her lips looked, how —

          Jesus Christ, she was a wreck ... crushing hard? Undetermined.

          "I thought it was good," Malia said. "I've never kissed anyone before that, but it seemed good to me."

          "It was," Carson assured her, hands fidgeting in her lap. "I just ... it was ... I've never kissed a girl before. And it made me feel ... things, I guess. About the kiss. About, well, about you."

          "Is that a bad thing?"

          "What? No!" Carson let out quickly, running a hand through her hair. "It's not, it's definitely not. It's just ... new. For me, at least. And I don't know what any of what I'm feeling means."

          "What if I kiss you again?" Malia asked, although her tone suggested that she thought it was the most reasonable solution in the world and not just an off-handed idea.

          Carson balked, teeth digging into her bottom lip as she thought it over. In truth, it wasn't the worst idea in the world. There was a chance it could give her more insight into what she was feeling, help her get through this earth-shattering epiphany she'd been stuck working through for the past month.

          And there was a part of her, a really fucking large part of her, that wanted Malia to kiss her again.

          Carson had never really been bashful her entire life, but there was a shyness to her voice when she asked, "And you'd be okay with that?"

          Malia shrugged, laid back as ever. "You're having a problem and I have a way to figure out the problem. Plus, all the stress and anxiety you've been having is making you reek."

          "Malia!"

          "I'm just saying. Your chemo-signals have been all over the place."

          "I don't want to make you think you need to do this."

          Malia gave her another look of confusion. "I want to do this."

          A stuttered breath escaped Carson, her heart hammering in her chest and she had no control over the blush spreading across her cheeks when she realized Malia could definitely hear it. But to her credit, Malia didn't point it out.

          Instead, she just leaned forward, taking one last look at Carson's expression, for any sign of discomfort, before pressing her lips to hers.

          It wasn't like explosions or fireworks or any of the things Carson had once thought made up a good kiss. But it was soft and light and gentle and it felt like a puzzle piece finally slipping into place, completing the picture. She fell into the kiss in a free fall, her heart thumping like a drum, her hand reaching up to cup the side of Malia's face, their lips slotting together as if everything was meant to be this way.

          In a weird way ... it felt like coming home.

          They pulled back after a few moments, a few more additional pecks, and a dopey little smile danced across Carson's lips as the earth shattering, month long epiphany seemed to come to its final conclusion.

          Yeah. Data collected. Data analyzed. There was no fucking way in hell she was straight.

          Ever impatient, Malia looked at her expectantly. "Well?"

          Carson swallowed, her cheeks pink. A hesitant smile softened her face. "I think I might need a little more to go on."

          Malia's brows furrowed for a moment, before the true meaning of Carson's words hit her and a brilliant smile stretched across her face. "Stiles says extra data is always important in an experiment."

          Carson laughed. "Stiles usually gives shit advice, but he might be on to something there," she murmured, happily leaning back in to the girl who had seemingly stumbled right into her life at the perfect moment.

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