"And...what's your name?" Teddy asked awkwardly when Elijah failed to offer his own name in return.
Elijah was still so taken in staring at his mate that he didn't even realize it might appear strange to the boy. He was not fond of social interactions generally and was even less fond of those where he needed to pretend to be human.
"Elijah... I'm Elijah."
The words were short and disconnected, but it was all Elijah could muster. He was not one to become tongue tied, but in the presence of his mate he was smitten. He was giddy, he felt excited and nervous all rolled into one. Of course, Teddy felt nothing— he reminded himself— nothing more than what any human might feel meeting another. Yet.
"It's good to meet you!" Teddy offered his handshake in a polite greeting. Elijah's eyes went directly to the offering as he considered what he ought to do. Getting to touch his mate seemed almost too good to be true, and he worried he might not be able to control himself. On the other hand if he didn't Teddy might be offended and find him uncouth.
Elijah took the gesture for what it was and grabbed Teddy's smaller hand in his own. They fit together almost like puzzle pieces and Elijah longed to take Teddy's hand closer and press it directly to his heart so the boy could see how fast it was beating.
As they touched his veins coursed with electricity and warmth. The interaction sent shivers down his spine; the touch of a mate was something Elijah had never experienced before— something he'd never understood.
"You shocked me," Teddy said with a small smile, and Elijah's heart melted. Teddy had felt the electricity too, he just hadn't known what it was.
Elijah held the contact for as long as he could muster until Teddy cleared his throat, once again appearing perplexed by the strangeness of his partner.
If only you knew how strange I really am, Elijah thought.
He let the boy's hand fall from his own, and tucked his hands back into his pockets with a shy shift of the legs. As an alpha he was used to speaking strongly and having everyone listen to him, but he had no idea what to say. All he knew was that he wanted to keep talking to Teddy, so he had to say whatever would make the boy listen.
"It's... it's good to meet you..." Elijah didn't need to think long about what to say because Teddy broke the silence for him. "Unless we've already met. I can be quite forgetful."
Cute.
"No." Elijah stated firmly. "We haven't."
"Are you—" Teddy paused as if trying to choose his words carefully. "Do you go to St. Matthew's?"
"St. Matthew's?"
"The high school... they uh... they sponsored this dance," Teddy explained. "I don't think I've ever seen you before, and it's not a very large school."
"I go to the other one." Elijah lied.
"Newbury?"
"Yes."
"So... what are you doing here? This is enemy territory?" Teddy asked playfully.
You have no idea, Elijah thought.
"I was feeling brave."
"That so?" Teddy chuckled, and to Elijah it was a wonderful sound. "I'm not meant to hang out with people from Newbury High... they tell us awful stories about that place. But of course, I'm sure that's just school loyalty speaking. You don't seem dangerous."
More than you could possibly imagine.
"It's good to meet you even if you're from a rival school. Did you bring other Newbury friends with you?" Teddy continued.
Elijah looked over his shoulder to the beta and omega who were pretending as if they hadn't just been listening to the whole conversation.
"Just two."
Teddy's face turned to concern, "You're not planning something, right? No pranks or anything?"
Elijah shook his head. Teddy's face filled with relief.
"Good," Teddy accepted. Elijah was suddenly filled with worry about how trusting the boy was. Werewolves weren't known for their honesty. "Candle-Fest is really important to Belford, everybody really chips in to make it a success," He continued, not having noticed the wolf's worry.
"What's Candle-Fest?"
Teddy cocked his head coyly, "This event."
"Oh. Right."
"You're awfully strange, aren't you?" Teddy appeared amused. "It's alright... I am too."
Elijah held back his smile. There were so many questions he had, so many things he wanted answered, but more than anything he wanted to keep looking at Teddy's shiny blue eyes.
To keep from frightening the boy, Elijah shifted his gaze down, but instead found himself drawn in by Teddy's small pink lips. That was too difficult— he decided— and he immediately looked away towards the trees as if he hadn't looked.
"So..." Teddy trailed off. "Did you want something, or...?"
Elijah's eyes widened. When he'd approached the boy he hadn't thought to come up with some excuse as to why he was introducing himself. He couldn't very well come right out and say that he was Teddy's mate and wanted to meet him. The human world was full of complex social structures; it was strange to just walk up to somebody without having some kind of purpose.
"I wanted to meet you," His short harsh response came. It wasn't a great excuse, but it was true.
"You.. you did?" Teddy asked in disbelief. "Why?"
"You looked like someone I should meet."
"Oh," Teddy nodded. He looked away from Elijah, but the wolf caught a slight glimpse of bush traveling up his cheeks.
A brief silence fell over the pair as the song changed from an upbeat pop number to a slower song. Damien and Julie, who weren't far off, moved into a closer position and began to slow dance romantically. Elijah could see the yearning on Teddy's face and was confused by it. He had gotten the impression that Teddy was annoyed by Damien and Julie, so it wouldn't make sense for the boy to be jealous.
"They look like they're having fun," Teddy hummed, once again breaking the awkward silence.
"Do you dance?"
"Oh no!" Teddy shook his head quickly. "I don't know how... besides, I'd have nobody to dance with."
"You and I could..." His voice cracked uncharacteristically and he coughed shifting back to his short blunt disconnected phrasing. He didn't want to sound as eager as he really was. "We could dance... If you want."
"You and I?" Teddy asked incredulously. "But we're both... we're boys."
"So?" Elijah shrugged, "Does that bother you?"
"I just... didn't get that impression from you, is all.... I kind of thought it might bother you."
"I thought it would too," Elijah replied honestly. "But it doesn't."
Teddy's eyes filled with admiration as he looked up at the tall man standing before him. Still it was only a second before he looked back down to his shoes.
"I don't know if I should."
"Why?"
"Well," Teddy tugged at his sleeves. "What if somebody sees us? What if Damien sees?"
Elijah raised an eyebrow.
"He might get the wrong idea... and think it's romantic. Then it could get back to Fr. Charles... and—"
He might think it's romantic, Elijah repeated in his head.
"We could dance in a... friendly way."
"A friendly way?" Teddy smiled once again filling Elijah's heart. "Is there a friendly way to dance?"
Elijah frowned to himself. It was nearly impossible for two mates to do anything in a friendly way and not a romantic way. Humans were different from wolves, he supposed. They held homosexuality in a different mindset. To wolves it was sometimes uncommon, but never forbidden.
"Probably." He shrugged.
"Well... I don't know," Teddy's face was conflicted. "I didn't realize you were— I mean, I just thought you were coming over to ask me where the bathroom was or something.... But you'd like to dance?"
"I would."
"With me?" Teddy confirmed.
Elijah was suddenly struck with the thought that Teddy might not have been gay prior to the bond. If he was straight and randomly mated to another man, he was probably having a lot of very strange and frightening feelings, and Elijah would need to take things extra slow. The wolf had never considered himself to be gay, but being mated made it easy and he could now no longer even think about being straight. Humans processed those feelings differently.
"Do you?" Eliajah asked. His voice was short with anticipation. He wanted Teddy to want him— desperately. "Want to dance with me, I mean."
"Oh yes—!" The boy called excitedly, before calming himself down again. "I mean I think I would like that... it's just..."
Elijah reached out his hand gently in offering a mirror of what Teddy had done before. He wanted to take things slow and make Teddy feel comfortable, but more than that he wanted to touch him again. Teddy looked down at it for a moment, then his face filled with great resolve and he took it strongly into his own.
The wolf pulled the boy just slightly away from the curb where they were still a good distance from any of the couples. He was never much of a dancer himself, but he'd learned well enough from the werewolf meetings to be able to show Teddy.
"We shouldn't be doing this," Teddy mumbled as Elijah placed his hand on the boy's waist.
Their bodies were closer than ever before and Elijah tingled with lust as he tried to keep himself contained. They'd only just met and they were already dancing— it was wonderful to him. He was in heaven. Totally satisfied.
"I'm.. glad though," Teddy whispered in a smaller voice.
"You are?"
"Yes, I—"
"Ted!" A voice broke through their bliss and Teddy shot away from Elijah like a slingshot. Instantly he was looking around to the other couples around them, but nobody seemed to have noticed. Nobody except Damien who was rushing towards the two boys with Julie in tow.
"Damien?" Teddy's face was on fire, as red as a tomato.
"Who's this?" Damien asked quickly.
"This...this is—"
"Elijah." Elijah finished for Teddy. He stood straight up and tall completely unphased by being caught, only staring Damien down in challenge. His stare said, Go Away.
"Did you need something," Teddy asked innocently.
Damien didn't move from his glare at Elijah.
"Come on Teddy, let's get some punch," Julie said in a soft voice with a gesture towards the cider booth. Teddy sent one final longing look towards Elijah, but passed in front of Julie regardless. She looked at Elijah with a blank stare for only a moment before turning to follow Teddy.
Elijah looked at Damien with a harsh scowl and wished he could have shouted at him. If they hadn't been in public he might have attempted to scare the boy off once and for all.
"What are you doing messin' with him?" Damien crossed his arms over his chest. He was muscular, but not nearly as muscular as Elijah.
The alpha was insulted. In one blow Damien had claimed that Elijah didn't have good intentions and Teddy wasn't good enough.
"I'm not."
"You're like twenty, dude." Damien spat. "What are you even doin' here? This is a high school dance. Theodore's a teenager, man. Quit bein' a creep and go back wherever you came from."
"And if I don't?"
Damien looked back at Elijah in a standoff. The boy probably knew that if it came to a fight he was outgunned, but didn't appear to care.
"I'm not tryin' to piss you off, dude. There's plenty of stuff to do here for people your age, messing with the feelings of a boy who doesn't know any better isn't one of them."
"I think that's up to Teddy."
"Whatever reason you might have to take an interest in Ted—- and I'd bet it can't be good—, I just don't want to see him get hurt. If you're just playing with his emotions, then quit it."
With that Damien walked away in a huff. Elijah stood dumbfounded for a moment. Twice he'd tried to see Teddy alone, and twice somebody had threatened him at the prospect that he might do so. He knew things were only going to get worse the longer he spent in Belford.
Elijah drifted back over to the beta and the omega who both watched Damien from across the room with concern.
"That's Teddy then?" The beta confirmed.
"It is."
"He's just a kid... he doesn't deserve to be wrapped up in all of this." The omega called wistfully.
"He must be eighteen... that's why my wolf waited to mate." The alpha explained. He had turned eighteen nearly three years ago and was nearly passing out of the age where it was common for alpha's to take a mate. "We were all far younger when we got involved."
"But of course we're-" The woman began, but stopped herself.
"Yes, but we didn't choose this world either, it chose us. Now it's chosen him, and there's nothing any of us can do."
A hush fell over the three. It was a difficult life to wander into, but being the mate of an Alpha would prove rewarding, the alpha hoped.
"He's got a lot of guardian angels, huh?" The beta mused.
"Yeah." Elijah grunted.
"Just wait until you take him back to the packhouse. I'm sure all hell will break loose. Who even are these people?"
"I'm not sure. Damien doesn't look enough like him to be his brother... at least not biologically."
"They don't act like brothers," The omega perceived. "I've got four."
"Where did Teddy go?" The beta asked.
"Just off with that Julie girl. She took him to get a drink."
"When are you going to see him again?"
"Teddy?" Elijah asked. "I don't know.... I didn't set something up, should I have?"
"Well you should have given him your phone number!" The omega exclaimed.
"Oh."
"You should go find him again," the beta suggested. "Just to say goodnight... and make sure he knows you like him."
....
Elijah found Teddy about an hour later sitting alone on a park bench. The boy looked dejected and had an empty punch cup in his hand. His eyes were trained to the full moon and Elijah stopped to observe him.
He was dressed in a white sweater that perfectly fit to his body and seemed to glow slightly in the moonlight. His pants were a kind of autumnal burgundy color which went perfectly with his hair and he had shiny black dress shoes on. It was a casual outfit, but still showed that he had put effort into how he looked. He was outlined by the light of the moon and Elijah was hypnotized.
Teddy overloaded his senses and he suddenly forgot everything he'd just come over to say to the boy.
"Elijah!" At some point while he spaced out, Teddy had looked back at Elijah. "I looked for you.. I thought you left."
"No."
"I.. uh.. I just wanted to say that I'm grateful that you danced with me— I might not have gotten to dance otherwise... and well–you really made my night," Teddy grinned.
"We didn't really dance, did we?" Elijah asked, pushing slightly closer to where Teddy was sitting. "We got interrupted."
"I'm sorry!" Teddy apologized. "I swear it's like everybody's watching me— I'm so embarrassed." His face was red and he wiped his hand across his forehead, mussing up his curls.
"We'll have to dance again."
"I'd like that," Teddy's smile returned.
"I should..."
"Are you going?" Teddy's face filled with disappointment. "You've got to get back to your friends right? I don't mean to keep you!"
"NO!" Elijah blurted out too eagerly. If Teddy wanted him to stay, there wasn't a shot in hell he would go. "I don't have to."
"Good," Teddy said in a small voice. "I was worried you would leave and I wouldn't be able to find you again."
Elijah took the opportunity to sit down. Teddy clearly wanted him to be there, if only out of curiosity, and he had no intention of denying him.
"Oh!" He remembered. "Could I have your phone number?"
"I don't have one," Teddy shrugged. "Fr. Charles says that technology only leads to laziness... besides I don't really go far enough from home to need one."
"Oh?"
"Geez... you must think I'm the lamest person in the world."
"No." Elijah said honestly. "I think you're cute."
Teddy blushed profusely and Elijah turned his face slightly so the boy couldn't see him smile.
"So...why do they all watch you?"
Teddy smiled sheepishly still recovering from his blushing, "I think everyone still kind of sees me as a child... besides Fr. Charles has been on edge lately... and I ran away this morning..."
"You ran away?" Elijah raised an eyebrow.
"I did," Teddy admittedly in an ashamed tone. "I'm really very forgetful and I lost track of time. I wasn't really trying to run away... just get away from it all. I needed to be alone, you know?"
"I do."
A hushed silence fell over them once again, but this time it wasn't awkward. It seemed very pleasant and Elijah was content to just watch over Teddy as the boy's eyes remained trained to the stars.
"So what exactly is Candle-Fest?" Elijah asked.
"It's a fundraiser... the beer tent and the food and everything. All the proceeds go towards the Fr. Charles at the church. Last year we used the money to open up a homeless shelter.... I think we need this year to keep maintaining it."
"Are there many homeless people in Belford?"
"Not really— but we do a soup Teddychen there, coat drives, and all kinds of other services. We help provide food all the way out to hungry people in Boston, so it's kind of a big organization."
Homeless people were a strange phenomenon to werewolves who lived all in a kind of common living where they shared everything. Werewolves hated sharing too, so he couldn't understand why humans couldn't figure it out.
"Do you go often?"
"I've actually only gone one time when I was little. I begged Fr. Charles to take me but I had to stay by his side the whole night. Since then I haven't gone, but this year he decided I was old enough to go— so long as Damien watched over me."
"I see."
"Well anyway... the history of it is that when the early pilgrims came who established Belford, they ran out of oil lamps, and the priest had only one candle which he used to lead everyone to Belford. It's always the first full moon in October to commemorate. The story goes that the candle stayed lit while they worked... if you believe in that kind of thing."
"Do you?"
"Believe in miracles, you mean?" Teddy asked. "I believe miracles can happen. I don't know if that one actually did though... What about you? Are you at all religious?"
"No." Elijah answered with a small shrug. He supposed it just wasn't as much of a thing to werewolves; aside from his mother. "Are you?"
"I'm Catholic," Teddy explained. "I hope that doesn't make you think differently of me. A lot of people have had bad experiences with religion.... But I think people miss the point. There's harm certainly, but there can be good too."
Elijah had no strong feelings in any direction on the subject, but he enjoyed listening to Teddy talk anyway.
"Nothing in the world is ever all good or all evil," Teddy mused. "There's a little of both everywhere you look. That's the purpose of religion, you know— to elevate the good... it's really about the good that each individual can do."
From what Elijah had heard there was a great deal of scandal in the history of organized religion, but he had no desire to argue with Teddy.
"You really believe that there's good in every individual?"
"With my whole heart," Teddy nodded. "We live in a world full of very good men, sometimes they just forget that."
"What about Damien?"
Teddy chuckled, "I don't know. I think deep down Damien is a good person— even if he's a lot sometimes. We used to be very good friends.... And even though we're not anymore I still think there's a genuine person in there somewhere."
"Do you think there's good in me?"
"Of course," Teddy smiled.
"And if I forget?"
"Then I'll remind you."
"Good." Elijah nodded. He still knew he was going to forget an awful lot of times anyway.
"So... uh..." Teddy stuttered, shifting the conversation. "Have you ever danced with another guy before?"
"No."
"Me neither."
"Are you—" Elijah locked eyes with Teddy. "Do you like guys?"
"I... uh.. I do," Teddy squirmed slightly in his seat. "I mean, I think I do. I actually used to have a pretty big crush on Damien... back when we were friends. That's how I figured it out."
Elijah stiffened, "What happened?"
"I never got up the courage to tell him... then he started being not so nice to me and it faded on its own. What about you? When did you realize?"
"Today," Elijah said softly. "Looking at you." He had instinctively begun to lean in, and was inches away from Teddy's face. He stared deeply into the boy's eyes as the reflection of the moonlight danced across them.
"Oh!" Teddy exclaimed. He pushed himself out of Elijah's reach and further down the bench. "This is a deep conversation... maybe we should talk about a lighter topic?"
"Sure." Elijah said, leaning back on the bench as if he wasn't fazed. " I'd like to see you again, if I haven't made that clear."
"I'd... I'd like to see you too."
"Good."
"Shoot!" Teddy stood up with a start. "It's past curfew. I should go.... Thank you... for everything. I really do want to see you again... I hope you have a great night."
With that Teddy dashed off into the night leaving Elijah with a small smile on his face, sitting on the bench, basked in the moonlight.
"Anytime." He whispered.