The next morning Levi woke to the smell of pancakes wafting up from downstairs. It was one of his favorite smells. He climbed out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed downstairs to find his parents already sitting at the kitchen table, plates piled high with food in front of them.
"Opsola." (Father) Levi says, quietly, as he approaches the table. His parents both glance up at him.
Apophis sighs and nods at his son, motioning for him to sit down. "Yesterday was... an eventful night, but I'm glad that you didn't get hurt. Your mother and I talked about it, and we think maybe it's time you tell someone about... everything that's been going on." He pauses, searching for the right words. "It might be helpful for you to talk to someone who understands what you're going through."
"Like a therapist?" Levi asks, taking a seat at the table.
"Yes, something like that," Aeloria replies. "There's a therapist in town who specializes in working with people who go through... unusual changes--"
"So I can talk to a total stranger about us being dragons but not my friends!" Levi says, half-joking, half-serious. His parents exchange a look.
"It's not that we don't want you to talk to your friends, Levi," Aeloria says gently. "But sometimes, it can be easier to open up to someone who doesn't have any preconceived notions or prejudices. Someone who understands what you're going through, because they've gone through it themselves. We know Scott and Stiles are your friends, but they are human. It is within their nature to be confused and frightened by what they don't understand."
Levi sighs, nodding slowly. He takes a bite of his pancakes, thinking about what they've said. He knows they're right; it's just hard for him to imagine talking to someone he's never met about something so personal. But he supposes he could try it. "So, who exactly is this therapist?"
His parents exchange another look before Apophis answers. "Her name is Ms. Morrell. She's actually the school counselor. I've met her a few times in the past, and she seems like a very understanding and compassionate person. You could talk to her after school today, if you'd like. We can arrange a meeting for you."
"I'll think about it," Levi says, finishing off the last of his pancakes. He stands up and starts to clear his plate, glancing back and forth between his parents. "I'll let you know after school, okay?"
They nod in agreement, and the rest of breakfast passes in a more subdued atmosphere. Afterward, Levi heads off to school, still feeling a mixture of emotions about the idea of talking to a therapist. He's not sure if he'll actually go through with it, but the thought of having someone to talk to who understands what he's going through is strangely comforting.
He arrives at school walking onto campus, he sees Scott with Stiles and they both smile at him. "Hey, Levi," they say in unison as they all talk about the previous night's events as they walk toward the entrance.
"Okay, let's see this thing." Stiles says gesturing to Scott's side, Levi looks rather confused. "The bite. You have to show him." Stiles explains.
"Bite?" Levi echoes, frowning.
Scott takes a deep breath lifting his shirt revealing his bite wound, which is covered with gauze and tape that has a small amount of blood leaking through.
"Ooh!" Stiles exclaims, leaning in closer to examine the wound. He pokes the bandage, which causes Scott to flinch in pain. So Scott pulls his shirt back down as the three resume their walk into the school.
"It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf." Scott tells the two. Stiles only looks at Scott with disbelief.
"A wolf bit you?" Stiles asked, still looking doubtful.
"Uh huh." Scott replies, nodding. Stiles shakes his head and gives him a look that says he thinks Scott is being dense.
"No, not a chance." Stiles says firmly, shaking his head.
"I heard a wolf howling." Scott says confused. But Stiles scoffs and continues to shake his head in response to Scott's argument.
"No, you didn't." Stiles says, shaking his head emphatically.
"What do you mean, "No, I didn't?" How do you know what I heard?" Scott says getting frustrated.
"Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in, like, sixty years." Stiles explained. Scott looks surprised by this news as the three stop on the front steps.
While Stiles talked with Scott about the wolf, Levi reminded quite. He didn't really know what to say, but if a wolf really was in the woods, it only meant something was wrong. That a pack was probably nearby.
"Really?" Scott asked.
"Yes, really. There are no wolves in California." Stiles concluded.
"All right." Scott sighs. "Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you I found the body." Levi's head snaps in Scott's direction, as Stiles' demeanor instantly changes from exasperation to gleeful at the sound of this news.
"You-- are you kidding me?" Stiles asks praying Scott wasn't joking.
"No, man, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month." Scott tells them both.
"Oh, god, that is freakin' awesome. I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that's happened to this town since-"
Stiles loses his train of thought when he sees Lydia Martin, Queen Bee of Beacon Hills High, walking up the stairs toward the school.
"Since the birth of Lydia Martin." Stiles tells Scott and Levi. Stiles abandons the previous conversation in favor of trying to catch Lydia's attention.
"Hey, Lydia! You look--"
Levi gasps suddenly as Lydia laced her arm with his dragging him away from Stiles and Scott. He sends them an apologetic look as he and Lydia walk toward the entrance.
"So, tell me everything." Lydia insists, practically dragging Levi along as she pulls him deeper into the school. "Danny tells me you found a cute guy over the summer. Did you?"
Levi looks uncomfortable. "Well, yeah, I mean... I did meet someone..." he trails off, not wanting to reveal too much. "But it's not a big deal."
Lydia rolls her eyes, used to Levi's modesty. "It's cute how you get so bashful about it. You know, Danny and I were talking about you and this mysterious boy all summer when you were gone in Italy."
"Really, why?" Levi asks, feeling even more self-conscious.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're hot? And we're all dying to know who it is. Now, you can't just leave us hanging, you know." Lydia says, grinning playfully.
Levi smiled slightly, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Well...I only got to know him for a little bit. He was really nice, and I had fun with him, but that's all honestly." He didn't want to say too much, not wanting to make it seem like he was bragging.
"Oh, come on," Lydia teased, playfully pushing Levi's shoulder. "Don't be such a tease. You can tell us at least one thing about him." She leaned in closer, her voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper. "Did you kiss him? Did you have sex with him?"
"Lydia!" Levi gasped, blushing even harder as they made their way through the hallway. "We didn't even get that far!" He glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before admitting, "We did kiss, though. It was really nice."
"Well, that's better than nothing," Lydia teased, grinning wickedly. "So, how did you meet him?"
"Why don't we talk about you and Jackson instead of me and my mystery boy?" Levi asks, wanting to change the subject. He's already told her more than he intended, and he feels like he's given her enough ammunition for the next few weeks of gossip.
"Oh, you know, the usual," Lydia shrugs. "He did however give me this." Lydia shows a chain key on it. "He gave me a key to his house, I mean, how cute is that?"
Soon the bell rang, signaling the beginning of their first class. Lydia and Levi exchanged goodbyes, promising to catch up later. As Levi made his way to his homeroom, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement and nervousness. He enter his first period English class and sees Scott and Stiles have taken their seats. He sighs and sat beside Scott, smiled sheepishly.
"Dude you left us." Stiles says, clearly annoyed.
"Sorry, it's hard to escape Lydia once she's has you." Levi shrugged, trying to brush off the awkwardness.
Mr. Curtis, immediately begins the lecture without introduction.
"As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night." He says to the room of students. Scott, Stiles, and Levi all look at one another knowingly. "And I am sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody, which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus, which is on your desk outlining this semester."
Levi looks down at his desk reading over the syllabus for the semester. He tries to focus on what's in front of him but his mind keeps wandering back to the suspect in custody. He glances over at Scott, who seem just as distracted.
Soon Principal Thorne steps into the room, everyone in the class turns to look at him and sees that a girl is standing next to him.
"Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome." Principal Thorne introduces the girl who stands beside him, looking a little nervous. Allison has long brown hair that falls past her shoulders, and she's dressed in a black blazer, a white button-down shirt, and a black skirt. Her brown eyes dart around the classroom, taking in the faces of her new classmates.
Allison, looks nervous, and smiles weakly before finding the only open seat in the class, which just happens to be in front of Scott. He smiles at her awkwardly as she sits down. Scott, reaches into his backpack and pulls out a pen. He then gently taps her shoulder and offers her one of his own. Allison looks surprised by the gesture, but smiles at him gratefully.
"Thanks." She says softly, taking the pen and turns back around to face her desk.
Scott smiles in a way that indicates that he is starting to fall for her already. Stiles and Levi look at one another sharing a knowing glance as class begins once again.
°~☆~°
After class ends, the students file out and go to their lockers. Scott's locker is across the hallway and several meters down from Allison's, and when Scott catches her eye, Allison smiles at him. Just then, Lydia approaches Allison and strikes up a conversation, and Scott continues to watch them from afar and eavesdrop on them with his newly-enhanced hearing as Stiles, Levi and their friend Harley join him by his own locker.
They all watch as Jackson approaches the two girls. He shares a kiss with Lydia making Allison uncomfortable.
Harley, looks at Scott and Stiles incredulously, though Scott is too busy listening to Allison, Lydia, and Jackson's conversation to hear her.
"Can someone tell me how New Girl is here all of five minutes, and she's already hanging out with Lydia's clique?" Harley asked glancing over at Allison Lydia and Jackson. Though Harley was obviously being facetious, Stiles replies with a genuine answer.
"Because she's hot." Stiles answered. Harley gives him a look, but Stiles still doesn't get it and shrugs before finishing his thought. "Hey, you asked the question, beside she's Levi's friend."
"What does me being friends with Lydia, have to do with it?" Levi asked, not really sure where Stiles was going with this.
"Well, you know how she likes to claim people as her own. And since she's already decided that you're part of her crew, I'm guessing she wants to make sure Allison gets the full Lydia treatment." Stiles shrugged. "You know, to make sure she fits in and all that."
"Okay, Lydia does not claim people." Levi objected, but this made both Stiles and Harley look at him with disbelief. "Well... okay, so maybe she does, but you're making it sound like it's a bad thing." He tells Stiles and Harley, defending his friend. "And besides, I'm sure Allison can handle herself." He glances over at them and sees Lydia and Jackson making out in front of Allison briefly before separating and started talking about to her again.
Soon Stiles, Harley and Levi get into a very animated debate about whether Lydia's actions are simply protective or if she's being possessive. Scott was to busy looking at Allison and her conversation to listen to his friends argue.
The bell rings, for free period. Ending the debate between friends. Scott, Stiles, and Levi all went out to the lacrosse feild for tryouts.
The lacrosse team has gathered on the lacrosse field, where the players are warming up by passing the ball back and forth as a few other students congregate in the bleachers to watch the team play.
Scott and Stiles are in the middle of a conversation as they quickly jog toward the field. Stiles is out of breath and trying to keep up with Scott, who seems unfazed by the exertion.
"But if you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. Are you really gonna do that to your best friend?" Stiles pleads, trying to sound dramatic as they jog.
"Hey!" Levi says slightly offended, "I thought I was your best friend!" Levi says looking at Scott and Stiles as they near the field.
The rest of the lacrosse team is already on the field, warming up and stretching. Scott spots Lydia in the crowd, sitting with Allison, and he can't help but smile when he sees her. He quickly turns to Levi.
"Levi, I need you to sit with Lydia and Allison. Y'know, um maybe give Allison a good word about me or something. I need you to be my eyes and ears." Scott says, shooting Levi a meaningful look.
"Why do you guys always make me talk to the girls you like?" Levi asked slightly annoyed but knowing that he had no choice in the matter. He walks over to the bleachers where Lydia and Allison are sitting and takes a seat next to them.
"Oh, Levi there you are." Lydia perks up when she sees Levi.
"Yeah, I was just talking to Scott and Stiles about... nothing important." Levi lies, not wanting to reveal anything about Scott's little plan. He turns to Allison, "So, how are you liking Beacon Hills so far?" He asks, trying to make conversation.
"It's okay, I guess. It's really different from San Francisco." Allison responds. She glances over at Lydia, who seems to be watching her carefully.
"Well, I mean, you're not missing much. It's a pretty small town, but the people here are really nice. And the scenery isn't bad either. You should enjoy it while you can." Levi says with a smile. Soon tryouts begin. Couch Finstock blows his whistle and the team forms up into lines.
"McCall!" Coach Finstock shouted.
"Yeah?" Scott replies. Coach roughly tosses a lacrosse stick with a much bigger net and a bigger helmet to Scott, who catches them after they smack him on the chest. Scott's eyes narrow in confusion.
"You're on goal." Coach Finstock clarifies. Scott looks at him, confused, before realizing that he's been assigned to be the goalie.
"I've never played." Scott frowned.
"I know, scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first-day-back thing." Coach smacks Scott on the shoulder for emphasis. "Get 'em energized! Fired up!" It is clear by the look on Scott's face that he doesn't have a good feeling about this.
"What about me?" Scott asks, still slightly confused.
"Try not to take any in the face." Coach Finstock says with a gruff laugh as he walks away to coach the offense. Stiles, looking a bit worried, pats Scott on the shoulder and heads over to the defensive line. Scott takes a deep breath and puts on the huge helmet, adjusting it as best he can. He looks out at the field and sees the other players warming up, shooting the ball at the goal. He tries to remember anything he's ever seen about playing goalie, but all he can think about is that it looks really hard and he's not even sure how to stand.
In the stands, Lydia looks at Scott curiously, as though she had never noticed him before, and Allison is staring at him as well. Scott reluctantly takes his place in the goal and prepares for practice to start.
"Who is that?" Allison jerks her head in Scott's direction.
"Him? I'm not sure who he is. Why?" Lydia asks. Allison smiles in response to Lydia's question.
"He's in my English class." Allison says, nodding her head in Scott's direction. "I don't know... There's just something about him."
"His name his Scott." Levi says, nodding in the direction of the lacrosse goalie. He hesitates slightly trying to think of things to say that might impress Allison. He hated being Scott and Stiles wingman. "He's actually really good at lacrosse." Levi continues, trying to make conversation.
"Oh, really?" Allison replies, still looking at Scott intently. She leans in closer to Lydia and whispers, "Maybe I'll get to know him better." Lydia raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything.
Scott was distracted looking at Allison that he didn't even notice Jackson takes a shot at the goal. The ball hits him right in the front of his helmet with so much force that he's knocked backwards onto the ground. Coach Finstock, Jackson, and the rest of the team members immediately start laughing and making fun of him.
"Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!" Jackson yells, laughing as Scott struggles to get back to his feet. Levi watches Scott struggle to get back up, feeling a pang of sympathy for him.
"I thought you said he was good at lacrosse," Lydia comments, pursing her lip as she watches Scott struggle to get back up.
"Oh, he is. Really. I mean... he must just be having an off day." Levi stammers, his voice not quite as confident as before.
Scott, now determined to prove himself, stands to his feet and shakes out his shoulders in preparation for the next shot. The next player tosses the ball towards him, and Scott catches it easily, to the point where he's visibly stunned that he was able to do so. This sentiment is shared by all the rest of the teammates, Stiles included, who then cheers happily for his friend.
"Yeah!!!" Stiles shouted, rising from his spot on the bench.
The second, third, fourth, and fifth shots are caught by Scott just as easily, and Coach Finstock simply stares at Scott with his mouth open as though he can't believe what he's seeing. Allison smiles when she sees Scott's performance, and even Lydia is clearly impressed by what she sees. Scott's hearing once again picks up on their conversation while he gets ready for the next shot.
"He seems like he's pretty good." Allison comments, looking over at Lydia and Levi.
For once, Lydia isn't putting on her mean-girl act or pretending to be someone she's not when she replies to Allison's statement.
"Yeah, very good." Lydia replies, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"See, I told you he was good." Levi says, smiling a little more confidently mainly because his lie was now true. He looks at Allison out of the corner of his eye, wondering if she's as interested in Scott as he thinks. "Scott's actually really nice too, once you get to know him." He says, trying to make a connection with Allison.
Scott is practically giddy as he bounces on the balls of his feet and smiles, which only makes Jackson more angry. Intent to take Scott down a peg so that he's back in the spotlight, he slams the top of his stick against the player who was set to practice his goals and ditches him in line. Scott tenses when he sees this and prepares for the worst.
"Uh-oh." Scott mumbled.
Jackson runs as fast as he can toward the goal and tosses the ball with all the force he can muster, but to Scott, the ball seems to be moving in slow-motion, allowing him to catch it without hesitation. Both Stiles and Lydia stand to their feet to cheer Scott on, much to Scott's surprise.
"THAT'S MY FRIEND!!!" Stiles shouted, clapping his hands together as Scott successfully caught the last shot. He looked over at Levi, who was now staring at Scott with a sort of awe in his eyes, and felt a strange sense of satisfaction. Levi had never seen Scott like this before, and it was clear that he was impressed. Even Lydia seemed to be enjoying the game a little more now.
Jackson is appalled by the fact that Scott got one over on him, and Lydia gives Jackson a very pointed look, as if to say, "Is that all you've got?" This does nothing but make Jackson more furious with Scott for taking his glory as the best player on the team. Allison watches Scott with interest as he throws a back-shot at the assistant coach, who just barely catches it with his own stick.
°~☆~°
Scott, Stiles, and Levi have just crossed the creek in the nature preserve as they attempt to find both the top half of the body Scott found the night before as well as the inhaler he dropped in the process. The three are talking about the day's practice as their feet get wet in the water.
"I-I don't know what it was. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing. I-I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear. Smell things." Scott explained as he rubbed his nose, a small frown on his face.
"Smell things? Like what?" Stiles asked.
"Like the mint mojito gum in your pocket." Scott states, Stiles makes a face as though he thinks Scott is crazy.
"I don't even have any mint mojito-" Stiles checks the inner breast pocket of his blazer and finds, much to his surprise, a single piece of folded-up mint mojito gum, just as Scott sensed. Scott raises both of his arms to the side as if to say, "I told you so." Stiles considers this for a moment before he continues. "So all this started with the bite?"
Levi gets uncomfortable slightly when Stiles mentioned the bite. He still hadn't told them about himself being a dragonborn. "It's probably just a side effect of the bite. It'll pass." He tries to downplay the situation, not wanting them to worry about Scott or expose the supernatural secret he's been keeping. "We should focus on finding your inhaler." He says, looking around the forest, hoping to change the topic on the bite.
"You know what? I actually think I've heard of this, it's a specific kind of infection." Stiles says continuing the conversation.
"Are you serious?" Scott asked sounding slightly worried as he leads the group deeper into the forest.
Stiles gets a small smirk on his face before trying to make himself look as serious as possible, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy."
Levi turned to Stiles not happy with the joke he was making. He knew werewolves were real but Stiles and Scott didn't know about him being a dragonborn. "Stiles that's not funny." He growled under his breath.
Scott turned around confused. "Huh? What's not funny?"
"Ignore him, but I'm telling you it's the worst. But it only happens once a month." Stiles says with a slight smirk.
"Once a month?" Scott asked worried.
"Mm-hmm. On the night of the full moon. Aroooo!" Stiles howls like a wolf and Scott shoved him causingStiles to giggle in amusement. Levi's eyes widened, feeling a little uncomfortable now. He was beginning to wish he didn't have to be here. "Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling!"
"Hey, there could be something seriously wrong with me!" Scott says annoyed.
"I know! You're a Werewolf! Rawrrr!" Stiles joked, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Levi gave him a disapproving look but didn't say anything. "Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But, if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's 'cause Friday's a full moon."
Scott stops walking and looks around, frowning when he doesn't see anything remarkable where they're standing.
"No, I-I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler." Scott says, frowning as he looks around once more.
"Maybe the killer moved the body?" Stiles comments.
"Right, because that's a settling thought." Levi says, rolling his eyes. He glances around, taking in the forest one more time, before looking back at Scott. "We should head back to town, the woods always creep me out."
"No, I need to find my inhaler. Those things are, like, eighty bucks." Scott protests, turning back around and starting to walk deeper into the forest. "C'mon, it's gotta be around here somewhere."
Levi groans, "If we die out here looking for your stupid inhaler, I'm never speaking to you again." He says, following after Scott.
Stiles chuckles, "Oh, come on. We're not going to die."
A man in his early twenties with pale skin, black hair, a black leather jacket, and a scowl appears in front of them. "What are you doing here?" He demands, looking between the three of them. When Scott, Stiles, and Levi are visibly panicking, don't respond, the man's tone gets even gruffer. "This is private property."
"Uh, sorry, man, we didn't know." Stiles says, raising his hands in a placating gesture.
"Yeah, we were just looking for something, but..." Scott trails off, his voice faltering. "We didn't realize we were on private property."
Levi stays quiet, looking nervously between the man and Scott. The man looked older than them, and there was something about his expression that made him seem intimidating. The way he held himself, the way he spoke... it was like he was used to being in charge.
"We'll just... we'll be on our way than." Levi says wanting to leave as soon as possible. He glances at the man once more, noticing the way he's looking at them suspiciously, and feels a prickle of unease running down his spine.
Suddenly, Derek tosses Scott's inhaler at him before turning and heading back the way he came without a word, giving Scott one last look and seemingly paying Stiles no attention whatsoever. Scott sighs and gets ready to turn back the opposite direction.
"That guys so creepy." Levi comments.
But before Scott or Levi can move, Stiles holds his hand out to physically stop them from walking away.
"Guys, that was Derek Hale!" Stiles hisses, grabbing their arms and pulling them back the way they came. You remember, right? He's only like a few years older than us."
"Remember what?" Scott frowned.
"His family. They all burned to death in a fire, like, ten years ago." Stiles says, his voice quiet.
"I wonder what he's doing back?" Scott whispers glancing in the direction Derek had disappeared.
"Well wonder about it later, can we please get out of here?" Levi whispers, still glancing nervously over his shoulder. "I hate the way he's looking at us."
Scott and Stiles nod, their eyes still darting about as they hurry back the way they came. The silence between them is broken only by the rustle of leaves underfoot and the occasional gust of wind through the trees. It seems like hours before they finally emerge from the dense forest and find themselves back on the familiar, well-lit main street of the town.