I don't own Darkest Powers.

Derek's POV

We were watching tv on the hotel room bed. Chloe had her back up against the headboard and I was lying down with my head in her lap. She was playing with my hair, running her fingers through it, stroking my scalp. I was in heaven. I have no idea what was even on the tv. I'd closed my eyes and tried to shut out everything but her and what she was doing to me. Who even knew the scalp could be an erogenous zone? Every tug of my hair, every scrape of her nails sent shivers down my spine.

"Derek?"

"mmmm?"

"You need a haircut."

"Do you think so?"

"Uhh, yeah. I just put it in a braid."

Hun. I sat up and looked bleary eyed into the mirror across from us. Half my hair fell forward, the front almost to my chin and the back to my shoulders. The other half was put up in one of those fancy braids that girls sometimes wear. It followed my scalp over one ear and ended up in a tail like thing at the end.

Chloe started giggling. "Do you want me to do the other side? I just need you to switch so your left is facing up this time. Pigtails are so precious."

I shook my head wildly, like a dog shaking off water. Most of the braid came out. "So cut it."

"Me?"

"Sure, why not?"

She rolled her eyes "Cause I don't know how to cut hair"

"So? I don't care. I don't know if you could make it look any worse than it does now." Really it was getting pretty skeevy looking. Even I knew that much.

"Why don't you just go to the salon with Simon and Kit."

"Cause haircutting places stink. That chemical smell burns my nose." That was true, but it wasn't the whole story. I don't know how people could have someone they didn't know stand behind them with a very sharp, very pointy object. Not to mention when they tip you back in the sink to wash your hair. That much neck/stomach exposure was completely against my alpha nature.

Chloe got up and walked to the open door between the two rooms we'd rented. "Kit do we have a sharp scissor?"

"I think there might be one in the first aid kit."

She turned around and bent over to grab a large hard sided suitcase out from under her Aunt Lauren's bed. Our first aid kit was massive. I guess that's what happens when you have potential for great injury and are traveling with a doctor.

Chloe started pawing through it. She came up with one of those surgery scissors that cut through anything then a little tiny scissor with curved blades. She eyed them both skeptically and rooted around some more. She came across an unopened package with a large orange handled scissor in it. "This looks like it will work."

We went together to the "boy's" room. Dad looked up from his paperwork with a smile "What are you kids up to?"

"Derek needs a haircut."

He laughed "That's an understatement. I'd like to see my son's face again."

I grunted. No sense in encouraging them. I admitted I needed a haircut. They didn't need to harp on it.

We walked into the bathroom. It was set up with the tub on one side, and the sink and toilet on the other. It was pretty small.

Chloe looked way up to the top of my head. "How do you want to do this?"

"Should I kneel on the floor?"

"Isn't that going to hurt your knees?"

"I don't care."

"How about a chair?" Chloe poked her head into the other room. "No go. They're all upholstered. Toilet? No. There's no room for me behind it. Unless you want to straddle it facing backwards. Though you might still be too tall."

"It's fine. Really. I'll just kneel."

"That'll be uncomfortable. How about you sit on the edge of the tub and I'll stand in the tub behind you."

"Okay." I really didn't care.

"Cape?"

"What?"

"What do we have for a cape? We could empty the garbage and use the liner. Make a hole for your head and put it over you. Those little hairs can drive you nuts." Chloe climbed into the tub.

Chloe was thinking about this way to hard. "How about I just take a shower afterwards? I'll take off my shirt now, so we don't have to worry about getting hair in it."

I took it off and flung it out the door.

Dad cleared his throat. "What's going on in there? Why are you doing a strip tease?"

"It's just my shirt. I didn't want to get hair on it. I'm going to take a shower to wash off after were done."

"Just checking."

I settled myself in front of Chloe. Nothing happened. I realized the scissors were on the counter in front of me. I grabbed them and held them up over my shoulder towards her. Nothing.

I glanced in the mirror. She was staring at me. Staring staring at me. Not blinking. "Uh, Chloe?"

"Oops" She tried to take the scissor, but fumbled them. They made a loud clattering in the tub. She was bright red. As she bent over to pick them up she muttered to herself "Haircut, just a haircut. You can do this."

"Chloe, I really don't care how it turns out. Don't worry about it."

She didn't look at me, but her blush got brighter. "What? No, it's ok. I'm fine doing the hair. I was just distracted for a minute. Never mind me."

She started cutting off long chunks of hair.

After a while, we heard Tori, Simon and Lauren come back from shopping. Tori and Simon were hard to miss. They were arguing the whole time. Lauren had enough apparently. She snapped at both of them to be quiet and go in the boy's room. Then the dividing door was slammed.

Simon looked in the bathroom doorway. "Finally. You were starting to look more like a sasquatch than a werewolf."

I grunted.

Tori peeked in next.

"What you couldn't find a groomer that would take him?"

Simon looked at her "Tori, why do you have to be such a bi-"

"Don't even bring out the b word when you're talking about me. I'm a witch with a W. I'm not the bitch in heat letting a dog hump my leg."

Chloe turned red, and I could see her jaw clenching.

"Tori fuck off." And I shut the door in her face.

Chloe had bitten her lip. Tears were welling in her eyes. Tori really was a bitch.

"I don't understand why she has to be so m-m-m-mean sometimes. One day she'll act like m-m-my b-b-b-best friend, the next she can't even b-b-be in the same room as me."

"Don't worry about it, she isn't worth it. Besides it's just PMS."

"Argh, don't do that. I hate it when guys do that."

"Do what?" I didn't understand why she got mad, but I prefer her anger to her sadness.

"Blame everything on PMS. It's a crappy thing to do. It makes it seem like it's a defect that women have."

"But it is PMS. She's always worst the day before her period starts, and she's getting it tomorrow." Oh crap, I didn't mean to let that slip. Maybe she wouldn't catch it.

The scissors slowed.

"How do you know that?" Oh shit. She caught it.

"What, uh, because of the way she was acting?" Act dumb, I've got no social skills, maybe she'll just think I'm a jerk.

"No, you sounded more confident than that, and I know you're not really that guy who blames problems on being a woman. How do you know that?"

Dammit, she knows me too well. I heaved a big sigh. It wasn't like it was really a secret, I just knew it would embarrass her. "Because I can smell it, okay."

She started snipping again. Maybe she would just let it drop.

"Can you smell me?"

Nope. Not Chloe. She never lets anything drop.

"Sure you smell really sweet. I like that new shampoo you got."

She rolled her eyes "It's unscented."

I gave her a grin "Yeah, I know. That's why I like it."

"That's not what I meant. You know what I'm ask- never mind, I know the answer."

Her face was red.

"Look it's not a big deal. It's a natural thing that happens to women"

"Ugh, I don't need a new-age-feel-good-about-your-body sex ed talk from you. Thank you."

"I'm just trying to say it's not a big deal that I know it's happening. It's not like trying to be around Simon and Dad and Tori after they've had Mexican."

She was silent for a long time.

"What else can you smell?"

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"I mean, obviously you can smell things that have smells. During my . . . er . . .time of the month, sometimes I can smell it too. But I can't smell it before it comes. What else can you smell that I can't?"

"I can smell family sometimes. I, uh, saw your dad once when you were trapped at the Edison Group. We were looking for you, and I thought you might have gone home. I saw him get in the elevator. I knew it was him cause he kind of smelled like you."

"Yeah, I remember those werewolves saying you smelled like a Cain. Hrm..." She had a speculative look in her eye right now. She glanced up as though she could see through the walls to where the rest of our rag-tag bunch sat. I wondered if she knew something, but she let it drop.

"What else?"

"Some emotions."

"Like?"

"Fear is the big one I guess. I think because of the adrenaline and most people sweating more. Anger is kind of the same way. I think people's heart rates go up and they sweat a little then too."

"I see."

More quiet broken only by the snip, snip, snip of the scissor.

"So, do I smell like a bitch in heat?"

I jerked my head out of scissor range and turned to look at her "What?"

Sometimes I could just kill Tori.

She started talking really loudly- enunciating every word like I was hard of hearing, "Do. I. Sm-"

"I heard you. I just can't believe your asking that. Don't listen to Tori." She turned my head back to the mirror and started snipping again. I think she didn't want me to look at her when we talked about this.

"She brings up a point. I know a lot of animals put out a smell when they're in h-h-h-eat. Pheromones or something. Do I smell d-d-different to you when we're . . . when I'm . . ."

I'm not sure which one of us was more red by this point. "Turned on?"

"Yeah" she muttered.

Shit. I don't think there was anyway I was getting out of answering this. "Yeah. I can smell it." Oh could I ever, and I loved it.

"Oh." A long pause then "That's not really fair you know. That you'll know that."

What a joke. I snorted.

"Don't you snort at me. I'm serious. It's totally not fair that you know that about me and I don't about you."

I looked at her in disbelief. "Don't you have eyes? Do you know what it's like to have to make sure I'm always wearing a long enough shirt? To have to constantly adjust myself when you're in the room? I've started carrying random things around with me just so I'll have something to hold in front of myself if necessary. At least I'm the only one who knows when you're turned on. "

Chloe was laughing by the time I was done with my little tirade. "Should I get you a fanny pack? You could turn it to the front and it would provide cover. And it would be convenient storage for when you're a wolf. You could wear it around your neck.

I growled at her "It's not funny."

"Yes it is. I'm pretty sure this is the most ridiculous argument I've ever been in."

Her grin was infectious. I smiled back at her.

"I'm almost done. Is it short enough?" She turned my head forward and started cutting again. "If I'm going to keep doing this, maybe we should invest in a clipper."

"It's fine."

She glanced up and met my eyes in the mirror. "You didn't even look at it. You're staring at me."

"I can't help it. You smell good."

"Does that even make sense? If something smells really good don't you just want to smell it? Like mown grass or fresh laundry."

"I don't know. If I smell something good in the kitchen I'd want to eat it." And I licked my lips.

At this she blushed again, and refused to meet my eyes or comment. I replayed what I said in my mind. Oh. Whoops. I didn't mean it that way but . . . For as embarrassed as she looked, I noticed she had private smile and her smell got stronger.

"Okay. I think I'm done. What do you think?"

I looked in the mirror. It was a little uneven but not bad. She'd cut the sides short, but left the top a little longer. The front was almost to my eyebrows. I think it'd be nice not having to push it out of my eyes all the time. "Looks good. Thanks."

The pile of hair in the tub was pretty big. I reached around to start cleaning it up. Chloe stopped me. "Here let's get stuff off you first." She started brushing at my shoulders then her hands switched to my back. The brisk brushing became protracted - more of a caress. "You've got it all over you." She reached around to start working on my front. "You're too big. I can't reach. Stand up and turn around."

"That's ok. I can do it myself."

She ignored me and kept stroking me. "Really, everywhere." I grabbed her wrists as her hands reached the waistband of my shorts. I had hair across my lap too.

"Chloe stop."

She looked at me with an impish grin. "You're not going to stand up and turn around?"

"Not until you leave the bathroom."

"Why?" all innocence.

"You know why. Now get out."

"It's too bad you threw your long shirt out the door. Do you want me to go get you a fanny pack?"

"Yes, I think there's one in your room. Go out and get it."

"Nope. I think I'll stay in here."

I growled.

She started talking in a condescending voice "Derek, when a boy sees a girl he likes sometimes there are changes in his body. These changes are natural and beautiful."

This had to stop. Time to call her bluff. "I know you think you're getting the better of me. Mocking my embarrassment. But I'm not embarrassed. I was just trying to protect your virgin eyes. I don't care if you know what you do to me. I just don't want the others seeing it."

And with that I stood up and stepped into the tub with her. She yelped and jumped out.

"Here do you want to take my shorts with you to add to the wash? I don't think I'm going to get all of the hair out of the waistband." I hooked my thumbs under the waistband and pulled them down to expose my hip bones.

She squealed. "I'll just wait for you outside." And bolted out the door. Slamming it behind her.

Chuckling to myself I scooped up the hair on the floor of the tub and threw it into the trash, ditched my shorts and turned on the cold water.

The end.

a/n Thanks agin bodynsoul for being my beta reader.

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