Bottles & Betas

Summary - Tumblr prompt: "Gang is playing spin the bottle. Isaac and Mel are the ones to makeout in the closet."

A/n: I don't have a set timeline for this so I guess it's just a random one-shot floating around in the TW season 2. This also gives an idea of Melanie's abilities that I haven't touched on in my story, Underneath it All, yet so it spoils a tad.


"Remind me again why we're hanging out with these losers," Isaac muttered, lowering his voice to keep a certain other beta werewolf from hearing him. He rested his arms on the counter-top in front of him and tilted his head to look at his now glaring companion.

"Because they're my friends and they're your friends—"

"Hardly."

"—and we all need a night to relax and have fun and not worry about kanimas and Alphas and…Sasquatches!" Melanie continued, shoving a little umbrella into the last glass lined up on a tray. At Isaac's inquisitive look she quickly added, "It could happen," with a light shrug.

"Mhm. 'Cause everyone is more terrified of someone who needs to shave over a lizard running around," Isaac replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. "This party's boring, Mels. How you managed to get Derek to leave I have no idea but I wish I was with him."

She slapped his arm. "Don't be rude!"

"He's not lying," Erica commented, sidling her way in between them. "You've thrown better parties than this."

"Well, I'm sorry, I don't know how four werewolves, a siren, a human, a hunter, and a genius are going to get along. But i thought I'd try anyway," Melanie cried out, throwing her arms in the air. "And it's not all bad! You're all talking. Save for Boyd…but that's not new. Don't give up yet. We can play a game."

"Fine," Erica replied. She propped her chin up on her palm and lifted her eyebrows. "What kind of game? And don't say Candy Land."

Melanie stared at her for a moment and then slowly stretched her leg back to push the offending board game away with her foot. "I wasn't going to suggest that," she denied.

Erica rolled her eyes and stood, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm taking over now. I'm choosing the game. Isaac, go be useful and find me a bottle," she ordered. Isaac stuck his tongue out at her and then went in search for what she asked.

"But what about my punch?" Melanie asked, motioning to the glasses lined up.

"Is there alcohol in it?"

Her shoulders slumped. "No."

"Ditch it. If there's no alcohol there's no point." Erica lifted an umbrella out of one and placed it behind Melanie's ear. "You made a valiant effort, though." She took Melanie's hand and led her back over to where the rest of the group was sitting and talking amongst themselves, save for Boyd who was merely glaring as Stiles tried to get him in a conversation about the weather of all things. "Okay, listen up, we're going to play spin the bottle," she announced while sitting down. She patted the space next to her to motion Melanie to sit with her. "I'm sure you all know how to play."

"You may want to explain the rules to Tweedledee and Tweedledum over there," Isaac commented as he joined the circle, placing an empty glass bottle in the middle of it. His blue eyes were trained on Scott and Stiles who had frozen at the mere mention of spin the bottle. "I don't think they've ever played a game like this in their entire life."

"And you have?" Allison shot back, her eyebrows lifting.

"Unlike you four, we actually have lives," he replied. Lydia paused in the middle of rubbing a nail file against her nails to shoot a piercing stare his way.

"Isaac Lahey, be nice!" Melanie ordered, elbowing him in the side. This wasn't supposed to happen. All of her friends were supposed to come together and get along and be happy, not fight one another! This party was supposed to be a nice break, not another ounce of stress added on top of their supernaturally charged lives. "Sounds like fun, Eri. We'll play. You too, Boyd!"

"You really think he's going to play?" Isaac whispered, leaning close to her ear.
She ignored the rise of goosebumps on her arm and nodded, leaning in to reply, "He's totally crushing on her. Any excuse to even be near her he'll jump on, trust me. Even he's not immune to the allure."

"Have you seen her? I don't blame him," he commented with such ease that he was rewarded with a slap to the arm.

"Okay!" Melanie slapped her hands together, making a few of them jump at the sudden sound. "We spin the bottle and then what?"

"You go in the closet with whoever the bottle lands on," Erica replied.
Melanie nodded. "And then what?"

A slow smirk appeared on her face. She ran her tongue across her lower lip and then replied, "You'll figure it out. It's fun, I promise. I'll even go first." She had reached out for the bottle and had placed it on its side to spin when Melanie's arm shot into the air. "Mel, you don't need to raise your hand."

"What happens if it lands on a girl?" she asked, her arm still up in the air.

"Then you, in particular, will be lucky won't you?" Erica replied with a coy tilt of her head. Melanie finally put her hand down and Erica spun the bottle. Tension immediately fell down around the circle of teens as they watched the bottle spin around. Stiles looked particularly jumpy as his fingers drummed against his knees and his tongue flicked out of his mouth, much like Barty Crouch jr. Allison bit her nails, Scott played with a thread on his shirt, Lydia and Boyd both looked bored, but Erica looked as if she had just gotten away with having two pieces of cake for dessert instead of one.

"And the lucky winner is…Scott McCall," Isaac announced with a laugh once the bottle stopped spinning. Allison and Scott exchanged a look and then glanced over at Erica who was grimacing.

"Um," Scott hummed.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal," Allison said with a small smile. She reached out and grasped his hand, giving it a squeeze. "I trust you."

He smiled and squeezed her hand in return. "I trust you, too."

"Aww, that's so cute," Erica trilled, earning an eye roll from Allison. "C'mon, McCall." She walked over to him and grasped his arm. With flashing eyes she taunted, "I don't bite" and dragged him off. They all watched her lead him away and once they were finally around the corner they broke their gaze.

"So…what happens in the closet?" Melanie asked.

"Don't worry, I'll show you," Isaac offered.

"But how can you show me? You'd have to make sure the bottle lands on me. And wouldn't that be cheating?"

Isaac didn't answer, instead he shifted his focus over to Body who had let out a low, rumbling growl directed at Stiles. "No, really, don't you all get hot wearing those leather jackets all the time?" Stiles asked. "It's California. Are you trying to look cool? Because you really don't."

"Huh, I actually agree with that," Lydia commented.

"Do you have to lick Derek's asshole? Is that how you win the jackets?" Stiles continued, obviously spurred on by Lydia's approval. "You just shove your tongues right up in there?"

"You must have the perfect technique, with yours buried so deep in Scott's," Isaac replied evenly. "Do you get jealous, Allison?"

"Guys," Melanie stressed in a warning tone, stopping Allison from replying. She knew full well that the hunter wasn't only skilled with a bow and arrow, sharp quips tended to be her focal point as well when threatened enough and saying anything against her or Scott was enough to do it. "This is supposed to be fun."
"Oh, I'm having a blast," Isaac replied, oozing so much false enthusiasm she was surprised it hadn't replaced his blood and he didn't drop dead on the floor.
"Isaac!"

"No, he's right, this was a bad idea," Boyd finally spoke up.

"Oh, so you can talk," Lydia commented.

"See, if we played CandyLand like I wanted—" Melanie started.

"I would have been fine with a board game," Allison spoke up. "Just not CandyLand, sorry." Melanie waved away Allison's sheepish smile. She sat up straighter as Erica and Scott walked back into the room; Scott looked much more flustered than he had before while Erica inspected her nails. Without a word, Scott sat down next to Allison and kissed her, earning a smile and flushed cheeks from her. "Are you okay?" she asked with a little laugh.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "I just really like you."

"I really like you too, Scott."

"Okay, so, I think I a need an insulin shot. Anyone else?" Stiles asked, lifting his arm into the air. He got scattered chuckles in return.

"Whose turn?" Isaac asked.

"Scott's," Erica replied. "But he doesn't want to spin so he's forfeiting his turn," she added with a sneer. But Scott ignored it as he whispered something to Allison who nodded her head in return and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "So, instead, I'm going to choose two people. Isaac, Mel, get over there."

"But what do you do?" Melanie stressed as Isaac stood.

"I told you, I'll show you." He held out his hands and waited for her to take them. He enveloped his larger hands in hers and easily yanked her to her feet. Stepping around the others, he lead her out of the room, biting on his lip to keep from smiling when he felt her swinging their hands as she followed him. They passed the subway car and moved off into the shadows, down a short hall, and into a separate room of which he closed the door behind them.

"This isn't a closet," Melanie noted, still swinging their hands.

"Yeah, well, hard to find one in a subway graveyard," he commented, running his free hand through his hair.

"So what are we supposed to do now? Stare at each other? Not that that would be a bad thing, you have a nice face," she commented easily, dropping his hand to rest her palms on her lower back. Her head tilted to the side and she lifted her eyebrows, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen that made this game so exciting. She made a mental note to watch more teen movies, they'd probably give her a better clue about what her life was supposed to be like.

"Thank you," he said with a half smile. "We're supposed to…do something," he eased, watching her face for a reaction.

"Sing?" she offered.

"If you do that, the next thing I know I'll be walking down the street naked just because you thought it was funny," he commented, dropping his eyelids to give her an un-amused stare.

"That happened only once and I didn't know what I could do with my Song ability yet," she protested, eyes widening. "Just be glad I wasn't thinking about a thistle bush at the time."

"Yeah, but why were you thinking of me naked in the first place?" he asked, crossing his arms. He pressed his lips together to stop the smirk from appearing on his face. He waited…and there it was. He could hear her heartbeat increase in speed, going from a steady rhythm to a gallop of sorts. It happened every now and then; whenever he or Erica steered a topic to a certain sexual topic or when he caught her looking at him or when he accidentally brushed against her during their training. Before she could recover from it like nothing happened but lately it was almost as it her brain shut down at the smallest touch.

Much like now as she stared at him and red pooled in her cheeks until she finally stuttered out when her brain started to work, "That was an unfortunate side-effect."

"Ouch," he muttered, pressing one hand to his heart. "Thanks for that. Even your talons hurt a lot less."

"I think your ego can survive, it has enough hot air," she mumbled, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Now are you gonna tell me what we do in here or is this some big joke that I'm not in on?"

He hadn't planned on just going for it, he was going to ease her into it so as not to freak her out but it wasn't his fault that she was being impatient. It wasn't his fault that she wanted answers. And it certainly wasn't his fault that she was so adorable trying to plan a perfect get together for everybody to get their spirits back up amidst kanima stuff.

Initiating a kiss that made her gasp and hold onto him to keep herself standing? That he would gladly take credit for.

His skin burned where he felt her fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt resting by his hips. His heart thudded against his chest so hard he worried for a second that it would somehow burst right out. The rushing blood in his body sounded like a waterfall in his ears and while it roared it didn't block out the quiet groan she uttered in the brief second their lips parted before she stood on tiptoes to reach his mouth again.

His hands, which had been cradling her face, dropped past her shoulders, slid down past her hands, and grasped onto the back of her thighs. With little effort, he lifted her off the ground and her legs immediately latched around his waist. Her arms loosely wrapped around his neck as she held onto him, her mouth moving against his at such a fevered pace he almost laughed in disbelief. Because it was such a silly thought, that anyone would want to make out with him. The quiet kid. The abused kid. The graveyard digger. And yet here he was, in a room, making out with Melanie like their lives depended on it. He knew getting the bite would change his life but he didn't expect this. Scott had to have been talking out of his ass, there was nothing bad about it that he'd ever experienced.

He walked her over to the wall and pressed her back against it, earning a moan. He pulled away from her, gasping as he squeezed his eyes shut. His fingers curled against her skin and he gritted his teeth, feeling that familiar adrenaline rush through him. He could feel his nails begin to grow and poke into her skin. A bead of blood ran down the side of his finger. No, not now. Don't wolf out now. Don't hurt her. Calm down, Isaac, just calm down.

"Are you okay?" Melanie asked, her question coming out wrapped in thick panting that only made things worse.

"Yeah, I just…have a problem," he replied, turning to her and showing that his once blue eyes were now Beta Gold.

Without a word, Melanie lifted a hand from his neck and placed her palm on his forehead. She locked eyes with him and let out a slow breath through her nose as he watched the blue in her eyes leak to a bright violet. "Isaac, calm down," her voice bounced around in his head. At her words his tense muscles relaxed, his once heavy breathing eased, and the gold in his eyes faded.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"You're not that bad of a kisser," she teased. The smile fell from her face and was replaced with her mouth pulling over at one side. "Was this it?"

Now it was his turn to be confused. "Was what it?"

"This." She jerked her finger in the space between themselves. "What we're supposed to do."

"Oh." He nodded and gave a sheepish smile. "Yeah. I got Erica's help but…"

She nodded slowly. "Well, that was stupid."

He blinked. "How so?"

"'Cause you went through more trouble than you needed to." She shrugged at the stunned look on his face. "If you wanted to kiss me, you should have just done it instead of going through his elaborate plan. I wouldn't have complained. Besides..." A sly smile formed on her lips, "did you seriously buy that I don't know how to play spin the bottle?"

Isaac could only stare at her. His mouth tried to work to form some sort of question but his brain and his mouth didn't match up. Thankfully some screaming from the others stopped him from having to come up with something.

"What's that about?" Melanie asked, turning her head to look at the door. Her cheeks rested against his and he briefly closed his eyes at the touch.

"Uh…they found Derek's chess set," Isaac replied, straining to hear. "Lydia and Boyd. They're playing against each other. Stiles is yelling at Lydia to beat Boyd. Erica's yelling at Boyd to cream Lydia."

"Big surprise."

Isaac turned his head, resting his forehead against hers. "So, uh, I don't think they miss us," he commented, a smile tugging at his lips. "Want to play Spin the Bottle again? Only, without the bottle this time?"

"Welllll," she drawled, curling her tongue at the end, "if any other parties with it come up I think I'm going to need the practice." She kissed his cheek and smiled. "I like my teacher."

"I like my student," he replied and kissed her again.