See Chapter 1 for all warnings.


To Save Them All

54

With our alliance in tatters and the danger of Kate and Gerard lurking and evading the manhunts, things are a bit tense. The last two weeks of school have been seriously annoying. Between avoiding Chris, or hiding outright from Victoria, I've managed to keep the peace in our new little group.

Which is an awesome group and Erika is now dating Boyd, I'm really psyched for them too.

The agent acting as my chauffeur is a miserable bastard but I can learn to ignore him, it helps stop my dad panicking so that's a good thing. It also means I can watch and see if anyone is following us without looking like that's what I'm doing. So far so good.

The news that I'm gay has spread far and wide, my lack of attacking the guys has made them relax and Danny has already pulled me one side and gently let me down because he's already taken and he thinks of me like a friend. He also lied he doesn't think of me as a friend but most guys that come out start hitting on him so I can understand and I pretend to be heartbroken but stoic.

Allison and Scott are going strong, now Erika and Boyd are joining them, leaving me and Isaac the odd ones out in the group. Though Isaac is going to therapy now and has admitted he doesn't understand most of what his therapist is talking about, but if it means he ends up happy he'll keep going.

At home Derek and Peter are starting to bond, they don't have a lot in common but are giving each other space to do their own hobbies. Derek's is reading when he's not working out or down the library, which is now banned until Kate is caught. Peter's is stealing my laptop and surfing the net, I dread to think what he's picking up on there.

Two days ago Derek was puttering around the kitchen shoe and sockless as he's prone to doing, when the neighbour decided that blowing her new dog whistle was a good idea. I was upstairs and clapped my hands over my ears, Peter was on the internet and did the same. Derek had a glass in his hand and it dropped to the floor and shattered. Being Derek he just stepped in the glass on his way to get a dustpan and brush.

Peter kinda freaked out a little and 'rescued' his nephew by picking him up bridal style and then making him lay on his stomach while he carefully removed the shards of glass from his feet. I was left with the clean up duty and I had to use magic to put the glass back together and mop up the blood.

Derek's face was kinda funny, he really didn't know how to handle his uncle fussing over him and hovering.

That reaction from Peter, along with how he's much more accepting of me and my more gentle advances, gives me hope that Peter is becoming more sane, or at least he's getting better anchors.

Getting home on Thursday I let myself in the house and Derek's doing push ups on the living room floor, he pauses long enough to stare at me, "He's upstairs, in the bathroom, the doctor recommended some new cream to stop his scars pulling and itching."

I really want to ask how the rest of the visit went, but Peter's ears are WAY too sensitive and he'll hear every single word we say. "Cool, has he said if the cream is working or not?"

A muffled, "Yes a bit, only I can't reach some areas," proving that Peter's listening in. Derek rolls his eyes and goes back to exercising, leaving me standing there hoping to be able to get my hands on Peter's body.

"You need a hand?" I ask in concern and hope I've hidden my eagerness enough.

He goes quiet so I improvise, "If you don't want me touching you, maybe we could find something to help you reach those bits," totally reasonable and not pushy.

"It's mostly my back," he says and I nod like he can fucking see me.

"Okay," I just go along and wait for him to decide what he wants to do.

"If you could put the cream on for me," he says and I know my heart is speeding up, I make a conscious effort to slow it down before I scare him off.

"However you're comfortable, just tell me what you need," I'm trying so hard to show him that the scars don't bother me, that all I want is him, and that I'm willing to wait for him.

"I borrowed a pair of Derek's shorts," which are all black or grey and long in the leg, "They should let you put the cream on my back," and give me the perfect chance to ogle him without being too much of a pervert, sometimes I forget he's so much younger than me this time around.

"Okay, tell me when you're ready," and please let it be soon.

"I'm ready now," he says and I hear the bathroom door open and he must flit into my bedroom because his heartbeat has moved locations. I'm careful to walk slowly and calmly up the stairs to my room, I even knock on the open door, "It's open," he says like it's his room.

He's face down on the bed and he's turned so his good side is to me, he's hiding his facial scars, but the whole of his back is now on display as are the lower halves of his legs.

"So the trip to the doctors wasn't too bad?" I ask him and put my bag down as casually as I can, I can smell the cream from here and I hope it helps, he's a werewolf the scars shouldn't hurt him, but he's been complaining that they pull and they itch, so this should help him.

"He's an idiot, but he's pointed out some 'surgery' I can fake having so I can heal my scars a little bit at a time, to fade them out," he wiggles on the bed, "They itch!"

"Well that's good, I know it's long term, but Peter, this way people won't ask too many questions, you can just slip back into your life," I point to the tub of cream he's left of my desk and he nods. Urgh it smells horrible, I never realised how much stuff like this stinks, human noses just can't pick up the notes hidden away like rotten fruit ready to pounce on the unwary werewolf's nose.

"Hmm, we'll see," he grumbles and moves so he's resting his head on his hands and I have an amazing view of his back, his ass and his legs, oh god we've had nights that started out like this. Hurriedly I try and think of anything but those night and I know my scent is giving me away a little because I can see the side of his mouth and he's smirking at me the bastard.

Kneeling on my bed I take some cream and spread it on his back, "Is that okay?" I ask him as I slowly rub it in, I take my time and he's tense under my hands but by the end he's starting to relax.

I've put the cream on and it's gone in, I really want to keep rubbing his back, but I don't want to push him or come across as creepy, and then he says, "Don't' stop, that was nice."

I don't have to be asked twice so I put more cream on his back, all of his back and I start giving him a very simple massage, one that he can't interpret as sexual, I just like making him relax. I like being here with him and neither of us is upset or hurt.

As the last of the cream goes in his breathing has relaxed and he's on the verge of dozing off. Putting the lid on the tub I place it back on my desk and then I deliberately lay down next to him on his scarred side, he has to move his face to see me and I can see all of his scars, they don't detract from his eyes in the slightest.

"Thank you," he murmurs.

"You're welcome," I smile at him and then sigh happily, this is what I've always wanted with him. We'd have periods of it and then one of us would snark and we'd start fighting again, so much stupid shit we should have sorted out, and now I know more of his past I know what an insensitive bastard I was to him, why he was so hung up on his looks and vain, why he would push me to prove myself to him.

This time it's going to be better.

We lay like that for an hour, I have to meditate most of the time because my ADHD is pushing at me, but it's worth it to see how carefree and relaxed he is. Downstairs Derek has moved on to doing sit ups, as if his own ridiculous abs aren't perfect enough, and then I blink because maybe the he suffers from the same kind of insecurity Peter does.

Interesting.

I'm learning so much about them, things I never thought to question when I was younger, and to think I thought I was smart. It's strange how blind we can make ourselves.


A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, I've tried to catch those I could, but I'm only human.