Some explanations and some questioning; strangely, not related to each other. The thesaurus is my favorite dinosaur. Also I had a busy week, sorry this took so long.
Technically Evan always smelled like an omega, the same way Tera smell like an alpha even though she's 2 years old, because the second nature comes with the ability to shapeshift, and both have been able to do so since birth; Connor is an odd case because he's a shapeshifting dragon, so even though he was always able to shift, he didn't have a scent until much later.
9. Προοπτική
Say there's a person that you've gotten practically forced to interact with, say that, at one point, it stops being a chore as you find more and more things you like about them, say that they present a few days after you became an alpha, and they come to school with the tale tell scent of an omega hanging off of them; and say you realize, right there and then, that you want them. But there's a problem, because they're too small, and your family would never let you be with an omega that can't give you pups, so you try to get rid of the feelings.
Say there's an infamous asshole at school, whole basket case scenario, everyone is scared of him, whether they're outward about it or not; say that you've memorized their scent, if only to more easily avoid them, but then you smell it on someone else, you smell it on the previous person. So you get angry, angry at the omega because he carries their name in big bold letters like a claim and pretends he doesn't know what it implies, angry at the other person because they're crazy enough - brave enough - not to let things like the size of their animals stop him from getting what he wants, angry at yourself because you weren't and now it's too late, because even though there's no sign of courting between them yet, Jared knows it won't be long before the name in Evan's cast isn't the only possessive claim Connor has on him.
Jared is honestly a bit surprised at how protective Connor got, sure he crossed a line, anger makes one prone to such things, but he wasn't expecting Murphy to get mad enough to half-shift. So now he gets back to his feet, trying to gather himself and breathe normally, all while watching as Evan follows after Connor almost dutifully; the guy hadn't even used the alpha voice.
He wonders how that happened; because there was no way Evan was telling the truth when he said they had a single encounter during the break. No, there had to be more to it than that, Murphy was too protective, too comfortable making shows of aggression in front of someone as easily frightened as Evan, if it wasn't for the fact that Evan still smelled mostly of himself - though the scent of ash now lingered almost like an aftertaste, combined with something else that was undistinguishably Murphy but was less noticeable -, Jared would've said they were courting already; but they weren't so the only solutions were that either Evan was lying to Jared - unlikely considering it was Evan, and he had trouble being anything other than good -, or Murphy was hiding something, something that explained why he seemed suddenly so interested in Evan, and so eager to play protective alpha for him.
Whichever was the case, Jared would find out by the end of the day.
-.-. - -. -. - .-. .-. ... / - ..- .-. -.
Connor's day was weird, after getting Evan away from Jared, and helping him calm down a little - Evan eventually got his breathing even enough to thank him -, Connor found himself walking the omega to class; as in, to every class - and how Connor kept finding himself waiting outside Evan's classrooms was a mystery -, which seemed to warrant the attention of like half the school.
So when lunch came around and Evan said he had something to do in the computer lab, Connor decided to follow him mostly to make sure none of the school's resident assholes got to him alone; he still had to make his questions, damn it!
But anyways, that's how they ended there, Evan typing something Connor was only mildly curious about, while Connor slumped on a nearby chair looking to the door. The alpha figured this was as good a time as any, Evan had relaxed as much as he could - not much, but Connor couldn't blame him, school had that effect -, and there had been a good amount of time passed since the Kleinman incident.
"What are you writing?"
Connor had asked because he thought it was harmless enough to start a conversation, but by the sound coming from Evan's chair, the omega disagreed.
"Oh, uhm it's just- just an assignment"
Connor huffed.
"Don't force yourself Hansen"
"Sorry"
Connor let silence fall on them for a bit, just until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Different question, back when you first came to the nest, or well every time you've been rather, how do you resist the urge to shift?"
The sound of typing ceased and was replaced by a chair being moved, Connor could feel Evan's eyes on him.
"You know"
Connor turned to him, gazes meeting, and surprisingly Evan didn't look away immediately.
"I know you're hiding something, I do because I saw what you looked like when telling something I knew was a lie, and you were lying to Kleinman"
Evan frowns, his posture is entirely defensive, and Connor knows he's going to try to keep it hidden, so he steels himself. He doesn't want to have a full out screaming match with Evan, but he will if he has to.
"Yeah, because I can't tell him I've spent the last week of summer with you, because I don't want him to think we're having sex or whatever, but I can't tell him what we were really doing"
"Bullshit"
Evan stands up; Connor follows him, standing between him and the door.
"We're not done here"
"Well, you know the truth, you know I'm- what I did, so I am, I'm done"
"That has nothing to do with this!"
Evan stumbles backwards.
"What?"
Connor takes a deep breath.
"So you're suicidal, so what? I am too, that's not what this is about"
Evan looks away, and that's the first sign, the scent is the next, fear from Evan is like burning grass, potent in a way that makes Tera's ashy scent seem sweet in comparison. Still, Connor presses.
"I just can't make sense of it, because I know you shouldn't be able to understand even if you hear, so how do you know?"
"I-"
Evan stopped still, biting his lip, and looking around, before he sighed, body slumping in defeat.
"Fine, I just- I can't tell you here, ok? If anyone happens to hear"
Connor breathed deeply, before he nodded; it seemed like a fair request, considering what they were talking about.
"Sure, I'll look for you at the end of school; drive you to the orchard, and we'll talk"
"Yes- yeah ok"
Connor gave a solid nod, before turning to face the door again, grateful that no one had come in during their little confrontation.
