A/N: I like writing smut. Know why? It's fun, and it's easier. I always want to deliver quality writing in all my stories, but the ones that are mainly smut don't require as much effort. I can write without doing a deep dive into the world and characters. I don't demand as much from those stories. Stories like this and Little Sparks are harder. I have to try to think like traumatized Ezra, I have to take on Aria's wolf-based perspective. I'm justifying the long delay. I hope you guys hang in there with me. I love this story, and there's so much left to tell, I may pick a good "ending" for this story and continue it in a sequel. Unless you guys want a single story that's over 100,000 words. Let me know!

Chapter 12

Ezra got up from his desk for the third time in 10 minutes. He'd freshened his coffee, put worksheet packets on every student's desk, and now he walked to the windows and looked out at the dark roiling sky. The rain had paused, but the sky indicated that it was by no means done. He watched as bulky bundles of fabric, some with umbrellas floating above them, trudged despondently into the school. If it had been actively raining, the students would have raced in. As it was, his class began to trickle in, like the small leak in the corner of the room that was slowly filling his trashcan.

Ezra was restless and impatient. He had woken to find that the book of mythology had lost most of its scent. It was hard for him to believe how alone that made him feel. Being alone had always been the only way that Ezra felt safe. Being alone allowed him to think clearly, without fear of judgement or the expectations of others. Being alone let Ezra relax, when he was with anyone else he could never shake the feeling that he needed to be on guard, ready for unexpected attacks. It was never a good idea for him to be relaxed with other people, that went double for sleeping. He had tried spending the night with his first couple of serious girlfriends, to disastrous results. He learned not to bring girls to his house, Wesley would make comments alluding to Ezra's lycanthropy that he assumed were indecipherable and hilarious. They usually fell flatter than a pancake and tended to make it sound like Wesley feared for the girl's safety. Dianne made it worse, a universally true statement, by looking at Ezra with such contempt and suspicion, it was a wonder the girls didn't decide Ezra was a serial killer. Even with the precaution of being at the girls' apartments, however, he still felt exposed. Maggie, his "first", asked him in the morning if he'd been having nightmares. She told him he'd been whimpering and muttering. Then he'd clearly said, "Please, Archer, stop!" Ezra never spent another night, there. A couple of years later, he didn't even make it through an overnight at Jackie's. He had his own apartment by then, but he was used to not having girls in his personal space. He woke up, in the middle of the night, to a painful stinging in his cheek. He lashed out at his attacker and it was several seconds before his mind was clear enough to realize that he had his hands wrapped around Jackie's throat. After several minutes of apologizing and making sure Jackie was all right, Ezra gave-up trying to explain that he'd been disoriented and would never lay a hand on her, intentionally. She had slapped him when shaking him and yelling at him to wake up had proven insufficient. She had been bothered by the whimpering and muttering. He avoided her calls for 2 weeks, and after that, he bolted from her apartment anytime he started to feel sleepy.

Now, all of a sudden, being alone felt lonely. It wasn't that feeling lonely was strange, it was strange for it to be situational. Ezra was used to feeling lonely all of the time. If anything, the feeling was worse when he was with, yet separate from, other people. But now that Aria and Maddie were in his life, that was changing. They were only the second and third people not in his family to know what he was. And they were the first 2 people, in his entire life, that were accepting of it. Now, Ezra had to fight to get that acceptance back, with Aria. He stared at her empty desk, willing her to appear there. He was going to give her a short letter, apologizing and trying to explain what his reasoning had been, and confessing what an idiot he had been. He avoided using words like love or passion, he didn't want to disrespect her current relationship, but he made it clear that he wanted to be a part of her life and he included his phone number. Hopefully he would be able to pass it to her, discreetly, and she would be moved enough to at least talk to him. Ezra walked back to his desk and sat down.

When the bell rang, Aria's desk was still stubbornly empty. Was she avoiding class? Ezra had avoided going to class until the last moment the previous day, entirely so he could put off dealing with Aria. But the bell had rung, Aria was late, or she wasn't coming. Heaving a great sigh, Ezra stood and turned his back to the class to write key terms for the worksheets, on the board. He was setting the chalk down when, over the smell of damp clothing and rain, Ezra smelled her scent. He breathed his first deep breath since the night before. He couldn't suppress the smile he now wore, and he felt a lot more positive as he turned around. But, Aria's desk was still empty. Ezra knew he must look a bit manic as his eyes flew around the room, searching. They finally landed on her in the back-row. She was sitting low in the seat, making her seem even smaller than usual. She was wearing tight black jeans and an oversized deep purple sweater. She had a dark blue floppy knit hat over her magnificent dark chocolate hair and most of her face was hidden by large, dark sunglasses.

Even so, Ezra knew the moment her eyes locked onto his. He felt a crackling energy between them. From across the large classroom he could feel her presence. The connection was strong enough that Ezra knew if he closed his eyes he would be able to point directly at Aria, wherever in the room she was. Students weren't allowed to wear sunglasses in class, so Ezra mimicked removing them. Aria shook her head. O…..K? Ezra would deal with that in a minute. "Morning, guys. Thank-you all for braving the typhoon. I wish we were reading The Tempest so I could make a really corny joke, but all of Hamlet's storms take place inside the castle. Yes, Spencer." Ezra acknowledged the tall, lanky brunette at the front of the room.

"Tropical cyclones are only called typhoons when they originate in the western Pacific and surrounding southern Asia. When they form in the Atlantic they're referred to as hurricanes, but that's only in the tropical zone. Severe cyclones that form this far north are often Nor'easters, but this storm is more in the shape of a band, rather than a cyclone, so it's just considered a bad storm." Spencer sat back, with a very pleased look on her face. Ezra thought about defending his choice of words as being more artful than anything else, but he had known exactly none of the information that Spencer just shared, so he thanked her instead.

Several of the kids had rolled their eyes while Spencer was talking. Davey went so far as to twirl his pointer finger next to his head. Ezra was really starting to hate that kid. Hanna and Emily exchanged glances and smiled, but, of course, Ezra was most interested in Aria's reaction. She crossed her arms over her chest and hung her head. Ezra could see her take a shuddering breath and then she wiped at her cheeks. Why had that made Aria cry?

Ezra outlined the packets for everyone and set them to work. Soon, everyone was busy, except for Aria. She didn't have a packet because she wasn't in her usual seat. It was exactly the excuse that Ezra needed. He scooped the packet off the empty desk and walked it back to her. He pulled the note out of his pocket and held it hidden in his palm. "Are you being hounded by the paparazzi, Miss Montgomery?" He smiled at her, and for half a second, she smiled back. But it faded. She shook her head, slowly.

"Allergies," she responded, with almost no emotion in her voice, at all. Ezra considered her explanation. She was suffering with allergies, in September, in the middle of a rainstorm. It was possible, but…

"Aria?" He said her name kindly, in a gentle tone of voice. Aria shivered, and Ezra stepped back a bit to stop himself from wrapping his arms around her. Aria slowly slid the sunglasses off her face. Behind them, her eyes were puffy and red. They looked like Aria had been awake the whole night, crying. Ezra's heart fell into his feet, what had he done to her? Was this just because of him? It felt egotistical to assume it was all about him, but who else would be stupid enough to mistreat her? "Aria, I…" Ezra whispered. She lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. Her stare wasn't as cold as it had been the day before, but it was harder, like stone. Ezra swallowed the rest of what he'd been about to say.

Aria reached into her bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. She held it out for him to take. "I need to get you to sign this for me, please. I'd like to turn it in today." Ezra took the sheet and read it. It was a transfer request, Aria wanted to transfer from his A.P. class into regular English with Mr. King. Ezra's stomach joined his heart in his overcrowded feet. He crumpled the note in his hand and shoved it back into his pocket. It was obviously going to be woefully insufficient.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do? Mr. King's class won't prepare you for the test, you'd be giving up any chance at college credit." Ezra hated that Aria wanted to be away from him so much that she would give up her favorite subject. Aria continued to look at him with a determined look in her bloodshot eyes.

"I think everyone, including me, will be happier." That was the furthest thing from the truth, but Ezra risked breaking down if he pursued it any further. He left the packet on her desk and returned to his own, clutching the transfer request. She hated him, she couldn't stand to be in the same room with him. He sat down, feeling defeated. 'Everyone will be happier', everyone. Who was everyone? Ezra looked up at Aria and saw that she was staring at her packet. His eyes traveled around the room, most of the kids were working. His eyes stopped at Aria's previous desk. Its emptiness looked wrong, Aria's group was still all there. Emily turned in her seat and looked back at Aria, then turned back around and the look on her face was pained. Ezra wondered if Aria had changed seats to be further away from her friends as well as him. She had cried when Spencer spoke, he didn't remember the girls having any interaction the previous day, and Aria had definitely left class without them. Had they had a falling out? Were her best friends the rest of "everyone"? If he was right, then Aria didn't hate him. She was running away. Ezra was a master of running away. He was making plans to run away from Rosewood, just the night before. But Aria was stronger than he was, he felt how strong her heart was in everything she said and did. He couldn't let her just run away. Which meant he couldn't let himself run away, either.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Ezra was almost gratified to see that Spencer, Emily, and Hanna left without a word to Aria. He was right. Spencer did look at the transfer request laying on his desk and she grimaced. Ezra caught her eye and she blushed and looked away, ashamedly. Whatever was going on, the girls missed each other. Ezra knew that Aria had to come talk to him before she left, so he sat back and waited. A minute later, Aria approached the desk. She reached out and picked up the paper, clearly planning on grabbing it and leaving without a word. But, she didn't really have that option.

"You didn't sign it, why?" Aria looked at the paper, giving no indication that she was trying to have an actual conversation.

"I'm sorry, Miss Montgomery, but I don't have time, right now." That answer hit Aria and suddenly Ezra was looking into her shocked, and indignant, eyes.

"You don't have time? All you have to do is sign your name!" Ezra looked into Aria's beautiful face and felt a protectiveness that he'd never imagined he would ever feel. No one took care of him, and he only took care of himself. But he wanted, no he needed, to take care of Aria. She wasn't going to like this exchange, but for once, Ezra was certain about something to do with Aria.

"No, that isn't all I have to do. It says here I have to approve of the transfer, and I'm not sure that I do." Ezra was straight-forward and matter-of-fact. It seemed to wind Aria up, even more. She ducked her head and looked at him from the tops of her eyes.

"Are you serious?" Her tone of voice wasn't flat out rude, but it was exasperated.

"I am completely serious. Now, I will take this home with me and I will give it 'serious' thought. I promise to return it to you, tomorrow." By the suffering expression on Aria's face, waiting one day was torturous to her. Which just proved that she was making this move out of fear and desperation, and not because it was what she genuinely wanted. She slowly and carefully placed the paper back on Ezra's desk. He imagined she was fighting to not shove it down his throat. "Fighting" with her this way was actually invigorating. He felt a little guilty admitting to himself that he was having fun.

"Tomorrow then. Thank-you, Mr. Fitz." Aria practically stomped out of the room. Her thank-you had sounded a lot more like fuck you, Mr. Fitz. Ezra chuckled, maybe he actually could handle this. All he needed to do now, was to figure out a way to approach her that she wouldn't expect.

I love the moments when it's like Ezra remembers, 'Oh, shit! I'm, like, a grown-up. Maybe I shouldn't rely on my teenage girlfriend to make all the decisions and reassure me all the time.' I know it was one of the ways that the show kept their relationship on equal footing. Aria was clearly the more mature of the two, but sometimes I just want to shake Ezra from seasons 1-3 and say "Man up! Do more stuff like the limo thing! Sweep the girl off her feet." I am nowhere near done with little boy Ezra, but man Ezra will be making regular appearances as well. Next chapter, though, who wants to see Aria go after Jenna, Ali style? (no bombs, I swear) Review if you do, blessings to all!