!WARNING! This story is slash, blah blah blah, if you're not okay with that, I won't lose any sleep over it, blah blah blah, this story will take a turn for the 'M' rating in the future, can't promise when.
AN: Short, boring chapter, people, sorry. Sorry in advance for the long AN at the bottom, and any mistakes.
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Eggs and bacon sizzled in individual non-stick pans as Ethan paced around the kitchen, twisting a kitchen towel in his hands. He was also counting how many steps he'd paced, but had lost track after only a little while, as his attention was elsewhere. He told himself he'd been up and cooking purely for the fact that he still felt kind of bad For ignoring Benny the whole week, and it was fairly true...but he admitted. These werewolf things needed some more getting used to.
In all actuality, Ethan gotten out of bed just hours after the pair had fallen asleep, for two reasons...well actually, one reason. Being a werewolf, his instincts told him to stay up all night anyway, and, being a werewolf, he didn't need to sleep for particuarly long periods of time, especially after he'd done next to nothing the entire day.
He hadn't gotten the chance to do any kind of working out the day before, but just minutes earlier, he'd been outside, in the woods, running around and generally burning energy. He'd found a long time ago that Releasing some of that energy periodically made him feel better.
"You're going to wear a hole in the floor with your pacing." Grandma chided as she sauntered into the kitchen at around one o' clock. She went over to the frying pan and quickly adjusted the food. "And you're going to burn this if you don't watch out."
"Sorry, Grandma."
"It's alright, dear...and would you mind running the house for a bit?" She smiled. "I've got a few errands to run around town before this evening."
"Your leaving now?" Ethan asked as she slipped on a blazer.
"Time flys when you don't know what you're looking for." Grandma scowled. "I would've been gone earlier but I also had some buisness to take care of online as well. Seems like you two had a good night."
"Sure, Grandma, and yeah, sorry about that." Ethan smiled sheepishly. "I suppose Benny'll be up soon."
"Its alright son, and maybe some orange juice or coffee would go good with breakfast." She smiled. "I think I hear Benny upstairs...oh, and Tyson should be over later." She made a face before whispering, "Don't let him in!" She and Ethan shared a hushed laugh before she exited the house to run her errands. After she'd left, Ethan waited patiently in the kitchen, lowering the heat on the stove and making toast.
"Grandma?" Ethan could hear Benny calling from the other room. "Ethan?"
"In the kitchen!" Ethan called just as he was starting to pull plates out of the cupboard.
"You could've woken me up." Benny said as he entered the kitchen.
"I've only been up a while." Ethan made light of his lie, figuring Benny didn't need to worry over his developing 'insomnia'. "Grandma started this but she had to make a run to the store or something." He turned and gave a smile to his friend before handing him a plate.
"Thanks, E." Benny returned the smile and soon the two were sitting at the table, listening to the old radio that sat in the corner of the room.
"So, Sarah wanted us to go to the movies with her and her new jock boyfriend later." Ethan tried for conversation as he picked gingerly at his food.
"I don't know, I don't really feel like theater-going tonight, especially since I've never liked Erik Redding...unless you want to?" Benny scowled before his expression morphed into one of surprise and curiosity. "You okay? You're not eating."
"I guess I'm just still full from last night." Ethan shrugged. "I'm kind of surprised you're actually eating, that was a lot of food yesterday."
"Don't underestimate me, E." Benny smiled. "So, movie?"
"We can hang somewhere else."
"We can stay here and watch Jacuzzi Time Machine!"
"You know every word of that movie by heart." Ethan rolled his eyes but laughed all the same.
"Hey, you're the one who bought it for me."
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"Get out of my head!" Ethan muttered with a puff. He'd been feeling someone trying to...well, he didn't really know what they were trying to do. But he'd get a nagging suspicion every so often that someone, somewhere was watching him, or maybe trying to read him somehow. He didn't exactly know how he knew...it was hard to describe, but every instinct he had was telling him to try and protect himself.
But how? He had no idea, and since he didn't sense any danger around, all he could think of was to try and put a mental block on his mind, which he didn't know how to do either. So, he calmed his nerves by inserting headphones into his ears and blast a few dozen of his favorite tracks and try not to think at all. He hoped it helped, and in all honesty, it wasn't that hard to lose himself in the sensations of loud music and his lean muscles burning.
What could they want from him? Who were they, anyway? After that fight with Markus the other week, Ethan had a theory about the whole situation, but it wasn't much to go on. The theory was that there was a group, somewhere in or around Whitechapel that had sought him out to be turned into a werewolf. He could only assume that they were evil, and vaguely wondered if Jesse was at the head of it all. The evil vampire was the only one Ethan could think of that would hold a grudge on him, besides the vampire council, maybe.
Any why? Why Ethan? What was so special about him? If they were looking for another monster, there was no shortage of them in this town.
'Well, I'm not going to give in...to whatever monster they want me to be.' Ethan thought, panting lightly as he let go of the tree branch he'd been holding and dropped to the ground below.
It wasn't exactly hard to deal with, his...werewolf-ism, though it did have a rocky beginning. But since then, Ethan had discovered that if he ate a wolf-approved diet, and worked out every so often, he was fine, physically. Whatever sickness he'd had in the beginning had long since gone, though he did have brief relapses.
And then, of course, there was always the possibility that he, and everyone around him just went completely mad.
As he reached for his bag beside the tree's truck, he became aware that someone was trying to call him, and pulled his headphones out. The number on the ID wasn't familiar, but he shrugged it off.
"Hello?" He asked, trying not to sound winded.
"Ethan?" This voice was new to his ears, though Ethan had been hearing it in his head since the day IT happened...
"...Jason?"
MEANWHILE
"You notice anything weird about Ethan and Benny?" Tyson asked as he sliced into an apple, making Cody flinch with the sound. He cursed Senna for leaving him alone with this jerk.
"Where do I start?" Cody asked sarcastically, only a hint of bitterness slipping into his tone.
"No, I mean, like supernatural weird. Sure they've both got magical blood, but can't you feel anything else? Something off?" Cody resisted glaring daggers in the other's direction and instead busied himself with sketching out several different objects on a notepad.
"I don't believe either of them would do anything to hurt their family or friends." The raven haired man found himself answering rather uncomfortably.
"So you do feel like there's something going on?"
"I feel like Benny and Ethan have got a lot going on with them." Cody now openly shot looks to kill at the other male. "I don't know what Senna told you about what happened-"
"She did." Tyson interrupted, offering an apple slice and shrugging when Cody stared blankly at him.
"Well, I was actually there the day after it happened." Cody said, and lowered his gaze down to the notepad in his hands, remembering those days with a wave of sadness. "Ethan looked so broken, and Benny looked worse because his best friend almost died." Then, with renewed anger as he looked at his high-school bully. "You weren't there."
"Okay, Cody, I get you don't think that either of them would do anything, but no one knows what really happened to Ethan..or Benny, for that matter-"
"No, you don't get it, asshole!" Cody's hands shook with the effort it took not to take a swing at him. "You didn't see the look in their eyes...the pain and confusion in those days, and then the complete relief when Ethan bounced back from his attack. Yeah, no one knows why he healed so quick, or why he needed to heal at all, but Ethan's a great kid, Tyson. Those boys are good kids, and they care about each other. They've got good heads on their shoulders. So, no, I don't think there's anything to worry about."
Both men were silent for a long time after Cody's outburst.
"Sorry." Tyson said after a few minutes, just as Cody was finishing a sketch. "It's just...I like to look at things from every angle, alright?"
"Yeah." Cody agreed quietly.
"I know you probably have." The sandy-haired male shrugged. "But I'm the kind of guy who likes to see for himself, you know? I want to know for myself that those boys are alright...okay?"
"Yeah, I get it." The reply was short and sharp as he sketched away, rubbing his temples occasionally. A certain anger radiated off of him, along with a surprisingly strong sense of protectiveness, and Tyson briefly wondered exactly how much the other male had come to care for those young troublemakers.
"About high school, too." Tyson continued in the quietest voice he'd used all day. "I'm sorry...I didn't know who I was back then, but I'm not that person anymore, I promise."
"It doesn't matter." Cody rolled his eyes, and slipped the notebook into an inside pocket of his jacket. "No need to promise anything. I was over it the minute I left that town." And before Tyson had the chance to say another word, Senna walked through the door, and Cody plastered an overly convincing smile on his face.
"Nice to see you two didn't kill each other." Senna huffed as she placed a few bags on the table of the hotel room.
"We were getting along famously." Tyson smile convincingly enough. "All's good, right Cody?"
"Yeah, we're best friends. Hey Sen, I just got a text from Evelyn, she wants me at her house." Cody said in a single breath and got up from his chair, swinging his messenger bag over his shoulder in one smooth motion. "I'll catch up with you guys later? Kay, bye." He rushed to the door, eager to exit the room.
"But...your leaving your lunch." Senna protested. "Cody, you didn't eat anything today."
"I'll pick up something along the way." He said over his shoulder as he grabbed a pair of sunglasses from the coffee table. Then, he left without another word, closing the door quietly.
"Evelyn's not even home!" Senna shouted at the door. "She's out until this evening!" She sighed. "Was it something I said? Cody loves Chinese food."
"He's been moody all day." Tyson shrugged before looking slightly guilty. "I might've upset him."
"Why?" Senna asked in the most even voice she could. Suddenly she felt guilty as well. Cody often expressed his thoughts that she 'liked' Tyson better than him. Of course it wasn't true! Tyson might've been a friend, but Cody was family. There wasn't a person she was closer to.
"I told him I thought that maybe Ethan or Benny were hiding something." Tyson shrugged, chewing an apple slice. "I've been getting weird vibes lately, but he was pretty insistent that they would never do anything to hurt anyone."
"I don't think they would." Senna shrugged, an smiled. "And I'm not just saying that for Cody's sake. Those boys are surprisingly intelligent and mature for their age, though they can goof off...a lot, from what I've heard from Evelyn." She laughed, and Tyson managed a smile, before gazing at the door Cody disappeared through.
"I'll try and stop being so suspicious...I hope you guys are right."
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Cody was still fuming silently, even as he pulled up to the little convenient store down the road. He huffed and then pulled his keys out of the ignition, shoving the kickstand forward with his boot.
"Sorry about high school, my ass." Cody seethed as he strode up to the door's entryway, well aware that he was getting stares as he pulled a grocery cart from near the registers. All in black and layers, Cody looked like he would be sweltering on this particularly warm day, but truth being told, he was so used to his style that he didn't even notice anymore.
Strolling through the isles, Cody didn't really know what he was looking for. All he knew was that the seemingly harmless talk with Tyson had brought a new sensation forth that he hadn't felt in a long time: insecurity.
Even as a kid, he'd always been confident in himself, he was smart and he was strong, in more sense than one. He knew he was fairly attractive, and that drew attention from girls...but he didn't want that. He didn't want someone to like him for his looks, so he got a new style, and after a while, he started to like it, love it, even.
So, unwanted attention went with his dark, brooding demeanor, and he was happy to be left alone. He had confidence, and security.
Until Tyson...that prick.
And then there was Senna, and she made his life a whole lot easier. Senna, a perky blonde girl from a few towns over whom he met regularly for kickboxing class as a child. Eventually, as they stopped going to the same classes, they lost contact. But, when Senna moved to Cody's hometown, and they met again for the first time in years, it was like they'd never even been apart.
Cody smiled, and, in a spontaneous moment, grabbed a few dog treats for Skeeter, a box of instant hot cocoa and a jar of Nutella before checking out and heading back to his bike.
Just as he was arriving, however, the air was suddenly knocked out of him by something he couldn't see, and he dropped to the pavement on his knees.
"Hi there." A sultry male voice greeted, and suddenly the open air in front of rippled, and in its place were a pair of boots and blue jeans. Every instinct he had was telling him to either run or fight, and immediately, even without some supernatural insight, he knew this guy wasn't good news. Disoriented, but recovering quickly enough, Cody began to stand, catching a glimpse of red hair and striking blue eyes.
"Hey." Cody managed, and had just enough time to register that the man was smiling at him before he blacked out.
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AN: Fuck, guys. I don't know about this chapter. It was really sketchy...and I'm definitely NOT satisfied by it, but it needed to happen. Compared to how fast I could've written, this chapter took forever...you ever have this thing where you have serious writers block, and you decide just to write anyway, and then everything goes to hell and you have to start all over? Well, this was one of those chapters. I knew what needed to happen, but I didnt know what the hell I was doing, and it probably turned out boring as hell, sorry.
On that happy note, with any luck the next chapter will be up, and will include a hella lot more Bethan, and will hopefully be more entertaining. (x Review, please? I noticed someone new followed my story...but didn't review. The nerve!