2020.01.27 - Skitch, Meet Alpha No. 2
The story continues in: 2020.02.05 - T.M.I.
Stiles had proved as good as his word where Rowanwood's library was concerned. A day or two after meeting, he texted Skitch directions and had him come by. Stiles shown him in, clearly impressed with the place and eager to talk it up, and led him into the library. After a short time, though, Stiles had mentioned something about checking with Derek and disappeared, leaving Skitch alone in the cavernous library. For a while, Skitch is left on his own. Eventually, though, a door in the south wall opens, and another young man enters, a backpack slung over one shoulder, and starts to make his way toward the center of the book stacks, where there's a table for studying and such.
It's everything Stiles said it was and more. Skitch is in nerd-vana, with piles and piles of books and scrolls...some of them he can even read! Making a note to learn some ancient languages tout-suite, Skitch took to the place, perfectly okay with Stiles going off to 'check in' with Derek (he's not completely innocent. He'd check in, too. Often). In fact, it gives him a chance to explore a bit. Minding the warning about the maze-like quality of the stacks, the blonde sticks to the shelves near the main aisle, studying the spines and notations carefully, and eventually taking a book or two and tucking them under his arm.
When the door opens, he's already at the tables in question, setting down his books and backpack, and slipping his phone from his pocket to check for messages. Finding none, he mutes it and sits, pulling a thick book with gilded pages in front of him. The newcomer gets an appraising look before Skitch offers a friendly smile before speaking softly. "Hi."
Scott blinks a couple of times in surprise, seeing a stranger there, then grins and says, "Oh, hey! I thought I'd be alone in here. I was just going to get some studying done." He steps forward, reaching for a chair, then pauses to ask, "Oh, uh. Do you mind if I join?" He gestures to the table and lifts his backpack slightly, as if to signal his intent, but pauses and looks earnestly toward Skitch before he moves any farther. There's an almost bashful quality to his warm brown eyes, as if he's afraid he's an unwelcome intrusion into Skitch's own studies.
Skitch grins, and waves a hand at the table. "Dude. Feel free. I'm just a visitor." He uses his foot to slide out the chair in front of him, leaning back in his. "I should probably be doing my own homework," he says, watching the other boy with a bit of bemusement at his behavior. It doesn't seem very determined for a witch. "But I couldn't resist the chance to check out this place." He raises a fist, and holds it out for bumping. "I'm Sam, but everyone calls me Skitch."
Scott's grin brightens again at Skitch's response, and he pulls out the proffered chair a bit more, sliding into it, and reaches over to bump fists. "Cool, thanks! I'm Scott. Sorry, I didn't mean to be unfriendly, it's just that I've never seen you around here before, so I thought you might be one of Ms. Goode's students or something, and I didn't wanna interrupt a witch at work." He sets his backpack down on the table, perfectly happy to neglect the homework within for now, and leans forward a bit, expression eager and curious. "So, um. Are you? I mean, are you one of the student witches here?"
Skitch laughs. "Dude. I was about to ask you the same thing. I'm definitely an outsider." He holds up his hands. "A friendly outsider. Here by invitation." At least, he hopes that's the case. His brain rolls through available information, and he snaps his fingers. "You're Scott. Stiles' best friend," he declares, his smile widening. "I should have known. It's good to meet you, dude!" He leans down to pull a spiral notebook from his bag and set it on the table along with a couple of pens that he lays neatly along the top. "What are you studying?"
Scott's eyes light up at this information, and he says, "Oh! Right, you're the guy Stiles met at the magic shop. Sorry, dude, I didn't put it together." He grins a bit crookedly, brightening considerably at recognizing the connection, and shakes his head. "Man, I'm terrible at studying--well, I mean, magic stuff. I'm actually studying to be a veterinarian." He blushes just slightly, feeling like that must sound a little mundane by comparison, and explains, "I just, uh, really love animals and stuff. Plus, I'm not really a witch, I'm a--" And he cuts off, suddenly, expression growing serious as he ducks his head and leans forward, murmuring, "Wait, Stiles told you about, um... everything, right?"
"A veterinarian? That's so cool!" Skitch bobs his head. "I love animals, but I don't know if I could do that. Props, dude." He offers another fist-bump, if Scott wants it. Apparently Skitch is down with the mundane. Probably because most of his world fits that category. He automatically leans forward when Scott does, as any teenager presented with a secret would, and bobs his head at the question. "Well, I kind of pieced it together, and then he filled in the rest," he admits. "But I wasn't exactly naive about werewolves and stuff before. I knew a couple, back home." He grins, and leans back, checking for nosy ears that might be lurking. "The ones here are much nicer and better-looking."
Grinning again, Scott returns the fist-bump, seeming to relax again. He seems particularly tickled by the mention of better-looking werewolves, and he explains with another slight flush, "Oh, um. Well, I'm--actually, I'm one of them. I mean, I'm not a witch. I'm a werewolf." The blush is subtle with his skin tone, but one can see it particularly on his ears. He reaches up to rub the back of his head. "So, you really figured it out? You must be pretty smart--more like Stiles than me. He's learning to be a witch, too, now. I can see why he made friends with you, seems like you guys have a lot in common. That's pretty cool. I mean, anyone who's Stiles' friend is my friend, too, y'know?'
Skitch lets his eyes rake over Scott, the slight flush making the corner of his mouth twitch upward. "I know, Mister Modesty," he says, his tone light and teasing. "You're an alpha--which I admit, I don't know what that means beyond being a leader, but it sounds pretty damned cool." He offers a raised thumb, licking his lips as he shifts his attention to the books. The compliment gets a pinkening of Skitch's own (much more visible on his lightly tanned skin), and he ducks his head. "I'm pretty smart," he agrees. "But Stiles isn't exactly an air-tight vault, if you're listening carefully." There's no censure of his new friend; it's a statement of a fact that Scott probably already knows. "I'm not actually studying magic, though. I've got no talent for it. I'm more of a..." he wrinkles his nose, trying to coin the phrase. "...high-tech occultist. Which isn't accurate, but is pretty close." He chews his bottom lip, watching Scott from the corner of his eye as he 'studies' the index page in front of him. "And I am totally friendly."
Scott's ears redden again at the teasing, and he ducks his head slightly. "I, um--don't get points for, like, wolf pride?" he asks, grinning a little weakly. He does laugh slightly at the description of Stiles. "Sometimes he probably thinks out loud too much or whatever, but it works for him most of the time," he says in mild, good-natured defense of his friend. Then, at the mention of tech, he looks interested. "Oh, yeah? That's really cool, actually. One thing we really don't have is anybody who's really good with technology in the pack, so... you'll probably be a really good guy to know! I mean, if you don't mind us tapping you for help sometimes. I don't wanna assume. We sometimes get into some pretty intense situations." He lets the "alpha" thing slide for now. It's always such a complicated thing, at least in his own mind, to try to explain to people. He does smile again, though, and say, "I think we're pretty friendly, too, so at least we've got that in common." Then, in a flash of slight daring, he gives his eyebrows a little waggle and says, "Plus, you're really cute!"
"Wolf Pride?" Skitch says, his eyebrows hiking. "Now that's a parade I'd attend. All those hot guys..." he sighs, and lets himself enjoy the thought until the comments about Stiles make him snort a laugh. "Hey, he's cool," he says. "We're a lot alike. Only he has a plethora of hot boys on speed-dial." He shakes his head, and picks up a pen to make a notation. "I'm always down to help," he says. "I used to help out people back home with computer and tech stuff. It's kind of mind-boggling how little of that seems to be part of the supernatural wheelhouse." His tone is sort of admonishing, but he looks up in time to catch Scott's smile, and he pinkens again, his own grin suddenly shy at the compliment. "Yeah, well, you're pretty cute yourself," he says, leaning forward and lowering his voice. "Feel free to tap me whenever you want." Then, what he's actually said registers, and his face goes full red. "Uh...."
Scott's eyebrows pop up again, and his grin gives a little twitch. "Yeah? Y'know, I've definitely topped--um, sorry, I mean 'tapped'--Stiles enough times." But he grins right through it, clearly knowing exactly what he just said. "So I'm sure you'll come in totally handy that way. You're definitely right that we don't have enough tech talent, so it's definitely good that we met you." Feeling a sudden flash, he reaches forward to gently rest a hand on Skitch's shoulder and give it a little squeeze. "Oh, and gimmie your phone number." His eyes glimmer with playfulness as he says, "I'm gonna text you. That way you'll have me on 'speed-dial,' too."
Skitch makes a breathless sound at that slip of the tongue, mostly because his breath hitches in his chest. The thought of...well, all of that...sends a flash of his own through him, and there's a definite change in the scent coming from him. Hormones and pheromones work their way through the day's sweat and the remnants of Skitch's deodorant, marking him as both aroused by the situation and highly nervous about it, despite the relative steadiness of his voice when he speaks. "Like I said, dude. Whenever you want." The scent increases when that hand lands on his shoulder, coating Skitch like a big sheet of what-do-I-do. His hands work as if independent of his brain, scratching out his number in neat, even handwriting on a page of his notebook and tearing it free to hand to Scott. "Cool, dude," he croaks, his voice finally betraying him. "That'll be cool."
He's so smooth.
Scott's smile softens some, and he gives Skitch's shoulder another squeeze before abruptly standing up, then lifting that hand from his shoulder and holding it out to Skitch, open and palm up. "C'mon," he says, warm and playful again but with a carefully gentle way about him. "Let's put off the studying for a while. I wanna show you around some. I think you'll really like it here." And, clearly able to tell that he's made Skitch a little tense, Scott figures that maybe a slight change of scene will be good to relieve that tension.
Skitch doesn't hesitate when Scott offers his hand. He slides his own into the other boy's, and rises from his seat, dropping his pen on his notebook. "Sounds good to me," he says, some of the anxiety slipping away with Scott's soft, warm voice and the invitation to take a proper tour. Not that he's interested in much more than following Scott at the moment. "Stiles ran off before he could really show me around." He doesn't sound sad about that at all, sidling up next to Scott. "I'm all yours."
Scott grins bright as ever, holding Skitch's hand, and leads him back out to the hallway. "And that," he says brightly, "sounds really good to me!"
The story continues in: 2020.02.05 - T.M.I.