Every question opens up a new room in your heart

[neither_a_nor_b]

He'd been avoiding her ever since the incident at the lantern festival. It had been all sweet kisses, followed by fangs and hasty explanations and then he wouldn't text her back. Scott hadn't even given Bay a chance to say it didn't bother her and that she definitely would have liked to keep kissing but nope. He'd just run off and Bay, disappointed, had tried to take the bus home only to end up meeting Scott's mom and hadn't that been awkward?

So she'd given it a whole week before she lost patience. Werewolf or not, he was being kind of a jerk. Which was why Bay was stomping her way over to High Gate Terrace, determined to find him.

"Hey Scott, so, I'm in front of your complex now and you can either come out and we can talk about this," she said into her phone. "Or I can bang on every door until I find yours and embarrass the hell out of both of us. What do you say?"

Comments

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Milk is fine. No sugar," Bay said. She chewed her lip and watched as he fixed up the coffee.

"All right, so you got bitten. Then what?"

[alphomega]

"Things got weird. I started seeing, hearing and smelling things I shouldn't have been able to." Scott set the carton of milk on the counter and dumped a spoonful of sugar into his own coffee. "My friend Stiles figured out what was happening to me before I did. It was scary at first. I couldn't control it, like, at all. I shifted during lacrosse practice, even."

He took a deep breath and leaned closer to her. "So what did you do after you found out? Did you stay with the wrong family or go to your real family?"

[neither_a_nor_b]

"They're both my real family," Bay said absently, turning her coffee a dark gold with milk. If it was foamed, she thought, she could make a design.

"We met with them. Daphne, my roommate, was the other girl I was switched with. She grew up with my biological mom and I grew up with hers. When we found out, they actually moved in with us."

Bay looked faintly embarrassed, "My dad is, um. He's crazy rich, retired MLB player, so we always had extra room. And a guest house that's basically a real house." Weird how that was the part she felt odd about.

"All right, so how did you learn to control it?" And what had she done at the festival that made him shift back?

[alphomega]

"Oh. Sorry," Scott said softly, hoping he hadn't insulted her. He took the rest of it in, nodding along with her explanation and thinking she didn't act like any of the rich people he'd ever met. "That all sounds...like a lot to handle."

He shrugged. "I learned to focus. Stiles helped me, and uh...my girlfriend back home, she helped too." And now he'd lost his focus, except maybe he'd found a new one. Maybe. If he hadn't screwed everything up--though the fact that she was in his kitchen drinking coffee and sharing their lives was definitely a good sign.

Derek had helped too, but it was probably a little early on in werewolf 101 to be outing him to Bay.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Yeah, it's been...a lot of adjustment." She and Daphne had made it through, though. Honestly, she was kind of proud of everything they'd managed in the last two years, good and bad.

"Sounds like at least you didn't have to go through it alone. Okay, your turn for a question."

[alphomega]

"Nope. I've had Stiles by my side through it all, and a lot of others, too. But mostly him. He's like a brother to me."

"So wait. The girl you live with--she's the other baby that was switched? Isn't that weird?" he asked, wrinkling his nose in surprise.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"It was," Bay said. "For a long time we really didn't have a lot in common except for that, but she was also the only other person who understood what it was like."

And now? She couldn't imagine anyone but Daphne being at the other side of all of this.

"So, you're in control now? More or less?"

[alphomega]

Scott nodded, understanding that. It was why he'd been drawn to Derek and then later Isaac, despite the misunderstandings and differences between them.

"With the occasional exception, yeah," Scott said with a grin. "I can pretty much change at will." He sipped his coffee, trying to decide exactly what to ask next.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"You know, when you say it like that, I've so got to ask if I can see you transform," Bay pointed out. Her tone was light and teasing, giving Scott room to decide if she was being serious about it or not.

[alphomega]

Scott straightened, setting his coffee down as the grin faded, his brow furrowing. "Seriously?" he asked, his tone low. "You want to see?"

[neither_a_nor_b]

The answer, really, was a recklessly curious yes. She'd already seen it partially when they kissed, but it had been dark and he'd booked it pretty quickly after.

"If you want to show me."

[alphomega]

Scott rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans and nodded. "Okay." He turned his head away a little, eyes closed as he let the wolf in him surface, fingernails lengthening to claws, ears and teeth growing and tapering to points, his face becoming more lupine as his sideburns filled in. Transformation complete he slowly looked back at Bay with luminous gold eyes, holding his breath as he waited for her reaction.

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay sucked in a breath as she watched, uncertain if she thought it looked powerful and graceful or just kind of painful. Awesome was definitely a good word for it, as in awe-inspiring.

"Holy shit..."

[alphomega]

Scott swallowed, still watching her warily. "...is that bad or good?" he asked, voice a little more gravelly, the words somewhat lisping as they came from a mouth that was no longer quite perfectly shaped for speech.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Not bad," Bay said quickly. It was mostly just...holy shit. A lot to take in. "I thought I knew what to expect but it's still a whole lot of..."

She struggled for the words, trying to keep track of her thoughts while her eyes roamed over the many ways that Scott had changed.

"It's like expecting something that you only know from a movie. We don't have werewolves in my world, you know?"

[alphomega]

Scott smirked, folding his arms. "How do you know? I didn't think there were werewolves in my world, until I became one. Heck, we might be from the same world."

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Yeah, okay, fair point but either way I've never seen a werewolf change before," Bay said.

"And you're still you...more or less?"

[alphomega]

Scott nodded. "Still me. Even at the full moon, I'm still mostly me. The wolf gets a little stronger though, so...um. Don't hold anything I say against me, on those days?" He smiled apologetically and pulled some of the wolf side back, ears and hair returning more to normal, though he still had fangs, claws, and glowing amber eyes.

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Like I said earlier," Bay pointed out, putting on a wicked expression. "I'm a girl. I know all about getting irritable and mean once every month."

[alphomega]

Scott laughed, letting the rest of the wolf fade and looking like himself again. "I'll hold you to that."