Pack Mentality // s. stilinski

Seventeen

Cadmus had spent the next days elusively avoiding the rest of Beacon Hills' supernatural population. He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to anyone. This task was made harder by the fact that he lived with one of the main team players, but it was easy to fake sleep when you were constantly exhausted.

He knew that Stiles and Scott were in major trouble, via a long string of text messages from the Stilinski himself. All of it had been received in raid succession, all of it typed in caps. The explanation had been gargled and choppy, but also incredibly detailed with frequent, foully worded interjections about how much of a tool Jackson Whittemore was. Cadmus had gotten out of the texts something about restraining orders, and another set of murders, and that they needed to talk right now, Cadmus you are missing so much, and where the hell are you?

Cadmus, though still in school, was currently headed towards the boys locker room. Isaac had once again attempted to corner him, most likely to confront him about his newfound identity.

Angel.

It was odd, especially considering that Cadmus had never believed in the existence of any. And now, he was one of them. Or possibly, he wasn't. Only sometimes. Only...

Cadmus shook his head. It nearly hurt to think about. He needed a break.

He pushed open the door to the locker room, only to find that there was water already running from the showers area. He sighed. "Hello?" he called. He received no answer, and so his hopes lifted. Maybe someone had just forgotten to turn off their shower from gym. He wanted that, because he wanted to be alone.

He walked towards the shower, turning the corner and getting an unexpected- he couldn't call it a view, but it was certainly being looked at.

"Holy-" he winced, shutting his eyes and ducking around the corner. "What the fuck, man? Warn me next time."

He heard the water shut off moments later, just before the response came. "You're the one who walked in here."

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I wanted to see your-" Cadmus groaned, not finishing his sentence. "Geez. Right. I'll just go find somewhere else to- do stuff."

Jackson stepped out from the showers, still both very naked and very intimidating. "Why not here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Other than that, his expression didn't change- it was unnerving.

"Well, because you're here, and you are very much naked," Cadmus countered, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. He kept his eyes on Jackson's face. The boy was shorter than him, so when he came to step towards Cadmus, it wasn't nearly as intimidating as it should have been. Despite that, Cadmus still felt his skin crawl. Cadmus gave him a skeptical look. "Actually, yeah, no, I'm gonna just- fuck this, I'm out."

He made to walk away, but as he began to turn around Jackson's arm shot out and took hold of his wrist, jerking him back. "You've got perfect grades," Jackson argued. "You can skip one class."

Cadmus narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't going to class," he said. "I was just getting away from you, and whatever the fuck you're on right now."

Jackson growled. His grip on Cadmus' wrist tightened, and suddenly it hurt. He tried not to show it, but he couldn't help the tense curl of his shoulders as the kanima's strength forced him against the wall. "You know the only reason I didn't add you to that goddamn restraining order was because I like you, Cadmus," Jackson told him. "And I like your sister." He took a step closer. "Don't make me change my mind about that."

"Dude, let me go," Cadmus snapped. He yanked at his wrist, and the grip just tightened. Fuck, he thought. This was not what he needed right now. He was stressed about- about everything. Himself, his angel side, Gerard, his homosexual side-