From The Hood Of The Monk

Chapter 5: Do you think he's... attractive?

AN: I completely forgot to post yesterday, sorry. I usually do it in my English class, but the teacher was sick and the class got canceled so I forgot. Anyway, it's a day late, but here's the next chapter, hope y'all enjoy!

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Everyone had gotten back to the loft. Scott started, "We have found what we think the squawk could be, but Stiles, you said you and Mason found something as well?" "Yeah, so Mason and I looked through the bestiary. By the way, Corey, you do not have to worry about Mason getting bored of you or something. He literally could not fucking shut up about you, it was annoying as hell, but also kinda sweet." Corey and Mason both started blushing, then Stiles continued, "Anyway, we looked through the bestiary and we think it might be something called a Cockatrice." Stiles paused, then Mason continued, "Basically the Cockatrice is a wyvern, which is a dragon who only has back legs and wings, with a rooster head. It's abilities in mythology seem to be death glare, touch, or breath. It depends on the myth, but most of the time it's a death glare. Its only weakness seems to be weasels, which are immune to it's death glare."

"That doesn't sound good." Corey stated the obvious. Peter then butted into the discussion, "The other option isn't much better. It might also be Mbói Tu'ĩ, the second son of Tau and Kerana. Now Mbói Tu'ĩ itself isn't that bad, all it does is scare people. The bad thing is that if it's here, it's five younger siblings are sure to follow. They get progressively worse, it starts with fear, it ends in mass murder." Everyone looked at him shocked. Scott, seemingly already over the shock, started coming up with a plan, "Now the question is how do we figure out which one it is. Peter, you said the Mbói Tu'ĩ is the protector of aquatic animals and lives near swampy areas, right?" Peter nodded and Scott continued, "Then we start looking near the lake in the preserve. We'll start tomorrow, hopefully we can stop them before the seventh son arrives."

"Hold on, you said Mbói Tu'ĩ was the second son, that made me wonder about the first son. I looked him up and its name is Teju Jagua." Mason started, "It doesn't really do anything, it just looks weird. It's a lizard with one or seven dog heads depending on the myth. It lives in caves; it's even considered the lord of caverns. So maybe a small group of us should search the caves in the preserve to see if we can find it. If we don't find it that doesn't necessarily exclude the Mbói Tu'ĩ, but if we do it's a much safer way of finding out." The pack looked at Mason, surprised. Mason was confused as to why everyone was staring at him, "What?" "That was impressive, finding out that much information in such a short time and interpreting it into a plan. You did good." Stiles praised.

"Actually, umm Scott, I actually wanted to ask you something. Could you maybe ask Deaton if he'd train me as an emissary? I think it'd be really cool, and I think I'd be pretty good at it." Mason requested. "Mason, that's a great idea! I'll ask him next time I see him!" Scott said, then concluded the meeting, "Okay so tomorrow one group will search the lake to look for Mbói Tu'ĩ and another will look for Teju Jagua in the caves. I'd say half of the group will search the lake, it might only be one are, but if they encounter it, it's much more dangerous. The other half will split into two or three groups to search the caves. We'll meet at the western entrance of the preserve at 9:30." Everyone said their goodbyes and then left to go back to their homes.

Theo and Liam were sitting in Liam's room watching some new Netflix show. Theo was still incredibly anxious about the talk Liam wanted to have. Then Brett popped his head through the door, "I'm gonna go for a run. I heard you two wanted to chat, so now you can do it without having to worry about me overhearing. I'll be back in an hour." "Thanks Brett, have fun on your run. See ya!" Liam replied. Liam waited until he heard Brett close the front door and then moved to sit across from Theo, sitting at the foot of the bed. He looks at Theo but stays silent. They sit there, looking at each other for a minute until the anxiety got too much for Theo, " God, Liam just talk already, you're killing me!"

"Sorry, like I said I wanted to ask you something. What do you think of Brett?" "That's what you wanted to ask? I was scared for nothing!" Theo exclaimed in relief, but then answered Liam's question, "But, yeah, I think he's cool. Smug and cocky, but that's part of his charm." Liam seemed nervous to speak, but then said: "Do you think he's... attractive?" "Puppy, are you insecure? I mean yeah, he's hot. But I love you." "No, that's not what I meant. I um... okay how do I say this, umm... Okay, I need you to just listen. Don't react, just let me finish, okay?" "Okay?" So umm... I kinda always really liked him, like ever since Devenford Prep. Now that kinda all came back when he came back from Switzerland. And I was thinking... that, if you're okay with it, maybe we could all like date each other?" Theo looked at Liam mouth agape in surprise. Liam thought Theo was mad at him and hurriedly added: "Not that you're not enough or anything, I love you and if you say no, I'm perfectly okay with that, and-" He was interrupted by Theo kissing him. Liam's eyes open wide in shock, but then he leaned into the kiss.

When Theo finally pulled away he held their foreheads together and looked into Liam's eyes. "I love that idea, but do you think Brett will like it? You're gonna have to ask him, it was your idea plus I had my fair share of anxiety when I asked you out." Theo said, still looking into Liam's beautiful blue eyes. Liam laughed and then said, "I think we'll be fine. When we told him we were dating I smelled sadness or disappointment or something like that on him, but after a few moments of him thinking his face looked as if he had an idea and then I smelled something else. I think it was hope. I'm not sure though, Brett's very good at hiding his scent. I've caught him staring at us when we kissed, smelling of attraction and sometimes, when the kiss is a bit more heated, a hint of arousal. I think he wanted me to smell that, like I said, he's very good at concealing his scent so me being able to smell that was definitely on purpose."

Theo looked at Liam and then kissed him, sweetly. Liam melted into the kiss, and when they had to pull away for air Theo looked at Liam and smiled at him, "I'm proud of you puppy. You were nervous as hell, and I know hell, but you did it and it was a great idea. Now, we gotta figure out how you're gonna ask him."