ASHES ASHES | teen wolf

two. i help beat up a freshman ( sorta )

After a day of escorting Nova to and from her classes, Cadmus was quite pleased to say that he was ready for lacrosse tryouts. He'd been Danny's stand-in the previous year, which wasn't too bad... but he was sick and tired of just sitting in the goal while people tried pelting him with balls. He wanted to do something other than goalie this year.

Which is why he had thankfully taken up Scott's offer for Nova to sit with his friends Malia and Kira during the practice. He didn't want to have to worry about her while he was playing, not that it was a problem to look out for her or anything... he really did care about Nova, but Cadmus still wasn't sure how to properly talk to her. It had been easy that morning, the banter especially, but he wasn't sure if it would stay that way.

Bad enough that he had to focus on not setting his books or Garret on fire whenever the jerk thought he could hit on poor girls even though he already had a girlfriend, he didn't know how to be a good cousin to Nova while worrying that she would turn at any second... if she was like him.

But that wasn't what he had to worry about yet, Nova hadn't shown any signs of supernatural activation. All he had to do was keep an eye on her and make sure she stayed out of Scott's radar for now.

His eyes flitted over to the other boy at that thought, his lips quirking up at the sight of the werewolf against his better judgement. He'd come a long way since Cadmus had first realized he'd been turned, no longer unable to control the shift or totally helpless against the smallest supernatural threats.

It was a good thing too... Cadmus was getting seriously tired of having to slink through the shadows and slam kanimas into walls or set the occasional circumstancial fire to corral a bunch of alphas away from Stiles and Isaac. That wasn't even including the shit with Jennifer or the Nogitsune.

Seriously, he would have thought that Deaton at least would be better prepared for this sort of thing.

Scott's eyes darted toward him, and Cadmus nearly brained himself with his own shoe trying to make it look like he hadn't been staring. His cheeks risked flushing when he felt the small grin Scott sent his way, but he pushed the heat down. Nope, this was not happening, not again. He had promised himself that the pining was going to stop last year when Scott and Allison started dating, and while he hadn't been totally successful with it—considering the fact he was running after him like a nut job anytime there was a slightest hint that Scott was in trouble—he was determined to do better now. He hadn't been there when Allison died... he'd been too busy wrestling a pissed off Oni, but there was no way he was going to keep pining over a guy who had just watched the love of his life die just a few months ago.

Coach opened the door to his office, making everyone turn their attention to him as he flipped through a clipboard. "As a reminder, it's an open tryout today-- all positions available. This is a rebuilding season, people! Jackson's gone, Lahey's gone... Greenburg, the one guy I actually wanted gone, was held back... again."

Cadmus winced, looking at Greenburg from the corner of his eyes and feeling almost amused when the guy didn't even look worried about it. Wasn't he like, almost twenty at this point?

He really didn't want to know how he still hadn't at least gotten a pity pass.

Coach looked at all the assembled teenage boys and rolled his eyes as he gestured to the door. "Get your asses on the field!"

Everyone cheered and started heading outside, leaving only a few of them in the locker room. Cadmus was left glaring at his shoe as the laces refused to tie up properly, unable to keep himself from hearing as Scott approached Coach.