August 11th, 2017 - Friday Percy’s POV

By morning, Percy has memorized the required plays for his position. His pseudo-parents had returned around midnight, his mother smelling of monkshood while a copper-like scent clung to his father’s suit. Now, sitting at the island as his father cooked and mother read the paper, Percy decided to broach his Guardian topic.

“I would like to invite Casey here.” His mother paused in her reading and looked up at him curiously.

“Here?” At his nod, her brows pulled together in confusion. “Why would you want to take that risk, Percy?”

“It will be easier to get into his good graces spending time alone, and here I can control the environment,” Percy explained. His plan was to get Casey comfortable in the Schuyler building and make it seem like being there was the human’s idea all along. Hopefully, this would lead to him being with Percy enough that he could start proving that they were soulmates.

“Are you asking, son?” Edward Schuyler asked, his chin tilted upward slightly. Percy recognized his father’s Alpha-tone, felt his wolf cowering, and let his gaze fall submissively. “If you bring him around, warn us and keep him to your floor unless you’ve made sure your destination is empty. Who knows what the human could find if left alone?” Hopefully, an entrance to our world. If I lay enough hints, then even the dumbest of humans could realize what we are.

“Of course, father. I’ll keep him safe.” With that, Percy pushed back from the island and strode confidently out of the kitchen, though it turned into a giddy skip once he was out of sight. The Omega’s plans were coming together quite nicely indeed.

~_~.~_~

Percy’s good mood lasted up until the end of the first period. He had worn a genuine smile, but it had fallen when he stepped outside of Mrs. Trent’s classroom. The wolf’s eyes had immediately locked onto Casey as he stepped out of Beta Hale’s room. Still, the human only had eyes for Adam.

The blond smiled softly as he and Casey spoke quietly, too low for even Percy’s attuned ears to discern over the milling students around them. The boy’s green eyes watch Casey with an adoration that could only come from years together, and it irked Percy. His Guardian returned Adam’s smile, albeit to a lesser extent, and made the wolf pause. He hadn’t taken any other suitors into consideration when pursuing his mate, but maybe he should have. Adam, whether he knew it or not, was interested in Casey.

The genius grinned once more, all gleaming teeth and bright eyes, before ruffling Casey’s hair. Now, that made Percy pause. No one touched Casey, not without an argument, but Percy’s mate was a completely different person when with his best friend. It was okay, though. A human was nothing in comparison to a wolf such as himself.

Taking a deep breath, Percy strode past the two boys and pretended not to notice them. Instead, the Omega took a seat at his table and waited patiently for his mate. Read, anxiously. Casey plopped down next to him just before the bell rang and nodded his greeting, dark eyes appraising the wolf.

“Good morning, Casey.” Said human grimaced slightly.

“How the fuck are you so perky in the morning, goddamn.” Percy winced at his harsh swearing. “I need at least three cups of caffeine before I’m functioning.” The teen smiled and shrugged, though he knew it was because of his wolf-side.

“I’ve always been a morning person, same as my mother. I take it you’re a night owl, then?” Casey only smirked. “Okay, on an unrelated note, do you have plans this weekend?”

“Yeah, standing plans. I always go home with Adam on Fridays,” Casey stated as Mr. Carter dimmed the lights. “Why?”

Hiding his frown, Percy said, “I was hoping to invite you to my home. Friends hang out, don’t they?” Confusion and relief flickered through the human’s eyes as he nodded slowly.

“Yeah, they do. I won’t change my weekends, though, but my weekdays are always free.” Percy noted Casey’s use of won’t rather than can’t and inwardly sighed. Yes, Adam Tolliver will definitely be an issue.

Casey’s POV

“Hey, Casey!” The brunet turned to find Percy swaggering toward him and let out a soft sigh.

“Hey, Percy, what’s up?” He asked, pausing a few lockers away from Adam and shielding the blond from view.

“I just wanted to say goodbye and that I’ll see you Monday. Have a good weekend.” With that, Percy continued walking, but not before throwing a look at Adam. The healer watched him go and then shook his head. He is one weird dude.

Adam shut the locker, Casey’s skateboard in hand, and smiled. “Are you ready?” Taking the board, Casey nodded and followed his friend out of the school. Silver clouds hung overhead as they found Mr. M’s car in the line-up, the healer enjoying the brisk weather more than his blond cohort. “I hate the fucking cold,” Adam grumbled.

“How you survived the Boston winters, I’ll never know,” Casey remarked as he opened the car door.

“Is he complaining about the cold again?” Mr. M inquired with a small smile in the rearview mirror.

“Surprisingly.” The two shared a split-second of eye contact until Adam thumped the healer’s shoulder. “What? You act like you don’t get mopey anytime the temperature drops below 70.” The pout on his lips could only be described as adorable. Friends describe each other as adorable, right?

“It’s August, Casey; it shouldn’t be below 70 yet.” Casey dropped the subject and instead listened to Adam recount his day to his father.

“Are we still going out to dinner?” The brunet glanced up and arched one brow at his friend.

“You didn’t tell me we were going out to dinner.” Adam smiled sheepishly and ran a hand over his head.

“I’m telling you now.” Casey mock-glared, but it was betrayed by the small smile he gave back. “Anyways, we’re going to Sapori, so you have no reason to complain.”

“Why are we going out?”

“Rissa hired a new designer last month, remember?” Casey hummed and nodded.

“You mean Mentari, right? She wore that red hijab?” He asked, trying to wrack his brain to remember a woman he hadn’t officially met.

“Yep, but she has different ones to match her clothes, so don’t always look for the red one,” Mr. M advised. “Anyways, after studying under Rissa, Mentari had finally gotten her first client, and today she got her second from a referral. If it keeps going like this, our wife may be able to keep expanding.”

“A good reason to celebrate then,” Casey agreed, knowing that Mrs. M would be ecstatic. After starting Tolliver Interior last year, things had been slow. Still, over the summer, the business began to blossom, and she could finally hire help. He was happy for Adam’s mom.

Arriving at the Tolliver house, Adam and Casey headed straight for the basement. They hung their bags on the back of the door and then paused, both looking unsure of what to do next.

Finally, Adam clapped his hands. “Okay, I’m going to take a shower. I’ll yell when I’m in.” The healer nodded and leaned against the arm of the couch as he waited. Sometimes Casey thought it was odd that they would follow one another into the bathroom. Still, then he remembered that nothing about them was normal.

During their first sleepover, the habit had started when Adam had barged into the bathroom to ask his favorite superhero and then didn’t leave. From then on, it was simply expected they would shower together. Platonically. Casey had thought it would change when he began his transition, but then it didn’t. The brunet had been uncomfortable at first, like the first time all over, but Adam had talked like nothing changed. So, nothing changed.

“I’m in,” Adam shouted, his voice nearly drowned out by the water. Casey stepped into the bathroom and hopped onto the sink counter. “It’s so nice not to smell like a locker room.” The brunet chuckled and decided to get in after Adam.

“Hard to smell anything over your god awful cologne,” he teased.

“Hey, there is nothing wrong with my cologne; you just have bad taste.” Casey craned his neck to look back in the mirror, but it had already started to fog over. “On a more important note, did you get the paper about the end-of-year trip?”

“Uh, yes?” I think it was the one I drew Mrs. Hale on the backside. Maybe the one I drew a dick on, who knows. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, are you thinking about going?”

“I don’t even know where it is,” Casey replied, “you know I don’t read anything adults give me.” Adam huffed behind the curtain.

“It’s in D.C. this year, and it sounds pretty fun to me. I’d be interested in going.” He traced patterns against the glass until the blond continued. “What about you?”

“You know I can’t.” Casey’s best friend was the only one to know of the situation between him and his parents, so he understood the money issue.

“But if you could afford it, would you go?” Adam pressed, his tone inquisitive. The healer hummed as he turned back toward the shower and shrugged despite knowing he couldn’t be seen.

“I guess. I don’t see the point in discussing hypotheticals, though. Yeah, it would be fun to go on a field trip again, but there’s no way I could pay for it.” It was the sad truth of things. The rent and bills were automatically withdrawn from one of two checking accounts each month, and 300$ was deposited every two weeks. Seeing as Casey didn’t eat much, he had started hiding away two-thirds of the money in his bedroom. At the same time, the other third was considered his emergency fund. The healer may have a good chunk of cash stored away, but he knew how fast it could go.

“Fine, I’ll drop it. I’m getting out, by the way.” Casey slid off the counter and stepped out of the bathroom when the water tapered off. He waited until Adam opened the door, black jeans hanging low on his hips and a towel around his neck. “You going in?” The healer grabbed a change of clothes from the bottom drawer of Adam’s dresser in reply. The Joan Jett tee wasn’t his, but Casey wore it more than the blond, so it stayed in his designated drawer.

Casey reentered the muggy bathroom and turned the water on as he stripped. He piled his dirty clothes on top of the toilet lid and then shoved the binder underneath out of habit. The healer reached to turn the light off and then hesitated. Casey had only recently started turning off the light when he showered as his dysphoria worsened. Still, he wasn’t sure how Adam would react. Shaking his head, the brunet stepped under the water.

“I’m in,” he called, pausing. The door creaked open, and the floor squeaked slightly under Adam’s weight, but then it was just the sound of water falling against the tile.

“Do you ever think about falling in love?” Casey hummed as he squeezed shampoo onto his hand.

“Not really,” he replied, “at least, not in the way you’re asking.”

“Okay, how do you think about love?”

“I think about it in terms of how my characters fall in love, the different types of love, et cetera. I don’t really see myself falling in love or anything.” Casey stated. “What about you? Do you want to fall in love?” Adam was quiet for a second, and the healer began to worry he said the wrong thing, but then the blond sighed.

“I want to fall in love. I want the kind of love that people write about, the anniversaries and inside jokes. I want flowers and dates and to be happy despite my soulmark. I want to marry my best friend and spend the rest of my life with them,” Adam breathed, his tone becoming almost understanding though Casey wasn’t sure why. “I want to find my clarity.”

“Your clarity?” He asked curiously, eyes peering at the curtain and where he assumed Adam was.

“Yeah, my light in the dark, you know? Someone who makes everything crystal clear, Case.” Casey liked the sentiment. It was sweet that his best friend was still a romantic despite the circumstances, and he almost wished he felt the same. Almost. With a black soulmark and a borderline loveless family, Casey Boyd didn’t have much knowledge of love.

“Get out, I’m done.” Adam laughed but left the bathroom, so the healer turned off the water and toweled off. Adam’s jeans were tight on him, especially around his thighs, but also long due to the blond’s lanky frame. It was nothing that couldn’t be fixed by rolling the cuffs. Ah, the real bisexual solution.

Outside the bathroom, Adam danced around his bedroom wildly. A red earbud peeked from behind his hair as he spun, his eyes growing with his smile as he locked eyes with Casey.

“Catch,” he said, voice louder than usual as he threw the other. Doing as told, Casey slipped the earbud in and blinked rapidly to adjust to the sound. “I'm color-coding my moods; you're yellow, I'm a natural blue. Let's get together and be green like my insides.” The blond’s energy was infectious, and Casey can’t help but smile as he joined in.

“At least I’ll match your eyes, jealous and hypnotized. Let’s match our faces and be equally in love,” the healer sang. He broke into laughter as Adam grabbed his hand and spun himself, his feet still moving to the beat only they could hear.

“Hey, tell me what you want me to say; you know I'm stupid for you. Hey, can you come and come out and play, you know I'm stupid for you!” They practically yelled the lyrics, and Casey was grateful that the Tollivers had soundproofed the basement. Adam’s hand was small in his, the pale skin a contrast to the healer’s own almond-toned complexion. Casey was short and thin, mostly from his penchant for skipping meals, but his hands had always seemed freakishly big compared to the rest of him.

Adam brought him out of his internal reverie when he collapsed backward onto the couch, his chest rising quickly. “I like seeing you smile.” The statement made him pause.

“What?”

“Your smile, I like seeing it,” Adam restated. “You don’t do it often enough.” Casey had no reply to that but found himself smiling anyway.

“Boys, come upstairs. We’re leaving soon.” The blond put the earbuds away while the healer tossed him a t-shirt, still smiling. Casey tugged his boots back on and let Adam push him up the stairs with a roll of his eyes.

They found the adults in the kitchen, Mrs. S and M, whispering at the island, though all three greeted them warmly. “You guys ready?” Mr. M looked over a file with interest, his eyes scanning the pages with the same speed Adam did and didn’t raise his gaze.

“Yeah, is Matt meeting us there?” Mr. M nodded and motioned to the stove clock.

“Practice ends in ten, so he’s coming back to shower and change. He said to go ahead and get a table, though.” Mrs. S explained, rolling her eyes at her husband. “If you guys are ready, go get in the car.” Casey followed his friend out into the garage, where they clambered into the very back of the family SUV. Mrs. S slid into the middle section after a few minutes, Mr. M behind the wheel like always since the older women always complain about driving this car.

At first, Casey was very confused about family drives considering that they were a throuple, but then Adam confessed that they had a wheel to decide. After that, things slowly began to make sense. The throuple altered who picked Adam up from school, who sat where when driving, and even cooked dinner. Not that Mrs. S cooked, but the pizza place down the road knew her by name at this point, so it counted. In all honesty, it was kind of cute, not that Casey would ever admit that.

The ride to Sapori was almost thirty minutes with five o’clock traffic, but neither teen minded. They discussed new video games coming out this year and whether they were worth buying. The Italian restaurant was busy as always on a Friday night. Still, they only had to wait the standard fifteen minutes for a table. Their group attracted stares outside as the elders were never shy about PDA, so Casey glared each down until they looked away, much to Adam’s amusement.

“Down, boy, my parents don’t care.” The brunet huffed and finally looked away from the elderly woman who had scoffed at them.

“I care,” he insisted quietly. “It’s fucking rude.” Adam chuckled and threw an arm around the shorter boy’s shoulders.

“Yeah, it is, but it’s fine, Case. We’re all used to it, man.” That didn’t make Casey any less annoyed with people, but when the blond gently squeezed his shoulder, his bad mood was put on hold.

“Using my touch-starvation against me won’t work forever,” the blond warned, though he still relaxed slightly.

“Eh, maybe not, but I’ll be okay until then.”

“Boys, let’s go.” Casey shoved Adam away gently and rolled his eyes as he followed the others inside. Soft classical music played in the background. They were led to a circular booth to the right, and the lighting was dim enough to be considered romantic. Casey sat on one end with Adam to his left and stared down at his hands, his usual awkwardness coming to the front. Tolliver family dinners were always a cozy affair, and the healer felt right at home, which was the problem. He was not family, not that he necessarily wanted to be. Casey just wanted his own parents to care as much as Adam’s parents did. Ugh, the worst time to think about my shitty parents.

With drinks brought and orders placed, the conversation turned to the kid’s days.

“We’re learning square roots in math, and I don’t think Mrs. Trent likes me very much.” Mrs. M snorted into her glass of wine.

“Is it because you corrected her too?” Adam flushed a deep red at his mom’s question.

“That was one time, okay, and no, I haven’t.” He muttered petulantly. “Also, it’s not my fault Mrs. Anderson kicked me out of her class. Don’t be wrong if you don’t wanna be corrected.” It was Casey’s turn to muffle his laughter and nudged the blond’s knee under the table.

“Okay, then why doesn’t she like you?”

“Well, I’ve aced every quiz so far, right?”

“Obviously,” Mr. M drawled.

“She doesn’t like that. She made a comment at the beginning of the year that no one would pass her class with an A, like that was something to be proud of, so now she’s pissed that I am,” Adam explained, all in one breath. Casey knew about the comment because he had been on the receiving end of an hour-long lecture about the public education system, but the Tollivers obviously hadn’t.

“So, she’s mad because you’re passing?”

“She thinks I’m cheating,” he corrected. “Said just as much too. Said had a suspicion that some of us were taking the easy way out since everyone made a B or higher on the last test.” Casey did not know that.

“When did that happen?” The healer questioned.

“Uh, about eight hours ago. It’s not important though, I don’t really care what she thinks of me,” Adam replied with a smirk. “Not like she can prove it, even if I was.”

“Better not be,” Mrs. M warned across the table, though the mirth in her eyes betrayed her stern tone.

“Better not be what?” The sudden appearance of Matt startled the healer, but he covered it up nicely. The quarterback slid onto the bench beside Casey and ruffled his shaved head in greeting.

“Warning me not to cheat in math.”

Matt scoffed. “Yeah, like you need to cheat.” He sipped his own drink, water with lemon because he had class, and smiled at his brother. “Has your guy’s trip been announced yet? I think they’re offering Italy on top of the foreign language trips. Maybe they’ll take you guys to California, though maybe not since Mr. Ford hated cross country driving.”

“It’s D.C. this year, but they moved it back a week to just before graduation.” Matt hummed as a waitress came up with the food, his smile turning flirty as he thanked her.

“D.C. was a cool trip, especially Busch Gardens,” he stated between bites of his chicken. “I think Jas and I rode the skylift, like, ten times that day. You two goin’?”

“Nah,” Adam replied, leaving it at that. Guilt wormed its way inside. Casey knew that his friend wanted to go but wouldn’t for him. As if he knew the healer’s thoughts, Adam’s hand fell to the space between them. Their fingers overlapped, and that simple touch quieted his mind. Breathing out, Casey looked away from his food and past Matt, only to freeze.

It couldn’t be her, but it was. God, she looks exactly the same, Casey thought. His eyes took the woman in, but he ducked behind Matt when she began to turn.

“You good, dude?” Adam looked up, and his jaw dropped, though he quickly regained his facilities and leaned down to whisper in the brunet's ear. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yeah,” Casey murmured, eyes locked on his twitching hands, “my sister’s home.”