Breaking Curfew

Who: Kaysen and Tad
Where: Kaysen's house
When: late evening

The sun had been setting when he'd arrived at the library, and now that he was leaving it was even later. Tad didn't have a curfew because he'd never had a reason to have one before, but tonight he'd probably end up being accused of breaking it. Instead of pedaling towards Grams, a late dinner and more classic movies, while they avoided talking about what happened on his trip, Tad steered his bike one handed while eating cracker's from his backpack and headed for Kaysen's house.

The porch lights were on when he slowed to a stop in front of the house, but that didn't inspire him to ring the bell. A quick glance at his phone reminded him that it was probably too late to do that anyway. Getting off his bike he pushed it through the grass and snow around the side of the house, punching the buttons on his phone as he went. Once he was sure he was in the right space, he hit send.

You still up sk8tr girl?

Kaysen had been in her room, trying to not be terrified of the whole...shape shifter bullshit going on both on tv and probably in town. When her phone toned at her, she snatched it up, muting her tv for a moment as she read the message. Yeah. Watching news. she sent back to him. Which should have said a lot, really.

Tad smiled when his phone vibrated with the new message. Part of him had been worried she'd be asleep already, especially after the ordeal they'd just lived through and that he himself was really only running on the sleep he got from the hospital back to Marquette. Awesome. Check outside your window.

He'd better not fucking be... went through her mind as she got up and rushed over to the window. She didn't see anything right away and so she messaged back. You had better not be fucking stupid and out there. It's a full fucking moon, dumbass!! she sent back. She remembered what happened last full moon.

His phone buzzed again and he took his eyes off her window to look at the phone and frown in disappointment. "Figures," he mumbled under his breath, looking up he spotted her in the window. Tossing her a half wave Tad texted back, Thankfully I wasn't going for a boom box over my head moment then. Just wanted to say goodnight. Ok the whole thing was stupidly romantic, but he'd felt empowered and per usual it went over wrong. He pocketed the phone and pulled up the hood on his sweatshirt, righted his bike and looked up again, just for another glimpse before he headed home.

She did see him then and she opened up her window and leaned out. "Get in here! Garage door!" she called loud enough that he'd hear her, but not loud enough to alert her parents, hopefully. It was late, though, they might be in bed. Or arguing about the bullshit on tv. Who knew. But she did know that whole bunches of people got their asses dead last month and she didn't really want to be attending Tad's funeral, or figuring out some way to keep him from slaughtering people next month.

Well that was better than nothing wasn't it? Tad waved again, this time a "I got it wave" and then rolled his bike through her yard around to the garage. Standing outside the door waiting for her, was giving the chill a moment to sink in and the leftover snow time to soak through his shoes. At some point earlier today when he left his house he should have thought to bring a warmer coat.

Kaysen ran downstairs and headed to the garage, opening up the door for him. She grabbed his arm, hauled him in, and was giving him quite the pissy look. "You, shut the fuck up and be very fucking quiet." she snapped, before starting to haul him through the house, and up to her room so she didn't alert her parents to the fact that she had company. They made it, and once they were in her room she shut the door then turned a glare on Tad. "Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Somehow when she dragged him in, he managed to set his bike against the wall outside the garage without knocking it or himself over. Tad, ever one to follow orders, let her lead the way and did just as she said tiptoeing through the house until they were in the safety of her room. When she spun on him though, he instinctively took a step back. "Obviously the wrong thing."

"It's a full fucking moon. There are freaking...were-whatevers on tv who decided to share with the goddamn world that they exist. Last fucking month, whole bunches of people in this town got fucking slaughtered because of a bunch of fucking werewolves running rampant through the streets. What the living fuck are you doing out of your house even? And just riding around on your bike?! Are you suicidal?" she harped on. Really, she was just a little overwhelmed by the idea that he'd just been out doing whatever when who knew how many werewolves were wandering the fucking streets tonight killing people. It wasn't like they'd all gone away since last month or anything.

"Chill, I've been out all damn day. Like since this afternoon. It was dark and instead of going home and hanging out with my grandmother who's looking at me like I'm going to break any second, I wanted to see you." Tad reached down and pulled off his shoes, noting that Hunt was more than likely right, he'd have to get new ones, the stains just looked worse when the shoes were damp. "And the bike is all I got so lay off." He was frustrated, knowing that moments like these were why "just go for it" was shitty advice. "And what are you going on about with were-whatever on tv?"

"Well, it's stupid, and going to get you killed." Kaysen told him, as usual, not going for tact or anything, just hitting him up with whatever went through her mind. "And I mean that." she said, pointing to the small tv she had on her dresser. Then she remembered she'd muted it, and she crawled across her bed to get the remote and she un-muted it, where whatever news channel she'd had on was again recapping the events.

Tad didn't bother to remind her that he didn't really know about all the werewolf killings until recently and he certainly wasn't thinking about today. Fuck, a buncha demons had killed people he knew just a few days before and he was dealing with one overwhelmingly fucked up issue at a time. He moved into the room, sitting on her bed intently watching the recap. When it was over Tad looked at Kaysen, back to the tv and then back to Kaysen again. "Okay, that's just straight up crazy."

"Yeah, it really is." she said, still unhappy with his behavior, but she was simmering down a little. "It happened earlier this evening, and they just keep reshowing it. I guess all the guys are locked up now and like, everyone and their brother has an opinion on whether they should be tried like everyone else or treated differently because they're different and it's all a huge mess." she said, leaning back against her pillows, propped against her headboard.

"Did anyone get hurt? When they hijacked the place? 'Cause really it seems more like a radical demonstration thing. Like the GreenPeace kids chaining themselves to bulldozers and such. Significantly scarier, but similar." Tad was still sitting with one knee up and his chin resting on it at the forward part of her bed. Without really thinking, he reached out for her, his hand catching her leg and just resting there.

"I don't think anyone was hurt. I think they'd be splashing that shit up like Michael Jackson holding his baby over the balcony." she said. She ticked her gaze down to is hand on her leg, wondering what the hell he was doing. But then again, he didn't look like he was trying to shmooze or anything, more just like he did it and wasn't thinking about it. She didn't think he was that good at being subtle, really, so she didn't say anything about it immediately.

"Yea, probably so." Tad considered the screen as they ran another shot of the group of people right before they changed. "It's weird to think they are just a collection of normal people. And so many different animal shapes...you really only think of wolves with the way media portrays them." As he turned to look at her, it dawned on him that he'd been holding on to her. Thankfully with the way he turned he was able to casually pull away without it seeming too awkward.

"See, it's not weird to me that they're normal people, because I'm weird or different, or whatever, and I'm just a highschool student. Why shouldn't they be normal people?" she asked, a little bit of a challenge to her tone, though really it was just her getting defensive over a topic that was too close to home. She considered herself a freak and she could understand why the were-people'd been hiding. It wasn't like the movies. Nothing was ever like the fucking movies.

"It makes sense, I mean who else could they be right? But you did just lecture my ass for putting myself at risk for being torn apart by werewolves or whatever, and I have a hard time putting that in the same scope as the nice enough looking doctor or housewife on tv. It's hard to imagine them wanting to hurt anyone, or having something inside them that could hurt someone." This time Tad intentionally reached for Kaysen, taking one of her hands. "You aren't weird Kayce, just talented. Special in a non-short bus sort of way."

"Whatever. I'm pretty sure people on tv would like to sell me up the river as being too fucking dangerous." she said, looking down at his taking her hand, but she didn't quite know what to do about it, so she didn't do anything. "And I don't think it's the same." she added. "Like, they didn't look like they were batshit crazy just going for anything, they looked like they all had everything under control n shit. So maybe the other ones are different." She didn't know how they'd be different, not exactly, but in her head it was reasonable to think they might be. Like maybe there was something wrong with the other ones.

"Yea, maybe," Tad answered but he'd lost his focus on what she was saying and instead was intently watching her hand in his. He twisted his hand one way and twined his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand briefly but tightly.

Okay so when he did that she could ignore it less efficiently. She looked at him, as he was watching their hands. "What're you doing?" she asked. There wasn't an edge to her tone, though. It wasn't meant to be confrontational. It was more like a quiet, honest question. She didn't know, so she'd better ask, or that was her theory.

Panic coursed through Tad and he froze, looking at her sheepishly. "Um, nothing." He had an urge to let go of her hand but in the end he didn't. He just sort of held it loosely, looking confused about what she wanted him to do next. "Just spaced out a little, didn't get much sleep today." It was a lame excuse, but whatever confidence he'd ridden to show up here tonight was pretty much depleted.

"Not really nothing, you're holding my hand and sure giving it a whole lot of attention." she pointed out. Again, it wasn't really confrontational, she wasn't intentionally giving him shit, she was pointing out the obvious. Sure, she wasn't sure what she expected him to say, but it was most certainly happening, so....yeah.

"I can stop," he told her, starting to let go, although reluctantly. "Sorry, I was thinking about something else, and I was..." Tad's words trailed off because he wasn't sure what he'd intended to say in the first place. He was just rambling to fill the gap of silence. Embarrassed, he turned his head away from her, but after a moment looked back. It would be important to actually see her reaction, maybe it would give him a clue to what she was feeling.

Kaysen kind of gave him a Look, though it was a mild version of it. "You're a shitty liar." she told him. "And I don't really like liars. The least you can do is own up to whatever the truth is." she added. It wasn't like he hadn't come right out and told her he was interested or anything. He had. So it wasn't some wacky secret.

"In my defense I wasn't lying," Tad corrected her, putting his other hand to his chest as if he was shocked she'd accuse him of lying. "I wasn't thinking about whatever it was you were talking about." He smiled, but it faded a little because the joke didn't last. "I dunno Kayce. Lately we've had these moments where you're just watching me, like you're waiting for me to do something and I guess I thought...." Tad tried very hard to look away, but couldn't and ended up just running the free hand through his hair. "I'm trying, and you know full well I don't know what I'm doing, but I figure if you really thought I was disgusting you would have left when I told you how I felt."

"Well, you're my friend. I don't cut out that easy, I don't have many of them hanging around." Kaysen said, since it was a lot of the truth there. "And yeah, we've had moments, we've been in the middle of fucked up crisis situations where we and everyone else could've died." she continued. "Who wouldn't have a moment in the middle of those?" What she wasn't doing, was denying that there'd been some, even if she didn't really know when they might've been. Plus she knew she'd been a little shellshocked for some of it too, which hadn't helped matters. He'd been around for it all, so yeah.

He let the last millimeters of her fingers slip from his then. She had a logical explanation for most of what had happened and Tad was dealing with a strong feeling that he'd interpreted the whole thing wrong. Of course there'd been something there, but it was just adrenaline or shock or fear of not knowing if you'd make it to the next day and that explained everything. His eyes finally dropped from hers, admiring the stitching in her bedspread, tracing it with his fingers.

She sighed, watching him. "What do you want, Tad?" she asked, not even sure she wanted an answer there, but she thought maybe now was the time to ask. Especially if he was going on about moments, and holding her hand, and touching her leg, and showing up to say hello and everything.

"That's a stupid question Kaysen," he told her looking away, towards her door wondering if he should just leave. "You know full well what I want, and I know full well not to ask for it." Tad glanced back at her, suddenly uncomfortable when just moments before he'd felt at ease. "It's not worth me saying it because it will just ruin things in the end. It's not what you want, so it's best to just ignore it."

"No, I don't think it's a stupid question." Kaysen said. "Which is why I asked. And what happened to time? What, all of a sudden that translates to 'it's not what you want'? If that was the case, then why are you doin shit like holding my hand and whatever? Doesn't add up, you know. You make no fucking sense." she said. "Thus the need for some clari-fucking-cation."

"I didn't mean it's not what you want ever, it's just not what you want now," Tad said softly. "And I know, we talked about time, and I said it was fine...I just..." He stopped, took a deep breath and tugged at his curls a little. "It's just that what happened the past few days, something could have happened to either one of us. It was a mortality wake-up call." Tad's eyes ticked down to his hands, rubbing a sore spot he'd gotten during his lesson with Hunt. "I guess I thought that if I tried to show you that I wanted to be with you, you might consider it."

Kaysen still wasn't following. "...Tad, I think you're talking out of your ass. I think you were doing shit cuz you wanted to, and that's why. And you want me, so, whatever, and I haven't stopped you. And if you're really going for manipulation on shit, then whatever. Nothing you've said there puts you in an especially good light, y'know." she told him. "I don't really know what to think right now." she said honestly, sighing and looking away. She didn't. Maybe she just wasn't getting it? But either way she wasn't real happy with the conclusions she was drawing.

That left him feeling miserable. He'd thought he'd been sweet and romantic and she'd read it as manipulating and asshole-like. "I'm sorry Kaysen. I swear I wasn't taking advantage or trying to..." It wasn't what Tad had meant at all. He'd just started thinking maybe she was getting used to having him around. "I didn't realize what I was doing was bothering you. I shouldn't have come by tonight, I'm not even sure why I did." That was a bold faced lie. Tad knew full well why he'd shown up. For the past three days he hadn't let her more than a few feet away from him and being separated from her for the past few hours was making him miserable.

He stood up from the bed and moved a couple of steps back towards the door. "I'm gonna...I should go home." Turning away he reached for his shoes, hoping she'd let him escape with whatever little dignity he had left. There were some perks of having friends and a girl to like that he actually talked to, but this was one of those moments where he wished he could go back to the old Tad.

"Well, I never said it was bothering me, now did I?" Kaysen said. "I asked what was up. I never said anything about it 'bothering' me. You read in one fuck of a lot and you really just clearly don't know what you're talking about. And then it seems like you just say whatever you think will get you out of imagined trouble, and it doesn't make sense with shit you said before, and you just frankly don't seem on the goddamn level. I think you flail, and then you just say whatever, and you don't like it when I point out that it really fucking contradicts what you said before." She shook her head. "I don't know what to think about that, or how to feel about it. Cuz seriously? It just makes it seem like anything you say could just be because you think it's what I wanna hear, or it'll get you out of 'trouble'. Makes it feel like you're not being honest with me at any given time cuz you'll just leap to whatever bullshit response you think'll help you." she explained, actually putting effort into explaining things as reasonably as she could. She had marginal success. She wasn't snapping at him and she wasn't just hitting the GRR button. It was because she actually did want things not to go really stupid, but she couldn't just sit back and not bring things up that were that important to her either. If he still wanted to bail, then she'd consider him to be a lot less for real friendship than she'd thought he was. Which was going to blow. Tons.

Tad had a his shoes in one hand the other on the door. In his head he assumed she'd just kick him out, not tell him exactly how much of an idiot he was. Which was what she was pointing out even if she didn't intend to do so. This was it, this was the make or break moment, and it took him a few seconds to decide which way to handle it. He knew full well he could take the easy road and walk out the door and just let the whole thing fade away.

Instead Tad dropped his shoes, and crossed the small space in the room to her. He climbed onto the bed and settled into a space just inches from where she sat. "You're right. I've been honest with you about almost everything, but not about this." He sighed slightly, but pushed forward. "It's because being around you leaves me completely unhinged. When you drug me into that side room in the auditorium? It took everything in me to keep my hands off you. We were being attacked by fucking demons and in more than one situation I was only focused on holding you close." He reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. "And you're right, I have no idea how to act about it because I don't know how you feel about it. You don't flinch when I touch you, but I'm not going to pretend that you didn't tell me you wanted time and space to think about it. I could do something completely irrational, push all the boundaries, but there's always a chance you could come out of that hating me, and I can't handle that. I'd rather not be able to be with you or be honest with you about how I feel over losing you completely. So I say things that I think might be what it takes to keep me in your good graces." It was obvious he was being honest this time and obvious that he was struggling to do so.

"Well, you're a shitty liar." Kaysen said first. "So, knock it off, if you can't do it better. I'd prefer you didn't anyways, cuz I don't really like liars in the first place. But whatever. As for what you just said...I guess...I dunno. I can't clear up fears over shit just on principal cuz I'm still not sure what direction I wanna go. And you probably don't want me making a rash decision here, do you? My rash decisions have a long history of being really fucking shitty, so I'd rather not push this and wind up someplace totally fucking stupid, and the blame lands on me just being rash." She sighed, looking him in the eyes. "I'm sorry I'm not working through shit fast enough for you, but this is still hard on me. I still lose sleep wondering where the fuck he went, and if his mom's gonna show up one day totally wanting to kill my ass. Add on top of that that I miss him, I really felt for him, and all this happened and it's insane and stupid, and...I just have a lot going on and I'm not real well versed with dealing with anything."

Tad took her answer well enough, listening closely, and keeping his eyes on her, not looking off distracted like usual. "I want you to come to whatever decision's best for you Kayce. And I've been a shit friend by not helping. I should be here to help you through whatever it is you're going through and instead I'm pushing you to jump into something you're not even sure you're ready for or that you want at all." He didn't agree with her about her rash decisions, but the only rash decision of hers he'd dealt with was the one to take on the basketball team for him. Since that had brought them together, he could hardly consider it a bad thing. He was looking at her apologetically when what she'd said registered. "Wait, why would she want to kill you? 'Cause you and her son broke up? Please tell me that's just you exaggerating." Tad asked as his expression changed to one of confusion and concern.

It was then that Kaysen had to think about what she'd actually told Tad. And then remembered that it had been around the level of 'fuck all'. Shit. Shit shit shit. She made a face, and looked away, then back again. "...he and I were having problems cuz I found out his mom was kinda a psycho, and he never did anything about it even though he knew." she said, knowing that was an answer that was only going to prompt more questions, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She'd fucked up, now she had to deal with the consequences. Son of a bitch. Cuz there wasn't enough to worry about, or anything.

"Kind of psycho? What exactly is kind of psycho?" Tad asked, raising an eyebrow. When he'd first met her, he really did think she was prone to blowing things out of proportion, but this, the way she was saying this, Tad was getting the feeling that maybe she wasn't just overreacting to something normal.

She didn't know how to say this. She didn't know if she should at all, even. "Bad. Okay? Just...can you take my word for it that there was badness? That I'd have reason to believe that she might opt to take me out?" she asked. She wasn't real hopeful for him to agree on that, but she had to try.

Tad noticed she wanted him to just let this drop, but that wasn't happening. She just wanted him to add her ex's mom to the list of bad things out there without a damn good explanation? That was so not happening. "I believe you, but you're gonna have to give me what reason you might have to believe that she wants to hurt you."

"Cuz I broke her son's heart?" Kaysen suggested. "She's kinda...she like...She's all about her kid." she said. In a creepy, 'Imma kill five people and make him immortal, teehee!' kinda way... "And I just...can't you trust me?" she asked him. "I'm just worried and maybe it's stupid and I'm just paranoid, I mean, we both know I'm paranoid, right?" she asked, actually wishing for confirmation there. It'd be nice.

"If I remember correctly he was the one who did all the heartbreaking. Or did you forget the fire, sprinklers and almost freezing to death on the walk home?" Tad's eyes still held his concern but his frustration was starting to slip into his voice. "And yes, you are paranoid, but I'm beginning to think you're rarely too far off base."

She sulked, and looked at him. "...you were meant to just tell me I'm stupid and to stop being fucking paranoid." she told him, even if there wasn't any actual ire in her voice. "And I don't know. With Chance and I...we were never what anyone would consider 'stable'. And even if he did upset me and everything, that doesn't mean he isn't hurt, or wasn't hurt, and that doesnt' mean he didn't blame me for it all, y'know?" she suggested.

Tad bit back the comment that douchebags who leave the relationship in limbo for a while and then finally getting around to dumping them rarely deserve to hurt as a result. She'd loved Chance, and thought that he loved her back and the last thing she needed to hear was that he wasn't hurting. "I don't doubt that it was easy for him Kayce, but he's still the one who left, and you can't blame yourself for that. He can't either." Tad's voice was softer and reassuring, devoid of most of the furstration bubbling in his chest.

"Yeah, well it's not him I have to worry about." Kaysen said. "Even if he didn't blame me, if he was still upset and hurt--and leaving school and disappearing off the fucking planet I think is a pretty good indicator--his mom might decide to take it out on me. And she's...fuck." she said, looking away.

"She's what Kaysen?" Tad shifted a little to catch her eye, tugging on her arm gently to get her attention back. "Besides psycho, what aren't you telling me?"

Exhaling sharply, she tried to think about what she could tell him. What she could actually say, and not alarm him too much, but give him an idea of what she was talking about too. "She knows magic and shit. Like...bad magic." she told him, since it was true! She didn't know exactly what went into things, but she knew it was bad.

"Magic?" Tad asked slightly confused. "She's a witch then? Ok that's a start." It left him more confused than before but at least it was something. "What do we need to do about it? To keep her from hurting you."

"I dunno. I dunno if there is anything." Kaysen said. "Maybe Thom could put a protection spell on me or the house or something...or maybe he's already done that, I dunno. I just know he can't protect me all the time, ya know? Even if sometimes I think he tries. Think it's like...loyalty to Isaac, or cuz he sees me like some little sister he didn't have. He's kinda like an extra big brother. Just more annoying." she flopped over onto her side by the pillows and curled in a ball. "Can we stop talking about this? How'd we get on this in the first place?" she asked.

"That's a hell of a lot of loyalty for a friend," Tad mused. "When shit went nuts at the hospital he took off running, I'm guessing for you, which is...well that's sorta intense." Tad had been feeling guilty because he himself hadn't thought to run and rescue Kaysen right away. Although he'd been dealing with Porter freaking out and Caleb covered in someone else's blood which was distracting. Tad winced as he moved so he was on his stomach next to her, leaving sufficient space between them, but still bringing him down closer to her eye level. "You brought it up when you were yelling at me for being insensitive, but yea, we can stop talking about it." He wasn't satisfied with the situation, but they'd had enough scary stuff in the past seventy-two hours, this issue could wait for another day.

"He's my brother's best friend. We've grown up together. 'Course there's lots've loyalty." she said, not seeing why it was weird at all. Or maybe she was just getting used to it, like when Thom had showed up to get her from Chance's house, when the vamps had attacked. Yeah, she was definitely just getting used to it. But whatever that was just how it was. She wasn't complaining cuz he wanted to help keep her not-dead. She looked at him as he got more on eye level, and she made a bit of a face. "Oh yeah." she said quietly. Right. So that was her bad then. "Sorry." she said, and she sounded genuine, even. Though if pressed, she wouldn't have been able to say what she was sorry for.

"Yea, guess that's it." Tad didn't really understand the loyalty, but then he'd never had anyone like that in his life. Maybe now if he compared it to Porter or something, but still it wasn't the same. "S'ok, I've gotten used to you keeping me in line," he said in response to her apology assuming it was for chewing him out. "I deserved it anyway." He looked away from her at a place off over her head somewhere. "I met with Mr. Hunt today."

Kaysen actually smirked a little at his saying he'd deserved it and that she kept him in line. "Yeah, well, don't go forgetting that's what you keep me around for." she told him, and there might've been a light note of affection in her tone. Maybe. "Yeah? You guys go all kung fu on each other?" she asked.

"Yes, because lecturing me is the only reason I keep you around," he joked, rolling his eyes to go with it. "It wasn't bad, we talked about the hospital stuff. He seemed at least a little impressed. Then went into the whole Karate Kid stuff." He looked back at her, his eyes darker than usual. "I swear though, I felt like I was getting training for fighting something completely different than jocks and bullies."

"Maybe you were." she said. "I did bitch at you for being out when werewolves could be running through the streets eating people, remember?" she asked. "He was totally around for that. Er. Maybe. Actually I dunno. He was around for the vampires." she said, more firmly. He'd been gone for a while, maybe he had missed the werewolves. "So you're learnin stuff?" she asked. "You gonna actually use it next time someone picks a fight with you?"

"He was? You didn't tell me that." Tad found Mr. Hunt to be a complete enigma. "He seemed all Mr. Nice Guy at school, but in our meeting he was all, badass. He even knew what kind of demons attacked us, or well had a good guess." He raked a hand through his hair, tugging on the curls like he usually did. "I'm learning stuff yea. And yea, I guess next time someone tries to beat me up I'll try it. Hopefully I'll know more before that happens again because toss a punch or two is something, but I'm worried that fighting back some might result in a worse beating."

"No, I mean, he was in town for the vampires. I dunno if he was for the werewolves. But if he's teaching you to fight, maybe it's cuz he saw what was happening and didn't buy the bullshit 'it was gangs!' aspect of things." Kaysen said. Then she paused. "...and yeah, okay if he was telling you about demons and shit, then he definitely knows his shit, so yeah. I'd rather learn what's gonna help out with the big stuff, ya know? Considering we get attacked by it on a fairly regular basis. Or...I do." Then she paused. "Look, they're not used to you fighting back at all. And they bugged the fuck out when I just whapped one with my deck. They might fuck off the second they see blood that ain't yours."

"Guess so, everyone's got secrets right?" Tad was still befuddled by the teacher, but Kaysen had a point. If he wanted to prep Tad for worse than just the hockey team in the parking lot, then Tad wasn't going to question things. If bad shit was going to attack Kaysen on a regular basis and he wasn't leaving her side...well he'd better get ready for the worst. "I think they bugged cause the guy you hit with your deck was almost knocked out," Tad pointed out, but his voice was light and joking. "It can't hurt though, even if they rally...well it might just change the game some."

"Exactly. I think you should do it. I just...yeah. You should." she told him. "If nothing else, give them something else to think than 'oh hey look, there's the easy mark'." she said. It was true, and half the time people were cowardly shits anyways and if they didn't think they could win, they might decide it wasn't worth it to play. especially jock meatheads with no real brains or anything else going on. They had their rep, and that wouldn't go down to well if they had a shiner that they needed to explain. Especially if the answer was 'Tad'.

"Yes ma'am," he told her. He reached out brushing a loose strand of her hair out of her eyes. He knew she was right, but he wasn't keen on fighting for himself. Still, it didn't stop him from taking his lessons with Hunt seriously. If the guy wanted to show him the ropes, then Tad would follow along, no matter how weird it got.

Kaysen didn't stop him from what he was up to there, just kind of watching his eyes. He had a thing for doing that, she'd noticed. Tucking her hair behind her ear like that. Though, it was usually in her eyes or whatever, she didn't do a whole lot with her hair at all. It was straight, long, it was generally down. She smiled a bit when he said yes ma'am. "Well at least you're learning who's in charge 'round here."

That made him laugh, and the last of the dark left his eyes. "You just think you're in charge," he teased. "You're easier to deal with when you think you are."

She scoffed. "Oh hell no. I am in charge. You listen to me. I know you do. So there. Don't even try to sell me on that not being the case!" she told him actually laughing a little. so it was hard to get Kaysen to lighten up. It wasn't impossible.

Tad gave her a look, but eventually dissolved into another bout of laughter. "Alright, alright," he told her rolling on his back so he faced the ceiling. "I guess I do listen to you most of the time." He winced again as he shifted, settling against the bruises on his side.

She noticed the wince, but they'd all gotten roughed up. "You do. That's cuz I'm right, and you're a dumbass." she told him, though her tone was teasing. Sure, he could be a dumbass, and that was generally when she got out the 'fucking, REALLY??!' stick, but still. It wasn't, even if she could get mean, ever meant to be malicious. She liked Tad. If she was being a little twitchy at him it was for a reason.

"Contrary to popular belief you are not always right," he told her tucking an arm behind his head and turning to look at her again. "Nor am I always a dumbass. Most of the time yes, but not always." He smiled with the comment because he knew full well that if he was a complete dumbass she wouldn't hang out with him like she did. Actually she probably would have dropped him ages ago.

"You occasionally have non-dumbass moments." Kaysen gave him, even if she sounded like she was making a huge concession. She was just putting that on though, and the little smirk she gave him articulated that pretty well. "And I'm right most of the time." she said, stubbornly. "Like...ninety nine point seven percent." she decided.

"Occasionally? That's all I get?" He seemed insulted, even added in a gasp for extra effect, but his eyes shown with the smile he was trying to hold back. "And last I calculated you were coming in at ninety-two percent even."

"What? Psh. Fuck that noise. I'm way higher than that." she said, propping her head on her hand, and she looked down at him from there. "You should give me more credit, or you might get a black eye courtesy of me." she said, holding up her fist. Not that she would do that. She wouldn't. it wasn't her style, she only hit people occasionally, and when they were really asking for it. Tad wasn't.

"I'd like to see you try," he teased, reaching up to catch her fist in his hand as if he was going to stay the punch. "I fight back now, and if you hit me, I will not hesitate to hit a girl. No matter how cute she is." Tad nodded, but grinned widely behind it.

Kaysen laughed a little. "I could so take you." she told him. "I fight dirty, you know. You don't wanna fuck with me, Ghostal. It'd be bad for you. You'd have to go home crying like a little girl with a skinned knee n shit. Seriously." she said, grinning at him.

Tad chuckled. "You can try, but if you get too feisty I can always just tickle you." Too prove his point he let go of her hand and poked her side a few times.

Kaysen laughed, and dropped back down on her side, immediately swatting at his hand. "No! No tickling! That's so not fair at all!" she said, ignoring the fact that she'd just said she fought dirty. That wasn't even fighting dirty that was just cheating! Not that she was complaining that much. It was kinda fun, if strange. She half wondered how they'd got to this point.

He grinned again, holding his hands up as if he hadn't done anything. "I told you I could take you," Tad teased enjoying her laugh too much. It was something he wasn't sure he'd ever heard before but it was instantly his favorite sound. "Truce then?" He offered her a hand to shake as if to make it official.

Kaysen eyed him suspiciously, then she did shake his hand. "Fine." she said. "but try it again, and there's gonna be trouble, mister!" she told him firmly. Even if naw, really probably not. Cuz really, c'mon. She wasn't going to do anything to him. Not unless he really did deserve it, and even then...well. no. She would then. She couldn't hide behind a better nature because her nature wasn't that awesome.

Tad echoed her suspicious look but his was far sillier. For an instant he wondered what she'd do if he pulled her closer. They were having real fun, which was rare, and it was easy and comfortable. The opportunity was there for something more, but that would either stay in line with everything else or go terribly wrong. So, per usual, he hesitated and in the hesitation realized he'd been holding her hand too long. He let it drop and then fished his pump out of his pocket for something to do. Looking at it he realized just how late it was. "I'm going to sound like a total loser saying this, but I honestly think this is the latest I've ever stayed out."

"Seriously?" Kaysen asked. "That's...y'know, kinda pathetic." she said, even if she wasn't actually dissing him, and that was clear in her tone. "Can your grandma come get you or something? I mean...still night, still full moon, all that noise." she said.

"Aren't you supposed to be telling me it's ok and that I'm not a total loser? What kind of best friend are you?" he joked back. He checked the clock again and figured Grams might still be awake, or asleep in front of the tv. About once a month she stayed up late, watching tv and Tad usually found her there in the mornings. "I dunno. I guess she might still be up." He sounded wary as if calling would ensure that he got in trouble.

"The truthful kind?" Kaysen suggested. And she heard the note in his voice there, but she'd take him getting in trouble over him getting his face eaten off by some rampaging werewolf. Really, it wasn't a good trade off otherwise. "And whatever, just call." she encouraged, pushing at his shoulder slightly.

Tad leaned into her push a little, which closed some of the space between them. "Alright, alright, I'll call." His phone was in his back pocket so he had to roll towards her a little, but once he'd retrieved it he moved back to where he'd started. "Maybe we'll get lucky and she won't get mad at me because she'll think I have a girlfriend." He punched the number in and listened to it ring twice before Grams picked up.

"Where are you?" Her voice was less than pleasant and Tad cringed visibly. He'd expected that she wouldn't noticed he was gone, but then she had probably seen the news and was just as worried about werewolves as Kaysen had been only more of an old lady concern than a "I've seen it" concern. Tad explained himself and before he could ask if she'd come collect him Grams said she was on her way. Hanging up the phone he figured he was grounded for sure and it showed on his face. "She's on her way."

"But you're not a doggie treat." Kaysen pointed out, thinking Tad needed priorities checked at some point. She'd totally take grounding over horrible freaking death and having her entrails ripped out. That would totally suck. Grounding, by comparison, was a whole lot of dealable in the grand scheme.

"This is true, but remember if she grounds me from leaving the house then you and I don't get to see each other until the whole ordeal is over." Tad didn't point out that the last few times he'd been grounded his grounding had involved being forced to leave the house as everything he enjoyed doing was in his room. But then again, he'd never been grounded for staying out late. "But yes, before you point it out, I'm glad I'm not dead."

"...are you grounded from having anyone over in that case?" she asked. Because she could probably get over there. Or, she might need to talk Thom into driving her there or something, since her parents were kinda freaking a bit. But still. She could arrange shit. "And good. Be grateful. Be thankful you've got a friend as good as me too, while you're at it." she told him.

"I have no idea really. I guess it just depends on how she feels?" Tad didn't get in trouble much, and Grams didn't punish him much as a result. "Um, again, I'm a loser, but up until now I've never had friends when I got in trouble." Tad shrugged. Leaning in closer he watched her eyes closely. "And I am thankful for having a friend as good as you. Especially since you're ticklish." Grinning he poked her a few more times.

She laughed, and squirmed, and batted at his hand. "Keep that up and your hair's getting cinged!" she warned, even if she'd do no such thing. She so didn't have the control for that and anyways, just no. But she could threaten!!

"That's so not going to happen. Anyway you said you liked the curls." For good measure he shook his head a little causing his mop of hair to bounce around and finally wind up in his face. Tad pushed a chunk of it out of his eyes and sighed. "I kinda wish I didn't have to go."

Kaysen smirked. "You just want to spend the night in my room." she said. "You're a guy, thinkin with your dick?" she asked, sitting up and looking down at him. Sure, she didn't actually think that, but still. She wanted to know how he'd react to it.

Tad laughed. When he looked up at her his face had a look of mock innocence. "That was so not the case. I got my halo and everything here." He put his hands up over his head in a circle. Dropping his hands he grinned back at her. "I mean yea, that'd be cool, but come on...if I was that guy, we would have started making out a long time ago. Shit we'd be making out now."

Kaysen eyed him. "Oh really." she said. "Who says I'd be cool with that?" she asked. "Kinda confident there, aren't you?" she asked, humming loudly as she made the show of thinking about it. She thought that was the most forward Tad had ever spoken to her, though, which was kinda amusing in a weird little way.

"Come on, it's me, how could you not be?" Tad joked with mocking haughtiness. Shit he didn't know what the hell he was doing, there were good odds he'd be terrible at making out. "And face it, I'm awesome. The confidence is totally justified." He nodded even though it was obvious he didn't believe it.

Kaysen smirked and shook her head, batting at his shoulder a little. "Should watch for your grandma." she said. It was a small town, it'd take her like three seconds. Hopefully she didn't like, beep the horn or something, and she could sneak him out just as easily as she'd snuck him in. Which actually...she got up, and nodded. "Should actually get your ass back downstairs."

Tad nodded in return, groaning as if reluctant when he sat up and got off the bed as well. His bag and shoes were still by the door where he left them and he retrieved them, shoving his feet into his shoes and pulling the bag on his back. "She is an old lady and does still sorta drive slow," he reminded Kaysen with a smirk.

"So it'll take like, four extra seconds?" Kaysen suggested, then she headed out of her room, pausing to dodge Edison as he streaked in from wherever he'd been. Then she headed downstairs, and led him quietly back through to the garage, so they could wait out there. She peeked out the door, to see if his grandma's car was out there yet.

He followed her through the house, quiet as he could since he'd almost jumped out of his skin when her cat flew past him. He'd never tell Kasyen, but he was more nervous about the her parents find out he'd been snuck in. Being banned from her house for life sounded like a worse punishment than whatever Grams had in store for him. Tad looked over her out the door just in time to see the headlights pull into the driveway. "That would be her," he said, stepping out to flag her down so she didn't honk or something. He retrieved his bike from where he'd left it against the wall and leaned on it a little watching Kaysen before leaving. "I gotta go."

She waved. "See ya at school. Hope you're not in too much trouble." she said, starting to head back towards the door. She felt a little weird, like there was some script she wasn't quite following, but she ignored the feeling and just kept walking. "...have a good night." she tacked onto the end, to try and alleviate that sensation.

He should have grabbed her, stopped her, done something heroic. But at the end of the night he was still Tad, and so he let her go. "G'night Kayce," he called to her before rolling his bike down the drive to Grams' car. Grams who looked less than amused. He was definitely grounded.