***TW: Slurs***

 “Okay, but your dad is unreal.” Isaiah sighed dreamily as he followed Silas through the hallways, their third periods were in the same hall. He could practically see the hearts in the human’s eyes, which was a little unsettling. “He was so handsome, but like, in a creepy way. Kind of like you.”

“Ew, shut up.” Silas grumbled, scrunching up his nose. He didn’t really want to think about his dad being hot, or their individual hotness’s being associated with each other.

“He’s just so tall. And goth.”

“And he’s already married to a twink. One who’s legal.” He emphasized.

“He’s gay?”

“You don’t even remotely have a chance.”

“I can still dream.”

“I hate this conversation so much and I’m so glad it’s over.” Silas veered away from Isaiah to enter his class, ignoring the human screaming, “We’ll continue this at lunch!”

Something was off though, Silas realized when he entered the classroom. His eyes swept across the space, looking over his classmates, trying to figure out exactly what it was. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and he went to sit down in his assigned seat. Cohen was there, looking down at his copy of The Great Gatsby.

The wolf looked exactly like a kicked puppy, downtrodden and forlorn that its owner was upset with him. He didn’t even glance up when Silas sat down. That’s what was off, he realized, was that those baby blue eyes weren’t searching for him as he entered the room. Even when Silas had snapped at him last week, Cohen’s eyes still found his when he entered third period. Silas hadn’t even realized that was a thing until just now.

“Uhm…” He cleared his throat, not understanding why he even cared that Cohen was clearly sad. “Thank you for not snitching on me the other day, in front of my dad.”

Cohen looked up, resembling Silas’s nickname for him exactly, and he perked up just the slightest, he could imagine a tail wagging a few times behind him before he slumped down again. “Sure, no problem.”

“Are you okay?” He asked, though he didn’t know why. Its not like he cared.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Silas didn’t believe him at all, but if the situation were reversed, he wouldn’t want Cohen prying either. “Cool.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Silas had never imagined himself to be a victim of bullying, yet here he was, being slammed against the brick walls of a deserted hallway.

But he had been late to leaving class again, and it was pouring buckets outside. He had been waiting patiently for the rain to stop, thinking about asking Jayson to come pick him up if the rain didn’t let up, when the group of boys from before had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

He had been ambushed, which was a cowardly move in his humble opinion.

“Wanna say that again, fag?” The boy who had a hold on him hissed, he stood a few inches shorter than Silas, so he had to look up to insult Silas’s sexuality.

He had to admit he wasn’t used to this kind of aggression. Witches weren’t really physical creatures, often relying on their magic to fight their battles. A lot of his and Nyx’s fights were fought through nasty nightmares and swapping sleeping tonics for five-hour energy shots charmed to keep you up for days. Still, he couldn’t hurt these pathetic humans so that didn’t leave him with a lot of options. Unfortunately, he’d never learned when to shut up.

“Are we about to kiss right now?” He asked, ducking his head down as if he was actually going to kiss the guy’s slimy looking lips.

The punch that followed had him seeing stars. But they let go of him, fortunately, and he was allowed to slump against the floor as he tried to get his bearings.

“Can’t even take a punch. What a pussy.” One of them sneered, and Silas bit back a laugh. Maybe he was a little out of it. Could you get a concussion from one punch?

“Bet he likes it. Probably has Daddy issues.”

“Mommy issues, actually.” He slurred, and even he could admit he deserved the kick to the stomach he got.

“What the fuck is going on here?” A new voice asked, one that made him hopeful. His puppy was here- wait no, the puppy was here, he couldn’t really dwell on that thought for too long, not when he was focusing on keeping the food in his stomach down. Regardless, he had hope that Cohen would be helpful, he was getting bullied here after all and the puppy was built like a football player.

“Just beating the new fag up. Like we needed another one, this school is basically infested.” The leader sneered.

Cohen just stood there for a few moments; his brows furrowed over his blue eyes. For a second, he thought that maybe he was going to join the humans, but then his irises bled Amber. The next few seconds were a blur, his sluggish brain couldn’t quite keep up, but suddenly the leader was hitting the floor like a sack of bricks.

“Leave.” He warned, voice deep and gravelly, and the three remaining humans didn’t seem to have any issues with getting the hell out of there.

Then Cohen was crouching in front of him, expression mixed with concern and anger. He didn’t even say anything, just picked Silas up like he wasn’t over six feet and weighed nearly two hundred pounds. He stepped over the unconscious human; the guy was really out cold.

“I should kill them all.” Cohen muttered, mostly to himself, but Silas tutted.

“Killing humans is frowned upon.” He grunted, disliking the feeling of rain on his face. He decided not to question where they were going, it felt kind of nice being carried.

“They deserve it.”

“For being bigots?”

“For hurting you.”

“How romantic. I’m touched.” He lamented, and Silas could visibly see the blush spread across Cohen’s face. Cohen carried him all the way to his truck, and then set Silas into the passenger seat.

“Pretty…” He mumbled stupidly as Cohen looked over the bruise that was undoubtedly forming on his face. He definitely had a concussion. “Your eyes are gold.”

Cohen only hummed, though Silas could see the pink in his cheeks. “Why didn’t you defend yourself?”

“I can’t use my magic against humans. It’s against the rules.” He mumbled as Cohen grabbed his chin and turned his head to get a better look.

“Why didn’t you just punch them or something?”

Silas scrunched his nose up, scandalized. “Witches don’t punch people. That’s just brutish.”

“So, you just get beat up because you’re too civilized?”

“I was ambushed, puppy.” He huffed, “Besides, you showed up just in time.”

Cohen rolled his eyes but let him go and shut the car door for him. Once the wolf was in the driver’s seat, he asked, “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No, I can’t even go to human hospitals anyway. I’m fine.” He felt fine, just a little nauseous and dizzy.

He didn’t answer, just started the car, and began driving Silas home. It was a quiet drive, and he found himself staring at Cohen. His eyes slowly faded back to their normal color; it was interesting to watch them melt from yellow to baby blue. “What’s your wolf’s name?”

Cohen visibly jumped, seemingly startled. “What?”

“Werewolves name their wolves, right? Isn’t that why your eyes were yellow because your wolf was present?”

“Yeah…” Cohen looked uncomfortable, “We don’t really just give out their names though.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know.”

The driveway was empty when they got to his house, and Silas remembered that it was Wednesday. Jayson had some sort of church thing every Wednesday, so Elizabeth and Ethan went too. “Thanks for the ride.” He mumbled, ready to get inside, change into dry clothes and take the fattest nap of his life. Maybe sleeping would stop the aching in his stomach.

Silas shut the car door behind him but turned around when another echoed his own. “Uhm, what are you doing?” He asked, turning as Cohen made his way around the truck.

“You’re injured and no one’s home. You need to be monitored.” He explained, and well, he had no argument for that. So, he unlocked the door and let the wolf inside his house.