WHO: Kira Yukimura and Scott McCall WHAT: Reuniting WHEN: After she talks with Kate Bishop WHERE: Scott’s house WARNINGS: None STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Kira’s conversation with Kate had definitely answered some questions. At least here, it wasn’t that much later than she’d last seen everyone. Yeah, a few years had passed, but at least she wasn’t a couple hundred years old and everyone she loved was dead except for her mother. That would have sucked a lot. No, it seemed that only a few years had passed. She was 22, if she was doing her math right. It had seemed a whole lot more than four years, but she couldn’t have expected time to flow the same with the Skin Walkers than it did in the normal world.
She thought about texting Scott and telling him she was here, but that might have been a little weird. So she figured she’d just show up on his doorstep and they could go from there. Finding his house wasn’t hard at all (man, it was huge) and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the door, too nervous to actually do anything. One minute passed. Then two. Then three before she finally forced herself to reach out and knock once, twice, then three times.
Then she took a step back, trying to decide whether she wanted him to be home or not.
***
The problem with having a big house was that you had to clean the big house. Scott had learned pretty quickly about that and more so when everyone had left the Pack House with only him in it for a while. Mr. Stilinski had come in later, but Scott wasn’t about to burden the man. He was definitely grateful to have more people again to help around the house otherwise he might spend all his time cleaning - he suddenly understood his mother a lot more.
The knock drew him to the first floor. He wasn’t expecting anyone, but that didn’t mean anything either. The closer he drew, the more he smelled her. At first he told himself he was just imagining things, but by the time he reached the door he was certain. It had to be her.
Even so, when Scott opened the door, he did had a surprised and slightly dumb expression on his face as he looked at her. “Kira?”
–
She wasn’t sure how she’d react when she saw him, but it didn’t really surprise her that her cheeks flamed and she felt almost as shy for a moment as the first day she’d met him. It had been a long time since she’d seen him, so she guessed it wasn’t that odd to feel that way. But it also wasn’t okay. She pushed it down, trying to be brave and somehow ending up right in the middle of shy and brave.
“Um. Scott. Hi. Yeah. It’s me. Kira.”
He should be used to her being awkward, at least.
***
He blinked, which gave his brain a moment to process before it kicked into gear and he could function again. Scott took a step back to let her in. “Yeah. Hi. Sorry. I just… wasn’t expecting you.” That much was probably obvious.
When she was inside, he closed the door and turned around to look at her. One arm reached across his body to scratch his bicep as he looked at her. She looked a little different somehow. “It’s really good to see you.” He had missed her immensely. “I - Can I give you a hug?” He had no idea when she was from, but he thought it was better to ask before he invaded her personal space.
–
Kira was pretty sure she’d never be able to say no to Scott when he asked that. She nodded quickly and took a step closer. She probably did look a little different. She was a couple of years older, first of all. And in addition to the years, there was a maturity that she’d managed to gain both from the hardship of training with the Skin Walkers and because of the merging of herself and the Kitsune in a deeper way than ever before. She was still Kira, but she was different, too.
“Of course you can. I’m not going to bite you.”
She knew it had to be weird for them for her to just show up here like this, but it was weird for her too.
***
He pulled her in for a hug. It was tight and affectionate, but the sort of affection you gave you a close sister, even if Kira was more than that. A lot more.
When he pulled back he took her in again. His eyes roamed over her, but not in an undressing manner, before they landed on her eyes. “Sorry. I just - I wasn’t sure what you remembered or when you were from. I didn’t want to, you know, be weird about it.” And yet, he was being weird about it. “Did you just get here?” That was a stupid question. The answer was probably obvious.
–
“Yeah, you were pretty much the first person I came to see.” She’d met with Kate first, but that was more by accident and because Kate had found her when she was lost and didn’t know where she was.
“I...well back home it was about four years after senior year, I guess. I’d just left the Skin Walkers.” She was 22 now, if years counted the same where she’d been. But in a sense, it was as if she’d just left Scott and the others to get better.
She looked at him in silence for a moment, totally out of words to say, and jumped at the first thing that came to mind.
“Nice house?”
***
Four years. Scott could do the math, which he knew might surprise some people. It was weird to think that Kira was older than him, but thankfully having Allison here who was also older helped a lot.
The statement about his house broke his thoughts and Scott let out a small little laugh before nodding and smiling while rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. Malia and I got it a while back when we wanted to get a Pack House. Which, uh, I mean - there’s enough rooms here if you’d like to stay with us.” He’d explain later about the sound proofness which kind of seemed embarrassing to say out loud right now. Though he quickly added, “Not that you have to, or anything. Liam, Lydia, and Allison don’t live here, but just come over a lot.” He didn’t even realize that Kira would have no idea who Liam was.
–
Kira knew who Liam was. The reason he’d gotten away that night at the Lake House was because they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. She remembered that night fondly, but with more than a little guilt.
“Malia,” she said softly. Malia and Scott had bought a house. That said a lot to her, more than she had asked, by far. She’d never expected the two of them to get together, but he was glad that they both were happy, because she cared so much about both of them. That didn’t stop a dagger plunging into her heart and making it hard to breathe for a moment, but she was strong, and she would move on from this.
“I…think I should probably stay in my room. For now, anyway.”
***
Scott did not make the connection that he had basically just said he was dating someone else. It hadn’t occurred to him at all, though he did understand, somehow, that things got awkward. He nodded and smiled through the suddenly odd feeling, but he meant it when he said, “Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
Realizing they were still in the foyer, he gestured down the hall. “Want to come in? We have food and stuff. I could catch you up on some stuff and explain things if things haven’t been explained.” He was on the verge of rambling, it seemed. He paused. “...I’ve really missed you, Kira.”
–
“At least until things get…more comfortable.” Not just with her being back with her friends and having to deal with them moving on, but with everything. With being back in the world after spending four years with the Skin Walkers. She was a different person than she had been and she needed some time to find herself again.
She hesitated before nodding. Scott was still her friend, she refused to give that up no matter who he was dating.
“I wouldn’t mind something to eat.”
She cocked her head a little and smiled at him, then slipped past him into the house.
“Did you guys buy a house big enough for everyone or something?”
***
“Well, most of them? There were a few I was kind of assuming wouldn’t, like Lydia or Argent.” He hadn’t thought Stiles’ dad either and the only reason Noah Stilinski had stayed with them was because Scott had been worried about the man. Then the man was sent back home when Stiles showed up. It all kind of ucked.
He moved toward the kitchen. “There’s another pack here and they have a house where anyone in the pack can go and hang out and live, too, if they need or want to. I like the idea, so I kind of followed suit… it was easier to keep track of everyone when we were all in high school, but now we all have our own thing. So there’s this and we do weekly Pack dinners to stay in touch.”
–
“Are they a pack like us?” she asked. By which, of course, she meant a pack that had a lot more in it than werewolves. Honestly, there were only like…three actual werecreatures in Scott’s pack, and the other of them were ones that never quite fit in anywhere else, but found a home at Scott’s. She had felt that way for a long time and hoped that she would again. Some day. “Weekly pack dinners? Those sound nice.”
She supposed she’d attend, because she really didn’t have a choice, did she? She couldn’t deny - and she didn’t want to - that she was still Scott’s pack, no matter what might have happened in the long run.
“It was good for me, though. The Skin Walkers. A lot’s different. Everything’s under control. And I’m so much stronger.”
***
“No, they’re all werewolves. They have some non-werewolf people but they’re just friends for them.” Unless their definition changed here seeing how it could work since Scott did it, but he didn’t think so. “They turn into full wolves and it’s painful for them. They pick their Alpha sort of like, who’s the strongest and fittest for the job.” Scott thought that was at least better than killing someone for the honour.
He paused when he got into the kitchen. They understandably had a lot of food all the time. “Chips and salsa? We have fruit too.” And other things.
Why did this feel a little awkward? Scott hated it.
He turned back to look at her, rubbing the back of his neck in a self-soothing manner while he listened. Then he smiled. “That’s great, Kira.” He was proud of her. Proud and relieved. He remembered what had happened before she left. “I mean, I knew you’d be able to do it. You’re incredible.” His smile widened a little and he looked genuinely happy. “If you ever want to like, practice or whatever, let me know. There’s also this club that meets once a week. It’s a fight club thing where people compete against each other. People like to use it as practice. But also there’s not a lot of reasons to need to fight here, too, if you just want to, you know, be normal for a while.”
–
“So you would have ended up our Alpha regardless.” It didn’t surprise her, Scott was always their alpha. Even before he was an Alpha. They’d always followed him, because he was the kind of guy who deserved to be followed.
“Sure, whatever you want. Sounds good to me.”
She sat on a stool at the island in the kitchen, and watched him get the things out of the fridge. It made her heart hurt, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t expected it to happen. She’d been gone a long time.
“I’d like that. To practice with you. Although…well, I’ll try not to be too hard on you.” She winked at him playfully, trying to lighten the atmosphere. She didn’t want things to be awkward. She wanted them to be happy together, even if they weren’t, you know, together.
“Can any of us really be normal, Scott? I mean, you’re an Alpha Werewolf. I’m a Kitsune. It’s not like we’re going to be like everyone else, ever.” And she wasn’t sure she wanted to be.
***
As he brought out food, he smiled. He was totally okay with Kira kicking his ass. Unlike other people, Scott was okay with conceding when someone else was better than him. Would he fight someone stronger or more powerful if they were hurting people? Yes. But he wasn’t going to be annoyed or angry if someone he cared for had skills beyond him. He just found it impressive.
“Well… I guess I meant, normal like you don’t have to look over your shoulder anymore. You’re right about never being actually normal because, well -” He did a sort of nod/shrug that was meant to show her that he agreed with what she said. They’d never really be normal. “Here everyone know there’s supernatural people and aliens and superheroes and stuff so we don’t have to hide.” He paused. “But you don’t have to share what you are to anyone either.” He wanted to make sure that was clear for her - it would always be her choice and he’d support her either way.
–
“So there aren’t hunters and things that try to kill us because we’re different?” Kira had to admit that she liked that idea. She liked the idea of being able to be open about herself and what she was, and not to have to worry every time she did something that was a little less than human. She’d gotten that feeling, and she’d been a little more outgoing about that stuff than she had been before, but it would probably take her a while to be completely open about stuff.
She took a bite of fruit and ate it slowly, her concentration more on her thoughts than on the food.
“I missed you guys a lot. All of you. It seemed a lot longer. I thought I’d come out and all of you would be dead.”
***
He nodded when she confirmed about the hunters. This place might be a lot of things, but it was generally peaceful. Scott tried not to think about the other Madison Valley. He had nightmares of it from time to time, but he was pretty good with compartmentalizing it.
“I missed you too.” He paused, but added after a second, “We all did… and I’m glad we weren’t all dead when you got out.” He really did both because he didn’t want to die young and he’d like to see her again. “You still managed to save our butts a few times even if you weren’t physically there, you know. Your sword help put stop some bad people.” He felt a little bad about saying that considering Theo, but at the time it had been for the best. Theo had come out of it a better person.
–
“I’m glad. That’s why I’d left it. I couldn’t be there, but I figured you guys could get some good out of it. You were always really good at figuring out things like that.” She would rather have been there herself but sometimes you just didn’t get things that you wanted. Sometimes life had other plans.
“So, you and Malia…how did that happen?”
She hadn’t necessarily expected him to be single when she got out, but wow, she never would have guessed Malia, no matter how much she liked the Werecoyote.
***
Oh. Right.
Scott rubbed the back of his neck as a way to self-soothe. “Uh, well… So I guess back home we’re dating too? But here it sort of, just happened? I mean, the more we spent time together the more I realized I liked her more than just friends and she was pretty outspoken with her feelings so we gave it a chance… it’s kind of awkward, actually, because the Malia I started dating ended up being sent home and for a while I was alone again? And then Malia shows back up without any memories of here, but we were dating back home. So, yeah, weird.” He looked sheepish.
His brain finally caught up to him though and his expression sobered.
“I’m sorry, Kira…. I don’t want you to think I just replaced you or forgot about you. I could never.”
–
She shook her head vehemently. The last thing she had wanted to do was upset him. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just…I’d just never thought of you two together, I guess. I’m glad you’re happy, though.”
She paused.
“It was four years, Scott, and we were young. I didn’t expect you to wait for me.”
Hoped, maybe, but never expected.
***
Scott would still feel bad as it was just the way he was, but he did understand and he gave a small nod. “I know, it’s just… I guess it’s important for you to know it didn’t happen overnight. And then I still care about you.” He tried not to look too puppy-dog-faced, but Scott had a habit of doing that when he was being sincere. “And I also get if you need space or time or whatever you need.”
–
“I’d need space regardless, I think,” she answered honestly. “I mean…just with being with the Skin Walkers all that time, it’s a lot to adjust to. Being back in the world, I mean. It’s a lot different here.”
She couldn’t find the words to explain what life had been like with the Skin Walkers. It hadn’t been a total nightmare, but it had been so different from everything that she knew. She almost didn’t have the right frame of reference to explain it.
“I’d like to move into the pack house eventually. You guys are my pack, no matter what happens. But I need to…adjust, first.”
***
He nodded. Scott knew enough that he didn't think he could truly understand what happened to her with the Skin Walkers and yet understood it was different.
"Yeah, of course. Whatever you need." He really meant that.
"Do you want to sit for a while and I can give you sort of a run down on what's been going on while I've been here?"
–
She nodded.
“Yeah. That would be good.” And honestly, she’d like to just sit here with Soctt and listen to him talk about the things going on. It was soothing. Of course, she knew all of it wouldn’t be great - it never was - but that was also what made Scott such a good Alpha. He dealt with things, no matter how hard they were.
“I’d like that.”
She chose a chair and sat, settling in to catch up.