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feelingsdusk-writes · 6 years ago

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Runes and all kinds of things

Chapter 2

Stiles is exhausted, which is really messed up because he's been doing nothing but sleep for the past few days. Normally he would be climbing the walls in frustration by now, but to do that he has to actually manage to stay awake consistently, and he just can't. He's awake one instant and the next thing he knows he's peeling his eyes open ten minutes slash two hours later. To make matters worse, while his mind is a little foggy due to all the pain medication they're feeding him through the I.V. tube, when he's properly awake, it's jumping from one place to another too fast to keep track because he can't have his Adderall. Again, this is really frustrating because Stiles just wants to hide his head in the sand and avoid the Scott issue for a while but his mind won't let him. He's even started learning Spanish through the novelas on the TV (and, boy, wasn't his dad's face priceless when the man saw him doing exactly that, muttering an oh, Marco Enrique, no me dejes in a tone half dramatic, half drowsy, one hand feebly in the air and the other clutching his heart) but to no avail.

If he’s completely honest with himself, part of him wants to forgive Scott for everything and go back to the status quo because being at odds with him right now (anyone, really) is exhausting and well beyond his current capabilities. Whenever that thought comes by, though, he reminds himself of all the shit that has happened lately. He forces himself to remember how ever since Scott got bitten and a position on the team and the girl and popularity and options, Stiles has gradually come to be redundant, a last resort for when everything else fails but also so taken for granted that it's insulting and demeaning. And that’s not okay because for Stiles up until now Scott was on The List, with his father, Lydia and before her death, his mom.

His always first choices, always loyal to, for whom he would sacrifice anything and everything.

And doesn’t that list say anything about him? Because there hasn’t been an equal exchange between Stiles and the people on it for a while now… if ever. It hurts to think about it without lying to himself about how Lydia would always choose Jackson, Scott his mom and Allison, and his father, for quite a while, the liquor and his job over him. And he doesn’t even want to think about thinking about his mom’s last year. That way leads to madness.

(Why? Why can't he be anyone's first choice? If he's able to have more than one important person and care for them all, why do others seem to be incapable of doing the same? Or is it just about Stiles? What is it about him that makes him-?)

He stops himself ruthlessly from going down that road and forces himself to focus on the positive side. It takes him a bit, but he finally focusses on remembering how it used to be way worse and on how his father seems to have gotten his shit together over the years and now he’s at worst a highly functional alcoholic and a workaholic; On how maybe, just maybe, this thing about his dad being in the know isn’t that bad and Stiles can finally stop lying on nearly every conversation they have; Also, macabre or not, on how Gerard’s brain matter splattering on the wall means that the man won’t be able to ever touch him again. Some would actually beg for a reassurance like that and Stiles made it happen with his own two hands. Even hurt and debilitated, he did it.

The puny and weak human came out on top and beat the odds!

Isn't that exhilarating?

He clenches his fists and takes a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it go. Then he shakes his head trying to clear it and immediately groans dizzily. Damn the medication. He hates having to take it because it muddles his mind and normally (like in this case) he has to stop with the Adderall while being treated, which he hates even more than having to take the Adderall in the first place.

His mind right now is again in that state when it is a little lethargic and sluggish but at the same time trying to be all over the place, which he blames for the impromptu deep thoughts that he normally tends to avoid… and for not noticing when Allison has somehow made herself at home on one of the uncomfortable chairs beside his hospital bed, where she seems to be waiting for him to acknowledge her with her bag still in her lap, as if she's waiting for Stiles to decide whether he will allow her to remain or not.

Stiles blinks and tries to make his brain reboot because the situation does not compute. What is she doing here? Don’t get him wrong, he is grateful that she got her shit together in time to help keep him alive, but they aren’t friends, never have been. At best, they have been positive acquaintances for the sake of Scott and nothing more, and that was before her descent to the dark pit that is rage and helplessness and the quest for revenge, when it was her against everything and everyone, and God help whoever got in her path. And don't get him wrong, Stiles gets it, he really does. He probably would have done the same when his mom died if there hadn't been other things more pressing to care about. But understanding doesn't mean he wouldn't have put a bullet in her too if she had gotten in the way of his own or his loved ones' survival.

“I talked with Derek Hale,” she breaks the silence finally, after a few minutes of bearing Stiles' suspicious scrutiny with admirable grace. Even when his dark thoughts probably showed in his face.

“With? You actually got him to talk back?” he snorts skeptically, eyes a little narrowed and brows high. He isn’t proud of the almost drugged slur in his voice but his response earns him a twitch of her lips. “Impressive. Didn’t think he was actually capable of any type of conversation… besides eyebrow signing or drum communication.“

“Drums," she states flatly, but her lips twitch again. The grip she has on her bag has relaxed minutely, but she at least knows how Stiles operates because she hasn't made any move to make herself more comfortable on the chair and she's still sitting on the very edge.

“Without actual drums, you know? Like, with people? Yeah, he does that a lot. Being slammed into the wheel of my Roscoe wasn’t fun, I tell you.“ He pauses, considering it carefully and then hums as if enlightened. “But it got the message across real quick, I’ll give him that,” he finishes blithely, his smile with a nasty sharp edge that doesn't escape her notice.

“Well, there were a lot of glowers and threats… and growls and flashes of red eyes… Lots of posturing, really,” she says loftily and with enough nonchalance to make him wonder how she got him to stay put and avoided getting attacked (ah, to be a fly on that wall), before she sobers, all traces of humor gone from her face and voice. “He told me what happened. He... explained everything that he did... And that she did.”

He doesn’t answer beyond a noncommittal sound but he doesn’t have to. She isn’t stupid, after all, no matter how she is undoubtedly feeling because she let herself be manipulated, first by her aunt and then Gerard. Also his blank face right now probably says it all, because something along the lines of was it that difficult to ask and listen? is clearly depicted on it despite the lack of facial expression. He doesn’t say anything because even he knows that yes, it is that difficult, because something like what happened can mess with a person’s mind, and that’s without outside interference added on top of it. May Gerard's soul (if he actually had one of those) be in the darkest, deepest pit of hell right now being sodomized by the Devil's pointy tail.

On the TV Lucía Paola is breaking the news to Pablo Antonio (who has cancer and doesn't know it yet, but will soon because the doctor has just received the result of the tests and is about to call him) about being pregnant but she's keeping to herself, as her internal monologue tells, that the baby is in reality Marco Enrique's (dramatic music ensues), with whom she's planning to elope (more dramatic music) as soon as night comes because Pablo Antonio is a beast that doesn't treat her right. She was forced to marry him by her mother, Mariana Estrella, whom is watching with narrowed eyes from outside the room, through the cracked door. The woman is pursing her lips dangerously as her internal monologue reveals that she knows that the baby isn't Pablo Antonio's (even more dramatic music) with a derisive and downright mean voice. After that revelation, she's now looking dangerously through the window, and Marco Enrique is seen tending to the horses and laughing with another man about how mares have to be treated with gentle hands.

"¡Oh, no, Marco Enrique, cuidado!" Stiles mutters softly, voice purposely a little high, as the silence drags, earning himself an incredulous look from Allison that he studiously ignores as he inserts more dramatic music and a thunderous clap for good measure. "¡La mamá va a intentar acabar contigo seguro! ¡Y Lucía Paola no dejará a Pablo Antonio si sabe que tiene cáncer!"

So he stays silent about the matter because he understands, even if it’s very frustrating to think that a lot of problems could have been avoided that easily. Also, it’s not like her actions were a betrayal to him, because, well… positive acquaintances, duh. Where Stiles is concerned, to betray him you have to have his trust in the first place and Allison didn't. Scott did, and he betrayed Stiles by going behind his back and actively lying to him. Erica and Boyd did too, if only because he trusted them to help him after he helped them (quid pro quo at the very least) and they left him behind when Geriatric Gerard came back and things went south (more than they already had, that is). And that’s it when it comes down to it. Which reminds him…

He scowls and Allison blinks, now openly baffled, because this probably isn't what she expected when she planned to come see Stiles. He pays her no mind as his scowl deepens.

The thing is that as far as he’s concerned, at this point he doesn’t owe anything to Scott, much less Erica and Boyd. If anything it's the other way around by now, even if he will never cash it in. With Allison, they are even. He’s had to help her quite a few times and she has also helped Stiles, in both cases because of Scott. He does think Gerard was going to shoot to get her out of the way, granddaughter or not, so he saved her life... but she saved his too. So she helped him, he helped her and that's the end of it. But…

“Fuck.” Allison looks at him and arches her brow in a very Lydia reminiscent expression. He rubs his face frustrated for a moment. “I owe Peter one.”

After a second of silence she snorts, which earns her a glare that she dutifully ignores in favor of rummaging through her bag. She then proceeds to pass him a fully charged PSP and he stares at it as if it's an alien for a long minute. He arches a brow back at her lack of sympathy but turns it on nonetheless with a grumble, silently acknowledging her also silent petition for a truce/impasse/tentative friendship overture/whatever the hell you want to call it. He doesn't know why he accepts it, when he normally would have no qualms about kicking people he doesn't want around him out, but he's always trusted his gut and this time is not different, so he allows her to stay. The game starts automatically and he snorts amusedly at the screen. She not-so-quite hides a smile with her book.

“Seriously?”

Infected’s logo is on the opening screen. He rolls his eyes.

On the TV Pablo Antonio has already found out that he has cancer and Lucía Paola knows. She's crying, her mascara not budging even a bit, as she tells Marco Enrique that she can't elope with him (dramatic music) because she can't abandon her husband in that situation. When she leaves after one final kiss, Marco Enrique falls to his knees on the hay (more dramatic music) and starts crying as he softly begs her retreating back to stay. At the same time, Mariana Estrella is spying on them and has a very cruel and self-satisfied internal monologue about the whole thing after Lucía Paola has finally left, deeply enjoying the defeated and devastated look of Marco Enrique.

"Te lo dije," Stiles singsongs as he blasts a zombie in the game. "Y probablemente lo del cáncer será un error del doctor," he adds, happily blasting another one. He catches Allison's eyes at the edge of his vision and shrugs, earning an amused snort from her. "What. I was bored."

He's still confused about why she has come to him, of all people, to speak to, even if she hasn't actually talked much about it. Time will tell, he supposes, and he has it to spare right now so... Besides if she keeps bringing her PSP he's not going to kick her out, because he's already tried to convince his dad to hook up his console to the hospital's TV and been refused.

"Do you have any Mario?"

She smiles in victory, as if she did expect that outcome and Stiles rolls his eyes, lips twitching involuntarily.

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#runes and all kinds of things #teen wolf fics #my writing #teen wolf #steter

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