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elspethc22 · 3 years ago

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Best Road Trip Ever

Sciles Week Day 3: Road Trip

Pairing: Scott/Stiles

Word Count: 4416

‘Come on Scott!’ Stiles yelled up the stairs, resisting the urge to tap his foot in impatience. The jeep was packed, except for Scott’s belongings, and they were meant to be on the road nearly an hour ago.

Of course, that was before Liam had called Scott in a panic about… something. Stiles had his suspicions that nothing had actually been wrong other than Liam’s fear of something happening while Scott and Stiles were gone.

‘Scotty!’ He yelled again, and was about to start up the stairs when he heard footsteps.

‘I’m coming, I’m coming. Geez, calm down.’

Scott came hurrying down the stairs, full bag slung over his shoulder and a wide grin on his face. Stiles answered it with his own grin.

‘Road trip Scotty!’ Stiles greeted with a yell when Scott reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘Road trip!!’ Scott yelled right back, still grinning. Stiles spun on his foot and headed for the front door, Scott following behind. When Scott paused to lock up the house behind him, Stiles took the bag off him, heading to the jeep to stash the bag with his right in the back.

Slightly closer to the front were the bags with snack and drinks for the drive, well the first part of the drive anyway – Stiles wasn’t under the impression this lot of snacks would last all that long with both him and Scott in the car.

Scott hopped into the passenger seat just as Stiles was sliding behind the wheel, turning the keys in the ignition and listening with a smile as Roscoe started up with no fuss.

‘It’s so weird.’ Scott said, looking at him, and Stiles raised an eyebrow in question. ‘Seeing you just start the jeep with no issues every time after so many years of having to fight to start it, and constantly having to check under the hood.’

Stiles nodded, but kept grinning. It had taken a lot of time and money, but once high school had ended, and the threats to their town and their lives had started to die down, Stiles had been able to shift his focus to getting a job and attending college. In the end both Scott and Stiles had chosen to attend the local college, allowing them to stay home and both save money on rent if they’d gone to an expensive city and been around to help out with any supernatural issues that came up.

Scott had increased his hours with Deaton and had initially poured the extra income into helping his mum with getting the house fixed up (although Argent had helped with that too – he wasn’t just handy with multiple weapons, who knew?). Stiles on the other hand had used his new found income to help first with medical bills then finally, finally getting Roscoe a proper mechanic.

Their last year of college they had both been saving for this. The road trip they had talked about for years, that they had originally planned for right after high school but had had to put on the backburner as other things took precedence (and they really lacked the funds for it). But now, four years later they both finally felt it would be safe enough for them to leave for a few weeks and were finally in a position to be able to afford to do it.

The plans for this road trip had been set mostly back when they were pre-teens but they hadn’t changed much since then. They would be gone for a little over five weeks, heading down through California stopping at first at Yosemite, then heading across to the coast to San Francisco and making their way south along the coast until they hit LA. They were spending just over a week in LA then heading into Arizona to see the grand canyon and finally hitting Vegas.

Honestly, Stiles wasn’t sure which part he was most excited about. He knew which part he was least excited about.

‘Are you sure I can’t talk you out of the whole camping in Yosemite thing?’ He asked as they got on the road out of Beacon Hills. Scott just laughed at him.

‘Come on man, it was your idea.’ He reminded Stiles, who just huffed.

‘Yeah, when I was twelve! I think I’m allowed to change my mind.’ He glanced over at Scott who was shaking his head.

‘Well, too bad. I’ve been looking forward to camping in Yosemite for the last ten years and you’re not gonna change my mind.’ Stiles grumbled under his breath, but didn’t continue arguing – he knew Scott was looking forward to being able to spend some time out in nature that wasn’t the preserve with all its history and bad memories. Stiles was also looking forward to it, just not the camping bit.

***************************************************************************

The first night of their road trip, they realised that they had both severely underestimated how cold it would get overnight in Yosemite. Although it wasn’t really an issue for Scott, with his core temperature running higher than an average human’s since the bite, it was definitely an issue for Stiles who still, even after nearly five years after the Nogitsune, had periods of time where he struggled to get warm.

When they had first slipped into the tent and their sleeping bags, Stiles had been ok – it had been a warm day, and they spent nearly two hours exploring Yosemite before setting up camp and making their fire. But now, nearly an hour after lying down to sleep, Stiles was still awake and was starting to shiver. He’d already gotten up to pull on a second pair of socks and a jumper but to no avail.

‘Stiles?’ Stiles nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Scott’s voice – he’d been so sure he was asleep. As he rolled over, Scott flicked on one of their torches.

‘Um, yeah?’ He responded, trying to be casual about it, hoping Scott hadn’t noticed the shaking.

‘You’re freezing, aren’t you?’ Scott asked, right to the point. Stiles briefly considered lying to him, but then he knew Scott would be able to tell. Even before becoming a werewolf Scott had almost always been able to tell when Stiles was lying.

‘Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up or – ’

‘Shut up, Stiles. Ok, just unzip your sleeping bag.’ Scott told him, already crawling out of his own sleeping bag and opening it up. Stiles stared at him for a moment then moved to do the same. When he was done, Scott simply held out his hand for it, so Stiles passed it over. It took him a few tries, but eventually Scott got the sleeping bags zipped together, grinning triumphantly at Stiles, who just stared at him.

‘Come on, in you get.’ Stiles sighed and moved across to where Scott held up the sleeping bag. He crawled in quickly, and curled up on one side to leave room for Scott, who crawled in behind him then flicked the torch back off.

Stiles tried to keep himself curled up on one side of the sleeping bag, but after a few minutes and more shivering, Scott just let out a huff and slid up behind Stiles, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him in close.

‘Just, stop being stupid. You need to get warm, and I want to sleep so no complaining.’ Scott told him, and Stiles sighed, then let his body relax. As the shivers started to subside and Stiles felt himself start to warm, he gave in and actively snuggled back into Scott’s warmth, felt Scott tighten his hold and shift slightly to a more comfortable position.

‘Thanks Scott.’ He whispered and he swore he could feel Scott’s eye roll.

‘Any time Stiles. Get some sleep, we’ve got a lot of hiking to do tomorrow.’

***************************************************************************

The next two nights in the tent were spent the same way – Stiles had tried to separate the sleeping bags before bed on the second night before Scott came in, took one look at the scene and just stared at Stiles until he stopped.

They both changed into their comfy sleep clothes – Stiles even left off the second pair of socks and jumper as the first night had ended with him waking up sweating from the combination of the layers and Scott’s body heat.

Again, Stiles crawled into the sleeping bag first, followed by Scott. Instead of turning the torches straight off, however, Scott left them on, poking Stiles on the shoulder till he rolled over.

‘So, we hit the giant sequoias today, you still up for Yosemite Valley in the morning?’ Scott asked, and Stiles nodded.

‘Yeah, of course. It’s really nice – reminds me of when we were really into camping back in elementary school.’ Stiles said, thinking back. Of course, most of their camping had happened in their backyards, but Stiles’ dad had taken them hiking a few times in the preserve and a few other areas just outside of Beacon Hills.

‘I love it here.’ Scott admitted. ‘It’s nice to just walk through the forest and not be waiting for something to jump out or remembering that’s where the hunters almost got me, or that’s where I was bitten.’

‘I get it. And I mean, I totally have my limits on how long I could spend out here, but it’s nice being here. I’m really glad you insisted on keeping Yosemite on the road trip.’ Stiles admitted.

‘Even with the camping?’ Scott asked teasingly, and Stiles rolled his eyes.

‘Even with the camping. It’s… not as bad as I thought it would be.’ Stiles averted his gaze as he said this, and Scott was about to shoot out a teasing remark when something about Stiles’ face had him hesitating. Stiles was rarely shy or hesitant around him – in fact, the only time Stiles wasn’t completely up front with him was if he was embarrassed by something, and that something usually had something to do with Scott himself.

The last time he’d been like this had been… when he’d admitted to Scott he was bisexual, their first year of college. Not that Scott had been completely surprised (there were only so many comments or jokes Stiles could make before Scott started thinking there was something behind them). But that hadn’t been the cause of the embarrassment – it had been the fact that he had, at one point, had a crush on Scott. Now, given Stiles’ hesitation in sharing the sleeping bags last night and again tonight…

The possibility had Scott pausing, and a fluttering sensation occurring in his stomach. Over the last year of college Scott had started to realise that he might not necessarily be quite as straight as he’d always thought, although he’d never really found a guy that did more than just catch his eye in a fleeting, he’s cute kind of way. Thinking about Stiles that way, for the first time, well that was different. That was more than a fleeting kind of feeling. But it was one that he wasn’t going to just act on rashly – more than anything, Stiles was his best friend and Scott was never going to do anything to put that in jeopardy, so this would take some consideration.

‘Well I’m glad that my need to – how did you put it? Commune with nature? – isn’t ruining the road trip for you.’ He said softly, giving Stiles a small smile when he finally looked back up. Stiles smiled in return, and rolled his eyes.

‘Yeah, yeah. I still say that you’ll be agreeing with me when we hit San Francisco and a real bed in a nice, warm hotel with indoor plumbing and a roof.’ Stiles told him, and Scott laughed.

‘Big baby.’ Scott teased and Stiles huffed and rolled over to show Scott his back. Scott just laughed, reached out to flick off the torches then settled in, reaching out an arm to wrap around Stiles’ waist and pulling him in close to keep him warm.

***************************************************************************

Two days later, they reached San Francisco in the early afternoon and Stiles was incredibly thankful he’d had Roscoe fixed up properly because the Roscoe of high school would neverhave survived the hills.

‘So, it’s too early to check in to the hotel, and we’re booked for Alcatraz tomorrow, any preference for what we do today?’ Stiles asked as he tried to navigate his way into the city.

‘Let’s go see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio.’ Scott said, looking at their list of places on his phone. He knew that Stiles was desperate to see the Yoda fountain and the other Star Wars stuff that was supposed to be in the nearby building, plus it was a great day for seeing the bridge weather wise.

‘You sure?’ Stiles asked, but Scott could already see that he was practically vibrating with excitement. Their top two places to visit – Alcatraz and the Presidio – were Stiles’ choices and after Yosemite Scott was more than willing to let Stiles lead this part of the trip.

‘Yeah. Come on, I’m sure you like memorised the best way to get there and where to park so let’s go.’ Stiles shot him a grin, double checked what street they were on and, as he continued to drive, started humming the Star Wars theme under his breath. Scott rolled his eyes at the lack of subtlety but smiled.

When they finally made it to the Presidio, the first thing they did, of course, was head straight for the Yoda fountain, Stiles practically dragging Scott along in his enthusiasm.

‘Oh my god Scott!! There it is, look at it.’ Scott tried to hide his wince at the high pitched tone of Stiles’ voice caused by his excitement.

‘It sure is buddy.’ He responded.

‘Ok, can you try to show at least a little more enthusiasm and respect for the awesomeness that is the Yoda fountain?’ Stiles asked, giving Scott a small glare. ‘I know you fail to appreciate the amazing work of George Lucas and the brilliance of this franchise but I will not have you disrespecting Yoda like that.’

‘Woah, ok calm down. No disrespect, I promise. Hey, you’re getting a photo with the fountain right?’ Scott asked and smiled when the diversion tactic worked. Stiles nodded and as soon as a family moved away from the fountain he bounded over, turning to face Scott with a massive grin on his face. Scott took a couple of photos, and was about to put his phone away when Stiles held out his hand to stop him.

‘Excuse me, do you mind taking a photo of us?’ He asked a couple who looked to be waiting to take photos themselves. The girl nodded and Stiles smiled, gesturing for Scott to hand over the phone, then come and stand next to him.

‘Come on Scotty, I know you don’t care but I need proof you were here too. Kira will never believe me.’ Stiles told him and Scott just shook his head, handing over his phone and making his way over to Stiles.

Stiles threw his arm around his shoulder, shuffling them when the girl indicated they were in front of the fountain. Scott just let Stiles move him around, grinning at him the whole time.

‘You two make a really cute couple.’ The girl told him when she handed back his phone. Scott felt a blush rise up his cheeks and he shifted his gaze quickly over towards Stiles to see if he’d heard. Stiles and her boyfriend were currently standing at the fountain geeking out at it, and Stiles seemed completely oblivious to the comment.

‘Uh, thanks. And thanks for the photos.’ He said, and she just smiled at him, giving him a nod.

‘Sally! Come on, our turn!’ Scott and the girl turned at the voice, and Scott saw Sally’s boyfriend gesturing for her as Stiles made his way over to Scott. He held out a phone to Scott who took it with a questioning look.

‘I told Jake we’d take their photos for them, but you’re usually better so you do it.’ Stiles said with a shrug, so Scott pocketed his phone and then took their photos for them.

Once they were done, Scott handed back the camera and after another round of thanks they went their separate ways. As they walked, Stiles chatting on about Star Wars trivia and the fountain, Scott wondered why he hadn’t corrected Sally when she’d referred to them as a couple. When she’d said it, he’d had a fleeting moment of panic then a warm feeling in his chest. He looked over at Stiles who was waving his hands as he spoke and Scott reached out to pull Stiles close to him just before he walked into a bench.

‘What… oh, thanks dude.’ Stiles said, smiling at Scott before continuing his one-sided discussion. Scott continued listening as they walked, keeping his eye on their path and

occasionally reaching out to steer Stiles out of the way of obstacles until they reached the area of the Presidio that provided them with an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

He wanted to talk to Stiles about the assumption the girl had made, the moment in the tent the other night, but he needed to sort through his own feelings and thoughts first to make sure he wouldn’t end up doing something that hurt Stiles or damaged their friendship.

***************************************************************************

Nearly a week later the boys were once again on the road, heading down the coast towards LA. They had spent three days exploring San Francisco, followed by a couple of lazy days in a small coastal town with nice beaches. Scott had had a great time in San Francisco, mostly just letting Stiles take the lead, letting his happiness and enthusiasm buoy Scott’s spirits. And the beach had been amazing – it was a quiet town without many tourists so the boys had been able to enjoy the beach without have to fight with crowds of people.

His thoughts kept slipping back to Sally’s comment and thoughts of him and Stiles however, and now that they were in the car, just the two of them for a few hours, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop Stiles from noticing something was up.

Sure enough, nearly an hour into the drive, Stiles pulled over to a rest stop, turned off the engine and shifted to look at Scott.

‘Ok, what’s up?’ Stiles asked, straight to the point.

‘What do you mean?’ Scott asked trying to deflect – from the narrowing of Stiles’ eyes it didn’t work.

‘You’ve been acting weird since the day we got to San Francisco. I figured you’d talk when you were ready but it’s been like three days already so what gives?’

‘I… you know in freshman year of college, when you told me you were bi?’ Scott started, watched as Stiles’ face became wary. He nodded slowly.

‘Yeah.’

‘Well… The second night in the tent in Yosemite I was thinking about that, when you said you… that you had feelings for me at some point – ’

‘Yeah, but you know that I wasn’t like faking being cold or anything to just get you to share – ’

‘No, Stiles of course I know that! That’s not what I meant. I mean – ’ Scott cut himself off, took a deep breath and then let it out. ‘Ok. So, that night I wasn’t thinking about what you’d told me in a bad way, I was thinking about it like, like I was thinkingabout it. And then when we were at the fountain, the Yoda fountain, that girl, Sally, she told me we were a cute couple and I couldn’t – I couldn’t stop thinking about it.’

‘Couldn’t stop thinking about…’ Stiles trailed off, looking at him.

‘About us. As a couple.’ They sat in silence for nearly two minutes after that statement, just staring at each other.

‘And what have you been thinking? I mean, Scott, you’re straight. Aren’t you? ’

‘I don’t… I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve never been really attracted to a guy before but I’m starting to think that’s because I was looking in the wrong places.’ Scott said softly.

‘And now?’ Stiles asked, just as soft.

‘Now, I know I’m definitely not one hundred percent straight. There’s one guy in particular that’s finally caught my eye and I think… I think it’s taken me long enough to realise it.’ Scott told him, and after a moment’s hesitation, he reached out a hand to Stiles.

Stiles looked at it, then back up at Scott and after his own momentary hesitation he reached out with his own hand to take it.

‘Are you… are you serious about this, Scott? Cause I can’t – ’

‘That’s why I’ve been, how did you put it? Weird. I’ve been thinking about it, just trying to make sure that what I was feeling was real, that I was really sure about it before I said anything.’ Scott told him, giving his hand a squeeze.

‘So are you? Sure?’ Stiles asked, sounding like he was afraid to hear the answer. Scott looked down at their joined hands, thought for a moment and then looked back up.

‘Yeah, yeah I am sure. I want this Stiles. Us. And I’m sorry if it’s – ’ Whatever Scott was about to say was cut off as Stiles leant across the centre console and pressed his lips against Scott’s.

Scott was shocked for about five seconds, then responded. And he had to admit, there may have been a tiny bit of him still in doubt before, but now, kissing Stiles – he knew this is what he wanted. Nothing had felt this right, and no kiss had ever gone straight to his head (or other areas) like that.

When Stiles pulled back, Scott just smiled at him.

‘Still one hundred percent sure.’ Scott told him, and Stiles grinned back.

***************************************************************************

Four days later they stood in the middle of a crowd, looking for the most likely suspect to take their photo for them. Then, Stiles spotted someone.

‘Oh my god, Jake!’ He called out, waving his hand in the air frantically and Scott looked around, laughing when he spotted Sally and Jake.

‘Stiles?’ Jake called out, pulling Sally in their direction. ‘Man, what are the chances?’

‘I know, right? Man I can’t believe the star wars area isn’t open yet, it’s gonna be so cool! But we did Star Tours and the Jedi Training – I wish Space Mountain was still themed’ Stiles said, and Scott smiled and rolled his eyes, catching Sally’s eye and laughing with her.

‘Well this could take a while.’ She said, nodding at their boyfriends – and wow, that was amazing to think.

‘Yeah. Stiles is still not over the fact that I didn’t find the movies as amazing as he does when he finally got me to sit down at watch them.’

‘Jake’s the same – I honestly did wonder early on if Jake was going to break it off with me because of it.’

‘Stiles has threatened to end our friendship I don’t even know how many times because of Star Wars.’

‘Your friendship? I thought you two – oh my god, I’m sorry!’ Sally said, looking horrified and Scott laughed.

‘No, no – I mean, when you said we were a cute couple last week at the Presidio, we weren’t, but now – actually, if you hadn’t said that we might not have talked about it so, thank you.’ Scott told her, and she looked at him, puzzled, then smiled.

‘Wow. I mean, you’re welcome? You really do make a cute couple.’ She repeated.

‘We do, don’t we?’ Stiles said, coming up behind them with Jake, nearly making Sally jump in surprise. ‘Scotty, guess what? Jake said a cast member told him Chewbacca is gonna be out for a meet and greet in like an hour, we have to go. Oh, and they’re going to comic con too!’

Scott grinned at his boyfriend, then shared a smile of exasperated fondness with Sally. The rest of their day was spent with Sally and Jake – after their obligatory couple shots in front of the castle, and a group shot once Sally spotted a nice looking lady who agreed to take some photos for them all.

After the evening fireworks, they went their separate ways as they headed back to their hotels, promising to meet up at comic con in a few days since Sally and Jake were on their last day at Disneyland.

Scott and Stiles walked back up to their hotel – it was about a twenty minute walk, but Scott enjoyed it, semi-quiet after the noise of Disneyland all day.

‘I can’t believe we just ran into them again like that.’ Stiles commented, leaning his head on Scott’s shoulder for a second as they walked.

‘Yeah, it was pretty unlikely. But hey, you got to talk Star Wars with Jake, and we’ll see them again in a few days. And I was talking to Sally – I thanked her.’ Scott said, and Stiles looked at him.

‘Thanked her?’ He asked, and Scott nodded.

‘Yeah. If it wasn’t for her mistaking us for a couple, I might have let things go as just me being, I don’t know, caught up in the moment – I wouldn’t have been overthinking things and you wouldn’t have pushed me to talk. I mean, it still might have happened eventually, but her comment is why it happened now. So…’

‘So, you thanked her.’ Stiles repeated, and Scott nodded again. ‘I’m really glad she called us a couple then.’

‘Me too.’ Scott said, then pulled Stiles in for a kiss. He wondered if the amazed feeling he got from doing that would ever wear off – he hoped it wouldn’t.

***************************************************************************

A few weeks later, they were headed home. They’d seen Alcatraz, Disneyland, the Hollywood sign, the Grand Canyon, the strip in Vegas and still – when people asked them what the best part of the trip was, their favourite spot they both answered with ‘I-5, heading south.’

It got them some strange looks, but they would just share a look and smile. And when asked about how the road trip went, they would sometimes give lots of details about what they did, who they met, what they saw.

But most often? They would just smile and say ‘best road trip ever.’

#scilesweek #scilesweek day 3 #sciles week #sciles week 2021 #scilesweek 2021 #sciles #fanfiction #teen wolf #teen wolf fandom #teen wolf fanfiction #stiles stilinksi #scott mccall #scott and stiles #friends to lovers #road trip

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elspethc22 · 3 years ago

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Let's Talk

Sciles Week Day 6: Talks we should have had

Pairing: Scott/Stiles

Word Count: 2621

The school year had finally ended, and Scott was more relieved to done with school than he ever had been before. He’d had nearly three months of freedom and the only thing on his to do list (other than work and whatever chores his mum asked him to do) was spending time with Stiles.

So that’s what he was doing – heading over to Stiles’ house to, most likely, wake his best friend up. For Stiles, summer meant sleeping in and doing absolutely nothing when he didn’t have to, which is exactly what he’d spent at least sixty percent of his summer doing. And since he knew Stiles wasn’t ‘helping out’ at the station today (also known as monitoring his dad’s eating habits up close, filing reports and trying to sneak looks at case files) chances were he would still be in bed even though it was nearly noon.

After knocking and getting no answer, Scott let himself in with the key Stiles had had made for him (he’d thought it only fair since he had one for the McCall house). Heading up the stairs, Scott made his way to Stiles’ bedroom, opening the door and walking right in.

‘Stiles. Stiles, dude. Wake up.’ Stiles stirred once, then stopped, still deep in sleep. Scott looked at him considering, then kicked off his shoes and pounced.

He landed right on Stiles, who shot up, eyes opening wide.

‘What – Scott? What the hell? Dude, what was that for? I was sleeping!’ Stiles asked, still looking around wildly, as if expecting an attack. When he found none, he flopped backwards, throwing an arm over his face. His face which was half-covered in lines from where it had been pressed into his pillow in his sleep.

‘Stiles, dude it’s already noon. We only have like two weeks left of summer, so come on, get up.’ Scott grabbed Stiles’ arm and dragged it off his face, giving him a little shove.

‘Do I have to?’ Stiles whined, and Scott laughed.

‘Yep. Unless you’d prefer… ’ Scott trailed off but lifted his hand to move his fingers against Stiles’ side, making him squirm.

‘No.’ Stiles protested, moving away.

‘Well those are you options – get up, and please shower, or I do it again.’ He wiggled his fingers threateningly, and Stiles lifted his head to glare at him.

‘I hate you.’ He said, sitting up again, keeping his eyes on Scott’s hand. He was the only person besides his dad who knew Stiles was ticklish, and unfortunately he wasn’t afraid to exploit that knowledge when he wanted to get his way.

‘You know you love me.’ Scott said, laughing and Scott thought he saw Stiles blush before he turned his head away, climbing over Scott and out of his bed.

‘Whatever. Give me ten minutes to shower.’ Scott watched Stiles head out of his room for the bathroom, and relaxed back on Stiles’ bed to wait. While he waited, he thought about Stiles reaction to his words. Why would Stiles blush from Scott telling saying Stiles loved him?

He tried to think of a reason, but while he thought, all that came to mind was a conversation with Stiles a few months ago. ‘This new-found heroism is making me very attracted to you.’ Then another conversation before that. ‘Am I not attractive to gay guys?’

He was deep in thought when Stiles came back in to his room, towel sitting low on his hips as he moved to his closet to find some clean clothes. The movement caught Scott’s attention and he propped himself up on his elbows, and found himself staring at Stiles’ back as Stiles’ words kept echoing in his mind.

‘Scott? Yo, Scotty!’ Stiles turned to look at him, letting the towel drop to the floor as he’d pulled a clean pair of boxers on underneath it, and was even now stepping into some clean sweats. Suddenly Stiles was clicking his fingers in Scott’s face and Scott blinked, leaning back.

‘What?’ He asked, blinking at Stiles who rolled his eyes.

‘Where’d you go man? I was asking you what you want to do today? Movie? Video games? More lacrosse practice?’

‘Oh, uh, I don’t know. Whatever you want.’ Stiles pulled a t-shirt over his head, narrowing his eyes at Scott as his head popped through. ‘What?’

‘Ok, what’s going on? First you were came in here, woke me up, all raring to go do something and now you’re spacing out on me and don’t care what we do? Seriously, what’s up?’

‘Do you like guys?’ Scott blurted out, then snapped his mouth shut, his eyes widening in surprise at his own words, wishing he could take them back. Stiles just stared at him, frozen in place. For nearly a minute, neither of them moved, processing the question that had just come out of Scott.

‘Um – ’

‘Oh my god, dude, forget I asked that. That was so not cool. I don’t even know – ’

‘Yes.’ Scott stopped his rambling apology, looking up at Stiles who was still standing in front of him.

‘Yes?’ Scott asked, and Stiles looked away, took a deep breath and then turned back, nodding.

‘Yes, I like guys. I mean, I still like girls, I wasn’t lying about that or anything, but… I like guys too.’ Stiles told Scott, his voice soft.

‘Wow.’ Scott could kick himself for only being able to come up with that, but his brain was apparently a little slow on the uptake in this conversation.

‘Yeah. Wow. Um… what made you ask that?’ Stiles asked, and Scott looked at him.

‘First – I’m so sorry I just like, asked you that like that, that really wasn’t cool of me. I was just… you blushed, earlier, when I said you know you love me and then that made me think, about why that would make you blush and then I remembered when you were asking me if you’re attractive to gay guys and then saying that my new heroism or whatever was making you attracted to me and we should make out and I was starting to think that maybe you weren’t joking and then I just… blurted the question out.’

Scott placed his hands in his lap, watching Stiles for a reaction as he explained his train of thought. Stiles stared at him for a moment, then sighed, running his hand through his newly grown out hair. Then he moved, sitting on the end of his bed, facing Scott.

‘It’s ok Scotty. I’m not upset you asked, I know you weren’t trying to be like… it just caught me off guard I guess. I wasn’t expecting it.’ Scott nodded, and was thankful his best friend wasn’t angry at him.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ He asked, his voice soft, and Stiles looked at him and shrugged.

‘I don’t know. It was never really like a plan to not tell you, I just… I was waiting for the right time and then, everything went crazy and I just… didn’t.’ Stiles told him, and Scott nodded even though he wished Stiles had felt he could tell him.

‘You know it doesn’t change anything, right? I mean, like, I don’t care one way or another.’ Scott tried to explain himself, trying to convey that he didn’t care who Stiles liked, they were still best friends, and Stiles just laughed.

‘I never thought it would, Scott. I know you, you’re like, the best person I know, you’d never care if I liked guys.’ Stiles told him, and Scott smiled, but there was still something nagging at him.

‘Do you… do you like me?’ Scott asked, then bit his lip when Stiles’ head shot up to look at him, eyes wide, mouth open in surprise.

‘I – I mean – of course I like you, dude, best friend forever, right?’ Stiles said, trying to bluff his way out of an answer by pretending to misunderstand the question and Scott knew.

‘I mean do you like me, Stiles.’ He repeated, changing his emphasis, moving a hand to Stiles’ wrist to keep him from standing and moving away. Stiles blinked once, twice, then looked down at Scott’s hand. When he looked back up, Scott’s heart hurt when he saw sadness in Stiles’ eyes.

‘Yes.’ Stiles breathed out. ‘I’m sorry, Scott, I – ’

Scott cut Stiles off by leaning forward and pressing his lips to Stiles’. Stiles let out a sound of surprise, but when Scott brought a hand up to cup the back of his head, tilted his own head to change the angle and make it easier, Stiles let his eyes shut and let himself sink into the kiss and enjoy it.

When Scott pulled back slowly, he let his hand slip down to settle at the base of Stiles’ neck, his thumb moving gently back and forth over Stiles’ skin just about his t-shirt.

‘Why did you do that?’ Stiles asked in a whisper. Scott took a moment before he answered, not wanting to say the wrong thing. He wasn’t completely sure why he’d done that – he couldn’t lie and say he’d wanted to do it for a while, it hadn’t occurred to him to try before today. But as soon as he’d thought about it, it was all he could think about.

‘Because I love you. And I have to be honest, I don’t know if I feel about you exactly how you feel about me, and I haven’t really thought about it before but I thought about kissing you and I just – I couldn’t notdo it.’ Scott said, hoping Stiles could make sense of his words. When Stiles didn’t say anything, he started to panic, thinking he’d just ruined things.

‘What about Allison?’ Scott was shocked that that was Stiles said next, but then he realised it made sense. This was completely out of the blue, and the last time they’d spoken about anything Scott had told him he was going to wait for her then get her back.

‘Honestly? When she broke up with me, it hurt, a lot. And I wanted to speak to her every day, try to change her mind, especially for the first few weeks. But recently?’ Scott paused, shrugged as he tried to explain it. ‘It still sucks, but now it more about how it all ended then the fact that it ended. Thinking about her, it doesn’t really hurt now, and I don’t think about her that much, not like I did right after we broke up or at the start of summer. I haven’t wanted to call her in weeks.’

Stiles was watching him closely, as if trying to pick out any lies. Scott just sat patiently, waiting for Stiles to react.

‘And what about me? I mean, you know I like you, I’m pretty sure I love you, and you just kissed me. Was it, like, a test?’

‘No, Stiles. I wouldn’t do that, especially not to you. I meant what I said, when I started thinking about it, it was like I hadto do it. And… I’m really glad I did. It was amazing. It felt like… it felt right.’

‘So you think you like guys too?’ Stiles questioned, and Scott shrugged.

‘I don’t know. It’s not really about you being a guy, it’s more about you being Stiles. Does that make sense?’ Stiles gave a small nod.

‘Kind of, I guess.’ Scott could tell Stiles didn’t really get it.

‘I mean, I know we’ve talked about girls we find attractive before, but I don’t… it usually takes me a while to really be attractedto someone. Usually, I really have to know and like someone before I feel like I want to do anything… physical. I think that’s why the idea of kissing you took so easily. Like, I know you’re an attractive person, but I never really thought about you or us in that way before, but then when I did…’ He tried to explain, knowing he sounded awkward. He’d never tried to put it into words before.

‘But what about Allison? You were like, zero to sixty with her.’ Stiles said, and Scott nodded his understanding. That had been a big surprise to him, and he’d been thinking about it a lot since they broke up.

‘I think that had more to do with the wolf. It was really weird because like, I’ve never had that instant attraction to anyone before so I didn’t recognise it at first, and then at first I thought it was cause I’d never met the right person. But I kept having these feelings like I was fighting with myself – there were times where all I wanted to do was touch her and kiss her but then I’d stop and think well, let’s just get to know her first. And obviously, then I did get to know her, and… but I think those first few weeks was not all me.’

Stiles looked at him, cocked his head.

‘So you’re saying the wolf had the hots for Allison first?’ He asked, and Scott rolled his eyes but nodded. ‘Ok. Ok, that sort of makes sense. It’s a little weird, but then, what isn’t in our lives nowadays?’

Scott laughed in agreement, and Stiles smiled.

‘What does this mean then? For us?’ Stiles asked, and Scott smiled.

‘It means… I think, I want to try this. If you do.’ Scott told him, and he could hear the hope in his voice.

‘What if it doesn’t work?’ Stiles asked, and Scott heard, and understood, the fear.

‘What if it does?’ Scott countered, and Stiles smiled fondly at the typical optimism. ‘I think we need to promise each other, if we decide to do this, that our friendship comes first. If anything goes wrong or it just doesn’t work, we can take some time, but we’re always friends.’

‘Do you think that can work?’ Stiles asked.

‘I think we’re Scott and Stiles – ask anyone, if we decide we want to do something, we’ll do it no matter how many people tell us not to, or that we can’t.’ Stiles rolled his eyes at the reminder of the many, many times they’d been told their ideas were crazy or impossible or just plain not allowed (or illegal). But it was true – anything that they’d really want to do, they’d found a way and they’d done it. And then when necessary (at least fifty percent of the time) they’d found a way back out of whatever situation they ended up in.

‘Ok.’ Stiles said, nodding. ‘Ok. We promise that no matter what happens, we’re friends first and always.’ He held out his hand, fingers curled except his pinky. Scott looked down at it, then up at Stiles and smiled.

The first time they’d made a promise to one another, Scott had held out his pinky to a very confused Stiles. When he explained what he knew about pinky swears and how they couldn’t be broken, Stiles had nodded enthusiastically and stuck his own out to complete the process. Since then, every important promise they’d made had been sealed with a pinky promise.

Scott moved his hand off Stiles’ wrist and looped his pinky around Stiles’.

‘I, Scott McCall, pinky promise that no matter what happens between Stiles Stilinski and I in our romantic relationship we will be friends first and always.’ Stiles smiled at the words romantic relationship.

‘I, Stiles Stilinski, pinky promise that no matter what happens between Scott McCall and I in our romantic relationship we will be friends first and always.’ They grinned at each other, and then Scott used the hand still on the back of Stiles’ neck to reel him in for another kiss.

#scilesweek #sciles week 2021 #sciles week day 6 #sciles #scott and stiles #friends to lovers #prompt: talks we should have had #day 6: talks we should have had #prompt fill #teen wolf #teen wolf fanfiction #scott mccall #stiles stilinski

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elspethc22 · 3 years ago

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Sciles Week Day 4: Scars

Pairing: Scott/Stiles

Word Count: 12149

Trigger Warnings for mentioned past abuse (no non-con) to Stiles from a former Alpha.

Scott is doing the weekly grocery shopping for his mum when he first picks up the scent. Another werewolf. Although his first reaction is to look around, try and identify them, he reigns it in. Instead, keeping his eyes on the list in his hand, he focused on his sense of smell, letting it guide him. He made his way down the aisle and turned right, passing the next two aisles until he found the source. Keeping his movements slow, he spots what appears to be a boy or young man really, maybe his own age, standing with hunched shoulders staring at the variety of bread.

Now that he’s closer, he can smell that werewolf has likely not showered in days, and his clothes are mess, cuffs of his worn jeans caked in mud, a few leaves caught in the hood of his jumper, and small tears that make Scott think he’s been running, fast and not carefully, through the woods.

Scott’s glad that it’s midweek, and early afternoon, so the shop is relatively quiet. He doesn’t think this new werewolf is a danger, from the way he appears to be trying to make himself small, but the less people around the better just in case.

He pushes his trolley, and he’s not sure if it’s the squeaky wheel or the other werewolf finally catching his scent, but he stiffens and turns slowly towards Scott. Scott can clearly read the fear in his eyes, but before he can say anything, reassure this other boy he’s safe, the other boy flees.

Scott abandons his trolley, gives chase, but for someone so skinny the other wolf can move incredibly fast. He’s gone by the time Scott makes it out the front of the store. Scott’s first instinct is to chase after him, but he knows from history that doing so alone probably won’t be successful.

He pulls out his phone and calls Lydia.

‘Lydia, get Isaac and meet me at the store – I just ran into another werewolf but he ran off into the preserve. I think he needs help.’ He said into the phone before she could even greet him.

He didn’t want to involve the whole pack, but he needed at least one more wolf helping him to track, and Lydia was there to hopefully be able to approach the boy once they found him. There was just something telling him this boy needed help. Lydia pulled up, Isaac in the passenger seat, 15 minutes later.

‘Thanks for coming.’

‘It’s fine. Lydia said there was a werewolf problem?’ Isaac asked, looking around as if he half expected the werewolf in question to just jump out at them.

‘Yeah, but not like a problem problem. More like I think he needs help. He was just standing there, staring at the food like he wasn’t sure what to do. He was young, thin, dirty – ’

‘Dirty?’ Lydia cut in, raising an eyebrow in question, and Scott nodded.

‘His jeans were covered in mud and there were leaves caught in his jumper, he looked like he’d been running, for days maybe – his clothes had tears in them, probably from catching on trees or things as he ran.’ Scott explained. ‘I tried to talk to him, but as soon as he saw me, or maybe smelled me, he froze and his scent – the fear coming off him was stronger than anything I’ve ever smelled before. He ran before I could even try to tell him he was ok.’

‘Are we sure he isn’t a threat? If he’s running from something that’s got him that scared, should we be worrying about that?’ Isaac asked, and Scott shook his head.

‘I’m sure he’s not a threat, there’s something about him – and if whatever he’s running from does make its way here, then we’ll deal with it. The look in his eyes – he’s terrified, we have to help him.’ Lydia and Isaac both looked at him, then nodded.

He leads them slowly through into the preserve - it doesn’t take him long to find a fresh scent. Apparently once he thought he’d lost Scott the other wolf stopped running as fast. Moving as quietly as they can, they continue on until Scott hears rapid breathing - at first he thinks it’s someone panting, but then he hears the whimpers between breaths and he moves quicker until he sees the boy, curled up in feral position in the dirt and leaves beneath a tree.

He softly tells Isaac to stay back, then moves forward cautiously with Lydia.

‘Hello? Are you… are you ok? Can we help you?’ The boy doesn’t answer, just keeps gasping for breath and shaking, burying his head in his hands and pulling at his hair.

‘Scott, I think he’s having a panic attack.’ Lydia says, and Scott turns to look at her, his eyes wide. ‘We need to help him get his breathing under control.’

Scott moves until he’s in front of the boy then gently lowers himself until he’s almost at eye level - or would be if the boy was sitting. He gently puts his hand out, has to fight the urge to flinch when the smell of fear hits him.

‘I promise I’m not here to hurt you, I just want to help. I need you to try and breath with me, try and focus on my breathing and match it. Do you think you can do that?’ There was no response, and Scott would have thought he hadn’t been heard if not for the hands stilling in the other boys’ hair.

‘Keep going Scott.’ The hands moved again, about to pull and Scott instinctively moved one hand to stop them.

‘Hey, hey it’s ok. That’s just Lydia, she’s here to help too. She’s a friend.’

‘No more… wolves…’ the other boy managed to get out between breaths, and Scott’s eyes widened, turning to look at Lydia who just shrugged. Scott turned back to the boy.

‘No, it’s ok, she’s not a werewolf, I promise. But…’ he turned to Isaac. ‘Isaac, can you head back to the others, tell them we found him and we’re helping. I’ll call when I can.’

Isaac looked reluctant but after a moment he nodded then turned and moved swiftly away.

‘There, is that better? Now it’s just you, me and Lydia. No other werewolves.’ The boy was no longer rocking as hard, and Scott was able to gently pry his hands away from his head to get a better look at him.

He’s not as young as Scott thought - definitely around his own age, not a teenager like he’d first thought. His face is pale and thin - too thin, like the rest of him. He has dark bruises around his eyes like he hasn’t slept properly in weeks, only making the paleness of his skin more pronounced, and the moles that are dotted across his face and neck also stand out.

His eyes are still squeezed shut, so Scott doesn’t know what colour they would be, but he is sure they’d be showing the fear that is coming off this boy in waves.

‘You’re ok, we’re going to help you if you let us. My name is Scott, can you tell me your name?’ The boy shook his head and Scott made a soothing sound, not unlike what he’d use on a frightened pet at the vet clinic. ‘That’s ok. You know, you feel really cold, but I think we have a blanket in the car if you want to come - ‘ Scott cut himself off when the boy began to shake.

‘Scott, perhaps you could go and get the blanket and bring it here.’ He heard Lydia suggest and he glanced at her. She was giving him the look that said she’d figured something out and he should listen to her. So he nodded and rose slowly.

‘Ok. Ok, Lydia’s going to stay here with you, I’ll be right back.’ He moved away slowly then turned and ran back to the car.

Lydia moved carefully towards the boy, and took over Scott’s position. When she reached out a hand, he flinched minutely but then visibly seemed to relax. Although it made Scott ache inside to see the boy accept Lydia’s touch when he’d all but rejected his own, but he pushed that away. The important thing right now was the boy allowing them to help him. So Scott made his way back to the cars as quickly as possible, running once he was sure he was out of earshot of the other werewolf. He was about to collect the blanket when he glanced back at the store, and had a thought.

He ran most of the way back to where he’d left Lydia and the boy, only slowing down when he thought the other werewolf would be able to hear him. He made sure to make noise as he approached, and called out to Lydia softly to alert her that it was just him.

When they came in to view, Lydia had seated herself in front of the boy, and was holding his hand. Neither was speaking, but the other boy appeared to have finally opened his eyes. When he looked over at Scott, he saw they were a warm brown clouded by fear. He slowed down even more as he carefully approached them.

‘It’s just me, no one else is with me I promise. Look, I have that blanket for, and – ’ He cut himself off, glancing at Lydia briefly before continuing. ‘I also have some food, in case you were hungry. I think I… interrupted you earlier before you could get your food.’

He came to a stop a few steps away from them, and crouched down slowly. He held out the blanket to Lydia, who leaned to take it, then moved so she could drape it over the other boy’s shoulders. Then Scott began to take items out of the bag he’d been carrying.

‘I wasn’t sure exactly what you liked, but I thought you were looking at these in the shop so I got some.’ Scott held out a packet of croissants. ‘I also got you a couple of things I like, and some of my – friends.’

He caught himself in time to stop himself saying betas. He pulled out a box of pop tarts, a packet of Cheetos and a bunch of bananas. He laid them out on top of the bag, and waited as the boy looked at him, then at the food.

He was so tempted to say something, offer again, make a suggestion, but something told him that pushing him would only make things worse. So instead, he just settled down on his knees and waited. Finally, the boy nodded.

‘Yes? You’d like something to eat?’ Scott asked, and the boy nodded again. Looking at Lydia, he saw her smiling. ‘Ok, would you like the croissants?’ This got him another nod, so Scott picked up the packet and then held it out to Lydia. He was glad he’d handed it to her and not the boy directly when the movement of his arm caused the boy to flinch. He sat back, and watched as Lydia opened the pack, holding it out for the boy to reach in and take one of the croissants.

‘There you go. Well, Scott, I think that was a very good idea you had. Now, don’t worry, if you want more than one you can have more, but I think you should slow down just a little bit – we don’t want you getting sick from eating too quickly.’ Lydia spoke slowly and with a very soothing lilt to her voice, and Scott was so grateful she was part of his pack.

They sat there for twenty minutes or more as the boy ate two croissants, and then a banana at Lydia’s suggestion. When he seemed to be done, Lydia passed the half empty packet of croissants and the banana peel back towards Scott who packed them away into the bag with the other items.

‘Feel a bit better now?’ Lydia asked, and the boy looked at her and nodded, then glanced at Scott.

‘Th – thank you, Alpha.’ The boy whispered, and Scott’s eyebrows raised in surprise, both at the fact he had spoken – and spoken to Scott – and at the formality of his words and his tone. It was like he didn’t want to say the words but thought he had to. He looked at Lydia, who shrugged subtly, then tilted her head towards the boy.

‘Um… you’re welcome.’ He responded, and when the boy didn’t flinch or seem to react negatively in any way, Scott relaxed minutely.

‘Now, I think we should get ourselves out of these woods because when I looked at the forecast earlier I’m sure it said it was going to rain later today, and I don’t know about either of you but I don’t like being caught in the rain – and this skirt is dry clean only.’ Scott held his breath at the teasing tone in Lydia’s voice at the end – it was such a Lydia thing to say, but how would the other boy take it?

Lydia just kept her eyes on the other boy, still holding his hand, her thumb rubbing back and forth over the back of it. The boy looked up at her, then his eyes darted to Scott and then up at the sky. Scott followed his gaze and sure enough, there were clouds starting to form – dark clouds. When Scott looked back down, the boy was watching Lydia again.

‘No… no werewolves, please.’ His voice sounded better than it had the first time he spoke, but it still sounded as though he hadn’t used it much recently and Scott wished he’d thought to pick up some water at the store. ‘No… no… Stilinski.’

Scott’s eyebrows shot up at the name and he saw Lydia’s do the same, her eyes flicking towards him quickly before settling back on the boy.

‘Stilinski? Do you mean Sheriff Stilinski?’ The boy seemed to freeze at the word Sheriff, looking around. He nodded slowly, but his shoulders hunched in on themselves. ‘No cops.’ He whispered and Scott wasn’t sure if Lydia would hear it.

‘Well, if you want to see Sher – I mean, Mr Stilinski, we can certainly take you to see him. Can I ask… Do you know him?’ The boy shook his head, then looked back at Lydia.

‘My mum.’ He said and Lydia nodded.

‘Ok, your mum knew him.’ The boy nodded, and Lydia smiled. ‘Ok, well how about Scott calls him and asks him to meet us at his house, ok? And…’ Lydia hesitated, looking at Scott before she looked back at the boy.

‘Now, you look like you’ve got a few nasty cuts and bruises, and I know you werewolves all heal up easily and quickly, but I do think we should get someone to look you over – ’

‘No hospitals!’ The boy all but shouted the words at her, but Lydia just blinked.

‘No, no hospitals. We know a nurse, she’s human but she knows about werewolves and she helps look after Scott and his friends and I’m sure she would come to the Sheriff’s house as well, just to check there’s nothing more serious. And she could bring you some clean clothes – the Sheriff won’t have anything that fits you, but I think Melissa will.’

Scott knew she was talking about his mum even before she said her name, but he had to wonder why she hadn’t told the boy about the connection. Also – if his mum was bringing clothes, did Lydia mean hisclothes? Surely the boy would be able to smell him on the clothes and would just freak out?

‘Does that sound ok?’ Lydia asked, and the boy looked between them a few times, contemplating his options, before nodding slowly.

‘Can you – can you call him here? So I can listen?’ The boy asked, and it took Scott a second to realise he meant to call the Sheriff fromhere. He nodded.

‘Of course.’ Scott pulled out his phone, opened it and called the Sheriff’s mobile, hitting the speaker button.

‘Scott?’ He answered, and Scott kept his eyes on the boy, trying to see if there were any signs of recognition to the voice.

‘Hey Sher- Mr Stilinski. Um, Lydia and I were wondering if you could meet us at your place, we need to talk to you about something.’ Scott winced at his own words and saw Lydia turn to roll her eyes at him.

‘Something? Scott, is this another supernaturalthing I need to be worried about?’ The Sheriff asked, whispering the word supernatural.

‘No, no – I mean. Look, it’s not a problem, there’s nothing to be concerned about, no one is – there’s no danger to anyone. But we do have –

‘Sarah.’ The boy spoke up, cutting Scott off. ‘Sarah Stilinski.’

‘Does the name Sarah Stilinski mean anything to you, Sheriff?’ Scott asked, and he heard the Sheriff let out a breath.

‘Yes, she’s a cousin of mine, lives in Michigan, well did last I knew – why? Scott, what’s going on?’ Scott looked at the boy, trying to ask a question silently and he seemed to understand because he nodded.

‘We’re with her son, out in the preserve. I think he needs your help, sir.’ Scott said, watching as the boy closed his eyes, hunched into himself more.

‘Stiles?’ The Sheriff asked, and Scott watched as the boy flinched slightly, before he nodded.

‘Yes, sir, that’s who we’re with.’ Scott said.

‘Where’s Sarah?’ He asked, and Scott didn’t know what to say. But as he watched, the boy shook his head once, and a tear escaped from where he had his eyes squeezed shut.

‘I’m sorry, sir, I think it’s just Stiles now.’ Scott said softly.

‘I had no idea. Ok, Scott. Let me tell Parrish something’s come up and I’ll head home. But Scott, is he – is he ok?’ The Sheriff asked, and Scott hesitated.

‘I don’t know, Sheriff. But he’s here now, and we’ll help. All of us.’ Scott said, and Scott nodded when the boy looked at him.

‘Ok. Ok, I’m leaving now, I’ll be home soon.’ Scott was about to hang up, when he remembered something.

‘Oh – Sheriff? Do you think… any chance you could change into something that’s not your uniform before we get there? Just…’ Scott trailed off, unsure how to explain the request, but the Sheriff just sighed.

‘Of course, Scott. I’ll see you soon.’

‘Thanks, sir.’ Scott hung up, then smiled gently at the boy. ‘Was that ok?’

The boy nodded, then hesitated. ‘The nurse?’

It took Scott a few seconds to realise what the boy – Stiles – was asking. ‘Would you like me to call the nurse now as well?’ Stiles nodded.

Scott hesitated, then looked at Lydia.

‘Stiles – I should have told you – the nurse, Melissa, is Scott’s mum. She’s not a werewolf, that’s true, and she does help us, all the time. But if we ask her to come and help now, we’re asking her as a nurse first, not as Scott’s mum, ok? Lydia told him, her voice just as soothing, and Scott could smell the distress.

‘I’m sorry, Stiles, we didn’t mean to lie to you, we just didn’t want to overwhelm you with too much information.’ Scott said. ‘But we should have told you. I can call my mum, and see if one of her nurse friends can come instead? They won’t know about werewolves but – ’

‘No.’ Stiles said, cutting him off. ‘Just… just call her.’ Stiles seemed deflated now, and Scott hesitated, but he knew Stiles needed to be checked over by someone. So he dialled his mum, thankful that she wasn’t on shift at the moment.

‘Scott? What’s up – don’t tell me you’re still at the store?’ His mum answered, and in any other situation he would have laughed.

‘Mum, no I’m not. Actually, I’ll have to get back to that later. Listen, we need some help, ok? Can you meet us at Mr Stilinski’s house? And bring the first aid kit?’

‘Scott? What happened, are you ok? Is it Isaac? Liam? Lydia?’ His mum was all business now, running through the names of his pack, and he could hear her moving through the house.

‘No, no it’s not – we’re all fine. We have – we have a relative of the Sheriff’s here, and even though he’s like, well me, Lydia and I still think it would be good to have you look him over, just in case.’

‘Like you?’ She questioned.

‘A werewolf, mum.’

‘And he’s hurt?’ She asked, and he thought he could hear her rummaging around in a cupboard. ‘How bad? Anything that’s bleeding more than it should be, or any really deep wounds?’

‘Not that I can see – they mostly look like they’re from running through the preserve, or some other woods.’ She hummed thoughtfully.

‘Ok, so just the basics then. I clean him up, make sure things are all clear for when he heals.’

‘Thanks mum. We’re about to leave the preserve, so we’ll be at the Stilinski’s house soon. Oh – um, he needs some clean clothes mum. Any chance you can grab a few things of mine for him? Until we can organise to get him some of his own?’

‘Sure, let me just pop into your room – ’

‘No! I mean, um I know you were planning on doing some laundry today – any chance any of my stuff is ready? Like, you know, anything that’s completely freshly clean that only you have touched?’ He hoped she got the message – he didn’t want to say it out loud in front of Stiles, but he hoped that if she could grab some clothes that were just out of the machine that only she had handled then any lingering scent of his would be as minimal as possible.

‘Why would that – oh, yeah, ok. Yes, a load just finished in the dryer, I’ll grab some things.’ She said, and he sighed in relief.

‘Thanks mum.’ He said. ‘Love you.’

‘Love you too Scott.’ He hung up, and although the boy had his eyes shut again, he wasn’t as hunched over as he had been before Scott made the call, which he took as a positive sign. Scott pocketed his phone, and slowly stood, picking up the bag. As he watched, Lydia stood and then reached out to help Stiles stand, making sure the blanket stayed wrapped around his shoulders.

He led them out of the preserve, Lydia walking with Stiles to help keep him steady. He let Lydia put Stiles in her car, then slid into his own and followed them to the Sheriff’s house. When they arrived, Scott could see the Sheriff’s car in the driveway. Lydia pulled in behind it, and Scott pulled up on the street. He got out, and watched Lydia help Stiles out of the car and up to the front door, which opened just as they stepped up onto the porch.

Stiles stopped and stared at the Sheriff, then with a gentle nudge from Lydia he started to step forward before he hesitated again. This time, however, his hesitation seemed to be fuelled by Scott, who had just stepped up onto the porch behind them.

‘Um. How about I stay out here – I’ll wait for my mum, then just hang out, out here in case you need me for anything?’ He said, trying his best to sound casual. Stiles hesitated again, then slowly nodded and stepped forward, into the house. Scott knew he’d be able to hear anything that was said, and Stiles had to know that too. But he wouldn’t be there where Stiles could see him, and that seemed to be good enough for Stiles. And even if Scott couldn’t be in there, actively trying to help Stiles, well at least he was out here, making sure nothing and no one was getting near him any time soon.

***************************************************************************

When his mum and Lydia stepped out onto the porch a few hours later, Scott was so deep in thought that he nearly jumped when his mum laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and could tell that they had both been crying, or at least trying not to cry – he didn’t blame them, he’d been exactly the same. One thing he was clinging to was that Stiles had been adamant that the abuse had never been sexual, the alpha had never been interested in him like that. It didn’t make the rest of it ok, but at least that was one thing that Stiles hadn’t had to endure.

Still, the things that Stiles had been through – Scott was not a violent person by nature, and he always went out of his way to find a solution that didn’t involve killing but right now, all he wanted to do was find this old alpha of Stiles’ and kill him. Slowly and painfully.

He stood, and was about to say something when he caught himself, indicating towards the cars.

‘Will you come back to mine?’ He asked Lydia, who nodded before she got in her car. He gave his mum a quick hug, then gave the Sheriff’s house a last long look before he hopped into his own car and headed home.

Once there, he found not only Lydia, but Isaac, Malia, Liam, Kira, Mason and Corey.

‘Look, I’m not sure exactly what Isaac told you, but yes we found a beta in the preserve today, and yes he’s running from something, or someone specifically – his old alpha. But he’s not running because he didsomething, ok?’ Scott told them, and they all nodded. He could tell from the look on Isaac’s face that the other boy probably had a good idea of what Stiles was running from. Isaac caught his eye, and he nodded slightly, watching as Isaac’s shoulders slumped.

‘Scott’s right. Stiles – the beta – he’s been through a lot, and what he needs now is somewhere he can feel safe, and eventually people he can trust – and hopefully that will be us. But he definitely needs space, so we’re not going to try and crowd him, he’s going to meet us all, but slowly. For now, I’m planning on going back to see him after school each day this week, just spend some time with him, and Melissa is going to check on him when she can, especially if the Sheriff has to be at the station. None of us are werewolves, so he seems fairly ok with us. In a week or so, I’ll broach the topic of maybe bringing one of you along to meet – but only one. Too many new things or people at once will just overwhelm him.’ Lydia explained to the pack, and Scott didn’t think he’d ever been more grateful to have her in his pack.

‘What about Scott?’ Liam asked, glancing up at his alpha.

‘That’s… complicated.’ Scott settled on. ‘He’s met me, but not only am I another werewolf, I’m an alpha so I’m going to be keeping my distance for now. He needs time to settle in, to feel safe and if I remind him of his old alpha, my being around him isn’t going to help.’

‘But, you’re nothing like what his alpha must be like!’ Liam protested, and Scott gave his beta a small smile.

‘Thank you, Liam but it’s not about that. It’s just the simple presence of an alpha. Your instincts tell you that alpha means safety, right?’ He asked, mostly knowing this was true but always having a small bit of doubt in himself. Liam nodded. ‘Stiles’ instincts don’t. He needs time to process that, to…’

‘Heal, and then learn to live with it.’ Isaac cut in, and Scott looked at his friend, nodding. He knew Isaac would understand, although he wished, as he frequently did, that he didn’t.

‘So, Lydia will decide, with Stiles, who to introduce him to first, how quickly, things like that. But when you meet Stiles, one thing I need you to remember – do not ask him about what happened. If he wants to tell you, wants to talk about it, he will. If he doesn’t, then you don’t ask. Got it?’ Scott asked, waiting until his pack all nodded at him.

Although the younger members of the pack didn’t know everything Isaac had been through, they all knew he’d been living with Scott and his mum for over a year after his dad was killed and that Isaac had briefly been a suspect. And the rumours for why he’d been a suspect that still occasionally popped up at school. So they understood what Scott meant about not asking Stiles about what happened – Liam had asked Scott once, about Isaac. And all Scott had told him was no one should go through what Isaac had to go through, and that he was never to ask Isaac about it – if Isaac chose to tell him, or any of the others, that was his choice.

They did ask Scott if there was anything else they could do, and he shook his head before Lydia piped up.

‘Actually, Mason – tomorrow, before I go see Stiles, I need to go shopping. You’re about the same size as him, physically, so you’re going to come with me.’ She told the human boy, who just stared at her. ‘I may be an excellent judge of size when it comes to clothing, but it’s always better to have something to measure against. Bring Corey, if you must – actually, he’s about the same colouring as Stiles too so I can see what colours will work for him.’

The boys in the pack all just stared at her, and she shrugged.

‘He needs more clothes, and it will be good for him to have something that’s his instead of borrowed – not too many things, when he’s up for it I’ll take him out so he can actually pick some things for himself. But for now, this will work. And… this way, they won’t really smell of anyone else.’ Lydia tacked on, and Scott nodded in understanding. That was Lydia, always thinking of things no one else would.

***************************************************************************

The next few weeks passed both slowly and incredibly quickly. Days at school seemed to pass by in a blur (which was a little concerning with it being Scott’s final year of high school). But after school, knowing Lydia, and then slowly other members of his pack, were with Stiles – time seemed to slow to nearly a stop. Even when Scott had other things to occupy his time, like working or homework or visiting his mum he would count down the minutes until Isaac was home and he could hear how Stiles was progressing. Surprisingly, despite being a werewolf, Isaac had been the first member of the pack Lydia had taken to introduce to Stiles – though Scott thought it had something to do with their similar histories.

He didn’t know if she had told Stiles that or how she’d gotten him to agree to it but apparently it was helping – Lydia told him that the fifth day of going over with her, Isaac had asked if he could speak to Stiles alone and Stiles, after a brief moment of panic, had allowed it. They’d apparently spoke for over an hour, and when Lydia had been allowed back in there had been a difference to the way Stiles carried himself – not a major difference, he wasn’t suddenly a new person, but he seemed just a little bit more settled in himself, a little less likely to shrink in on himself when he said something he thought he shouldn’t.

Scott saw a difference in Isaac too – for the first time since Allison had died, sacrificing herself to stop the nogitsune possessing her – Isaac seemed to be getting back to his old self. He was starting to snark a little more, which had surprised Liam greatly the first time it was aimed at him. He had spoken about trying to convince Coach to let him onto the cross country team late so that he could maybe be on the lacrosse team again. And he was starting to smile more – not often, but they were real smiles. It seemed like having someone to help, and someone he understood in a way no one else did, was helping Isaac.

Next to meet Stiles had been Kira – chosen both because she was not a werewolf, and because she was a girl. Since most of Stiles’ previous pack had been males, Scott thought this was a wise move, to try to balance out the ratio for Stiles as he met the rest of the pack. They had hit it off once Stiles realised she was a Star Wars fan. Mason had been next, and Stiles had apparently been incredibly surprised to learn there was a human in their pack. Lydia said that Stiles had been a little overwhelmed at first, mostly by Mason’s propensity to talk and talk about things that excited him but seemed to get passed that very quickly.

Despite Mason being one of the newest members of the pack, Stiles was constantly asking him questions about different creatures they’d come across and what he knew about the supernatural (except for werewolves) and Mason was only too happy to have someone to listen to him. It seemed Stiles was very much like Scott had been as a new werewolf – completely unaware of anything supernatural, and now he was trying to make up for it.

Corey had been next, mostly by virtue of being Mason’s boyfriend and unable to spend that much time apart, but given his extremely quiet nature his introduction seemed to go pretty unremarked. Mostly he was content to just sit with them while they talked, and occasionally provide a few bits of information about chimeras, at least from his perspective.

Malia had been next, and that had been a tricky one to navigate as she’d understood the need to be careful around him but was still rather blunt and often unable to censor herself. Thankfully, Lydia’s introduction had included the titbit that Malia had lived as a coyote for nearly eight years and that had caught Stiles’ attention so their first meeting had involved a lot of questions about her life as a coyote (from both Stiles and Mason who had always wanted to ask but never thought he could).

Finally, it was Liam’s turn. Scott knew that Liam had been worried about this, worried that he was going to say the wrong thing or mess up somehow. So the day before Lydia was taking him over to the Sheriff’s house to meet Stiles, Scott invited him over to talk.

‘I know you’re worried about meeting him.’ Scott said, and Liam looked down at his hands.

‘I just – I don’t know how to act. What if I say the wrong thing or – ’

‘Just watch the others, let Stiles lead the conversation and pay attention to how the others speak to him, move around him.’

‘I just don’t want to make things worse, it sounds like he’s been through so much – ’

‘So have you, Liam. Maybe not in the same way, and I’m not diminishing what Stiles has been through, not at all. But never forget that you, that we all, have been through a lot. We all carry scars.’

‘We don’t scar anymore, we heal. Like, really quickly.’ Liam said, confused, and Scott smiled.

‘I don’t mean the scars you can see. The invisible scars. The ones no one can see, the ones we often forget about ourselves. I know they say ‘well someone out there has it worse than you’ and yeah, they’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean what you went through didn’t suckand didn’t leave its mark on you. It doesn’t mean it didn’t change you. And I don’t think Stiles is the kind of person who would look at you and think ‘well you didn’t have it as bad as me so you can’t be upset’.’

Liam nodded slowly, understanding but unsure why Scott was telling him this now.

‘So, I think what you need to remember when you meet Stiles is, think about how you felt after the beserkers, or the dead pool – did you want to talk about those things with anyone? Or with everyone? No, none of us did, not really – so we waited until we were ready. And when one of us was ready, the others listened.’ Scott explained, and Liam nodded again, understanding better. He still didn’t like to talk about that time, although he knew that Scott or any of the others would listen if he did. And now he knew what Scott meant.

All he needed to do was be willing to listen to Stiles. So that’s what he did.

***************************************************************************

Nearly three months after finding Stiles, Lydia came to Scott at lunch one day, when the rest of the pack were suspiciously absent, and told him Stiles was ready to meet him again. Scott nearly choked on his drink – Lydia would wait to tell him until he’d taken a sip.

‘What? Really? I mean… ok, wow. Are you sure? Is hesure? When?’ Scott asked, firing the questions off rapidly until Lydia held up her hand.

‘Yes. This afternoon. You rode the bike, yes?’ She asked, and he nodded.

‘Ok, well give the keys to Isaac, you’re coming with me and the rest of the pack will come over a bit later. Isaac can bring the bike since he got a lift with Kira today.’ She explained, and he wanted to ask more questions, but he bit his tongue – literally. He bit his tongue to stop himself. He just nodded.

‘Ok. Do I need to, I don’t know – ’ Lydia smiled at him.

‘Just be yourself, Scott. I know you’ve been helping the others, especially Liam before he met Stiles. So you know what to do, and honestly, he’s come a long way since we first found him. You’ll be surprised.

And he was.

He followed Lydia into the Sheriff’s house after school that day, and Stiles was sitting in the living room waiting for them. Lydia waltzed right in, dropping down onto the sofa beside Stiles, who smiled at her. Scott paused in the doorway – he’d never seen Stiles smile before, it was… breathtaking. Scott was overcome by the intense need to always keep Stiles smiling that.

When he moved again, stepping into the room, Stiles’ head turned in his direction, and the smiled dimmed, though Scott was grateful it didn’t disappear altogether. He watched as Lydia took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Scott looked around, then sat down in a seat diagonally opposite the sofa, where Stiles and Lydia could easily see him.

‘Hi Stiles.’ Scott said softly, and after a moment Stiles nodded.

‘Hello Alph – Scott. Hello Scott.’ Stiles corrected himself, repeating his greeting with a small nod for himself. Scott smiled.

‘So, Stiles… how’s it been, living with the Sheriff?’ He asked, hoping it was a neutral enough topic to start them off, and he was relieved when Stiles kept smiling.

‘It’s been good. I met him a few times when I was really young, but I hadn’t seen him in a long time before I – before I got here. But he’s been good to me, letting me stay here.’

‘That’s good, I mean that it’s been good. He’s a good man.’ Scott said, internally rolling his eyes at himself.

The next few visits with Stiles went about the same, some basic small talk, maybe a few little anecdotes from Stiles about living with the Sheriff. They always started with just Scott, Stiles and Lydia, with the rest of the pack joining them after a little while. Then, finally, after about five visits, Stiles seemed to be comfortable enough with Scott to start opening up more.

‘He’s been taking me into the station sometimes – get me out of the house, he says. But – um, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to really tell anyone this.’ He paused, and looked at Lydia, who rolled her eyes fondly.

‘Oh, he won’t mind, and Scott’s not going to tell anyone, I promise.’

‘He’s been letting me look at some of the cases with him, none of the really serious ones or anything, like vandalism, theft, things like that. Asking me what I think, things like that.’

‘That sounds interesting.’ Scott commented, glad when it got a slightly bigger smile out of Stiles.

‘It is. Looking at the evidence, trying to find patterns, figure it out. I like it.’

‘I’m glad.’

‘And, the Sheriff and I have been talking, well and Lydia too, and…’ Stiles trailed off, looking at Lydia.

‘We think it’s nearly time to get Stiles enrolled in Beacon Hills High. We’ve been doing some studying, catching him up on a few things he missed, but he’s not really as far behind as he thinks he is – certainly not as far behind as Malia was, and look where she is now.’ Lydia said, giving Stiles a smile.

Scott smiled too, happier than he would have thought at seeing the progress Stiles had made. He was definitely a world away from the boy Scott had first met in the preserve months ago.

‘Well, it will be great to have you at school Stiles. And really, if Lydia says you’re ready and up to date, then you’re ready and up to date. Trust me, most of us, not just Malia, rely on her to help us pass.’ Scott was shocked when Stiles actually laughed at that, then he started laughing too. Before either of them, or Lydia, could say anything else, the front door opened and the rest of the pack spilled in, coming to a stop in the doorway of the living room taking in the sight of Scott and Stiles laughing, Lydia smiling at them while she rolled her eyes.

‘What’s so funny?’ Malia asked, settling in to the seat next to Scott’s when Kira score the last spot on the couch.

‘Scott was just telling Stiles how you all would be failing high school without me.’ Lydia said, putting on a lofty voice as she spoke. Malia just shrugged.

‘Yeah, and?’ She asked, not quite getting the joke, which just sent the rest of them off.

Scott looked around as he laughed, and he caught Stiles’ eye. Stiles gave him a quick grin, and Scott was incredibly happy at the small moment, and the fact that Stiles didn’t just turn away from him immediately. He let himself settle into the chair, relaxing into the conversation with his pack, but mostly content to just sit and listen to them all talk and laugh.

That meeting set the tone going forward, like a small, but important dam, had been broken. Scott still never went to see Stiles on his own, but sometimes it was just him and Isaac and Stiles, or him and Mason and Corey and Stiles. He could tell that Stiles would still get nervous if there were only three of them and the third person went to go get something, or was ready to leave – whenever they just wanted an extra drink or snacks, Scott always jumped up and offered to go get them, or decided he was also ready to leave.

But Stiles was starting to initiate conversations with him now, a month after their first meeting. The first time, Scott was nearly stunned into silence when Stiles turned to him and asked what his favourite class was at school.

Of course, Stiles then went on to ask everyone else the same question (understandably, since he was due to start in a week at BHHS), but he’d asked Scott first.

Then, the next time Scott was over, he asked Scott about his work at the clinic, listening as Scott told him his favourite parts of working for Deaton (the dogs, always the dogs).

Then Stiles didn’t talk to him at all for two visits, steadfastly ignoring him, pretending he didn’t hear questions posed by Scott or giving a simple nod or shake of the head, and Scott wasn’t sure why.

Then it was like that had never happened, and Stiles was back to talking to him, asking him questions, occasionally smiling at him. When he asked Lydia what she thought it meant, if Stiles hated him or something, she just looked at him sadly.

‘He likes you Scott, he does – but sometimes I think he doesn’t want to. It… it scares him, that he likes you, that he’s starting to trust you.’

‘Because I’m an alpha?’ Scott asked, coming to the realisation. Lydia nodded.

‘I think he knows, intellectually, that you’re nothing like the other one, that you’re a good person, a good alpha and friend and leader. But intellect means little when you’ve been through what Stiles has. Sometimes that fear rears its head and he can’t do anything to stop it. But the fact that he didn’t ask you to stay away, or ask one of us to ask you, I think that means a lot.’

Scott nodded, and she gave him a smile, laid her hand on his arm.

‘I know you want to help him, Scott. And I know you’re really starting to care about him. So just remember that, if it happens again. At least he still wants you there.’

Scott smiled back, and the next time it happened two weeks later, and the time after that, he remembered those words.

***************************************************************************

Nearly six months had passed since the day Stiles arrived in Beacon Hills when Scott got the call. He and the pack were gathered at Lydia’s house, the seniors pouring over Lydia’s chemistry notes while she helped the sophomores with their maths. Scott was about to ask Stiles a question (he was now second only to Lydia when it came to chemistry and maths) when his phone started ringing.

He pulled it out of his pocket, eyebrows raising when he saw Derek’s name on the screen.

‘Derek? What’s up?’ He asked, pulling the attention of most of his pack, bar Stiles and the puppies as Stiles had nicknamed the younger trio.

‘Hey Scott. Look, it might not be anything, but I wanted to give you a heads up.’ Derek said, and Scott was becoming confused. He gave Lydia a look to keep working with Liam and the others, then moved from the room.

‘A heads up? On what?’ He asked quietly.

‘Braeden and I have been travelling around, looking for other packs, just to see what’s going on, trying to make some connections, you know allies that sort of thing. And we just met a pack in Wyoming, they told us their Alpha just left like a day ago to look for one of their betas who went missing.’ Derek told him.

‘Yeah, ok, so?’ He asked, not getting what Derek was trying to tell him.

‘Well, they were all pretty hesitant to talk to us, but when I mentioned my mum, one of them had heard of her when she was younger and when we were getting ready to leave, she slipped us a note, to meet her at a diner in the next town over. When we met with her, she told us that the beta isn’t missing, he ran away. Their alpha turned him nearly two years ago, wooed him and convinced him to accept the bite right after his parents died when he was vulnerable, and has been abusing him ever since. Six months ago, the beta took off, and the alpha has been looking for him ever since. Five days ago, he remembered that the boy used his mother’s maiden name until she remarried – when they met, he was using his stepfather’s surname. He finally remembered the boy telling him his name, well nickname, came from the mother’s original surname.’

‘Why are you telling me all this, Derek?’ Scott asked, getting impatient.

‘Well once the alpha had the surname, he remembered the mother had had a cousin, who lived in – ’

‘Beacon Hills.’ Scott finished for him, his stomach dropping. ‘Derek, was the beta’s nickname?’

‘Uh… Stills? Something like that. Apparently the cousin was Stilinski.’

‘Stiles.’ Scott breathed out.

‘Yeah, that was it – wait, how did you know that?’ Derek asked. ‘Have you met him? Scott, his alpha is tracking him to Beacon Hills as we speak. This beta told us he’ll do whatever it takes to get this Stiles back.’

‘Yeah, I figured that, thanks. And yes, we know Stiles. Thanks for the heads up, Derek, we’ll take care of it.’

‘Scott, seriously – he’s apparently a very one-track mind sort of alpha and he thinks Stiles belongs to him. Think Peter but more possessive over people, not wealth. Just as crazy by the sound of it, though.’

‘Yeah, I already knew that. Don’t worry, we’ll deal with it. I’ll deal with it.’ Scott said, a tone of finality in his voice.

‘Ok. Just, I mean if you want, Braeden and I can be there in two days.’

‘No, it sounds like this guys’ got a head start on you anyway, by the time you get here, hopefully it will have been sorted. I gotta go warn the others, but thanks for the call.’

‘Any time. Good luck, Scott.’

Scott hung up the phone, and pocketed it, turning to find Stiles standing behind him, looking like he’d seen a ghost. Scott raced forward, but stopped just short of touching him.

‘He’s coming here?’ Stiles questioned, his voice sounding blank – almost like he did the day they first found him.

‘Yes, but don’t worry, Stiles, I won’t – we won’t let him hurt you.’

‘You can’t stop him, you can’t, he won’t – I have to leave. He found me.’ Stiles was starting to panic, his body shaking.

‘Hey, Stiles, it’s ok, calm down, come on – you don’t have to leave, I promise you we’ll keep you safe.’ Isaac and Lydia appeared behind Stiles, their eyes wide as they took in the scene.

‘What – ’

‘He’s coming. I have to leave, I can’t go back.’ Stiles said, and Scott reached out, pulling the beta in to his chest, wrapping his arms around him.

‘Shh, Stiles it’s ok. You never have to go back, you never have to do anything you don’t want again.’ He rubbed one hand up and down Stiles back, continuing to whisper into his ear. Isaac and Lydia stepped closer, each reaching out to put a hand on Stiles shoulder in comfort.

‘Scott is right, Stiles. You never have to go back there, and we won’t let him hurt you. You have all of us now, you have a new pack and we take care of our pack.’ Isaac said softly.

‘My pack… my pack didn’t…’ Stiles tried to speak through his tears and the shaking that still wracked his body.

‘We know they didn’t look out for you like they should have Stiles. None of them did, and they should. But we will.’ Lydia said.

They stood there like that, taking it in turns to whisper to him, maintaining contact until he started to calm, his body eventually stilling as he remained in Scott’s arms.

‘Do you trust us, Stiles?’ Lydia asked, and Scott inhaled sharply – it was the first time anyone had asked him that. He pulled himself away from Scott, not completely out of his hold, but enough to turn to look first at Isaac, then Lydia. He looked back up at Scott, then back at Lydia and nodded slowly. ‘Then please trust us when we say we will protect you, and we will stop that sorry excuse for an alpha.’

The derision in her voice as she said the word alpha was more than clear, and Scott was glad she’d never aimed that derision his way.

Stiles looked between them all slowly, holding eye contact with each one before he slowly nodded. Then he pulled away from Scott, and turned to Lydia.

‘I think I’m ready to go now. I’m going to call Uncle Noah and ask him to come get me.’ He told her.

‘Are you sure? You can stay here tonight if you’d like.’ Lydia offered, but Stiles just shook his head.

‘No, I think I want to go home.’ He said softly, and Lydia nodded.

‘Ok.’ Stiles wandered back to the other room to get his phone, calling his uncle to come and collect him. Scott quickly filled Isaac and Lydia in on what had happened.

‘Fill the others in for me, ok? Then tell them to head home, get some sleep. If he left a day ago, he’ll be here by tomorrow at the latest. And we need to be prepared for a fight.’

‘Where are you going?’ Isaac asked, and Scott looked at him.

‘To watch over Stiles.’

‘You think the alpha is already here?’ Lydia asked, and Scott shook his head.

‘No, I mean maybe but that’s not why. His first instinct was to run, which I can understand. But…’

‘But you still think he might try to?’ Lydia finished for him, and he nodded.

‘It’s like you said Lydia – he trusts us, but the fear is still there. And I’m just worried the fear will win out before we can deal with the alpha.’ Scott said, and Lydia looked over her shoulder to the room where Stiles was talking to his uncle, then back at Scott.

‘I get it. Look after him, and if he does try to leave, tell him I’m gonna kick his ass for trying to leave without saying goodbye.’ She said, trying to joke to cover up how hurt she would be if he did try to leave without saying anything.

‘I will. Uh, if anyone asks, my mum called, yeah?’ Lydia raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He gave her a smile, then left, to head off Stiles and Sheriff.

***************************************************************************

Scott watched from his spot across the street as the Sheriff and Stiles pulled up. He wasn’t sure if Stiles would have told the Sheriff what had happened, but just in case Scott had sent the older man a text telling him to keep an eye on Stiles tonight.

He sat and listened – not listening in per se, just keeping an ear out – as the Sheriff and Stiles moved around the house, talked a little about their days, then bid each other goodnight. Scott waited nearly three hours in the dark, and cold, but then, just as he suspected, an hour after the Sheriff had finally drifted off to sleep, Scott heard movement in the house.

He focused in on the sound, and followed it as Stiles moved down the stairs quietly, then he opened the front door and slipped out. Scott moved from his spot, meeting Stiles in the middle of the street.

‘Stiles.’ He said softly, but the beta still jumped, whirling around to face him.

‘Scott. What are you doing here?’ He asked, eyes darting around, though Scott wasn’t sure if he expected the rest of Scott’s pack to show up, or his former alpha.

‘Trying to stop you from doing… exactly what you’re doing.’ Scott replied, and Stiles’ shoulders slumped.

‘I have to, Scott. Who knows when he’ll get here, I need to – ’

‘You don’t need to, Stiles. We meant what we said, Stiles. We’re going to protect you – you’re part of our pack now, and we protect each other. We’ll protect you, we want to protect you.’

‘Why, Scott? Why would any of you want to put yourselves in danger to protect me?’ Stiles demanded, and Scott’s heart broke at the question.

‘Because we think you’re worth it.’ He answered, and Stiles stared at him.

‘I’m not.’ He whispered.

‘You really should listen to him, Scott. He’s not worth it.’ Stiles froze, his face draining of colour and Scott turned towards the voice. The man walking towards them was tall and lanky, thin really. But there was something in his face, a look in his eyes that Scott had seen before – in Peter, in Ennis, in Kali. It was a look of disdain, hatred, superiority.

‘Jason.’ Stiles whispered, and Scott looked back to him, where he was still frozen.

‘Hello Stiles. I’ve been looking for you, for a long time. You just left, not a word. And look at this, I find you and you’re doing the same thing again, to your… new alpha?’ The other alpha asked with a sneer. Stiles shook his head, but couldn’t seem to speak.

‘Leave him alone. You’re not welcome here, and Stiles is not going anywhere with you. I suggest you leave before I make you leave.’ Scott told him, moving himself so he stood between Stiles and this Jason.

‘Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do that, Scott. Stiles is part of my pack, no matter what you and he seem to have been doing since he took off. He belongs to me, and I will be taking him with me.’

‘He’s not a piece of property, you don’t ownhim – you don’t own anyone.’ Scott shot back, watching the way the other alpha moved. He was moving carefully, stalking towards them until suddenly he lunged at Scott.

Scott ducked to the side, swiping out with his claws, catching the other alpha in the side. Jason recovered quickly, spinning back around, arm out to try and swipe Scott. Scott caught his arm, yanking him close, twisting his arm up and around to his back. He dug the claws from his other hand into Jason’s back, forcing him to stand still.

‘Scott, wait!’ Stiles’ voice took him by surprise, and, bringing Jason with him, he turned to face Stiles. ‘I don’t want you to kill him. You don’t kill people, and I don’t want you to start because of me.’

Scott stared at Stiles, and the other just stared at him. Scott nodded, and slowly pulled his claws out, then released Jason’s arm, shoving him to the side.

Before Scott could say anything, Jason surged forward towards Stiles.

‘Stiles!’ Scott moved, but Stiles kicked out at Jason, then threw up a hand at Scott to stop him.

‘No, Scott. Please, let me do this.’ Stiles asked, and Scott paused, watching him. He looked between Stiles and Jason, who was watching them with interest, then he nodded. He took a small step back, and let Stiles focus.

‘So brave, Stiles. But foolish.’ Jason lunged again, claws out, but Stiles moved, turning away from the incoming attack and then spinning back in to appear at Jason’s back, scraping his claws across Jason’s back, then punctuating that with a kick to Jason’s knee. Jason went down from the force and rolled with it, coming out of the roll on his knees, fangs bared and eyes flashing red.

He leapt up, and while Stiles threw out his arms to deflect him, Jason managed to land a swipe on Stiles’ shoulder, then as Stiles corrected his stance, Jason kicked out, catching Stiles in the stomach. Stiles stumbled back, then caught himself. He stood, then raced forward, taking the lead in the fight for the first time. He feinted to the right, then ducked to the left to land a punch to Jason’s ribs, and another on Jason’s jaw. Then he kicked in the knee again, and when Jason went down, Stiles caught him by his shirt and brought a knee up to Jason’s groin. Scott winced in automatic male sympathy at the move, then grinned with pride.

Stiles landed one final kick to Jason’s torso, sending him sprawling across the road. Stiles moved to stand over the other alpha, and after putting his foot on his chest, he leaned over. He was quiet, but Scott could still hear what he was saying.

‘I am not worthless, Jason. I have never been worthless, and I have never deserved any of the things you did to me. I deserve to be happy, to have people who love me, and I will do more with my life than be a punching bag for you. I have a new pack here, and our pack looks after each other. Don’t come back.’

Stiles stepped away, then turned his back on his former alpha and walked towards Scott. Scott was about to speak, but then two things happened at once. He heard a car racing up the road from his left, and he glanced in that direction before movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he looked back to see Jason had stood and was racing at Stiles, claws out.

Scott opened his mouth to yell, reached out to grab for Stiles when a gunshot sounded and Jason fell.

Stiles spun around in shock, looking at Jason on the ground, then looking around. Scott looked too, and then saw the car he’d heard. It had come to a stop nearly twenty feet away. The front door was open, and when it closed Scott saw someone step out from behind it that he hadn’t seen in months.

‘Chris?’ He asked, looking at Allison’s father. The older man looked over at Scott and smiled, nodding in greeting.

‘Scott.’

‘Scott? What’s going on?’ Stiles asked, looking between them and the body in the road.

‘Stiles, this is Chris Argent, he’s an old friend. Chris, what are you doing here?’

‘Derek called, told me about this violent alpha that was heading to town, asked if I was close. I was only a couple of hours away chasing a lead on Kate, so I took a detour, and looks like I made the right choice. This is the alpha, right?’

Scott nodded, but before he could say anything else, the door to the Stilinski house opened and the Sheriff came running out, service weapon in hand. Then he spotted Scott, Stiles and Chris, and the body on the ground, lowered his weapon and sighed.

Scott looked over at Chris, and then back at the Sheriff.

‘We can explain.’

***************************************************************************

They were able to explain, and Chris had an easy, believable cover story for the Sheriff to use (all they needed was one of his spare knives and an old gun which they put in Jason’s hands and voila, a good reason for Chris to have shot). But when Scott noticed Stiles starting to shake as the adrenaline wore off, he called Lydia and asked her to come and stay with Stiles. The other boy had been unable to meet his eye since the Sheriff had come out, and Scott wondered if he’d pushed too hard.

Lydia had arrived, and after Scott and Stiles had given their ‘statements’ to Deputy Parrish, Lydia took Stiles inside and Scott headed home.

The next day, just after his mum left for her shift at the hospital, a knock sounded on the front door and Scott ran down the stairs to answer. He wasn’t sure who it would be since the only people who tended to come over were the pack, and none of them knocked any more.

He opened the door and was surprised to find Stiles standing on the other side. Looking behind him, he saw Lydia wave from her car before pulling away from the kerb.

‘Uh, hey Stiles. How – how are you going?’ He asked, stepping to the side to let the other boy inside.

Stiles stepped inside and looked around – it was the first time he’d been to the McCall house.

‘Hi Scott.’ He said, turning back to him. ‘Um, is Isaac home?’

Scott tried to hide his disappointment – of course Stiles was looking for Isaac, not him. He shook his head.

‘No, he’s not. He’s got a meeting for a group project, he’ll be home later though.’

‘Oh, no I meant – I’m here to talk to you. But I’d rather do it just the two of us, so I was just checking.’ Stiles stopped, closed his eyes. ‘Sorry, I’m not making sense. I want to talk to you, and I just wanted to make sure we were alone first.’

Scott nodded, unsure where Stiles was heading with this – but also felt a small flutter of hope that Stiles wasn’t just willingto be alone with him, but wanted to be alone with him.

‘Of course. Well, yeah, it’s just us. Mum’s at work. Um, do you wanna go sit in the living room?’ He asked, and Stiles nodded so Scott led him over to the couch.

‘So. Ok, so when I first got here, you know I didn’t really want to be around you, right? Because of what… of what Jason had done. Then eventually we got to know each other, and I sort of got the impression that you liked me – I mean, more than just a friend or part of the pack. But the thing is, when we met I was completely helpless, like this sad little puppy you get at the clinic that you want to cuddle and fix and that’s not what I am, Scott.’ Stiles looked up at him, and Scott sighed.

‘You’re right. About all of it, in a way. When I first met you, I wanted to help you - you looked so alone, and afraid. I wanted to make you feel safe. But then you finally started to settle in, you started to smile and laugh and I got to know you, the real you not just that scared beta in the preserve. And then last night you stood up for yourself. You showed him that you’re not that scared beta anymore, that you’re strong and independent and more than capable of looking after yourself. That’s who I fell in love with. So yes, I still want to make you feel safe, and loved but I also know you can look after yourself. This isn’t about saving you, Stiles. It’s about loving you.’

‘I didn’t want to love you. In fact, I fought it for a long time. It made me feel weak, falling for another alpha. I knew you weren’t like him, but it still made me feel like I wasn’t enough, that falling in love with another alpha just proved what he’d said about me being useless.

‘I know you made yourself scarce at first. Well, mostly – I knew you were out there sometimes, watching the house. But you let Lydia introduce me to the betas one by one, and I knew that when they were spending time with me and Lydia it meant you were on your own, without your pack. But you still stayed away, didn’t push to come inside or join in because it’s what you thought I needed, wanted. And then when you did come around, you were so careful, no sudden movements, always staying where I could see you. Letting me lead conversations, make decisions. And part of me worried it was an act, even though I knew it wasn’t.

‘Then last night, when I asked you - told you - to stop fighting for me, you did. I could tell you didn’t want to, but you did. You stepped back and let me do what I needed to do, for myself. To prove to myself that I could. When that shot rang out, and Jason dropped dead, I thought for a second that you hadn’t really believed I could do, that you’d just pretended to let me deal with him until your friend arrived.’

‘I didn’t!’ Scott interjected, and Stiles nodded.

‘I know that now. I spoke to Lydia last night, and then Christ came by this morning to see Noah. And that was when I finally knew, or I guess let myself believe, fully, that all those things I’d seen in you, they were real. That’s who you are. You’re never going to push me for something I don’t want, or I’m not ready for. You’re never going to make me feel like I’m less, or weak or useless. And now I know that I’m not – last night I proved that to myself.’ Stiles told him, giving him a small smile. There was a lull then, a silence but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Scott thought about what Stiles was saying, and it made him think back to his conversation with Liam, before Liam had met Stiles for the first time.

‘You know, I told Liam once that not all scars are visible – in fact, we don’t get visible scars anymore, as werewolves. Because we heal, some people start to think that nothing can hurt us, not really. But it’s those scars that aren’tvisible that are the worst. Because they’re so easy to overlook, to ignore even as they become so ingrained in who we are. But you chose not to do that. You chose to fight back against what was causing them, first when you left then when you stood up and fought for yourself last night. You might always carry those scars, but they don’t define you Stiles. And it sounds like you’re starting to see that.’

Stiles cocked his head as he considered this, then nodded.

‘You’re right. It’s a part of me, it always will be. But it’s not who I am. It’s not who I want to be, who I choose to be.’

‘So, who do you choose to be?’ Scott asked softly, and Stiles looked down at his hands where they lay intwined in his lap, then back up at Scott.

‘I choose to be… me. Happy. Pack.’ He paused, a small smiled gracing his lips. ‘Yours?’

Scott stared at him, not sure if he’d heard him correctly. Then Stiles’ smile fell and he started to back away.

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry that was totally inappropriate – ’

‘You can be mine only if I can be yours.’ Scott said in a rush, and Stiles froze, looked at him.

‘Do you mean it?’ He asked in a whisper, and Scott nodded.

‘I mean it. I don’t know if I’ve ever meant anything more. But… if we’re going to do this can you promise me one thing?’ Stiles looked wary now, like he didn’t want to blindly promise anything. ‘If I ever do anythingto make you uncomfortable, or scared or unhappy – will you tell me? Or, if you don’t think you can tell me, tell someone, like Lydia or Isaac or – ’

Stiles laughed then, and Scott stopped, looking at him.

‘The fact that you want me to promise that is why I don’t think you ever will do anything like that.’ Stiles told him. Scott smiled at him, but then spoke again.

‘Still. Will you promise me? Please?’ He asked again, and Stiles looked at him, considering, then he nodded slowly.

‘Ok. I promise.’ Scott nodded back, and while he hoped it was never necessary he still hoped that Stiles would live up to this promise if it was. He was comforted by the knowledge, however, that if any members of his pack ever found out he’d done something they wouldn’t hesitate to say something to him.

‘Thank you.’ He said, and Stiles smiled at him.

‘Can you promise me something in return?’ Stiles asked him, and Scott sat up straight, nodding vigorously. ‘Promise me… that you’re going to kiss me in the next twenty seconds?’

Scott’s mouth dropped open at the request, his brain short circuiting. Then Stiles started laughing at him, and Scott knew, as he had the first time he heard that sound, that he would do anything he could to keep hearing that sound. Stiles held up a hand, counting down from five with his fingers and just as he got to one, Scott moved forward, bringing an arm around Stiles’ waist and pulling him in close.

‘I love you, Stiles.’ Scott whispered, and Stiles’ eyes closed briefly. When they opened, he stared directly at Scott.

‘I love you too, Scott.’ Then Stiles closed the distance, pressing his lips to Scott’s in a gentle kiss.

Scott let himself sink into it, revelling in the feeling.

He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. They both carried scars with them and always would. He was sure he would mess up, and all he could hope is that he would never screw up so badly that Stiles left, that he hurt Stiles beyond repair. And he knew he would need to be patient, that Stiles would have good days and bad days as he continued to heal, that he might pull away sometimes. But he wasn’t going to doing it alone – he had Scott now, and the Sheriff, and the pack, and Scott would give him space but, like last night, he wouldn’t let Stiles run.

#trigger warnings apply #trigger warning: past abuse #trigger warning: mentioned past abuse #but there is no non-con #scilesweek #sciles week #scilesweek 2021 #sciles week 2021 #sciles week day 4 #day 4: scars #sciles #sciles fanfiction #au fanfiction #stiles is not from Beacon Hills #stiles is a werewolf #scott and stiles #slow burn #teen wolf #teen wolf fanfiction

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elspethc22 · 3 years ago

Text

Five Nights of Summer

Sciles week day 5: Summer Nights

Pairing: Scott/Stiles

Word count: 3649

Five Summer Nights

Summer Before Freshman Year

‘Man, I can’t believe we’re gonna be in high school in a month!’ Stiles exclaimed (not for the first time this summer) from his spot on Scott’s bed. Scott turned from his desk to look at Stiles, rolling his eyes.

‘I know, dude. We’ve done this already.’

‘Yeah, but high school, Scotty. It’s a whole new ballpark! This is the year, man! This is the year Lydia Martin is finally gonna notice me.’ Stiles told him, sitting up, a look of determination on his face.

‘If you say so, Stiles.’ Scott said, wanting to believe for his buddy’s sake, but pretty sure that this year would be just like the last… six, was it? He’d lost count of how long his friend had been in love with Lydia Martin. ‘I’m bored, man. It’s Friday night, and we’re sitting around doing nothing, again.’

Stiles got that look in his eye which usually meant trouble was coming his way, and Scott almost regretted opening his mouth. Then again, Stiles’ record for getting them back out of trouble after getting them into was getting better. And his plans had like, a ninety percent fun rating, trouble or no.

Scott grinned, leaning forward in anticipation of whatever Stiles had come up with. A few hours later, he’d think back and regret that anticipation when the Sheriff was hauling them both by the necks of their tops and all but shoving them into the back of his cruiser.

Then again, when Stiles turned to him, grinning, as soon as his dad was gone, Scott couldn’t help but grin back. Sneaking into a high school party had been awesome – right up until someone had called the cops on it, and Stiles and Scott had been caught by Stiles’ dad. But, since they hadn’t been there long (and Scott was still able to exert some level of control over Stiles’ wilder ideas) they hadn’t had any alcohol so at least they had that on their side when their parents decided on punishments. And they didn’t know any other people in their year who had ever been to a real high school party before. Maybe Stiles was right. Maybe this year would be different.

Summer before Sophomore Year

‘Come on, dude, I wanna make first line this year, that means practicing.’ Scott said, staring at Stiles who was sprawled across his bed. Scott stood in the doorway of Stiles’ room, lacrosse stick in hand, staring at his best friend.

‘But Scott! It’s summer!! Summer is meant to be for fun and sleeping and being lazy.’

‘Dude, you’re always lazy.’ Scott laughed, and Stiles shot his hand up in the air, giving Scott the finger. ‘Come on, you practice with me this afternoon, and it’s your pick for tonight.’

It was Friday night, and Stiles had spent the last few complaining they never did anything exciting. So as expected, when Scott dangled that possibility, Stiles sat up.

‘Really? Anything I pick?’ He asked, already looking like he was in planning mode. Scott nodded.

‘Anything.’

When he’d promised that, Scott really didn’t imagine it meant he was going to be spending his Friday night in the mall trying to find Lydia Martin because Stiles had apparently overheard one of her friends making plans over the phone when he’d gone to the shop for milk that morning.

They’d been at the mall for nearly an hour now, and they’d already tried countless shops that Stiles was sure would be the type Lydia would go to, and not a single sighting of her.

‘Dude, your dad finishes his shift in less than an hour, and if we’re not ready to go when he gets here you know he’ll leave us and we’ll have to get the bus and then walk back to your place.’ Scott said, and Stiles threw him a quick glance.

‘Don’t worry, Scotty, we’ll find her, I’m sure of it. Come on, there’s a few more places we haven’t tried, she’s got to be at one of them.’ Stiles sped up and Scott rolled his eyes. The things he did because Stiles talked him into it.

As they sat on the bus nearly two hours later, having never found Lydia, Scott chose to ignore his sulking best friend in favour of playing around on his phone. When that got boring, he opened the camera on his phone, and started taking photos. First he tried a few of himself but they kept coming out blurry or his aim was way off. So he switched to taking photos of Stiles.

He managed to take a few before Stiles realised what was going on, then he started complaining, then moved swiftly to making silly faces at the camera. When Scott was checking one of the photos, Stiles stole his phone from his hand and suddenly Scott found himself on the other side of the camera.

He scrunched up his nose, then decided to mimic the faces Stiles had pulled earlier until Stiles was laughing. Then Stiles pulled Scott in and turned the camera.

They didn’t manage to check any of the photos since the bus pulled up to the stop closest to the Stilinski house and they had to race to get off.

But the next day, when Scott was flipping through his photos, he found one photo of the two of them that was in focus and had both of them in the frame. Stiles had his arm around Scott’s shoulder, which was just visible, and their faces were pressed up against each other, both grinning into the camera. Scott made sure he saved the photo, sent it to himself to save on his laptop then set it as his phone background. It hadn’t been such a bad night after all.

Summer before Junior Year

Scott lay on his bed in silence, thinking about the past few months, all the changes both good and bad. Then he thought back to his conversation with Stiles earlier that day when they were practicing lacrosse.

‘No lacrosse. No popularity, no girlfriend, nothing.’

‘Dude, you still got me.’

‘I had you before.’

‘Yeah, and you still got me. Okay? It’s a life fulfilled.’

Scott was surprised by how much the idea of no girlfrienddidn’t really hurt any more. When Allison had first ended things, following the absolute disaster that was the of the lacrosse final, he’d felt broken. Broken heart, broken spirit, just… broken. But now, nearly two months later, the hurt had started fade. Still there, but more manageable.

His summer had been spent much like most of his previous summers – just him and Stiles. When Stiles had reminded him earlier that he still had him, the thought had made Scott want to grin, wide. After being bitten by Peter, and then meeting Allison, Scott hadn’t spent as much time with Stiles as he usually would in the last few months of school. Between suddenly having a girlfriend, and trying to stay alive and getting caught up in werewolves and kanimas and everything, it had rarely just been the two of them.

Today it had felt like Stiles was reassuring him that he would always be there, and after everything, even with as much as he’d loved Allison, hearing that was the best thing he’d heard in a long time.

Scott was still lost in thought when he heard the front door open, and he propped himself up on his bed. His mum was working the late shift, so who – he heard the familiar heartbeat just before the footsteps started up the stairs and smiled. Of course, who else would just let themselves into his house? Although, he was surprised he hadn’t heard the jeep pull up.

‘Scotty! I come bearing supplies!’ Stiles’ called out, as if Scott wouldn’t have heard him by now.

Scott contemplated sitting up, but decided instead to simply roll over on his bed so he was on his stomach, facing the door. Stiles rounded the corner into his room, and Scott’s eyes widened when he took in the bags Stiles was carrying.

‘Uh… Stiles, what’s going on? You moving in or something?’ It looked like Stiles had a bag full of clothes, his PlayStation plus controllers, and two bags of food.

Stiles dumped everything just inside the door and bounded over to the bed, dropping down beside Scott with a thump that made Scott bounce.

‘Nope. Well, not technically. Dad’s on call all weekend, and I know Mama McCall is on late shifts so we’re having a boys weekend! You, me, junk food, video games and movies.’ Stiles’ eyes were sparkling, and Scott felt his excitement grow. They hadn’t had a bro night in longer than Scott could remember and the prospect of a whole weekend just the two of them hanging out like they used to – it was exactly what Scott needed.

He grinned, sitting up to face Stiles.

‘Tell me you have pop tarts.’ He said, trying, and failing, to sound serious. Stiles rolled his eyes.

‘Of course I have pop tarts, dude – who do you take me for, and amateur?’ Stiles shoved his shoulder good naturedly, then slipped off the bed to start fiddling with the PlayStation and Scott’s newly repaired tv.

Scott was content to just watch Stiles tinker.

Summer before Senior Year

The next summer, things were different – Allison was gone, Isaac and Derek had both left town, and Scott’s pack had expanded to include a werecoyote, a kitsune, Scott’s first ever bitten beta and a banshee they had thought was human. Stiles was dating Malia and still trying to help her integrate back into human society (Lydia was handling the school part after over hearing some of Stiles’ teaching methods). Scott was sort of dating Kira, even though she had been in New York for most of the summer.

They only had one more week until Summer was over and they began their final year of High School, and Scott could tell that Stiles was starting to get antsy about it, although he wasn’t entirely sure why.

So tonight, for the first time this summer, he’d made sure it was just gonna be the two of them – Liam was hanging out with Mason, and Lydia was taking Malia shopping for new school wardrobes or something.

So Scott let himself into the Stilinski house, nodding a greeting to the Sheriff who was sitting at the kitchen table looking over a case file.

‘Hey, Scott.’

‘Hi. How’s it going?’ He asked, and the Sheriff gave him a small smile.

‘Been a quiet summer, so can’t complain. The opposite, actually – it’s been refreshing, especially after the last year.’ Scott smiled in return – it was certainly easier for them with the Sheriff finally in the know, but he knew how hard it still was for his friend’s dad to have so many cases he couldn’t officially close because ‘it was a werewolf’ wasn’t really something he could put in an official report.

‘It’s been nice.’ Scott agreed.

‘Stiles is upstairs, doing… something.’ The Sheriff told him, and Scott nodded his thanks before bounding up the stairs, and entering Stiles room.

‘Hey Stiles.’ Stiles looked up from his laptop where it was sitting in his lap as he lounged on his bed.

‘Hey, Scott. What’s up?’ He asked, moving his laptop out of the way, closing the lid.

‘Not much. Thought we could hang, just us.’ Stiles’ eyes narrowed, and Scott cursed. Stiles was always able to read between the lines with him.

‘What is it? What happened? Is it Malia? Kira? Liam? Did he have like, a pre moon wolf out and run around naked again?’ He asked, and Scott shook his head.

‘No. Seriously, everyone’s fine, I swear. I just thought it would be nice for us to hang out just us, like it used to be.’ Scott explained, and Stiles relaxed minutely, though he was still staring at Scott like he was waiting for the but.

‘Ok.’

Scott moved into the room, kicking his shoes off and then sitting on the end of the bed, legs crossed, facing Stiles.

‘Ok. Fine. There is something I wanted to talk about – ’

‘I knew it! There is something wrong – ’

‘Stiles.’ Scott cut him off, using what Stiles had dubbed his alpha voice. Stiles always liked to claim it didn’t actually work on him since he wasn’t a werewolf, but nine times out of ten if Scott used it, Stiles would shut up.

This was one of those times.

‘It’s nothing bad, I just… You’ve been really focused on this whole post-senior year plan, like really focused, even for you, and I just – is everything ok? I mean, I totally understand wanting to keep us all together, I don’t like the idea of the pack just going their separate ways at the end of the year but, I don’t know, it seems like this is more than that.’

Stiles looked down at his hands, and Scott waited, watching him. Finally, he looked up at Scott and shrugged.

‘I asked my dad a few days ago who he still talks to, from his high school friends – do you know what he said?’ Scott shook his head at the question, but from Stiles posture and voice he could guess where this was going. ‘None, Scott. He doesn’t talk to a single one of his friends from high school.’

‘Is that what’s had you so wound up? You think that’s gonna be us?’ Scott asked, and Stiles shrugged again, then nodded once. Scott wanted to laugh, but bit it back, knowing it wouldn’t help.

‘Stiles – hey, look at me. That sucks for your dad, and yeah, maybe that happens to some people – but that is never going to be us, ok? First, we’re not all just friends, we’re pack, that means something.’ Stiles nodded, but he still didn’t look convinced. ‘And second? You and I? We’ve never just been friends – Stiles, you’ve always been more than just a friend, you’re the most important person in my life besides my mum. And after everything we’ve been through – Stiles, you stepped into gasoline while I held a lit flare to save my life or die with me. And I would do anythingto keep you safe too. So yeah, I’m really sorry for your dad and all those other people who lose their high school friends but we’re never gonna be those people.’

Stiles blinked at him, then started to smile, and Scott grinned in return.

‘You’re right, there’s not really any high school friendship like ours, is there?’ Stiles said, and Scott shook his head.

‘Nope. We’re one of a kind. Dude, you’re always gonna have me.’

‘I always have.’ Stiles responded, and Scott was suddenly reminded of that day last summer.

‘It’s a life fulfilled, right?’ He asked, hoping Stiles would remember. From the way Stiles’ eyes widened, then filled with happiness as he grinned, he too remembered that day.

‘Absolutely.’ He agreed, and they laughed. And Scott gave an internal sigh of relief that he’d figured out what was troubling his best friend, and had – hopefully – managed to fix it. At least for now.

Summer after High School

‘Dude, we did it.’ Stiles said, and Scott turned to look at him from the passenger side of the jeep. They were sitting in the jeep in the car park of the school two hours after their high school graduation ceremony.

Everyone else had left, the rest of the pack having not long taken off in groups to head to their favourite dinner for a celebratory dinner. Their parents had headed home with instructions to have fun but, under no circumstances, wake them up when they got home. They both had early shifts.

‘I know, I can’t believe we graduated.’ Scott agreed, and Stiles shook his head.

‘No, man – I mean yes, we did, but we did more than that. We survived.’ Stiles told him, turning in his seat to face Scott.

‘Stiles – did you mean it?’ Scott asked, and Stiles looked at him. ‘The night… the night they took you, the riders – you called me, but I didn’t know who you were…’

‘You remember that?’ Stiles asked, before he winced and ducked his head down.

‘Hey.’ Scott reached out, put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder, waited until Stiles looked up again. ‘Yeah, I remember. It came back when I saw you again for the first time at the hospital. Did you mean it?’

Stiles stared at him, and Scott just held his gaze, not moving. He just waited. After what felt like an eternity, Stiles nodded once.

‘I meant it.’

‘Scott? Hey, Scott, where are you? Where are you right now?’

‘Who’s this?’

‘Scott… no, please – please, Scott, you have to remember ok? They’re coming for me, but you have to remember, please – remember me. Remember… remember that I love you. I love you Scott, I never said it before but I do, I love you. I love you. Remember that.’

‘I love you too.’ Scott told him, and Stiles started to shake his head but Scott moved his hand from Stiles’ shoulder to cup his cheek, stilling the movement.

‘I do. When I realised what was missing from my life, that they’d taken you it was like this… I don’t know how to describe it, but I knew then. I need you in my life, always, not just because you’re my best friend but you’re the person I love more than anyone. I’m in love with you Stiles.’

Stiles’ eyes had filled with tears as he listened, and he blinked.

‘Are you sure?’ He asked softly, and Scott heard the fear in his voice.

‘Never been more sure.’ Scott told him, his voice steady and serious.

‘I’m in love with you too.’ Stiles admitted, and Scott smiled and then before Stiles could move Scott had leaned it, bringing his other hand to the back of Stiles’ head to pull him forward to meet him, pressing his lips to Stiles’.

Stiles squeaked in surprise, but quickly melted into the kiss, bringing his own hands up – one to mirror Scott’s and cup the back of Scott’s head, the other to wrap around Scott’s back, trying to pull him closer. Scott tilted his head slightly, and then deepened the kiss, pulling a groan from Stiles that Scott wanted to hear again and again.

When Stiles pulled back slightly, just to catch his breath, he grinned at Scott, and Scott mirrored the expression.

‘Well… that was new.’ Stiles said, and Scott laughed, rolling his eyes at the statement that was so Stiles.

‘But good?’ He checked when he stopped laughing, and Stiles bit his lip, and nodded.

‘Definitely good.’ Stiles started to lean in, and Scott moved as well but then Stiles’ phone went off, and he groaned. ‘I want to ignore it. I do. But that’s the ringtone Lydia set for herself and I fear that if I don’t answer she’s going to make me pay, somehow.’

Scott bit his lip to keep himself from laughing, and nodded his agreement. Lydia had certainly changed over the last couple of years, grown into herself and her abilities – but she still hated to be ignored. If she called, you answered. And if you didn’t, you were on your own, pack or no pack (Liam learned that lesson the hard way early in Scott and Stiles’ senior year).

‘Lydia? What’s up?’ Stiles asked, answering the phone just before it rang out.

‘Stiles? Where the hell are you guys? We’ve all been here for ages, and everyone’s getting hungry – and by everyone I mean the werecoyote, werewolf and teenage boys!’ She nearly shouted into the phone, and Stiles winced, staring at Scott with wide eyes. They’d both forgotten they were meant to be meeting the rest of the pack for dinner.

‘Uh, sorry, the jeep was acting up again, but I think it��s sorted now. We’ll be there in like, ten minutes. You know what, Scott and I always get the same thing there anyway, why don’t you just all go ahead and order, and order ours too? That’ll keep the others happy.’ Scott grinned at him – they were meeting at their favourite diner, and he and Stiles had been ordering the same thing for years.

Scott listened as Stiles rattled off their orders from memory, then after swearing to Lydia they were getting on the road right this minute, he hung up.

‘Oops?’ Stiles said, grinning at Scott.

‘Oops.’ Scott agreed, then, Lydia and her threats be damned, he leaned back across the centre console to kiss Stiles once again.

When he pulled back, Stiles looked a little dazed before shaking his head as if to clear it. Scott settled back into his seat with a smile, watching as Stiles turned the key in the ignition, letting out a little prayer (thank you jeep gods!) when it started with no fuss.

Stiles pulled out of the spot and drove out of the car park, away from the school. When he reached the main road, he reached out and grabbed hold of Scott’s hand, holding it as he drove. Scott let his head roll to the side, smiling at Stiles, content to watch him drive them to meet their friends – their pack.

It was the first night of their summer vacation – the first one after finishing high school, their last before college and the demands of adulthood hit. And if this was any indication, this was going to be the best summer yet. They had other friends now, they had their pack and allies. And, like all those summers before, they had each other.

Scott gave Stiles’ hand a small squeeze, and Stiles looked over quickly, smiling at him.

He remembered their conversation from last summer, and the one before. This wasn’t just a life fulfilled. This was everything.

#sciles #sciles week #scilesweek #scilesweek 2021 #scilesweek day 5 #day 5: summer nights #prompt fill #fanfiction #sciles fanfiction #teen wolf #teen wolf fanfiction #scott and stiles #friends to lovers #scott mccall #stiles stilinski

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