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Everyone had a soulmark - a simple band around your wrist spelling out the first words your soulmate would say to you. If you were born before your soulmate, you would appear markless. If your soulmate was born before you, you will be born with the mark already in place. If your soulmate dies, the mark turns a faded red - barely readable, but still there.
When Mieczysław Stilinski was born his mark already firmly in place, Claudia and John rejoiced that their baby’s soulmate was already out there waiting for him. Somewhere else 30 year old Bobby Finstock frowned at his new mark and reached for the next bottle.
Little Mieczysław practically learned to read just to find out what his soulmark says. When he finally figured it out he was very confused. He went to his mother for help.
“Mommy?” Claudia looked down at him from where she was preparing lunch. “Yes honey?”
“Why does my soulmate call me Mischief Stilinski?”
“Well, maybe they can’t pronounce your name…” Mieczysław’s eyes got wet at the possibility of his soulmate of all people not being able to pronounce his name right. Not wanting to see her baby sad, Claudia changed tactics fast. “…Or you could be known as Mischief in the future. My little Mischief! Making trouble wherever he goes!”
Claudia ruffled his hair and both started laughing. They spend the rest of the day joking and laughing - thinking of all the mischief they could cause.
From that day on, Mieczysław was called little Mischief by Claudia. He once tried to get the other kids to call him that, but they just made fun of him. (“That name is even worse than your real name!””I think it fits! Weird and annoying just like you!”) So he ended up automatically correcting people with: “It’s Stiles actually.”
The day that Claudia died in that hospital room - The flat line of her heart monitor ringing in his ears. People pulling him out of her room. Sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting for his dad to show up. Wanting to cry but having no more tears left - little Mischief died with her. And with him, the hope of finding his soulmate.
Years later, when on the first day of freshman year the roll call was made Stiles didn’t think too much when the teacher called out “Mischief Stilinski” and answered with his by then instinctive response of “It’s Stiles actually”.
Only when the roll call didn’t continue did he look up. Right into the crazy, wide open eyes of Coach Finstock. The words spoken finally registered in his head. “Oh my god.”
To say that they had a rough start would be saying that a skyscraper is 3 feet tall - a huge lie that anyone can detect and makes people question your mental state.
Since their schedules were so different the only real opportunity to meet up was having dinner. At the Stilinski house. With John present. John who didn’t let a single minute pass without asking Bobby questions that made Stiles hide his face in his hands.
But Bobby was not a man to let himself get talked down like that. So he did the manly thing and changed the topic. “What the hell is going on with your name? Stiles Stilinski of all things? Really?…Do I even want to know?”
Stiles just stared at him blankly. “You yourself didn’t come even close to pronouncing my real name. Nobody outside of the family does. And I like being called Stiles.” Bobby just sighed. “Well, I like being called cupcake.”
“I’m not going to call you cupcake.”
Bobby opened his mouth for a comeback, but John cut him off. “You won’t start dating, ever?” Everyone made a face at that. “Hell no! This evil punk here sits with all of the other little evil punks in my classroom doing evil punk things.”
“To be fair, I’m a smart-punk instead of a rich-douche-punk like Jackson.” Both looked at each other with understanding while John just shook his head and mumbled “Oh god, you’re perfect for each other.”
When a week later Greenberg tripped Stiles in the hall causing him to partially break his right wrist and making him unable to participate in any sports, Bobby swore revenge.
By the time sophomore year came around they were actually pretty close - well as close as two closed off sarcastic people who don’t really go out of their way to spend time together can get. They mostly bonded over the stupidity of other people which there was a lot of.
However, halfway through sophomore year Bobby noticed changes in Stiles’ best friend and so in Stiles as well. It became clear pretty quickly that it was something big. Really big. As in: ‘Stiles was running around without Bobby having to motivate him by blasting his ear off’- kind of big.
But punks will be punks and so he left them to it. It’s not like Stiles stopped being his sarcastic self. He still got good grades and he still showed up at his door whenever he just needed a little bit of that magical calming effect that comes with your soulmate. And he still regularly told him that he wasn’t going to call Bobby cupcake - which rude.
Even when Stiles showed up after that game - the game he won for them - covered in bruises Bobby left it alone. He simply gave Stiles an ice pack. “You know, you did a great job out there tonight.” Stiles just looked at him with sad eyes and sighed. “Thanks..I- I needed that..” Bobby pulled him close into one of their as usual awkward one armed hugs and put on a lame documentary to help shut their minds down.
Whatever it was that happened that night, it changed something in Stiles. He let his hair grow out, did just a little bit of exercise on the side that actually made a difference in the long run. Come summer he spend most of his time who knows where unlike the summer before where he practically forced Bobby to sort his papers - especially the papers from school.
Bobby was about 90% certain that Stiles had a crush on someone and was spending time with them. But Bobby didn’t really need to know more. Just like the chains and stuff. Which Stiles knew. Which is also probably why he was evil enough to write that paper. He still has nightmares of that thing.
It all got out of hand on his 47th birthday. Sure, the day started good enough with him getting pranked by Stiles - and he knew it was Stiles. No one could manage that in such a short time. Plus he saw him with a DIY decorating magazine just last week. (He would like to know just how Stiles managed the cable thing.)
But anyway, after the whole ‘mass murderer on school grounds’ followed by Stiles activating the fire alarm for fun, he thought the students may have forgotten about egging his place. He was wrong - of course.
However, when Stiles came around later that night to help him clean up (and for Bobby to keep an eye on him while the Sheriff was busy driving around town) there was something…off about him.
Nothing as noticeable as the way he acted or something, but their bond was behaving rather strange. It was quiet. Muted. Even while standing right next to him, the bond acted as if he was on the other side of the town.
It was as if Stiles wasn’t even there and it scared him.
And it only got worse from there.
Bobby was running the teens through the woods when it happened: the soulmate bond suddenly hummed with renewed power. The sensation made him walk in Stiles’ direction. The next thing he knew he got an arrow in his chest. “Oh, crap...”
The bond got quiet again. The last thing he saw where Stiles’ eyes turning cold and calculating as he got loaded into the ambulance.
Bobby was out for god knows how long with only little moments of clarity that were mostly filled with him feeling Stiles’ pain over their bond. It was as if he was trying to cling to him, but Bobby wasn’t strong enough to hold onto him so he got pulled away over and over again.
The first time he truly regained full consciousness he heard the beeps another heart monitor. The bond was settled - raw and hurting from the constant stain - but settled. Stiles was in the bed next to his, paler than ever before and with thick, dark circles around his eyes.
Calmed with the thought of everything being ok again, Bobby finally truly rested and they began to heal.
While Stiles was allowed to leave the hospital bed a lot sooner than Bobby, he pointedly stayed around as long as possible. It was as if he was scared of something. Of what, Bobby didn’t know, but it still hurt to see (and feel) Stiles flinch at shadows and practically jump if someone sneaked up on him.
It didn’t help that on his first night out the John showed up in uniform with a too quiet Stiles and a bag of Stiles’ things. Apparently someone was climbing through Stiles’ window in the middle of the night and they wanted to catch them red handed without causing Stiles any more stress.
Bobby sat them down on his couch, each with a warm cup of broth since they couldn’t stomach anything else right now. The documentary – while usually something they would both pay rapid attention to – was mostly ignored.
After a while Bobby set both of their cups down and shut off the TV. Stiles had no reaction that would show that he noticed anything around him. He continued to stare blankly at the now black screen.
There was a lot more going on than what Bobby knew about. Someone or something messed with their soul-bond and up until now he didn’t even know that was possible.
“There’s something you’re not telling me.” Stiles flinched at the sudden voice. He was horrible at the whole 'comforting someone’-thing, but with the way the bond was still weak he wasn’t sure that his feelings would reach Stiles, so he had to do this the old fashioned way.
“You.. eh you know that no matter what, you can talk to me, right? I mean, it’s not like I have any room to judge you or anything.” And oh no- Stiles was tearing up, but instead of waiting for Bobby to do something, he carefully buried himself into his side and let the tears flow.
And the he told him everything.
From werewolves and hunters, over human-sacrifices to being possessed by a dark fox spirit that enjoyed dangling their bond in front of him, letting him feel the warmth it emitted before ripping it away again.
About his short but horrible stay in Eichen House and the stalker he attracted.
About his feelings for a certain werewolf.
The next day arrived with news from John, they arrested a certain Malia Tate as she was crawling through Stiles window. A Malia Tate that seemingly wrote herself a pass out of Eichen House. Which was highly illegal because her father explicitly signed papers that would only allow him to get her out – or officials if something happened to him.
So it lead to an investigation about Eichen House. They found a lot of horrible things. From the people inside barely being alive, to there being whole rooms filled with torture devices, to the overseers having questionable records, to finding a container filled with syringes which upon further analyses have been used to specifically administer drugs to worsen the condition of the patients.
Needless to say, they shut it down and placed the patients in other mental institutions all over the country.
With all of Stiles’ torturers gone, things were looking up.
But something- or rather someone was missing.
When Stiles told him he had feelings for this Derek guy, Bobby imagined meeting the grim looking, but - according to Stiles - soft on the inside wolf that Stiles described to him. Creeping him out and getting fondly annoyed about Stiles together.
In short – he didn’t expect a de-aged kid walking into his house after Stiles like a lost puppy.
None of them really knew what to do with each other. Little Derek was just confused and looked at Stiles for guidance, Stiles emitted his usual ’so done with this bullshit’-aura (which was rather comforting) and Bobby unlearned how to be nice to people when he lost himself to the bottle.
Not to mention that little Derek was filled with questions. “Why is my house torn down? Where is my mother? How do you know about us? Who were those guys earlier?”
Stiles opened his mouth – probably to give one of his not-answers – but closed it when his eyes caught the red mark on his wrist. After heaving a sigh he started explaining everything he could.
Bobby gave both of them pats on their shoulders as he walked out of the room to go grade some papers. This was something they needed to be alone for.
The next time Bobby met Derek it was much more like he imagined.
Bobby enjoyed the way Derek’s eyes widened when he talked about certain topics filled with details he got from Stiles. He enjoyed the pout Stiles got when they turned the tables on him. He enjoyed seeing them both so free.
As Stiles walked into the kitchen to make some more coffee, Bobby watched the way Derek’s eyes followed his form – they got all soft and he actually smiled without ducking his head.
“So,” Bobby said to bring Derek’s attention back to him. “You’re leaving?”
Derek shifted in his seat. “Yeah, there are..things that I still need to do. Things that I’ve been putting off for years.”
The sound from the coffee machine rings from the kitchen.
Bobby crossed his arms. “But you’ll come back?,” he frowned when Derek opened his mouth. “For him?” One could practically see how determination took over Derek’s face. “Yes, I’ll come back for him as long as he wants me to.”
They continued to stare a bit more. Neither willing to break eye contact. When Stiles let out a muffled curse and Derek snapped his head in Stiles direction as if it was instinct to check on Stiles.
Bobby shook his head at Derek and pulled out a small notebook from underneath Greenberg’s half-corrected homework (it was only half corrected because he made so many mistakes..like throwing a ball that only barely missed Stiles’ head). He held it out for Derek to take.
“Just a little something to read,” he answered Derek’s questioning gaze. Derek looked at it for a few more moments before he put it in the back pocket of his jeans.
It was a handy little thing, filled with sentences and movements to avoid if one doesn’t want to put Stiles into a panic attack. Sure, he wished that Stiles would talk to people about his trauma caused by the Nogitsune, but seeing how Stiles had a panic attack when he asked him to let him into the house, he wanted to be on the save side.
And looking at how close they were standing in front of Derek’s Toyota, Bobby made the right decision. Especially since Derek was tilting his head down and Stiles was leaning even closer- and yup, they were kissing.
It wasn’t anything wild like in the movies, just a simple, lingering press of lips. But even so – with the way they slowly and reluctantly separated and even then touched their foreheads together – one couldn’t overlook how much it meant to them.
“You said something to him, didn’t you?,” Stiles asked not taking his eyes off of Derek’s car that was slowly disappearing down the street. “I mean- you don’t- I just-” He let out a deep sigh and ordered his thoughts.
“Thanks.”
Bobby laid his arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer into his side. “You’re welcome, now-”
“I’m still not calling you cupcake.”
The arm immediately fell off as Bobby walked back into the house mumbling under his breath about 'evil punks’ while being followed by a snickering Stiles.
Years later, when Bobby has to give the best man speech (Cora put her foot down and became the maid of honor and because Stiles made a joke about Derek being the bride he found his pants gone and in their place a fancy white lace skirt – he of course wore it…he even shaved his legs), he wondered what great evil he did in his last life to be stuck with these evil punks for the rest of his life.
Sure he loved them and the feeling he received through the soul-bond when both Derek and Stiles said “I do” will be something he will cherish forever, but they are still the same evil punks who regularly turn up on his door step to ruin his day.
When he finished up his speech he found himself with an armful of teary Stiles.
“Thanks, cupcake.”
“You’re welcome, little mischief.”
Stiles pulled away and turned to Cora who started her own speech (“I’m going after you so people have the lasting impression of the better speech!”) which was the perfect opportunity to drink his alcohol. Just..it turned out that his dearest alcohol got switched with normal water.
“Greenberg.”
Bobby turned to his other side to see Greenberg smiling innocently. As if.
Evil punks the lot of them.