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The glow of the waxing moon outside lit up the room with a silver wash. The open window let in the cool breeze causing stiles to shiver slightly and burry himself further under the thick covers. Noticing his slight discomfort Malia pulled him closer to her, pressing her chest into his back. He let out a small sigh of content ( turns out he does love being the little spoon no matter how much he grouches about it).
Malia listened intently to his slow heartbeat, counting each one as though she were counting sleep. Thump. Thump. Thump. She tried her hardest to focus on the soft noise, attempting to block out the sound of the occasional car that drove past the street, or the sound of a fox ravaging Stiles bins, or the people in the woods snapping a twig that she should most likely be worried about but god damn it she was trying to sleep. If she could just turn off her brain for a few hours, she can check out whatever those people were doing in the morning before school but for now, she would really just like to sleep.
She let out a huff before pushing her face into his neck. She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath and letting his scent- mixed slightly with Scotts and the rest of their pack- fill lungs. Maybe if she flooded her senses with him she’d forget the outside world. Letting the blend of leftover axe spray ( why must every teenage boy wear that crap) and Stiles slight sweat fills her nostrils. Idly she realises she should probably find the blend gross - heaven knows she would on anyone else- but for stiles, she couldn't think of anything else he should smell like.
He was a sweaty, gross, teenage boy with horrific taste in deodorant. And that's what made him so comforting, that those scents don't change.
He’s a constant. Grown to be a large pillar in her life- her human life. Gone were the stars that kept her sane when she was a coyote. Now she had stiles who helped her cut her hair, learn what food she likes, learn math (it's STILL STUPID ) and…help her sleep. You know the thing she should be doing right about now. That she for some reason isnt doing even though she has her face buried in his neck and his heartbeat and breathing filling her ears and she can feel his body heat radiate off him. She is surrounded by a cocoon of his blankets and she should feel safe and calm enough to sleep so why can't she god damn it.
Sighing she lifts her head away from the comforting crook of his shoulder and turns slightly to look out the window. It's funny how little she can see not only from his bed but from his room altogether. How has he been able to sleep before finding his pack? Without the stars to watch over him to keep him safe? She couldn't imagine not being able to see them every night.
Oh.
That explains why she struggling to sleep. She didn't do her normal nightly run - she’d been justifying it by saying she did it to burn energy- because she was just really tired. Turns out having track ( yeah she joined the track team if Kira Scott and stiles can have Lacross she can have track. Also she just really enjoys running and is so good at it) and fighting another monster of the month burns through one's energy quickly. Without her run, she hadn't said hello to the stars and she hadn’t felt their presence in her life.
In fact, she realised she hadn't felt the same presence of the stars in so long. She shook her head, groaning when her hair got in her face. She elected to ignore the annoying strands and instead focus on something else. Namely: stiles back.
Here's the thing: his back wasn't exactly muscly. Sure after a year or so of running from feral wolves, chimaeras and god knows what else he was bound to gain some muscle but compared to anyone else in the pack? He was still rather scrawny. So no it wasn't his back muscles ( although she has to admit they're almost better than some of the other guys ) that catches her attention but rather the multitude of moles littered across the skin.
Ever so lightly she traced her finger across the moles, joining them together in imaginary lines as she created her own constellations on his back. On his shoulderblade, a butchered version of Orion the hunter. On his right hip, she found Aquarius the bird. She laughed to herself when she realised she had drawn a deformed wolf on his lower back, its legs wonky and head slightly detached. She was halfway through drawing Cassiopeia on his neck when he stirred awake slightly.
He pouted his lips and squinted his drowsy eyes before turning over slightly and lightly squashing her into the bedsheets. Slurring his words he asked “ something wrong?”. Although his voice was thick with sleep, his concern for her was still easy to detect even with her lack of social experience.
“Nothing wrong stiles, just can’t sleep,” Malia said honestly. What's the point of lying when in the morning he either won't remember or won't find a need to tell anyone the truth.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he turned his head to face her more, his slightly bad breath ghosting over her face. “Any particular reason? Something I can do to help?”
Shaking her head lightly she replied “nothing you can do. I just missed out on my run before coming here and realised I never got to see the stars. It sounds really stupid but back when I wasn't all lanky human, I only really had the stars as comfort. They were essentially my protectors and now it feels like I'm so disconnected to them that not running with them before bed makes me angsty I guess?”. She hadn't meant to exactly rattle all of that out in one breath but once she started she found she just couldn't stop. The words flowed and flowed and flowed some more.
He thought a little before saying “ I'm sorry”. It was much, anyone else would see it as a normal apology for her situation at the moment, but the two knew it was much more than that. It was him apologising for her becoming human again- since it was sort of his fault in some way- he felt responsible for all the troubles her new life gave her. Shaking her head she banished any of those thoughts from his head for the night.
“Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. Besides, sure life as a coyote was so much easier but I enjoy being a human much more I think. Sides being a coyote would mean I couldn't sneak into your bed as much” he laughed a little at that.
“You could certainly try although I can't say for certain that I would scratch like a dying cat if I woke up to one in my bed”
“Maybe I’ll try sleeping as a coyote one day” she joked.
“I'm begging you not to”
The two laid in comfortable silence, taking comfort in each others breathing. Slowly Malia started returning to her previous task of connecting Stiles moles. It took a little time before he asked, “any reason your tracing patterns into my back?”
“Not patterns, constellations. The moles on your back create them sometimes. It's like my own personal set of stars to look at”
All she got was a hum of reply. Shaking her head fondly she realised that between his own question and her answer he had practically fallen asleep again. She let out a small snort at his antics before cuddling back up with him and setting in for the long, long night ahead of her.
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When she crawled through his window again the night after she was surprised to see him, once again shirtless in bed. He almost never went to bed without either a shirt or hoodie on. Yesterday was a one-time thing from all his clothes being dirty. And yet there he was, with his back exposed to her…his back exposed.
A grin pulled onto her face as she shed off her jacket and boots and slid in beside him. He’d done this for her.
He’d done everything for her.