Chapter Text
By now, no one should be shocked that Stiles was up to no good. Nearly every idea he had was either not so great, absolutely fantastic, or horrifically terrible. This little idea of his might fall under horrifically terrible. About 30 minutes ago, Stiles had overheard his dad on the phone. Sounds normal, right? Nope. The Sheriff was on the phone with dispatch, calling every single deputy in town and even contacting state police due to a body being found in the woods. Or, well, part of a body.
See, that’s where Stiles’ idea went from not so great to horrifically terrible. He waited for his dad to leave, giving him 20 minutes of grace, and excitedly hopped into his jeep. Thankfully, Stiles was the only one driving tonight because he was absolutely breaking multiple laws to get to Scott’s house. His best friend was usually the one who did stupid shit with him, but he wasn’t too sure if Scott would agree to do this particular stupid shit. Despite not being too confident in himself and his ability to convince Scott to go along with this idea, he screeched into the driveway to Scott’s house.
Stiles jumped out of his jeep, nearly tripping on his way out, and ran to the door. He didn’t bother knocking, just tried to walk on in. Though, that plan failed as the door was locked. So, now he was onto plan b. Stiles grunted as he climbed up onto the roof, deciding to just go to Scott’s window directly, nearly slipping in the process. He let out a small yelp before quickly catching himself and practically crawling his way to Scott’s window.
The music he’d heard earlier had suddenly stopped, and after a few seconds he heard the front door opening and closing. Stiles just let out a soft groan of annoyance at having climbed up onto the roof for no reason and made his way back to the edge of the roof. Once again, excitement got the better of him and he slipped, getting caught on the roof before he completely busted his ass and possibly breaking something.
Stiles let out a rather embarrassing scream alongside Scott as Scott nearly beat him with a baseball bat. “Stiles, what the hell are you doing!?” Scott yelled, still holding up the baseball bat in a panic.
Stiles coughed a bit after yelling and just looked at Scott with a bewildered expression. “You weren’t answering your phone! Why do you have a bat!?” Stiles cleared his throat properly, trying to make himself sound somewhat normal again. The two exchanged glances before both looking at the bat as Scott finally lowered it some.
“I thought you were a predator!” Scott blushed a little bit, clearly embarrassed as well from screaming and nearly beating his best friend.
Stiles sputtered, now even more bewildered at Scott’s answer. “A pred- okay whatever, that’s not important anymore.” Stiles grunted with effort, grabbing the edge of the roof and getting himself unstuck so he could drop onto the ground properly. Once situated, he leaned up against the railing with his chin resting against his now crossed arms.
“So, I know it’s late but guess what. I heard my dad on the phone with dispatch, and he left, like, 20 minutes ago. Every deputy from the Beacon Department and even state police are out tonight in the preserve.” Stiles explained excitedly, smiling wide up at a now confused and intrigued Scott.
“For what, exactly?” Scott fully lowered the bat, now just looking at Stiles with a look of pure confusion and an underlying tone of curiosity.
Stiles laughed slightly, trying and failing to contain his enthusiasm at the question. “Two joggers found a body in the woods.” Stiles knew this likely wasn’t going to be enough to convince Scott to come along with him, but he wasn’t expecting the question he got in return.
“You mean like… a dead body?” Scott looked disturbed, to put it lightly. Maybe a bit scared or disgusted. Stiles just rolled his eyes and sighed.
“No, a body of water. Yes, dumbass, a dead body.” Stiles jumped over the guardrail, standing in front of Scott with his hands on his hips. His fingers were tapping against himself from excess energy. He bounced on the balls of his feet, his mood going from excited to annoyed to excited over and over again with the constant questioning.
“Okay well do they know anything?”
Stiles shook his head at the question, already gesturing around wildly. “Not yet, no. All they know is it’s a woman likely in her 20s.” His hands once again reached his hips, now fidgeting with his belt loops.
“Wait but if they found the body, then what exactly are they looking for?” Scott questioned, setting the bat down and shoving his hands into his pockets.
Stiles nearly leapt from joy at the question. “That’s the best part! They only found half.” Scott looked at him with yet another disturbed expression, clearly not understanding what was so exciting about someone being murdered, let alone ripped completely in half. Stiles didn’t care; he just thought this was going to be fun.
Scott was already shaking his head, but Stiles just giggled and pursed his lips. “We’re going. Now. You can’t fight it, Scott.” Stiles merely grabbed Scott by the wrist and dragged him off to the jeep.
It took maybe 10 minutes (and a lot of road laws being broken) to get to the preserve. Stiles parked off the road so as to not get caught in case anyone came back to the cruisers. Stiles yet again nearly tripped getting out of the jeep, grabbing his flashlight and borderline running to the Beacon Hills Preserve sign.
Scott got out soon after Stiles, already sighing. “Are we really doing this, Stiles?” Again, with the questioning and complaining. Stiles groaned, practically stomping the ground like a toddler as he turned around to face Scott.
“You’re the one who’s always bitching about nothing ever happening in this town. Something finally happened and you’re here questioning whether or not we should go and look for it.” Stiles just waved Scott off and kept walking.
“Well yeah but… I wanted to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow.” Scott quickly caught up with Stiles, slipping his hood over his head due to the slight rain. Scott slid his hands into his pockets, his hand already wrapping around his inhaler.
Stiles rolled his eyes at Scott's comment. "Yeah, because being a bench warmer is such a grueling effort." He kept his eyes on the ground, trying to keep himself from tripping and falling. Maybe the body would materialize if he kept staring at the ground and they could leave. The night air was starting to make Stiles feel uneasy.
"Hey, I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm going to make first line." Scott struggled to keep up with Stiles, his best friend being way too energetic for his own good.
"Oh sure. Yeah, everyone deserves to have dreams! Even if it’s extremely unrealistic, we still deserve to dream big.” Stiles laughed at Scott. it was the most pathetic thing he's ever heard coming out of Scott's mouth. He just felt bad for the guy, really.
“Whatever, man. So, what half of the body are we supposed to be looking for?” Scott questioned, trying to change the subject away from himself. Stiles almost felt bad. Almost. He still thought the goal of making first line was wildly unrealistic.
Stiles stopped as the finally resonated in his mind and scratched the top of his head. “Huh. Hadn’t thought about that.” He just shrugged and kept walking.
“And if the person who possibly killed the body is still out here, what then?” Scott asked. His tone sounded more nervous, but Stiles just ignored it.
“Also hadn’t thought about that.” Stiles shrugged. If the person was still out here, then Stiles would probably just scream and die all the same. Not the best way to go, but he wouldn't actually be alive to care at that point.
Stiles ran ahead a little bit, beginning to climb up a steep hill, slipping ever so slightly because of the worsening mud. “Glad to see you planned this with your normal attention to detail.” All Stiles did was laugh in retaliation. Sure, he didn't exactly think this through, but Scott essentially had no choice but to be here with him. Stiles had been so caught up in his excitement that he hadn't noticed Scott starting to fall behind.
“Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight?” Scott wheezed out, finally struggling to breathe after attempting to climb too quickly. He leaned against a tree, taking a dose of his inhaler and following after Stiles a few seconds later. The two of them quickly lowered onto their stomachs, watching as flashlights glinted between trees in the distance and dogs barked aggressively.
Stiles laughed quietly as he watched for a few seconds, soon enough dragging Scott up from the ground. “Dude, come on!” He exclaimed, running in the direction of the search party. Scott let out a startled yell, keeping a hold on Stiles’ shirt to make sure he didn’t run off too far ahead.
The two of them had gotten fairly close to the search party, hiding behind separate trees but still being as close together as they could be. Stiles watched as one of the dogs faced him, growling lowly for a split second. But, by some miracle, the dog backed off and continued forward. He sighed in relief, peeking out from behind the tree again. He watched as the search party got further away, relaxing and walking with Scott deeper into the preserve.
“That was close… I swear, that dog was about to attack me.” Stiles mumbled, still a tad nervous about this whole situation. The two looked around, trying to see what direction they had come from. Scott and Stiles didn't say anything, but as they looked at one another it was apparent they both realized the same thing. They were completely lost.
Stiles had gotten more and more uneasy as time went on. Something wasn’t right. He couldn't place what exactly it was, but he felt the wrongness in his gut. The crickets had stopped chirping, and birds seemed to be freaking out in the trees, causing both him and Scott to jump. Stiles took a few hesitant steps ahead, shining his flashlight through the trees. In his mind, there was nothing but darkness and leaves. Birds make noise when they take off sometimes, he was just trying to prove that to himself.
Stiles stared into the darkness, sweat beading on his forehead. He cursed as the flashlight went out, slapping it against his hand to make it turn back on. Right as he got the flashlight working, a herd of massive deer bolted out from behind the trees. Stiles screamed as he was thrown to the ground by the stampede. Scott was knocked away by the deer, getting trampled over and his inhaler sent flying in the distance.
A few seconds passed, and all of the deer seemed to have run off. Stiles laid on the ground for a while, terrified out of his mind at nearly being trampled to death, and slowly began to sit up. He looked around, holding his hand to his chest as his wrist had started to throb slightly. He sighed, figuring he landed in it wrong as he was thrown to the ground by the deer.
His eyes scanned the area for either more deer or his flashlight, not yet realizing that Scott wasn’t with him anymore. Stiles walked over to his flashlight, picking it up and being extremely thankful that it hadn’t been destroyed in the chaos. Stiles shined his flashlight around him, finally taking notice to how he was alone. “Scott? Scott, where’d you go?!” He walked around, his panic soaring the longer Scott wasn’t in sight.
He reached for his phone, hissing as his wrist screamed in protest. Stiles groaned loudly as his phone was no longer in his pocket. “Shit… of course it got lost.” He mumbled, using the flashlight to try and look for it so he could call Scott. Now not only did he have to come up with a lie for his wrist being hurt, but now he had to come up with a lie for his phone being lost until he could find it. It took him a few seconds to go from annoyed to completely horrified.
His light shined on the horrified expression of a woman, pale and eyes wide and lifeless. Blood covered her entirely, claw marks and massive bites being torn from her flesh. Part of her spine poked out of her torso, and other bones were exposed as well. Her arteries and nerves poked out from around the bones and exposed muscle underneath her skin. Looking down, he felt as though he were going to be sick. Her intestines were ripped apart and exposed from her torso, fresh blood still spewing out of every wound and soaking the already damp leaves around what was left of her body. The sight was bad enough, but then the smell hit him, making him gag and fall to the ground. Stiles couldn’t move, couldn’t look away from the scene before him.
Dread overtook his body, worse than he’d been feeling all night. Ahead of him, red eyes stared at him from the darkness. Low growling echoed from the same darkness, causing Stiles to go more pale than he already was. He quickly grabbed his flashlight, shining it at whatever was ahead of him. His eyes widened as a massive wolf like humanoid howled and lunged at him the second the light hit it. Stiles tried to get up and run, though was quickly grabbed and dragged in the opposite direction. Stiles was dragged away from the body, claws and teeth latched onto him like a vice. He screamed, pure terror flooding his senses.
Stiles kicked and screamed, clawing at the ground to try and escape, but nothing worked. The creature howled again, biting Stiles in his shoulder. White hot pain shot through Stiles entire arm at the bite, another scream being ripped out of him. Everything ended as quickly as it began. The creature, whatever it was, ran off as soon as it had gotten a proper bite into Stiles. Stiles laid there for a moment, processing the fact that he was actually alive.
Once he had calmed down enough, he forced himself off the ground and just ran. He had no sense of direction, Scott had been forgotten about, and all he focused on was survival. The fear slowly faded, now replaced with exhaustion and pain. He walked through the trees, looking at his now bleeding shoulder. The rain had picked up slightly, thankfully washing away the majority of the blood covering him. And yet, he still wasn’t completely free.
A new kind of panic flooded his system as a cadaver dog lunged at him, barking and attempting to lunge at Stiles. Stiles tripped, falling to the ground and letting out a loud yell. He landed on his wrist, grunting yet ignoring the pain in favor of backing away from the dog. “Hold on, hold on! This little delinquent is mine!” Came a familiar voice, causing Stiles to relax slightly.
Stiles looked up at his father, relief completely flooding his system. Though with the relief, came the absence of adrenaline and a fresh wave of pain in his shoulder and wrist. As his father pulled him to stand, Stiles hissed in pain. He looked at his dad, his wrist against his chest and his hand against his hurt shoulder. “Stiles, what are you doing out here? Are you okay?” His father, Noah, held a stern yet concerned tone as he noticed Stiles was hurt.
“I… yeah I’m fine. Shaken, but fine. I heard you on the phone at home and I got ahead of myself with excitement so I wanted to try and help find the body. Which I did, but I don’t know which direction I ran from. A bunch of deer ran at me and I think I landed on my wrist wrong and then on top of that something bit my shoulder so now that hurts and honestly I’m shocked I’m alive and Scott was out here somewhere but we got separated by the deer and I lost my phone I’m sorry I don’t-“ Stiles rambled, running out of breath as his emotions took over. He wasn’t even sure if anything he said made any sense. Tears spilled from his eyes before he could stop it.
Noah opened his mouth to reprimand Stiles, yet sighed instead. He looked at the deputies. “Head that way and try and find the body and another kid with a crooked jaw. I’ll handle this one. Call me if you find anything.” Noah looked at Stiles and hugged him softly. He didn’t say anything else, just started directing him towards the squad cars.
As they drove to the hospital, Stiles used his dad’s phone to call Scott. After a very reassuring conversation with a very much alive but scared Scott, Stiles gave his dad back his phone. His mind raced a mile a minute, refusing to quiet down. He chewed at his nails as he thought about the thing that bit him and the body. Nothing felt reassuring about his thoughts anymore, not even with his dad with him.
The next morning was strange, to say the least. The police had yet to find the body, despite having been given a solid lead because of Stiles. On top of that, his wrist was perfectly healed despite the hospital saying it was badly sprained. They said it would take weeks to heal, but he was perfectly fine this morning with no bruising or swelling. He tried to rationalize it, but nothing he thought of made any sense to him anymore. The bite was still there that morning, so that was the only normal thing that was happening to Stiles right now.
Now, though, Stiles stood at the doors of the high school while waiting for Scott. After the conversation with Scott, it turns out both of them had been attacked and bitten that night. Stiles was just relieved that he and Scott were alive after both being attacked by some freakishly large animal.
As soon as his eyes landed on Scott, he perked up. He met Scott halfway, barely even saying hi before gesturing to his shirt. “Alright, let’s see this thing. Maybe we didn’t get bit by the same thing.” Stiles said urgently, nearly reaching out and grabbing Scott’s shirt himself.
Scott laughed and lifted his shoulder, showing the large gauze pad and medical tape covering his side. A few specs of blood had seeped through the gauze, but not enough to be worrying. Stiles hissed a bit and showed his shoulder to Scott. His shoulder was covered similarly, but was a bit more professionally done. “Yeah, looks about the same size. Your mom scolded me the whole time she was wrapping my shoulder. I’m kinda shocked she didn’t do the same to you.” Stiles sighed, covering his bite back up.
“Yeah, same here. She might just be waiting, though,” Scott shrugged, absentmindedly rubbing at his ears, “Oh and I didn’t manage to find the body.”
”I absolutely did. It was actually horrific. Turns out, we were looking for her top half. Just be glad you didn’t have to see it.” Stiles shivered slightly, remembering just how mutilated the body was when he found it.
”I’m just glad we didn’t die last night. And I swear I heard a wolf before getting attacked.” Scott said, running a hand through his hair. Stiles wanted to disagree, but knowing what they both heard last night it would make sense.
”I don’t believe it, to be honest. Wolves haven’t been in California for, like, 60 years so how did we both get attacked by a wolf? Or whatever that freak of nature was.” Stiles could barely wrap his head around the fact that he was alive, let alone the fact that there very well could be wolves in the preserve. Nothing made sense anymore. His wrist was fully healed, he and Scott only had some minor scratches and a massive bite on them, and a woman was ripped completely in half all in the same couple of days.
“We can talk about it more when we go looking for our stuff.” Scott shrugged and started walking into the school. They caught up with a couple of people they sort of considered friends before heading to their classes.
First period English is where things got really weird. Every sound around him had gotten progressively louder. The bell had been painful to hear for the first time that day, phones were just as deafening, and he swore he could hear every heartbeat around him. It was annoying and painful all at once.
Smells weren’t any better. Perfume and cologne made him gag, gum made his nose burn to the point of tearing up, and the ink from pens were so strong it almost tasted metallic. His head started pounding from all the new sensory input around him.
Stiles jumped as another phone went off. He looked around, trying to see whose phone it was, before his eyes landed on a girl outside the school entirely. She was beautiful, to say the least. Black curly hair, pale skin, dark eyes, defined features. Despite her being pretty, she wasn’t exactly Stiles’ type.
“Mom, seriously? This is the third call today. I’m fine, I promise. And yes, I have everything. Well, everything besides a pen.” The girl sighed, searching desperately through her bag. “Well, everything besides a pen. Seriously, who forgets a pen on their first day?”
Stiles glanced at Scott, sharing a confused look with him. They both turned away from each other and looked back at the girl outside as the principal walked up to her. “Oh, I gotta go. Bye, love you, mom.” She stood up, greeted the principal, and followed him inside.
Stiles was determined to just ignore the weird moment and went back to his work. Though, that determination flew out the window as the same girl walked into class. “Everyone, this is Allison Argent. Her family just moved here, so show her some hospitality and be kind to her.” The principal announced, nodding to the teacher before leaving.
Allison nervously smiled and quickly sat down behind Scott. She began pulling out her books and started looking for something to write with. Stiles watched as Scott grabbed his pen and turned around, handing it to Allison with what he could only describe as a lovesick expression.
“Oh uh… thanks.” Allison smiled, albeit confused, and took the pen. If Stiles wasn’t Scott's best friend, he might have been annoyed by their expressions. Okay, actually, Stiles was fairly annoyed about the looks they gave each other, but he wasn’t going to openly admit that to Scott.
By the time practice rolled around, Scott and Stiles had a strange time, to say the least. Everything was freaking Stiles out more and more, but he just covered that up with more sarcasm than normal. Not only was Scott running faster, he wasn’t even running out of breath. Stiles was having the same thing happen to him. They both ran faster than every other person on the team during laps, even racing each other at the end and lapping everyone at least once in a dead sprint.
Then came actual practice. Coach had put Scott in the goal, saying it would boost team morale on the first day back. Scott had caught every single ball without fail, throwing it back each time hard enough to leave massive bruises. After a while, Coach got sick of no one being able to make a shot and put Stiles in the goal instead. Despite protesting, Stiles eventually gave in and got in the goal.
And yet, the exact same thing happened where Stiles caught every single ball shot at him. He’d even caught Jackson Whittemore’s shot, just like Scott had done before him. Eventually, practice had ended with Jackson now being a new enemy of both Scott and Stiles.
It didn’t take long before they found themselves back in the preserve, jumping through a small stream. “Yeah, it was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that’s not all. Smells, sounds, everything is better and louder.” Scott said, sounding extremely worried yet also a little excited.
Stiles shrugged. “The same thing is happening to me. I don’t know what it is, but I’m kind of enjoying it despite being extremely nervous about the whole thing. I mean, I checked my bite in the bathroom before we left and it’s completely gone. So that has me actually freaking out a little bit.” Stiles laughed, trying not to seem too stressed or scared of what was going on.
“Well, all of it started with us getting bit. What if it’s some sort of infection? Like our bodies flooding with adrenaline before we go into shock and die?” Scott turned to glance at Stiles, his expression getting more and more worried the more he thought about everything that was going on.
“You know what, I think I know exactly what it is. It’s a very specific kind of infection.” Stiles cleared his throat, trying not to laugh as Scott looked ten times more stressed out.
”Wait are you serious?” Scott asked instantly, completely stopping in his tracks to look at Stiles.
”Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s called lycanthropy.” Stiles put his hands on his hips. Even though he was joking, there was still a part of him that actually believed this whole thing.
”What’s that? Is it bad?”
Stiles just nodded. “Oh yeah, it’s the worst. But only once a month.” He shrugged.
”Once a month?” Scott just looked confused now. Stiles almost felt bad for the joke, but it was funny so no point in actually feeling bad.
”Yep, on the night of the full moon.” Stiles waited a moment, letting Scott get even more confused before letting out a small howl. He laughed as Scott punched him in the chest and went back to walking.
“We literally heard wolves howling, Scott.” Stiles laughed, following behind Scott again.
”There could be something seriously wrong with us!” Scott groaned.
”I know! We’re werewolves!” Stiles laughed and put his hands up, mimicking claws, and let out a playful growl. All Stiles got in return was an eye roll and a heavy sigh. “Okay, obviously, I’m kidding. But if we see anyone melting any silver in shop class then we better run and hide. Especially considering that Friday is the full moon.”
Scott just ignored Stiles and stopped walking, looking around. “Yeah, this is it. I lost my inhaler around here because that wolf or whatever it was clawed the trees to get at me.” He knelt down and started rummaging through leaves to see if his inhaler was anywhere.
”Actually, this is about where the body was, too. Maybe a little further ahead. The deer, the thing came at me, it dragged me away from the body, I went running, and dad found me.” Stiles mumbled, bending down to help Scott look for his inhaler.
”So, what if the murder or whatever killed her moved the body?” Scott asked, looking over at Stiles.
”Well, I just hope our stuff is still out here.” Stiles shrugged. He kept rummaging around for a second before glancing up, causing his heart to stopped beating for a few seconds. He quickly smacked Scott on the arm and stood up, facing the guy that appeared out of thin air.
Scott looked up as Stiles smacked his arm, looking at what Stiles grabbed his attention for. Scott stilled as he made eye contact with the guy. Stiles noted that he looked the same age as him. He tried figuring out who the guy was, or at least find out why he looked familiar, but couldn’t place who the guy was. “What are you doing here? This is private property.” He said, walking up to Scott and Stiles almost angrily.
Stiles cleared his throat and nervously placed his hands in his pockets. “Sorry we didn’t know, man. We were just looking for something but uh…” Stiles trailed off, glancing at Scott for help.
“But forget it, we’ll leave.” Scott said quickly, about as disturbed by the guy as Stiles was. The guy walked closer to the two, tossing Scott his inhaler and handing Stiles his phone.
Stiles stared at him as Scott looked down at his inhaler. Stiles’ eyes widened a little as he finally recognized who they’d run into. Derek Hale, one of the only remaining members of the Hale family. Everything in Stiles’ body seized up, panic flooding hindered but unsure of why. All he knew was something deep in his gut told him he was unsafe, as if he were being hunted.
Stiles watched as Derek turned around and walked away, but not before staring at Stiles a tad bit too long. He relaxed instantly when Derek was out of sight, sighing softly. “Dude, that was Derek Hale. He’s our age, remember?” Stiles said, looking at Scott with wide eyes.
Scott furrowed his brows at Stiles. “Remember what?” Stiles sighed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“His family. They died in a house fire, like, 10 years ago. He was one of the kids who didn’t get caught in the fire.” Stiles explained as he opened his phone. He walked off, texting his dad about him and Scott finding their stuff and saying that the body was moved or that an animal had gotten to it before it was found.
Okay, maybe Stiles was actually going insane. The lycanthropy joke was not a joke anymore. Well, partially. He gave up trying to figure out what was going on with Scott. Stiles was focusing on himself now. And so he went down a rabbit hole of information, staying up far too late for his own good and ignoring every call he got from Scott.
Papers were strewn along the ground, his panic rising as the more he dug, the more he believed this stupid little joke he made was true. It took days before he finally got all the information he needed and called Scott.
He waited and waited, reading further into lycanthropy and even anything related to it. Silver, wolfsbane, ranks, other were-creatures, every legend he could find about a wolf man or anything similar. Hell, Stiles even got books on all of this.
His pulse lurched as he heard a knock on his door, so focused he wasn’t even sure how much time had passed. Stiles hesitated, not even really sure why, but quickly opened the door. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw Scott, quickly ushering him inside. “Okay so I’ve been up all night researching. Actually I’ve been up for days.” Stiles grabbed papers and books as Scott sat down.
“How much Adderall have you had?” Scott questioned, finding this whole thing amusing. Stiles just ignored the question and kept rambling about him doing research for the past few days.
“Is this about the body? Did they manage to find out who killed her?” Scott asked, finally getting an answer out of Stiles.
“No they didn’t and that’s not what this is about. You remember that joke from the other day? Yeah well… it’s not a joke anymore. I was trying to make myself feel better but now I’m freaking the hell out because I don’t think it’s a little joke anymore.” Stiles just got a confused look in return.
Stiles jumped in his seat, going into a long spiel about everything he’d found. “The wolf. Us getting bit. Scott do you even know why a wolf howls?! It’s to signal its location to the pack. So if we heard a wolf howling then that means there more of them. Like a lot more of them.”
“Like, a pack of wolves?” Scott was now even more lost as Stiles went on his little rant. In all honesty, he even looked a little annoyed.
“No, Scott, werewolves.” Stiles sighed, breathing heavily from either panic, excitement, or both. The silence made the room almost loud, too loud and too quiet all at once. The look Stiles got made a shiver run down his spine. Anger and annoyance.
“You’re seriously wasting my time with this? Stiles we went over this already and I have to pick Allison up in an hour-“ Stiles didn’t even let Scott finish talking, or even let him leave. He grabbed Scott’s backpack and threw it onto the bed.
“Scott you know damn well this is actually serious! We both made insane shots over and over again. You did a literal flip over two guys when you made first line. We shouldn’t be able to do anything like that! Our speed, reflexes, our senses like our smell and our hearing, and you not needing your inhaler anymore… Scott, I’m being genuine here.” Stiles nearly pleaded for Scott to listen to him, to listen to how desperate he was for Scott to understand. But his hope vanished just as quickly as it came.
“Stiles I can’t think about this right now. I have to get ready for the party tonight.” Scott sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, turning around to try and grab his backpack again.
“No, Scott, tonight’s the full moon! Don’t you get what’s going on?!” Stiles ignored the angered rambling from Scott, his own pulse rising from frustration and panic yet again.
“I’m going on a date with a girl I can’t even believe that wants me and my life is essentially perfect right now. Why are you trying to ruin this for me?” Scott was getting angrier by the second, but Stiles stopped caring at this point.
Stiles picked up one of the books he was reading earlier, flipping pages until he found what he was looking for. “Scott I’m trying to help you. Here listen.” Stiles sat down and looked at the passage he’d bookmarked. ”The shift can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen anything raise your pulse the way Allison does. You’re canceling that date, Scott.” Stiles slammed the book shut and jumped up, grabbing at Scott’s backpack for his phone.
“Stiles, what are you doing?!” Scott’s voice rose again, but Stiles was too focused to pay attention to the tone.
“I’m canceling your date because you can’t go tonight-“ Stiles was interrupted by Scott yelling at him to stop and slamming him into the wall. Stiles’ entire body flooded with fear as Scott looked seconds away from attacking him. Instead, Scott pushed the desk chair to the ground aggressively, breathing heavily after. They stared at each other for a few seconds, not saying a word. Their breathing being the only sound in the room, and Stiles’ fear and frustration not allowing him to move a muscle. The silence was finally broken as Scott murmured a small ‘I’m sorry’ before grabbing his stuff and leaving.
Stiles fell to his knees, sucking in lungfuls of air to calm himself down. After a moment, he finally lifted himself back up from the ground and picked up his chair. He spun it around, his eyes widening at the large claw marks that Scott seemingly left on the back. “Oh god…” he mumbled to himself, feeling his dread seeping back into his bones.
Stiles didn’t want to go out, especially considering the fact that there was a very good chance he was also a werewolf, but just hoped he was something else that wasn’t nearly as bloodthirsty. So, he steeled his nerves and got ready as soon as possible for the party. If Scott was going and was going to potentially make a scene, then so would Stiles.
Stiles already hated everything. Everything felt off, and the moon was bright as ever and rising faster than he liked. He was so nervous that he was going to lose control, if he was actually a werewolf anyways, and attack everything in sight along with Scott. But the weirdest part, Derek was here. Just staring at Stiles. It took a moment before Stiles steeled his nerves and walked up to Derek.
“Okay you have to stop with the whole creepy staring thing.” Stiles murmured, just standing next to him nervously.
“You shouldn’t be out tonight.” Derek said back, glancing at the dog behind the two of them that was going completely nuts.
“I know we shouldn’t but- wait what did you just say?” Stiles looked at Derek, his brows furrowing in confusion. He could feel Scott staring at him and Derek, but paid Scott no mind.
“You heard me. It’s a full moon. You and your little friend shouldn’t be out like this during your first full moon. Especially him. You might be better off, but he’s going to get extremely aggressive extremely fast.” Derek still stared at Scott, but Stiles was now more confused than ever.
Stiles looked over at Scott for a split second, worry now apparent all over his face. “What do you mean I’m better off I don’t-“ Stiles went to look back at Derek, but he was nowhere to be seen. Stiles looked around frantically, seeing no signs of Derek anywhere. Stiles shook his head, ignoring how his breathing seemed to pick up more and how his vision went slightly blurry. He just took deep breaths and walked back inside the house, ignoring the irritation that bubbled in his chest when he saw Lydia and Jackson aggressively making out against a wall.
Stiles tried to just talk and mingle with whoever was around, still ignoring the sweat beading on his skin. What he couldn’t ignore, though, was how Scott seemed to be doing a lot worse than Stiles. Stiles jumped in slight panic, lurched forward to grab Scott and try to steady him. That’s when he heard it. Scott was growling, anger bubbling in his voice as he pushed Stiles away.
Stiles followed Scott, asking if he was okay. Allison followed him out, also yelling for Scott to come back and asking if he was okay. Stiles watched as Scott got in his mom’s car, speeding away recklessly. Stiles sighed, panic subsiding and instead being replaced with exasperation.
Derek had shown up again, walking up to Allison and Stiles. “Hey, Allison, I’m a friend of Scott’s. He wanted me to give you a ride home.” Derek smiled, glancing at Stiles with a slightly confused expression.
“Oh uh… okay? Is he okay?” Allison asked, holding her jacket to herself. Derek nodded and smiled, seemingly trying to be as least threatening as possible to Allison. He walked her to his car, letting her get in, and looked at Stiles.
“I’ve got Scott. You get somewhere else to pass the full moon.” Derek said, looking at Stiles from across the road. Stiles, not fully sure he should trust Derek, still just nodded and started walking to his jeep.
Stiles did feel weird, but not exactly aggressive or angry. He felt energized, antsy even. His head felt weird, as if the world were starting to spin and everything doubled. Stiles quickly parked his jeep at his house, stumbling inside. Everything felt hot, too hot, and he was starting to feel sick to his stomach. Once inside his room, Stiles stripped off his shirt and pants, leaving himself in a pair of shorts.
Stiles locked his door just to be safe in case his dad came home. He wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, he just knew he wasn’t having the same issues as Scott. No bloodlust, no aggression, and no feral instinct causing him to change and rush some random on the street. Stiles felt too much energy and too little energy all at once, dizzy, and nauseous. Sweat dripped from every crevice, even from places he had no idea he could sweat from.
Stiles sat in the corner of his room, his knees up to his chest and his hands against his head. His breathing turned into what sounded like animalistic snarls, almost out of rising agitation. The longer this went on, the more he actually began to be angry. It was uncontrollable, unwanted. Fear bubbled in his chest, but soon all rationale fleeted from his mind.
He felt his fingernails sharpen into thin, pointed claws. His vision went red and orange and his eyes burned. Stiles fell to his side, rolling onto his hands and knees as he looked around for something, but not sure of what exactly he was looking for. It was as though he were scanning his surroundings for threats, predators even. He let out a small yelp as pain shot through his ears and gums. His ears pointed, his teeth sharpened, and his face and body grew reddish brown hair. His irises shined a bright green-yellow and his pupils became slit, not unlike a cat’s. Everything that was human about Stiles vanished. His mannerisms, his eyes, his hands, his face, everything became feral and animalistic.
He didn’t howl, but he did growl lowly from his chest. Stiles had lost full control of himself, his body moving before he had the chance to try and calm himself down again. The window was slowly pushed upwards before he threw himself out and onto the ground. He ran down the streets, searching for something, anything, he could get his hands on. One animal here, another animal there, over and over again he found any animal that was left out in the open. His canines sunk into the necks of these small animals, draining not only their blood but their life force. He eventually retreated to the Beacon Hills Preserve, catching rabbits and repeating the process of biting necks, black veins appearing along his face and hands, and sighing as relief settled every few animals.
Stiles’ euphoria didn’t last long, though. He caught a familiar scent. Or, well, two of them. His body reacted before his mind did, swiftly darting away as two others chased after him. One aggressive, the other determined. Stiles ran faster, every now and then landing on all fours to propel him further, before hiding in what seemed like a small den.
One of them ran past the den, the other had stopped calmly in front of it. Stiles was ready to pounce, ready to defend himself even if it had meant death. “Stiles. I need you to come out here. I won’t hurt you unless you give me a reason to. I’m only here to help you.” The voice sounded calm, seemingly understanding the fear radiating off of Stiles.
Stiles recognized the voice, but only instinctually. He still didn’t move, making the man outside the den sigh. “Stiles. It’s Derek. I need you to trust me. And we need to catch up with Scott before he tears everyone limb from limb, including Allison. Just come out here and I’ll prove that you don’t need to be scared of me.” Derek’s voice softened, trying to be comforting in a strange way.
Stiles seemed to calm down, his eyes no longer shining that greenish yellow as he peeked his head out of the small den. He looked at Derek, his smile calming Stiles significantly. Stiles stood up, not even noticing his face returning to normal as he looked at Derek.
“I’ll explain everything later. But come on before Scott gets himself or someone else killed.” Derek didn’t explain further, just ran off in the direction of Scott’s loud, pained howl. Stiles chased after Derek, catching up easier than he expected himself to.
It didn’t take long before the two caught up with Scott, Derek stopping Stiles and hiding with him behind a large tree. Derek watched as three men walked up to Scott, letting their guard down. “You take out the one on the far left. Just grab and throw him. You won’t kill him. I’ll take the one on the right. After you throw the one on the left, just run and Scott and I will follow.” Derek mumbled.
He didn’t even confirm before letting Stiles go and running up to the guy on the far right. Claws dug into the man’s shoulder as Derek launched him into a tree a good ways away. Stiles followed on instinct, lunging at the man Derek told him to grab and threw him as hard as he could behind him. Stiles heard a sickening crunch from the man, but paid it no mind as he just ran alongside a now free Scott, Derek trailing close behind him.
It was a bit before they stopped running, Stiles finally collapsing. The full effects of the moon seemed to be wearing off, causing Stiles’ energy to plummet instantly. Scott collapsed as well, already yelling at Derek while breathing heavily. “WHO WERE THEY?!”
Derek rolled his eyes, glaring at Scott. “Hunters. They’re after people like us.” Derek walked over to Stiles, checking on him for whatever reason he saw fit.
“People like us?! You mean you! You did this to us!” Scott leaned up, getting angrier by the second.
Derek growled at Scott, getting up and walking in front of him. “Is it seriously so horrible, Scott? Stiles is doing just fine. You both can see better, hear better, smell better, have better reflexes, and inhuman strength. You can do things normal humans dream of being able to do. People kill for this kind of thing. The bite is a gift.”
Stiles watched the two, feeling more at ease than he felt he should be. He and Scott looked back to normal now, and he actually agreed with Derek. “I… I kinda agree with him, Scott. Despite the moons and the hunters, I don’t see this as all that bad.” Stiles mumbled.
“Yeah well I don’t want it!” Scott yelled at both Stiles and Derek, his emotions getting the better of him.
Derek grabbed Scott and glared at him. “You will. And if you want to be able to control it, then you need me. So you and me, Scott? We’re brothers. All three of us need each other.” Derek let go of Scott and turned to Stiles.
“If you want proper answers, then go get cleaned up and rest. We’ll talk later.” Derek stared for a moment longer before simply walking away.
Stiles got up from the ground, watching Derek walk away. Stiles sighed, turning to Scott. “Scott, I know you don’t want to hear this, but he’s right. What happened, happened. We got bit, we’re werewolves. We have to accept it, hunters and all. We do things people dream of doing. We should embrace it. And I also don’t think he’s the one who bit us. He’s… I don’t know-“
“Stiles just shut up. I don’t have time for this right now.” Scott snapped, holding his arm and walking away from Stiles. The moon was still seemingly affecting his mood, and Stiles was honestly annoyed by it. If Scott wanted to be stubborn, then so be it. Stiles would just make his way home, letting Scott walk his way home as well. The sun was already starting to rise, so the hunters would surely be gone by now. That left himself and Scott perfectly safe to walk back on their own.