Chapter Text
They fish out a map from the duffel bag. It’s the Cross Country team’s running trail of the day, with red marks all over it. They’d just randomly circled a couple places on the map, to make everyone panic. The real trap wasn’t on here.
“What is this?” Scott asks with a nervous tone.
Stiles points at the trail. “It’s for the Cross Country team. This is the trail they’re running today.”
“Danny’s on that team.” One of the twins says, probably Ethan.
“So’s Kira.” Scott adds.
“What are those circles?” Aiden asks.
Stiles frowns. Then they drop the map and rifle through the duffel bag again. From it, they take a giant clamp and a length of chain. Stiles looks back at the map, and widens their eyes.
“What? What is it?” Scott pushes, not liking where this was going.
“I- I can’t be sure…” Stiles stammers.
“I don’t care, Stiles! Tell us!” Ethen barks at them. Stiles winces a bit.
“It’s- These…” they hold up the objects in their hands, “These are used to set up bear traps.”
Scott’s head snaps up to look straight in their eyes. “You mean-”
Stiles silently nods, going for a grim look on their face. They aren’t sure if it works, because they are suddenly overwhelmed with a delicious sense of panic.
But Scott doesn’t seem to notice. Instead he suddenly checks the time. “Practice started five minutes ago.”
-
Rushing to the forest, it is almost difficult to keep a smile from their face. Their jeep is filled with an air of panic, worry and dread, all three wolves packed into a tight space. But instead of revealing their glee, they tap the steering wheel in a nervous pattern, and let their eyes flit across the trees. Scott glances at them, and they bite their lip. Scott looks away.
Scott fully believes them.
-
After dropping Ethan and Scott off somewhere along the trail, Stiles races to the starting line. They spot Coach sitting on a boulder with a stopwatch in his hand. He stands up as they screech their Jeep to a halt.
“Coach!” They say, slamming the door closed behind them.
“Stilinski!” Coach looks confused, “Where-”
“Coach, listen close.”
-
Stiles slowly pulls on the chain. They make sure to really savor it, as everyone’s dread starts to rise. And when the chain reveals nothing at the other end, they act confused as Coach starts slowclapping.
“Congratulations, Stilinski. You found a length of chain. Can somebody now please tell me what the hell's going on?” Coach yells, unknowingly to him sauntering towards the only real trap they’d set. Just one step further…
“Coach!” Scott warns, but it’s too late.
Coach tripped the wire and a crossbow hidden in the trees launches a bolt straight into his diaphragm.
Everyone stills for a second.
Then Coach looks down at the arrow. “...Oh, Crap,”
Everyone flocked around the man when he fell to the ground and started screaming.
“Get it out of me! Get it out of me!” Coach keeps yelling, “Get it out of me! Oh, my God, I'm gonna die! Get it out of me! I'm gonna die!”
And while Stiles knows there was only a very small chance that the man would die if someone called an ambulance right now and nobody ripped the bolt from the wound, they aren’t about to say anything. Not when Coach’s (and everybody around them’s) fear was so delicious.
“I’m gonna die!”
“It will hurt less if you stop moving, Coach-” Aiden tries.
“Get that thing out of me! AAAH!”
“Stay still, Coach. An ambulance is coming.”
“Get it out! I’m gonna die!”
Aiden, having enough of the panic, turns to the encroaching crowd and yells for them to back off.
Stiles looks at Scott, who looks back, panic in his eyes. Stiles gives him a look and gestures to the wound. Scott nods grimly and closed his eyes as he takes Coach’s hand. Stiles watches, a bit of envy in the back of their mind, as veins turn black and pain is transferred between the two. Patience…
The screaming stops.
Aiden sighs, “I think he just passed out…”
Stiles removes their hands from the wound. He looks at them, covered in blood, and starts shaking. Not looking away, he speaks. “I could have killed him. I could have killed him, right? What if it was his head? Or his throat?”
Scott tries to reassure them, “But it wasn’t- and he’s going to be alright.”
The wolves suddenly look up, hearing something. “I think I just heard an ambulance coming…” Aiden says.
Stiles curls into themself a bit. “...And my dad.”
When the others hear the sirens as well, a disgusting sigh of relief sounds among the group. Party’s over… for now.
-
Stiles’ dad hugs them tight after he helped Coach into an ambulance. Stiles hugs back, maybe a bit longer than necessary. But they have an act to uphold, of a scared teenager. That’s the only reason.
The moment is interrupted by Scott running up to them, waving something in his hand. Ethan follows close.
"Sherrif! We found this wrapping paper in the back of Stiles’ jeep.” Scott urges, eyes glancing at them for a second when he mentions their name, “It’s the same wrapping paper we used to prank Coach.”
Stiles’ dad reluctantly lets them go, turning to look at the boys in confusion. “Okay?”
“We think the Stiles may have copied William Barrow again, and giftwrapped a bomb to put on another school bus.” Ethan finishes. Stiles makes themself flinch and look guilty.
“Oh god.” The Sheriff says, rushing to call someone.
They wonder if anyone else will find their little prank funny as well.
-
Their dad is yelling over the radio as they run into the destroyed sheriff’s station. They and Scott beeline for a badly injured deputy, lying on the ground. It’s Jim, who’d sneak them a coffee sometimes when they had to wait for their dad to finish up. He’s bleeding out, dying, shrapnel littering his skin.
They both drop to their knees next to him.
“Can you do something? Take his pain?” Stiles urges, “Anything to make it easier?”
Scott doesn’t hesitate, kindhearted as he is. He takes Jim’s hand and squeezes. Stiles watched the veins blacken again. Soon…
Then Jim dies.
-
Kira’d shown up to warn them the Oni were coming. Scott leads them to the animal clinic, where they’d be safe from the demons for a bit.
Stiles could crush those bugs with one hand, but Stiles would be deadly afraid of them. So they run to the door of the clinic, trying to unlock it while Kira and Scott fight the Oni off.
They struggle with the lock, trying to act scared but also just genuinely struggling. The rain had made everything slippery and their hands are cold and-
They unlock the door just as they hear a gasp. Whipping around, they see Scott, clutching his stomach, as a sword protrudes from his back. Their eyes widen.
“Scott!”
No. No this wasn’t meant to happen. Scott can’t die, not because of them! They just wanted him juiced up on pain so they could steal it from him. They didn’t want Scott to actually get hurt!
Stiles throws open the doors and yells for Kira to get in. She grabs Scott and hauls him along. They hold the door open for them, and just when they get inside, Stiles slams it shut behind them. They lock it again.
They turn around, facing the Oni.
“Enough games.”