Work Text:
Jackson knows the time difference between London and California and he’s more than sure that it’s ass o’clock in the morning back in Beacon Hills but as he turns on his laptop he knows Stiles will be online. He’s always online. Jackson’s not even sure Stiles knows what sleep is.
It’s not a surprise that when Jackson signs onto Skype that Stiles is on. It’s certainly not a surprise that Stiles calls him almost immediately and Jackson can’t help but look at the mirror before he answers the call. That shouldn’t be his first reaction but it is. And his first reaction when he sees Stiles shouldn’t be to smile but he can’t help it because the dork is grinning right back at him.
No one knows about these calls. Every time they talk Stiles will bring up their old friends, mention anything new around town and then not so subtly ask Jackson if he’s stopped being a moron yet. Because Stiles Stilinski couldn’t do subtle any better than a rabid werewolf in a china shop. Jackson’s actually pretty sure the werewolf would fare better than Stiles. And as annoying as the question is Jackson doesn’t totally mind because Stiles is a genuine person, he doesn’t pretend to be someone else. It’s almost become a game. Stiles will try and goad him and Jackson will ignore the question and deflect with some varying degrees of subtly. It’s just something they do.
Jackson hasn’t talked to anyone. He doesn’t want to. It’s only really by accident he talks to Stiles again. Because while he doesn’t talk to anyone, it doesn’t mean they don’t try to talk to him. Lydia texts all the time, he gets the occasional one from Allison and rarely one from Scott. Danny and he talk all the time but its more trading stories and talking the usual bullshit. Being on another continent means nothing really because Danny is Danny. They never talk about Stiles even though Jackson knows how much his best friend wants to. But it’s not until he gets a text from Derek of all people telling him that Stiles was possessed that Jackson goes online for the first time to see if Stiles is on.
Stiles had been on and Jackson had written half a message to him before snapping the lid of his laptop shut. He continued on for a week before he internally yelled at himself for being a wimp and quickly typed out a message, sending it before he could stop himself. Stiles called him out on his reason for messaging him straight away with a “so they told you”. Jackson hadn’t really known what to say to that because it was a rare case anyone called him out. But he’d admitted to it and let Stiles babble on with paragraphs written impossibly fast for their size and content.
It took a month before Stiles explained to him what happened. Jackson hadn’t known mainly because he didn’t want anyone but Stiles to tell him. He didn’t want Lydia’s embellishment, Allison’s reluctance or Scott’s inaccurate story telling. He wanted the truth. Stiles had been completely factual about it, no emotion at all. It had been almost weird because Stiles was emotional, usually too much so. Jackson hadn’t liked the cold distant Stiles that had taken over for about week until Stiles had gotten over the fact that he’d shared his experience with Jackson.
They’d bonded over being controlled. At first it was weird, sharing his experience of being the kanima with Stiles. He didn’t remember much and Stiles had filled him in pretty quickly. But it made him feel a little better, that he wasn’t such a freak because someone knew how it felt to be forced into doing something he wouldn’t have normally done.
Nowadays they rarely talked about what happened to them. Usually it was jokes and random useless pieces of information. Stiles always asks Jackson how London is and they both pretend that Stiles can’t see right through him when Jackson tells him how awesome it is.
It was four months into whatever they had going that Stiles refused to turn on his camera for about a week. Jackson didn’t believe him when Stiles told him the camera was broken. Eventually he comes back online and when he does Jackson wanted to growl at the bruises on his face. He threatened to kill McCall but Stiles is quick to tell him that it’s not Scott. Jackson knew it wasn’t Derek because as broody and serious as the guy can get, Stiles is the last person Derek would actually hurt. So he then tried to blame the pack, running through names watching the micro expressions on Stiles’ face for the answer to his question.
In the end what actually happened is that Stiles had a secret boyfriend. One that hadn’t been as nice as he should’ve been to Stiles. McCall hadn’t noticed because, in Jackson’s opinion, he’s useless and the last person to notice anything that isn’t up Allison’s ass. The pack hadn’t known because Stiles was always careful, never bringing the guy back to his place, never seeing any of them until he’s scrubbed the scent of the nineteen year old off his skin. Derek didn’t find out until he sees the bruises later because Stiles had been ditching pack meetings giving the Alpha a myriad of reasons as to why he couldn’t show up.
Jackson had been pissed because Stiles had gotten hurt because he’d been afraid of everyone’s reaction. He’d been afraid that they’d not like him because he liked boys (which was stupid because Danny). Afraid that they’d hate his boyfriend and run him off. Jackson hadn’t realized that Stiles thought so little about himself that he really thought it was a miracle for anyone to actually care about him.
It had taken another week for Jackson to get the name of Stiles’ mystery boyfriend. A week later the guy’s life is ruined, he doesn’t exist on any databases. There’s no money in his bank account, no legal documents proving he’s alive. His ID is suddenly fake and his masters worthless. Stiles didn’t say anything to Jackson but they talked longer that night and Jackson stayed online until he watched Stiles’ fall asleep at his desk.
It’s become a regular thing, both chatting in bed until they fall asleep. Sometimes they wake up the next morning so see the other still asleep on the other line and other times he wakes up to see the call long disconnected. Usually it’s Stiles who disconnects it, sometimes his dad but the only person of the pack who knows is Derek.
They never talk on Thursdays because that’s when Jackson has practice and Derek holds pack meetings. Somewhere along the line for about a fortnight they only talked every few nights and it was brief because for some stupid reason the pack decided to be nosy fuckers and barge in on Stiles at all times, camping out in his bedroom. It took all of two weeks before Jackson received an urgent text from Stiles telling him to get his ass online. Apparently Stiles had gone on a rampage, throwing a ridiculous hissy fit demanding that they all leave him alone. Jackson had known it’s only because of Derek that the pack stopped and he almost thought about sending the man flowers because not talking to Stiles had gotten under his skin and he’d hated seeing the distracted weariness on Stiles’ face.
There’s a lot they don’t say but mostly it’s because they don’t have to. Stiles doesn’t say anything when he gets a puppy for his birthday, a slobbering mess of a bloodhound with floppy ears. There’s no comment made when the best mechanic of Beacon Hills completely reworks the stupid blue Jeep Jackson knows Stiles loves more than recces’ peanut butter cups for the bare minimum because Jackson’s already paid the man for any extra costs and then some. When Stiles’ phone breaks there’s a new one on the desk of his bedroom the next morning and Jackson refuses to ever tell anyone what he owes Derek for that favor.
He’s not buying Stiles’ affection he’s really not. He knows what that does to people. But Stiles is important in a way Jackson can’t describe. He’s dorky and annoying but the incessant chatter keeps him sane. The stupid texts and the corny jokes get him through the school day. The silly snapchats make Jackson laugh, most of them are of Stiles when he wakes up in the morning, sleepy headed and pouting.
But for all the knowing looks and silent thank yous and all they never say it’s only until nine months after they begin talking that Stiles yawns into his pillow next to his laptop and tells him that he misses him. It feels worse than when he ended it with Lydia permanently, worse than the feeling that someone in five inch kitten heels was stomping all over his heart. Jackson doesn’t say it back but he knows that Stiles wishes he had. It takes him three weeks to say it and after that it’s a traded goodnight between them.
Jackson graduates high school with marks better than even his adopted parents expected of their perfectionist over achieving son. Jackson knows it’s all because of Stiles and the many hours they’d spent video chatting, picking apart Jackson’s stupid poetry homework and monster biology essays. With his test results and he gets accepted everywhere but he’s only really interested in one university but he doesn’t tell people that. When they ask he tells them he’s considering Princeton or Yale but he’s not sure because he’d really like to go to a University with a good lacrosse team because he’d like to go pro if he can. He tells his parents he’s considering law, his teachers he’s considering politics and doesn’t have to tell Stiles anything because it’s Stiles.
He buys a one-way ticket back to California after he graduates. His parents assume he’s going back to see Lydia and he really can’t be bothered telling them the truth. He doesn’t need their money, he has his own inheritance but he uses their money anyway because they won’t notice. He doesn’t go to Beacon Hills immediately but scouts around Berkley trying to decide if he’s going to stay on campus or just find a nice flat off campus.
The day of graduation for Beacon Hills high school, Jackson slips into the seat next to Derek and the Sheriff. Neither acts surprised and Jackson wants to scowl and hopes he won’t get the same reaction from Stiles. The whole ceremony drags too long and a girl almost trips and face plants but doesn’t. Lydia’s Valedictorian speech is so her that Jackson doesn’t know if he wants to bang his head up against a brick wall or roll his eyes. Stiles’ Salutorian speech is, just like Lydia’s, so him that Jackson can’t help but roll his eyes. At one point he stops, mouth wide open, and Jackson knows Stiles has spotted him. How he hasn’t noticed considering he’s been sitting next to Sheriff Stilinski and Derek is a mystery to Jackson. He watches as Stiles stops and then starts again, his smile a little brighter than before and Jackson knows he made the right decision in coming back.
After the ceremony and formalities are over they’re in the car park and Stiles rushes him and throws his arms around Jackson’s neck, breathing in deeply. Jackson’s arms circle his waist and pull him in tighter because he’s missed Stiles so god damn much and lying to him since he graduated has hurt more than he thinks it should.
The group look shocked, Lydia a little too smug for Jackson’s liking. Scott looks like a fish and Allison smiles at them. Danny just gives him a knowing look, smiling as he shakes his head. Derek’s rolling his eyes like he thinks they’re being ridiculous and it makes Jackson wonder how much of a pain in the ass Stiles has been for the Alpha. The Sheriff just ignores them and gushes to Scott’s mom about how happy he is that their sons have graduated school without being expelled.
None of this really matters though because he got to see Stiles graduate and they’re both moving in together, into a perfect flat he’s found ridiculously close to Berkley. And Danny’s going to be there too because Stiles corrupted him while Jackson was gone. It’s all going to be fucking perfect and no one, not even Lydia and her stupid smug looks can stop Jackson from being happy right in that moment.