Chapter Text
There was a hint of a chill in the air, and if Stiles hadn’t been used to much colder weather back home in New York, he might have been as bundled up as everyone was. “Barely sixty degrees and they’re wearing winter coats.” He remarked dryly over his shoulder.
Allison, his sister, picked at her heart-filled sweater idly in the background. “And here I thought we’d go to the beach after school.” she smiled, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled softly but didn’t reply. The shared moment left as soon as it came, and practically in sync, they both resume the task at hand.
They walked in silence, shoulder to shoulder - looking more like army men than high school students. “How about the meathead on the right?” Allison said under her breath, with a slight nod in that direction. Stiles’s eyes flickered over to a big burly, black teen casually sitting on a bench outside the main doors.
“He’s by himself.”
“So? Werewolves can be loners. It is high school.”
He scowled. “You heard Dad last night. We’re looking for a pack, not omegas.” he reminded her. Allison merely sighed, but never took her eyes off of the boy. She turned back towards Stiles when they reached the front lawn.
“Ten dollars.”
“You’re on.”
He laughed slightly under his breath. “After you.” he nodded as he opened the front door rather grandiosely. Allison played along, curtsying, before entering through the front doors of Beacon Hill High School.
It was almost five year ago to the day when Stiles and Allison had had the talk from their father. At the time, they were barely twelve years old, but had already seen guns, arrows and blood before their very eyes.
Their father had sat them down in the family room, and it was the first time they had looked at him properly in over a month. His face had an uneven beard and his eyes somehow seemed ten years older. “I didn’t want either of you knowing about the lives your mother and I lead. Not yet, anyway. I was going to wait until you both turned eighteen.” he had said to them. In another life, his tone would have been gentle or even patient. That day it was sharp and lifeless.
“Yeah, well, Brown beat you to punch, didn’t he?” Stiles always had a bravery about him, even back then; Allison, however, stayed quiet besides him, like she always used to.
Argent nodded, a frown etched on his face. “Yes, he did.” he said forcefully. “And I’m sorry that you had to see that.”
Stiles laughed mirthlessly and swayed a little. He looked pale and the dark circles around his eyes made Argent think back to when he and his wife had to take Stiles to a psychologist last spring.
“I’m sorry you had to see that?” he mimicked. “You mean, our mother? Ripped to shreds, because apparently, werewolves freaking exists?” he said the last three words slowly, incredulously as tears furiously came up to his eyes.
Argent didn’t say anything for a while, and when he finally made a move to speak, Allison cut him off. “You were hunters right? The two of you?” she asked, lacking her usual cheeriness. Her tone was dead, and her eyes were empty. Devoid, even, like a grown woman rather than a little girl.
Their father nodded. “Yes, we were. That night we had been called out to fight a pack of wolves by the Hudson. We didn’t know that it was a set up, and trust me when I say, that no one will be left unpunished, even if I had to kill everyone single one of them myself.”
“No.” Allison whispered, and looked at Stiles and then back at her father. There was a pause. “We’re a family. We’re helping. You’re going to teach us how to kill those things.” Their father looked ready to protest, but she cut him off. “We might be kids, but you owe us that much.”
Argent paused before nodding. “Training starts tomorrow after school.” He sighed, looking hard at his kids as he literally saw their childhood ripped away from them.
-x-
Scott McCall was the first person Stiles met. He had an uneven jaw, a tan tint to his skin, and a California accent, and was undeniably human. Within seconds of meeting him, Stiles could tell Scott was the kind of kid who would give up his lunch three days in a row, if not more, if someone asked him for it – even if that someone was his worst enemy. “I can show you around, if you’d like?” Scott said with a bright smile and shy enthusiasm.
Stiles could almost feel the ice around his heart melt. He had to resist “aww”-ing at the kid, and calling him a puppy dog. “Sure, that’d be cool.” He said instead. Scott’s eyes lit up, and he jumped out of his desk.
“Okay, awesome. Well, we’re currently on the north wing of the school. Did it take you long to find Mrs. Finnegan’s class?” he asked, turning to look at him. Stiles almost felt weirded out by the actual eye contact. Californians were a different species; at least to a New Yorker like himself.
“Not really. It’s practically the first class room when you walk in the building.”
“Oh, yeah.” Scott laughed, his cheeks turning red a little. “Well, what’s your next class?” He grabbed Stiles’s schedule when he passed it over. “Oh, rad. We have gym together. Oh, and English and Chemistry.”
“Cool.” He grinned, almost fully. Stiles was actually proud of himself. He wasn’t being a sarcastic asshole yet. He wondered to himself if that would be more of a second “date” kind of thing.
Scott shivered a bit. “Are you cold?” Stiles said, trying to contain his laughter. Scott, on the other hand, chuckled out loud.
“A bit. I forgot my coat at home.” He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “My mom has been in the hospital for like two straight days so I can’t find anything.”
Stiles felt a stab of feeling somewhere near his heart. “Oh, I’m sorry, man.”
Scott’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, no. My mom’s a nurse. She’s not sick or anything – just works way too much.”
Stiles’s eyebrows went up in relief, but also in a bit of recognition. Somewhere in the notes his father gave him before they left New York mentioned one of the werewolves had a parental unit as a doctor or medical staff. “Oh yeah? Anybody else have any parents as doctors here?”
“Um,” Scott started, but just then, Allison came into view and the kid lost all sense of control. “Oh, hi.” He said, his eyes already love struck.
Fuck, Stiles thought to himself, rolling his eyes. Behind Scott, Stiles shooed Allison away, but she merely smiled. She gave Scott a sweet look. “Hi, and who might you be?”
“I’m S-Scott.” He said, laughing a bit and giving her a wide grin. He looked a bit embarrassed with himself, and tried to stand up straighter. “And yourself? I haven’t seen you before.” He suddenly looked over at Stiles. “Two new kids in one day? What is this? The start of a movie?”
“Ha.” Allison said, but she had her I’m acting smile on – which doesn’t look too different from her I’m happy smile, but Stiles knows her well enough to know something’s off. He gave her a look, but she avoided his eye. “He’s my brother.” She explained, voice slightly tougher but still friendly.
Scott picked up on the strangeness. “Oh, yeah?” he asked weakly, shifting a little. “Are you in the same grade?”
“Yeah.” Stiles interrupted, ready to take control over the devastatingly decline in morale.
“Oh, more twins.” Scott smiled at him, gratefully. Stiles furrowed his eyebrows.
“More twins?”
“Ethan and Aiden. You’ll meet them. They’re huge and hard to miss, and there are two of them.” Scott said, as they reached the end of the staircase. The three of them moved together, both Allison and Stiles falling slightly behind. Stiles gave her a glare and mimed at her to be nice, and Allison just looked at him incredulously. Scott glanced back when Stiles didn’t say anything, and he immediately clapped him on the back.
“Oh, no, buddy. I’m not related to this creature.” He vaguely gestured at Allison. She scoffed in the background. “I’m adopted, and thus, the more loved child.”
“Excuse me.” Allison finally spoke again. “I’m clearly the better child.”
“Ah, yes, definitely the better child, but Dad loves me more. I clean my room.”
“No, you don’t.” Allison immediately shut him down. Stiles ignored her, and Scott only laughed.
“Anyway, Scott, forget her. I’m amazing and everyone is in love with me, and we all just generally ignore Allison.”
“Well, I won’t.” He said, looking back at her with kind eyes. She looked a little taken aback, but he only deepened his smile, shyly looking down. She cleared her throat, a weird red going onto her face. She pointed towards an open class door.
“Well, this is my class.” She said before disappearing, but not before sending Stiles a pointed look. Scott took in a deep breath when she left and looked at Stiles shamefacedly.
“Is it wrong to say that your sister is hot?”
Stiles’s eyes widened and he looked at him in disbelief. “Yes.” He snapped, and Scott merely laughed before pulling him along.
“Come on. We have Chemistry.”
An hour (and an asshole Chemistry teacher) later, Stiles and Scott were still talking. “Okay, so Danny is gay and Ethan is his boyfriend. Kira is our history teacher’s daughter, and wait, who was the other person?”
Scott actually pointed over to a person, but Stiles couldn’t tell who he meant, since the hallway was cluttered with people. He was about to ask, when a hand landed on his shoulder. Grabbing the hand roughly, he almost twisted it until he saw it was his sister. Allison sent him a glare and he let go. “Oh, hello.” He said cheerfully, and she looked over to the back of Scott’s head as they followed him.
“Here we go.” Scott said, turning around. Noticing Allison, he blushed a little. Stiles rolled his eyes. “Hello again.” Allison smiled tensely, but Scott was already turning around towards a redheaded girl.
Stiles blinked. The girl, seventeen maybe, was wearing a purple t-shirt – but somehow wore it with such grace, she looked like she was modeling it. Her hair was pulled to the side in large ringlets and she looked like she could break him.
Well, you know, if he hadn’t been trained to kill and all.
“Lydia, this is Allison and Stiles. They’re new here.” Scott introduced them. The girl, Lydia, crossed her arms, and for a second, it just confused the hell out of Stiles as to how and why a boy like Scott would be friends with a girl like that.
“Hi.” She almost snapped, looking like she was seconds away from rolling her eyes. Internally, Stiles scoffed. Sure, he was always seconds away from rolling his eyes too, but it was only okay when it was him – not some beautiful girl. “Are we done?” she turned to Scott. Stiles blinked again, and Allison made a noise.
Lydia turned to her, noticing her for the first time. She gave her a quick once over. “Allison, was it? Nice sweater.” She said as she moved past them. They both turned to watch her walk away, and at the end of the hallway, saw her meet up with another equally-as-beautiful specimen; this time a boy.
Scott sighed. “I think she liked you.” He joked, and they both give him a look. He shrugged. “She’s going through some things.”
“Or she’s Beacon Hill’s resident popular girl?” Allison guessed, and Scott tilted his head but didn’t deny it. “There always is one.” She continued before turning towards Stiles. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Sure.” He said, nodding at Scott. “Meet you in gym.” Waving Scott off, Stiles followed Allison until she was almost at the end of the hallway. “I think she’s just a bitch, not a werewolf.” He said, when they stopped behind some lockers.
Allison looked confused for a second. “What? No, I don’t… I hope you know what you’re doing Stiles. With Scott.” She hinted sharply. Stiles rolled his eyes.
“Yes, mom, I know what I’m doing.”
She looked at him like she was trying to read his soul, before nodding, seemingly appeased. “Fine. Sorry. Let’s meet up after school and go over our list.” She basically ordered him. He “mmh”-ed mockingly before walking towards his next class.
Hopefully, these huge twins will be there, he thought to himself.
As it turned out, they weren’t there, but the girl from before was. She was sitting in the back, behind the boy he saw with her earlier. The boy in question was already asleep, but was hidden from view by another guy, whom Stiles found out was named Danny earlier. All of this – the fact that she was there, that those other idiots were there, even that they were all in the back – he knew only because they were right next to the only available seat in the class room.
Sighing, he sat next to Lydia, the redhead. She barely acknowledged her existence, and he silently thanked whatever deity there was. He really had no room for superficial popular girls in his life, and as much as he didn’t want to admit, he didn’t fit in their rooms either.
Half way through the class, he smelled nail polish and he looked over. He gave her an incredulous look, but she wasn’t paying attention to him. She seemed to be retouching a nail that was already painted a deep red, and it got the attention of their Econ teacher. “Excuse me, Lydia. Do you mind?”
“Hmm?” she hummed, and it irked him so fucking much that it sent a slight shiver down his spine. In front of her, her boyfriend stirred, and Danny had to lean to the left to hide him from view.
Their teacher, “Coach”, from what everyone called him, look like he was on the wrong side of crazy. He glared at her. “Can you not paint your nails while I’m teaching, please? Do it later, when you’re watching Keeping Up With the Hiltons, will you?”
“Kardashians.” She corrected, blowing on her nail. She closed the bottle and smiled brightly at him. His nostrils flared but he turned around, resuming his teachings. He suddenly turned back to Lydia with an evil smirk on his face. Coach quickly wrote a problem on the board and the class continued taking notes, upset they were already taken back into the world of studying after such a quick reprieve.
Looking over, he watched as she wrote down his problem. He furrowed his eyebrows at how meticulous her notes were. She paused for a second, barely anything, before writing down an answer, 245x^2, to Coach’s problem. Looking back at the board, Stiles tried to work out the answer in his head, but after a frustrating moment, realized he had to work it out. It took him a minute, but eventually he got to an answer: 245x^2.
Looking back at Lydia, she was back to taking care of her nails, filing this time.
Coach watched as people struggled with the problem. He had intentionally made it incredibly difficult. Smiling wickedly, he opened the problem to the class. “Anyone? Danny, maybe? You’re smart. You’ve managed to hide Mr. Whitmore for the past hour as if he didn’t exist, except he does exist, and also, I’m not a fucking moron.” He yelled the last part and the class got quiet. Danny bit his lip, but didn’t look too concern.
Coach moved on to Lydia. “How about you, sweetheart? Anything in that plastic head of yours?”
Lydia blinks, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “Fourteen?” she asked, as if she was a little girl.
“Four…” Coach looked like he was about to throw a fit, but the bell cut him off. “Get the hell out of my class. All of you.” He shouted before pivoting and exiting the class. No one looked ashamed or anything, so Stiles figured this happened often.
“Jackson.” Lydia said, poking the boy in front of her. He jerked.
“What the hell do you want?” The boy, Jackson, snapped, looking disoriented. She pointedly looked around at all the packing students. Stiles took his time putting his notebook away. Jackson rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He muttered, pulling his backpack from the chair as he stood up. Without another look in her direction, he left.
Stiles laughed as she sat there, hurt painted on her face. Looking over, with some residue vulnerability, she just stared at Stiles. He went over to her open notebook, pointing at the 245x^2 she had written down. “Fourteen, huh?” he asked sarcastically, walking backwards but never taking his eyes off of her. Her face flushed and he shook his head at her before exiting the classroom.
-x-
Hours later, he was in gym with not only Scott, but also Jackson, Danny and the elusive twins. He knew from the second he saw them, and he immediately started planning as to how he was going to get them to follow him into the woods after school.
They were really fucking huge.
He was staring at one of them as he dressed for gym – Ethan, it turned out – when Danny approached him. “Hey, buddy. He’s mine.” Danny said pointedly. Stiles turned to look at him and was hit by the blinding knowledge of his six pack. Danny was ripped. Looking down at his own semi-hard stomach, he frowned.
Groaning, Stiles forced a shirt over his torso. “I’m not gay.” He mumbled. “Just wondering if you guys ever step outside of the gym to live a life.”
Danny smirked. “Not really. Occasionally we go home to sleep, though.” He joked, and Stiles grinned at him. Sarcasm was always appreciated. “We’re on the lacrosse team.” Danny explained, and Stiles raised an eyebrow.
“That’s a real sport?”
Danny scoffed jokingly. “Don’t tell me you come from a school that has a sport like basketball or baseball?”
Stiles clicked his tongue. “Yes, I did. See, I came from a real school that had real sports.” He nodded at him seriously, and Danny laughed, shaking his head.
“You’re okay. Stilinski. Come on. We don’t want to be late or Coach will kill us.”
“Oh, he’s our gym teacher too?” Stiles sighed, and Danny looked at him like he was stupid until he looked behind Stiles and nodded, almost in respect. Practically out of nowhere, Scott appeared.
“Hey, Danny.” Scott grinned before looking at Stiles. “Hey, man. How was your first day?” he asked. Stiles nodded at him, internally cringing at Scott’s uncovered chest.
“Terrible. I think I have to join a gym.” Stiles said sourly. Scott looked at him curiously as he pulled a shirt over his head.
“Really? I’ve never been to one before.”
Stiles breathed in deeply through his nose, turning around swiftly and walking away without another glance. Scott laughed behind him, and Stiles couldn’t help the smile from coming onto his face either. When Scott caught up with him, he playfully knocked Stiles’s elbow with his own.
In class, everyone was already stretching, and the two boys raced to join them. Looking around, he saw that Allison was there too, but so was Lydia. “Great.” He muttered under his breath. The redhead immediately noticed him this time, and he cursed under his breath at how hot she still looked in something as non-hot as a gym uniform.
Her green eyes seemed to burn a hole in his, and they were still looking at one another when Jackson suddenly put his arm around her waist. She jumped and he looked pissed. Stiles watched as he snapped at her, and then raised his eyebrows when Jackson unexpectedly looked up at him. Stiles amusingly look forward, scratching the back of his neck.
Looking over to Scott to tell him of the strange popular girl he momentarily forgot was one of his friend, he stilled when he saw that Scott was looking over his head with a peculiar look. Turning quickly, he saw that the glare that Scott on his face was directed towards Jackson – because that’s the expression Scott had on his face, a deep, angry, furious glare.
Slower this time, he turned back to Jackson, but the boy was already moving away from Lydia and looking down on the floor as if he had been chastised. “So, you never told me how your first day was?” Scott’s cheery voice came from his left. Looking over, Scott looked like the puppy Stiles met this morning again and not like the cold, frightening person he was a second ago.
“No, I didn’t.” Stiles said slowly. Looking away, he focused on Coach, as the guy wildly tried to get their attention. Besides him, Scott gave him a strange look, but let it go.
Stiles looked over at Allison, but she was looking at the twins. Right. He was supposed to be thinking as to how to lure them to the woods.
This was going to be an interesting year.
-x-
When they got home, and after a quick dinner of Mac and Cheese and some heated up carrots, they compared their lists. They sat in the same couch that their father had sat them down in a month after their mother’s death and in the same couch that their father, five years later, asked them if they were willing to move to California.
“You guys are the best in the business, and I’m not just saying that cause you’re my kids.” He had said to them. Stiles remembered looking at Allison at this point, and how set her face looked.
“What do we need to do?” he asked, like the soldier he was raised to be.
Two months later, and hours transporting all their furniture, clothes and lives in a U-Haul truck, Stiles and Allison sat in a small living room all the way across the country from where they were raised, comparing lists of teenagers they needed to kill.
“Before we even start, the twins are absolutely on the “DEFINITELY WEREWOLVES” list.” Stiles said loudly. Allison snickered.
“Just because they’re twins doesn’t mean they’re supernatural, Stiles.” She said, but she wrote their names down in the appropriate list.
“Not because they’re twins, Allison.” Stiles emphasized her name as she had with his. “But because they’re supernaturally huge. Actually, literally anyone we had gym with today. Did you see their abs? I’m done ever trying to be fit again.” Allison ignored him and wrote a name on the MAYBE WEREWOLVES list. “Who’s Boyd?”
“The kid we saw this morning before school. According to your supernaturally huge theory, Boyd should have been a shoe-in…” she told him pointedly and he scolded at her. “I still have to double check, but,” she sighed in the way women did when they were right about something, “When he is one, you own me ten bucks.”
“Ha.” Stiles snorted sarcastically before writing his own set of names down. They muttered names to each other, until they seemingly wrote down the entire school in a column. Allison skimmed over names she vaguely knew.
“Okay, so we agree Lydia is in the “DEFINITELY NOT A WEREWOLF” list?”
Stiles rolled his eyes. “She’s just insecure actually-smart dumbass teenager.” He dismissed her. Allison raised an eyebrow at the edge in Stiles’s voice but didn’t elaborate.
“Jackson in the maybe’s?” she asked instead.
“He’s an asshole.” Stiles explained cooly. “And even if he’s human, I would still kind of want to cut him in half.” He looked down at the definitely list. “Who’s Isaac?”
“This random kid in my English class. He hasn’t learned to control his eyes. At least, they’re golden.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
“Hmm.” He muttered, giving his sister a look. “If he was just a random kid, why did you notice him? Let me guess: another loner?”
Allison glared at him. “I noticed him because I was doing my job.” She said adapting his cool voice from before. She looked down at the maybe list, still a little annoyed. “Ugh, Stiles, why is Scott in the maybe list?” she asked, putting down the paper to scratch out his name.
Stiles sighed with frustration. “Look, I know he seemed like a love-sick puppy dog around you, but I don’t know…There was a moment in gym class. I mean, it was towards Jackson, who as I’ve said is a jackass, but still…what?”
Allison was looking at him with incredible disbelief, and he looked down at where she was writing his name down.
DEFINITELY A WEREWOLF
He looked up at Allison with a stillness that made her realize. “Stiles,” she started slowly. “Don’t you remember the notes dad gave us? There were two people whom we absolutely know are werewolves: Derek Hale, the guy that survived the fire Kate set, and –”
Stiles cut her off. “Yeah, and some girl who’s mom was a doctor.”
Allison shook her head. “No, Stiles. That’s the intel we got at first, but,” she began riffling through papers until she found the sheet she was looking for. “Didn’t Dad give you an update?”
Stiles suddenly felt sick. “Yeah, he gave it to me right before we left New York and I was going to look over it when we got here.” He said tonelessly. “I guess I forgot.”
Allison looked at him sadly before passing over the paper. Snatching the letter, he quickly read what was on the paper.
Correction: Not a female; instead, the known werewolves are: a) Scott McCall, son of Melissa McCall (nurse at local hospital); father: unknown; status: Alpha. And b) Derek Hale, son of the Hales (deceased); status: omega.
“Scott’s an alpha?” Stiles asked quietly.
Allison paused. “No, Stiles. Scott is the alpha. I thought you knew.” She whispered. “He’s the one we were sent here to kill.”
-x-
Across town, Scott McCall drove home with Isaac Lahey, one his best friends. “Did you see the new girl?” Scott asked with a smile, biting his bottom lip.
Isaac shifted. “Yeah, she was staring pretty intensely at me in English.” He mumbled and then winced. “I think she saw my eyes changed.”
Scott raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth from Isaac to the road. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” Isaac elongated the syllables. “It was very Twilight.” Scott rolled his eyes at that. “But I mean,” Isaac squirmed in his seat again. “I sit next to the window. She could have just thought it was the reflection of the sun.”
Scott sighed. “Here’s hoping. We do not want another Jackson situation.”
Isaac scowled at that. “I still can’t believe Derek turned him.”
“He did blackmail him.” Scott pointed out. Isaac shrugged.
“Derek’s a werewolf, and even if he wasn’t, he’s like two feet taller than Jackson.” Isaac exaggerated. “He could have handled him, but no. Let’s turn the psychotic jackass into a werewolf because he threatens to tell the Sheriff. Like Stilinski would have ever believed him.” He huffed.
Scott gripped the wheel. “Well, it’s done, so all we can do now is deal with it. Make sure he stays out of trouble. I think he wants to join the pack, actually.”
“No.” Isaac’s reply came immediately, glaring.
Scott sighed again and pulled up to the curb. He looked at Isaac seriously. “He’s still Lydia’s boyfriend and she’s pack, no matter what.” Isaac gave him a look. “I don’t care if you don’t get along with either of them. We’re a pack and that means something. You know what she’s been through, and you out of everyone should understand that the most.” Scott paused. “Maybe we should go on a retreat.”
“Like a ‘stop hating each other’ getaway? What? Are we going to have to build a fire and set up a tent in the middle of the woods? Maybe you can have events, like real camps do! Like, set up situations that we can only solve if we put our heads together. It’ll work.” Isaac mocks enthusiasm and seriousness. After a beat, “Make sure Derek comes. Then, it will definitely work.”
“Where are we going and why is Derek invited?”
Both boys turned to look at the new addition. Lydia had climbed into the backseat as they argued. She raised an eyebrow when Scott shook his head, dismissing the issue. “Oh-kay. Thanks for picking me up.” She said, rolling her eyes.
Scott starts the car again, driving away from Lydia’s house. “Of course. Erica’s next, so don’t kill each other in the back, okay?”
Lydia doesn’t answer; instead, she took out her phone and started texting. Isaac gave Scott a harsh look. “What does it say about a pack when half the pack hate each other?”
Scott glowered at Isaac. “It means we definitely need to go on a retreat.” The other boy snorted, but didn’t say anything.
The truth was, Isaac was right. The pack was disjointed ever since Lydia and Jackson joined them. To be fair, before that, it had just been Scott and Isaac and an intensely annoying Derek Hale, so things sailed pretty smoothly in that at least they could handle Derek’s creepiness. That is, until Peter Hale, Derek’s uncle, came back to haunt them, and suddenly, Derek wasn’t so indifferent and there was one more abused and traumatized person in their pack.
Looking in his rearview mirror, Scott glanced at Lydia as she played on her phone. She looked out the window for a moment, and her eyes flashed a bright blue at the bright sun before turning back to her natural green color. Blinking, she hummed a little as she turned back to her phone.
Yes, Scott thought. Lydia was pack – no matter what.