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Stiles kept a close eye on Chris after everything. The man had lost so much, Victoria and Allison dead, Gerard and Kate certified villains and, in case of Kate, actual monsters. And still, Chris kept going on, but Stiles had some experience with grief and he didn’t like the look on Chris’ face.
It had taken Stiles’ dad years to crawl back out of the bottle, and he had only done so because he remembered that Stiles needed him still. Chris wouldn’t have that revelation, because there was no one left for him to care about, and Stiles wouldn’t allow him to drown in his grief.
“So here’s an idea,” Stiles told his dad one day during dinner, and John immediately looked on edge.
“Am I going to like this?” he asked, putting his cutlery down and giving Stiles his whole attention.
“I hope so,” Stiles gave back with a shrug. “You know how Chris lost everything?”
John nodded at that, and so Stiles kept going.
“I don’t think he’s taking good care of himself. He reeks of alcohol more times than not, and I’m not sure he’ll find his way out of that on his own.”
“Okay,” John slowly said. “What’s the plan?”
“Invite him for dinner,” Stiles immediately said, and John narrowed his eyes at him.
“Invite him for dinner. And that’s it?”
“Well, there might be a second stage of that plan.”
“Which would be?” John prompted.
“He needs some family, needs someone to care about and who cares about him.”
“You want us to be that for him.”
“Yeah,” Stiles gave back with a shrug. “I mean, why not? We invite him for dinner regularly, make sure he eats, and sleeps and that his alcohol consume doesn’t tip over into dangerous. We ask him for help, we help him in return and he doesn’t self-destruct.”
“That sounds awfully selfless of you,” John remarked, and Stiles pouted at him.
“I’m trying to safe a man’s life here, dad, you could give me some more credit.”
“Is that so,” John muttered but he picked up his cutlery again. “Fine. Tomorrow is good.”
“Awesome.”
~*~*~
Getting Chris to agree to come over for dinner was more difficult than Stiles had anticipated. He outright refused his invitation, and no prodding in the world seemed to change his mind.
“Daddio, here’s an idea,” Stiles said as soon as his dad picked up his call.
“What is it now?”
“Chris refuses our invitation.”
“Okay, so what?”
“So, that’s not okay! He needs to eat, he needs to not fall into the bottle and here’s how you come in,” Stiles said, and he could hear his dad sigh.
“What do I do?”
“You call him and ask him to come over to look at some files, because you suspect supernatural activity and want his opinion. I’ll have dinner ready at seven.”
“I’m really glad you’re using your cunning ways to nurture a man back to health,” John said and then promptly hung up on Stiles.
Stiles stared at the phone in outrage, but then shrugged and continued to buy all the stuff he would need. He wasn’t sure when the last time was that Chris had a home cooked meal, so he decided on something easy and light. Chicken and vegetables would be enough for now.
~*~*~
When Chris entered their home he immediately narrowed his eyes at Stiles, who quickly slammed the door shut behind him.
“What is this?” Chris asked him, and John came out of the kitchen when he heard the menacing tone in Chris’ voice.
“Dinner. Take off your jacket and come here,” John told him, and he used his sheriff voice.
Stiles would forever be amazed at the effect it had on people, because Chris did just as he was told.
He seemed slightly gobsmacked when he suddenly found himself on the kitchen table, plate with food in front of him, and easily included in the conversation.
“What are you doing?” he asked them, interrupting them mid-word, and John and Stiles shrugged.
“Having dinner with you. Drop by again tomorrow, I have some more receipts I can try out,” Stiles told him, absolutely counting on the fact that Chris would be back. His food was awesome, and his dad was good company for Chris.
“Absolutely not,” Chris said, but took another bite of the chicken.
John and Stiles shared a look, because they were sure that Chris would be back, even though he didn’t know it yet.
~*~*~
They were right.