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“Stiles? Stiles?“ Chris‘ eyes widened a little when he picked up the phone. “Where are you? We’ve been looking for you for days? Stiles! Talk to me, please!”
The other side of the line was almost quiet but Chris was able to hear the heavy breathing.
“Stiles, come on. Please just give me some sort of sign that you are okay! I’ll come and get you, just tell me where you are!”
“Chris?” Stiles’ voice was quiet and hoarse, sounding like it was difficult for him to speak.
“Yes. Yes, baby, it’s me.” Chris had his shoes put on in just seconds. “Where are you, sweetheart?”
“Street.” Stiles took a deep breath, followed by such a heavy cough that it made Chris flinch. “Your street.”
Chris didn’t need to hear more than that. Within just another second he had grabbed his keys and was out the door. It was already dark outside but it didn’t take long for Chris to notice the figure at the end of the street that couldn’t have been anyone other than Stiles. His Stiles. “Stiles!”, he called out as he ran towards the boy, going pale once he reached him. “Oh my god, Stiles.”
Chris was there just in time to catch Stiles as he stumbled forward, barely able to keep himself upright. He was still wearing the same clothes he had worn five days ago when he had disappeared after pack night. Just that now, they were dirty, covered in blood and torn apart here and there.
“Chris?”, Stiles whimpered as he leaned into the older man’s shoulder, seeking comfort from the man.
“It’s okay, baby. I got you. I got you,” Chris whispered, arms wrapping around Stiles immediately to hold him close.
“Home,” Stiles whispered, unable to get any more words out.
“Of course. I’m taking you home. Come on.” Chris picked him up, making sure Stiles was comfortable before he carried him back towards the house and inside.
____
Stiles was asleep for hours but Chris wasn’t tired. Not with Stiles back home and not with the way he looked. There was blood all over his clothes and from the wounds and bruises, Chris could tell that at least a big amount of it had to be Stiles’ own blood.
While Stiles was sleeping Chris had more than enough time to examine the bruises that were visible to him without daring to touch Stiles. He had tried right after Stiles had fallen asleep, had tried to stroke the younger man’s hair to give him some comfort but Stiles had flinched away and the sounds of distress that he had made were enough of an indicator for Chris to just stop.
There was a dark purple bruise on Stiles’ left cheekbone, right under his eye. His lip was busted and there was dried blood around it. On Stiles’ right cheek there was a cut and Chris was worried that it was going to scar. But what worried him the most were the fingerprints clearly visible on Stiles’ throat like someone had choked him hard.
“You’re staring.”
Stiles’ voice pulled Chris out of his thoughts and back into reality and he was glad to find a very faint and very tired smirk on Stiles’ lips. “I’m watching over you, sweetheart.”
Instead of replying, Stiles just nodded and slowly moved from under the blanket that Chris had covered him with to move over towards Chris, cuddling into his side.
“Do you think – Stiles, are you ready to tell me what happened to you? I already called your dad to tell him that you were here and that you were alright. He agreed to only come over once you were awake again to let you have some rest.”
Stiles sighed at the mention of his father but only leaned more into Chris. “Can I –“ Stiles cleared his throat. It was still difficult to speak. “Have some water first?”
Chris reached over to grab the bottle from the nightstand and handed it to his boyfriend, watching as the younger man gulped it down and emptied the bottle in just seconds.
“Thank you.” Stiles put the empty bottle down and looked up at Chris.
“Who did this to you, baby?”
Stiles sighed once again. “Hunters.”
“What? I thought there were no more hunters in town? Are they new?”
“I guess. Some of them.”
Chris sighed as he held Stiles close to his side. “Where will I find them? I’ll make sure they never hurt you or anyone else ever again.”
“Chris, no.” Stiles immediately shook his head and reached for Chris’ hand.
“Yes, Stiles. Look at what they did! We thought – we were worried about you.”
Stiles squeezed Chris’ hand.
“How did they know about you? You are human. Why would they target you?” This didn’t make any sense to Chris. Stiles hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t deserve what they had done to him. “Did they know you?”, he asked softly.
“Derek.”
“They knew Derek?”
Stiles nodded. “They sent a message.”
“A message? What kind of –“ Oh. Oh, god no. Stiles was the message. They had done this to him just to get to Derek.
“Yeah,” Stiles mumbled at the look of realization on Chris’ face. “I’m fine now.”
“They will regret this. I’ll make them regret ever touching you, sweetheart. I promise.” Chris leaned down to press a loving kiss to Stiles’ forehead. “Do you think you will recognize them? Did you hear any names? Or have you ever seen one of them before?”, he continued to ask.
“Yes. But – Chris, don’t.”
“I have to make sure you will never be a target for them again.”
“Chris.”
Chris shook his head. “Look at what they’ve done to you. They took you, they hurt you, they kept you locked up wherever for five days!” He couldn’t help the tears in his eyes. Seeing Stiles like that and knowing that he wasn’t able to protect his boyfriend hurt.
“Chris, listen. You are not like them,” Stiles whispered. “Don’t do anything stupid. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have kept you safe.”
Stiles shook his head. “Chris, please.”
“Just give me a name, a face, anything. At least to get them arrested.”
Stiles frowned and looked away from Chris, no giving him an answer.
“Stiles? Come on. You know something, don’t you? How many were there?”
“Five. Four men. One woman,” Stiles finally gave in. “But you really shouldn’t try to find –“
“I know. But they hurt you. They won’t get away.” Chris sighed. “Who was leading them? One of the men? Was he tall? Young or old? What color was his hair? What did he look like? Just tell me whatever you remember. Did you catch his name maybe?”, he tried.
Stiles nodded very slowly. “Caught the name. Remember the face. But Chris, you are not going to like this and I don’t-“
“Stiles, please. Just give me the name,” Chris pleaded. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”
Stiles groaned silently followed by a cough that clearly hurt judging by his face he pulled. He knew Chris wasn’t going to like the truth if he heard it but Stiles also knew Chris for a long enough time now to know that he wasn’t going to stop asking until he found out who exactly was responsible for this. So eventually Stiles looked back up at him and said, “Kate. Your sister Kate.”