Chapter Text
“Stiles, I think I’m in love,” Scott says, spotting a girl new to the school. They’re sitting in math class and Scott’s gazing out the window. The new girl is easily the most beautiful person he’s ever seen in his life. She’s smiling at the principal as she’s being led inside, and all Scott wants to do is smile back at her for the rest of his life.
“I knew you’d get the hang of tangents,” Stiles says, sounding vague but pleased. He yawns and continues to doodle intently.
“What?” Scott says. “No, out the window. There’s a new girl and I think she might be the love of my life.”
Stiles looks up, following Scott’s line of sight. “Well she’s definitely hot, I will give you that.”
Scott sighs. “She’s beautiful. She might be the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
Stiles looks at Scott, fond and rather amused. “You think? I don’t know, I think I’ve seen better.”
“You just haven’t seen her smile yet,” Scott says.
Stiles reaches over to shove at Scott’s shoulder.
“Well, after you’ve learned her name, you’ll have to ask her to smile at me,” Stiles says.
“Gentlemen.” Stiles and Scott look up to find their teacher frowning in front of them. “I’m glad you find the work so thought provoking, but please, discuss it on your own time.”
“Yes Ms Jenkins,” Scott mumbles, embarrassed. Stiles grins at her.
“You might have to take all of the trig questions from the exam,” Stiles says. “I find them far too stimulating. There’s no way I can keep quiet for over an hour when faced with triangles.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Ms Jenkins says dryly. Scott stifles a giggle, and Ms Jenkins rolls her eyes and walks away. When Scott looks out the window again, the new girl is nowhere to be seen.
They manage to get through the rest of the class in silence. By the time the bell goes Scott is nearly bursting.
“Who do you think she is?” Scott says. “She’s new, right? I’m sure I would have noticed her before. Why would she transfer so late? Do you think she’s in our grade? Do you think she would like me?”
Stiles pats Scott on the back. “Scott, I have no idea who she is, or anything about her, but she’d be a fool to not to want to date you.”
“Yeah?” Scott asks, smiling shyly.
“Why don’t you just ask her yourself,” Stiles says, spotting the new girl standing at the end of the hallway, just a few yards away. She’s nodding earnestly at whatever the principal is telling her, and yeah, Stiles can see why Scott would go for her. Scott looks up sharply and stumbles. Stiles laughs, wrapping his arm around Scott’s shoulders, holding him so they stop walking. “Right, what’s the game plan?”
“To talk to her?” Scott says.
“Scott, you nearly fell over just looking at her, we might need a more specific plan than that,” Stiles says. The principal has left the girl on her own and she’s looking a little lost and confused. “Maybe ask her if she needs help getting somewhere?”
“I think she’s forgotten her pen,” Scott says, watching the girl dig through her bag, frowning. It seems wrong to see her unhappy. “I have an extra pen!”
“Perfect,” Stiles says, releasing Scott with a few brisk pats. “Go forth and conquer, my young protégé.”
Scott nods at him before walking up to the girl.
“Hi,” Scott says. “You must be new.”
The girl looks up and smiles sheepishly. “That obvious, huh?”
“Nah,” Scott says. “It’s just a small school and I haven’t see you around before.”
“Oh,” the girl says.
“I’m Scott,” Scott says, holding out his hand. The girl fumbles with her bag, struggling to shove everything back inside it so she can shake Scott’s hand. Scott reaches out to steady her books.
“Thanks,” the girl says. “I’m Allison.”
Between them, Allison and Scott get all of Allison’s stuff into her bag. They smile awkwardly at each other. Allison sighs, “You think I’d be used to being the new girl all the time.”
Scott tilts his head in confusion. “You move a lot?” he asks, sympathetically.
“Yeah,” Allison says. “My parents’ job, you know?”
“That sucks,” Scott says. “My dad got moved to LA just after my parents divorced. I was pretty worried I would have to go with him.”
“I’m glad you got to stay,” Allison says.
“Yeah?” he asks, his mouth quirking into a small, flirty smile.
“I mean because you didn’t want to move,” she adds quickly. “I just… it sucks moving all the time.”
“I guess now would be a bad time to say I’m glad you moved, then, huh?” Scott says.
Allison smiles, pleased and a little embarrassed. “Definitely,” she says. “Because then I would have to tell you I’m glad you stayed for other reasons, too.”
They grin at each other for a few moments, before Allison looks over Scott’s shoulder, frowning. “Some guy’s staring at us.”
Scott looks back over his shoulder to where Stiles is indeed staring at them. He smiles and gives Stiles a thumbs up. Stiles vigorously mimes writing in response.
“That’s just Stiles,” Scott says, turning back to Allison. “He’s my best friend.”
“Oh, right,” Allison says. She gives Stiles a small, awkward wave. “What was he gesturing?”
“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Scott says. Allison grins.
“Yeah?”
“I wanted a reason to talk to you, so I thought I’d see if you needed a pen,” Scott says, abashed. Allison is delighted.
“Yeah?” Allison says. “Well as it turns out, I am indeed in need of a pen.”
“Well lucky for you, I happen to have an extra,” Scott says. He digs through his bag and hands Allison a pen.
“Well isn’t this convenient,” Allison says. “Because I was just about to give you my number.”
Scott sticks his arm out and Allison holds it, writing her number in small, curly writing on the inside of Scott’s wrist. As soon as Allison releases his arm, Scott pulls out his phone and sends a text to Allison.
The bell for class rings, and Allison pulls out her timetable.
“I don’t suppose you have English with Mr Wilkes?” Allison asks. Scott shakes his head.
“Sorry,” Scott says. “But I can walk you there?”
Allison scrunches up her nose and points to a door two feet away. “I think it’s just there.”
“Oh,” Scott says. “Yeah. See you around?”
“Definitely,” Allison says.
As soon a Allison disappears into the classroom, Stiles is next to Scott.
“Well?” Stiles asks. “How did it go?”
Scott holds his hand to show Stiles Allison’s number.
“Nice!” Stiles says.
They wander off to their next class, sliding in a few minutes late, but receive no more than a glare from their teacher.
“Uh, Stiles?” Scott whispers, as he pulls his things out.
“Yeah, buddy?” Stiles says.
“I need to borrow a pen.”
*
After changing schools at least five times in the last three years, Allison is getting pretty good at being the new girl all the time. She knows how to quickly learn where her classes are and which teachers she can ask for help from. It’s second nature to her to walk into a new class and quietly inform the teacher who she is. She hates big class introductions, but she can weather them easily. Fortunately, Mr Wilkes just nods at her and adds a note to his role, leaving her to find a seat. To Allison’s surprise, a pretty redhead waves at her and gestures for her to sit in the spare seat in front of her.
“Thanks,” Allison says, sliding quickly into the chair and giving the girl a grateful smile.
“I love your shoes,” the girl says. “Where did you get them?”
“Oh, um, my mom used to be a buyer,” Allison says. “When we lived in San Francisco.”
“I’m Lydia,” the girls says, smiling. “And I think we are going to be best friends.”
Allison laughs. “I’m Allison.”
*
When Scott and Stiles walk into the cafeteria for lunch, they stop and look for Allison. She’s sitting at a table with, amongst other people, Lydia and Jackson.
“Wait,” Stiles says. “Has Allison made friend with Lydia?”
“Looks like,” Scott says. He waves at Allison. She grins and waves back. Allison doesn’t gesture for them to come over, but the table is pretty full.
“Scott, this is perfect,” Stiles says. “If you date Allison, I have an in with Lydia. And then our girlfriends will be best friends.”
They find their own table, and are complaining about chemistry class when Allison comes over to join them.
“Hey,” Allison says. “Stiles, right? I’m Allison.”
“Yeah,” Stiles says. “Scott mentioned. About fifty times.”
Scott shoves Stiles and Allison laughs.
“Sorry about earlier,” Allison says, gesturing to Lydia’s table. “Lydia said there was some kind of weird tension between you and Jackson?”
“You could say that,” Stiles says.
“Yeah?” Allison asks. Stiles deflates in the face of her open and earnest concern. He doesn’t want to make things awkward for her and Lydia.
“Just stupid stuff,” Stiles says. “We got into a fight in first grade and never really got over it. He stole my juicebox.”
“No! I’ll see if I can get him to buy you a new one,” Allison says, laughing. She glances over to the table, where Lydia is gesturing for her to come over. “I should get back, Lydia was talking about organising a party so I can get to know everyone,” Allison says. “I just wanted to come over and make sure you knew I wasn’t snubbing you guys.”
“No, that’s fine,” Scott says.
“Awesome,” Allison says. She smiles and walks back across the cafeteria.
Scott sighs. “She’s perfect.”
“Tension,” Stiles says, outraged. “Lydia said there’s some ‘weird tension’ between me and Jackson. How has she not noticed he’s a complete jackass?”
“She probably just didn’t want to make Allison feel uncomfortable,” Scott says, rubbing a hand down Stiles’s back.
“I guess,” Stiles says.
“Why would anyone want to make Allison unhappy?” Scott asks. Stiles rolls his eyes and leans into Scott.
*
“I think Mr Harris might actually be trying to kill me,” Stiles says, groaning and collapsing over his chemistry homework. Scott looks up from his phone. “I will go down as the first recorded case of death by homework.”
Scott looks down at his own neglected homework and sighs. He looks longingly at the last text Allison sent, steeling himself before writing a quick reply and letting her know he has to go and do homework now. With a mournful sigh, he picks a pen and ask Stiles, “So what exactly does it mean to balance an equation?”
Stiles sits himself up and stretches. “It means giving up on any hope of having fun again before you’re forty,” Stiles says. He shifts onto his knees so he can look at Scott’s book.
It’s nearly an hour later before they finish. Stiles stands up and leans over Scott, bracing his hands on the chair arms and dropping his head onto Scott’s shoulder. He lets out a pitiful groan.
“Scott I have a problem,” Stiles says. Scott shifts back on the chair and tugs Stiles until he’s sitting on his lap. They’ve both grown since they first started to do this, and Stiles’s legs are now long enough that his feet reach the ground when he’s straddling Scott.
“Yeah?” Scott asks, running his hands up and down Stiles’s back. Stiles noses into Scott’s neck.
“Yeah,” Stiles says. “I’m trying to come up with a way of taking over the world so I can outlaw chemical equations, but I’m pretty sure they all ironically require me to use chemical equations. I just really don’t want to be hearing Harris’s voice saying ‘I told you chemical equations would be useful to your future’ when I’m having my minions arrest him for being a jerkface.”
Scott laughs and kisses Stiles’s hair. The chair they’re sitting in isn’t really designed for two people to cuddle on, and it’s not long before they’re too uncomfortable to continue. Stiles flops back onto his bed and stretches his legs out over Scott’s thighs.
“How’s Allison?” Stiles asks, lifting up one of his legs and poking Scott’s belly with his toe. He’s amused to see Scott is already back to smiling at his phone.
“She’s hanging out with Lydia,” Scott says. “I think they’re planning a party for this weekend.”
“Oh?” Stiles asks, sitting up slightly. “A party that we’re invited to?”
“I think so,” Scott says.
“Yes!” Stiles says, grinning and punching the air. “We’re getting invited to a party. A proper party with underage drinking and terrible decisions. I was beginning to think they were a myth.”
*
“We’ll have punch,” Lydia says, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “Much classier than a keg.”
Allison’s phone lights up and she reaches for it, smiling to herself. Lydia rolls her eyes.
“Let me guess, the ever so dreamy and completely irresistible Scott,” Lydia says. “I know you are new here, but surely you’ve picked up that he’s a bit of a dork, right?”
“He’s sweet,” Allison says.
“He’s adorable,” Lydia says dismissively. “But he’s useless.”
“I don’t know,” Allison says, grinning. “I’m guessing you haven’t used him in the way I intend to.”
Lydia laughs and throws a pillow at Allison. “You are wicked,” Lydia says. “I love it. It’s so… unexpected. And refreshing.”
Allison finishes typing another text, tucking her phone away once she’s sent it.
“So, punch?”
*
Sometimes Allison feels like she becomes a new person every time she has to move, like she’s building her persona again from scratch. She’s only been in Beacon Hills for three days, and someone’s throwing a party in her honour. It had taken nearly two months in San Francisco for her to leave the house for anything other than school and family things. Before that, she spent every Saturday night sleeping over at someone’s house.
Allison knows who she is, or at least, she knows the essentials. She’s fiercely independent and values her own strength. She’s happy to embrace her feminine side, but she’s won’t be thought of as weak. She doesn’t cry over puppies or go weak in the knees at the sight of blood. She can take care of herself. She values her body and embraces her sexuality. All of these things are important to Allison, and she’s never really felt she’s done anything to go against them, and yet she feels like a different person at every new school, to every new group of people.
It can be disconcerting and disorientating, but Allison embraces it as opportunities to explore who she could be and who she wants to be. It’s partly what draws her to Lydia. Here’s a girl who might well be a certifiable genius and clearly values this intelligence. Yet she’s also a girl who puts a lot of stock into appearances and maintaining high social status. Lydia corrects textbooks with one hand and sends dirty texts with the other. There’s nothing contradictory in her, all of these aspects come together seamlessly to form one Lydia. And that is something Allison can respect.
*
When Scott and Stiles arrive at Lydia’s house, the party is already in full swing. They had discussed extensively whether they should aim to arrive early or late. Coming late might make them seem cooler, but in the end it was decided that arriving early would give Scott a chance to hang out with Allison, and Stiles could annoy Lydia while she set up. Of course, their brilliant wooing plans are foiled by an unexpectedly long pre-party nap.
It gives Stiles a rush a fondness when he raises his hand to knock on Lydia’s door. The last time he had been here was for her ninth birthday, back when the entire class was invited to her parties.
“Stiles, why are you here?” Lydia asks, sighing as she opens the door to let them in. Stiles gives her his most winning smile.
“Allison invited us,” Stiles says.
“No,” Lydia says. “Allison invited Scott, because she is inexplicably smitten with him.”
“Hear that, Scott?” Stiles says, punching Scott’s arm. “She’s smitten with you!”
“That’s good, right?” Scott asks. Stiles throws his arm around Scotts shoulder and pats his chest.
“Yes it is, Scotty my boy,” Stiles says. Lydia rolls her eyes and lets Scott and Stiles in.
“Just try to not destroy anything, embarrass me or… Stiles? Just don’t talk to anyone,” Lydia says. Stiles grins at her and starts to push Scott through Lydia’s house. They’re only an hour late, but already the house seems packed. It’s a bigger party than Stiles or Scott have ever been too, easily three times the size of her childhood birthday parties. It makes the little birthday barbeque parties Scott and Stiles have with their parents seem ridiculous.
They find Allison milling around the kitchen, not hiding, but not quite comfortable with the sheer mass of people.
“Hey!” Scott says, beaming at her. Allison smiles back.
“Hey,” Allison says. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Scott says, looking sheepish.
“We may have overdone it on the pre-party napping,” Stiles says. This seems to delight Allison, who laughs.
“I forgot to take my pre-party nap,” Allison says.
“Rookie mistake.” Stiles shakes his head. “You’ll be asleep by nine and miss out on all of the teenage hijinks.”
“If I’d known there would be hijinks, I definitely would have napped,” Allison says. And with that, Stiles realizes Allison has moved from ‘hot girl Scott has a crush on’ to ‘potential new friend’.
“Next time,” Stiles says.
“Does Lydia throw many parties this big?” Allison asks, looking concerned.
“I think her birthday parties are bigger,” Scott says. “But we’re not really party people.”
Allison nods, not mentioning that she knows they are only here because she invited them.
“They can be fun,” Allison says. “But I think you either need to know a lot of people, or get a bit tipsy.”
“You’re not drinking?” Scott asks, gesturing to her empty hands. Allison shrugs.
“Lydia threw this party so I could get to know people,” Allison says. “It’d be a bit of a waste if I forgot it all tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Scott says. “We’re not drinking either.”
Scott doesn’t mention that he’s not drinking because he’s worried he’ll make an idiot of himself in front of Allison, and he talked Stiles into staying sober with him.
“Oh, don’t on my behalf!” Allison says.
“Nah,” Stiles says easily. “I’m designated driver, and I made Scott promise to stay sober with me so I wasn’t stuck being alone in a room full of drunk people.”
“Oh, right, cool,” Allison says.
“You look really pretty tonight,” Scott says, smiling.
“Yeah, totally banging,” Stiles says. He winces. “I think I need to go find the bathroom.”
Allison laughs and Scott blushes.
“For peeing!” Stiles says. “And foot from mouth removal.”
Stiles ducks his head and leaves the kitchen quickly.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Stiles,” Scott says, watching Stiles weave between the guests. “But I am excellent at lying low at parties.”
“Oh really?” Allison says. “You might want to be careful with that boasting, because I held the title for party-lie-lower at my old school.”
“I laid low at an eighth birthday party which had four clowns and only seven guests,” Scott says.
“But have you lain low recently?” Allison asks. Scott shakes his head. “Come with me, then, I can teach you some of the new techniques.”
*
For all that Sitles has spent hours daydreaming about being invited to one of Lydia’s parties, he finds it hard to know what he’s meant to be doing. There’s people everywhere. Seriously, Stiles can’t work out where they have all come from because there’s not that many people in Beacon Hills, let alone this number of teenagers. The music is loud and Stiles finds it easy to get caught up in the atmosphere, pushing through groups of people and dancing with more enthusiasm than skill. He has a sneaking suspicion people think he’s tipsy, but it means no one minds when his limbs make contact with innocent passers-by.
It takes nearly an hour before Stiles runs into Lydia again, by which point his enthusiasm for the party is starting to wane, and all he wants to do is find Scott and make him do the robot.
“Lydia!” Stiles shouts. “Pretty rocking party!”
“I know,” Lydia says, not bothering to raise her voice. Stiles nods, not sure if Lydia has just worked out how to pitch her voice well enough to be heard over the din, or if he’s just spent too long straining to hear her.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone,” Stiles offers. “And unless you count accidentally kneeing a guy’s balls while showing off some sweet moves, I haven’t embarrassed myself.”
Stiles preens slightly and Lydia frowns. She grabs his arm and starts shoving him to a nearby room.
“Stiles, Allison invited Scott,” Lydia says, shutting the door firmly behind her and giving Stiles a serious look. “Because for some unknown reason she likes him. I fail to see how my friend’s misguided crush on your friend ends up with you talking to me at a party.”
“Hey!” Stiles says, indignant. “Scott’s a catch.”
Lydia rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with Scott. He’s… he’s like a puppy. Cute, but I’m worried he’ll start peeing on the couch if he gets too excited.”
“I’ll have you know Scott is completely toilet trained,” Stiles says. “He can also sit, roll over and play dead.”
“Well I can definitely see why Allison’s going after him, then,” Lydia says. “That’s what every girl looks for in a boyfriend.”
“Yeah?” Stiles says. He waggles his eyebrows. “I’ve nearly mastered fetch.”
Lydia sighs. “Stiles, please be somewhere I am not.”
“Do I get a treat?” Stiles asks, grinning. Lydia closes her eyes.
“No Stiles, you do not get a treat,” Lydia says. Stiles has no idea what he’s done wrong, but Lydia seems to have gone from playfully cross to actually upset with him.
“Right, sorry,” Stiles says. He points at another door in the room. “I’d better go, then, and see to that… thing.”
“Please do,” Lydia says.
“Sorry,” Stiles mumbles again, tripping over himself slightly in his haste to get away.
*
The school year winds up in a flurry of tests, last minute assignment writing and making summer plans. Scott alternates his time between fretting about having to do summer school and waxing poetic about Allison, how smart she is, how funny, how beautiful, how she is apparently secretly Robin Hood and can shoot arrows accurately over more than two hundred feet. Other things have caught Scott’s attention in the past, but Scott’s infatuation with Allison lights him up in ways baseball, Call of Duty and new flavors of pop-tarts never have. Stiles loves to watch Scott grin stupidly and wave his arms around when he tells one of his seemingly never-ending Allison stories. It makes him wonder, briefly, why his undying love for Lydia seems to cause him more angst than joy. He comforts himself with the thought that Scott and Allison are just much simpler people than Lydia and he are. Everything seems set up for the most perfect summer yet.
*
“It’s a big deal for my family,” Allison says, almost apologetically. Lydia groans, flopping back onto her bed.
“It’s living in the woods and hunting for three months!” Lydia says. “They cannot seriously think that is more important than keeping me company. You can’t leave me to six weeks going to golf games and then six weeks pretending to care about the latest fashionable disease.”
“We usually only go for a couple of weeks, but apparently now that I’m seventeen I need to get to know my family better,” Allison says.
“Because once you’re eighteen you never have to talk to them again?” Lydia asks, sitting up and arching an eyebrow.
“No, it’s…” Allison says, biting her lip and looking at Lydia intently. “You know how parents always say, ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older’?”
“Allison, please don’t tell me your parents think you don’t know where babies come from,” Lydia says. Allison gives Lydia’s shoulder a shove.
“No, we have gone through that traumatic conversation already,” Allison says. She gives Lydia a careful look before continuing. “It’s more things like why we move around so much and why I’m not allowed within half a mile of the Hale property and why Aunt Kate is missing half her arm.”
“And they’re going to tell you all of that when you’re eighteen?” Lydia asks. Allison shrugs.
“Sort of,” Allison says. “There’s going to be some big thing the summer after I turn eighteen, so I think that’s when they’re going to tell me. Apparently there’s some Argent rite of passage I have to go through before they’ll tell me anything.”
“Unless your family is part of some freaky cult, that sounds like it will be the lamest summer imaginable,” Lydia says. “Although if they’re waiting until you’re eighteen to tell you about your Aunt, she might have lost the arm in some weird sex thing gone wrong.”
Allison wrinkles her nose. “Some weird sex thing? Lydia? If whatever you and Jackson are doing could result in someone losing an arm, you’re doing something wrong.”
Lydia laughs, shifting until she is lying on her stomach, propping her chin up with her hands and looking at Allison seriously, eyes glinting. “Allison, Allison, Allison. You have so much to learn.”
“Do I?” Allison asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh yes,” Lydia says. “I shudder to think what you and Scott are getting up to if you can’t see how someone might break an arm during sex.”
“Well first of all, Scott and I are getting up to nothing, thank you very much, we’ve known each other for less than three weeks,” Allison says.
“Fine, you like to take things slow,” Lydia says. “Although I am a firm believer in trying out the merchandise before you commit to anything. I mean, you don’t want to spend weeks getting attached and then find out his-”
“And secondly,” Allison says loudly, cutting Lydia off. “It doesn’t matter what you are doing, if someone ends up needing to have half of their arm amputated after sex, you are definitely doing it wrong.”
“Amputated,” Lydia muses. “And they won’t tell you why. I’d say drunk driving, but you drive so they definitely would have told you that when you got your licence. Jackson’s parents told him the weirdest stuff to try to make sure he never drove after drinking. I’ve never heard of a genetic disease that only affects the lower half of one limb, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”
“Well good,” Allison says. “Because I had definitely been worrying about that. It’s nothing like that, though, it’s just some weird family thing. The only time I’ve ever mentioned it, Aunt Kate got this really weird look in her eyes, and Mom yelled at me for about an hour and made me promise not to bring it up again before I was eighteen.”
“Do you think someone in your family did it to her?” Lydia asks, sounding fascinated by the prospect.
“No,” Allison says, frowning. “They wouldn’t, and if they did, why would they tell me at eighteen? That makes no sense.”
“I suppose not,” Lydia says, shrugging and to Allison’s relief she changed the subject. “So do you want to be doing non-arm breaking things with Scott?”
*
Allison puts off telling Scott that she’s going away until the very last moment, leaving it until they’re dawdling in the parking lot after school a few days before the end of term. She’s cutting it fine, but it’s been so nice spending time with him and making vague plans for the holidays. Normal. Her family almost always moves over the summer, or her parents go out of town and she stays with Aunt Kate. She’s never really made summer plans with friends, and certainly never with potential boyfriends. She knows that Stiles will almost inevitably be there too, which she finds surprisingly easy to accept.
“And we have to see if Allison can eat an entire pizza by herself,” Stiles says seriously to Scott, who is nodding back. Allison laughs, not exactly amused but not concerned either. It’s just the only reaction she can find in the face of Stiles’s enthusiasm for her to take part in all of his and Scott’s summer traditions.
“Do not laugh,” Stiles says to Allison. “It’s serious business. You’re not allowed to do a Star Wars marathon without the sweet agony of a stomach full of and entire family-sized pizza.”
Allison straightens her face and gives Stiles a solemn nod. Stiles slaps Scott on the back and grins at Allison.
“This is going to be the best summer ever,” Stiles says happily. Allison finds she can’t grin back and her stomach twists uncomfortably. It’s the first twinge of guilt she’s felt for not letting Scott and Stiles know she’s not going to be in town for the summer. Feeling guilty over deceiving Stiles is a bit of a surprise, but she takes it as a sign that it’s time to tell them. She’s put it off for too long already.
“I’m going away for the summer,” Allison says. Scott goes completely still and silent, his face a picture of poorly concealed quiet devastation and Allison is glad she decided to tell the two of them at the same time.
“No,” Stiles says, groaning. “You can’t go away. I had this whole plan to convince Scott to watch nineties chick flicks and… well, never mind. It’s ruined now.”
“Sorry,” Allison says, feeling her lips tug into a smile despite her disappointment. “I have this family thing, otherwise I would definitely stay, even if it was just to work out what you were planning.”
Stiles sighs dramatically. “It’s okay, geniuses always have to work in adverse conditions. It’s nature’s way of ensuring we don’t take over the world and figure out how to destroy the universe.”
“If it’s any consolation I’m being sent out into the woods for three months to learn how to hunt,” Allison says. This news is strange enough to startle Scott out of his despair.
“You’re going to spend three months hunting?” Scott asks. Allison shrugs.
“Apparently,” Allison says. “It’s a big deal for my family.”
“Don’t worry, buddy,” Stiles says, throwing an arm around Scott and discretely squeezing his shoulder. “I’m sure she won’t hunt any of the cute animals.”
Scott shoves Stiles away from him. “I wasn’t thinking about that.”
“Sure you weren’t,” Stiles says. He looks between Scott and Allison. “Well, I think I’m going to head home. You wanna come by later, Scott?”
“Yeah,” Scott says. Stiles puts his hand between Scott’s shoulder blades and rubs a little, before giving Allison a wave.
“Well, if I don’t see you before you go, have a great summer,” Stiles says. “Try not to kill any singing woodland creatures.”
“I’ll do my best,” Allison says. Once Stiles is gone, Allison feels a strange tension rising in her. Everything with Scott has seemed so natural, so easy so far, and she feels like this summer might ruin everything.
“So three months, huh?” Scott says. “Are you camping?”
Allison shrugs. “I think the idea is we adapt to our terrain. So if there’s cabins nearby we stay there, and if there’s not we make do. Travel light, move often, I’m not even allowed to bring my laptop. Mom and Dad are really into survival stuff.”
“You’ll have your phone though, yeah?” Scott says. Allison nods. “So if someone decides to send you encouraging texts, that would help, right?”
“Depends on what sort of texts,” Allison says, her lips quirking into a smile.
“Things like, ‘You can do it!’” Scott says. “Or ‘Watch out for that bear behind you.’”
“Oh yes, that would definitely help,” Allison says. “In fact, I might even bring home a bear-skin rug for the person who sent me those.”
Scott’s nose wrinkles with disgust. “Maybe I should be sending text messages to the bear.”
Allison laughs and impulsively reaches out to grab Scott’s hand. “You won’t forget about me, will you?”
Scott shakes his head. “No way. Forget about you? I don’t think I’ll ever forget about you. Even if a family of bears takes revenge on you, I will always remember you.”
Allison smile turns shy, and she looks over Scott’s shoulder for a moment, not sure how to respond to Scott’s earnest look, even as it dissipates all her tension for their future relationship. Her stomach sinks as she spots her dad’s car pulling up.
“Oh, that’s my dad,” Allison says.
Scott turns around. “Didn’t you drive to school today?”
“Yeah,” Allison says, groaning. “But Dad has this big thing that whenever we go anywhere there’s no notice.”
“Go where?” Scott says, confused.
“I guess my summer’s starting early,” Allison says.
“But there’s still two more days of school!” Scott protests. Allison shrugs.
“That’s never really mattered to my parents,” Allison says, giving Scott an apologetic look. “As long as my grades aren’t slipping, they basically just make sure that I’m attending the legal minimum number of days and see the rest as fairly optional.”
“Oh,” Scott says. He looks over at Allison’s dad’s car and then back at Allison, hesitating for a moment before pulling her in for a hug. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” Allison says back, surprised by how strongly she means it. Her dad gestures for her to cut the hug short and come over, so she reluctantly releases Scott.
“I’ll text you,” Allison promises. “Every day. Even if it means running our emergency generators flat and we have to sit in the dark for a week.”
“I’ll text you so much that Stiles will threaten to confiscate my phone and I’ll have to tackle him and lock him in the basement,” Scott says. Allison laughs, gives Scott’s cheek a peck and runs over to her car.
Scott stares after her, touching his cheek in awe.
*
“I hate that we’re doing this,” Allison informs her dad as soon as she is in the car. “It really, really sucks that you’re taking me away for the entire summer when I’ve only just started making friends.”
“Friends?” Allison’s dad repeats. “I think that boy was interested in a bit more than friendship, Allison.”
“Okay, then, it really really sucks that you’re taking me away when I’ve only just started making friends and there’s a boy I’m pretty sure I’ll be dating soon, only now I’ll be away for three months and he might meet someone else,” Allison says.
“You’ll understand why we do this when you’re older,” Allison’s dad says, sighing. “And I’m not sure you want to go out with a boy who gets over you in one summer.”
“Because it’s completely unreasonable that he would pine after me for more than four times the amount he’s known me?” Allison says.
“I know it’s hard, Allison,” Allison’s dad says. “But this is really important and you’ll-”
“Understand why when I’m older,” Allison finishes. “Yeah, I heard you the first time.”
*
Stiles is killing things on his Xbox when Scott comes over and he joins him silently, losing himself in the game, in the sensation of being pressed up against Stiles, in the familiarity and safety of Stiles’s bedroom. They play for nearly an hour, not talking beyond the occasional outburst of excitement in victory and frustration in losing. It’s not until Scott starts playing badly, yelling at himself with every lost life and missed opportunity, that Stiles pauses the game and turns to him.
“So Allison’s going to be gone for three months?” Stiles says. “That’s rough.”
“Yeah,” Scott says sadly. Stiles puts their controllers off the bed and lies down, pulling Scott down to lie next to him. Scott moves easily, gratefully, curling up to rest his head on Stiles’s chest, Stiles wrapping his arms around him.
“I really like her, Stiles,” Scott says softly. Stiles rubs Scott’s back.
“I know you do, buddy,” Stiles says.
“What if she meets someone else?” Scott says.
“While she’s camping with her family?” Scott says. “Who is she going to meet? A bear? A long lost cousin? I think you’re pretty safe on that front.”
They lie in silence for a long time before Scott finally whispers, “What if she doesn’t come back?”
Stiles sits up abruptly, pulling Scott up with him, until they are able to look at one another.
“No way,” Stiles says firmly. “You and Allison? I’m pretty sure you guys have a proper true love destiny thing going on and as a wise man once said, ‘Not even death can stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while.’”
“Yeah?” Scott asks. Stiles nods seriously.
“Definitely,” Stiles says. Scott gives a cautious smile and moves in to kiss Stiles.
Later, after they finished kissing, and have killed some more bad guys on the xbox, and were curled up together again, Scott runs his hand nervously up and down Stiles’s side.
“Do you think Allison’s going to spend the summer killing squirrels and rabbits?” Scott asks quietly.
“Nah,” Stiles says sleepily. “You’ve seen Allison. She is made of sunshine and rainbows. There’s no way she can kill anything adorable. She’ll probably only kill lions and tigers and bears.”