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“The janitor has a key”. Scott, Captain Obvious as always. Stiles wants to roll his eyes at his best friend but can’t find it in himself to do anything besides hurry Scott’s brain along because they do not have time.
“You mean his body has it”. Honestly, Stiles doesn’t know how Scott would manage without him if he were to die tonight. In school of all goddamn places. With his childhood best friend, his girlfriend, his childhood ‘crush’ and her boyfriend. Not to forget the manic alpha werewolf prowling the halls right outside and seemingly ignoring them (because Stiles knows there is no way that thing does not smell the sweat fear and adrenaline coming off the five of them).
“I can get it. Find him by scent, by blood.” And no. just no. Stiles cannot have Scott running out into the hallways where there is a psycho trying to kill him specifically. Nope. He is not letting Scott out of his sight.
“well gee, that sounds like and incredibly terrible idea, what else you got” Stiles once more turns to his best and only defence: sarcasm, because it’s easier than telling Scott what he wants to,
I can’t lose you. Not now, not ever.
When Scott holds up the flimsy blackboard pointer as his ‘weapon’ to venture out with, Stiles nearly breaks down to laugh. Scott McCall, teen werewolf, with claws, fangs, superhuman strength and speed, and there he is holding up a bit of plastic with an accusing finger pointed upward. And if that wasn’t hilarious in itself, the looks Scott got from Jackson, Lydia and Allison were priceless. But Stiles didn’t laugh, in fact he sobered up pretty quickly thinking that that might be the last expressions he ever saw his friends make (well, his friends + Jackson).
And then Lydia, beautiful, gorgeous, brilliant Lydia, suggests a freaking Molotov cocktail and right then Stiles wishes, more than anything, that he was still 11 years old and pining after her green eyes and strawberry blonde hair, because god damn is she awesome. But Stiles isn’t 11 anymore, he’s 16 and he sees that Lydia will never be into him, and he respects that, thinks that she deserves the world, hopes that Jackson doesn’t hurt her.
No, Stiles isn’t into Lydia, not anymore. Stiles has eyes only for fluffy brown hair, cute brown eyes and a very slightly squint jaw.
See, realising you like boys as well as girls at 15 is one thing, but realising that the boy in particular you have a lot of feelings for is your best friend of the most part of a decade, that’s another thing entirely.
So, Stiles ignored it, thought it would go away; he couldn’t do that to Scott, it went against like, every rule of the bro code. He focused instead on his grades and getting better at lacrosse (which he never did) and just hanging out with his best friend.
Letting everyone believe he was still hung up over Lydia was easy. He still couldn’t talk to her without getting flustered and acting like a fool; years of putting someone on a pedestal like that, it makes it hard to talk to them like they’re a regular person.
But keeping anything from Scott had always been hard and eventually Stiles had almost entirely worked up the courage to just come out to Scott, hoping it would relieve some of the pressure he was feeling from keeping this thing about himself a secret.
Well, that had been the plan until Beacon Hills High’s newest student moved into town.
Stiles didn’t dislike Allison, he was sure she was lovely and funny and smart and incredible (all Scott’s words) but he couldn’t help the jealousy he felt every time Scott would pine over her to him or ditch him to hang out with her instead. The feelings he had tried to quell came back tenfold. So maybe he came off as a little cold to Allison, but he was a little heartbroken and also just a tiny bit bitter.
When Scott starts to head for the door back out into the school building and Allison stops him, Stiles can’t look away. And it’s not like he’s the only one staring, Jackson and Lydia are watching the pair’s emotional goodbye as well, because that’s what this is Stiles realises. This is a goodbye, Scott has made up his mind and he’s leaving them cooped up in the chemistry classroom, and it isn’t even his own human ass he’s scared for, it’s Scott, still, always worried about Scott’s safety. Scott’s gonna give him a heart attack someday, he swears.
And when they kiss, Stiles’ heart breaks that little bit more. He wants to say goodbye to Scott, just in case, but Scott isn’t interested in him, only Allison, and it hurts.
As Scott leaves and Allison cries and Jackson locks the door, Stiles crumples against the deadbolted door he’s still standing by and puts his arms on his knees, and then, because he knows his face is a picture of misery, he buries his head in his arms (he’d really break down and cry or punch Jackson if the bastard saw him close to tears and teased him about it now).
After a few minutes of deafening silence (that’s a good thing right? there’s no sounds of a fight taking place, Scott isn’t screaming out in pain) Stiles feels a presence settle down in front of him and looks up to see Lydia smoothing down her skirt before reaching out and holding Stiles’ hands where they are perched on his knees.
He gives her a confused look that he hopes conveys his inner thoughts of ‘what are you doing?’ then looks around the room to see that Jackson and Allison are huddled together whispering to themselves. He turns back to Lydia raising an eyebrow in question, to which she only shakes her head and whispers, so quietly it’s more of a breath of air than words, but he hears her in the quiet of the room, “Scott’s gonna be ok, you know that right? He loves you” and even though they have to be quiet (they might die otherwise), Stiles lets out a snort before slapping a hand over his mouth before it turns into a sob, but Lydia just smiles sadly at him and whispers “I know” and if he didn’t know better Stiles would think that she really did know how he was feeling right then.
(but…? no. … Lydia doesn’t like Scott… ? … unless… ?!)
Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up and he looks from Lydia to Allison and back again, then to Allison once more and when he makes eye contact with Lydia again, yep, Lydia is definitely blushing, holy crap. Well then. And then he does lose it a little, laughing to himself but not making any sound, just shaking in silence mostly. He mutters a slightly too loud “we wish” to Lydia and then she’s doing the same silent laugh and they don’t let go of each other’s hand until the cops show up.
And wouldn’t you know it? Lydia was right, Scott is ok, and Stiles breathes.
