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They’d been on the road for four hours now, Stiles driving, Scott in the passenger side, Isaac stretched out in the back. He had been, very helpfully, complaining Stiles’ ear off for the better part of an hour.
“Stiles , we’ve been driving forever,” he groused, lobbing a peach ring at the back of Stiles’ head. “We need a gas break!”
“Isaac, for the last time, I’m only at half tank and there’s no gas stations until the motel,” he said, aggravated. Scott sighed, wary of the almost tense atmosphere building in the jeep.
“Come on, you two.” He turned in his seat, stealing some of Isaac’s candy. “I bet the girls haven’t fought at all.”
Stiles snorted. “How much? ‘Cause Malia is in that car, and I bet she’s tried to shift at least twice.”
“Alright, well, how far is the motel?” Isaac asked, pulling up his phone. “It’s a Rodeway Inn, right?”
Scott nodded. “Yeah, we should be there in about half an hour—right, Stiles?”
Stiles hummed. “Well, hypothetically, yeah.”
“Why hypothetically? We are on the right course?” Isaac asked, brow furrowing.
“Is something wrong, Stiles?” Scott knew it was a bad sign when Stiles wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Uh... when was the last time you actually saw the girls’ car?”
“You’re lost?”
“There’s no way you’re lost!”
Scott and Isaac’s voices overlapped as Stiles cringed. “Yeah, okay, maybe I got turned around a little bit. It’ll be fine! We’ll just retrace our path.”
—
It was not fine.
Scott was on the phone with Kira. “No, we’re okay, you know how the jeep is. We’ll be there by morning, don’t wait up for us.” Someone on the other line yelled so loud Stiles probably heard it. Scott sighed. “Yes, Malia, we’re sorry we didn’t listen. Happy?” After a couple more words, Scott hung up. “Any luck, Stiles?”
Isaac huffed. “Malia’s right, who’s bright idea was it to stick all of our people with common sense in one car and leave the idiots together?”
“You know ‘idiots’ includes you, right, Mr. Know-it-All?” Stiles said from inside the hood, slightly muffled.
Scott winced, then walked over to Stiles, peering in. “Find what’s wrong?”
“Yeah, the cylinders are a little worn down so they misfire sometimes. It’s fine, I’ll get them replaced soon.” Stiles slammed down the cover. “For now? We’ll just have to wait it out a couple of hours.”
Isaac groaned, while Scott put on a brave face, desperately trying to keep the other two from fighting. “Alright! Just a little... impromptu camping.”
Scott opened the trunk door, sifting through the supplies. Isaac joined, reaching over Scott’s shoulder to grab a fluffy blanket.
“Okay, sleeping arrangements.” Stiles asked. “Either both of us fit in the back and Isaac can sleep in the passenger side or—well. I guess that’s the only option, actually.”
“There’s no way I’ll fit in the passenger seat and actually sleep,” Isaac pouted. “Besides, I doubt the two of you fit in the back.”
Scott crossed his arms, pondering as Stiles and Isaac argued. “Or, we can sleep out here, actually camping.”
Stiles shook his head.
“No, no way Scott, I’m not sleeping on the dusty, hard ground when there’s a perfectly good backseat right here.”
Scott turned pleading eyes on Stiles. “Please, Stiles, it’ll be fun!” Stiles groaned, conceding.
“Fine, fine. You’re both going to be my personal pillows, though.”
Scott and Isaac grinned as Stiles joined them in searching for supplies. Isaac tossed him a pile of blankets and pillows and their singular sleeping bag, which Stiles started to assemble into a haphazard bed just beside the car.
Scott finally found what he was looking for, the old electric lantern. He held his breath as he lit it, sighing in relief as it cast a warm glow that just reached the three of them.
They got changed, and then the wolves realized just how cold it was for Stiles.
“Come here, come here,” he whined, tugging at Scott. “I swear you two are a pair of space heaters.”
They shuffled around for a bit, finally settling with Stiles pressed into Scott’s side, both wrapped in the fluffy blanket, with Isaac in the sleeping bag next to Stiles. The lantern glowed behind their heads, painting the sight with soft shades of nostalgia.
“This reminds me of that time in Mexico.” Scott yawned.
Isaac looked at him, questioning. “Mexico?”
With that, Scott and Stiles realized nobody told Isaac about Derek being turned back into an angsty teenager, and they dissolved into explosive laughter.
“Oh my god, Isaac, I just- how don’t you know about this?” Stiles snickered, while Scott had the decency to feel a bit mortified.
“Sorry, dude, I guess we all thought someone else told you,” he chuckled to a still-confused Isaac, thinking fondly back on the slightly terrifying-at-the-time fiasco. “We went to Mexico because Kate kidnapped Derek, and then she turned him back into a kid... it’s a long story.”
“Like all our long stories,” Stiles added. Something in the air shifted, and Isaac looked away.
“I’m sorry I just left you guys like that,” he mumbled. “I just... I didn’t know how to deal with losing her and it- it just hurt too much to stay.”
Scott reached around Stiles, wishing he hadn’t brought up the topic but desperate to make Isaac understand it was okay. Surprisingly, Stiles beat him to the punch.
“Hey, Isaac, it wasn’t your fault,” Stiles said. “You needed time to grieve, we all understood that.”
Isaac looked a little shocked, but he dipped his head gratefully
“Actually, I’m the one who should be sorry about all of this.” Stiles added
Even with his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, Scott scowled over at him.
“The nogitsune wasn’t anyone’s fault, we didn’t know we had unleashed it.” There was an air of finality in his voice that shut the other two up. Then he softened his tone. “What matters is that you came back.”
They were tangled together then, Isaac’s sleeping bag half-open with Scott practically inside it while Stiles drowned in the mass of blankets. None of them really wanted to fall asleep first, the air still heavy around them. The guilt of his packmates feeling like this, of having failed them, weighed heavy on his mind, making Scott speak up again.
“None of you should have to deal with any of this. I’m supposed to be your alpha, the one who protects you guys, but I let all of this happen. I should’ve realized when we let that thing into our heads, it had done something permanent. If I had been fast enough to see what Jennifer was doing in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to power up the nemeton. I’m so sorr-”
“Scott, I’m sorry, shut the fuck up,” Stiles interrupted him, shaking his head. “How is any of this your fault? There was no way you could have stopped any of this. By your logic, it’s my fault for practically serving you on a silver platter for Peter to turn. We can trace this back as far as you want to, that doesn’t make it anyone’s fault. We all made mistakes, but we’re working to fix them. A lot of it is thanks to you, you know?” Scott swallowed thickly at his best friend’s reassurances, not entirely believing he deserved them.
Stiles blinked away tears. “You’re the true alpha, the only one out of all of them that is good and kind enough to earn your place, to actually care about all of us fuck-ups. You, Scott McCall, are our second chance, so don’t you ever dare think our problems are your fault.”
Isaac nodded. “He’s right, Scott. If you weren’t here for us, things would have been so much worse than they are. You act like you have some kind of higher responsibility, but you’re just a kid, dude. You didn’t ask for this, if it had been anyone else Beacon Hills would have gone down in flames by now. Nobody else blames you, actually, we all love you, so stop thinking like that.” As he took in Isaac’s words, Scott realized he wasn’t sure how to actually do that.
“I—” He wiped furiously at his eyes, the tears lodged in his throat keeping him from speaking.
“Oh, hey, don’t cry- come here,” Isaac reached out to Scott, pulling him into his chest as Scott finally let his sobs wrack his frame. He felt Isaac and Stiles exchanging a look over his head, Isaac loosening his arms a bit to let Stiles get close.
“Aw, Scotty, it’s okay,” Stiles whispered, rubbing circles on his best friend’s back. “You don’t have to bottle everything up, you should’ve told us before. We’re always here for you, okay? Don’t put all of this pressure on yourself. We’re your pack, this is a two-way relationship. You can’t just protect us all of the time,” he murmured gently. Scott thought back to all of the times he’d supported the pack, from all of the storms that had torn through their lives. For a second, Scott let himself imagine them being there to do the same for him.
The trio stayed wrapped around each other until Scott’s tears subsided.
He looked up tiredly, tears tracked down his face. “Thank you guys, I really needed that,” Scott smiled softly. “I didn’t really... realize I felt like that, I guess. I thought, since I’m the alpha, I’m supposed to be stronger for you guys. But… I can’t always be, you know?”
Isaac nodded. “That’s what we’re here for, whenever you need.”
Stiles yawned, wiggling into Isaac’s side. “Not to kill this great vulnerability circle we’ve got going on, but I think we’re all completely exhausted. Plus, we have to drive to meet the girls in the morning, and I’m pretty sure Lydia still wants to murder us. Try to get some sleep, okay?”
The cold night air was soothing on their bare faces, and just before they managed to drift off, a voice piped up.
“Stiles, you owe us breakfast tomorrow. Big-time.”
The only disturbance in the peaceful night was muffled swearing and snickers as Stiles sacrificed his only pillow to hurl at Isaac’s head. Scott smiled at his quarreling packmates, knowing that he was safe with them.