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Stiles had never had a problem making friends. As the Doctor, wherever he went, he made a new friend. Sometimes they would come with him on his deadly adventures, sometimes they stayed behind. But here in Beacon Hills, he was finding it hard to make friends. He was a bundle of energy that he couldn’t get out, and people scoffed at that. He hated it.
Then there was Scott McCall. Stiles liked him because he was as far from perfect as you could get. The poor boy was shy and nervous, and he suffered from asthma. But he had a heart of pure gold. He wanted to be just like the other kids, and when Stiles approached him and held out his hand, Scott had hugged him. That was the start of a never ending friendship.
Scott wasn’t the last human in his first grade class he bonded with. The second was a small girl with medical problems. She was as shy as Scott was, but also so determined. Her name was Erica, and she reminded him of Rose. She had smiled at him one day in the hall, her tongue caught between her teeth. Stiles had gasped for breath, turned on his heels, grabbed Scott’s hand and ran the other way. It felt wrong, but that smile and her eyes made his hearts hurt. Someday he’d take her hand and let her run with them, but for now, it hurt too much.
Jackson’s cocky attitude had him on edge from the moment they had first interacted. Stiles knew that he wasn’t as sure of himself as Jackson thought he was, but Stiles let it go. After all it was the little redhead that he was more interested in. Her name was Lydia, and she made him giddy. Scott had called him on his crush and he’d just grinned.
“I have a thing for red heads. Fiery lot, they are.” Scott had looked at him funny and mentioned that Lydia’s the only one they know with red hair. Stiles had laughed and promised to explain someday.
Isaac was the kind of boy Stiles, as the Doctor, would have stolen away without a second thought. He had those puppy eyes like Scott, but he also had the grin that matched the Doctor’s own. It was a smile that longed for adventure and friendship. When the TARDIS was up and working again, Stiles promised himself that Isaac would be the first to be whisked away.
Though he was making friends in his class, Stiles longed for his old ones. He did research to find some of them and smiled when he had to dig deep for information on the Ponds. When he found it though, Jon had found him out. Stiles was smart though and made it look like he was looking into a vacation to England. Jon had accepted that and for spring break, Jon had taken Stiles to England.
They went to all of the places Stiles wanted. With Stiles telling him the story of meeting Rose in the department store when they passed the remodeled building. He dragged Jon to the London Eye and while they rode it, he told him how he’d once had Living Plastic use the Eye to try to take over the planet. They watched past Downing Street, and Stiles giggled when Jon picked him up. Stiles whispered in his ear about blowing the place up, and Jon smiled and told him to hush. Stiles was enjoying the watch through London when he spotted a black marker on a blank wall. He watched up to it shyly and felt the tears coming to his eyes when he saw what it was.
Jon had tucked him back into his arms as Stiles told him of the battle where he lost Rose. Where he’d thought everything was over for him. They drove through most of London after that, and Stiles had them stop outside a small house. He watched from the backseat as a red head came outside and climbed into her car, driving away while talking loudly on her phone. Stiles had sighed sadly and told Jon about Donna Noble, the woman who was more or less his best friend.
Jon did all of this for him without question. But when Stiles refused to go to Cardiff, a place Jon actually wanted to see, the older man put his foot down. So one afternoon, they took the train into Cardiff. Stiles was moody and growled at the people on the train. Throwing a fit in the station and even having Jon yell at him to stop being a baby. They would spend the day and go home, if he really didn’t want to be there. Stiles had stopped and had walked, nearly clinging to Jon’s leg, as they headed towards the Plass. The closer they got, the worse Stiles mood got.
“Are you going to tell me why you’ve been so set against this place? It’s beautiful. I see nothing at all wrong with it.” Jon had set him down on the concrete wall where he’d said goodbye to Jack with Martha, and it just made Stiles growl. He looked away and crossed his arms over his chest. He was so busy glaring that he didn’t notice the man approaching them.
“And it sees nothing wrong with you. Hello, name’s Captain Jack Harkness. Welcome to Cardiff Mr.?” Stiles eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he had to bite his bottom lip from telling Jack to stop it. Jon just smiled at the man, gave Stiles a ‘see I told you so’ look and shook the man’s hand.
“Jonathan Stilinski. This is my son Stiles. I was just trying to convince him that this place wasn’t so bad. But you know kids.” Jack and Jon shared some more laughs and Stiles took the time to duck out of their radar. He took a second to flail his arms about and panic a bit. Then he poked his head around the wall and watched Jack, whose eyes were watching him with a curious expression, making Stiles meep and hide again.
“He’s a shy one huh?” Jon had laughed at Jack and told him how Stiles was never this shy. That he must like Jack, and Stiles was going to make sure Jon ate only fruit for a week for this. Jack seemed to find this completely amusing and had snatched him up into his arms, giving him his award winning grin. The grin Stiles remembered before he had planted a kiss on him moments before the man’s first death.
“Put me down this instant Captain.” Something in his tone must have tipped Jack off, because the next second Stiles was on the ground and Jack was kneeling in front of him, teary eyed and grinning crazily.
“Doctor?” Jon had the decency to at least looked ashamed of this, and Stiles sent him a glare.
“Hi Jack. Possible for you to, oh I don’t know, NOT flirt with my adopted father. I know it’s a hard task for you, but I’d prefer not to have to endure extra therapy for this.” Jack laughed and hugged him. Promising to keep himself in line. Stiles had smiled then, and hugged him back. Speaking to Martha on the phone had been one thing. Seeing Jack in person? He felt like it was Christmas. And seeing as he was in Cardiff probably wasn’t a good thing.
Jack took Jon and him to see Torchwood, and Stiles swore Jack to never tell anyone about him. He couldn’t risk the time line by seeing anymore of his friends in person. But with Jack’s help, he did get to see a glimpse of Amy again. Even got Jack to print off a picture for him.
Stiles and Jon left England behind after the meeting with Jack.
When they returned home, Jon helped paint a wall in Stiles’ closet a bright shade of blue. Once it was dry, Stiles started to decorated it with all sorts of things. Ticket stubs from movies Scott and him went to, the picture of Amy, one of the patches from Jack’s coat, and a picture of Liz Stilinski. Over the next few years, the wall would grow to nearly the whole closet wall. Pictures of Lydia, Jackson, Isaac, and Erica found there ways to it.
The last picture Stiles placed on the wall before stopping was a picture of a young dark haired teenager he ran into in the park. Days before the boy’s family were killed in a fire.