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Scott stumbled down the stairs, still rubbing his eyes. It was summer vacation, therefore too damn early. He’d promised to be up in order to help Stiles with a "plan" of his, so he headed for the kitchen. Breakfast, shower, THEN the ability for mental processing- that was the sacred order of Scott’s mornings. He opened his eyes briefly to navigate and saw Stiles on his couch with his back to him. That buzz cut was pretty distinctive.
“Yo, dude.” He said with a yawn, while shuffling through the kitchen door. For ten minutes, he sat there eating his Cheerios and trying to remain upright, before realizing what he’d seen.
“Stiles? Wait. Why are you at my house? Weren't we meeting at your's?” Scott called, walking back into the living room Cheerios still in hand.
Stiles turned slowly, and Scott screamed, dropping his bowl. He backed up, still screaming, and sprinted up the stairs. He tried to slam the bedroom door as soon as he entered, fumbling a little in his haste.
“OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!” Scott whispered to himself like a mantra while frantically digging through the dirty clothes on his floor to find his phone. It was still in the pocket of one of his old jeans. Finally! When his fingers twitched on the phone as he dialed, he realized he was shaking.
“DEREK?OHMYGODI’MFREAKINGOUT!” Scott yelled into the phone as soon as it was answered.
“Scott? Slow down! What’s going on?” Derek’s words were a little slurred, evidence that he’d just woken up.
“It’s Stiles!” Scott heard Derek suck in a breath, “He was in my house this morning, and he wasn’t talking, and then he turned around, and he has sharp teeth, Derek. He has fangs, weird skin, and red eyes and he’s not saying anything! What is going on? Is Stiles possessed? Is he dead!?”
Instead of sitting bolt upright or even showing concern, like Scott expected, Derek just sighed and sounded exasperated, “Of course Stiles would pick up a doppelganger. Of fucking course he would.”
“A doppel-maker!? What the hell is a doppel!? Are they dangerous!?”
Scott heard something that sounded vaguely like “I’m getting too old for this shit,” before a creak signaling Derek was getting out of bed. “Stay put, I’m coming. That’s not Stiles, he’s fine, call him. He’ll be at his house, make sure he comes over too. Keep your eye on it and don’t let it leave.” Just like that Derek hung up. Scott kind of stared at his phone for a moment, before blinking. He took a deep breathe, slowly exhaling.
Carefully, he opened his bedroom door and crept down the hall. He had a flashback of playing spies when he was younger, but that was different. Stiles was always next to him then, and they were sneaking toward their parents, never in real danger.
When he reached the stairs, he peered down. It was still there, although it had turned around again. He cautiously tiptoed forward, and it swiveled. Now that Scott wasn’t in the midst of a panic, he noticed that it had Stiles’ shape, but its eyes were off. Not just the color, Stiles eyes were bright and laughing, even when he was scared. The doppeltamer’s (was that the word?) eyes were cold and dead. Its skin was waxy and its teeth were too pointy.
Scott just sort of nodded at it and said, “Hey, dude, so, you’re not Stiles. You’re apparently a doppel…something. That’s cool. Uh…why do you look like Stiles?”
The creature just blinked at him.
“Right, well, I’m going to go call Stiles, you know, the real one, not that you're not real! But you're not, uh, Stiles...Oh! If you want food, or, whatever...as long as it's not living, feel free.” Scott waved a hand in the direction of the kitchen.
His mom had raised him with a firm belief in hospitality.
He grabbed the cordless and headed into the kitchen, knowing he would hear if the doppelranger moved.
“This had better be important.” Stiles voice came out hoarse and groaning.
“Maybe? I don’t know. It’s freaky. Does freaky count?” Scott said, throwing his cereal bowl in the sink.
Scott heard a sigh similar to Derek's earlier, “Seeing as the freaky in our lives tends to try to kill us? Sure. What’s up?”
“There’s another you at my house.”
He heard Stiles sit up, “I’m sorry, I’m still asleep. What?”
“There. Is. Another. You. Chilling. On. My. Couch.” Scott said emphasizing each syllable.
Scott swore he heard Stiles blink, “Just another Tuesday then.”
“I called Derek. He said it was a dopplehanger and that you have to come over. What’s a doppel?”
After a pause, Stiles said, “Doppleganger. DoppleGANGER. There in fairytales and shit. I’ll be over there soon, but don’t expect me to think for a while,” before the phone clicked.
“DoppelGANGER. Right.” Scott whispered to himself, before going back into the living room.
He sat down and just watched it for a while. That got uncomfortable quickly. It was staring at him, wide red eyes and straight face. It rarely blinked and when it did, it winked one eye down before the other. In effect, it literally never took its eyes off of him.
“I’m going to turn the TV on now, ‘kay? You should totally watch that and not me. You’re creeping me out, dude. It doesn’t help that you look like devil-Stiles.” Scott said with a shaky laugh that ended awkwardly when he got no response.
Scott flicked the television on and tried to watch it. Unfortunately the doppelganger didn’t seem interested in the news and kept just watching him. About a minute after Scott had resorted to holding a pillow up to his face like a blinder, he heard footsteps on the porch.
“Thank God,” Scott whispered, before raising his voice, “COME IN.”
He heard the door creak open and familiar footsteps cross the hall.
“That it?” Derek’s gruff voice asked.
“Yup.” Scott said lowering the pillow and glancing at Derek, who was stepping into the living room to get a better look. Now, the creature was looking at him, not Scott. Scott let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding. Being alone with it set him on edge.
Derek crouched down in front of it, eyes narrowed, and they both just gazed at each other completely still. Okay, so this wasn’t much better actually. Thank you, Derek.
After minutes of this (it was like a staring contest from Hell) he heard footsteps once again, quickly followed by a thump and a swear. Scott felt relief unfold in his heart. He needed Stiles to make snarky comments and fill in the silence, this was all just too weird. Stiles walked in and stopped, tilting his head to the left and looking at the back of the doppelganger’s head. He glanced at Scott with a raised eyebrow and a jabbed point towards the doppelganger. When Scott nodded an affirmation to the unasked question, he came around and crouched by Derek.
“Oh. Handsome fellow, ain’t he?”
Scott just groaned. “Lame!” but he couldn’t stop the small smile on his lips. It was strangely necessary to see Stiles acting like, well, Stiles after a morning of seeing Stiles’ likeness so dead. Even Derek snorted before blinking and looking away.
“So what do we do with…him? Is it a him? I mean I’m a him so…” Stiles said trailing off while looking curiously at it. It had switched its attention to Stiles after Derek looked away. When Stiles blew his cheeks out like balloons, the doppelganger blinked twice.
“They don’t really have genders or feelings. They just walk around and, if they like someone’s identity, try to take it. As you can see though, they’re not very good at it.” Derek said, using his knees to push himself to standing.
“Awww, they don’t have a place then? They just wander around like lost puppies? That’s so sad.” Stiles crooned, lips pouting.
“He would’ve taken your identity and probably have killed you to keep it. Please try to remember that.” Derek said rubbing his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger.
“Hmmm, so they’re homicidal. Awesome. I was right, Scott. Freaky stuff always tries to kill us at one point or another.” Stiles said with a quick grin in Scott’s direction.
“Wait, so why isn’t it trying to, I don’t know, attack?” Scott face scrunched up as he tried to process everything. Stiles, meanwhile, was beginning to poke the doppelganger.
“We already figured it out. Once you catch them, they’re pretty harmless. Stop that!” Derek whacked Stiles hand that was ready to poke again.
“Well, what do we do with it then?”
Derek shrugged, “Kill it.”
Scott and Stiles both gaped at him.
“That seems a bit extreme! It hasn’t even done anything!”
Derek gave them both a look before continuing, “He would’ve killed Stiles. You both understand that, right?”
“Yeah, but…” Stiles looked at the doppelganger indignantly, “but you said it was a lost puppy! I don’t kill puppies!”
Derek just eyed Stiles for a moment, then made a shooing motion to the door, “We have to get him to Deaton’s then.”
Stiles grinned at him then faced the doppelganger, “Hear that? I just saved your life. I think that earns me eternal gratitude.”
The doppelganger squinted, before its face began to wrinkle. It bared its teeth at Stiles.
“Woah, dude, I think it’s trying to smile.” Scott said throwing a shocked glance at Stiles.
“I don’t know why, but that’s super creepy,” Stiles whispered, eyes wide and flicking from the doppelganger to Scott and Derek, “…like SUPER creepy.”