Work Text:
After one attempt to relight something they'd lost, five years after the break-up, Stiles realised it would not work. Sometimes the ideal of a situation is so strong that all involved can be blinded into believing every crack is a beam of light from the sun. It was not a sad ending, sure there was hurt but they left it on a good note. Eventually Stiles was able to be around Peter again; able to be friends with the family. When he turned thirty, Stiles met James and fell in love again. Stiles would never take back his time with Chris and Peter. However, he would never go back to it. Not all love stories end in the ideal manner.
Chris took losing Stiles hard but he understood. Understood that there was too much hurt, too much pain wavering around their past to try again. Stiles still came around for dinner from time to time. He was sitting in the crowd when Chris and Peter finally said 'I do', tears in their eyes. They were there when James and Stiles got married, when they had their first child. At the third child, Chris and Peter had resided to being in the background of his life. It was easier to let go and let life play out.
Married and growing old, Peter still sometimes thought back on what he'd done. The wolf knew there was something deep inside of him that was not good. Sometimes he was curious as to who he was. Was he a good man? A bad man? Perhaps he was the villain of the story. It was a question that couldn't really be answered. Nobody can do good time and time again. Life, it takes and it takes. Stiles book still sat on the shelf, a constant reminder to never take a thing for granted.
Being blinded by ideals and love is dangerous. Things can seem lovely, coated in sugar and dripping in chocolate. The reality can be a hand curled around a knife that reflected the moonlight as blood dripped onto the ground. Whichever way it goes, it is never the end. Love comes, love goes. Lovers cry and lovers grow. Staring at your life like it is your own reflection can tell you more than your feelings ever can.
Each ex-lover died. Each child produced from the love of their stories died. The cycle of life stops for no one. The cycle of life teaches us more than we can ever know. To be burned by love is to learn a lesson of self value, on who you really are and on letting go and holding onto what you know. All of them paid for one lovers action. All of them grew from it.
You come first, was the lesson they all learnt.