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strangerstilinski · 1 year

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SELENOPHILES OF BEACON HILLS | Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character

chapter nine

fic summary; after an already traumatic evening involving the unfortunate discovery of a gruesome scene, amber is convinced to hike through the woods with her two best friends in search of the other half of a dead body. but it's not as if she could ever say no.. not when stiles looked at her like that.

chapter word count; 14,923

chapter notes; stiles and amber struggle to keep their best friend under control when the powerful pull of scott's second full moon succeeds in turning him into a raging asshole.

masterlist

c h a p t e r n i n e

lunatic

Amber sighed as she stepped in a particularly deep puddle and felt the water soak into her sneaker. She shook off her foot in a sad attempt to wick away the moisture before it could fully absorb into the fabric of her sock, but it was no use because her next step squelched uncomfortably anyway.

"Where are we going?" Scott asked Stiles for the fourth time in just as many minutes.

"You'll see." Stiles repeated blankly to their friend.

"He's not going to tell us." Amber told Scott, taking a large stride past another cluster of puddles in the pothole-ridden lot where they'd parked Stiles' vehicle as they made their way through the treeline, "Besides, it's pretty obvious we're heading in the direction of the old quarry."

Stiles turned his head sharply. Keeping his left hand tucked inside of his jacket protectively, he used his right to pull her around to his other side and away from Scott, "Did you have to give it away?" He asked her quietly.

"We really shouldn't be out here." Scott interrupted them, "My mom is in a constant state of freak-out from what happened at the school."

"Are you kidding?" Amber asked him, "I'm pretty sure Jason wants to lock me up somewhere and just homeschool me at this point."

"Yeah, well. Neither one of you live with the Sheriff, okay?" Stiles announced, "It's no comparison. Trust me."

"Could you at least tell me what we're doing out here?" Scott asked as he stepped on a twig with a loud snap.

"Yes." Stiles grinned, "When one of your best friends gets dumped-"

"I didn't get dumped," Scott told them resolutely, "We're taking a break."

"Alright, well. When one of your best friends gets told by his girlfriend that they're taking a break-" Stiles amended, pulling out a large bottle from the inside of his jacket and holding it up like a trophy, "You get that best friend drunk."

The bottle of whiskey caught in the bright moonlight that shined from behind Stiles and Amber sighed, shuffling her feet, "Not to be a party pooper but.. I just- Is this such a good idea?"

He scoffed, pulling her along with a hand on her wrist as he led them further into the woods toward the quarry, "Yes, party-pooper. It is a good idea. It-It's a rite of passage! Getting drunk after your first heartbreak."

"It's just.. We have that test tomorrow morning and the full moon is tomorrow night and I think we should probably be focussing on-" She started.

"Nuh-uh," Stiles cut her off, "Not tonight. Tonight, we drink!" He announced happily, turning around and throwing his arms out to present the cluster of rocks where he intended for them to hang out.

"Stiles, did you-" Amber watched him twist the cap off the bottle of whiskey and take a large sip before sputtering and coughing as he swallowed, "Did you come out and scout this location before we got here?"

"Yeah," He coughed again, holding the bottle out to Scott, "I came out this afternoon. This is a good spot, right?"

"I.. Yeah," She told Stiles quickly upon seeing his adorably proud face, "Yeah, it's- A really nice spot." She kicked her foot against a large bit of stone that she thought might make a decent seat, "Uh, good.. rocks."

Scott took a sad sip from the bottle with a wince before handing it over to Amber. The girl eyed the dark liquid inside with a frown, she moved to lift it to her nose to sniff and Stiles reached out quickly to cover the opening with his hand.

"Don't do that." He advised her, "Don't smell it. Nothing good comes from smelling it first."

She nodded with a frown and he removed his hand so she could lift the bottle to her lips. She tilted her head back and poured a large swig into her mouth, trying to swallow the liquid before it could rest on her tongue for too long. She coughed and gagged at the bitter heat in her throat and handed the bottle back to Stiles before plopping her butt down onto her chosen rock.

The three passed the bottle between them slowly for a while, Amber perched criss-cross on the large rock that jutted up above the rest, Scott on the stone floor below her with his knees pulled to his chest, Stiles sprawled out beside him on his back where he could look up at the stars.

"Right, I wasn't looking forward to this, but I really gotta pee." Amber announced to the group, swaying slightly as she got to her feet.

Stiles tilted his head to watch her as she carefully stepped around him and moved toward the treeline, "Don't wander too far!" He called out to her as she walked away, slightly transfixed by the way her tight jeans clung to her backside.

"I won't go too far if Scott promises to tone down his wolfy hearing so I can pee in peace!" She called back over her shoulder, her long hair catching in the breeze.

"You heard the woman, Scott." Stiles told his friend, looking back up at the stars, "No listening to her pee."

"I wasn't going to listen to her pee, Stiles." Scott said brusquely.

They settled into silence and Stiles watched the way the tiny dots of the stars danced around through his blurred vision for a quiet minute, "You still thinking about Allison?" He finally asked Scott.

"Yeah." Scott said honestly.

Stiles sat up to take another drink of the whiskey before leaving the bottle sitting between them and flopping onto his back again, "Dude.. She's just one girl. Y'know? There are so many- There 're so many other girls in the sea." His words slurred at the attempt of such a long sentence.

"'Fish in the sea.'" Scott told him immediately.

"Fish?" Stiles repeated in confusion, tilting his head back to squint at Scott for a second, "Why you talkin' 'bout fish? I'm talkin' 'bout girls." He corrected with a sigh, tilting his head back toward the sky unseeingly, his mind conjuring up images instead, "I love girls.. I love 'em. I love- Especially ones with light ashy brown hair, 'nd hazel eyes that've got more green than brown in 'em, five-foot five-"

"Like Amber?" Scott asked knowingly.

"Yeah, exactly-Hey!" Stiles tilted his head back to look at Scott again in surprise, "How did you know I was talkin' 'bout- About.." Stiles trailed off distractedly, "What was I talking about?" He asked Scott, catching the sad look on his friend's face when he tipped his head back again, "Hey. You're not happy. Take a drink-"

Stiles rolled onto his side to grab the bottle again and held it out to Scott.

"I don't want any more." Scott told him with a frown.

Letting the bottle drop back down to the ground, Stiles laid on his back again, bringing his arm to rest underneath his head, "What, you're not drunk?" He asked.

"I'm not anything." Scott said miserably, looking down at his feet.

"Hey, maybe it's like-" Stiles started, "Maybe it's like not needing your inhaler anymore, y'know? Maybe you can't get drunk as a wolf," He pondered aloud, "Hey, am I drunk?"

"You're wasted," Scott told him blankly before continuing to speak under his breath, "And so's Amber.. She should probably be back by now-"

"C'mon, dude-" Stiles said, not having heard the tail end of Scott's murmuring, "I know it feels bad. I know it hurts. Well, I don't know.. But, I know this- I know as much as being broken up hurts, being alone's way worse." He paused in confusion when he processed his own words and laughed, "That.. Didn't make any sense. I-I need another drink."

"Well," An unfamiliar voice cut in, plucking the bottle up from the ground just before Stiles' fingers could wrap around it, "Look at the little bitches, all getting their drink on."

Stiles quickly stumbled to his feet, heart racing as he looked at the two men who had approached from the treeline. The smaller and lighter skinned of the two was holding Amber against his side with an arm wrapped around her waist and the girl's face was narrowed in annoyance and an underlying fear as she struggled against his grip. The larger man held the whiskey up triumphantly, eyeing the group of teens with a smug grin.

"I- Um," Amber looked between the group nervously, "I ran into these guys on my way back-"

"She told us she was here with her friends," The smaller man interrupted with a frown, "We were expecting more girls.. But, I guess just the one'll have to do." He chuckled, leaning his dirty face into Amber's hair and prompting her to jab him sharply with her elbow.

“Hey, man-" Stiles started anxiously, words cut off when Scott took a small step in front of him and spoke more firmly.

"Don't touch her." Scott spoke darkly. Stiles turned to look at him for a moment and saw no fear on his friend's face, only a cold anger.

"What's that, little man?" The larger guy asked as he raised his eyebrows, annoyed at Scott's lack of submission.

"I don't think he wants to share the girl, or the booze." The smaller man said, readjusting his grip and tugging Amber back against him when she managed to put a small amount of distance between them beneath his slackened grip.

"Let. Her go." Scott said slowly in the same dark voice.

"Listen.. You guys let her go, the three of us will leave and-" Stiles started placatingly, his heart hammering in his chest, "And you guys can keep the bottle."

"No." Scott cut in, looking back at Stiles for a moment and ignoring the furious look of disbelief of his face, "You guys brought me here to get me drunk. I'm not drunk yet."

The stranger holding the whiskey shook his head with a laugh and lifted the bottle to his lips, taking a long swig. Stiles nervously watched Scott take a couple of steps forward until he stood face to face with the two men. Scott's head turned between Amber's fear-filled eyes and the larger man in front of him.

"Let her go. And give me the bottle of Jack." Scott's voice dropped as he spoke, deepening into what was almost a growl. Stiles watched claws protrude from Scott's fingertips and Stiles' eyes widened. He quickly flicked his gaze back up at the scene in front of him. The two men both flinched back in surprise as they looked at whatever emotion covered Scott's face and the larger man slowly held the bottle out toward Scott.

Amber apparently took the moment of distracted fear as an opportunity, and she stomped the heel of her foot down onto the toes of the man still loosely holding her around the waist. She stumbled forward when he let her go in surprise and Stiles grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to stand behind Scott.

She huddled close to Stiles and fisted her small hand into the fabric of his shirt. His eyes raked over her in a rush, catching the lingering fear in her eyes and the way her chest was rising and falling with shaky breaths beneath her sweatshirt. After determining that he didn't think she'd been physically harmed, Stiles reluctantly turned his attention back to the confrontation still taking place.

Scott glanced back toward them quickly, his eyes glowing bright gold, before he turned to face forward again and threw the bottle of whiskey a couple hundred feet across the clearing. It shattered loudly against a tree and the two strange men took a nervous step away.

"We-" Stiles cleared his throat anxiously, "We cool?"

The men both nodded, backing another few steps away while keeping their eyes glued to Scott.

"Great meeting you, then." Amber said sarcastically. She tugged on Stiles' hand and grabbed the sleeve of Scott's jacket as she began to pull them away and back in the direction they'd initially hiked out from, "Let's go." She pleaded, pulling more firmly on Scott's sleeve when he didn't immediately budge.

"Yeah, Scott. Let's go, man." Stiles agreed, locking his fingers with Amber's and stumbling in his inebriated state.

He squeezed her hand guiltily as he thought about his insistence on coming out and drinking, an anxious pit growing in his stomach as she pulled him along. So far, he didn't feel like he was doing incredibly well on his promise to keep her safe.

The three friends sat in the vehicle for several long minutes after they finally climbed back inside, a thick silence filling the Jeep. Each of them unsure exactly what to say.

"So, that was kind of really scary." Amber finally admitted quietly once the silence had stretched just a hair too long. She looked between her friends for their reactions, at Scott behind the wheel and Stiles tensely sitting in his own passenger seat.

"Agreed." Stiles told her, "Am, I'm so sor-"

"I wouldn't've let them hurt you." Scott interrupted, his eyes flicking to Amber before looking back out the windshield with an angry stare, "I mean it. Just seeing him touch you like that.. If they'd hurt you I would've- I mean, I-I actually wanted to-"

He shook his head and she reached out to rest a hand on his arm to stop him, "Scott, it's okay."

"I wouldn't have let them hurt you. Either of you." He clarified, his eyes drifting past her to look at Stiles.

"We know, man." Stiles told him, leaning his head back against the window.

"Let's get out of here?" Amber prompted quietly after a moment, her attention focused on Scott.

He nodded and started up the vehicle, getting them back onto the main road. He drove the Jeep back to Stiles' house, but refused the offer to stay the night and instead insisted on walking home.

Amber watched him go with a worried frown, shivering in the late night air as she eased back from wasted into pleasantly drunk.

Stiles pulled her inside the house and they stumbled up the staircase toward his bedroom, the two of them laughing loudly at one another as they tripped over the troublesome stairs.

He veered off toward the bathroom and she entered the bedroom and moved to stand beside the dresser, leaning against the wall as she waited. When he reappeared a few minutes later, he had already changed into pajamas and she chewed distractedly on her lip when she saw how soft and attractive he looked.

"You know, you could find clothes to sleep in yourself for once." He told her with a laugh as he came to stand in front of his dresser.

"I don't want to dig around through your drawers." She frowned.

"I don't have that many clothes. There wouldn't be much digging." Stiles laughed, leaning against the piece of furniture casually and looking at her.

"No, I just meant," She paused, "I wouldn't want to, y'know, find anything.. Racy."

He blinked in surprise, "I- Amber.. First of all, I hide things better than that. My dad is a cop. A Sheriff." He laughed incredulously, "And even if he wasn't, I wouldn't keep porn in my underwear drawer."

She blushed awkwardly at his words and shuffled on her feet, her mind drifting to the contents of her own dresser.

He balked at her reaction, "I- Do you keep porn in your underwear drawer?"

"Ew, gross, no. I don't have physical copies of porn. It's the twenty-first century, Stiles." She defended quickly.

"Okay.." He started slowly, "Then what do you hide in your underwear drawer that has you so red?" He prodded gently, an eager look on his face.

"Um," She swallowed, determinedly looking at the lamp across the room, "Not porn."

"Well if it's not porn then what else would you-" He paused with wide eyes. He stood up straighter and took one step to the side to block her line of sight across the room. His own cheeks were tinged pink as he looked at her blushing face, "You.. You keep your-"

"Eugh, Stiles don't say it!" She pleaded, stepping forward and covering his mouth with both of her hands, "Yes I have a-" She paused, face hot with embarrassment, "A you-know-what. And yes, I hide it in my underwear drawer. Please, let's never talk about it again."

He was still looking at her wide-eyed and he nodded distractedly, his focus seemingly somewhere else. She dropped her hands from his mouth as she took a step back and sighed after a few seconds passed and his focus didn't return.

"Stiles, please stop thinking about my sex toys." She pleaded quietly. She'd begun to pull off her hoodie when she finally heard his voice again.

"Toys? Toys as in plural? As in more than one?"

She finally ripped the sweatshirt over her head and she glared at him as she dropped it to the floor, "I thought we were going to never talk about it again? Here we are.. Talking about it."

"Right, you're right. I'm sorry." Stiles blinked and shook his head, his eyes drifting down to her tank top for a moment. He blinked again and turned to the dresser, pulling open a drawer in preparation, "Right, okay. What'd'you need? Just a tshirt?"

"Can I have something with long sleeves?" She asked, shivering as if on command.

He shifted through his stack of tshirts for a moment before pulling out a white long sleeved tee. He held it out to her and she reached to take it from him, but he pulled his hand back playfully before she could grab it.

She made a quiet noise of discontentment and reached for the shirt again but Stiles lifted his arm over his head and held it just out of her reach, a large grin on his face as he watched her push up on her tiptoes. She pulled at his arm with one hand and nearly had the shirt in her reach when he readjusted once again.

He laughed, holding his hand outstretched behind his back where she couldn't get to it. She pinched her face in annoyance and determination and leaned closer, her arm reaching around him to grab for the shirt but her fingers only just reaching past his elbow.

"Stiles, c'mon I'm cold-" She tried again, leaning into his chest with her cheek against his as she tried to gain a couple more inches in arm length.

"The thermostat is set to seventy," He laughed again, his head turning to look at her put-out expression.

She huffed in frustration and gripped his opposite shoulder in her hand as she hauled herself higher up his body to reach for the clothing. She heard him huff another small laugh at her and she turned her head to glare at him, a quip on her tongue about it not being funny, but their faces had been hovering closer together than she'd thought and when she turned, her mouth brushed across his cheek before skimming softly over the plushness of his lips.

Her gaze caught on his eyelashes as they fluttered shut and something in her belly flipped when she felt the soft breath he let out over her lips and she gasped quietly before jerking away.

She released his shoulder quickly, dropping back down onto the floor flat-footed and easing herself back until their chests were no longer pressed together. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ribcage and her lips tingled from the soft touch of his mouth against hers.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly, eyes wide.

Stiles looked stunned and she swallowed as she watched his arm holding the shirt slowly drop back down to rest at his side, "I- No- No apology necessary-"

She nodded and trained her focus on a tiny mole on the side of his neck, worried that if she looked at his face, she wouldn't be able to force her eyes to look at anything but his lips.

Stiles reached out to awkwardly offered her the shirt still gripped in his hand and she accepted the shirt quickly, taking a small step back before pulling it on over the thin fabric of her tank top. She reached up to pull her hair free from the collar of the shirt before thoughtlessly beginning to remove her jeans. She managed to pull one leg free and lifted her other foot to tug at the fabric around her other ankle but she swayed lightly on her feet as she finally rid herself of her jeans and she felt Stiles reach up to steady her with a hand on her waist.

"I think 'm still kinda drunk." She admitted with a quiet laugh, finally looking up to find him standing temptingly close.

His brown eyes flicked slowly back and forth between hers before he spoke, "Yeah, me too."

She took a small step back out of his reach again, "Brush our teeth 'nd then bed?" She asked him, taking another step toward the bedroom door.

Stiles reached up to rub at the back of his neck and nodded, gesturing for her to leave the room first.

They brushed their teeth quickly and Amber ran back toward the bedroom excitedly, jumping into the bed and landing in an ungraceful heap in the pile of blankets where she began to kick at the duvet until she could stick her bare legs beneath the fabric.

Stiles entered the room just as she was pulling the blankets up with a contented sigh. He watched her silently for a moment before flicking off the light and coming to climb in beside her.

She flopped down onto her preferred pillow and stared up at the ceiling, dark shapes swaying and bending in her vision dizzily now that her intoxicated body was laying completely still. Her mind drifted sleepily after a few minutes in the quiet and she yawned before speaking softly into the dark.

"Can't believe we kissed after all these years.. I mean.. We've been best friends since the third grade 'nd we kiss for the first time and it's a total accident-"

"Wait, wait-" Stiles interrupted her quietly, "That wasn't our first kiss, though."

She rolled onto her side in the dark and looked at the dark shape of him in confusion, "What do you mean? Yeah it was."

She heard more than saw him shake his head against his pillow, "No it wasn't," He told her adamantly, "We've kissed before."

"No we haven't," She laughed quietly, "I think I'd remember if we'd kissed before, Stiles."

"Well, we did," He said quietly, "You were in second grade. There was this jump rope tournament going on at recess for weeks and you and Lydia refused to be a part of it. But you watched from the sidelines every day and you made these little bracelets with dandelion stems for the kids that got eliminated-"

He shook his head again in the dark before continuing, "And, anyway- Then it was just down to me and that kid Vernon and then Jackson, and- And I remember you said something about how you promised to marry the winner the next day." Stiles told the story quietly and Amber's face contorted in confusion as she struggled to comprehend his words, "Anyway, I bribed Vernon with an X-Men comic, and I untied Jackson's shoelaces, and I won."

"I do remember that," She admitted quietly, "But Stiles, you didn't win. Lydia did the whole, 'You may now kiss' thing under the slides but it was me and that third grader with the pretty hair-" She paused, trying to remember the boy's name — It hadn't been English. It had been a Czechoslovakian name, or maybe Romanian. She sighed in frustration when she couldn't quite remember, "I think he moved away after that school year. His name was.. Like, Mooshy-"

"Mieczysław." Stiles interrupted, the pronunciation seeming to fall off his tongue easily.

"Yes!" She told him quietly, "See, you do remember him."

"Amber. You know my birth name isn't Stiles.." He said slowly.

The seemingly sudden change in subject left her feeling confused but she allowed it, "Yeah, I know," She agreed with a yawn, wiggling in place in the bed to burrow deeper beneath the blankets, "It's, um-" She frowned, "I-I don't think you've ever actually told me your real name."

"It's Mieczysław." He told her with a small laugh.

She reached out and punched him in what she approximated was his arm, "No, it's not." She said quickly, but as the puzzle pieces slowly began to slide together in her brain, she gasped in the dark, "Stiles, no it's not." She repeated in disbelief before punching him again.

"Ow-" He rubbed at the newly sensitive spot on his arm, "I thought you knew!" Stiles defended, reaching out in the dark and grabbing her fist in his hand so that she couldn't hit him again.

"So then.. That was the year you were held back.. And you got rid of the shoulder-length hair.." She started, pausing for a moment, "But, the next year you weren't-"

"Going by my birth name was always hell. The teachers couldn't pronounce it, let alone the other kids-" He told her, "We went to visit my grandad that summer. He's this raging asshole of an army vet, but- He always went by Stiles and I liked it. Made my mom and dad start calling me it almost immediately and refused to answer to anything to else."

"Meecshislav," She whispered with careful pronunciation with a yawn, grinning when Stiles squeezed his hand around her fist softly, "It's kinda pretty."

"Yeah, pretty's exactly what I'm going for." He chuckled sarcastically.

She shuffled closer in the bed and nestled her head beneath his chin, taking a deep breath. He smelled like laundry detergent, and body wash, and whiskey, and something underneath it all that was inherently Stiles.

One of his arms came up to wrap around her back and she nuzzled contentedly into the warmth of his chest beneath the blankets. She resolutely blamed the remaining buzz of alcohol in her brain for the words that sleepily left her mouth next.

"Bu' you are. Think y're very pretty."

And then she was out like a light.

When Monday finally came around after the police-enforced four day weekend, just being inside of the day-lit school building felt surreal. Amber sat on the floor outside of the front office with Stiles, her legs sprawled out in front of her. She tapped her fingers impatiently against the bare skin off her thighs below the hem of her skirt.

"Stiles, I know you wanna talk to your dad, but we're seriously going to be late if we don't-"

"No," He interrupted her. "No one's gonna fail us for being two minutes late for a standardized test, alright? I need to talk to my dad before he goes out looking for Derek tonight."

She sighed, knowing that her friend was right. She was worried about the safety of all of the police officers who would be going out on the night of the full moon with a murderous Alpha still on the loose. She glanced at the clock on her phone screen, chewing her lower lip anxiously.

The bell signaling the end of the fifteen-minute morning break trilled out loudly in the hallway and Amber flinched, looking at Stiles nervously for only a second before the office door swung open. Sheriff Stilinski's voice could be heard murmuring softly to the principal and the two officers with him as they all stepped out into the hall.

Stiles got to his feet clumsily, pulling Amber up by her bicep. The Sheriff cast them both a displeased look when he spirited them and he dismissed the two officers as the teens came to stand in front of him.

"Don't you both have a test to get to?" The Sheriff asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrows as he looked between them.

Amber nodded and Stiles spoke quickly, "What's goin' on? Did you find Derek yet?"

"I'm workin' on it," Sheriff Stilinski told him. He looked at where Amber was checking the time nervously on her phone again before returning his attention to his son, "You, go take your test."

"Alright, but dad, listen to me-"

"Go." The Sheriff insisted.

"This is really important," Stiles told him urgently. The Sheriff glanced between the two teens again and sighed when Amber nodded her own insistence. "You have to be careful tonight, okay?" Stiles pleaded.

"Especially tonight." Amber emphasized.

"You guys, I'm always careful." Sheriff Stilinski told them earnestly.

Stiles took a breath, "Dad, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before, okay? At least not like this."

"I know. Which is why I've brought in people who have." The man told them both. They frowned in confusion before he continued, "State detectives. Now, go. Both of you. Go take your test."

Stiles scrunched his face in frustration before readjusting his grip on his backpack and begrudgingly pulling Amber down the hallway with a sigh.

"Those state detectives aren't going to be any help at all, are they?" She leaned close to ask the question quietly as they fast-walked down the hall toward the east stairwell.

"Nope. Not one bit." He told her as they climbed the stairs two at a time.

As they rushed into the classroom for the test, they were still in the first half of students to arrive and Amber sighed in relief as she took a seat at an empty desk. She quickly pulled out a pencil as Stiles threw his backpack to the ground and settled into the seat behind her.

She tapped her pencil eraser against her desk anxiously as she waited for the rest of their classmates to file into the room. When Scott stepped through the doorway, Amber watched him falter as he caught sight of Allison at a desk in the front of the room. A few students shuffled around his frozen body awkwardly as they moved toward the remaining empty desks.

Scott stepped forward a few slow steps to approach Allison's desk and Amber winced in sympathy for them both.

Before Scott could say anything, Mr. Harris stepped up behind him and leaned in close as he dropped a set of test booklets on the desk at the front of each row, "Mr. McCall, please take a seat."

Scott seemed to hesitate for a moment before he frowned and made his way toward the empty desk remaining in front of Amber and Stiles, only a few seats away from Allison. As he fell into his seat, he gave Amber and Stiles a small smile of commiseration, passing the stack of blue test booklets back onto Amber's desk.

She kept one booklet before passing the final two back to Stiles for him and the student sitting behind him. He gave her a reassuring smile and his fingers brushed softly over hers as he took the tests from her outstretched hand.

She turned back around in her seat with a sigh. She had studied and done practice tests the entirety of Thursday and Friday. Though she had no reason to be nervous, she found herself wiping her clammy hands on the wool of her short skirt under her desk anyway.

"You have forty-five minutes to complete the test," Mr. Harris' voice announced from the front of the room, "Twenty-five percent of your grade can be earned right now, simply by writing your name on the cover of the blue book." He told them, letting his glare rake over the students slowly as he continued, "However, as happens every year, one of you will inexplicably fail to put your name on the cover and I'll be left yet again questioning my decision to ever become a teacher." Mr. Harris sighed with an eye roll as he sat down at the desk at the front of the room, "So, let's get the disappointment over with. Begin."

Amber wrote her name at the top of her booklet and quickly flipped open the front cover, her eyes raking over the words on the page rapidly. She sped through the first couple of pages, recognizing many of the questions from her practice tests, and circled her answers quickly as she went. She chewed her lower lip and tapped the fingertips of her left hand against the top of her desk as she plowed through the mercifully easy test questions.

There were only a few unanswered questions remaining in her booklet when Scott suddenly shot up from the desk in front of her. He grabbed his backpack and abandoned his open test on his desktop, rushing toward the door.

"Mr. McCall!" Their teacher called out, watching Scott ignore him as he ran from the classroom.

Amber turned her head worriedly to glance back at Stiles, but he already was rising from his own desk and running after Scott.

"Mr. Stilinski!" Their teacher shouted at him as he left the room. Amber began to stand from her own seat and Mr. Harris shot her a sharp look, "Sit. Down."

She shied back from his scolding and frustratedly went back to her test, quickly skimming the last few questions and circling her answers. She flipped the booklet closed and pushed up from her seat, grabbing Stiles' backpack from the floor behind her desk and rushing to the front of the room.

"Miss Callisto, if you don't return to your seat and finish your test, I am going to give you detention for the next-"

She set her completed booklet on top of his desk, "I'm finished." She told him quickly, eyes flicking to the door worriedly.

Mr. Harris narrowed his eyes and flipped through the booklet to verify whether or not she was lying. When he determined she was telling the truth, he scrunched his face up in annoyance and nodded once, dismissing her.

She tightened her grip on Stiles' bag and ran from the room. She rushed down the hallway in the direction Scott and Stiles had gone in only a minute before, looking around wildly for a clue as to where they'd gone.

"Guys." She whisper-shouted as she ran down the hall.

She got no response, but she heard a cellphone ring out with the same ringtone Scott used. It came from the next hallway over before cutting off sharply. She rushed down the hall and realized with a slightly queasy feeling in her stomach that she was heading in the direction of the boy's locker room.

When she reached the doorway, the door that had been covered in the janitor's blood just a few nights before had been removed from its hinges. She rushed through the opening without allowing herself time to think about the last time she'd been in the room.

"-I can't. I can't breathe-" She heard Scott gasp before he took a wheezing breath.

"Scott?" She called out worriedly, sprinting to the back of the room in a panic.

She skidded into Stiles' back when she turned the corner toward the showers and found Scott hyperventilating, shirtless and soaking wet. Stiles was digging through Scott's backpack frantically and he pulled out Scott's inhaler from the bottom of the bag, holding it out toward their friend.

"Here, use this." Stiles said, shaking the inhaler at him. Amber and Scott both looked at him in confusion and Stiles shook it emphatically again, "Come on. Do it."

"I- Just try it, Scott." Amber told him, taking it from Stiles' hand. She pulled the cap from the mouthpiece and held it out closer to Scott as he continued to gasp in choppy breaths.

He took the inhaler from her hand and brought it up to his mouth, squeezing the device down and taking the medicine into his lungs. He leaned over for a few seconds, beginning to inhale deep breaths as he calmed and Amber sighed in relief.

Scott breathed slowly for a few seconds before looking up at them in confusion, "Wh- I was having an asthma attack?"

"No. You were having a panic attack. But, thinking you were having an asthma attack, actually stopped the panic attack." Stiles explained slowly, "Irony."

"How- How did you know to do that?" Scott asked him.

Stiles looked at Amber sadly for a moment before returning his attention to Scott, "I used to get them- After my mom died. And-and then Amber did too, when her parents-" His voice faded out.

Amber chewed on her lower lip at the admission, recalling all of the times Stiles had calmed her down or distracted her from her own panic attacks.

"Not fun, huh?" She asked Scott quietly, reaching down and pulling at the hem of her skirt awkwardly.

Scott shook his head at them sadly, taking a slow breath, "I-I looked at her and it was like someone hit me in the ribs with a hammer."

"Yeah, that's heartbreak." Amber told him with a sympathetic smile.

Stiles chuckled sadly and nodded, "There's about two billion songs written about it."

"I can't stop thinking about her." Scott panted, leaning his head back against the shower wall.

"You could think about this," Stiles started, "Her dad's a werewolf hunter.. You're a werewolf. So, it was bound to become an issue-" He laughed quietly and Amber reached over to slap him in the arm. "That wasn't helpful." Stiles agreed with a small nod of his head.

"It's gonna hurt, Scott." Amber said softly, "And it sucks, but.. It won't feel like this forever."

"Dude, I mean- You got dumped." Stiles told him with a shrug, "It's supposed to suck."

"No," Scott disagreed, "That's not all. It was like I could feel everything in the room.. Everyone else's emotions."

"Like, everyone else's stress and anxiety about the test." Amber realized, looking at him pityingly.

"It's gotta be the full moon," Stiles said, seemingly deep in thought. He shook his head as he refocused and looked between his best friends, "So, Amber and I'll lock you in your room later like we planned. That way, you'll be contained, and the Alpha- Who's your boss," He reminded him, "Can't get to you either."

"I think you guys need to do a lot more than lock me in my room." Scott told them honestly.

"What- Are you worried about the Alpha or- Or the hunters?" Amber asked him worriedly.

Scott shook his head, stepping out of the shower stall and coming closer to his friends, "No. I-I think if I get out- I think I might kill someone."

Stiles climbed over the changing bench in the locker room, lacrosse stick in hand, and sat down in the open space beside Scott as Coach Finstock came out of his office.

"All right, geniuses!" Coach shouted to gain the attention of the team, continuing to talk as they huddled around him at the back of the locker room, "Listen up! Due to the recent pink-eye epidemic- Thank you, Greenberg- The following people have made first line on a probationary basis. Emphasis on 'probationary'."

Stiles looked around wide-eyed. He glanced at Scott to find that his friend wasn't paying any attention to the team meeting taking place but Stiles sat up straighter as he focused his attention on their Coach.

Finstock lifted the clipboard in his hands up to look at the list of player names on the sheet of paper, "Rodriguez," He read off slowly, "Welcome to first line. Taylor.. And, uh-" The Coach paused, squinting in confusion at the paper in front of him, "Oh, for the love of crap. I can't even read my own writing.. What is that? An 'S'?" He questioned aloud.

Stiles was barely containing his eagerness, rising to hover above his seat and shaking in anticipation, praying for his last name to be called. Stilinski.. Stilinski.

"No, no, wait." Coach immediately backtracked. Stiles deflated and fell back onto the bench as Coach Finstock continued, "That's not an 'S', that's a- That's a 'B'. It's definitely a 'B'." He announced, "Rodriguez, Taylor, and Bilinski!"

Stiles' head snapped up in excitement, "Ha! Aha!" He yelled enthusiastically, rising to his feet and lifting his arms above his head in triumph. He whooped and cheered and looked around the room with wide eyes, but he seemed to be the only one affected by the incredible news.

"Bilinski!" Coach Finstock yelled at him with an unimpressed glare.

"Yes?" Stiles asked quickly.

"Shut up." Coach told him.

"Yes, sir." Stiles winced, sitting back down beside Scott as a couple of their teammates laughed.

"Stiles-" Scott said to him quietly.

"It's Biles." Stiles corrected quickly, "Call me Biles or I swear to god I'll kill you."

"And another thing!" Coach called out, "From here on out, we're switching to co-captains. Congratulations McCall."

Stiles looked at Scott in surprise and found a similar look of astonishment on his face. Stiles nudged his knee against his best friend's excitedly as Jackson stepped forward to stand beside Coach.

"What?" Jackson asked quietly.

"What do you mean, 'What?'" Coach asked him, "Jackson, this takes nothing away from you. This is about combining separate strengths into one unit. This is about taking your unit, McCall's unit, and- We're making one big unit." Coach told him assuredly, "McCall. It's you and Jackson now. Everybody else, asses on the field!"

Coach blew on his whistle in emphasis and Stiles quickly grabbed his duffle bag and stood up with Scott to walk to the front of the locker room, "Dude, can you believe this?" Stiles asked, "You're captain, I'm first line.. I'm first freaking line!" He yelled excitedly.

They made their way out into the hallway and Scott still hadn't spoken so Stiles turned to his friend in confusion, readjusting his bag over his shoulder as they walked, "Are you not freaking out?" Stiles asked, still in disbelief at the events of the last two minutes, "I'm freaking out!"

"What's the point?" Scott asked blankly, "It's just a stupid title. And- I could practically smell the jealousy in there."

Stiles paused, jerking back in surprise and pulling Scott to a stop, "Wait. You can smell jealousy?" He asked in confusion.

Scott shrugged, "Yeah. It's like the full moon's turned everything up to ten."

"Oh," Stiles said, getting distracted with a sudden train of thought, "Can you pick up on other things? Like," He shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance, "I don't know... Desire?"

"What do you mean 'desire'?'" Scott asked him.

"Like.. Sexual desire." Stiles clarified with another shrug.

"Sexual desire?"

"Yeah, sexual desire-" Stiles repeated quickly, "Lust, passion, arousal."

Scott sighed and looked down the hallway. Stiles followed his gaze after a second to see the girl of his affections exiting the girl's bathroom and walking down the hallway toward her locker, looking as inhumanly beautiful as she always seemed to, "From Amber?"

"What?" Stiles scoffed a little too quickly, "No. In a broad, general sense. Can you determine sexual desire?"

"From Amber to you?" Scott clarified once more with an unimpressed raise of his eyebrows.

"Fine, yes. From Amber to me." Stiles admitted in frustration, "Look, I need to know if I actually have a chance, okay? I've been obsessing over her since the third frickin' grade and something sort of, almost, but didn't really happen last night and- I just need to know. I can't mess up our friendship for nothing, dude."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Scott questioned blankly.

"Ah, well. To save myself from utterly crushing humiliation. Thank you, Scott." Stiles told him sarcastically, "Okay, so please? Can you just go and ask her if she likes me? See if her heartbeat rises, pheromones come out-"

"Alright. Fine." Scott said quickly, sighing in regret immediately.

Stiles watched Scott head down the hallway in the direction of their best friend with a nervous excitement building up inside of him. He bit down on a smile and bounced on his toes before rushing out toward the lacrosse field, where he would be practicing. Because he was on first frickin' line.

Coach Finstock was holding a team meeting before lacrosse practice, which usually meant either Greenberg had managed to catch some sort of contagious disease again or there was a change in the lineup — possibly both.

Amber stood just outside the locker room, her ear hovering close to the newly installed, closed metal door. She impatiently attempted to eavesdrop on what was being said, but she couldn't make out much more than the muffled sound of lockers being slammed shut. Eventually, the noise faded and she realized the meeting was being held outside of Coach's office, which was tucked away at the very back of the locker room.

Abandoning her post with a sigh, she wasted a few minutes of time in the restrooms, going to the bathroom and reapplying her tinted lip balm in the mirror.

In lieu of standing in the girl's room any longer, she eventually made her way back into the hallway to head to her locker to grab her jacket and backpack. She was only a few yards from her destination when she heard Scott's voice call out to her.

"Hey! Amber. Can we talk for a second?"

She turned around and caught sight of Scott approaching her locker, changed into the maroon bulk of his practice jersey and lacrosse padding.

"Yeah, of course," She agreed easily as he led her into an empty classroom before closing the door softly behind them, "What happened in the meeting, anyway? I tried to listen in through the door but I couldn't really hear anything."

Scott waved her off, "I made co-captain and Stiles is starting. That's not-"

"Oh my god!" She yelled excitedly, "Are you serious! That's amazing! Where's Stiles? I need to-"

"Just wait. That's not what I wanted to talk about." Scott interjected, guiding her back a few steps further into the room. Once he's pushed her to lean back against the teacher's desk at the front of the class, he released her arm.

"Okay, what? What's going on?" She asked immediately in concern, eyes raking over his face for some sort of clue.

"Do you, uh.. Do you know if Allison still likes me?" He asked sadly.

"Scott," She said softly, reaching out a hand to take his, "Of course she does."

"Really?"

The look of hope on Scott's face made all of the protective instincts she had for her best friend flare up and she rubbed her thumb softly along the back of Scott's hand.

"Yeah," She said softly, "I mean, give her some time. She's scared. We were all scared, right? And then you had to leave in order to protect us and I- maybe right now she's not necessarily grateful but-"

"Are you grateful?" He asked, the expression on his face changing into something Amber couldn't quite decipher.

"Huh?"

"You," Scott repeated, "Are you grateful?"

"You went out, knowing there was a possibility of facing the Alpha all alone, so you could get a key that would've saved us all.. I mean, duh. Of course I am, Scott." She reached her free hand up to rub the small space where his upper arm was exposed from his lacrosse pads.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, Scott had leaned into her space and brought his mouth down against hers. She pulled back slightly but the boy stepped closer and pressed her more firmly into the desk. He brought a hand up to tangle in the hair at the base of her neck to keep their mouths pressed together.

She turned her head to the side and took in a breath, "Scott-" She started, but Scott's lips covered hers again before she could finish.

Her heart began to beat harder in her chest with adrenaline as the wood of the desk pressed uncomfortably against the tops of her thighs. She pushed at her friend's shoulders but with his newly acquired supernatural strength, he didn't budge so much as an inch. She broke the seal of their lips once more but she only managed a shaky breath before he guided his mouth back over hers with the hand on the back of her neck. She pushed harder at his shoulders, leaning back over the desk as she did so in an attempt to put more space between them.

When Scott's free hand brushed against the hem of her skirt as it trailed up the outside of her thigh on the way to her hip, her stomach swooped anxiously.

She tightened her shaking right hand into a fist as his fingers curled around her waist. Leaning back a few more inches, she broke the seal of their mouths once again and swung her arm with as much force as she could manage in the limited space between their bodies. When her fist made contact with Scott's jaw, the boy took an immediate step back from her in surprise.

"What the hell!?" He yelled angrily, his hand rubbing at the spot where she'd hit him.

"Me!? Scott, what the fuck was that?" She yelled back, her voice hitching as she pulled a deep breath into her lungs.

"God, Amber. You're a tease, y'know that?" He glared at her and her eyes caught on the way his lips were smeared lightly with the bright pink tinge of her lip balm.

"I- What?" She asked quietly this time, her hands were shaking, and as the adrenaline from before faded, she noticed the sharp pain in the knuckles of her right hand.

"Don't act so innocent," Scott scoffed, "You're always touching and rubbing me. My arms, my neck? Don't even get me started on Stiles- You need to put out sometime, Amber, or you're gonna end up alone."

Scott took an angry breath and she couldn't understand the look of rage in his eyes. He was actually, genuinely, mad at her.

"Scott.." She started, voice wavering before realization suddenly washed over her, "It- It's the full moon, isn't it? The.. The moon's really affecting you this much already? We- We'll figure this out, okay, you just need to-"

Before she could continue, he had turned and stormed out of the classroom.

The silence that he left behind had her ears ringing as she remained unmoving, leaning against the desk at the front of the room. She watched the door for a full minute, half expecting Scott to walk back in with an explanation for some of what had just happened, but he didn't come.

Her hands were still shaking lightly when she lifted her right hand to inspect her sore knuckles. She found the joints reddening and beginning to swell already. She clenched her fingers into a tight fist and gasped at the sharp pain that radiated through her hand.

She took a couple of slow tentative steps forward before pushing out of the classroom. There were still people milling about in the hallway but she found that couldn't hear them over the heavy rushing of blood that filled her ears as her heart continued to pound.

Her backpack and jacket were both still in her locker, so that was where she headed.

When she got to her locker, her hands fumbled with the lock, the metal slipping repeatedly from between her shaking fingers. She huffed out a frustrated breath through her nose and willed herself to calm down.

The moon's power over Scott was only going to get stronger, and she needed to pull herself together if she wanted to help him.

After her padlock refused to open for the third time, she found herself pulling and tugging at it hopelessly. When the lock remained intact she felt heat prickle at her eyes as if she were about to cry.

"What, did you forget your combination?" A voice said beside her.

She exhaled sharply and looked up at where Lydia was standing beside her locker. When their eyes met, Lydia's face twisted into worry and she reached out to comfort the brunette.

"Hon, what-"

Amber flinched away from the outstretched hand before it could make contact with her arm and her next few breaths were shallow, unable to get a good lungful of air. The sounds around her were beginning to distort again and she felt entirely too warm, like she was going to explode out of her own skin if she got any hotter.

Her breathing was ragged and the longer she panicked, the fuzzier her surroundings became. She didn't know how much time passed, but when her breathing eventually began to slow, she felt cold water against her cheeks and flinched slightly in surprise.

"Hey," Lydia's voice said softly, placing a cold, wet hand to Amber's face again, "You coming back to me?"

Amber nodded as she slowly began to take in her surroundings. At some point, they'd moved into the girls restroom. The tap was running and every few seconds, Lydia moved her hand under the rush of cold water before patting her chilled hand to the flushed skin of Amber's face.

"Good," Lydia said, ripping off a piece of paper towel from the dispenser by the sink and drying her hands before dabbing at the wetness still on Amber's cheeks. "You gonna tell me what happened now? Did Stilinski do something?"

"It's stupid." Amber admitted quietly.

Lydia tutted at her and tilted her head thoughtfully, "If it upset you that much, it isn't stupid." She promised.

Amber shook her head, moving to place her right hand under the cold tap and sighing in relief at the cold water over her swollen knuckles. "Scott-" She started, clearing her throat when the words came out scratchy, "Scott kissed me-"

"What?" Lydia said in surprise, dropping her hands from Amber's face and looking at where the girl was gently cradling her hand under the tap.

"-And I had to punch him."

"You- You had to-"

"He wouldn't- I couldn't-" Amber faltered, unsure how to finish the sentence. She took a shaky breath, "Yeah, I.. I had to punch him."

"I'll kill him." Lydia stated, her eyes already clouded with dark thoughts.

"No! No, that's not-" She paused, unsure how to defend Scott without including werewolf drama, "It'll be fine, honest. He- He's just really torn up over Allison."

"If McCall was forcing himself on you-"

"Lydia, I would never let him anywhere near Allison if I thought he'd ever hurt her, okay?"

"But what about him hurting you?" Lydia frowned.

"I'm fine." Amber promised determinedly, pulling her hands from the water and drying them on a fresh strip of paper towel. She took a deep breath, turning away from the sink, "Honestly, I'm fine. I was just overwhelmed, okay? We should go get our stuff together before we miss the beginning of practice."

Stiles was practically oozing with anxiety as he waited outside on the players bench, watching for any sign of Scott or Amber heading toward the field. His knee jerked up and down violently and his heart was beating hard beneath his ribs as his nerves grew.

After several minutes, he caught sight of Scott and he barely contained the urge to wait until Scott was sitting on the bench before he questioned him, "Hey! What happened?" Stiles asked in nervous excitement.

"What?" Scott asked distractedly, readjusting the velcro on his glove and tightening it around his wrist.

"What do you mean, 'what?'" Stiles asked incredulously, "Did you ask her? Did she say anything? Did she say she liked me? Did she imply she liked me? Did she smell like she liked me?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure, dude." Scott told him unconvincingly.

The answer didn't instill much confidence and Stiles frowned at the lack of confirmation. He was about to ask Scott to clarify when the whistle blew for the start of practice and Stiles sighed, pulling on his helmet as he rose from his seat and grabbed his lacrosse stick.

They went out onto the field to begin drills, an offensive player charging on a couple of defense and shooting on goal. Stiles stood behind Scott in the line of offensive players as they waited their turn to run through the drill.

Scott seemed to be breathing heavily already, shoulders rising and falling with exaggerated movements, and Stiles frowned in confusion, leaning forward to speak over Scott's shoulder, "Dude, you okay? Look, I know we just got good news, and all, bit there's still seven hours until the full moon, okay? So-"

The whistle blew for Scott to take his turn and he only managed to run forward a few feet before he was thrown to the ground by the two defensive players. Stiles winced and watched his friend rise to his feet again angrily.

Coach blew his whistle and turned toward Stiles, "Who's next? Let's go!" He gestured for Stiles to take his turn, "You got a problem with that, Bilinski?"

"What?" He asked in surprise, readjusting his grip on his stick, "Uh, no-"

"Alright! You're up, big boy. Let's go!"

Stiles swallowed, readying himself to charge forward, but Scott made his way back to the front of the line and bashed into Stiles' chest with his lacrosse stick aggressively. Stiles stumbled while Scott pushed him back a step before he went to collect another ball to take his turn at the drill again.

"That's it, McCall!" Coach yelled, "That's the spirit! You gotta earn it! Earn it, McCall!"

Stiles' gaze drifted past the goal and he caught sight of Amber and Lydia making their way toward the field, heads bent close together in conversation. He watched the girls for only a few seconds before Coach Finstock's whistle blew softly and his attention was pulled to Scott as he ran forward again, rushing toward the defenders.

Scott quickly shoulder-checked both of the defensive players and sent them to the ground, continuing on without pause. Danny stepped forward out of the goal to block him next and Scott plowed into him violently, swinging his stick at the goalie's helmet and shoving him down to the grass before shooting the ball into the goal.

Danny went down hard and everyone immediately flocked over to check on him, worriedly shouting his name. Stiles watched Scott rip off his helmet as he took a few steps to the side and Stiles moved to follow him, pulling his own helmet off and shaking his head, flabbergasted at his friend's behavior.

"Dude," Stiles called out as he approached Scott, "What the hell are you doing?"

Scott scoffed, "What? He's twice the size of me."

Stiles glanced over to where the sport's paramedic was checking on their goalie's bleeding face before looking back at Scott beside him, "Yeah, but everybody likes Danny." Stiles told him, "Now everybody's gonna hate you."

"I don't care." Scott huffed in annoyance before storming away to stand at the back of their teammates.

Stiles stood stunned for a moment before he followed after him to stand where everybody was still huddled around Danny, even Lydia and Amber having rushed into the crowd at some point.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Amber was questioning, standing between Lydia and Jackson.

"Looks like he just has a bloody nose-" Jackson started before trailing off, staring at the girl beside him with an amused look of confusion.

"What?" Amber questioned, looking up at him.

"Callisto," Jackson chuckled quietly, "Your lipstick's smudged."

Stiles closed the final steps of distance between himself and the group and his eyes immediately gravitated to Amber. His chest tightened when he found the pretty pink tint that normally covered her lips was smeared around her mouth, the glossy shine smudged in a way that suggested she'd been thoroughly kissed. He felt his stomach drop sharply.

"Oh. Shit, I-" She reached up to blindly wipe at her mouth with the back of her sleeve. Her wide eyes cut sharply to where Scott was stepping up to stand beside her, "I, um. I don't know how-"

But Stiles was no longer listening to her embarrassed stammering. Instead, his eyes were caught on the shiny pink smudges that covered Scott's mouth. Stiles stared with a painful ache of betrayal as Scott's lips pulled into a smirk while watching the way Amber frantically tried to clean the makeup from her mouth.

Stiles looked between the two of them with a growing pit in his stomach. His jaw clenched and he was forced to take a small step back as his mind raced with an anger he’d never felt, heart thumping wildly in his chest.

Seven hours until the full moon was at its peak.

"Right. Now, you can't tell your father about this, because he'll kill me." Kate told Allison quietly, standing just behind her niece's shoulder. The older woman surveyed Allison's stance, legs shoulder-width apart, arms stretched out in front of her as she aimed at her target.

"Okay." Allison agreed with an excited grin.

"Okay," Kate agreed, nodding and clapping her hands together softly, "Well, what's our hapless victim's name?"

Allison kept her focus trained on keeping the little red dot in the center of her target's chest where it sat in the chair in front of her, "Mr. Bear."

"You named your teddy bear, 'Mr. Bear'?" Kate asked her in a teasing voice, "That's like, the worst teddy bear name in the world."

"I was five years old." Allison defended, eyes drifting to the side for a moment to glance at the woman beside her.

"Alright, well," Kate conceded, lifting a hand to gesture at the target sitting in the chair, "Just shoot your unimaginatively named bear and put it out of its misery."

Allison's smile spread and she fought a laugh before focusing on the task at hand, narrowing her eyes in concentration. She pulled the trigger and a cluster of wires shot out from the device in her hands, planting themselves into the teddy bear and shocking it with electricity with a repetitive low clicking noise.

Allison took a step back as she watched the bear smoke softly from its now-charred fur and her eyes burned with tears.

"See! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Kate laughed, looking at the teddy bear gleefully, "See, if you'd had that the other night-" She seemed to suddenly catch sight of her niece and faltered, "Woah, now.. Wait a minute. I thought you wanted to learn how to do this, sweetie?"

Allison plopped down to sit on her bed with a wet laugh, "I just don't know what happened.

"With Scott?" Kate asked, sitting down beside her and watching as Allison nodded sadly, "Aw, listen. My gorgeous, young niece, you're gonna break hearts left and right, okay?" The tears in Allison's eyes broke free and she sniffled quietly as she listened, "And he was lucky to have gotten the tiny little taste of Allison Argent's world that he got."

"But, it just-" Allison took a shaky breath as more tears fell from her eyes, "It felt so right with him. And then he started acting so strange and now I don't know what to believe."

"Well, sweetie, he's a guy. You can't believe anything." Kate told her with a roll of her eyes.

Allison shook her head softly, "It's just, the whole thing with Derek Hale the other night. And Scott saying he didn't know him, but I know he does, and I-I saw them together so-"

"Woah, woah, wait. Hold on. Back up. Scott knows Derek." Kate repeated slowly, gauging Allison's face closely as she spoke, "Alleged killer, Derek. Are they friends?"

"No." Allison told her quietly. Suddenly nervous at her aunt's intensity, "I mean, at least that's what he said. But I know his best friend Amber was kind of seeing Derek at some point so maybe-"

"How about you tell me everything-" Kate interrupted, "That Scott and Amber have said about Derek."

"What do you mean, everything?" Allison asked anxiously, leaning away and rubbing her palms along her thighs over her jeans.

Kate pulled Allison back with a hand on her shoulder, bringing their faces close together, "I mean everything." She told her firmly.

Allison looked at her aunt's intense gaze and swallowed, taking a deep breath before beginning to spill all of her friend's secrets.

Stiles checked his phone once more, re-reading the text message Amber had sent him twenty minutes before.

have to take care of something first but I'll be there as soon as I can! promise!

He tucked the phone back into his pocket and fumbled with the duffel bag in his hand as he slid his key into the front door to the McCall house. He unlocked it and pushed the door open, stepping inside and turning around to close it behind him.

"Scott?" Ms. McCall's voice called out as she stepped into the entryway in fresh nurse's scrubs.

"Stiles." He corrected with an awkward laugh. He had assumed she'd have left for work by now.

Ms. McCall glanced down at the key still clutched between his fingers and she raised her eyebrows, "Key." She pointed out with a slow blink.

"Yeah." He smiled, holding the object up proudly, "I had one made." After the last time I got in without one and you almost bludgeoned Amber and I with a baseball bat, goes left unsaid.

"That doesn't surprise me." Ms. McCall nodded with a frown, "It scares me, but it doesn't surprise me."

Stiles dropped his duffle bag to the ground beside the door and it landed with the loud metallic tinkling of chains rubbing against one another. He grimaced as he looked up at Ms. McCall's suspicious face.

"What is that?" She asked him, looking down at the bag in question.

"Uh, school project." He responded quickly.

"Mm," The woman said, unconvinced. "Stiles, he's okay, right?"

"Who, Scott?" He questioned stupidly, "Yeah, totally-"

"He just... Doesn't talk to me that much, anymore." She admitted quietly, "At least not like he used to."

"Well he's, uh- Had a bit of a rough week." Stiles told her, sticking his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt with a casual shrug.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." She agreed, "Yeah, um. Okay. Uh, y'know, be careful tonight."

"You too." He nodded as he watched her pull her car keys out of her purse.

"Full moon." Ms. McCall clarified, nodding up at the ceiling.

Stiles flinched, "What?" He asked in surprise.

"Uh, there's a full moon tonight," Scott's mom laughed, "You should see how the E.R. gets. Brings out all the nut jobs."

"Oh.. Right."

"Y'know," Ms. McCall started, stepping closer as she approached the front door, "It's actually where they came up with the word 'lunatic'."

Stiles stood frozen in awe as she patted him on the shoulder and headed outside, closing the door behind her. With a shake of his head, he picked the duffel bag back up and raced up the stairs, hoping to set up before Scott got there.

He pushed open Scott's bedroom door and flicked on the light, his eyes catching on the figure sitting in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Ho-Oh my god!" Stiles yelled, flinching back in surprise as he looked at where Scott was ominously sitting, "You scared the hell out of me. Your mom said you weren't home yet."

Stiles walked deeper into the room and dropped his bag loudly to the floor again, this time in front of Scott's feet.

"I came in through the window." Scott told him blankly, unmoving from his armchair in the corner.

"Okay..." Stiles said slowly, watching his friend silently for a few seconds before squatting down in front of him and beginning to unzip the bag, "Uh, well. Let's get this set up. I want you to see what Amber and I bought the other day."

"I'm fine." Scott told him emotionlessly.

Stiles looked up at him in surprise as he unzipped the bag the rest of the way.

"I'm just gonna lock the door and go to bed early tonight." Scott continued.

"You sure about that?" Stiles asked doubtfully, raising his eyebrows and gesturing at Scott's face, "Because you got this kinda serial killer look going on in your eyes.. And I'm hoping it's the full moon taking effect 'cause it's really starting to freak me out."

"I'm fine." Scott told him slowly, "You should go now."

Stiles looked at his friend for a moment, entirely unconvinced, "Alright, I'll leave." He leaned back and his eyes dropped down to the contents of his duffle bag again. He reached into the bag for a moment, fingers drifting over against the copious rungs of smooth metal before tapping his other hand against the fabric on the outside with a sigh, "Well, look, would you at least look in the bag and see what we bought? Y'know, maybe you use it, maybe you don't.. Sound good?"

Scott leaned forward in his chair slowly as he stood, his eyes not leaving Stiles until he had taken several slow steps and knelt down directly over the bag. Scott reached a hand inside and pulled out a fistful of metal chains, lifting it out and examining it with a blank stare.

"You think I'm gonna let you guys put these on and chain me up like a dog?" Scott asked coldly before dropping the chain back into the bag.

Stiles sighed, "Actually, no."

He grabbed Scott's left wrist and handcuffed him to the radiator on the wall in one swift move, jumping back out of the way as Scott reached for him angrily.

"What the hell are you doing!" Scott yelled, kneeling on the floor and pulling at the handcuffs.

"I'm protecting you from yourself." Stiles said, looking down at his friend determinedly, "And giving you some payback." He admitted, watching as Scott slowly turned to glare up at him, "For making out with Amber."

Scott seethe in anger and Stiles smiled in satisfaction before turning to leave the room.

"Stiles!" Scott growled after him, continuing to pull loudly at the metal handcuffs against the radiator.

Stiles went downstairs and collected a bottle of water from the fridge and a old metal bowl from the cupboard beneath the sink. He carried his haul back upstairs, pouring some of the water into the bowl as he walked.

"I brought you some water." Stiles announced, holding up the plastic bottle in display before making a show of pouring the rest of the contents into the dog food bowl in his other hand.

He placed the bowl down on the floor in front of Scott, satisfied by the scowl on his face and returning his glare before turning to leave the room. He flinched at the impact of the cold water and lightweight metal against his shoulder when Scott threw the bowl at his retreating back.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Scott screamed angrily.

Stiles took a deep breath, glaring at the wall in the hallway for a few seconds before back spinning around to face his friend.

"You kissed her, Scott!" Stiles finally yelled, "Okay? You kissed Amber. That's my- That's like the one girl that I ever-!" He huffed angrily through his nose before continuing, "And you know? The past three hours I've been thinking, it's probably just the full moon, y'know? He doesn't even know what he's doing and tomorrow he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch. A fucking unbelievable piece of crap friend!"

Stiles took a much needed breath after his rant and Scott lifted his head with a dark look.

"She kissed me." Scott told him with a devilish grin.

Stiles deflated slightly, his stomach filling with a hollow sadness at the words. He swallowed and clenched his jaw, gearing himself up to respond when someone else spoke first.

"What?" A soft voice cut in from behind him.

Amber waited until the last possible minute to show Jason her bruising hand. He was pulling on his shoes to head into the fire station when she slowly approached, hiding her right hand behind her back.

"Hey, um.." She started slowly, "I have a first aid question."

Her brother looked up at her with thinly veiled suspicion before finishing his shoe laces and standing upright, "Okay." He said slowly.

She sighed, "So, I hurt my knuckles earlier.. It doesn't hurt that bad anymore, but I'd feel really stupid if I actually, like, fractured something and didn't ask you to look at it."

Jason sighed and held out his hand patiently. Once she laid her hand in his waiting palm he brought it up to his face to examine it closely, gingerly prodding at her knuckles and feeling around the bones.

She winced at the gentle touches to her sensitive knuckles but didn't pull away.

"What did you do, now?" He asked softly, turning her hand as he checked the swelling.

"I, uh, punched a brick wall." She explained, not feeling inclined to mention that said brick wall was named Scott. At his sharp look she continued, "It was an accident. I don't just go around punching walls."

He sighed and let her remove her hand from his grip, "Nothing's broken. You should ice it tonight and keep it elevated when you can." He told her easily as he pulled on his jacket, "Holding a pen at school is gonna suck, but it should heal up in a couple days."

"Okay." She nodded gratefully, examining her red knuckles herself for a moment.

"Do me a favor and try not to get yourself seriously injured tonight? Maybe stay in and watch a movie and stay out of trouble." He asked weakly.

"Stiles and I are going over to Scott's to work in a project." She told him.

He sighed and nodded as he pulled open the front door, "Be good. Please. I love you."

"Love you."

She dashed upstairs after he left and changed into a pair of jeans, pulling off her knit sweater and swapping it out for a cutoff crewneck. She checked the time stamp on the text she'd sent to Stiles before she'd spoken to her brother and saw that it had been nearly ten minutes already.

With a sigh, she raced downstairs and grabbed her keys before heading over to the McCall house, hoping she wouldn't be too late to help Stiles and Scott get everything set up.

She parked her car at the end of the driveway and jogged up to the front door. Stiles had promised to leave it unlocked for her and she was relieved to find that it swung open easily when she turned the knob.

The moment she stepped into the house, Amber could hear Stiles's raised voice upstairs, but it wasn't until she reached the top of the staircase that she was able to make out the words he was shouting.

"-I've been thinking, it's probably just the full moon, y'know? He doesn't even know what he's doing and tomorrow he'll be totally back to normal. He probably won't even remember what a complete dumbass he's been. A son of a bitch. A fucking unbelievable piece of crap friend!"

She had moved to stand in the doorway behind Stiles and hesitated as she took in the way that Scott wasn't chained as they had originally intended, but instead had just one wrist cuffed to the metal heater beneath the window.

She watched Scott lift his head with a dark look, his eyes drifting over to her briefly before focusing on Stiles, "She kissed me."

"What?" She said in disbelief before taking a couple of steps forward and coming up to stand beside Stiles.

Scott grinned devilishly and looked between them, "She made the first move, Stiles." He said, "You should've seen it."

She immediately thought back to the way she'd been trying to comfort her friend just before he'd kissed her and she felt her eyes prickle with frustrated tears as she became suddenly self-conscious. Scrunching her face up in annoyance at her own emotions, she huffed a breath through her nose. When she risked a glance over at Stiles, she found him looking between them, unsure.

"You're being an asshole, Scott." She told him quietly.

"Oh, yeah? Is that what you're into, then?" Scott quipped back quickly before turning his attention on Stiles again, "She would've done a lot more too, man. You should've seen the way she had her hands all over me."

Amber was seething in anger and Stiles took a shaky breath beside her. His hand dropped onto her shoulder and he pulled her back gently as he guided her out of the room without a word.

"She would've done anything I wanted, Stiles!" Scott called out to their backs, "Anything!"

They stepped to the side once they got into the hallway to slip out of view of the doorway and Amber took a deep breath, "Has he been like that since you got here?" She asked, her eyes drifting back toward the bedroom.

"Yeah, pretty much," Stiles told her, "You missed the truly terrifying way he was just sitting by himself in the dark and also the murdery look he gave me when he saw the chains but- Yeah, pretty much like this and slowly getting worse."

She sighed in frustration, bringing her fingers up to tangle in her hair and leaning back against the wall.

"Hey, wait-" Stiles said, his eyes catching on her right hand, "What happened there?" He questioned, pointing to the redness on her raw knuckles.

She looked at him in confusion for a second before she saw that he was gesturing toward her injured hand. She sighed again and slid down the wall to sit on the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest.

"Oh, that." She laughed humorlessly, watching as Stiles slid down to sit beside her in the hallway, "I punched a werewolf in the face."

"Who, Scott?" He asked quickly. She nodded and he pulled her hand toward him gently to look at her knuckles, "I'm sure he deserved it. I know I'd like to punch him right now.. But why'd you punch Scott?"

She tilted her head against the wall to look over at him as he frowned at the red swelling on the back of her hand, "'Cause he kissed me."

Stiles raised his eyebrows, "Noted. Kiss Amber, get punched."

She snorted softly, lips pulling into a frown as she shook her head, "It wasn't like that," She started, unsure how much she wanted to tell him, "He was really upset about Allison.. Asked if she still liked him and I told him she was just scared, y'know? She doesn't understand why he left. She doesn't understand that he did it to protect us from the Alpha and I-" She sighed and turned to look at the hardwood floor with a frown, "I was holding his hand. And- and rubbing his arm. And I told him I was really grateful for what he did.. I guess it was stupid. He thought-"

"Hey, no. Amber, stop it." Stiles said firmly, "I don't care what you said or did, alright? Scott should've never kissed you. Like, ever. Seriously, never. I mean, he knows..."

"He knows what?" She asked quietly when Stiles' voice faded out.

He shook his head, "Nothing. He just- He never should've kissed you."

"Agreed." She told him, "D'you think the full moon is gonna be like this every time? Forever?"

"God, I hope not." He said, thumping his head back against the wall once and closing his eyes.

She tilted her head to the side to rest on his shoulder and they settled into silence for a few minutes. Though they weren't speaking, the house wasn't quiet. It was instead filled with the sounds of Scott determinedly pulling at the metal of his handcuffs and yelling angrily at them through the closed bedroom door.

Scott stopped shouting for a few minutes, still tugging quietly the handcuffs with a quiet sound of metal clinking.

"Guys?" Scott's voice called out gently, "Please let me out."

Amber thumped her head back against the wall once and reached her left hand across her body to grab Stiles' as Scott continued softly.

"It's the full moon, I swear." Scott pleaded weakly, "You know I wouldn't do any of this on purpose."

Stiles tilted his head to look over at her and she shook her head resolutely, pinching her lips together in silence.

"Please, you guys. Let me out. It's starting to hurt." Scott begged quietly, pulling at his handcuffs again.

Amber took in a shaky breath at his words and this time it was Stiles who shook his head at her before squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"It's not like the first time.. It's the full moon, it's Allison breaking up with me-" Scott explained, "I know that it's not just 'taking a break'. She broke up with me. And it's killing me." He told them slowly, "I feel completely hopeless.. Just, please let me out."

"We can't." Stiles spoke softly, to Scott or herself, Amber wasn't entirely sure.

"No, no-" Scott began to mumble frantically before he screamed out loudly in what sounded like pain.

Amber moved to stand instantly but Stiles pulled her back down beside him as Scott continued to scream.

Amber released Stiles' hand to raise her own to her ears, palms pressed tightly over her hair as she tried weakly to block out the loud screams coming from their best friend. Her stomach turned sickeningly and she turned sideways, curling an arm around Stiles' leg and dropping her head down to rest against his knee. The two of them listened to Scott's pained screaming for a long minute, eventually giving way into a low growl before cutting off all together.

The sudden silence rang eerily through the house but this time when Amber rose to her feet, Stiles didn't stop her and instead followed suit. They both crept slowly toward the bedroom, looking between the door and each other.

"Scott?" Amber called out quietly. There was no response and her heart thumped nervously in her chest.

"Scott? Are you okay?" Stiles asked loudly, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

When the bedroom door swung open, Scott was no where to be seen. The handcuffs lay in a broken heap next to the radiator, a small trail of blood beside them. The window had been pushed open wide and more blood trailed along the windowsill and led outside.

"Oh, fuck." Amber said quietly, eyes wide. She stared distractedly at the space where Scott had been a few minutes before and was finally pulled out of her thoughts when Stiles tugged her back by her wrist to leave.

They stumbled as they ran down the stairs and out of the house, sliding into the Jeep parked at the top of the driveway.

"Where would he have gone?" Stiles asked frantically, starting the vehicle and backing out of the driveway.

"I-I don't know!" Amber said as she buckled her seatbelt with shaking hands, "Allison's house? The preserve?"

"I don't think even wolfy Scott is stupid enough to go to a hunter's house on a full moon." He told her logically, turning off of Scott's street.

"Okay, so, the preserve then?"

He shrugged at her but took the next turn toward the edge of town anyway. They drove too fast than was really considered safe on the winding roads that led out to the preserve and ten minutes later, they were coming up on the lot they'd parked in the night before.

"Stiles-" Amber leaned forward in her seat, pointing out the scene at the edge of the forest.

There were red and blue flashing lights shining between the trees and Stiles turned sharply into the lot. He put the car in park and threw himself from the Jeep, leaving the driver's side door hanging open behind him.

Amber climbed around the front of the car and followed after him only a second later, tumbling from the vehicle and rushing to stand behind Stiles.

"Dad?" He called out in the throng of officers at the scene.

One officer shrugged unhelpfully at him and the others all continued on with what they were doing, paying no attention to the two teens who had just arrived at the scene.

"Dad!" Stiles called out again, more urgently.

She reached a hand out to his arm, "Stiles, I'm sure he's-"

"Has anyone seen my dad?" He yelled.

The people around them all shied back from his panicked question but gave no answer. Amber was about to reassure him again when a stretcher was rolled past them with a white sheet laid out over the top of what was quite clearly a dead body.

The look on Stiles' face was one of pure horror and she wanted desperately to reassure him that it wasn't his dad underneath, but she was too afraid to be wrong. Stiles began to reach forward to expose the person beneath the cloth and she did nothing to stop him.

The stretcher hit one of the potholes as it rolled along the parking lot and it jostled violently. An arm from the victim fell limply from beneath the sheet and the badly burnt flesh made the both of them falter for a second.

"Stiles." A familiar voice called out from just a couple of feet away and both Stiles and Amber flinched in surprise as they turned, "What're you kids doin' here?" Sheriff Stilinski asked them with a shake of his head.

Stiles sagged in relief and pulling his dad into a tight hug. The Sheriff looked at Amber over his son's shoulder in confusion but patted him on the back and returned his son's embrace.

When Stiles stepped back after a long moment, Amber reached forward to tangle their fingers together and Stiles gave her hand a squeeze as he took a steadying breath.

"Now, circling back to my initial question," The Sheriff looked between them and crossed his arms, "What are you both doing here?"

"Uh-" Stiles fumbled for a lie.

"We were listening to the police scanner again." Amber said quickly, nodding in mock shame at the Sheriff's disappointed look, "Yeah. And we got nervous, what with a murderer on the loose, and Stiles wanted to check that you were okay."

The Sheriff looked at his son, who was nodding along with her story, and shook his head, "Next time, feel free to call me." He told Stiles, "Now go home. Both of you."

Stiles looked at where the body was being lifted into the ambulance, "W- But-"

"Now." The Sheriff demanded firmly.

Stiles sighed and pulled Amber back to the Jeep. They climbed in and she looked across the cab at him expectantly.

"Well, what now?" She asked.

Stiles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in thought, "We can't just drive around all night every full moon looking for any sign of Scott." He huffed, "I don't- I don't know what to do."

"What if we split up?" She asked as he pulled back out of the lot, "I'll wait at Scott's incase he finds his way home like almost runaway dogs do-" Stiles snorted and she carried on, "You drive around for a little while. And if neither one of us finds anything, we'll decide from there."

He scrunched his face up unhappily at the thought of splitting up and contemplated her offer for a long minute before nodding reluctantly.

"Fine." He agreed, "But you call me the second you see him. As in, before making contact, y'know? Do not approach the rabid dog and all that."

"Deal." She agreed, "But the same goes for you."

"Deal."

Stiles dropped her off at the end of the driveway before taking off again in search of Scott.

She walked up the driveway slowly and was nearly to the front door when it pulled open and her eyes snapped up to the person exiting the house as they closed the door behind themselves.

"Derek!" She breathed out, rushing toward him.

He looked up at her for only a second before she had jumped up onto her toes and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and shoulders, her whole body suddenly trembling. She hugged him tight and took a shaky breath, squeezing his shoulders softly through his leather jacket with the tips of her fingers to be sure he was real.

After a long moment, Derek reached an arm up around her back to pat her shoulder blade gently and she inhaled sharply in what sounded almost like a sob. She released him and dropped back down to the ground, taking a small step back not giving the action a single thought before she was punching him angrily in the shoulder.

"Ow, fuck!" She gasped, shaking out her aching hand and glaring at him when he looked at her in worried confusion.

"What-"

"No, no- Don't even think about it. I've been so worried about you and you just- You just show up out of nowhere, completely fine?" She ranted, peeking down at her sore knuckles for only a second before turning her attention back on Derek, "Where have you been? How long have you been healed? How did you heal?"

He blinked, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "It took a couple days to heal completely. Wounds from an Alpha take longer. Especially life-threatening ones."

"Life threaten-" She repeated under her breath, "That's exactly my point! We thought you might be dead. I thought- I thought either the Alpha took your body or you just dragged yourself off somewhere to die." She explained, voice shaky with sudden tears.

"I didn't die." He told her unhelpfully, shifting uncomfortably on his feet at her show of emotion.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" She asked quietly.

Derek shrugged, "I didn't think it mattered."

"Didn't think it mattered whether you told me you were okay or didn't think it mattered if you died?" She questioned.

Derek's eyebrows furrowed for a moment in thought before he shrugged again.

She sniffled and stepped forward once more without hesitation, invading his personal space all over again, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and burying her face in his chest. His arms came up to softly wrap around her with less hesitation this time around, settling over her shoulders.

"I thought you were dead and it was horrible and awful and I'm so glad that you're not." She sniffled into his shoulder.

Derek patted her shoulder gently, "I-" He paused for a second before continuing, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was alive."

She nodded against his shoulder, "I forgive you." She mumbled into his jacket before leaning back and giving him a serious look, "But if you do it again I'll find a way to kill you myself. Got it?"

Derek scoffed at the threat as he stepped back from her, rolling his eyes. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and he rolled them again but nodded.

"Okay, good." She said, looking up at the house behind him, "Any chance Scott's in there?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, I dragged him home right before you got here." He told her.

"Cool." She acknowledged, pulling out her phone to text Stiles and dropping down to sit on the front stoop to wait.

Derek watched her in confusion for a moment when she slid her phone back into her pocket but remained seated outside.

"You're not going in?" He asked, nodding to the front door behind her.

She shook her head, "I've exceeded my allotted Solo Scott Time for this full moon." She told him, lifting her bruising right hand in display.

"Scott hurt your hand?" Derek questioned immediately.

She nodded with a shrug, "Yeah, his face did. When I punched him."

Derek's anger seemed to melt away and he blinked in amused surprise, "You punched Scott in the face?"

"Yep."

He shook his head with a pleased smile on his face before turning his head toward the street with a nod, "I'm gonna get going."

"Okay." She leaned back against the door, watching him turn to go and calling out to his retreating form, "Be safe! It's a full moon tonight, y'know. Some people say that werewolves run amuck on the full moon. Stirring up trouble 'n such."

Derek snorted as he walked away, "So I've heard."

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