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strangerstilinski · 8 months

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𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐈 ✶ Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinski / Original Female Character

TW | S2

chapter seven

fic summary; as if the last month and a half hadn't been stressful enough – now there were a few more werewolves, a kanima, and a seriously disturbed old man added into the mix. but amber, stiles, and scott could totally handle it. it would be fine. everything was great.

word count; 19k

warnings; the possibly triggering scene from the show with Jackson being creepy in the locker room, slight gore maybe?, eventual explicit sexual content, oral sex (both m and f), fluff fluff and more fluff

chapter notes; the group tries to figure out who's been controlling jackson all this time. ben davis makes a brief return as my own personal plot device. stiles is his typically over-dramatic self and amber is, as usual, super into it.

masterlist

c h a p t e r s e v e n

restraint

Amber's nerves had her nearly dropping her phone to the floor of her car as she climbed behind the wheel while simultaneously trying to get ahold of Stiles. Fingers of her free hand fumbled over the touchscreen, already turning her key in the ignition as the call began to ring through. Stiles was answering before the first trill through the speaker had even finished sounding out, his voice frantic.

"Why the hell haven't you been answering your phone?" He shouted through the speaker, the pitch of his voice higher than normal.

"Is Scott still with you?" She asked immediately, taking the turn off of her street a touch too quickly than was probably good for her tires, "Because I was just with Lydia and-"

"Jackson escaped." Scott's voice supplied through the phone.

"He what?" Amber squeaked, letting off the clutch to shift gears and increase the speed of the car that much more, "Guys he's not-"

"Yeah, he got out and the asshole went straight to the police," Stiles told her, "His dad's here and my dad's pissed and Scott's mom is on her way down to the station."

"You guys are at the station?" She cursed, slamming on the breaks so she could make a messy three point turn and backtrack in the direction of the Sheriff's station.

"Yeah, and we're totally screwed," Stiles was telling her as she reoriented her car in the right direction, "My dad said the Whittemore's are filing a restraining order against Scott and I. As soon as Scott's mom gets here my dad has to read out the terms and-"

"Stiles!" Amber interrupted sharply, "That sucks but it's not important right now, okay? Lydia translated part of the kanima entry from the bestiary-"

"How'd she do that?" Scott cut in.

"She knows Archaic Latin, Scott. Now shut up and listen to me," Amber snapped as she turned onto the next street, "Mrs. Morrell translated it wrong! The kanima doesn't seek a friend, alright? The kanima seeks a master! Which means someone's controlling Jackson-"

"Woah, what?" Stiles exclaimed through the speaker.

"Stiles, you said that Jackson still didn't believe you when you were explaining everything to him earlier, right?" She asked, shifting gears as she went around a sharp corner.

"Yeah, pretty much." Stiles agreed.

"Well, so- If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing then he must not know someone's even controlling him." Amber deduced.

"Or he doesn't remember." Scott supplied.

"What if it's the same kinda thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?" Stiles questioned.

"Right!" Amber recalled, "Like a fugue state-"

Scott's voice came through the phone again, "But then he'd have to forget everything.. The murder-"

"Getting rid of all the blood-" Amber offered up, an image flashing behind her eyes of Jackson's bloodied body at the nightclub. She thought of how he would've had to have washed the blood away himself after he'd killed Tucker, and Isaac's dad, and then the hunter-

"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "He had help with one thing though.. The video. Someone else helped him forget that." He reminded them of the erased footage.

"Whoever's controlling him." Scott said quietly.

The tires of Amber's car squealed quietly in protest as she peeled into the parking lot at the station and jerked to a slightly crooked stop between the painted white lines.

"Jackson thinks that being with Lydia somehow made him immune and, like, delayed the whole werewolf bite thing-" Amber told them, throwing herself from the vehicle and nearly falling to the pavement in her haste to slam the door shut behind her, "Where exactly are you guys?"

"What d'you mean?" Stiles asked in confusion as Amber pushed the front door to the station open, "I told you we're down at the station-"

"Yeah, so am I," She panted slightly, adrenaline still pumping in her veins from the wild drive from her house, "So where are you guys?"

She let her phone drop from her ear to her shoulder as she stepped up to the door that led to the interrogation rooms, only to find the door locked, the handle stiff and unmoving when she jiggled it. She turned to cast an incredulous look at the female deputy who was watching her from behind the front desk and Amber gestured wildly at the door with her free hand.

"Tara, I know you recognize me," Amber said in exasperation, "C'mon, buzz me in-"

Tara frowned, slowly eyeing the girl's frazzled state, but pressed her finger down on the button to unlock entry into the hallway. Amber sighed gratefully as she rushed through, nearly running straight into Stiles' chest when she stepped into the hall at the same time that he and Scott stumbled out of the room at the front end of the corridor.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed in surprise as her boyfriend's hands came up to steady her.

She abandoned her phone completely, ending the call and shoving it into her pocket as she looked at her best friends.

"We need to find out who's controlling him." Scott quietly continued their conversation from before.

"D'you think he'll talk to us?" Amber questioned, "I mean.. After what we did? Kidnapping him and all?"

Stiles shrugged, "Yeah, it's us. He'll talk to us," He nodded before catching Amber's unsure frown, "..Right?"

It was at that moment that Sheriff Stilinski stepped out from a room further down the hall and cast a disappointed look at the three teens.

"Scott, your mom just pulled in. So, you boys get your asses into this room," He said firmly, "Now."

Stiles and Scott lowered their heads and followed the order, moving down the hall and into the larger interrogation room. Ms. McCall hurried past Amber only a moment later and the girl immediately moved to follow but Sheriff Stilinski held up a hand in signal for her to stop.

"No." He said simply.

Amber spluttered, taking another aborted step forward, "Wh- But- If I could just-"

"This doesn't concern you," He told her firmly before raising his eyebrows in question, "Does it?"

"Um.. No?" She told him cautiously.

"Then you stay out here." He said, giving her a serious look before moving into the room himself, leaving the door into the hallway open behind him.

Amber moved to the edge of the doorway, attempting to listen closely to what was going on just on the other side of the wall. Ms. McCall hovered at the edge of the room, her arms crossed over the scrub top she was still wearing after having rushed down to the station straight from work.

"Scott. Stiles. This is going to apply to both of you, so listen to me very closely," The Sheriff said in a stern voice, "You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him.. You will not approach him.. You will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically."

"What about school?" Stiles questioned immediately.

His father sighed, "You both can attend classes while attempting to maintain a fifty foot distance."

Amber shook her head, unsure how such a thing was possible when they shared so many classes with the other boy in addition to lacrosse.

"Bu- Okay, what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time-" Stiles started, words rambling together quickly as Amber clenched her eyes shut and silently willed him to stop talking while he continued, "-And there's only two stalls available, and those two stalls are right next to each other?"

There was a brief silence and Amber brought her fingers up to pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"-I'll just hold it." Stiles said quietly after a few moments.

A few minutes later, Stiles' father was leading him out of the room with a hand fisted in the collar of the boy's sweatshirt, "Do I need to remind you how lucky we are that they're not pressing charges?" The Sheriff demanded.

"Oh, come on! It was a joke!" Stiles attempted to justify their actions.

Amber had to physically fight the urge to press the palm of her hand against her forehead in vexation.

"It was a joke?" Sheriff Stilinski repeated incredulously.

"Yes!" Stiles agreed quickly, "I didn't think it would be taken this seriously. Dad, humor's very subjective, okay? We're talking, like, multiple levels of interpretation here."

His father's gaze cut to Amber and she stepped forward slowly as if pulled by the weight of his glare.

"You and Stiles have a pretty similar sense of humor," Sheriff Stilinski pointed out, "How would you interpret the situation? You think it was funny?" He questioned sternly.

"I, um.." She bit down on her lip as her eyes bounced between her boyfriend and his father, "Not.. Not wildly funny."

'Traitor' Stiles motioned with his lips silently, shaking his head at her cowardice under his father's attention.

"Uh huh," Sheriff Stilinski looked between them with narrowed eyes for a moment before refocusing on his son, "Well, uh, how exactly am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?"

Stiles spluttered, hands waving around wildly, "We filled the tank!"

His father raised his hands with a deep breath as he stepped away, removing himself from the conversation entirely with a shake of his head and leaving the two of them alone in the narrow hall.

"A prank?" Amber hissed, landing a hard punch to her boyfriend's shoulder, "You told them it was a prank?"

"What? Like you had a better excuse lined up?" He questioned while he rubbed at the sore spot on his arm. Amber's face pinched as she tried to quickly come up with something and Stiles nodded at her after a few seconds of silence, "Yeah, that's what I thought, smartass."

Her eyes narrowed at his words, "You are infuriating sometimes, y'know that?" She muttered quietly.

Stiles' lips pulled into a slow grin, his cheek dimpling as his eyes flicked over her frustrated expression. He noted the way she'd petulantly crossed her arms before his gaze trailed back up to her face, "Infuriating in a way that kinda makes you wanna kiss me to shut me up?" He questioned in quiet optimism.

She glared despite the flutter in her stomach at his words, "No."

Stiles took a step closer, his palms dragging softly up and down over her upper arms, "You sure? Because I could keep saying infuriating things if that'll-"

"Move!" Ms. McCall yelled at her son sharply as she shoved him out of the interrogation room and they stepped out into the hall, "It's not just this. Although, a restraining order is a new low that I didn't think you would reach quite this soon." She scolded loudly.

Amber and Stiles both winced as Scott followed closely behind his mother, the family unit walking a few steps past where the couple had been loitering.

"-It's everything on top of it!" Ms. McCall continued, spinning around to face her son with a disappointed look, "The completely bizarre behavior, the late nights coming home, having to beg Mr. Harris to let you make up that Chemistry test that you missed-"

"I missed a Chemistry test?" Scott questioned in genuine confusion.

"Really, Scott? Really?" His mother shook her head with a deep sigh, "I- I have to ground you. I'm grounding you. You.. Are grounded."

Amber blinked in surprise. She couldn't remember a single time in their lives when Scott's mom had been angry enough with him to do such a thing. He'd been punished, sure – lots of times – but never to the point of a grounding.

"What about work?" Scott questioned immediately.

"Fine. Other than work." His mother acquiesced, "And no TV." She added as an afterthought.

Scott merely shrugged, "My TV's broken."

Amber shook her head silently and tried to catch his eye, pleading for her best friend to shut up.

"Then no computer." Ms. McCall said easily.

"..I need the computer for school." Scott said slowly.

His mother's face pinched in annoyance, "Then no, uh.." Her gaze drifted over Scott's shoulder, eyes catching on her son's best friends. Her face seemed to light up with an idea, "No Stiles and no Amber."

Amber squeaked in protest, "Wh-"

"No Stiles?" Stiles repeated, voice high.

"No! No Stiles! No Amber!" Ms. McCall repeated with more authority than before, looking back to her son again, "And no more car privileges. Give me your key-"

Scott reared a small step back in response to his mother's words, "But-"

"Give 'em to me!" Ms. McCall snapped.

Scott pulled his keyring from the pocket of his jeans and handed it over weakly. The three teens all watched his mother pulled frantically at the split ring, trying to separate the pieces enough to slip the car key off of the loop with clumsy fingers and working herself up further the more that she struggled.

"Oh, for the love of God." Ms. McCall muttered with a frustrated sniffle.

Scott reached out toward her with caution, "Mom, do you want me to-"

"No." His mother snapped.

"Mom, come on. Just let me- Mom!" Scott pleaded, his hand wrapping around her shaking ones to grip the keys, "Mom."

Ms. McCall sniffled again and Amber took a small step back, her knuckles knocking lightly against Stiles' before he tangled their fingers together wordlessly.

"What is going on with you?" Ms. McCall asked quietly, "Is this about Allison?"

Scott turned his head to shoot his friends a pleading look and Amber instinctively chewed at her lower lip, knowing exactly how badly Scott wanted to come clean about all of the supernatural crap that had suddenly infiltrated their lives.

"Do you really wanna know?" Scott asked his mom slowly.

Stiles began to shake his head vehemently at Scott as Ms. McCall begged her son to explain what his problem was. Scott looked to his friends desperately once more and Amber gave him a small shrug as Stiles continued to silently display his disapproval.

"-Is this about your dad?" Ms. McCall asked weakly.

The question seemed to catch him off guard and Scott was still trying to decide on his next words when his mom continued.

"It is, isn't it?" Her gaze caught on Amber and Stiles still hovering just a few feet away and her posture straightened up with a final sniffle, "Okay, you know what? Um, we'll talk about this at home. I'm- I'm gonna go get the car."

They all watched her go with varying expressions of dismay and Scott waited until the door at the end of the hallway sealed shut with a click before turning to face his friends fully.

"I'm the worst son ever." Scott said with a shattered look.

"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either." Stiles countered easily.

"It's gonna be okay," Amber assured them, her voice coming out sounding less firm than she'd intended, "It- It is gonna be okay, right?" She asked after a moment as she looked between them anxiously.

Stiles wrapped his arm around her neck, their joined hands coming up to rest at her shoulder as he pulled her into his chest, words muffled slightly in her hair, "Yeah. Yeah, everything's gonna be fine."

Upon arriving home, Amber was entirely surprised to find her brother standing in their living room. His shift had only started at the fire station a few hours before, so she wasn't expecting to see him for another eighteen hours, but he was currently dragging his feet across the hardwood restlessly as he paced back and forth across the space.

His attention snapped up at the sound of the front door closing as Amber dropped her keys onto the table in the entryway, his face pinching in a tight frown the moment his gaze found her.

"Jase..?" She asked cautiously as she toed off her shoes, "Is uh, is everything okay?"

"Get in here. And sit." He demanded, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the couch.

"Okay.." She said slowly, stepping into the room, "What's-"

"Amber Evangeline Callisto-"

The girl's eyes widened at the use of her full name, something she was nearly certain she hadn't heard in a scolding since their mother had been alive.

"-Sit. Down." Jason finished sternly, the volume of his voice was wholly surprising and Amber's butt landed on the couch immediately.

"I- Um, I'm going to take a wild guess from the fact that you're, y'know, here, and the deeply pissed off look on your face.. And assume that Sheriff Stilinski called you?" She pulled her socked feet up underneath herself on the cushions nervously, eyes focused on her brother's stiff jaw as he clenched it in anger.

Jason ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands as he looked around the room and neither confirmed nor denied her assumtion, "Am I supposed to confiscate your phone and take away your car keys?" He questioned frantically, "Lock you in your bedroom and just.. Homeschool you? Is that what it's gonna take to keep your ass out of trouble, or what?"

She balked, "I- I'm not even in trouble! Jackson only filed for restraining orders against-"

"If you honestly think that I am gonna believe you didn't have anything to do with this so-called 'joke' your knucklehead best friends pulled-" He took an angry breath that sounded loudly through his nose, "Do you think that I'm stupid? Or just insanely fucking unobservant?"

"Well, I -"

"Amber, I am fucking trying here, okay?" His voice cracked and Amber felt a little like her heart might have cracked too as she watched her brother's internal struggle, "I feel like I'm just watching you kids spiral out of control and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it-"

"You don't- You're not doing anything wrong-"

"Well clearly I am!" He yelled suddenly. His own shout seemed to catch him off guard and he sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of her with a sigh, "I- I don't know what I'm doing. It's been four years and I still feel like I'm fucking drowning sometimes, trying to be your parent and your brother at the same time."

"I'm sorry." She spoke quietly, her voice thick with unshed tears as her eyes welled.

"I don't want you to apologize. I want you to stop getting into trouble.. To stop showing up at all of these crime scenes, and inserting yourself into murder investigations, and-"

"I- I don't know what to say." She admitted quietly as a few tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks.

Even she were to try and explain, Amber didn't know where she could possibly start.

She could start with Derek; how he'd come back into town and started showing up everywhere all suspicious-like before revealing that he was a werewolf and that Scott was no longer her sweet best friend, but instead, a genuine danger to be around. She could tell him about Peter; explain that he hadn't been as weak and incapacitated as everyone had initially thought and that, really, this whole thing had all started with him. She could mention how Allison's family played into it all; the heinous things her aunt had done before her demise and all of the things her father and grandfather were still a part of now. She could tell her brother about all of the new teenage werewolves running around town and the murderous rampage her classmate had unknowingly undertaken and okay, yes, she'd helped kidnap him but they'd had no other choice because Jackson was seriously dangerous and he didn't even know what he was doing-

Amber couldn't find it in her to voice any of those things, however. Instead, she gnawed on her lower lip and sniffled quietly as she guiltily avoided her brother's gaze, settling back into the couch with the acceptance that the evening was only destined to get more difficult.

"Did Lydia finish translating the entry about the kanima?" A hushed voice questioned from only a few inches behind Amber, causing the girl to flinch in surprise.

"Jesus," Amber exclaimed as she spun around, locker door slamming shut when her shoulder collided with the cool metal, "A bell. You need a bell."

Allison rolled her eyes with a fond smile and crossed her arms over her chest, "Well? Did she?"

With a nod of her head, Amber pulled a crisp, brand new composition notebook from her bag and held it out toward the other girl.

"She did. I went over first thing this morning to get it. She's, uh, pretty annoyed with us, but she did it."

Allison studied the words on the pages with determined focus for a few moments before pulling a tablet from her own bag and motioning for Amber to hold the journal for her. Amber dutifully held her arms out to display the pages, flipping through them slowly as Allison photographed the information to create a digital copy.

"Have you shown Scott or Stiles yet?" Allison asked as she finished.

Amber slapped the book shut and slipped it back into her bookbag with a shake of her head, "I was on my way now. They're waiting in the library."

"I'll come with you." Allison said easily, adjusting the strap of her shoulder bag and moving in the direction of the library while still studying the photographs she'd taken of the notebook pages.

As they pushed through the double-doors, Amber's eyes peered through the spaces between bookshelves, flicking over the students spread out at tables trying to finish up last minute assignments before the start of morning classes.

She toyed with her lower lip between her teeth as she searched for her best friends and when she finally spotted them, Scott and Stiles were tucked at the back of one of the stacks having a hushed conversation. As she approached, hand absentmindedly dragging over her boyfriend's shoulder and up to his neck, her fingertips dug into his skin softly as she stepped up beside them.

Her backpack hit the ground at the base of the bookshelf and their attention turned to her, Stiles' eyebrows raising a fraction as he took her in for the first time that morning.

"Hello," He greeted with emphasis, reaching out until the backs of his fingers could skim over the soft material of her sundress, "You're looking spring-y."

He pinched the hem between his thumb and forefinger, his knuckles brushing against the smooth skin of her bare thigh as he idly rubbed at the fabric.

"Thanks," She said somewhat breathlessly. Her own hand dropped to wrap lightly around his wrist in warning and she waited until he let the skirt fall back down against her legs before she continued, "I, uh, I'm trying to manifest warmer weather or something."

His lips pulled into a small smile and she felt slightly overwhelmed by the butterflies that bloomed in her stomach.

"Well, you look really beautiful." He told her softly.

"Can you guys be disgusting later?" Scott interjected in clear impatience.

The couple flinched as they were torn from the romance-heady bubble they'd somehow managed to slip into.

Amber was quick to recover and she laced her fingers with Stiles as her eyes narrowed in Scott's direction, "You're just jealous because of the whole Romeo and Juliet thing that means you can't flirt with your girlfriend unless it's in a dark creepy corridor or, like, a janitor's closet-"

"Ha," Stiles said in amusement, seconding her assessment, "What she said. The green monster's not a great look on you, buddy-"

A soft throat clearing from the other side of the bookshelf caught Amber's attention and she spotted Allison peering through a gap from the next aisle over.

"Lydia's translations.." Allison prompted gently as she pulled a book from the shelf and pretended to look at it in interest.

"Right, yeah," Amber nodded, "So Lydia gave me her translations this morning. She was up pretty late last night writing it all down for me-"

"Apparently she's not thrilled about still being left in the dark." Allison supplied quietly, sliding her tablet through the gap in books so that Scott and Stiles could peer down at the photographs she'd taken of the translated pages.

"Oh, yeah," Scott realized as his gaze found Amber, "What'd you tell her?"

Amber winced, rolling her shoulders and tightening her fingers around Stiles' hand, "Um, I'm only about thirty percent confident she bought it.. But I, uh- I told her we were a part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

Stiles perked up, "I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." He said quietly, the words fanning out over his girlfriend's neck as he peered down at the tablet.

A breathy laugh slipped from her lips and she knocked her hip against his lightly, "Yeah, I know. I helped you figure out that part with the evil goblins, remember?"

"They were actually gnomes." Stiles corrected immediately.

Scott was shaking head at his friends in clear exasperation, "Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling Jackson?" He questioned in an attempt to redirect the conversation.

"Not from what I read." Allison frowned, swapping the book in her hands for another as she tried to hide the fact that she was conversing with them.

"But Stiles was right about the murderers." Amber revealed.

"Yes!" He cheered excitedly, dropping his girlfriend's hand to punch the air at the small victory.

Scott and Allison both narrowed their eyes at him for his slightly too loud reaction and his hands slowly lowered under the weight of their glare. Amber shuffled closer as he deflated and his arm slipped beneath her cardigan to wrap around her waist, pulling her into his side as she continued to share the information she'd recently obtained.

"The bestiary calls the kanima a 'weapon of vengeance'," She recited quietly, "There's a story in there about this South American priest who used the kanima to execute murderers in his village-"

"Alright, see?" Stiles interrupted, "That's not so bad."

Amber leaned more heavily against him with a grimace, "-Until their bond grew so strong that it eventually just killed whoever he wanted it to. Murderer or not." She finished.

"All bad," Stiles backtracked, "All very, very bad."

"Thing is, though-" Amber continued quietly, dragging her finger lightly over a sentence displayed on the tablet, "The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But, it can't be until-"

"'Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it.'" Scott read aloud.

"Okay, if that means Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself." Stiles said with a roll of his eyes.

Amber sighed, "Yeah, no shit. The guy's basically unresolved anger and toxic masculinity all wrapped up in a stupidly handsome bow-"

"Euck, handsome?" Stiles repeated with a displeased frown.

"Oh, be quiet," She scolded him, turning in his grip to brush her lips lightly over the corner of his mouth, "You're the most handsome." She whispered quietly against his cheek.

With a satisfied huff, Stiles slid his arm up around her shoulders to tug her back against his chest, releasing his exhale into the loose waves of her hair to hide his grin.

"What if it has to do with Jackson's parents?" Allison pondered, "He's adopted, right? So maybe its something to do with his real parents."

Scott nodded in agreement, "Does anybody actually know what happened to them?" He questioned, eyes flicking to Amber curiously as he spoke.

"I mean.. I know he never really knew them. He was adopted as a baby. Like, really young, I'm pretty sure-" She said slowly, face pinched up in thought, "But, I- Lydia might know more."

"Great," Stiles nodded, "You guys talk to Lydia and Scott and I'll talk to Jackson-"

"Nope. Not gonna work." Amber interrupted with a shake of her head. "Restraining order." She reminded him.

He sighed in annoyance, "God, fine. Then what-"

"During free period, you go talk to Lydia," She told Stiles, "Allison and I will team up to talk to Jackson. And Scott-" The boy in question looked at her with wide eyes, ready for whatever job his best friend was about to dole out, "Scott's gonna go and ace his Chem make-up test."

He made a face like he was going to argue but his girlfriend cut in quickly.

"Scott, she's right." Allison said softly, reaching through the gap in the bookshelf to take Scott's hand.

He sighed in reluctance, "If he does anything, you both run the other way." He said seriously, looking back and forth between the two girls.

"We can take care of ourselves." Allison whispered with a frown.

"I'm serious," Scott whispered, "If either one of you gets hurt while I'm taking some stupid test, someone's gonna need to take care of me," His jaw clenched, hand tightening around Allison's as his eyes continued to bounce between them, "If he does anything-"

Amber scoffed, "Like-?"

"Anything.. Weird. Bizarre. Anything-"

"Anything evil." Stiles interrupted finally, arm tightening around his girlfriend.

"We'll be fine," Amber told both boys, "This is serious, okay? If either of you guys get in trouble for breaking the restraining order, it could mean serious, like, legal consequences. And, Scott, You know you need to retake this test to bring your grade up." She said firmly.

Scott groaned but nodded, pulling his backpack onto his shoulders as they all slowly broke away from one another and filed out of the library.

"We, uh.. We're totally sure it's safe for you and Allison to be talking to Jackson alone?" Stiles worried privately as they stopped in front of his locker.

"We'll be fine," She assured him in a soft voice, "And besides, it's kind of our only option right now-"

"Yeah. Because those are reassuring words." Stiles muttered sarcastically, yanking his locker open to grab his books for English.

"Okay, worry wort. I'm pretty sure we've established that he doesn't actually want to kill any of us," She reminded him as he slammed the metal door shut again, "I mean, if he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead like three times over at this point, right?"

His face scrunched in clear reluctance to agree with her, "Yeah, I guess."

She reached out to cup the side of his face, her thumb skimming over the tiny constellation of moles that created a path toward his mouth. The tip of her finger had barely brushed the corner of his lips when Stiles leaned in to press them to her own in a quick kiss.

As they finally turned to head in the direction of the English classroom, they only managed to get a few steps from Stiles' locker before a familiar voice was calling out loudly behind them.

"Stilinski! Amber! Wait, I- Hold up!"

They both turned as there was a loud crash. Ben Davis slammed his shoulder into the lockers beside them in what both looked and sounded like a painful collision. He rubbed at his shoulder with a frown as he righted himself and looked between Amber and Stiles wide-eyed.

"Davis," Stiles greeted with a wince, "Listen, if this is about the ball that almost hit you in the junk this morning at practice, you should know that I haven't perfected my backhand and I swear it was-"

Ben shook his head in surprise, "What? No. Stilinski, you're fine." He assured the other boy before turning his attention toward Amber, "I actually, really need to talk to you, if that's cool-"

She frowned at the urgency in his voice and began to step forward when Stiles pulled her back with a hand fisted in her cardigan.

"And what exactly do you need to talk to my girlfriend about?" Stiles questioned suspiciously.

"I, uh-" Ben's gaze flicked between them nervously, "Just.. A thing?"

Amber held up a finger in a signal for Ben to give her a moment and spun around to face Stiles, stepping close to give them more privacy as she spoke, "Stiles. Babe, I'll catch up with you in a few?" She whispered in question.

His eyes flicked between her and the spot over her shoulder where Ben was standing behind her and a small noise of distress slipped past her boyfriend's lips.

"But he-" When Amber brought a hand up to rest on his shoulder, he continued in a whisper of his own, "I could stay.. Just as backup, y'know. In case you need me. In case he tries to make a move or-"

Ben's snort of laughter from behind her let them know that he'd heard the hushed comment.

"Dude, when I tell you that you have nothing to worry about between me and Amber-" Ben started in amusement, "I am very, like, keenly aware of how into you she is. I know we went on a date but I mean, she literally said-"

Amber could tell that he was only a second away from bringing up her embarrassing slip of tongue at the end of their tragic date the month before and she turned her head to shoot him a warning glare, causing Ben's words to cut off sharply. When she deemed it safe, she turned back to Stiles again.

"You're sweet and it is stupidly cute, but you really don't need to worry about Ben, alright?" She said even more quietly.

Stiles' lips pulled up reluctantly, "Yeah, okay."

She couldn't hold back a grin, endlessly endeared by his protectiveness. She leaned in to press a chaste kiss to his lips before giving him a pat on his cheek, "Okay, cool. So I'll catch up with you later then."

Stiles pinched her chin between his forefinger and thumb to tip her head back up again and she went easily. Their lips met in another kiss, this one lingering for a moment before she pushed him away with a flustered laugh.

"Alright, I'm going!" Stiles said, raising his hands in surrender as he turned to leave.

When she turned to face Ben again, she was still sporting a faint blush and giddy smile that wouldn't seem to fade.

"So, what's up? What's the gossip?" She joked, hoping to lighten the mood when she noticed the stressed expression on his face once again.

"I wanted to talk to you about Matt." He said in a hushed voice.

"Daehler?" She asked curiously, frowning when he nodded, "What about him?"

Ben wiped his hands on his jeans as if his palms were sweaty and he looked around them cautiously before speaking, "I, uh.. I saw some pictures on his camera that were kinda.. Um. Well, they were of you-"

"Oh!" She relaxed, "That's what you're all worked up about? It's fine. I know about the pictures."

Ben blinked, faltering for a moment, "You.. You know about the pictures?" He repeated slowly.

"Yeah," She waved off, "He's good with a camera.. It's art — No big deal. It's kinda flattering, honestly, the way he knows how to frame his pictures just right? It's like I'm a model or something except, y'know, all his photos are candid."

"So.." Ben drew out the word, eyes squinting in disbelief, "You know he's been taking these.. Candid pictures, and you're.. Cool with it?" He asked slowly.

She reached out to pat Ben on his broad shoulder with a laugh, "Yes. I'm totally cool with it. He was worried I would think it was creepy, but like I said, it's art. I can appreciate that, y'know? I was actually thinking that if he gets another really good one, I might ask for a copy? Get it printed out and maybe I could frame it and give it to Stiles as a part of his birthday present or something.. That might be cool.." She shook her head as she began to get lost in her thoughts, laughing again quietly, "Anyway, my point is, don't worry about it."

Ben's previously tense shoulders seemed to slump in relief, "I- Okay, then. I just- My bad, I guess." He blew out a long breath through his lips and shrugged awkwardly.

"I seriously appreciate your concern, though," She said honestly, "It was really cool of you to come to me."

He nodded with a serious look, "Yeah, of course. I'm just glad I came to you first instead of, like, immediately confronting Matt and giving him shit about it-"

"Oh, god, yeah!" She nodded in realization.

Ben shook his head, taking a small step back, "Right. So, y'know.. See ya later-"

She waved and bid him goodbye, watching him go with a small smile, grateful that things had been cleared up.

When free period rolled around, Amber and Allison followed as stealthily as they could manage behind Jackson, lurking in the nonexistent shadows as they waited for the right moment to corner him. They kept a safe distance as he walked into the east wing of the school, heading toward the locker rooms and the gymnasium, on his way to get more lacrosse in even after the team's morning practice.

As they entered the more deserted area of the school, devoid of voices and the laughter that had drowned out their steps before, Allison slipped her heels off to quiet her footfalls beside Amber, opting to hold them in her hand instead.

The two girls loitered as he practiced shooting on goal with Danny. When they finally headed back inside, the girls peeked around a corner to watch Jackson enter the boy's locker room as Danny headed in the opposite direction down the hall.

Amber reached for the door handle as they got to the already closed locker room door, but both girls reeled back in shock and a touch of fear when it swung open from the other side just as Amber's fingers brushed the metal.

"You just scared the hell out of me!" Matt Daehler laughed as he exited the locker room while Amber tried to calm her now-racing heart.

"Sorry!" She apologized with a breathless laugh, "Holy shit. I, uh- We we're just-"

"-Nothing," Allison interrupted weakly, "We were just, um, nothing.."

Matt blinked at them in confusion and shook his head, gaze dropping down to the shoes still clutched between Allison's fingers, "Uh, nice heels." He commented with a curious eyebrow raise.

"Oh!" Allison realized, having forgotten she was holding the footwear at all, "Yeah, uh-"

"Her feet were hurting." Amber supplied quickly.

Matt shrugged with a grin, "Same reason I never wear mine." He agreed jokingly.

Amber laughed in surprised amusement and Matt's smile seemed to brighten at the sound.

"Uh, hey.. Did you hear about the underground show?" He asked, eyes focused solely on Amber as he fiddled with the strap of the backpack over his shoulder, "Apparently they've got some big names spinning."

"Spinning-?" Amber repeated the word in confusion.

"Yeah, y'know.. DJ's." Matt clarified.

The pieces clicked together slowly in Amber's mind, "Oh, like a.. Rave?"

Matt scoffed with a smile, "Is it still a rave if you don't roll?" He questioned, "I just call it a party but- Hey! I've got a friend who can hook us up with tickets, if you're down. Y-you want me to get you one?" He asked her hopefully.

"Oh, um-" She frowned, "I don't- I mean, y'know Stiles and I are together-"

"Oh sure, yeah," Matt interrupted, "No, I know, but.. We could still go together as friends, right?"

Amber hesitated, "I mean, yeah, but- Parties like that aren't really my-"

"It'd be really fun, I swear." He promised with a hopeful smile.

Allison nudged at Amber's shoulder anxiously with a nod toward the locker room door to remind Amber of the task at hand.

"I, um- Just as friends?" Amber repeated quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Just friends," Matt agreed, "I, uh, I could get both of you a ticket?" He suggested, gaze finally drifting over to Allison.

"Uh, fine, yeah," Amber agreed finally, her eyes flicking anxiously toward the locker room, "Sure."

"Cool! Um, it's Friday so I'll get the tickets and-" Matt stepped around them to begin his retreat down the hallway toward the main part of the building, "-Looking forward to it."

As he disappeared around a corner, Amber locked eyes with Allison and saw the other girl was frowning, "That kinda sounded like a date." Allison said quietly.

Amber scoffed, "Which part, exactly? The part where we talked about how I have a boyfriend, the part where we both agreed to go just as friends, or the part where he offered to get you a ticket too?"

Allison's lips were parted with a retort at the ready when there was a sudden ragged coughing from inside the locker room as if Jackson were choking.

"Shit-! Go get Scott," Amber told Allison with wide eyes. The other girl looked like she wanted to fight her on it and Amber shook her head as Jackson's choked noises grew more pained, "Alli, come on. He could be either hurt or going full kanima in there- I'm serious. Jackson won't hurt me but you need to go and get Scott. He's more attuned to you anyway, he'll probably hear you coming before you even get out of the stairwell."

Allison scrunched her face, "Fine. Just.. Be careful." She huffed before turning to run down the hallway.

Amber dropped her unzipped backpack to the ground carelessly, throwing the locker room door open with a bang as she stumbled through the doorway. She listened for sounds of distress, but the noises that Jackson had been making only moments before were gone, now replaced with the quiet sound of running water from the showers at the far side of the room.

"Jackson?" She called out cautiously, slightly worried for the boy as she moved through the rows of lockers in search, "Jackson?"

"In here." Jackson's voice supplied casually from the direction of the showers.

Amber's feet carried her that much faster, converse slapping against the tiles as she headed toward his voice. As she rounded the lockers and came to a stop in the entryway of the showers, she stumbled over her feet in surprise, quickly spinning away at the sight of Jackson's very naked body beneath the spray, staring in her direction with a blank, unaffected gaze.

Amber was staring at the row of lockers across from her with wide eyes as she leaned against the tile wall outside of the showers.

"Something wrong?" He questioned from behind her.

"I- Shit, Jackson!" She exclaimed in disbelief, "A little bit of warning when your dick is out, maybe?"

There was a high-pitched creak as he turned the knob to cut off the flow of hot water and Amber tried desperately to erase the image of Jackson's privates from her brain.

"You're the one who walked into the boy's locker room." He pointed out blankly.

"Wh- I thought I heard you-" She began to defend automatically, thinking back on the horrifying choking noises she'd heard from the hallway, "I mean, I thou- Whatever. Nevermind." She shook her head.

"Did you want to talk about something?" He questioned, his voice sounding from directly behind her now, prompting her to flinch in surprise at his close proximity.

"I- Yeah, but we can-" She huffed out a disbelieving breath as she began to step past him, "We can talk later-"

"No-" Jackson's arm shot out in front of her, his palm pressing against the tile as he caged her back against the tiled wall outside of the showers. Amber immediately forced her eyes upward to avert them from his still-naked body as it dripped with water. She was staring up at the ceiling while he quickly continued, "-Let's talk now."

Her gaze fell to his and she watched Jackson's jaw clench as he glared at her with an especially dark look. She found her heart stuttering slightly in her chest at the coldness behind his eyes.

She licked her lips in thought, "You know? I, uh- I actually should probably start heading to my next class-"

"Oh, no, no-" His face pulled into an irritated snarl and he immediately blocked her attempt to step around him, "No, you don't. You have perfect grades. You can skip one class."

She swallowed audibly at the sudden closeness of the boy's wet body to her own, their torsos practically brushing against one another. A small flash of fear filled her and she felt suddenly stupid for being so blinded by the noises that had sent her barreling into the locker room worried for Jackson's well-being and unafraid of the kanima.

The way Jackson was acting now – the way he was looking at her – It had her feeling suddenly afraid of him for reasons entirely unrelated to the kanima-fueled dangers that she'd mentally prepared herself for earlier in the day.

His gaze fell to her sternum and his lips pulled into a smirk before his eyes returned to hers, "You okay?" He asked condescendingly, "Your heart's beating like crazy."

"I'm fine." She said in a rush as she moved past him, her eyes glued to the tense lines of his body as she began to back away slowly.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" Jackson questioned teasingly, raising his eyebrows and matching her steps.

"I, uh, ch- Changed my mind." She stumbled as she spoke when she backed into one of the wooden changing benches, arms flailing for a moment as she caught her balance.

"You sure? Because you look a little stressed-" His face contorted into anger again and Amber took a shaky breath, still backing away as he continued, "Is it Stilinski? Things falling apart between you two already?"

She shook her head slightly, lips parting to speak but cut off before she could say anything.

"-Can't say it would surprise me. It's not like you two are gonna last," Jackson scoffed meanly, "You know that one day, he and Scott are gonna decide they don't need a little cunt like you always dragging them down. I mean, what teenage guy honestly wants a chick for a best friend, huh? Now that Stilinski's gotten into your pants, it's really only a matter of time."

His words cut deeper than they probably should have, and she was surprised to find her back thumping blindly against the far wall of the locker room. Amber's eyes went wide when she realized she'd unintentionally caged herself again, Jackson's naked frame towering over her as he stepped close enough that patches of her dress darkened with the water from his still dripping body.

"You're being a dick." She told him.

Jackson scoffed cruelly, "I'm being honest. And if you don't realize that then you gotta be the stupidest bitch in this town. Well, other than Scott and Stiles because they seem to be pretty stupid bitches themselves-"

"Just stop." Amber demanded with a clenched jaw, gaze drifting toward the door to the locker room as she contemplated whether or not she could make it into the hallway before he caught up to her – she wasn't entirely confident that the odds weighed in her favor.

"What are you gonna do, Amber?!" Jackson shouted, his anger seeming to grow as he leaned even closer, "When your stupid bitch of a best friend- When Scott turns on you! What are you gonna do!"

His fists slammed into the wall on either side of her head and she couldn't hold back a quiet whimper as she flinched in fear, her wide eyes glued to the blind rage that had overtaken his face.

"They almost killed Lydia!" He spit the words in her face in sharp reminder, "Who do you think's gonna be next! Hm? Not you, oh no- Because you're in love with Stiles, and Scott's your best friend and he'd never let you get hurt-?" He shook his head condescendingly. His face was flooded with anger and his nose nearly brushed against hers as he continued to tear into her, "Is that what you tell yourself? Huh? If that's what you tell yourself then you're already dead."

One of Jackson's hands left the wall behind her, sharp claws now on display. He stroked them delicately down the length of Amber's cheek before pausing at the edge of her jawline, the sharp points poking at the skin of her throat just light enough that, while they didn't cut through her flesh, the threat was evident. Jackson's lips pulled back in another terrifying snarl and Amber found her heart racing anxiously at the combined feeling of the tips of his claws against her cheek and his naked body against her.

"Tell me, if your big bad werewolf of a best friend really cared, would he really let you walk around without any way to protect yourself?" Jackson's hand drifted, claws lightly skimming farther down the length of her throat as he spoke.

"I, um," She licked her lips as her body trembled anxiously, trying to work up the nerve to do what she needed to, "I wouldn't say I'm totally helpless-"

She threw her arms up and out to shove his hands away from her, thrusting her leg up sharply in the same moment to slam her knee into his naked groin. When he stumbled back half a step in surprise, she moved to rush past him, but she was yanked back roughly by her arm before she could make it more than a step away. Her cardigan tore from her shoulder as he spun her back around and suddenly they were falling through the air. Her back slammed down onto the ground and a pained grunt slipped past her lips as Jackson's weight landed heavily on top of her.

The moment they collided and his naked body pinned her to the floor, Jackson's eyes were widening, lips parted in surprise as if he'd suddenly been broken from a trance.

"Amber?" He questioned in panicked confusion as he scrambled to his feet frantically, "What are you doing here?"

The girl's heart was sill pounding in her chest too heavily for her to formulate a response. Her lips parted in a loss for words as she shuffled along the floor to put space between them. Her back hit the wall and the cold tile pressed against her bare shoulder where her sweater and the thin strap of her dress were still askew, the fabric dangling loosely down her arm. She watched as Jackson reached for a discarded pair of athletic shorts on the changing bench and moved to cover himself.

The locker room door swung open before she could respond and her wide eyes cut across the room to see Scott standing in the doorway, his gaze flicking back and forth between where she was on the floor, looking disheveled and afraid, and where Jackson was still pulling a pair of shorts over his naked legs with frantic movements.

"I- I'm fine," She assured her best friend quickly, "I'm fi-"

Her words didn't seem to quell the way that Scott's face morphed into one of blind fury. It was only then that Amber realized exactly how bad the scene in front of him appeared.

Without a moment of hesitation, Scott was storming toward Jackson furiously and Amber clumsily climbed to her feet as she watched her best friend shove Jackson back through the air with enough force that a row of lockers caved when the boy's body slammed into them.

"No, Scott! Scott, stop! I'm fine!" She repeated quickly.

Jackson righted himself with a renewed rage, "I. Have. A. Restraining order!"

"Trust me, I restrained myself." Scott retorted angrily.

In a blink, Jackson was tackling Scott and Amber watched in distress as they began to throw one another around the locker room with superhuman strength. They moved toward the showers at the back of the room and she heard an unmistakable crack as the tiles shattered from the force of their brawl.

Jackson stepped back into view, breathing heavily and scowling at Amber where she was still standing wide eyed at the front of the room, but before he could make it more than a few steps toward her, Scott was launching himself out of the showers and sending him hurtling back toward the weight benches.

"You guys, seriously! Stop!" Amber pleaded as she watched Jackson grab a forty-five pound weight, his fingers wrapping around the plate and launching it in Scott's direction as if it weighed nothing at all.

Amber squeaked as her hands came up to cover her mouth, but Scott caught the weight before it could crash into his chest.

He didn't get a moment to recover. Jackson rushed forward to kick him back into the wall, tiles cracking beneath Scott's weight only seconds before he was thrown into the row of sinks along the wall.

The porcelain shattered with a loud crash, water spraying from the burst pipes as the boys continued to throw one another back and forth across the room.

"Guys!" She tried again, voice hitching slightly. Her back hit the wall when they moved closer as she tried to stay away from the action, "Guys, stop!"

As if she hadn't spoken at all, the two continued to shove and kick at each other and Amber's heart pounded anxiously in her chest with each minute that passed, growing more and more worried that one of them might truly get hurt. Her hands scrambled as she patted herself down in search of her cell phone, a disbelieving whine leaving her lips when she realized it was in her backpack in the hallway due to the lack of pockets in her attire.

Jackson sent a final hard kick to Scott's chest and Amber watched her friend slam against the locker room door with a loud crash, the door tearing from its hinges as Scott fell back on top of it and into the hallway.

Amber rushed behind Jackson when he immediately stormed out of the room after Scott, the girl finding Erica already restraining Jackson and pulling him off of Scott. Stiles was attempting to hold Scott back while he tried to charge forward again and Amber pushed her hands against Scott's chest as Stiles wrapped his arms around him.

"Scott!" She pleaded, "Seriously, Scott, I-"

"What the hell is going on!"

Amber's eyes pinched shut in disbelief of their luck as she heard Mr. Harris yelling down the hallway, his footfalls growing louder as he stormed toward them.

"Hey!" The teacher shouted when he saw the boys still fighting against the students that were attempting to keep them apart, "Enough!"

Jackson and Scott seemed to deflate at the sound of their Chemistry teacher's angry yelling, both boys slumping against the arms holding them back as they finally stopped fighting.

"What do you idiots think you're doing?" Mr. Harris yelled, looking between the group of teens with a scowl, "Mr. McCall? Care to explain yourself?" He questioned sharply before his eyes drifted to the two teens who had released him but were still standing beside their friend, "Callisto? Stilinski?"

Amber swallowed loudly and looked around, but the entire group remained silent for a long moment.

"..You dropped this." Matt's voice cut in awkwardly, stepping from behind Mr. Harris and handing Amber's unzipped backpack to her.

Her notebook of bestiary translations was laying at the top of her books in a way that she hadn't quite remembered it being when she'd stuffed it into her bag earlier. As she took her backpack from him, she winced at the water dripping from the fabric due to the leak that had flowed out of the locker room and into the hallway.

"You, and you," Mr. Harris pointed between Jackson and Scott before shaking his head and letting his eyes rake across the group again, his gaze even drifting to where Matt was hovering behind him for a moment, "Actually.. All of you. Detention. Three o'clock."

They all slumped at the announcement of their punishment, Jackson shooting them a dark glare before storming off behind their teacher and Matt as they retreated. The moment that the hallway had cleared out, Scott was rounding on Amber with a furious glare.

"What the heck were you thinking?!" He snapped.

She flinched underneath his anger suddenly directed at her and took a small step back from him, "Wh-"

"Why would you guys split up?" He asked loudly, barely glancing at his girlfriend before he was glaring at Amber again, "That was the stupidest, most reckless-"

"Hey, Scott.." Stiles interrupted Scott's enraged scolding to move between them, nudging Scott back a step, "Take it down a notch, man."

"You didn't see the way-" Scott shook his head, his anger seeming to fade suddenly into concern in the time it took him to inhale and exhale. He moved forward again, "I- Amber, are you alright?"

"I- I'm fine, Scott," She promised, taking Stiles' hand gratefully when his fingers nudged against hers in offering, "I told you-"

Scott's chest heaved as he took a breath to keep calm, "If he.. I swear to god I'm gonna kill him-"

"Scott, stop." Amber interrupted, "It seriously wasn't what it looked like, okay? He didn't-"

"What did it look like?" Stiles questioned in confusion, he and Allison both slightly lost in the conversation.

Scott let out another sharp breath, "It looked like Jackson was-"

"I know what it looked like!" Amber cut him off again frantically, not wanting to hear the words, "Scott he was just yelling at me, okay? He was being an asshole but he wasn't going to- He-" She took a shaky breath, "He wasn't going to do anything. Not what you're thinking. He wasn't going to do.. that."

"Do what?"

Allison and Stiles voiced the words at the same time, the former still sounding confused and the latter simply exasperated at being left out.

Scott didn't speak, but he held eye contact with Amber for a long moment as if he were trying to search her face for any trace of a lie, even after having listened to the way her heartbeat remained steady while she'd spoken the words. He nodded slowly in indication that he believed her, his shoulders slumping from their rigid stance. Amber took a small step forward to pull him into a one armed hug, her other hand still extended behind her with Stiles' fingers trapped in her grip.

"I'm okay," She murmured quietly into his ear, "But regardless, I'm glad you came when you did," She said slightly louder as she released him and stepped back, "Did- Did you do okay on your makeup test? Did me and Stiles' flash cards help?"

There was a pause before he responded and she frowned at his moment of hesitation.

"I, uh, yeah. Totally. They definitely helped!" Scott said after a moment with a bit too much enthusiasm.

Amber groaned, her head rolling back on her shoulders, "You weren't finished and you bombed it to get down here and help me, didn't you?"

Scott winced, "Yeah."

Amber sighed, her grip tightening around Stiles' hand as she shook her head to clear away negative thoughts, "It's fine, it's totally fine! Y'know why? We- New game plan! Stiles and I will help you with some extra credit work instead and your grade will just-" She pulled at Stiles' wrist as she slapped her free palm against their joined hands, imitating something shooting up into the air, "We can still fix this."

At the end of the day, Amber was surprised by a pair of arms wrapping around her waist from behind, warmth filling her chest as the scent of Stiles' cologne washed over her. His mouth pressed softly against the side of her neck and Amber's breath stuttered at the feeling. She abandoned the book she'd been pulling from her locker to reach back toward him, fingers wrapping around the back of his neck as she tipped her head at an awkward angle to catch his lips with her own.

"Mm, hello." She greeted quietly against his mouth.

"Hi," Stiles grinned, his arms tightening around her ribs as she turned back to collect her World History textbook, "You ready for detention?"

"As ready as one can be for punishment in the form of forced labor." She zipped up her backpack and closed her locker as she turned in her boyfriend's arms. Her back hit the lockers softly as Stiles leaned into her space to press his lips against hers again in a quick kiss.

"We're going to reshelve a couple books. It's not exactly punitive labor." He commented in amusement, prying her backpack from her fingers and releasing her so that he could drape the strap over his shoulder atop his own bag.

She took his hand in hers and rolled her eyes, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you're supposed to agree with your girlfriend no matter what? Even when you think she's wrong or being ridiculous or batshit crazy?"

"I dunno, I think that might be a myth.." Stiles teased with a barely concealed grin as they headed toward the library.

"I'm just saying.. Maybe you should look into it-" She couldn't fight the smile that pulled at her own lips as his thumb ran softly back and forth along the back of her hand. She changed the subject with a quiet huff, "D'you think Erica really kept all the kanima stuff about Jackson a secret after you talked to her earlier? That she didn't tell Derek?"

Stiles sighed, "I freakin' hope so. You guys only just convinced me that we shouldn't kill him, it'd be a real bummer now if Derek just ripped his throat out anyway."

She winced, "That's.. Graphic."

"Sorry," Stiles made a face, "But, I mean- Wouldn't be the first time, would it? The guy didn't even hesitate when it was his own uncle-"

"That's a little different, I think-" She defended weakly, "I mean, his uncle was a psychopath whereas Jackson's technically one of Derek's Betas. Or, y'know, he would be if he didn't have so much repressed shit-"

"You think Derek being the one to give him the bite would really make him think twice?" Stiles questioned, pulling open the library doors and letting Amber step through first.

She shrugged, "I wouldn't necessarily count on it, but there's no harm in hoping, right?"

She dropped into a chair across the table from where Scott was already sitting and Stiles was quick to claim the one beside her.

"Oh, um, we can't be in detention together," Jackson told Mr. Harris as he sat down in the seat behind Amber, "I have a restraining order against these tools."

"All of these tools?" Their teacher asked with an unimpressed look, eyes flicking over their table.

"No, just us tools." Stiles supplied with a sigh, pointing between himself and Scott.

"Fine. Jackson, sit there," Mr. Harris said with an eye roll, gesturing to the empty seat at the table where Matt and Allison were sitting on the other side of the room before focusing back on the other teens as Erica sat down at an unoccupied table behind the teacher, "You two keep your distance from him."

Their teacher's attention left them to focus elsewhere and Scott took the opportunity to lean across the table, his face pinched tight in anger, "I'm gonna kill him." He stated, eyes flicking over to Jackson before refocusing on his best friends.

"No, you're not." Amber whispered.

"You're gonna find out who's controlling him." Stiles reminded him.

"-And then you're gonna help save him." Amber finished seriously.

"No," Scott whispered with a determined look, attention drifting to Stiles, "You were right. Let's kill him."

"He was not right," Amber whispered sharply, "You two are killing me. Get it together."

"Hey, I'm on your side now, remember?" Stiles defended, reaching out to pat her leg beneath the table as he spoke.

Amber gripped his hand over her bare thigh and squeezed it with a grateful nod.

"Hey, what if it's Matt?" Stiles pondered aloud after a few minutes, his eyes focussed on the boy sitting across the room beside Allison, "-I mean this whole thing comes back to the video, right? It was his camera-"

Scott shook his head, "Danny said that Matt was the one that found the two hours of footage that was missing-"

"Exactly!" Stiles whispered, raising his eyebrows as he continued to make his point, "He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

Amber and Scott let their gazes drift across the room to watch the boy in question as he crunched on a chip from the snack bag he'd been picking at since the start of detention.

"..So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your Jeep?" Scott deduced in confusion.

"Yes!" Stiles hissed.

"Why would he do that?" Amber questioned incredulously.

"Because.. He's evil." Stiles supplied slowly.

She peered across the room again and watched as Matt shook his bag of chips across the table at Jackson in offering.

"Yeah, he looks like a real criminal mastermind." Amber whispered sarcastically.

"You just don't like him." Scott told Stiles with a shake of his head.

"The guy bugs me, I dunno what it is," Stiles agreed quietly, "Just.. Look at his face."

Amber pulled her hand from Stiles' with a wince and bit down on her lip, "Does that mean now is a bad time to mention that he asked me to go to that rave concert thing with him on Friday-"

Stiles shot her a look of disbelief, eye twitching as he searched for words, "He what?"

"I mean, as friends, obviously-" She added, feeling slightly guilty from the look on her boyfriend's face.

"But you said no, right?" Stiles whispered, his gaze flicking over her shoulder to scowl at Matt before returning to her face.

She scrunched her nose, "Not exactly."

Scott listened in on their interaction silently, eyes bouncing between his best friends as if he were watching a tennis match while they went back and forth.

"Well what exactly did you say, then?" Stiles followed up.

"..Yes?"

"What!" Stiles said a little too loudly, shrinking back as everyone looked over at him and repeating himself in a hushed whisper, "What?"

Amber dropped her hand over his knee with a sympathetic frown, "I made sure he knew you and I were together and that we'd just be going as friends. And in the end he offered to get a ticket for Allison too," She promised quietly, "I didn't realize you despised him quite so much or else I would've-"

"Well if I disliked him before, I freakin' loathe him now." Stiles glared over her shoulder once more.

She sighed, grip tightening on his leg, "Babe, I'm sorry, but.. I'm not canceling on him after I already agreed to go-"

"I didn't- I'm not asking you to-" Stiles huffed with a shake of his head, "Just, be careful, alright? There's something off about the guy."

She turned her head to look back at Matt again and watched as the boy finished his chips and began meticulously folding the empty bag in half over and over until it was shaped into a small square of trash that he proceeded to tuck away in the pocket of his jeans.

"Right.." Amber drew out the word quietly, unconvinced.

A silence fell over their table, the quiet stretching on for a few minutes before Jackson suddenly pushed out of his chair and began to stumble toward the library doors with a mumbled excuse about needing to use the bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Harris questioned, looking genuinely worried for the boy in a way that had Amber very nearly rolling her eyes, "You don't look so good-"

Jackson merely pushed past the teacher when they crossed paths, "I just need to get some water." He muttered as he pushed through the doors and exited the library.

Mr. Harris watched him go for only a moment before he moved to follow behind him, pausing at the doors to turn back and glare at the rest of them, "No one leaves their seats." He warned.

The moment the doors closed behind him, Amber, Scott, and Stiles all shared a look in silent communication before they wordlessly pushed up from their chairs and rushed over to the table Erica had taken up by herself.

"Stiles says you know how Jackson's parents died." Scott addressed the blonde, wasting no time with beating around the bush.

Erica looked between the three of them as they sat down and shrugged in nonchalance, "Maybe."

"Talk." Scott urged quickly.

Erica flipped her notebook closed with a sigh and leaned over the table on her elbows, "It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he turns eighteen."

Stiles narrowed his eyes in disbelief, "So, not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at eighteen?"

"Yup." Erica grinned at the annoyance in his voice.

"There is something so deeply wrong with that." Stiles muttered.

"The last thing that boy needs is more money to further inflate his ego." Amber agreed quietly.

"You know what?" Erica murmured, opening her laptop and clicking around on the trackpad as she navigated the screen, "I could try to find the insurance report in my dad's inbox.. He keeps everything."

"Scott McCall, Please report to the principal's office. Scott McCall. Principal's office."

Amber had pushed out of her seat and was headed to the opposite side of the table where Stiles and Erica were sitting when the announcement rang out loudly through the PA system. She frowned as she looked at her friend in question but Scott shrugged in response with a frown of his own, patting her on the shoulder as he stood and moved to head down to the front office.

Stiles spread his legs over the sides of his wide chair and Amber settled between his thighs easily so that they could both peer at the computer screen while Erica did a deep dive through her father's old emails.

As the blonde finally pulled up the message thread they were looking for a few minutes later, the doors to the library reopened with a quiet click as Jackson and Mr. Harris came back into the room, but the three teens paid no attention, continuing to read through the attachments as Erica opened them up on the screen.

"Wait, wait-" Amber whispered, her eyes suddenly catching on the words written on the copy of the insurance claim, "Look at the dates."

"Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA-" Erica read from the middle of the page, "The estimated time of death - 9:26 P.M., June 14, 1995." She finished with a questioning lilt to her voice, eyebrows lifting as if she wasn't sure what could be possibly important about that particular piece of information

"Jackson's birthday is June 15." Stiles pointed out, pulling the words straight from Amber's mouth.

Erica turned to blink at them in surprise.

The sudden zing of a zipper rang out through the room and everyone's attention was drawn to where Mr. Harris was pulling his bag over his shoulder and grabbing his things as he moved to leave early. The teens all followed suit in collective relief, beginning to gather their own belongings together before the sound of their teacher chuckling quietly made them pause.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry-" He laughed, not sounding the least bit apologetic, "Uh, yes.. I'm leaving. But none of you are," He explained, stepping up to one of the many wheeled carts stacked high with books, "You may go when you're done with the reshelving. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Mr. Harris chuckled again as he left the room and Amber's face pinched up in disgust.

"I genuinely hate that man." She muttered, dropping down into the seat again and leaning back into Stiles' chest with a sigh.

Erica's eyes were flicking over the screen of her laptop again, still searching for something following the discovery made by Stiles and Amber.

"What?" Amber questioned after a moment.

Erica closed the lid to her computer and blinked, "They kept his mom on life support until they could get her body prepped for surgery." She explained quietly.

"Jesus." Stiles muttered.

All of their gazes drifted over to where Jackson was leaning heavily over the top of his table, looking slightly sweaty and feverishly unwell.

"You think he's good?" Amber questioned in a whisper, head tipped back onto Stiles shoulder so she could speak quietly into his ear.

Stiles shrugged behind her, "Maybe the bite's finally gonna kill him." He joked.

Amber pinched his arm between her fingers in reprimand, "Cut that out. Now, c'mon. Let's do some reshelving. I'd like to go home at some point today."

Erica rolled her eyes at the couple just as the doors were thrown open once again and Scott reemerged. He immediately came to stand where Amber was already beginning to roll one of the carts of books in the direction of the stacks, nodding his head toward Allison in a motion for her to follow them. Stiles stepped around Amber to pull the cart from the other side, grabbing a book at random once they were hidden away between the shelves and peering down at the sticker on the bottom of the binding as he searched for the place where it belonged amongst the shelved books.

"Did you guys find anything?" Scott questioned his friends as Allison stepped up beside them.

Amber grimaced as she grabbed a book of her own, "Yeah, kinda." She supplied weakly, pushing up onto her toes to shove the book onto a high shelf.

"You guys found something?" Allison repeated curiously, "About his parents?"

Amber and Stiles both nodded, looking at one another silently as they debated who should speak and eventually the girl caved with a sigh, "Well, you know they both died in a car accident-" She whispered, fighting against the flashes of painful memories that cropped up at the reminder of how her own parents had been taken from her, "But it was only a couple of hours before Jackson was born." She continued.

"What does that mean?" Scott asked in confusion.

"It means he was born after his mom died," Amber explained, "..By c-section."

"They had to pull him out of her dead body." Stiles supplied grimly.

"Oh my god." Allison whispered.

Amber nodded in agreement as she reshelved another book, "So, yeah. His parents were killed before tiny Jackson was even born into the world."

"Killed.." Allison repeated slowly, "So, was it an accident or not?"

Stiles shrugged, "The word all over the reports is 'inconclusive'."

Scott leaned on his elbows, resting his weight onto a stack of books with wide eyes, "What? His parents could've been murdered?"

Stiles nodded with another noncommittal shrug, "If they were, then it falls in line with the kanima myth, right?"

Amber nodded in agreement, "It seeks out and kills murderers but.. What, because it had a loved one who was also murdered?"

"Would that go for Jackson? Or the person controlling him?" Allison questioned in a hushed voice.

"Maybe both?" Amber pondered, "I mean, maybe that's why they bonded in the first place."

"Could be." Stiles agreed easily.

"Regardless, I don't think Jackson wants to kill anybody," Amber whispered, "I mean, if he knew what he was-"

"We have to talk to him," Scott interrupted, moving around the book cart to walk to the front of the aisle, "We have to tell him."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Amber countered, stepping forward to follow after him, "I don't think he's gonna listen to-" Scott left the row of shelves without another word and Amber sighed as she turned back to Allison and Stiles, "-And he's gone.. Y'know, he used to listen to me."

"Yeah, him going Teen Wolf and no longer being such a pushover is a real pain in the ass, isn't it?" Stiles lamented in agreement.

"Yes." Amber agreed in discontent.

A loud crash from a few rows over had Amber flinching in surprise, head whipping toward the commotion as another crash immediately followed, the second one sounding out slightly closer.

"Erica!" Scott yelled from another row.

Amber took a nervous step back toward Stiles as her heart picked up in her chest. The next crash sounded from directly above them as a dark blur jumped from one towering bookshelf to another, slamming into the ceiling and shattering lights as it moved. Amber brought her hands up to cover her head as small shards of glass along with styrofoam and dust from the ceiling tiles rained down over them and Stiles pulled her to the ground, wrapping one arm around her waist and positioning the other protectively over their heads.

They heard Erica let out a small scream from the next row and as Stiles lowered his arm slowly, Amber looked between him and Allison with wide eyes.

The shattered light bulbs above were sparking dangerously as electricity continued to flow into them and Amber took ahold of Stiles' wrist as the sound of wood splintering and loud crashes continued from beyond the stack that they were tucked away in.

The familiar screech of the kanima sounded out only moments before Scott was tossed back into a cart of books in need of re-shelving at the end of the bookshelves. Amber made a small, unconscious move to go toward her friend to help but Stiles tugged her back into his arms without hesitation, scolding her quietly.

Scott groaned as he righted himself and he slipped into the row of shelves upon spotting the three of them still ducked down beside the other book cart. He came to a crouch in front of them all, blocking them off from the end of the row and stretching his arms out protectively as Allison flocked to her boyfriend's back.

It was only then that Amber's eyes fell on Jackson. He was stood in front of a blackboard across the room, half-shifted in a way she'd only ever seen when he was unconscious outside of the nightclub, his skin lightly covered in scales though he remained looking mostly human. His head lolled to the side limply as he gripped a piece of chalk and began to write on the board, showing no indication that he knew what he was doing, like a puppet controlled by someone pulling at its strings.

The chalk clicked loudly against the board in the sudden silence as Jackson's unfocused yellow eyes gazed at nothing in particular across the room and Amber gripped onto Stiles that much tighter in unease. Jackson finished his messy scrawl of large letters on the board, remaining still for a terrifying moment before he launched himself out of the second story library window in a loud crash of shattering glass.

Amber let out a shaky exhale and Stiles pressed his mouth to her temple, not quite kissing her but simply panting anxious breaths into her skin as they all took in the message that had been left behind on the blackboard.

STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU

The four rose to their feet, slowly stepping out from the row of bookshelves as the lights continued to flicker and spark above them. Amber's gaze drifted to the next row over as it came into view and she stumbled over her own feet at the sight of the blonde werewolf convulsing on the floor.

Amber pushed past Stiles and fell to her knees, rolling Erica over onto her back until she could see the other girl's face.

"Woah, woah- Hey!" Stiles alerted the others immediately as he followed his girlfriend's footsteps and helped her hold onto Erica while the girl thrashed.

"She's having a seizure-" Amber shouted in confusion, "She's a werewolf! How- How is she having a seizure?"

"Hey, we need to get her to a hospital." Stiles announced obviously.

"Derek-" Erica disagreed in a quick burst, "T-To Derek."

Their grip on the blonde tightened further as she twitched and Scott dropped down to the floor alongside them, looking over to the next row where Allison was checking on an unconscious Matt.

"He's alive." Allison declared.

Scott sighed in relief, his eyes meeting Amber's panicked ones before his gaze dropped down to Erica for a moment. He looked back at Allison, "When we get her to the hospital-"

"To Derek," Erica was quick to repeat, jerking beneath Amber's hands, "To Derek."

"Okay," Amber agreed easily as Stiles sat Erica up in his arms, "Okay, we'll go to Derek." She promised.

Scott was still looking at Allison longingly and he stood suddenly before rounding the bookshelf to drop down beside his girlfriend.

Stiles' head snapped up in annoyance, "Hey, Scott!"

"Asshole." Amber muttered under her breath as she pushed a clump of curls from Erica's face and tucked them behind her ear, "Scott!" She called out again in frustration.

She could hear the hushed whisperings between Scott and Allison but couldn't quite make out the words that were being said and her eyes went to her boyfriend's to meet Stiles' own irritated gaze.

"Scott, go." Allison said loudly.

"Yeah, Scott, get your ass over here!" Amber snapped as she helped Stiles get to his feet with Erica draped in his arms bridal style.

Scott finally approached them again a few seconds later and immediately took Erica's weight from Stiles' arms, carrying her effortlessly as he rushed toward the exit. Stiles huffed quietly in annoyance as they followed behind Scott with quick steps and Amber's hand found his back as they moved through the empty halls.

"I had that." Stiles muttered quietly.

"I know you did." Amber assented, rubbing her hand over his shoulder blades as they rushed down the hallway.

"I wasn't struggling that much. I could've carried her-"

Amber nodded empathetically, "I'm sure you could've."

Stiles huffed as they rounded a corner to head toward the front doors, "Why do I get the feeling you're just trying to appease me?"

"Because I am." Amber said easily, grabbing his hand to pull him to move faster.

"Wh- I mean, I've carried you plenty of times! You know I could-"

"You're very strong, baby, okay?" She placated quickly as they followed Scott through the doors and down the steps to the sidewalk, "But we both know Scott's stronger. There's no point in wearing out your human muscles, right?"

Stiles frowned as he pulled out his keys, "Yeah, I- Okay."

She knew that couldn't possibly be the end of it, the very last thing Stiles was known for was his ability to let things go, or concede in a fight — but it seemed he was willing to drop the subject for now, and Amber rewarded him with a tender stroke of her thumb over his cheek before she climbed into the vehicle.

As sickening as it was to watch Derek snap the bones in Erica's arm to jumpstart her healing process, it was nothing compared to the positively blood curdling scream that Erica let out when he sunk his claws into her flesh to squeeze the kanima venom out through the broken limb.

Amber had never had any real problems with the sight of blood, but as Derek dug his fingers into the skin of Erica's arm and thick red streams of it poured out onto the dirty floor of the train car, she had to hold back a gag as nausea flooded her body.

Stiles' warm breath against her neck as he shielded his own eyes from the gore-y scene was a welcomed comfort. She reached to cup the back of his head and he burrowed his face further into her hair with a wince when Derek tightened his grip once more and Erica's screams started up again.

"Derek-" Amber choked out, tightening her other hand around Erica's as a few tears leaked down the blonde's cheeks.

"I'm almost done." Derek promised them.

The next few minutes were painful for everyone involved and their ears were still ringing with Erica's cries of pain by the time Derek released his grip on her arm. They all slumped in relief at the sudden silence while Erica caught her breath and Derek and Scott were quick to rise to their feet and exit the ratty train car.

Amber stumbled to her own feet, temples throbbing slightly from both the anxiety and the screams that had filled her head for the last couple hours. She gave Stiles' shoulder a squeeze before she followed the path out of the train car in search for where Scott and Derek had wandered off to only moments before.

"You knew who it was." Scott accused Derek as Amber stepped up behind the two werewolves.

She watched with a sick weight in her stomach as Derek wiped Erica's blood away from his hands with a rag before he nodded and spoke, "Jackson."

"You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" Scott asked in annoyance.

Derek nodded again but Amber took another step into their space before he could respond, "You're not going to hurt him."

"I'm not?" Derek crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows.

"Face it, Derek. You need help from Scott and his worthless pack of humans," Her words were laced with venom and she almost felt satisfied by the look of surprise on the older werewolf's face, "And we'll help you, alright? But we're not hurting him."

"Amber-" Derek's words were cut off when Scott cut in.

"She's right," Scott nodded seriously, placing a hand on Amber's shoulder in a show of support, "We'll help you stop him. But we do it on one condition; we're gonna find a way to catch him, not kill him."

Derek sighed, "So what's your plan then?"

Silence.

"You want to do things 'your way', but neither of you has a plan?" Derek huffed in exasperation.

"The rave on Friday.." Amber said after a moment.

Derek shook his head immediately, "There'll be too many people-"

"Exactly," Scott agreed immediately, "Jackson won't be expecting us to corner him in such a crowded location and he'll be a whole lot easier to catch if he's not expecting it."

"So, Mr. I'm A Werewolf And I Know Everything-" Amber looked at Derek expectantly, "How does one set a trap for demented lizard-wolf?"

"We could use mountain ash, maybe.." Derek said with a shrug, "But I don't have any."

"Well who would?" Amber asked immediately.

Derek frowned, "Scott's boss might-"

"You think Deaton has this stuff?" Scott questioned.

"There's a lot you don't know about him, Scott," Derek supplied unhelpfully, "And I doubt he'd give it to me, but he might be willing to give it to you."

"Okay," Amber said easily, "So we ask Dr. Deaton for this ashy shit.. What exactly is it though? How is it gonna help us catch Jackson?"

Derek sighed a long suffering sigh before giving them a painfully undetailed run down of how they might be able to use the mountain ash to trap Jackson, but voiced that he was unsure how they'd subdue the kanima once they had him trapped. Scott was quick to insist that Deaton would be able to help them come up with a more thorough plan and that he, Amber, and Stiles would go and speak with his boss after school one day.

"Cool. So we have a week to come up with a plan, then," Amber said, bitterness seeping into her voice as her eyes drifted to Derek again, "I guess we'll just have one of your precious Betas let you know once we have it all hashed out, since you've made sure that it's impossible for any of us to get a hold of you."

She turned away with a huff and made her way down the dark, dirty hallway, needing just a moment by herself as anger pulsed violently in her chest. She flinched when a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her to a stop in an empty stretch of the abandoned railway cars.

"Amber, hang on a second." Derek said calmly.

Her eyes narrowed, hurt creeping up inside her as she recalled what he'd said just a few days before to shed some light on why he'd entirely cut off contact with her.

I didn't want you to be a part of my pack if you wanted to stay human.

"What?" She sighed weakly.

"I know I hurt your feelings," He said slowly, "And I-"

"You didn't," She lied with a small shrug, "Why would I be hurt?"

Derek gave her a look as if she were being wholly ridiculous, "I know I hurt you," He repeated, "When I told you I didn't want you to be a part of my pack-"

"I'm a part of Scott's pack, remember? You said so yourself. I don't want to be a part of your stupid agro-pack anyway, okay?"

He appeared sad as he frowned at her and she couldn't quite tell if it was hurt or pity swimming in his eyes, but her throat tightened regardless.

He sighed, "I just wanted to apologize, alright? My mother never really considered the human family members to be part of the pack and until I saw the bond that Scott's formed with you, and Stiles, and Allison, I thought that was just how it was supposed to be. I didn't-"

"Didn't want a sixteen year old little girl to get in the way and ruin your perfect pack of werewolves?"

She refused to even look at the older werewolf as she spit his words back at him, her eyes focussed on the dirty cement wall behind him instead. She hadn't even been truly angry when he'd initially said the words, but now that her frustration had pushed its way to the surface, she felt her emotions taking over for the first time since the night she'd turned down his offer of the bite.

"I shouldn't have said that," Derek confessed quietly, "I didn't mean it. I was angry that you turned me down but I shouldn't have pushed you away the way I did."

Her jaw clenched, "No. You shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry."

At his apology, her eyes finally flicked back to Derek and her stiffness loosened slightly at the genuine regret on his normally stoic face.

"All I ever wanted was to help you." She said quietly.

"I know."

"I- I was starting to think of you like a brother and you just.. You said you didn't want me anymore and you left." Her voice caught in her throat and Derek's eyes widened at the shift in her emotions, "I cared about you."

"I.." Derek's face scrunched up like he was struggling entirely too hard with his words before continuing, "I care about you too."

Her face broke into a grin accompanied by glassy eyes as she threw her arms around his shoulders, "Aw, Sourwolf.. I forgive you. For being such a big stupid dickhead."

Derek chuckled quietly as he returned her hug and Amber's chest felt decidedly warm.

"Oh, come on! Alpha paws off my girlfriend. For the love of God." Stiles' voice exclaimed as he rounded the corner.

Amber laughed as she released the werewolf and she took Stiles' hand in hers as soon as he was at her side, "How's Erica?" She asked.

Stiles smiled sadly, "Healed. She passed out but she looks a lot better than she did."

Derek nodded at his words before moving past them and Amber's arms looped around her boyfriend's waist the moment they were alone. She nuzzled her head into his neck and he huffed an amused laugh as he returned her embrace, combing his fingers through her hair in a familiar motion.

"What's up?" He asked quietly.

She shrugged and attempted to bury herself deeper in him, "Are you and Scott ready to go?"

Stiles hummed a confirmation before dropping his arms around her waist, "Should I carry you to the Jeep? To prove my more than adequate human strength?" He tightened his arms and lifted her until her toes could only just brush the ground but she shoved him away with a squeal of laughter.

"No," She said quickly as she moved down the hall, "Nope, no carrying necessary. Let's go get Scott. We can start planning Operation Capture Jackson on the way."

Stiles ran up behind her and she broke into laughter again while dodging his attempts to get his arms around her, tangling her fingers with his instead as she pulled him along.

"Stiles!"

Amber fisted the fabric of his flannel between her fingers in the scramble for something substantial to hold onto as her voice rose.

"I'm serious! Put me down!" She demanded in a shout.

"Nope," He slammed the passenger door of the Jeep closed and turned to head inside the house, his hands gripping her thighs tightly to ensure she didn't fall from the place where she'd been thrown over his shoulder after insisting he help her from the vehicle in what she'd thought had been an act of chivalry, "Not until we're upstairs. I'm-"

"You have proven your point!" She found herself laughing despite the way his shoulder was digging somewhat painfully into her gut.

"Not yet."

As he stepped into the house, Stiles took a moment to toe off his shoes while using one hand to pull Amber's from her feet and dropping them to smack against the floor one at a time.

"I'm wearing a dress!" She squealed when he still didn't set her down. She suddenly found herself desperately hoping that none of his nosy neighbors had been looking through their windows at the right moment to receive a full view of her ass as he'd carried her inside.

"You sure are," Stiles agreed as he moved past the entryway and deeper into the house, his right hand sliding dangerously further up her thigh as he went, "Thanks for that, by the way. It's a nice view."

She pinched his backside in retaliation as he began to climb the stairs and his knees buckled worryingly for a moment in surprise on the bottom step.

"Do not drop me, Stilinski-" She threatened seriously.

"Don't distract me!" He countered.

"You're being ridiculous!" She argued, watching with unease as the distance between her head and the floor grew, "And you're lucky I don't get motion sickness because looking down all of these stairs is mildly terrifying-"

"I'm not gonna drop you." He promised.

He made a point of tightening his fingers around her thighs further to reassure her but his actions had an entirely different effect. She had to bite down on her lower lip painfully to hold back the quiet moan that threatened to escape as his fingers dug into the soft flesh just beneath the roundness of her ass, his thumb dipping torturously between her thighs as he squeezed, the tip achingly close to pressing against her lace-covered core. So close, she could very nearly taste it.

When they made it to his bedroom, Stiles unceremoniously dropped her down onto the bed and she quickly propped herself up on her elbows to look up at him in disbelief, her cheeks flushed with heat.

"That.. Was so unnecessary." She said breathlessly as she pushed herself to sit up at the edge of his bed.

Stiles only grinned, "Told you I could do it, though. I'm not even winded. In fact, I could've-"

His words cut off in surprise when Amber dragged him forward with a hand fisted in his shirt, his knees bumping the mattress as he stumbled to a stop between her parted legs. She blinked up at him while she continued to catch her breath, tongue poking out to wet her lips unconsciously as her gaze flicked from his eyes to his mouth.

Stiles watched the movements and leaned down suddenly with one knee on the mattress between her thighs to pull her into a kiss, his hand gliding over her jaw to cradle the back of her head until his fingers could tangle in her hair.

She groaned into his mouth, her arms sliding across his shoulders to loop around his neck so that she could pull him down against her as she fell to her back on the bed. The sparks that had pooled in her belly crept lower, fluttering excitedly between her legs as his weight settled on top of her and she sighed contentedly through her nose when he deepened the kiss.

His fingers skimmed with the ghost of a touch over the skin of her biceps, dragging up past her elbows where he untangled her arms from around his neck to push them down against the mattress. His hands trailed back toward her own to tangle their fingers together once her arms were splayed out on either side of her head. When his lips left hers, she tipped her head back while his mouth left a wet trail of kisses along her jaw and down the length of her neck.

Her hips canted up reflexively as his teeth scraped softly over the sensitive skin of her throat, his warm breath tingling along her skin, and Stiles groaned into her neck when her pelvis made contact with the growing bulge at the front of his jeans.

"Stiles-" She breathed as his hands tightened around hers, arching up against him again in a desperate search for friction.

The scratch of denim was rough against her bare thighs as he shifted between her legs. The smell of his body wash still lingered on his skin from his morning shower and it filled her lungs with much needed oxygen while simultaneously filling her head with a giddy static that left her reeling, like the black and white fuzz of a channel that didn't come in on the television.

His lips trailed lower to leave hot kisses along her collarbones, his hands releasing her only so that he could slide her sweater from her shoulders, the strap of her dress following suit and slipping down past her elbow. His mouth was quick to find the newly revealed skin of her chest and she groaned while he stripped her of her cardigan completely, allowing him to tug it down her arms and toss it blindly over the side of the bed.

She pushed his own overshirt from his shoulders in response and his hands gravitated back to her skin the moment it was stripped away so that he could hike the fabric of her dress up, his thumbs pressing into her flesh intoxicatingly when he reached the tops of her thighs. She helped him drag the fabric up over her stomach and chest, tearing the dress over her head in a quick movement.

Stiles stared at her in awe for a moment before he was crowding her back against the bed to recapture her lips. Their tongues danced between hot breaths but eventually he was leaning down to reattach his mouth to the skin of her chest with wet kisses instead.

She felt his hands slip beneath her back to tug at the clasp of her bra. His mouth paused distractedly where he'd been kissing at her skin and the offer to assist him was on her lips when the fabric suddenly fell loose around her chest.

"Got it," Stiles boasted quietly, pulling the article from her body and throwing that behind himself as well, his lips immediately gravitating back to her chest, "Stupid demon contraption-" He muttered against her skin before sealing his mouth around a pebbled nipple.

The moan she let out was pornographic as her spine arched up from the mattress, chasing the feeling of his mouth, of his teeth scraping lightly against the bud while his thumb brushed lightly over her other breast.

It felt all too sudden when he pulled back and she blinked at him in confusion, feeling ridiculously disheveled from just fifteen minutes of kissing and a few seconds of his mouth on her tits.

"Hickeys," Stiles said simply as they looked at one another with lust-filled eyes. He licked at his swollen lips before continuing, "How do you feel about hickeys if they're not on your neck? Y'know? Is that still a no, or-"

She nodded wildly, "'S fine, that's fine."

An excited grin spread across his face and Amber wondered for a fleeting moment if she'd later regret granting him permission, but the thoughts were cast out of her mind the second he bit down on the sensitive flesh on the side of her breast, teeth sinking into the softness with a sudden and pleasurable sting.

She keened and gripped at the back of his neck as he sucked harshly on the sensitive skin before moving on to a new spot, his mouth leaving a smattering of biting kisses over both her breasts, littering her with spots in a wide array of pink and purple. He gripped her waist tightly, one hand holding her still as he worked while the other trailed down the outside of her thigh to pull her leg up around his hip.

When he finally kissed his way back up to her mouth, she angled her head to deepen the kiss immediately and reached between them to press her palm against the bulge beneath the zip of his pants as their tongues tangled. Stiles groaned into her mouth and she was quick to begin working at the button on his jeans, tugging it free and yanking down the zipper before pulling at the fabric at his hips.

He leaned back to rid himself of his jeans and slipped back into the space between her thighs in a flash, his hips rolling down against hers lightly as he reattached their mouths. He didn't waste any time before his lips were dragging back down her neck and chest, leaving a wet trail in their wake as he kissed and licked at her skin.

She was about to plead with him to do something but the words died on her lips when he moved lower, kissing a line down her stomach and nipping lightly at her hip bone before trailing lower still and repeating the treatment he'd given her breasts on the skin at the top of her thighs with teasing bites and kisses.

His fingers finally hooked beneath the waistband of her underwear and he slipped the fabric down her legs until they were out of the way, absentmindedly leaving them hooked around just one of her ankles in his rush to get back to the task at hand.

His head dipped down between her thighs tongue first and Amber cried out, gripping desperately at his shoulders over his shirt as he began to work his mouth against her clit.

"Yes," She praised simply in a low whisper, "S-shit."

He slid a hand up her stomach to massage her breast and she found herself having a hard time holding back the breathy noises that left her as he alternated between licking down at her entrance and moving a little higher up to flick his tongue over the sensitive bundle of nerves there instead. He swirled around her clit a few times, warm and soft and so fucking incredible, before he was flattening his tongue to apply more pressure.

"Sti-" She gasped, "Shit, y-yes. Just like- You- S-shit-"

Her chest was heaving with strangled breaths, fingers digging into his shoulders desperately as she tried to vocalize how good he was making her feel.

Her thighs began to tremble with the build of her orgasm, legs tightening around his shoulders as he worked her closer and closer to her peak. She was teetering on the edge, gasping and whining slack-jawed, when Stiles closed his lips around her clit and sucked lightly, his tongue still flicking against the nub, and her orgasm suddenly crashed over her in a wave of white-hot pleasure. Her hips twitched beneath him and his name spilled from her lips as her whole body jerked with her release.

He didn't back off until she began to wriggle uncomfortably beneath him from overstimulation. He haphazardly wiped the slick covering his mouth off against the love-bitten skin of her thigh before he crawled his way back up her body to drop his forehead against hers, their noses brushing lightly as she caught her breath.

"It- It's almost annoying how good you are at that." She murmured, tipping her chin up to catch his lips against hers lightly.

Stiles grinned in satisfaction at the compliment and he leaned down to slot their lips together more firmly, the taste of her own arousal lingering on his mouth.

After a moment of recovery, Amber reached down to wrap a hand around the hard line of his cock over his boxers, a surprisingly large patch of precome dampening the fabric, his length warm and heavy in her hand. He huffed a sharp breath into her mouth and she pulled back from the kiss slightly to peer up at him, watching the way his eyelashes fluttered and his lips parted as she tightened her fingers around him and worked her hand slowly.

Stiles groaned weakly when she released him but she ignored his noises of protest, forcing his boxers down his hips and pushing at his shoulders determinedly until he was laying on his back. She pulled her own underwear up over her thighs again before discarding his and settling between his spread knees.

He was achingly hard now, his cock long and thick where it curved up his stomach, the head of it red and leaking a small trail of precome into the dark hairs of his happy trail. She took him back into her hand while pushing the fabric of his shirt up his chest slightly, her fingers scratching through the damp trail of hair that led up from his groin before pressing into the tensed muscles of his stomach.

She fought not to cringe at the action as she spit over the tip and began to jerk him off in earnest, thumbing away the strand of connection to her mouth. Her embarrassment washed away in a flash of confidence when Stiles let out another devastatingly weak groan, the sound of it high and breathy.

Her hand tightened at the head, collecting the precome leaking from his tip and combining it with her own spit with an easy twist of her wrist before slipping her fist back down his length, the glide smooth and noisy with the slick of the makeshift lubricant.

She leaned down slowly after a moment of simply pumping him with her fist, guiding the head of his cock to her lips. She watched him watching her — watched the moment his eyes slipped shut with a curse and his thighs twitched as she wrapped her lips around the tip.

"Oh, shit." He hissed, hands tangling in her hair, his fingers fumbling to gather her it away from her face so he could watch her move with no obstructions when he looked down again.

She swirled her tongue around the head once, relishing in the stuttered noises of desperation that Stiles was letting out, the way his thighs twitched as he tried not to thrust up into the heat of her mouth, the muscles of his stomach growing firm beneath her palm as he tensed.

"Babe. Baby, I'm-"

As he moaned, she was tightening her fist around the base, sucking lightly at the head and suddenly, Stiles was coming with a groan, warmth coating her tongue as his muscles tensed further and his grip tightened in her hair. She pulled back slightly in surprise, swallowing what was in her mouth, the taste of it salty and slightly metallic. She rubbed her thumb over the slick tip while come continued to shoot out in weak spirts, watching her boyfriend twitch with the waves of his own release, the way his muscles tensed and relaxed rapidly beneath dark hair and pale skin.

"Holy.. shit." He whispered, hips jerking and eyes closed as the last dregs of his release coated her fingers.

She waited, momentarily mesmerized by the rise and fall of his chest with labored breaths, before she reached past him to grab a tissue and began to wipe the mess away from the bottom of his stomach and her hand. When she reached back up for a second tissue, Stiles halted her movements to look at her with wide eyes.

His thumb rubbed along her jaw softly, "Oh my god," He whispered, "I'm.. So sorry. I just.. Shit. I'm sorry." He repeated quietly, looking adorably flushed from embarrassment or his orgasm or possibly some combination of both.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" She asked curiously, her hand trailing up his cheek as she reached up to drag her fingertips through the softness of his short hair.

He grimaced, "Well first off for having, like, zero restraint whenever you're on top of me and always embarrassing myself by coming in like ten seconds-" He began quietly, "But mostly for just coming in your mouth without any warning-"

Amber knocked their foreheads together as she snorted an amused laugh, "Mhm. Totally unforgivable.." She teased, "But I guess.. Just this once.."

She leaned down to give him a kiss but his head tipped away to avoid her lips as he continued.

"I'm serious. I swear I usually last longer, but-"

"Usually?" She repeated the word playfully, "What, when you're jerking off in bed all by yourself?"

His nose scrunched up cutely in annoyance, "Well, I.. Yeah."

She laughed, "Aw, Sti. I'm sorry that having a real life half-naked girl on top of you is proving so detrimental to your sexual stamina."

"It's just not the presence of a naked girl that's been ruining me. Y'know, just for the record," He said quietly, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear as he continued, "It's that it's you."

"You're ridiculous." She blushed despite herself.

"I'm serious," He corrected, "I've wanted you for as long as I can remember and as if listening to the sounds you make when I'm eating you out aren't bad enough, then you actually get your hands on me, tits out, and you look up at me with those freakin' eyes while you put my dick in your mouth?" He shook his head with a small smile, "Nope.. No fuckin' way. I don't stand a chance."

"You're a pretty smooth talker aren't you, Stilinski?"

"I'm not trying t-"

She silenced him with a kiss, their mouths separating and quickly reconnecting in fluid movements until she had no choice but to lean back so that they could both catch their breath again.

"We should probably get started on homework if we don't want to end up like Scott." She commented reluctantly.

"I'm not sure it's even possible to fall as far behind as Scott," Stiles squeezed her hip lightly, "But you're probably right."

Amber leaned over the side of the bed to retrieve his underwear, passing them to him before crossing the room to dig around in his dresser for something comfortable to wear, "What do you want to do for dinner? Is your dad working late or should we maybe wait for him-?"

As she spoke, her eyes caught on a rolled up bundle of white cotton at the back corner of the drawer and she pulled it out excitedly, rubbing her thumb over the faded logo on the front before tugging it over her head.

"Working late. Again." Stiles sighed as he stepped up behind her, swapping the drawers to pull open the one stuffed with his sweats and pajama bottoms. He paused in his search for a pair of pants and grabbed at her shoulder curiously, "What shirt-?"

His words cut off as she was turned to face him with an excited grin on her face. She stretched her arms out at her sides with a flourish as she showed off the shirt she'd uncovered from the depths of his dresser.

"How long d'you think it's been since this even fit you?" She laughed.

Stiles was staring distractedly at the way her hardened nipples poked out beneath the faded Star Wars logo covering her chest and he shook his head after a few seconds of deafening silence before responding, "I, uh.. I dunno. Maybe when I was twelve? Thirteen?"

The soft worn cotton of the shirt only reached the tops of her thighs, not quite long enough to cover her underwear completely and Stiles was weak to do anything but immediately crowd her back against the dresser. He toyed with the loose collar, fingers brushing against the column of her throat, and her heart stuttered at the warmth of his body pressed against her. His free hand slipped beneath the hem to run along her stomach, sliding back to the bottom of her spine while he tugged the collar to the side and dipped his head to press his lips softly to the base of her neck.

"Sti, we.. We're supposed to be getting dressed-"

"Maybe we should get undressed one more time, and then get re-dressed." He suggested before kissing her neck again.

"Homework. Studying.."

She sighed, closing her eyes and tipping her head to the side in contradiction to her words so that she could bask in the feeling of his mouth just a little longer. The knowledge that they needed to be responsible did nothing to quell the heat that pooled beneath lace as he nipped lightly at her skin, just soft enough to teasingly suggest the threat of a real bite.

She gripped the warm skin of his hips, fingernails digging into pale flesh as she let out a breathy sigh and relaxed back against the dresser.

She let him continue for a long minute before pushing him back slightly, cupping his face in her hands, "Homework. We'll do homework and eat something and then maybe, before bed.."

Stiles groaned, "Fine."

She kissed the pout on his lips lightly, "We're making good choices."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

#selenophiles #2x07 #stiles stilinksi fanfiction #stiles stilinski #stiles fanfiction #stiles imagine #stiles x oc #stiles stilinski imagine #stiles stilinski fic #stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinksi x reader #dylan o’brien fanfiction #dylan o'brien fanfiction #teen wolf fanfiction #teen wolf fic #teen wolf stiles #*

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jackiequick · 7 months

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Ex in the flesh | Pre-Marvel Phase 1

Uncle-Nephew: Jason Underwood & Tony Stark

Ex-romantic pairing: Jason Underwood x Sophia Trace

Summary: There are some faces you don’t expect to run into, in the middle of the day and sometimes it’s a feels a odd memory loss in the water.

Timeline: Pre-Iron Man (2008)

Character mentioned: Godson Rei Stark, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Maria Stark, Peggy Carter, Maria Winter and etc.

Note: Jason’s alias here is Thomas Logan Mitchell

——

It was early one afternoon when it happened. Their home in Malibu staying high on the rise as the windows were open bringing in the cold September breeze. Tony was in his lab as always tinkering with his toys as Pepper was given the afternoon to do some stuff for herself.

She definitely deserved it.

The household was mess. Goodness gracious how did they like that happen? Well that answer was the little menace, aka Anakin Skywalker Jr, Rei Stark. He was only 6 years old. But he was a little cocky dramatic tornado of a child.

The boy had so much energy it bewildered anyone who walked by him. He acted like he owned the whole house, technically he did due to it being his property one day, but that’s not the point—he didn’t care to do much. Always sending a tiny glare and a real cheeky grin to whoever he sees unfit to be in his area. He can could sense either a person’s attitude and godly annoyance from a mile away.

Thankfully he had people who he actually liked in his life, so it easier to find a comfortable ground with the kid.

Jason was in the kitchen sipping a glass of water and trying to figure out what to make for lunch.

He was thinking fries and chicken nuggets would work for his godson. Until he realized they were out of animal chicken nuggets and Rei favored those one than the normal nuggets. He couldn’t blame him, he liked those one too.

“Bubba?” Jason called out, hoping he would take the normal ones today, “Come here for a second!”

The pitter patter of sandals can be heard, the brunette came to stop and yelled in return, “What?!”

“You want chicken nuggets for lunch?”

“Yes. With fries. Extra crispy fries!”

“Haha. I got good news and bad news for ya, bubba. We’re all out of the animal nuggets.”

“Noooo! I want the animals ones.”

“We don’t have them, bubba.”

“Please. Just go to the store, pops!”

“Rei. It’s late and it seems like Pepper forgot to buy them.”

“No it’s not. It’s early. Mommy says the store is not far away.”

“Fine. We will go the store.”

“WE?! I don’t want to go papa..”

“Yes, we. Now come on, I’ll let you get a toy from vending machine and—”

The second those words hit Rei’s ears he went racing to the front door to remove his sandals and change into his street clothes until he realized he needed some help with his jacket. His godfather rolled his eyes, fixing the kid’s jean jacket and tied his shoelaces correctly. He told JARVIS to let Tony know they’re heading out before he left with the boy.

————

He let Rei choose which color car they would ride in. Black one with the gold accent seemed to be his favorite. Jason rolled his eyes and nodded as he strapped him into his car seat. One the way to the store, they played some more. A mix of pop, hip hop and rock.

In resulted into a jamming session on they’re way there.

It had Jason smile seeing Rei enjoying himself. He tends to forget about the fact that he’s just a kid sometimes due to how smart he tends to be and cleverness he holds onto. He sometimes fights with Tony to share more time with his son and let him just be a kid, reminding how on he single-handedly help Maria raise his nephew more often than not.

And he’s glad he wins that argument. Because the more time Tony spends with Rei the better.

Rei Stark may be a little distant from other kids, wanting to play alone at times but when he’s in his element—which is building things and just be a creative kid in general—he shines like a diamond. It’s incredible to witness how his mind tinkers in ways, he doesn’t even understand.

Once they reached the store, it was a different type of thing.

The aisles were nicely decorated with eye catching items from cereal to pretzels. Along with the section of fruits was nearby the pastries.

He first let Rei explore. Let his sweet tooth get a look at the delicious offer and his favorite fruits. He got to pick out some to take home. It was good, he seemed like he was enjoying himself. He told his godson to stay close meanwhile he looked at the cereal options before they grabbed the animal chicken nuggets.

But Jason should’ve known better because the second he turned his face to reach for Captain Crunch cereal, Rei scurried off to other end of the aisle to find god knows what! His eyesight zipped through the hall looking for him until he heard it.

“You’re not the boss of me lady!”

Yup. There he was at the corner of the aisle holding up bag of tootsies rolls and sending a tiny glare to the women, who was trying to reason with him. It sounded like the women was asking where the heck his parents were. Jason slide down, placing a hand on the kid’s brown fluffy hair and racing his fingers crossed to calm him softly.

“Bubba, why did you leave me standing?” He asked, looking down at him.

“I saw one lady holding a bag of tootsies rolls and I wanted one.” Rei told him like it was obvious.

“You had to ask me first before going off into the store.”

“I wasn’t that far!”

“You left me hanging bud.”

Then the women spoke with a smile and light scoff, “Hanging, huh? Sounds about right. No offense but the kid was just messing around.”

“Look sweetie, thank you for standing here and wondering about his parents. I can it from here.” Jason replies, raising his head to finally registering the woman but stopped surely.

Both adults stood there quickly examining one another faces in the store lights. The bright warm lights brought up every the women’s face. From her deem eyes to makeup nice reaching her lips. Her bouncing pushed back curls were set in place by a low ponytail as she held close a worn out bomber jacket that hung over a burgundy shirt.

Out of the people he would’ve expected to see today. She wasn’t one of them. He would’ve loved to be caught up in the aisles by an old friend or that lovely short lived ex girlfriend from years ago.

But not her! Anyone but the blind date he agreed on going to get out of the house and stop the protests from the ladies in his life to actually have a social life. It was one date or something like that, in which he cut short rather quickly.

Nonetheless here stood that ex-something of his.

And honestly he sorta regretted it. He was a jerk and he knows it.

“Wow, didn’t expect to see you here today.” Said the brunette with a small smile, decided to stay civil.

“Yeah well, it was an emergency to stock up on food.” Jason replied with a nod, a tiny smile curled his face.

“I can see that, nothing to worry about. You look…good.”

“I am good, Trace. Real good.”

Rei watched both adults thinking, he recognized her voice from a phone call and spoke up, “Wait who are you? You uh sound familiar.”

“I’m Sophia. An..old friend of your pal here—” He replied with a smile looking down at the kid, finding calmer down.

“He’s not my pal. He’s my pops, lady.”

“Pops?”

“Duhhh!”

Sophie paused trying to register what she heard thinking, ‘Mitchell has a kid?! He moved on fast!’ and sighed. The boy looked nothing like him, but the glint of wanting to be somewhere else like at home and not in public, was absolutely similar to the man. Other than that, he looked more like he possibly resembled the mother than him.

Strong enough genes.

“He’s your pops? Wow Mitchell, uh congrats.” Sophie said with a smile, feeling a little bitter wishing it wasn’t his son.

“Relax, Trace!” Jason repiled noticing the story on her face as he picked up Rei deciding to fix his glasses and teased, “I’m not with the mother. So you still have another shot with this.”

“You’re hilarious. That train left the station. It’s fine, you look content and that’s actually kinda cute.”

“What? Life a little miserable once I left?”

“If I’m correct, you didn’t exactly return my calls. And no, it’s not miserable. I’m better off without looking for a someone else.”

“Aww, you’ve got a lot better things to do than worry about me, i bet..”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be so bad either.”

The way Jason and Sophie smiled at that last comment, a hint of blush carried onto both cheeks.

Rei joked in his signature tone, “Aw, a compliment and a smile. Can we go please?”

“Yeah, Bubba. You wanna go grab the cart for me?” He asked, with a little smile only for him.

The boy simply nodded as he was put down, scurrying away toward the shopping cart not without sending another glare to the women. Once both of them were sure the kid was gone, they dropped the awkward moments to send a gentle glares deeply to one another.

Almost concerned glares if you asked anyone who can sense the unfinished tension between them.

“Where the heck have you been?” Sophie asked, leaning in with light smirk attached to her glare.

“Oh please. Last time I check sweetheart, you’re didn’t even come straight to me for answers.” Jason added with a match look.

“Really? That’s your play? You’re the one leaves behind a trail off unwanted promises for a date! I called, I texted and asked around. Nothing.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe we weren’t even able to get anywhere, with our whatever we had? You were way out of my league in the first place and sat high on your little cloud that you needed to be brought down a peg.”

“Ohhh funny you say that, cause you needed a little push to realized your not the most interesting man in the room or did you forget that? Our first date, you decided to take it as a favor for a friend but afterwards you liked it! You liked it a lot!”

“I did not! I was being nice, a gentleman with you because you seemed pretty alright in my books.”

“Pretty alright?”

“Yeah you’re half bad.”

“So you liked it?”

“I would say I didn’t hate it.”

Both grinned at that last comment, as a smirked laced their faces. They found each other rather attractive after everything.

The real reason, Jason didn’t follow up on that date was because he felt stupid, insecure and didn’t want to let himself be heartbroken again after so many times. He was just defending himself with an act.

That he cut it off too early but he also knew it wasn’t gonna last in the first place.

He was a complete idiot, a jerk and terrified of starting something new. Especially with the life he lives and the things he had done, he feels like he doesn’t deserve it. None of it.

It was a gut wrenching guilt he carried that made him feel that way, like it’s better to be alone sometimes.

Most importantly he didn’t want to bring anyone into this life either. But he should’ve gone about it a different way than he did, he regretted how he ended it. He wants a second chance.

A small push.

“You left sorta me hanging around for a bit afterward. It actually bothered me.” She admitted with a sigh, dropping the act.

He sighed and nodded, “And you left me questioning, you know that? Uh look, I’m not good at this..”

“Yeah well me either, I got busy. Real busy with my classes and students.”

“I can tell. The eye bags underneath your eyes. You should rest, I mean it.”

“I know I should rest..and I’m sorry too for not taking the initiative to come to you for answers…I wasn’t exactly ready for it..”

“Look, it was something I wasn’t ready for either..I was busy too. I’m sorry, I was complete jerk and I apologize for my inconvenience..and just my attitude towards this point..”

“But you did it. We both did.”

“Yeah I know, I don’t know why we did it but we did it. By all accounts, I think I owe you a second date..”

“Oh definitely you do haha! Yeah and it was—”

Both were cut off by Rei’s racing toward them almost slammed the wheels of the shopping cart against Sophie’s shopping cart. He did it on purpose, Jason was sure of it and he sigh, kinda not proud of him for that.

Yeah, Rei was trying to save him from having this conversation to try and explain himself to Sophie. He’s always thankful for the saves from the kid, but he wished his godson didn’t save him this time.

However he was definitely getting dino nuggets today for at least coming with him to the store.

Rei yanked his godfather’s arm, dragging him down the aisle as Jason shrugged sending ‘I apologize for him’ look to Sophie. She just shook his head chuckling and walked away. They pair turned around waving at each other as they separated into different aisles.

The rest of the trip went somewhat smoothly getting everything they needed from the store and more. The ride home however was quiet, with the radio station blasting music and the bit of traffic up ahead. It was mostly small talk made in the car anyways.

Until Rei said something that confused the blonde.

“She was pretty.” Said the boy, playing with his action figure that he left behind earlier.

“Who was?” Jason responded, looking at the rear view mirror.

“The lady. She was pretty.”

“The same lady you were being a little rude too? Which wasn’t nice by the way, I should’ve corrected you on that.”

“I’m sorry..I will be nicer. But yeah that lady! I was just testing if she can handle us.”

“Wait what? You were testing if she could tolerate your rudeness? Rei.”

“Sorry! And yeah, she passed. Did you dump her? Who set you up?”

———

Jason chuckled at his questions like he was being interrogated by the kid. To be honest, he knew he would ask him eventually. He was a smart kid and he could tell something was up even if he admitted it or not.

He sighed and answered him, “First, it was your mother who set us up. I did it was a favor when you little, she wanted me to head out of the house and have a night off to myself. It was a blind date.”

“Ohhhhh! It was mommy?! Wow what did you do, that she set her up with you?! She is way too pretty!” Rei exclaimed with a surprised look.

“Ouch!” Jason joked, “If you like her so much why don’t you date her?”

“Nahhh!” Rei replies giving him a grossed out, goofy smile.

“But to answer your second question, yes. I did dump her. I should’ve been nicer when I did.”

“Daddy says that’s kinda a dick move, JJ! You dumping her is mean.”

“Rei watch your language! Don’t say that word again, alright?”

“…okay. Sorry I won’t say it again, but that was kinda mean though! Mommy wanted you to date her! Why stop?”

“Bubba, you don’t get it. You’re too young.”

“Tell me! Please!”

He sighed knowing he always tries to tell him everything depending on what it is. Even if it meant dating. Rei was wondering and it was something innocent that every kid wants to know. They want to be part of conversation, even if they don’t understand it all.

Jason took a deep breath and told him, “Alright, alright I will tell you. Your uncle JJ is a dummy, okay? A bit dummy for not going along for more dates. She was nice, but I thought she was out of my league and way too good for me. I was thinking I wasn’t good enough.”

“And? So what? You were scared?” Rei asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but his tone had confusion.

“Yeah I was scared, and it’s a normal feeling to be scared. I lived and loved a lot of people, buddy. I didn’t know if I could go try it out again.”

“I think you should try it out. She got good taste in food, I saw she got Oreo cookies in her shopping cart and gummies too!”

He chuckled, “You only care about food, do you?”

“Yup! Food is always welcome in my mind.” Added the boy with a shrug.

——

Jason then asked something that was more of a honest question for his godson. Something that added to why he refused to date. His life and family he created. It was a hard way to put into words what he meant but he still tried.

So he asked, “Do you think she would be good enough to be with us for a while? Good for us, i guess? You know, handle our lives?…My life? I don’t want to bring her into this crazy world of ours..”

Rei thought for a second, he snorted at his way of wording everything and how he tried to water down what he meant.

His godfather watched him for a moment before he made a turn into another lane. Rei had a cute little thinking face where his nose would wrinkle a little like his father, Tony, but his eyes would narrow down like his mother, Maria. It was something Pepper and Peggy pointed out recently every-time they saw him think of something.

“I think she’s okay, for now. She is pretty, looks smart I think and uh, she is friends with mommy.” Rei said with a shrugged, trying to piece together his thoughts.

“Plus she got some attitude like you..” Jason added with a smile.

“I do not have attitude!”

“Yes you do, bubba.”

“Whatever.”

“Okay bubba. Whatever you say, you want to watch a movie when we get home?”

His eyes light up hearing that, “Yes please! And give me your phone, please.”

“Haha—wait why?” Jason asked with a chuckle.

“I’mma call her for you! ‘Cause you are always busy and said you are dummy.”

“Rei, you are not calling Sophie.”

“Someone gotta do it duh! You say it is okay to be scared but we gotta be brave sometimes, right JJ?”

“Don’t use my logic and words against me, child!”

The boy laughed knowing he won today as the phone was tossed over to him with the contact open to the girl in question. There was a mutual conversation between the two, because it was true.

Sometimes you need a little push to do something, even if it doesn’t always turn out well. If you ain’t gonna do it for yourself, sometimes will always do it for you. It’s something the blonde used to preach a lot, even though it wasn’t advice he didn’t always take for himself.

It was the sad part about advice but it was the truth. Sometimes you don’t take your own words too heart.

———

Moments like this, he knew Rei was the one of the coolest and smartest kids in the world. But he wouldn’t exactly tell him all that too often because according to Peggy, they’re godson’s ego would grow two sizes too big if they did.

But they love the Stark boys nonetheless.

As he left to enter the road leading to the house, he could hear Rei’s voice talking with Sophie on the phone. He could’ve sworn he heard a chuckle or two escape his mouth as his tone tried to remain calm. There were moments he heard Rei give a snarky or rude comment and joke about something in his signature tone of voice.

It was a little out of character for the kid since he didn’t like anyone very often, always giving a rude attitude towards the person that crossed his path and always liked to stay in his zone. Be a homebody and be around people he already knew instead of meeting new people.

Jason blamed himself for that, it was like Rei inherited that part of him.

But this side of Rei, where if determined he will find the confidence within himself and talk to the person, make conversation with them if it meant he got something in return.

That was something he inherited from his mother and grandmother. Maria Winter and Maria Stark.

Because Rei knew if he got his godfather a date with this girl, come Christmas time, he will get extra presents from both adults. Plus he might have another person who makes his Pops somewhat happy for a little while.

He may not always show it, but he very much appreciated Jason and grateful for having him in his life. The least he can do see him enjoy himself every once in a while with someone else, but not too much because at the end of the day that was his pops. No one else’s.

~~~

The rest of the car ride was pretty nice. Music blasting from the radio, the sun shining through the clouds and the small noise the came from the car after Rei finished his small chat with Sophie. According to him, he liked the girl and Jason chuckled at his nod of approval.

The duo were just chatting, even after parking in front of Mansion and walked inside with grocery bags, they kept discussing topics. More like Rei kept rambling on about the movie he wanted to watch, what he wanted for dinner and the idea he had for the garage. Jason just chuckled nodding and responding announcing to Jarvis they’re back home.

As Jason was putting away the groceries and getting started on lunch time, Tony walked in ruffing Rei’s hair. Tony turned to face the two and raise an eyebrow as he asked, “Okay your a good mood. Spill.”

Rei rolled his eyes and shrugged, “Nothing, dad. Relax.”

“Yeah bubba, we just went out to go some shopping. You hungry?” Jason added with a smile.

Tony nodded replies that he’s starving, sitting down next to his son. Jason told them lunch would be started soon, he just needed to change his clothes into something more comfortable, walking out of the kitchen.

Rei smiled leaning back waiting for him be out of hallway and upstairs as Tony grinned taking out the chicken nuggets and fries from the freezer with ease. Once Tony made sure his uncle out gone, he whipped his head towards Rei and asked, “Okay kid, what do you know?”

“I ain’t telling.” Rei replied with a matching grin waiting for his end of the bribe.

His father sighed, “Alright, two weeks at Disneyland park next month.”

“And?” His son added with a tune waiting for more.

“Ice cream after dinner while Pepper is asleep.”

“Much better!”

“Now spill, squirt.”

“JJ saw his ex girlfriend at the store.”

“He did?! And what happened?”

“They talked and whatever. She’s pretty much a nice girl.”

“You met her?”

“We talked for like less than 20 minutes. She is one mom’s old friends.”

Tony thought for a moment trying to remember of ex girlfriend’s Winter friends as his eyes shined, “You mean the one that looked like Disney princess with some attitude that came that last year’s New Years Eve party? Always wears a ponytail and a cute burgundy shirt?”

“Yeahhh? That one. How did you know? Don’t tell me you dated her? Gross!” Rei asked millions of questions with a weird face.

“No of course not! Not my type, I remember her cause she brought us ticket to the Mets game last year. I think your mom and her always get their nails somewhere close by when you were a little.”

“Ohhh! Oh—that was her?! ‘Baseball girl’ you called you?”

“Yup kiddo, that’s the one. I didn’t know JJ liked her.”

“I guess so! He was a chicken and dumped her, I had to call her and see what she is like.”

“You set your godfather up on a date? You’re definitely my kid!”

That was when Jason walked back in the kitchen wearing sweatpants and his favorite t-shirt noticing how they sorta got quiet when he walked inside. Seeing them getting along very well and grinning towards one another.

It was a nice surprise to see them acting like silly gooses but it was odd even the faces they were making.

He gave them a confused look waving his hand in the air and asked, “What you guys talking about?”

Both of them looked at one another then back at them as they replied, “Nothing!”

~—~~—~~

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summary: “Fuck you!” “Stop, stop!” Gally has his arms wrapped around the girl like a prison, containing the beast that bared its teeth until it surrendered to the emptiness. “There's nothing you can do! He's gone, Gwen!” Thomas has drifted from the scene before she's even noticed him. His own voice plays out pained apologies for what he's done. And for what he plans to do. warnings: death, violence, child death(canon T_T), MIX OF BOOKS AND MOVIE wc: 3,326

The first time he sees her is late in the day - eyes trained on the doors in anticipation of what Chuck's promised. Machines built into stone, coming to life just before the sun begins to set. It's insanity, and a piece of him believes it was all some elaborate trick they played on every boy brought up through the box. Some sort of initiation, and it was sick. He pictures them all gathered, looks of joy on their faces while the newcomer spun out of control, unable to grasp this new reality. Thomas felt as if his mind had been torn not in two, but completely apart in scattered pieces. Shards of memory scrambled in with this new life - one that seems impossible and too cruel for anyone to manifest. "Right on time," the shorter boy states with a wide and silly grin, almost pleased to share this moment with his new friend. To prove him wrong in a matter of minutes. The Newbie spots a dark-haired boy first - shirt tight around well-trained biceps, coated in sweat from a long day spent on the move. She rounds the same corner just after him. Dirt stains paired with her own exhaustion, cheeks red, and focus locked straight ahead - on home. A cloth lays tight against her face, concealing one eye, where multiple scars trail out from beneath and down towards her chest. He feels nauseous - not at the sight, but rather the idea of an unknown tale and how it all came to be. Neither of them slow to a steady stride until each foot landed on the warm grass, moving with purpose and ignoring the sight of a new Glader. She doesn't see him - but he sees her. Brown eyes are glued to her back as she joins others at the steel door, following the small group into the shadows of a mysterious building. "That's Gwen," Chuck chimes in with a smug expression as if hearing the mental torment Thomas put himself through. "Didn't ask," is his dry retort, making a sad attempt to shake away the daze he felt trapped within - gaze still locked on the quiet building, heart aching to know its secrets. "You will. Everybody does." Thomas’ head turns with a look of confusion in his eyes.

What was so special about the girl named Gwen? Why do they care so much?

"Only girl in The Glade." Thomas can't be sure if it's the boom of his heart rattling in his ears, or the metalwork coming to life inside the maze, but it renders all thoughts static.

The only…one?

"Don't get smart, Greenie. You're nothin' special."

She sees him hours later when dinner is loaded up onto plates. Another Greenie is just another mouth to feed and put to work. Nothing more than a body and having seen so many, they all begin to blend together in a mess of testosterone. She's forgotten the date until she spots him across the way - fighting through flames to take a closer look at the boy next to Newt. His movements are quick, head hung low as if having been caught doing something he most certainly shouldn't have. His guide wears a look of amusement, almost laughing to himself at the sudden shyness. "Who's the shank?" She questions, eyeing her mug as the concoction is filled to her liking - and just a smidgen extra. The girl lets out a gasp as the dark liquid continues to rise, the palm of her hand quickly meeting the back of the boy's head, putting the pour to an abrupt stop and spilling down her fingers. "You're shucked in the head if you think I'd drink all that." With a roll of his eyes, Gally sinks away to rest against a tree, arms crossed with his own drink in hand. "’Bout as boring as Alby." The boy takes a heavy swig of his own creation - long immune to the harsh sting against his throat. He waits a moment, a glare somehow parting through the sea of fire just to make his disgust known - hatred of a boy he knows, yet cannot place. He shrugs at first, replying, "Just another Greenbean. A pain in my ass. First place runner for a Slopper." It's his companion's turn to roll her eyes, knowing the boy all too well and his unfavorable attitude - to the Gladers, but most of all, the newbies and their curiosities. "You're bein' mean." He scoffs in reply, unable to pry his eyes away from the dark-haired teen just across the way. "I don't trust him," he states plainly. "You don't know him-" "Made himself right well at home by visiting Benny boy," he interrupts, a look of smug amusement on freckled skin - knowing full well he gave the warning, then let him slip by to suffer the consequences. He can see the way her face pales in horror - a look of shock with one good eye now fading of its spark. She thinks of Ben writhing on the bed, body twisted and drenched in his own blood and poisoned veins. It's a sight to leave anyone petrified - as if they've stumbled into a nightmare with no waking up. "Seen him in The Changing, not more than that. When Baby Benny gets it together, bet he'll tell the same." The confession leaves a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach - nausea boiling up the homebrew until it burns at her insides. The drink is long forgotten, feeling it climb and scratch like the thorns of vines as it seeks an escape. She remembers The Changing - how Gally cried and screamed for death. The way his fingers reached out into nothing, nails shredded to jagged tips as he continued to dig himself out of the grave. Not many have been stung - even fewer have survived the terror. Insanity stripping them of a sense of self as they plunge themselves into darkness if only to escape their hauntings. Gwen sees this boy differently now.

Not just a Greenie, not just a nobody tossed onto the field - but somebody from a life they've forgotten.

A life she had been robbed of.

By the time they make it out to safety, the girl is nothing more than an exhausted and emptied shell of a person. Chuck's blood stains the fabric of her shirt, dried up and stuck beneath her fingernails. There's some sickening feeling of remorse at the idea of washing him away, discarding his sacrifice, and forgetting his pain. He's at the forefront of her mind as they stand amongst…people. Strangers promising sanctuary - a light the boys left behind would never know. As if he can feel the hurt within her, the boy at her side responds in silence - seeing the broken heart she carries. Thomas' hand squeezes hers, a gesture to lift the heavy weight of grief while he continues to work through this bizarre puzzle before them. "Come with me," a woman states in kindness. Her cheeks are rosy and she appears older than her companions - slight wrinkles in her features suggest long stretches of time or severe stress. "Let's get everyone cleaned up. If you'll follow me-" she suggests, easily snaking an arm through Gwen's, guiding her away from her family - from Thomas. The feeling of his hand slipping away from her own sends an immediate panic to run hot through her. The girl's feet are planted and she's looking at the boy with wide eyes, not ready to leave him - unwilling to go with strangers. "Can't have the boys and girls together," the woman says with a laugh, using up her patience as she waits for Gwen to find an ounce of trust. It's never given. Her movement is only encouraged by the small nod of his head, telling her it was okay to go. The girl follows after her guide, focus not once leaving the freckled boy as he too watches with an intense stare. Was it longing? Or something fearful swallowed down to appear more confident for her sake. But she sees the guards at the doors, and can't help but feel as if she were in The Maze once more. Openings protected by Grievers - keeping her locked away from the ones she needed. Gwen slips from her jacket before the escort can process what's happened, watching as the girl flies across the space to collide in his arms, entangled and welcomed in his hold. He clings to her, desperate for closeness - as if her torso pressed to his own isn't enough. Her arms squeeze around his neck, face buried into him as he pulls her in. Thomas keeps darkened eyes trained on the ones at her back, intentions not truly known despite saving them from an unknown fate. "Don't want t'go," she mumbles. Thomas doesn't shift - a threat unheard but gaze burning the words against their skin.

Keep her safe - keep them all safe.

He parts from her but barely. It's just enough to lay a kiss against her forehead, before whispering words of promise, "I'll find you."

She sees him in The Scorch - that’s what they called it. A desert for miles with no hope in sight - only rocks and buildings crushed under the weight of Mother Nature, taking back what was rightfully hers. But Thomas sees something the others don’t; a chance. A life to be had free of WICKED’s grasp. Yet, they carry on and follow his steps marked in the sand. Minutes turn into hours - to days and what feels like a lifetime. Every second spent beneath the sun is more tortuous than The Maze. Still, he does not falter while others submit in his shadow. Gwen is amongst the many who surrender to the powerful forces against them - breathless as she kneels in the sand, waiting to die or be granted peace just over the horizon. He comes for her - a halo of light igniting a look of not only fear but worry in once bright eyes. “You can do this,” he encourages, leaving the weakened girl to roll her eyes. Ever the optimistic. She stands with his help, fingers laced together, not daring to part for fear they’ll suddenly vanish in the storm. “I'm sorry,” he chokes out - the dry air stealing every ounce of remorse that threatens to spill from his eyes. “I - I didn't want-” She sees Thomas as a man with hope brighter than the sun, despite the endless sea they must cross as the harsh wind tears at their skin. There's regret there, too. He endured the loss of Winston with a heavy heart - burdened by guilt and the failure of protecting his family. He's become more than just another pair of hands to build - more than some boy playing hero as he dives headfirst into certain death. He's become a leader and someone she deeply admires through unspoken words, soft touches, and subtle glances beneath the dark of night. “I'll follow you anywhere,” she says, a gust of wind knocking her tired frame forward just enough to see the shock in his eyes. He's just a boy, wearing the weight of the world on his shoulders as he carries them away without a full plan. A choice they allowed to be made for them. Widened eyes settle into realization, and his hand squeezes tightly before tugging her along the journey ahead.

She's not sure when it was decided.

When she felt the pull towards his every step, unknowing he felt the same for hers.

Hope is gone and he's lost sight of purpose in the city. The world is on fire and there's blood in the streets - blood on his hands. Brown eyes had become eerily dark as the flare took their brother. Once kind and full of a certain spark that took Thomas back to when things were simpler. They shift from a man he once knew, to ravenous and desperate for the pain to stop. He swore it all came to an end as their bodies collided, expecting a knife to dig through his flesh, only to find Newt had finished what he couldn't - providing the peace he longed for. And he thinks now, even though he was left standing, that it all did end for him there. She's on her knees at his side, head cradled in her lap with angered slaps against his cheek, as if he were only asleep. “Newt! God damnit!” The blade is ripped from his chest and tossed elsewhere, hoping the reaper would spare this one, and play favorites with a second chance. He sees her and the dread of understanding fills her expression. It pushes him further away into the shadows. “No! Fuck!” Fists pound against his heart, her sanity slipping and becoming unreasonable as she runs for Minho, demanding the serum he holds tight in a trembling fist. “Give it t'me!” With tears in tired eyes, he stands his ground and her desperation comes out as rage, lunging at him with fingers reaching for the vial, unable to grasp the concept of the loss. A brother from The Glade now gone like the others. “Fuck you!” “Stop, stop!” Gally has his arms wrapped around the girl like a prison, containing the beast that bared its teeth until it surrendered to the emptiness. “There's nothing you can do! He's gone, Gwen!”

Thomas has drifted from the scene before she's even noticed him. His own voice plays out pained apologies for what he's done.

And for what he plans to do.

The Safe Haven. A place too good to be true. Full of light and blissful smiles beneath the clear blue skies. There's no more fear, or running. The only stress being how to build the community and protect it from the forces of nature - how it always should have been. No tricks or games. No tests and gunfire to ring out in shattered eardrums. It's almost unsettling to be this still, the waves that crash against rocks and the shoreline the only thing to keep him grounded in this new reality. The taste of salt in the air is a reminder that this was no hallucination, a world people died for. Thomas could see their faces in the darkness just before he woke from a long slumber. There’s no haunting or mocking of his failures, they were just with him. Just present, never to be forgotten. He hadn't locked eyes with Gwen for more than a few seconds at a time, always in a hurry to escape the veil of guilt he wore whenever she smiled his way. Promises had been made and stripped from him as life faded from their eyes. Sometimes he thinks it’s better this way. Letting the pair fizzle out until they become strangers, to end the pain of remembering all they’ve lost. She seems to notice this poorly thought-out plan, yet instead of confronting it head-on, Gwen gives him the space he needs to grieve. Up until they stumble upon one another in the sand. This time, he doesn’t run. The space at his side is filled with her presence, arms just ghosting over one another as they take in the view before them. Having her so close is enough to ease a troubled soul, his lungs exhaling the demons he keeps close with eyes fallen shut, simply basking in the relief and she does the same.

The two remain silent for an unknown amount of time - too fearful of breaking through the calm at risk of either party walking away. But it had been weeks since she heard him speak more than a few mumbles at a distance, she aches for it. Her focus shifts from the crashing waves to his freckled skin. More sun-kissed than she remembers when they first met. A spark of blue shines from the fist at his side, muscles twitching with excitement as her fingers work their way inside. He finally looks at her, watching as she studies the vial up close and how the serum practically glows beneath the sunlight. “This yours?” There’s an uncomfortable shift. A heavy swallow working its way down as he remembers the chair he had been strapped to and all the tragedy to come after. “How’d you know?” A small smile creeps over her features, a softness he had longed for but couldn’t allow himself to enjoy. “I didn’t think you’d stop by the lab for a nice chit-chat.” A weak laugh escapes his chest, nearly missed if it hadn’t been for the smile he held in return. But it’s quick to fade as Teresa’s demise plays on loop, saddened eyes now focused elsewhere to drown out the flashing images. A deep breath steadies Gwen as she embraces the moment, following his gaze out into the horizon, waves now disguising the sound of hard labor and squeals of delight from the camp just over the cliff. “Y’know,” she begins, arms now crossed over her chest. “When I first saw you, I thought you were just another shank.” Another chuckle, unable to resist the pull as tired eyes land back on her. “Just another boy. Another ‘too curious for his own good,’ boy. Curious t’crazy. Robbing me of my ‘glory’ as ‘The Survivor,’” Gwen ends in quotes, cheeks now pink as amusement sweeps in despite the horrors mentioned. An old tale of a Griever finding her in The Maze and striking hard enough to suffer long-term damage, including the loss of an eye, where a bandage always lay.

Lips part to speak, but she’s quick to cut him off before he’s begun. “Reckless and selfless. Willing t’let them take you. Feed you fine meals and bleed you dry.” He feels his knees nearly give in as she makes the connection. There’s no more fun, only the residing fear of his almost sacrifice as he stumbles back into Janson’s hands. “A pig for slaughter.” The memories give enough discomfort that she’s shifting in place, turning to fully face a man who fought for her life. Fought for her to stand on this very beach. “Newt would have been pissed.” For a moment, his name is the dagger that tears its way through his heart. But remembering the fire the boy once had encourages a small smile and she takes it as a victory. “Come back t’me, Thomas.” She’s closer now - unable to avoid even if he wanted to as her hands lay against his sides, keeping him secured. “I want to. I - I just,” It’s the first time speaking since The Flare took their friend and all thoughts are rushing forward to be heard. He has to swallow them down in order to make any sense. “I can’t stop thinking about how I could’ve saved him. Saved Chuck and Winston. Ter-” “You can’t save everyone,” she cuts in, watching as he practically deflates and surrenders to her touch. A safe place to land no matter the distance he forced between them. “I know.” His gaze is fallen and avoidant - staring down at nothing in particular between the pair before roughened hands cup his face, thumb soothing along a stray drop of water on his cheek. “I see them all when I close my eyes. I still - I still feel Chuck’s blood on my hands, and every boy that came before him.” The sight of him is quick to blur as old wounds open, reminders of agony and mourning as the people she cared for slowly fade like a dying star. “For a while, I thought The Glade was built on the bodies of children. My family-” Thomas leans into her, foreheads pressed together with dirtied fingers laying over her touch. He hopes to absorb the hurt, letting it fill him up until her unsteady breaths begin to even out.

“For the first time in my life, Thomas, I want t’live. For all we’ve gone through. For all we’ve lost. If I can’t, then what was it all for?”

#the maze runner #tmr #thomas the maze runner #thomas tmr #thomas x oc #thomas x original character #thomas x original female character #thomas (tmr) x oc #thomas (the maze runner) x oc #newt #gally #the scorch trials #the death cure #the kill order #minho #dylan o'brien

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hoes4dylanobrien · 2 years

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It’s Just A Cigarette

Pairing: Colin (Not Okay) x You, dark!Colin (idk tho, maybe he will be a baddie irl?)

Word count: 1,900

Rated: T (M later chapters)

A/N: Behold! Another short mini-series! (Because my impatient ass couldn’t wait for other Colin fics ...)

As the bell rang, signaling your last class of the week, you packed up your things, absently listening to the teacher call out a reminder about term papers being due Monday.

“You get that?” You asked your best friend, Chloe, whose head hadn’t lifted once from the essay she was typing out on her phone to Eric, presumably (her boyfriend).

“Get what?” She asked as you exited the classroom and headed for your lockers. “The homework assignment. The one Mr. Windham has been mentioning for, I don’t know, weeks at this point?”

“Mhm,” she hummed, finally looking up when you stared at her expectantly. “Oh, right. Yeah. Totally got that.”

You huffed out a laugh, shaking your head. You didn’t believe her for a second. You shut your locker, having taken everything you needed for the long weekend. “So, you doing anything this weekend? Thought we could sleepover at my place and then go to the mall with Eric tomorrow.”

You scrunched up your face at the mention of the preppy blond-haired boy. Let’s just say he wasn’t your favorite person to be around; between his reckless, cheating ways, and his hot and cold attitude toward your best friend, he was only marginally tolerable on a good day. You kept things civil for Chloe’s sake, though, but that didn’t mean you didn’t take any and all outs to avoid the asshole. Then you remembered you were actually busy for once. Or hoping to be, anyway. “Actually, I have plans.”

“Oh?” Chloe turned to look at you with keen interest. You? Was the unasked question on the tip of her tongue. Compared to the lively brunette, you were practically a shut in, choosing to focus more of your time on school, and family time watching movies or a good game of scrabble.

“Yeah. Hoping to catch up with Colin. I haven't seen much of him since he started college in the Fall... he sorta invited me to hang out with him and meet his friends this weekend.”

“Woah, really?” You could see her eyes glazing over at the mention of your older foster brother, who she’d been crushing on not-so-subtly since the moment she laid eyes on him a year ago when he joined your family.

He was past the age of 18, but like a lot of older kids in foster care he still needed support, thus able to stay in the system until age 21. At first it was a little weird having a stranger living in your childhood home, having grown up an only child, and a spoiled one at that in the wealthy Northern New Jersey suburb, but your parents wanted to give back, and had always wanted a sibling for you.

Truthfully, he didn’t feel much like a sibling; having left for college early in the summer, there was little over 12 months you had actually spent time with each other in the same household, and that was when he wasn’t running out with friends to get high. In some ways you didn’t blame Chloe for feeling that way about him. You would be lying to yourself if he didn’t make your heart race a little.

“So is he picking you up, or...?” She angled.

You shook your head. “He gave up his car when he moved to the city. Mom or dad will drop me off at the station and I’ll take the train in and then subway down.” You were referring to the PATH train which runs from NJ to NYC in relatively short amount of time. Convenient. It was a wonder Colin didn’t come to visit more often. You wondered if he was embarrassed about you and your parents; he always kept to himself in the short time he lived with you, even when you tried to get him to join in games or family outings. He was never rude about it, but firm in wanting to be left out.

“Oh, gotcha. Yeah, my step-mom uses it a lot for work. She works in fashion in mid-town. Did I ever tell you that? She has, like, the coolest job.”

“Might’ve mentioned it once or twice...” Or a million, you sniggered to yourself. Seeing your house in the distance, hers on the next street over, you both paused, this usually where you went your separate ways. “Keep me in the loop! I can’t wait to hear what crazy things you get up to with Colin!”

“We’re not doing anything crazy. Like I said, probably will just meet and chill with his friends. Maybe he’ll show me around campus.”

She raised her eyebrow, starting to slowly walk backwards to cross the street. “Holdin’ my breath on that one - I’ve seen his insta. Major partier, like, every other day. Be safe!”

You waved back to her, eyebrows furrowed as you made the last trek to your house. Your hands were itching to look at your phone, not even thinking to check if he was on social media. He always struck you as the non-conformist, and so social media seemed so out of scope for him.

You barely remembered to greet your mom in the doorway as you climbed the staircase to your bedroom, glued to your phone. You found him immediately, his profile not being private. You scrolled through pictures, of which there were many, most starting since starting college, although the first few were from high school of him and his buddies hanging at the park or skate rink fooling around and smoking.

Chloe may have been onto something: many of the more recent photos were of him partying. Some repeat faces, but many were different. Some group photos with other guys, presumably his new friends, others with girls wearing skimpy outfits. In many he looked out of it, whether due to alcohol or weed or something else (although you hoped nothing beyond weed, which was bad enough). In one photo his eyes were completely closed, but he was smiling, red cup raised with a girl on his arm, tits pressed to him as she tried to capture his lips in a kiss.

“Marnie,” your mom called, voice carrying up the staircase to your open bedroom door. “Yeah?”

“Are you ready to head to the train? I’m ready to wrap-up dinner.” Your mom was nearly as excited to cook Colin a home-cooked meal as you were at the prospect of seeing him.

“Yeah, just give me a sec.” You packed quickly, figuring more was better than less in case you could stay overnight all three nights. Once you were finished you turned the lights out and came down the stairs where your mom was waiting. You freshened up a bit, but saved the make up for the train; you didnt need any questions about why you were suddenly making an effort with your appearance where Colin was concerned.

“You look nice,” she noted as you headed out to the car, locking up behind. Dad was working late tonight, so he wasn't able to see you out. “For the best,” your mom said, checking the rear view mirror and backing out. “He was a bundle of nerves about you spending the weekend on a college campus.”

“I know not to drink the punch, if that’s what he’s worried about.”

“It’s not just that,” your mom pinned you a serious look. “There’s a lot of boys that will be there, drunk ones, and you being underage... Just promise me you’ll be careful, all right?”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Dad!” You laughed good-naturedly. Your dad was known as the ‘worry wart’ of the family. Working in insurance lended itself naturally to that personality.

“Marnie...”

“Yes, I’ll be careful. All right? I’ll be aware of my surroundings, won’t walk alone at night, won’t talk to strangers-

“And check in often,” Mom interrupted. “And if you have to be at a party, don’t go anywhere without Colin, OK?”

“Yes, mom.” Although the mere mental picture of being Colin’s shadow at a college rager wasn’t exactly appealing. He’d probably ditch you at the first sign of a hook up.

“And look both ways before you enter traffic,” your mom was spewing a rambling, anxiety-ridden consciousness: “It’s not like the suburbs, hunny, they won’t stop-”

“Yes, mom. I got it. Promise. I do have common sense, you know?”

She sighed, pulling up to the train station where a few vehicles had already started forming a line. “I know I'm sounding overbearing, but remember, you’re my baby and I want you to come home safe.”

“Any reason you didn’t have half this concern when Colin actually went away to college in the big city?” You weren’t asking maliciously, but out of curiosity.

Your mom smiled. “Colin’s different. He’s had the unfortunate reality of living in a lot of unideal, putting it mildly, home situations. He had to grow up fast, and from what I gathered, some of his placements were in New York, so he knows what to do and not to do. You, missy - and I love you dearly - but you do not have those same street smarts. So stick to Colin, all right? And do what he says. If he gets annoyed, too bad; hopefully my special lasagna will soothe some of that teenage angst.”

I laughed along with her, shifting my bags to pick up the lasagna. “He better, this just added another 5 pounds to my carry weight!”

Mom waited with me until the train came by, kissing me goodbye and repeating her earlier words to stay in touch often. I waved her off, but secretly was pleased. Not everyone had as great parents as I did, even if they were annoying at times. I would always be grateful.

I got a seat to myself in a corner, watching the passing scenery. It was late afternoon, creeping into evening; the sun shone low amongst the trees, parks, houses, whole towns going by at breakneck speed.

I thought ahead to my reunion with Colin, wondering what he looked like now, how he’d react to me. It had been almost a year since we’d seen each other, and a lot had changed. More than anything I was hoping he didn’t see me as the nerdy, little girl that hung around past her welcome (a lot of times, it felt like I was forcing myself in his company...)

With only another five minutes or so left, I went to re-apply make up, taking my hair out of its pony tail flipping it down and back and running a hand through it to accomplish that effortlessly messy bombshell look, spritzing some perfume through my locks and along my neck and wrists. I’d worn a sweatshirt around my hips to disguise the fact I was wearing some very short-shorts, a loose fitting tee (but deep V to show the obvious outline of my breasts ) and rounding it out with converse to walk around.

All in all, I was going for casual (I didn’t want it to look like I was trying too hard to impress anybody) but in a way that showed off my best assets. I only hoped Colin would agree, and that he’d finally notice me in the way I’d been wanting for so long.

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screamxqueenx94 · 2 years

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Full Of Surprises/ For Your Protection

Summary: Violet drags Mitch to her favorite cafe after getting her nails done where Mitch learns that she has a few more surprises up her sleeve. Both good and bad of course, but that won't even be the end of her secrets

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to post this! I have a lot going on in my personal life right now so all these parts are coming out when I get a chance to post them, let alone write them, but I thank you guys for sticking around! If you want to be added to the tag list, let me know if you aren't already!

Warnings: mentions of an emotionally abusive parent, some fluff too

Pairings: Mitch Rapp x OC!Violet Monroe (eventually)

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Violet finishes paying at the nail salon and walks out with Mitch as she admires her new nails.

"Happy?" Mitch asks with both hands in his jacket pockets.

She just nods with a smile on her face as she continues to admire them. He peeks over and looks at them, half smiles and then keeps facing forward.

"They look nice." He muttered, assuming she wouldn't hear him.

She looks at him and smiles brightly.

"Thank you." She replies shyly, playing with one of her dutch braids.

"They almost match my shoes!" She points proudly at her sneakers, getting a smirk from Mitch.

They get to the corner of the street and she stops Mitch dead in his tracks.

"What? What is it?" He asks, concerned.

"The Yellow Frame Cafe. This is my favorite cafe… I love coming here every time I'm in New York." She reminisces.

Mitch looks at her, then to the hipster cafe, then to her again. He looks at the cafe once more and lets out an exasperated sigh as he puts his hand on her back and leads her into the cafe resembling Central Perk. They snatch a table closest to the back and sit. Violet removes her sunglasses off her face and picks up the specials menu as Mitch discreetly scopes the place for anyone who looks suspicious. He looks at her again, secretly admiring her while she's paying attention to the menu and none to him.

She's beaming as she looks at their specials menu, getting giddy as she names off some of the sweet treats.

"Mama's Little Bakery Cheesecake sounds awesome!" She holds up the specials menu, showing the picture of it to Mitch.

"And it came from the same bakery that the cheesecake from FRIENDS did!" She continued excitedly.

"Never would have pegged you as a foodie." Mitch admits with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Is that bad?" She asks, playing with her braid again, nervously.

"No, just surprising. You kinda give off a black coffee and cigarettes only kinda vibe." He expresses, motioning his hand in a circular motion in her direction, trying to explain that's what her aesthetic gives off.

"I wasn't really allowed to enjoy food growing up, so, y'know, taking advantage of the adult freedom I have now."

Mitch looks at her with a confused look. "You weren't allowed to enjoy food?"

"I was a pageant kid. Food was strictly for nourishment apart from the literal sticks of sugar and liters of Mountain Dew my mom would shove down my throat to keep me energized during pageants."

"That sounds like an absolute nightmare. " Mitch blatantly stated with a look of concern in his eyes.

"Oh it was. I hated every second of it." She added nonchalantly, not looking up from the menu.

As Mitch sat there with his mouth slightly gaped from the utter shock from what he just heard, a young waitress came up to them. She was polite and sweet when she approached. She took their order of two black coffees and a slice of the Mama's Little Bakery cheesecake.

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"You gotta try this." Violet encouraged after taking a bite of cheesecake.

"No thanks." Mitch answered back emotionless.

"C'mon, Mitch! You gotta live a little!" Violet continued.

"I've lived already. Would not do it again."

"Oh c'mon, don't be such a sourpuss." She playfully teased.

Mitch sat there and rolled his eyes. She takes her fork and cuts a piece of the cheesecake.

"If you try one bite, I will leave you alone about it." She sang, holding the fork up towards him, her eyes insisting.

Mitch huffs, leans forward and tries a bite. The cake is smooth and perfectly moist. His taste buds almost exploded at how amazing it was. He thought the breakfast he had this morning was amazing, this cheesecake almost brought a tear to his eye. He slowly chews it to savor the taste.

"So? How is it?" Violet asks, resting her chin on her hand, knowing exactly what he thought of it.

Mitch pulls himself together and downplays it. "It's alright."

"Bullshit." She calls out.

"What?"

"You can't bullshit a bullshiter, Mitch." She teases, cutting herself another piece of the cheesecake.

"Admit it, it's the best you ever had."

Mitch rolls his eyes again.

"I'm waiting." She continues to look at him, resting her hand on her chin again with a confident glimmer in her eyes.

He finally cracks and lets out a chuckle. "Okay, fine. You win… it's the best cheesecake I ever tasted."

"I knew it."

He chuckles again and takes a sip of his coffee. They sit in silence for a moment until something catches the corner of her eye. She looks at Mitch with a raised eyebrow, brushes off any crumbs from her t-shirt, stands up and smoothes out her shorts and heads over to the piano sitting against the wall surrounded by bookcases in the cafe.

She takes a seat at the bench. She lifts the fallboard and grazes over the keys before she starts to play Ballade No. 1 by Chopin. She never misses a note. She stays at the perfect pace. She's focused, never taking her attention from the song. Her eyes closed as she plays from memory.

After ten minutes, she finishes the song. A loud applause from the patrons and employees brings her back to reality. She gets up and does a playful curtsey and thanks a few people in passing on her way back to her and Mitch's table.

"You're just full of surprises, huh?" Mitch noted, amused.

"Gotta keep people on their toes somehow." She charmed.

.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·

Back at the hotel room, Mitch closes the door behind them. Violet sets her bag down on the chair in the living area as she heads to her room.

"How come you're not a musician?" Mitch asks, making Violet stop dead in her tracks and turn towards him.

"Well, obviously you are extremely talented on the piano. You could've been a professional pianist…why study political science of all things?" He continued as he took a few steps closer to her, removing his jacket and hanging it over the back of the couch.

He wanted to understand her. She was a mystery to him and he was dying to solve it. She sighed, looked down at her feet and started her nervous habit of playing with her hair again.

"My father wanted me to go into it. His dream for me was to be a politician like him one day." She answered as if she was ashamed.

"That's a waste of a talent though." He defends.

Violet slumps into the chair she had just set her purse on, blowing a raspberry before she explained. "My father always had high expectations of my brother and I…"

She leans forward, intertwining her fingers together and continued as Mitch slid onto the couch next to her. "He expected both of us to be just like him. He wants to have 'the most powerful family in America'." using air quotes on the last part.

She looked at Mitch as she continued to speak. "When I was five, I had expressed to him that my dream was to be a singer, or more specifically, a rockstar. Instead of doing what most parents do and be supportive and tell their child 'the sky's the limit', he looks me dead in my eyes and says; 'You'll just be wasting your time! You'd never make it! For that to happen, you have to actually be good!'"

Violet starts tearing up as she repeats the words her father said to her. She quickly looks away from Mitch, wiping her tears away and letting out a forced chuckle. "I figured that if I practiced and got better, maybe he'd change his thoughts. Maybe he'd support me and want me to go for it. So I learned to play piano and guitar, to sing and even to produce music by the time I was twelve."

She continued as she played with a string on her cut offs. "I played him a song I wrote and produced myself to show him how proud I was of myself. How hard I worked to show him that I could do it, but instead of being the encouraging response I hoped for, he just told me that music isn't a noble profession and that no daughter of his was going to be such an embarrassment to the family."

She sniffled. Mitch just looked down at his clasped hands, listening to her intently. He then looked at her with sympathetic eyes. She looked at him, fighting back her tears. They sit there for a moment, just gazing into each others' eyes in silence until Violet breaks the silence.

She sniffles again, wiping away her tears. "I'm sorry to lay this all out like that. I'm normally not like this." She forces a chuckle as she talks, trying to hide her obvious pain.

"Sometimes we need to let it out." Mitch shrugs, trying to comfort her. "I've learned the hard way that it's not good to keep things bottled up."

"No offense, but you don't exactly seem like the type of guy to have a crying session every now and then." She jokes.

He half smiles. "I'm not, but I've learned to vent. It certainly helps, especially in my line of work. Also with how I got into my line of work, but that's a story for another time."

He pauses for a moment, sitting back to get more comfortable on the couch. "The point is, don't be embarrassed to talk. Whoever made you feel that way is the bad guy, not you. We're gonna be stuck together for a while, so take advantage of having someone to listen."

She smiles weakly and nods.

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@mrs-mitch-rapp93 @coconutstars @javalavax @thewickeddgoddess @hufflepuff-foodie @bxchanansbarnes @life-is-obrien @daisyxbuckley @porg-damneron @stiles-o-dylan24 @maliatatevevo @confuscita @blueraindrops @teenwolfmarvel-obsessor

#mitch rapp #mitch rapp x oc #american assassin #american assassin fanfiction #mitch rapp fanfiction #mitch rapp fluff #dylan o'brien

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You Better Pt.3 - Joel Dawson

Author: @stilinskiparker Characters: Joel Dawson x Olivia Davis (OC) eventually Word Count: 3,664 Warnings: hell idk.. comedy??, monster stuff, italics are my (jess) inner thoughts, A/N: Hi, friends! Here’s part three! So... I haven’t posted on this series since Nov 2020... We moved shortly after I posted Pt2, and I just haven’t thought about this series until about 5/14/22... which at the time of typing this up was two days ago. BUT! If you like this part, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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dylan o’brien + characters masterlist

joel dawson masterlist

~~~

TODAY PT3 CONTINUED…

As Clyde was looking over the cliff we stopped near to look for monsters, Minnow painted a target on a cactus to help teach me how to aim a little better… because we all know by now that my aim sucks.

So, while they were both doing that, Lady and I were slowly making our way towards them. I was so bad out of shape from all the spaghetti I’d made in the bunker.. Damn carbs. While I was huffing and puffing, I almost lost my footing. “Shit.”

“Language,” Minnow said.

“How the– you know what? Nevermind.” I caught my breath for a second before saying, “That’s a good, uh, that’s a good little workout there, Clyde.” I sat down then fell to my back, hunching all weird ‘cause of my backpack.

“A boy, huh?” Clyde asked.

“Yup,” I answered as Minnow took my crossbow out of my backpack. “My best friend. We got separated into different colonies when the monsters destroyed our town. Ow.”

“So, you left a nice, safe colony to travel to another colony to pick up this friend then head to the ocean so he hasn’t seen since he was, what, 17?” Clyde asked.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” I said. “I know it sounds crazy. I don’t know. If you knew our connection, or rather his connection to hers, you’d probably feel differently. We just got back in touch with each other over the radio a few weeks ago.” I looked down. “I don’t know. I feel like our connection is still there, ya’know. Hopefully, it’s a pick up where we left off type of thing. Feels like it, anyway..”

Minnow handed me my crossbow back while Clyde asked, “You ever hear of the term a fool’s errand?”

“Yes,” I said, standing up. “So, what? I’m a fool for wanting to see my best friend?”

“No. You’re a fool because you’re out here alone, not knowing a thing about survival…”

I aimed my crossbow as he was talking, pulling the trigger with the arrow not going very far. I looked at Minnow, who had a look of disappointment on her face as I said, “It– it was the– the wind.”

“You shoot for shit,” Clyde continued. “Yet you have an attitude like you’re some kind of noble warrior floating on the wings of love. Doesn’t work like that, kid.”

“Okay,” I said. “But who the hell said anything about love?” Minnow handed me the crossbow again after reloading it for me… again.

She pointed to the target before I fiddled with it for a moment. Holding it up how I was supposed to, I looked through the little scope I attached to it. I pulled the trigger again… only for the arrow to shoot up instead of straight. Tossing my head back, I said, “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”

“You cuss one more time, I’m gonna start punching you,” Minnow sassed. “Besides, you’re braining out.”

“Huh?” I looked at her. “What does that mean?”

“Braining out. You’re thinking too much. I always clear my mind and say to myself, a needle through water.”

“A needle through water?”

“Liv, trust me. My dad was the best archer in my colony.”

“Oh, he was? Okay. Then why isn’t he out here giving me lessons?” I looked at Clyde, who looked back at me.

“Because I’m not her dad,” he said.

“My dad got killed,” Minnow said. “Back when we lived in the subway station… along with Elliot.”

“Oh, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry,” I said. “Wh-who’s Elliot?”

“My son,” Clyde said, putting his bag back on his back.

I hung my head. “ I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. We all have stories like that, don’t we?”

After Minnow handed me my crossbow back, I started to aim it while saying to myself, “Needle through water. Needle through water.” I pulled the trigger and shot the arrow… into the cactus next to it. “Hey, that was pretty close!” “It was better,” Minnow said.

“It was really good, right? Right?”

Minnow didn’t say anything, just slowly turned a little to the left.

“Ya’know, kid. You gonna hang with us, you need to know some stuff,” Clyde said.

Putting my crossbow on my shoulder, I said, “Yeah. Okay.” I was trying to look all cool and shit, but I don’t think I was getting that point across.

“First lesson.”

“Hit me.”

“Always survey from high ground when possible.”

Quickly putting down my crossbow, I put my backpack down, grabbing my notebook and writing down all the points he was going to tell me.

“Always,” Minnow said.

“Got it,” I said. “Always.”

“Helps you spot the big ones in advance,” Clyde said.

Writing down what he just said, I responded, “This is good. Keep going. It’s also nice to know that that thing’s not following us anymore.”

As I packed my notebook back up, Clyde said, “No, no, it’s definitely still following us. I just saw it. Yeah.”

“Wait, what?” I picked my bag up, putting it back on my back.

Clyde looked over at Minnow and said, “Chumbler,” to which she responded with, “I knew it!”

“Big son of bitch, too,” Clyde commented.

“Big sumanabitch,” Minnow said.

I heard Lady groan a little before Clyde said, “Got your scent, too. Gonna be hard to shake.”

“Then what the hell are we still here for?” I said.

“Relax,” Minnow said. “Chumbler’s aren’t fast. We gotta keep moving.”

Clyde hummed in agreement. “Should’ve already been gone.”

With fear lacing my voice as Clyde and Minnow started walking, I said, “It’s not my scent.” I looked down at Lady and repeated it, more fear laced.

“Oh, yeah, it does.”

I ran over to the edge of the cliff and looked down, seeing the monster frog, now known as the Chumbler, moving through the trees. I turned around and ran to Minnow and Clyde. Once we got into the woods, I asked, “Where are you guys headed anyway.”

“North.”

“To the mountains,” Minnow said.

“What’s up there?” I wondered.

“A place called Snow Mountain Wilderness,” Clyde said. “Supposed to be some kind of colony up there full of survivors. The cold and elevation help to keep the monsters away.”

Turning to face me for a second, Minnow said, “You should definitely come with us!”

“I would, but ya’know–”

“You gotta go find your boyfriend,” she said, getting onto higher ground.

“One, Joel isn’t my boyfriend,” I said. “And two, if you knew him, you’d really like him.”

“Like how you love him?”

Flabbergasted, I didn’t know what to say. “Minnow!”

“He’s not gonna love you back ‘cause you can’t even get out of a Sandgobbler’s nest, and honestly, I just like you ‘cause you have a really cute dog.”

“Hurts right in the gut.”

“You’re so useless.”

“Uh–” I turned to look at Clyde, who reassured, “It just means she likes you. Don’t let it get to you. She’s been through a lot.”

I looked at Minnow, who was messing with some grass, while saying, “So annoying.” Looking back at Clyde, I noticed his whole demeanor changed before he said. “Liv?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t. Move.”

“Oh, my gosh.”

“Gimme your shirt.”

“My shirt?”

“I know you have a tank under your shirt. Gimme your shirt.”

I heard rumbling behind me as I whispered, “What do you mean?”

“Your shirt. Gimme your shirt.”

I mean honestly. How many times can he say “gimme your shirt”?

“Okay,” I whispered, not wanting to move.

“Get– Hurr– Gimme your shirt,” Clyde whispered.

“Give him your shirt, Liv,” Minnow whispered.

“Gimme your shirt.”

Very slowly with shaky hands and arms, I reached for the strap and the top of my jacket on my shoulder, tears starting to lace my eyes. “Shut up, I’m trying.” I finally got everything off my shoulders as Clyde said, “Take it easy. That’s it, that’s it.”

“Is it a Chumbler?” I asked.

“No,” he said, going to help take my shirt off.

“What is it called?

“Take it easy. Lean over,” he said.

“If I don’t make it–”

Shushing me, Clyde bent me over more, taking the back of my shirt and pulling it over my head and down my arms. As I stood back up slowly, he came up my right side, hand on shoulder, saying, “Just stay very still.”

Very, very quietly and shakily, I replied, “Okay.”

I turned around, seeing a giant snail looking thing as Clyde started addressing the monster behind me, it growling at some points. “Ooooookay, buddy. Shh, shh, shh, shh. Easy does it. It’s okay.” Putting my shirt in the snail's rocks, Clyde continued, “You’re okay. It’s okay. You’re alright. Alright. Okay, now. On your way.”

The snail roared at Clyde before turning away and going on his journey… with my shirt.

“All good. On your way, now. On your way. Good boy, good boy.”

I’m guessing I had a look of terror on my face because Minnow said, “What’chu so scared for? Boulder Snails are nice.”

“There can be nice ones?” I asked, voice cracking at the end.

Pointing to her eyes, she said, “You can always tell in their eyes. Just look at their eyes.”

This one probably just saved our lives, too,” Clyde said.

“Saved our lives,” I whispered.

“Gonna spread your scent all over this hillside. Shoot. That ol’ Chumbler ain’t gonna know which way to go.”

Feeling high as shit because I’m still terrified, I said, “So the Chumbler’s gonna follow my shirt?”

After a small roar from the Snail, Minnow and Clyde said, “Thank you, Mr. Boulder Snail!”

Getting a little cold from being scared, I wrapped my arms around my body, slurring, “Thank you.”

“They’re very sensitive, you know,” Clyde said. “But they’ll crush your ass… in a second.”

Still slurring, I said, “What a way to go.”

~~~

Night finally came, and I was calmed from our little adventure with Mr. Boulder Snail, sitting by a fire, hearing all sorts of noises from different monsters as I drew and wrote in my book. Even started writing Joel another letter.

Dear Joel, I don’t really know what to say other than I’m sitting by a fire with two people I just met; an older gentleman named Clyde, and a young girl about 10 or 12 named Minnow. They’re awesome.

I encountered a couple of new monsters today. One called a Sandgobbler and it almost ate my skin off my bones, and another called a Boulder Snail; he was nicer.

Did you know that you can tell if a monster is nice just by looking at their eyes? Yeah. Minnow told me!

I’ve been trying to write while on my journey to see you, which hopefully I’ll be able to bust out two more of them for you.

I really fucking miss you, Joel. Like, bad.

“What’cha doing?”

Jumping about ten feet out of my skin, I looked at who scared me; Clyde. “You just scared the hell out of me.” After getting my heart back in my chest, I said, “A letter. To Joel. I’ve been writing him letters. I started after we got separated, but stopped after a little while. I just picked it back up again. It’s a good way for me to get my thoughts out on paper, and I normally talked to him about all my thoughts, but…”

As Clyde made his way back over to where he was sitting before, I continued, “I also write about all the monsters we’ve encountered. I’m not the best artist or else I would draw them. That’s more Joel’s speed. From what I can remember, he’s terrible.” I chuckled, remembering all the drawings he’d shown me. “It’s nothing special. I’ll just write about all the monsters' strengths and weaknesses… shit like that. Felt like I was helping, ya’know.”

“You’re a pretty good writer,” Clyde said. I turned a couple pages, coming to one in particular that caught his eye. “I seen this one. Ugly bastard. Doesn’t like loud noises, also doesn’t like shotgun blasts to the head. Might wanna add that.”

I took my pencil and wrote down shotgun to the face. “Got it.”

“Do you mind if I–?”

“Oh, sure,” I said. “Go ahead.” I handed him my notebook, letting him look through it.

“Very pretty handwriting,” he commented. “Spent a lot of time perfecting all the different fonts?”

I nodded my head. “Yup. I needed something to do while down in the bunker, so I found this calligraphy book and just started practicing. Wasn’t anything special and it sure as shit didn’t help the colony out any.”

He flipped to a page about Agatha 6-1-6. “I was 16 when it hit.”

“Yeah, they sent everything up at once to take her down,” Clyde commented. “They had the balls to call us the lucky ones just ‘cause of whatever the hell was in those things didn’t affect us. Ain’t nothing lucky about getting kicked off the top of the food chain.”

“Yeah, my parent’s and Joel’s parents thought if we could just.. make it out Fairfield, then we might’ve had a shot,” I said, looking down as sadness laced my voice.

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re from Fairfield?”

“Yeah, why?” I asked, looking back up at Clyde.

“I’ve never met anyone who made it out of Fairfield. That place was basically ground zero. Shit, I’ve only heard horror stories.”

I nodded my head, saying, “Yeah, it was pretty bad.”

“Your parents, uhh…”

“No, no. It’s just me…”

“And this Joel kid?”

“Yup. Just me and Joel. We couldn’t save our parents.”

“You putting that on yourself?” he asked, to which I hummed at. He sighed and said, “You’re from Fairfield. You shouldn’t even be here. Right? You’re more of a survivor than I thought.”

“Gee, thanks.” I thought about his words for a moment. “That’s actually the coolest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

Handing me my notebook back, Clyde said, “It’s a good start. Keep it up. Book like this could save someone’s life out here.”

“Thanks, Clyde.” “You, uhm… you’re sure this boy is worth it? Coming all this way?”

“Yeah,. He is.”

A few seconds of silence went by as Clyde messed with logs in the fire before Minnow said, “Don’t settle, Liv.”

“She’s right,” Clyde said. “You don’t have to. Not even at the end of the world.” He rustled my hair some before I tried to get in a comfortable position to sleep, but that was short lived when Clyde clapped really loud and said, “Okay! Time to break camp! Let’s go!”

“Wait, what?” I asked, completely baffled.

“Lesson 2,” he said, standing and putting his bag on his back. “You get a hot meal or a good night’s sleep. Not both.”

“Not both,” Minnow said.

I sat up, opening my notebook to the page I titled Lessons from Clyde and Minnow before I packed it up and stood, shouldering my bag straps. “Are you being serious?”

“Something will have smelled our food and be all over this camp within the hour,” Clyde said.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me that, though? I didn’t do either!”

“We can’t tell you everything. Keep up.” Clyde poured water on the fire and we headed off!

All night we walked, and well into the morning. I was tired, I was starving. We stopped off at a little spot, where Minnow painted a face with a target in the middle for shooting practice.

“Rwar! I’m gonna kill you, Liv Davis! I’m gonna eat you like broccoli!” Minnow said, growling at the end. “I’m Liv, and I can’t protect my boyfriend and I’m useless and insecure and an awkward little teenager. But I need you to save me! I thought you loved me! But I can’t because–” She started making shrieking noises.

I looked down at her from my crossbow, asking, “What?”

“That’s your boyfriend dying,” she said.

“One; we’ve been over this, he’s not my boyfriend,” I said. “And two; what?”

“A needle through water.”

I sighed, looking back through my bow’s scope, muttering, “A needle through water. Needle through water,” before I pulled the trigger and landed the arrow right between the “eyes” of this tree.

Minnow cheered for me as I looked shocked. “See? Bull’s Eye!” She rammed straight into my side, causing me to groan before shrieking as we both went down the ground.

“Got yourself a little sister there, huh?” Clyde asked. “Hey, we gotta get going.”

“Okay,” I groaned. “Minnow get up. We gotta go.” I went to get up, but couldn’t because Minnow wouldn’t get up. “Minnow? What are you doing?” We eventually got up and continued our journey before making a quick stop again, giving me the perfect opportunity to write another letter to Joel.

Dear Joel, I made some friends! Human friends! You already know about them; Clyde and Minnow. I don’t know why I’m telling you that again. But they’re teaching me everything they know. Like in lesson three; don’t take shortcuts! Lesson eight; target practice everyday! I’m getting pretty damn good with my crossbow, if I do say so myself. Lesson ten is a good one; keep your socks dry.

I’m really struggling with lesson two; not both. Meaning I can’t have a hot meal and a good night’s sleep. I’m super tired, and we both know how I get when I’m super tired.

After getting to a certain point in our journey, Clyde ever so kindly informed me, “Alright, there’s a lot of things out here that you shouldn’t touch or eat. Ferns like these have an antivemon. Good in pinch for snakes, slugs. Great entry for your book.”

I was trying to write and walk at the same time, which wasn’t working out great, but I’d be able to sit and rewrite all this later. “Yup. Got it.”

“The insect looking ones got no peripheral vision. Lizard looking ones can’t climb for shit. Amphibian looking ones like to hide, lure ya in, eat’cha whole. Then there’s the Sandgobblers, the badasses.”

“Badasses,” Minnow said.

“Yup,” I said. “Fell in their hole. That’s how we met, remember?”

“But what you saw were worker bees,” Clyde said. “What you wanna avoid under all circumstances is the queen.”

“How do I know if I’ve come in contact with the queen?” I asked.

“Well, your first clue would be a giant fin slicing through the Earth, following every single sound and vibration you make. You howling in pain as you’re being ripped in half will be your second.”

“Copy that. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We’re getting close to where our paths diverge. You’re gonna want to go West to Jenner, the beaches. Or you can be sensible and come with us to the mountains.”

“Yeah, I’ve been sensible all my life and it’s literally gotten me nowhere,” I said.

“Come with us,” Clyde said. “Strength in numbers, ya’know? Besides, we’d make a great team.”

“Yeah, I think so, it’s just–” I trailed off. “This is something I’ve gotta do.”

“It’s not fair,” Minnow said.

I turned around and locked eyes with her, seeing sadness all over her face. “Minnow.” I walked over to her, crouching down. “What’s going on, bub?” “Why do you gotta go?” she said, voice breaking.

“Because this boy,” I said. “He really means a lot to me. Come on, you know I gotta do this. We talked about it.” Thinking about my next move, I decided to give her something . “Hey, you know what? I got something for ya.” Reaching into my bag, I got the baseball that I was saving for Joel out, handing it to her.

“A baseball?” she asked, excitedly. She took it from my hands as I said, “Yeah,” before she hugged me tightly, grateful for this gift.

She stood back up, as she had to bend a little to hug me. “I take back what I said before. Joel’s gonna love you back.”

Not wanting to argue with her about the topic anymore because… well, because she’s right, I smiled and said, “Thanks, Minnow. Oop. You got some snot.” I stood and wiped her nose with the bottom of my jacket, both of us chuckling. “Come on.”

I turned around and walked towards Clyde, who was standing at the edge of woods near a clearing.

“Final lesson,” he said. “Listen to your instincts out here. They’ll keep you alive.” He turned to look at me.

“What if I have the worst instincts?” I asked.

“You’ll die,” he said, almost nonchalantly while almost happy at the same time.

“Okay.” “Listen, love. Good instincts are earned by making mistakes. If you’re lucky enough to survive a few mistakes, you’re gonna be okay out here.” He held up a grenade, saying, “This might come in handy, too.”

Taking it from him, I said, “Wow. That’s awesome. Do you have any more that I could have?” “You get one,” he said. “Pull the pin, count to five. Not four, not six.”

I repeated the number five while looking at the explosive in my hands as Clyde put his hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re gonna be okay. Minnow? Let’s go, kid.” They started walking off as he said, “Hey, Liv! You made it all this way from Fairfield. What’s another 30 miles?”

“30 miles?” I said to myself. I started walking towards them when I asked, “You mean we passed Joel’s colony?!”

“Be safe out here!”

I stopped walking as Lady continued her journey towards Clyde and Minnow, as Clyde said, “Here she comes!” Lady gave them some love before heading back in my direction.

We all raised our hands in goodbye before they continued on their journey.

At Lady’s whine, I said, “Yeah, I’m gonna miss them, too.” I turned around and started walking back to the woods we emerged from, Lady staying where she was. “Come on, Lady.” I turned my back to see if she started following or not, and to my somewhat surprise, she did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N 2: And that’s where we’re gonna end it for now. I know, I know, cliffhanger. But the series will continue a little while after YABMH && WLCFL ends.

~~~

Forever / Everything Taglist: @stiles-o-dylan24 @stixnstripesworld @fandom-princess-forevermore @quanticobae @mischiefandi @kellysashcroft @lauren-novak

If you’re tagged and didn’t want to be, please let me know.

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @stilinskiparker.

All characters, story lines, and plot aside from Olivia and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of the creators of Love and Monsters. Our home slice Olivia was made up all by me.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.

No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted on May 17, 2022

#joel dawson x olivia davis #joel x olivia #joel dawson #olivia davis #joel dawson x oc #joel dawson imagine #love and monsters #love and monsters x oc #dylan o'brien x oc #dylan o'brien imagine

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awritessomething · 3 months

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I have absolutely no ideas for writing whatsoever pleaseplease leave requests!!! Smut, angst, fluff, whatever y’all want I can probably do.

Ill write for these people and probably more that I forgot (all male character x fem!reader) :

Formula 1:

Max Verstappen

Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri

Charles Leclerc

Pierre Gasly

Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz

Daniel Riccardo

Mick Schumacher

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Aaron Hotchner

Derek Morgan

David Rossi (preferably young)

Marvel:

Bucky Barnes

Tony Stark

Thor

Sam Wilson

Deadpool

Steve Rogers

Spiderman (Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, Miguel O'hara)

Call of Duty

Keegan Russ

Simon "Ghost" Riley

König

Phillip Graves

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

Star Wars:

Anakin Skywalker

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Kylo Ren

Luke Skywalker

Han Solo

Outer Banks:

JJ Maybank

Rafe Cameron

Topper Thornton

John B. Routledge

Harry Potter:

Harry Potter

Cedric Diggory

Draco malfoy

Ron Weasley

Fred Weasley

Blaise Zabini

Regulus Black

Severus Snape

Tom Riddle

Sirius Black

Lorenzo Berkshire

Oliver Wood

The Walking Dead:

Glenn Rhee

Daryl Dixon

Rick Grimes

Carl Grimes

Miscallaneous:

Jack Champion (Ethan Landry)

Patrick Bateman

Batman (Christian Bale)

Johnathan Crane

Finnick Odair

Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark, Mike Schmidt, Sean Anderson, Clapton Davis)

Rodrick Heffley

Colby Brock

Sam Golbach

Tristan Dugray

Dylan O'brien

Jude Bellingham

Joao Felix

Bellamy Blake

Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd, Ronald Miller)

Joe Goldberg

Timothee Chalamet (Wonka, Paul Atreides)

Minho (The Maze Runner)

Keanu Reeves (John Wick, Neo, Alex Wyler)

Jim Halpert

Farkas

Ulfric Stormcloak

Miraak

Ben Schnetzer (Max Vandenburg, Brad Land, Russ Sheppard)

Brock Purdy

Ralph Macchio (Daniel Larusso, Johnny Cade)

Dallas Winston

Sodapop Curtis

Robby Keene

Zuko (atla dallas liu)

Jet (atla sebastian amoruso)

Cillian Murphy (Johnathan crane, jackson rippner, Neil Lewis)

Evan Peters (all ahs characters, Luke cooper)

What I wont do:

Pedophilia

Beastiality or anything animal-y

Waterworks

Male reader (sorry)

Character x character

Threesomes or anything not 1x1

Character x oc

Specific body types (i just don’t see the point)

Daddy/mommy kinks

Incest or stepcest

(I’ll prob have to add on but its midnight rn)

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caughtupinheaven · 2 months

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posting again bc i feel my muse slowly rebounding from my writers block. i'm on the hunt for some specific pairings. bold is who i would want to use/be writing as. i'm mostly into slice of life plots but love fluff, angst and/or smut (happy to explore all of the above.) hmu if you are interested (please specify which pairing[s]) or like this and i’ll come to you!

shelley hennig x dylan o'brien

crystal reed x daniel sharman

renee rapp x lola tung

margot robbie/any other female x nicholas galitzine (nick is one of my wanted opps rn, so i would play other f’s against him. just love how he looks w margot)

chase sui wonders x luke hemmings

annasophia robb x josh hutcherson

maia reficco x kit connor

taylor swift x harry styles

maya hawke x any female fc

natalia dyer x any male fc

cody christian x any female fc (my cody oc has a complicated history, i can give you a backstory as part of an interest check)

jennifer morrison x any older (35/40+) male fc

shailene woodley x any male fc/female fc (platonic for female.)

#1x1 #1x1 rp #discord rp #discord 1x1

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strangerstilinski · 11 months

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SELENOPHILES OF BEACON HILLS | Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character

chapter thirteen

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; 15,581

chapter warnings; underage drinking, very mild sexual content

chapter notes; between forced confessions, terrible tasting alcohol, and appearances from both peter hale and the argents, winter formal turns out to be quite the event. chaos ensues.

masterlist

c h a p t e r t h i r t e e n (finale)

code breaker

When they pulled into the school parking lot on Friday night, Ben gestured for Amber to stay put as he got out of the car and jogged around to the passenger side to open the door for her.

"Thanks, but you really don't have to be quite so chivalrous." She laughed.

Ben shrugged with a grin, "Can't have you thinking I'm a bad date."

"I already know you're not a bad date. I'm the bad date, remember?" She reminded him as they linked arms and walked to the front of the lot.

"I thought you were a pretty good date right up until that little slip at the end," He looked down at her with a friendly smile, "It was a pretty big slip, but y'know.. For the other ninety-five percent of the date you were great."

She was laughing as they approached the school building. Jackson and Allison were standing just outside of Jackson's Porsche in the parking lot and Amber watched as the boy lifted a flask to his lips to take a long pull.

"Save some for the rest of us, Wittemore." She joked with a quiet laugh.

Jackson held the small metal container out toward her as he swallowed with a wince, "You want some?" He asked, voice husky from the liquor.

Her free hand twitched at her side. She looked up at Ben hesitantly and her date shrugged at her, releasing her arm with a small nudge.

"If you want some, I'm not gonna judge you." Ben told her softly.

Amber licked her lips and hesitated for another fraction of a second before accepting the flask. She lifted the small opening to her lips and poured some of the liquid into her mouth, swallowing with gag when the taste lingered on her tongue.

"God. What is that?" She asked in disgust as she handed it back over.

"It's bourbon." Jackson told her judgmentally, "Expensive bourbon."

She nodded, "Oh, yeah. You can tell. It- It's really good bourbon."

"You're welcome to have some more," Jackson grinned, holding it back out, "I mean, since you like it so much. I've got more in the car."

"Oh." She faltered, looking around her at Ben and Allison's amused gazes, "Yeah, totally. Thanks."

She took the flask from his grip again and gulped nervously in anticipation. She frowned and took a deep breath before tilting her head back and pouring what was left of the container into her mouth. There was slightly more than she'd been expecting from the weight of it and her mouth was full when she swallowed, fighting against another gag and coughing instead. As she did, she reached out to grab onto the sleeve of Ben's suit jacket and handed Jackson back the tiny metal flask blindly.

Jackson was laughing at her as Amber coughed once more and she heard Lydia's voice chime in from behind them as she recovered.

"Jackson." Lydia greeted, "You look handsome."

"Obviously," Jackson shook his head, tucking the flask back into the pocket on the inside of his jacket, "It's Hugo Boss."

With that, he pulled Allison's hand to loop around his arm and guided her toward the school.

Amber turned to face the new arrivals, dropping her hand from where it had been agressively squeezing Ben's arm. She eyed the pale pink satin of Lydia's dress before she allowed her gaze to flick over to Stiles.

She hadn't seen him in a full suit since his own mom's funeral in elementary school. Back then, the suit he'd worn had been slightly too large and he'd been red in the face from crying.

Now, when Amber looked at him, she floundered for a moment at how handsome he looked. His black suit jacket fit him nicely, and the white button down he had on underneath was crisp and tucked neatly into his dress pants. She swallowed distractedly as her mind drifted with the desire to grab him by his tie to pull him in for a kiss.

Only a few quiet seconds had passed and Amber shook her head to recover as she realized Lydia was speaking again.

"-I will not fall prey to society's desire to turn girls into emotional, insecure neurotics who pull up their dresses at the first flattering remark." Lydia told herself sternly.

"Lydia. You look gorgeous." Amber told her honestly. She leaned closer in the dark of the parking lot to study the red of her lipstick, "That lip color goes really nicely with your dress, too. Your lips really pop and- You look incredible, okay?"

Lydia was fighting a smile, "Really?"

"Really." Amber laughed.

Lydia sniffed and looked Amber over in scrutiny, "Gross. Did Jackson give you bourbon?"

"He might've given me a bit." She admitted with a quiet giggle, already beginning to feel the light buzz thrumming in her brain. She turned her attention toward Stiles with a grin, "Stiles, you look really-" She hesitated for a second, "Really handsome."

Stiles seemed surprised by her comment, "Oh, I. You too." He told her.

Amber laughed quietly and Lydia's elbow jammed into Stiles' side. He jerked in realization as he processed what he'd said.

"I mean- Not- You look really nice too, but not handsome. I meant beautiful. You- You look really beautiful." He amended.

Amber cheeks flushed, stomach flipping from his stuttered words of praise, and there was a small moment of silence between the four of them before Stiles spoke up again.

"And uh, Ben looks great too," He added awkwardly, "Can't leave him out, I mean, look at this guy." He reached out to punch Ben in the shoulder and the other boy blinked at Stiles incredulously as he continued, "So sharp. Uh, should we head inside? I think we should head inside."

His hand came up to rest on Lydia's shoulder and he steered her toward the school building without another word.

Amber simply watched him go for a second before Ben's hand came up to rest between her shoulder blades over the curls in her hair and he nudged her to follow behind them.

"Pull yourself together, Callisto." Ben laughed quietly, "You were practically drooling."

"I was not." She pouted, prying her eyes away from the back of Stiles' head to look up at the tall boy beside her.

"I know he's cute but you are never gonna make it through the night if you keep torturing yourself." He told her.

He squeezed her shoulder as he pulled their tickets out of his jacket pocket with his free hand and gave them to the chaperone at the door.

The minute that they made their way inside, Ben dragged Amber over toward the refreshments table and forced a small bottle of water into her hands.

"I don't trust the punch and since you've had alcohol, you should hydrate sooner rather than later." He told her quietly, looking out at the room around them.

She accepted the water and took a drink.

"Did you want to dance yet?" She asked, the music thrumming nicely with the tipsy buzz in her brain, "I think I wanna dance."

Ben laughed, urging her to take another long sip from her water before he led her into the crowd of students on the dancefloor.

She swayed in her heels along with the upbeat music and Ben reached out one hand to grip onto hers in case she lost her balance. She held onto it gratefully and bounced on her toes as the beat picked up, a few of their classmates bumping into her periodically as she moved.

They danced for twenty minutes before Ben's phone began to ring distantly from inside his jacket pocket.

"Is that you?" Amber asked when she noticed the sound, reaching into his suit jacket to dig around for the device as it continued to chime.

Ben frowned and reached around her fingers to pull out his phone. He read the name on the screen and his frown deepened.

"Sorry, give me a sec. I'll be right back." He assured her before jogging out into the hallway.

As Amber watched him go, she happened to catch sight of Scott hunched down behind an open set of bleachers at the side of the gymnasium and she took off in Scott's direction, only wobbling slightly in her heels as she went. When she came up behind him, she leaned closely into his space.

"Hi!" Amber said beside his ear.

Scott flinched and jumped back, turning to face her with a look of surprise.

"Dude! Aren't you supposed to have like, super-senses?" She laughed joyfully, "How did you not know I was standing right here?"

"I was focussed on Allison." Scott defended, calming down and looking his best friend over slowly, "You look nice."

"You look very nice too." She grinned and reached out to fiddle with the collar of his suit jacket, "Did you see Stiles? You both look so handsome-" She flattened his lapel back down beneath her fingers and pouted with an influx of emotion, "My two boys-"

Scott leaned into her space and unsubtly sniffed at her, "Are you drunk?" He asked with a frown.

"No. I'm lightly buzzed," She corrected with a shake of her head, reaching up to adjust his crooked tie around his neck with delicate fingers, "There's a difference."

Scott looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened for a moment before he shook his head and frowned in confusion. Amber spun around, still gripping onto his tie, to look at whatever he was focussed on but all she saw was a crowded room.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I-I thought I saw Peter."

"Well, did you see him?" She asked quickly, gaze snapping back over to her friend.

Scott shook his head again, "I'm not sure. He disappeared."

"Well, he's not a ghost, Scott." She told him, "You're probably just nervous. I mean, you snuck in, you don't want to get caught, I hope you're still thinking about how to find Derek, Allison's here with someone else-"

Scott shot her a dirty look and she shrugged her shoulders in mock surrender.

"Hey, don't give me that look. Everything I said is true." She defended.

"Hey, there you are-" Ben's voice sounded from behind them, "I couldn't find you."

"I'm gonna-" Scott said, pulling his tie from between her fingers and pointing his finger behind himself before taking off.

Amber turned to Ben with a grin, "So, what's up? Who called?"

He sunk in on himself sadly and frowned at her, "I, uh. I have to go. Home."

"What?" She asked incredulously, "Why? We just got here-"

"I'm really sorry." Ben apologized, "My parents are out of town and they hired a sitter for tonight but she just called and said she's like, vomiting. So, I have to-"

"Hey, no." She cut in quickly, reaching up to grab his bicep, "It's okay. Go watch your sisters. I understand."

"I'm really sorry." He repeated, "Like so unbelievably sorry. I know that Stiles-"

"Ben. Stop." She said gently, "I'll be fine, okay? I'll catch a ride with Stiles, or even Jackson if I have to. Don't worry. Go home, seriously."

He frowned at her and pulled her into a quick hug. Amber startled for a moment before wrapping her arms around him to return the embrace. After a few seconds, Ben pulled away and stepped backwards slowly.

"I'm sorry again." He frowned.

"I forgive you, again." She laughed quietly.

She watched him turn to go and her face didn't pull into a frown until he could no longer see her. Amber sighed sadly and gnawed on her lip, looking around the crowded room. She spotted Jackson and Danny spiking their drinks from a familiar flask unsubtly and she pursed her lips in thought before heading in their direction.

Jackson raised his eyebrows when he noticed her, "Callisto. What do you want?"

"Wanted to know if I can have more of your illicit refreshments." She told him, nodding at Danny in greeting before returning her attention to Jackson.

He looked at her skeptically, "Where's your date?"

"My date had to leave due to a vomiting babysitter." She told him, "And now I'm dateless and I'd really like it if my buzz was a little stronger."

Jackson shrugged at her explanation and poured out another small dose from the flask before handing over his spiked cup of punch, "All yours." He told her, "Try not to get too messy, will you? It's tacky."

She repeated his words back to him in a weak imitation of his irritating voice and rolled her eyes. She raised her cup in a salute of thanks before turning and heading off to find a table where she could sit down.

She spotted Lydia and Stiles sitting at an otherwise empty table and hesitated for only a moment before going over. Stiles had shed his jacket at some point and was slouching unhappily in his chair next to Lydia, who didn't look any more amused. Amber sighed and plopped down into the chair beside the redhead.

"Where's Ben?" Lydia asked, picking at her nail polish and looking bored.

Amber lifted her cup to her mouth and took a dejected sip. Lydia's eyebrows raised expectantly when she didn't immediately get a response and Amber swallowed with a frown before answering.

"Family emergency." She told her.

"W- Hold on. Davis left?" Stiles asked, sitting up straighter in his seat and looking at her in disbelief.

"Mhm." She responded, leaning back in her chair.

She peered down at her own breasts for a moment and tugged at the fabric of her dress where it must have gotten slightly askew from all of the dancing and moving around. She readjusted it before taking another tiny sip of the repulsive drink in her hand.

"Okay, I will not continue to be subjected to this." Lydia announced in annoyance.

Amber's attention snapped over to look at her two friends. Stiles' face had a light flush rising on his cheeks and Lydia was pointing between him and Amber as she shot them both an irritated look.

"You two are ridiculous." Lydia told them, "Sitting here and watching you both sulk is actually infuriating."

"What did I do?" Amber asked, taken aback.

"You?" Lydia repeated incredulously, "You made me go to this stupid dance with the guy you're practically in love with, even though I had a wonderfully stupid and incredibly hot guy from the football team all lined up-"

"Lydia. What the hell?" Amber finally cut her off with wide eyes, heart pounding and refusing to look over at Stiles, "What are you-"

"No." Lydia said, holding up a finger like she was scolding a small child, "No. You want to be here with Stiles. He wants to be here with you. This is stupid."

Amber frowned, "Lyds-"

Lydia sighed loudly and turned in her seat to face the boy beside her, "Do you want to kiss Amber? Right here, right now?" She asked him seriously.

Amber's heart pounded in her chest and her eyes finally darted over to Stiles. He was looking between them with a dark flush on his cheeks, mouth hanging open as he floundered.

"I, uh. Wha-" Stiles articulated slowly.

Lydia's glare intensified, "So help me god. If you don't answer the question in the next two seconds-"

"Yeah, I- Yeah." Stiles interrupted, swallowing nervously and glancing at Amber across the table.

She could barely hear anything over the heavy pounding of the blood pumping in her ears. Her right hand tightened around the plastic of her cup.

Lydia was smiling as she turned to Amber, reaching out to delicately place her fingers over where Amber's free hand was resting on her own thigh.

"Amber," Lydia started almost condescendingly, speaking slowly as if she were dealing with a two year old, "Do you want to kiss Stiles?"

"I, yeah. I do. I like, really, really do." She said quietly, eyes wide.

Lydia patted Amber's hand and stood from the table.

"Great. My work here is done. Have a good night, you two." She told them before turning away, "It's like second grade all over again." Lydia muttered as she strutted off.

Amber didn't move for a moment, her brain fuzzy with adrenaline and a hint of alcohol.

"You wanna kiss me?" She repeated in question after a few seconds passed.

"Is that.. An actual question or an invitation?" Stiles asked, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with a napkin on top of the table.

"Whichever." She told him.

His gaze snapped back to hers and they both paused again for a few seconds.

"Okay. I, d'you- Hallway?" Stiles asked dumbly.

She nodded with wide eyes, "Hallway." She agreed.

When she stood from her seat, she swayed slightly from a combination of the fog in her brain and her high heels. Stiles came to stand beside her and grabbed her hand, tugging her away in the direction of the doors quickly.

They stepped into the hallway and her heart continued to pound in her chest, only now it was with excitement. Stiles didn't stop pulling her along once they broke through the doors. He continued to tug her down the hall and around a corner until the music from the gym was only a dull thumping of bass in the distance.

"Stiles-" She called out quietly, pulling at his hand.

He came to a stop and turned around to look at her with wide eyes, "Yeah?"

Stiles' chest was rising and falling heavily. His face was flushed bright red underneath the speckles of moles dotting cheeks. His hand was damp with sweat where it was gripping tightly onto hers. Amber desperately wanted to kiss him.

So she did.

She tugged forcefully on his hand and when Stiles stumbled forward, she took a step closer. She reached up to cup his face and guided him to tilt his head down until their mouths slotted together softly. He huffed out a small breath in surprise and before she could relish in the feeling of his lips on hers, he was pulling back just a fraction of an inch, his eyes flicking slowly between hers in contemplation.

"Have you had more alcohol since the last time I saw you?" He questioned quietly against her mouth.

She nodded with a quiet sound of affirmation, leaning up onto her toes to bring their lips back together but Stiles brushed her hand away from his face and raised one of his own to grip her shoulder so he could push her down until her heels touched back onto the floor and he pulled back to look at her again.

"I feel like we shouldn't- I'm- If you're drunk-" He stuttered out.

"Stiles." She interrupted softly, squeezing his hand in hers.

"Yeah?" He asked quickly.

"I promise I'm not drunk. And I'm gonna need you to kiss me again." She whispered, "Now."

"Are you sure?" He questioned, fingers tightening around her shoulder for a fraction of a second.

Amber nodded, "Really, really sure." She repeated.

Stiles hauled her back in quickly, his fingers sliding into her hair and releasing her hand from his own to grab at her waist. He tugged her closer and she sighed contentedly into his mouth as their lips slotted together more comfortably.

His mouth on hers felt right. The kiss soft and firm and so fucking perfect she was instantly convinced that her lips had to have been made for his. Her stomach was alive with butterflies and her heart was determined to beat it’s way out from beneath her ribcage and she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to exist now without his mouth on hers.

She reached out to his fancy dress shirt and fisted her hands into the fabric on either side of his hips while they kissed, pulling him along for a few steps until he was caging her back against the wall in the hallway. The stone was cold as it touched her bare back and she gasped in surprise at the chill of it pressing against her skin. When her mouth dropped open, Stiles tilted his head just so and his tongue slipped into the opening to brush against hers.

At the first touch of his tongue, her mind grew hazy and she tugged harshly at the fabric of his shirt. The action pulled Stiles firmly against her and he let out a soft, needy noise into her mouth when his groin pressed against her hip.

She separated their lips to take an unsteady breath and Stiles rested his forehead against hers as they both panted quietly.

"Sorry." He murmured in apology.

He let the hand he had in her hair slowly trail down until it rested lightly at the curve where her neck met her shoulder, his thumb brushing up and down softly over her collarbone. He shifted back until their lower halves were no longer pressed together and she found herself genuinely mourning the loss of contact.

She frowned in the small distance between their faces and reached up to place her right hand at the back of his neck, guiding their mouths back together and tugging him back against her with her grip on his waist. When Stiles released another small sound against her lips at the contact, she angled her head and kissed him deeper.

When he rolled his hips unconsciously against her a minute later, her fingers tightened around the back of his neck. She sighed quietly at the feeling of him and there was an aching heat building between her thighs as she focussed on the point where his obvious arousal was slowly hardening against her.

The hand he had on her hip slid slowly until it was resting over the arch of her back where her spine curved to meet her ass and Amber tightened her fingers around the soft fabric of his dress shirt when he pulled her closer.

His hand at the base of her neck readjusted until his thumb could press lightly into her chin and he guided her to tip her head to the side. His lips skimmed across her face slowly and he pressed tender kisses along her cheek. He continued to tilt her head with his thumb sliding along her jaw until could lower his mouth to kiss lightly at her neck. She gasped out a quiet breathy noise and automatically lifted up onto her toes to push against his mouth more firmly as his lips kissed softly at her throat.

"Stiles-" She said breathlessly. It came out too airy, like an unconscious expression of pleasure rather than a signal. She gasped when he sucked lightly at the sensitive skin under her jaw and took a shaky breath before trying again more firmly, "Stiles."

She moved her hand from the back of his neck to his jaw and pushed his face away from her slightly. He leaned his head back and looked down at her with dazed eyes.

"We should probably-" Her chest was rising and falling quickly and she rubbed her thumb softly along his jaw as she tried to calm her breathing, "Should definitely slow down."

He dropped his forehead down against hers again and heaved a deep sigh before pulling back to look at her, "Yeah. Yeah, you're right-"

"Sorry." She apologized quietly, watching his face closely in the dimmed light of the hallway.

"Hey, no, don't apologize. Not for that." Stiles told her seriously. He readjusted his grip on her jaw and pressed his fingers into her cheek to pull her in for another chaste kiss before taking a few steps back, "God. I seriously need like- Two minutes where your mouth isn't only an inch away."

Amber watched him in amusement while he frowned and reached down to uncomfortably adjust himself in his dress pants. She lifted a hand up to her own face to cover the small smile pulling at her lips.

He caught her gaze and shot her a small glare in jest, "Oh, you find this funny?" He asked her with an incredulous grin, gesturing to his pants.

"No," She shook her head with a serious expression, "No, not funny at all."

He narrowed his eyes playfully at her once more, "Alright, you." He stepped forward to press a final conciliatory kiss to her lips, "Go back in and I'll be there in a minute."

She frowned but took a small step back in the direction of the gymnasium.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom real quick." He explained in response to her silent question.

"Oh, you're going to the bathroom, are you?" She asked, grinning at the insinuation.

"W- I'm not- This is embarrassing enough, okay? I just- I'll see you in a minute." Stiles shook his head with a flush on his cheeks.

She laughed and held her hands up in surrender as she backed away, "Sorry, I'm going. I'm going."

She took one final survey of how debauched and truly obscene he looked before she turned on her heels and headed back toward the gym with a giddy smile on her lips. Her gaze drifted across the crowded room once she stepped through the doors again and she picked up her pace when she caught sight of Lydia sitting back at their table, nursing a cup of punch.

Once she was within arms reach, she grabbed Lydia's hand from the tabletop and pulled the girl up out of her chair. The moment her friend was on her feet, Amber's arms were wrapped around her in a tight hug.

"I love you so much right now, I could kiss you." Amber told her quickly.

Lydia stepped back to look at her friend with a barely there smile of amusement, "It looks like you've gotten plenty of kissing done already." She pointed out, reaching up to fix the mess Stiles had made of the hair on the right side of Amber's head, "Was there anything more than kissing?" Lydia questioned casually.

"Just kissing." Amber told her, "Really hot, glorious, incredible kissing."

"Oh, I can see just how hot and glorious it was." Lydia grinned devilishly, pressing her fingers into a tender spot that Amber couldn't see on her underside of her jaw bone.

"God. Do I have a hickey?" She asked quickly, reaching up to press her fingers over the spot Lydia had touched, "Please tell me I don-"

"It's not a hickey." Lydia promised, "Calm down. It's just a little pink."

She sighed in relief and dropped her hand, looking over at the spot where Lydia had taken up residence while they'd been gone with a frown.

"Have you danced at all?" Amber asked.

Lydia shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, "No, and I don't plan to."

"Oh, come on, Lyds," She goaded, grabbing the redhead's hands in hers to uncross her arms and tugging her in the direction of the dance floor, "Please dance with me?"

Lydia pouted dramatically and rolled her eyes but followed behind Amber without protest.

The song that was playing through the gymnasium was a slow one, so when they stepped out onto the dancefloor Amber put her hands around Lydia's waist and grinned as she guided the redhead to sway with her. Lydia brought her arms up around the back of Amber's neck and moved slowly along with the beat, meeting her friend's gaze and smiling back at her with a small roll of her eyes.

They danced closely to the familiar song for a few minutes before a loud voice erupted across the gym.

"McCall! I see you!" Coach Finstock's voice yelled out over the music. "Come here, buddy! McCall!"

Amber turned her head to see the teacher pushing his way slowly through the crowd of teens. Scott's eyes widened from the other side of the gym and he ducked down as he moved through the dancing bodies in the opposite direction. Amber watched as her best friend snuck around the spot where she and Lydia were dancing and came to a stop in front of Danny and his date beside them.

"Danny. Danny, dance with me." Scott said frantically.

Coach Finstock was still yelling as he pushed through to get to the other side of the dancefloor and Scott looked between their teacher and Danny nervously.

"What?" Danny blinked in confusion.

"Dance with me." Scott repeated with wide eyes.

Danny looked between Scott and his date slowly, "No."

Coach had nearly reached them and Amber watched the situation in amusement.

"Please!" Scott begged, "Right now!"

Scott's hands scrambled to untangle Danny from his date and he shoved himself between them. Danny shrugged at his date with a frown as Scott pulled his arms up onto his waist and brought his own arms up to wrap around Danny's shoulders.

"McCall!" Coach said loudly as he stepped up to the couple, "You're not supposed to-" He paused in confusion as he looked between the two boys, "What the hell are you do- What the hell are you doing?"

"Yes, Coach?" Scott asked with a look of wide-eyed innocence, tightening his arms around his dance partner's neck as he pulled Danny closer.

The music had quieted between songs and Coach's raised voice had been loud in the sudden silence. A majority of the gymnasium was turned to see who Coach was yelling at and they all frowned at the sight of the two boys dancing in front of him.

Coach seemed to catch on to the train of thought of the people around him and he backtracked at the perceived homophobia.

"Okay.. Oh, ho, ho- Ha! Hold on," He started, addressing the room at large, "You.. I was just saying that he's not supposed to- I mean, I wasn't saying that he shouldn't- You guys don't think.." He took a small step back from Scott and Danny with a nervous smile, "I-I was- Just dance, everybody! Just dance! Dance! It's a party!"

After shooting a final look of warning toward Scott, Coach disappeared into the crowd again.

Amber snorted softly and readjusted her hands over the silky material at the bottom of Lydia's spine. She watched Scott release Danny with a pat on the shoulder, stepping back and shot the other boy a thumbs-up.

"Thanks, dude! I owe you!" Scott called out before taking off.

A new song started up after a minute and Amber peered at the people around them as they danced. She spotted Scott and Allison now wrapped up in one another's arms closely. After another minute, Lydia slipped her arms from around Amber's neck and took a small step back.

"What's wrong?" Amber asked with a frown as her own hands fell to her sides, "You okay?"

"Just.. I need to take a little break." Lydia told her with a sad smile.

Amber nodded in understanding, "Is that code for going to talk to Jackson?"

Lydia looked momentarily taken aback by her friend's attentiveness before nodding slowly with a small pout on her lips and Amber reached out to squeeze Lydia's hand with a reassuring smile.

"I get it. Go ahead, Lyds." She said encouragingly.

She watched Lydia go and when the redhead was through the doors and out of sight, Amber shuffled on her feet awkwardly for a moment in uncertainty. A slow song was still playing and she was just debating heading over to snag another bottle of water when someone grabbed her hand to gently pull her back a step.

She teetered in her heels and spun around to see Stiles standing right behind her, tugging her against him. When her gaze went to his face, Stiles brought a hand up to cup her cheek and he ducked down to give her a soft kiss that had her stomach fluttering wildly.

"Hi." He said gently as he pulled back.

He was quick to wrap his arms around her waist and she followed his lead by curling her own arms tightly around the back of his neck, holding on to her own elbows as they began to sway to the music with their chests pressed together.

"I distinctly remember you saying something about needing time away from my mouth." She laughed quietly, licking her lips unconsciously to taste the lingering essence of him again following the chaste kiss.

"I had my two minutes away," He spoke softly into her ear, "Now I'm thinking I should actually figure out a way to have you within kissing distance at all times."

She snorted a quiet laugh into his shoulder, "You're ridiculous."

She tightened her arms around his neck and leaned against him to prop her chin up over his shoulder as they moved slowly in time with the music. They made it through another entire song before Amber sighed quietly, loosening her grip around his shoulders and taking a small step back from him.

"Okay. Now I need to use the bathroom." She laughed quietly.

"Must be all that bourbon." Stiles told her with a small smile of amusement.

"Oh, cut it out." She wiped the grin off his face by pressing her lips against his in a quick kiss, "Stop picking on me and let me go because I actually do need to pee. Really badly."

Stiles dropped an arm around her shoulder and guided her through the crowd of dancing bodies, releasing her at the edge of the room and giving her a gentle push out the doors and into the hallway.

She used the bathroom outside the gymnasium quickly, wiping a small bead of water that she'd somehow missed when drying her hands onto the velvet of her dress as she was exiting the girl's room. When she looked up again, she spotted Jackson walking back inside the building with a terrified look on his face.

"Jackson? What's wrong? Did you talk to Lydia?" She asked quickly as she approached him.

"I-I was out behind the school-" He started slowly, voice shaking as he looked at the girl in front of him.

"Jackson, is Lydia okay?" She redirected quickly, her heart rate picking up in her chest.

He shook his head and her stomach dropped before he spoke, "Not Lydia. I-I. Allison's dad-"

"What about Allison's dad? What did you say to him, Jackson?" She demanded, stepping closer so that they were almost pressed together in the dark hallway.

"I-I told him- He promised he wouldn't-" Jackson continued to stammer, "But I told him- I told him Scott-"

She shoved Jackson back against the wall behind him aggressively, her hands shaking, "What have you done?" Her voice cracked with anxiety and the sheer volume of her yelling, "Do you have any idea-"

"Hey- Hey! What's going on?" Stiles' voice came from behind her. Amber had been reaching out to grab at Jackson's suit but Stiles' arms wrapped around her and pulled her a step back, "What happened? What did Jackson-"

"He told Allison's dad about Scott! Her dad is here and he-" Amber said angrily, before ice seemed to fill her body in fear, "Oh, god. Where's Scott?"

She turned to Stiles with wide eyes and he looked just as nervous.

"Jackson, what did you do?" Stiles asked rhetorically, shooting a glare at the boy over Amber's shoulder.

"Lydia's still outside looking for Jackson," She realized suddenly, words coming out between anxious gasps, "And the hunters are- What do we-"

Stiles put his hands over her shoulders and gave her a squeeze, "We'll split up and we'll look for them both, okay? Everything's gonna be okay."

She took a shaky breath and turned to shove Jackson against the wall one final time before she was running outside.

"Lydia!" She called out as soon as she stepped out of the school and into the cold night air. She continued to call out for her friend as she rounded the building and crossed over into the side parking lot near the lacrosse field, "Lydia?"

She heard Lydia's voice calling out for Jackson in the distance and Amber reached down to rip her uncomfortable strappy heels from her feet, taking off in a run across the cold grass. The floodlights around the field began to click on loudly, illuminating the lacrosse pitch in a slow circle until she could see where Lydia was standing at the center of the field.

Amber slowed as she took her first step between the bleachers while a dark figure stepped out on the other side of the field in Lydia's eyeline. Amber lifted her arm over her face in an attempt to block some of the bright light from above as she tried to distinguish the shadow with squinted eyes.

"Jackson?" Lydia questioned the mystery person at the other side of the field in a quieter voice.

"Lydia, no. Wait-" Amber said, only a few feet behind her friend now.

"Amber! Lydia!" Stiles' voice screamed frantically from the end of the pitch, "Run!"

Amber's gaze snapped between Stiles and the dark figure in front of them as it took another few steps toward them. The floodlights over the field illuminated Peter Hale's face and Amber reached out to pull at Lydia's wrist as her heart thumped violently in her chest.

"Lydia, you need to run. You need to run now, please-" Amber begged, tugging a confused Lydia backwards in an attempt to get the redhead hidden behind her.

Peter tilted his head, his eyes slowly shifting to a bright glowing red as he came to stand in front of them. He growled as he shoved Amber to the ground, his face beginning to shift deeper, fangs dropping down from his mouth. The brunette fell to the grass hard and watched on in horror from only a few feet away as the werewolf bit down, sharp teeth sinking into Lydia's waist.

"No!" Amber screamed, already crawling toward them as she watched the dark red of Lydia's blood start to seep out to stain the pale pink satin of her dress.

Peter leaned back but continued to hover protectively over the redhead's unmoving body, forcing Amber to freeze with her hands only a few inches away from her friend. Stiles finally reached them and dropped to his knees at Lydia's other side, both he and Amber watching Peter in fear as a trail of blood dripped from his mouth.

"Don't kill her." Amber begged, hands shaking with the need to reach out for her friend, "Please."

"Of course not." Peter agreed quickly, eyes flicking over to Stiles, "If he tells me how to find Derek."

"W- What?" Stiles stuttered in surprise.

"Tell me. How to find Derek." Peter repeated slowly, tracing a claw down the side of Lydia's unconscious face teasingly.

"He doesn't know!" Amber cried immediately, "We don't-"

"Yeah, I- I don't know that." Stiles reiterated between shaky breaths, "How would I know that?"

"Because you're the clever one, aren't you?" Peter smiled condescendingly at him, "And because deception has a particularly acrid scent, Stiles."

Amber's gaze cut to Stiles with wide eyes and she spoke in a shaky voice, "Stiles, what's he talking about?"

He shook his head, "I-I don't know!"

"Tell me the truth, Stiles." Peter growled angrily.

The werewolf moved with a sudden quickness that the teens could barely comprehend and before they knew what was happening, Amber was upright on her knees, her back pressed flush against Peter's chest as he knelt behind her, the fingers of his right hand wrapped around Amber's throat tight enough that she could feel his sharp nails digging into the flesh of her neck painfully.

"Tell me the truth. Or I will rip her apart." Peter continued.

She squeaked quietly in fear and shifted on her knees, reaching up to grab onto Peter's arm desperately, her eyes filling with tears as she met Stiles' own terrified gaze.

"Look- Look, I don't know, okay? I sw-" Stiles faltered when Peter's fingers gripped tighter at her throat and she let out a whine, "I swear to god I have no idea!" He yelled anxiously.

Amber felt the claws press deeper into the skin of her neck and she whimpered again quietly as she pulled at the sleeve of the werewolf's jacket. The moment the tip of one of his claws punctured her skin, she felt the sharp sting of it and gasped in pain.

"Tell me!" Peter repeated, voice loud and demanding beside Amber's ear.

"Okay, okay! Look-" Stiles relented, "I-I think he knew-"

"Knew what?" Peter asked quickly, refusing to loosen his grip on the girl in front of him.

"Derek. I think he- I think he knew he was gonna be taken-" Stiles explained shakily.

Amber looked at him in confusion through the tears in her eyes.

"By the Argents." Peter clarified.

"Yeah." Stiles squeaked.

Peter jostled Amber in his arms as he straightened his back, "And?"

"When they were shot. He and Scott-" Stiles spoke nervously, eyes bouncing back and forth between Peter and Amber, "I think he took Scott's phone."

"What?" Amber squeaked before whimpering quietly when Peter shook her slightly in a demand for silence.

"Why?" Peter asked Stiles.

Stiles looked at Amber regretfully as he spoke, "Because they all have GPS now. So if he still has it on him, and it's still on-" He explained, "You can find him."

Peter's grip around Amber's neck and body loosened all at once and he pushed her forward as he got to his feet behind her. She caught herself in the grass on her hands and Stiles rushed over to her side, his hands coming up to brush gently over her arms and her waist and her face, touching softly over everything he could as he checked that she was okay.

Her hands were still shaking as she brushed Stiles off to crawl forward and lean over Lydia. Amber pushed an errant lock of her strawberry blonde hair off of her face with trembling fingers before her gaze dropped to the dark stain still spreading across the fabric of Lydia's dress. She trailed her hand lightly over the spot and her stomach turned as her cold fingers came back coated with the warmth of her friend's blood.

"Lydia?" Amber asked quietly, voice choked with tears. "Oh, god."

Peter had produced a handkerchief from one of his jacket pockets and he was delicately wiping the two girl's blood away from his face and fingertips. When he was finished, he tucked the stained cloth away again and turned his attention to the teens still on the ground in front of him.

"Alright. Let's go." He told them simply, as if they were dilly-dallying and making him late for a meeting.

"No." Amber protested quickly, tearing her eyes away from her bloodied fingers to look at the werewolf standing above her, "We're not leaving her here."

"I don't need you." Peter dismissed, "But Stiles is coming with me."

Her chest tightened in worry at the thought of Stiles going off alone with Peter Hale, "No. No, he-"

"I'm not- I'm not going anywhere-" Stiles protested with a shake of his head, pained gaze darting over to Amber as she took in shaky breaths.

"You can call your friend," Peter acquiesced, "Tell Jackson to come out to the field. That's all you get."

Stiles continued to look at Amber with wide eyes, his shoulders still trembling with nerves and adrenaline.

"Call Jackson." Amber told him quietly, nodding her head in what she hoped looked reassuring rather than showing the terror that she was truly feeling.

Stiles frowned and his lips quivered around a shaky breath, looking like he desperately wanted to say something, but after a moment, he closed his eyes and got to his feet, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

While he called Jackson, Amber's gaze dropped back down to Lydia and she exhaled a trembling breath of fog into the air. She brushed her friend's hair back from her face again gently and her heart clenched at the small streak of blood that her fingertips left behind over the pale skin of Lydia's cheekbone.

Amber flinched when Stiles dropped back down to his knees beside her, his hands gripping her cold arms as he studied her worriedly.

"Jackson'll be here in a minute." He said quietly.

She nodded and bit down on her lip, jaw trembling and causing her teeth to chatter over the flesh in a combination of fear and chill from the cold. She felt her eyes prickle with heat again at the reminder that Stiles would be leaving with Peter and she desperately tried to take in every tiny mole dotted along cheeks, her gaze scanning his face intently.

"Stiles." Peter's voice cut in, making them both flinch, "Now."

Stiles teetered back and forth for a moment, seeming to hesitate before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Amber's lips with a hand at the back of her head. The kiss was chaste, but he still held his mouth firmly against hers, lingering a second longer than was strictly necessary with a werewolf impatiently hovering behind them.

"Teenagers exhaust me." Peter declared in annoyance.

Amber reached up to push at Stiles' shoulder and the two separated reluctantly, "Go." She told him.

He nodded with a frown and got to his feet again. Peter held an arm out in a gesture toward the parking lot and he and Stiles walked away, disappearing from her line of sight to where the Jeep was parked around the side of the building.

It was only another minute before Jackson made it out onto the field, his legs carrying him quickly and his eyes drawn to where Lydia was laying on the ground, his face dropping in horror at his ex girlfriend's bloodied body.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly.

"The Alpha happened," Amber told him quickly, "Just call 911."

"You haven't called 911 yet?" Jackson asked in disbelief.

Amber waved a hand in gesture to the tight fabric of her dress, "This thing doesn't exactly have any pockets for my phone." She snapped. "Just do it."

Jackson glared at her before his eyes dropped back to Lydia in worry and he was nodding and pulling his phone out to call for help.

Amber leaned down to press a soft kiss to Lydia's forehead and swallowed past a lump in her throat. As she heard Jackson's phone call coming to an end, she climbed to her feet reluctantly.

"I swear to god if you let anything else happen to her-" She told him threateningly.

"What do you mean?" He asked quickly, watching her move past him, "Where're you going?"

She spun sharply to look at him again, eyes alight with anger, "I have to go find Scott," She bit out accusingly, "Because someone told a bunch of werewolf hunters who he is and now he's in danger too and he has no idea! I am not letting any more of my friends get hurt tonight."

Jackson's face twitched with an indiscernible emotion, "Be careful." He told her with a surprising gentleness.

She nodded gratefully, casting one last look at Lydia and taking a trembling breath before she turned and ran. The grass was cold against her bare feet as she took off in the direction of the parking lot at the back of the school building. It was the one of the only places she hadn't searched before she'd found Lydia and she knew it was the best place to start looking for her best friend.

"Scott!" She called out, her voice a sharp whisper in the dimly lit lot. She stepped into the treeline and peered into the dark forest for any sign of him, "Scott!"

Someone suddenly rammed into her from the side and a hand reached up to cover her mouth as they pulled her back a few steps into the woods. Amber made a small noise of protest at the familiar position and clawed at the arm across her chest frantically.

"Shh! Amber! Amber it's just me-" Scott's voice spoke quietly into her ear, dropping his hand from her mouth and loosening his grip around her shoulders to allow her to spin around to face him.

She punched him in the shoulder with as much force as she could manage, "Don't ever grab me like that again! I thought-" She hissed quietly, before remembering exactly why she'd been looking for him in the first place, "Oh, god! Allison's dad! He's here and he knows that you-"

"I know," Scott told her quickly, "I already ran into them. And Allison saw the whole thing, so now she knows too."

"Scott," She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. Scott's arms came up to encircle her back and she felt him take a shaky breath in and out over her hair, "Tonight is- I-I'm so sorry. And- and Peter-"

Scott took a step back and cut off her words quickly, "We need to get Derek." He took a whiff of the air between them, nose scrunching in thought as he sniffed before his gaze dropped down to her neck, "Are you bleeding?"

She reached up a hand to wipe at the right side of her neck where the claw on Peter's thumb had lightly pierced through the skin.

"I'm fine." She assured him, immediately trying to refocus the conversation, "How are the two of us going to find Derek?"

Scott grabbed onto her hand to began to pull her deeper into the woods. They hadn't made it more than a few steps when Amber winced in pain as a twig snapped sharply beneath her bare feet.

"A wolf howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack, right?" Scott repeated the words she and Stiles had told him over a month before, before Scott truly even believed that he was a werewolf.

"Oh my god." She whispered in realization as they continued to trek through the woods.

"I'm gonna call out to him and hope he howls back." Scott finished.

"So why don't you do it, then?" She questioned in confusion, teeth chattering as they began to hike up an incline, "I mean, where are we going?"

"Need to get somewhere that the sound'll carry better.." His steps slowed slightly and turned to face her in the dark, "You're.. Not wearing shoes." He stated.

"Well, I was wearing heels," She explained in confusion at his assessment, shivering slightly harder now that they were no longer moving, "Wh-"

"Crap. Why didn't you-" Scott shook his head and stripped his suit jacket off quickly before handing it to her, "Dude, why didn't you say something sooner?"

She stuffed her arms into his jacket without question and huffed out a shaky breath at the sudden warmth, "Me being cold is the least of our problems right now." She squinted at him in the dark in confusion as Scott squatted down and began untying his shoes rapidly, "What are you doing?" She questioned.

He pulled off his dress shoes and socks before sliding his feet back into his fancy shoes barefoot and re-tying them. His fingers worked at the laces quickly and when he was done, he handed her his discarded black socks.

"Dude, it's gonna be a problem if you lose toes." He told her as he placed the socks into her hand.

She thanked him quickly and bent to pull them onto her bare feet. She'd barely stood upright again when Scott took ahold of her wrist and began dragging her through the trees again with fast steps.

They hiked through the woods for another ten minutes before they emerged from the treeline at the prominent lookout point over the town. Scott released her and went to stand on the rock that jutted out further than the rest, tilting his head back and taking a deep breath in preparation.

When he released a loud, rumbling growl, it was reminiscent of the call he'd made to the Alpha that pivotal night at the school. Amber's skin erupted into goosebumps at the sound despite the jacket she was now wearing over her dress and she took a quiet, shaky breath as the sound faded out and the forest around them settled into silence again.

Scott slowly stepped back to stand beside her again and they both waited with bated breath as they listened for a response. After thirty seconds or so passed, Scott seemed to deflate and he shuffled on his feet in disappointment.

"It was worth a try, right?" Amber whispered, reaching a hand out to grab Scott's, "It's okay. We'll-"

Her voice cut out as they both heard a long howl in the distance. Her grip around his hand tightened automatically and she turned to find him already looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Was that-?" She started.

He nodded slowly, "Yeah." He suddenly pulled on her hand and tugged her sharply into the woods, moving through the trees with purpose, "Come on."

She followed with a tight grip on him as he led them in the direction he'd determined the howl had come from with his enhanced hearing. They were nearly sprinting and they kept up the aggressive pace for another ten or fifteen minutes before Scott finally slowed and released her sweaty hand.

"What-?" She asked quietly, trying to slow her labored breathing, "Are we-?"

Scott shushed her and motioned for her to follow behind him as he crept through the leaves more cautiously. She nodded in understanding and took in another deep breath, trying to watch her step in the dark as she stepped over small rocks and twigs on the forest floor.

When she looked up, Amber noticed the massive dark outline of the Hale house up the slope in front of them. She followed behind Scott as her mind raced with a confused barrage of thoughts, all of them circling back around to the same starting point.

Derek was at the Hale house.

Scott paused in his steps and appeared to pull a deep breath in through his nose before grabbing Amber's shoulders and directing her to stand behind a large tree.

"The only scent I'm picking up is you." He explained quietly.

Unsure whether she should be offended or not, she watched as he stepped back again. He turned and took another determined inhale through his nose and tilted his head in concentration.

When he took a purposeful step to the right, Amber followed behind him automatically. They rounded over toward the side of the property, still skirting around the bottom of the slope, until Scott stopped again.

As she came up to stand beside him, Scott was pulling at a large metal grate, the bars blocking off a rounded cement channel that opened up into some sort of cellar beneath the hill. He gave it a hard tug and the metal creaked agonizingly loud in the quiet night air, both of them flinching at the sound. Scott stepped into the cavern before turning and helping her climb through. Once they were inside, the space opened up into a painfully familiar dark passageway and Amber swallowed nervously and followed behind Scott as he continued to use his nose to guide them through the maze of dimly lit hallways.

When she spotted a familiar doorway, she pushed a hand against Scott's back to urge him to walk faster. He peered into the doorway cautiously before allowing them both to step into the room.

"Why would you bring her back here?" Derek demanded immediately upon seeing them.

Amber ignored him and ran over to the familiar control panel on the table along the wall. She rushed to turn the knob down, putting a stop to the flow of electricity that had been making Derek so weak.

"What do you mean back?" Scott asked in confusion.

As soon as she'd managed to cut the power, she darted forward to stand beside where Scott was already working to undo a shackle around one of Derek's wrists.

"Uh, hi. 'Her' is right here and can hear you just fine." She said to Derek, ignoring Scott's question entirely, "And, quite frankly? I'm not sure you're in a position where you should be getting picky about who's a part of your rescue party."

She was reaching her hands up to assist Scott and their hands fumbled, fingers brushing as they pulled at the metal latch.

"Did he mean 'back' as in 'you've been here before'?" Scott asked worriedly, not willing to let the subject drop as easily as she'd hoped and turning his head to look at the girl beside him.

"You didn't tell him?" Derek asked incredulously, frowning as they both continued to pull and tug at the buckle around his right wrist.

"Tell me what?" Scott asked.

When neither Derek nor Amber immediately responded to him, Scott nudged his best friend with his elbow.

"Amber." Scott prodded again as they finally got the latch on Derek's cuff undone, "Dude. What is he talking about?"

She was saved from having to answer when both Derek and Scott's attention suddenly snapped toward the doorway. Scott shoved her underneath the table in a poor attempt at hiding her while he himself moved to a dark corner of the room to the side of door.

A man who Amber had never seen before stalked through the doorway with an evil grin, his eyes thankfully focussed on Derek and Derek alone.

"Ready to have some more fun?" The man asked, lifting a hand to examine the back of his bruising fist, "To be honest, my knuckles are kind of hurting. So, I brought some help-" He pulled out a bat that he'd been holding behind his back with his other hand and tightened his grip on it menacingly, "But I need to warn you, I played in college."

The man swung the bat but Derek's newly unrestrained hand reached out quickly to grab ahold of it before it could make contact with his torso in the way the man had intended.

"I brought some help too." Derek told him darkly, raising his eyebrows and nodding behind the man to where Scott was stepping out of the shadows.

Scott grabbed the man from behind and ripped him away from Derek, throwing him across the room aggressively as Amber crawled out from underneath the table. She winced when he hit the wall with a loud thud, eyes drifting over to where he laid unmoving following the impact, and she swallowed, wondering whether he was unconscious or dead.

She shook her head to dislodge the thoughts and made her way over to Derek. He was pulling a piece of dried, bloody gauze from his abdomen from where the hunters had caused him some sort of physical abuse that he'd already managed to heal from.

She squatted down quickly to begin working at one of the cuffs around Derek's ankles. Her fingers trembled nervously as she worked to undo the difficult latch.

"Scott, help me with this." She called out over her shoulder after a moment.

"No." Scott replied determinedly.

Both Derek and Amber's attention snapped over to where Scott was slowly approaching from on the other side of the room.

"What?" Both Derek and Amber questioned in disbelief.

"Not until he tells me how to stop Peter." Scott explained.

Amber looked up at her best friend incredulously, "Scott, you're joking. This is kind of time sensitive."

"You really want to talk about this right now?" Derek reiterated.

"He's going after Allison and her family," Scott told them, "He's going to kill them."

"Maybe saving the murdery family of werewolf hunters shouldn't be our main priority right now?" Amber suggested in a frantic shout, turning her attention back to the large metal clasp in her fingers.

Scott ignored his best friend entirely, "Tell me how to stop him." He told Derek calmly.

"You can't!" Derek snapped, "Alright? Now, I don't know when Kate's coming back so just help Amber get me out of this now!" He yelled, pulling at his still-cuffed wrist, "Get me out right now!"

She let out a shaky breath when the manacle on Derek's left ankle fell open and she shuffled on her feet slightly to immediately begin working on the other one as Scott spoke behind her.

"Promise you'll help me."

"You wanna risk my life for your girlfriend? Your best friend's life?" Derek questioned angrily, "For a stupid little teenage crush that means absolutely nothing? You're not in love, Scott!" Derek yelled, "You're sixteen years old! You're a child!"

Her heart clenched at the desperation in Derek's voice and she winced as her finger caught on a jagged piece of the metal, slicing into the side of her middle finger painfully. She took a shaking breath and tightened her mouth as she continued to pull at the tight latch.

"Maybe you're right," Scott told Derek, "But I know something you don't. Peter said he didn't know what he was doing when he killed your sister, right?" Scott questioned.

She heard the rustling of paper behind her as she tugged at the metal in her hands with numb fingers.

"Well, he lied." Scott continued, "Remember this?"

Her attention snapped up for a second as Scott handed Derek a piece of paper over her head.

"You said this brought your sister to Beacon Hills, right?" Scott questioned the older werewolf.

"What is it?" Amber asked them from where she was still kneeling on the cold floor.

"Where did you get this?" Derek asked Scott.

"My boss told me three months ago someone came into the clinic asking for a copy of this picture. D'you wanna know who it was?" Scott questioned, "Peter's nurse."

The latch in Amber's hand finally came free painfully between her fingers as she gasped in surprise at Scott's words and she fell back onto the ground on her butt. Her gaze snapped up again to look between the boys in disbelief while she scrambled to get up off of the cold floor in her tiny dress.

"They brought your sister here so that Peter could kill her and become the Alpha. That's why you're going to help me." Scott spoke again.

Amber got to her feet quickly and began working at the final cuff around Derek's left wrist, rising up onto her tiptoes in the socks on her feet to get a better angle to pull at the difficult metal latch but Derek pushed her fingers away with his free hand. She looked at him in confusion while Scott continued to speak behind her.

"Just say you'll help me and I'll unlock your other-"

Derek pulled aggressively at his remaining restraint and the metal snapped and fell to the ground at Amber's feet. She looked at Derek with wide eyes as he rubbed at his sore wrist and glared at Scott over her shoulder.

"I'll help you." Derek told him.

After being forced to run across town on foot due to Peter Hale rendering his car keys completely useless by bending them with his bare hands, Stiles sprinted through the hospital’s emergency doors and straight into an elevator. Chest heaving, he aggressively and repeatedly pressed the button to take him up to the next floor, bouncing on his toes agitatedly as the metal box crept upward slowly.

When the elevator dinged loudly, Stiles slipped back out through the doors before they'd even slid fully open, dripping with sweat and breathing heavily as he frantically scanned the hospital waiting area. Before he had time to focus on anything in particular, his dad stood in front of him and blocked off his line of sight. The Sheriff placed his hands on his son's shoulders, guiding him backwards half a step, and focussing on him with a serious look.

"You know what?" His dad started, pulling Stiles' gaze up to his angry expression and pointing an accusing finger at the boy as he continued, "It's good that we're in a hospital, because I'm gonna kill you."

"I-I'm sorry," Stiles panted, still catching his breath as he began to explain, "I lost the keys to my Jeep. I had to run all the way here-"

"Stiles!" His dad interrupted in a raised voice, "I don't care!"

Stiles faltered for a moment with a frown, peering over his dad's shoulder and looking through a window to where Lydia was laying in a hospital bed, still unconscious. Mrs. Martin sat beside the bed, petting her daughter's hair back from her face lovingly with a grief-stricken expression.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Stiles asked softly.

"They don't know." His dad told him, lowering his voice to speak more quietly, "Partially because they don't know what happened. She lost a lot of blood. But there's something else going on with her."

"What d'you mean?" Stiles asked worriedly. He knew how sick Amber must be feeling, agonizing over her friend, and he ached in sympathy for her while also harboring his own worry for Lydia.

"The doctors say it's like she's having an allergic reaction. Her body keeps going into shock." His dad explained in a quiet whisper.

Stiles' gaze dropped to the floor as he thought about what Peter had told him about the possibility of Lydia's body rejecting the bite and killing her. His stomach tightened with anxiety as he swallowed.

"She was your date. Did you see anything?" The Sheriff asked his son, "I mean, do you have any idea who or what attacked her?"

"No. No, I have no idea." He lied anxiously after a moment.

"What about Amber?" His dad followed up, "Or Scott?"

That drew Stiles' attention sharply up to his father's expectant face.

"What d'you mean?" Stiles asked immediately, "What about them?"

"Did either of them see anything?" His dad questioned obviously.

Stiles' heart dropped and his brain went slightly fuzzy with panic, "What d'you- Are they not here?"

"What are you talking about?" His dad questioned in disbelief, "I've been calling them on their cell phones. I haven't gotten a response from either of 'em."

Stiles let out a breath in anguish and his eyes drifted over to Jackson over his dad's shoulder. Jackson looked back at him with a shrug of genuine naivety, I don't know, the boy mouthed at Stiles silently in response.

"Yeah.. You're not gonna get one." Stiles finally told his dad in realization that neither Amber or Scott were currently in possession of their cell phones.

His stomach tied itself in knots, anxiety twisting in his gut.

Stupid, reckless, beautiful, selfless-

Amber. Who must have run off to Scott's aid the second that Stiles had left her.

Stiles was getting a stress headache already as he worried about everything that could've happened since he'd last seen her on the lacrosse field.

His dad led him away, into an unoccupied office typically used to privately discuss sensitive matters with the families of patients in the hospital. The Sheriff drilled Stiles again with the same questions, getting a more official statement of what Stiles knew about what had happened to his date.

Ten minutes later, his dad finally guided him back out into the hallway with a hand gripping tightly at his son's shoulder, "Stiles, listen," His father started, "Just- Go wait with your friends, alright?"

"Dad, look. You know all of this has something to do with Derek." Stiles told his dad desperately, finally cracking.

"Wh-" His dad paused in the middle of the hallway and turned to face him, "I thought you three said that you barely knew him?"

Stiles shrugged with a grimace, "Alright. Well, we might know him a little better than that."

The Sheriff looked up and down the hallway quickly before grabbing the back of Stiles' neck and guiding him into a corner of the hall with a firm grip, "You do realize I'm elected to this job. Right?" The man whispered aggressively.

"And if I help you figure out this case, you'll be re-elected," Stiles pointed out, "Am I right?" He turned to fully face his father with a sigh, "Dad, come on."

His dad's gaze drifted down the hallway toward Lydia's hospital room with a frown, "That girl in there has nothing to do with a six-year old arson case."

"Wh- When did you decide it was definitely arson?" Stiles asked in disbelief.

His dad gave him a sharp look for the volume of his voice while discussing a case before responding, "When we got a key witness," Stiles' mouth dropped open but he was cut off before he could speak, "And no. I'm not telling you who it is. But yeah. Yeah, we know it's arson. And it was possibly organized by a young woman."

"What young woman?" Stiles questioned immediately.

"If I knew that, she'd be in jail." His dad told him blankly.

Stiles' face pinched in frustration, "Was she young then or is she young now?"

"Wh-" The Sheriff's phone began to ring from his pocket, "She's probably late twenties." He told him, pulling out his phone and reading the name on the screen quickly, "Oh. I gotta grab this call."

"You don't know her name?" Stiles asked frantically.

"No, I don't." His dad defended quickly, "Wh- What is this twenty questions? All we know is that she had a very distinctive.. A uh, what do you call it? A pendant."

"What the hell is a pendant!" Stiles snapped as his dad peered down at his phone again.

His dad turned his attention back to him quickly, "Stiles, do you go to school?" He asked, raising his voice to match the volume of his son's, "A pendant! A pendant. It's a- It's a necklace. Now can I answer the phone?"

"Yes." Stiles told him with a sigh.

His dad took the call and started off down the hall, leaving Stiles standing in the middle of the corridor in a ball of anxiety. He reached up to rub at his short hair furiously in agitation, taking a deep breath as he spun around.

When the puzzle pieces finally slotted together in his brain regrettably slowly, his expression dropped further.

"Oh." He said in realization.

Allison's pendant. Allison's aunt. Who had helped take down Derek and then had proceeded to kidnap Amber.. And hide the both of them underneath the Hale House.. Where Peter Hale was currently going to get Derek.

He couldn't believe that it had taken him so long to put everything together.

He took off down the hallway in a fast paced walk and when he passed Jackson, the other boy chased after him frantically.

"Where are you going?" Jackson asked as he raced down the hallway beside Stiles.

"To find Amber and Scott." Stiles told him quickly.

"You don't have a car." Jackson said cynically.

"I'm aware of that," Stiles snapped, "Thank you."

"Hey, I'll drive." Jackson said, reaching out and pulling Stiles to a stop with a hand around his wrist.

Stiles ripped his arm out of Jackson's grip, "Look. Just because you feel guilty all of a sudden, doesn't make it okay. Alright? Half of this is still your fault."

Jackson paused for only a second, "Look, I have a car. And you don't. Do you want my help or not?"

"Alright," Stiles sighed before his brain supplied him with an idea, "Did you bring the Porsche?"

"Yeah." Jackson confirmed immediately, pulling his keys out of the pocket of his dress pants.

"Good," Stiles replied, ripping the keys from the other boy's fingers and already moving to walk down the hallway again, "I'll drive."

Stiles' steps stopped just as soon as they'd started at the sight of the person standing in the middle of the corridor, his feet carrying him a step back automatically and causing him to bump shoulders with Jackson.

"Boys." Mr. Argent greeted them, two lackeys hovering intimidatingly behind him for extra muscle, "I was wondering if you could tell me where Scott McCall is."

"Scott McCall?" Stiles repeated dumbly, "Um. Haven't seen him since the dance. Jackson, you?" He nudged the boy beside him and silently urged him to say the same.

There was a long beat of silence.

"Uh-" Jackson started slowly, "Um, I-" He released a shaky breath and turned his head toward Stiles worriedly.

"Oh, for the love of god." Stiles muttered anxiously, watching as the two men behind Mr. Argent stepped forward.

Each of the large men grabbed a teenage boy and dragged them down the hallway before throwing them violently through a set of double doors and into a small exam room for administering x-rays. Stiles and Jackson both collided with the edge of a metal table painfully and quickly worked to right themselves before turning to face the group of men behind them.

Mr. Argent was flipping the latch at the top of the door into a locked position as he spoke, "Let's try this again," He said, turning to face the boys, "Where is Scott McCall?"

When neither one of them immediately answered, Mr. Argent grabbed Stiles with his hands fisted in the collar of his shirt and slammed the boy back against a metal cabinet along the wall. Stiles winced at the a sharp pain than shot up his spine and looked down at the man in front of him.

"Let me ask you a question, Stiles." Mr. Argent started, "Have you ever seen a rabid dog?"

Stiles swallowed and squirmed against the grip the man had on his shirt, "No.. I could put it on my to-do list if you let me go."

"Well I have!" Chris Argent shouted in the boy's face, "And the only thing I can compare it to is seeing a friend of mine turn on a full moon. Do you wanna know what happened?"

"Not really." Stiles answered quickly, unable to hold back a sarcastic remark, "No offense to your story-telling skills."

Mr. Argent ignored his sass, "He tried to kill me." He told the room at large, "And I was forced to put a bullet in his head. The whole while that he lay there, dying, he was still trying to claw his way towards me. Still, trying to kill me. Like it was the most important thing he could do with his last breath.. Can you imagine that?" He asked pointedly.

"No." Stiles lied easily, despite the way his mind flashed to Scott pulling at his handcuffed wrist, screaming and growling in rage as he tried to get to Amber and himself. Another sarcastic remark falling from his lips in an attempt to mask his discomfort, "And it sounds like you need to be a little bit more selective-"

Mr. Argent released Stiles' shirt to slam his hands jarringly against the metal cabinet on either side of the boy's body threateningly, "Did Scott try to kill you and Amber on the full moon?" The man yelled, "Did you both have to lock him up?"

Stiles' gaze drifted to Jackson for the first time. The other boy was looking at them with a terrified expression, as if it had never once crossed his mind that Scott had been telling the��truth when he'd said becoming a werewolf was dangerous.

"Yeah," Stiles caved quietly as he maintained eye contact with Jackson, "We did. We chained him to a radiator.." His eyes snapped back to Allison's dad sharply, "Why? Would you prefer I locked him in the basement and burned the whole house down around him?" He asked venomously.

At that, Mr. Argent finally took a slow step back from him with a disbelieving laugh, "I hate to dispel a popular rumor, Stiles, but we never did that." Chris said slowly.

"Oh, right," He said sarcastically, "Derek said you guys had a 'code'. I guess no one ever breaks it."

"Never." Mr. Argent defended quickly, looking back at the men behind him.

"What if someone does?" Stiles pressed.

This brought Chris Argent's attention back around to him. He looked at Stiles in suspicion, "Someone like who?"

"Your sister." Stiles told him, anger twisting in the pit of his stomach, making him feel nearly sick as his mind supplied him with the image of Amber on the floor of her kitchen, tears streaming down her beautiful face, covered in dirt and her own blood.

Kate Argent had done that to her.

Kate Argent was a monster.

And with the way that Chris slowly turned his head to look at Stiles, as if the boy had somehow managed to shed light on something that had been in front of him this whole time — something he was only now realizing he'd been so obviously blind to — It seemed as if now, Chris Argent believed that she was a monster too.

As they climbed back out to the leaf-covered forest floor, Derek reluctantly leaned a small amount of his weight onto Amber's shoulder, still feeling weak from seven days of captivity.

"Hey," Derek said quietly, slowing his steps as he gripped her opposite shoulder. He panted heavily and tipped his head to the side to rest over the top of hers for a brief second as he breathed, "Hold on, hold on," He waited until Scott stopped and turned to face them before continuing, "Hold on. Something doesn't feel right."

"What d'you mean?" Amber asked quietly, tightening her fingers around the older boy's back and watching him look out into the darkness around them nervously.

"I don't know.." Derek shook his head in the dark, "It's- It's kinda like it was-"

"No." Scott interrupted quickly, "Don't say 'too easy'. People say 'too easy' and bad things always happen." He looked between Derek and his best friend slowly before speaking again, "What, you think finding you was easy? Getting away from Allison's dad? Pulling Amber four miles through the woods barefoot?"

Amber reached up to hold onto the hand Derek had resting on her shoulder, "None of it's been easy, Derek."

"Fine. You're right." He sighed.

The words had barely slipped past his lips before they heard a quiet whistle of something soaring through the air. Derek jolted backwards a step and released his grip on Amber, stumbling worryingly.

"Derek?" Amber took a single step to check on him and his hand came up to shove her away. She was still regaining her footing as she watched Derek fall to his back on the ground. There was another soft twish of something flying through the air and she watched in panic as an arrow planted itself into Derek's thigh.

"Scott, your eyes!" Derek yelled suddenly, looking back at them.

"Scott!" Amber called out worriedly as she spun around, unsure what exactly was about to happen but knowing that it wouldn't be good.

Another arrow sailed only a few inches from her face and hit the tree behind her with a familiar explosion of light. She flinched back and ran up the hill to search for her best friend in the dark, following the sounds of his pained breathing.

"Scott." She squatted down, pulling at his arms to help him up.

Derek released two sharp, wounded noises behind her but Amber was focussed on pulling Scott's dead weight up onto his feet as he continued to groan and squint his aching eyes. She had only just managed to stand upright and get her friend's arm around her shoulders when Derek came up behind them and gave them both a push to get moving.

"Go!" Derek demanded, "Let's go!"

They moved up toward the burned house and the trek slowly got easier as Scott was able to hold more and more of his own weight with each step. Derek's hand brushed over her backside when he fell to the ground behind them and she turned her head to look back at him worriedly even as she continued another step forward with Scott.

"Go!" Derek yelled sharply when he noticed her hesitation.

She spun around fully to look back for whatever threat was emerging from the treeline while Scott continued to rub frantically at his eyes with the hand he didn't have wrapped around her shoulder. She tightened her arm protectively around her best friend and guided them a step backwards, heart pounding in her chest with fear.

"Allison, I can explain." Scott said suddenly as someone finally stepped through the trees and into the small clearing in front of the house.

"Stop lying." Allison snapped emotionally, tightening her grip on the large archery bow in her hands, "For once. Stop lying."

The look of pure hatred swimming in Allison's eyes was haunting and it had Amber continuing to carry Scott away as the other girl approached them with quick steps.

"Allison-" Amber started, but she was cut off when Scott spoke frantically again.

"I was gonna tell you the truth at formal," Scott promised, "I was gonna tell you everything. Because everything that I said, everything that I did-"

"Was to protect me?" Allison finished mockingly.

"Yes!" Scott responded quickly .

"I don't believe you." Allison told him.

"You don't have to," Amber pleaded weakly, "But what you're doing.. It isn't- Allison, look at yourself! You've lost your freaking mind-"

"God. Enough-" Kate emerged from the treeline and came toward them with quick steps, "Now, shoot him before I have to shoot him myself."

Amber wobbled slightly in her next step as she stared at the woman in fear. Amber's hold around Scott's waist tightened protectively and she felt his own grip on her shoulder tense at the woman's words.

Allison spun to look at her aunt in disbelief, "I thought you said we were just going to catch them?"

"We did that," Kate rolled her eyes, "Now we're gonna kill them."

There was a loud gunshot and Amber flinched, watching in horror as Derek dropped down onto the ground from a bullet to his chest. Kate lowered her weapon again with a smile.

"See? Not that hard." She told her niece easily. After a moment of silence, she tilted her head judgmentally at the girl as she came up to stand beside her with a sigh, "Oh, no. I know that look. That's the 'you're gonna have to do it yourself' look."

The woman turned her attention toward Scott and Amber and raised her gun again. She aimed at Scott, holding the weapon less than a foot away from the boy's face.

"Kate! Kate, what're you doing?" Allison asked nervously, taking a step toward them as she realized the severity of the situation.

Kate shoved her niece to the ground behind her as Scott dropped his arm from around Amber's shoulders. He moved to stand in front of her protectively but Amber dragged him back and refused to let go.

"Don't shoot him." Amber begged, eyes welling with tears.

"Werewolves really aren't good company to keep. If you want a puppy so bad, you should try starting with something a little easier-" Kate looked at Amber with a mocking grin, "Like a golden retriever. Maybe a lab." She turned her gaze to Scott and pouted jokingly, "I love those brown puppy-dog eyes."

"Kate!" Chris Argent's voice called out from the distance as he too emerged from the woods, "I know what you did."

Kate paused, her gun lowering a fraction but still remaining firmly trained on Scott.

"Put the gun down." Chris demanded.

"I did what I was told to do." Kate defended quietly in response to her brother's earlier statement.

Allison's dad shook his head, "No one asked you to murder innocent people. There were children in that house-" He nodded his head toward the burnt ruins of the home beside them, "Ones who were human. Look what you're doing now. You're holding a gun at two sixteen-year old children. No proof that either one of them have spilled any human blood." Chris said desperately, "We go by the code. Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent."

"We hunt those who hunt us?" Amber whispered quietly in translation.

Kate shot her brother an annoyed glare before she turned to focus on Amber and Scott again. Amber's heart stuttered in her chest as she watched the woman's finger twitch imperceptibly over the trigger on the gun.

Chris Argent pulled out his own gun where he stood a few yards away and raised it slowly, the weapon trained on at Kate, "Put the gun down-" He repeated.

When the weapon aimed at Scott didn't lower, there was another loud gunshot. Amber flinched at the echoing sound again as small chunks of bark flew from the tree trunk just behind Kate's shoulder.

"-Before I put you down." Mr. Argent finished threateningly.

Kate slowly lowered the gun and both Scott and Amber immediately took in shaky breaths of relief. They didn't get more than a second to recover before the front door to the Hale house was creaking open ominously. Amber took a cautious step back, bumping into Scott's shoulder as she did so, her eyes glued to the dark doorway.

"Allison. Get back." Mr. Argent ordered his daughter sharply.

Scott finally succeeded in positioning himself in front of his best friend and his arms went out to cage Amber behind himself protectively as they continued to take slow steps back and away from the house.

"What is it?" Amber asked Scott quietly.

"It's the Alpha." He responded without turning around.

A dark figure darted out of the house in a blur and Peter raced around in the treeline, never pausing in one place long enough for any of them to really catch sight of him. They all spun around nervously. Amber eyed dark forest around them with shaking hands as she stood at Scott's back.

Chris Argent's feet were suddenly taken out from underneath him and he slammed down to the ground hard.

Only a few short seconds later, Allison was knocked onto her back as well, dropping her bow into the leaves as she fell.

Amber was reaching a shaking hand out slowly, intending to grip onto the fabric of Scott's shirt, when something rammed into the both of them painfully from the side. Both teens tumbled to the ground and Amber rolled a few feet away with the sheer force of the hit.

When she came to a stop in the dirt and leaves, she scrambled to get up onto her knees. The small rocks and twigs beneath her dug into the bare skin of her legs as she braced herself on her hands and knees, Scott's oversized suit jacket hanging low enough over her hands to protect her palms where they pressed into the ground beneath her.

"Come on!" Kate yelled out tauntingly to the Alpha.

The dark moving figure stopped suddenly behind Kate in his human form and took her wrist in his hand. Kate pulled the trigger on her gun, missing her target and shooting a bullet off into the forest behind him.

Peter glared at the woman angrily and he held her wrist with a presumably tight grip, bashing it with his other hand until there was a sharp snap of bone breaking. When Kate screamed out and dropped the weapon to the ground, Peter grabbed her by the throat in a frighteningly similar way to how he'd held onto Amber earlier that night.

Amber watched from the ground with wide eyes as Peter tossed Kate up onto the porch a few yards away where she landed with a loud thud. He moved in another quick blur of motion, dragging Kate through the dark doorway and into the house with him.

"No!" Allison protested, getting to her feet and running into the house after them.

"Allison, wait-" Amber tried, but the other girl was already through the door.

Scott got to his feet quickly and followed after Allison and Amber watched him go while she pulled herself up, shuffling in her socks as she contemplated her options. She looked nervously between the dark house, Mr. Argent's unmoving body, and the treeline.

After a moment of hesitation, she took off toward the treeline. She wandered around in search of Derek but saw nothing, no bloodied corpse or dying werewolf anywhere to be found, and after a few minutes, her heart settled in relief at the knowledge that he was most likely alive.

"Dad!" Allison called out from behind her, skidding to a stop in the leaves and kneeling down beside her father.

Amber took a few slow steps toward them, heart nervously thumping in her chest with a new distrust for the entire Argent family. Despite that, when she looked down at Mr. Argent laying on the ground in front of his daughter, Amber felt a pang of sympathetic grief.

She dropped to her knees beside Allison slowly, "Is- Is he-"

"He's alive." Allison said quickly, gripping onto her father's hand tightly, "I-I think he hit his head when he went down, but he's alive."

"That- That's good." Amber replied, reaching out after a moment's pause to pat her hand consolingly over Allison's arm. The girl's attention snapped over to Amber all at once with tears in her eyes.

"Amber, I-" Allison choked on a quiet sob, "I'm so sorry."

She patted Allison's arm softly again and gnawed on her lower lip indecisively, knowing that she didn't forgive Allison for all that she'd done, Amber simply nodded.

Suddenly, a window from the house beside them shattered loudly, glass flying through the air as someone was thrown from the house. Both Amber and Allison's attention snapped up and Amber closed her eyes for a brief second in resignation at the sight of Scott scrambling to right himself on his hands and knees as Peter dove outside in his terrifying fully shifted form.

The Alpha charged forward and Amber fearfully watched as he and Scott fought evenly matched for a moment. Peter grabbed a hold of the boy by the collar of his shirt and let out a loud, animalistic growl. Scott reared back and kicked his feet out against The Alpha's dark hairy chest and they both flew a few feet back from one another from the force of his kick. The fully shifted Peter growled once again in outrage and got back to his feet, immediately turning his gaze on Scott.

Headlights suddenly curved up the driveway through the thick covering of trees around the final turn and the car skidded to a stop in the gravel, the doors flying open and the horn honking loudly in a surefire way to gain everyone's attention.

Jackson and Stiles tumbled from the parked Porsche and Amber had only a moment to panic about their presence at the scene of the danger before Stiles was pitching his arm forward and throwing a glass bottle across the clearing.

The bottle flew through the air and straight into Peter's outstretched hand, the liquid-filled container identical to the Molotov cocktails Lydia had prepared back at the school in the chemistry classroom. The animalistic version of the werewolf growled angrily in Stiles' direction as he caught the container and examined it.

"Oh, damn.." Stiles exclaimed quietly as the Alpha growled again.

"Allison!" Scott yelled toward the two girls.

Amber and Allison's attention both snapped to the boy who was still on his hands and knees on the ground. Scott reached forward toward Allison's abandoned bow and threw it in their direction. Allison grabbed it quickly while Amber snatched an arrow from the quiver laying beside Mr. Argent's unconscious body, handing it over to the other girl just as she righted the bow in her hands to take aim.

When Amber looked back up, the Alpha was turning to face the two girls and pitching his own arm back to throw the container in his hands in their direction.

Allison wasted no time in shooting an arrow toward the Alpha before he got the chance to throw the liquid fire-bomb in his clawed hand. The well-aimed arrow hit it's target dead center, shattering the glass beaker in Peter's hand in a small fiery explosion.

He roared angrily as his left arm was overtaken with flames, shaking his arm in an attempt to get rid of the roaring fire burning over his skin.

A second batch of chemicals shattered over the werewolf's body when Jackson threw a second flask at the Alpha's chest. Peter's wolfed-out form roared in both agony and fury as the flames overtook his whole body, the smell of his burning flesh and fur spreading through the air. Amber couldn't hold back a gag at the nauseating scent when it reached her nose. After a few seconds of his outraged growls, the Alpha turned his attention back toward the two girls who had taken some part in the pain he was now experiencing. Despite the flames on his skin, Peter took a menacing step toward where Allison and Amber were still knelt on the ground, frozen in fear.

Upon the Alpha's first step in their direction, Scott yelled in outrage and ran at the burning wolf, kicking the other werewolf hard and sending Peter stumbling back several steps before dropping to his knees as the flames flickered out slowly.

No longer able to hold his shift, Peter sagged as he reverted to his human form, his pale skin covered head to toe in a combination of spots that were marred red and others that had been singed so deeply that they'd blackened with char, his human flesh so badly burned in some places that there was no skin left at all.

Amber didn't want to feel anything for him, but she couldn't help the microscopic pang of pity she felt when she realized he'd had to experience the feeling of burning alive twice. He was dark, and twisted, and definitely insane, but she wasn't sure that anyone deserved such a painful death even once.

They all continued to watch as Peter made a small noise of pain and collapsed onto his back on the ground.

Allison tugged Amber's arm as she rose to stand, pulling the girl up to her feet and when Allison took a small step to approach Scott, Amber's own gaze snapped to the place where Stiles was still standing in front of the car, his wide eyes glued to Peter's unmoving body.

Not even fully aware of the movement of her socked feet against the ground, Amber took off in a run. She closed the couple hundred feet separating her from Stiles and her body smacked into his with enough force that he was sent stumbling back half a step. Her arms wrapped around Stiles' neck and she lifted up on her toes as she gripped onto him desperately. His hands slipped beneath Scott's jacket to return the embrace, his arms curling tightly around her back.

"You were supposed to stay with Lydia." He scolded softly into her hair.

"I know," She said quietly, reaching up to the hold the back of his head in her hair as her body trembled with excess adrenaline, "'M sorry. But I couldn't let Scott-"

"I know." Stiles interrupted softly.

She loosened her grip just enough that she could lean back in the circle of his arms to look at him, her eyes flicking over his face slowly. Before she could make a move to kiss him, Stiles was leaning in to cover her mouth with his in a gentle press of lips.

"Wait!"

Amber took a startled step back at the sound of Scott's panicked shout, pulling out of Stiles' embrace and lacing her fingers with his in a tight grip as they both turned to watch Scott run across the clearing in front of the house.

Derek was standing over Peter's unmoving body and turned his head a fraction at Scott's voice before he lowered into a squat and returned his gaze down at his uncle.

"You said the cure comes from the one that bit you," Scott said frantically, reaching an arm out toward the other werewolf, "Derek, if you do this, I'm dead." He pleaded, "Her father, her family- What am I supposed to do?"

There was a long beat of silence wherein Derek's attention was focused on the burned werewolf beneath him. Amber's fingers tightened around Stiles' hand nervously while Derek raised an arm over his head in preparation.

"Wait!" Scott yelled again, "No, no! Don't-!"

But Derek's clawed hand swiped down aggressively, slashing Peter's throat as Amber flinched with a gasp. Watching Derek kill someone left a queasy feeling in her gut and her hands shook as she watched him slowly rise to stand again, blood dripping from his clawed fingers. Her haunted gaze was pulled away from the the thick red drops falling from Derek's nails when Stiles reached out to cradle the back of her head and guided her face gently into the crook of his neck.

Her fingers tightened where she was still gripping Stiles' hand and she let out a shaky breath against the collar of his dress shirt when she heard Derek's voice behind them.

"I'm the Alpha now."

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