Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stilinski,

               We’re coming for him, like it or not.

The note that slipped out of the envelope was accompanied by a photo of Stiles.

In a rifle sight.

The Sheriff bowed his head, sighting heavily. This was the third threat against Stiles in as many days, but this was the first one that came accompanied by a picture. It made him sick, not knowing who was doing this. He had upset so many people through arrests and the like, and not all of them were still behind bars.

Whoever wrote the note asked for nothing, just threatened Stiles, and the Sheriff knew that he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“Parrish!” He called, and seconds later, the new deputy was in his office.

Parrish had been hired a week or two ago, but he had spent all of his time with paperwork and evidence – really, no one had seen him in uniform, and the guy was new to town.

“Yes, sir?” Parrish asked, entering the office.

“I have an assignment for you,” he stated, gesturing for Parrish to sit down across from him.

“Anything, sir,” Parrish stated. “I’ve been itching to get into the field.”

“How do you feel about going undercover?” Sheriff asked. “In the High School.”

He pushed the papers, the three notes, and the picture, towards Parrish, who read them, and looked up at the Sheriff. He knew Stiles from the pictures the Sheriff had of him on his desk, he knew who the kid in the rifle sight was.

“Your son?” He asked, though he knew the answer.

“Yes.” The Sheriff nodded. “I need you to go into the high school, just get close to him, stay close to him, be his friend, do anything you have to, just keep him safe. That’s your only job. However you have to do it, just do.”

“Yes, sir.” He nodded. “I won’t let you down, sir.”

Chapter Text

“Oh jesus, another one?” Finstock rolled his eyes, stopping the entire class when the door opened, and the principal entered with a young man. “Alright, alright.”

The principal handed Finstock a slip of paper, and left, the new student standing awkwardly at his side, playing with the straps on his backpack. He was tall, looked to be in good shape, with his hair swept nicely off his face, but he looked nervous.

“Alright, class,” he stated. “This is Kyle Parrish, he’s new, obviously, so try not to be your normal little demonic selves around him just yet. Kyle, do you have anything you want to say to the class?”

“No, sir.” Kyle shook his head.

“Sir, I could get used to that.” Finstock smiled. “Alright, take a seat. McCall is absent today, again, so you can have the privilege of sitting next to Stilinski.” He gestured to the open seat, and Kyle wondered if that had been orchestrated, too, or if that was just luck.

Stiles scrambled to get his backpack off of the spare chair, the chair that Stiles usually saved for Scott.

He got the chair clear just in time, and when Kyle sat down, he turned and smiled at Stiles. It was all about making contact. He had to get this kid to like him, because if he made a bad impression, and couldn’t befriend Stiles, it was going to be one hell of a lot harder to be close to him all of the time, and right now, nothing mattered more than that.

His job, literally his only goal right now, was to protect this kid from harm while his father, and the rest of the precinct, tried to figure out who was threatening him, and why.

He gave Stiles a small wave, and Stiles returned it.

“Welcome to hell,” he said with a wink.

“Oh god, is it really that bad?” Kyle asked.

“Hey, don’t be nervous. The last new student we got that wasn’t an asshole fell right in with everyone, and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that she’s skipping school with my buddy who usually has your seat.”

“Oh…gotcha…” Kyle laughed awkwardly. This kid talked openly and easily. He didn’t think that it would be that hard to become his friend…especially not with all of the background information the Sheriff had given him in preparation.

This was his first real undercover work, but he felt that he couldn’t have been better prepared. He had been sent in to protect someone, to get close to someone, and he had a lot of information, good, reliable information. And not only that, he knew Stiles was innocent. It was always easier to protect someone who meant no harm.

***

Scott did manage to show up around 4^th period, just before lunch, and he slid into his seat next to Stiles for chemistry.

“Hey, did I miss anything?” He asked, keeping his voice a low whisper, even though Finstock had very much made it clear that everyone knew Scott was gone.

“New kid in Econ,” Stiles stated. “And…there he is again.” He gestured as Kyle walked into the room. “Move,” he hissed under his breath to Scott.

“What? Why?” Scott asked.

“So he will sit next to me!” Stiles whispered.

“But I always sit next to you!”

“You do now that you’re solidly dating Allison, what about before that, huh? How many times did you ask me to move so you could sit with her?” Stiles narrowed his eyes at his best friend. “You owe me!”

Scott’s eyes widened as he realized what Stiles was asking him to do. He wasn’t just asking him to move, he was admitting that there was something about this new guy that intrigued him.

When Stiles was 12, and first realized that he might not be 100% straight – though he was still definitely, and very much, also into girls – Scott had been the first person that he had come out to. Ever since then, it had been something that stayed between the two of them.

Stiles had always said that when he had a reason to come out, someone he was with, that he cared about, that was a male, if that ever happened, that he would do it then, but he didn’t want to cause unnecessary drama by doing it sooner.

Scott grabbed his backpack and moved, going to sit with Lydia, and sure enough, Kyle spotted the open seat by Stiles and immediately took it.

“Jesus,” he stated looking over to Stiles. “It’s nice to see a friendly face. I think this kid Ethan wants to kill me. All I did was sit down in Spanish, and he just gave me this look…”

“Did you sit next to Danny?” Stiles asked, a knowing smile in place on his face.

“Who?”

“Danny. Tall, Hawaiian, athletic, dimples for days?” Stiles had to cut off his explanation there because, well, it had been Danny that helped him realize that he liked guys, of course Danny didn’t know that, but Stiles’ crush on him, while never rivaling the one he had on Lydia, had also been pretty strong, though by the end of sophomore year, it was pretty much gone. And as for Lydia? Now they were friends, and he was good with that.

“Oh shit…was that the wrong choice?” Kyle asked.

“Very much so.” Stiles smiled. “Danny’s dating Ethan, Ethan has a twin, Aiden, and they’re not…well, they have issues. Deadbeat parents, emancipated, so they’re surly and whatnot…”

Okay, so maybe not the full truth, but he wasn’t about to tell Kyle the truth, that Ethan and Aiden were borderline psychotic werewolves and that he didn’t know who or where their parents were.

“Oh damn.” Kyle laughed nervously. “Maybe you should make me a chart of-”

“I can do that,” Stiles said, almost too quickly.

And he wasn’t at all picturing that scene in Mean Girls when he did so.

Not at all.

“Well, thank you.” Kyle smiled, but fell silent, opening up his notebook while the teacher started talking. It really did seem like getting close to Stiles wasn’t going to be very difficult at all. The Sheriff had been right, his son was open, friendly, and welcoming.

As for Stiles? Well, he spent the entirety of Chemistry working on that chart for Kyle, and hoping that he could find a non-weird way to ask if the new guy wanted to sit with him and Scott…and Allison and Lydia, and Isaac, at the lunch table. After all, they could use another totally handsome guy, right? Though Lydia would probably call dibs, and Stiles wouldn’t be able to say anything.

“Okay, here you go,” Stiles said as the bell rang, letting class out. “It’s a list of names, here are people NOT to sit next to in class, here are people that are GOOD to sit next to in class. On this side, you have people to avoid all together, and this little bubble right here are the cool kids. Scott, Allison, Lydia, Isaac, and of course, yours truly.”

“Oh, thanks.” He smiled, taking a look at the list, and folding it up into his pocket. He had it memorized, he was just that good, but Stiles didn’t need to know that.

“And Danny’s actually a great guy, it’s Ethan you’ve got to worry about with him. He’s always worried that someone’s trying to steal his boyfriend, well, because everyone, including Ethan, knows that he’s not good enough for Danny.”

“You’re awfully hard on this Ethan guy,” Kyle stated. “It sounds like he’s had a rough life.”

“Eh, we just don’t get along…and in all reality, Danny’s probably actually really good for him, we’ll see what happens. I’m not really sure anyone at this place is really good enough for Danny.”

“Sort of sounds like you wish you were,” Lydia stated, walking up behind them, arms folded across her chest, eyebrow perfectly raised.

“Oh hey, Lydia,” Stiles laughed, turning around. “Always with the teasing, you are.”

“Right, okay.” She rolled her eyes. “Are you going to introduce me to your new friend, or do I have to do everything myself?”

“Oh, right, right,” Stiles nodded. “Lydia, this is Kyle, Kyle, Lydia.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Kyle reached out, all manners, and shook her hand.

“Likewise. Now, I’m assuming Stiles was too busy drooling over Danny to invite you to have lunch with us, so I’ll do it.” Lydia linked her arm through Kyle’s, and started walking off with him towards the cafeteria, leaving Stiles behind, shoving books into his backpack before he could follow.

“Tough break, man,” Scott stated, coming up behind his friend and patting him on the shoulder.

“Happens.” Stiles shrugged, slinging his backpack over one shoulder, it was Lydia, after all, and if he was going to lose out to someone, it might as well be the hottest, smartest girl in school.

Chapter Text

“So, where are you from?” Lydia asked, spearing some chicken-looking thing on her fork, inspecting it before deciding that, while school made, it was in fact safe to eat, and popping it into her mouth.

“Kansas,” Kyle stated. “Pittsburg, Kansas.”

“A midwestern gentleman.” Lydia smiled, nodding in approval. She was always the best at drawing out new people. Hell, she’d managed to get Allison to be her best friend minutes after coming to Beacon Hills, and they’d been best friends pretty much ever since.

“I try my best.” Kyle smiled and looked down at his food. He was used to health food, keeping a good diet, and he made a mental note to pack his own lunch tomorrow, and for the rest of his time here at the high school.

Stiles did not seem to have the same concern. Across the table, he was wolfing down the sloppy joe and tater tots on his plate, and Scott was only a couple of steps ahead of him.

Stiles’ friends were warm and friendly, they had already pulled him into their little group, and he felt that if he could just continue to stay close to them, he would. He had expected this to be harder, getting close to teenagers, because teenagers could be so mean and petty, especially to “new kids,” but not these guys.

Except Isaac. He seemed bored, flicking things around on his phone, ignoring, well, everyone, but Isaac wasn’t Kyle’s charge, Stiles was, and Stiles seemed receptive.

“Shouldn’t you have an accent or something?” Scott asked, looking at him.

“I don’t know.” Kyle laughed. “I’ve been told I have a slight one, but I mean, it’s not like Hicksville USA over there. I don’t know anyone who speaks like the Beverly Hillbillies.”

“Oh, sorry for judging, man. I just assume that, because I’m half Mexican and love burritos, everyone else is a stereotype, too.” He smiled, and Kyle felt oddly welcomed.

He knew that this was just a job, but he hadn’t had real friends like this since his days in the military, and that…had ended devastatingly for his unit.

“Forgive him,” Stiles stated, shoving his best friend, right before stealing a tater tot off of Scott’s plate. “He’s new to being popular, doesn’t know how to be one of us cool kids yet,” Stiles teased. Sure, maybe it was him riding Scott’s coat tails, but he was still who he was, and ripping on his best friend was a huge part of that.

“Shut up and give me back my tater tot,” Scott snarked.

“Oh, you want it now?” Stiles asked, tilting his head to the side. “Hold on, just let me regurgitate it for you, baby bird.”

“Oh my god, grow up.” Lydia rolled her eyes, turning to Kyle. “I’m sorry, and I completely understand if you never want to sit with us a gain. They can be such children.”

“It’s alright.” Kyle smiled at the whole situation. “It’s oddly endearing.”

“They do have a quality about them,” Lydia admitted, looking over at Scott and Stiles, who were now poking each other with the straws from their milk. They had all been through hell, but they’d come out on the other end, and they were trying to hold on to that as much as they could.

“Boyish charm is the term you’re looking for,” Allison interjected. “And Scott’s flush with it.” She smiled, and leaned over, kissing Scott on the cheek, effectively distracting him from his silly fight with Stiles.

“Hey!” Stiles objected. “I have boyish charm, too! Tell them, Isaac.”

Isaac looked up from his phone and rolled his eyes, nodding.

“Stiles has boyish charm.”

“Yes.” Stiles grinned. “Thank you Isaac, now back to your angry birds.”

“Fruit ninja,” Isaac corrected.

“Wait, what’s your high score?” Stiles asked.

“610,” Isaac stated.

“Wait, what? Seriously? How do you do that? Mine is like 303!”

“Easy.” Isaac put his phone down and smirked at Stiles. “I know how to focus.”

“Harsh,” Stiles stated.

“But fair,” Lydia interjected.

“Touché.” Stiles shrugged, accepting his fate as the slightly ADD one. After all, he was working on weaning off the Adderall. He didn’t like depending on something like that.

“So, what class do you have next?” Lydia asked, turning back to Kyle.

“Let me check…” Kyle reached into the pocket of his jeans, and pulled out his schedule. “English, with Mr. Kent?”

“Oh, me too!” Stiles looked up, grinning. “He’s great. Very open minded about report topics, papers and stuff.”

“Stiles needs open minded professors, because he goes on tangents and sometimes has trouble coming back from them,” Scott pointed out.

“What is it?” Stiles asked. “Gang up on Stiles day?”

“So a normal week day?” Isaac asked.

“It’s okay, Stiles,” Lydia smiled. “I like your tangents. You’re the only person here smart enough to go on educated tangents.”

“Thank you.” Stiles gestured gratefully to Lydia.

“Hey, Stiles, maybe since you seem to be in a lot of Kyle’s classes, you could help him get caught up after school?” Allison asked, her arm around Scott, and it didn’t take much deduction at all for Stiles to realize that in the mere moments between chemistry ending, and them all getting to the lunch table, that Scott had filled his girlfriend in on everything.

“Um…I guess maybe…if he wants.” Stiles shrugged.

“That would actually be really helpful,” Kyle stated, jumping right on the chance to be able to be on Stiles watch after school, too. “I’m feeling more than a little overwhelmed, and the day’s only half over.”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded. “We can go to my place, or we can go to yours, or to the library, but…the library doesn’t love me right now, so…”

“We can do your place, if that’s okay? Mine is really small, and yeah…not great for having people over.” They were still working on a way to keep Stiles from ever going over to Kyle’s house, though the hope was that this little mission wouldn’t last long, that they would figure out where the threats were coming from, and put a stop to them.

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded. “My dad’s rarely home anyways, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.”

Kyle felt stuck now, because he knew about Claudia. He knew that she was dead, and he didn’t want to bring that up, because it felt cruel to do so, but at the same time, wouldn’t a normal 17 year old boy ask that question? He didn’t know. It had been 7 years since he’d been 17. The question hung unasked in the air, but it didn’t feel awkward, because it only took about 5.6 seconds for Allison to start talking about the latest book she was reading, and the conversation had shifted.

It was moving a little fast for Kyle, and he didn’t have anything to add, not really, so he just sat there, listening, trying to keep up. It was kind of cool, how well all of these kids knew each other, especially since they didn’t all seem like they belonged in the same social group, but even with Isaac, the grumpy seeming guy playing on his phone, there seemed to be a lot of love and understanding. The Sheriff had said that Stiles’ group of friends always had each other’s back, and Kyle was able to see that easily.

As the bell rang, excusing them from lunch, Kyle looked up and caught Stiles’ eye. Stiles winked, then looked away quickly and picked up his tray. “Come on, greenie, let’s get to English,” he stated, gesturing at the new kid.

And just like that, no sweat, no tears, no teasing, no pain, Kyle Parrish was in.

Chapter Text

“…So Pearl is a demon child, and everyone is having sex with everyone else, but there’s shame in it, and whatnot, and yeah…symbolism on symbolism…it’s a great book,” Stiles stated, holding up his copy of The Scarlett Letter as he sat on his bedroom floor, trying to catch Kyle up on everything he’d missed. “Man, just imagine if everyone here wore their letters for their shame.”

“What would yours be?” Kyle asked.

“S,” Stiles stated. “For spaz.”

Kyle laughed, and Stiles bit his lip, because yeah, okay, his laugh was almost as nice as his green eyes, and his perfect hair, and his perfectly crisp shirt…seriously, it was like he popped out of a J-Crew ad or something.

“What about you?” Stiles asked.

Kyle bit his lip, shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t want to answer the question honestly, who would? But he had posed it, and he was pretty sure that Stiles hadn’t answered honestly, either. Sure, maybe he was a bit of a spaz at times, but it was pretty clear that that was public knowledge, and that he wasn’t terribly ashamed of it.

“C,” Kyle decided. “For confused as hell. I think I’m actually going to have to read the book.”

“What? No!” Stiles gasped. “We’re almost at the end of the unit! I’m sure he’ll give you a break. Just watch Easy A or something. You’ll basically get the whole plot from there.”

“What?” Kyle asked.

“Easy A?” Stiles tilted his head to the side. “You know, foxy redhead reads a little too much into the Scarlett Letter? It gets around school that she’s boning all these guys, even though she’s TOTALLY not, she’s just saying that she did so they get cred, and then they…oh my god.” Stiles looked shocked as it became evident that Kyle really had no idea what Stiles was going on about. “You haven’t seen that?”]

“Sorry.” Kyle shrugged.

“Okay, no. Not okay. I’m calling an impromptu movie night. We can even count it as doing homework. Do you need to be home at a certain time?”

“Nah.” Kyle shook his head. “As long as I send a text to my mom letting her know here I am, she’s pretty good about me being out places. Especially if it’s, you know, homework.”

“Cool.” Stiles grinned. “So you wanna watch it?”

“Yeah.” Kyle nodded. “My head is hurting from all of the studying anyways.”

“Great!” Stiles grinned. “I’ll order a pizza, and we can hook my computer up to the TV. What do you eat on your pizza?”

“Vegetarian,” Kyle answered automatically, and Stiles looked at him as though he had just said a bad word.

“Do you not eat meat?” Stiles asked.

“No, I do, just…not the processed stuff that comes on pizza.” Kyle shrugged, and a slow smile crossed Stiles’ face.

“You should talk to my dad about a diet plan,” he stated, calling for a pizza. He decided to go all in vegetarian, even though he liked the processed pepperoni, because hey, he wanted to impress Kyle. They were having dinner and watching a movie. That was practically a date, right?

The pizza showed up, and Stiles set up the movie, and sat down on the couch next to Kyle, wondering how he should handle this whole situation. He had seen this movie a few times before, and he wasn’t ashamed of it. After all, it was hilarious, and Emma Stone was…Emma Stone.

He found himself more watching Kyle watch the movie, than watching it himself, and it was sort of a beautiful sight.

Kyle was about the cleanest eater that Stiles had ever seen, and for some reason, the way he dabbed the sauce off of the corner of his mouth with his napkin instead of wiping it off on his sleeve the way Stiles had been about to do, was something of a turn on. Stiles reached for a napkin himself, wiping his own mouth, and trying to sit up a little straighter. Kyle had killer posture.

And then there was his laugh. He had several different variations of laughter that Stiles saw throughout the night. He had a little snort he did when something was sort of funny, but not funny enough to merit Kyle Laughter Level 2, as Stiles referred to it, which was the chuckle. Sort of cute, well, definitely cute, but not as cute as the full on, Level 3, where he threw his head back, and laughed, full, and real “ha ha ha’s,” coming out of his mouth. It was beautiful, perfect, like the perfect teeth it revealed. God, did he have perfect everything?

It took ever ounce of self control that Stiles had in his body not to scoot a little closer to Kyle on the couch, because after all, it was still the guy’s first day, and Stiles didn’t want to creep him out. He was never good at playing it cool with the people that he liked, and he wanted to keep it that way.

“I should go,” Kyle admitted, checking his watch – yes, his watch, not his phone, when the movie was over. It was close to 11, and yes, probably bed time, for someone responsible and mature like Kyle. It also happened to be right about as his father was coming home.

They were on their way to the door when the Sheriff came home.

“Hey, dad.” Stiles smiled. “This is Kyle, he’s new at school, we were doing homework together.”

“Really?” the Sheriff asked, not missing a beat as he looked at the TV screen…which was still displaying the last shot of the movie where Stiles had paused it. “It looks like you were watching a movie.”

“For homework reasons,” Stiles insisted, smiling.

“Okay…” After all, the Sheriff had given up fighting those battles a long time ago. “Kyle, it’s nice to meet you. Do you need a ride home?”

“No, sir.” Kyle shook his head. “We drove separately.”

“So that’s your corolla in the driveway?”

“Yes, sir.” Kyle nodded. “Stiles, I’ll see you at school tomorrow, thanks again for the help.” He nodded politely at the Sheriff, and took his leave.

“I like him,” Dad stated, turning back to Stiles. “He’s polite.”

“Yeah.” Stiles smiled. “He really is.”

“No, young man, did you get your homework done?”

“Yes!” Stiles nodded.

“Okay. Well I’m beat, I’m going to bed. Try not to stay up too late?”

“I’ll try.” Stiles smiled and packed up the living room. He tossed out the empty pizza box, and put all of his homework in the correct folders. After all, if he didn’t keep it well organized, he would lose it all, and that would be a disaster, since he actually did put a lot of time into his schoolwork…it just didn’t always go the way that he wanted it to.

When he got back up to his room, he changed to his pajamas, jumped into bed, and let out a deep sigh as he called Scott.

“Sup, bro?” Scott asked, answering the phone almost immediately.

“I think I’m in trouble,” Stiles whined, though he kept his voice low enough that his dad wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation.

“The new kid?” Scott asked.

“Yup.” Stiles nodded. “It’s totally the whole you and Allison thing all over again, except…how the HELL did you do that? Advice! I need advice!”

“Okay, well…Allison and I bonded when I helped her help a dog she hit with her car, so…I’m not really sure how to help you.”

“Useless,” Stiles muttered. “I bend over backwards to help you with your wolf thing, and you can’t even help me get a date?”

“I’ll try.” Scott promised. “I didn’t exactly plan out things with Allison, I just got lucky, I was myself – or as much of myself as I could let her know about, and it just…worked out.”

“Yeah, that’s because Allison is crazy and for some reason, liked you.”

“Well maybe Kyle will like you, too!” Scott said with a smile.

“Kyle is gonna like Lydia,” Stiles said. “And the worst part is, I can’t even blame him for it.”

“Oh, honey, no.” Allison grabbed the phone from Scott, interjecting.

“HAS SHE BEEN LISTENING THIS WHOLE TIME?!” Stiles asked, eyes widening.

“Sorry bro,” Scott called.

“Allison, I’m sorry I called you crazy, I didn’t mean it,” Stiles stated. “But wait, what were you saying? About Kyle and Lydia?”

“Lydia says he’s gay,” Allison stated matter of factly. “Her gaydar is freakishly good. It’s a wonder she hasn’t figured you out yet.”

“It’s because I’m bi, not gay, and have had a very obvious crush on her since the third grade,” Stiles stated nonchalantly. “But wait, so he’s gay?”

“According to Lydia’s perfect gaydar? Yes.”

“Okay, alright, thank you! I so totally forgive you for eavesdropping on my conversation.”

“Anytime.” Allison smiled, handing the phone back to Scott.

“There you have it.” Scott smiled. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Stiles nodded, and hung up, not at all sure how to handle that new information, because, well, if it got out that Kyle, good looking, perfect Kyle, was gay, Stiles didn’t have long until the other guys at school, the ones with the built bodies and the perfect hair, descended upon him, and Stiles wouldn’t have a chance in hell.

Chapter Text

Kyle’s first week at Beacon Hills marked one of the easiest of his job, and some part of him actually felt as though he was starting to fall back into high school patterns. He had a group, he had friends, and he was aware of that, but he was still looking around every corner for someone that might be trying to hurt Stiles. He had a job to do, and it wasn’t to pass Chemistry. He had to protect the young man that had welcomed him so openly into his friend group, and Kyle felt that Stiles was really worth protecting. Not just because of who his father was, but because of who he was.

It was hard for Kyle and the Sheriff to find a time and a place to meet, to debrief, and they wound up meeting at the police station at about midnight. Stiles was with Scott, and the Sheriff knew that he was safe there, because he knew that Scott would protect Stiles, but he didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on a teenager. Scott has had enough to deal with in the past couple of years without having to be on constant watch over his best friend.

“Judging by the amount of times I’ve seen you at my house, doing homework with my son this week, you’re doing just fine integrating yourself into his life,” the Sheriff stated, looking down at the case file.

“Yes, sir.” Kyle nodded. “He and his friends have been very friendly, very welcoming. They’re making it very easy to get close.”

“Good.” The Sheriff nodded.

“What about you? Have you had any leads?” Kyle asked.

“We have been going through lists of people who have been released from jail in the last few months, people that I had a hand in putting away, but the list isn’t exactly short, and we don’t have any proof on all of them. I did bring pictures of everyone we’ve dug up, though, so you can look out for them. Do you need a copy?” he asked, pushing across a stack of mug shots.

“No, sir.” Kyle shook his head. “Photographic memory.”

“Good.” The Sheriff sat back while Kyle memorized each and every face on the papers. If he saw any of them, he knew what he was to do – get Stiles away from them.

“Alright.” He passed the papers back when he was finished. “Got it. I’ll keep them away from your son.”

“Thank you.” The Sheriff looked over at Kyle. “Thank you for doing this, for diving in head first to look out for him. It might just be an empty threat, but I can’t take that chance, he’s…”

“I know, I understand.” Kyle nodded, because he didn’t want the Sheriff to feel that he had to explain. Kyle had been told about Claudia, about the scare that they had with Stiles getting beat up by a rival lacrosse team (because that was still the going story, even though the sheriff now knew the truth).

“Alright, well is there anything else?” The Sheriff asked. “Any troubles at school, any difficulties concealing your weapon?”

“Weapons,” Kyle stated. “I always have a backup. Safety…I don’t mess around there.”

“Look, I know that you probably didn’t sign on to be a babysitter, and when this is over-”

“I went to the academy to help save lives and protect people,” he stated. “That is what I’m doing right now, so don’t apologize for asking me to do my job.” Kyle gave him a gentle smile.

“Thank you.” The Sheriff nodded gratefully and stood, yawning, ready to head home for the day, where he could be on guard, where he could protect Stiles himself.

“Have there been any more notes?” Kyle asked.

“Yes.” The Sheriff nodded. “But they’re just more of the same. Basic, vague threats saying they’re coming for him, and recent pictures of Stiles.”

“Still with rifle sight?” Kyle asked.

“Yes.” The Sheriff nodded.

“Alright. I’ll look out for that, for…snipers.” He bit his lip, because he didn’t want to say it out loud, didn’t want to scare the Sheriff, but they both knew what they were looking for, and as scary as that word was, it was the truth.

“Okay. Now go home and get some rest. I believe you have an English exam tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” Kyle smiled. “Scarlet Letter.”

“Good luck.”

They exchanged a laugh, because they both knew that it didn’t matter what he scored. He already had his diploma, and all of the school work that he was doing was just a technicality, just something that he had to do to play his part.

That being said, Kyle was pretty smart, and going back through high school level work wasn’t all that hard for him. And it didn’t hurt that he had Stiles helping him, because while Kyle was smart, Stiles was brilliant in some weird, confusing way. Maybe it didn’t translate to paper perfectly, and make him a straight A student, but it was clear that the kid was a genius in some respect.

***

The English Exam was long, and Kyle, who hadn’t read the book since he had been in high school himself, and didn’t remember it, definitely did flounder a bit. He wound up just answering the questions as best as he could.

The school knew that he was there under cover, but the individual teachers? They didn’t. As many people as possible needed to be in the dark about it to make it believable.

During the test, Kyle found himself turning to Stiles, who was bent down over his paper, tongue sticking out as he wrote furiously, quickly, all over his exam paper. Kyle hadn’t seen anyone that focused on a high school exam, well, ever, and yes. It was a little endearing.

“Wait, no!” Stiles looked up as the teacher called time. “I’m not done yet!”

“Stiles,” Mr. Kent said. “There isn’t any room left on your paper.”

“Oh.” Stiles bit his lip. “But I had more to say…”

“Okay, well if your essay reads incomplete when I’m grading, we can talk, okay?”

Stiles nodded, and begrudgingly handed over his exam paper, slumping back into his seat, slightly grumpy.

“Are you okay?” Kyle asked as he packed up.

“I wasn’t done,” Stiles informed him, even though he had definitely heard the whole thing.

“Were you writing your own novel?” Kyle asked with a smile.

“No, I just liked the book. I had a lot to say on it, you know? You never have enough time on these things.” He took a deep breath. “Oh well, nothing to be done about it now.” He knew that Kent wouldn’t let him fail on a technicality like that, but he still wished that he’d gotten to finish his thought. “How’d you do?”

“I uh…I don’t think I did very well,” he admitted with a smile. “But since I joined late and had never read the book before, Kent said he’d give me a break, so I’m not too worried.”

“Awesome.” Stiles smiled, and got up, pulling his own things together. Kyle waited, and they walked together towards their next classes, though they were not the same.

“This is me,” Kyle stated, gesturing towards his classroom.

“Cool.” Stiles nodded, shifting awkwardly as Kyle walked towards the classroom. “Kyle, wait.”

“Yeah?” Kyle turned back around.

“There’s this party tonight…this guy on the lacrosse team…do you maybe want to go?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Kyle nodded, smiling at Stiles. “Sounds fun.”

“Oh, awesome! Great!” Stiles grinned. “Um, do you need a ride? I can pick you up…actually no, I can’t…shit. I’m gonna drink…hmmm…”

“I can pick you up,” Kyle stated. “I’m not much of a drinker, I don’t mind driving.”

“Really?” Stiles’ face split into a wide grin.

“Yeah, not a problem. What time?”

“Well the party starts at 9, so maybe 10?” he asked.

“Alright. I’ll see you then, if not before.”

“Can you give Scott a ride, too? He’s coming over after school. He’ll probably leave with Allison so you won’t have to worry about getting him home, but…”

“I can do that.” Kyle nodded. “See you at 10.”

“Right, class now…thanks.” Stiles smiled all the way to class. Maybe once he’d had a couple of drinks, he would be able to bring out a different kind of confidence around Kyle, maybe he would even have the guts to make a move.

There was a skip in his step for the rest of the day, and when he and Scott got to his house, he started right away trying to decide what to wear, because while this wasn’t a date, he hoped that maybe he would be able to turn that around by the end of the night.

Chapter Text

“I got it!” Stiles called out to Scott when the doorbell rang at almost exactly 10:00. He rushed down the stairs, and threw the door open, trying hard not to stare when he saw Kyle.

The man was dressed in fairly casual clothes, but they fit him so well. He wore a black shirt that was, well, fairly tight, and clung in all the right places, showing that he was a little more toned than Stiles had initially anticipated, and those jeans? Damn. Stiles didn’t even know jeans could look that good on another person.

“Hey.” Kyle smiled, and suddenly Stiles felt stupid in his button down and slacks. He felt over dressed, and glad that he had decided not to go with the tie.

“Hi, let me go grab Scott, and we’ll be ready,” Stiles stated, regaining composure, trying not to be all bogged down in how damn good Kyle looked, and how stupid Stiles felt.

They made their way to the party, and as soon as they got there, Stiles and Scott went for the keg, grabbing plastic cups and filling them up.

“You sure you’re not drinking?” Stiles called to Kyle.

“No.” Kyle pushed through the crowd, shaking his head. God, there was so much underage drinking here, and a part of him felt like he should do something about it, but he wasn’t here to blow his cover on a party. He wasn’t here to bust high schoolers partying, he was here to make sure no one hurt Stiles.

“Suit yourself.” Stiles smiled, downing his first beer and going for a second.

He wasn’t an alcoholic, but after everything that they had been through, almost losing his father, everything with the wolves, and the kanima? He didn’t want to think about it, he just wanted to have a good time, and alcohol was a great way to start that.

It didn’t take long at all for the alcohol to go to Stiles’ system, and he was out in the middle of the crowd, dancing and have a grand old time. Scott and Allison had long since disappeared somewhere to be alone, and Kyle was surveying the party for any of the faces that the Sheriff had shown him while keeping an eye on Stiles at the same time.

“Kyle!” Stiles waded out of the crowd dancing and stumbled, grabbing onto Kyle’s arms as he did so. “Sorry, dude, sorry.” He smiled.

“Having fun?” Kyle asked as he reached out to help Stiles regain his balance.

“Yes!” Stiles nodded. “Dude, so much! So much! You should come dance with me,” he stated.

“Oh, I don’t know…” Kyle shifted, shaking his head.

“Nope, not a choice, sorry.” Stiles, feeling more bold than he had prior to a couple of beers. He hooked his fingers into Kyle’s belt loops and pulled him in onto the dance floor.

“Stiles, I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” Kyle said. There was something about friendly, drunk Stiles that was alluring. He was cute, Kyle had known that all along, but being pulled onto the dance floor He hadn’t expected that.

They were close, they were too close, and Stiles moved closer, his body right up in front of Kyle’s, so close that they were nearly touching.

“Why not?” Stiles asked.

“I don’t dance.” Kyle extracted himself from Stiles, and walked off the dance floor, but Stiles chased after him.

He didn’t try to pull Kyle back onto the dance floor. Instead, he pulled him aside, somewhere quiet.

“I’m sorry, Kyle…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, dragged you out there, I just…I like you, okay?” He knew that he was only brave enough to say these things because he was drunk, but he didn’t really have a choice.

“What?” Kyle looked at Stiles, confused. He had had the kid pegged as straight, and all of the information that he had gotten on him from his father – his crush on Lydia, all of that, had pointed to Stiles being heterosexual.

“I really, really like you…and I know that probably sounds crazy because we met like, Monday, but you’re just like…” he spread his arms out, looking at Kyle with wide eyes. “Boom.”

“I’m…boom?” Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow, confused.

“Yes. You’re like…this whole great package! You’re smart, you’re nice – Kyle, you’re SO nice, you’re good looking, you’re funny…you have this great laugh, well really, you have three laughs. There’s this little snort you do, and then you have a chuckle, and then your real laugh, when your head goes back, and you just sorta…laugh so fucking hard, and it’s awesome.”

“Stiles,” Kyle asked, biting his lip. “What…what are you saying?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious right now,” Stiles stated.

“I thought you were straight.”

“Bisexual,” Stiles said with a grin. “You buy, and I’m sexual.” He winked, but then straightened up. “In all seriousness, though…I’m bisexual. I just don’t talk about it unless it comes up, and well…it came up.”

Stiles laughed at his own double entendre right there, but Kyle didn’t fully get it. He was trying too hard to process the fact that the boy he was supposed to be getting close to, supposed to be protecting, was admitting to having a high school crush on him. He hadn’t prepared for this, and he didn’t know how to react to it.

“Okay…” he nodded, trying to buy himself some time.

He had told the Sheriff that he would do anything to protect Stiles, to get close to him. What way was there to be closer to him than to be his boyfriend? It would allow him almost constant access to Stiles, ensure that he would be around a lot. It would be a lot less weird, and besides, if Kyle rejected Stiles right now, the teen might become embarrassed, he might not want to be around Kyle anymore, and that would make it even worse.

“Okay, what?” Stiles asked, biting his lip.

“Okay, I’ll dance with you.” Kyle smiled, and Stiles full on grinned.

Stiles took Kyle’s hand and pulled him back to the dance floor. It wasn’t long until hands were on hips, and they were pressed up against each other, moving closely in time to the music.

Stiles just let himself go, let himself feel cared for in the other man’s embrace. He didn’t care that his classmates were going to know, that they were going to talk to him, that they were going to ask about his sexuality, but he didn’t care. The small amount of time that he had spent with Kyle before had been fun for him, and he was sick of being lonely.

Kyle, on the other hand, was sort of freaking out. The kid pushed up against him currently was 17 years old. He knew it wasn’t illegal for them to dance, it wasn’t even illegal for them to kiss and whatnot, and god, this was his job, he wouldn’t take it any further than that, but Kyle was 24, and it would be very much frowned upon.

As far as Stiles knew, Kyle was 17 just like him. He couldn’t fault Stiles for trying to lure in an older man, and this lanky kid, with his moles, and his hair that always looked like he’d just rolled out of bed was definitely alluring…even if he didn’t want to admit it.

“Let’s go somewhere,” Stiles whispered, pulling Kyle close to him.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked.

“Yes.” Stiles nodded.

“Okay.” Kyle helped Stiles to the car, Stiles still very much drunk.

The drive home wasn’t far, and when they got home, the Sheriff’s car wasn’t there, he was still out.

“Come in,” Stiles said with a smile. He reached out, grabbing Kyle’s hips, tugging him into the house. He pushed Kyle up against the wall and leaned in to kiss him, but Kyle pulled back.

“Not…not yet,” Kyle said softly. Fake dating Stiles for his protection was one thing, but kissing an underage boy while he was drunk? That was a step too far.

“But I thought-”

“No, you’re not wrong, I just…” he reached out, putting his hand on Stiles’ cheek. “You’re drunk. I think that we should revisit this tomorrow when you’re sober. I don’t want our first kiss to be something you regret, or even worse, don’t remember.”

“God,” Stiles said with a smile. “You really are a good guy.”

“I’m trying to be.” Kyle nodded. “Now let’s get you to bed.”

Kyle helped Stiles upstairs, helped him take off his shoes, and he put him to bed. It didn’t take Stiles long at all to pass out asleep, and Kyle found some aspirin, and set two next to a glass of water on Stiles’ bedside table. He found some blankets in the closet, and an extra pillow, and set himself up on the floor, falling asleep, thinking about how wrong this could go…and how alluring Stiles really was.

Chapter Text

The next morning, when Stiles woke up, his head was pounding. He groaned, rolling over to see aspirin and water by the bed. He reached for them and managed to pull himself half out of bed, taking the pills before sitting up for a minute, trying to remember exactly what had happened…and as it all came flooding back to him, he flushed with embarrassment. He had definitely made an ass of himself.

He looked around the room, frowning when he saw a pile of blankets and a pillow on the ground. Had Kyle slept there? If he had, he was certainly gone now, and Stiles wasn’t sure if the guy would ever talk to him again.

He changed out of his slacks and into sweats and a t-shirt, and made his way downstairs to find coffee, only to find Kyle in his kitchen, focused very much on whisking something in a bowl.

“Good morning,” Stiles said, shocked that the guy was still there. “What…what are you doing?” he asked.

“Making breakfast.” Kyle smiled.

“For…for me?” Stiles asked.

“Well, for me too, but yeah.” Kyle nodded. “Egg white scramble, hope that’s okay?” he asked, pouring the egg whites into a pan with what looked like an array of brightly colored vegetables, and yeah. Stiles should definitely get this kid to help with his dad’s diet plan.

“Oh, wow, yeah, thanks…um, is there-”

“Coffee?” Kyle smiled brightly, going for the pot and pouring Stiles a mug, before handing it to him, still smiling.

Stiles thought it was too early for teeth that bright.

“Thanks.” He sat down at the counter, holding the cup, staring into it, trying to figure out not only why Kyle was still there, but what the hell he was supposed to say to him. He could pretend that he didn’t remember, but that would be dishonest, and he knew he wasn’t a great liar unless a lot of lies depended on it. “Um, about last night…”

That got Kyle’s attention, and he looked over at Stiles, waiting for the next part of what he was going to say.

“Thank you for…for being a gentleman, for keeping me from making a fool of myself.” He bit his lip. “I know that I tried some stuff with you, and…I was drunk, and a lesser guy would have just gone with it for fun, so I appreciate you, you know…”

“Stiles you don’t have to thank me for doing what’s right.” Kyle waved his hand as though it was nothing.

“Well I still…I mean, I care about you. The stuff I said, that was true, I just…got a little sloppy with my actions.” Stiles took a sip of the coffee, his heart racing as he waited for the other man to respond. “I have a crush on you, that’s…that’s true. If you don’t, that’s fine, tell me now, we can still be friends. I am excellent at staying friends with my crushes.”

“Stiles,” Kyle looked over at him, smiling again with those perfect, white teeth. He had thought about it, while Stiles was still sleeping, and being with Stiles? That was the best way to be close to him. He just had to make sure they didn’t get anywhere near sex, but he didn’t think that would be an issue. There were always ways around that one…and hopefully, he wouldn’t be on this job for long. Hopefully, they would figure out who was threatening Stiles, and get them back behind bars before anything truly awful could happen.

“Yeah?” Stiles asked.

“I like you, too.” God, that sounded so awkward, so high school, but that’s where he was. He was in high school. This wasn’t going to be like his last relationship, this was going to be like his first one. Awkward, and confusing, and adolescent.

“Oh.” Stiles smiled. “Wait, really? I mean…”

“Yes.” Kyle nodded. “You’re nice, and you’ve been so great to me since I got here, and you’re funny, and you don’t apologize for who you are, and that’s all really attractive to me.”

It was surprising to Kyle how little he had to lie, in fact, he wasn’t lying at all. Kindness, comedy, good hearts, people being themselves, all of those things were very, very attractive to him. If he wasn’t careful with this, he might wind up in some serious trouble with this kid. Then again, it wasn’t really too long until Stiles was 18, right?

No. This was just a job. Once it was over, it was over, and that was all that there was to it.

“Okay. Well…do you maybe want to go out with me sometime, then?” Stiles asked nervously. He’d never been on a date before, and he wasn’t sure that it was ever this easy, that getting someone to agree to go out with you was ever simple. At all.

“Yes.” Kyle nodded. “I’d really like that.” He walked over, setting a plate of food in front of Stiles.

“Okay.” Stiles smiled as he ate at his food. “Well, I’ll think of something, and this time, I’ll pick you up.”

“Alright.” Kyle nodded. He planned to just be waiting outside of the apartment complex. Stiles would never know that he lived there alone. He could just say that he wanted to keep it on the down low, because he didn’t want his parents to know. That would be easy, the best way to keep everything under wraps.

“I’ll call you and let you know?” Stiles asked.

“I’ll look forwards to it.” Kyle sat down next to him with his own plate, wondering how on earth this was a good idea, but at least it would get him closer to Stiles more often, and that was what he needed. He needed to be close to Stiles so that he could protect him.

The Sheriff came home, and Kyle headed back to his own place, barely making eye contact with his boss, because he was pretty sure that dating his son was not what the Sheriff had had in mind when he had told Kyle to get close to his son, and protect him. Kyle hadn’t forced the situation, but it was there, and it seemed easy, the best way…and besides, rejecting Stiles would have made things harder.

***

“I have a date with him,” Stiles said as soon as Scott picked up the phone.

“What?” Scott grinned. “I mean, you were all over him last night, everyone saw, but…”

“Oh god…everyone?” Stiles groaned.

“Don’t worry, most people were too drunk to remember, and those who do are just chalking it up to you being drunk.”

“How do you know all of this?” Stiles asked.

“Allison. She knows everything.”

“Smitten kitten.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “Can we get back to my thing now?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. So you have a date with Kyle?”

“I do.” Stiles nodded. “He took me home last night, and put me to bed, and left me aspirin and water, and then he slept on the floor, and made breakfast in the morning.”

“Seriously?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, I know, right? It’s like something out of a movie or some shit like that. I didn’t know things like that could actually happen, you know, to me. Werewolves? Sure. Druids? Absolutely. Romantic gestures directed towards me from the guy I actually like? Now that is a shocker.”

“I’m happy for you, bro,” Scott said. “Maybe if it goes well, we can double date.”

“I thought Allison wasn’t into the whole group dating thing,” Stiles stated.

“I’m betting with you and Kyle, that would be different. Everyone loves Kyle, he’s nice, and polite, and a total gentleman. He’s not like Jackson, and you’re not like Lydia.”

“Fair.” Stiles shrugged. “Well don’t worry, you’re going to know every teeny tiny detail about it,” Stiles said with a smile.

“And if I don’t want to?” Scott asked.

“Tough, because I’ve been hearing every teeny, tiny detail about your love life with Allison, and payback is a bitch, my brother.”

“I guess I can’t really argue that, can I?” Scott asked with a groan.

“Nope.” Stiles shook his head. “I have to go for now, my dad wants help weeding the garden, because it’s actually a nice day out for the first time in awhile.”

“Okay, but do me a favor, and don’t tell my mom you weed the garden, or she’ll want me to do it.”

“Okay.” Stiles nodded, hanging up the phone – after all, tormenting Scott was fun, but at the end of the day, they had to have each other’s back.

He went downstairs and caught up with his dad.

“Sup pops, let’s weed this bitch!” he stated.

“Language,” his father warned.

“What? Are you kidding me?” Stiles rolled his eyes again. “Let’s just do this.”

“Alright.” The Sheriff handed him gloves and a trowel. “So, that Kyle kid has been around a lot,” the Sheriff stated.

“Yeah, he’s a good friend, and you know, with Scott spending so much time with Allison, it’s good to have someone around.” He didn’t need to mention that his dad worked a lot, they both knew it, and they both knew that it couldn’t be changed. It didn’t mean his dad loved him any less.

“Well I like him,” The Sheriff stated. “He’s welcome here anytime.”

“I’ll pass that along,” Stiles said with a secret smile as he turned his focus to his first weed.

Chapter Text

“You did not do that,” Kyle stated, looking across the restaurant table at Stiles, who nodded, his mouth full of spaghetti. “You really went into the woods looking for half of a dead body when the killer was still out there?”

“Mhmm.” Stiles nodded. He swallowed down the pasta that he was eating. “I am not known for looking before I leap.”

“Jesus, I don’t know whether to laugh, or tell you you’re an idiot,” Kyle stated, shaking his head.

“Why not both?” Stiles reached for his soda and took a sip.

So far, the date was actually going pretty well, or at least Stiles thought so. They had been talking non-stop since Stiles had picked Kyle up outside of his apartment complex, and they had been laughing, and having a good time. Stiles felt a connection, and he hoped, so badly, that Kyle was feeling the same thing, though if his reactions were anything to go by, he was.

Kyle laughed, shaking his head at the other man as he took a bite of his sautéed eggplant.

“I still can’t believe you ordered that,” Stiles stated, shaking his head. He didn’t know any kid his age that would choose sautéed eggplant over some cheesy, delicious, pasta.

“It’s good!” Kyle insisted. “Here, try some.” He speared some on his fork and offered it to Stiles, and while Stiles was not at all attracted to the idea of eating eggplant, he was very much into the idea of Kyle feeding him some, so he leaned forwards and took the bite, chewing it as quickly as possible, and trying to choke it down.

“Mmm…delicious,” he stated.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Kyle said, his eyes crinkling as he chuckled. “It’s not for everyone.”

“No, it most certainly is not,” Stiles admitted, washing the taste down with a long swig of soda. “Very…slimy…very healthy tasting.”

“You know, some healthy things taste good,” Kyle informed him.

“Oh, I know, that’s just not one of them,” he smiled. “That, kale…”

“I love kale!” Kyle smiled.

“I’ll bet you make those kale smoothies, don’t you,” Stiles ribbed.

“Guilty as charged.”

“Think I could get a few recipes?” Stiles asked.

“I thought you said that you hated kale…”

“Oh, I do,” Stiles nodded. “But my dad, he’s got to look after his heart, and he likes to eat things that are bad for him. I’m trying to work on him there, and I just…” he shrugged, showing his first vulnerability of the night, and Kyle reached out, putting his hand over Stiles’.

“That’s sweet.” He smiled. “The way you look after your father.”

“I mean, I have to. It’s just the two of us, if I don’t, who’s going to?” Stiles looked up at Kyle, and Kyle could see it in his eyes. He was worried about his father, even if he didn’t have any reason to be, and he would hopefully be able to use that, be able to get the Sheriff to be healthier.

“I’ll get you the recipes,” Kyle promised, squeezing Stiles’ hand gently.

“Thank you.” Stiles smiled. “I didn’t want to be a downer, we’re having fun, let’s-”

“Wait.” Kyle stopped him, spotting something – or rather, someone, over Stiles’ shoulder.

“What, what is it?” Stiles asked, turning around. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Nothing.” Kyle smiled, trying to hide the fact that one of his hands was going to his belt where his gun was. One of the men at a table adjacent to them was a face he recognized from the list the Sheriff had given. “I thought I saw someone I knew, false alarm.” Lie.

“Okay.” Stiles nodded. “Well we can go if you want…”

“No, it’s fine,” Kyle stated. After all, weren’t they safer in a public place? If they ran, the guy might know that they were on to him, and that was the last thing that he wanted. “Like I said, it wasn’t who I thought it was.”

“Okay.” Kyle’s easy smile put Stiles at ease as well, and he bought what the other man was saying, 100%. He had no idea that Kyle was texting the Sheriff under the table, letting him know that Ted Mercer was at Battaglia’s.

Kyle didn’t feel very hungry after that. He wanted to get Stiles out of that restaurant.

“Is your dad working tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah, he is.” Stiles nodded.

“Can we…go back to your place?” Kyle asked. It was a little forward, but it seemed like the safest place. Sure, there was a perfectly high chance that Mercer was just out for a meal, and that he wasn’t the one going for Stiles, but Kyle didn’t want to take any chances. The guy had been let out on good behavior, but he was still guilty of assault, and Kyle didn’t want him anywhere near Stiles.

“Yeah.” Stiles smiled. “Of course we can. Um, I thought…I thought you wanted to go slow,” he stated.

“I do,” he nodded. “I do, I really do, but at the same time, cuddling on the couch and watching a movie doesn’t have to be taking it too fast, right?”

“Oh, yeah, no, totally. Of course not.” Stiles smiled, and pulled out his wallet.

“You don’t have to-”

“I asked you on this date,” Stiles said, putting some cash down. “It’s my treat.”

“Well…thank you.” Kyle felt a little awkward, having Stiles buying his meal, but he didn’t want to draw attention to them by arguing in any way. He wanted to get out of here, get back to the Stilinski house, where he could be in control of the situation.

“You’re welcome.” Stiles got up and headed out, Kyle following him, looking back over his shoulder at Mercer, who was still at the table, as they did so.

“So what do you want to watch?” Stiles asked, locking the door behind them as they entered the house.

“I don’t know.” Kyle shrugged. “The last movie you showed me was great, so…I trust your judgement.”

“Okay.” Stiles smiled, and went to the DVD cupboard. He bit his lip, skipping over the Star Wars movies. It was the first date, he didn’t need to test the guy now. They would get to that later. “The Avengers?” Stiles asked, lifting the movie.

“Sounds great.” Kyle nodded, taking off his jacket and sitting down on the couch while Stiles started the movie. Stiles moved to sit next to him on the couch, and as the movie started, he scooted closer and closer, until they were right next to each other.

Kyle knew the next step. He reached out, putting his arm around Stiles, surprised by how easy all of this was. It wasn’t hard at all to be around Stiles, to get close to him, to talk to him, and it felt good, his arm around Stiles, Stiles’ head moving to rest on his shoulder. He was still on guard, of course, listening for any sounds out of the ordinary, or for the sound of the Sheriff’s cruiser pulling up outside of the house, but he let himself relax just a little because, well, this was nice.

When the movie was over, Stiles promised to drive Kyle home, and Kyle knew that it was a short distance, and the Sheriff would be back by the time Stiles returned.

Stiles parked outside of the apartment complex, and he turned to look at Kyle.

“I had a really good time,” Stiles stated honestly, looking at the other man.

“Yeah, I…I did, too,” he admitted, biting his lip, because it was true. He had. He hadn’t expected to have that much fun, to feel that much, well…chemistry between them, but it was there. “I’d like to do this again,” he found himself saying.

“I’d like that, too.” Stiles smiled, and leaned in. Kyle knew what this was, and he reached out, putting his hand on Stiles’ cheek, kissing him softly.

The kiss wasn’t too long, and it was chaste, sweet, but when they pulled away, both young men’s heart rates had picked up a little.

“I…I should go in,” Kyle said softly.

“Okay.” Stiles nodded, smiling.

“But I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow at school? Yeah.” Kyle nodded, and got out of the car. He got a couple of feet away before he turned back. He climbed back into the jeep, and leaned over, kissing Stiles again. “Okay, goodnight for real this time,” Kyle said with a smile.

“Goodnight.” Stiles couldn’t keep the grin off is face as he watched Kyle walk towards the complex.

Kyle cursed himself as he keyed into the building, because Jesus, he was in trouble, now.

Chapter Text

“Hey.” Kyle walked up to the lunch table on Monday, gesturing at the chair next to Stiles. “Is this seat taken?”

“Mmm, nope.” Stiles shook his head, taking his backpack and moving it off of the chair.

They had talked after the date, deciding not to tell anyone that they were dating, and Stiles had informed Kyle that he would keep that promise, except that he was going to tell Scott. Kyle had laughed and said that he understood, and now here they were, sitting awkwardly at lunch in front of everyone.

“Kyle, how was your weekend?” Lydia asked, taking a sip of her bottled water.

“Oh, it was good.” Kyle smiled, and he hated himself for being unable to keep back the blush that was forming on his cheeks.

“Yeah?” Lydia asked. “What did you do?”

Kyle was prepared for that. He had spent all of Sunday working on his homework, and his cover. He knew that, if this was going to work, there were certain things that he had to figure out, things that he had to learn to do, that maybe he hadn’t done in high school. He had been driven, motivated, he had never been in with the in crowd, but he had also never been on the outside, either. This? This felt like the “in” crowd in a lot of ways, but he wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. This was where Stiles was, this was where he needed to be.

“God, it’s boring, but I mostly unpacked, we are still sort of in the process of moving, so I did a lot of that, and I’m playing catch up in like, every single class, so lots of homework, and yeah.” He shrugged. “That was my super interesting weekend.”

“Riveting,” Lydia said, clearly bored by the answer. Perhaps she was hoping for more juice, and while yeah, there was juice between Stiles and Kyle, he wasn’t going to be the one to talk about it.

“If you still need help playing catch up, I can help you after school,” Stiles offered. It seemed harmless, but both he and Kyle knew what he really meant by that. Sure, he would help him with work, but at this point, there was more to it, it was loaded, and Scott was the only other person who knew.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Kyle nodded, smiling at Stiles.

“Okay. Well I have lacrosse, but you can come over after,” he stated.

“Actually,” Kyle bit his lip, looking at the whole group. “I was sort of thinking about going out for lacrosse, if there’s a spot for me.”

“Oh, so you’re an athlete?” Lydia looked back up at him, her interest piqued again.

“I mean, never lacrosse before, but I know the game is played. I mostly played soccer in-” Kyle stopped himself, because he had almost said “high school.” He needed to watch out for that, getting comfortable enough in conversation with these kids to let things slip out that shouldn’t. He didn’t want to blow his cover and jeopardize Stiles’ safety, but at the same time, this was his first time under cover, and it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. “In Kansas,” he finished.

“Our soccer team is hopeless,” Lydia pointed out. “Lacrosse is definitely a better choice.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I mean, I know how the game is played, I’m fast, I figure the rest will come naturally…or it won’t, and I’ll be warming the bench all year.” He shrugged, and Stiles looked at him fondly, because there was something really pleasant about Kyle’s easy going attitude.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with warming the bench,” Isaac said with a smile, slinging an arm around Stiles. It was condescending, but in a friendly way.

“Get off me,” Stiles muttered, pushing Isaac off of him. “I’m the best damn benchwarmer there is,” he pointed out.

“I didn’t say otherwise,” Isaac teased.

“Well as long as you don’t take my position as number one bench warmer,” Stiles said with a smile as he looked at Kyle. “We can all talk you up to the coach.”

“Are you kidding? He’ll put him on the team,” Scott said, looking Kyle over. “He looks athletic, and if he’s fast? He may not be first line or anything, but he’ll definitely be on the team.”

It was true, Finstock didn’t turn many people away. That didn’t mean that they saw a moment on the playing field in an entire season, but at least they could say they were on the team, have that camaraderie, and it was a nice feeling.

“Awesome.” Kyle smiled, and the rest of lunch devolved into talking about their weekends. It seemed that no one had actually done anything interesting, well, except for Kyle and Stiles, but they kept theirs under wraps.

***

“Wow, that really was easy,” Kyle mused as he and Stiles walked towards their cars after lacrosse practice. Finstock had agreed to let Kyle on the team, and Kyle did vaguely wonder if the Sheriff had talked to him, but it honestly didn’t matter if he had or hadn’t. Kyle wasn’t there to be a lacrosse stud, he was there to protect Stiles.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not that hard to make the team – I did it!” He grinned.

“Come on, I’ll bet you’re good,” Kyle shoved him playfully, and Stiles smiled, shaking his head.

“Not really, I…” he put up quotation marks with his fingers. “Lack focus and the proper motivation to really tear up the lacrosse field, as well as the killer instinct required to make me vicious,” he stated, parroting Finstock.

“Interesting.” Kyle smiled. “I think it’s good that you don’t have that killer instinct.”

“You do?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You’re nice, you’re a genuinely good guy, Stiles. I like that about you.”

Stiles blushed, and Kyle bit his lip, because hot fucking damn. This kid – and he had to remind himself that he was, in fact, a kid, was starting to really drive him crazy.

“Do you, um, want to drive with me, and then later I can bring you back here to get your car, or…”

“I can just follow you.”

It seemed best to Kyle that he have his own car, that he be able to get out of the situation if it went the wrong way. He was starting to think that this fake dating thing was a terrible idea, because he knew that he was going to have to kiss Stiles, and if he kissed him, well, he was going to have to fight every instinct his body had to try and control himself. He needed to be professional, and right now, looking at Stiles, his thoughts were anything but. He was royally fucked.

“Alright, sounds good.” Stiles hopped into his jeep, and Kyle tore his eyes away, getting into his own car and following Stiles back to the Stilinski house.

They started off studying…for about 16 minutes before it became clear that there wasn’t going to be any focusing at all. Stiles practically threw his copy of The Awakening across the room as he moved towards Kyle, and Kyle wanted to insist that they had to study, he wanted to be responsible, and tell Stiles no, that homework came first, but that just wasn’t an option.

He met Stiles half way, pulling him into a kiss in the middle of Stiles’ bedroom floor. It was sloppy and awkward for about 2.5 seconds before they fell into a rhythm, and then? Well, it was anything but.

Stiles was eager, he was aggressive, but not in a threatening or scary way. He knew what he wanted, and he was going for it, and there was something so hot about that, not to mention the fact that Stiles was one hell of a kisser. He didn’t use too much tongue, which was incredibly rare, and he knew just how to tilt his head to drive Kyle absolutely insane.

Kyle’s hands found their way to Stiles’ hips, and Stiles leaned back, pulling Kyle down so that Kyle was on top of Stiles on the floor.

It wasn’t until Stiles started pulling at the hem of Kyle’s shirt that Kyle sobered up and realized what he was doing. He sat up, still straddling Stiles, and looked down at him. Stiles’ cheeks were pink from the slight workout they had just gotten, and his mouth was half open as he chest rose and fell with the slightly elevated breathing.

It was gorgeous, and almost enough to keep Kyle from doing what he knew he had to.

“I…” Kyle bit his lip. “We need to talk about…this,” he gestured between himself and Stiles.

“Did I do something wrong?” Stiles asked, his face suddenly riddled with concern.

“What? No.” Kyle shook his head. “God, no. I just…I want to take things slowly,” he admitted. “The last guy I was with…” he trailed off, because yeah, that wasn’t a lie. The last guy he was with, he’d gone too fast, and he had gotten hurt when he learned they wanted different things.

“Oh, shit…sorry.” Stiles slid out from under Kyle, nodding. “Yeah, we can take it slow, sure.” He smiled. “I just…I really like you, Kyle. If you’re worried about that being false, me using you for, you know, sexytimes, that’s not…that’s not it.”

“Thank you.” Kyle smiled, reaching over and handing Stiles his copy of the book. It was awkward, going back to studying after that, and the glances they shared were close to sinful, but it was worth it. Kyle had to maintain some semblance of professionalism, even if that was increasingly more and more difficult with Stiles looking at him like that.

Chapter Text

“I’ve got someone on Ted Mercer,” The Sheriff informed Kyle as they sat across from each other at the police station. “So far, he hasn’t gone anywhere near the high school or our house, or really anywhere else that Stiles has been.”

“It’s more than possible that him being at the restaurant was just a coincidence. He came in after us, but it’s not a huge town,” Kyle admitted. He shifted, trying to hide how ill at ease he was right now.

What if the sheriff asked him what he and Stiles has been doing at that restaurant? He hadn’t been a teenager for awhile, but when he had been, the only time he’d really gone to restaurants like that had definitely been on dates.

Luckily, the Sheriff wasn’t asking, and Kyle wasn’t going to just straight up volunteer that information, because, well, it was already getting out of hand with Stiles. Kyle wasn’t an undercover cop, no one had trained him for this, no one had taken him by the hand and told him not to get involved with his charge, even if that seemed like the safest way to get close to him.

His attraction to Stiles was definitely becoming a problem, as well, and he hadn’t seen that one coming. He’d been just a kid to Kyle at first, but then they’d spoken a little, and Stiles was friendly, he was funny, he was nice, and while he looked ordinary initially, once you looked at him more, it became so clear that he was anything but. His moles, the shape of his mouth, the way his hair stuck out at all angles, no matter what anyone tried to do about it. He was just…Stiles, and Kyle was already in too deep, and they’d only been dating three weeks. In secret.

“Deputy?” The Sheriff reached cross the desk, flicking Kyle with a pen. “Where are you?”

“Oh, sorry sir,” Kyle muttered. “Tired. I was up late last night studying for a chemistry test.”

“You know you don’t actually have to be a good student, right?” The Sheriff asked.

“I know.” Kyle nodded. “But I was a good student the first time around, there’s just…I’m not very good at not studying for something that should be studied for,” he admitted. It was true, he was a bit of a perfectionist, but at the end of the day, he was going to get the job done, and that was what the Sheriff had hired him to do, that was what he was going to do.

“Alright.” The Sheriff nodded. “I’ll let you get home and get some rest, and as usual, thank you, Kyle, for looking out for my son.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kyle felt bad as he drove back to his apartment. He felt like he needed to take a step back from Stiles, like he needed to focus more on making sure that he was seeing absolutely everything, that he wasn’t going to miss the guy that was actually going to try and put a bullet between the eyes of a teenager just because he was too busy staring into those eyes himself.

He knew that he was going down a dangerous road here, but Stiles was different, he was special, and Kyle hadn’t realized that until he was too far in. He didn’t like it, didn’t know what to do, but he had gotten himself into this mess, and he was damn well going to have to find a way to get himself out of it.

****

“Penny for your thoughts?” Stiles asked, slipping into a chair next to Kyle in the school library.

“Oh, just tired,” Kyle snapped up, looking at Stiles, smiling.

“Too tired to come over after lacrosse? My dad’s working late tonight. We’d have the place to ourselves,” he stated. “Not that we’d have to do anything, we can just watch a movie, I’m not trying to compromise your virtue or anything,” Stiles teased.

Say no, Kyle. Say you’d rather go bowling or something in a big group. A group where it’s not just you and Stiles close together. A place where you can still keep an eye on him without him suspecting, but where you also can’t be compromised by your strong desire to kiss him, to be with him.

“Yeah, sounds great.” Kyle nodded.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was so going to get fired for this.

“Awesome.” Stiles smiled and looked around. They were alone, so he reached over, squeezing Kyle’s hand gently, before disappearing to go hang out with Scott. After all, just because Stiles was seeing someone didn’t mean that he didn’t have time for his best friend.

He was never the kind of guy who would choose a love interest over his best friend, and Kyle knew that. It was another part of what he liked about Stiles.

The more he talked to the teenager, the more he got to know him, the harder he fell. Stiles was smart – he was insanely smart, and maybe he lacked focus, but the things that kid knew? It was incredible, and Kyle mentioned that Stiles should definitely try to go on jeopardy. With his random array of knowledge, he could probably actually do pretty well if he wanted to. He was passionate – he was passionate about his friends, about books, about the things that he cared about. He cared for his father, he cared for the people in his life, he would do anything for them, and it was almost hard to handle, knowing that the closer they got, the higher on Stiles’ list of priorities Kyle came.

He felt like he was using the kid, but at the same time, he wasn’t acting, not really.

Stiles was exactly the kind of guy that he had always wanted to be with, he just hadn’t expected to find his dream guy in a teenager who needed protecting, and it hurt.

It hurt, because Kyle knew that, no matter how the dice were thrown, there was no way that this would end well. He was lying to Stiles. Hell, half the words out of his mouth were a lie, and there was no way t keep that from him forever.

Once Stiles found out who Kyle really was, when this was all over, the case closed, and Kyle went back to work at the Sheriff’s department (providing he didn’t get fired for getting in too deep), Stiles would know everything, and that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t just Stiles that was going to get hurt here, and Kyle could already tell that. He had a mistake, made the wrong choice, but if he broke up with Stiles now, he wouldn’t be able to stay close to him, wouldn’t be able to protect him, and at the end of the day, he would rather see Stiles with a broken heart then a stopped heart.

Kyle looked back down at the packet of reading he was supposed to be doing, and shook his head. God, how the hell had he gotten himself into this situation? How the fuck had he managed to throw everything away like this? This was his life, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be a deputy for a couple of years, see where that got him, but now? He’d be lucky if he made it off of his first assignment without being turned away in disgrace.

Entering a relationship with his boss’s son? Even if it was a decision paved with good intentions, what the fuck had he been thinking? He sighed and shook his head. He had really screwed up on this one, and at this point, he was too far in to undo any of it.

Just because he didn’t want to want Stiles didn’t mean that he wasn’t head over heels already.

Chapter Text

“Do you ever think about if there’s a parallel universe out there?” Stiles asked.

He was lying on his bed, Kyle next to him. They were holding hands, looking at the ceiling and just generally enjoying each other’s company, talking, occasionally kissing – pointedly not studying, and it was nice.

“What?” Kyle snorted with laughter, turning his head to look at Stiles, who was still staring straight up.

“Do you ever think about if there’s a parallel universe,” he said again. “Like, who you might be in another life? Who you might be with?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Stiles turned onto his side so he was looking directly at Kyle. “What if there’s another Stiles out there, looking at all the same situations that I do, and just making different choices. What if he’s making better choices?”

“Stiles,” Kyle looked at the teenager, smiling slightly. “Are you telling me that you’re actually worried that there’s another Stiles out there, making better choices than you?”

“I mean…” Stiles shrugged. “Maybe a little bit, I guess.”

“Do you ever worry about normal things?” Kyle asked.

“I worry about whether or not you like me as much as I like you,” Stiles admitted. “I think that’s pretty normal.”

Kyle smiled, gently reaching out, putting his hand on Stiles’ cheek, brushing some of the hair from his face.

“Don’t worry, Stiles,” he said softly. “I like you. A lot.”

“Okay.” Stiles blushed. “I’ll go back to worrying about parallel Stiles. Who, oh god…what if he goes by his real name?”

Kyle laughed again, looking at him.

“You ever gonna tell me what that is?” he asked.

“Nope.” Stiles shook his head. Sure, it wouldn’t be that hard for Kyle to find out his name, all he’d have to do was get a look at Stiles’ driver’s license, but pronouncing it? That would be a whole other can of worms.

“Why do you worry about that stuff?” Kyle asked. “The weird stuff, the parallel universe stuff?”

“Because…” Stiles shifted uncomfortably. “Look, I mean, are you sure you want to talk about that? It’s not exactly a light and fluffy answer.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Kyle nodded. He wanted to know Stiles. All of him, not just the light and fluffy parts.

“Okay.” Stiles nodded. “It’s just…it’s easier to worry about that kind of stuff, than you know, worrying about losing my father, or about stuff like that, because it’s not real. I know it’s not real. Or if it is, I know that it’s not ever going to affect me. If there is another Stiles out there, making different choices, it doesn’t actually matter, you know? He’s not going to come into this world and change my life, and when I think about stuff like that, or worry about it, I know at the base of my mind, that it doesn’t actually matter, but if I start thinking about losing my father?” He shook his head, his chest feeling tight already. “There’s no grounding myself, because it’s a perfectly valid fear, and valid fears are harder to conquer.”

It was so obvious that Stiles was just as worried about losing his father as his father was about losing him, and Kyle was almost envious of how much love there was between father and son here, how much caring, how much compassion.

“Thank you,” Kyle said gently. “For telling me that.”

“Thank you for listening,” Stiles countered. “I don’t…I’ve never explained that to anyone before, not out loud, just…you know, to myself I guess.”

“You can trust me.” Kyle’s smile faltered, because yes, while Stiles could trust him to keep what he had just said entirely between them, he was still lying to Stiles. A lot.

“Thank you.” Stiles leaned in, kissing Kyle.

It wasn’t an initiating sort of a kiss, just a gentle, soft kiss to the lips. It was tender, and suggested feelings deeper than they had discussed, but they were getting to that point, to a point where there were real feelings involved in what they shared.

“What do you worry about?” Stiles asked. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but…you can. You know, if you want to.”

“My choices,” Kyle admitted softly. “Every time I make a choice, I wonder if it was the right one, because so often, it’s been the wrong one. I mean, with you…this? This feels like the best choice I’ve made in a long time.” And at the same time, I know it’s the worst.

“The last person you chose,” Stiles started. “He hurt you, didn’t he.”

“Yeah.” Kyle nodded. He didn’t like to talk about it, or to think about it, but Stiles had been honest with him, and it wasn’t a question. Stiles had made a statement, and Kyle had simply validated it.

“Okay, well…if you ever want to talk about it…” Stiles squeezed Kyle’s hand gently. “I’m here.”

“I know you are.” Kyle closed his eyes for a minute, just taking in all of this. The feel of Stiles’ bed, of Stiles’ hand holding his. It shouldn’t feel this good, this right, and yet…Stiles wasn’t like other boys. He wasn’t like anyone else that Kyle had ever met.

“Do you ever wonder if you see the same colors as other people?” Stiles asked. “Like…if the red that you see is the same red that I see? Like, I mean, do we know it’s red because we see the same red, or do we know it’s red because when we were in preschool, someone pointed at it, said ‘red,’ and that’s what red is to us?”

“Your mind,” Kyle said with a smile. “Is incredible.”

“Why thank you.” Stiles laughed a little. A lot of people would have laughed at him for that, would have told him that it didn’t matter, but Kyle? He saw beauty in that, saw beauty in Stiles.

“He didn’t hit me,” Kyle said suddenly. “It wasn’t that kind of hurt.”

Stiles didn’t have to ask to know what they were talking about. They were back to Kyle’s ex, and Stiles was, well not glad that they were talking about it, but he was glad that Kyle felt he could open up.

“He just…he was nice, you know? He said all the right things, did all the right things, and I fell for him, and I…slept with him, and once I had, he just lost interest in me. He didn’t want a relationship, didn’t want something that would last. He wanted someone to play hit it and quit it with.”

“Kyle, I’m so sorry.” Stiles moved closer, putting his arms around Kyle, hugging him gently. Stiles had never been in a situation like that, but he knew that it couldn’t have been fun, that something like that, caring about someone only to find that they didn’t feel the same, it had to be painful.

“It’s okay, I mean, it was awhile ago now. Long enough ago that I don’t want to worry about it anymore.”

“It’s still with you,” Stiles said softly. “You don’t have to be ashamed of that.”

“Thank you,” Kyle muttered, eyes cast downwards.

“You also don’t have to worry about that with me,” Stiles informed him. “I…I don’t play hit it and quit it, I’m not that kind of guy.”

“What kind of guy are you?” Kyle asked, looking over at Stiles. “I mean, other than charming, smart, cute, funny…”

“I’m the kind of guy who wants someone that means something,” he said gently. “The kind of guy who wants to be with someone, and actually, you know…really care about them.”

“Yeah?” Kyle smiled.

“Yeah.” Stiles nodded. “What kind of guy are you?”

The kind that’s been lying to you this whole time.

“The kind that wants something real.”

“I’m real, Kyle,” Stiles stated, taking Kyle’s hand, pressing his lips to the other man’s palms.

“I know you are.” Kyle looked at Stiles.

He was too weird, too genuine to be trying to hurt him, and that made Kyle feel so much worse about all of this. Stiles was exactly the kind of person who should be cherished and not lied to, and here Kyle was, trying his best to do, well, both of those things.

Stiles leaned in, pressing his lips to Kyle’s again, this time holding him in a longer, deeper kiss, but still slow, still meaningful, still passionate.

When they pulled away, Kyle moved in, putting his arms around Stiles, holding him close. He didn’t move to take off his shirt, or anything, he just held Stiles close, cuddled up against him. It was intimate, and it was wonderful, the exact sort of thing he knew he should be straying away from, and yet here he was, falling deeper, harder, with every word that Stiles spoke.

Chapter Text

It took two months for things to start to fall apart.

Two months of dating, of kissing, of cuddling, of getting to know each other. Two months of Kyle and Stiles falling harder for each other every day, because as fake as the whole thing had started out, the two of them shared a connection that neither of them really understood.

When Kyle told Stiles that he cared for him, he meant it. When he brushed his fingers gently over Stiles’ cheek, and told him he was gorgeous? He meant that, too, but at the same time, he knew what he was here for, and that was protection. Everything that he was doing was to try and keep Stiles safe. When they were out, he always looked over his shoulder to make sure that nothing was coming at them. When they were at home alone, he always had an eye on the windows, on the doors, making sure that no unwanted presences entered the house.

Kyle had never felt like this before, and it didn’t take a genius to know that Stiles was feeling the same way. The kisses were slow, long, romantic, even, and the dates that they went on were getting more and more sweet, intimate.

It was really only a matter of time before everything went to hell, Kyle realized, but he hadn’t expected it to go down in the way that it had.

****

“I…” Stiles pulled away from where he was kissing Kyle on the living room couch. “I want to talk to you about something,” he said softly.

“Okay.” Kyle nodded, his heart rate increasing, because conversations that started out like that never went well, and he didn’t want things to go down the shitter with Stiles, not when they had been going so well, despite, well…everything.

“I want to tell my dad,” he admitted. “About you, about us. I’ve known about my sexual orientation for awhile, that I was, you know, sort of into whatever, but I told myself that I wouldn’t worry my father, or anyone else, about it until I had a good reason to.”

“A good reason?” Kyle asked, clearly confused.

“Yeah, I mean…” Stiles shrugged. “Someone that I cared about enough, someone of the same sex, that I wanted to be able to be honest about how I felt towards them.”

“Oh.” A look of understanding dawned across Kyle’s features, but that didn’t make him feel better, more comfortable. “And I…you feel that way…for me?”

“I don’t think that’s a secret between us,” Stiles said with a smile. “I’ve had a rough couple of years, and you’re the first person that’s made me feel good, you know, not just like, temporarily okay for the moment, but well and truly good. You’re the first person that’s made me feel like I’m really worth something, like I’m really cared about.”

“You have your friends, your father, they all clearly care about you,” Kyle pointed out.

“Yeah, no, I know,” Stiles nodded. “But I meant…the way that you care about me. It’s…different. I’m not saying it’s more important or anything, but it’s different. It’s something that I’ve never really had before, and it matters to me. A lot. You matter to me, and I don’t really like hiding that from the people I care about.”

“Stiles, I don’t…I don’t know.” Kyle shifted uneasily. “My parents…”

“No, Kyle, I’m not saying I want to shout it from the roof tops, or walk into school holding hands, or make out in the movie theater or anything like that. I’m not saying we have to tell everyone, or that I even want to, I just…I just want to tell my dad. He’s the Sheriff, he can keep his mouth shut, we don’t have to tell your parents. I mean, you’ve said they’d react badly, I get it, I just…my dad, he’s open minded, he’s kind. He won’t react badly if he knows you make me happy, if he knows you’re good to me, and I just feel like shit lying to him all of the time.”

“This is really important to you, isn’t it.” Kyle looked at Stiles, knowing that there were three ways this could end, and none of them were good. He could give Stiles permission to tell his father about them, and thus, sealing the inevitable explosion that was bound to come from the Sheriff, he could forbid Stiles from telling his father, thus tearing a rift in, or possibly ending, their relationship, and thus compromising his ability to keep Stiles anything remotely resembling safe, or he could come clean with Stiles, right here, right now, and hope that the Sheriff would be able to find someone else to guard his son quickly.

“I mean, yeah, it is important to me.” Stiles nodded. “My dad…it’s been just the two of us for so long now, and he’d want to know, and I…I want him to. I really care about you, Kyle, and while I’m fine keeping that from the general public, I know it might sound lame, but I really don’t want to keep my dad out of the loop anymore.”

“No, it doesn’t sound lame, it makes sense, it’s just…I…” Kyle studied Stiles’ face. He looked at the young man, trying to stall for time, trying to think of some fourth option that would allow him to have his cake and eat it, too – to protect Stiles, not hurt his feelings, and still be with him. “I’ve never felt about anyone that way that I feel about you, Stiles.”

It was sort of gutting for Kyle, to realize just how true that was. Stiles made him happy, Stiles made him smile, Stiles made him want to get up in the morning and go to school, because he knew that the young man would be there. He was 24 years old, and he was wrapped around this kid’s finger like it was nothing. He was head over heels, ass over ankles, however you wanted to put it, but there just wasn’t a way.

“Why…why does it feel like you’re about to break up with me?” Stiles asked, his heart pounding as he looked up at Kyle.

“No, Stiles, I don’t…I don’t want to break up with you.” True. 100% true.

“Okay…then honestly, what’s the big deal? It’s just my dad. He won’t call your parents and tell them everything, he’s not like that, and it’s not like I’m asking if we can tell Lydia, who would, yeah, probably want to spread that around. It’s just my father, he’s…he’s harmless. I mean, he’s not harmless, he’s the sheriff, he sure as hell know show to fire a gun, but he’s harmless in this situation. He’s not…gonna shoot you.”

I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Kyle thought to himself.

“I need you to listen to me for a minute,” Kyle said softly. He looked Stiles right in the eyes, and almost turned to run out the door. He didn’t want it to come down to this, he didn’t want to have to tell Stiles the truth before he knew that the other man would be safe, but he didn’t want the drama of the Sheriff exploding at Stiles.

None of this was Stiles’ fault. All that Stiles had done was be kind, be gentle. He’d listened to Kyle talk about any, and everything. He’d opened up his hear to Kyle, and against his better judgment, Kyle had fallen right into that trap. So enamored was he of Stiles that just looking at him right now, knowing that it was all about to end, hurt more than anything had hurt him in a long time, and who did he have to blame for the pain? Himself.

“Okay…” Stiles looked at Kyle nervously, and it was evident that he was still pretty certain that a break up was coming his way, and, well, he wasn’t really wrong, after all. Kyle wasn’t going to break up with him, but he knew that there was no way that Stiles would stay with him once he said what he had to.

“You have been…amazing to me,” Kyle said softly. “You’ve treated me so well, taking me right even though I was the new guy, and you’ve been incredible about going slow, and listening – actually listening – to what I say, and you’re…an amazing kisser, and so smart, and I really do mean it when I say that I’ve never felt about anyone the way that I feel about you.”

Stiles gulped, forcing himself to look right at Kyle, even though he knew that this was going to hurt. Kyle had something to say, and Stiles was going to let him say it. He was going to take it like a man. After all, it was better it end now than before Stiles got in any deeper…though he felt as though he was already too far gone for this to be anything other than blindingly painful.

Kyle reached out, putting his hand on Stiles’ cheek, gently caressing Stiles’ skin. “I care about you, Stiles, so much,” he whispered. “But I’m not…I’m not who you think I am.”

And of course, as though it couldn’t get any worse, the Sheriff chose that exact moment to walk into the room.

Chapter Text

“Deputy Parrish, get your hands off my underage son!” The sheriff spat the words as he entered the room, frowning deeply at the sight before him.

Kyle instantly sprang away from Stiles, his hands falling to his sides, not touching Stiles in any way.

“Dad, I can explain, I- wait.” Stiles froze as his fathers words sank in. “Deputy? What? What’s going on? Dad, what are you talking about?”

“Stiles, I told you,” Kyle said softly, looking at the young man he had grown to care so much about. “I’m not who you think I am.”

“What’s going on?” Stiles gulped, feeing like everything was crashing down around him. His father was yelling, and calling Kyle ‘deputy,’ and for as smart as he was, in that moment, Stiles was more than confused.

The Sheriff was equally confused, and with Kyle being the only one with all of the pieces to the puzzle, felt it was on him to speak up, to explain the most uncomfortable situation he had ever been in in his life.

“Stiles…I’m…” He stood up, raking a hand through his perfect hair, and took a deep breath while he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to explain this to both men without getting shot, and really, really hurting Stiles. “I’m 24 years old. I’m not a high school student, I’m a deputy, and your father sent me undercover in the high school to protect you.”

“What? No.” Stiles shook his head. “I know all of the deputies. I’ve never see you at the Sheriff’s station.”

He spoke with so much indignation, but it was clear to everyone around, himself included, that Stiles was trying to convince himself that this wasn’t true, that there was no way that Kyle could have been lying to him.

“He’s new,” the Sheriff hissed. “Well, now he’s fired.”

“I…” Kyle just nodded, because who was he to fight that? He knew that if the Sheriff ever caught him, that would be curtains on his job. He didn’t want it to happen like this, and he knew that he could argue, that he could say it was the best way to get close to Stiles, and initially, yeah, that was all it was, but it’s so much more now, and he just couldn’t put those words out there, dig the knife deeper into Stiles’ back.

“So this…this was all…fake?” Stiles gestured between himself and Kyle rapidly, his heart rate increasing greatly. He knew that feeling – he was on the verge of a panic attack, but he had to catch his breath, he had to figure it out, to keep it under wraps, because right now, he was not equipped to handle that. “Everything you said, everything you did – all to, what? Keep an eye on me?”

“Initially yes, but-”

“But what?” The Sheriff interjected, looking at Kyle as though he would put a bullet right between his eyes if he said the wrong thing, and just then, no one in that room was convinced that he wouldn’t do just that.

“But you fell for me?” Stiles asked, his tone close to a sneer. “You saw something in me you’ve never seen in anyone else, and you just fell so far into my eyes that you couldn’t get out?” Sarcasm dripped from every word, and the look in Stiles’ eyes was like nothing that Kyle had ever seen in his life. Pain, anger, conflict, emotions that should never have to be mixed. “This isn’t a fucking movie, Kyle, this is my god damned life, and I want you out of it. And you.” Stiles turned on his father. “Sending someone into my life to protect me? Shame on you. I have Scott, Derek, Isaac, Allison, Lydia – they’d all do fucking anything to protect me, and if you don’t know that by now…” He threw his hands up in the air. “I can’t…I don’t…just…no.”

Stiles felt his chest tightening, and this was all just too much. The two men standing in the room, looking at him, trying to find a way to explain what they had done, the way that they had conspired. He didn’t know that there were threats made, he didn’t let either man get to that part before he ran out of the room.

“Stiles, wait.” His dad reached for him, but Stiles pulled away.

“No. Don’t. Don’t you fucking – either of you,” he hissed as Kyle moved forwards as well. “Don’t fucking talk to me, don’t fucking look at me right now, don’t touch me, don’t…don’t anything.”

He didn’t have the words to fight that fight, to scream at Kyle for getting to him like that, and breaking his fucking heart – because he was pretty sure that that was what was happening, that his heart was breaking. Not just because of his relationship, but because his father would go to such lengths. Maybe his dad didn’t know just what was going on, but that he didn’t trust Stiles to protect himself, that he would lie to him like that.

Stiles felt betrayed in every possible way by the two men he cared about so much. A part of him wanted to mourn the loss of a boyfriend, but he didn’t know Kyle at all, not really. He knew someone, but that person was just a façade, just an act put on by someone trying to do their job, and that was gutting to Stiles.

He took off down the street, running as fast as he could in any fucking direction. It was starting to get dark, but he didn’t care. A part of him wanted to go to Scott, but he didn’t even know where to begin explaining what was going on, and maybe he just needed to be alone for a little while.

Stiles ran and ran until he was out of breath, until he was out of tears, unaware that they had even started falling until he was doubled over, panting, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Stiles had dealt with a lot of pain in his life – his mother dying, his best friend becoming a werewolf, people getting hurt, people dying, his own body being used to hurt them, and now this? Just when things were starting to go back to whatever sort of normal he and his friends had gotten used to lately?

“Mr. Stilinski.”

A voice pulled Stiles up, and he turned around, finding himself face to face with a man that he only vaguely recognized.

“Um…who are you?” He asked.

“A man who’s been waiting my fair share of time to get you alone.”

The smirk that spread across his face was sick, twisted enough to send a shiver of fear through Stiles’ entire body. He backed away, preparing to run again, but the man’s hand reached out quickly, grabbing his wrist, twisting his arm painfully behind his back.

Stiles cried out, but before he could get any more words out, a hand clapped over his mouth.

“Listen to me,” the man hissed into Stiles’ ear, holding the struggling teenager close. “You’re coming with me, and we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. The easy way is you just coming with me, dropping the fight now, and behaving. The hard way? I hurt you. A lot, and not just physically. If you don’t cooperate with me, I will kill everyone you love. Starting with your wide eyed best friend, and ending with your overprotective father.”

Stiles’ heart dropped. That threat was all too real, and the hands on his body, holding him, controlling him, were just as real.

He wanted to fight, to pull away, to struggle until his body was spent, to scream until his throat was raw, but his friends, his family? He couldn’t do that to them, and after everything he’d been through that day alone, the fight left him.

Stiles went limp in the man’s grasp, allowing himself to be pulled, shoved into the trunk of a car, where the panic attack fully set in.

Fear, terror, a fierce realization of what was happening finally sank in, and he succumbed, letting everything take over his body. Endorphins from terror flooded his body, and his panic took all of that energy away again, leaving Stiles weak and crying in the trunk of the car taking him further and further away from everything that made him feel safe.

He didn’t know what was happening exactly, but he was scared out of his mind, and completely unable to combat any of it in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter Text

“Sheriff, sir, I-”

“Save it.” The Sheriff raised his hand, instantly silencing Kyle.

“Sir, I can’t.” Kyle shook his head.  “I didn’t mean to hurt you, to upset you, to upset and hurt him. It was a way to get close to him, and I fell for him.”

“I don’t care.” The Sheriff glared at Kyle. “He’s my son, you were supposed to be his friend, not pull him into something fake like that. You hurt him, and what’s more, he’s underage. You should know better than that. You’re fired, 100%.”

“No, I know.” Kyle nodded. “I’m not trying to save my job. I just want you to know that it wasn’t all fake, that what I feel for Stiles…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” The Sheriff shook his head. “What I want is to go find my son before something bad happens to him. He’s lost his mom, you don’t even…you could never understand the sort of things that he’s been through in the last couple of years, and it is very important that I find him. So go home, Kyle. Apply for other jobs, sulk, I don’t care, just stay the hell away from my family.”

“Sir, I can help you look-”

“What part of ‘stay the hell away from my family’ do you not understand?” The Sheriff hissed. “You hurt my son. No one, no one who does that stays in our lives. I know that I hurt him too, but what I did was to protect him, and I stand by that. What you did? That was just stupid. He’s a teenager, he’s vulnerable, and you just went for it.”

“Sir…”

“Did you sleep with him?” The Sheriff asked.

“No, sir.” Kyle shook his head.

“Well that’s lucky for you,” The Sheriff seethed. “Because if you had, I would not have hesitated to press charges. Now get the fuck out of my house.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kyle turned, walking out the door, trying to hide the tears in his eyes. Yes, he had lost his job, but honestly, right now, that wasn’t the worst part. Stiles meant something to him. In the short amount of time that they had spent together, he had really fallen for him. Hard. He wasn’t ready to let that go, but he didn’t have a choice.

The sheriff didn’t give himself time to dwell on everything, on what he saw with Kyle and his son. He just knew that he wanted to find Stiles, get him back under the roof, safely, so they could have a proper talk about all of this, so that he could explain.

Naturally, the first place the Sheriff decided to go was Scott’s house, and by the time he got there, it was pouring down rain. He raised his jacket over his head and ran to the door, knocking.

“Hey Mr. Stilinski,” Scott said, opening the door.

“Is my son here?” The Sheriff asked.

“No…” Scott frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Um…” The Sheriff shrugged. “Sort of, I just really need to find him. This is the first place I’ve looked, we had a fight and he ran off.”

“Oh.” Scott nodded. “Do you want me to try and call him?”

“Won’t help.” The Sheriff shook his head. “He left without his phone.”

“Oh. Well I can help look.”

“Thank you.” The Sheriff nodded. “Can you call around to your friends? See if he’s with any of them? I’m going to go to the cemetery, sometimes he goes there to-”

“I know.” Scott nodded. “Sometimes I go with him. I’ll call around, see if anyone knows where he is, and I’ll call you if I hear anything.”

“Thanks, Scott.”

“Of course, Mr. S.”

With that, the sheriff left the property, getting back into his car and driving to the cemetery. When he got there, he exited the car and ran forwards, again, jacket held over his head. Like his son, the Sheriff knew by heart how to get right to plot where Stiles’ mom was buried, where his wife – he refused to say ex, because that just isn’t what she is, and he went right there.

Stiles wasn’t there.

“Claudia.” The Sheriff sat down, staring at the headstone, looking at his wife’s name. It didn’t matter that it was pouring down rain, or that he was getting mud on his pants. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Stiles…ran off, he’s mad at me, and I definitely deserve it, but I don’t…I don’t even know what’s going on with him anymore. It’s almost like he’s the parent, and I’m the kid. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. That’s not how I want it to be for him. I want to take care of him, but I just don’t know how.”

The Sheriff leaned forwards, resting his head against the stone. Sometimes, he thought about how much better it would be for everyone, for Stiles especially, if he were the one gone, and not his wife, but that wasn’t how it went down, and there is nothing to be done, no way to change the past.

“I wish you were here, Claudia. You’d know what to do, what to say to him. I’m so worried about him, but everything is just…so out of my control. I don’t know where he is, I don’t know how to find him…I just want to know he’s safe.”

Of everything that was going down, that had to be the worst. He had been getting threats about Stiles. He wanted to find his son, to get him home, so that he could protect him from those threats. He didn’t know that it was already too late, didn’t know what sort of danger Stiles was in. He didn’t know that his son was already running on borrowed time.

He also didn’t know that Kyle was out, doing the exact same thing that he was – looking for Stiles. The deputy wanted to explain to Stiles everything, to have an ear, of course, and maybe, just maybe, to try and gain back…something, but most importantly, he wanted to make sure that Stiles was safe. Kyle knew about the threats, he knew that Stiles was at risk, and he didn’t want to be the reason that something happened to Stiles.

Kyle took a deep breath as he approached Claudia Stilinski’s grave. The Sheriff wasn’t the only one who thought to come here, who thought that Stiles might go talk to his mother. Kyle has never been to this stone before, and it took him longer to find than it took the Sheriff, but there it is, and there the Sheriff is, talking to his wife – or the memory of her.

Kyle didn’t feel right standing there, listening to what the Sheriff was saying, but leaving didn’t feel right either. The way that things went down, it wasn’t good, and he knew that. Stiles could be in a lot of danger, and he didn’t want to be the reason it all came to fruition.

“Sheriff?” Kyle cleared his throat, announcing his presence.

“I told you to stay away from my family,” The Sheriff hissed, standing, turning on Kyle. He didn’t have any patience left for this man. “That means staying away from me as well. What the hell are you even doing here? You have NO right to be at this grave.”

“I’m looking for Stiles,” Kyle said as calmly as possible. “I know just as well as you do that he’s alone, he’s vulnerable right now, and that’s not…that’s not good. In fact, that’s really, really bad. You may see what went down as awful, and you may see me as the bad guy, and as much as that might be true, I would never intentionally hurt Stiles, and I would never harm him physically, and you and I both know that there is someone out there who wants to do just that. Someone who is twice as likely to get his or her damn way if we don’t find him soon, and the more people looking, the better the chance we have of finding him.”

The Sheriff opened his mouth to speak, to say something, but he was stopped by his phone beeping at him. He reached down to check it, hoping it was a message from Scott, telling him that Stiles was safe, that he was with Lydia, or Allison, or god, even Derek Hale.

The message was from an unrecognized number, but since Stiles didn’t have his phone, the Sheriff was unwilling to discount anything. He opened it, his entire being freezing as he looked at it.

It was a picture of Stiles with a gun to his head, and the words: He has 12 hours.

There were no demands, not for a ransom, or a trade, no hint of who had taken him, or where he might be, just the threat hanging over his head.

His son had 12 hours left, and the Sheriff had no idea where to start.

“What?” Kyle looked at the Sheriff, able to tell that something was wrong.

The Sheriff just passed him the phone, unable to speak, shaking his head.

“We have to find him,” Kyle said stupidly, handing the phone back.

“I know.” The Sheriff nodded, taking the phone. “I’m going to the station, you go to Scott McCall, and tell him everything. Don’t ask why, but right now, he’s our best chance at finding Stiles.”

“Yes, sir.” Kyle didn’t think that going to another teenager made the most sense, but if the Sheriff said Scott could help, Kyle was going to trust him. This was his son. The man may be angry at Kyle, but Kyle knew that The Sheriff would do anything to bring Stiles home safely, and right then, that was all Kyle wanted, too.

Chapter Text

“What are you going to do to me?” Stiles asked when the gun was removed from his head.

The man had driven him to a house way out, where a second man was waiting. All of the fight had left Stiles with the threat – his family, his friends, they were all more important to him than anything else, including his own life, and fighting, struggling? That wasn’t going to save him anyways, just resign everyone else to more pain and misery.

He had been taken to a room – it wasn’t a creepy dungeon or a cell, it was a normal bedroom, with a bed, and windows, but the windows had been boarded up, and there was a long chain secured to the wall. The man shackled the chain to his left ankle, smirking. “Just so you don’t get any ideas,” he hissed.

The second man had entered with a gun, and Stiles had frozen, his heart racing.

“Relax,” the second man – this one he recognized from one of his father’s previous cases, Ted Mercer…which must have made the first man his partner. Alan Crean. Shit.

Ted moved close to Stiles, pressing a gun to his temple and holding it there.

“Don’t move,” Alan said as he entered the room. He snapped a picture, and exited again, leaving Stiles alone with Ted.

The gun was removed, and Stiles’ question hung in the air.

“Torture your father,” Ted said with a smirk, turning the safety on the gun and stuffing it in the waistband of his jeans. He folded his arms across his chest and looked over at Stiles.

“It’s not his fault you went to jail,” Stiles hissed. “It’s your own damn fault.”

“Maybe so,” Ted said with a shrug. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he was putting his nose in my business. I don’t like it when people do that.”

“It’s his job!” Stiles argued. He may have been angry at his father an hour ago, but all of that seemed obsolete, stupid now. All that he wanted was for his father to burst through that door, lay this man and his partner to waste, and take him home, where he’d be safe.

In another part of his head, Stiles wanted his father to stay far away from this house. He didn’t know what the plan was. Maybe these men wanted the Sheriff to show up so that they could dispose of him. Conflicted and scared, Stiles maintained his brave face.

He wasn’t alone. As angry as he might have been an hour ago, Stiles had people who cared about him. He had his father, and with that, the entire Sheriff’s department of Beacon Hills. They had helped raise him, helped him with homework, some of them had even helped to drive him to and from school when his father was busy, they babysat, hosted him at Thanksgiving. They were basically a second family. They would help find him.

And then there were his friends. His friends, frankly, had the best chance of breaking down that door, because for all of the teenage drama that they had in their lives sometimes, Stiles knew that Scott would come for him, and that he would drag Isaac, Derek, Ethan, Aiden, all of them, with him. And they had abilities that the fuckers holding Stiles didn’t even know about.

That was what was keeping him calm now, knowing that the second his father found out he was missing, he would go to Scott, and from there? Well, it was only a matter of time. All that Stiles really had to do was stay alive until Scott or Derek or Isaac or someone came through that door for him.

He felt like a god damned princess in a fucking tower, guarded by two…well, not Dragons. That implied a lot more power than he felt these men had. No, he wasn’t going to be Sleeping Beauty, he was going to be motherfucking Princess Fiona if he had to be one of them. He was going to be brave, and wait for his Ogre, and there would be absolutely no swooning when said ogre showed up.

Yes, he was scared – hell, he was terrified, but he had panicked over and over again in the car on the way here, and he didn’t want to be that person anymore. He wanted to be strong, he wanted to hold his ground, be strong. Stiles had been in worse situations before, if he was being honest. In the last year or so, he’d actually been kidnapped twice – forced by Peter Hale, the evil alpha werewolf, to help find Scott, and taken, beaten, by a vicious werewolf hunter.

Ted Mercer and Alan Crean? They were human. Just human. They had guns, and knives, and scare tactics, but at the end of the day, they weren’t hunters or wolves. Sure, that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t gut him like a fish, but it did mean that they probably didn’t know about werewolves, that they didn’t know that he had friends who would come for him much sooner than they were expecting. This kidnapping wasn’t going to be a solely police endeavor, and he knew it, but they didn’t.

He sat on the bed, his knees pulled to his chest, taking deep breaths, willing himself not to panic. This wasn’t going to be the end. This wasn’t going to be the day that he died, the way that he died. Scott would come bursting through that door any minute, followed by his pack, and probably seconds later, by his father.

Stiles told himself that, over and over again, for god knew how long.

When the door opened up, and Alan returned to the room, Stiles looked up, trying to calm his heartbeat. The gun was in his hand, and Stiles knew that he just had to keep that thing from going off. That was all he had to do – keep himself from getting killed for long enough.

“Stiles,” Alan smirked at him.

“Alan,” Stiles returned, looking him right in the eye.

Yeah, maybe he was afraid of both of these guys, but he didn’t want Alan to know that. He may have had the lower hand here, he may be the one chained to a wall, un-armed, but that didn’t mean he was going to let this man take total advantage of him.

“What do you want with me?” Stiles asked.

“To hurt your father,” Alan said simply. “Sure, we could have easily gone for him, killed him, called it good, but we know the Sheriff – this whole town knows that nothing would tear him apart faster than a ticking clock on his son’s life.”

“So that’s what this is?” Stiles asked. “A ticking clock?”

“Yes.” Alan smirked, and the smirk was deep, evil, it sent a shudder down Stiles’ spine, but he took a deep breath, recomposing himself.

“How long’s left on that clock?” he asked.

“Let’s see…” Alan looked down at his watch. “Just about 11 hours.”

Stiles gulped. That was very specific. He looked at Alan, nodding, because, well, 11 hours should be plenty of time for his friends and family to find him.

Should be.

“Why aren’t you shaking in your boots?” Alan asked.

“My dad is looking for me,” Stiles said. “And he’ll find me.”

“Your faith in the old man is incredible, but he won’t find you.” Alan shook his head. “We’ve made sure that you’re far enough away, in a place where you won’t be found.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Stiles shook his head. “You might think my dad is old and spent, but he’ll move mountains to save me.”

“Well, then that just means he’ll to watch you di in person,” Alan said with a shrug.

“Yeah.” Stiles looked up at him, a slightly dark look to him. “We’ll see about that.”

“Speaking of your father,” Alan said, pulling out a phone and completely ignoring Stiles’ comment, as though they had absolutely no bearing in reality at all.

It was clear that Alan wasn’t afraid, or even phased, by Stiles’ comments, by Stiles’ conviction that his father would come to save him, but Stiles knew that that was because he didn’t have all the facts. He and Ted were totally un-prepared for the storm that was hopefully coming, and that was the way Stiles wanted it. He didn’t want them anywhere near the truth until it was biting them in the ass.

“I think it’s time we send him a little message.”

Alan took the gun, slamming into Stiles’ face, butt of it catching him right in the cheek.

The force of it sent Stiles flying off of the bed and into a curled up heap on the floor. He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut, willing himself not to cry. He was not going to give this man that power, he was not going to shed a single tear. He looked up at Alan, his face set, determined not to let the pain, the hot blood he felt trickling down his cheek, get to him, as Alan reached the phone out, and snapped a picture.

The man left the room again, locking the door, and snickering to himself as he sent the picture off to the Sheriff with another message.

11 Hours.

Chapter Text

“Stiles is missing,” Kyle panted as Scott opened the door to his house. He didn’t wait to be invited in, there was no time for pleasantries, and he hoped that Scott would understand that.

Kyle still didn’t know why Scott was going to be more helpful than him using his knowledge as a deputy to try and find Stiles, but he trusted the Sheriff. Right now, he knew that the Sheriff would do nothing that wouldn’t help them find Stiles. His son was missing – he’d been taken by dangerous people, and Kyle knew that the Sheriff would waste no time, so as confused as he was about why Scott was so important, he was here to ask for his help.

“What?” Scott gulped, his heart sinking.

When one of his pack was “missing,” that was never good. The last two times that Stiles had been missing, he’d been kidnapped by the alpha, or a ruthless Hunter who had gone off book. The second time, he’d come home beaten up, and scared, his ego bruised just as much as his body. Scott never wanted to see the look of utter helplessness on his best friend’s face again.

“He’s been kidnapped. It’s a long story, but I’m a deputy, I’m not a high school student. The Sheriff has been getting threats against Stiles for awhile now, and he sent me undercover to make sure that nothing happened to him, but things got weird, and he got mad at me and his father, I promise I will explain everything later, right now we just have to find him, and his father told me that you could help?” Kyle gulped. “I don’t know why he said that, but please, Scott, we have to find him.”

“Alright.” Scott nodded. If Stiles had been taken by someone out to threaten the Sheriff, odds were, they were just human, and while still very much dangerous, at least Scott had the upper hand in that situation.

It was clear, though, that the sheriff had said nothing to Kyle about the existence of werewolves and the supernatural…let alone about Scott being one himself. Still, there was no time for that conversation. Stiles could be bleeding out somewhere, and Scott wasn’t willing to take that chance, and he got the feeling that Kyle wasn’t either.

“I hope you’re good at compartmentalizing,” Scott stated.

“What?” Kyle frowned.

Before he got the chance to really think about it, however, Scott had transformed, right in front of him, in the entry way of his house into…something. Kyle didn’t even have time to think about what the hell it was, before Scott was howling, calling his pack.

If Stiles was missing, he was going to take no chances. He wanted everyone on board, and he knew that they would be there. Stiles mattered. He mattered to everyone, and that was as simple as it got.

“What the hell?” Kyle asked.

“What is it?” Isaac asked, running down the stairs, ready to go, claws out.

“Stiles,” Scott stated, turning to him. “He’s been kidnapped. I can’t find him on my own. It’s been raining, his scent will be lost.”

“Alright.” Isaac nodded.

Only a few seconds after that, the twins showed up, ready to go, as Scott briefly filled them in.

“Aiden, go find Lydia. She has a knack for finding people who are at death’s door, if he’s about to be killed, we’re gonna need her.”

Aiden looked at Scott for a second, saying nothing.

“NOW!” Scott bellowed, his eyes flashing red, and Aiden was off at top speed, away from the group.

“Ethan, get Allison.”

Ethan didn’t have to be told twice, and he ran off to find the huntress, leaving Isaac, Scott, and Kyle still standing in the entryway of the McCall house.

That was the only thing that this could possibly be, right?

A part of Kyle wanted to pass out from the shock, and under any other circumstance, he was certain that he would have, but this was Stiles, and Stiles was in a lot of danger right now. If this…pack of wolves, or whatever the fuck it was, could help to save him, then Kyle could worry about that later. Right now, what mattered was finding Stiles.

Not only did he care deeply for the young man, but he felt wholly responsible for what had happened to him. If he had just done the job that he had been assigned, and not tried to get closer, this never would have happened, and Stiles would be safe right now, playing video games with Scott, or arguing with Lydia over the English reading assignment. Either way, he knew that he had to help him. To save him. If only to apologize for being a jackass.

He knew why Scott had said he hoped Kyle could compartmentalize, and they were in luck, because there was no one in the damn world who could compartmentalize like Kyle in this very moment.

“Don’t just stand there like you’re useless,” Scott snarled at Kyle. He didn’t know what had gone down, exactly, but if Stiles had run because he was mad at Kyle, if that was why he was in trouble, than Scott didn’t care if Kyle was the nicest guy in the world. He had put Scott’s best friend – his brother – in harm’s way, and that didn’t set well with the teenager.

“What can I do?” Kyle asked.

“Where did you last see him?” Scott asked. “If there’s any hope of picking up a scent, it will be there.”

“His house,” Kyle stated.

“Alright.” Scott took off, Isaac behind him, not even waiting for Kyle. There simply wasn’t time for the human deputy to be slowing them down. Maybe he had a service weapon, but they had claws, and speed, and a fire to save Stiles that Scott wasn’t sure anyone else but the Sheriff truly understood.

Stiles was family, he was pack, and losing him was not an option.

****

Stiles lay curled up on the bed. His face hurt from being pistol whipped, and he didn’t know what to do. He felt weak, he felt stupid, and he felt, honestly, scared. He didn’t want to be that person, but while he was confident in his friends, in his father, and their desire to want to save him, to care for him, he was still very much helpless in this situation.

He hated how defenseless he was, that he was trapped here, held only by a chain around his ankle, and the threat of guns downstairs, and there was nothing that he could do to help himself. He had to sit here and wait, hope, that someone was coming for him, and that they would be here in time.

Being kidnapped was one thing, being hit? That was another. These men were capable of violence, and he knew that for sure. He thought about them, trying to remember their cases. His father had always tried not to talk shop in front of Stiles, but that hadn’t always worked out.

Alan Crean was the kind of guy you didn’t want to be around. Drugs. That was what he did, and how he had gotten out of jail? Stiles wasn’t really sure. Maybe it had been a technicality, maybe it was good behavior, but he was one of the first arrests that the Sheriff had made in his career as Sheriff, and Stiles could easily see why he would be upset. He’d been pretty much supplying Beacon Hills with cocaine.

Ted Mercer? Me was much smaller potatoes but still Stiles remembered vaguely when the meth lab he had been running had exploded. That was what had led to his arrest – his own stupidity, not even the Sheriff’s skills, and here Stiles was, the prisoner of two drug idiots, and they had a power over him that he could do nothing about.

They had his freedom, and right now, they held his life in their hands. As much as he didn’t want to be panicky and frightened, he curled up tighter, just wanting Scott, his dad, anyone to burst through that door and save him.

When the door did open, though, it was Ted, and not someone come to rescue him.

“How are you doing?” Ted sneered, walking into the room.

This time, Stiles was silent. He glared, though, wanting to prove that hitting him once hadn’t removed the fight from him. He just didn’t have anything to say, not right now. As weak as it might have been, he didn’t want to be hit again, and mouthing off? There was no better way to get hit.

“I don’t think we’re sending our message clear enough,” Ted stated, walking over to the bed.

He pulled out the phone they’d been using to text the Sheriff, and Stiles knew right then and there that this wasn’t good.

From his back pocket, Ted pulled a knife, smirking as he turned on the video feature of the camera. He advanced on Stiles, gripping the knife, and jammed it into the boy’s leg, catching Stiles’ horrible scream right on camera.

The knife didn’t go in as deep as it could have, and it didn’t go into any major veins or arteries, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt.

Pain seared through Stiles, and Ted smirked as he pulled the knife out, drawing another cry from Stiles.

Blood stained Stiles’ jeans, crawling slowly. He was smart, he knew that the wound wouldn’t be what killed him, it wasn’t enough to make him bleed out, and he bit his tongue, holding back tears.

Screaming was one thing, crying was another.

He didn’t want these men to see him cry, and more than that, he didn’t want his father to see that.

Ted left the room, and Stiles ripped fabric from the bed clothes, applying pressure to his own wound as Ted texted the video of Stiles screaming to the Sheriff.

10 Hours.

Chapter Text

Tom and Alan didn’t get to send a fourth message.

Exactly 47 minutes after Ted stabbed Stiles, Scott burst through the boarded up window of the second story room where Stiles was being kept. Chaos scattered about the room, and Stiles covered his head, his body curled up where he was lying on the bed.

Scott stood up, transferring back to his fully human form, shaking off wood splinters and glass shards, stood to his full height.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, a gentle smile on his face, because Stiles was alive.

He was alive, and now that Scott was there, he was safe.

Stiles stood up and walked over to Scott, hugging him tightly.

“What the fuck took you so long?” Stiles whispered into his best friend’s neck. He held on tightly to Scott, though, afraid that if he let go, this would all fade, and Scott wouldn’t still be there.

“It rained,” Scott stated. “I lost your scent.”

A strip of the bed sheet that he had tied around his leg, fashioning into a bandage, was soaked through with blood, and his face, though it had stopped bleeding, was caked in dried blood. It had only been a couple of hours since he’d been taken captive, and Stiles knew that, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t scared, that he hadn’t been worried.

Yes, he had known that Scott would come, but that didn’t discount every other fear and anxiety that was playing through his mind, and it never would.

“You okay?” Scott asked. “You smell like blood and fear.”

“I feel like blood and fear,” Stiles muttered.

He didn’t get to say anything else, though, because a commotion downstairs erupted, and Stiles looked at Scott, confused.

“The cavalry has arrived,” Scott said with a smile, swiping at the chain holding Stiles to the wall, freeing him from the prison he hadn’t even tried to escape from on his own.

Scott hooked an arm around Stiles waist to support him, knowing that Stiles would want to walk out of here, that he wouldn’t want to be carried, not if he didn’t have to be.

They only had to get to the top of the stairs to see what happened, and as scared as Stiles was, the sight below brings a smile to his face.

If nothing else, it was an overreaction, but one that he couldn’t have been more glad for.

Ted Mercer and Alan Crean are standing at the foot of the stairs, their hands in the air. They had been making their way upstairs to check on Stiles when they heard Scott burst through the window, and had been blindsided instantly when the front door had burst open as well.

They were faced by the sheriff, armed and aiming his weapon at them, a deputy, doing exactly the same, two teenage girls – one with a compound bow that she looked dangerously in control of, one with a taser gun that she was clearly unafraid to use, and three teenage boys, and a man, all built, and ready to kill (though thankfully, claws and teeth were away).

Stiles felt a wave of intense emotion wash over him. Not only had his father and Scott come for him, but Lydia, Allison, Isaac, Derek, Ethan, Aiden…and Kyle.

“You fucked with the wrong guy,” the Sheriff snarled. “You wanted to get back at me for putting you in prison? You go after me. You don’t go after my kid. I don’t know anyone in this town that has more people who would die for him than my son.”

Stiles froze. He had never thought of it that way.

Every single one of his favorite people were standing in that room right now, at the ready, to save him. They had all come for him, unsure of what danger lay in the house, they had drawn their weapons, and come for him.

“You okay?” Scott asked, feeling Stiles go slightly limp in his arms.

“Yeah.” Stiles nodded. “Just…it’s been a rough few hours.”

“Let’s get you out of here.”

Scott helped Stiles down the stairs, right past Ted and Alan. Stiles wanted to look at them, to shout at them, but once he knew he was safe, he was overwhelmed with exhaustion…and blood loss.

He watched, safely tucked between Scott and Isaac, as his father and Kyle officially arrested Alan and Ted, shoving them into the back of his father’s cruiser.

As soon as the door to the car shut, Stiles launched himself at his father, hugging him tightly.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles whispered, burying his face in his father’s chest the way that he used to when he was a kid. Maybe it was Scott that found him, and burst into his prison, every bit the hero he has grown up to be, but his dad still felt safe to him, secure. “I’m sorry I ran, I was upset, I didn’t know-”

“Don’t.” The Sheriff shook his head, holding onto his son as tightly as he could without hurting him. “I’m just glad that you’re okay. Let’s get you to a hospital, get those injuries checked out. Parrish, you take these assholes and book them.”

“So I’m not fired?” Kyle asked.

“We’ll talk about that later,” The Sheriff stated.

He was in no place emotionally to book Crean and Mercer, and he was definitely in no place to discuss Kyle’s future at the precinct.

Kyle didn’t argue. He knew what was needed right now, and that was getting these men behind bars. Did he want to see Stiles safely to the hospital? Absolutely, but he had a lot to process, himself, and he could tell that, as appreciated as it was that he had helped to find Stiles (though really, he knew he had done little but go to Scott for help, and then wave a gun at the kidnappers), he wasn’t welcome at the hospital. That was for family. For The Sheriff, and for Scott.

****

The second the doctors finished poking at Stiles, and patching him up, he fell asleep in the hospital bed.

After being assured time and time again that Stiles was in no real danger, and that the wounds, while painful, would heal just fine, and cause no damage, the Sheriff was told he could take Stiles home. Rather than wake him, he lifted the young man – though sleeping, injured, after such a long day, he looked like a child.

Stiles was curled up in a little ball on the hospital bed, the blanket pulled over him, more for comfort than for warmth. He looked every bit the child sleeping on cots on the hospital floor by his mother’s bedside in the days leading up to her death, every bit the child who used to sleep on the couch in the Sheriff’s station, because he didn’t want to be at home by himself, even though he was allowed, so long as Mrs. Grady next door checked up on him.

Scott moved to lift Stiles, but the Sheriff shook his head.

“I’m not too old for this.” He reached down, lifting his sleeping son, his heart swelling as Stiles shifted in his arms, gripping his father’s jacket.

He seemed so childlike, innocent, and something about that action – being able to carry his son to the car, made him feel like there was still something that he could do to protect his son, despite the doubt the day had given him.

He had been forced to see pictures, watch a video, of his little boy being tortured – the boy who had been such a man lately, and before his time, at that. It had destroyed a part of him, and just knowing that Stiles was alive, feeling his breathing…it made him feel a little bit better.

Scott rode with them back to the house, and helped the Sheriff get Stiles – still sleeping, partially thanks to some good painkillers – into bed.

“Do you have to go back to the station? Deal with, you know…” Scott trailed off.

“I should, but…”

“I’ll stay with him.” Scott looked directly at the Sheriff. “He’s your son, but he’s also my brother.”

“I know that.” A tired smile crossed the Sheriff’s lips. “You saved his life today, Scott.”

“He’s saved mine at least a dozen times,” Scott said softly. “It wasn’t…It’s Stiles. I’d go to hell and back for him.”

“I know you would.” The Sheriff pulled Scott into a tight hug. “Doesn’t mean I’m not grateful. He’s all I’ve got left, if I’d lost him-”

“You didn’t.” Scott pointed out, looking into the Sheriff’s eyes.

“What?”

“You have to focus on that. He’s still here. It’s not your fault. What happened happened because sometimes, doing the right thing isn’t enough. You just have to be thankful when it ends with everyone alive, even if it’s hard.”

“When did you get so wise?” The Sheriff asked.

“Somewhere between getting bitten, and realizing that I can’t protect everyone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t save them.”

“Thank you, Scott.” The Sheriff nodded, and Scott just shook his head.

“You weren’t wrong, what you said to them. Stiles has more people that would go to bat for him than anyone I’ve ever met.” Scott smiled. “He’s saved all of use time and again, whether he meant to, or not. He’s got a sense of loyalty, bravery, and knowledge, that only you could have taught him. I’ve been wise for a few months,” Scott said with a slight smile. “You’ve been raising him well for 17 years.”

“You boys never cease to amaze me.” The Sheriff sighed.

“Go,” Scott stated. “I’ll look after him. When he wakes up, and has the energy, I’ll bring him to the station if you’re not back yet.”

“Alright.” The Sheriff nodded. “I’ll have my phone, call me if -”

“I’ll text you updates every 30 minutes, even if it’s just that he rolled over.”

“Thank you.”

The Sheriff grabbed his jacket and left, fighting every urge he had to go sit by his son’s bed side and protect him even the smallest discomfort.

Getting Ted Mercer and Alan Crean taken care of was a top priority right now, and Scott was there.

Nothing bad would ever happen to Stiles when Scott was there.

They were brothers.

Chapter Text

Stiles woke up about three hours later, and Scott texted the Sheriff, letting him know that everything was fine, but that Stiles was awake, after all, he had promised. Scott knew that the Sheriff was worried, that he was upset, and Scott could understand that 100%. It had been a worrying day, and he was just glad to have his best friend back.

“How are you feeling, buddy?” Scott asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Like someone pistol whipped me, and stabbed me in the leg,” Stiles groaned, pulling himself up from the bed and into a sitting position.

“Sounds painful.” Scott sat beside him, looking him. He didn’t know what to do or say – his best friend, his brother, had been kidnapped, hurt, and it was all sort of still sinking in, if he was being honest.

“Yeah, not my favorite experience,” Stiles pointed out. “Especially considering that it was finished off by learning that my father paid someone to babysit me…and that the guy I thought was my boyfriend was that babysitter.”

“I’m really sorry, man.” Scott looked at his friend.

It was clear that Stiles was upset, and he didn’t want that. He bit his lip, trying to figure out what to do here, what to say. He didn’t want Stiles to be upset, but he wasn’t sure there was any way not to.

“I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on his lies,” Scott said softly. “You’d think that being surrounded by werewolves, this sort of thing wouldn’t happen, but-”

“Scott, man, it’s not your fault.” Stiles reached up, putting his hand on Scott’s shoulder, hoping to be reassuring. “I’m just…I really liked him, you know? I talked to him about stuff, weird stuff, and he got it, or at least he acted like he did. I mean that’s all it was, right?” Stiles sighed, flopping back onto his pillow, staring up at the ceiling. “An act.”

“I don’t know, I mean-”

“And it’s not like it really matters anyways, right?” Stiles interrupted, cutting Scott off. “It’s not like it matters if he cares or not, and why is that where my head is right now? Shouldn’t I be freaking out over what happened? I mean, with Mercer and Crean? That was...” he trailed off.

“It was some fucked up shit,” Scott said softly. “But maybe you’re not as upset about that because it hasn’t really sunk in yet? I mean, everything happened really quickly, and then you were asleep, and now…I mean, it’s a lot to process.”

“Yeah.” Stiles let out a hefty sigh. “Maybe you’re right. Whatever. I don’t need Kyle,” he turned, looking at Scott. “Boys and girls will come and go, but you’ve got my back.”

Stiles smiled at his brother, his best friend.

“You’re my ogre.”

“I’m your what?” Scott asked, looking dubiously at Stiles.

“Like in Shrek, man! You rescued me from the tallest tower!”

“Oh my god.” Scott laughed, lightly shoving Stiles. “Of course you’d be comparing your captivity to a Disney movie.”

“DreamWorks,” Stiles stated.

“What?”

“Dreamworks. Shrek was a DreamWorks movie, not Disney.”

“Oh.” Scott fell silent, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s…cool?”

“Sorry, seemed relevant, I mean…” Stiles trailed off, looking down at his hands. “I just…”

“It’s fine.” Scott smiled gently at him. “You’ve had a long day.”

“Thank you,” Stiles said softly. “For finding me.”

“Don’t mention it. You’re my best buddy.” He grinned. “I’m always gonna find you, just like I know that you’d always find me.”

“I would.” Stiles nodded. “Might take me longer without your fancy werewolf powers, but I’ll always find you.”

“I know you will.” Scott smiled.

“Speaking of werewolf powers…how did Deputy Asshole take all of that?”

“I don’t know, he compartmentalized it, not sure he’s dealt with it yet. Also, are you sure you should be calling him Deputy Asshole? He did rush the house to save you…”

“He used me to do his job. He got close to me to do his damn job.”

“His job was to protect you,” Scott pointed out.

“I got kidnapped,” Stiles deadpanned. “By drug lords.”

“Drugs lords might be a bit of an over exaggeration, but over all, good point.” Scott nodded, biting his lip. “Look, for the record, I’m really sorry. I know that you liked him, and I’m sorry that it went down this road, that it had to go this way. I know that’s not how you would have chosen for things to go down and I’m sorry that it had to be this way.”

“It’s alright.” Stiles shrugged. “Guys who look like him don’t have interest in guys who look like me, anyways. Plus he’s like…24 or something, so…god.” Stiles sighed, shaking his head. “Can we not talk about this anymore? I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s upsetting.”

“Yeah. I actually told your dad I’d bring you to the station if you were feeling up for it, so…you feeling up for it?”

“Why the hell not?” He shrugged his shoulders, smiling.

Scott helped Stiles out of bed and into the car, and they drove in silence down to the station. Scott could smell the tension in the car, and that, paired with knowing Stiles, and how he worked, told him that Stiles was worried, nervous, about potentially running into Kyle at the station.

When they got there, Stiles and Scott didn’t see Kyle anywhere as they made their way back to the Sheriff’s office.

“Hey kid.” The Sheriff rose instantly, a smile on his face as he helped Stiles into a chair, Scott, as if on a silent cue, taking his leave to go hunt down coffee.

“Hi.” Stiles looked down at the desk.

“How are you feeling?”

“Sore. I’ll be fine.” Stiles shrugged. He didn’t need to go over that whole song and dance with his father. His dad had seen the injuries, he didn’t need to be subjected to the tale all over again.

“Good, good – I mean, that you’ll be fine.” The Sheriff sat back down across from him. “I know you’re upset, that you’re made, about things with Parrish, and I understand that, I really do, but I need you to look at them from my perspective. I sent him to keep an eye on you because I was getting threats against you, Stiles.”

“So you didn’t tell me?” Stiles asked. “You didn’t tell Scott? The pack? They’d have protected me!”

“With everything you’ve all been dealing with…Stiles, you’re just kids. You shouldn’t have to be the ones doing all of the protecting.”

“You’d be surprised how much we’ve all grown up since Scott got bit,” Stiles muttered.

“I’m sorry.” The Sheriff looked over at him. “I’m sorry that I handled this wrong, and that you got hurt because of it. I guess after your mother…when my family is on the line, I just don’t…I don’t see straight.” He paused. “I love you, Stiles, more than anything, or anyone else in this damn world, and if something happened to you, I don’t…I wouldn’t…”

“Stop.” Stiles shook his head. “Dad, it’s okay. I get it. I’m not mad at you. You asked Kyle to look after me, you didn’t tell him to date me, he did that on his own, and I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” He cut his dad off, right as he got that look. “Can you do that for me? Just not…about him, for a little while?”

“Of course.” The Sheriff nodded. The pain, both physical and emotional, that his son was sporting was evident, and he didn’t want to push at it right now.

“Look, I’m almost done here, we can go home, I know I shouldn’t have asked Scott to bring you down, but I wanted to see you, I wanted you where I could keep an eye on you. I know that you’re not a kid anymore, Stiles, but god…just for tonight, can you humor me? Let me watch over you?”

“Yeah.” Stiles smiled gently. “I think that I can manage one night of over protective dad…after all, you did burst in guns a blazing to save me.”

“You’re my kid,” The Sheriff stated. “For you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”

“Thanks, dad.” Stiles looked down, then gripped the table, using it to hoist himself up.

“Where are you going?” The Sheriff asked instantly.

“I was planning on hugging my old man, that okay with you?” Stiles teased.

“Oh.” The Sheriff rose, walking over to Stiles, pulling him into a tight hug.

They stayed like that, the Stilinski men, hugging, both afraid to let go. The Sheriff was envisioning that little boy, clinging to his jacket, scared out of his mind, and right now…Stiles felt every bit that small child he had once been.

Chapter Text

The physical recovery was, honestly, not the worst that Stiles had been through. Within a couple of days, he was walking around pretty successfully, and yeah, there was some pain, but he was trying not to let it get to him. He didn’t want this to rule him, didn’t want for those fuckers to win. They had only had possession of him for a couple of hours, and he didn’t want them to have any more than that short amount of time.

He had the week off of school, and the pack and his father took turns looking after him – either his father or Derek at home with him during the day while his friends were at school, and usually Scott in the evenings when his father had to work.

With the videos and the texts, and all of the witnesses, they all knew that there was no chance in hell that Crean and Mercer would get away with this, and with the report of what had happened, Stiles knew that he was probably the safest person in Beacon Hills. It had been made pretty clear that messing with the Sheriff’s kid wouldn’t end well, so he wasn’t all that scared, not really.

Not when he had the friends and family that he did to look after him. Sure, there was some residual fear, some pain from the experience, and sleeping wasn’t the easiest thing in the world right now, but at the end of the day, he was safe, and he knew that.

A lot of people had been in and out of the house the past few days, people there to see him, mostly friends, mostly people that he wanted there, people who didn’t sit there holding casseroles and pitying him. As far as recoveries went, Stiles was pretty sure he was hitting the luck jackpot, and he wouldn’t trade that for fucking anything.

It did get weird, though, when Stiles heard a knock at the door, followed by Derek snarling at someone.

“You aren’t welcome here.” Derek’s words were sharp and clear, and that made Stiles instantly curious as to who was at the door.

He got up off the couch and walked into the hallway to see Derek, blocking Kyle from entering the house.

Kyle was wearing his uniform, because Jesus, after an arrest like Mercer and Crean, there was no way that he was going to get fired, and if Stiles was being honest, which he tried to be as much as he could, since he had to lie so much because of, well, pack stuff.

“Down, boy,” Stiles teased Derek. “Bad dog.”

“You’re lucky you’re still recovering,” Derek growled at Stiles.

“Yeah, well, you know you love it when I annoy you.” Stiles grinned wide, then looked at Kyle. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you,” Kyle stated.

“Well what if I don’t want to talk to you?” Stiles asked, feeling intensely awkward with Derek standing right there.

“Then I’d have to accept that, and walk away for now,” Kyle replied.

“Huh.” Stiles looked him over. “Good answer. Come in.”

“Are you serious?” Derek asked, looking at Stiles.

“Yes! I don’t need to be protected 100% of the time, I can have a conversation with my ex…or whatever the fuck he is. Go for a walk, Derek, or do you need to be taken out on a leash?”

“I hate you,” Derek grumbled, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. “You never make these dog jokes at Scott.”

“Oh yes I do,” Stiles called after him. “He just takes them in stride! You make yourself an easy target!”

“I’m coming back in 20 minutes,” Derek stated, leaving with that.

“What are you doing here?” Stiles asked Kyle the second the door shut.

“I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” Kyle said, shifting. “It…it’s my fault that this happened to you.”

“No, it’s not,” he stated. “I mean, you could have handled it all better, but it’s not your fault those guys were creeps, okay?” Stiles folded his arms across his chest. “So if that’s why you came by, because you feel guilty, don’t. You were just doing your job, and I’m alive, I’m fine, so…you don’t have to worry about that.” He gestured towards the door. “You can let yourself out.”

“That’s not…I didn’t come here to make myself feel better about what happened, Stiles,” he said softly. “I came here to make sure that you were okay.”

“Okay, well I am, so you can go.”

“Look, I get why you’re upset with me, I just-”

“Don’t.” Stiles shook his head. “Like I said, you did your job, I’m okay, you and I?” he gestured between them. “We’re done here. You don’t owe me anything, and I sure as hell don’t owe you anything, so just go.”

“Please, Stiles, let me explain.” Kyle looked at him.

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “Because I don’t want to hear it – if you started to care about me, or anything like that, god, it probably wasn’t real, even if you think it was. Intimacy of crisis, or something like that. I mean, I know it’s not the same, but basic idea.” Stiles looked at him. “And even if it was real, the person that I fell for? That wasn’t you.”

Kyle stopped, looking at him, hurt all over his expression.

“You’re 24, you lied to me about so many things, I just…that’s not real, and if that’s your definition of real, I don’t fucking want to hear anything more from you ever again. You work for my dad. That’s all. I’ll see you around.”

“Stiles…”

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “Just go. You shouldn’t even be here, you should be off, processing the existence of werewolves or some god damned thing like that.”

“Yeah.” Kyle bit his lip. “I’ve been working with Scott on that one.”

“What?” Stiles looked up instantly.

“He didn’t tell you?” Kyle asked. “He and I have been talking almost every day since, you know…” he trailed off. “He’s been answering my questions, explaining stuff to me.”

“Oh, good to know I can’t even get my best friend on my side,” Stiles snarled. “Well at least Derek’s backing me up.”

“You mean the guy who opened the door?” Kyle asked. “Oscar the Grouch?”

“Heh.” Stiles let out a short laugh, trying to deny to himself how perfect that line was, that he’d use it go describe Derek later for sure…that Kyle said something that made him just want to continue the conversation, tell him all the funny pranks he’d pulled on Derek, and all the names he’d called him. “Yeah, him.”

“Alright, well…” Kyle bit his lip. “Maybe it’s too soon for this conversation.”

“Maybe it is.” Stiles nodded.

“When would be better?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle, this conversation…” he shook his head. “It doesn’t need to happen. At all. Ever. You and I? We’re nothing, and I really, really need you to leave right now,” he said softly.

“Okay.” Kyle nodded, hanging his head, dejected, as he turned, leaving the house, leaving Stiles.

Stiles went back into the living room and flopped down on the couch. He turned the TV on, but didn’t really look at it.

Kyle had been his first boyfriend, one of the only people that he’d ever kissed, and the fact that all of it had been for show, for something other than true feelings, he wasn’t sure that he was ready to deal with that head on just yet. It hurt him, and he couldn’t, no matter what, believe any of what Kyle was saying, that any part of it might have been true, because why would it be?

“Hey.” Derek’s gruff voice pulled him from his thoughts a few moments later. “Do I need to keep him away from here?”

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “He’ll stay away if I want him to.”

“Okay.” Derek nodded. “Just looking out for you.”

“Yeah.” Stiles nodded. “I know you are, thanks.”

“For what it’s worth, Stiles…” Derek bit his lip. He knew this wasn’t his place, and that he probably shouldn’t be talking right now, but he knew what it felt like to be used, to be manipulated by someone you thought loved you. “It’s not…he didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s obvious. I’ve seen manipulation with the intent to hurt, and that kid, he’s just not capable of it. What he did, yes, it hurt you, but he didn’t think that part through. He only thought about protecting you.”

“Why are you telling me that?” Stiles asked.

“Because,” Derek shrugged. “I know what it’s like to want someone to care about you so much that you choose the wrong person, sometimes more than one, and I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I did.”

“So, what?” Stiles asked. “You don’t think Kyle is a mistake?”

“I think that you have someone who cares about you,” Derek said carefully. “And that you shouldn’t throw that away just yet, even though you’re angry, and have every right to be.”

“Okay.” Stiles frowned. “Who gave you the right to be so wise?”

“Sometimes,” Derek said with a small smile. “I pay attention. Just think about it, okay?”

And with that, Derek disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Stiles once again, to sit with his thoughts.

If his pack – Scott, Derek, The Sheriff, all trusted Kyle, maybe there was more to all of this than he was allowing himself to believe right now.

Chapter Text

“I want to talk to you about Kyle,” Stiles stated, looking over at Scott as he paused the round of Call of Duty they were playing.

“I was wondering when that was going to come up.” Scott set down his controller and turned towards him, biting his lip. “What do you want to talk about?” 

“Well, he told me that you’ve been talking to him, working with him on accepting the whole werewolf thing...dealing with all of that.” God, Stiles had no idea where to start here. 

He was still confused, and he felt that he had every right to be. All of the people in his life had been confusing lately, and Kyle had been the most confusing of them all. Lying to him, getting close to him, putting Stiles into a position where he didn’t know what was real and what was, well, Kyle just trying to do his job in what Stiles considered to be the most fucked up way possible. 

“Yeah, I have been. He’s been doing really well with it, actually. It was surprising.” 

“That’s good...I guess.” Stiles bit his lip. “But I want to talk to you about him, you know, outside of the whole werewolf thing.” He bit his lip. “Can I do that? Can we do that?” 

“Of course.” Scott nodded. “You want to know what he thinks about you.” 

“I mean...yeah.” Stiles nodded. 

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Stiles, I mean - I know you want me to tell you the truth, because you’re probably damn sick of being had by this point, but I don’t know what you want to hear, so I’m sorry in advance if this isn’t it.” 

“Okay…” 

That made Stiles nervous, and right now, he didn’t want to be nervous, he just wanted all of this to be dealt with, to be done with. He wanted to know where Kyle was, so he could either move on, or think about if there was a chance that maybe they did have something real. After all, it wasn’t that long until his 18th birthday, and then the age difference wouldn’t really matter all that much. 

“He asks about you every time we talk - it’s the first thing he does, even before he asks me questions about being a werewolf. When he initially called me to talk about the whole supernatural thing, the first words out of his mouth were ‘how’s Stiles doing?’ and since then, that’s the first thing he’s asked every time we hang out. He wants to know how you’re holding up, and he probably doesn’t feel like he can ask your dad.”

“A good assumption on his part,” Stiles stated, nodding matter of factly, because yeah, he didn’t want to bring his dad and Kyle back into the same part of his life again unless he was sure about something that, right now, he didn’t really believe in at all.

 “Probably,” Scott agreed. “Anyways.” He bit his lip. “I think that...I think that there’s something there. He cares about you, Stiles. I can tell, not that it’s hard, he just...does. And with this whole…” he waved his arms in the air. “You getting kidnapped and then rescued, he realizes how many people really do care about you, and honestly, the number of people who have threatened him...should have scared him off, but it didn’t.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Stiles asked.

“Oh come on, you don’t think that Kyle got away scot free, right? Your father, Derek, Lydia, Allison, and me, of course, all gave him the talk, about how if he hurt you again, we’d shoot him, rip his throat out, de ball him, crossbow him to death, rip his throat out - respectively.” He bit his lip. “And he still asks after you.”

“Huh.” Stiles bit his lip, sort of sinking back into the couch.

“He misses you, Stiles. You guys might not have been together for all that long, but...and I’m gonna be honest with you here.” 

“Please.” Stiles nodded. 

“I think the reason that me and Isaac had trouble picking up on the lies that he was telling was because, well, he wasn’t lying about the one that really did matter to us, and that was you. I think that we didn’t pick up on his lying about how he felt about you because it wasn’t a lie, and it sure as hell isn’t now.” 

Stiles didn’t say anything, he just let that sink in, tried to let it process. 

“He’s not a glory hound,” Scott continued. “When he found out you were gone, your dad told him to come to me, and he didn’t even question it, he showed up, and he did whatever I said, trusting that I would be able to find my best friend.” 

“And you did.” Stiles smiled. 

“Well yeah, obviously. Like I was going to let someone get the best of my brother. Not the point, the point is...as wary as I was of this guy when I realized he wasn’t, you know, a teenager who was smitten with my best friend, I think the only part of that that wasn’t accurate was the teenager part.” 

“And...what do you think I should do?” He asked. 

“What do you want?” Scott asked. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean like...with Kyle. Do you want him, or do you want to forget him?” 

“Oh.” Stiles bit his lip. “Well I guess that’s the part that I’m having trouble with. He’s...when we met, when we started hanging out, I fell for him fast, really, really damn fast, and for me, you know, I’ve not had a lot of luck in that department, and for him to fall for me right back? It felt incredible. And we had this one afternoon where we were just lying on bed talking about stuff, about everything, and I felt that he just...tuned into me in a way that no one really has aside from you, and you don’t count, because you’re my brother.”

“Do you want to know what I think?” Scott asked. 

“Usually not,” Stiles teased. “But right now, yeah.” 

“I think that he cares about you, and that you care about him, and that you’re upset that he lied, and you’re afraid that he’ll do it again, and that maybe some part of you is mad at yourself for wanting to forgive someone who lied to you, but I think that you you should understand - he lied because he was there to protect you, and while I think your father handled that whole situation incorrectly, what you got out of it is a man who cares about you.”

“What do you think I should do?” Stiles asked softly. 

“I think only you can decide that, but after that display in that creepy old house, I think you know that you’ve got enough people who support you to hold you up if it goes south.” 

“Okay.” Stiles nodded, picking his controller back up and looking over at Scott. “I need to think on this.” 

“Good call.” Scott started the game back up, and the boys got lost in it - Scott majorly outplaying Stiles, because, well, the other teen’s mind was far from the game. 

Stiles went home, he had a quiet dinner with his father, did a little homework, got ready for bed, and then lay awake, staring at his ceiling, for almost three hours before finally hauling himself out of bed. 

His father was a heavy sleeper, and sneaking out of the house was a lot easier than it should have been for the Sheriff’s kid, but maybe his dad just trusted him not to go anywhere too dangerous, though Stiles wasn’t sure where he got that idea. He pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed a hoodie and his shoes, and headed quietly out the back door to his waiting jeep. 

He sat in the jeep for a full 15 minutes before starting the engine - half waiting to see if he’d woken his father in any way, half trying to decide if he actually wanted to do what he was going to do. 

Finally, he started the jeep and drove towards the apartment complex that he knew to be Kyle’s. Now he understood why Kyle didn’t want him up there, that he didn’t live with parents, he lived by himself, and that nothing about his apartment probably screamed teenager, and for some reason, that made Stiles want to see it all the more. 

When he parked in front of it and got out of his jeep, though, he was struck with the realization that he had no idea whatsoever how to get in. There was a buzzer, but it was 2 AM, he couldn’t just buzz up, could he? Kyle was probably asleep, and Stiles clearly hadn’t thought this through. 

With a sigh, Stiles turned, heading back towards his jee. Maybe this was a sign, maybe he just hadn’t thought this through, but he was ready to go home and write this off...until he ran smack into Kyle. 

“Stiles? What…” Kyle looked at him, confused. He was wearing his Deputy’s uniform, and Stiles deduced that he must have been working the late shift. 

“We need to talk,” Stiles stated, maybe too quickly, but it was true. 

“It’s 2 in the morning,” Kyle pointed out. 

“Do you want me or not?” Stiles asked, putting his hands on his hips. He hadn’t meant to get right to the point, but if Kyle wasn’t willing to have this out at 2 AM, then Stiles would have his answers. 

“I…” Kyle reached up, nodding, running his hand through his hair. “Why don’t you come up. I’ll make coffee, we can talk.” 

“Yes. Good.” Stiles nodded, following him, though he was completely unsure what to expect.

Chapter Text

"So…" Kyle handed Stiles a mug of steaming coffee, and sat down on the opposite side of the couch from the teenager. "What are you doing here at 2 AM?"

"I talked to Scott today, and Derek a couple of days ago, and…" he shrugged his shoulders. "They said some things that sort of changed what I was thinking."

"Oh?" Kyle tilted his head to the side, and right now, Stiles wished more than ever that he had at least some of Scott's abilities. He wanted to know if Kyle wanted him, he wanted to know if any more lies were being told, he just wanted to know what was going on in general.

"Yeah, I just...I don't have...I mean, I clearly have a lot of people in my life who care about me, but I don't have any who care about me the way that I cared about you when we were together, when I thought you were, you know, a teenager in high school dealing with all of the same stuff that I am."

"Stiles," Kyle stated. "I don't think that any teenagers are dealing with the same stuff that you are. Werewolves? Druids? That's not normal."

"No, I know that, I meant, you know, the awkward...hormonal stuff, that you're clearly past."

"Oh." Kyle nodded. "Right. That."

"Yes. You see, Kyle, I...I really, really liked you, or at least the version of you that I got to know, and when I found out that you'd been lying about who you were, and what you were doing there, I figured that I was done, that everything you'd told me, everything you'd been to me, and with me, had been a lie." He paused, taking a sip of his coffee. "But then I talked to Scott, and he made a damn lot of sense when he said that if you'd been lying a lot, he would have picked up on it, which meant that you were mostly telling the truth, or...you're an impeccable liar, and-"

"I wasn't lying about how I felt about you," Kyle stated. "None of that was an act. Sure, for a moment, when the idea first presented itself, when you first presented yourself, I thought that it would be an easier way to get close to you, but spending time with you...I was a goner from date one."

"Oh." Stiles looked down at his coffee, watching the steam rise from the mug, trying to get his head around, well, all of this. "I…"

"You don't have to make any decisions right now, Stiles - in fact, I wouldn't expect you to, but the feelings that I have for you, they're real, and maybe I'm a few years older, and maybe I'm your father's deputy, but that...that doesn't change what I know about myself." He looked at him. "You're not just some kid, Stiles. You've been dealing with adult situations with an adult level of maturity for awhile now, from the sounds of things, and I think some part of me picked up on that, picked up on the fact that you're not like most teenagers. You're grown up, Stiles. Maybe you're only 17, but you've dealt with stuff most adults never will, and your grace in all of that...the fact that you left your house at 2 AM by yourself not that long after being kidnapped? Do you have any idea how strong you are?"

"I…" Stiles shrugged. "I guess I hadn't thought about it, no."

"If you're worried that I don't see you as an equal, you're wrong. When your dad first gave me the job to watch over you, to protect you from harm, yes, I felt like it was a babysitting job, but I don't think I've ever met someone who needed to be babysat less than you."

"Yeah, right," Stiles scoffed. "I got kidnapped."

"You got angry, anger makes you vulnerable, they just happened to be ready for that. What's important is that you kept a cool head. You didn't freak out."

"Well I knew." He shrugged. "Scott...I know what he'd do for me, and I know what he can do, I knew that he'd find me. And my dad? I know that I'm all he's got left. He'd do anything for me, too. Maybe being taken away from everything familiar was scary, and being knocked around definitely hurt, but at the end of the day, I knew that I wasn't going to die in that house. Scott, my father, they wouldn't let that happen."

"See, that's another thing," Kyle stated. "The faith that you have in the people that you love, it's unwavering, undying. Your loyalty to them, and theirs to you - you don't see that in teenagers, Stiles, you just don't. There's none of that petty drama going on with you guys. It's just trust and understanding."

"Yeah, well, when you've been through some of the stuff we've been through…" he trailed off.

"I can't even begin to understand," Kyle stated. "But back to your question, the big one - do I want you? Stiles. Yes, I do. I think I've made that clear, but I understand that you don't trust me right now, that I betrayed the trust you'd given me before, and for someone like you, who trusts so blindly in the people around you, having someone that maybe you don't trust so much isn't easy, so I think the bigger question here is, do you want me."

Stiles shifted a bit, taking another sip of his coffee to buy him some time, because yes, he wanted Kyle, he really did, but he was also scared. This sort of thing wasn't easy for him, and there were so many factors, so many things playing into all of this.

"I do," Stiles said finally, looking up at Kyle after several very, very long minutes. "But only if you can be okay with it taking me maybe a little more time to fully trust you again."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, and Stiles, if you ever want to know something from me...just ask me in front of Scott, and he can tell you if I'm lying."

Stiles smiled, biting his lip. "I...that's an amazing offer, and thank you, but I really...I really would like to be able to trust you on my own."

"Yeah." Kyle nodded. "I really want that, too."

They fell into a silence after that, and Stiles took a few more sips of his coffee, though he didn't really need it to stay awake. All of this thinking already had him wide awake, and that wasn't likely to change any time soon. He had just said that he wanted something, something that might not be the easiest thing to live with, but he wanted it, wanted Kyle, and maybe this was the start (the second start, really) of something that could be really amazing.

"I should go," Stiles said once he finished his coffee. "It's late, really late, but I'll call you, we'll talk."

"Sounds good." Kyle stood up, taking Stiles' mug from him and setting them both on the coffee table. "I'll walk you to your car."

"Thanks."

Stiles got up, and started walking out to his keep, smiling as he turned around to say goodnight to Kyle.

He was surprised, though, to find that Kyle was standing, his hand outstretched as though to be shaken. For a second, Stiles was confused. That seemed...like backtracking, it seemed frigid, and unromantic, until Kyle began speaking.

"Hi, I'm Kyle Parrish." He smiled. "I'm 24 years old, I'm from Pittsburg Kansas. I was in the army for two years doing HDT, and now I'm a Sheriff's Deputy here in Beacon Hills. I like to go for runs, eat healthy, and I don't know if the color red that I see is the same red that you see, and I don't know if there's a parallel universe where you and I make different choices, but I'd love to discuss that all more."

"It's nice to meet you, Kyle," Stiles said with a smile, shaking the offered hand. "I'm Stiles, I'm 17, almost 18, my dad's the Sheriff here, all of my friends are werewolves or other supernatural beings, and...I would love to take you up on your offer of discussing parallel universes further."

"Friday night?" Kyle asked.

"Friday night sounds great."

Stiles let go of Kyle's hand and climbed into his jeep, starting the engine and driving off.

It was the middle of the night, or rather, closer to the morning, but he was wide awake, and feeling better than he had in a long time.

Chapter Text

By the time Friday night rolled around, Stiles was nervous. This was a date. With Kyle. This wasn't like before, when they'd both been awkward teenager, or at least he hoped they would be. This was them, trying to figure out if they had a shot together, and he wanted that. He wanted to have a shot with the handsome young deputy...especially because he knew that Kyle also wanted to have a shot with him.

"Take a deep breath," Scott stated from where he sat on Stiles' bed while Stiles tried on the 4th shirt.

"I can't, Scott, this is...I…"

"I know." Scott smiled, standing up, putting his hand on Stiles' shoulder. "But you guys are compatible. You know that you are, I know that you are - hell, even your dad must know it, or he wouldn't be letting you go out with an older guy."

"You're right, you're so right." Stiles nodded.

"It doesn't matter what you wear," Scott stated. "It really doesn't. I mean, he saw you in the stuff you wear to school, and he still wants to get to know you, so…" He shrugged his shoulders.

"You're...right about that too." Stiles bit his lip, turning to look at his best friend. "I've got this. This will do." He gestured to the jeans and button down plaid that he was wearing open over a plain white t-shirt. "Right?"

"You look awesome," Scott said encouragingly. "What time is he picking you up?"

"Eight," he stated. "Why? What time is it now?"

"7:55…" Scott smiled. "I'm gonna go, text me if you need a bailout, otherwise, have fun on your date bro."

"Thanks man." Stiles nodded, watching as Scott vaulted out the window, despite the fact that the front door was perfectly available. Stiles rolled his eyes and took another pass at himself in the mirror. This was probably as good as he was going to get, so he started pacing around the room. God, he hadn't even been this nervous the first time around, their first date...then again, the stakes were higher now, things were a lot more intense, and there was a lot more to lose. There were feelings involved now, real feelings, and it was all that Stiles could do not to succumb to the pressure that he was feeling.

He started when the doorbell rang, jumping a few inches in the air in surprise, before practically stampeding down the stairs to open it.

"Hi." He bit his lip when he saw Kyle standing there, looking every bit as good out of uniform as he did in it, and Stiles had to wonder to himself how the fuck that was fair at all. The man was too damn good looking for his own good, that wasn't going to make this any easier.

"Hey yourself," Kyle said with a gentle smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." Stiles nodded, exiting the house, locking up behind himself. "Um, where are we going?"

"I hope you don't mind, I got some stuff together for a picnic, I thought we could go to the park, I mean...the point of this date is to talk, right? So I figured some privacy wouldn't hurt…"

"Good thinking." Stiles smiled, trying to resist the urge to point out to Kyle just how romantic it was that he made a picnic.

"Good." Kyle opened the passenger's side door for Stiles, and they drove the park quickly. "Alright, can you carry this?" Kyle asked, holding out a large blanket to Stiles, who took it, watching Kyle pull a picnic basket from the trunk.

"You even got a picnic basket?" Stiles asked, shifting the blanket under his arm.

"Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you that I already had it?" Kyle asked.

"Most definitely." Stiles nodded.

"Then yes," Kyle laughed. "I got a picnic basket just for this. Never seen the thing before in my life."

And just like that, they were falling back into old patterns. Stiles joked about the picnic basket all the way to the spot they picked, even through setting up the blanket, where they switched to the topic of food - Kyle had gone a little overboard, and gotten a lot of different things, each and everyone of which Stiles was intent on sampling.

They talked about Kyle's parents, and his time in college, and his time in the army - all of the things that they couldn't talk about before, because Kyle had had to hide them from Stiles, and the more they talked, the more it became abundantly clear that Scott was right, the Kyle that Stiles had fallen head over heels for was the exact same Kyle that sat before him now. He was kind, compassionate, considerate, funny, and he wasn't judgmental. He listened to Stiles talk and talk and talk about lore and the last books he'd read, the movies he'd seen, even about Star Wars, and he joined right in, quoting along with the moments Stiles was referencing.

It got later and later, and they just talked and talked and talked, lying down on the blanket and looking up at the stars once the picnic was eaten and packed away.

"Where do you think people go when they die?" Stiles asked, looking over at where Kyle was lying on the other side of the blanket.

"Whoa, way to bring out the big guns…" Kyle gulped.

"I'm serious, what do you think happens to people when they die?"

"Um, I don't...I guess I haven't spent that much time thinking about it," Kyle admitted. "I'm not very religious, but I like to think there's something more than this. I mean, I don't like the idea of dying and just...being gone."

"Me neither," Stiles said softly, moving slightly closer to Kyle. "I like to think that when people die, they go back into the earth, you know, not just in terms of decomposition into soil, I mean like into the trees, and the flowers, and the animals, and the rain, I like to think that when people die, they're just sort of...everywhere."

"You mean your mom," Kyle stated, looking back at Stiles.

"Yeah." Stiles nodded. "I like to think that she's, you know, everywhere that I am. It gives me peace of mind, makes me feel, you know, like she's not really gone, like she's there, and maybe I can't see her, or talk to her, but she's there, you know?" He bit his lip, trying to choke back the lump that was starting to rise in his throat.

"Yeah." Kyle reached out, taking Stiles' hand, squeezing it gently.

He looked at Stiles for a long moment, trying to read the expression on the younger man's face, before he spoke again.

"Tell me about her," Kyle said softly.

"What?"

"Your mom. Tell me about her. I want to know."

"I don't...I mean…" Stiles shrugged. "She was this amazing woman. She had my dad's heart, he adored her, he loved her more than anything."

"The way that he loves you?"

"Sort of, yeah." Stiles smiled. "I guess I got lucky that way, two loving parents, who loved each other, and me. She was so full of life, like...when I came home from school she always tried to be there, and sometimes she had to work, but if she could be there she would be, and we'd play hide and seek, or we'd go to the park, or ride bikes, and just...she was always there for me, for my dad - she was there for everyone in her life, and when she got sick, when things started to fade…" Stiles paused, gulping again, trying not to cry. This was supposed to be a date where they figured things out about each other, whether or not they wanted to be together, and somehow, they had gotten here, of all places? "It just felt like some light was going out in the world."

"And that's why you have to believe that she's all around you," Kyle said softly.

"Yeah, I mean...the world, it didn't end when she died," he stated. "The sun kept shining, and the rain kept falling, and the flowers kept blooming, and if I can't believe that she's got something to do with that, then what is there to believe in?"

Kyle didn't say anything. He looked at Stiles, studying him intently, before he leaned in, kissing Stiles softly on the lips.

"I...what was that for?" Stiles asked as Kyle pulled away.

"I know who you are, Stiles, I can see it, and every part of it fascinates me." Kyle moved closer, pulling Stiles in, holding him close against his body. "I'm falling in love with you. I really am."

"Oh." Stiles bit his lip. "I...I think I'm falling in love with you, too," he admitted softly.

"Good." Kyle smiled. "I'll take better care of you this time around, Stiles. I promise."

"Just…" Stiles sniffled slightly. "Just don't let go of me right now, okay?"

"If I have my way," Kyle said softly. "I'll never let you go again."

Chapter Text

When Kyle drove Stiles home, Stiles didn't want to get out of the car. The pull to the other man was real, it was there, it was true, and he didn't want to walk away from it, even to go home, to go to sleep in his own bed, despite knowing that he had to. At the end of the day, he was still 17 years old, and he and Kyle didn't have a choice in the speed that they wanted to take things right now. Besides, he wasn't ready for sex, not just yet, he just wasn't ready to say goodnight yet.

One of the downsides of living with his father, though, was that, no matter what, if his boyfriend stayed the night, his father would assume the worst. It wouldn't matter if they actually had sex or not, it wouldn't matter if they just lay there and talked all night the way that Stiles wanted, it would leave a bad taste in the Sheriff's mouth, and Stiles got the idea that, while he had allowed Kyle to take Stiles out tonight, he wasn't crazy about all of this.

Kyle got out of his car and walked Stiles to the front door.

"So, this is goodnight," he said softly, looking at the younger man.

"Yeah, it is." Stiles nodded. "I...I had a really good time tonight, Kyle, and you know, all of those other first date cliches that get said at the doorstop, like 'I really like you,' and 'when can I see you again?'"

"I really like you, too," Kyle said with a smile. "And how about Wednesday? That's the next night I have off. I know that you have school the next day, but we can go for an early dinner?"

"Yeah, sounds great." Stiles nodded.

"Okay, well I should go…" Kyle bit his lip, looking at Stiles for a moment before turning to leave.

"Wait." Stiles grabbed Kyle's arm, pulling him back around for a crushing kiss.

Kyle's hands instantly went around Stiles' waist, pulling him close, returning the kiss with everything that he had. He knew that proving his loyalty, that he was trustworthy to Stiles wasn't going to be the easiest thing in the world, but he was determined to do whatever he had to to get that message across, and he was hoping that some part of his kiss would help to make that evident.

"Okay, yeah, now you can go," Stiles said with a gentle, slightly dazed smile as they separated.

"I don't think that I will ever stop thinking about that kiss," Kyle said lightly, every bit as dazed as Stiles.

No, it wasn't their first kiss, it wasn't even their first kiss on this date, but there was just something about it, something about Stiles jumping in, kissing Kyle like that, that was driving the other man crazy, and that just went further to prove what Kyle was already sure that he knew - Stiles was incredible, he wasn't like other boys, and Kyle loved that about him.

"I'll see you Wednesday?" Stiles asked.

"Absolutely. Yes." Kyle nodded. "Goodnight." He leaned in, pressing one last, much shorter, gentler, softer kiss to Stiles' lips - the true 'goodnight' kiss, before going back to his car.

Stiles pulled himself together and fished his keys from his pocket, letting himself inside of the house, wondering how in the hell he was going to deal with this. This was all...insane. He was crazy about the man who was driving away from him right now, and he was so out of his element. Kyle was an older man, but one who had tuned into Stiles somehow. He listened, he contributed to Stiles' weird conversation topics, and he didn't seem put off by them at all. Not to mention how utterly handsome he was.

Stiles knew that he was taking a risk with Kyle, that this wasn't the sort of relationship that was supposed to work right now, but maybe, with all of the strange circumstances that they were under, it would. Maybe they would be the age difference couple that made it through high school for Stiles, and then college, and still came out on top, but right now, Stiles just wanted to take it one day at a time.

As soon as he got up to his room, he called Scott.

"Dude, are you home? It's late! Is your dad mad about that? How did the date go?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there buddy," Stiles laughed. "Yes, I'm home, I know it's late, and my dad doesn't know how late I got home because he was working the late shift tonight, and isn't home yet, and the date went...really, really well."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

The phone clicked, letting Stiles know that Scott had hung up, and just minutes later, Scott was vaulting in through Stiles' bedroom window.

"See, you just like doing that," Stiles stated. "My dad's not even here, you could totally have used the front door."

"Yeah, but it's fun to come in through the window." Scott grinned. "So, loverboy, tell me about...loverboy."

"Creative," Stiles teased, rolling his eyes. "I don't know, it was just...you were right." He shrugged. "He's every bit the person that I fell for the first time around, but now that I know who he is, he can be honest with me, open with me. He was in the military, did you know that? He worked with explosives and shit like that, and before that, he did ROTC in college. He left the military because he has a piece of shrapnel in his leg from a mine that went off. It's not a danger to him, but it's enough to keep him from serving effectively in the army I guess. And he likes me, Scott...he really, really likes me."

"I told you so," Scott said in a way that was totally, and utterly too 3rd grade for the rather adult conversation Stiles felt like they were trying to have.

"Mature." He rolled his eyes.

"Look, I'm just really happy for you, okay? Sure, the age difference thing is a little weird, but you're like 17 going on at least 25, so I think it will be okay.'

"Yeah?" Stiles smiled, leaning back on his bed.

"Yeah, and if it goes south, and you need someone to, you know, make good on all of the threats that we made, just let me know."

"Scott, you're not going to kill a Sheriff's deputy," Stiles pointed out.

"No, that's true," Scott admitted. "But if he fucks with you, I reserve the right to at least scare the shit out of him."

"Okay, if he hurts me again," Stiles stated. "I grant you that right."

"Like you could stop me." Scott smiled. "You're my brother, man, and if a guy hurts you, it's my god given duty to make sure that he knows what he's done wrong, so that he never does it again with anyone else's brother."

"I'm sort of surprised he was willing to date me at all, what with all of the threats you guys made," Stiles said with a smile.

"Yeah, I mean, he must really care about you." Scott shrugged. "You should have seen Derek - you know how he is when he's happy, let alone threatening someone."

"Yeah, I don't think it helps that he probably knows that Kyle referred to him as Oscar the Grouch…"

"He did what?" Scott burst out laughing, and flopped back onto the bed next to Stiles, because that was one of the best things that he had heard all day.

"Shockingly accurate," Stiles stated. "So you see why I like this guy? Not only does he talk about, you know, all of the strange stuff that I want to talk about, but he's open with me now, he's honest, and he's not at all afraid to make fun of Derek, who could probably easily snap his neck if he wanted to."

"I love that 'willingness to mock Derek' is a turn on for you," Scott stated.

"What can I say?" Stiles teased. "It's a big part of my life."

"You're so weird." Scott rolled his eyes.

"And that's why you like me."

"True." Scott looked over at him. "I'm glad that you're happy, man," he said with a grin.

"I'm glad I'm happy, too," Stiles said.

"You want to hear something totally crazy?" Scott asked.

"Yes, always - god, please be good crazy, not like...evil gnomes are attacking and we have to do something about it."

"Don't worry, it's good crazy." Scott grinned. "I may have been eavesdropping a little bit, but...your dad called my mom tonight and asked her out."

"Jesus christ!" Stiles threw his arms up in the air. "Finally!"

"I know, right?" Scott laughed. "It's cute how they think we don't see it."

"It really is, and this just puts us one step further on the 'Scott and Stiles become actual brothers' path."

"We're already actual brothers," Scott said with a smile. "This will just make it legal."

"You don't think we're getting ahead of ourselves?" Stiles asked.

"Once they go on one date," Scott stated. "That's it. They're going to see what everyone else has been seeing all along. It's all coming together, Stiles. All of this craziness is finally starting to mold into something good."

Chapter Text

It was sort of scary, how easily Kyle and Stiles fell back into a relationship. It was like they had been together the whole time, like they had never had the drama of splitting up, of Stiles thinking that none of it was real.

Of course, at the same time, it was different. They weren't at school together anymore, there were no more study dates, and they had to be a lot more careful. The Sheriff had not only given Parrish the lecture about hurting Stiles, but the lecture about waiting until Stiles was 18 to have sex.

When Stiles found out that the conversation between his father and Kyle had occurred, he was mortified, but not at all surprised. After all, that was exactly the kind of thing that his father would - and had - done.

Lydia was happy for him, so was Scott, and Stiles knew, at the very core of his being, that his father was happy for him too, even if he was letting the intimidating Sheriff role come forwards more than the joy for his son being in a happy relationship with someone who actually truly cared about him.

"So, prom," Lydia stated, setting her lunch tray down at the table, startling all of her friends.

"What about it?" Isaac asked, looking up from his phone, only mildly interested.

"It's in two weeks, duh." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Obviously Scott and Allison will go together, and Isaac, you can take me-"

"No, I can't," Isaac stated. "I'm going with Danny."

"Wait, you're what?" Lydia looked shocked. "Danny asked me last week. I said yes." Isaac shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"Oh. Well I'll just find someone else then," she said, as though it were no big deal, and they all knew that, for Lydia, finding a date for prom wasn't going to be difficult. At all.. "As for you," she looked at Stiles. "What was your plan?"

"Um…" Stiles shrugged. "Not go?"

"What? You have to go!" Lydia looked horrified.

"Well, but Kyle's 24, and the school won't let anyone attend over the age of 21, so…" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's probably an alcohol thing, I don't know."

"So you're just not going to go because you can't take your boyfriend?" Lydia asked.

"Would you go without a date?" Allison challenged, looking Lydia right in the eye.

"No," Lydia stated. "But I don't require that date to be my boyfriend, obviously." She punctuated her thought by gesturing obviously at the sea of lacrosse boys the next table over.

"Well I could take you," Stiles suggested.

"The last time I went to a dance with you," Lydia said, her voice slightly lower. "I got mauled by a werewolf."

"I can give you the Stiles guarantee that that will not happen again," he said with a smile, wondering when they got to a point where they could joke about things like, well, Lydia getting mauled by Derek's crazy uncle.

"Oh, the Stiles guarantee?" Lydia asked, one perfectly plucked eyebrow raised high. "And how good is that?"

"In this instance? Pretty good." Stiles smiled. "Come on, it'll be fun. You're the one who wants me to go to prom so badly!"

"Fine," Lydia stated. "But if I get mauled by a werewolf, it's on you."

"That's fair." Stiles shrugged. "So are we gonna talk about the whole Isaac/Danny thing, or does he just get a freebie on that one?"

"I think that's my cue to leave," Isaac said, moving to stand up.

"Oh you sit right down mister," Lydia demanded, throwing Isaac a look that absolutely stopped him in his tracks. "You have some explaining to do. How could you keep this from all of us?"

"I knew," Scott stated.

Everyone else at the table turned to look at him, eyebrows raised, expressions of shock on their face.

"What?" Scott shrugged. "With the whole Stiles getting kidnapped and then starting to date an older man who just found out about werewolves thing, it just didn't seem like that big of a deal."

"Men." Lydia rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Alright, well, fine, if I ever decide to switch teams for a bit, I'll be sure to tell Allison and no one else."

"What?" Stiles looked at her. "That's not fair!"

"What do you care?" Lydia asked. "You're gay! Apparently everyone is."

"I'm bi," Stiles corrected. "So if you get jiggy with a girl, I definitely want to hear about it."

"Perv." Lydia threw her banana peel at Stiles' head. "Besides, no one's gotten jiggy with anyone since the '90s."

"I got jiggy with Danny last night," Isaac said, though Stiles was pretty sure that, while that may be true, he's only saying that because he, like Stiles, really liked the look of annoyance on Lydia's face right now.

"Infants," Lydia said, rolling her eyes. "All of you."

"I got jiggy with Scott this morning in the supply closet!" Allison added, and yeah, Stiles knows that one is true, but he still thinks that Allison's just saying it to annoy Lydia.

"Allison!" Scott looked at his girlfriend, eyes wide, appalled.

"What, it's true." Allison shrugged, and Stiles snorted with laughter.

"Kyle and I are waiting to get jiggy until I'm 18," Stiles informed the group, a big dopey grin on his face. Everything felt so right, so comfortable, so back to normal. He was sitting at the lunch table with his group of friends, acting like the teenagers they were.

Right now they weren't fighting an alpha pack, or a lizard man who happened to be one of their friends, or human kidnappers, they were just teenagers, talking about prom and sex, and it was clear that everyone, even Lydia, who might have a little trouble admitting it, was having a good time.

"You realize how immature you all are, don't you?" Lydia asked, tilting her head to the side in that token Martin style.

"And you love being the most mature one." Allison smiled at her best friend, who really couldn't argue against that.

"Anyways," Lydia stated. "I think we should get a limo. I'm going to have an after party, of course, but since we're all going, we might as well do it right."

"Can we get jiggy in the limo?" Scott teased.

"Alright, that's it," Lydia said, trying really, really hard not to laugh. "I'll make all of the plans and justs let you know the details. Stiles, don't even think about renting a tux or buying a tie without me. Your tie will match my dress."

"Ma'am yes ma'am." Stiles saluted, and that time, even Lydia couldn't help but join the others in laughter.

"Okay, then it's settled. I'll book a limo, make dinner reservations, and plan an epic party." She shrugged as though it were nothing, and for anyone else, it might have been a big deal, but for Lydia, well, she could probably do all of those things, and buy the perfect dress in her sleep. "Oh, and Stiles, your boyfriend can only come to the after party of he doesn't tell his deputy buddies about it, or show up as a deputy. There will be underage drinking."

"I don't want to ruin his sense of law," Stiles said with a smile. "I'll just see him the next day. Besides, prom is about your friends, right? And losing your virginity in a seedy motel to the reserve quarterback on the football team, and since I'm not doing that..."

"Never say never," Allison teased.

"Shut up," Stiles said good naturedly.

The bell rang, and they all got rid of their lunch trash, chatting happily about the clichéd high school event. Since the whole werewolf thing, Stiles hadn't really thought about things like that, but even with the town becoming a Beacon again, and it really only being a matter of time most likely, before chaos struck again, it was sort of nice to think about.

"So, finally getting what you've always wanted, eh?" Scott asked, sliding next to Stiles in English class.

"What?"

"Taking Lydia Martin to prom." Scott smiled. "Wasn't that in your plan?"

"Oh, yeah." Stiles sighed. "But things change from 3rd grade to high school. She's one of my best friends, and I'm happy to take her to prom, and know that I won't get my heart stomped on somehow. At least not by her."

"Something tells my Kyle is done messing with your heart." Scott smiled.

"Yeah, you're right." Stiles nodded. "Just too bad I can't take him. It'd be awesome to show up to prom with the hottest date there...wait." Stiles grinned. "I'm still showing up with the hottest date. Yes! 10 points to Gryffindor."

"Good for you, buddy." Scott laughed. He knew, just like Stiles, that this grace period might not last long, and they were both hell bent on making the most of it.

Chapter Text

"I'm taking Lydia to prom," Stiles stated, looking over at Kyle, who sat next to him on the couch. They were both half watching a movie, but mostly just trying to make out whenever they got the chance, what with Stiles' dad in and out.

He didn't want Stiles staying at Kyle's place, and Stiles understood that. He would be 18 soon, and they were waiting not just because of Stiles' dad, but because they really did want to be sure about each other before something like that went down between them.

"Lucky Lydia," Kyle said with a smile.

"You're cute," Stiles teased. "Though the whole school is gonna be thinking 'Lucky Stiles.'"

"Oh yeah?" Kyle raised his eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"

Stiles knew that he was teasing, but he felt like honesty was the very shaky foundation of their whole relationship, and he wanted to be honest with Kyle.

"First off, no," he stated. "Second, there was a time when Lydia was...my plan for the future."

"Your...plan for the future?"

"Yeah." Stiles nodded. "I was madly in love with her from the 3rd grade until like last year - but let me finish," he stated. "I didn't actually know her when I thought I was in love with her, and now I know her, and we are best friends, and I am taking her to prom because she is still trying to figure out her romantic situation, and you can't go with me, so…" Stiles shrugged.

"Why can't I go with you?" Kyle asked. "I'd take work off to take you to prom."

"Um, no, it's not that, it's uh…" He sighed. "You're too old."

"What?" Kyle frowned.

"My school, they don't allow anyone over the age of 21 to attend the prom unless they're a chaperone, and there is no way in hell my boyfriend is chaperoning my prom, so…"

"I wasn't gonna suggest that," Kyle said with a smile. "You go to prom and have fun with your friends, and your date, I'm not worried about your fidelity, Stiles."

"Oh yeah?" Stiles asked. "Why's that?"

"If you didn't want to be with me, you wouldn't be," Kyle said simply. "I fucked up, and you care about me so much that you're working to deal with that. You wouldn't do that if you wanted to be with other people."

"Okay, fine, you've got me there," Stiles shrugged.

"Do you want me to pretend to be worried? Because I mean, you're clearly a stud, and I can play the jealous boyfriend…"

"Oh you can, can you?" Stiles asked.

"Oh, you have no idea." Kyle smiled, leaning in closer to Stiles.

"Show me," Stiles whispered.

"Kiss me," Kyle challenged.

"Well okay." Stiles smiled and leaned in, kissing him softly. He knew they probably didn't have long, they really never did, because they were both pretty wary about being alone certain places, namely places where they could be overwhelmed with desire, and wind up doing something that they were trying very hard to wait on.

Of course, Stiles was right, and it wasn't two minutes before the Sheriff passed through the room on his way to the kitchen, clearing his throat loudly.

"STAY AWAY FROM THE BACON!" Stiles shouted, turning over and watching his father over the couch.

"Stay away from my Deputy!" The Sheriff tossed back, trying to stifle a laugh as he did so.

If Stiles thought that his father was serious, that would have been something else entirely, but they had been on their own, just the two of them for so long that they had fallen into this pattern of arguing, shouting at each other, and there was a tell, something that let them know when the statements were real, and when they were joking.

"How about you stay away from my best friend's mom," Stiles challenged.

"Then you and Scott can't be real brothers, and don't lie to me, I know you've been cooking this up for the past couple of years."

"Damnit." Stiles sighed.

"Sheriff one, punkass teen, nothing," The Sheriff stated, dancing ridiculously back into the kitchen, in that truly embarrassing way only the father of a teenager can really manage to pull off.

"So your dad and Mrs. McCall?"

"Ms. McCall," Stiles corrected. "Eventually to be Stilinski, if, well, everyone gets their way. Although, you know, she doesn't have to change her name, and probably won't. I know she likes having the same last name as her son. Mad respect for her on that one."

"And you're okay with that?" Kyle asked.

"What, her keeping her married name even after the divorce so that she and the kid she's raising have the same last name? Why wouldn't I be?"

"No, Stiles." Kyle rolled his eyes. "Your dad dating."

"Oh." Stiles bit his lip. "Well, you know, if it were anyone else, I'd probably be doing all of those horribly cliched pranks that you see kids pull off in movies when they don't like the people their parents are dating, but Melissa isn't like that. I mean, she was like a second mom to be when we were kids, and when my mom died...she's always been there for me. She takes care of me like I'm her own, and my dad looks after Scott the same way. She's already family."

"Come here." Kyle pulled Stiles closer, smiling before kissing him. "You confuse the hell out of me, but I love how much you care about the people in your life."

"Yeah, well, wait until you see how I am with the people on my shit list," he smirked.

"I believe that I was at the top of that shit list not too long ago," Kyle stated.

"True, true...but you got off of it before I could put itching powder in your underwear drawer."

"You wouldn't have," Kyle challenged, looking Stiles right in the eye.

"Well no, of course not, I stopped with the itching powder like, three years ago...although the fact that you think I wouldn't makes me want to, in some really fucked up way."

"That is because you, Stiles, have a problem with authority."

"Ah, yes." Stiles nodded, tapping his chin in a sage manner. "Comes with being the only son of the Sheriff."

"What, you think the rules don't apply to you, or do you just like seeing how far you can push boundaries."

"Maybe I just like causing trouble."

"Cause trouble?" Kyle teased. "You are trouble."

"Oh yeah?" Stiles raised one eyebrow. "If I'm so much trouble, why are you with me?"

"I'm a Deputy in the Sheriff's station of a town that is overridden with supernatural activity, and before that, I worked HDT in the army," Kyle deadpanned. "I think that it's pretty safe to say that I like trouble."

"Yeah, well, trouble likes you, too," Stiles said with a grin, leaning in to kiss Kyle again.

Kyle moved, resting his hand on Stiles' hip, pulling him in closer. Stiles eagerly moved nearer to Kyle, his hand resting on the other man's chest, and god, he could practically feel how toned the deputy was from under the shirt.

"Okay, lightsaber, lightsaber." Stiles pulled away.

"What are you talking about?" Kyle asked.

"Lightsaber. That's our safeword," Stiles stated.

"Okay, first off, since when do we have a safeword, second, lightsaber is a terrible safeword, and third, why do you need to invoke it right now? I was just kissing you."

"We have a safeword since just now, lightsaber is not a terrible safeword, it is an amazing safeword, and third, I invoked it because my lightsaber was getting a little danger zone, and also now I see why lightsaber is a terrible safeword."

Kyle just looked at Stiles, shaking his head for a minute before bursting out laughing.

"What?" Stiles asked. "What the hell are you laughing at?"

"You," Kyle stated.

"Why?"

"Because." Kyle slowed his own laughter enough. "I love you."

"Oh." Stiles puffed up a little. "Then laugh on."

"I think I just might." Kyle smiled, putting his arm around Stiles, pulling him into another kiss, this one slower, more passionate, and Stiles went right along with it.

"Stiles!" The Sheriff called from the kitchen. "I'm making all of the bacon, you'd better come and stop me!"

"Wow." Kyle laughed. "Your dad has the strangest ways of stopping us from getting it on."

"What can I say?" Stiles shrugged. "We Stilinski men are cut from strange stuff, which you must like, as evidenced by the fact that you're dating me, and you work for him."

"Fair, fair." Kyle smiled. "Now you'd best get in there before he gives himself a heart attack."

"Yes, sir." Stiles nodded and rolled off of the couch.

He wasn't worried, because he felt good around Kyle, safe, like he didn't have anything to worry about. Kyle wasn't trying to rush him, and he also didn't think that Kyle was going anywhere anytime soon, and he was excited about what the future had in store for the two of them.

Chapter Text

Prom shopping with Lydia was one of the most ridiculous things that Stiles had ever done in his life.

They decided to make a clean sweep of it, getting her dress, and then his suit, so that they would know it all went together, without having to put two separate trips worth of effort into it.

First, of course, they go to get Lydia's dress, because she was insistent that his suit match her dress, and he understands and supports that insistence. It makes sense to him that she would want that. Of course, Stiles expected the process to be long and drawn out. Lydia wasn't the kind of person to just buy the first dress that she tried on, even if she loved it, so Stiles brought his phone, and a book, just in case it goes so long that his battery actually died.

"Okay, first dress," Lydia stated, coming out of the dressing room, looking fantastic in a little black dress.

"You look awesome," Stiles said honestly with a smile.

"I do, don't I?" Lydia smiled as she looked at herself in the big mirror. "But I have a few little black dresses already, and this isn't just some school dance, It's prom. I want to wow."

"You could show up wearing a burlap sack, and you'd still wow," Stiles pointed out.

"Yes, because everyone would be shocked and appalled that someone wore a burlap sack to prom," Lydia stated. "Unzip me?"

Stiles did so, and watched as she disappeared back into the dressing room, emerging a bit later in a dark green dress.

"Um, Lydia?" Stiles bit his lip.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know much about fashion and dresses and whatnot, but if you don't wear that dress to prom, I'm not going with you."

She looked amazing. The dress was satin-y, and had just the right amount of beading. It clung to her in all the right places, and flared out into a mermaid style at the knees. It was probably ridiculously expensive, but it went so well with her red hair, and her Lydia Martin style.

"I was thinking the same thing," Lydia admitted. "But do I really want to buy the second dress I tried on?"

"If it will make you feel better, try more on," Stiles shrugged.

"But that's your dress, hon." The sales woman stood behind them, taking in the sight. "So many people have tried that on, and not a single one has looked half as good as you do."

"Well thank you," Lydia said with a smile. She looked at Stiles, who already looked burnt out on shopping. "It does work well with me…"

"Yup. You look amazing," Stiles said again.

"Oh alright." Lydia smiled brightly, going back into the dressing room. She emerged a few minutes later in her street clothes, carrying the dress on the hanger, and that was that. Lydia Martin chose her prom dress in under half an hour, and Stiles couldn't have been more overjoyed.

Finding him a suit proved to be more difficult, as he knew nothing about this sort of thing. He let Lydia take the reigns, and after about six different variations on rental tuxedos, she finally found one that she liked.

"He needs a green cummerbund," Lydia told the salesman. "To match this." She showed him the dress. "And a dark green tie of the same stuff."

"Well," the salesman sighed. "We don't have those colors for rent, you can buy them, though.

"That's fine." Lydia shrugged, and before Stiles could interject, she was reaching into her purse, handing over her credit card.

"Did you just buy me a tie and a cummerbund?" Stiles asked.

"Yes." Lydia nodded. "You have to match me, and that's final, but since it is my demand, I see no reason why I shouldn't foot the bill."

Stiles smiled, nodding in thanks, because she was right, he didn't really care about the suit, and he would have been fine with black all around. He was just glad that she respected him that way, and he made up his mind to get her one hell of a corsage. Maybe they weren't dating, and maybe he wasn't in love with her anymore, but that didn't mean that he couldn't treat her like a princess on prom night - if he didn't, someone else would have, so it would be robbing her of the experience, really.

"Lunch?" Lydia asked.

"Hell yeah. Shopping makes me hungry," Stiles stated.

"You didn't do anything," Lydia pointed out.

"Okay, watching you shop makes me hungry," he amended, offering her his arm.

"So, you and Kyle." Lydia smiled brightly once they had ordered their food. "Tell me everything. You've been so happy lately, and I know that's because of him, so I want to know the details."

"Well, I mean…" Stiles shrugged. "We just get along. He apologized for the lying thing. A lot. Scott was able to verify that most of what he'd said before was true, even if he was under cover, and I mean...he was protecting me. Maybe he messed up, but he had my well being at heart."

"As long as he understands that if he hurts our Stiles, he's gonna be in a world of heart." Lydia shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure he got that message loud and clear." Stiles smiled. "What about you? Is there anyone in your life?"

"I'm going to stay single until college," Lydia decided. "Jackson was my great high school love, and there's just no point trying to recreate that right now, there's so little time left, and besides, college is where I am going to really shine." She tossed her hair, and Stiles just sat there, nodding, because it was more than clear to everyone who knew her that Lydia was amazing, and that once she got to college, she would probably really hit her stride.

"You're too smart for the rest of us," Stiles pointed out.

"Oh, I know that." Lydia shrugged, and honestly, that fact didn't surprise her at all. "But I like you well enough, so I keep you around."

"I'm really glad you turned into this person, you know, instead of playing dumb and shallow like you used to."

"Hey, don't forget - you fell in love with the dumb, shallow me."

"Nope." Stiles shook his head. "I fell in love with what I saw underneath the surface of you. You know that I always saw you better than anyone else. Maybe it was puppy love, and I'm certainly glad we're friends and not exes, but I don't want you to think I ever liked you because you were airheaded and just plain hot."

"Why are all the good ones gay?" Lydia said with an overdramatic sigh.

"Hey, you had your shot," Stiles teased.

"So, have you guys...you know." Lydia raised an eyebrow inquisitively at Stiles, who almost choked on an ice cube in his water.

"What? No." Stiles shook his head. "Not yet. We're waiting until I'm 18, you know, so it's legal. He's very, very into the law, it's sort of Captain America sexy of him."

"Of course you would say that." Lydia rolled her eyes. "We should have a big party for you, when you turn 18. We can have it at my house - it should be clear from prom by then," she teased. "I'll even supply the guest room for you, so you and your boyfriend can go to town on each other."

"I both hate and love you right now," Stiles stated. "Even though I know you're joking."

"Yeah," Lydia smiled. "If you get down with him in my house, I'll end you, but…" she winked at him. "I know what I'm getting you for your birthday."

"Oh yeah?" Stiles asked. "What's that?"

"A hotel suite."

"Well now I just plain love you."

"Because you didn't before?" Lydia looked at him, shaking her head, because she knew Stiles was joking, but messing with him was just too much fun, especially in light of all of the recent drama.

"You know what I meant," Stiles teased back. "Oh, food!" His eyes widened as the food was delivered, and the conversation drifted away from sex, and more towards the every day, but it was nice, sitting here, talking to Lydia about all of this. He got different things from hanging out with her than he did from Scott, and at the end of the day, it was just nice to know that, all around, he had so many good friends, people that cared about him.

Chapter Text

Prom went off without a hitch. They did pictures at Lydia's house, for good reason, then piled into the limo, laughing and talking, heading to dinner.

Honestly, it was exactly the kind of prom one should have. Sure, Stiles would not have expected Lydia or Danny...or hell, even Isaac or Allison, to be in his prom photos, but the fact that they were just made it better. These were his friends, the people that he should be spending prom with, and dancing like a crazy person? Well, that was just one perk of not actually having to look good in front of his date.

In fact, even Lydia let loose a little bit and joined him in some of his slightly more tame moves.

Of course, it was the after party at Lydia's house that would be all anyone talked about for the next couple of weeks.

Of all of the parties that Lydia had thrown in high school, this one had to take the cake. There was a fountain of champagne, the food was catered, there were imported beers and top shelf liquors, and a hired DJ to make everything even more intense.

Girls hitched up their long dresses, guys shed their jackets and loosened their ties, and everyone just the fact out of their system that they were either juniors (like Stiles and his friends) and about to be seniors, or that they were already seniors, and they only had like, a month left of high school.

"Hey." Scott walked up to Stiles, grinning stupidly. "I got drunk!"

"What?" Stiles looked at him, his eyes wide. "I didn't think that was possible!"

"I drank a whole handle of whiskey in 20 minutes!" He grinned, pulling his best friend into a bear hug. "I love you, Stiles. You're my favorite friend in the whole wide ever."

"Oh my god, I missed drunk Scott!" Stiles hugged him back.

"We should go talk," Scott stated, grabbing Stiles' hand and dragging him away from the rest of the group. Stiles didn't object at all, and Scott didn't seem too bothered by the fact that he was leaving Allison, as she was having a good time talking with Lydia about, well, probably the fact that Scott actually managed to get drunk.

"What's up, buddy?" Stiles asked as he and Scott sat down on the front lawn of the Martin house.

"We got through so much," Scott started. "And I just wanna let you know that like...there are a lot of times in the last…" he pauses to think about how long, before deciding an actual number doesn't matter, anyways. "Well since I got bitten, where I think it probably feels like I'm not there for you, or like I'm a shitty, shitty friend - like…"BAD DOG!" sort of shitty friend...and I just...so glad, Stiles." Scott grins lopsidedly at his best friend. "So glad you didn't ditch me to hang out with the cool kids."

"Scott, please," Stiles said with a grin. "You and I were always the coolest kids."

"Yeah…" Scott got a dreamy look on his face. "But look, whatever happens with...my werewolfitude, or with Allison, or with Deputy Baby Face…" Scott stopped talking to make time to giggle at his own joke. "We're best friends, man. Best friends. Forever and ever and ever."

"No, we're not." Stiles shook his head.

"What?" Scott's eyes widened, and a look of horror flashed across his face.

"Relax, man." Stiles laughed. "We're not just best friends, we're brothers."

"Oh, yeah, well that's a given," Scott stated, instantly calming down. And hey, with the way that things seemed to be going between their parents, them being brothers legally was a real possibility.

"Pretty much," Stiles admitted.

"I just want you to know that I love you, man. Like...so much brother love. And if you want to love on a dude, that's fine. Get it man. Get it."

"Maybe I will," Stiles said with a laugh, shaking his head. Scott was one hell of a best friend. That didn't stop him from being 100% crazy all of the time.

"I just want you to know that I support you. I don't know if I told you that. I could join PFLAG or something, if you want. I mean the F is for Friends...who do stuff together...right?" He stopped to laugh at his own Spongebob reference, and Stiles joined him, remembering how they ran around for an entire summer once singing the FUN song from Spongebob Squarepants, before both of their parents banned it from their houses.

"Yeah, the F stands for friends, but I know you support me." Stiles smiled. "You always have. You don't have to join PFLAG to prove that to me."

"Oh. Good." Scott nodded. "Joining stuff is hard."

"That is very, very true," Stiles agreed.

"I wanna marry Allison," Scott admitted, totally changing the subject, leaning back and looking up at the sky. "I mean, not right now, but just...later. Will you be my best man?"

"I'd better be," Stiles said with a grin. "Just so long as you wait until after college to get married."

"Oh...yeah...that's probably wise." Scott nodded. "I wonder what we'll name our children."

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" Stiles asked.

"Nope." Scott shook his head. "We're gonna have children."

"Well, okay then." Stiles nodded.

"What about you? Are you gonna have kids? You and Kyle should adopt like...tons of babies, so our kids can be best friends just like us."

"Now you're definitely getting ahead of yourself," Stiles said with a smile. "Kyle and I...we're just starting out. Who knows if we'll last?"

"He rampaged a house with werewolves and your father, who was mad at him, because you - who were also mad at him at the time - had been kidnapped," Scott stated. "That's love, bro."

"Yeah." Stiles smiled gently to himself as he thought about that fact. "I guess it is. Still doesn't mean I'm ready to map out the future."

"Well...fine then," Scott said, sticking out his tongue.

"You're drunk," Stiles retorted.

"Yeah…" Scott's face split into a grin. "Feels awesome."

"I'll bet it does." Stiles laughed, patting Scott on the shoulder. "You probably won't even be hung over tomorrow."

"Probably not," Scott admitted, his grin widening. "You should be drunker."

"Nah, I'm good." Stiles shook his head. "I'm happy. I want to remember this."

"Talking to me?"

"Yeah, but I mean, prom, this party, all of it. You and I went so long being all each other had friendship wise, and now look at us?" Stiles grinned. "We're at a Lydia Martin party, who not only knows who we are to the point of putting us on her guest list, but she's one of our best friends. We've got Allison, Isaac, I guess Danny now...Derek, if you can count that, I've got Kyle." He shrugged. "And most of the time, it's all hell breaking loose, and I just want to enjoy this."

"Makes sense." Scott nodded. "And you took Lydia to prom, so you can go back in time and high five your ten year old self."

"Yeah…" Stiles laughed. "Naive little 10 year old Stiles." He shook his head, clucking his tongue. "Bet he never thought I'd be with a guy right now."

"10 year old Scott would be supportive!" Scott interjected.

"I'll bet he would be." Stiles laughed, lying back on the grass next to Scott.

"Do you think our parents will get married?" Scott asked.

"I don't know." Stiles shrugged. "But my dad took off his wedding ring finally, so…"

Scott sat straight up.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Stiles smiled. "Your mom is...exactly the kind of person he needs in his life."

"And my mom needs someone who won't be an asshole."

"That's perfect!" Stiles grinned. "My dad is only an asshole to me, and even then, it's mostly good natured," he teased.

"Awesome."

Scott fell silent, Stiles joining him in the content peace of lying on the grass next to each other, not saying anything.

"Okay, I'm gonna go find Allison," Scott said a few minutes later. "You going back to the party."

"Yeah." He nodded. "In a few."

"Cool." Scott disappeared, and Stiles pulled out his phone. He bit his lip, and dialed Kyle, despite it being close to 5 AM.

"Stiles?" Kyle answered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stiles nodded, though Kyle couldn't see him over the phone line. "I'm actually really, really good."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kyle stated, the tone in his voice clearly evidencing that he would like to know why he'd been woken up in the middle of the night by his boyfriend.

"Sorry to call this late, or rather, this early, I just want you to know that I trust you. You don't have to make anything up to me anymore, and I'm going to stop giving you crap about the lie. I know why you did it, I get that, and I trust you, Kyle. I love you."

"I...love you too," Kyle said. "Stiles, where are you?"

"Lydia's party."

"That's still going?" he asked.

"It's dying down." He shrugged.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yeah." Stiles smiled. "A lot of fun."

"Good, I'm glad. That's what I wanted - for you to have fun."

"Well...mission accomplished." He grinned. "Do you work today?"

"I work the night shift."

"Good." Stiles nodded. "I want to see you."

"Um, right now?" Kyle asked.

"Sure. Or later. Either one is fine."

"Do you want me to come and get you? I mean, what about your friends?"

"Isaac and Danny disappeared hours ago, Scott just went to go find Allison, and I know Lydia. She's not going to let her status as a single woman stand in the way of her getting some prom night action."

"Are you lonely?"

"No." Stiles shook his head. "I don't think I've ever been less lonely in my life. I just want to see you."

"That's all the answer I need." Kyle smiled. "I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Alright. I'll be the guy on the front lawn in the suit."

They hung up, and Stiles dipped back into the party, deciding it was best to tell someone he was leaving, even if it was just Lydia as she led some guy to the stairs. Stiles kissed Lydia on the cheek goodnight, and went back out to the lawn, sitting up, waiting for Kyle's car to show up.

As he sat there, the sun just barely starting to come out, the air warm, and comforting around him, feeling like it had been a long time since he had been as happy as he was right now, and he didn't want to let go of that feeling, of the memory of tonight...ever. But he did want it to include one more thing, and that was Kyle.

To him, including Kyle in the memory of tonight, asking him to be here for this, was Stiles' way of admitting that what they had was serious to him. He wouldn't just be some guy in the back of Stiles' memory years down the line. No matter what happened, whether they broke up in 2 days, or stayed together forever, he would be Stiles' first real love, and that in and of itself, was enough.

THE END