So, it bothered me to see Stiles sort of always being under appreciated and in other fics I read- people always made it seem like that too. I decided to write a fic where Stiles finally has enough of it and puts his foot down. Title inspired by the awesome Stiles and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the people he loves. Hope you enjoy it. Beta'd by the lovely Sarah once again.
"Ugh," Stiles groaned as he slowly and painfully made it up the steps to his bedroom
Tonight had been a total disaster and there had been so much blood. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. His clothes were dirty and shredded- he would have to discard of them without knowing. He had bruises on his arms and probably on his back. Derek wasn't too happy about Stiles helping out Scott and everyone else, so he had grumbled about it endlessly and his eyes repeatedly flashed that alpha red.
Stills Stiles still helped. He'd always help them because he'd always care.
"Holy fuck, dude. What the hell was that?" Stiles asked the pack looked around the woods. The animal, or whatever the hell it was, ran faster than any of them could project. Well, for Stiles to project.
"Wow, Stilinski. I really thought you would have known. Didn't your little computer tell you? Jackson smirked. Stiles ignored the jab because he was used to it, and by it he meant Jackson.
"No, but seriously, baby. We all thought you would have figured it out by now," Erica said with the bitchy-mocking tone of hers.
"Well, sorry I didn't have the fucking time to search up the new local freak. I thought you would have done it since you were in hiding and I was out there saving your asses," Stiles remarked.
Now he was getting pissed off. Seriously? Who the hell did these werewolves think he was? I mean sure Stiles wasn't exactly pack, but regardless. He was always doing his best and trying to keep them safe even if meant handing in his own life.
Scott put a hand on his shoulder and Stiles relaxed.
"Okay shut up all of you. Stiles, you shouldn't even be here," Derek's voice boomed through the woods. Stiles flinched and looked up to meet Derek's eyes. They were flashing that alpha red and normally that would be a sign for anyone to shut-the-fuck-up-and-walk-away, but hey he was Stiles.
"Oh don't be such a sour wolf. You would be totally lost without me, and as you can see your betas don't really know how to do research. You'd be clueless without and me-,"
"Stiles"
"Okay, shutting up now. Totally shutting up now," he said and mumbled under his breath making sure it wasn't actual words since everyone around him were werewolves.
He'd learned that if he didn't use actual words some of them got a confused look on their face and would pause to see if their hearing was right. It'd make Stiles laugh internally because he found another way to confuse them. Derek and Lydia caught on, though, and come on, they were totally no fun. But then again Lydia was a genius and Derek well he's Derek.
"It's not like we care what you have to say. Honestly, we would prefer it you just never talked at all," Isaac laughed as he gave Stiles a gentle punch.
Stiles knew he was joking, but Jackson and Lydia and Derek seemed to agree. He sighed and tried very hard not to talk throughout the rest of the meeting.
Later on he drove home and went up to his room. He began to pick up his laptop, but then he remembered the smart taunts the pack had made against him.
Normally those things wouldn't bother Stiles, but they were becoming more and more frequent. Boyd even said once that they don't need all this useless information he finds- "no offense," but Jackson had nodded in agreement and no one else had denied it. Not even Scott.
He put his laptop down and grabbed his keys. He was feelings down already, considering today was the day before his mom's birthday. He drove to Scott's house and knocked on the door. Scott answered the door right away and let him in. Of course he heard him coming.
"What's up, Stiles?" he asked concern washing over his face.
It was so Scott to know that he was upset and not just because he could smell it on him, but because they'd been best friends since they were seven. Scott not knowing why, on the other hand, hurt Stiles a bit, but he understood, after all it was his mom that died and Scott had really no reason to remember it. And that was so Stiles to let things like that pass by him without so much as a thought.
"Ah, dude. I've just been feeling really down in the dumps lately. You know and this whole werewolf thing hasn't really helped," he began but Scott cut him off.
"Oh well, man you know you have no responsibility and can leave whenever you want," he said.
Stiles stopped and turned to look at his friend. So now Scott doesn't even consider him pack. He could stand the rest of them and not accepting him, but Scott? Really?
He was about to say something when Scott started again, "Ah man, what am I going to about Allison? She can't be seen with me and this whole you being our messenger is not working out. It's almost as bad as when I had almost killed her."
"Yea, compared to the other times you almost killed me. I'm highly jealous that you only tried to kill her once."
"Ugh, Stiles. You're exaggerating. I didn't try to kill you, and I had just changed, okay?"
Stiles bit his tongue and decided to just walk away before he said anything to make Scott upset. The last thing he heard before he shut the door was Scott whining, "Come on Stiles! I just want to be with Allison!"
He didn't go straight home. Instead he went to the cemetery to see his mom. It wasn't too late so he luckily found an open convenient store and bought some tulips and black licorice- his mom's favorite.
"Hi, mom. How ya' doing?" he asked as he bent down in front of her grave.
He placed his little gifts down and moved his hands onto stone. It was a beautiful plate. He and his dad made it sure it wasn't too simple and boring like the rest of the graves there. No, his mom deserved something beautiful and unique like she was.
His breath caught in his throat and he said shakily, "You're probably wondering why I came early- trust me I didn't forget your birthday. No siree I haven't forgotten your birthday since I was six years old because I remembered dad coming through the door with flowers and balloons and cupcakes and I asked him why. Remember what he told me, ma? He said, well son you better have not forgotten that today is a very special day. Your quirky mother was born on this day and even though she says she doesn't like it when we a big deal of it- she's lying."
He laughed quietly to himself as the memory resurfaced in his mind and he could practically hear his mother's laugh and see his dad smiling then winking down at him.
Fresh tears began to pool around his eyes. He didn't bother trying to fight them. He was always holding it in and this was the one day where he didn't, especially since his dad wasn't here with him this time. Stiles never cried in front of his dad. He always has too much to worry about already.
"So yea, mom. I didn't forget it's just that I was afraid I might not have enough time tomorrow because I might be trying to save a couple of clueless and, let's face it, pretty ungrateful werewolves. Well, I think they're ungrateful, but they might actually be right. What if I'm just a nuisance to them? What if I actually just put them more in danger because of my stupidity and my instinct to protect them? I care for them and they don't even notice me. Honestly, mom it's just like they don't even want me there. I just put around anymore," he couldn't continue.
The sobs choked him and his whole body began to shake. His train of thought didn't end though. He was really getting tired of being there for everyone and not having anyone there for him. Another memory came to surface of what his mom once told him.
"Now, honey. Don't let anyone bring you down because you, my boy, are special. You shouldn't let anyone treat you like you don't matter," and the he imagined his dad coming around bringing them both into a Stilinski bear hug.
"That's right, son. You don't let anyone treat like you're not worth a thing."
Stiles shook his head and began to sob again at the memory, but then he stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. His mom was right. He wasn't going to take any of this crap anymore. Heck, if they don't want him around. Fine. If they think they can handle it themselves. Fine. He was done being their pet. He had enough.
He woke up early the next morning and sighed. He looked at the clock and decided it was too soon to start getting ready for school. The visit to the cemetery last night had really opened his eyes, but being the nice and awesome guy that he is- he decided not to do anything drastic. He'd probably just talk to the pack later on and clear things up.
Forty minutes later he was in his usual seat waiting for Scott. Hopefully Scott would have remembered that today was his mom's birthday and could maybe provide some comfort- he really needed it.
After getting dressed and going downstairs he saw his dad sitting at the table with his head buried in his hands. He was quietly sobbing and had a full bottle of whisky right next to him. Stiles didn't even bother trying to take it away- he knew his dad had the day off and well, he couldn't handle these things as well as Stiles.
Stiles has been hiding the pain for more than five years now and he kept it bottled up inside. Stiles was basically one of those kids that would make you smile even if he couldn't. People could say he was a horrible liar, but he was an amazing actor.
After his mom died it was all fake smiles and pretending to be happy for the sake of his dad and for the sake of not having to take any pity from people.
He startled as someone came to take a seat next to him. He looked up expecting Scott, but it was Danny. He smiled shyly at Stiles and continued to take out his supplies out.
Stiles looked up in time to see Scott coming in and walking towards the table where Isaac, Boyd, and Erica were. He didn't even acknowledge Stiles or maybe he did and Stiles just hadn't seen.
The rest of the day dragged on and Scott pretty much ignored him and so did the other werewolves, but that wasn't new.
At lacrosse practice he saw all of them: Lydia, Scott, Jackson, Boyd, Erica, Isaac, and even Allison huddled together whispering frantically. Stiles tried to ignore the pang of hurt that hit his chest and casually waved it off. Scott would tell him later.
As practice progressed Stiles kept finding himself on the floor. The guys seemed to have chosen today for pick-on-Stiles-and-make-everything-even-worse Day. Well, they've accomplished it because now he had fresh bruises all over his body.
That didn't seem to satisfy them. They kept taunting Stiles calling him all sorts of names and pointing out his flaws like he didn't already know most of them. It shouldn't have hurt and it usually didn't but today it did. Because it was his mom's birthday, and Scott didn't even bother to help him or defend him.
Yeah, Stiles was really getting tired of this bullshit. One of the jerks even almost brought up his mom, but the jackass didn't get to finish before Danny had him by his jersey and pulling him in.
"Why don't you fuck off and leave him alone? What the hell did he ever do to you?" he asked him.
The boy stuttered and the two others who were tormenting Stiles backed off. Stiles looked up at Danny ready to say thank you and tell him he didn't need to do that but he stopped short. There was something in Danny's eyes that set off something in Stiles. Oh my God. He knows. Danny gave him another shy smile and walked over to sit next him on the bench.
"How did you…?" Stiles couldn't even finish.
His eyes threatening to fill with tears and he didn't trust his voice to come out steady. Danny seemed to get what was about to happen to Stiles and gently raised him by his waist and walked him towards the locker room. He could feel several pairs of eyes burning holes through his back, but he didn't care.
Once inside Danny set him down and brought him into a hug. Stiles didn't need any more of a hint and began to sob like really sob, like really ugly-ohmygosh-what-are-those-noises sob. Danny didn't say anything he just held him in his arms and absently rubbed his hand on Stiles' back. When he finally finished, Danny answer the question Stiles was trying to get out.
"I've known for a while now, Stiles. I would pass by the cemetery and would see you there with your dad. It was always the same day every year, and at first I didn't get why. I was little so obviously I was curious. I asked my mom and she wouldn't tell me. A couple of years later I had the courage to ask my grandma. She told me what happened and she knew your mom, Stiles. I… She sounded like an amazing person, no wonder you're so great," he finally finished.
Stiles reluctantly looked up from Danny's arms and saw the sincerity in his eyes. Stiles gave a shaky laugh.
"No one's ever told me that. She- she was the only one who tell me things like that. But, not to be a douche because I totally appreciate what you just did for me and all, but why? Why do you care? My own best friend didn't even know and-," Stiles couldn't finish because another wave of pain smashed through his chest as he suddenly realized that it should be Scott doing this. Not Danny. Not this stranger. I mean don't get him wrong- Danny is a great guy- amazing guy actually- and everyone loves Danny, but they've never really been buddy-buddy.
"Well, I know we have never really talked, but you always seemed so happy and never being able to shut up-," he chose then to smirk at Stiles and then laughed, "so I don't know it bothered me to see you so down. You might not have been crying or whatever it was you just did, but I got a good look at your face and your eyes and you just looked sad. Broken beyond repair-,"
"Okay, dude I get it no need to name every single-,"
"And then I realized how strong you are and how loyal. Seriously man, you don't get treated how you should, but you're still always there. Don't give me that look yeah I've noticed how my best friend is talking more with you and the others we saw on the field than me." Stiles closed his mouth, he hadn't realized it was hanging wide open. He laughed bitterly. Even Danny noticed how he was being treated. Damn it. Was it just Stiles who didn't want to see it? What the hell. "And if I've noticed a lot of other people have too." Well that totally confirms it. It's just Stiles. Danny sighed and looked into his eyes, "Look Stiles you may think that not a lot of people care about you, but that's not true and I... I want you to know that I'm here for you, okay?"
Stiles nodded speechless for once.