"You've changed."
Stiles just looked at me nodding his head softly, knowing that to disagree with my statement was a pointless motion.
"We weren't great friends before, Stiles. Hell, we rarely ever spoke to each other, but we did grow up together. We've gone to the same school, been in the same classes, since pre-K."
He took a shuddering breath, running his hands over his face and stopping them there, blocking his face from my view. In that moment he wasn't hiding himself from just me; he was sheltering himself from the world.
"Hey. Don't do that," I said quietly, softly pulling his hands from his face. "Don't hide from me. Don't feel like you need to hide from me, Stiles." His eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
"It hurts." It was no more than a whisper, but I heard it nonetheless. "It hurts so fucking bad."
I didn't know what he was talking about, but, in that moment, I didn't need to. Regardless of our past relationship, here was a boy I had known for years and he was hurting.
"Let me help you, Stiles. Let me make it better."
His eyes rose to mine and I was in complete and utter shock to see how broken he was. "You can't," he said softly. "Nobody can make this better." His eyes fell back to his hands, wringing in his lap.
I grabbed his face in between my own two hands, forcing him to look me in the eyes. "I will try." And in the brokenness and despair I saw a sliver of hope.
Something I've been thinking about through the season. I really want to explore the affects the Nogitsune's possession over Stiles is going to have on him as the show progesses. As for the girl, just some vague OC I'm thinking about. May or may not become something more.