His breath came out in tight clenches until his body seized straight up in a tight toss of limbs as if a puppeteer was controlling him. The young man let out a groan of pain as he wiped the precipitation from along his face. His head dropped to his knees as he fought for control of his own breath, he was so tired of fighting on his own, but it seemed no-one was there to bring him out. It had been years and it seemed that dreams of a sleepy town and electric blue eyes still haunted him. He could still feel the doubts of the decision that he had made but deep in the corner s of his mind he knew it was the best. He knew the game of wolf and sheep had been slowly killing him. His uncertain position in the pack caused him a deep depression until it seemed almost impossible for him to manage the smallest of smiles. His light had slowly been killed by the alpha, by Derek. Derek with his mouth of anger, his fingers of lust, and his eyes of pity. Derek who was never his three years ago and never would be his now.

It was simple at first to begin his extraction from the town from the pack. The odd box of clothes that just didn't fit him any more and hey if he kept this up he'd be taller than Jackson, the ever present dinner dates with his dad because come on guys he rarely ever saw him, the need to actually do good on his SATS because said Dad was even scarier than Derek when pissed. Stiles had always been smart perhaps not to the degree of Lydia but when he applied himself he knew that his intelligence bordered on more than just cheat codes and pizza toppings. It wasn't hard for him to get an almost perfect score in turn receiving a full ride to the University of Florida, all the way on the other side of the country. What was hard was convincing his Dad that no matter how much any of his friends even Scott begged he could not say where he was going to school. Though he was in limbo of his place there was one sure thing that the bites aligned through out his body told him he was still in some degree Derek's for however long the alpha decided so. The easy part was dodging Scotts questioning look when he showed up at six in the morning two hours before his flight in his room. He just grinned and held up his key. The hard part was leaving that key on the dresser as Scott laughed and turned around saying he'd go over later for some video games. The easy part was entertaining himself with countless action movies and books on werewolf lore for the entire flight. The hard part was ignoring every call: ignoring Scott's desperation, Lydia's anger, Jackson's authority, Danny's understanding, and Alison's worry, the hardest part was never receiving one from Derek.

He loved his new home in many ways, it was a quaint old town that revolved completely around the University, and all the bars and good places to eat were located right across the street. And the majority of the people had nice broad grins that matched the one that Stiles had. It was peaceful, it was nice, and it had nothing that went bump in the night. For the majority of his years he kept to himself, he had a large amount of acquaintances but it stopped there. He was friendly enough that he got invited to the toga parties on Frat road, or to go canoeing at Lake Walberg, even the occasional party in the woods. But he never let anyone reach him; they knew the basics Stiles Stilinski, Business major, 21 years of age. It was all they needed to know, they didn't have to understand why he never went home during the winter and summer breaks, why he refused to ever sleep in a double, how he spent hours upon hours staring at the moon, and how any guy he took home was always tall and burly with black hair and dark eyes.

"Stilinski!" He stuck out his head from behind the bar and watched as Mrs.. Wilson waved him over. He wiped his hands on the knees of his pants and walked over a silly grin on his face because god did he love this old lady. She owned one of the best bars in Gainesville and though graying and being filled with wrinkles she struck fear into even the craziest of drunken college students. The bar had been in her family for almost forty years and she treated it with the fierce determination that he was sure extended to her parenting.

"Yeah Mrs. Wilson."

"Boy how many times do I have to tell you to call me Abbie?" She smiled as she cleaned a beer mug. The way she glanced at him over her glasses gave him the impression of the bar tender in movies that was always filled with words of wisdom for the patrons.

"Sorry Mrs. Abbie " He grinned fluttering his eyelashes over dramatically.

"I guess that'll have to do. Boy when was the last time you went out on a weekend?"

"Since I started working here."

"Exactly. You're a college boy, 21 years old all you should be doing right now is blasting that old radio, sipping on a beer, and falling in love with every pretty little thing that tickles your fancy." He internally cringed at the mention of love but just laughed instead.

"I'm scheduled to work weekends though."

"Yes I know, and while every single of my other employees have asked me for the occasional Saturday night off, in the past four months you have come to work every single night."

Stiles blushed prettily, a quality that seemed he would never be rid of no matter how old. "I go out on Fridays every now and again."

She stuck an eyebrow up and Stiles found himself increasingly jealous he had never learned to pull the sarcastic eye brow raise no matter how much he stood in front of his mirror and willed it to lift.

"Don't give me that horse shit, you're old to be my son Stiles and I can tell when one of my boys is just going through the motions, when he's forgot what living is all about."

"Hey!" His voice was filled with a defensive anger. "I go out, I'm just not as wild as every typical UF student."

"No you don't, I've asked. " She responded matter of factily. There was a long pause in which she kept cleaning mugs and Stiles sputtered through expressions before deciding that openly gaping would do. "Do you like working here?"

"Um. Is this a trick question?" He asked. Of course he loved working here it was the most popular bars on campus so his pay and tips were always great, he had an awesome boss, and his co-workers were completely all right people. Mrs. Abbie placed her beer mug harshly on the counter before staring straight at him. Her eyes were a deep green that reminded him of the forests of Beacon Hills and every now and again when the lighting was just right golden flecks would be seen along the iris, they were great eyes as far as Stiles was concerned.

"No it's not a trick question. I'm making a rule for you, you need to go and confront whatever it is that's keeping you from living if you want to continue working at this bar." Stiles once again felt himself doing an academy award winning impressions of a Goldfish

"WHAT?" He spluttered.

"I know you aren't taking any classes this summer, so I'm willing to pay you exactly what you would usually get in your neck two pay checks as long as you get out of this town. People love this place for many different reasons, memories, the atmosphere, but you only love it because it's safe."
Stiles gulped, if werewolves existed maybe it was possible that telepaths existed as well.

"That's unreason . . ." He was cut off by a sharp hand that cupped itself over his mouth.

"That's my logic boy, now come on you're not working tonight go wherever you need to and deal with whatever monster you have to you have a month. Don't disappoint me."

"But Mrs. Abbie." He didn't get to finish that sentence because he swore he hadn't seen such a scary experience in years.

" Don't sass me boy, get to it."

There was another quality that it seemed that the young man would never rid of himself and that was the fact that he usually never thought about the words that were coming out his mouth. " Why do you even care?" He bit the insides of his cheeks once he had finished the sentence realizing how untactful it had been and that he would for sure get fired now.

She breathed easily as if expecting this. "I had a nephew Kevin he attended school here with the hopes of becoming a lawyer one day, he fell absolutely head over heels in love with this pretty little Hispanic bird, she was a blaze of beauty and dark waves, bracelets jangling every time she moved, and the light of the sun transcending the sky into her smile. And he let her pass, he allowed his monsters to ruin his happiness and when she died of cancer she took his very heart with her to the grave. You remind me of Kevin, a perfect little actor in this world, no-one noticed the listlessness in his eyes, the shadows clogging him, but soon enough he couldn't be that perfect little actor and he grew bitter and cold, he left school and enlisted in the army, on the two year anniversary of her death he died in battle, coincidence? Maybe." The way she said the final word convinced Stiles that she didn't believe it was just a coincidence that her nephew had died on that day.

"Okay." She smiled at him before turning and going into the back room.

Later on Stiles would blame his mom for giving him his sappy overly emotional heart and would reason that was the only reason that he was calling his dad.

"Hey Dad, yeah I know. Umm I'm going home tonight, I'll call you to pick me up."

"Yeah, I'm sure." He ended the call placed the phone into his back pocket and ran his hands viciously through his hair and face.

He was fucked.