Stiles was pretty sure he was a magnet for danger. Seriously, if you looked at everything that's happened in the last …holy crap, it's been almost year already!... in the last year, then his reasoning was justified. At least he thought so.

So when a pathetic sounding mewl caught his attention as he was taking out the garbage, he thought better about investigating. Because there'd been the whole werewolf deal, and they'd only just figured out the kanima thing. Jackson was fitting into the pack pretty well, even if he was a douchenozzle. And seriously, how long had Stiles been helping them out? Sure, he was human, but after everything's he's done (he's saved Derek's ass several times now, not to mention all the research and everything else!), didn't that count for anything?

But no, Stiles wasn't pack.

And that was way off the topic. His point was, he was not going to investigate strange sounds because it always led to some crazy supernatural crap that he didn't want to deal with. So he shoved the lid on the trash bin and turned to go back inside, all ready to play some Assassin's Creed (though he should be studying for finals).

But that soft noise caught his attention, and to be honest, it sounded more like wounded animal than anything supernatural. Letting out a sigh, he grumbled, "Fine. I shouldn't be doing this because it goes against all logic, but I will because I'm such an awesome guy."

Something that sounded that pitiful called to him. He had a heart, so sue him. With that, he crouched behind the trashcan. It was too dark to see clearly, so he whipped out his phone, using the flash to light the area.

Curled into a tiny ball was something dark and furry. First thought that came to mind was raccoon, maybe a possum. He started to turn away, but a furry head with pointed ears shifted and bright green eyes glowed in the light. The creature opened its mouth, showing off pointy teeth and meowed.

A cat.

It stood and arched its back in a graceful stretch before walking forward on its front legs, stretching out its back legs. Once its stretching was finished, it darted to Stiles, winding its dark body around his ankles, mewling softly. It stopped and stared up at him, those green eyes begging.

"What do you want? I don't speak cat. Although, that'd be pretty cool. I mean, talking to animals like Eliza Thornberry would be awesome. But minus the glasses and braces. I'd totally be way cooler." Stiles told the creature, waving his arms in his excitement. And maybe he did sound a little crazy, talking to a cat.

It blinked. Then yawned, not at all frightened by the teenager's flailing limbs.

"Aha! I bet you're hungry! Can't be too much to eat on the streets. Besides garbage, I mean. And maybe mice. Or birds. But that can't be too appetizing." He put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. His dad had just left for a night shift, so bringing in the stray for a little while wouldn't hurt. "Alright, buddy, let's get some food!"

Stiles grinned and bent over, carefully picking up the cat that had no problem with the teenager's attention. He rushed inside, to the kitchen, and set the animal on the counter to get a good look at it. Soft black fur with a small white patch on its chest, bright green eyes, and it was fairly scrawny-looking, like it hadn't had a good meal in awhile.

"Well, I think there's some leftover chicken parmesan. How's that sound?" He asked the cat as he opened the fridge, digging around for the right container. He really didn't know how much a cat eats. Despite having hung out with Scott countless times at the vet clinic, Stiles never really paid attention to how much he fed the animals. A whole chicken breast seemed like too much for such a little thing. But it did look hungry.

He started with half, tearing it into small pieces and feeding it to the cat, who ate gratefully. "You're so friendly," Stiles said a bit later as the car danced back and forth on the counter while he ran a hand down its back. It purred the whole time. "Did you get lost? Oh God, you're lost, aren't you? There's a family out there looking for you and they'll think you're dead or eaten or roadkill and—"

The cat looked up at him expectantly and Stiles began scratching behind its ears. It purred some more. "Okay, in the morning I'll take you to Deaton. He's the vet, he'll know what to do. Although he's kind of strange. Like, he knows things, you know?"

Stiles went to bed not long later, the cat stretched out on his chest and purring still. He woke hours later to a strange scratching sensation on his arm. The sun had barely risen and it was still dark in his room. He nearly jumped out of bed at the dark creature licking his arm until he remembered the cat.

"Woah, give me a heart attack, huh? Just like a certain sourwolf. Although you're much nicer than him." It was still too early, but Stiles was fully awake, adrenaline not letting him fall back asleep. As he was doing his morning business, he realized the cat probably had to go to the bathroom. He didn't have a litter pan, and he doubted the cat was toilet trained (which would be totally awesome if it were), so he shoved on his shoes and slipped a hoodie over his head, carrying the cat outside.

"Now don't run away on me. We've gotta get you to Deaton, and hopefully find your family. Okay, Chicken?" It was morning, too early and he needed to call the cat something other than 'the cat.' And it seemed to like chicken well enough, so he was going with that.

Chicken wandered around the yard before slinking its way into a bush. A minute later, it returned and Stiles scooped the feline into his arms.

It was an hour later before Stiles made it to Vet Clinic. Trying to figure out a way to take Chicken in his jeep had taken a good twenty minutes until he found a cardboard box that would work. He'd thrown in a towel to make it more comfortable and Chicken seemed happy enough.

"Stiles," Deaton greeted cautiously, glancing at the box in the teenager's arms.

"Hey, Doc. I found Chicken hiding behind the trashcan last night and I didn't know what to do."

Deaton frowned until he looked inside the box, understanding coming over him. He lifted the cat from the box and began checking over the animal. A few minutes later, he turned to Stiles, "Well, she appears healthy, maybe a year old. No fleas or ear mites, surprisingly. Just a little malnourished. Probably been on her own for a few days. Are you keeping her?"

Stiles blinked. "What about her family? I mean, someone's gotta be missing her, right?"

Deaton shrugged. "There's been no report of a missing cat matching her description. She doesn't have a collar, and she's not microchipped. I can keep her here, see if anything turns up. But she won't be happy."

And that was how Stiles ended up with a cat. He stood in his living room, staring down at the bags of cat-related items he would need while he took care of Chicken. Now, he just needed to convince his dad.

"Stiles, what's going on?"

Dammit, he'd hoped he'd have a little bit of time to prepare. Although, this was a much lesser evil than explaining anything werewolf related. He'd take telling his dad he taken in a cat over lying to him any day.

"Well, Chicken was cold and hungry, and no one's looking for her, so I sort of, maybe, kind of adopted her? Well, not really adopted. That's not a good term. We'd be more of a foster family, taking care of her until someone wants to adopt her. Dr. Deaton said she'd be happier here because there's already too many cats at the clinic." His speech was rushed, as usual, but John understood, having spent years listening to his son ramble on about the craziest of things.

John looked at the black and white cat for a long moment. It blinked at him, swishing its tail from one side to another, lazily. He sighed. "We'll see how this works out."

Stiles blinked. That had gone so much easier than he expected.

ooooo

A/N: So, I wrote this several months ago and it's been on my computer ever since. I've been nervous about posting it because I've never written anything for Teen Wolf. But I like Stiles and I like writing Stiles so hopefully it turned out okay?

I should have the second part up soon :D

Comments, questions, concerns?