Stiles was in the waiting room of Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital, his dad was in the emergency room being checked over for injuries. The ex-sheriff had been brought in on a stretcher since he was still unconscious from Matt's careless attack to the back of the head. Stiles held his own head in his hands as he sat in the waiting room, he was trying hard to keep himself from falling apart and breaking down. He just had to hold on a bit longer, his father would be okay, was okay. He couldn't take just sitting and waiting, he needed to do something, needed to move, his nerves were screaming. He got off his seat and walked out of the hospital and down the street, he just needed to calm his nerves, the whole night had been a huge cluster fuck. He had thought his father was going to die, he'd thought he was going to die, and the adrenaline of the night had faded away leaving him alone and weak. He sat on a bus bench and wrapped his arms around his chest and cried. Deep wrenching sobs, eyes squeezed shut and snot running down his nose he cried.
The kanima ran through town blind, without a master to give it orders it was lost and alone. He felt it then, as he ran through empty streets, a kindred spirit. He saw, beneath a street light, like a sign from god, a boy sitting alone and in pain, like him, 'like us' a voice said. He hissed and watched the boys entire body flinch, he walked up to the boy and saw how he tried to get away, fell on the floor and scrambled to get back on his feet, which he did. The kanima walked up to the boy and held his hand out.
Stiles' heart was in his throat, he couldn't breathe or move. The kanima was there staring at him with his slit yellow eyes. It stretched out its clawed hand and Stiles flinched, he shut his eyes tight and waited for either a paralyzing blow or death. Neither came, Stiles opened his eyes and saw the hand, fingers spread, the kanima was waiting. Stiles didn't know what had made him do it, he brought his hand up and pressed it tight against the kanimas.
Jackson awoke with a start, he was sweaty and his heart was beating a frantic pace inside his chest. He struggled out of his sheets and out of his bed. He walked into his shower and let cold water run down his body, he took the time to try and calm his nerves. Jackson stood in front of his mirror naked and realized that the fog of the last couple of months seemed to have lifted. He didn't feel like he was losing time, like he was losing himself, for once he felt…whole. He dressed for school and felt oddly nervous about going, like he hadn't been in a while.
He walked through the halls and felt a strange sense of disconnect. He didn't know why, but he started to get nervous, and the more he walked, the more the feeling grew. He started to panic, he was breathing hard and could feel sweat break over his body, run down his neck down his back increasing the sense of discomfort. He stumbled to the bathroom, he needed water, anything, to be alone. He bumped into someone hard, felt them fall to the floor. It was Stiles, Jackson looked down at the boy and felt his nervousness disappear in an instant. He felt like he could breathe again, he felt normal, he felt…safe? He slowly held his hand out, Stiles stared at it before taking it, and Jackson helped him to his feet.
"Sorry…" said Jackson with a shaky breath, he felt strange, he didn't know what the feeling was or where it came from, but it was oddly comforting.
"Wow," said Stiles, "Jackson I didn't know you were capable of being something other than an asshole," it was supposed to be a joke.
Jackson scowled, and felt a flash of pure hurt and anger run up his body, he pushed Stiles hard and knocked the boy back down to the ground, "Fuck you Stilinski." He walked away and into the bathroom leaving behind a surprised Stiles, "It was a joke…" He said weakly to no one. Scott came over and helped him up.
"I thought you were its master now…shouldn't Jackson be bending over backwards doing your bidding."
"If I made him do things against his will how would I be different than Matt…and I've only been doing it for like a day, cut me some slack…anyways I kind of said something fucked up…"
"Opposed to the million times he's said something mean to you,"
"Lets be honest, he only ever started being mean to me when you started to be all you all over him."
"No he started being mean to you when you wouldn't leave Lydia alone,"
"Oh yea…"
The two boys walked to class, Jackson stood in the doorway of the bathroom having heard what they said, 'Master?' he thought. He remembered Stiles telling him that he was a vicious lizard monster, that he'd murdered people. But Jackson wouldn't believe it, couldn't believe it. He was supposed to be a wolf, not a fucking lizard…but he had seen. The scales didn't lie, but master…
Later at lunch, the group was seated at their usually table, Jackson was there and most people didn't pay him much attention. Except for Danny, he kept looking at him with a concerned look. Danny knew when Jackson was acting weird and he was acting weird. The truth was Jackson felt something was wrong, inside his head, it was like there was something there and it was clawing away at his brain and it hurt so bad it made him sweat and grit his teeth, he was on edge. When Stiles walked past him, tripped, and dropped his food all over Jackson, making most people laugh, he realized how furious he was. He snarled and turned to Stiles who physically flinched, and that drained Jackson's anger away. He'd never actually physically hurt the boy so he didn't understand why he had flinched so badly. Jackson just turned and walked away much to the others surprise, his anger lead directly into queasiness so bad he thought he was going to retch in the cafeteria. He felt that strange pressure behind his eyes, the painful squeeze of his brain as something…else tried to…to…take…it hurt. He felt someone inside him that wasn't him, but was.
He stumbled to the first bathroom he could find and slammed into it, there was someone in front of the mirrors fixing their hair. Jackson grabbed this person and threw them out. He ran to the first stall and retched, his stomach churned horribly, again and again. Finally he vomited, a thick scaled cord slipped out between his teeth and he felt as it slithered out his mouth, it came and came and collected in the bowl until it was spilling over onto the floor. He grabbed it and pulled, he was horrified, he didn't know what was wrong, it hurt so bad, he could feel the scales tearing his esophagus. He could see blood spilling into the toilet as it streamed out along with the last of the snake which slowly slithered down the bowl.
Stiles had run after Jackson, he was nervous, he didn't know why but he didn't want to leave the other boy alone. He also felt bad and knew he'd been an idiot. It was literally the next day and he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing as the master of some monster. Matt said that all he had to do was think it and Jackson did it, he said he'd felt a bond. Stiles didn't know if that meant that he and Jackson were now connected psychically, or if it was just like a feeling, but he didn't feel anything. The problem was he just didn't know, he didn't have enough information and if there was something Stiles hated it was not having all the information.
He quietly opened the door and walked inside, he could see Jackson in one of the stalls, could hear him retch over and over again. He could see Jackson struggling with something, he had his hands out in front of him in a sick pantomime as he retched. Finally Jackson collapsed out of the stall, fell hard and cracked his head on the tiled floor, and began to wheeze for breath, his face was red from strain and he was shaking all over. Stiles bent over and grabbed Jackson, picked him up and pressed him again his chest, rubbed his back.
"Jackson its okay, its okay…" Stiles had no idea what he had seen and didn't know how to help Jackson, so he just held him close.
"S-s-s-snake," was all Jackson could get out with the limited breath in his lungs, he pointed and Stiles looked and shook his head.
"There's nothing there," Stiles noticed that Jackson had cut his head when he hit the floor and blood was oozing out of the wound quickly. He pressed the sleeve of his jacket over the wound and helped the Jackson up off the floor. He grabbed Jackson's face and turned it until he was facing him, "You're okay alright." Jackson nodded, but pushed Stiles arms off. He coughed a bit more, bent over with his hands on his knees and retched, the whole time Stiles rubbed his back until Jackson had calmed down.
Jackson felt strange, having Stiles there, rubbing his back, took the edge of his hallucination faster than anything else had. He felt his heart rate drop to a steady pace and felt a strange calm come over his mind, the pain that had been bothering him in the cafeteria, the invasive drill in his head, was gone, all that was left was a peaceful calm. The hallucination had been bad, but it was over. He was used to them. He grabbed paper towels and pressed them against his head wound.
"You need to go to the nurses, come on I'll walk you," Stiles grabbed Jackson's arm and slowly pulled him out of the bathroom. They walked through the halls like that, with Stiles' hand around Jackson's wrist. Jackson just walked, he couldn't think through the haze that always followed one of his hallucinations.
When they neared the nurses office Jackson pulled his hand away from Stiles, and asked, "What am I?"
"What, you mean other than co-captain of the lacrosse team, captain of the swim team and—"
"What the fuck am I!" Yelled Jackson, Stiles just looked away, down, at anything other than him. Jackson pushed past him and into the nurse's office. She said he needed stitches, he got a pass to go to the hospital.
Jackson drove to the emergency room and waited in an uncomfortable plastic chair. He knew he wasn't fully human, he had wanted that. He didn't want to be some monster with no control over himself, he didn't want to be a murderer, he didn't want to go insane like he knew he was, everyday reality slipped further and further out of his grasp. When that pain in his head started up again, in his mind, Jackson grit his teeth and pushed on it, pushed as hard as he could and felt it.
Stiles spent the rest of school day wondering what he could have done different. He didn't know. But he knew he needed to learn more, so he annoyed Allison and begged her to give him the rest of the bestiary, when that didn't work he moved on to Chris, attacked him while he was getting into his driveway. He caved after only fifteen minutes of pestering, he even threw in a translated version. Stiles spent the rest of the day reading up on the kanima, the myths and the facts. The front pages were the myth, the one that said that the kanima was a werewolf trapped beneath a different curse, one in which something in its past kept it from turning into its wolf form until the problem was resolved. It told that the kanima was a tool of punishment controlled by a master, it punished murderers, but could easily be corrupted and forced to do things against its code, but doing so would place a curse on the master for turning the kanima into something unnatural, a true monster.
In the back of the book were facts that different members of the Argents were able to gather in their lives. For the kanima, the book emphasized one point above all others, do not kill a kanima. It was a holy tool meant to be used by the Argents in their war against the unnatural creatures of the night. The creature had almost no consciousness of its owns and so needed a master to give it commands, the only autonomy it ever showed was during battle, other than that it was like a puppet on a stand. The human side needed to be nurtured and protected, the curse was physically and mentally harmful, caused crippling pain and horrifying hallucinations, it was poisonous and it was their job, the Argents, to free them of their curse. The book went on to talk about different kanimas they had had in their service and talked about how loyal the wolves were once they were cured of the curse, how they had given their life to protect their saviors.
Stiles was shocked by what he had read, the kanima was something the Argents apparently had used throughout history. The book spoke about the human-kanimas whom the Argents adopted into their family, even married. It spoke about the special affection and attention they needed since the poison had them on the verge of insanity. They often killed themselves to escape the curse. Stiles didn't know what to do with what he had read. All he knew was that he needed to find Jackson.
He still couldn't believe that the last couple months Jackson had been suffering from hallucinations and crippling pain and no one had noticed. He didn't know what it felt like to close your eyes and then open them somewhere else, scared and alone. The book said that it was the master duty to protect the kanima during this time, to make them feel safe, to keep them from losing themselves to the creature inside. Apparently that was a danger, the lizard could take over completely wiping out the humans consciousness until all that was left was a meat puppet.
Stiles spent most of the night reading about the kanima before someone knocked on his door. He opened it and was pushed hard, he fell on the ground and someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. It was Jackson, he looked furious.
"I need you to tell me the truth okay, just tell me the truth I can't…I can't do this anymore," Jackson wasn't angry, he was in pain, the pressure in his head had built to the point were he couldn't think anymore, he never got to see a doctor, blood still oozed out of his head.
Stiles sat Jackson on his bed and went into his bathroom to grab the first aid kit his father kept there. When he came back into the room, Jackson had his head in his hands and his face was squeezed in pain, tears slowly streaming out of the corners of his eyes. Stiles sat next to Jackson and rubbed his back. To Jackson's surprise it actually helped. Stiles cleaned the blood off of Jackson's face and saw that the cut had already healed.
"I know I'm…I know you were telling the truth about…the lizard thing…I just don't…why…I can't keep fucking doing this!" Jackson stood up and started to pace the room. He brought his hand down on Stiles' desk and knocked everything off the flat surface. Stiles stood and grabbed Jackson and hugged him tight, Jackson wrapped his arms around Stiles and brought his head down, into the boy's neck, and cried. "I don't want to lose control anymore, I can't keep doing these things!"
"It's okay, you won't. The person who was controlling you is dead, they aren't the kanimas master anymore…I am…"
"What the fuck those that mean!"
"I don't really know…but we'll get through this together…okay?"
"…okay…"
The two boys slept together that night. Stiles' back was pressed tight against Jackson's chest. Jackson pressed his face into the top of Stiles' head and enjoyed the strong peace that came over him. Stiles tried hard not to buckle underneath the responsibility that had he had unwittingly taken on himself, he tried to ignore that strange arousal that Jackson's touch seemed to cause.
School was weird for both the boys. Whenever Jackson wasn't near Stiles he could feel a strange anxiety come over him. All he wanted was to be near the boy. Stiles felt like a father leaving their child alone for the first time, all he wanted to do was check up on him and make sure he was okay. Both boys tried to go on with their lives like normal. Stiles knew that Matt had done it, had made it so Jackson wouldn't remember who his master was. Left him alone and confused and scared. Stiles couldn't bring himself to control Jackson like that, take away his sense of self, force his body to do what Stiles wanted no matter how badly Jackson didn't.
At lunch Jackson sat next to Stiles, Jackson couldn't help it, he had to. He felt relaxed that way. Jackson's friends filled the table around Stiles, leaving Scott and Allison no where to sit.
"Jackson…you think you can find a place for Scott and Allison to sit…" Jackson looked at Stiles and nodded, pointed to two boys and waved them away. What shocked both Scott and Allison was the fact that they actually moved to another table. Danny shot Jackson a look and then Stiles, who just smiled.
Stiles babbled on all through lunch while Jackson just enjoyed the calm. It all stopped when Jackson felt something in his arms, underneath the skin, he could see something swimming through them, they stung and burned as if they were on fire. He stood up and bumped the table hard, he fled, he didn't know where to. He ended up in the locker room, he fell into the showers and started to scratch his arms, he needed to get them out, they slithered and cut and burned. He sunk his nails deep into his flesh and started to dig through his skin and muscle to get to them.
"Jesus Jackson, stop. Stop!" Stiles commanded and saw how Jackson's body went limp. Jackson just sat there, on the ground, deep gouges in his arms. Blood slowly flowed down the mangled cords of his muscles, soaked the longs sleeves of his shirt and stained his jeans. Stiles grabbed towels out of someone's locker and wrapped them around Jackson's arms, he needed to get him out of their. He picked Jackson up and walked him slowly and stealthily out of the school. That is until he bumped into Finstock.
"Blinski what the hell are you doing here, is that blood," he said pointing to his hands, Jackson was next to him, Stiles could see the towels soaking up the blood, staining them red.
"No its ketchup, you know food fights and all but Jackson's allergic,"
"To ketchup,"
"Yea he breaks out in hives and gets explosive diarrhea…and shit…so I'm going to take him to the hospital. Yea, oh what's that behind you." When Finstock turned Stiles pulled Jackson and ran out of the school to his jeep. He shoved the dazed boy into the passenger seat and jumped behind the wheel. He drove around and didn't know where to go, except he did, Stiles sighed. He drove to Derek's warehouse.
Jackson was numb and his arms burned like a mother fucker. He tried getting up but someone pressed a hand against his chest and brought him back down. He shook his head and tried again, this time the hand was rougher, pushed him down hard.
"Don't move," said Derek and Jackson wasn't dazed anymore. He bolted up right and pushed Derek away hard and leaped out of bed. He stood and scrambled away from the Alpha, backed up against the cold metal wall of the warehouse. He saw Derek stand, the rest of his pack came out of their hiding spots. Jackson didn't know how he got there and he was suddenly trapped in a room with four people who hated him.
Erica laughed and sauntered over to Jackson, ran her hand over his body and punched the wall next to his head. Jackson flinched and shut his eyes tight as the pack laughed. Erica grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him into the center of the warehouse. He landed hard and felt the air whoosh out of his lungs, felt his arms burn. The pack surrounded him, taunted him, as he slowly rose to his feet, and Isaac attacked, slashed his claws down the front of Jackson chest cutting deep into his body. Boyd punched him in the jaw, sent him flying upwards, and when he landed Derek pounced, squeezed him by the throat before lifting his clawed hand.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" The entire pack flinched, Jackson laid on the floor and tried hard not to whimper from the pain in his body.
"We can finally get revenge for all the shit the kanima—"
"Shut the fuck up Isaac! I can't believe any of you, and Derek how could you do this,"
"If we had just killed him like I wanted to we could have saved many lives."
"I've never meet anyone so chronically stupid in my life," even Derek was shocked with the amount of venom Stiles was able to put into his words. Derek walked towards Stiles and backed him up into a wall.
"Listen Stiles, we tolerate you because occasionally, you're useful. Don't out grow your use or I'll," Derek unsheathe his claws and dragged them across Stiles' face, "have to do something about it." Derek lifted his hand and felt as it was bent backwards and broken, Derek saw claws pierce deep into his stomach before he was thrown across the warehouse.
Stiles saw the rest of the pack on the ground, deep claw marks had been gouged into their flesh, not the small cuts they were used to. In front of him was Jackson, half scaled and breathing hard. Jackson held his palm up to Stiles, who pressed his hand against Jackson and interlocked their fingers. Jackson closed his eyes and the scales slowly receded underneath his flesh.
"I'm so sorry," said Stiles bringing Jackson in for a tight hug, "I didn't think they'd be so cruel."
"S'okay," said Jackson and nuzzled Stiles' neck, making the other boy shiver. The pack watched as the two boys hugged, Stiles pulled away and collected his stuff and Jackson's and then walked out. Derek lay on the ground and wondered what that whole thing was about. It took hours before they were able to move again, Jackson had cut deeper and used more poison.
Stiles and Jackson were asleep when his father came home. He walked up to his son's room and opened the door to check on him. He walked over to the bed and pulled the covers back. Stiles had his head pressed against Jackson's chest. The other boy had his arms around Stiles' body keeping him pressed close. The newly reinstated Sheriff stood there staring for five minutes before shaking his head and walking out, he would deal with whatever that was in the morning. He went to bed.
The next morning both boys were sitting in the kitchen fully dressed as the Sheriff paced. Both were mortified to have been caught. Sheriff laid down some rules, no sex in the house, neither Jackson nor Stiles were allowed to go to each others houses without the Sheriff's permission, and Stiles wasn't allowed to close his door when Jackson was over. Jackson shook his head and agreed, Stiles did too, never being able to tell his father it wasn't what it looked like. Jackson drove them to school, they stuck close together, they were tired of pretending.
Danny and Jackson were in the locker room, Jackson was doing bench presses as Danny spotted for him.
"So…are you and Stiles like…I mean…there's something between you two right…" Danny wasn't stupid, he had noticed the way the two boys had become nearly inseparable.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Jackson, focused on pumping his arms.
"Please…you've been staring at him this entire time. Your watching him do lunges, I mean…your staring at his ass."
"I," Jackson felt his face heat up, he didn't now what else to do other than sigh, "yeah there's something…I'm just not really sure what it is…"
"Well if it makes you feel better he keeps looking over here…I think he can see up your shorts," Jackson looked up at Danny's smiling face and both boys broke out into hysteric laughter.
"So since when have you liked him," asked Danny, he had honestly not seen this coming.
"I guess since I got to know him," which was the most sincere thing Danny had ever heard Jackson say. "But, well…we haven't really talked about…the thing between us, there's a lot of baggage. I come with a lot of baggage and we're still trying to sort through it, we've just sort of hung out, its weird…I think…I think I want more."
Danny thought the whole thing was the most adorable thing he'd seen, Jackson with a crush was fucking adorable, and with Stiles was hilarious.
Scott was late for gym and dressed quickly and joined the other boys in the weight room. Stiles was doing bench presses, Jackson was spotting and Danny was standing next to them. Scott hadn't heard what was said but all three boys started laughing. Scott cautiously walked over to them.
"Hey Stiles…what are you doing,"
"Exercising…"said Stiles.
Scott let it go, he pulled Stiles away from Jackson and made him hold his feet as he did crunches. Scott passed the rest of the period trying to keep Stiles away from Jackson. It wasn't easy.
Scott and Allison were busy studying in her room, her mom was down stairs making dinner.
"So do you think Stiles is acting weird now," asked Scott. Allison looked at him and laughed.
"Yes, but I don't…"
"I mean it's because he's the master of the kanima right?"
"I think it started that way Scott but…."
"Yeah…" Scott wasn't sure he wanted to know where Allison was going.
"Come on Scott, you've noticed that it's more than that…at least it is now."
Scott shook his head, he hadn't noticed. He knew Stiles spent all his time with Jackson now, but Scott had always assumed it was to keep him under control.
"Stiles doesn't have to be near Jackson to control him Scott, Matt never was, he's with him because he wants to be."
"You're not saying what I think you're saying…are you?"
"Scott come one…seriously…Scott, they hold hands during lunch."
"Oh shit," Scott hadn't known. He was the last to notice, always.
Scott invited Stiles to a pack meeting, said Derek wanted to apologize and had some important information to pass on. Stiles reluctantly agreed.
The pack didn't have much to talk about as they waited for Stiles to arrive. They mulled about the center of the warehouse talking about nothing, Derek stood of to the side simply waiting. Finally, one of the doors slammed open making the pack flinch, it was Jackson, he stood in the entrance, eyes hard and body rigid. He lifted his arm, Stiles was behind him trying to get through the door, Jackson wouldn't let him, not until he was done doing whatever it is he was doing. He dropped his arm and Stiles walked forward and towards the group.
"So," started Derek, "Now that we're all here we can get started. Yesterday, Boyd was running through the woods when he came across a group of unknown hunters. They aren't affiliated with the Argents and attacked him on first sight. We can assume they aren't following the code and therefore are incredibly dangerous."
"Do you know how many there are," asked Allison, she pulled her phone out and started a text for her dad, if there were dangerous hunters in the area he needed to know.
"No, Boyd had to run for it before he got a good look but—"
"There's eight here, and eight more coming," interrupted Jackson.
"…How do you know," asked Derek, trying hard not to look as angry as he felt.
Jackson laughed, Stiles was starring at him, he was pissed, Scott could tell. "I know because there outside."
That got the whole packs attention, they huddled closer together and Derek tried hard to listen for foreign sounds but heard nothing.
"Don't worry I already paralyzed them," said Jackson.
"That's why you made me wait in the car," asked Stiles, he was pissed Jackson hadn't told him, but couldn't blame him either.
"You always do something stupid," said Jackson as if it explained everything, which it kind of did. The pack agreed.
"Don't shake your heads at that assholes,"
"Anyways," started Derek, "we need to move now if more are coming, Jackson any idea when they'll get here,"
"Fifteen minutes the fastest, half an hour if they take their time."
"How did you know," asked Isaac, "that they were out there."
"I tasted them," said Jackson, and for a second his eyes turned yellow. Stiles had his hand around Jackson's wrist and squeezed it, Scott noticed this time. "We need to move," said Jackson and Derek agreed. Until further notice, the pack was to stay away from the warehouse and from Derek himself.
While everyone left Derek pulled Stiles and Jackson aside, "I need to apologize to you Jackson, what I did was not only cruel but it was stupid. It's hard separating the things that Matt made you do from who you actually are and Stiles reminded me. I wanted you to know that even though you're not a wolf yet, your still pack, and maybe when we figure out how to break your curse you might want to think of joining." Jackson looked at Stiles who looked away, he didn't want to influence Jackson's decision, Jackson nodded.
It took two weeks for Derek and Chris to hunt down the foreign hunters and either kill them or scare them away.
Stiles and Jackson were doing homework in his room. Jackson was sitting on Stiles' bed and reading a book for his AP English Literature class, Stiles was studying chemistry problems. The night was quite and peaceful, Stiles' dad was down stairs making dinner for the two boys, he'd grown used to having Jackson over almost every night. Jackson couldn't do it anymore, reading, he placed the book down and got off the bed, he walked over to were Stiles' was seated and wrapped his arms around the boy, pressed his head against the back of Stiles'.
"Hey," said Stiles, throwing an arm back so he could touch Jackson, "Im not done studying yet."
"Want to go throw the ball around your backyard…practice lacrosse."
"That's not really my thing Jax…"
"I know….want to do it anyways?"
Stiles laughed, Jackson was pretty good at manipulating him, he never asked for something he wanted, he always asked Stiles if he wanted it. "Alright let's go."
From the kitchen window, Mr. Stilinski watched as Jackson and Stiles passed the ball from stick to stick. He watched as Jackson walked behind his son and pressed close, moved his sons hand on the stick to their best position, watched as Jackson taught him how to properly follow through with his arm for the most power. Jackson set up a small target and the two took turns trying to get the ball through the small hoop. When Stiles couldn't do it, Jackson walked behind him and helped him aim his shoot, Stiles swung, and the ball flew threw the hoop. They both cheered, Jackson threw his arms in the air and Stiles laughed. Then they hugged. Mr. Stilinski still wasn't used to that, his sons…preference. Especially for someone who once cause him so much trouble. But they were good together, he grudgingly admitted. They seemed to balance each other out. Stiles now had someone to devote all his energy to, someone who wouldn't leave him alone like he did. Jackson had someone who tempered his rolling emotions into something kinder and more focused, someone that actually cared for him.
They ate dinner together, 'as a family' thought Jackson, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a dinner as intimate as the ones the Sheriff and his son seemed to share everyday. Suddenly, he didn't feel so good being there, intruding on the precious little time Stiles got to share with his father now that he was Sheriff again. Even the Sheriff noticed the way Jackson seemed to pull into himself, like a turtle into its shell.
"Hey, you okay," asked Stiles concerned.
"I…I think I should go…"
"Why," asked Stiles he couldn't see any reason for Jackson to leave. Jackson didn't want to voice his thoughts, Stiles always had a way of turning them against him or making him feel as if they weren't valid, which usually they weren't. He shook his head and excused himself.
Stiles ran after him and grabbed his hand. "I don't want you to go."
"…Don't you think…shouldn't you and your dad, like, spend this time together…or something."
Stiles laughed, "We are, but I want you to be here too."
Jackson sighed and rubbed the back of his head. There was stuff he needed to get off his chest. "Stiles I need to know what we're doing…I mean, I need to know if you feel what I feel, and I need to know that its not the master kanima…thing that's making me feel what I feel."
Stiles was stunned that Jackson had been the one to broach the subject, he didn't think either of them ever would. "Jackson, I…I feel something too but I don't know if it's the bond that's making you like me. I mean I like you though…"
Jackson didn't know either, but that didn't stop him from leaning in and kissing the other boy. Stiles wrapped his arm around Jackson's neck and held on as Jackson wrapped his arms around his body, brought one hand up behind his neck, and held him close, deepened the kiss. The Sheriff cleared his throat and made both boys flinch away from each other. They ate dinner in peace together as the strange patchwork family that they were.
Neither boy knew what they were doing or where they were going, all they knew was that from that point on they would do it together, not as master and monster, but friend and lover.