After being possessed by the Nogitsune Stiles would never be the same. Even though it had exited his body and been defeated, he still felt void or rather that there was a void inside of him. The rational side of his brain told him not to blame himself for all the destruction, all the death. But the other part of his brain the more dominant part apparently, was overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety and pain. The others didn't talk about it much. They asked him if he was okay and Scott checked up on him one way or another every day but they didn't actually talk about what had happened. Stiles still hadn't decided whether or not that was a good thing. On the one hand it stopped him from having to relive the nightmare and he could act like everything was fine; like he was fine. But on the other hand it made him feel isolated, like they kind of blamed him even though they didn't really blame him and didn't want to bring it up because they were sad and maybe kind of angry and didn't want him to know they blamed him when they all knew rationally they shouldn't.
In the end he decides its better this way, because even though maybe part of him does want to talk about it and let it all out they wouldn't understand. Scott, Lydia and Kira don't understand. Derek doesn't understand. His dad doesn't understand. None of them know what it's like to feel responsible for horrible, terrible things like someone's death and not just someone, but someone you cared for so deeply. They don't know what it's like to not feel like yourself in your own body. But she does.
Malia knows what it feels like to grieve with immense guilt seeping its way into your heart. She knows the ache of responsibility even though you know you can't really be held accountable. She knows what it's like to feel like a stranger or a fraud in your own skin and she knows how it feels to not want to talk about it and to talk about it at the same time.
And those were some of the things that drew them to each other that first time in Eichen House. He hadn't killed anyone yet but they both felt lost and not themselves. They shared a connection and were a welcomed distraction for each other. She was his safe haven in his own personal hell and he was her anchor to her human self. She told him that once. "It was the first time I liked being a girl." Her words echo in his head, drawing a slight smile to his lips.
She was his saviour then; in Eichen and Lydia told him later it was her name that brought him back. And she's his saviour again now. He doesn't know if she knows that but she is. She gave him life when everything was pain and dark. She came into his life again and knocked him off his feet in the best way possible. She made him feel useful and special and needed. She "didn't know how to human" so he taught her, while she taught him how to live again, how to laugh again and how to be Stiles again.
The others didn't get it at first, their relationship that is. But frankly Stiles didn't care. Malia made him happy and he knew he made her happy too. He didn't judge her when she said something blunt or 'unhuman' and he liked listening to her stories about the wild. But he first became certain that she cared for him in Mexico. First when she kissed him in the bathroom and second when she said she would "never leave without him". Well technically she said "you" but that's beside the point. He knew for sure then. She would go against her natural instinct the thing she trusted more than anything for him. Later when they were tangled in his sheets he told her he would never leave her behind either.
Their relationship wasn't conventional but it worked and it was special and Stiles wouldn't have it any other way. He loved teaching her and watching her learn new things and get excited over the small things in life everyone always took for granted. He loved her sense of human and her cheekiness. He loved waking up to her in his bed snuggled into his side. He loved how beautiful she looked in the simplest of clothes or with flour all of over her or even as she ripped a steak apart with her teeth.
Lost in his thoughts, Stiles didn't notice the girl he had been thinking about stir beside him, until he felt kisses being peppered across his shoulder making their way up to his neck.
"Good morning", he said his voice still rough with sleep.
"Hey" she replied, barely pausing in her track to his mouth.
A few moments later she found it and he smiled into the kiss, still in awe of the gorgeous feral girl who climbed through his window every night to be with him. Her hands slid up his chest around his shoulders and finally found themselves playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, while one of his held her waist pulling her closer and the other drifted under her oversized shirt which was actually his shirt and made its way up. Breaking away from the kiss Stiles' mouth made its way down her neck as Malia made noises of satisfaction. Eventually though she became impatient and flipped him onto his back straddling him and taking control. They both smiled meeting each other's eyes before getting back to business.