"Hold on, if they already found the body, then what are they looking for?"
"That's the best part. They only found half the body. We're going."
Stiles drags Scott into the preserve to find half a dead body because 1. He is the one always bitching that nothing happens in their town and 2. Lydia always sleeps early the night before school reopens.
Scott wants to sleep early. He needs to get a good night's rest before practice tomorrow.
"I'm making first line," he states, with a surprising amount of conviction.
"That's the spirit!" his friend replies in mock enthusiasm. "Everyone should have a dream - even a pathetically unrealistic one."
Scott lets the cynicism roll over him. He is pretty much immune to these kind of things, especially when the source is Stiles, having been best friends/sworn brothers since forever.
"What about you?" he asked. "When are you going to tell Lydia?"
"I'm working on it," Stiles answers.
He's not sure what happened. He somehow survived getting stampeded by a herd of deer, lost his inhaler, found the half-body (he did not need to know which half of the body they were looking for, and Stiles was going to either kill him or hug the life out of him), got attacked and bitten by some thing, and nearly got run over by a car, all in about three minutes. Scared and exhausted, he somehow made it home, panting and gasping for breath.
Scott doesn't sleep that night. Every time he closes his eyes all he sees is the lifeless eyes of the girl staring at him, a wolf howling in the distance.
Stiles doesn't believe he was bitten by a wolf. "Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like, 60 years."
He does believe Scott when he says he found the body.
"Oh god, that is freakin' awesome. I mean, this is seriously going to be the best thing that's happened to this town since the birth of - hey, Lydia!"
Scott smiles inwardly knowing that Stiles would have said Lydia's name anyway as the redhead - no, strawberry blonde, Stiles' voice corrected in his head - walks up to them.
Lydia doesn't think it is a wolf either. "There are no wolves in California, not in the last sixty years."
Sometimes his friends are so alike it hurts.
"Go talk to her or I will."
Scott likes the new girl, Allison, but is too shy to progress beyond lending her a pen, so Lydia approaches her on his behalf. They bond over fashion and Lydia invites her to watch lacrosse practice. She imagines Scott and Allison on a double date with her and Stiles and quickly quashes the idea. Stiles is her friend. Jackson arrives before she can dwell on it any longer anyway.
Jackson flirts with two girls at the same time. Stiles clenches his fists as he watches. Bad enough that Jackson already goes for Lydia on an hourly basis. Lydia is his girl. Well, not yet, but hopefully some day.
Scott was not expecting to get this good at lacrosse. His movements are out of his world, given his previous standard, yet feel so natural to him.
His hearing had also improved. He heard Allison across the courtyard. Coach's whistle was disorienting. And when he saved Jackson's shot, the combined volume of Stiles and Lydia's whoops in his ears was deafening.
And he can smell. He didn't really notice it in school, maybe because the boys' locker room always has a strong smell, but all the different scents in the preserve are driving him crazy. He focuses on the one smell he recognises: a faint citrus-y scent with a hint of mint.
He figures it's the mojito gum in Stiles' pocket and the lanky boy confirms it.
What the heck?
"What if it's like an infection?" He asks Lydia "Like my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?"
Lydia opens her mouth to answer but Stiles beats her to it. "Yeah, I think I've heard of this. It's called lycanthropy."
"Not funny, Stiles!" Lydia scolds, the same time Scott asks "Is it bad?"
Stiles jokes that he is a werewolf while Lydia starts sprouting names of diseases he could have contracted from wild animals.
Derek Hale is really creepy. At least he returned his inhaler. Thing is, Scott thought he smelled blood on the guy.
Allison Argent is here. In the clinic. Wearing his shirt.
Now he knows how Stiles feels when he looks at Lydia. Maybe it's eight times better, since Stiles has been in love with Lydia for as long as they've been friends. Scott wonders what it's like to love someone for so long. He wonders if he'll be in love with Allison for that long.
When she agrees to go to the party with him, he thinks he totally can. For a while he forgets about his miraculously healed wound.
Stiles listens to his dad on the phone. It's about forensic evidence - definitely not a boring call. They found animal hairs on the body. Oooh, interesting. The hairs seem to be from a wolf. Now he's concerned.
"Where are you getting your juice?"
What the fuck?
Scott's had a weird enough morning. He woke up in the woods, got chased by some thing again, and now Jackson is asking weird questions. Also, Jackson is giving off this really strong scent.
"there's no way in hell you're out there kicking ass on the field like that without some sort of chemical boost."
"Oh, you mean steroids!" Jackson's scent stings his nose and Scott wonders. "Are you on steroids?"
The smell is overwhelming as Jackson vows to find out what he is up to.
"I think Scott really is a werewolf."
Lydia is practical, down-to-earth, but Stiles knows she can't deny that their friend is acting weird, and the forensic evidence is odd. She is the smartest of the three of them afterall.
They do research.
Lydia Martin is in his room, leaning over his shoulder to read articles of arcane knowledge and werewolf folklore. Her hair brushes the side of his head and Stiles feels his cheeks burn. He gets really turned on when she pushes him aside to check out something she found. Her brow furrows in concentration and she tilts her head. It's the cutest thing he has ever seen.
Lydia finds it hard to not focus on Stiles as he bumbles around his room to find more paper. His arm brushes hers as he feeds them into his printer, scorching her skin. She's suddenly aware that they are in his room. Alone. Without Scott or his dad around. She shakes her head, she's here to find out what's wrong with her best friend, not lust after her other best friend. But Stiles seems so concerned for Scott it's endearing.
Scott is agitated. Stiles is tactless.
Lydia is supposed to be the voice of reason amongst the three, so she steps in.
"Look Scott," she says softly, rubbing her hand up and down his back to calm him down. "I know it's hard to believe - I thought Stiles was still joking at first. It might all sound like a myth but the all the signs match up. The way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. I know you've been training but people don't suddenly improve so fast, Scott. And there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think we don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore."
Scott's breathing slows and he seems to consider this.
"Okay," he finally says. "So if you're right - which is really crazy, by the way - what am I supposed to do? I'm picking Allison up in an hour."
"You gotta cancel this date," Stiles says bluntly.
Scott leaps up from where he was seated on the bed. "What?! Why?"
"The full moon's tonight, Scott. And it won't just cause you to physically change," Stiles rattles. "It's also when your bloodlust will be at it's peak."
"Bloodlust?"
"Yeah, you're urge to kill."
"I'm already feeling an urge to kill, Stiles."
Lydia glares at Stiles as she tugs at Scott's shoulder, trying to make him sit back down and listen. He needs time to digest. Unfortunately Stiles has always travelled at rocket speed.
She pushes Scott back down onto Stiles' covers and grabs one of the books Stiles' had gotten earlier. "Scott, look. "The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse." I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does," and Stiles right now, she thinks. "You're gonna put yourself and Allison in danger."
Stiles slips to Scott's other side and takes his friend's phone. "Okay, Scott? You gotta cancel this date. I'm calling Allison right now."
Scott half yells, half growls and shoves Lydia aside, pouncing on Stiles. Lydia rolls off the bed and scrambles to her feet just as Scott shoves Stiles up the wall. There's a feral look in his eyes and a low rumbling sound coming from his throat. She shrieks as Scott cocks an arm back. Scott McCall is the most gentle person she has ever met. She has never in eight years of knowing him seen him push or hit anyone, not even when others pushed or hit him, much less do it to his best friends. Her side still aches where his hand had made impact and she thinks it might bruise.
She watches as his back rises and falls - he's not going to hit Stiles, is he? Then in a flash of movement, Scott has whipped away from Stiles and sent his office chair flying across the room. Lydia jumps out of his way as he stalks past her towards the door.
There is a pause after Scott leaves, then Stiles is at her side, asking if she's okay.
"I'm fine," she mumbles, still in shock.
"Lydia," Stiles says firmly, and she looks down.
The fabric of her shirt is torn, the revealed skin already turning purple. She looks up and her eyes meet Stiles' equally wide ones. He has one hand on her shoulder and the other at her side, thumb carefully rubbing circles on the bruise. Her flesh feels tender, but his touch is comforting.
At least she didn't turn out as bad as the slashed chair.
Alcohol and sweaty people both have very distinct scents. The smell of both mixed together in a space as big as someone's backyard was enough to knock Stiles out. He wondered what the party smelled like to Scott.
Werewolf Scott. Desperate, excited, out-of-control Scott.
The closely-packed sea of people make it impossible for him to dance without constantly brushing up against Lydia, who looks stunning in her party dress, like she always does. However, he is too focused keeping an eye on Scott to freak out about dancing in close proximity to his best friend whom he's also had a crush on for as long as he's known her.
Scott comes barreling through the crowd, sweaty and a little delirious. Stiles and Lydia share a look before Stiles grabs her wrist and drags her after their friend.
Stiles is not all surprised when Scott says Derek Hale (aka Mr Dark and Creepy) is a werewolf too. But maybe he should not have mentioned the part about Allison leaving the party with Derek.
He drives to the Argent house with Lydia yelling that he was going to get a speeding ticket again before speeding off to the preserve.
"Hi, Mrs Argent. I'm Lydia, I'm a friend of your daughter."
Allison's mother gives Lydia a tight smile. "Ah yes, she mentioned you," the woman says, stepping aside to let Lydia in.
When the dark-haired girl appears on the upstairs landing, Lydia lets out a breath she did not know she was holding.
She tells Allison that Scott was sick because he has a 'medical condition' - it's not entirely false since he did have asthma - and they make small talk. Allison is nice. It's easy to be around her. They chat about shoes and homework and exchange numbers. Lydia promises to make Scott apologise to Allison in person before Stiles picks her up again.
Here's a fact: arrows hurt.
Scott wishes he didn't have to find out the hard way.
He's a werewolf, hunters attacked him, and creepy Derek Hale, who is also a werewolf, saved him.
"The bite is a gift."
Make that creepy, delusional Derek Hale.
They spend the night driving around the preserve in Stiles' jeep hoping to find Scott.
They finally find him just as day breaks, shirtless and slowly walking home.
Scott tells them about Derek and the hunters, showing them his injured arm. The wound has mostly closed up and is now just a scar.
"You know what worries me the most?" Scott begins.
"If you say Allison, I'm gonna punch you in the head," Stiles tells him.
"Not a good idea," Lydia mutters. Unlike Scott's wound, the bruise at her side is very much not healing.
Scott worries that Allison hates him. Lydia tells him she already covered for him and he looks slightly relieved, but he is still nervous. He doesn't know how to apologise to Allison.
"You could just tell her the truth," Stiles suggests, "and revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a frickin' werewolf."
Lydia reaches over the console and punches him. Then she turns to look at Scott in the backseat. His head is hung and he looks so dejected.
"Hey, we'll get through this, okay?" she promises him.
Stiles agress. "I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights and feed you live mice. I had a boa once. I could do it."
Scott snorts and looks up. There is a small smile on his face. "We don't need to remember the boa, Stiles," he says. They all laugh.
