Allison smiled as she sharpened her knife. She'd spent her morning practising sliding it into a ribcage and puncturing a lung, but the blade had dulled when it scraped the rib bones on the skeleton.
When her phone chirped to alert her of an incoming text, she set the blade and the whetstone on her desk and picked up her phone. Her smile fell when she saw that her was her boyfriend blowing her off yet again.
Since she found out he was a werewolf, Allison had dealt with a lot. She had her breakdown after her mom died, but with the help of Ms. Morrell she was beginning to adjust. Her dad was letting her see Scott again after the ugliness with her grandfather. Lydia was only a little bit crazy, though Jackson's death did set her back quite a bit.
"You are an ass," Allison said to her phone as though Scott were on the other end. She threw it on her bed and picked up her knife. Then she stabbed her desk angrily. The blade stuck out of the wood as she grabbed her bow. She needed to burn off some anger and she still had that picture of Derek Hale on her target in the basement.
TW
"Dude, I'm telling you, this is gonna blow up in your face when Allison finds out," Stiles warned his best friend as he checked to make sure nobody was coming. "Why can't we tell her about Danny?"
"Because he asked us not to tell anyone," Scott answered as he tied his shoes. "You'd feel the same way if you killed your best friend."
Stiles double checked the area around the charred remains of the Hale House. No Hunters or werewolves that weren't Scott were in sight.
"I'd hear or smell someone coming before you saw them," Scott reminded Stiles as he stood up and stretched. "Now remember, we don't talk about Jackson when Danny gets here."
"Yeah, because we have so much else in common."
Stiles stayed at the house as Scott did a quick perimeter check to make sure there was nobody else around. Derek and his Uncle Peter had warned of another pack on the way to Beacon Hills, but there weren't many other deserted places in town to have secret rendezvous. Though how much of a secret it could be when half the town had been attacked by someone at the Hale House astounded Stiles.
He kicked some scattered leaves off the porch as he thought about his dad and how he still didn't even know about anything in town. Stiles wished he could confide in him like Scott could his mom, but if he knew he'd probably move and take his son with him. The last thing Stiles wanted to do was abandon his best friend.
"Where's Scott?" a deep voice asked.
Stiles whirled around in the direction of the sound and saw Danny walking up to the house. He wasn't smiling, but Danny hadn't smiled in ages.
"Off doing werewolf things to make sure there's nobody around. You might've heard him peeing on a tree or something."
"Funny," Danny replied as he stepped onto the porch.
They stood awkwardly for a few minutes, waiting on Scott to arrive and not saying anything. The only people that knew how Jackson died were the three that would be at the house that night, and only Danny and Scott knew how. Despite his best efforts, Stiles hadn't been able to pry out of his best friend what happened. All he was told was that Danny was as human as he and Allison were.
"So, about them Yankees..." Stiles started before being interrupted by Scott's arrival.
Seeing Scott in wolf form was always a little unsettling for Stiles, but he was relatively used to it. Danny, however, was not even though they'd been coming out here three nights a week for the past two weeks. Stiles always felt a little cooler for not flinching.
"We're clear, but there are some kids from school a couple miles over getting drunk so we probably only have an hour," Scott told his friends as he eased back into his human form. "Less if Derek and his pack show up. Are you two ready?"
"Two? I thought I was just the lookout guy. You know, while you two do whatever I stand outside and scream like a little girl if anybody with claws or guns shows up," Stiles protested.
Danny shifted his feet but didn't say anything. He just locked eyes with Scott and nodded.
"We've been talking, Stiles, and it makes no sense for us to do this without you," Scott reasoned. "Allison can take care of herself because she has her dad training her. It's about time someone trained you."
Holding his hands in the form a "T" as if he were signalling to a referee for a timeout, Stiles stammered, "Hold up. You wanna train me to fight werewolves? What do you think I've been doing all this time?"
"Running away and getting knocked out," Scott answered simply. "And I'm not teaching you how to fight, I'm teaching you how to survive. I can't always be here to rescue you guys and Derek is worried about another pack moving in, in case you've forgotten.
"I just want you to know enough to hold them off until the Argents or I can get there. Provided you can't scream like a girl and run away first."
"Whatever," Stiles grumbled before looking at Danny. "If I get a black eye I'm telling everyone that you did it."
Blinking, Danny stared at Stiles. "What would you say I did?"
"You found me irresistible and came onto me, but because I don't kiss on the first date I fought you off."
Danny continued staring at Stiles but said nothing further.
"Let's just get inside before you two start making out," Scott teased as he passed between them and into the empty house.
The big hole that Derek's Uncle Peter had been revived from gaped like a festering wound on the Earth. Stiles reasoned that Danny probably didn't even know what it was from.
"Stiles, I want you to attack me while Danny tries to run. Can you do that?"
"Does Jessica Peters wear a pushup bra?" Stiles answered as he ran at Scott. Three seconds later he was on his back and Scott had his hand around Danny's throat.
"No banter. It slows your reaction time," Scott instructed as he released Danny. Danny responded by punching Scott in the face and kneeing him in the balls before running out the door.
"I see what you mean," Stiles laughed as he helped Scott up. He stood and watched as Scott ran after Danny. Thirty seconds later Scott was dragging a panting Danny back into the house.
Three more times Scott had them repeat the exercise, and each time they were beaten within a minute. It was looking pretty pathetic, by all accounts. On the third one, though, they managed to surprise Scott by both of them running away. He caught Danny first, and easily nabbed Stiles.
"Danny, can't you hear me coming at you?" Scott asked as they took a break and drank bottled water from an ice-filled cooler Stiles had borrowed from the police station. "You have a bad tendency to stop and look around."
"You know how I'm deaf in my left ear, right?" Danny asked. Stiles nodded, but Scott cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head in a confused manner. "Scott, remember when we were in middle school and we had that explosion in the science lab?"
"Sorry about that, by the way," Stiles interrupted.
Danny waved him off and continued. "Anyway, ever since then I've lost complete hearing in my left ear and only have 80% in my right. That's why coach has me play defence. My coordination is off and I can't throw for shit."
"Wait, you can't walk in a straight line and I was STILL benched most of last season?!"
"Shut up, Stiles," Scott said as he threw an empty bottle at him. "So you have hearing problems. Why did you stop when I chased you? You seem to be able to listen to coach on the field."
"That is two years of practise, Scott. We all know what coach is gonna yell three seconds before he does. What you probably don't know is that Single-Sided Deafness, that's what it's called, it messes up your perception. You can't hear where people are coming at your from. So when someone yells across the hall at school, I sometimes do that little spin thing to see who it was."
Scott stayed silent for about a minute. Neither he nor Stiles had known that. Nobody had, really.
"So, you can't get hearing aids or anything?" Stiles asked.
"Tried them one summer. Nada. Honestly, I've adjusted," Danny answered. "Can we talk about something else? This is kinda of pointless."
"Well work with it next time," Scott told him. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. "We should probably leave. Stiles, can you clean up? And don't just throw everything in the hole like last time. Derek nearly bit my head off."
"I hate how becoming a werewolf makes everyone Planeteers," Stiles whined as he grabbed the bottles on the floor.
As they were walking out the door, Stiles heard Danny ask Scott what a Planeteer was. Scott didn't know.
TW
"So do you have time to be my friend or are you busy being reunited with your one true love?" Lydia asked as she slammed her locker shut.
"I think I spent more time with Scott when we were sneaking around," Allison groaned as she realized she'd left her math book and the homework due that day at home. "Can I copy your answers? Mine aren't here right now."
Lydia popped open her math book and handed it to Allison. "I need that back at lunch. You are so lucky we don't have Algebra together."
"So I keep telling myself. It's nice to not be the second smartest person in at least one class," Allison replied with a smile. "You wanna come over tonight and hang? Dad is out of town on some work. Yes, an actual job event. I'm as shocked as you are."
"Are you going to leave me the moment Scott calls?" Lydia pouted.
Allison shook her head. "Depends on what he calls about, I guess. In the meantime, I figure we can get some quality girl time."
"Does girl time involve throwing knives and guns?"
"Yes to the knives. Dad keeps an ammo log, so you'll have to hold off on that Lara Croft cosplay," Allison laughed.