"So...why exactly are we going to a stranger's house? You know the likelihood of them being a supernatural? I mean, I don't. But Lydia's working on an equation and my guess is that it's pretty damn likely!" Stiles was babbling as he hastened to keep up with his best friend, who was doing a pretty decent job of ignoring him. Stiles would've been sort of impressed if he wasn't quite so annoyed. Once again, Scott was being a pushover, and once again, it was probably going to get them in more trouble than it was worth.
The Emersons, a couple that lived down the street from the McCalls, had just adopted two children and were holding a party in their honor. The McCalls had been invited, of course, but Melissa had work and begged Scott to go in her stead. The boy in question had been playing video games with Stiles when the call came, and he had dragged his best friend along with him, but not without protest. Lots of protest. Stiles was practically a one-man picket line.
"The Emersons used to babysit me when my mom worked late shifts. They were the best. I know how happy they are to finally have kids of their own. I want to be there to support them."
"Mrs McKinney used to babysit you too, and she ended up being a dryad! She tried to kill Liam!"
"Well, he did almost burn down the forest."
Stiles sputtered, trying to find words. "That's not the point! The point is..."
Scott interrupted. "The point is, I'm going to this party, whether or not you go with me."
"Seriously? You have no sense of self- or Stiles-preservation!" Throwing his hands up in the air like a petulant child, Stiles trailed behind his friend, muttering profanities the entire time.
Scott continued trying to ignore the other boy, but there was only so much of Stiles' whining that he could take. He turned around sharply, nearly crashing into Stiles who stopped hastily.
"If you're going to keep acting like a kid, go home. I don't want to deal with you right now." Scott was angry, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling. Stiles was thrown off-guard, as angry wasn't exactly in character for his oldest friend.
Stiles tried his best to produce puppy-dog eyes. "But it's Stiles-and-Scott time. You're going to give that up for some lame party?"
Scott huffed. "I told you before, this party is important to Mom and me. I already said that I would go. I'm not going to let them down."
Any further griping on Stiles' part was ended when the front door of the Emerson house swung open. A shadowed figure, features unrecognizable in the backlit doorway, called out. "Are you coming inside or what?" The voice was female, and not one that either of the two boys recognized.
"Yeah! We're coming!" Scott yelled back, grabbing Stiles by the arm and pulling him up the driveway. (Stiles may have put some effort into dragging his feet, but he was no match for Scott's werewolf strength.)
"We could hear you two arguing from inside, you know? One of you is extremely rude," the female voice commented as Scott and Stiles approached the porch. Stiles scowled, and Scott dug his fingers in slightly.
"Sorry about that. My friend can be a little..." Scott wasn't quite sure how to finish the sentence, but the girl nodded anyway. "I'm Scott McCall, and this is - "
"I can introduce myself," Stiles said, struggling out of Scott's grasp, "I'm Stiles Stilinski."
"Lovely," the girl drawled sarcastically, "Now get in here. You're keeping me from the cake."
"Now look who's being rude. You haven't even told us your name." Stiles and Scott followed the girl inside the house, the former scowling all the while.
"Juniper," she shot over her shoulder, strutting through the foyer like it was a runway. Stiles scrambled to keep up with her. She was probably the same height as him, but her heels made her into a giant. He didn't have much experience with tall girls, to be honest. He was a bit intimidated (though he'd never admit it out loud).
"You don't even live here."
"Actually, I do. I just moved in."
Scott chimed in, probably saving Stiles from digging himself an even deeper hole. "Oh, so you're one of the girls the Emersons adopted?"
Juniper's response was a derisive laugh. "Good solve, Scooby. Really A+ detective work."
Stiles was once again prevented from speaking, this time by the group's arrival in the living room. The space was fairly full, adults and teenagers in small groups speckled throughout. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and no one seemed to be in any sort of distress, so Stiles was probably wrong about his misgivings this time. Probably.
There was a harsh whisper of "Juniper!" from off to the side. The three turned, but all they could see was a large leafy house plant. The boys were confused, but Juniper sighed heavily.
"Hazel, what are you doing? Get out of there."
A head popped out between some fronds. It belonged to an Asian girl with nervous brown eyes and full frowning lips. Her brown bob covered her face like a blanket, obscuring most of what the plant did not.
"I was waiting for you to get back," she murmured, blushing and releasing the fronds as she made eye contact with Scott and Stiles.
"I'm here now. Seriously, come out. You're being ridiculous."
The plant's pot scooted across the floor as the new girl appeared, head bowed and hands fidgeting. "I'm sorry," she said, "I just don't know anyone but you."
Juniper sighed again, approaching the girl and swinging an arm over her shoulders. "If you keep hiding, you're not going to get to know anyone." She walked the girl forward, positioning them in front of the two boys. "We can start right now. Hazel, this is Scott and Stiles," Juniper gestured to each in turn, "Boys, this is Hazel. She's my new sister."
Scott bounded forward, a large grin stretched across his face. "It's nice to meet you, Hazel. You're going to love living with the Emersons. I grew up around them. They're practically family."
"Ah, yes. They seem very kind." She didn't look at Scott as she shook his offered hand, pulling her own away as soon as possible.
"There's no need to be nervous. At least not with Scott," Stiles commented, looking the girl up and down as subtly as possible (which is to say, not subtly at all), "He's harmless. Basically a giant puppy. Couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."
Juniper snorted, covering her face with her free hand. Hazel looked up, briefly meeting Stiles' eyes, before hurriedly returning her gaze to the floor.
"It's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming."
"Thanks for coming, too - I mean - you live here so obviously you'd be here but..." Stiles babbled.
Scott snickered. "You okay there, buddy?"
"Yeah, totally. I'm in tip-top shape! Just hungry, y'know?"
"There's some manicotti in the kitchen. I can show you, if you'd like," Hazel mumbled, still looking at the ground.
"Yeah! Totally! I love manicotti! It's delish-icotti, I say!" Stiles was flustered, that much was clear. Scott hadn't seen him like this in years, since before Lydia joined the pack and deigned to speak to the hyperactive boy.
The tips of Hazel's ears turned red as she turned and shuffled towards what was clearly the kitchen. Stiles followed, tripping over his own feet but catching himself before he toppled into his guide.
Scott returned his attention to Juniper, who was grinning. (Scott noticed that this seemed out of character for her, as far as he'd seen, but he was smart enough to not comment on it.)
"That was...interesting," Scott commented, a bit of awkwardness lacing his tone.
Juniper chuckled. "That's one word for it. But I'm glad to see her talking to someone finally. She hasn't said a word to anyone but me and the Emersons since the party started."
Scott was considering an appropriate reply when his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the Emersons.
"Scott! I'm so glad you could make it," Mrs. Emerson exclaimed, smiling widely in his direction, "Has Juniper shared how she ended up living with us?"
"No, we've only been talking for a few minutes," Scott replied cautiously, looking sideways at Juniper. He was hoping to read her facial expression and craft his response accordingly. His hopes were quickly dashed, however, when a quick glance provided him with absolutely no insight. Her face may as well have been a blank slate, and Scott was quietly perturbed by how her face betrayed none of her feelings, especially in such an emotionally-charged environment.
"Well, you remember my sister, Susan?" Mr. Emerson inquired in his rumbly Santa voice, which worked surprisingly well when paired with his walrus-esque mustache. Scott nodded.
"Juniper is her daughter. Susan passed away last summer, and we've been fighting her ex-husband for custody of our little Junebug ever since. And now, she's finally here!" Mrs. Emerson was almost too giddy for what was actually really sad news, Scott thought. She had always been upbeat though. It was just her way.
"I asked you to stop calling me that," Juniper grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"But Junebug! We've always called you that, ever since you were a little girl!"
"Well, I'm not a little girl anymore," she mumbled, low enough that Scott could only hear her because of his enhanced senses.
"Scottie, I've got 'cotti!" Stiles approached the group, a smile on his face and two exceptionally large plates of manicotti in his hands. Hazel trailed behind, still red, but Scott thought he could see a bit of a sparkle in her eyes. He might have just been imagining it, though.
"Thanks, man," Scott said as his friend handed him one of the plates. With his now-free hand, Stiles pulled two forks out of his hoodie pocket, passing one along and keeping one for himself. He dug in with gusto, and Scott was a bit embarrassed.
"Mr. and Mrs. Emerson, this is my best friend, Stiles Stilinski. Stiles, these are our hosts."
"'Ice 'oo 'eet 'oo," Stiles declared around a ridiculous mouthful of manicotti. Scott would've face-palmed, except that would only make a bad situation worse.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Stilinski. I see you've met Hazel, then." Mrs. Emerson was beaming, and Scott knew that look. She was plotting something.
"Yuh! She'fs gruy!" Stiles had taken another gigantic bite while Mrs. Emerson was speaking, because of course he would. If Scott hadn't known any better, he might have thought Stiles was raised in a cave, instead of Malia.
There was a low buzzing in Scott's pocket as he received a text message. He fished it out and slid his finger across the screen.
Kira: l+m found an omega in the forest. theyre chasing now but need you to head it off near old hale house asap
The Alpha sighed in relief, causing the others to look at him.
"Oh, we have...a quiz tomorrow in our economics class, and our friend Kira really needs our help studying. We should probably get going." Scott was a terrible liar, but hopefully the Emersons wouldn't be able to tell. Mr. Emerson nodded sagely, Mrs. Emerson smiled kindly, Hazel kept looking at the ground, and Juniper raised her eyebrow at him. Thankfully, Stiles' mouth was too full for him to ask any questions.
"Thanks so much for the food. It was nice meeting you, Hazel and Juniper. I'll bring the plates back tomorrow, okay? Cool, bye!" Scott said as he essentially dragged Stiles out of the house, leaving confused outsiders in his wake.
As they exited the house, Stiles finally managed to speak coherently. "What's up, bro?"
"Kira actually did text. There's an omega prowling around. Liam and Malia are in pursuit, but they want us to head it off. We need to get to the Hale house."
"Okay, but let me finish this manicotti first. It really is delicious."
A/N: We are so excited to finally be posting the first chapter of this fic! My friend (llleeerrroooyyy on tumblr) and I have been working on this for a few months now, and we've grown quite attached to it. We hope that you'll love our children as much as we do, and we look forward to hearing from everyone!