See chapter 1 for all warnings.
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Embracing Your Inner Bunny
02 – Paying the Consequences
"Stiles," someone's calling my name and their breath is tickling my ear. "Stiles," his voice is warm and I know him from somewhere, I really want to go rabbit right now, the voice is someone that cuddles me so nicely.
I'm so tired, the last thing I remember is face planting on my bed and I rub my face into my covers, "Nrgh," I whine.
"Come on Stiles, time to wake up," the voice murmurs and I prise my eyes open to stare into intense blue eyes that are only a fraction of an inch from my own.
Startled I bolt backwards off of my bed and clatter to my bedroom floor all to a breathless chuckle from Peter. He's still crouched down over my bed like a creeper and his blue eyes twinkle at me, "Dude!" I complain and try and calm my racing heartbeat.
"Peter," Derek's voice is hard and annoyed and he's glaring at his uncle.
"What?" Peter's all fake innocent, "I'm not going to do anything bad to my sweet little rabbit."
"Except give me a heart attack!" I complain, "Jesus, some of us aren't werewolves with super duper reflexes, give a guy a chance to wake up in the morning…" And then I notice the shadows in my room aren't the ones you get in the morning, they're the ones you get late in the afternoon, "What time is it?" I scrub at my face trying to wake up, but I'm so tired.
"Gone five in the afternoon," Peter's standing up and then the pushy bastard lays down on my bed and pats the spot next to him, "Why don't you have a nap while Derek runs off and gets you some nice food?"
Derek's face actually doesn't show how much he hates that idea, he seems willing to run off and get me food. In fact he's been willing to run around and bring me things while I've been stuck at home, or where I've forgotten something in my previous short escapes from the house. He still doesn't say that much, but he lets me babble at him and when he does say a few words, I'm convinced he's on a quota of words and isn't allowed to go over the quota, it shows that he's been listening to me.
The only other person who really listens to me is Peter.
So not only are both Hales naturally good at creeping, they're surprisingly good listeners, though in Peter's case he tends to put his opinion in too and we have fun debates about stuff.
Yawning I argue, "Why don't you go and get me food and Derek can keep me company, you know he doesn't say that much and I'll have a nap," plus Derek will keep his hands to himself and won't snark at me so much or give me a lot of 'I told you so' like I know Peter will.
"Fine," Peter gets up and sashays to the door, he turns dramatically, "Be a good little rabbit and sleep, I won't be long," and then he's gone.
Derek cocks his head to one side and I know he's listening to his uncle, he nods about three minutes later, "He's gone," and I get a full on eye contact and staring match from Derek, which is new, he's been doing his best to avoid eye contact since I first changed back and they hid me near the place I was being kept.
Uh-oh, he's building himself up for something, I'm too tired to run from the room fast enough and I'm getting to my feet when Derek clears his throat, I brace for the normal type of parental lecture but all I get is, "Thank you for helping Isaac."
Relieved he's not going to yell at me for being dumb and over doing it I shrug, "No probs, I take it he slept well?"
"Yes, finally, we knew what you'd done the moment he stepped in the apartment all we could smell was you and fur," Derek's still giving me epic eye contact, "Don't worry I won't tell him how much it cost you, you know he won't come to you for comfort otherwise."
"Right, good," I sense some kind of trap but I'm not working on all cylinders right now.
His eyes skim over my clothes and he asks, "You want to go and get changed for bed? That way you can eat and then sleep."
"Yeah," I snag my sweatpants and t-shirt I've been using to sleep in all week and go to the bathroom. It feels awesome to pee and my mouth is rank so I clean my teeth. Changing I shuffle back into my room using the last of my waning strength.
I'm that wobbly that Derek catches my arm and leads me to my bed, he's pulled the covers back and I settle in as he pulls the covers back up and tucks me in, "Peter's text me, he's got some ingredients and he's going to cook for you, get some sleep, he'll play in the kitchen for a while."
"'Kay," my head hits the pillow and I'm out like a light.
Three days later I have to applaud Derek's approach. Peter wanted to nag me like he normally does, but Derek told him I'm smart enough to figure it out on my own and Peter backed off.
And Derek was right I did figure it out on my own.
Crap.
If Isaac or Scott had found me, like Peter and Derek had, they would never accept rabbit cuddles off of me again, they'd be worried about draining me too much, and as much as Scott can be a dick, and runs off after Allison all the time, I know he'd be beating himself up over failing as my Protector.
I have no idea how Isaac would deal but I'm going with it'll be along the same lines as Scott, except that Isaac needs bunny me way more than Scott does.
Having taken Derek's, surprisingly effective, hint, I've drawn up a rough table that I'll be taking along to a picnic at the Hale-Lahey place in the meadow, even Mrs McCall has gotten some time off to go too.
As it's in two days I should be fit to go rabbit and play around and have short cuddles with people. Then I'll have five days off to recover, and then I'll start what I hope will be a three day cycle. Two days off resting, one day as a rabbit with a max two hour cuddle time, that includes my dad, I'll sneak in when he's sleeping and stay awake, if I start to fall asleep I'll have to leave.
It's not ideal, I wish I could cuddle for longer, though Peter's mentioned as I get older I'll get more powerful and be able to cuddle for longer. I just hate waiting for things though.
Saving my charts and spreadsheets I tromp down the stairs, dad will be back from work soon and he's looking so much better as we have some new Deputies and they're settling in easily. It means less double shifts for dad and he won't need my sleep cuddles as much so I don't feel as guilty for scheduling him in my rota.
A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, I've tried to catch those I could, but I'm only human.
