Stiles leaves when he figures out that Derek is training Scott to become the Alpha. Having that realization blossom like a nuclear explosion somewhere behind his eyes is the last straw. He wakes up that morning and lies quietly in his bed, his fingers interlaced behind his head, contemplating yet another day of crises and petty bullshit, of lying to Dad, of pretending to be just another teenager, another day of the pack and Scott becoming, and now also of watching Derek preparing him to take the throne.

SHIELD's therapists are second to none. They have to be, of course. So it isn't their fault. Stiles simply has never been able to take that entire profession seriously. If he'd wanted somebody to feel sorry for him and agree that the entire world was against him and commiserate how hard and unfair it all is - he'd have been born Jackson.

The shrinks don't do much to help him deal with Mom's death. He works through it on his own. True, he doesn't really give them much of a chance, but the end result is the same. He makes it through. He and Dad. By themselves. Even Scott hasn't known about the panic attacks.

Nothing else is ever going to be harder, so who needs the diplomaed frauds, anyway.

Maybe it's an issue of trust. Ever since the school counselor tried to murder them all, he's been a little guarded.

Maybe not.

It doesn't really matter.

He goes to all the sessions and even tries (honestly tries) to keep the smart-assery at bay. None of them really get a handle on him, as far as he can tell. Which doesn't do much for his regard of their vocational choice.

One of the reasons Stiles feels at home at the Directorate is because it is a refuge for broken toys. Broken but functional.

You can't be normal and do the job. All you can, all you must, do is keep the crazy out of sight or, preferably, turn it into something useful.

Exhibit A: Widow, Black.

Exhibit B-Z: Everyone else on the fucking payroll.

By the time Stiles runs away to the university, his Dad suspects and/or knows enough not to put up a lot of fuss. When they say good bye, Stiles suddenly notices the gray in the hair and the gauntness in the face, the stooped shoulders, the crow's feet. All the details come together with vivid clarity and punch him with the obvious, clichéd, terrifying realization of Dad's mortality.

But he still has to go. He has to go, or stay and go insane, lose it completely. If he sticks around Beacon Hills, if he follows through with their and Scott's old plans of going to State, if he doesn't get out here and now - he'll break. Loudly and all over the place.

And so Stiles slinks away, avoiding some sort of ridiculous scene or a dramatic high-schoolery kabuki of farewell and tearful promises of reunion and eternal friendship. Surreally, considering the beginning of their freaky little fairy tale, only Allie and her father catch him on his way out and do the awkward dance he's been trying to avoid.

Well. Allison does. Mr. Argent just throws a GoTH bag at his face and growls something about Stanford being lousy with the monsters. As it turns out (disappointingly) the bag's name has nothing to do with dressing like Vampire Lestat and instead stands for Go To Hell. And, inevitably, things do and the stuff in it turns out to be horribly (in all senses of the word) useful. And, in fact, indirectly leads to Stiles being recruited by SHIELD, in the fullness of time.

None of this is apparent as he drives out of Hills, trying desperately to hang on to his Stilesness, and to generally keep his shit together.

He breaks anyway. But it's a controlled explosion by then, and he has enough experience at masking the terrifying and the mundane that it is no big chore for him to play it off as the usual nervous collapse of a small town freshman overwhelmed by the big, bad university.

He breaks, and then rebuilds himself, brick by brick, from the ground up, carefully searching for a new center and an old self.

It may be inevitable, Stiles thinks detachedly from time to time, that he will return to Beacon Hills one day. Not to the place, perhaps. But to that which matters.

Too many secrets, too many bonds, too much blood ties him to the people, to his pack. But if, or when, he does - he has to be stronger than when he left. And if the Gods are kind, for once, he will be strong enough, and in time enough, to prevent Scott from having to tear Derek's throat out.

It is not a dramatic break. He writes, they call. Erica sends him links to the best (and sometimes distressingly disturbing) porn. Stiles sends her notes on how to kill a chimera.

Lydia and Jackson visit his sophomore year, raising his status on campus by at least 15%.

Allie, Danny and Erica drive up a few months after, and fairly regularly after that, occasionally bringing Isaac, and often Boyd. Their visits only sometimes resulting in significant property damage.

He wouldn't see Scott for half a decade.

But blood will always out in the end.