It's Where My Demons Hide
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The sun peeked in through the open curtains, illuminating the room with an early morning glow. The clock on the nightstand beeped, intent on waking up the boy in the bed.
Except, that morning, the boy had already vacated the bed, and had done so a few hours before the alarm was set to go off.
Footsteps sounded from behind the closed door. The handle was twisted, and the face of a tired Sheriff appeared.
"Stiles, time to - " Sheriff Stilinski paused, seeing his son face down on the desk, his head to one side, snoring softly.
Sheriff Stilinski smiled, walking over to his son and reaching out to shake his shoulder when the computer screen caught his eye.
Side effects of demonic possession were the words that had been typed into the search engine. The Sheriff's eyebrows furrowed, the troubled thoughts he experienced being displayed on his face. Concern coated his eyes as he gently bent down so he was resting on one knee in front of his son. His hand clamped down on Stiles's arm and he gave him a gentle push.
"Stiles... come on, it's time to get up."
A gentle groan fell from Stiles's parted lips as he turned his head away from his father's voice.
"Come on, Stiles..." A small grin spread across his lips,"Sorry, Lydia, guess he just wants to sleep today."
"Hmm?" Stiles blinked sleepily, rubbing a hand over his face,"Here... Lydia, what?"
The Sheriff chuckled,"Morning."
"Hmm..." Stiles hummed, wetting his lips,"What time is it?"
"Time for you to get your butt to school." The Sheriff replied,"But first," He motioned to the computer screen,"What's this?"
Stiles sat up, waving it off as he exited out of the internet window on his laptop,"Nothin'..."
"Stiles. Does this have something to do with last night? With that Andrew guy?"
"Anderson, and no."
"You sure? You seemed a little spooked when I came home, and between you and me, there's something a little off with that guy."
Stiles scratched the back of his head,"Nah, it's just... I'm on edge lately. I'm having nightmares, and I don't know, I thought I saw something that I guess I didn't. I thought it might have something to do with the ... demon."
"Maybe you should talk to Dr. Deaton? Or, Lydia?"
"I don't want Lydia to worry. If it doesn't go away, then I will." Stiles took a peek at the clock,"Dad, you're going to be late."
"I can be late. I want to make sure my son is okay. Besides, with Agent McCall taking up the office..." The Sheriff rolled his eyes.
Stiles smirked,"You sound like Melissa."
"Everyone sounds this way after meeting that man." The Sheriff chuckled,"Now come on. Up. Neither of us can put leaving the house off any longer."
"Well we could." Stiles shrugged,"Go get pancakes, and bacon..." Stiles smirked again,"But that's for me, you can have toast so you don't upset your cholesterol level."
"Oh, you're cruel."
"Bye, mom!" Lydia called into her house before shutting the front door. She shivered against the cold late October breeze, her heels clicking against the pavement of her driveway as she approached her car.
The engine spurred to life, and she reversed out onto the road, letting her mind drift as she made her way to school.
She had woken up in a good mood, the headache she had had the night before having disappeared over the course of the night. She thought about seeing Stiles at school and smiled as the butterflies erupted into chaos in her stomach, a warm feeling spreading from her head to her toes. She hated that she had only gotten to know him in recent months, and wondered what it would have been like had she given him a chance earlier. With a grimace, she reminded herself that it was better late than never, and let her fuzzy feelings for the boy wash over her again.
Their dates were always so much different than dates she had ever had with any other guy. Jackson had been all about the physical. They had had their good times, and they had kinda built a love based on the fact that they were put together due to social status, and were in it together, when they really didn't want to be. It was a strange sort of love they had shared. And then Aiden... well, he was never really a boyfriend so much as a distraction. And not a very good one.
Lydia laughed out loud despite herself at her own thoughts, shaking her head.
But Stiles, he was different. He was the type of guy who would show up at your house, catch you in baggy pajamas with no makeup and still look at you like you were the most beautiful girl in the whole world. There was no pressure between them, she didn't have to pretend to be anything other than Lydia around him, and for someone with little experience in the girl department, he was one hell of a kisser.
Stopped at a red light, Lydia blushed and put her head in her hands, willing those thoughts to stop, otherwise she would just be all flustered when she saw him at school.
A soft fuzz settled inside Lydia's mind then, and the rest of the drive was a bit of a blur. It passed quickly, and a text from Allison distracted her as she climbed out of her car.
Where are you? First bell is in ten - Allison
Outside - Lydia
A few seconds went by.
I can't see you or your car - Allison
Lydia frowned and looked up, intent on locating her friend. A gasp fell from her lips when she realised she was standing in the middle of the woods. Eyes wide, she glanced around herself.
"Uh, oh..."
She heard a twig snap behind her and jumped, spinning around and trying to locate the cause.
An immense fear settled over the girl like a dark cloud, and her heartbeat took off like the twig had been the sounding shot at the beginning of a race. She rushed back to her car, climbed in and tore out of her makeshift parking space.
Her morning detour had caused Lydia to be late for her first class. She had gotten off with a warning, and once the bell rang for the next class, she was out the door like a bullet, looking for her boyfriend, and Scott.
She found them in the hallway, talking by their lockers. Rushing over, she slid in under Stiles's arm.
"Hey." Stiles greeted with a grin, leaning down and giving her a good morning kiss. She caught Scott's smile as she pulled back, and quickly wiped it off his face.
"We have a problem."
Lydia told them what had happened, and then stood under the weight of the concerned looks the boys tossed her way. Stiles's grip tightened around her,"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just freaked out. This hasn't happened for a while."
"Did you scream?" Asked Scott.
"No."
"Did you need to scream?" Stiles asked.
"No. Well, yeah, but only a regular scream." She admitted, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment,"But no banshee scream."
"What do you say?" Scott asked, glancing at Stiles. "You, me, after school?"
"Do what?"
"Check the place out." Scott explained. Stiles nodded, using a fist bump to show he was up for it. Lydia shook her head, pointing warningly between the two of them.
"Don't be too late. The blacklight Halloween party is tonight, and we are going." Lydia pointed between the three of them. Scott grimaced and leaned against the locker.
"We are?"
"Yes!" Lydia screeched,"We need some normal teenager fun, and it's the biggest party of the year!"
"Lydia," Stiles chuckled,"You say that about every party."
"What is your point?"
Scott shuffled awkwardly,"I don't know, Lyd, I'm pretty sure Allison is going."
"And?" Lydia scoffed.
"She's going with Isaac?"
"So? Ask someone too!"
Stiles cleared his throat,"You could ask Kira."
"Kira?" Lydia repeated,"Who's Kira?"
"The new girl." Stiles smirked,"And she's right over there."
"Don't look over!" Scott warned. Lydia rolled her eyes,"I'm not Stiles; I can be subtle."
With a toss of her hair, Lydia dug into her bag for her compact mirror. She opened it up and held it to the side of her face. Tilting it slowly, she panned her view over towards the girl Stiles was motioning towards.
"The punk princess?" Lydia closed her mirror,"You like her?"
Stiles wrapped his arm around Scott's shoulder,"Scotty here has a little crush."
A smile tugged at Lydia's lips, and with a smirk, she sashayed over to the girl, stopping beside her.
"Oh my God, I love your skirt!" Lydia exclaimed cheerily, reminiscent on how she first greeted Allison the year before.
"Thanks." The girl replied shyly.
"I'm Lydia." She grinned,"I don't think we've met."
"Kira." The girl replied,"I'm new, and I haven't really met many people here. Mostly teachers, and that's 'cause my dad's the new history teacher. Wow, that's embarrassing."
Lydia beamed,"Not at all. Come on, you should meet my friends!"
Grasping the girl by the wrist, Lydia dragged her back over to the boys. Stiles had a hand in front of his face, grinning cheekily as Scott stood there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, his eyes threatening all kinds of trouble for Lydia for doing this.
Lydia only winked back,"Kira, this is my boyfriend Stiles, and his best friend, Scott. Scott, Stiles, meet Kira."
"Nice to meet you." Stiles replied politely, giving her hand a shake, nudging his best friend to do the same and clearing his throat to hide his laughter.
Scott nervously shook her hand, smiling boyishly. "Hi."
Noticing the two of them just staring awkwardly and blushing, Lydia rolled her eyes and grasped Kira's arm again,"Oh my God, I just got the greatest idea!"
"And what would that be?" Stiles urged.
"You should totally come to the Halloween party tonight. It's at The Warehouse. We're all gonna be there."
"Oh, I don't know where that is."
"Scott does." Stiles jumped in,"He can pick you up, can't you, buddy?"
Scott flushed,"Uh, yeah. No problem."
"Well, you two discuss the plan and let us know." Lydia beamed again, and took Stiles's hand, leading him down the hallway and away from the two awkward teens.
"He's going to kill both of us." Stiles laughed, winding his arm around Lydia's waist.
She grinned, shrugging it off,"He'll be thanking us by tomorrow."
Stiles hand moved to grasp her hand and he pulled her to a stop in the hallway,"Are you sure this party is a good idea?"
"Yeah." Lydia nodded, reaching up to brush his hair with her fingertips,"It'll be good for us. When was the last time we all had a night out together that didn't include a supernatural threat?"
"You got attacked at your house, and what about what happened this morning? It could be something." Stiles fretted.
"Maybe, but Stiles, I wasn't led to a dead body this time and I don't want to scream, so maybe it was just a fluke. Besides, Derek's been looking for whatever attacked me and he hasn't found anything. It's just one night off. If it makes you that uncomfortable, we don't have to go."
"No, no. I want to." Stiles nodded,"I want to have fun with my friends, dance with my girlfriend, make-out in the corner with said girlfriend." Stiles wriggled his eyebrows, leaning down to place a kiss on her jaw.
Lydia giggled, rolling her eyes,"Sounds like a plan, but I wouldn't want to interrupt you and Scott and your bromance."
"Hey, that love is real."
Rolling her eyes, Lydia snorted and began dragging Stiles towards their next class,"Come on, we're going to be late, and Coach Finstock is still upset about Mischief Night."
Stiles laughed loudly. "Yeah... that was fun."
What wasn't fun was gym class. In retaliation for the prank pulled on him, he had scattered the loose iron screws left for him in a decorative box all over the school grounds, and split the class into groups of three, telling them they had to find six between them.
Lydia had been paired with Isaac and Allison, and the three of them had each found three between them. Lydia groaned,"Isn't this some kind of torture? Can we make a complaint?"
Her question went unanswered as Allison bit her lip,"So... Scott's going with Kira?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I ... I may have set it up."
Allison's eyebrows rose,"You?"
"I didn't think it was a big deal. You're going with Isaac."
"No, no, it's not a big deal... he can go with whoever he wants to go with. We broke up like, forever ago."
"Exactly..." Lydia spoke awkwardly,"I'm gonna see how Isaac's doing."
Lydia found the boy around the corner. She saw his claws first and rushed over,"Isaac, what are you doing?"
"Using this to my advantage." Isaac waved his hands towards his fangs.
"Are you crazy? What if someone sees you?!"
"I can sense them coming." His werewolf attributes faded back into the face of the young boy just as another group turned the corner, blissfully unaware as always.
"See?"
"You're an idiot."
"Thank you." Isaac sarcastically replied,"So, I heard you talking to Allison. Scott and Kira, huh? Does that technically mean he and Allison are completely over?"
"I guess. You're already going with her to the party tonight."
"Yeah, but we were going as friends."
Lydia scoffed,"Yeah, right. Have you found anything?"
"Two. We need one more." Isaac shrugged, dropping the two screws into Lydia's open palm.
"Good, so we should probably check by the -" Lydia turned too quickly and a wave of nausea passed over her. She ran to the nearest bush and pulled her hair from her face, emptying the contents of her stomach.
"Woah." Isaac rushed over, taking her arm in order to support her as she coughed,"You okay?"
Lydia straightened up and wiped her mouth,"Fine. I think there's a stomach bug going around."
"You should go to the nurse. I'll tell Coach."
Lydia nodded, holding a hand to her stomach.
"Good idea."
It was whilst she was laying down in the nurse's office that Allison found her. The girl approached the small cot in the corner,"Hey, how're you feeling?"
"Better." Lydia shrugged, moving to sit up,"The nurse couldn't find anything wrong, so maybe I ate something."
"Do you want to go home?"
"No. I'll be okay."
Allison nodded,"Well, Isaac's trying to find Stiles so he can tell him what happened so, we can -"
"No!" Lydia exclaimed,"Text Isaac right now and tell him not to!"
"Okay!" Allison quickly calmed her, taking her phone and sending the text,"Done. Why don't you want Stiles to know?"
"I don't want him to worry. It's probably nothing and he doesn't need the stress."
"The stress?" Allison folded her arms,"Okay, Lydia, I've kept quiet for long enough; what has been going on?"
"What do you mean?" Lydia asked evasively, sliding off of the cot.
"First off, Stiles starts acting funny, and then you do, and then he disappears for a week, comes back, says what he said about Isaac and me - which Stiles would never do - and then you two start sneaking off together. You've barely talked to me these past few weeks."
"I've just been busy."
"With what? I'm your friend, you can tell me."
Lydia opened her mouth and shut it again,"It's not my place to tell."
"What does that even mean?"
Lydia turned back,"Stiles has been going through some stuff, and it's up to him whether or not he wants to tell you about it. I'm sorry, but it's not my place."
With a sad sigh, Lydia ducked her head and moved towards the door.
"I should go."
"I'm on my way."
Lydia smiled, placing her phone down on her vanity table as she sat, picking up the hair curler,"I'm just doing my hair."
"Oh no, I forgot to do my hair!" Stiles exclaimed from the other line, making her roll her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah." She nibbled on her lip, concentrating on the strand of strawberry blonde hair she had wrapped around the curling iron. "So, did you find anything?"
"Nope. Scott said the place was clean. No scent of anything."
"See? Told you. It's nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, but Lydia, he said there was no scent of anything at all. Not even animals."
Lydia paused,"Okay, well... maybe it's just a coincidence. Look, don't worry, okay? We're going to have fun tonight. It's going to be fine."
Lydia hoped Stiles didn't hear how much that reassurance was meant for herself as well as him, and when she heard him sigh, she thought for a moment that she had been caught.
She was excited for this party. It was always a fun time, but with recent troubles and her little spat with Allison, Lydia was struggling to feel as hyped as she had in previous years.
"Okay." Stiles spoke. "I'm pulling up outside now."
"Good, 'cause I'm ready." Lydia hopped up and plugged out the curling iron, setting it on her desk.
She grabbed up her purse, and gave her outfit a once-over glance. She had chosen a pair of denim high-waisted shorts and a floral print crop top that showed off a sliver of abdomen. She paired it with white converse, and had tied her curled hair into a high ponytail. She grabbed her brown leather jacket from her bed and slipped it on before skipping down to steps to greet her boyfriend.
She opened the door and greeted Stiles with a kiss, more excited now than she had been before. Just before they walked out the door, the voice of Lydia's mom called them back.
"Hey, kids!" The woman smiled,"Have fun! Don't get into any trouble."
"We won't, mom!"
Well that's foreshadowing if I've ever seen any :P
I thought you guys deserved a still slightly happy and upbeat chapter considering it is Valentine's Day, and Teen Wolf has put us all through the emotional strainer this week. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm not okay.
Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all have a great day with your significant other! And if you're single, come join me in the single's corner and still have a great day!
'Til next time! :)
- Megan