Disclaimer: I don't own anything – except for a red hoodie...

AN: There is some biphobic language/attitude covered in this part. This is not a reflection of my beliefs, but meant to portray a far too common occurence.

...As Stupid Does

part 3 of the Stupid 'verse

10/?

Sorting things out with Gavin, and closing the door on the two of them, feels good. He aches a bit inside afterwards, but it's the good kind of ache, like when he's been running a race, or getting a massage. It's a healing ache, and it's long overdue.

Going back to school however... It's a mess. While Stiles has made an effort to be friendly and on good terms with his classmates, he's never gotten exactly close with any of them besides Gavin. Most of the people they'd hung out with as a couple is Gavin's friends first, and that leaves Stiles rather lonely.

Now, he can deal with lonely – especially since it's nowhere near as bad as Beacon Hills before he left – but the gossip does bother him. Some of it, at least.

One rumor says that he left Gavin for "one of those native guys", while another says Gavin dumped him for cheating – again with one of the pack. There are a ton more, all of them versions of the same, all of them annoying. Gavin does an admirable job at trying to shut them up, and has some success, and Stiles just shuts up and deals.

But then there's the other crap.

Stiles' favorite rumors – and by "favorite" he means the ones making him want punch someone – are the ones having to do with him being bi. First there are girls whispering that Stiles broke up with Gavin because he got tired of "experimenting", and that now he's going to date girls instead. As if they completely missed that Stiles actually did go on a date with a girl before he and Gavin got together. And that he chose Gavin instead, because Gavin made him feel something that girl didn't.

And then there's the rumor that makes Stiles see red. That Gavin dumped him for not having the guts to be out "properly". As if being bisexual isn't a real orientation. No one repeats that to Stiles' face though, or close enough that he can identify the speaker. Not after Stiles grabs one especially annoying douche, presses him up against a locker, and calmly explains exactly how many ways he knows how to kill a person and that maybe being both offensive and uneducated is hazardous to ones health.

The gossip mostly die out after a few weeks though, both because Gavin and Stiles actually do try to be friends and because it's high school, meaning something else, more interesting, shows up.

It's good, because while Stiles can deal with being called a cheater, he's protective as fuck of his sexuality. He's heard too many digs about how being bi isn't real, or how it means you're a slut, and every other shitty comment out there, and well. Shutting people up on that matter would be worth a detention or twelve. Problem is, when your self-defense skills comes from running with wolves, and you've learned to go for the kill, letting go among defenseless human teens is a Really Bad Idea.

Detention he can take, thanks to Harris. Being suspended? Not so much. Getting arrested, well. He want to go to college, not jail. Also, it's a very, very good thing that Stiles isn't a 'wolf. Because while he's managing to hold himself back, and not get into fights, the truth is that if he had been a werewolf? There isn't a force in the universe that could have stopped him from shifting in school then, and possibly ripping someone's throat out.

But. Time passes, and people talk less, and Stiles manages to get through the first two months of senior year without putting anyone in the hospital for being an offensive dick. He'll take that as a win.

(Doctor Bianchi agrees.)

Autumn is a whirlwind of therapy and studying and college applications, of self-defense classes and pack, and above all else happiness. Things are running smoother than they have in years, and while Stiles knows periods like this tend to never last as long as he would wish he's also learned to savor every second of it. Holding on to happiness, and letting go of misery is one of the things the doc is trying to teach him, and Stiles tries.

It's how he wants to live.

In October, once all his college applications are done and submitted, Stiles bites the sour apple and writes Scott. Back when they were twelve and couldn't imagine not being together they'd made a pact to go to college together, and be roommates (because brothers) and now Stiles is going to break that.

He doesn't regret doing so, because it's what right for him – and not just because the college he and Scott had picked out at twelve was much too close to Beacon Hills and its pack – but disappointing Scott is not something that comes easy for him.

It goes... Well. It goes. Somewhat. Up until this point Stiles has sent Scott five emails and two postcards – one for Christmas, one for his birthday. The day of his initial email, and the day after, becomes a flurry of messages. After the ninth email from Scott – all progressively more upset – Stiles gives up. There is, after all, only so many ways he can type the same thing without going insane.

Words have never been something he and Scott have focused much on. Ever since the beginning a huge part of their communication has been through non-verbal means – touch, looks, tone, expressions, gestures... It's been a good thing, allowing them to communicate without either having to say things that are too painful for words. (The illness and death of Claudia Stilinski, while possibly the worst, is only the tip of the iceberg.)

But now? Now that habit is biting Stiles in the behind, because he can't do that, and he doesn't know how to do this without those clues.

In the end he gives in and calls. It's not the best solution, but it's a hell of a lot better than e-mail, because it'll give Scott something other than silent words to go on. It's not a decision Stiles makes easily, because he really doesn't want to be found and he's sure Scott's cell is at least monitored, if not outright bugged, but it is the best option. Well – it's the best option once his dad hands over a burner phone, that is.

He calls the next time he's in Seattle, hands sweaty and stomach doing loops. (It's a good thing he has a session with Dr Bianchi after. He'll need it.)

It's almost ridiculous how happy hearing Scott's voice makes him. It's almost enough to make Stiles reconsider staying in Washington for college. Almost, but not quite. He misses Scott, yes, but he can't go back to Beacon Hills. He doesn't want to go back, and since he has a choice? He's not going to. Not even for Scott.

What's also ridiculous is how much easier it is to explain himself to Scott this way. He's using the same words, pretty much, only now he's speaking them instead of typing them. It shouldn't make that much of a difference, but it does. It's not as good as talking in person, or even over Skype, but it does give Scott more cues to go on, which is something Stiles has noticed has become even more important after Scott's turning.

There are pauses and emphasis, there's underlying emotion... And there's Stiles' heartbeat in the background, which not only provides Scott with something to judge the truth of those words by, but also soothes him.

All together it works to convince Scott that no, Stiles really isn't going to come back, and yes, he really does think it's for the best. Because while "dude, Beacon Hills is the fucking Hellmouth, okay, and I so couldn't rock an eye-patch" isn't something that can really be conveyed in an email, it actually makes sense when it's two best friends talking to each other.

Scott keeps asking if Stiles leaving and changing his plans is because of the pack, and Stiles... He does that thing where he not quite lies, but definitely doesn't tell the whole truth. Because it is because of the pack, or more specifically because of its Alpha – luckily Scott doesn't ask if it's Derek's fault, not out loud anyway – but at the same time it's not. Yes, Stiles left because of Derek, and the pack, and he would happily stay away because of them. But in the end? Stiles made the choices he did for himself, because they will make him happy, not because of anyone else.

The Hale pack never made him feel safe, and home, and happy – not even while Scott was still part of it. That in combination with how there was always trouble in Beacon Hills, and how much better his life is now in every aspect except for missing Scott? That's exactly why Stiles needs to stay where he is.

When Stiles ends the call it hurts, more than he wants to admit. But endings always do, and even if Stiles is never ever giving Scott up, this is an ending. Not the end, not of them, not ever, but still an end.

Then again, it's also a beginning. And while beginnings can hurt just as endings do, they carry the potential for everything.

He starts feeling uncomfortable during second period, and when he sits down for lunch he's got almost a dozen texts to answer. Two of them are from Embry, with the rest spread out through the Pack. Stiles does his best to calm them, but still ends up with insurances that they'll come running if he needs them and is made to promise to call if that need occurs.

It only gets worse during the afternoon, and during his last class of the day Stiles is about ready to crawl out of his skin. Luckily it's Thursday, meaning he might be able to talk his dad into letting him skip the next day and leave for La Push. Sure, skipping class is bad, especially when you're a senior and applying for scholarships, but John Stilinski will probably sign off on it – he's accepted Stiles' bond with Embry, and appreciates the good it does for his son.

The fact that Stiles is ahead in almost all his classes and can make up all of the theoretical work without effort helps. Once he hits the rez he'll start calming down, he knows it, and even if Embry isn't available Stiles will be more focused and get more work done in the hour after arriving than in five at home. He's made friends in the pack, and with the imprints, and when Embry's patrolling or working he usually stays at Sam's with his wife and imprint Emily.

Besides, at least one wolf will find his way there once Stiles arrives. It's just how it works. After his breakdown (and breakup) at the beginning of summer, and even more after he flipped out on Paul, they all tend to worry. Stiles would be annoyed, probably, if not for the fact that he knows they have good reasons to be. Yes, he's better now, but he's not all the way. (He might never be, but that's another question.)

It's just the way things work out that his last class of the day is Spanish, the one class he shares with his ex, and that Gavin has gotten into the habit of walking with him towards the parking lot, sharing small talk in an effort to get the very real friendship part of their failed relationship working again.

Stiles usually likes it, is grateful that Gavin's making the effort, but not today. Today he's just too spaced out, and it shows. They haven't even cleared the building by the time he loses the thread and has to ask "what?" for the fifth (he thinks) time.

Once he has a clear view of his car (the one replacing his beloved, but memory-tainted jeep) he understands why. Next to it is a sleek black Camaro, and leaning against it is a dark-haired, leather and jean clad man. Well. 'Wolf.

For the first time in over a year he's looking at Derek Hale.

Fuck.

Stiles' first impulse is to back up and get back into the school, find a place to hide and then call for backup. It's a good plan, or would be – if not for the fact that he's dealing with a werewolf. Derek might not let it show, but he already knows that Stiles is there. Running isn't actually an option. He can try, sure, but it won't help. Derek will just hunt him down, and that won't end well for anyone. It never does.

Stiles can deal with whatever Derek can dish out, but what he can't deal with is collateral damage. That means he has to come up with another plan, and one that leaves the innocents out of it.

Good thing improvising is one of his strengths.

He turns to Gavin, who finally picked up on the fact that something is wrong, and hopes that his ex will show that brilliance that got Stiles hooked.

"Stiles? That guy over by your car, it kinda looks like he's waiting for you. You know him?"

"Yeah... That would be my...eh...ex." Stiles cringes internally, knowing that Gavin is fully aware of exactly how much of an overstatement that is. But, there's no way he's going to voice the truth about his "relationship" with Derek out loud, in public.

"I'm sorry, I did not know he was going to show up, but I should deal with this."

Somewhere not here, with no innocents around, and preferably with back-up. Now he just needs a way to alert someone. If he can only find a way to make Gavin work with him...

"Should we call your dad?" Gavin's worried, for good reason, and part of Stiles wants to say yes. However, he doesn't want his dad to become collateral damage.

"No. Really, it's fine – I can do this. There's no need for dad to get involved. Not as my dad, and not as the sheriff."

This is his chance though. He's got his back towards Derek, and Gavin's looking straight at him. Stiles takes a deep breath, stares hard into Gavin's eyes and then clearly mouths "call Embry". A second's thought, and he adds "and Emily".

Gavin stares back, making Stiles squirm, and then nods.

"Okay, yeah, if you think that's best. But, call me later tonight? Just so I know you're actually okay." And yes, thank you.

"I will. Thanks."

It's a risk, Stiles knows, but since he also knows Derek won't let him make an unsupervised call, Gavin is his chance. His only chance. He gives Gavin a slightly shaky smile and a wave before walking over to his car. To Derek.

"Stiles."

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

As if that's actually an answer. Of course, to Derek it is. Because everything should happen according to Derek's schedule, should follow his rules. As usual. Because he's the Alpha.

Only this time Stiles won't bow to Derek. Not ever again. Because Derek is not his friend, nor his lover, and he certainly isn't Stiles' Alpha. And it's time he learns exactly that.

~ TBC ~