"Mister McCall, do I need to remind you of my policy on cell phones?"
Scott snaps his eyes up to the front of the class, stuffing his phone under his thigh while trying and failing to look inconspicuous. "Sorry, Mrs. Stewart," he apologizes. "Won't happen again."
She arches an unimpressed eyebrow. "Put it away or I will."
He nods, making a show of zipping it up in his backpack before retrieving his pencil and turning his attention back to his notebook.
Mrs. Stewart turns back to the board, scrawling more notes that Scott halfheartedly begins to copy. Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Lydia watching him, so he glances over to shake his head.
Nope. Still no word from Stiles.
Once again, he reasons with himself that there's really no reason to be worried. Stiles probably just wasn't up for school today. It's not a stretch to think he might have taken an extra day off. He's only been back at school for a couple weeks, and while he may be physically better from his ordeal with the nogitsune, it's obvious he still has a ways to go before he'll be emotionally recovered.
Isn't that true for all of them?
Scott's mom keeps saying that he just needs some time, that they all need some time. He knows in his head that she's right, but that doesn't make it easier to watch his best friend suffering under the weight of what happened.
Right after, Stiles had been so sick (turns out being vomited into existence by a supernatural creature that stole your original body wreaks havoc on your immune system), and Scott thought it couldn't get any worse than that. But at least then Stiles had been too weak to put up a fight when they tried to help him. Since he'd started feeling better, he'd pulled away from everyone. Gone quiet in a way Scott had never seen before. Not even after his mom died.
There's a small part of Scott that knows he's fixating on Stiles because he doesn't want to face his own trauma over what happened. It's easier to see how broken his friend is than to look in the mirror, simpler to forgive Stiles than himself. But he doesn't even know where to begin picking apart the mess of emotions bubbling under his skin. It feels like the best thing he can do is fix Stiles and hope that that somehow fixes him, too.
The bell rings, and Scott blinks at his notebook, realizing he trailed off in the middle of his notes ten minutes ago. And there's an exam next Wednesday. Damn.
Lydia drops her meticulous notes on top of his with an exasperated sigh. Smiling sheepishly, he stuffs them in his backpack and retrieves his phone to check for messages. Still nothing.
"Just text his dad," she says as they shuffle into the hallway with the other students.
Scott bites his lip. "Yeah, maybe I should." He's been debating it all morning, but every time he opens up a new message, he hears Stiles' voice in his head begging him not to worry his dad. The Sheriff has (justifiably) been plenty worried lately, and has been displaying it by essentially smothering his son. If Scott texts him over nothing, there's no way Stiles is not going to find out and hate Scott even more.
But what if something is wrong?
He pulls up the Sheriff's contact, hesitating over the message button.
"Look, Scott," Lydia reasons, stopping at her locker to drop off her books so they can head to lunch. "It's like you said. If he's home, his dad will know. And if he skipped school for whatever reason… Well, don't you think his dad should know?"
She's right, of course. As much as it feels like he's betraying Stiles by going behind his back to his dad, Scott knows this is bigger than that.
And maybe that's exactly what's holding him back. Because texting the Sheriff is like admitting that Stiles isn't getting better. That, even though they'd managed to trap the nogitsune, Scott hadn't saved him. Not yet. Scott just wants so badly for all of this to be over, for everything to go back to normal, or as close to normal as possible. Texting the Sheriff feels too much like it's all starting over again.
Lydia brushes his hand to get his attention, and he realizes he's trembling. "Want me to do it?" she says kindly, her green eyes full of understanding.
He gives her a small smile, wondering not for the first time how Lydia Martin had become one of his closest friends. He's more thankful now than ever for her steadfast strength through all of this, for her depth of empathy. Allison was Scott's first love, but she was also Lydia's best friend, and he knows she's hurting just as much as he is. Yet, here she is, holding him together. Holding them all together.
"I'll do it," he tells her, taking a deep breath and typing out the message. He keeps it short and to the point, reading it over a couple of times before making himself tap send. Too late to change his mind now.
Lydia slips her arm through his as they make their way to the cafeteria. "I'm sure he's fine," she reassures him. "Knowing him, he's probably in bed having a superhero movie marathon or something right now."
"Yeah. I'm sure you're right." It actually does make Scott feel a little better, coming from her. At least she's not getting a feeling like the last time. Which means, wherever Stiles is, he's probably not in immediate danger of dying.
Their bar for okay has become depressingly low these days.
"Hey, guys," Kira chirps happily when she runs into them outside the cafeteria. She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear and bites her lip shyly, as if she's afraid she interrupted something important. "Uh, how's it going?"
A stab of guilt goes through his gut. He kind of left things with Kira in limbo after Allison died, and not in the mature, telling her he needed some time and space kind of way, but rather in the he just hasn't really talked to her kind of way. He can tell she's doing her best to be patient and understanding with him, but it's got to be weird—him grieving over his ex-girlfriend's death and barely speaking to her, his current girlfriend. If they even are dating anymore.
The problem is, he doesn't even know what he wants them to be anymore. He still likes her—like, a lot. There's just so much going on in his head right now. So many conflicting feelings, so much heartache. He keeps resolving to talk to her, to give her something, but every time he sees her he just… Can't.
The worst part about it is, he knows he's doing to her the exact same thing Stiles is doing to him. And it sucks.
It's a wonder he still has any friends at all.
"Stiles didn't show up for school today," Lydia is explaining.
"You don't think he just took another sick day?" Kira asks, reading between the lines. She might still be new to the pack, but she's not blind. "I mean, he told me yesterday he still wasn't feeling well."
"You talked to him yesterday?" Scott demands, his stress and annoyance making the words come out a little more harshly than he intended.
Kira shrinks back, hugging her lunchbox to her chest, and Scott kicks himself. It's not her fault Stiles is avoiding him. "We have history together," she says, as if she needs an excuse to talk to him. "I asked him if he wanted to study after school for our test today, but he said he was just going to go home and go to bed early."
It sounds pretty similar to the excuses Scott's been getting lately. Except, at some point, Stiles had just stopped bothering to give him excuses at all.
"That better be where he is," Scott growls, and then feels bad as Kira continues to look like she's said something wrong.
Scott's phone buzzes before he can tell her it's not her that he's mad at. Seeing Sheriff Stilinski's name, he forgets everything else and opens up the message. Lydia cranes her neck to read it over his shoulder.
Was working a case all night. Haven't been home since dinner. He's not at school?
He takes a breath, trying not to jump to conclusions as he types out his response.
not here. sent a few msgs but no answer. But he hasn't really been answering my texts lately, Scott doesn't add.
There's an agonizingly long pause before his phone buzzes again.
He's not answering me either. Heading home now. Let me know if he shows up there.
The anger he'd been feeling a second ago is replaced by icy fear, and he glances up to see the expression mirrored in Lydia and Kira's faces. This isn't just Stiles avoiding him. Something is wrong.
Scott slides out of line just as they reach the trays, Lydia and Kira following on his heels. "Scott, wait!" Lydia calls after him.
He spins around, pausing so they can catch up. "I'm going to run by his house," he tells them, wishing he'd listened to his gut this morning when Stiles didn't show up for homeroom.
"But, his dad—" Kira starts.
"I don't care," Scott interrupts. "I'm going. Something's wrong, I just know it."
"I'll drive," Lydia offers stubbornly, pulling out her keys.
Kira hesitates, looking uncomfortable with the idea of running out of school in the middle of the day. She's not quite as practiced in playing hooky as the rest of them.
"Why don't you stay here?" Scott suggests, touching her shoulder gently. It's not enough, but he hopes it conveys some small part of his complicated feelings. "In case he shows up."
It seems to relieve at least a small part of the tension, and Kira nods at him. "Okay. I'll meet up with you guys after school."
Scott flashes her a smile before turning to lead the way toward the parking lot, all the while trying to ignore the sense of déjà vu sitting like a brick in his stomach.
The Sheriff does not look the least bit surprised to see the two of them, and while his pursed lips indicate he disapproves of Scott and Lydia leaving halfway through the school day, he doesn't comment on it. If the flashing lights on his cruiser and the way he's talking into his radio as he paces across the front porch are anything to go by, he's a lot more concerned about finding his son than the kids' truancy.
"He's not here," he tells them as they approach, nodding toward the empty space where Stiles' Jeep usually sits. He shakes his head, raising a hand to worry at his hair in the same way that Scott has seen Stiles do a thousand times. "I just can't… Where the hell would he go?"
It's a rhetorical question. If Scott and Lydia had any idea where Stiles was, they wouldn't be here.
Scott answers anyway as he climbs the steps to the porch. "I don't know. He—we haven't really talked that much lately."
The Sheriff takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I know, I know." His voice betrays his own regrets. They'd all been concerned, and now their fears were coming true. Again.
What if the last few weeks had just been another trick?
What if the nogitsune had somehow left a part of itself behind?
They'd barely scraped by the last time. Not all of them had.
The Sheriff turns toward Lydia, his line of thought obviously going in the same direction. "Are you getting any…?" He makes a gesture near his temple, unsure how to define her talent.
"No," she says, staring off into space and tilting her head to the left, like she's trying to listen for something. Her eyes focus back and she shakes her head. "Nothing."
The Sheriff's shoulders slump, though Scott can't tell if it's in relief or disappointment. Probably a little of both. "Okay," he says. "Okay. Well, that's good right?"
Lydia and Scott share a look. "I—I don't really know," Lydia admits. "I don't know enough about how it works." Scott knows she's remembering the first time Stiles had disappeared, when she'd led them to Eichen House. She hadn't been wrong, but they'd misinterpreted the warning. Hadn't had enough of the puzzle to put it all together.
The Sheriff nods, running his hand through his hair again. "I put a BOLO out on his Jeep," he says, falling back into sheriff mode. Scott feels like that's probably not even necessary anymore—the entire sheriff's department is so used to keeping an eye out for that Jeep that they all probably look for it in their dreams at night. "I'm gonna go drive around, see if I spot it at any of his usual haunts."
"Yeah, yeah," Scott agrees, falling back into the sadly familiar rhythm they've established. "Me, too."
He tells himself there's no reason to think that this is anything more than Stiles taking off for a day to be alone. That he's just sick of everyone hovering, pressing, prying. That this is just normal teenage behavior and not the result of some supernatural influence. It would make sense, other than the fact that he would never take off on his dad like this—not so soon after his repeated disappearances. But then, Stiles hasn't exactly been acting like himself. Not for a while.
That thought only amplifies Scott's concern.
Lydia presses her lips together. "Maybe I should stay here," she suggests, gaze drifting toward the house. "See if I can find… Anything."
Scott squeezes her hand when she gives him her keys.
Scott and the Sheriff split up the places they think Stiles might have gone, which really isn't a long list. Deaton's clinic, Scott's house, Derek's loft, the school, the Preserve… It had been a depressingly long time since they'd spent time hanging out at the places their peers went to have fun, like the mall, the movie theater, the local coffee shop.
The Sheriff decides to take everything in town while Scott heads out to the Preserve, the logic being that Scott might be able to track him better by scent out there and it's a lot more ground to cover. But really, either way, it's a lot of ground to cover.
"I'll call the others," Scott says as he gets into Lydia's car, though as he pulls out his phone he's not entirely sure who he means by "the others." There's not a whole lot of others left.
He shoots off a quick text to Kira to update her, and then sends another to his mom briefly explaining what's going on. She's at work, and he won't have to tell her to let them know if, God-forbid, Stiles shows up there for any reason.
He considers sending a text to Malia because she's kind of been hanging around the pack since she got out of Eichen House, but it feels weird to pull her into this. He's hardly talked to her, and he's not sure he's ready to think of her as part of his pack yet. Actually, the only person she's really talked to at all is Stiles, and maybe it's petty, but Scott is a little jealous that she seems like the only person he'll actually talk back to.
Scott knows something went down when they were both at Eichen House, when the wolf lichen wore off and the nogitsune took back control over Stiles. But neither of them have said a word about it. So it's not like Scott doesn't trust her, he's just not sure what to think. Not sure if having her around is such a good idea.
Ugh. He's probably being stupid. He tells himself he'll call her later, after school.
Other than Malia, the only person he can think of to call is Derek.
"Scott." Derek answers in his usual way, sounding personally offended that he's being interrupted from whatever important things Derek does with himself all day. Pushups or stalking people or whatever. "What do you want?"
"Stiles is missing," Scott says without preamble.
To his credit, Derek doesn't ask stupid questions. "Where do you want me to go?"
"His dad is looking for him in town," Scott says. "I'm checking the Preserve."
There's a pause, and then Scott hears a muttered curse. "There's been… something strange going on out in the woods."
Scott frowns. What does that mean? Why didn't Derek mention it…? No, that's a stupid question. "Something strange?" he asks. "Like what?"
"I'm not sure. I'll meet you out there."
Derek hangs up before Scott can ask any more questions or tell him exactly where he's going (the Preserve is a big place), but he knows he doesn't need to anyway. The older werewolf has always been a better tracker than him, and always seems to be able to find him wherever he is.
Hopefully that means he'll be able to find Stiles, too.
And hopefully Derek's suspicion about something weird happening out in the woods doesn't warrant the sinking feeling Scott's getting that their few weeks of respite from the supernatural is officially over.
Obviously, we're ignoring that last little cliffhanger at the end of 3B. I'm pretending that montage lasted like a month, because these kids needed some time. Also, I do like Malia, I just kinda hate how they introduced her. So I'm pretty much gonna ignore that, too. Spoiler alert: the only ship in this story is gonna be friendship.
