Here it is: the reworked final chapter of Love So Powerful That It Aches. I urge everyone to read this chapter from the beginning, even if you read the previous version, as I have made several subtle changes throughout. Okay, truth time: it honestly did not feel right ending the story the way I did before. As a fluff addict, it did not sit well with me. I think you all will find this ending much more palatable. I know I did. Writing this story has been a significant journey, and I'd like to thank you all for taking it with me.

As Stiles and I trudged down the stairs, we were stopped by my mom.

"Oh. Hello, boys. I saw Stiles' car outside, so I kinda figured he'd stayed here last night. Well, get on to school before you're late."

I didn't know what to say. I stood there with my mouth slightly open, but no words would come out. Stiles gave me a questionable look, smiled at my mom, and left out of the door, probably figuring that I'd snap out of it in a second and follow him. My mom grabbed my arm, gave me a wink, and walked off toward the kitchen. Clearly, she knew exactly what was going on between Stiles and I.

"Did she say anything?" asked Stiles as I entered his Jeep.

"Um, no. She just...winked at me."

"Well, that's good, right? She wasn't pissed at you for having me over all night."

"Yeah. I guess it's just weird that she knows. It's such a sudden thing for her to just know about me dating my male best friend like that."

"Yeah, well, hard parts outta the way," said Stiles with a smile and started his Jeep.

At lunchtime, Isaac somehow made his way over to our table again.

"Scott, before you say anything, I just wanted to apologize. I didn't realize that I was crossing the line, and for that I am sorry," said Isaac.

Stiles gave him a heartwarming smile, but I wasn't buying it. I pulled Stiles closer to me, even though Isaac was sitting on the opposite side of the table. Stiles shot me a death gaze and I rolled my eyes, silently agreeing to play nice. He smiled at my cooperation. Our nonverbal communication was amazing.

Isaac seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

"Fine. It's alright, Isaac. I guess I can be a little overprotective sometimes."

Isaac smiled and I gave him a pathetic smile back. That was when I saw Allison sitting with Lydia and Jackson at another table. I felt bad for almost forgetting she existed when we had lunch the same period.

"I'll be right back, Stiles," I told him quietly.

He smiled and nodded in response.

I walked over to Allison's table and everyone gave me a look like I was some kind of monster. I was sure she'd slandered me to everyone, and rightfully so.

"Uh, hi, Scott," Allison said, giggling at how I walked over and didn't say anything for over ten seconds. "You need something?"

"Um, can we talk?"

I pointed to an empty table. She smiled weakly and walked over to it, sitting down. She was silent, waiting for me to start.

"I, uh...I wanna make amends."

"I've already forgiven you, Scott. I just need time."

"How much time?"

She was quiet for a while.

"I don't know."

She got up and walked back over to her table.

Allison had been in the back of my mind since I'd broken up with her so bluntly. I felt terrible, but I was determined to reconcile with her. I did still love her, very much so. I sat there scratching my head in frustration and decided to glance over at Stiles and Isaac. He was looking at something on Stiles' phone. The fact that he was holding something that belonged to Stiles was enough to convince me to make my way back over there. I didn't want Stiles to end up holding anything else of Isaac's.

"What did you do?" asked Stiles when I sat back down next to him.

"I tried to fix things with Allison, but she said she still needs time. I'm willing to wait because I will repair my relationship with her."

"Oh, Scott. You can't fix everything. You're always trying to make everything right in the world. That's one of the reasons I love you."

Stiles kissed me on my cheek. I felt awkward with Isaac just sitting there, so I decided to join him in the conversation.

"So, Isaac, what's new in your life?"

"Nothing, really, other than the whole werewolf thing, but that's old news now." He scratched the back of his head, appearing not to know what else to say.

"You okay?" I asked.

He appeared flustered by something.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

He smiled falsely. After the bell rang, Stiles and I went our separate ways. Isaac grabbed me in the hallway.

"Wanna ditch this period?" he asked.

"I'm the last person at this school who should be ditching anything," I said truthfully. "I must say that I'm surprised, though. I didn't think you would wanna go anywhere with me after the way I've been treating you."

"Ah, it's understandable. Totally cute boyfriend causes you to be a d-bag; I get it."

My cheeks reddened a little, embarrassed that he thought I was a d-bag.

"There is a way you can make it up to me, though," he suggested, smiling.

I already knew that he was talking about me ditching with him. Being the desperate-to-be-liked-by-everyone guy that I was, I accepted his proposal. He probably just wanted us to become friends after he gave me the wrong impression. I nodded and smiled, then we snuck out of the school.

"Isn't this...Derek's car?" I asked, looking around, wondering if Derek was gonna come out of nowhere and murder Isaac right in front of me.

"Yeah. He let me borrow it. I told him it was for pack purposes."

Even with his explanation, I was hesitant to enter the car. Eventually, though, I gave in.

"Alright. Let's do this," I said, shrugging.

After we'd gone to the arcade and gotten something to eat, Isaac surprised me with a question.

"Where do you live?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"You wanna go to my house?"

I was skeptical.

"Yeah...there's some stuff I wanna tell you."

He seemed overladen.

"Okay," I said softly.

After we got to my house, we went up to my bedroom. Isaac sat on my bed and I accompanied him.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"I like Stiles," he admitted.

"I kinda figured."

"But I don't wanna be with him."

"Then why are you always being all flirty?" I asked, confused.

"It was Derek's idea."

He seemed physically pained to be betraying his alpha, then it all came together for me. Derek's "tests" were Isaac flirting with Stiles. Derek was testing me to see if I could control my anger...and I did.

"Wow. Derek is a total genius," I said, smirking.

"Wait. So...you're not angry?"

"Why would I be? Nothing bad came of it, and now my problem is solved. I'm controlling my anger."

"Do you know how you're doing it, though?"

He'd bursted my bubble. I exhaled and my shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I don't know what to do, Isaac."

He reluctantly placed a comforting hand on my back and rubbed a little in a soothing circular motion.

"Hey, I meant to ask you what you were looking at on Stiles' phone," I mentioned.

"Your body."

"What?"

"I asked Stiles if he had a picture of you shirtless."

"Why?"

"I told him I had a crush on you. He felt so bad because he thought he was dating my crush, so he obliged when I asked to see a pic of your abs. I don't have a crush on you, Scott."

"So, why did you ask to see the pic then?"

"I actually just want you to fuck my brains out," he said while checking something on his phone.

"Oh. Uh, wow, Isaac. You've, um, become so straightforward. I guess I appreciate the honesty."

"How's you and Stiles' sex life?" he asked bluntly.

"What? Did Stiles discuss that with you?"

"No, of course not. I was just wondering." Isaac looked down at his hands.

"It's terrible, to be honest," I confessed. "I'm always afraid I'm gonna hurt him, you know?"

"Hurt him how?"

"I don't know. Like I might lose control and do it too recklessly or something 'cause I'm a werewolf."

I felt myself blushing.

"That sounds like a good thing, though. Sounds really pleasurable."

"Yeah, but Stiles is a human, a very soft one at that."

I rolled my eyes and Isaac shrugged.

"I'm not human," he stated, still looking down at his hands as he played with his fingers a little. "I've always wondered what it would be like to just be fucked by another werewolf," he continued. "I mean really fucked."

I just sat there and watched him talk. It was like watching a sex scene in a film: arousing, but out of place.

"I used to wonder what it would be like to suck another werewolf's cock," he added.

"Used to?"

"Yeah...oh, did you forget about Derek? I mean, I'm not dating him or anything, but you know the guy gets horny. He used to just ignore his sexual cravings 'til I came along. I'm always teasing him and getting him real wired up."

"Derek's gay?"

"Alpha werewolves don't have sexual preferences."

"So...so what did you and Derek do?" I asked, guiltily turned on listening to him talk about his sex life.

"I sucked his cock."

The way he said it without shame made more blood rush to my pants.

"The guy has a huge cock," he went on. "I think it's a werwolf thing, huge cocks. I love sucking cocks. I think they taste good. I noticed that every guy tastes different. Anyway, I didn't let him fuck me. No, I would only let someone fuck me if I liked their personality. I mean, don't get me wrong; Derek is hot as shit, but the guy's a dick. You, on the other hand, you could fuck me."

"I could?" I asked, feeling drunk from listening to him talk about his sexual appetite.

"Definitely. You're so sweet, and hot too. If I'm right about all werewolves having big cocks, that means you have one too. Do you, Scott?"

"I...I don't know."

"Well, what does Stiles say? Actually, it doesn't matter what he says, unless he's given you a blow job or let you fuck him. Those are really the only ways to tell if a cock is truly big or not. I know you haven't fucked him, 'cause you told me you haven't, but has he sucked you off?"

I shook my head "no".

"Why not?" Isaac asked.

"He doesn't do that, but he says maybe after we've been together longer," I answered.

"That's too bad."

I remained silent.

"Well, since Stiles wouldn't be able to tell me if you have a big cock, and you say you don't know, how about I take a look, you know, for research purposes, to see if all werewolves really do have big ones? I could do an...in-depth analysis," he suggested devilishly.

He started to rub me in the area of interest.

"For research?" I asked.

"Yeah. Research."

Isaac went for my zipper, but I grabbed his wrist.

"What?"

He seemed annoyed.

"I wanna fuck you," I blurted.

He tried to pounce, but I put my hand against his chest to stop him.

"But, I'm with Stiles, and you know that. Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm horny, but you didn't fuck me and you're faithful to Stiles. Congrats. It's for the best, anyhow; I probably would've made your dick sore," he said before winking and leaping out of the window.

I fell back on my bed and exhaled. His offer was very enticing. I felt like a cheater, a horn dog who's main concern was sex rather than love, but I smiled as I realized that I wasn't a cheater. I controlled myself and turned Isaac down. Stiles was all I really wanted. I looked at the clock and realized that the class period I'd ditched was almost over. I needed to get back to school. I didn't like riding my bike super fast 'cause it looked suspicious, but it was the only way I was gonna make it back to the school in time for next period. Isaac had left me with no ride. Being a werewolf really came in handy sometimes.

"Isn't that Stiles' t-shirt?" asked Jackson as I changed after lacrosse practice.

Stiles had a dental appointment and couldn't make it to practice.

"Yeah, so?"

"You two are weird."

I shrugged, thinking that it was a pretty normal thing for a guy to share clothes with his boyfriend. A moment later I realized that Jackson must have been unaware of my dating Stiles. Allison told him and Lydia that I'd broken up with her, but, apparently, she didn't tell them why. I smiled involuntarily. She always thought of others first, even when they'd wronged her. I was sure that he'd know very soon though, as I'd made out with Stiles in the lunchroom yesterday when I was proving a point to Isaac. That was the first time we'd been affectionate with a lot of people around. I mean, I didn't care if people knew about our relationship; I just knew that jerks like Jackson were gonna make it into something they could use against us. Obviously, Allison had considered it as well.

Much to my surprise, Stiles showed up in the locker room.

"You're back?"

"Yeah. Apparently, my appointment was an hour ago, so..."

"Oh, hey, Stiles. Scott," Isaac greeted us. He always seemed to show up whenever I was with Stiles.

"Hey," said Stiles.

I gave him a silent "hey" nod.

"How come you weren't at practice?"

"Oh. I had an appointment."

"Oh. Okay. You know, it sucks that you weren't here. My favorite part of practice was always watching you change," he said with a wink, 'causing Stiles to blush uncontrollably.

I looked at Isaac in disbelief as he grinned at me.

"Can I have a hug?" he asked Stiles.

"Sure. I love hugs, but why?"

"You're just so adorable," he explained as he embraced Stiles.

I watched as his hand made its way down Stiles' side to the top of his jeans.

"That's enough," I said.

His hand then made its way around to Stiles' butt. I snatched him off of Stiles and slammed him against a locker.

"I said that's enough," I repeated.

"Scott! For fuck's sake, I thought you weren't gonna do this anymore," exclaimed Stiles.

"But he was-" I tried to explain.

"But he was what, Scott? Hugging me like friends do? You're really unbelievable, you know that?"

He left out of the locker room without another word.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled at Isaac after Stiles had stormed out.

"Did I say the tests were over? No. Did Derek say the tests were over? Maybe, but he's my alpha, not my master."

"So you wanna fuck Stiles too, huh?" I asked in disbelief.

"I wouldn't mind, especially since I've never been on top. I think he'd be a nice first plow."

I restrained myself from strangling him, thinking about how Coach Finstock had said that I had one more strike left.

"I thought you liked me. I thought we were friends."

"I like your dick, Scott, not you, and, last time I checked, we didn't have sex, so I don't owe you anything."

He was pure evil. I stood there, not knowing what else to say as Isaac shot me a wink and left out of the locker room.

I tried to call Stiles for what was probably the tenth time as I left out of the school. It was a good thing that I had brought my bike because Stiles didn't wait for me. He was pissed. I also had a train of unanswered texts that I'd sent to him. I was desperate to talk to him, so I took the liberty of stopping by his house.

Not too long after after I'd rang the doorbell, Stiles came to the door.

"Can't you tell that I don't wanna talk to you?"

"Yeah, but you have to let me explain."

"No, Scott. Believe it or not, I don't have to do whatever you want."

He slammed the door in my face. I figured I'd done enough damage to my relationship for one day and was about to go home until I heard the door reopen. It was Stiles again.

"Okay, let's go to the mall, because I'm not about to be that guy that ignores his boyfriend when he's angry at him. That doesn't solve anything," he said as he exited his house and headed for his Jeep.

"You know, you're really great," I told Stiles as I bit into my soft pretzel while we were sitting in the mall's lounge area.

"Is that so? How?"

"You just...who else would actually have the finesse to work out their relationship issues immediately rather than getting all emotional. Only you, Stiles. You're so smart and goal-oriented."

I tried to kiss him but he quickly pulled his head back.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just...nothing."

"I guess I have to take back everything I said because you're dodging my question right now rather than just telling me what's wrong. Wait, is it because we're at the mall? Are you ashamed of me?"

"No, Scott. It's not that at all. It's just...I'm tired of you being all overprotective all the time and I'm starting to feel like the only way to fix the problem is to cut back on all the lovey stuff, okay?"

I just nodded in understanding. I didn't try to convince him otherwise. I felt terrible, but I respected and understood what he was saying. It must have been terrible to always be worried that your boyfriend was gonna flip out on the people you interacted with, especially if that boyfriend was a werewolf, like me.

Just then, Jackson and Lydia appeared.

"Hey, guys," said Lydia cheerily.

She took the liberty of sitting next to us which clearly annoyed Jackson, but he eventually sat too. Jackson was peering at Stiles.

"Um, what?" asked Stiles.

"Calm down, Hickeysaurus. I was just looking at your neck," said Jackson.

"Hickeysaurus? What?" asked Stiles.

Stiles realized that Jackson was talking about the hickeys I'd left on his neck a while ago that still hadn't healed. He quickly zipped up his jacket to cover them.

"Well, it was certainly nice seeing you two, but we've gotta run," said Stiles, in a hurry to leave.

I smiled at Lydia and Jackson then quickly got up and followed Stiles.

"Sorry," I said as I caught up with him.

"It isn't your fault. I let you leave them on me," he said, frowning at me a little.

I had Stiles drop me off at Derek's hideout rather than at home. I had a few questions to ask him concerning his sociopath minion, Isaac.

"You keep showing up here," said Derek as he approached me. He always heard and smelled me before I even got inside.

"You shouldn't be complaining about anything after you sent Isaac out to ruin my life."

"Yeah, he was the test, obviously. I thought you wanted my help."

"I did, but now Isaac's made a game of it."

"Well, that isn't my problem nor my fault."

"I know. I can handle him myself. What I really wanted to talk to you about were the results of your little experiment. I actually did control my anger one time, at lunch, when Isaac was sexually harassing Stiles with a cookie."

"I know. You don't think Isaac reports back to me? He also told me that you have no idea how."

"Yeah, I don't. Do you?"

"Nope, but I will tell you that, the same way that you learned to control your transformation during a full moon, you can learn to control how angry you get over Stiles. Although, I will say that, even though I do remember you getting angry over Allison, I don't remember you getting angry over her as much as you do over Stiles,"

As I ran home on all fours, I thought about what Derek had said about Allison. His words inspired me to take another shot at making amends with her that very night.

I somehow found myself at her door with flowers.

"Scott?" she asked as she opened the door, clearly surprised.

"I love you, Allison."

"Scott," she giggled. "I know you love me, and I love you too."

She kissed me on the cheek. It was such a familiar sensation to feel her lips.

"You really don't think I know that after the times we've had?" she added. "Stop worrying about me, Scott. Everything will be just fine; trust me."

She said it with such confidence and certainty that I couldn't help but feel that all would be right in the world, even though hearing her voice had always tended to make me feel sure of everything anyhow.

"Allison, I want us to start hanging out again. I wanna see you all the time."

"You can't imagine how much I wanna see you too, Scott; trust me. But you need to work on your thing with Stiles right now. He's your priority now and I wouldn't wanna take from that at all."

I could tell that she meant her words and that she truly was not upset with me. When you've been with someone so intensely, you learn to read them, and I always knew when Allison was being genuine.

"I love you so much," I said.

"I love you too," she responded, getting slightly teary-eyed.

I kissed her on the forehead and looked at her for a few seconds before reluctantly sprinting off toward my house. I felt tears slowly tumble down my face as I was running home. I didn't completely know why I was crying. Obviously, I missed Allison, but it felt like there was also guilt behind those tears.

Randomly, I started thinking about earlier, when Isaac had tried to seduce me. Maybe I was ready to go all the way with Stiles.

I knew that Stiles was still a little angry at me for attacking Isaac in the locker room earlier so, rather than inviting him over, I showed up at his house. Well, I showed up at his window, to be specific. He rolled his eyes and came over to open it.

"What a surprise, not," he said grumpily.

I attacked his mouth with mine and we fell onto his bed.

"Stiles, I'm ready to go all the way."

"What? Here? Now? While I'm mad at you, really?"

"That's the best time. I'll be killing two birds with one stone: I'm gonna finally pleasure you and It'll be make-up sex."

"But my dad is downstairs."

"Is the door locked?"

"No. I never lock my door."

I got up and turned the lock.

"Now it is."

"Okay, seriously? Scott, where is this coming from?"

"I don't know. I just really, really wanna have sex with you right now."

"I'm not your booty call," he said, pushing me off of him.

We heard the doorknob twist, followed by a knock.

"Stiles?"

It was his father.

"Um, yeah, Dad?"

"You never lock your door. I was just gonna ask you if you have this cool app I just downloaded on my phone. Open up."

"Kay, Dad."

Stiles turned to me.

"Try to look normal. You know, like you weren't just trying to have sex with me?" he fussed quietly.

He opened the door.

"Let me just get my phone, Dad. Oh, Scott's here, by the way," he said, trying to seem innocent.

"Oh, really? He came through the...window?"

"Yeah. What a weirdo, right?"

"Yeah. Right. Hey there, Scott."

I smiled and waved awkwardly from Stiles' bed. They both left the room, with Stiles giving me an "I hate you so much" look before closing the door behind them. I looked out of the window. It was dark now. I yawned and stretched. It'd been a long day and I didn't even realize how tired I was until I was in a bed. Stiles' bed felt more comfy than mine. He probably had a better mattress. My eyes almost finished fluttering shut from boring thoughts that were driving me to sleep until Stiles reentered the room. He slowly closed the door back and leaned against it. I watched in perplexity as his back slowly slid down the door, allowing his bottom to eventually rest on the floor in a pathetic pose.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked.

"My dad...just asked me...if I need condoms."

"What? What else did he say?"

"He tried to make it not-so-obvious by mixing it in with this story about how he was about to run to the drug store because he needed some things and how he wanted to know if I needed anything. My dad has never asked me if I needed condoms. Well, I guess he has now."

I felt a little bad, but not too bad because Stiles needed to tell his father about us soon anyway.

"I'm sorry, but at least you're one step closer to telling him, right?"

"Oh, ho, ho. You are soooo not getting any."

"I kinda figured I wasn't anyway."

Stiles collapsed on the bed, lying next to me. I stroked his hair.

"It's okay, Stiles."

He groaned into the covers.

"When did things get so complicated, Scott?

"I don't know."

I was wondering the same thing.

"I mean, one day, I'm obsessed with Lydia Martin. The next, I'm dating my best friend of the same sex. I mean, what the hell, man?"

"Ouch. Why don't you just call me Mistake? Jeez."

"You know I didn't mean it like that."

"I know."

I smiled, followed by a yawn.

"I think I should get home now. I've caused you enough grief for one night," I said, getting out of the bed.

I pecked him on the lips as he lied in bed.

"Goodnight, baby," I said.

"Goodnight, sweetie," he replied.

I was surprised to see none other than Derek in my room when I got home.

"Seriously?" I asked in disbelief.

"Hey, you show up at my place all the time."

I fell onto the bed in exhaustion.

"What do you want? I've had a really long day."

"I think I figured out how you controlled your anger."

Suddenly, I was a little less tired.

"Go on."

"You said Stiles was getting tired of you flipping out on his friends or whatever, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, you were able to control yourself after that because doing things that make Stiles upset hurts you."

I sat up.

"That totally makes sense. Then how come I slammed Isaac into a gym locker?"

"You haven't mastered it, but it's simple, really. When you feel yourself getting angry, think about how it's gonna make Stiles feel if you attack the person."

"That's genius."

I giggled as I remembered something.

"Hey, do you think you can tell me why I like the way he smells in the morning?"

"That's just you being a gross werewolf because we are not all like that."

"Thanks."

Derek turned to leave but I got up and put my hand on his shoulder. He winced a little. I knew he didn't like to be touched, but I didn't care. He turned around to face me.

"I really mean it. Thanks. For everything."

He put on his best sincere face.

"You're welcome."

He leaped out of my window, into the night.

"What a mysterious guy," I thought aloud.

I read a text message from my mom. She was telling me how she knew that Stiles and I were more than friends now and how she was happy that I'd found love after Allison. I didn't care that she knew. I was just happy to know that I was on the fast track toward controlling my anger and perfecting my relationship with Stiles while at the same time reconciling with Allison.

I inevitably dreamt of Stiles and Allison. They say you dream of the things that were occupying the most space in your mind before you drifted off into sleep.