5 seconds til the end - locnville. apocalypse/dystopia au.
When the end of the world comes, it's silent. It doesn't end with a big bang, like you'd have thought. More like a whimper, Stiles thinks. They're sat on the roof of "their" apartment block: him, Jackson, Allison, and Isaac. They're the only ones left, the only four remaining pack members. The sun is going down on human life. They can tell that today is the last day; the sun is enormous, shining in the sky.
The end of the world began with an earthquake, the biggest in recorded history, measuring well over 10 on the Richter scale. It didn't just hit one country; it hit all of them almost simultaneously. Buildings collapsed, pandemics spread and panic roamed the streets. Of the few scientists left, one of them predicted that the earthquake had knocked the earth out of its orbit and it was only matter of time until it was fully and completely destroyed. Given that most of the 7 billion living on the planet were already dead, that announcement hadn't really occupied anyone too much.
Then the other predictions came in. Three months until the world is pulled in by the sun's gravity; that is, unless it collides with Mercury or Venus as it is dragged inwards. One month until the sun is too close to support life on earth.
And now, one month later, in sweltering heat, they're sat on the apartment block, watching the world come to an end. "Do you have any regrets?" Allison asks the world at large. They stay silent for a bit.
"I never thanked Derek for saving me," Isaac says eventually.
"I never told my parents that I loved them," Jackson says. "I didn't tell the person I love that I loved them either."
"I never apologised to my dad after my mum died," Allison whispers. Her voice is weak in the throbbing, heat-filled air.
"I never got my dad to stop eating take-away meals," Stiles says, choking back a half-laugh.
Isaac is the first one to close his eyes and fall asleep. It's not a healthy sleep; it's the kind of sleep that precedes death. Allison is next, slumping down to rest against him, watching Stiles and Jackson throught hooded eyes before they close for the last time.
"Who is it you never told you loved?" Stiles asks, hesitantly, a mere whisper penetrating the stale air around them. "I'm assuming it's one of us," he continues when Jackson doesn't reply straightaway. "I mean, you said 'person I love'." Jackson stays silent for a second longer.
"It was you," he says after a second of gauging whether it's a good idea or not. But fuck it, it's the end of the world. If he can't say it now, when can he say it?
"Oh," Stiles says. His sigh permeates the air. "Well." He's not looking at Jackson. "Fuck it," he whispers, and turns to face Jackson.
Their lips press together carefully, dry and cracked from the sun and heat. Jackson doesn't want to close his eyes, doesn't want to ever stop seeing this moment. But he watches as Stiles does, and then his eyelids slip gently closed.
The world ends in silence, when it does, and with a tortured sigh of relief.