Sometimes, it felt like he was back in that tub of ice water, like his chest was on fire and there was water in his throat. He would scratch at the surface, try to dig his way out only to eventually sit up in his own bed with a deep, shaky gasp for air that rattled in his chest. He did not always remember what his nightmares were about, but there were always tears in his eyes when he stumbled to the bathroom to take a shower in an attempt to wash away all the evidence of what kind of night it had been. It was difficult to pretend like everything was okay when he'd walk into the school and everyone was carrying on like everything was the same, as if nothing had changed. It made Stiles want to scream. How could he feel so different and everything around him stay the same?
He slowly made his way through the crowded halls of Beacon Hills high school, counting down the days until winter break (maybe he'd actually get some decent sleep then). Stiles had spent the night before staring at the ceiling, unable to let himself fall asleep in fear of waking back up to that feeling. He was almost to his locker when he walked right into someone, causing them both to drop their books. "Fuck," Stiles sighed, running a hand through his hair while crouching down to gather his things again. "I mean, sorry."
"Are you okay?" Stiles heard in response, making him lift tired eyes to see Danny standing there with a furrowed brow before bending down to pick up his own books. "You look like hell, Stilinski."
"Thanks," the teen grumbled as he stood up and continued toward his classroom only to stop and look at Danny when the other teen grabbed his arm. "What?"
"Seriously, Stiles; are you okay?" Danny's brow furrowed slightly as he watched the other teen, who was paler and skinnier than he had ever been before. He was not sure what could be going on in Stiles' life to cause such a dramatic change, but it could not be good no matter what it was.
Stiles idly wet his lips and nodded a little as he pulled back from Danny's grip. "Fine. I have to get to class."
Danny frowned a little as he watched Stiles filter away with the other students heading in the same direction. Something was very wrong, it was a nagging feeling that had been bugging him since the year before, and only grew more so after Ethan and Aiden randomly disappeared about a month before. Ethan had not even given him an explanation. He had just been gone. That was the least concerning bit, though. There was those freak storms a few months before, those kids that got killed, Scott and his friends all acting so weird. It was just a lot to try to figure out, but Danny could not see a connecting piece. Something told him, though, that it was all connected.
The thing that worried him the most right then was how out of it Stiles had looked. Danny had never witnessed the other teen looking that far gone. What made it worse, in his opinion as he watched Stiles stumble into his classroom down the hall, was that Scott was not there with the other boy. Where was Scott, anyway?
"Mahealani, you're with... Stilinski," their world history teacher announced as she glanced over the assignment list, seeing who had not gotten assigned a partner for the assignment. Danny hated group or partner projects; he almost always did the work. However, glancing over to where Stiles sat, propping his head up at the back desk while looking like he was about to fall over, Danny decided that maybe it was not such a bad thing if he did most of the work that time.
The bell rang a moment later, making Stiles jump and hit his knee on the bottom side of the desk. Stiles winced and rubbed his knee with one hand while gathering his things with the other. The teen seemed completely unaware of the partner project, even as Scott came over to his desk with a sigh about how he had no idea what he and Isaac were going to do it over. Stiles hummed absentmindedly in response, picking up his backpack and pulling it up onto his shoulder as Danny walked over to the two of them. "Hey, Stilinski," Danny said, catching both Stiles' and Scott's attention as they looked to him. "Come over after school. We can start on the project."
Despite the completely confused expression on Stiles' face, he nodded and said, "Yeah, sure. See ya then."
Danny nodded with a slight smile that Stiles returned half-heartedly before turning to head out of the room with Scott. As they left, Danny thought he heard Scott ask, "Are you not sleeping again? Stiles..."
He heard the muffled sound of Stiles replying, but even as he walked after the two, he never heard exactly what Stiles was saying above the hustle and bustle of everyone else in the hallway. Danny was not sure why he was suddenly so worried about Stiles; but, he guessed it had something to do with actually getting a good look at him that morning. Danny had never really paid any attention; now that he had seen how worn down Stiles appeared, though... well, it was hard to ignore.
Danny did not see McCall or Stilinski again until the last class of the day. Allison and Lydia were in the class with them, and Allison looked just as worn down as Stiles and Scott did. He did not miss the worried expression that formed on Lydia's face as she watched the three of them talking softly. Allison placed her hand on the back of Stiles' neck, squeezing gently as she tangled the fingers of her other hand with Scott's. "We've been through harder stuff than this," Allison said quietly as Danny walked by to head to his own desk. Allison had a smile on her face that did not quite reach her eyes, and Danny wondered if she believed her own words.
Stiles sighed softly and offered Allison a faint smile with a nod. "Yeah, you're right. We can handle this," he stated, his voice sounding a lot more unsure than Danny thought that Stiles had meant.
Scott did his best to ignore that, though, and gave the other two one of those completely blissful smiles that he was known to be able to produce at the drop of the hat. Just then, the bell rang and the three of them went their separate ways (though Scott and Stiles sat at desks next to one another), Allison crossing the room to sit by Lydia.
Danny found himself subtly watching Stiles throughout the lesson, not that Stiles would have really noticed even if he had been staring because of how out of it the other boy was. The teacher wasn't even really saying much that was useful or needed to be written down (it was all covered in the reading they were supposed to do), yet Stiles' pencil was almost constantly moving. Maybe he was using the constant motion to keep himself awake. Danny had done that before himself, scribbled circles all over his notebook to keep awake in Harris' class after a middle-of-the-week party at Jackson's the night before.
When the bell to release them from class rang once again, Danny was the one to jump. It took Scott resting a hand on Stiles' shoulder for the other teen to blink several times and look up at his best friend. Stiles said something that Danny could not hear over the rest of the classroom moving around, but he quickly closed the notebook he had been writing in and he shoved it into his backpack before starting to walk out of the classroom with Scott. He was almost to the door when his steps halted and he turned back around to look for Danny. When he spotted the other teen heading his way, he said, "I can come by in about an hour. I've an errand to run first."
"That's fine," replied Danny with a slight nod, brow furrowing a little once Stiles turned to walk off again. He really wished he knew what was going on, and only partially because he did not like being in the dark. Honestly, he really just found himself worried about Stiles, which was something completely new. Since when did he worry about Stiles Stilinski?
Danny quickly shrugged it off and started to walk to his locker so he could get all of his homework for the evening. Once that was done, he waved good-bye to some of his friends and started to leave the school, texting Jackson as he went. School sucks when you're not here. :(
He was not sure if Jackson would even reply to the message, but like always, it was hit-or-miss with what you would get a response to when it came to Jackson. So, Danny was not too worried about it as he climbed into his car, tossing his backpack into the passenger seat. The drive home was rather uneventful compared to the rest of his day; he just tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel while listening to the radio.
There was no one home when he got to the house, but that did not surprise him any. His sisters were freshmen that year (twins, born ten minutes apart), and often Clara and Jessica were known to go over to friends' houses after school. They didn't want rides from Danny, even though they were going to the same house; but, it was whatever. He probably would not want to be seen with his older brother if he had one.
Since he had the house to himself, Danny had no problems turning the television onto one of the recap shows for football while grabbing a snack and a drink before starting on his homework. He sat in the living room instead of his bedroom that day so that he could listen for Stiles getting there. Danny's focus was half on his homework, and half on the game playing on the television, which was why by the time the doorbell rang, Danny was barely even done with his English assignment. Danny sighed and absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair as he got up and walked over to the door. Once there, he unlocked it and opened it to find Stiles there, drinking out of a can of Rockstar Energy Drink
Danny highly doubted the other teen needed that, but he bit his tongue to keep from commenting as he stepped aside to let Stiles in. "Hey," Danny said, slightly awkwardly. It was more than awkward to have Stiles in his house. Growing up together, they knew where one another lived; but, neither boy had ever been in each others' homes. "Uh, we can start working at the table there." Danny nodded toward the coffee table, where the rest of his homework was sprawled out.
"Cool," replied Stiles with a nod before going over to take a seat on the couch, placing his own backpack at his feet with another drink out of the can in his hand. Danny followed to sit down in one of the empty spots on the couch, and he gathered his English assignment to set aside as he did. The teen then pulled out his stuff for world history, while Stiles did the same. "So, uh, what exactly is this assignment over?"
"The Salem witch trials, and similar events worldwide," replied Danny, his brow lifting a little when Stiles let out a small bark of laughter in response. "Something funny?"
"Just life." Stiles sighed and shook his head a little, setting aside the drink can in a space near the middle of the table so that it was not likely he would knock it over later. "Poster board or PowerPoint?"
"Were you just not paying any attention at all?"
Stiles shook his head a little with another heavy sigh and a shrug of his shoulders while using his free hand to ruffle the hair at the back of his head. The response was something so very unlike the studious teen that Danny had always known. "Nah, I was kind of out of it," he admitted with another shrug, dropping his hand to his side.
Danny sighed inaudibly, taking a drink out of his water glass before answering, "PowerPoint. You really look like shit, Stilinski. Maybe you should actually sleep tonight instead of playing video games all night with Scott." Danny was pretty sure that whatever was keeping Stiles awake was more complex than video games, but it wasn't really his business, and if Stiles did not want to explain, then that was about as far as Danny was getting to pushing.
A very faint smile tugged upward on Stiles' lips as he glanced over at Danny. "Yeah. Probably a good idea." Stiles nodded a little, smiling slightly once again, though the action never quite reached his eyes. "C'mon, let's figure this shit out so I can stop annoying you."
"You're not annoying me," Danny replied honestly, though he flipped through his history book to the place in the chapter that would be most beneficial for them to start on. Stiles was definitely not annoying him that afternoon; worrying him, sure, but not annoying. Stiles was so still that it was unnerving, and though a part of him was sure he should probably be glad for the quieter version of Stiles, it really just made him worry that something was seriously wrong with him. What could be so bad that Mister Jokes-and-Sarcasm could barely even manage a smile?
Stiles watched Danny for a moment, quietly as if he was trying to make sense of what Danny had just stated. He had not thought it was that confusing of a comment. After a moment, though, Stiles shrugged and said, "Either way. Let's do this."
After that, their homework session was spent without conversation that wasn't related to the topic save for a snack break in which Danny stole a couple of his sisters' Capri-Suns from the fridge to share with Stiles. After that break, though, they found themselves talking about winter break and lacrosse in the spring semester. Stiles was smiling and laughing a little more than Danny had seen in a long while. He was almost starting to think that maybe things weren't as bad as he had thought, but after a while, Stiles started to space out a little. "Are you okay?" Danny asked with a furrowed brow.
"Hmm...? Oh, yeah, 'm fine," Stiles replied with a nod, running a hand through his hair as he stood up. "Yeah, I think I just... I need some air." Stiles nodded again, his brow furrowing a little. "I feel kinda dizzy."
"Wha-?" Danny barely got the sound out before he noticed Stiles slumping forward. He rushed over to catch the other boy before he actually hit the ground. "Stiles? Shit."
"I called his dad already," Danny told his parents as they stood in the hallway of the hospital. Danny had not known what else to do when Stiles passed out in his living room, and then he did not wake back up, though Danny tried. The sheriff had not answered the call from Danny, but he was sure the hospital would be calling him to let him know soon enough. The teen had one arm crossed over his chest, and the other hand was up by his mouth so he could absentmindedly chew on his thumbnail. "He's going to be okay, right?"
Whatever Danny's mother had to say in response went unheard by the teen as his attention was brought to the sound of someone rushing down the hallway while hurriedly (yet politely) telling people to move out of the way. He saw Melissa McCall quickly heading their direction, and she passed the small family by only to turn into the door of Stiles' room behind Danny. Curiously, Danny turned to follow her into the room and lingered near the door-way where he could see Melissa asking the other nurses to move aside. "He's fine," Melissa insisted with a smile that Danny did not believe. "Just low blood sugar is all. I know how to handle this."
She nodded and waited for the other medical staff to leave before she ran a hand through the teen's hair in a motherly fashion, something that Danny knew the other teen had not really had in several years. "Stiles, sweetheart," Melissa said in a warm yet firm voice, which made Danny's brow furrow. Stiles was completely out of it. How did she think that would work? He wondered briefly if he should step away, almost feeling like he was witnessing something he should not have been; but, he found himself unable to move. "I know you can hear me, and I need you to listen. Wake up, Stiles. Your father's on the way. You're just lucky I haven't told Scott yet. This wouldn't happen if you would just sl-" Melissa cut off with a soft sigh through her nose and a shake of her head as she reached over for the pitcher of water next to the bed. She poured it into one of the styrofoam cups, which Danny found was odd, before quickly upturning it over the other teen's face.
With the splash of cold water, Stiles started awake, his eyes snapping open as he suddenly seemed to struggle for air as if he was having a panic attack. The other boy's fingers curled into the sheets beneath his hand as Melissa's hands rested on his shoulders and she calmly started trying to talk him down. "Just breathe with me Stiles, you're okay," Melissa stated, nodding a little before focusing on just taking steady breaths. "There you go. Breathe." Melissa then seemed to collapse on the edge of Stiles' bed, pulling him into a tight hug, one hand shifting through his hair like it had been earlier.
Danny swore he heard her mumbling something about not doing things like that to her, and how he needed to sleep, that he couldn't keep going until he passed out like that again. They would figure something out, she promised. At least, that was what Danny thought she said. He was a bit too distracted watching Stiles, who was staring at him with blood-shot eyes over Melissa's shoulder as he returned the hug tightly. Stiles lifted his head a little and wet his lips as if he was going to say something, but Danny simply nodded with a faint smile and took a step back. No matter what was going on (and Danny was so confused), at least Stiles seemed to be okay, even more so as the sheriff rushed by asking questions. "I'm fine, Dad," Stiles replied in a slightly hoarse voice. "I just... I'll be fine."
Danny walked farther away from the door with his parents as Linden Stilinski kept asking his son questions. The teen wanted to go ask the other boy some of his own, but he kept walking instead. The entire time, he could not get the completely haunted look that had been on Stiles' face out of his head, while trying to deny the urge to be the one to get rid of it.
Everything would just go back to normal in the morning, and it would be like nothing ever happened. At least, that was what Danny tried to tell himself as he finally checked the text from Jackson that had come in sometime during the ambulance ride from his house to the hospital. Miss you too.