"I poisoned Scott," Stiles said, his voice broken and nearly inaudible as Danny came into his room that evening after everyone finally returned to the Stilinski house. Stiles did not feel like facing everyone, so he had slipped upstairs to his bedroom after telling Scott why. His best friend had looked like he was going to argue before finally nodding with a faint smile. Even after spending hours at Scott's side, each one reassuring the other that they were okay, Stiles felt sick to his stomach and shaky.
"You don't know that," was the statement that Danny finally settled on as he crossed the room to sit down on the bed next to Stiles, frowning a little when the other teen shifted away from him slightly.
Stiles could not keep from laughing bitterly at the statement, which only made him feel worse. Danny was just trying to be helpful. "I highly doubt his mother was the one to do it, Danny. Really only leaves one option." Stiles gestured to himself slightly with a vague wave of a hand, which Danny took in his own before Stiles set it down.
He hesitantly looked at Danny in the eyes, wanting nothing more than to curl up in the corner of the room. It almost hurt even more when he found no trace of anger or blame in Danny's eyes. The other teen simply looked worried. "Scott's your brother. You would never hurt him, Stiles."
He was not entirely sure the thought of something else controlling him to hurt Scott made it any better, though that was apparently the on-going theory. The only question was; what was it? Stiles idly wet his lips and shrugged a little. Instead of responding to the statement, Stiles said, "Maybe you should go join the others downstairs. I want you to go downstairs."
"Are you just saying that because you're worried about hurting me, or because you really want to be alone?" Danny fixed his gaze on Stiles, not even making an attempt at moving until he got an honest answer.
Stiles opened his mouth to answer, only to shut it again and take a deep breath as he absentmindedly squeezed Danny's hand. "I don't want you to go," Stiles answered honestly after several long moments. "It's better when you're here. I don't feel so..." He trailed off, unable to think of the words to describe exactly how he felt either when Danny was there or he was not.
"I'm not going anywhere," replied Danny shaking his head a little. He then tugged Stiles closer by his hand, letting go in order to pull Stiles the rest of the way into a hug. He did not let go even when the other teen remained tense in his arms, and smiled faintly when Stiles slowly started to relax, his head resting on Danny's shoulder.
Stiles was not sure why being around Danny made things feel okay again; but, by that point, he was too exhausted to even try questioning it. Danny did not seem to mind, either, so Stiles guessed it was okay. For now, anyway. After several minutes, Danny lay back on the bed, pulling Stiles back with him, who did not protest at all. He just wrapped an arm around Danny and continued to stay close, head still on the goalie's shoulder. "Have they heard anything from Derek?" Stiles mumbled several minutes later, closing his eyes at the feeling of Danny toying with his hair as the other teen had seen Melissa and Linden do before.
"Don't think so," replied Danny quietly with a slight shake of his head. "Someone would have come and said something if so."
Stiles nodded slightly in response, idly twisting his fingers into the material of Danny's shirt. "Thank you for being here, Danny."
The elder teen smiled faintly, ducking his head enough to press a kiss to the top of Stiles' head before mumbling, "Wouldn't be anywhere else, Stiles."
Neither one was sure how they had managed to get from barely talking to where they were, but neither one was really questioning it, either. Stiles was too tired to really make a deal about it, otherwise he definitely would have. Because this was Danny, and he was just... well, he was just Stiles. People like Danny did not hang out with people like him. It was against protocol. Then again, according to all high school rules, Lydia and Allison probably should not care about him, either; so, there was that. "What're you thinking about?" questioned Danny after a while, his fingers still idly shifting through the hair at the back of Stiles' head.
"Nothing, just... I like this, being here with you, I mean," Stiles said with a slight nod, lifting up onto his arm enough to look at Danny, smiling slightly. He did not think he deserved to be smiling right then, but it was hard not to when Danny was smiling at him as well.
Danny did not say anything, but he leaned up slightly and Stiles swore that the other teen was going to kiss him; but, the sound of Stiles' door opening interrupted them, making Stiles turn and sit up fully to see who it was. He smiled faintly when he saw it was Scott again. "Hey, guys," Scott said with a slight smile, though his brow was furrowed slightly as his eyes darted between the two of them and Danny sat back up. "I know you didn't wanna deal with everyone, Stiles, but we've got pizza downstairs. You should come eat."
Stiles seemed ready to argue, still not sure if he could face the scrutiny of everyone's gaze; but, Danny gently squeezed his hand and nodded a little before saying, "C'mon, Stiles. Let's go eat. I'm sure we can commandeer the TV and watch the second Star Trek movie we never finished."
Stiles smiled a little at that and nodded a little before the two of them stood up and followed Scott downstairs. Scott immediately fell into a conversation that was more him talking at Stiles about goings on at the animal clinic. Scott was back to his normal self, though, and that made Stiles relax a little, even if there was a part of him that was still terrified of what might come next.
Everyone else was asleep. Scott, Allison, and Isaac were a tangled mass on the couch with Jackson and Lydia asleep on the floor, hands clasped between them. Derek nodded off in one of the arm chairs after having returned without any news but a promise of letting them know if any of his contacts came across something. Linden was in his room, and Melissa shared the bed with him, though there was an awkward distance between them. Stiles and Danny, however, lay awake in Stiles' bed. "I can't close my eyes," Stiles mumbled, frowning a little even as Danny's fingers gently brushed along his jawline. "Bad things happen when I go to sleep, Danny. I hurt people and I ca-can't..."
Stiles let out a heavy, shaky breath as Danny sighed, leaning in to press a kiss to Stiles' forehead. "Nothing's going to happen, yeah? I'll be right here with you," Danny promised.
Stiles was not sure that made anything any better, though. What if he hurt Danny? That thought made his stomach clench and he thoughtlessly pressed in to Danny, wrapping an arm around him. Danny turned to lay on his side more, facing Stiles completely as the other teen ducked his head enough to rest underneath Danny's chin. "Sleep, Stiles," Danny said quietly after several moments of the two of them just laying there. He idly had one hand repeatedly running along Stiles' spine in what he hoped was a soothing manner.
"And if something happens?"
Danny sighed and pulled back enough to look at Stiles, stilling his hand on the other teen's back. "Nothing's going to happen, okay? Just... I promise I won't let anything happen."
"You need sleep, too," countered Stiles with a slight nod. "What if something happens then?"
"There's a house full of us, Stiles. Please, just... try to relax and get some sleep? For me?"
Stiles worried at his lower lip as he lay there, thinking quietly for several moments before he nodded slightly. "Yeah, I can, uhm... I'll try."
"Good." Danny smiled a little and pressed another kiss to Stiles' forehead, making the other teen close his eyes with a very faint sigh.
"You keep doing that." Stiles opened his eyes again when Danny leaned back slightly, just enough to look at the boy underneath his arm. "Why?"
Danny shook his head a little with a shrug of his shoulder as he said, "I'm not sure. Feels like the right thing to do." He smiled faintly when Stiles did, glad to even see a faint smile from the other teen. "I just kind of wish we'd gotten closer under better circumstances." Stiles laughed slightly at that, nodding as he ducked his head with another slight smile. "I'm glad I'm here, though." Danny wanted to be there for Stiles, to whatever end. He would do what he could to either fix things, or to help Stiles cope with what was happening. If all he could do was to give Stiles even a few minutes of feeling okay, then it was worth it.
"Yeah, I'm glad you're here, too," replied Stiles, finally looking back to Danny with a smile before allowing the other teen to pull him close again. Stiles closed his eyes when Danny's lips brushed against the bridge of his nose; and, that was how he fell asleep after several minutes of just laying there, taking in the sound of the other teen breathing and reminding himself that everything was okay.
"Maybe Danny's his anchor," Allison whispered from the doorway, glancing up at Isaac who stood behind her. They had volunteered to go upstairs and check on Stiles the next morning when the other teen and Danny did not come downstairs. The two teens were still asleep in Stiles' room, arms wrapped around one another even as sunlight came streaming in through the curtains. "He's not slept this well in... a long time."
She smiled slightly up at Isaac, who nodded a little and gently squeezed her shoulder. "Maybe we're passing the worst of it," Isaac offered before nodding back toward the stairs. "C'mon. Let's leave them be."
Allison nodded in response and linked her fingers with Isaac's between them before they started to walk downstairs, where everyone else was gathering for breakfast that Melissa and Lydia had thrown together. "They're asleep," Allison announced, letting go of Isaac's hand to run it along Scott's shoulders as she passed the other teen sitting at the kitchen table across from Derek to go over and help Lydia finish getting out plates and silverware.
"That's good, isn't it?" questioned Melissa, flicking the loose tendrils of hair out of her eyes as she turned to look at the others. "I mean, he's not really slept in a long time."
"Maybe..." Derek said with a slight sigh, running a hand over his face a few times before grabbing the cup of coffee sitting out in front of him.
Scott nodded slightly, idly tapping his fingers on the table though he easily followed Derek's train of thought. "Or it's just the calm before the storm," Scott said quietly, though the still in the kitchen allowed everyone to hear it.
The werewolves in the room all turned their attention to the doorway then, mere moments before Danny and Stiles came in, both yawning as Stiles rubbed his eyes absently. "Morning," Stiles mumbled as he walked over to sit at the table next to Scott.
"Breakfast?" questioned Lydia with a smile that brightened a little when Jackson pressed a kiss to her cheek while taking the plates from her over to the table. "Bacon and eggs."
There was a quiet din of conversation after that, everyone moving around the kitchen to get breakfast and drinks. Danny sat next to Stiles at the table, their arms brushing together as they sat there, each one talking to someone else at the table while continuing to take comfort in one another.
Derek and everyone else seemed to be subtly watching Stiles as he laughed and smiled while talking quietly with Allison, who sat in-between Stiles and Scott. They spoke amongst themselves, though Danny was sure that only the humans in the room were unable to really hear what they were saying. Lydia smiled slightly to herself, though, leaning against Jackson's side as they rested back against the kitchen counter. The sense of dread that had been plaguing her since the events at Deaton's clinic all that time ago had dulled to the point of simply being a faint buzz. She no longer was pressured with the urge to scream with each breath taken.
Jackson was home; Stiles was looking healthier than ever; Scott, Allison, and Isaac had worked things out between them; Danny and Stiles were closer; and, it seemed to be a new bond between Melissa and Linden than no one commented on. It all seemed to be positive things, and Stiles flourished being surrounded by those that meant the most to him. Even Derek seemed more at ease than Lydia could ever remember seeing him, not that Lydia ever saw that much for him.
Everyone was in the back yard that evening, laughing and talking as they stood around and Chris Argent manned the grill, making food for all of them. It was awkward, but Chris and Derek were at least attempting to get along. It made Allison smile into her water as she took a drink of her water before she looked back to Lydia, whom she was conversing with while their boys were talking about some game or another that they did not care about. "I'm glad you're feeling better, kid," Linden said as he wrapped an arm around Stiles' shoulders, tugging him into a one-armed hug while they watched the others. Danny was somewhere inside helping Melissa make homemade french fries.
"Yeah," Stiles said with a heavy sigh and a slight smile, idly twisting his cup in his hands as he leaned against his dad's side. "Not sure what changed, but it's good. I'm good. I dunno... I've not felt this good in a while."
Linden glanced over his shoulder to where Danny was laughing at a joke that Melissa told. "Yeah, well, whatever happened, I'm glad for it."
Stiles stayed near the doorway, leaning against the frame throughout the evening as everyone got ready for dinner and the wind started to pick up slightly. He glanced up toward the darkening sky with a faint frown, tugging his hoodie around himself more. The temperature was dropping a little as the night progressed, but that was normal. However, the sinking feeling in Stiles' stomach; that was not normal, and he frowned as he slowly backed into the house with shaking hands, not wanting to draw anyone's attention. They were all just starting to relax again, and it was pointless to worry them over nothing; or so he told himself as he went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. After drying off his face, Stiles looked up into the mirror.
"Where's Stiles?" Lydia asked the question under her breath, which surprisingly went unheard by her company, glancing over at the house. There were no lights on inside, but Stiles was not with them as she sworn he had been only moments before. He had been standing there, she was sure of it. At least, she thought she was sure of it. She realized she could not pin-point the last time she had actually seen Stiles as she glanced up at the sky. "It's going to storm." Once again, her words seemed lost to those around her, and her gaze only moved downward when she felt a hand tap her arm.
Lydia frowned as she took the bowl holding some salad from Allison, looking back over toward the darkened house with a sharp intake of breath. "Lydia?" questioned Allison slowly, brow furrowing as she placed a hand on her best friend's arm. "What's wrong?"
Lydia wanted to explain, to tell Allison all about the feeling that crept up her spine. There seemed to be no words to explain the extreme sense of anxiety that slowly bubbled up to the surface. She felt as though she was out of breath, and could not shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. The calm before the storm, Scott had said. Something about that seemed too terrifyingly accurate. The redhead said nothing as she quickly got up from the picnic table, dropping the bowl onto the ground. The clouds continued to roll in, growing darker and heavy with rain as Lydia rushed inside the house, quickly followed by Scott and Danny, leaving everyone sitting confusedly in the rapidly darkening backyard. "Lydia!" Scott insisted, though his friend seemed not to listen as she rushed up the stairs and to Stiles' bedroom where Scott and Danny watched her spin in a few circles, inspecting the bedroom that was completely destroyed.
All the photo frames were smashed, and the mirror was shattered. There was glass and blood everywhere. Scott's heart dropped to his stomach as Lydia's terrified expression paled before she opened her mouth and she screamed.