Here we go, time to wrap up S01E05, finally!
September 30th, 2009
"Where did you get that?" Caroline's high-pitched question nearly made him drop the perfectly fluffy pancake he'd been moving to a plate. He'd woken up early, feeling in a better mood overall, and ended up looking for a pancake recipe since he felt like eating something sweet, following it straight from his ph- oh, that's what she's asking about.
"Uh- Damon," he admits immediately since Caroline knows he can't afford the phone currently propped up by a mug on the counter.
"Stiles," her tone turns suddenly serious as she walks up to him and grabs his arm, thankfully after he's put the pancake on the plate. "Be honest with me… is Damon your sugar daddy?"
He chokes on air, wide-eyed, and ends up coughing a few times before his breathing goes back to normal, all while his cousin openly laughs at his very justified reaction. "It's not like that!" he hurries to explain as soon as he can speak, "he was actually the one that broke my phone, so- but I did text him that this is too expensive. He hasn't replied though, and I can't just not use a perfectly good phone!"
Caroline's immediate smirk has him narrowing his eyes at her, "I could always trade you, Mom won't let me switch phones until this one's buying birthday," she suggests lightly, reaching for the phone.
"Get your grubby hands off my phone," He says, immediately pulling it out of her reach and into his pocket.
"Face it, you've got a sugar daddy," she teases with a laugh, "you're just missing the sugar."
Stiles' revenge for her innuendos and wiggling eyebrows is a spoonful of powdered sugar to her hair.
"Not another step, Mister," is how his cousin suddenly greets him as he's climbing out of his car. He nearly trips but catches himself on the door. "The hoodie stays."
"But-" he likes this hoodie, he thought even Caroline liked it since she hadn't complained when he left the house with it, only asked him what was under it like some sort of fashion police that worries about unseen layers.
"No buts, it's called sexy suds, not comfy suds," she pokes his chest pointedly, "off."
Stiles sighs but she does have a point, "Fine," he pulls the hoodie over his head and throws it on the passenger seat before closing the door of the Jeep. "Happy?"
His cousin looks him up and down for a second before nodding in approval and letting out a cheery, "Ecstatic."
"Wait, is this why you told me to wear a tank top under?" He questions a moment later as they're walking to where the fundraiser will be set up. She just smirks at him, that little shit.
The setup is pretty easy and is well underway as they arrive, with a large banner set up in the parking lot of the school, which they will be commandeering for the fundraiser. Caroline immediately enters general mode, going around with commands of where to set up wash kits and for someone to fetch a table and chair for the day's cashier since she's got the money box handled. Stiles just follows directions and tries not to comment on how the football team's volunteered banner looks like it was made by a ten-year-old – coincidentally the maturity level of most of the players.
When people start arriving, Caroline rushes to the cashier desk and Stiles lets Aimee and Savannah point him where to start working, usually with one of the two for help. Most of the customers are family or family friends of the students themselves, wanting to contribute to the fundraiser, but a couple of interesting cars he hasn't seen before in the streets roll past as well. He spends more time talking to the owner of a 1967 Thunderbird convertible than actually washing her car, which is apparently part of her grandfather's vintage collection. He also tries his best not to look too hard for a blue 1969 Chevvy, but it's probably in vain judging by Tiki's snapped comment to get his head out of the clouds and back to work. Then again, that comment is followed by her going off on a poor guy's car with zero respect or tact, so he doesn't make a point to listen to her drivel.
He does laugh when her water bucket explodes in her face though, like some form of cosmic karma, at least until he notices how Bonnie is looking at the whole thing. He tells Savannah he'll be right back and slips past Tiki to settle by Bonnie.
"Did you do that?" He whispers, not one-hundred percent sure but water buckets normally don't explode in someone's face like that.
"I- I didn't mean to," she whispers back, sounding confused and slightly nervous. "But… I didn't mean not to."
"Not that it wasn't deserved," he admits, because Tikva 'call me Tiki' Moore is kind of a bitch to everyone, "but doing stuff without meaning to is probably not a good thing."
They trade a worried look, but any further conversation is interrupted by Trish coming out of nowhere and grabbing his arm, "Stiles! You seem not busy, let's get this next one?"
"I-" he looks back to Bonnie to see an amused look directed at him, followed by a slight shrug. "Sure, why not."
Much like his cousin is sometimes referred to as Hurricane Care, Patricia 'Trish' Stannert is starting to solidify as Tornado Trish in his mind. She seems laid-back and chill during practice, but if Caroline gives her a task, she pursues it with the same sort of intensity Care puts into her event planning. It's probably why she ended up as the squad's second-in-command, and also the reason Stiles barely manages to take a breath between washing the next four cars she drags him to and nearly sags in relief when Caroline drags her away to help fetch more towels from the school.
"That was painful to watch," Matt's amused voice brings him out of his distracted state as the teen decides to join him to finish drying his current vehicle. "You let these girls boss you around too much, man."
"If I don't, they'll tell Care. She knows where I sleep," he whispers the last part jokingly as if telling a secret, but really he doesn't mind being put to work, especially since his stamina feels kind of endless these days. Trish is just… intense.
"Good point," Matt admits with a chuckle, but his expression turns slightly guilty, "I'm sorry about Tyler, by the way."
"Hm?" He hums distractedly, looking up from the car with a slight frown, "You shouldn't be the one apologizing. And I can handle assholes," he assures, thinking of Jackson. "Nothing I haven't dealt with."
Matt shakes his head but doesn't argue with him, probably feeling like he did his duty as the asshole's best friend of trying to mitigate the damage. They finish up drying the car and go their separate ways, with Stiles taking a moment to breathe before the next one. That's when he spots Stefan working on his own – no Elena in sight – and decides to walk up to the car. He grabs a sponge and starts working with the teen, earning a surprised look.
"Stiles," Stefan greets, confusion lacing his tone. Stiles is a bit confused too since he figured the vampire might be upset with him for saying his talk with Damon was none of his business, but instead seems surprised that Stiles doesn't seem upset.
"Stefan," he jokingly greets in the same serious tone before cutting to the chase, "Is Damon back yet?" he thought he might be, given the gift he'd found on his bed, but his text still remains unanswered and Damon probably wouldn't pass up an opportunity to ogle cute girls in bikini tops with the excuse of getting his car washed.
The vampire's expression settles into understanding, "not yet," he replies, frowning slightly before adding, "Damon's not… a settling down kind of person. He just- does what he wants, when he wants. He might not come back."
"...Right," Stiles mutters, looking away and trying to find something to distract him from the slight tight feeling in his heart at the thought of his friend just leaving without a word and not coming back.
He ends up finding more pressing issues to concern himself with, like the trail of fire heading for a car, coming straight from- oh shit.
Stiles can't be sure some of his supernatural speed has no part in it when he rushes toward Bonnie, who was staring fixedly at the spreading fire while holding a mop, and wraps his arms around her while turning her around, looking for all the world like he's just hugging his friend instead of attempting to snap her out of some sort of murderous trance that nearly damaged one of the cars.
"Stiles?" She blinks up at him in confusion, the mop falling from her hands just as the fire snuffs out behind them. "What just happened?"
"You may or may not have nearly set a car on fire," he explains, tightening the hug for a moment before letting go of her. "Did you mean to? 'Cause I'm not having the time of my life either, but the fire seems a bit extreme," he jokes lightly, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
"I- no- I didn't mean to," she replies, the distress clear in her tone as she looks around. "Nobody else saw, did they?"
"Nope, I caught it early enough," Stiles assures her, "but you might want to sit this one out? Tell Care you're not feeling well and maybe go ask your Grams for some control tips?" He suggests hopefully, not liking to see her so out of control.
"Yeah," she nods to herself with a sigh, "I think that might be best. Let Care know I left?"
He snorts at her passing on that task to him but just replies dramatically, "The things I do for you, Cinnabon."
"Thanks, Stiles," her tone implies it isn't just for covering for her, but he only smiles slightly and mockingly shoos her away when she doesn't immediately move to leave. Better clear out before Care comes back with the towels.
Baby Gilbert(5:47p.m.): can we go to the gym?
Stiles looks down at the text with a slight frown before glancing back up. Things were winding down and Caroline didn't seem as harried as she'd been at the start when dealing with the large client line. He walks over to her, "Hey, Care, I'm gonna head out okay?"
"But it's not over!" She whines, "First Elena vanishes, then Bonnie, now you?"
"I think Jeremy needs to talk," he shrugs, sending her a pleading look. She glares for a couple of seconds before visibly caving with a sigh, "thanks Care, love ya!" he calls, leaving quickly before she changes her mind.
Stiles(5:50p.m.): sure, pick u up?
Baby Gibert(5:50p.m.): walking down Morton Drive rn.
Stiles(5:51p.m.): there in 10.
Stiles picks up Jeremy at the side of the road and immediately smells the alcohol clinging to him. That when paired with red-rimmed eyes tells him the kid probably just needed a pickup, since he didn't look up to any exercising at the moment. "We're not going to the gym," he tells him immediately since Jeremy was probably coming off a high and he wasn't about to risk the kid's life for some distraction.
"Whatever," the kid mutters, leaning his head on the window as Stiles starts driving. The silence lingers for a few minutes before Jeremy breaks it, "I had a fight with Vicki."
Stiles hums in acknowledgment, waiting a moment before asking, "Wanna talk about it? Or a distraction? I can also drive aimlessly for a while, Aunt Liz is covering the gas."
"...Distraction?" Jeremy decides after a minute, glancing at Stiles as if wondering if he'd picked the right option.
Stiles offers him a slight smile, "Distraction it is," he mentally adjusts his route, mapping his way to the lakeside spot near the Lockwood property. He knows just the thing to distract the kid with.
They make it there in fifteen minutes, giving Jeremy some more time to settle and Stiles the time to come up with what to show the kid. He ends up settling on crouching by Jeremy once they're out of the car and saying, "Get on my back."
"What?" The kid just stares at him, blinking confusedly.
"You wanted me to show you my new powers right? Get on my back, I'll show you how fast I can run now," Stiles explains with a grin that seems to bring out some excitement from the kid, who quickly hops on his back. He easily stands up, arms winding under Jeremy's legs to hold from behind his knees just in case. "Ready?"
He focuses forward, mapping out his path, and as soon as the kid nods he bursts into movement, grinning as he manages to go straight to supernatural speed, unlike last time. Jeremy tenses for a moment, the reaction perceptible against his back, before the kid's arms loosen slightly from around his neck and he starts chuckling, going from that to full-blown laughter and whooping in the span of a few seconds.
Seems like I had the right idea, then.
Jeremy hadn't sounded more like a fourteen-year-old than when Stiles stopped and he insisted on him doing it again, two more times, before Stiles reminds him, "I can do more stuff, y'know?" and he spends the next hour punching trees and explaining the better vision, hearing and smell.
"Did you figure out what you are?" Jeremy asks after they stop for a minute to drink some water, which Stiles always makes a point of keeping in his car.
"Not yet. Bet's on werewolf," he shrugs and the kid nods since he'd heard the bite story a few minutes earlier. "Though a vampire told me they don't exist."
Stiles laughs when Jeremy spits out a mouthful of water at that declaration, just as he planned.
"A vampire!" The kid exclaims, wide eyes full of curiosity once again.
"Yep," he nods with a slight smirk, "I'm apparently not alone in the whole supernatural shtick. Got attacked by a vampire in the woods the other day, turns out it was this lady that had been starving in a tomb and just got out so I can't blame her for it," Stiles explains, leaning his back on the Jeep. "I met her daughter later, she's alright. A bit impulsive, looks eternally fifteen, but explained everything and apologized, so we're cool."
"You're cool. With vampires," Jeremy reiterates, looking like he's having a bit of a time processing that.
"Sorry if it's a bit much, I just wanted you to know so you'll be safe. Not that Anna or her mother will attack you," he explains since he'd texted the girl a no-feed list just the other day. "But not all vampires are nice, and we can't be sure there aren't more of them hanging around. There's this herb, vervain, it burns them and makes your blood hurt them, plus it keeps them from using their built-in Imperius trick on you. I ordered some, and some bracelets with it, to give to you, Bonnie and Care, and then whoever else we think of."
"Elena?" Jeremy asks reluctantly.
"Sure, you can give her one. Maybe Jenna too, or just put vervain in their food if you don't think they'll wear the bracelet every day," Stiles shrugs. If everyone in Jeremy's house is safe, that keeps him safer, even if Elena had yet to talk to him after the other day's assumptions.
They talk for another hour, discussing vampire abilities and how Stiles had managed to survive one, plus dispelling all the myths as Anna had done for him. When they finally drive out of the woods and back to the Gilbert house, Jeremy seems better than when Stiles had picked him up. He parks in front of the driveway just as the door to the house opens and someone walks out.
"What's he doing here?" Jeremy mutters with a frown as he climbs out of the Jeep.
"Who- is that Logan Fell?" Stiles' brows raise in surprise at the news guy's presence.
"Yeah…" Jeremy nods distractedly before offering a small smile, "Thanks, Stiles."
"Anytime," Stiles assures him, waiting until the kid gets inside before driving away.
I was gonna pack the next episode into this one as well but it felt like a bit much, especially since it shifts the tone a bit and this felt long enough.
Stiles giving Jeremy a super piggyback ride is my serotonin hit of the day, thanks for coming to my ted talk.