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Scott McCall thought he knew Stiles Stilinski to be many things, but never this. He’d always viewed Stiles as a girl not caring for fashion cues or looking cute. He didn’t even think she knew what make-up was. But seeing Stiles dressed like some…some badass is something he did not see coming, or particularly enjoy. Through everything Scott still viewed her as a sister. And yes, he has been a pretty shitty brother but it’s not like he could control all the events that took place.
He had been infatuated with Allison since she’d moved to this town and he never thought he’d actually have a chance with her, so when the opportunity came he snatched it up like a man in a desert would beg for a drop of water. Allison was a bit possessive and saw Stiles as competition, which Scott did notice, but brushed off because he thought it would pass when Allison realized that Stiles was just like a sister to him. Instead this revelation seemed to make Allison’s possessive streak grow. Scott had realized a little too late that Allison didn't care for the brother-sister dynamic, she just didn’t want any girl that she doesn’t approve of around Scott or any of their group of friends. Lydia and Jackson are just a package deal when it comes to Allison so Scott tolerates them at most. He did get back at Jackson for his comments to Stiles that one day in third period, by tackling him in practice and making Jackson literally eat dirt. With Derek things were a bit more amicable.
After Scott had risen in the “rank of jocks”, Stiles’ words, Derek was the first to allow Scott a seat at the ‘cool’ table. He didn’t really care if Scott brought along Stiles, but Scott didn’t want to risk his relationship with Allison in the beginning stages. Derek’s friends Isaac, Erica, and Boyd weren’t all that bad. Erica and Boyd don’t talk to Scott much, but they also don’t bother him. Isaac is someone that Scott genuinely likes and he did notice the rivalry that Isaac and Stiles has between them. He was just hoping that in the end Isaac and Stiles would be able to see that they had the potential to be friends also. Looking back on things maybe Scott should’ve talked to his friends in the beginning. Now he has to deal with this new Stiles.
After break Stiles had burst into the doors wearing a black leather jacket with a white midriff top and skin tight jeans. Her hair was down to the middle of her back and curled in thick waves. She wasn’t wearing much make-up except for mascara but even then she was a sight to behold. She was catching the attention of many, many, MANY guys.
And Scott did not like that. One. Bit.
With that thought in mind Scott had been waiting until lunch to talk to Stiles. As he sees her come through the doors with Theo Raeken in tow Scott realizes something. This new Stiles is Theo’s fault. He somehow got into Stiles’ head and created this brand new version of Stiles.
Scott quickens his pace with a determined look upon his face towards the laughing pair. Theo, seeing Scott approach first, ceases all laughing and wipes off all emotions from his face. Hardening his eyes as Scott gets closer. Stiles seeing her friend glaring behind her, turns and also sobers up when she sees Scott standing just behind her staring down at her with a set jaw.
“Stiles can I talk to you for a moment?”
“If you have something to say then you can say it front of Theo also.” Stiles informs him.
Scott squares his shoulders and narrows his eyes at Theo then turns his gaze back to Stiles. “I think this is a private conversation.”
When Stiles goes to protest Theo taps her hand, she turns to see him with a gentle encouraging smile. He winks at her and tells her, “It’s okay Stiles. Go ahead. I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.” Stiles says just as softly. Getting up out of her seat and turning towards Scott completely passing by him as she makes her way towards the doors. She turns to see Scott still standing by the table glaring at Theo. “Well? Are you coming or not Scott?”
Scott reluctantly breaks away from Theo’s glare and nods his head once, following Stiles out the cafeteria. “Stiles what’s going on? What’s with you lately?”
“What’s wrong with me?! What’s up with you Scott? You think you can just come back and demand things of me? Huh?”
Stiles stares at Scott enraged at how he could possibly place any type of blame on her. Scott sighs and tries to place his hands on Stiles’ shoulders only to have her shrug them off.
“Stiles this isn’t you!”
“How could you possibly know me anymore Scotty? We haven’t hung out for almost a year now. The few times we did you’ve acted like I don’t exist.”
“Look Stiles, I’m sorry. I know I messed up. I shouldn’t have let them talk to you like that and I am so sorry. Please understand that I only did what I had to for mine and Allison’s relationship.”
“Glad to know our lifelong friendship meant nothing to you.” Stiles muttered.
“Stiles you just don’t understand yet. I know I hurt you and I am sorry. Please just bring back my best friend, my sister.”
Stiles gives a harsh laugh and shakes her head while staring hard at Scott.
“This is me Scott. I’ve never felt any better. Can’t you see how happy I am? I’m sorry too Scott. I’m sorry that you were just a little too late. I love you Scotty and I always will bro, but you’ve hurt me badly and you just won’t understand that.” Stiles smiles, but it never reaches her eyes.
As she turns to walk away Scott stops her by saying, “Stiles. Please. Don’t leave me.” She doesn’t turn back around, but she doesn’t need to turn around to see the expression on his face. His wrecked voice speaks volumes of what his face must look like.
“I didn’t leave you Scotty. You left me.”
With those final words Stiles walks back into the cafeteria and takes a seat next to Theo who had been watching her with concerned eyes the moment she walked in. Theo grasps one hand in his own and squeezes it softly. Stiles is looking down at the table so he taps her foot to get her attention. When she looks up she gives him a sad, watery smile. Theo smiles back and goes to say something but Stiles beats him to it. “Listen Theo, I’m gonna get outta here for a little bit. I’ve gotta think things through on my own.”
Theo’s smile drops for a second to show the worry on his face, he lets go of her hand and wraps an arm around her shoulders. He places a kiss atop her head and whispers into her hair, “Okay beautiful. Let me know if you need anything.”
His eyes never leave her figure as Stiles walks out of the cafeteria. She's decided to skip out on the rest of the day and go home to be alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stiles wakes up to her phone ringing, she looks over to the clock on her desk to see that it is 7:30. She jumps up realizing that she’d forgotten to make dinner for her mom. She runs out to her mom’s room to see Claudia Dawbrowski knocked out, still wearing her work clothes. Stiles sighs as she goes to tuck her mom in, kissing her head softly.
Stiles heads back to her room to see who had been calling her, she sees three missed calls from Theo and a new message from him asking her to let him in. Stiles rushes over to the window and sees Theo leaning against his car, he waves at her when he sees her by the window.
Stiles just shakes her head with a smile on her face and runs downstairs. She stops at the mirror on the hallway wall to make sure it doesn’t look obvious that she’d been asleep. Noticing that she does in fact look like she’d just woken up she runs back upstairs to brush her teeth and wash her face. Satisfied with how she looks she goes back downstairs to let Theo in.
When she opens the door Theo is already there leaning against the doorframe. He looks at her with a small smirk on his face, “Surprise beautiful. I hope you’re fine with what you’re wearing.”
“Yes. I am, thank you for your concern about my wardrobe. What are you doing here Theo?” Stiles asks him.
“Stiles Stilinski I thought we were friends! I guess if you don’t wanna see what I have planned then I can just go back.” Theo retorts, turning away and walking to his car. He smiles to himself when he hears Stiles calling him back.
“Okay I’m sorry for the attitude! I wanna know the surprise!” Stiles yelled out. When Theo turns he sees Stiles giving him this adorable bambi look that he doesn’t know how she does it.
He sighs dramatically and thrusts his hand out for Stiles to take. “As you wish Princess Buttercup.”
Stiles smiles and turns to get her a pair of shoes, as she wanders back in Theo grins widely and his chest fills with warmth knowing he’d put that smile on her face. Stiles comes out, locking the door and runs to Theo who has been patiently waiting in the same spot. He opens the car door for her and when he gets in on his side he turns to Stiles with this ridiculous expression on his face. “Are you ready Miss Stilinski?” Theo asks in a British accent.
“Quite Mr. Raeken.” Stiles replies in the same phony accent.
On the drive to Theo’s surprise the first few minutes are filled with a comfortable silence. Stiles sits and looks out the window, not believing her luck to have met someone like Theo. He hasn’t put any real moves on her, but she can’t help falling a little bit more for him. Her thoughts are broken when Theo goes to turn on the radio. She blushes as she hears “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 on the radio. Her blush deepens as Theo grabs her hand and starts singing along. He sings as loud as he can, causing Stiles to laugh and shake her head at his antics. When the song ends Theo turns the radio down to where it is just background noise.
“So, I was thinking about you all day today.”
“Oh really?” Stiles says with a dubious look on her face. “ALL day Theo?”
He looks back at her and nods his head, “Yeah. All day Stiles.” he tells her with a soft look in his eyes. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay. I had been wanting to text you all day or follow you out when you left school but I knew you needed time to yourself.”
Stiles looks into Theo eyes, searching for a lie, but sees nothing except honesty. She sighs and tells him, “I’m okay Theo. Thank you for respecting my space. And I’m fine now.”
“I still wanna bash McCall’s face in. I don’t know what he said to you, but I do know that he deserves a good ass kicking.” Theo puts both hands on the steering wheel and Stiles can see the whites of his knuckles.
“Theo. He’s a jock. I’m not defending him, but I also don’t want you getting hurt.” Stiles tells him. Concern written all over her face. The thought of Theo getting hurt because of her making Stiles feel uneasy. She’s grown so close to Theo that she’d probably feel physical pain knowing what she’d done.
“Stiles. Trust me. It’s McCall that you should be worried about.”
Theo turns to Stiles and she barely manages to stifle a gasp at the dangerous glint in his eyes. From that moment Stiles could feel it in her bones, Theo would do anything to protect the people he cared about. No matter what the cost may be. Theo looks straight ahead and Stiles studies his side profile. She should feel scared, but she’s not and it’s because she knows that Theo would never hurt her. She is one of the few people that he cares about, he’s told her as much. She turns her head to the front when she notices that the car has stopped and they are parked outside of a small building.
“Where are we?” She asks Theo.
Theo just gets out the car and comes to the other side to open the door for her. He takes her hand and leads her through the building. When they walk through Stiles gasps and her eyes widen at the sight before her. Theo looks back at her and smiles. “This a good surprise?”
Stiles nods her head, her eyes focused on the instruments around them. A grand piano in one corner and guitars lain across the bench. She goes to look around and sees a small couch and pens and papers strewn across a small coffee table. Posters are scattered among the walls with different kinds of artist on them. Christmas lights twinkle above them, hung along the ceiling. “What is this place?”
“I uh. Had it made. My sister knows how much I love music and after she’d found out about your love for music she gave me a bit of money to build this place. You like?”
She looks at Theo and smiles. She tells him softly, “Yeah. I like.”
A certain guitar catches her attention behind Theo. She walks up and grasps it in her hands. Stroking the strings softly as Theo comes up behind her. Her eyes begin to water as she turns to Theo. He looks back at her with a questioning look.
“It’s nothing. It’s just, my dad had a guitar like this when I was a little girl. He taught me how to play at a young age and after work he was always playing.”
“How did he die?” Theo asks quietly.
Stiles gives a harsh laugh and wipes the tears from her eyes.
“He never died. He um. He has a new life.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Stilinski walked out on his wife and daughter when Stiles was just 11, without a backwards glance. Before that he’d always been at work. He was a deputy, devoted husband and father until one day he wasn’t. When Stiles was 10 he would stay out late, claiming some issue or another was going on at the station. He’d come home at early hours in the morning to his wife sleeping on the couch. Claudia Stilinski would stay up late just waiting for her husband, worried that something had happened. Soon thing escalated, he would come home and yell at Claudia for one thing or another. Then one day while doing laundry Claudia had found a receipt in his pockets to some fancy restaurant. When Deputy Stilinski came home late that night Stiles’ mom had been waiting for him at the dinner table. She showed him the receipt and had asked if he was cheating on her. Instead of answering John just looked at her with a sad expression and went upstairs. Claudia followed, yelling all the way up, asking why he couldn’t answer her. When she had gotten to their room she saw him pull out suitcase from the closet and start packing. Stiles who had awakened from all the noise snuck out of her room to see what the commotion was about. She could see her dad putting clothes in a suitcase only to have her mom throw them out and start yelling even louder. She sees her mom stand in front of the suitcase, her dad grabs Claudia by the arms and shakes her. Squeezing her tightly and yells right into her face, “You want to know the truth Claudia? Yes I am cheating and I’m sorry but I can’t do this anymore!”
“Do what John? Raise a family? What do you not want to do?”
“THIS! We were so young when we got married and I realize now that maybe we rushed things.”
“So what are you saying? That you don’t love me?” Claudia asks. Her face hard, but her voice cracking as she tries to finish her question.
“I will always love you. But I’m not in love with you Claudia. I’m sorry.” With those final words John continues to pack his bags and Claudia doesn’t try to stop him this time.
After everything is packed he makes his way downstairs but is stopped when Claudia asks him. “Do you love her more?”
“I think I do. And I owe it to myself to at least try.”
He continues his way downstairs and sees Stiles standing by the door. She has tears running down her face and John goes to put his keys on the table by the door. He bends to Stiles’ level and hugs her.
“I love you baby.”
Stiles doesn’t respond and doesn’t think she would even be able to. She begins sobbing in his arms and when he lets go Stiles just stands in the same spot. He walks out the door without a glance back at his old life, starts up his car, and doesn’t come back. Stiles runs upstairs to her parents mom’s bedroom and sees the strong-willed Claudia Stilinski Dabrowski crumpled on the floor holding tight to her ex-husband’s wedding ring.
A few days later came the divorce papers and then a month later Stiles gets a call from her dad saying that he’s marrying Kate and she’s having his baby. He wants Stiles to come live with them and Stiles hangs up on the phone, not wanting to hear another word from his mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After that every letter he sends and every call he makes is ignored. He hasn’t called Stiles in awhile and Stiles thinks he’s finally learned to just leave her alone. Theo just hugs Stiles tight to himself after she finishes her story. He pulls away to look her in the eyes. “You are the strongest girl I know.”
“Yeah. I get it from my mom.” Stiles says. “After he’d left I started writing my own music. The first song I wrote was actually written for him but from my mom’s perspective.”
“Would it be too much to ask if I can get a listen?”
“No. That’s not a problem.” Stiles says with a smile. She’s never shown anyone this song, but know she can trust Theo. She picks up the guitar and starts messing with the strings. After getting it just right she sits down on the edge of the couch and starts playing with her eyes closed.
Didn't see it coming,
No kind of warning,
I can't work out what I've done wrong.
His clothes are missing,
But his keys still here,
Please somebody tell me what's going on.
My baby's got a suitcase,
He's telling me it's too late,
But don't nobody, please don't ask me why.
Cause all I did was love him,
But I can't stop him walking,
My baby's got a suitcase but please don't ask me why.
What changed so quickly?
Answer me!
If you must kill me then please, please tell me why.
He said "Don't touch me, Get out the way",
Will someone tell me what's going on tonight.
My baby's got a suitcase,
He's telling me it's too late,
But don't nobody, please don't ask me why.
Cause all I did was love him,
But I can't stop him walking,
My baby's got a suitcase but please don't ask me why.
I can't stop my heart leaving through the door.
I can't unpack my heart cause he won't look at me anymore.
My baby's got a suitcase,
He's telling me it's too late,
But don't nobody, please don't ask me why.
Cause all I did was love him,
But I can't stop him walking,
My baby's got a suitcase but please don't ask me why.
At the end Stiles is crying and all of a sudden the guitar is taken out of her hands. A second later she is crushed against Theo’s chest. He holds her tight and gently rocks her as she lets out all of the sadness she’d been holding in. The sadness at her father’s departure still raw inside of her, Scott’s betrayal, Derek’s inability to see Stiles for who she is, and her mother’s own heartbreak all weighing heavily on Stiles. After all the tears that she’s shed Stiles wipes her face and looks up at Theo.
His expression is blank as his hands move up to cup her face in between them. He kisses her forehead then both her cheeks and after that looks into her eyes. His face starts coming dangerously close to her own and when they are so close that Stiles can feel his breath upon her face she holds still. Waiting. Finally he dives in to give her a gently kiss. It escalates from there and now Stiles is at the point where nothing matters but this moment. All she can feel, hear, and see is Theo.