Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stiles showered twice, practically scrubbing herself raw each time. She still didn’t know what happened between Derek and Scott, but if Derek wanted nothing to do with Scott, it was likely Scott wanted nothing to do with Derek. Which meant he would want her on his side and not Derek’s. Which meant she couldn’t smell like Derek and Isaac from having dinner with them the night before when he came over for the first time since school had ended.

She heard the door bell ring and dressed as quickly as she could, shoving her wet hair back as she went. She kept forgetting to get it cut and half felt like she should grow it out at this point. She pulled open the door and grinned. “Hey,” she said, trying to reel it back in to normal and away from over excited puppy.

“Hey,” Scott said, stepping over the threshold. “Use enough soap?”

“What?” Stiles asked, a hundred lies on her tongue.

“You smell like the inside of a bath and body works,” he said.

“That’s literally the best thing to smell like,” she said. It wasn’t her fault the only thing her aunt got her for gifts was bath and body works.

“Not when you’re a werewolf,” he said, grinning.

“I think you’ll live,” she said, shutting the door behind him. “So what’s up? How’s summer school?”

He grimaced. “Worse than regular school. I’m so far behind on everything and it moves at a faster pace, all I do is homework and reading all the time. My head feels so stuffed I can’t think.”

“That sucks,” Stiles said. She had so much practice fitting her schoolwork in around procrastination and deadline motivation that all the werewolf shit taking up her time had only made her feel like less of a lazy shithead because at least she had a real reason to have not started sooner rather than just mindlessly watching the next episode of TV. Her grades had stayed where they were. If anything, she was way more efficient at research papers because she’d gotten way more practice at the research part.

“You have no idea,” he said. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good,” she lied because Derek said she couldn’t involve him. “Nice to be out of school and no murderous lizards running around.”

There were only kidnap happy alphas running around now.

Scott wandered further into the living room, glancing around. “Seems pretty clean for over a month of summer laziness.”

“I’m not spending all my time here,” she said with a scoff before realizing she shouldn’t have said that. She spent so much time either in her room or at Derek and Isaac’s or now at libraries and archives all to find Erica and Boyd. She couldn’t tell Scott any of that. She should’ve said she’d cleaned for him. That would have been believable, right?

“Really?” Scott asked, amused. “You’ve found something more interesting than movies and cheesy popcorn.”

“You know I can’t have that in the house anymore,” she said. The popcorn had been a replacement for her dad’s potato chips, but it wasn’t much help if he still ate way too much of it.

“Okay, video games and whatever health snacks you’ve been feeding your dad,” he said, still amused.

She shrugged, scrambling for an explanation that didn’t have to do with any werewolves of any kind. “I’ve been taking walks, wandering around.”

She had been doing that before starting to look into supernatural materials so it wasn’t a total lie.

He frowned, “You really think that’s alright?”

“Why wouldn’t it be alright?” she asked then shrugged. “It’s not like there’s a kanima or Gerard out and about.”

“There are still werewolves,” he said.

She almost retorted that the alphas probably have no idea who she was and didn’t care anyways. Except Scott didn’t know about any of that. “You know you’re a werewolf right?”

“I’m not like the rest of them,” Scott said as he dropped down onto the couch.

She frowned at him, wondering what he meant. He definitely wasn’t different from Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. Aside from the fact he didn’t have an alpha.

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked.

“I dunno,” she said, sitting on the couch next to him. “What do you want to do?”

“Dunno,” he said, “What did we do before werewolves, hunters, and kanima?”

“Uh, lacrosse,” she said even though they had never done that together, just sat on the same bench at different times. “Don’t remember what else. It’s all a blur of fur and fangs.”

“What did we do with ourselves? How much free time did we have?” he asked, smiling.

Stiles shrugged. Certainly not anything meaningful. “I don’t know. More than we needed if I decided we should go look for bodies.”

The atmosphere broke, the mood dropping. Scott frowned, and Stiles tried not to feel guilty. It was not her fault. Peter was the one that bit him. Kate burned down the Hale house before that. It wasn’t her fault. Most of this would have happened even if she hadn’t dragged him out to the Preserve.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Scott said glumly. “Could use some of it back now though.”

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed, trying to rescue the fumble. “Feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

Scott winced. “Yeah, sorry, like I said, summer school has been insane.”

That wasn’t really what Stiles meant. “Yeah, sounds like. It’s okay. School’s important.”

Scott then got his kicked puppy look.

“What?” she asked, getting defensive.

“You were lying when you said it was okay,” Scott said. “I’m really sorry about all the summer school stuff.”

She couldn’t say she was fine again if he’ll think it’s a lie, and she didn’t know how to say that this was not about summer school.

“Stiles,” Scott complained, pulling her into him with a hug. He might be a werewolf now, but he still smelled like Scott.

“Let me go,” she said, pushing at his arms because he wasn’t supposed to get away with this.

“No,” he said, not genuinely firm, just mock stubborn. “I know you, Stiles. I’m not gonna let you do this.”

“I’m not doing anything,” she complained, trying to twist loose, but not very seriously.

“That’s the problem,” he said, resting his head on top of hers. “You didn’t tell me you were feeling down.”

Stiles gave up the struggle. Scott’s hugs were very good, warm and comfortable. She got he was making a general point that she needed to use her words when she was having problems, but sometimes it would be nice if she didn’t have to spell it out for him.

“You’re gonna squish me,” she said because she couldn’t just do nothing.

Big mistake as it made Scott give her an actual squeeze.

“No, let me go,” she complained.

“Not until you’re better.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted before making exaggerated squished noises.

“Fine,” he said, releasing her.

“Air,” she said, taking as deep a breath as she could.

Scott rolled his eyes. “I barely squeezed.”

“Said the werewolf,” she said, sitting upright.

“I really didn’t–,” he started then tried again. “I’m gonna be better, Stiles. Things have settled down now, I’m more used to things, I’m gonna be better. I’m gonna keep up with my schoolwork, and I’ll be a better friend. You’ll see.”

But things weren’t settled. An alpha pack had kidnapped Erica and Boyd. They wanted to test Derek. She did hours and hours of research. And Scott didn’t have any idea because he did something to make Derek refuse to work with him. They’ve had such a bad track record this past year. Scott was gonna find out, probably not from her because she wanted to help, wanted to know what was going on, and instead of doing the smart thing and fixing up things with Derek so they could work together, he’d get offended and try to do his own thing when he didn’t know what was going on.

“Yeah, I’ll see,” she said.

He smiled and didn’t say she lied.

They ended up deciding to watch Inception. Her dad had gotten it from the library because he’d missed it in theaters, but she was pretty sure it was due soon and he hadn’t seen it yet. Scott cannot stop asking questions, but Stiles hadn’t seen it before either so she kept telling him to shut up. It was a good movie, but Scott had to leave after. He still had homework, and his mom was expecting him to get his chores done before dinner.

She gave him a hug goodbye before he left.

Her dad called half an hour later to let her know he wouldn’t be home for dinner. She sighed after she ended the call. Then she got up to straighten out her research to take to Derek’s.

She hadn’t lied about this part of the research taking way longer. She had found the best and most methodical way to check for interior materials was to go building by building. She’d get every record she could get her hands on between libraries and archives and the historical society on the building and check what she found against the list Derek had pulled out for her. She’d only finished going through one building, and she had no idea what she’d do when she ran out of historical buildings that would have accessible records.

Still, she took what she had and got going, arriving at her usual time for dinner. She knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” Isaac called through the door.

Stiles still marveled that the door actually opened when she pulled on it.

“What have you got?” Derek asked.

They’d apparently moved onto tiling the bathroom floor. They were almost finished with it as far as she could see with Derek kneeling in the doorway and blocking the view. The tiles she could see past his head were more traditional than she would have expected as they were small mostly white and a few black hexagonal tiles. She kind of liked it, though. They looked good with the brick walls even if the walls in the bathroom weren’t brick.

“Some stuff on interiors,” she said.

Derek shifted back to sit on his heels and turned half towards her He frowned at her. “You saw Scott.”

“Yeah, didn’t tell him anything, though,” she said. “I just didn’t want to shower again.”

Isaac audibly sniffed the air.

“You are not subtle,” Stiles told him.

Isaac pouted. “I know, but it’s hard to tell with all the bath and body works.”

“Bath and body works is good,” Stiles insisted.

“Not in that quantity,” Isaac said with a scoff.

As Stiles went to argue with him, Derek interrupted, “You really didn’t tell him anything?”

“No,” Stiles said. “He doesn’t even know I’ve seen you. Why do you think I’m doused in honeysuckle?”

Derek stared at her for a moment. She made a face back at him. Then he nodded. “Alright. Let’s pack up, Isaac.”

“Got it,” Isaac said, and he started cleaning up a tile cutter and all the little cut off tile bits as Derek scraped off the excess mortar from the trowels into the tub. Derek closed the tub then started putting it along with the trowels and extra tile spacers all in a neat row beside the bathroom door and other packs of tile. Isaac set the tile cutter and the open pack they’d been working from beside the rest.

“Can we get Italian?” Isaac asked as they cleaned. “Like real Italian not pizza.”

“I’m down for that,” Stiles said, going to raise her hand then nearly dropping her research and having to catch it. She could get stuff with cream sauce since there’s no risk of her father getting any.

“Fine,” Derek said, not even that obstinate about it. He was probably as tired of the pizza they kept getting as she was.

Derek called in the order, and Stiles decided to get fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccoli while Isaac got a chicken dish, and Derek intentionally and willingly ordered a dish with eggplant in it.

“So, what have you found?” Derek asked, turning to Stiles as they had plenty of time to talk before they needed to pick up the order.

“Alright, so, interiors,” she said, heading over to the map.

The first building didn’t have a lot of the materials that Derek had listed, but she told them the ones it did have. Then she went over the pros and cons of different ways of marking them on the map. She finished her little speech, putting her research back in order and found both Isaac and Derek frowning at her. She looked between them, but they didn’t say anything.

“What?” she asked, close to snapping.

Isaac looked directly at Derek. Derek glared back at him, but Isaac stood up straight from where he’d been leaning on the metal table and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. A pretty clear ‘I’m not touching it.’

Derek sighed, crossing his arms as he turned back to Stiles. “Are you alright?” he asked, sounding like it was as difficult as pulling teeth to get out.

“I’m fine,” she said, no idea why they’re even asking.

“You were weird when you gave the research,” Isaac said, an edge of defensiveness to his tone.

“I was not,” she said. Then she adds. “I’m just hungry.”

“Alright,” Derek said, pulling out his phone. “I need to get the food anyways. Don’t burn the building down.”

“We won’t,” Stiles and Isaac said in unison.

Derek headed out, and Stiles went back to straightening out her research, still considering what the best way to mark the map would be.

“Look, I know you don’t like not telling Scott, but it’s important,” Isaac said. “Derek has reasons to not tell him. Good reasons.”

Stiles wasn’t upset about not telling Scott. She wasn’t even upset at all! Still, Derek had been vague when he’d first said he wouldn’t work with Scott. “What reasons?”

Isaac shrugged, hands not even leaving his pockets. “If Derek wants to tell you, he’ll tell you. I won’t do it.”

Stiles glowered at him. “I hate mysteries.”

“It’s not a mystery,” Isaac said. “Scott’s a dick.”

“Just because we disagreed with Derek about turning you and Erica and Boyd and what to do with the kanima–,”

“He’s a dick,” Isaac interrupted, not even raising his voice. He sounded uncaring, like it was a well known fact he read off a wikipedia page.

“He is not,” Stiles insisted hotly.

Isaac held up his hands, still in his pockets. “You already knew we didn’t like him when you joined.”

“Not really,” she said. “It sounded like another stupid dick measuring contest. Derek doesn’t like that Scott wouldn’t automatically listen to the big bad alpha so now he has to put him back in his place.”

Isaac’s eyes flashed gold, and Stiles took a step back.

“It is not a dick measuring contest,” Isaac said slowly. “If you knew what he did then you wouldn’t say that.”

“Then just tell me what he did,” she snapped

He shook his head. “That’s Derek’s decision.”

“What?” she asked. “Too much of a good little beta to make up your own mind?”

“Shut your mouth,” Isaac seethed at her. “I’m not doing it because I’m his beta. I’m doing it because I’m his friend. Or do you always go around telling Scott’s secrets?”

She said nothing for a moment, wondering what the hell Scott did that got this sort of reaction. Whatever it was, he’d done it to Derek. “I don’t.”

Isaac gestured towards her, hands still in his jacket pockets, in a there you go sort of motion.

Stiles frowned and she turned back to the table, aware of Isaac silently watching her. They didn’t speak as Stiles worked out a legend for each material on scrap paper and painstakingly transfered her results all onto one little building.

She stepped back to look at the final product. There were so many empty buildings left. She could be at this forever. They’d never find Erica and Boyd. Not unless they got really lucky and the alphas made a mistake moving them.

Derek returned, pushing the door open a little rougher than necessary after the oiling. Stiles could hear him slow down as he approached them. “What happened?” he asked cautiously.

“Nothing,” Stiles said quickly.

“I told her Scott was a dick,” Isaac said, blasé rather than vicious like he’d been before.

Derek set the take out on the table. He shrugged and told Stiles unsympathetically, “He is a dick.”

Stiles grit her teeth. “We can’t eat here, not near my research. I’ll kill you if you get it dirty.”

“Alright,” he said, picking the bag up again. “No need to be so territorial. It’s still my place.”

“If you spent as much time as I did on it, you’d be the same way,” she said, straightening her papers one last time before following him and Isaac to the more rickety table and its accompanying chairs.

No one said anything for a while as they started eating. Derek kept looking between Stiles and Isaac, but Stiles refused to say anything. The whole argument had been dumb.

“We should get a TV,” Isaac said eventually.

“Even if we got a TV, we wouldn’t be able to watch anything on it,” Derek said tiredly.

“If you’re getting everything second hand anyways, might as well get DVD player,” Stiles said, “Then you can get stuff from the library.”

Isaac pointed to Stiles, “See?”

Derek shot Stiles an exasperated look.

“Just saying,” Stiles said before shoving a forkful of noodles in her mouth.

“Come on,” Isaac said, “We’ll have something to do to chill out besides stare at the half finished bathroom.”

Derek gave him a disbelieving look. “I have books.”

Stiles laughed, trying not to spew her noodles at Isaac’s offended expression.