STILES STUMBLED INTO the bathroom early the next morning, rubbing his eyes using the backs of his hands. For the first time in a long time he had managed to have a good sleep, barely any of the worries of the dead pool infiltrating his dreams. He'd been pretty tired after the way he and Harper had chosen to celebrate, too.

Immediately, the Stilinski boy felt much more awake when his eyes landed on the girl herself. She stood at the sink in a bra and her underwear, her earphones in while she brushed her teeth, not yet having noticed her boyfriend enter. Stiles smirked a little as he approached her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

Harper jolted a little, her eyes snapping up into the mirror before she smiled at him. Stiles smiled back sleepily, tucking her hair out of the way of her neck before pressing gentle kisses there. The muffled sounds of some alternative band came from Harper's earplugs, but he didn't know who they were.

While Stiles was more All Time Low, Harper was more The Neighbourhood. Neither hated each other's music tastes though- in fact, since they had started discovering what they liked around age thirteen, it was nonstop playlist sharing between the two, even to this day.

Harper spat out the toothpaste and took an earbud out, turning around so that her front was now pressed against his. Stiles had climbed out of bed only sporting his boxers, not that she was complaining. Her hands went from around his neck to down his chest, the tips of her fingers resting just below his collarbones.

"G'morning," she reached up to press her lips against his.

Stiles pulled away, the smile not leaving his face, "I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

Rolling her eyes, the brunette moved her arms back around his neck and pulled him back down so he was more level with her five foot one figure. Stiles grinned against her lips, his large hands flat against her bare back as he held her close too. Harper honestly didn't care that Stiles hadn't brushed his teeth, and to be honest, she could only really taste the mint from her own breath.

"I could get used to you walking around in just your bra and panties," Stiles admitted, pulling away to press their foreheads against each other, "and waking up to you in my bed."

"Well, that's all in the vision right?" Harper raised her brows, "you, me, and Scott sharing a flat when we go to college?"

Stiles grinned harder, bopping her nose adorably, "glad you see the vision too."

Harper shook her head, "I love the vision."

"Just no walking around half naked with Scott around," he declared, making Harper chuckle.

They kissed again, this one shorter than the last one. Harper ended up pulling away when the alarm on her phone started going off from Stiles' bedroom.

"You need to hurry up and get ready," she patted his chest, parting from his arms even though they felt like heaven, "you have lacrosse practice this morning. Coach will be pissed if you're late."

Grumbling something under his breath, Stiles obeyed Harper and began to get ready. Meanwhile, Harper moved into his bedroom which was attached to the bathroom and grabbed the clothes she had brought over to change into today- just a pair of tights and a sage green shirt dress that tied around the middle.

"Nervous for your results?" Stiles asked as he chucked a shirt on.

Harper finished applying her mascara and put the wand away, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm more nervous for Malia, to be honest," the brunette admitted, "I know she's worried she won't be coming up with us next year. But then again, her and Isaac studied nonstop for it so..."

"You realise they weren't actually studying, right?"

"Ew."

...

"LYDIA? LYDIA! LOOK, I passed," Malia lifted up her test paper, trying to get the attention of the strawberry blonde to her right.

Kira was sat behind Malia grinning proudly as Coach slapped Harper's exam down on her desk. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips when she saw the A- written at the top of her paper in red ink, just thankful that she got a high pass.

"C minus," Lydia pursed her lips from the desk in front of Harper, trying to sound happy for the girl who, in Lydia's books, did not get a good grade.

Malia nodded eagerly, "yeah, your notes are great when they're not written in code."

Coach slammed the werecoyote's next exam down. Harper looked over Lydia's shoulder, her shoulders sagging in defeat when she saw the F- written at the top.

"Disappointed, Malia," Coach Finnstock muttered, consequently causing Malia's face to fall, "profoundly disappointed."

Lydia stared at Malia for a second before promising, "I'll send you my notes."

"Kira, what did you get?" Harper asked casually, glancing over at the girl next to her.

"A-," she beamed, causing Harper to high five her and exclaim, "me too!"

Her smile faltered when she noticed how tense Lydia appeared. Nerves were rolling off her and Kira seemed to notice it too- she didn't need to be an Empath.

"Lyds, it's over," Harper reminded her.

Kira nodded, "the computer's are off. No more assassins, no more murders. No one's dying."

"Not yet."

...

LYDIA'S WORDS CHILLED Harper, but she went by the rest of the day just hoping it was the girl being a pessimist like usual. School finished with no supernatural disturbances for her, which felt like hadn't happened in a long time and she couldn't wait to go home and take a long, hot bath.

"Harper," Isaac jogged up to meet her in the hallway, gently grabbing her by the arm, "hey, um, I was kinda hoping that you don't come home tonight."

Raising her eyebrows, the Empath released a scoff and feigned hurt. Seeing Isaac immediately become more awkward than before was amusing to her, so she carried on.

"Ouch, Isaac," she muttered bitterly, blinking as if she didn't understand, "I didn't know you hated me so much."

Realising she was joking, he rolled his eyes, "ha ha. It's just, Kira told Malia all about the date Scott's taking her on tonight, and Malia got upset because I've never taken her out. And since I have no money, I wanted to make a sort of fort thing in the living room, but-"

"Say no more," Harper caught sight of Stiles coming down the hall and he immediately waved in her direction, "I have a feeling someone else didn't want me going home tonight either."

Unsurprisingly, Harper was correct. It got to about seven o'clock and it was dark out, the only source of light being the lamp on Stiles' desk where he sat scribbling his maths homework. Meanwhile, Harper was sprawled out across his bed, lazily typing an English essay on his laptop.

A knock came from the door despite it being wide open causing both teenagers to glance up. Sheriff Stilinski stood there with a smile on his face, finally out of his work uniform and in a cotton jumper and some jeans.

"Drop what you're doing," he ordered playfully as he entered the room, "I'm taking you both out to dinner. Whatever you want."

Stiles glanced over at Harper before releasing his pen, "dad, I don't think a man of your debts should be treating anyone to anything."

Noah reached into his back pocket, producing an envelope, "well, there is one debt we no longer have to worry about."

Harper closed the lid of her laptop and sat up curiously as Stiles snatched it, asking what it was before even opening it. Noah looked over at his son's girlfriend, smiling gratefully.

"A letter from Eichen House," he explained, "apparently, they've decided to forgive our debt as an apology for, uh, well, Harper and Lydia almost getting murdered."

Harper chewed down on her bottom lip, trying not to grin as she realised that it had worked. Stiles looked over at her, his eyes softening, looking like they were practically melting against the dim light of the lamp.

"You did this?" He murmured.

The Empath shrugged, "you've both saved me a bunch of times, it's the least I could do. Besides, family look out for each other, right?"

Noah and Stiles both broke out into a grins, the older man holding his hands out to the girl. Harper beamed, a bounce in her step as she hopped off of Stiles' bed and wrapped her arms around her father figure. Noah squeezed her before opening his arms wider for Stiles to join in. Soon enough, Harper was in the middle of a Stilinski sandwich, causing her to giggle.

"You didn't have to do this for us, Harper," Noah hummed.

"It's not like I cut my leg off, I just asked if it was possible," Harper dismissed his concerns as they all pulled apart.

Noah chuckled, "you're my favourite."

"Hey!" Stiles laughed, playfully smacking his dad's arm.

Harper looked between them, beaming brightly. With the dead pool finished and some weight off of the Stilinski's shoulders, she couldn't help but feel a lot more optimistic.

"But... you know, if you really want, you can repay me by taking me to my favourite Chinese restaurant," she grinned cheekily.

Noah and Stiles laughed, "Let's go."

...

HARPER AND THE STILINSKIS finished their meal in time for the big lacrosse game of Beacon Hills VS Devenford Prep, Stiles rushing off to the changing rooms while Harper went to find a seat with Noah.

"Let's sit here, yeah?" He picked some seats a few rows behind where Stiles normally sat on the bench.

Harper nodded, pulling the ends of her dress closer to her knees when she sat as Malia came bouncing over, a grin on her face. She took a seat on the other side of Harper, the shorter girl's eyebrows raising.

"You feel like sunshine," Harper acknowledged with a smile of her own, "I take it your date with Isaac went well?"

The werecoyote nodded quickly, "so well."

She watched as Isaac moved across the field, going to sit down next to Stiles who was adjusting his gloves on the bench. Malia's happiness was contagious, making Harper shove her with a giggle.

"Seriously, what happened?"

Malia pursed her lips, turning her attention away from her boyfriend and back to the girl she probably considered her best friend— maybe joined with Kira, but Kira didn't need to know that.

A small blush coated her cheeks, although Harper couldn't tell if it was from the slightly chilly air or not. Her nose was the same colour, making her look adorable with her beanie pulled over her head.

"Okay, so, I get to your house, right? And he's in the middle of building a fort— he used some of your blankets by the way, but don't tell him I told you— and it was going horribly. Obviously, as a past coyote I have some experience, so I helped build this really cool den and there were lights and pizza and—"

Harper began to squeal with the teenage girl, both smacking hands with each other and stomping their feet as if they had just been asked out by their crushes or something. Noah glanced at them and shook his head with a smile of amusement.

"— and! So, we were in the middle of having sex—"

Harper's smile dropped, "in the fort?"

Malia frowned, nodding, "Yeah?" She seemed disappointed that Harper had cut her off from her explanation.

"The fort made out of my blankets?" Harper clarified, her eye twitching in a manner that Malia would describe as 'very Stiles'.

She blushed, "at least Isaac and I have never had sex in the kitchen— where people eat!"

Immediately, Harper began to choke on her own spit, swiftly glancing behind to make sure Stiles' dad wasn't listening. Luckily, he wasn't— he was too busy talking to the parent next to him.

"Okay, fine," Harper lowered her voice, although she wasn't mad. She was actually far from it, she wanted to know the end of the story now, "what happened next?"

"So we were, you-know-what-ing, and he just tells me he loves me!" Malia exclaimed, "so I said it back, because I think I do, and I've never seen him so happy. Makes me happy too."

Harper awed, squeezing her friend's hand, "I'm so happy for you two. You're so cute together."

"How did you and Stiles first say I love you?" She asked curiously.

The brunette thought back to the day that felt like yesterday but had actually been just under a year and half ago, an absentminded smile crossing her delicate features. She looked down at Stiles who was talking to Liam, a particularly sour look on his face.

"We just kind of blurted it at the same time," Harper admitted, "it was the weekend after the winter formal in our sophomore year. I actually have never told him this, but when I was half conscious, I heard him tell his dad that he loved me, so I wanted to say it to him as soon as I woke, but I guess great minds think alike, right?"

Malia has a lovestruck expression on her face. It was strange for the Empath to be talking about romance with Malia, who had never really been for it before tonight. Before, she and Allison would talk about Scott and Stiles together. No offence to Lydia, but Harper didn't really like to take relationship advice from the strawberry blonde.

The buzzing of a mobile phone in her pocket made Harper jump a little. She sent Malia an apologetic smile before pulling it out of the pocket of her dress and scanning the text from her boyfriend himself.

STILES:
Scott and Kira aren't here yet. We're screwed without them.

Biting down on her lip, Harper tried to send an encouraging reply. She thought back to the incident around the time of the Kanima, when Stiles became the Lacrosse King for a whole fifteen minutes before everything was ruined by Gerard.

HARPER:
says the guy who scored goal after goal when he was finally put on the field for a game. you're going to ace it.

STILES:
i hope you're right.

Unfortunately, Harper was not right. After bragging to Liam and Isaac about how good he was getting at lacrosse, the teenage boy ran out onto the field only to get made a fool of. Harper had never seen his limbs move so spastically every time he was hit by a ball or knocked over by the other team.

When half time arrived, Devenford Prep were still kicking Beacon Hills' ass, and there was still no sign of Scott or Kira. Harper had texted them both a couple of times, but she figured they were just too into their date to even notice how much time had went by.

Coach Finnstock was throwing a hissy fit on the edge of the field, cursing loudly and throwing his clip board the the ground before stomping it. Harper's amusement faded as Stiles came rushing over.

"I think something's happened," he panted, "with Scott and Kira."

Harper pursed her lips. She hadn't thought that anything had been wrong until now.

Noah stood up, "let's go then," he spoke determinedly.

Malia raised her brows, "should I stay here in case they show up?"

Nodding gratefully, Stiles took Harper's hand and lead her away from the field, Noah right behind them. It was Harper and Stiles' turn to try and save Scott, not the other way around.

...

DEREK TEXTED STILES, telling him to go to his loft. Once he had changed out of his lacrosse uniform and back into a plaid shirt, Stiles, Harper and Sheriff Stilinski drove to Derek's block of apartments as quickly as they could.

Harper gasped slightly as they entered through the sliding doors, finding the werewolf himself stood with Braeden among a mess. Lights were strung from the ceiling, only half still turned on. It was obvious that some sort of attack had gone down- the window was smashed and furniture had been flung around.

"What the hell happened?" Stiles urged.

Derek replied solemnly, "it was supposed to be a date."

"They were both here?" The Sheriff asked.

Braeden nodded, "and they're both gone."

Harper's phone began to buzz in the pocket of her dress, making Derek raise his eyebrows at her. Pursing her lips, Harper pulled out her phone and hit answer, immediately holding it to her ear when she saw it was Lydia.

"Alright?" Harper greeted.

"Scott's been taken!" Lydia blurted.

"And Kira," the brunette corrected, "we're at Derek's loft now. We don't know where they've gone."

"Mexico," another voice rang out. It took Harper a moment to realise that Lydia was with Deaton, making her eyebrows furrow. "And if you want to save his life, that's where you're going too."

"How do you know he's there?" Harper demanded, feeling panic in the pit of her stomach for two of her closest friends.

Deaton replied, "a man called Dr Valack showed me. I saw it."

She paused, not quite believing what she had heard.

"I'm sorry, did you just say Valack?"

...

the past few chapters have been flopping so bad lol

rip this series 🙏 it pretty much ended half way through book two lmaooo