☾

"Allison, when you said you were gonna stop for an errand before we went shopping... A five-mile hike in the woods was not what I was expecting," Lydia tells Allison as we follow her through the woods. She told us she needed to do something before we went dress shopping for the Winter Formal, and now we're trekking through the woods, with her holding a large black bag.

I know I'm gonna go to the Winter Formal, but sadly, Stiles hasn't asked me yet. Yeah, we're dating but I want him to actually ask me. Is that weird?

"Before I forget, I wanted to ask if you're okay with something," Allison asks. "Jackson asked me to the winter formal."

Wait, my best friend's ex-boyfriend asked out my other best friend? That's just messed up.

"Did he?" Lydia asks, feigning interest.

"Just as friends," Allison says. "But I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it first."

"Sure," Lydia chirps after a pause. "As long as it's just friends."

"Well, yeah, I mean... It's not like I would take him to the Coach's office during lacrosse practice to make out with him or anything," she says, throwing a look at me.

I groan. "Allison, he kissed me because he was depressed about something and just acted out on an impulse. Also, I pushed him back because I'm happily dating Stiles!"

Allison shrugs as we continue to walk, stopping at a clear spot and she takes out an arrow from the bag, screwing an arrowhead. It's not a normal arrowhead, I can tell right off the bat.

"What does that do?" Lydia asks, crossing her arms over her chest and rubbing her glove-covered hands up and down her biceps to keep warm.

"We're about to find out," Allison says, pulling out a longbow, nocking the arrow and holding it up, drawing the string back. She lets it go, the arrow flying through the air and hitting the tree, a spark exploding from it. Momentarily, my gaze goes blurry but I quickly blink it away, shaking my head a bit.

Allison lowers the bow, Lydia asking, "What the hell is that?"

"I don't know," Allison responds.

"Well... That was fun!" Lydia says sarcastically. "Any more lethal weapons you wanna try out?"

Then, we hear a twig snap and then another. Allison looks back at me and then forward when another twig snaps, handing the large bow to Lydia. "Hold this," she says without looking at her.

"What? Why?" She asks.

"Because I thought I heard something," Allison whispers, taking off her finger guard.

"So... What if you heard something?" Lydia asks.

"So... I want to find out what that something is," Allison says quietly, dropping the guard onto her bag. "Don't worry. It's probably nothing."

"Well, what if that nothing is something and that something is something dangerous?" Lydia asks, eyes wide.

"Shoot it," Allison says, walking away, leaving us standing in the middle of the woods.

I sigh. Well, there goes my attempt at a normal day.

☾

I was messing with an old guitar that I've had for a few years when my phone started ringing, and I reach out to my nightstand to grab my phone.

Batman.

With a small smile, I press the answer button and bring it to my ear. "Hey, Stiles," I greet cheerfully.

"Mary Anne?" My smile falls at the sound of his voice, shaky and on the verge of tears. "Can you please come over? Please? I--I really need you right now."

Instantly I'm up and tugging on my leather jacket. "I'm coming now, I'll talk to you when I get there. Okay?"

"Please hurry."

He hangs up then, and in a flash I'm out my room and down the stairs, taking two at a time and out the door, closing it behind me and running down the street. Thank the gods I live close to Stiles because by the time I get there, it's only been ten minutes. I can see him sitting in his jeep, head down.

Quickly, I jog to the passenger side and open the door, making Stiles snap his head up to me. When I sit down and close the door, moving to look in his eyes, I notice that they're glassy. "What happened?" I whisper, concern coloring my voice.

"My dad was reviewing a case," he says quietly, reaching for my hand and I instantly lace our fingers together. "And I got him drunk so he would tell me about the case. I know, it was a horrible and dumb idea. And then he mentioned my mom..." His voice trembles when he says 'mom'. He's never talked about his mother, but I can sense that she isn't alive. I can tell in his eyes; it was the same look Nessa and I had when our parents died. As well as my older brother, Nikolai. The look you get when you lose a parent. "And he never talks about her."

His eyes grow even more watery, his hand clenching around mine. Instantly, I move forward to wrap my arms around his neck, kissing his temple as he winds his arms around my waist. I don't fight him when he tugs me over the console and into his lap, ignoring the slightly flailing limbs as I straddle him, and he crushes me against him. He places his cheek above my chest, my chin atop of his head and rubbing the back of his neck soothingly.

Gods, I hate seeing him like this. I don't like how his soothing scent is now masked by what I can only guess is sadness and anxiety. I just want to wrap my arms around him and protect him from this, want to take his pain away, something that I've never felt with anyone else.

My feelings for him... They're firmer, stronger and more intense. Something I've never felt.

When I'm around him I feel content, safe, and... Loved. Stiles says he loves girls, especially ones with "blonde hair, icy blue eyes, five foot," and that's my description. Stiles... He loves me.

And I love him.

My heart stops at the realization, every feeling I've felt with him crashing over me all at once. Interest, adrenaline, fear of losing him, and just pure happiness.

I'm in love with Stiles Stilinski.

I know, it's early, early enough that most people would think it wasn't real and was just teenage hormones. But I know that all of those moments we shared, I was falling in love with him without realizing it. It was slow and then all at once.

He pulls away, looking straight into my eyes, a few tears leaking out of his eyes and I cup his cheeks, rubbing away the tears with my thumbs.

"There's something else, isn't there?" I whisper knowingly, trying not to cry myself at the realization I've just made, leaning my forehead against his.

He nods reluctantly. "Yeah, Scott's mom is on a date with Peter," he confesses. "I just needed this right now. But now, we have to get to Miss McCall."

I bite my lip and move back to my seat, buckling in as he starts the engine, driving out the driveway. We drive in silence, searching the roads. Until I see a car parked on the side of the road, two scents coming from it. Peter's, the scent familiar from when I was at the hospital.

"There, that's them," I point to it.

"You sure?" He asks, speeding up slightly.

"It's his scent!" I confirm, loudly. "I remember it from the hospital!"

"Okay, hold on," he mutters, speeding up and then he hits the back of it! What the hell!? During the collision, my seat belt unbuckled as I reared forward and hit my forehead on the dashboard, hard. "Shit, Mary Anne! Are you okay?"

I groan and lift my head up, looking at him, "Yeah, I'm good." When I turn my head to the windshield, I see Melissa getting out of the car.

"Oh, are you kidding me? Stiles! Mary Anne!" She yells, walking around the car and in front of the jeep. Oh shit, we're in deep trouble.

Stiles hops out, asking, "Ms. McCall?" Like he didn't plan this. I slowly get out the car, walking around the back to stand next to Stiles, rubbing my forehead.

"Yes!" She says angrily.

"Wow, this is -- this is just crazy," Stiles says. "What a coincidence, huh?"

Melissa fake chuckles, while my eyes go to Peter who gets out the car. "Nicely done, Scott," he says quietly. I smirk a little, now hearing Scott's heartbeat and I know he's here. Good, mission accomplished. "Nicely done."

"I mean... I do not know what happened," Stiles lies. "You guys just came out of nowhere."

"Came out of nowhere!" Melissa repeats, vexed. "We were parked on the side of the road, Stiles."

"How crazy is that?" Stiles asks, looking at Peter who is right next to Melissa. "I mean, we should probably call the cops, you know, do like an accident report thing."

"I don't think that's necessary," Peter cuts in.

"Are you sure?" He asks, reaching up to his neck. "I think I'm feeling a little whiplash."

"Whiplash? You hit us!" She says angrily.

"I don't know--there's something definitely wrong with my neck," Stiles lies. "And Mary Anne hit her head on the dashboard."

"That, I believe," she mutters, but I don't pay attention to their conversation anymore.

I watch Peter walk away from us, talking to Scott. "I know you're there, Scott, I'm impressed," he compliments. "It's too bad most teenagers aren't that smart. It's like that one on the lacrosse team... Jackson," Peter says. "Thinks he knows all about us. You know how they say knowledge is power. Not in his case."

"Jackson," Scott breathes out, my eyes following him as he takes off down the road.

"You know what? Both of you, just go home," Melissa orders, going over to Peter.

A sigh leaves my lips; mission unaccomplished.

☾

"Do you want me to drop you off at home?" Stiles asks as we drive around aimlessly.

I lick my lips and consider it; I know I might not get any sleep tonight, so maybe I can try another method.

"Can I sleep at your place tonight?" I ask tentatively, meeting his eyes as he gives me a wide-eyed look.

"Really?" He asks eagerly. "You want to spend the night with me?"

"Not like that," I clarify, a blush coloring my cheeks. "You know I'm a long-term insomniac, and I'm looking for different methods than medicine to fall asleep. Maybe sleeping next to someone would help. Or, more specifically, you."

He nods. "Of course. If it'll help, definitely. You really need to sleep. Do you know the long-term effects on your health that insomnia causes?"

"Hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attacks, and strokes," I answer immediately.

I can see him blinking rapidly from the corner of my eye. "Okay, I did not know all of that," he chuckles, pulling into the driveway. "You know, it's very hot when you talk nerdy to me."

Involuntarily, I burst out laughing, face flushing. "Talk nerdy?" I question through the giggles, holding my stomach. I can't stop for a few moments, holding my stomach as I gulp down air. "Really? Nerdy?"

He chuckles and starts getting out and before I could even reach for the handle, Stiles rushes around the car and to my door, opening it for me. "M'lady," he says in a weird voice, holding out his hand for me.

Choosing to play along, I unbuckle and take his hand, climbing out. "Why thank you, kind sir," I say, doing a pretty good English accent if I do say so myself. He laces our fingers together as we walk towards the front door, coming in quietly.

"Okay, so my dad is probably passed out so we have to be quiet," Stiles whispers as we tip-toe up the stairs. I nod and keep my steps as light as possible, making it to his room and shutting the door behind me almost silently. I stand by the door awkwardly and he stands in front of me, our hands no longer linked, the tension between us thickening. Not even a knife could cut through it.

"I have a shirt you can sleep in," he finally says after three solid minutes of silence.

I smile gratefully as I push off the door softly and go to stand near his bed, watching him search through his dresser and pull out a large gray t-shirt. Since I'm dwarf compared to Stiles, it's probably going to be very big on me. "Thanks," I whisper as he hands it to me while smiling down at me, turning his back towards me respectively. Knowing he's not looking, I quickly strip off my jacket, shirt, leggings, and sneakers while keeping my socks and panties on. I didn't have a bra on, seeing as how I was dressed for bed when Stiles called me. Pulling the shirt over my head and sliding my arms through the short sleeves, it falls down about an inch past mid-thigh like predicted, and the sleeves brush the inside of my elbows. "You can turn around now," I whisper.

He turns around and his eyes fall from my face to my exposed legs, fractionally widening as he visibly gulps, Adam's apple bobbing. "Uh," he says awkwardly, hand raising to scratch at his temple. "It's... Big, on you."

"Well, I am only five foot," I chuckle. "And compared to me, you're a giant." He smiles, shaking his head slightly.

Smiling softly, I duck my chin down and move to crawl into the twin size bed, taking up very little space with my back to Stiles, giving him a little privacy to change, like he did for me.

I rest my temple against my bent arm, my other hand on my stomach like usual, eyelids drooping. I'm tired but not tired enough for sleep just yet, discouraging me already. My head turns a little at the feeling of the bed dipping behind me, seeing Stiles crawl in, wearing a black t-shirt and green plaid pajama bottoms. As he settles down on his side, I turn to face him, cuddling close to him as we just stare at each other for a long time in silence. Our legs tangle together, our hands touching by our heads as he moves into the position I was in moments ago.

"I can't stop thinking about what he said at the hospital," I whisper, gnawing on my bottom lip.

Peter somehow knows me from when I was a child, and that thing he said. "And look, you're protecting your mate, how sweet." Wolves have mates and it must apply to werewolves, too. And when he said that, I felt a powerful urge to protect Stiles from him.

"About what?" He whispers back.

"That he apparently knew me when I was a kid, and that part about protecting my mate," I whisper, barely audible but he hears me.

"We can deal with that later," he says, nudging his nose against mine. "You need to sleep."

He wraps an arm around my waist to pull me closer, lips pressing a kiss to my forehead, nose and then lips, sighing into it. I smile faintly as we snuggle even further into each other, my arm draping across his own waist, chests about mere centimeters apart, our foreheads lightly pressed as I close my eyes.

Involuntarily, my mind goes back to my realization. I love him, I'm in love with him. I don't think it, not anymore. I know it. But I can't say it, not yet.

Soon, though. I will, soon.

"Good night, Mary Anne," he whispers, and I can almost hear his smile.

"Night, Stiles," I mumble, everything fading out as I fall into the abyss, and for the first time since I came back to Beacon Hills, I don't have any trouble falling asleep.

☾

YES! Mary Anne realizes she's in love with Stiles!

This ship is literally my baby now, I have the need to protect them. Is that weird?

Void_Stiles_is_Life xx