DEAD MAN!
CHAPTER SEVEN.
i figured it out.

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SCOTT HAD TEXTED STILES AND ADRIAN TO MEET HIM IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL DOORS, SHARING HE HAD SOME WIERD DREAM. Being the curious boys they are, Stiles and Adrian immediately came to the school, making him spill the beans of what had happened.

He began to tell them everything. How him and Allison snuck to the school buses to make out when he suddenly shifted, scaring her before ending her life.

"So, you killed her?" Stiles summarised the entirety of the long dream, opening the doors as the three of them walked side by side.

"I don't know." Scott sighed, his eyes telling Adrian he was still shaken up by it. "I just woke up. And I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before."

"Really?" Stiles sounded surprised. "I have. Usually ends a little differently."

Scott and Adrian quickly grimaced, a light smile in Adrian's. Scott was quick to recover, smirking devilishly. "Wonder about who." He muttered, shutting up when Stiles whacked his arm and sent him a glare. "A: I meant I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B: never give me that much detail about you in bed again."

"Noted." Stiles held his hands up, acting as if he had not just admitted to having those dreams. The fact that Stiles did have them made Adrian feel a slight tinge in his stomach, making him feel funny. "Let me take a guess here though."

Adrian threw his head back and groaned, shutting his eyes. He knew what the teen was going to say. He hadn't stopped texting him separately about it. "For the last time, Scott isn't gonna rip Allison's throat out tomorrow!"

Scott sighed, eyeing the boy with the buzzcut. "You think I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out?" He didn't sound worried, more tired that Stiles was overthinking.

Stiles rolled his eyes next to the redhead. "No, of course not." He huffed. The tanned boy and ginger shared looks before Stiles broke. "Okay, yeah, that's totally it."

Seeing a tint of fear appear in Scott's eyes, Adrian patted him on the shoulder. "Don't listen to that spas, you'll be fine. You didn't lose control at the game, that's a positive sign! It's not like everyone is personally taught in Lycanthropy."

Something must've dawned on Scott, causing him to hesitate. "Yeah, not a class, but maybe a teacher."

Stiles' eyes widened, Adrian mimicking the action. "Who, Derek?" He raised his voice, causing Adrian to shoosh him. Scott nodded, Stiles to hitting him over the head. "You forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?!"

"He does have a point, Scott. We don't exactly have a good relationship with Derek at the moment." Adrian crossed his arms, watching Scott's eyes change emotions.

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus. It felt so real." Scott's brown eyes fell to the floor, as if he had already done it.

"How real?"

"Like it actually happened." Scott informed them, pushing open the doors that lead to the back of the school.

The three teenagers froze in their spots as soon as they turned their focus on what lay ahead. Scott and Stiles' mouths were agape while Adrian's eyes grew to the size of golf balls. Panic and fear shot through them all.

No way. It can't be . . . Adrian's thought process trailed off as he blinked rapidly, the scene upfront staying the same.

A bright yellow school bus had had its back doors ripped off its hinges, blood covering the surface, seats pulled off from the inside. It was the spitting imagine of what Scott had described in his dream . . . or whatever it was now.

Similarly back to when they were at Derek's, detectives and police officers were at the scene taking pictures and samples.

"What was that you were saying earlier, Scott?" Adrian was first to speak, the two boys not daring breaking eye contact on the scene.

❚ ❚ ❚

Scott had been trying to reach Allison all morning. If the boy wasn't freaking out before, he definitely was freaking out now with the bus and it's now ruined state. "She's probably fine." Stiles tried to soothe the boy.

"She's not answering my texts, Stiles." Scott was racing through the hallway, not looking back to the two boys as he tapped on his phone as fast as lightning.

Adrian was also participating in trying to contact the brunette girl. With a heavy sigh, he looked over to Stiles worriedly. "Mine either."

"You know, it could just be a coincidence, alright?" Stiles was now working on calming Adrian now too as him and Scott were a few steps in front, their eyes scanning the hallways.

"Well then it's obviously one seriously amazing coincidence." Adrian muttered sarcastically beside him, Scott's panic only making him panic more.

"Just help me find her, okay?" Scott told the two boys, going back to his mission of finding his girlfriend.

Scott's breathing grew into pants as they searched the halls; the McCall boy more frantically than the other two. Adrian's thoughts began to race back to Scott's coincidence of a dream. Giving the circumstances right now . . . Scott wasn't looking too great.

Scott suddenly halted, his head slamming into a locker as if to zone out and calm himself. He groaned, Stiles and Adrian sharing worried looks just as the werewolf slammed his fist into the locker; making it hang by one hinge with a really bad dent.

"Oh crap." Adrian muttered when he saw the state of the locker he just now recognised. Stiles gave him a questioning look, making Adrian close his eyes and exhale loudly. "That's Jackson's locker."

With his breathing gradually slowing down, Scott backed away to the main school entrance. He bumped into somebody, their stuff falling to the floor as a familiar laugh was heard. Allison stood with a smile, pushing some hair back behind her ear.

Adrian and Stiles immediately released a sigh of relief in unison, the redhead clutching his chest. "Oh thank god." The bell rang seconds later, making his green eyes widen. "Crap! I'm gonna be late!"

As he ran past the students to his next class, Stiles watched him with a fond smile. You really are something, Adrian Martin. He thought before walking to his next class.

On the way to his class, Adrian's chest slammed into someone else's. He stumbled back slightly, his eyes gazing up at who had just rammed into him. It was a boy Adrian quickly placed as Issac Layhey, son of the swimming team coach.

Adrian hadn't really spoken to Issac all that much. He didn't have a problem with the kid, he mainly just kept to himself most times they sat together. He had a curly mop of light brown hair and was seen to most as an outcast in Beacon Hills.

"I-I'm sorry." Issac apologised, picking up a textbook which had fallen out his hands.

Normally, Adrian would have an outburst and shout at whoever barged into him, but not this time. Adrian always got the vibes that Issac didn't have the best home life. The boy constantly wore long sleeved shirts and often came into school with unexplainable bruises.

Adrian couldn't help but feel sympathy towards the teen, so he gave him a light shrug. "Don't sweat it. I should've looked where I was going too."

Issac gave him a look of surprise, obviously expecting a far different response from Adrian Martin. The redhead gave him a pat on the shoulder, jogging last him. "See you around, Layhey!"

❚ ❚ ❚

Mr Harris was Adrian Martin's least favourite teacher in school but, yet again, nobody likes Mr Harris. The chemistry teacher was a jerk that finds enjoyment in degrading his students, particularly Stiles and Adrian.

Much to Adrian's surprise, he was assigned to Stiles as his lab partner. Normally, the redhead would trudge over reluctantly with his face tripping him the entire time, but this time . . . he didn't mind at all. In fact, when Mr Harris assigned them, he felt something stir in his chest. Happiness?

"I'm definitely gonna need your help on some of this stuff." Adrian whispered to Stiles as he clicked his pen on and off in boredom.

Stiles gave him a smile. "What are tutors for, Tiger?" Adrian gave him a glare, making Stiles shut up but keep his smile which was turning into a smirk slowly.

The two were behind Scott, meaning they could talk amongst themselves. When Mr Harris had his head to the board, drawing out something to do with protons and electrons, Scott turned to them. "Maybe it was my blood on the door."

"Pretty sure you would've remembered whether you bled on a door or not." Adrian commented, an unsure look on his face.

"Could have been animal blood." Stiles suggested, looking between the two teenage boys. "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."

Scott face scrunched up in disgust. "And did what?"

"Do what any person would do if they catch something; eat it." Adrian shrugged, remembering the times his grandad would take him hunting only to later eat whatever they caught. His mum always disapproved of it; another strain in their relationship.

Scott looked at them concernedly, worried. "Raw?" He questioned.

Stiles gave him a look as Adrian covered his mouth with his palm to hide his short chuckle. "No, you stopped to bake it in your little werewolf oven." He spat sarcastically. "I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything."

"Mr Stilinski," Mr Harris' voice from the front of the class made the three boys freeze. When they turned their head in his direction, he was stood with his hands on his hips with a ferocious glare. "if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while."

Adrian couldn't help but glare as he lectured on. "I think you, Mr Martin and Mr McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

"No." Adrian and Stiles grumbled in protest at the same time. The two shared a look of surprise, blushes rising to their cheeks. Mr Harris was having none of it, pointing to different areas of the class where they could sit.

Adrian mentally cursed the teacher out while they all collected their things. "So annoying." He heard Stiles mutter under his breath, the redhead giving him a look of agreement.

Coincidentally, Adrian was directed into the seat next to Issac Layhey, who he had just bumped into moments ago. Issac's gaze teared away as soon as they met eyes, his gaze going back to the window.

"Guess I was right when I said I'd be seeing you around, Layhey." Adrian chuckled as he sat down with his stuff. Issac didn't say anything, only giving a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." Harris' comment snapped Adrian back, rolling his eyes while Scott took a seat next to some random girl in front of Jackson. Stiles sarcastically laughed, slamming his pencil on his desk.

As Harris began to continue with his class, Stiles Stilinski wasn't paying all that much attention. Instead, his eyes couldn't help but continue to glance at Adrian Martin and Issac Layhey sitting together. The redhead didn't seem to mind sitting next to the boy, going as far as to even attempt conversation. This made Stiles' thoughts and body course through with a feeling of bitter jealousy.

Adrian was half asleep; his palm holding his head as he began to doze off. Unfortunately, the girl next to Scott had other plans as she jumped up in her seat and rushed to the window. "Hey, I think they found something!"

Adrian woke with a start, Issac giving him a surprised look as the entire class moved quickly over to the window to look at the school car park. Stiles and Scott stood by Adrian's side as they saw some paramedics wheeling a man on a gurney across to an ambulance. The man wasn't moving, making Adrian fear the worst.

"That's not a rabbit." Scott whispered just as the man on the gurney sat up, screaming bloody murder. Disturbed and frightened, the class took steps away from the window.

At some point, Adrian and Stiles shuffled closer to each other almost protectively, their hands and shoulders brushing. "This is good, this is good." Stiles repeated, patting Scott's shoulder. "He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that."

Scott's eyes were upset, making Adrian furrow his ginger coloured brows as Scott turned to them. "Guys, I did that." He breathed.

❚ ❚ ❚

Like always, the lunch hall was pretty much packed with people as chatter filled the room. As Adrian picked up his lunch tray, he paused from making his way over to his usual table with his sister, Jackson and the other popular people.

Scott and Stiles were currently sat alone together, most likely discussing the dream and the whole 'dead guy who's not really dead' ordeal. For the first time in his life, Adrian wanted to sit next to them. He wanted to have something to do with the two nerds.

Just as he was about to walk over to the pair, a familiar redhead came to his side. Lydia gave him a smile, pursing her lips. "Where do you think you're going? Our table is that way." Her painted nails pointed across the hall to their normal table, giving her brother a pointed look.

Adrian looked down at his tray. His first thought was to lie but what could he say? In the end, he decided to admit defeat and be honest. "I'm actually going to sit over there."

Lydia looked over where her brother was gesturing too and gave a laugh of disbelief. "You want to sit next to twiddle dumb and twiddle dee? You friends with them now?"

"No." Adrian denied immediately, shaking his head as he clutched the tray tighter. "I just- wanted to try something new." The Martin trailed off.

Lydia gave him a fake smile he knew all too well. She turned, her strawberry blonde hair whacking him in the face. "I'll be the judge of that."

Adrian quickly raced after his sister approaching the discussing teens, hearing part of their conversation. "No, you're not cancelling, okay? You can't just cancel your whole life. We'll figure it out."

Before Scott could respond to Stiles, Lydia waltzed over and smacked her lunch tray on the table to sit down. Stiles and Scott jumped in surprise, Adrian mouthing 'sorry' to them as he sat beside Stiles. "Figure what out?" His sister asked skeptically.

"Lydia," Adrian gave her a glare as Stiles and Scott made inhuman noises, struggling on how to answer.

"Just, uh, homework." Scott lied smoothly, Stiles nodding with a 'yeah' way too quickly. The buzzcut teen gave Adrian a questioning look, obviously confused as to why the Martins were sitting with them. Adrian shrugged, taking a bite of his food.

Danny, the goalie of the lacrosse team and someone Adrian was actually friends with, sat down on the other side of him. Allison came next to Scott and some random lacrosse player Adrian didn't know too well came at the top of the table.

"Get up," Jackson demanded to the lacrosse player the redhead didn't know. A sharp look was on his eyes.

The boy looked up, rolling his eyes. "How come you never ask Danny or Adrian to get up?" He whined.

Danny looked up from where he was eating a green apple, a simple smirk on his lips. "Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot."

With his eyes bulging out of his head, Adrian joined in with glaring at the boy. Stiles was actually concerned for the boy's well being with the look of anger on the Martins face. "I suggest you listen to Jackson."

The boy immediately stood up and speed walked away from the table. Jackson sat down in his place as Danny talked. "So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar."

"I heard mountain lion." Jackson quickly said causally, most likely wanting to be the one correct in this circumstance.

"A cougar is a mountain lion." Lydia informed her boyfriend, making Adrian smile. He knew of his sisters intelligence, he had always been envious of it since they were little. Adrian hated how she felt the need to dumb it down for her boyfriend. Jackson gave Lydia a look, raising an eyebrow. Lydia's face quickly contorted into confusion. "Isn't it?

"Who cares?" Jackson shrugged as Adrian's body slumped, his face falling. If he had the smarts Lydia had, he would flaunt it off whenever he could. It was a shame she didn't feel the same as he did. "The guy's probably some homeless tweak who's gonna die anyway."

Adrian rolled his eyes at the joke as he took a sip of water. Too think a few weeks ago, he would've laughed at that type of humour purely because Jackson found it funny.

"Actually, I just found out who it is. Check it out." Stiles, who had been on his phone the entire time, lifted the device so everyone could see the video he had pulled out.

"The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident, but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack." A male reporter announced as a picture of an old man came up on the screen. "Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition."

Stiles tucked his phone away after that, Scott being the first to speak on it. "I know this guy." He stammered.

"You do?" Allison asked, looking over at her boyfriend.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus, back when I lived with my dad." He looked between Adrian and Stiles. "He was the driver."

Despite Adrian being into this conversation, his sister didn't feel the same as she twirled a piece of hair in between her fingers. "Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"

Allison and Scott turned their gaze to the girl in confusion. Lydia stared between them with an obvious look. "You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?

Allison almost chocked on her food, coughing as she stared between her boyfriend and friend. "Um, we were thinking of what we were going to do." Stiles observed silently as he ate his food.

"Well, I am not sitting at home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun." Adrian watched his sister intrude her way in on Allison and Scott's date. Just as he was about to make a comment on it, Lydia spoke again. "You know what, Adrian, you can come too. Let's make it a triple date."

Stiles and Adrian choked on their foods, sending them both into a coughing fit. Adrian was first to recover, looking at his sister. "What?! No! Besides, I'm not dating anyone." He tried, feeling stressed he was getting brought into operation ruin Allison and Scott's date.

"I can fix you up with someone." Lydia shrugged, soon gasping with a thought. "One of my friends would be good for you! She's been trying to get with you for awhile."

Adrian cringed with the thought of going, shaking his head. "Nah. I'm fine."

"Adrian." Lydia snapped, sternly staring into his eyes. "You're going."

"Hanging out?" Scott turned to Allison, who lowered her water bottle and shrugged awkwardly. "Like the four of us- depending on if Adrian's coming with Lydia's friend? Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

Stiles and Adrian were reacting pretty similarly towards the boy as Allison nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun." She shrugged.

Jackson spoke up, "You know what else sounds fun?" He lifted a fork of the table. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."

Lydia snatched the utensil out of his hands. "How about bowling? You love to bowl." She suggested, wanting to make her boyfriend happy.

"Yeah, with actual competition." Jackson sneered, waving the other couple off.

Allison leaned forwards competitively. "How do you know we're not actual competition?" She smirked. She turned to Scott. "You can bowl, right?"

Stiles snickered under his breath, knowing something Adrian didn't know. Scott replied. "Sort of."

Jackson crossed his arms, a judging look on his face. "Is it sort of or yes?" He squinted him.

Jackson's mockery must've sparked something in Scott as he spoke more confidently. "Yes. In fact, I'm a great bowler."

❚ ❚ ❚

"You're a terrible bowler!" Stiles exasperated as soon as the two exited the lunch hall, Adrian trailing behind them. He had been mostly silent since Lydia forced him into going on the triple date.

Something just didn't seem right about it. Maybe it was because he wanted Scott and Allison to go out by themselves? Maybe it was because he wasn't too keen on seeing the lacrosse captain and his sister sucking faces? Maybe it was because . . . he didn't feel like going on a date with Lydia's friend.

The Martin let Stiles do the talking to the young werewolf as he tried to think straight. Scott groaned as he turned to face the two. "I know! I'm such an idiot."

"God, it was like watching a car wreck." Stiles ranted. "I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then out of nowhere comes that phrase."

"Hang out." Scott quoted, a disgusted look on his face.

Stiles ran his hands through his buzzed hair. "You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out." Something thudded in Adrian's chest. He stopped for a moment, but then kept walking with the guys.

"How is this happening?" Scott cried. "I either killed a guy or I didn't."

Stiles meanwhile, frowned with a different thought. "I don't think Danny likes me very much."

"I ask Allison on a date, and now we're hanging out." Scott sighed, ignoring his best friend who was on a whole new topic of his own.

Stiles frowned. "Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

Scott continued to ignore him. "I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now . . ." he lifted up his watch. "I'm gonna be late for work!"

"Wait, Scott!" Stiles called as Scott ran away. "You didn't- am I attractive to gay guys?!" He yelled after him.

As if something exploded in his brain, Adrian groaned as if in pain. "Yes! Yes, Stiles! You're attractive! Now shut up before I knock the living daylights out of you! God, I can't think!"

The Martin boy walked out of school by himself, huffing as he rubbed his temples. All of a sudden, he stopped. His eyes opened wide, his words finally catching up with his mind.

He just called Stiles Stilinski attractive . . . and not jokingly.

"Holy crap." Adrian muttered, running shaking hands through his hair. "I figured it out."

A U T H O R. N O T E
adrian: *trying to think straight*
me: ya'll hear summin'?

i know it's not the most powerful way of realising but i kinda like it; a bit of humour. the more i write for adrian, the more i fall in love with him! i love my fictional son lol.

GIF MADE BY ME !
━ R O S C O E O B R I E N