DEAD MAN!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.
you're alive . . . and naked.

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ADRIAN MARTIN WORE A STRESSED OUT LOOK AS HE WALKED INTO THE SCHOOL BUILDING, HIS BOYFRIEND AND HIS BEST FRIEND BY HIS SIDE. So far, there had been no progress on Lydia being found . . . and Adrian was getting beyond paranoid over it.

By now, everyone in Beacon Hills High seemed to be aware of the missing strawberry blonde and her attack on the night of the school dance. Well, they didn't know all of it. People thought Lydia had been attacked by some animal, and Adrian was hospitalised trying to save her.

It seemed everywhere the Martin boy turned people would be talking about his family and now freak of a sister. Adrian didn't like it one bit. In fact, he had already beaten up three people this morning who were talking bad about his sister.

"She ate liver?" Scott questioned with a glance over to Stiles, who was informing them all in on the information he had learned from his dad.

The Stilinski boy shook his head. "No, I didn't say she ate it. I just said it was missing. And you know what? Even if she did, so what? It's the most nutritious part of the body." He glances towards the redhead, who had been silent the entire morning, trying to lift his spirits.

"I never at anyone's liver." Scott pointed out in a mumble. Adrian rolled his eyes. What did he want? A gold star which reads 'well done'?

"Yeah, right, cause when it comes to werewolves, you're a real model of self control." The buzzcut teen went on sarcastically, rolling his eyes after his boyfriend. Suddenly, he paused, turning round. "Wait, hold on- you're the test case for this, so we should be going over what happened to you. And you." He looked between the two boys.

Adrian made a weird face. "Me?"

"Yeah, maybe Lydia got unlucky and is a Necromancer just like you."

The teen gave the boy a look, scoffing. "Geez. Way to make me feel good about myself, Stilinski." He muttered.

Scott gave Stiles a look of doubt. "What do you mean?"

Adrian sighed. "He means what was going through your head when you began to turn? What things were you drawn to? As for me, he's just telling me how much my powers suck."

Stiles' eyes widened. "Wha- I wasn't saying that! Your powers are cool! They just . . . are unlucky to have at times." He trailed off, getting the boy's point.

Scott ignored the two, thinking of what he was drawn to. It didn't take long before an answer popped into his head, a cheesy grin taking place on his lips. "Allison. I was drawn to Allison."

Adrian groaned. "Nothing else? Nothing else that mattered just as much to you other than your girlfriend?"

"Nothing else mattered." Scott blissfully said back. "But, no, that's good though, right? Cause the night Lydia was bit Adrian was beside her."

Adrian closed his eyes, a sadness washing over him. "I should've gotten to her sooner. I saw all this happening, I could've stopped it."

"Hey," Stiles softly called, placing his warm hand on the boy's shoulder. "You did your best. There's nothing you could've done. Peter's the one who caused this, and him only."

Even the pure mention of his name brought anger to Adrian. "God, sometimes I wish he would come back to life just so I can kill him all over again."

"Well, he's gone; for the better too." Scott nodded, sending the boy a look of sympathy. "Let's go to chemistry. Harris will give us a detention if we're even a second late."

Adrian and Stiles groaned together, the buzzcut giving his boyfriend a look. "Hey, maybe you can kill him in Peter's place. I'll even help you bury the body."

"Sounds like a date." Adrian played along, walking off towards the class he dreaded.

❚ ❚ ❚

"Lets go! I have an announcement." Adrian's shoes squeaked against the floor as he dashed through the locker room, trying not to miss Coach's speech. "Gather round. Quicker! Danny, put a shirt on. Stilinski, that means you!"

In the act of not knowing where he was going, Adrian's chest smacked with another's. They both stumbled back. "Sorry!" A voice the boy recognised apologised.

Opening his eyes, a frazzled Isaac Lahey stood in front of him, gripping onto his gear with wide eyes.

Adrian wanted to talk to him, he had been meaning to all morning. Unfortunately, he knew better than to talk during Coach's announcements. So instead, he gave the blonde a friendly nod before walking and standing next to his secret boyfriend; who gave him a smile.

Coach stood in front of his office like always, eyes darting to all players as he spoke. "Lets go. Gather round. Listen up." He unfolded a piece of paper, reading aloud. "Police are asking for help on a missing child advisory. It's a sick girl, roaming around, totally naked."

Chuckles and whistles came from most of the boys in the room, making Adrian beyond furious. Stiles discreetly clutched his hand in his, hidden away from the other guys as he tried to calm him down. It helped slightly, but Adrian was beyond pissed at some of his teammates.

Coach continued, ignoring the players. "Now, it's supposed to get below forty degrees tonight. I don't know about you, but the last time it was that cold, and I was running around naked, I lost a testicle to exposure."

Everyone was silent at the teachers statement, most boys losing their smiles from before. "Now, I don't want the same thing happening to some innocent girl. So police are organising search parties for tonight." He placed the paper on the wall near his office. "Sign up, find the missing girl, you get an automatic A in my class."

Whilst most cheered and went straight for the sign up sheet, Adrian, Scott and Stiles hung back near the showers to talk to Jackson. After all, he was her ex boyfriend. "If Lydia wants to take a naked hike into the woods, why should I care?" The lacrosse captain asked them.

Adrian glared, taking a step forward. "Because you used to date her. And, we have a pretty good idea that she might be . . ." The boy trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

Luckily, he didn't have to. Scott finished for him. "You know, turning."

"Turning?" Jackson paused, an unfazed look on his face. For someone who's ex was missing, he really didn't seem the slightest bit worried.

"Yeah. Turning."

"Into . . ." The star athlete trailed off, giving the boys a clueless look.

Stiles squinted his eyes at him, not being very much of a fan of the teen right now either. "A unicorn. What do you think, dumbass?"

Jackson didn't miss a beat. "Well, I think that if Lydia's turning, she's not the one that's gonna need help."

Scott frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Jackson sighed. "Oh, god, you've got it all backwards, McCall. When I was with Lydia, you should've seen the scratch marks she left on me."

"Careful." Adrian warned slowly, a death glare plastered on his face as his hands balled into fists. "That's my sister you're talking about."

Jackson didn't seem afraid, making dead eye contact with the redhead as he asked. "What do you think she's gonna do with a set of real claws? Heh."

"You son of a-" Stiles grabbed onto Adrian before the hit he swung could nail Jackson in the face. The star player winked at the boy before shoving past Scott and walking away.

❚ ❚ ❚

Adrian glared at the test paper placed in front of him, a look of disgust on his face. Mr Harris had spared him a snide comment this morning, most likely due to the circumstances of his missing sister. The redhead was relieved, knowing he most likely would've exploded had the teacher spoke to him.

His eyes became soon bored of the sheet in front of him and wandered everywhere around the class; including Isaac Lahey, who was sitting across from him.

Adrian couldn't help but bite his lip, feeling the strong urge to question the boy about last night. Apparently, Isaac was working in the graveyard and saw someone eating liver from someone's grave. It sounded disgusting, and part of Adrian didn't want to know. But, if it helped him find his sister . . . he was willing to listen.

Mr Harris caught Stiles and Scott talking to each other near the front of the class, most likely voicing what Adrian was thinking on Isaac's situation. "This is a pop quiz, Mr Stilinski. If I hear your voice again, I may be tempted to give you detention for the rest of your high school career." His full voice called, stopping the two teens talking further.

Adrian's advice would've been to stay quiet after that, but Stiles didn't get the hint. The boy's hazel eyed widened. "You can do that?"

"Well, there it is again. Your voice. Triggering the only impulse I've ever had to strike a student repeatedly and violently." The Stilinski boy's boyfriend clutched his hands into fists at his desk, gaze kept on the floor so he wouldn't have the urge to punch the teacher more. "I'll see you at three for detention."

Stiles' mouth hung open in shock, his best friend turning with raised eyebrows which also seemed to aggravate the scumbag teacher. "You too, Mr McCall?"

The werewolf shook his head quickly. "No, sir."

"Dude, your nose." Adrian heard Danny whisper to Jackson, who was sitting not too far from the redhead. "You okay?"

Curiously, Adrian discreetly turned his head to not alert Mr Harris. Jackson's hand was held up, his finger coated in what looked to be a black liquid substance way darker than blood. Even from here, Adrian could hear his pants as he hurriedly grabbed his stuff to leave.

When the star player was gone, Adrian, Scott and Stiles made eye contact with each other. Looks like Lydia wasn't the only one they needed to worry about.

❚ ❚ ❚

"Hey," Stiles smiled as he jogged over to Adrian, who had been leaning against his jeep while on his phone to pass the time. With the parking lot pretty much empty and no one in sight, the couple were in the clear as they exchanged a sweet kiss. "Thanks for waiting on me. You didn't have to do that."

"Nonsense." Adrian waved it off, grabbing the pale boy's hand. "But, now that you're out, we've got a funeral to spy on."

Stiles nodded, kissing his cheek sweetly before jumping into the Jeep's seats and driving off. It was a short drive there, Stiles making sure to park further away so no one would recognise the blue vehicle.

Together, they snuck near the back away from the cameramen, police and paparazzi, meeting up with Scott; who was crouching behind a grave.

"Yo." Stiles whispered, Scott turning to face the two boys before looking back towards the Argent family. Allison, her dad and her mother were all there, but so was some old guy Adrian had never seen before. Stiles seemed to notice it too. "Who the hell's that?"

As if he had heard the boy's whisper, the old man turned in their direction. Scott quickly turned away, dragging Adrian back with him so they were out of sight.

"He's definitely an Argent." The werewolf muttered, not looking back in fear he was still watching out for intruders who passed the borders the police had put up.

When they finally gained the courage and peeked back round, the old man was talking to Allison who was looking up at him from where she sat. Scott shot her a smile and wave.

"Hey, you know, maybe they're just here for the funeral." Stiles tried to lighten the mood. "I mean . . . maybe they're the non-hunting side of the family. There could be non-hunting Argents. It's possible, right?"

"I know what they are." Scott mumbled, Adrian looking at him. "They're reinforcements."

The Martin's eyes widened just as hands grabbed onto the back of his jacket and his boyfriend's plaid shirt. Scott whirled round worriedly, watching as Sheriff Stilinski looked angrily at the three teens. "Ah. The three of you. Unbelievable. Pick up my tie." He hissed to his son, who grabbed it quickly.

"Got it." The younger Stilinski muttered. "Sorry. I know, I'm supposed to ask." He said as his dad dragged them off.

❚ ❚ ❚

Adrian sat in between Stiles and Scott in the back of the police car, Scott fiddling with the roof of the vehicle as Stiles stared ahead in annoyance. To stop himself from fidgeting, the buzzcut teen reached over and grasped his boyfriend's hand into his; feeling the man still.

"What are you doing?" Adrian hissed lowly, giving Stiles a wide look with panic and fear. His dad was in the driver's seat up front, meaning one look behind him and he would see them blatantly holding hands.

The Stilinski boy rolled his eyes. "He's not looking." He whispered, eyeing towards his best friend. "Plus, Scott won't tell."

The Martin turned dangerously to the werewolf, pointing a threatening hand. "If you tell anyone about this Scott, I will not hesitate to take that police radio and shove it up your-"

"4-1-5 Adam." The radios static cut the boy off, Sheriff Stilinski's voice playing through.

"I didn't copy that. Did you say 4-1-5 Adam?"

Stiles looked over between Adrian and Scott, a glint of excitement in his eyes. "Disturbance in a car." He whispered.

"They were taking a heart attack victim- DO.A. But on the way to the hospital, something hit 'em."

Noah frowned, speaking back to the officer. "Well, hit the ambulance?"

Stiles and Scott leaned forwards just as the officer replied back. "Copy that. I'm standing in front of it right now. Something got in the back. There's blood everywhere. And I mean everywhere."

"Alright, unit 4, what's your 20?"

"Route 5 and post. I swear, I've never seen anything like this."

As Sheriff finished talking to the officer, Stiles was already ushering his boyfriend and Scott out the police car, running off into the woods with the door left wide open.

"Come on!" Stiles shouted out to the two boys running behind him, hoping he won't get killed for his dad after this later.

Scott picked up his pace, running in sync with the pale boy as the leaves scrunched beneath them. Adrian was not far behind the boys when he stopped mid-run suddenly.

His head ached, like someone was repeatedly hitting him. The ginger winced and staggered back, his hisses of pain unheard by the two boys now far away.

The last thing Adrian remembered was seeing a flash of Isaac in the graveyard, his eyes wide with fear as faint growls were heard in the distance. The poor blonde looked terrified and scared, backing into a corner.

And, after hearing a second of Derek's voice, Adrian Martin was out like a light.

❚ ❚ ❚

When Adrian came back to his senses and his eyes blinked open, all he was accompanied by was trees and the dark night sky. How long have I been out for? He questioned as he sat up, dusting some fallen leaves off his body.

Even with his jacket, the teen felt the nip of the cold air. He shivered, looking around in case he saw a light or something to help him navigate his surroundings. There was nothing.

"Lydia?" Adrian could hear nothing around him, the whole forest silencing his call. The redhead didn't give up though. "Lydia?"

The woods seemed to taunt him as he walked further into its territory. Every branch, tree and rock looked the same now; proving the boy was lost with no sense of direction.

The cold wind made him shiver, the boy trying to warm his exposed hands. "Where are you, Lydia?" He muttered under his breath, stressed from the cold and his lost sibling.

A twig snapped in front of him, causing the teen to freeze. When he looked up, Adrian saw an old man- no older than his eighties- standing in front of the him with a stone cold face.

The two stood in silence, the teen having a staring contest with the older man. ". . . Um hi? I'm Adrian Martin, I'm looking for my sister. She went missing and has nothing protecting her from the cold. She's '5'3, my age with hair like mine." He describes his sister to the man, using hand gestures as he spoke. "Have you seen her?"

The man said nothing. Instead, his left arm lifted to point at something behind a great deal of trees, leaves and bushes. Adrian looked at where he was pointing, a sceptical look on his face.

Now that he thought about it, the man did look awfully pale- especially for an old guy. His face looked numb, his lips and fingertips stained a tinge of blue.

Adrian squinted his eyes, his lips slowly moving. "You aren't alive . . . are you?"

The man blinked, the closest Adrian had gotten to an answer at this point as he kept his hand held up high. The Martin boy didn't need much more convincing. A dead man was showing him the way to his sister.

"T-Thank you." He nodded respectfully to the man before taking tentative steps in the direction the man was pointing. The redhead tried not to think too much of the interaction he had just had, his sister was more important right now.

Adrian cursed as he whacked some branches out of his face, entering a clearing of the woods. He was about to take another step forward, but halted when he realised he was close to stepping on someone; that someone just so happening to be his sister.

Lydia lay shivering on the forest ground, her body curled up to try and receive some warmth in the cold night. Her eyes were closed as her lips quivered, making the boy fear the worst.

"Lydia!" Adrian exclaimed, getting on his knees in front of the girl to touch her bare shoulder. He shook her, eyes wide as he called her name.
"Lydia, wake up! Come on, Lyds."

The girl's eyes suddenly snapped open, a shaky breath coming from her lips. Her eyes cleared when they landed on the familiar face of her brother. "Adrian?" she whimpered.

"You're alive . . . and naked." Only then did it hit the boy his sister was completely exposed to him, snapping him into action. Ripping off the jacket he wore, Adrian places the fabric around his sisters shoulders. It was big enough to thankfully cover most of her body.

Lydia burst into tears as soon as he cradled her close, feeling her brother pet her hair. The Martin siblings had never been so relieved to see each other in their life.

"W-What happened?" The strawberry blonde croaked out, hiccuping in the boy's chest. Adrian shivered from the cold, but he didn't mind. All he wanted was to make sure his sister was okay.

"I-I don't know." Adrian shook his head. "You left, Lydia. You left the hospital and no one knew where you were. Mum and dad have been worried sick- so was I."

"I can't remember anything, Adrian." The Martin female shook her head, clutching onto her brothers' jacket tighter.

Adrian's heart broke for his sister, looking down at her lost state. She was still cold, and obviously needed to be warmed up soon. He had to find them help and fast.

❚ ❚ ❚

"How much further, Adrian?" Lydia shivered under her brothers arm as he pushed past some twigs and leaves. Her feet felt numb, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could walk.

"Not far, Lyds. I think I see lights up ahead." He reassured her, pushing away the final lot of leaves before they found themselves free of the forest.

Ambulance lights blinked around them, police officers surrounding a bloodied scene. Adrian scanned the area, his eyes landing on a familiar face.

Stiles, who was talking to his dad, caught movements out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he let out a breath of relief when he saw not only his boyfriend, but Lydia Martin in his care as well.

"Adrian? Lydia?" He spoke in relief, catching the attention of his dad and a few other officers. Stiles was glad to see them both unharmed, the only thing wrong being their lack of clothing for the cold weather.

Adrian led Lydia towards the Sheriff, gently coaxing her into the officer's arms. Once Lydia was in the care of the other officers, Adrian kept a close eye from a distance; making sure he could still see her.

Stiles gave Adrian a hug as soon as the boy had the missing girl off his hands, letting out a breath. "Where did you go? You had me worried sick when Scott and I turned round to find you not there."

"I'm fine." Adrian shortly replied before releasing from the hug, being mindful of Stiles' dad and the other people around the crime scene. "Lydia can't remember leaving the hospital. She was completely lost."

Stiles opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Adrian walking past him when his dad put his police jacket over Lydia and guided her away. "Hey! Where are you taking her?" Noah handed her off to other officers, turning to face the redhead. "Is she gonna be okay?"

The man patted his shoulder, smiling softly at him. "Your sister is gonna be just fine. They're just taking her back to the hospital to check her over. We're lucky you found her when you did. Speaking of, how did you find her?"

Adrian's mouth popped open and closed, feeling all his words escape him like wind. "I-uh . . . lucky find, I guess." He mumbled, shrugging.

Noah simply nodded, giving the boy another friendly smile before walking off to his colleagues. Stiles came back by Adrian's side, observing him for injuries; noticing his shiver.

Shrugging off his plaid shirt, the Martin boy looked at him curiously. "What are you doing?" He crossed his arms.

"Giving you my shirt." Stiles stated as if it were obvious, holding out the piece of fabric. "Here."

The redhead declined, shaking his head. "No. It's yours, you keep it. I'm fine."

Stiles groaned, throwing his head. "Just take it. If I can't kiss you in public, at least let me give you my shirt to stop you freezing to death."

"You sure it'll fit?" Adrian teased, a smirk on his face as he purposely flexed his slightly bigger muscles compared to the pale boy's.

"You sure it'll fit?" Stiles mimicked in a high pitched voice, rolling his eyes. "Take the damn shirt, dumbass."

With a smile, Adrian slowly took the jacket and placed it on. The scent of his boyfriend immediately washed over him, making him feel warm already. The redhead looked to his secret boyfriend. "Thanks."

"Anytime." Stiles blushed, looking to the ground as he kicked a stick laying around.

As the two boys continued their conversation- smiling and joking with one another- Sheriff Stilinski couldn't help but keep glancing over to the two boys.

He had never seen his son smile wider with someone . . .

A U T H O R. N O T E
adrian out here breaking my heart being sibling goals. i didn't think i'd enjoy writing adria- adrian and lydia- scenes as much as i do.

also, i watched an interview with cameron monaghan and noel fisher on lilly singh's talk show- i don't like her or the show, i braved it for my dear cameron and sweet noel- and cameron talking about how he had a whole jar of peanut butter for dinner is honestly a mood. the amount of times i've come close to doing that . . .

GIF MADE BY ME !
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