iron rods sewn inside our clothes to keep our glass bodies from breaking. closed.

[ex_question191]

CHARACTERS: stiles & scott.
LOCATION: their room! (014/009)
WARNINGS: nope.
SUMMARY: lydia set us up the bomb, shit goes down, bro-time, etc.
NOTES: backdated a day.


[ stiles is an angry little guy, sometimes. he reads lydia's text and writes a reply, deletes it before he can send it, tosses his comms away with a clatter so the temptation's gone. bounces on the bed, all ventless fury and agitation, heels drumming, lips pressed to white. ]

[ he has no idea what he's gonna do with this information. ]

[ there's no way scott can't tell he's pissed off about something. stiles takes a shaky breath and wonders where to begin, because it's his fault, he bought into this because lydia had sat close to him and touched his knee and made it sound like maybe, in some fantasy universe... whatever, whatever, he's over her, that's not even a thing. but he'd still believed her, and scott had believed him, and now they were— ]

[ stiles doesn't know what they are. if they're actually functional enough to be called pack. ]

Do you like being in Derek's pack?

[ he manages to ask, even though it probably seems like it comes out of nowhere. maybe he can say that he's fought with derek for like, the fifth time in the past month. or maybe lydia's texted scott, too (he's still so mad that it's a text message, but maybe it's good, too, cuts the wet-eyed duckfaced bullshit and just lets him hear her.) ]

Comments

[workout]

[ that reluctance is back, but his guard's not really up. if stiles wants to lay into him for this, it'll be deserved; there's no point in trying to dodge it. ]

I lied.

[ a pause to sort out the words, and when he continues it's in the tone of a completely honest, completely guilty confession. ]

I asked her what was going on two weeks ago and she told me. I thought it would be better if she told everyone the truth herself, but...

[ it's kind of made a mess. with derek, with the rest of the "pack". he hadn't really banked on taking the fall for the lie when he decided to make lydia correct it herself, but he doesn't strictly regret it. ]

[ex_question191]

[ stiles pushes himself onto an elbow suddenly, body tense and intent. for a moment he can't breathe, because — okay, lydia lied to him, and that fucking hurt, and he still doesn't know how to text her back, but he also knows a lot of how he feels for lydia is a one-sided thing. but scott? ]

[ he has to swallow around nothing, swallow back something mean. ]

Wow. Uh.

[ he grimaces. but i lied is wrong, he thinks. it wasn't scott's lie. he'd kept lydia's secret. stiles would have too, stiles keeps secrets — just not from scott. ]

[ still. it's a sick hurt that reminds him of scott chained to the radiator, shouting how lydia had kissed him. a double-whammy of betrayal. he drums his fingers, agitated and not sure what to do or say. ]

Holy god. Two weeks.

[workout]

[ it's a change in the air that scott probably would've noticed even without the werewolf senses. as is, he's acutely aware of it, and it's hard to ignore the sharp wave of regret he gets hit with.

it'd been easy to stay steady and stand by his decision with everyone else. or if not easy, then easier to approach like he approached most things that scared him - put his head down and bear it. but this is stiles, and there's no defense against the fact that he's hurt his best friend. ]

I know.

[ it sounds more like i'm an idiot than an agreement - or maybe that is the agreement. he's got reasons (excuses), not wanting to drag stiles into the lie, hoping that somehow lydia would make it sting less. but they don't make up for the mistake, not really. ]

I didn't think— [ she'd wait so long? of course she would. he might, too. ] I should have told you.

[ex_question191]

Yeah.

[ it's sharp. stiles is already hurt right now, it's not easy for him to just let this go. a moment ago it had been him and scott against lydia, sort of. not really, but enough to be comforting. now it's suddenly not. ]

[ and stiles can hold grudges like nobody's business — this is the kind of thing he needs to get even on or he's going to wind up nursing it into eternity. ]

I'm gonna sleep.

[ because he can't deal with this right now. later, later there'll be other reminders of friendship, remus' steady advice, wichita's sympathetic ear. and then the jump and it won't matter anymore. but right now he's pillow-punchingly mad again, just like when he first read lydia's text, and he hauls the blankets around him and rolls onto his other side. ]

lmao this tag gives me flashbacks to awkard university housing HOSTILE SLEEPING

[workout]

[ scott flinches slightly at the barb in stiles' tone, but he doesn't argue. scott knows exactly how well he can hold a grudge, and drawing this out won't lead to anything other than stiles digging his heels in.

besides, this is fair. stiles deserves the chance to feel (rightly) pissed off, and scott deserves to deal with being shut out until stiles decides it's time to let him back in.

but that's the other difference; with the others, with isaac, that resolution doesn't feel guaranteed. knowing that they'll be okay eventually doesn't make this any less shitty, but it's an anchor that makes it easier to let it play out. he doesn't move for a few seconds after stiles turns his back to him, then there's a slight shifting of blankets as he settles in to sleep. or try to sleep, anyway. ]