It was ridiculous, really, that after everything he'd been through in the last month that the mere thought of walking up to this person, man, deputy, made Stiles' stomach flip and flop around like he was some kind of freaking teenage girl about to talk to her crush for the first time.

Not far off though. A voice in the back of Stiles head muttered causing him to wince.

Since everything with the Nogitsune and being possessed and the nightmares and sleepwalking and ya know, murdering people, Stiles felt as if he stayed on edge most of the time. There seemed to always be an itch he couldn't scratch, or a voice in the back of his head reminding him of all the things he'd done, that yes, it was him that had hurt his friends, attempted to kill people he'd cared about, and actually succeeded in killing so many innocent lives. Living with the things he'd done, even when possessed, was something Stiles knew he'd have to deal with for the rest of his life. Stiles knew that and he accepted that. It didn't mean he couldn't try to do whatever he could to atone for his sins.

That was why Stiles currently found himself standing at the front desk, or what was left of the front desk, of the Sheriff's station.

A sudden sharp pang in his chest caused Stiles to wince and suck in a sharp breath. He'd done this. He'd caused all this damage, all this destruction and pain. It was because of Stiles that three of his dad's deputy's had lost their lives when the bomb went off. He'd known two the three officers that had been killed. Grown up as they'd worked alongside his dad for years.

Stiles wiped a stray tear out of the corner of his eye as subtly as he could.

"Stiles," A voice behind him caused him to startle rather violently. "Sorry, I'm sorry!"

Stiles turned to see a sheepish looking Deputy Parrish standing just behind him.

"No its, I'm okay." Stiles said, trying with all his might to seem believable.

"Your father warned me about sneaking up on you, said you were still a bit jumpy from, uh, everything that had happened." Deputy Parrish, Kyle, his name was Kyle, Stiles mind supplied, said with a grimace.

Stiles sighed because of course his dad had warned everyone to be careful of his delicate fucking feelings. It was ridiculous, Stiles thought to himself, that his father had to warn people to tread lightly around Stiles anymore. He hated it. Feeling scared all the time, afraid of what might be lurking in the shadows, or in his own goddamned closet. Stiles was too damned old to be afraid of the dark. But then, knowing what he knows now, that there are things in the dark to be afraid of, to be worried about, to take caution of, it was no damn wonder he was scared. Stiles supposed this was his life now.

"I um, I actually came to see you, to talk to you," Stiles said, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck where he could feel it starting to flush. "In um, private?"

Kyle looked momentarily surprised before offering Stiles a small smile.

"I would offer my office, but as you can see, there's a giant hole where it used to be," Kyle tried to lighten the obviously dire mood. "So perhaps what is now your dad's office? Its not much but it has a door so its pretty much as private as we're going to get around here at the moment."

Stiles nodded, following the older man as they made their way towards his dad's office. For the record, Stiles absolutely did not steal a glance, or three, at deputy Parrish's ass as he walked in front of him. He totally did not. (Okay fine, he did.)

"Is everything okay, Stiles?" Kyle asked as he closed the door behind them. "I can call for your dad to head back in if you need him for something."

"No, no. I actually did come to see you, speak to you, um, I'm sort of here to apologize for, well for everything." Stiles said in one breath, not daring to look up and meet the other man's eyes.

"Apologize?" Kyle questioned. "I don't, Stiles, what do you have to apologize to me for?"

Stiles head jerked up, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"What do I-are, are you insane?! I have everything to apologize for! I nearly killed you! Three fucking times! I blew up the goddamned station, I-I, it was because of me that a fucking werewolf knocked you out and left you for dead in the alley and I-it was my fault you were shot! It was all my fault, everything was, IS, my fault!" Stiles paced back and forth in front of his dad's desk, running his hands through his hair, tugging at his slightly longer than normal locks, as he ranted at the deputy in front of him. "How can I, how can I not apologize? I don't know, I have no fucking clue what I'm supposed to do here but I know saying I'm sorry for nearly having you killed and almost doing it myself is pretty fucking high up on that list!"

Stiles could feel the tears that were forming in his eyes but he refused to acknowledge them.

"I hurt so many people. I killed, I killed people. I have caused so much pain and-and torment that I have no idea how I'm supposed to live with myself anymore! I hurt my friends, my family, people I love and care about and I did it all, without a care in the world! I hurt-I hurt my dad," Stiles whispered. "I hurt Scott and Lydia and Derek and I, I hurt you. And I am so fucking sorry."

"Stiles, I'm okay," Kyle said, his voice soft and gentle and a little foreign to his own ears. "I'm alive and I'm okay and its not your fault. Its not. None of this is your fault and you need to stop blaming yourself for things that happened that were beyond your control."

"But I-"

"No, you did not." Kyle said, his tone final. "You didn't do any of this, you didn't cause any of this. That, that thing inside of you did. You couldn't help it-"

"But I could!" Stiles shouted, his eyes widening in alarm. "I was awake for everything, I saw everything it was doing! I knew what was going on and I couldn't stop it!"

"You were possessed, Stiles!" Kyle shouted. "You weren't in control of your actions, nothing you did was actually you! And you know, you have to know that no one blames you for what happened. No one. Your father and I, we've talked a lot in the past week, I've learned way more about Beacon Hills and what goes on here than I ever could have imagined." Kyle chuckled. "I mean, if someone had told me that my new boss would be sitting me down, a chess board between us, filling me in on werewolves, kanima's, hunters, banshee's, veterinarians that apparently know way more than they're letting on and ancient Japanese ninjas with one hell of a grudge, I would have hit the ground running as far away from here as I could."

"He used the chess board?" Stiles asked, not hardly believing what he'd heard.

"He did. Said it was the easiest way to understand everything that was going on. And I gotta admit, it kinda was. Not that I ever would have believed a word he was saying if I hadn't already seen those Oni guys, but still. The chess board works." Kyle smiled, knowing that it had been Stiles' idea when he'd decided to break the news about the town's supernatural population to his dad.

Stiles sniffed, rubbing at the wetness on his cheeks.

"I came up with that, ya know," Stiles said, his voice almost childlike. "The chess board idea, it was mine."

Kyle offered Stiles a small smile.

"Maybe that should be how everyone is introduced to the secret life of Beacon Hills?" Kyle suggested, the corner of his mouth tugging upward as he fought the urge to smirk.

The laugh that burst out of Stiles shocked both men but soon enough Kyle found himself laughing right along with Stiles. It was good to see the younger boy laughing, smiling even. It was nice. Stiles was nice. Seeing Stiles smile was nice and wow, Kyle had not expected that feeling.

Of course Kyle was lying to himself. He liked Stiles. Probably a little more than he should but being completely honest, he had no idea how someone, or numerous someones, hadn't snatched Stiles up for themselves already! Stiles was a catch. He was gorgeous, smarter than Kyle could ever hope to be, hilarious (or so he'd been told by many different sources), generous, kind hearted and so many other things Kyle wondered if Stiles could see the little hearts in his eyes when he looked at him. It was ridiculous how much he liked Stiles.

"So I um, I think I'll just wait here for my dad to get back. If that's okay?" Stiles shifted from one foot to the other, clearly nervous for some reason. And Kyle? Well, if you were to ask anyone in his family, especially his momma, they would tell you that he didn't always think before he spoke. Sometimes his brain to mouth filter malfunctioned he he blurted out whatever was on the tip of his tongue. It usually resulted in Kyle running for his life from whoever he'd mouthed off to, or being threatened with a bar of soap from his momma. Sometimes though, sometimes his lack of filter worked in his favor. Kyle just hoped this would be one of those times.

"Go out with me." Kyle said, ready to dig a hole and bury himself in as he watched Stiles seemingly trip over thin air, bump into the sheriff's desk chair and faceplant behind his desk. "Shit! I'm sorry! Are you, are you okay?" Kyle asked in a slight panic.

When Stiles head popped up from behind the desk he'd fallen over, Kyle nearly choked on his own saliva. The wide eyed, bewildered, deer in headlights look that Stiles was sporting might honestly be one of the best things the young deputy had ever seen.

"What?" Stiles voice absolutely did not squeak when he spoke.

Kyle at least had the audacity to look somewhat embarrassed.

"I...asked you out?" Kyle could feel the question in his statement. "I asked you out." He said again, less question involved. "Yes, I asked you out." He nodded, smiling to himself.

Stiles found himself doing a very convincing performance of a gold fish out of water once deputy Parrish finished talking. Kyle. His name was Kyle! Stiles shouted to himself inside his head.

"Wha-what? Why? Why would you ask me out?!" Stiles exclaimed as he regained his balance and stood up. If he felt the need to hold onto his dad's chair for support, so be it.

The small flame of hope inside of Kyle quickly went out.

"Because I, I wanted to?" Again with the questions!

"Was that a question? Because that sounded an awful lot like a question. And I would know since I have a friend that does nothing but talk in questions." Frigging Derek, Stiles mind muttered. Now was not the time to be thinking about Derek. "You asked me out. Why?" Stiles asked, gripping the chair so tightly he was sure his knuckles were turning white.

"Because I wanted to. Because I like you. Because I don't understand why in the hell someone in this town hasn't already snatched you up. Because, right now, you need something good in your life and I am offering my services and yes I know exactly how that sounds, get your mind out of the gutter, but it still stands. I wanted to ask you out so I did." Kyle blinked repeatedly as he finished talking, more surprised with himself than ever before. Stupid malfunctioning filter.

"Yes." Stiles blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Wait, what?" Kyle gasped, clearly not expecting anything good to come from his insane idea of asking out the sheriff's underage son. Oh my god, Kyle was a dead man. The sheriff was going to kill him. He could obviously do it, with help from freaking werewolves!, and no one would ever find his body. Oh god, his poor momma was going to be devastated when her only son came up missing with no clues as to there he was or what had happened and Kyle was fairly certain he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"How old are you?" Stiles asked suddenly, surprising Kyle and pulling him back from the brink of a near panic attack.

"24. But why-"

"You're not within five years of dad's age so he's not going to kill you." Stiles said, a chuckle escaping his lips. "That was what your minor freak out was over, right? Asking out the sheriff's kid suddenly caught up to you?"

"Understatement." Kyle muttered. "But um, your dad won't kill me? And you really, you want to go out with me?"

Stiles eyes darted all over the place, searching for a place that was not Kyle's face before answering.

"It is very possible that I have had a teeny, tiny, miniscule even, crush on you since dad hired you on."

Kyle's mouth dropped open at Stiles' admission.

"So if I were to say that I also might possibly have a small, very teeny tiny crush on you as well, you would say..." Kyle held his breath as he waited for Stiles to reply.

"Why the hell didn't you say something sooner?!" Stiles yelled.

"You mean other than because we were in the middle of an all out supernatural war?" Kyle grinned.

"Oh fuck you." Stiles chuckled. It felt good to laugh. Really laugh. He'd missed it.

"Not on the first date." Kyle teased and Stiles knew he was in for it with this one.

"So, its a date then?"

Kyle smiled.

"It is if you say it is."

Stiles grinned.

"Then I say it is. A date. Between us. You. And me. Together. At the same time. Somewhere that is not my dad's office."

The smile on Kyle's face at Stiles' silly ramble made his stomach feel like it was full of butterflies.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Kyle eventually said. "Whenever you're free, we'll work around my schedule. Or I can just ask for an evening off. Whichever."

"O-okay then. Um, let me know when you're free and we'll have a date! Go on a date, I mean. Together. You and me. On a date." Stiles resisted the urge to literally slap himself in the face. "Just um, let my dad know I stopped by, yeah? I think I'm going to head out now, make the rounds while I'm at it and apologize to a couple more friends tonight before I lose my nerve."

Kyle opened his mouth to comment that Stiles did not need to apologize to anyone, again, but the other boy cut him off.

"For my own peace of mind, I have to do this." Stiles said softly.

Kyle nodded and moved away from the door, opening it so Stiles could slip through.

"Oh and while you're at it, maybe go ahead and mention the date to your boss. Ask him for a night off. You can get my number from him." Stiles said with a smirk on his face as he turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

Kyle grinned, feeling slightly proud of himself. Until he realized seconds later that his boss was in fact Stiles' dad. Groaning, Kyle began to slowly bang his head against the door frame. He was a dead man for sure.

"There a problem here, Deputy Parrish?" Kyle flailed, nearly slamming his face into the frame as the sheriff's voice startled him.

Kyle gulped. He was screwed.

"Actually, Sheriff, there was something I needed to talk to you about..." Kyle took a deep breath and motioned for the older man to join him inside his office. It was now or never and if there was one thing people couldn't say about him, it was that Kyle Eugene Parrish was a coward. Because he was not. Absolutely not.

Kyle snorted as he once again closed the door to the Sheriff's office. It wasn't like the sheriff was going to shoot him or anything.

Right?

End.