A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been ages, but I'm trying to get back into writing. I have a few stories in progress, hopefully they'll be coming soon. In the meantime, this was actually written for a Sciles Secret Santa gift exchange on tumblr back in December, but I figured some people here might also like to read it. Slight warning for blood and language, but it's not too bad. Enjoy, and please review!
"Mom, I promise, I'm good here," Scott McCall said with a smile, practically pushing his mom out the door of his new dorm room. "All the furniture is here and functioning, and I think I can unpack by myself."
"Alright, well, if you're sure…" she responded, still trying to stay in the room.
"Mom," Scott said, putting both hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, "it's going to be okay. It's only two hours from home, so I can come home if anything happens. Which it won't," he added quickly, seeing her eyes narrow. "Besides, my first break is in only two months. You'll barely even have time to miss me!"
His mother sighed. "Alright, well, keep yourself safe, okay? And remember," she added, "your schoolwork comes first."
Scott pulled her into a hug. "I'll miss you too, mom," he whispered, and then pulled back and grinned at her. "Now get out of here, yeah?"
She laughed. "Alright, alright. Don't forget to call me, okay? This weekend. I want to know what your roommate is like."
"Promise. And I'm sure he'll be great."
"Okay, I can tell I'm no longer wanted here. Talk to you this weekend, and see you in a few months!"
"Bye mom," Scott said, and then watched her disappear down the hallway, letting out a deep breath. He was officially an independent college student
Scott might have told his mom the opposite, but he was actually a little bit nervous to meet his roommate. They hadn't talked at all, Scott just knew what his name was- and he couldn't even pronounce it!
At that moment, the door opened, revealing a guy Scott's age, holding a suitcase and wearing a backpack. "Hey," he said, smiling at Scott, "You're Scott, I'm guessing?"
"Y-yeah," Scott stuttered, smiling back, feeling slightly unsteady. "Yeah, I'm Scott. Um, this is really awkward, but how do you say your name?"
The guy laughed, and goddamn he was attractive. Scott was completely and totally fucked. "You can just call me Stiles," he said, grinning.
"Right," Scott responded, floundering for words. He was pretty sure he looked like an idiot already. "Um, nice to meet you Stiles?"
"Nice to meet you too, Scott," Stiles said, still with that incredible smile on his face. "I'm already thinking that this is gonna be a good year."
Scott definitely agreed with him.
TWTWTW
"Hey, Althaeus!" Allison shouted at him two days later, hurling rocks at the current villain-of-the-week. "There's some civilians over there, wanna make sure they're okay?"
"On it!" Scott responded, sprinting in the direction Allison had indicated. Sure enough, there was a family huddled behind a car, a mother, father, and two young sons. "You guys okay?" he asked calmly, kneeling down so he was on their level.
"Are we gonna be okay?" one of the little boys asked, looking up at him with awe and fear in his eyes.
"Of course you're gonna be okay," Scott answered, reaching over and ruffling his hair. "Elemental is an awesome superhero, she's gonna beat the bad guys, and I'm gonna make sure no one gets hurt, yeah?"
The kid nodded, a smile starting to appear on his face.
After smiling back at him, Scott turned his attention to the parents. "Are you guys all okay here?"
"We're fine," the mother answered, "but I think there might have been a couple teenagers in that shop over there when it collapsed."
"Thank you," Scott said sincerely. "Just stay here, alright? Elemental knows you're here, she'll make sure nothing happens to you." He waited until the mother nodded, and then ran over to the store she had indicated. "Hey Elemental!" he shouted as he ran. "Can you clear away some of this? Apparently there might be some people stuck inside."
Allison, now attacking the villain with streams of fire, didn't bother responding. She flicked a hand in the direction of the store, and the wreckage that had been blocking the entrance flew safely out of the way.
Scott walked more slowly now, careful not to disturb the destroyed store any more than he had to- he didn't want the roof to cave in. "Hello?" he called out, trying to see through the dust.
"We're back here!" a voice shouted back, and Scott carefully picked his way through the store in the direction the voice had come from.
Once he got to the back of the store, Scott found two girls leaning against the back wall. One of them appeared to be unconscious, and her arm was bent at an awkward angle. Her head was slumped on the other girl's shoulder, who was running a hand through her hair. "Oh, thank god," the girl whispered when she saw him. "Please, my girlfriend is hurt. I think… I think her arm is broken. And… and she got hit in the head with something, she won't wake up."
Scott crouched to the ground in front of them. "Don't worry, I can help. I'm gonna work on her arm first, okay?" When the girl nodded, Scott placed both of his hands on the other girl's arm, closing his eyes in concentration. After a moment, he could feel the arm move back into position. He opened his eyes again when the arm was fully healed, and then put a hand on her head, where he could see a small gash above her eyebrow. The cut slowly disappeared, and then the girl woke up with a gasp.
"Sarah!" she said frantically, sitting up straight.
"Hey, hey, hey," the other girl, Sarah, said, grabbing her and pulling her into a hug. "Hey, Monique, you're okay, you're okay." Sarah looked up at Scott and smiled, her eyes soft. "Thank you, Althaeus," she whispered.
Scott smiled back at her, getting to his feet. "Just stay here for now, okay? I'll make sure someone comes and gets you once this is all over." When Sarah nodded, Scott ran out of the store to where Allison was still fighting. "Hey, Elemental!" he shouted at her.
"What've you got?" she called back, still attacking with fire.
"Broken arm, and a minor head wound that should make him go unconscious," Scott replied.
"Perfect," Allison responded. "Go for it."
Scott shut his eyes for a moment, sensing the presence of everyone in the area, and then concentrating on the guy they were fighting. After a moment, his eyes shot open, and the guy cried out and collapsed to the ground.
"Yes!" Allison shouted, raising her fist in the air. "Nice work, Althaeus," she said with a grin.
"Same to you, Elemental," Scott responded, smiling back, walking over to her. "You gonna call the cops and tell them we're done here, or should I?"
"I got it," she responded. "Hey, by the way, you doing okay? You seemed a little… distracted at first."
Scott blushed. He hadn't stopped thinking about Stiles since they had met two days beforehand, and he hated that Allison had noticed. "Um, yeah, sorry about that," he answered, "I'm totally fine, I was just, um, thinking about things."
"Right," Allison said, but she looked skeptical. "Well, we won this fight, so I suppose I can forgive you for it. Just… make sure your personal life stays out of this life, okay?"
"I know," Scott responded with a sigh. He had been off his game, and people could have gotten hurt because of it. "I'll be more careful, I promise. Uh, see you next time I guess?"
"Yeah," Allison responded, smiling again. "See ya."
TWTWTW
"Scott," Stiles said a few weeks later, walking into the room and flopping down onto his bed, "I think I'm dying."
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked with a laugh, looking up from his biology textbook.
"I've got a test in my intro to forensics class tomorrow and the teacher is awful and I feel like I haven't learned anything and I also haven't slept very much this week and basically I'm dying," Stiles responded, all in one breath.
"Okay, okay, calm down," Scott said, smiling. "My biology teacher sucks too, so I just read the textbook and it's way better. Do you have a forensics textbook?"
Stiles blushed slightly. "Uh, yeah, I have one."
Scott raised an eyebrow. "And… have you opened it?" he asked.
"Well… no."
"Yeah, that might help a little bit," Scott said, laughing again. "Read your textbook tonight and you'll at least be slightly more prepared for your test."
"Probably a good idea," Stiles responded, smiling at Scott. "Hey, by the way, I wanted to ask you if…"
At that moment, Scott's phone rang. It was Allison. "Um, sorry, I kinda have to take this…" Scott said, looking at Stiles apologetically.
"Yeah, no problem," Stiles said quickly, but he looked almost disappointed. "I'm gonna go to the store and get some energy drinks, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see ya," Scott responded, watching Stiles walk out the door before answering his phone. "Hey, Allison, you got something?"
"I think so," she answered, sounding slightly out of breath. "I'm in pursuit, the woman I'm chasing just ran out of a building right as it caught on fire, way before anyone else left. The fire department contacted me, they're taking care of the damage in the building, but I'm worried that she's gonna go somewhere else now."
"Alright, where's your location?" Scott asked, already pulling out his costume from its hidden position in the back of his closet.
"She's just turning onto Pine Road," Allison responded. "Can you get here?"
Pine Road just so happened to be connected to the road that Scott's college was on. "Yeah," Scott answered, "Yeah, I'm really close to there, I'll be there in just a few minutes."
"Great," Allison answered, "I'm preparing to engage now. See you in a few." With that, the line disconnected.
Scott quickly finished putting on his costume and mask, made sure no one was watching, and slipped through the window, thanking whatever gods there might be that he had gotten a room on the ground floor. As he ran toward the main street, Scott realized that the only major location on Pine Road was a convenience store- the convenience store that Stiles had just went to. "Shit," Scott whispered to himself, and then started running even faster.
Soon enough, he could hear the sounds of fighting. "Elemental!" Scott shouted, seeing a lot of smoke but not much else.
"I'm here, Althaeus!" Allison shouted back, unsurprisingly from the middle of the smoke. "There's a store nearby with civilians in it, I don't think anyone got hurt but you should check to make sure. I got this!"
"On it!" Scott shouted back, needing no more encouragement than that. He covered his mouth and ran through the smoke, quickly getting to the convenience store and pushing his way inside. "Is anyone hurt in here?" he asked, scanning the store. There were about 20 people in it, but he didn't see Stiles anywhere.
"We're all okay," someone- a cashier maybe- answered, "but there was another guy in here, he ran out to see if he could help."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked, definitely not starting to panic.
The cashier shrugged. "We all tried to stop him, but he said he was gonna check to see if anyone had gotten stuck on the street when Elemental showed up."
"You guys stay here, alright?" Scott said, his heart pounding. "I'm gonna go look for him." Without waiting for a response, Scott sprinted back out into the smoke. "Elemental!" he shouted, looking around frantically. "Can you clear some of this smoke? There might be a civilian out on the street!"
For a moment, there was no response, and then an enormous gust of wind blew through the street, clearing almost all of the smoke, revealing Allison and the villain fighting it out, the villain with fire and Allison with water.
"Do you see the civilian?" Allison shouted, not bothering to turn around and look at him.
Scott looked around frantically, and then finally spotted Stiles, slumped on the sidewalk, leaning up against the wall of an office building. "Found him!" Scott shouted back, running over to Stiles. "Hey, you okay?" Scott asked once he reached him, praying that Stiles wouldn't recognize him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Stiles responded, looking up at Scott. "I just wanted to make sure there was no one else out here, and then there was tons of smoke and I couldn't find my way back to the store. You're, uh…" he hesitated. "You're Althaeus, right? And that's Elemental? I've seen you guys on the news a few times."
"Yeah, that's me," Scott answered, holding out a hand to help Stiles up. "Elemental is the real fighter, I just follow her around."
"Seems like you were pretty important in that fight a couple weeks ago," Stiles said, grabbing his hand and smiling. "From the footage I saw, you were the one to take out the bad guy."
"Yeah, well," Scott answered, grateful that he was wearing a mask that covered up his blushing, "I'm just doing my best to help people." There was silence for a moment, and then Scott turned glanced behind him and saw the villain on the ground, Allison standing over her triumphantly, a bit scorched but otherwise unharmed. "Well, looks like we're done here," Scott said, looking back at Stiles. "You sure you're okay?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."
"Just stop running into trouble, yeah?" Scott added, wanting to make sure that Stiles knew he had done something stupid. When he nodded reluctantly, Scott smiled at him and turned around, going to join Allison.
"Hey, wait!" Stiles called out behind him, and Scott turned around in surprise.
"What?" he asked.
Stiles blushed slightly- or was that his imagination?- and asked, "I was just, um, wondering… What does Althaeus mean? I've looked it up but could never find it anywhere."
Scott grinned and answered, "It comes from a Greek word, althos, which means healing. Works pretty well, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Stiles responded, and he was definitely blushing now.
"Um," Scott said, rubbing the back on his neck, "I'm gonna go now. Hopefully I don't have to see you in this type of situation again." Without waiting for a response, Scott turned away and walked quickly toward Allison, needing to get away from whatever the hell had just happened.
Allison raised an eyebrow at him as he got closer. "What was going on back there?" she asked. "Is he okay?"
"Uh, yeah, he's fine," Scott responded, unsure of how to explain what had just happened.
"Oh my god," Allison said, starting to laugh, "oh my god, he was flirting with you, wasn't he?" When Scott didn't respond, Allison laughed harder, doubling over.
"Oh shut up," Scott muttered, not making eye contact with her. "So you got this covered, right? Okay, great. Bye." Allison was still laughing, but Scott didn't wait for her respond, getting out of there as fast as possible. He hoped that he could make it back to the dorm before Stiles, but that might not be possible, even with all of the shortcuts he knew.
Scott pulled off his costume as he ran, stashing it at one of his many dump sites on campus, before sneaking back into his dorm building. Sure enough, Stiles was already in the room when he got there, pulling off his jacket and sitting on his bed.
"Hey," Stiles said, looking up when Scott pushed the door open, "Where were you? I just got back, figured you would still be here."
"Bathroom," Scott answered casually, and then continued, "I didn't think you'd be back so quickly. Did you get your energy drinks?"
"No, but you'll never guess why," Stiles responded, his face lighting up.
"Why?" Scott asked, playing along.
Stiles leaned forward and gestured for Scott to come closer, and then whispered, "I might have met Althaeus."
"Seriously?" Scott responded, feigning surprise and disbelief as best as he could.
Luckily, Stiles seemed too excited by what had happened to pay too much attention to Scott's reaction. "Yup," he said, still grinning, sitting back again. "Some asshole with fire abilities started attacking the store I was at, and then Althaeus and Elemental showed up. Elemental kicked ass, obviously, and Althaeus was making sure everyone was okay." Stiles leaned in again, and then added, raising an eyebrow, "And he spoke to me specifically."
"What did he talk to you about?" Scott asked, struggling to ignore how close Stiles's face was to his.
Stiles shrugged. "Y'know, just telling me to stay out of trouble and stuff," he responded, and then flopped onto his back on the bed. "He's so cool, though."
For some reason, Scott felt his heart jump. "Yeah," he agreed quietly, "Yeah, he's pretty cool."
TWTWTW
"We've got a hostage situation in a bank," Allison said over the phone a week later, her voice tense. "Someone heard a shot fired, so we're guessing there might be injuries. Whoever is in there isn't negotiating, so they want to send you in to see if you can help with any civilians who might be in trouble."
"I'm on my way," Scott responded, shutting the textbook he had been reading. He hadn't seen Stiles all day, and was taking advantage of the silence and lack of distraction to get some studying done, but this was more important.
As he ran to the bank, Scott thought about Stiles. He had pretty much accepted at this point that he had an enormous crush on his roommate, but he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't even know if Stiles liked guys, and he definitely didn't want to ruin the friendship they had by confessing his feelings. Maybe he could come out first, and then maybe Stiles would-
"Althaeus!" Allison called, cutting off his train of thought. She ran up to him, joining him as he walked toward the police officers who were already on the scene. "We're hoping that whoever is in there doesn't know about everything you can do, and that maybe they'll think you're just coming to heal whoever is injured," she said, and one of the police officers nodded.
"You might have to do some bluffing," the officer said, "Try to convince whoever is in there that you can't do anything to them."
Scott nodded. "And if whoever it is doesn't believe me?"
The officer shrugged helplessly. "Then we'll have to think of something else," she said, gesturing for Scott to approach the bank.
Scott did so, taking a deep breath as he did. He had been doing this superhero thing for more than two years now, but it never got any easier, especially when there might be civilians in danger.
When he reached the door of the bank, Scott pounded on it, calling out, "This is Althaeus. We heard the gunshots and are worried about the wellbeing of any civilians. I just want to come in to see if I can help."
"How do I know you're not coming in to kill me?" came the response, sounding male and a bit younger than Scott had expected.
"It's just me coming in," Scott said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, "And all I can do is heal."
There was a pause, and just as Scott decided that the guy didn't believe him, the door eased open. "Come in," the man said from behind the door, "And if you bring anyone in with you I'll kill one of the people in here."
Scott stepped through the door, and once he was inside it slammed shut again. The man in front of him looked like a stereotypical bank robber, complete with a black ski mask covering his face. He was carrying an assault rifle of some sort, and had a pistol tucked into his belt. "The injured guy is over there," he said, gesturing into the corner.
Scott nodded, looking in the direction the man had pointed, and then felt his heart stop as he realized who was slumped in the corner, a hand pressed to his shoulder.
Stiles.
"Hey Althaeus," Stiles said, smiling weakly, and Scott could see the blood seeping through his fingers and staining his shirt.
"We have to stop meeting like this," Scott said, trying not to let his voice shake. "How do you keep ending up in these kinds of situations?"
Stiles shrugged, and then winced when the movement pulled his shoulder. "I'm just very accident prone," he said. "My roommate always tells me that I get into too much trouble."
"Maybe you should listen to your roommate," Scott responded.
"I'm not gonna tell him you said that," Stiles said with a grin. "So, uh," he continued, the smile disappearing, "What's the plan? You do have a plan, right?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah, I've got a plan. You remember how I can transfer injuries, right?" When Stiles nodded, Scott continued, "Well he doesn't know that, so I'm going to give him your shoulder wound. Once I do, it should make him drop the gun he's holding. Then you need to grab the gun and point it at him, as quickly as you can."
Stiles nodded again, but he looked unsure. "I've never used a gun before," he said, sounding almost guilty.
"That's fine," Scott said quickly, "because you don't actually have to use it. Just tell himthat you'll use it. While you're pointing that gun at him, I'll grab the other one, and then we should be able to convince him to walk out pretty easily, and the real authorities can handle it from there. Think you can do that?"
"Yeah," Stiles said, nodding, "Yeah, I can do this. I can do this."
Scott smiled at him. "I know you can. Just trust me, okay?"
"I trust you," Stiles said, and wow, Scott was in love with him.
"Okay," Scott said, pushing those feelings away. Now was not the time to think about his stupid crush. "Okay, let's do this." Taking a deep breath, he put a hand on Stiles's shoulder, trying to ignore the feeling of blood on his skin. He shut his eyes, and after a moment, he heard Stiles gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw Stiles looking at his shoulder with wide eyes. "You feel okay?" Scott asked, suddenly worried.
"Y-yeah," Stiles answered, switching his wide-eyed look to Scott, "Yeah, I feel fine. Um, thanks."
"I know it can feel a little weird," Scott said, trying to smile reassuringly. "Are you ready to do this now, or do we need to wait a few minutes?"
"I'm good," Stiles said, starting to pull himself to his feet.
"Hey, hold on a second," Scott said, keeping his hand on Stiles's shoulder. "If you need to wait, that's fine."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Althaeus, I'm fine. Go do your thing, I'll be right behind you."
Scott nodded, and then turned and approached the robber, who was watching them warily from a distance. "I really think you should agree to let these people go," Scott said, holding his hands out. If he could do this without violence, he would.
The man snorted. "That's not going to work," he said, obviously not thinking that Scott could do anything.
Scott sighed, then closed his eyes and focused on the man standing in front of him. After only a moment, the man cried out, and Scott heard something clatter to the floor, probably the gun he had been carrying. When he opened his eyes again, it was to Stiles standing in front of the robber, pointing the rifle at his head.
"Don't move or I will shoot you," Stiles said, sounding like he meant it.
Quickly, Scott grabbed the other gun. The man's shoulder was bleeding, but he didn't even try to move his hands to cover it. "You should probably walk out of the bank now," Scott said, raising the gun he was holding.
The man simply glared at him, but allowed Stiles to lead him out the door. As soon as the doors opened, the man was surrounded by police officers who quickly put him in handcuffs and dragged him away, taking the guns from Scott and Stiles
Scott looked over at Stiles, and noticed that his hands were shaking. "Hey," Scott said, grabbing Stiles's hands in his, "You did good."
Stiles looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks, Althaeus," he said, his voice so soft that Scott could hardly hear it. Stiles's gaze wandered down to where Scott's hands were grasping his, and Scott caught himself.
"Um," he said, dropping his hands, "They'll probably want to take you to the hospital, just to make sure that everything is fine. I healed the wound, but you probably still lost a lot of blood. That, uh, might explain the shaking."
Stiles nodded. He still looked a little off-balance, but Scott knew it wouldn't take him long to recover. "I'll try to stay out of trouble from now on," he said, giving Scott a salute.
Scott laughed, and then turned to go, seeing Allison waiting for him in the distance.
"Hey, wait," Stiles called out, stopping him.
"What?" Scott asked, turning around quickly, concerned.
"You, uh," Stiles said, blushing a little bit, "You did good too."
Scott smiled at him, nodded once, and walked away.
TWTWTW
Three hours later, Scott was back at his desk, reading a textbook, when Stiles pushed open the door and stepped into the room. "Hey," Scott said, turning around in his chair and smiling, "Where have you been all day?"
"Um," Stiles said, playing with something around his wrist-Scott guessed it was a hospital bracelet. "Well, I went to the bank, got caught in a robbery-hostage situation, got shot in the shoulder, met Althaeus again, got healed by him, helped take out the robber, and then went to the hospital and got put on an IV for an hour."
"Shit, dude," Scott responded, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just," Stiles started, practically collapsing onto his chair, dropping his head onto his knees. "Can you, uh, give me a second?"
Scott didn't know what to do. Stiles had told him about his anxiety and panic attacks, but not what to do when he had one. Should he touch him, or would that make it worse? Should he talk or stay silent? "Is there anything I can do?" Scott asked after a moment, hesitant.
"Um, maybe talk about something? Just… just something random to distract me, I don't really know," Stiles answered, his head still down.
So, Scott started talking. He talked about his crazy chemistry teacher, about the girl in his biology class who raised her hand at every single question, about the vet's office he had worked at back home, about his mom and how much he missed her. And, as he talked, he watched Stiles, as his shoulders became less tense and, slowly, as he raised his head and sat up again.
"Thanks," Stiles whispered when Scott paused. "That… actually really helped."
"Anytime, man," Scott responded, smiling. "Seriously. Now, do you want to talk about what happened today or not? It's totally fine if you don't want to, but it might also help to get it out, yeah?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, I'm not up for talking about all of it I don't think, but… Dude, Althaeus is so cool," he said, his face starting to light up again. "I probably would have lost it completely, but he made sure I was okay, even after he healed me."
"Yeah, I know the situation sucked, but I'm little jealous that you got to meet him," Scott responded, trying not to laugh. How would Stiles react if he knew that he was actually roommates with Althaeus?
Stiles nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "On one hand, I hope I don't have to see him again, because it would probably mean being in a bad situation again. On the other hand, though…" Stiles shrugged. "I definitely wouldn't mind getting to talk to him again," he finished, grinning at Scott.
"Yeah," Scott agreed softly, "Yeah, that would be cool."
TWTWTW
"Are you even allowed to have that thing?" Scott asked with a laugh, watching Stiles use a switchblade to cut up an apple he had taken from the dining hall.
"I mean, technically speaking, no," Stiles responded, looking up at him and grinning. "But as long as no one tells anyone that I have it…"
"Yeah, yeah," Scott said, "I get the hint. But I feel like a criminal justice major should care at least a little bit about not breaking the rules."
Stiles shrugged. "Again, dude, if no one catches me then it's totally fine."
Scott laughed again, turning away from Stiles to focus on his textbooks. He had a test the next day, and he was totally not ready for it, as he had spent almost the whole day before out with Allison, saving a guy who had been kidnapped. However, as soon as he started to focus on the book, he heard Stiles cry out.
"Shit," Stiles exclaimed, "Shit, shit, shit, this isn't good."
Scott turned around in surprise, and saw Stiles clutching his finger, which was bleeding all over the desk. "Holy shit, dude, what did you do?" Scott asked, jumping to his feet and heading over to Stiles, trying very hard not to panic.
"Uh, the knife slipped, and I think I cut my finger open," Stiles responded, his voice shaking as he stared at his finger and the blood pouring out of it.
"Dude, put some pressure on it before you lose more blood!" Scott exclaimed, grabbing onto Stiles's hand and covering the cut on his finger.
Stiles gasped, and wrenched his hand away from Scott, staring at his finger. It had stopped bleeding completely.
"Fuck," Scott whispered, stumbling backwards. "Fuck, Stiles, I didn't… I mean, that wasn't…"
Stiles simply sat in his chair, staring at Scott with wide eyes. "You're… You're him, you're Althaeus," he whispered back.
"Stiles, I'm sorry, really, I wanted to tell you, especially after he… after I healed you, but you gotta understand, I couldn't, I can't talk about it with anyone," Scott rambled, trying to catch his breath. Stiles was going to hate him now, he knew it.
"Scott," Stiles said, standing up and taking a step forwards. "Scott, it's okay."
"No," Scott responded, taking a step back, "Stiles, if you want to hate me, that's okay. I… I won't blame you if you…"
"Scott," Stiles said again, stepping closer and putting a hand on Scott's shoulder, "Scott, I could never hate you."
"I…" Scott started, but before he could continue, Stiles put his other hand on Scott's cheek and leaned forward.
And then they were kissing.
Holy shit, Stiles was actually kissing him. Before Scott had a chance to process what was happening, to even begin to understand what was going on, Stiles pulled back.
"I'm… I'm sorry," Stiles said, and his eyes were wide.
"Sorry for what?" Scott asked, unable to take his eyes off Stiles.
"God," Stiles said, running a hand through his hair, "I thought… I mean, after those few times with Althaeus, I sort of… had a crush on him, I think. And then, finding out it was actually you this whole time, I just…" He shrugged helplessly, and then finished, "I guess I realized that maybe it was you I had a crush on."
Scott almost laughed. "I guess I should have told you earlier then," he answered. "Seeing as I've had a crush on you since the day I met you."
"Seriously?" Stiles said, his eyes lighting up.
"Seriously," Scott responded, letting himself laugh. "We're idiots, aren't we?"
"Hell yeah we are," Stiles answered, and then leaned in and kissed him again. And again. And again.
TWTWTW
"Hey, babe, I gotta go," Scott said a week later, staring sadly at his phone and the text he had just gotten from Allison.
"Duty calls?" Stiles asked, smirking at him from his desk.
"You know me, always off saving the day," Scott shot back, grinning.
Stiles laughed, pulling him down into a kiss. "Come on, can't you take just one day off?" he pleaded, giving his best puppy dog impression.
"Nope," Scott answered, pulling away. "That is not going to work on me."
"Fine," Stiles sighed, rolling his eyes and sitting back. "But now you owe me one."
"You'll have to wait until I get back for that," Scott responded, still grinning.
Stiles laughed, but quickly became more serious. "Promise me you will come back?" he asked, staring at Scott intensely.
"Promise," Scott responded, also dropping the smile. "I could never leave you behind."
"Damn right you can't," Stiles said, the smile returning.
Scott just laughed, kissing Stiles once more before heading out the door.
Maybe he'd be able to survive college after all.