Bane of My Existence

Trauma Bond

Once home, Celia sinks into the couch, buzzing with adrenaline and grief. Corey. Poor Corey.

Desperate for a distraction she pulls out her phone, checking the comments on her last piece from over a month ago. She makes a mental note to update her twelve loyal readers, their overwhelming positivity one constant Celia craved. Stiles sits down beside her slowly, as if he's afraid he'll startle her.

"Hi." She says, turning her phone off to face him.

"Hi." His voice soft.

She looks him over, his hands trembling slightly, covered in tiny pink scars, most likely from the night of the attack.

Scott.

In all of the noise she had forgotten to check on him, see how he was doing with such a drastic adjustment. The skeptical part of her thought not to bother. None of this felt real, just a bunch of dumb, bored kids getting involved in something much bigger than themselves.

"Celia." Stiles says, looking at her intently.

He had been speaking to her this whole time.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Stiles sighs, brushing his hands over his pants.

"Are we okay? I know shit is very weird right now but, I just wanna make sure we're good."

Celia meets his gaze. Her scatterbrain connecting every element on a mental board connected by thin red string. Emie. Corey. The finals they missed and convinced professors to let them take later thanks to excuse notes from Melissa. The wolves. Sheriff Stilinski, how disappointed he was. How disappointed he is.

"Celia." Stiles says again, sternly this time.

Celia flinches from his tone.

"Where do you keep going? Can you talk to me?" He runs his palms over his legs again. His hands must be sweating, Celia thinks.

"Everything is fine, Stiles." Her face twists with distaste. Nothing was fine. Two people were dead, Celia kept fainting, their best friend was convinced he was part dog. Everything was actually rather awful.

"Now I just don't believe that." He says, now looking at his hands on his knees.

"I mean, it's not. But we're okay. You and me."

For now, she feels compelled to add but doesn't. Stiles looks back to her now and offers a sheepish smile.

"Alright."

"Mhm," Scott clears his throat from the doorway.

"Stiles, we should probably head out. Get some sleep, and maybe a shower." He finishes, sniffing his shirt.

"Yeah-" Stiles standing up quickly.

—

Friday, May 25th

"How do you think you did?" Scott asks as they leave their Herbology final.

Celia shrugs.

"Alright, I guess. I couldn't really focus..."

Scott smiles sympathetically.

"I'm sure you killed it."

He gives her shoulder a quick tousle as Stiles and Lydia meet them.

"Well, that sucked but we're officially done. Sophomore year baby!" Stiles exclaims.

Walking towards the exit, they're all seemingly aware of the plans set for them, finding out who's killing UCB students and why.