On the Other Side • Sciles

Midnight

"It's 12 o'clock at night, Stiles. Why are you calling?"

"I'm having deep, philosophical thoughts about the universe and I need you to confirm my existence."

"Again?"

"Again."

"Be there in a minute."

...

It only took Scott 10 minutes to open Stiles' bedroom door and flop down on the bed beside him. Stiles sighed and unconsciously moved closer to him, his arms folded behind his head as he stared up at his ceiling.

"Deep, philosophical thoughts, huh?" Scott smiled, looking over at Stiles with  big doe eyes that reminded him of the last time they had snuck out to the reserve together. They had convinced an older guy at their school to buy them a few beers, it was the first time either of them had gotten tipsy. They drank two beers each and laid back on the forest floor, staring up at the stars. They had talked all night until they fell asleep next to each other in the pine straw. The next morning, Stiles was the first to wake up. He had rolled over to look at Scott, but a stray beer bottle had caught his eye. The sun glinted off the beer bottle just right and the bottle was no longer brown. The bottle was a glowing, amber. When Scott had finally woken up, Stiles glanced from the bottle to his eyes, realizing that Scott's eyes were much the same. They weren't just brown, they were an intoxicating amber.

"I want both my absence and my presence to mean something to you." Stiles sighed as he stopped looking at the dull, white ceiling and turned to look at Scott who was already staring.

"You always mean something to me." It sounded more as a question than as an answer.

"Yeah, I know. It's just...lately things have been weird? I guess? I don't know the word. I just feel like we aren't as close as we used to be. I mean you've got so much going on now and I'm still just human. I'm still just...me." 

"Stiles, are you serious? I couldn't do this without you. You've been my best friend and my brother for as long as I can remember. I couldn't imagine ever replacing you. I don't care if you're human because you aren't just human. You are beyond genius, you've got the best sense of humor, you never let people treat you or the people you love like crap. You are single-handedly the most badass human that I've ever met." Scott put his hand on Stiles head and ruffled what little hair Stiles had.

They were facing each other now on his bed and Scott smiled.

"Promise we'll never replace each other?"

"Promise." Stiles breathed a laugh, his eyes finally closing, sleep claiming him.

...

Scott was gone the next morning and Stiles was silently thankful. His dad had called him downstairs.

"Well I've kind of got a surprise for you." His dad replied when he asked what was going on. Stiles raised an eyebrow as he reached for the syrup to cover the fresh pancakes his dad had made. Pancakes usually meant good news.

John smiled as Stiles dug into his pancakes, waiting patiently for whatever his dad was about to throw his way.

Then the doorbell rang.

"Why don't you go get the door, Stiles?" Stiles rose up out of his seat and set his fork down beside his plate. His actions were cautious and he inched toward the door, watching his dad the whole time, eyeing him suspiciously.

Stiles unlocked the door and thought about opening it slowly, but before he could make a decision that door was jerked open. Stiles mouth fell open and his heart caught in his throat.

"Will?"