St. Clair || Stilinski [2]

Nine || Trust Issues

|| Trust Issues

Low bushes hid Stiles and Liam from sight of Theo Raeken's Highlander still bearing Michigan plates, their night consisting of hushed voices and hiding.

At the edge of the Beacon Preserve, not too far away from watchful eyes, Theo removed a brown package from the SUV before shutting the trunk.

"I told you he was up to something," Stiles whispered as Theo left the Highlander and headed for the Preserve.

"We just spent three hours watching this dude play video games in his bedroom. He better be out here covering up a mass murder."

"Let's find out," Stiles said, an impulse need to follow Theo driving him off.

The two rose from their crouched positions, Liam leading the way through a grassy path with little light to guide.

"You still got his scent?" Stiles asked.

"Don't need it," he replied, muddy footprints evident on the ground. He slowed, the backs of his hands tingling the way they always did when he was missing something.

"What?" Stiles  asked as he found Liam stopped behind him, unsure what to think. His brain rarely shut up, but when it came to keeping the love of his life safe, his mind was running a mile a minute. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot," said Liam as an his best friend's face flickered behind his eyes, "I was supposed to meet Mason at the school gym."

Stiles didn't quite get it. "Okay, why didn't you just tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"Anything."

Liam shook his head, "I can't just tell him anything."

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't..." Liam frustratedly put his hands in the pockets of his maroon hoodie, "I haven't told him everything."

Stiles' eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Still? We said it was okay."

"Yeah, I know, but it's not that easy. It - it's a lot to accept." Could he handle losing his closest friend of Mason couldn't take the truth? "Where would I start?"

"He watched my dad blow up a berserker with a land mine," said Stiles. "I think the groundwork's been pretty thoroughly laid for acceptance. Scott and I...we've been through this, okay? More than once. It's just...it's always better when they know."

Liam took out his phone as Stiles began walking again, uncertainty in his eyes. Mason was the only one who could handle all of him. He was the only one he trusted to. "But what if he freaks out? What if he doesn't want to talk to me?" he asked as he followed after Stiles. "What if he tries to stab me with something silver? Or what if-"

A loud thud halted the boys cold, a crackle of leaves disturbing the forest floor as their stomachs flipped.

Stiles' eyebrows furrowed, finding a wide expanse of trees, but no Liam. He hesitantly walked forward, peering over to find Liam at the bottom of a hole dug in the forest floor. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked as he slid the rest of the way to the gap in the ground.

Liam winced as he looked up, six feet underground with dirt littering his hair. He shook his head, unsure of how to respond.

"I-" Stiles cut himself off as footsteps echoed in the distance. "There he is." He looked down to Liam, on the move. "Hurry up. Stop screwing aorund."