Stiles Stilinski-Gilbert

Chapter 18

Stiles groans as he's pulled awake by his phones alarm clock. He doesn't know why he's doing this to himself. After yesterday's little running revelation, he decided to set his alarm clock to wake him up at 4 in the morning, like some kind of masochist.

Stiles opens his eyes and blearily looks around his still dark room before turning onto his side and grabbing at his phone. He may want to wake up early but that doesn't mean the rest of the house does. He turns off the alarm and just lies there for several seconds, until he can feel his eyelids trying to shut. At which point he drags himself out of bed.

He walks to the bathroom first, splashing his face with water in order to wake himself up and then he goes back to his room and finds his running clothes. Getting changed quietly is easily, getting down the surprisingly creaky stairs, that is difficult. But somehow Stiles manages it without waking anyone else up.

Stiles shoves his feet into his trainers before unlocking the front door and stepping out into the cold morning air. If splashing his face with water hadn't woken him up, stepping out into this freezing weather most definitely would have. He locks up the house behind him, wanting to make sure that no intruders could possibly get in despite that Mystic Fall's has a rather low crime rate...or at least in used too.

Stiles walks down the driveway, passing his jeep, Elena, Jenna and John's cars. It is a surprise that all of them manage to fit but it does prove that when Jeremy gets a car his will fit or at least it will once they finally get rid of John. When Stiles gets to the end of the drive he does a quick stretch, not wanting to get any cramps as he runs.

Once finished Stiles sets off around the block. Last night he thought up the best running path for him to run. It should take him roughly 30-45 minutes for him to complete it which should hopefully be enough time for him too...find his inner peace or whatever.

Despite Stiles wanting to try out Alaric's idea, he is a little dubious that it will work. But the only way for him to find out if it will work or not is if he does it so here, he is jogging and trying to get his breathing under control. He hasn't run in a few months, and he feels like a baby lamb trying to learn how to stand for the first time.

Inhale...hold...exhale...hold...inhale...hold...exhale...

Thud...thud...thud...

Stiles enjoys the feeling of his feet making contact with the floor, making sure to only be landing on the ball of his feet so that when he pushes forwards, he isn't hurting himself. The wind passes through his hair and brushes against his face. His arms swing in rhythm with his feet and he tries to time his breathes.

Once he's got his rhythm down it makes him feel like he's flying. Like with every step he could just take off from the ground and glide. It's exhilarating. A part of Stiles wants to close his eyes and just run.

About halfway through his run he realises that he doesn't have much time left so he finally starts focusing on what he is doing this for. Emptying his brain is easy like this with all of his energy focused on other things. Stiles starts focusing on his body, the way it feels, the contrast between his body warming the more he runs to the cold wind hitting him.

The feeling of his muscles burning the more he pushes himself. The warmth in his chest, just behind his ribcage. The way his...wait. Stiles focuses back on the warmth in his chest and the way it seems to vibrate when it realises that he's noticed it. Like it's happy, like it's a living thing. It brings Stiles up short a little, makes him breathless, makes him feel like giggling.

He tries to reach for it, but it pulls away slightly. He reaches further, but it's like it doesn't wish to be touched.

How is he supposed to utilise his magic if the thing won't cooperate?