thin white lies

Chapter 6

"Explain it to me one more time."

"Jesus, Theo, you do speak English, right?" Stiles groaned. He looked at Theo, and his annoyed glare would have held more weight if he wasn't half-hanging upside down off of Scott's bed. Scott, who was sitting upright next to Stiles, rolled his eyes; Theo wasn't sure if it was at his supposed incompetence or Stiles' general attitude. They had been trying to recount the events of the night of the full moon to Theo, who had missed the majority of the action while helping Isaac. Theo was trying his best to wrap his head around what his friends were saying, but it just wasn't making sense, and Stiles was obviously getting irritated at him.

"Yes, I speak English. It's just... I don't understand how Derek isn't dead!"

"Neither do we! He just kinda showed up out of nowhere," Scott said.

"We saw his dead body! There was blood coming from his mouth! I was also pretty convinced that the Alpha had EATEN him, because his body was gone! And now you're telling me he's just... walking around as if everything is fine? No mortal wounds or anything?"

"Well, he's not 'walking around', the police are after him. But yes, that's essentially what we're telling you," Stiles said in response to Theo's outburst. Theo groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"So, Derek is alive—"

"Yes, we've established this. Multiple times."

"—and we're the ones responsible for making him the most wanted criminal in Beacon County?"

"... Pretty much, yeah."

"Great. Fucking great," Theo sighed. "What's stopping him from killing all three of us? We're dead meat."

"He's not gonna kill us, Theo," Scott said. "He still needs us to help him find the Alpha."

"He needs you to find the Alpha. Stiles and I are useless."

"Uh, excuse me, I'm sitting right here!" Stiles yelled.

"Yeah, I can see you. What's your point?" Theo said. "We're only human, there's not much we can do to find the Alpha."

"I'm not letting him kill either of you," Scott said with finality. "He can try, but he won't get very far."

"Scott, I know you're trying to be comforting, but it's not really helping, considering he's bigger and stronger than all three of us," Stiles said.

Scott huffed, uncrossing his arms and smacking Stiles on the chest. Stiles yelped, flailing around and nearly falling off the bed. No matter how much he does it, or how often Theo was around him, his spindly limbs and poor reaction times always made Theo laugh, and this was not an exception.

"Do you think the cure is real?" Scott asked once Stiles had settled down again and Theo had stopped laughing. That soured the mood again, as Theo was reminded that Scott would be forced to take a life in order to return to his normal self.

"I mean... Even if it is real, are you sure it's something that you want to go through with?" Theo asked. His voice was quiet, but he knew Scott and Stiles still heard him. The werewolf's head whipped around to stare incredulously at Theo. It was all the more intimidating given that Theo was on the floor and Scott was above him on the bed, making him seem more physically imposing than normal.

"What's that supposed to mean, Theo?" Stiles asked. He seemed less offended at Theo's question than Scott was.

"Nothing. It's nothing," Theo said. He sighed, standing up off of the floor of Scott's room. "I'm gonna head out. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow."