Stiles is a Winchester

Chapter XX

AN: I finished school for the time being, but I'm not promising my updates to be any faster lol, sorry babes. 

By the time Stiles woke up, the sun shining through the window into his face, Derek and Stiles had left. They had stayed until a little after dawn and sent a nod to Castiel in goodbye. When Stiles sat up, rubbing his eyes, Castiel was sat in his desk chair. He wasn't staring at Stiles, as he had found out from Dean that humans didn't like it too much.

"Good morning, Stiles." Stiles smiled at him but said nothing in return.  "I imagine you'll have a busy day. A lot of people missed you."

Stiles nodded. 

"Noah will be here soon. He had left early today to get some groceries for you." Stiles nodded again, pushing the covers down to get out of bed. When he looked through the closet, he didn't know what to wear. Not in the way that he was worried about how he looked, but in the way that he didn't know if he should try to dress the way he used to. He pulled out a lot of similar items, a couple flannels, a couple pairs of jeans, a lot of graphic or plain T-shirts.

"Do you think," he began, turning to Castiel. He paused for a second, hesitating, and wondering if Castiel would even have an answer, or maybe his question would be too stupid, but Castiel waited for him to finish anyways. "Do you think they're expecting me to be the same? Like dress the same, and act the same, and all that?"

"Your friends and Noah know that you've been through a lot. They may want for things to be normal again, but they will understand that you will need time."

Stiles didn't look at the clothes he took, just making sure the shirt was short sleeves so that he wouldn't be too hot, and a pair of jeans.

The morning was quiet. Noah came back not long after, and he brought breakfast from a diner--Stiles didn't know if it was the same diner as before, but he didn't care enough to ask. The pancakes were good. They were covered in maple syrup and butter, and it came with bright red strawberries. Noah ate across from him at the kitchen table. Stiles didn't ask any more questions, avoiding the same tension from last night, but Noah's occasional staring didn't go unnoticed. 

It wasn't until after they finished eating that Noah cleared his throat, rubbing his hands together to shake his uneasiness. "I'm going to the station this afternoon. I'll start getting it cleared in the system that you're alive and were misidentified."

"Will I have to go too?"

"Probably not today, but at some point. I need to show proof, otherwise they may think I've gone crazy," Noah chuckled uncomfortably. "I need to go in more often anyways. Parrish has been covering for me all year."

"Parrish?"

"Jordan Parrish. My Deputy. You'll like him, he's nice." He was about to mention that they were friendly before, but he's learning very quickly that Stiles doesn't like being compared to the 'before.'

There was a knock at the door, and Stiles immediately looked to Castiel. "It's the pack," he said. Noah went to let them all in, but they all stood awkwardly in the living room as Stiles looked down at the floor, avoiding their gazes. Castiel saw that Derek and Scott managed to come along with them, despite Scott looking quite obviously tired, the two only having slept a few hours between leaving Stiles' window and now.

It wasn't everyone. The two hales (three if Malia counted), Scott, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac.

They waited in silence for someone to speak, something to happen that would make everything normal again.

When it was clear no one else was going to, Lydia spoke. "Can I hug you?" Some of the others looked to her in slight surprise--Lydia never asked, and it sounded so unnatural for her to sound so unsure. Even in times where she was in the dark, or facing the possibility of death, she always had a tone of valiance. Stiles, despite looking at the floor, could hear the hope, and what could almost be desperation, in her voice. He knew that these people missed him, but he couldn't bring himself to hug them. He didn't even know her name, and while he knew he would learn everyone's names shortly, he wasn't exactly looking forward to bonding time.