Friends with a fox

Afraid

"What?" Stiles said. He jumped up, his muscles protesting from being on the ground for so long. He was scared. Would the fox possess him again? Stiles didn't want that. 

Before he could move, the fox tackled him to the ground. Stiles screamed and flailed, trying to knock the fox off of him, but the fox was heavy and didn't budge.

"I'm not going to take control of your mind again Stiles. There is no reason to be afraid of me anymore. When Kira banished me from your body, I lost the instinct to create chaos, strife and pain," the fox told Stiles.

Stiles visibly relaxed and the fox stepped off of him, letting Stiles off the ground. Stiles dusted his clothes off and stared at the fox.

There was a silent few minutes as they both just stared at each other, nothing shared between them. The fox broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I was trying to avoid the exact reaction but then realized it was inevitable."

Stiles understood. There was a reason he didn't tell anyone about his insomnia, the reaction. He didn't want to be treated as a weak human. He didn't need help, he was surviving just fine.

He knelt down and allowed the fox to approach him. "I understand, but I'm still sorry for what I did." To make up for it, Stiles hugged the fox. He didn't know if it was helpful since this was a fox but he knew his dad loved hugs.

Stiles got up and walked over to his jeep, preparing himself to leave.

"Before you leave, I would like to propose some thing to you," said the fox.

"And what is that?"Stiles asked curiously. What could the fox give him?

"I will tell you once we have ran together, so you can appreciate how it feels to run like a fox."

Stiles agreed but didn't ask why, as he would probably not get an answer out of the stubborn fox. He followed the fox until they reached the shell of the Hale house.

"I run a lot in my spare time, since I have a lot of it. I even have my own route and this is where it starts," said the fox. "It usually takes half an hour to finish if I trot at a slow pace, that is what we will be doing, since you have not the speed of a fox but if i feel energetic and sprint, it can take around twenty minutes."

Stiles internally cringed. He couldn't run for thirty minutes on a track, let alone on unknown territory when it was dark. Imagine how many trees he would hit!

The fox wagged its tail and started to trot at a slow pace. Stiles only had to lightly jog to keep up.

"No, don't run like a human, run like a fox."

"How do I do that?" Stiles ask, hoping it didn't mean he had to run on his hands as well as his feet.

"Crouch down on all fours," said the fox.

Stiles had been dreading that answer. Reluctantly he placed his hands on the ground and tried to run on his hand and feet.  Not long after he started did his shoulders start to burn. He was panting and his hands were all cut up from rocks and roots on the ground.

His neck hurt from looking up to see where he was going. Why was the fox making him do this? Was there even a point?

The fox circled back multiple times, yipping encouragement to Stiles. At one point his neck hurt so much that he couldn't hold his head up any longer and hung it under his head. Moments later he crashed into a tree. 

The fox declared they take a break so Stiles sat up and tried to  slow his breathing.

When he could talk he asked the fox."Wheat is the point of this? If it is to see how much endurance I have you can already tell I have barely any."

"Don't pull yourself down," said the fox."We are already almost done. There are about five minutes of running left and I have decided that you can complete It while running only your legs."

Stiles was relieved. They finished The last five minutes of the run. They felt so much easier to Stiles that he actually enjoyed it. 

They arrived at the clearing where Stiles jeep was parked. Stiles leaned against the hood, panting.

The fox spoke up."As I hope you know by now, I am not a werefox. I have seen the creature your friends are looking for but it is rabid so I haven't been able to get a closer look."

"Good to know. We are chasing a rabid animal that could possibly eat us, yay!"Stiles said sarcastically.

 The fox continued, unfazed by Stiles' comment."Even though I am not a werefox, I still possess some of the skills of one, and they have similar skills as a werewolf. I can heal quickly without it leaving a scar, an exception to the stab Kira gave me. I can move quickly and have increased senses. Werefoxes can shift but I am unable to shift because of the possession and I don't go rabid on a full moon."

"So being a werefox is even better than a werewolf, nice." Said Stiles."Is that it?"

"No, there is one more thing,"said the fox."similar to werewolves, a werefox can turn other people into werefoxes, but foxes are solitary or live in small groups so there is no alpha, beta or omega status. This is my proposition. Do you want me to bite you?"

Stiles had a strange sense of deja vu, he thought back to when Peter had offered him the bite. Stiles had refused because Peter was a crazy maniac and Stiles didn't know that the pack regarded him as weak.

After thinking about it for a while, Stiles had made up his mind. He would no longer be a weak link in the pack.

"Yes I do. Bite me."