midnight ||| stiles stilinski

chapter two: Problems and Apologies

"I'm in so much trouble," Scott McCall groaned as he sat down across from Stiles in the lunchroom.

"Are we still on the Allison's-grandfather-cutting-people-in-half-with-a-sword problem?" Stiles asked around a mouthful of meatloaf.

"No. Well, I mean, yes, but there's something else."

"You're kidding. What, is there a giant kraken living in the ocean we have to kill?"

"I have a cousin!"

"Oh. That's it? Good, I thought we were going to add another life threatening event to the seventeen we're already dealing with." Relieved, Stiles shoveled another bite into his mouth. 

"No, no, you don't understand!" Scott laid his head on the table and sighed dramatically. "I have an actual cousin and we only met last night and she hates me!"

"Come on, Scotty. Who could ever hate that cute little baby face of yours?" Stiles leaned forward and tried to ruffle his best friend's hair, but Scott slapped his hand away.

"Vinia can, because I was supposed to welcome her home last night while Mom was at work, but instead we were searching for Lydia! And so she had to search for our key and let herself in and fell asleep on the couch, where Mom found her." 

"Okay, well, I'm sorry we forgot about your long-lost cousin but at least she's safe, right? Besides, we also kinda have more important things to worry about-- like the fact that lacrosse practice starts in 30 minutes?" Stiles shoved three more bites of meatloaf into his mouth then stood up. "Hesh ro!" He swallowed and tried again. "Come on, Scott, let's go!"

"I don't understand how you can eat all that before practice," Scott said, shaking his head in wonder. 

"It's what makes me special, wolf-boy."

"Don't say that so loud!"

"What, that my secret talent is eating ungodly amounts of meatloaf? Why on earth would I want to hide that from the world?"

"You're the worst, Stiles." Scott shook his head, but he was smiling. Stiles grinned, his mission accomplished. 

"And that's why you love meeeeeeeeee," Stiles sang as the two walked down the hallway towards the locker room.

******O******O******O******

The popcorn ceiling above Vinny's bed was not particularly interesting but that wasn't stopping her from staring blankly at it, trying to forget the lingering screams in her nightmares. Slowly, she sat up to see if Jake was still asleep in the other bed-- but there was no other bed, and there was no Jake. For a moment Vinny was ready to leap out of bed and tear down the whole world to find him, but then she remembered where he was.

Somehow, that was almost worse. 

"I have to go see him," Vinny mumbled, her voice shaking. "I can't leave him alone."

Her suitcase was still on the floor, clothes spilling out onto the carpet. Vinia grabbed whatever was on top, not bothering to check if it was even clean. Once her teeth (but not her hair) were brushed, Vinny headed downstairs.

"Hello?" She called softly into the empty kitchen. "Is anyone home?" The clock on the microwave was flashing a bright green 1:00. A yellow sticky note on the counter read, Good morning Vinia! I am at work and Scott is at school. Make yourself at home while we're away. We will talk about important things this evening. :) Melissa. 

Vinny groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to her aunt about anything. She opened cupboards until she found a sufficient snack of Ritz crackers and Cheese Whiz, then tugged on her shoes and headed out the front door.