*unrevised
Stiles was left alone the entire day.
Maeve texted him that she was leaving school and when she had reached Lydia's, but Scott was nowhere to be found and was not answering his phone.
Stiles' mind was filled with both worry and fuming anger - the worry being for his twin of course, the anger towards his unresponsive best friend.
He was tired, he barely slept last night, his thoughts causing him to continuously wake up and each time he did the brunette would walk down the hall to peer into his sister's room, glimpsing at her sleeping body.
"Stiles," a random voice called out in the hallways.
When he turned around the Stilinski twin was disappointed it wasn't Scott, but then he overcame with confusion, "Uh hi Isaac."
The blonde stopped once he reached Maeve's brother, nervously scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry to bother you, but is Maeve okay?"
Stiles was taken back, "Um..why do you ask?"
Why was Isaac asking about his sister?
"Oh uh.." Isaac stammered, not sure how to explain his 'relationship' with the girl he thought about a lot... A LOT, "we're lab partners and she never answered me last night...about the homework, and I heard what Jackson said to her, and she wasn't in chemistry or algebra so I was just wondering if she was okay," he stammered out.
"Wait-what did Jackson say to her?" Stiles' brown eyes laced with confusion and concern.
"Oh she didn't- I'm not exactly sure, but I heard them arguing in his driveway last night and from some things I could hear, it wasn't nice."
The twin's eyes hardened as anger towards the lacrosse captain simmered in him, "she'll be fine, Jackson - well he's got another thing coming, I gotta go."
"Wait," Isaac stopped him as he grabbed a notebook out of his backpack, "give her these, they're the algebra notes from today."
He grasped the notebook and took off down the halls, leaving a uncertain Isaac behind. Stiles' face contorted as he pulled out his phone, angrily typing as he searched for the ignorant blonde.
To Scott: I have no idea where you are but I'm about to either run over Jackson's stupid porsche with my jeep or shove his lacrosse stick up his ass. maybe both, so if you bother to check your phone please feel free to join with that new bloodlust of yours.
Scott still didn't answer, but it didn't matter. Stiles saw Jackson as he rounded the corner and wasted no time marching up to him.
Jackson saw the pissed off look on his face, leading him to become both confused and amused, "Stilinski what's got your thong twis-"
Stiles cut him off by push him back towards the wall, latching onto Jackson's backpack straps so he'd stay put, "what the hell did you say to my sister!"
The seething words and anger in his hardened eyes took Jackson by surprise, causing his blue ones to flicker with fear, "I- I have no idea what you're on about Stilinski and I suggest you get your hands off before I-"
"Before you what?!" he cut him off, "I don't really give a crap about what you think you're going to do asshat, I care about what you did. What you said."
The blonde's demeanor fell and he had no words to speak as Stiles tight his grip, "My sister has been nothing but nice to your spoiled little ass, despite the fact that you don't deserve it just like half of the shit you get handed to you. I don't know what you said, but I don't care about the details, she's got enough going on without you being a dickhead to her."
With that Stiles pushed Jackson against the wall once more as he let go, walking away to his next class as Jackson stayed put in the empty hall.
He regretted what he said to Maeve the second he noticed she wasn't in history, honestly he regretted it the second he walked into his empty house last night. But it didn't matter, as the blonde pulled back his facade and pushed himself off the wall, heading to the same class he had with Stiles.
Scott had finally called Stiles in between classes, turns out everybody was ditching school today.
"Finally! Have you been getting any of my texts?" he exclaimed while walking out of class.
"Yeah, like all 9 million of them," Scott scoffed.
Stiles rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Do you have any idea what's going on? Lydia is totally M.I.A., Maeve took off after first period, I practically assaulted Jackson, who looks like he's got a time bomb inserted into his face, there's another random guy's dead, and you have to do something about it.
"Like what?"
"Something."
Scott sighed, "Okay, I'll deal with it later. Make sure Maeve is okay and don't assault anyone else today," he hung up before Stiles could get another word in.
...
Maeve was still asleep when Stiles had gotten to Lydia's house, but Lydia was awake, watching over her best friend while admiring her manicure. Despite being high off of pills, the strawberry blonde still held an instinct to protect the brunette next to her.
As Natalie guided the other Stilinski twin up the stairs she turned to him, "Is she doing okay, Maeve? It's been a while since I've seen her like this."
He was taken back by the question, he rarely interacted with Mrs. Martin and didn't know her close relationship with his sister, "Oh- uh yeah. She's just been stressed, but you know her, she always manages to pull through."
Natalie just nodded in agreement, knocking on Lydia's door as she open it, "Lydia, there's a Stiles here to see you."
"Shh, don't wake her up," she hushed her mom as Maeve shifted next to her, "and what the hell is a Stiles'"
"She took a little something to ease her nerves. You can - you can go in," Natalie sent a apologetic smile towards the boy
Lydia glazed over at Stiles, "What are you doing here?"
Maeve had woken up by this point, but laid still so she could watch her brother interact with Lydia - which was always a fun sight. Her cover was finally blown when she couldn't hold in a snicker as Lydia fell on Stiles' lap, making him freak out.
She did try to hide her face in the sheets so he wouldn't notice, but he did, "how long have you been awake?"
Her hazel eyes finally looked up to meet his, "long enough, enjoying yourself?" she questioned with a smile as Lydia was still on him.
"Haha very funny, you're annoying you know that?" Stiles glared at his sister.
"I like to think we take turns," Maeve confidently spoke, causing Stiles to smile in the fact that they definitely do.
His face turned serious in a split second once he remember why she was there in the first place, "how are you feeling?"
The brunette got up from the bed and started to undo the small braid Lydia must have made when she was sleep, "I think I'm going to live."
Stiles rolled his eyes as she slipped into her shoes, watching as she made her way around the bed, "we should get going, she's still going to be out of it for a while," so Maeve kneeled beside the bed, nudging Lydia awake, "hey Lyds, I'm going to head out, but text me when you sober up."
Lydia's eye fluttered open so her green eyes looked at her best friend, "Mhmmm...bye Maeve," she hummed before leaning over and pecking her on the lips.
The strawberry blonde's head hit the bed again as Stiles' eyes nearly popped out of his head, Maeve pressed her lips in a line to hide the smile creeping on her face.
It was not the first time that that had happened.
Completely ignoring it she stood up and turned around, "well I'm going to use the bathroom, I'll meet you downstairs in 5 minutes."
..
"What's got you so frazzled?" Maeve questioned from the passenger seat.
Her brother hesitated, not wanting to stress her out anymore, but he was going to explode if he didn't talk to someone about what he just saw.
And not just the kiss between his sister and the girl he's had a crush on since the 3rd grade.
"Look," she started when he was non responsive to her question, "yes, she kissed me, and yes it's happened before but it doesn't mean anything. The only other times were if we were drunk or playing truth or dare or spin the bottle."
The way she was so casual about it just made Stiles more astonished, "How could you not tell me this has happened before, do you like-"
"No I do not. Look, Lydia is my best friend and I love her but nothing more than that. She's like my platonic soulmate," Maeve explained, "And I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this and I know how you feel about her and I promise it doesn't mean anything."
Stiles nodded his head in understanding, but Maeve could tell there was something else bothering him, "what else are you internalizing?"
...
"I swear if he doesn't answer me soon, I'll throw him in a locker with wolfsbane," Stiles exclaimed as he tossed his phone onto his bed.
Maeve picked it up as it landed in front of her, reading the texts that Stiles has sent to Scott throughout the day, "that's one way to bring back his asthma," she snickered without looking up.
Stiles looked over at his sister, thankfully she looked less tired now than this morning and her mood seemed to have picked up quite a bit, causing him to smile at her joke.
"Thanks by the way," her eyes finally meet her brothers, "for giving Jackson a hard time," when Stiles' looked at her confused she pointed at how she was reading his text to Scott, "I know he's a lot and I try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but once in a while he deserves to be put in his place."
Stiles scoffed, "he deserves a lot more than that and honestly Mae, I have no idea why you're friends with him."
She played with the black hair tie she had on her wrist, "he's not all bad. I mean yes he has really upped his douche factor this year, but when you get to look behind the curtains he has up, he's not too bad. He was a good friend to me this summer."
"I don't get how you manage to see the better in some of the worst people," he admitted while sitting back in the chair.
Maeve had this tendency to befriend people that most wouldn't think of, "I guess I just learned from experience that what people show you isn't always the truth - most people didn't know what I was going through after mom died. And look at Lydia and I, I used to despise her Stiles, and then after one afternoon with her it was like I had a deeper understanding of her and I got to love aspects of her that other people don't often see."
"Mom did always say you were a empathetic person - even at a young age," Stiles mentioned while smiling at the memory of their mother.
A comfortable silence fell between the twins, thoughts roaming of their deceased mom and the memories they held with Claudia.
Empathy. Maeve has been told that she was a empathetic person for most of her life, teachers and coaches boasting at their amazement that a young child was capable of it in her capacity. She didn't understand when she was younger, but after her mother died it seemed like such a burden.
On top of her anxiety, it felt like sometimes all she could do is focus on other's emotions, which lead to her not processing her own or even understand them. It could be suffocating and sometimes lead to anxiety attacks or depressive episodes.
"I know you've been out of it the past few days," Stiles finally broke the silence as he watched Maeve bite her thumbnail while staring off into space, "is everything okay? You know you can talk to me."
Her eyes snapped in his direction, "Things have just been a little...intense, I just need to readjust," she explained while biting her bottom lip, "its just a funk, I'll snap out of it soon," she assured him with the best smile she could pull.
"And that is why I changed your appointment with Dr. Hanson to tomorrow," their dad's frame leaned against the doorway, "you'll have to leave school for a bit."
Maeve furrowed her eyebrows, "but it's not the end of the month?"
"Well," he shifted to a more authoritative stance, "don't think your behavior this week has gone unnoticed. I just want to get ahead of anything before it gets worse, because if it does then we'd have to put you back on escitalopram and I think we all would rather not have to do that."
Both twins sunk in their spots. It may have eased her anxiety and depressive episodes, but it made her nauseous and tired. Maeve was content with taking her diazepam as needed when her anxiety caused her problems with sleeping.
"Anyways am I going to be hearing good news at these teacher conferences?" Noah broke the tension in the room.
"That depends," Stiles spoke, "what do you consider good news?"
Their dad eyed the two twins, "I consider it to be straight A's and minimal behavioral issues."
"Then you may want to change your definition," Stiles admitted.
"Maybe aim for mostly A's with some hyperverbal tendencies," Maeve suggested with a smile.
Both twins were fairly intelligent, though Stiles sometimes misdirected with his focus and Maeve's brain didn't comprehend math half as easily as she did other subjects. Then where Stiles' tends to talk over the teacher, Maeve often talks back.
Noah sighed in defeat before saying goodbye to his kids, once again leaving the two in the comfortable silence of Stiles' blue walls.
"Wanna order chinese?" the older twin suggested, bringing a smile to Maeve's face.
"Hells yeah," she uncrossed her leg as the two stood up, about to walk out of the room.
"Oh wait," Stiles turned around and grabbed a notebook out of his bag, "I almost forgot, your chemistry partner Isaac wanted me to give you the notes from class," he handed the red notebook to his sister.
"Isaac did? Really?" she stammered.
Stiles shrugged, not sensing her nerves, "yeah, now come on, I'm starving."
She hugged the notebook to her chest as a smile crept on her face and she pulled out her phone before following her brother down the stairs.
To Isaac: Hey. Sorry for not answering, I'm okay. Thanks for the chemistry notes, you're the best :)
...
There was a hard and drawn out knock on the Stilinski household's front door.
"Mae could you get that!" Stiles yelled from the kitchen where we he was cleaning up the leftover chinese food.
Maeve dragged herself from the living room couch and swung open the door, not expecting the face that she was met with.
"Jackson?"
The name caught Stiles attention, leading him to make his way to the door, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed, "what the hell are you doing here?"
The blonde did not look great, his eyes were blotchy from crying - causing his blue eyes to turn teal - and he had a strong scent of beer radiating off him, "I uh - I need to talk to Maeve."
"Yeah no, not happening. Bye," Stiles attempted to shut the door but Maeve stopped him.
"Jackson what's wrong?" she questioned as she noticed the blood on his hand, she stepped outside and grabbed it to observe it, "what did you do to yourself."
When her hazel eyes went to meet his own, she found them brimming with more tears. She turned to her brother, "I'm going to make sure he gets home, I'll call you when I need you to pick me up."
"But Maeve, he-"
"I know," she admitted with a sigh, "trust me I know, just let me get him home."
Stiles nodded slightly annoyed, following Maeve inside as she grabbed her shoes and phone before heading back outside to Jackson's car, "give me your keys, you've been drinking so I'm driving."
He was going to protest, but it wouldn't be the first time Maeve had driven the porsche, and he almost hit a stop sign on the way there. The ride was silent, she didn't want to speak to him, she didn't want to comfort him - he didn't deserve it, but that part of her that knows what it feels like to be alone with your thoughts and emotions was crawling up her throat.
She pulled over a few streets near Jackson's house, putting the car in park and faced him, waiting for him to speak the first words, and when he didn't she turned back around about to continue driving.
"I'm sorry," Jackson's voice stopped her from shifting the gear. "I know what I said last night was wrong, I don't know why I said it. You have this annoying habit of always checking up on me and you didn't deserve to be yelled at."
She stayed silent and looked at the dash trying to think of what to say, but she could only think of forgiving words, and she didn't want to forgive him.
"Everything lately seems to be so...ludicrous, I mean suddenly McCall is about to take my position on the team and my social status, there's all this weird crap with Derek Hale, and whatever the hell was at the video store. I feel like I'm suffocating because nothing seems like it's enough, I'm losing everything."
Suffocating. Maeve knew that feeling well.
"Jackson," she whispered, "I don't know why you feel the need to prove yourself so much, your captain of the lacrosse and swim team, you get straight A's, teachers love you, your parents are proud of you," Maeve emphasized the last part, "they chose you Jackson and look at all the photos and trophies in your house, they love you, whatever issue you have with yourself that feels to need to keep exceeding expectations...it's hurting those around you and look at yourself, you're killing yourself trying to be the best."
There was silence and so Maeve took him home, texting Stiles as she brought Jackson up to his room, as she left him sitting on his bed - head in hands - he whispered, "I don't know how to be anything else."
She left without a word, Stiles harshly breaking in front of the house, "something happened at school, Dad got hurt."
It was as if she blocked out every word spoken to her after that, the fear making her heart pound in her ears, only stopping when the nurse said he would be alright, the rest of the night she felt exhaustion. The night had turned into another ball of stress. And as she got home she opened the drawer in her night stand to grab the orange bottle and a bottle of water.
Her head hitting the pillow as the diazepam entered her system, waiting to bring her calmness.
Wow okay, not sure how I'm feeling about this, but another filler - I think it's important to see how Maeve works through her different relationships, so yeah here you go. I'm really excited to get to the Night School chapter and the next full moon episode!