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Stiles Stilinski was in quite the pickle. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed with Isaac's sudden return to Beacon Hills. Not just because he is incredibly annoying like, all of the time. But because he thought that he and Olive had grown quite close over the duration Isaac was gone. They had, of course, but both of them interpreted that differently. Olive saw him as her friend. Best friend, maybe even a brother. But Stiles? Stiles was falling in love with her. He knows it's bad, he knows that it is completely wrong to be in love with two people at the same time...three? He's got some complicated feelings. Before this whole endeavor happened he had a one-track mind, it was Lydia all the way. Now that she's clearly moved on from high school boys he was sort of losing interest. Sort of. Then Olive knocked on his window that night after she'd been in a fight with her parents. He thought it was weird at first, her coming to him for comfort instead of someone in her own pack, but he quickly realized that he should be lucky that he was someone she felt safe with. He was lucky. But then Olive and Isaac made up and started dating and all of that hoopla so he decided to focus on Lydia...who then started dating Aiden. He didn't know why he felt so compelled to save Malia in the woods, but he did. He practically dragged Scott to the coyote den trying to crack the case. At first, it was just to save his dad's ass, but once they dug deeper he was invested. He would never tell anyone this, but after they saved her Stiles drove down to her house a couple times a week just to check on her. He wouldn't get out, just observe from afar, which, now that he thinks about it, is kind of stalker-y. After she joined the pack, they weren't together at first. There was about a 3 week period of all of them just standing around and twiddling their thumbs. Then Isaac left. Isaac left and Olive was sad, very sad, actually. She would come to Stiles' house in the middle of the night, just like she did when they first got close, and she would just cry. He understood. He was the only person in her immediate circle who understood what it felt like to be in her position, besides Derek but he was in Mexico. So it became a cycle. Olive would knock on the window, he'd invite her in, she'd start crying, he'd hold her until she stopped and then sleep on the floor. She apologized profusely for "making him" sleep on the floor as if it wasn't he who suggested it, and Stiles shot her down every single time, insisting it wasn't her fault and that she deserved a good night's sleep every once in a while. She never slept, though, and Stiles knew that. She never slept because of the nightmares. Ever since her mother passed, she'd been having horrible nightmares about it, so she just didn't sleep. Stiles knew a thing or two about insomnia and sleep deprivation so he tried everything in his power to get her to at least rest her eyes, but to no avail. 3 weeks. 3 weeks of knocking on the window, crying, and no sleep. Until she didn't come anymore. He wondered why. If she'd gotten over it, if she was hurt or missing somewhere, or if she had finally given in and gone to sleep. But for 4 days, there wasn't a single knock on Stiles' window. Until there was. But this time it wasn't the blue-eyed werewolf he'd been expecting. It was Malia. And that was the start of their relationship, that's how he got here. In love with two girls, maybe 3, the jury's still out on Lydia. But most importantly, it was why he was so worried when he got back to the vault and no one opened the door.
"Scott! Scott, I found an antidote!" Stiles' voice rings through the vault as he begins pounding on the door. "Scott, hey open up!"
Allison moves to the door, trying to open it, but she couldn't. She looks back at Malia, who is clutching the block and crying. Olive moves to try to get to the door, but she stumbles into one of the shelves and almost falls to the floor. Scott leans against a pole, breath heaving as he reaches around the air and Isaac is laying on the floor. He looked dead. They'd all lost their sight, and seemingly their mind with it, so they weren't going to be much help. This was up to her.
"Stiles! They can't see anything, tell me what it is," Allison shouts through the other side of the door and pounds on it lightly.
"Reishi Mushrooms! They're called Reishi Mushrooms!" He yells back and Allison nods, turning to the many shelves behind her. The group is physically getting weaker, many of them are on the ground and their breath is getting slower. Allison bets if she could hear their heartbeat, it would be fading.
"Where Stiles? I need to know where!" She shouts back, tears welling in her eyes as she looks around at all of her friends.
"I- I don't know, all he said was mushrooms!" Stiles grows more worried by the minute, banging on the door and trying to pry it open, even though he knows it won't work. He grows weaker, his own illness taking its toll on his body and he shoves himself at the door once more before slowly sliding down it, tucking his knees into his chest and resting his head on them.
"Reishi Mushrooms," Kira says between breaths from the floor. "I saw some on the first shelf by the door."
Allison nods, immediately moving to the shelves and searching for the jar. She grabs it, hurriedly running to Scott as she opens it, but she drops the jar on the floor.
"Shit!" She yells, tears streaming down her face as she kneels to pick it up. The dust begins to spread across the room, the group inhales it and Scott's eyes shoot up, meeting her gaze.
"Allison?" He asks breathlessly and Allison's eyes widen. She smiles, sighing in relief as she nods frantically. Scott lets out a deep breath, leaning back on the block. "Thank god, I can see."
Olive steadied herself against the shelving unit, taking a deep breath as she rubbed her eyes, her vision returning slowly. She moved to stand on her own, stumbling until she felt arms wrap around her. She looked up to see Isaac and she smiled, relieved it was over. She wrapped him in a tight hug and he let out a breath he seemed to be holding since they entered the vault, resting his chin on her head.
Scott got up and pulled open the door, revealing Stiles on the other side. He was covered in blood as he gripped Scott tightly, relieved everyone was okay. His eyes locked with Olive's, who returned his gaze with a grin and a reassuring nod. He let out a deep breath, returning her smile and starting for her before his eyes drifted to Malia. Malia, his girlfriend. He glanced between the two of them, seemingly trying to make a choice before Isaac returned to Olive's side with a bottle of water. Isaac, Olive's...whatever he was. Stiles shook his head, making his way over to Malia and kneeling down in front of her.
"Hey, you alright?" He asks comfortingly, but Malia didn't look at him. Her eyes were trained on the ground before her, a small frown on her face. "Malia?"
He reached up to place his hand on her shoulder, but Malia's hand grasped his wrist. Now she turned to face him. Her eyes were filling with tears and she looked at him as if he'd hurt her in the worst way. He hated that look, he never wanted to see it again, ever. Stiles' face fell as she shoved his hand away slowly, rising to her feet and walking straight out of the vault, leaving only a piece of paper in her wake. Stiles picked it up and his heart immediately sank into his stomach.
It was the third part of the dead pool and right on it, the fourth name on the list, printed out in black ink read Malia Hale.
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Stiles stared at the ceiling, arm slung over the empty side of his bed. Malia hadn't come over that night, which was to be expected after the events of the vault, after he lied to her. Scott was right, Scott's always right, he should've told her sooner. He huffed, reaching over to his side table and grabbing his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he reached the "M" section, thumb hovering over Malia's name as a million thoughts raced through his head. What would he say? Is she even awake right now? If she was awake would she even answer? He let out a long sigh before his thumb moved from "M" to "O." He raised an eyebrow, thinking about if she'd even answer either. She was definitely awake. She still wasn't getting much sleep. She said it was because Derek keeps the loft too cold but he knew she was still having bad dreams. He pressed her name in his contacts and the line began to ring...
...Olive turned to the other side of her bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand and looking at the caller ID. She furrowed her eyebrows, tossed her legs over the side of the bed, and made her way to the bathroom, flipping on the light and closing the door before she answered the phone.
"Stiles? Do you know what time it is? Are you okay?" She asks, tone shifting with each part of her sentence: confused, irritated, concerned.
Stiles chuckled to himself, hearing how she answered, also relieved that she did, and he propped himself up on one arm, placing the phone on speaker and letting it rest next to him.
"Couldn't sleep," He mumbled, chin resting on his hand causing his head to bounce with every word.
Olive nodded, immediately knowing his reasoning for calling (or so she thought).
"Malia still hasn't called, has she?" She sits on the bathroom floor, phone nestled between her ear and her shoulder as she hugs her knees to her chest, resting her back against the door.
"Hasn't called...texted...or shown up unannounced in the middle of the night," He sighed, flopping onto his back and looking back up at the ceiling.
"Have you tried calling her?" She raises an eyebrow, optimism dripping from her tone. Stiles smiles to himself at her attempts to make him feel better.
"Tried once, after the school. She didn't answer," He shook his head, still looking upward.
"She'll come around. She loves you," Olive's voice comes through his speaker and he feels bittersweet about the comment. He wants Malia to come around, he loves her. But part of him can't shake the fact that he also wishes he had Olive next to him. That he could feel her warmth at night and kiss her whenever he wanted.
"Hey, is everything okay in there?" Another voice and two knocks come from the other end of the line, this one male. He knew who it was, he knew exactly who it was. Why was he there? Derek kicked him out of the loft. Unless she wasn't at the loft. She was staying with him now? What happened to friends first?
"Yeah, I'm fine, just finishing up," He heard her call back to him, he could practically hear the smile on her face, the cheerful tone in her voice was like a knife driving into his back. "Hey, are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah," A lie. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Another lie, but she was looking for a reason to hang up and he didn't want to hear Scarfy interrupt them again. "You go back to sleep."
"You get some rest too. There's nothing you can do about it until tomorrow, so just try and get some rest. Goodnight, I love you," She says it so casually, so heartbreakingly platonic. Stiles nods, even though he knows she can't see him nodding, and he mumbles a goodnight back into the phone before hanging up and facing the ceiling again. He wasn't sleeping.
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"Everything okay?" Isaac asked from the doorway and Olive nodded, looking down at her phone with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yeah, it was just Stiles. He's having a rough time with Malia. Ya know, ever since she found out," Olive raises her eyebrows slightly, sitting down on her bed and putting her phone back on its charger.
"Stiles, huh?" Isaac asks, folding his arms in front of him and Olive nods harmlessly.
"Yeah, I mean I'm his best friend, so-"
"I thought Scott was his best friend?" Isaac interrupted her, raising an eyebrow and Olive shrugged.
"Scott's his brother, I'm his best friend. But Stiles is my brother and Scott is my best friend. That's the easiest way I can explain the dynamic," She nods, a small smile on her face. Isaac doesn't seem impressed.
"Are you sure he thinks of you as a sister?"
"Scott? Yeah of course. He's with Kira anyways. Besides that is the least appealing thing to me ever, like-"
"Not Scott," Isaac shakes his head and Olive blinks a few times, seemingly not understanding. "Olly."
That got her. She widened her eyes before bursting into laughter. Isaac stood firm in his place at the door and Olive just shook her head.
"Stiles? Oh my god, if you ever see me dating Stiles just shoot me because I've officially lost it," She shakes her head, wiping a tear from her face and looking back up at Isaac, who still had his lips pressed into a hard line and his eyes narrow. Olive's face softened and she shook her head. "Isaac, you're not seriously jealous of Stiles."
He doesn't respond. Just stares at her as she stands, an amused grin appearing on her face.
"You're jealous...of Stiles," She repeats, biting back the growing smile on her face. Isaac scoffs, shaking his head as he kicks off the doorframe.
"Olly, if you're not gonna take this seriously-"
"Isaac, it is almost 3 in the morning and you are choosing now to propose the idea that my best friend is in love with me so I'm sorry if I'm finding humor in this," She shakes her head, folding her arms as she now stands in front of him. He sighs, shaking his head as he looks down at her. She's still smiling. "I don't truly know how Stiles feels, but it doesn't matter. Because I've got my eye on someone else."
"Oh really? Who is this mystery man? I'm sure he's outlandishly handsome and funny and charismatic-"
"And incredibly humble," Olive raises an eyebrow at him despite the grin on her face that now reached her eyes. Isaac matched her grin and then some as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"The most humble," He furrowed his eyebrows lightly and exaggerated his sentence, earning a laugh from her as she wound her arms around his neck.
"You should go back to your room before Argent hears you," She sighed, looking out the open door and Isaac shook his head.
"I think I'd have more fun in here..." He trailed off and Olive rolled her eyes, shaking her head lightly.
"We're taking it slow, remember?" She reminds him tentatively and Isaac groans, tossing his head back dramatically.
"Yes, but I remember the 2-hour conversation we just had about our feelings, too and you said-"
"Isaac," She warned him, causing Isaac to look down at her and smile again.
"Fine," He sighs dramatically, still holding onto her. "Can I at least get a kiss goodnight?"
Olive smiles, nodding lightly as she reaches up and kisses his cheek. Isaac looks down at her, unamused, and she giggled lightly.
"You didn't say where," She shrugged, squirming out of his grasp as she made her way back to her bed. "Close the door on your way out!"
Isaac shook his head, rolling his eyes lightly as he turned the light off and shut her door quietly, before making his way back to his own room and tucking himself away for the night as well.
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"This is a terrible idea. Why do we only have terrible ideas?" Olive turns to Scott, who is laying on his bed before her. He laughs lightly, watching her and Liam pace opposite each other, crossing every few seconds. Isaac looks between them with furrowed eyebrows and the next time they cross, he places a hand on both of their shoulders, stopping them. Scott laughs again, shaking his head.
"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny. Are you guys totally sure about this?" Liam asks, making 2-second eye contact with every person in the room.
"I think Liam's nervous, maybe you should tell him it's going to be alright," Kira says, trying poorly to mask her anxiety toward the situation as well. Scott smiles slightly, looking over at her.
"It's going to be alright," He says, not breaking eye contact with Kira. Liam furrows his eyebrows, looking back at Olive.
"I'm not convinced," He whispers, and Olive nods.
"That's fair," She whispers back, her voice shaking ever so slightly and Isaac sighs, still standing between them.
"So, you've done this before, right?" Isaac asks Noshiko, who has been quietly observing from the other side of Scott's bed.
"I've seen it done," She offers, and Liam widens his eyes at Isaac, who shakes his head at him.
"Tha- That's just as good right," He tries to silently communicate to Noshiko to say something that will calm the kid's nerves, but he fails miserably.
"No," She shakes her head and Isaac closes his eyes, dropping his head and letting out a sigh. Liam looked like he could cry and Olive was biting her thumbnail next to him. Kira's whole body was practically shaking with nerves, Isaac had to keep it together for his pack, for his family. He was, indeed, shitting himself and nobody knew where the hell Stiles was, so he had to be the strong one. Not that Stiles was usually strong. Definitely not stonger than him, he could prove it. Seriously. But for now, Scott was out of commission and someone needed to step up, and Isaac took it upon himself to be that person.
"Mom, you're not inspiring confidence," Kira scolds her mother from the other side of the room and Noshiko looks over at Kira with wide eyes.
"Good! This is a terrible idea," She raises an eyebrow over at Olive, who extends a hand over to her while looking at Scott.
"Do you want us to do it without you?" Kira tilts her head and Liam's eyes widen as he slightly shakes his head. Noshiko sighs, putting her hand over Scott's chest.
"Put your hand over his heart," She nods to Kira, who takes a deep breath before doing it. Olive grabs the hood of Liam's hoodie and pulls him back slightly so he's not right at the edge of the bed as they all anticipate whatever Kira was about to do. Before she can do anything, Scott grabs her wrist and sits up.
"Hold on," He sighs, resting his weight on his arms and looking over at Noshiko. "What happens, while I'm out? Am I gonna feel anything?"
"It might feel like you're dreaming," Noshiko shrugs looking down at Scott. She was nervous too.
"Like good dreams or bad?" Scott raises an eyebrow and Noshiko shrugs again.
"That depends on you."
Scott thinks on that for a minute before nodding and laying back down on the bed. Kira resumes her place, putting her hand over his chest.
"I can't watch this," Liam shakes his head, turning and burying his head between Isaac and Olive's shoulders. Isaac laughs lightly, patting him on the back before turning to Scott and swallowing hard.
Electricity flows through Kira's hands as Scott begins to writhe beneath her. Olive takes a page out of Liam's book, turning away as Scott begins to gasp for air. After a few more seconds, Scott's movements cease and he goes unconscious.
"Okay, make the call," Noshiko turns to Olive, who nods as she pulls out her phone and dials 911, and frantically explains the pre-rehearsed story they'd come up with.
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Moments later, the ambulance arrives and whisks Scott away. Kira and her mother ride with him in the ambulance and Olive, Isaac, and Liam pile into Olive's car and make their way to the hospital.
"This is kind of scary," Liam laughs lightly at the end of his sentence and Olive turns back to him and raises an eyebrow. "He looked dead."
"He is dead," Isaac looked at him through the rearview mirror before bringing his eyes back to the road. "Technically speaking."
"Not helping," Olive whispered over to him and Liam leaned up between the seats, resting his elbows on them.
"Maybe we should talk about something else," He shrugged, looking innocently between them. "Like what happened between you two."
Olive sighed, shaking her head as she turns to meet Liam's gaze. Ever since the whole babysitting thing Liam has been tagging along with them at school, practice, and pretty much everywhere else he could. He even tried to get them to bring him to the PSAT testing claiming "he could sit in the car." Olive is glad she refused excessively, or he might've gotten sick too. However, with Liam tagging along, it's arisen questions about the two of them, their relationship (pre and post-breakup), and why they even broke up in the first place. The two of them shoot him down every time, aptly changing the subject or giving him short, unsatisfying answers, but Liam was growing more curious for whatever reason.
"Or we could talk about the D you got on your algebra test last week?" Isaac turned to him quickly before looking back at the road and Liam's eyes widened.
"How did you even know about that?" He furrowed his eyebrows and Olive laughed beside them.
"Give him a break, he's had a lot on his plate the last few weeks," She shook her head, patting Isaac on the shoulder and giving Liam a smile.
"He's gonna have a whole lot more on his plate if he doesn't get that grade up," Isaac raised an eyebrow at Liam, who scoffs.
"Maybe I would have better grades if you were better at math, you're a shitty tutor, you know that?" He folded his arms, pouting slightly as he glared at Isaac.
"Language!" Isaac started, bringing the car to a stop in the middle of the empty road and turning around to face him. "And you better bring that attitude up or I will turn this car around and take you home, you hear me? No dangerous mission for you."
"Fine!" Liam huffed, looking out the window with a significant pout on his face and Olive couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.
"What?" Isaac looked at her with furrowed eyebrows and she just shook her head.
"You're such a dad," She scrunched her nose slightly and Isaac scoffed, shaking his head.
"I am not- I- Liam am I a dad?" He turned back to Liam who shrugged.
"That was kind of a dad thing to say," He mumbled and Olive shook her head at Isaac's shocked expression.
"Oh my god I'm turning into Stilinksi-" He looks at Olive slack-jawed before he returns his gaze to the road. "I gotta get out more."
"I think you're perfect," She smiles, patting his face lightly and then turning back to Liam. "You both are."
She replicates her actions to Liam, who grimaces at her and shakes his head.
"If I'm a dad then you're totally a mom," Isaac looks over at her with a raised eyebrow and she shakes her head. "Liam?"
"Yeah, he's got you there," Liam shrugs, looking at Olive as she laughs.
"I, unlike some people in this car, take that as a compliment," She smiles at Liam before turning back to look at the road.
"Hey, I never said I didn't take it as a compliment," Isaac furrowed his eyebrows, glancing over at her and she and Liam exchanged a look before bursting into laughter as they pulled into the hospital parking lot. Olive looked at the two boys in front of her and smiled lightly, appreciating that they can make dark moments like these a little lighter.
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As the three of them walked into the hospital, they saw Melissa on the ground sobbing. Perfect, they were just in time. They made their way to the morgue and opened the doors, finding Stiles, Kira, and Noshiko standing around and waiting for Melissa to return with Scott's body.
"What the hell took you so long? Did you stop for a picnic?" Stiles folded his arms over his chest as the three of them entered the morgue and Olive shook her head.
"Liam got a D on his math test," She said as if that explained anything to anyone.
"What?" Kira furrowed her eyebrows and Olive shook her head.
"You had to have been there," She shrugged, walking over to join the group as Melissa wheeled Scott through the doors.
They stood around him for a minute, staring down at his lifeless body. He really looked dead. Olive picked up the chart at the end of the stretcher he was brought down on and looked it over. Her eyes locked on one part of the paper, marked in big red letters.
Dead on arrival.
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