I do not own Teen Wolf or any of its characters. I only own Celeste. If I did it would still be on Netflix seriously what's up with that?
Song - under refurbishment
Celeste's POV
The bell twinkled hello merrily as Stiles cordially held the glass, flyer papered door to "Sal's Pizza & Arcade" for an awestruck Celeste.
"Oh my god," Celeste breathed in the starkly contrasting scents of pizza cheese and the odd, musty smell that all arcades seemed to possess as they melded together wonderfully, "What Toy Story sorcery did you have to perform in order to gain us entry to this place of wonders? Did you have to donate a kidney to Hades or something? If so, totally worth it."
Stiles laughed lightly at her child-like grin, his eyes shining in amusement as hers flitted around aimlessly from place to place in unmasked awe.
"Scott and I have been coming here since middle school," Stiles casually placed a hand on the small of her back and directed her to a table, "I figured you'd appreciate it."
Celeste's heart fluttered obnoxiously at his touch, and she was certain her face was as red as the soft, worn vinyl of the booth they slid into.
"Stiles Stilinski," a loud voice boomed, causing Celeste to flinch back instinctively as a robust man clad in a stained apron over casual jeans and a white tee ambled over and clasped a hand amiably on Stiles' shoulder, "How are you son? It's been too long."
"Hey Sal," Stiles grinned, his eyes darting between a lost looking Celeste and the man, presumably Sal of 'Sal's Pizza & Arcade', "Uh, this is Celeste."
"A girl?" Sal looked shocked, but chuckled lightheartedly, "I never thought I'd see the day when Stiles Stilinski brought a girl to my little old restaurant. A cyborg, maybe, but not a human girl. And a pretty one, at that. How are you my dear?"
"Dammit, Sal," Stiles whined with a hint of a blush, eliciting a hearty laugh from the aforementioned man.
"I'm good, sir," Celeste smiled shyly, taking his firm hand when he held it out in greeting, "Also, for the record, your restaurant is positively superb."
"I like her," Sal winked at Stiles, causing the both of them to show subtle signs of bashfulness, "So, what'll it be? Your usual?"
"No," Stiles blurted loudly, his eyes widening comically, causing Celeste to raise a brow, "Uh, I mean, just a cheese pizza is fine, thanks."
Sal chuckled as if the two were in on an inside joke, nodding before walking on to a family of four, yelling at them jovially about pizza toppings.
"What's your usual?" Celeste wondered aloud, curiosity filling her head.
"Uh, nothing, it's nothing," Stiles mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly.
"You have to tell me," Celeste pestered, "You owe me, from when you pushed me off a roof."
"Uh," Stiles snorted, "you pushed me off the roof."
"Semantics," Celeste waved him off breezily, "just tell me you locust."
"Fine, fine," Stiles grimaced, "It's, uh, a large cheese pizza topped with Neapolitan ice cream, hot fudge, sprinkles, and whipped cream."
"Dude, that's repulsive," Celeste laughed in equal parts disgust and approval, "I love it. Let's do it."
Stiles blinked.
"What?" he asked in confusion, "You don't think I'm a disgusting slob now?"
"No, I definitely think that," Celeste assured him with a shrug, "However, I also fall into that category. Plus, it will be interesting to experience such a battle for power between the savory and sweet on my taste buds."
Stiles let out a bark of disbelieving laughter, shaking his head.
"You're something else, you know that?" he asked rhetorically as he craned around in his seat to wave down Sal.
"Don't be ridiculous, Stiles," Celeste chastised, "I am human just like all of you. It's not like I'm an alien sent down to learn your earthling habits in order to enslave your species and bring you back to my planet to replenish our food supply. That would be absurd."
"That doesn't exactly make you less suspicious," Stiles' eyes sparkled with unsung laughter, "How do I know you aren't just using the hiding in plain sight tactic?"
"How do you know that all of this isn't just a computer simulation and tests aren't being run on you right now and I'm just your subconscious warning you to wake up?" Celeste put her hands on the checkered table and leaned forward with playfully narrowed eyes.
"I'm not creative enough to imagine someone as thought provokingly and wonderfully enigmatic as you," Stiles confessed hoarsely.
"What's up?" Sal entered their conversation, promptly cutting off Celeste's wide eyed reaction, "Miss me already?"
"Yeah," Stiles laughed, clearing his throat, "the distance was just getting to be too much.
"Careful boy," Sal warned with amusement lacing his tone, "you'll end up making your girlfriend here jealous."
Stiles choked on air, and Celeste blushed profusely, the latter having a cringe attack in remembrance of the last time someone made that assumption.
"She's not my girlfriend," Stiles sputtered out, "I mean, she is a girl. And my friend. But not my girlfriend. We just want my usual."
"Stiles," Sal reprimanded with an exaggerated gasp, "you have to grab her before she's snatched away. A pretty girl who isn't terrified of your eating habits? She's a keeper. Coming right up."
"Yeah, Stiles," Celeste laughed out as Sal walked back to the kitchen, "I'm a keeper."
Stiles laughed, but it sounded tinny, almost as though he had to force it out.
"Ha, ha," he spoke in an overly cheery tone, "funny. Us dating? What a hilarious joke."
A frazzled looking waitress dropped two glasses of water on the table, and both teens quickly sipped at them to hide their frowns.
"Hey," Celeste brightened considerably as she spotted something out of the corner of her awkwardly darting eyes, "for a quarter, I can change your life."
Stiles looked at her in disgruntled confusion, but nevertheless dug into his pocket and fished out a shining coin.
Celeste lifted it up and inspected it closely, running her fingers lightly over the ribbed edge as she flipped it over.
"Not this one," She decided simply, "This one has Hawaii on it. You'll want to keep that."
Stiles snorted at her odd habits, but accepted the quarter back and retrieved another coin, making sure it was a generic American quarter before handing it over.
Celeste nodded in approval, and Stiles followed her with curious eyes as she slid out of the booth and traipsed over to the jukebox that stood near the front of the busy establishment.
She darted between people with muttered apologies and regarded the music machine as though it were a valuable piece of art.
Celeste turned to meet Stiles' eyes, smiling goofily before turning back to the machine and sliding the quarter into the well-loved metal slot, pushing a button with obvious excitement.
She tugged at her frayed denim shorts worn over ripped tights as the machine began moving to attend to her request, and crossed her arms that were exposed due to the girl wearing a short sleeve Genesis shirt to establish dominance over her peers in the cold weather behind her back.
Laughter spilled out of Stiles' lips as Dancing Queen by ABBA filled the small restaurant.
Celeste scurried back over, grabbing both of Stiles' accepting hands and pulling him out of the booth.
"C'mon," she puffed out, leaning into him slightly due to inertia jarring her body forward, and he looked at her as though she had just solved The Goldbach Conjecture, "I wanna kick your ass at Donkey Kong before our edible Armageddon gets here."
☾ ☽
Celeste huddled into herself in the backseat of Lydia's bug, groaning dramatically and flailing her head back as the couple in front of her bickered incessantly.
She had hitched a ride with Lydia to the video store to rent Inception for the thousandth time, but she hadn't bargained for the typically disagreeing nature of Beacon Hills' two most lovable narcissists.
"Hoosiers is not only the best basketball movie ever," Jackson ranted to a phlegmatic Lydia, "It is the best sports movie ever made."
"No," Lydia didn't even bother to look at him.
"It's got Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper," Jackson tried.
"You're fighting a losing battle, Jackass," Celeste informed him sweetly, causing Jackson to shoot her a withering glare.
"Lydia," Jackson groaned out, "I swear to god you're gonna like it."
"No," Lydia's plump lips were pursed together in that there's-no-way-I'm-not-getting-my-way way.
"I am not watching The Notebook again," Jackson raised his voice exponentially.
"You're totally watching The Notebook again," Celeste informed him.
Jackson let out a mix between a growl and a whine, ripping open the door and letting himself and Celeste out.
"It's okay kiddo," Celeste patted his arm as they walked into the eerily quiet establishment, "I'll get you gummy bears if you want."
"The sour ones?" Jackson's scowl lessened ever so slightly.
"Of course, buddy," Celeste assured, "They're just like you."
"Where the hell is The Notebook anyways?" Jackson grumbled, but his mood had lightened significantly.
"How should I know?" Celeste scoffed, "My ever present intimacy issues make romance movies extremely uncomfortable for me."
"Can somebody help me find The Notebook?" Jackson ignored her, as per usual, rummaging through the shelves half-heartedly.
"Hello?" He called out impatiently all of two seconds later as the phone by the register began to ring ominously, "Is anybody working here?"
"I think this is the part where the psycho murderer pops out wielding a chain saw," Celeste remarked, glancing uneasily at the flickering light near the back of the video store.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Jackson huffed, and Celeste was about to tell him and his jawline to chill when her eyes zeroed in on something alarming.
"Jackson," she nudged him, nodding in the direction of the feet splayed out across the ground poking out from behind one of the shelves.
Jackson stiffened, pushing Celeste behind him slightly as they approached the sneaker clad feet.
"Please let him be taking a nap," Celeste muttered softly, but she knew better.
The two peered precariously around the shelf, and Celeste gasped as she took in the sight of a man, lying lifelessly with a gash slashed horrifically into his neck. Blood was spattered from his shirt all the way up to his deadened eyes.
Jackson blanched, stumbling backwards in fright and knocking clumsily into a ladder, which in turn toppled over, which caused the ceiling light it was propping up to fall to the ground in a shower of sparks and questionable zapping noises, which caused all the lights in the store to short and flicker out.
All in all it was a big fiasco.
Jackson had just recovered his stamina when he stiffened, apparently seeing something out of the corner of his eye.
Celeste whipped her head around to follow Jackson's train of sight, only for her eyes to be met with the glowing red ones of the monstrous Alpha.
Jackson tugged her down behind a shelf, as if it offered some sort of protection.
He poked his head out as Celeste trembled, only to snap back with a sharp intake of breath.
The ground shook, spurring a few packaged disks to fall around them. Mamma Mia fell right on Celeste's head.
Suddenly, a loud crashing sound emitted from behind them.
"Well that doesn't sound good," Celeste muttered.
"Shit," Jackson swore, shoving Celeste into the aisle, only to have his lower half be crushed by a falling shelf.
Celeste lurched forward, trying desperately to lift the heavy object from her frenemy's body, but to no avail. Never in her life had she felt so helpless.
"Get out of here," Jackson shouted hoarsely.
"No, what the hell?" Celeste scoffed, pushing harder.
Her efforts were halted as the Alpha hurtled towards her, pushing her against the far wall with unmatchable strength.
Celeste whimpered out of instinct, but her subconscious was soothing her, for whatever reason telling her that she had nothing to fear.
Her survival instincts were really off.
She shut her eyes hard, expecting the worst, when the Alpha surprised her into opening her eyes by lightly stroking her cheek with its claws.
She wished he would have just gutted her.
It bared its teeth at her, and she quickly squeezed her eyes closed again as its hot breath enveloped her senses.
Just as sudden as it had attacked her, it flung itself back and over to Jackson.
The only thing that came close to how she felt was paralyzed. She looked on in fear as the alpha ran its claws menacingly over Jackson's neck, but she couldn't even move, let alone try to inhibit the Alpha's creepy stroking.
The monster emitted one last growl, before launching itself out the window.
Celeste wasn't sure if it was the force of the Alpha or Lydia's piercing scream that shattered the glass.
☾ ☽
Celeste huddled close to Lydia, the two girls clutching on to each other for silent support.
Jackson stood grimly next to them, pacing in front of them like a hyperactive guard dog and occasionally touching the back of his neck.
Celeste stared unblinkingly into the blindingly flashing lights of the approaching Sheriff's car from her position in the back of the ambulance.
She hadn't said a word since the paramedic's had arrived, and the only move she had made was to grab on to Lydia's hand tightly. Other than that, it was almost as if she had entered some kind of fugue state.
She numbly allowed the nurse to drape a shock blanket across her stiff shoulders. She was terrified that if she spoke she would reveal the truth about what had happened.
"Celeste?" a familiar voice called out, and she recognized Sheriff Stilinski's weathered face, "Are you alright?"
Celeste forced herself to illicit a tiny smile, accompanied by a shrug.
"This must have been very traumatic," he sighed, looking over her exhausted form, "so I can wait to question you, if you'd like."
Celeste smiled again, this time slightly wider as she was grateful for his understanding.
"Why the hell can't I just go home?" Jackson snapped, causing Celeste to narrow her eyes at his tone.
Celeste tuned them out as the sheriff kept his tone soothing and neutral.
However, when Jackson's voice rose to a shout, Celeste's patience lowered to a zero.
"Leave him alone," she snapped, causing Jackson to shut up as his friend spoke her first words since the attack.
"Celeste?" A voice called, and she snapped her head to the left to see a shocked looking Stiles racing towards her, pushing a young officer Celeste thought was named 'Parrish' out of the way in his hurry to reach her.
She let out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding as he approached her.
"Hey," Stiles mumbled rapidly, "are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?"
Stiles held her face in two hands, gently maneuvering it from side to side in search of physical injury.
His inspection was cut off by Celeste flinging herself into his arms.
He tensed initially, but quickly wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to be soothing.
"It was the Alpha, Stiles," Celeste murmured into his chest, "It had me. It touched me."
"Woah, hey," Stiles muttered, his chest vibrating comfortingly with each word, concern lacing his tone, "It's okay. You're safe now. I've got you."
Celeste only clung to him harder.
"Hey, dad," Stiles called out, still clutching Celeste to him, shielding her from the outside world, "we need to take Celeste home."
The sheriff glared at his son for interrupting, but his wise eyes softened as they took in Celeste's trembling form.
"Yeah, okay," Sheriff Stilinski complied, earning a disbelieving scoff from Jackson, "I'll be there in a minute. Just get her in the car."
Stiles gently guided her to the police vehicle, sliding into the back seat with her.
She huddled into him, too traumatized to care about their close proximity.
"Cel, it's going to be okay. It won't be able to hurt you. Not while I'm around," Stiles clenched his jaw tightly, "Or, well, not while Scott's around anyways. And Derek seems to have a weird thing for you, so you've got that going for you. Anyways, that fucker can't hurt you when you have so many people willing to protect you."
"That's the thing, Stiles," Celeste whispered, "It wasn't going to hurt me."
"What do you mean?" Stiles stiffened, looking down at her.
"I don't know. I just knew it wouldn't. I can't explain, believe me, I wish I could."
"Well, hey," Stiles coughed, "That's good, right? Not killing you sounds pretty good to me."
"Can we just not talk for a while? Please?" Celeste's voice wavered at the end of her sentence.
Stiles nodded compliantly, and Celeste rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her and held her close, as though she were anchoring him there.
☾ ☽
Celeste was starting to think she should just live in the woods.
She could imagine it now. She would be the creepy old hag who never married and had a shack in the woods. One that kids would dare each other to ding dong ditch. She would be a bitter hermit who just barked at people until they went away.
She stopped imagining when she realized she was describing Derek Hale.
Her hidden desire to be a woodland spinster was brought on by the fact that she was, once again, making an impromptu trek through the woods, deadened leaves crunching beneath her feet as she ventured under the comforting veil of night.
She heard a set of clumsy footsteps approaching, and mostly out of instinct she ducked behind a tree.
The footsteps stopped, and Celeste cringed, holding her breath.
"Celeste?" A familiar voice called, and the aforementioned girl sighed out in relief, stepping out to make herself known to Scott.
"Scotty! Hey," Celeste spoke comically, fidgeting awkwardly, "I thought you might be a psycho Alpha werewolf or something. How did you know it was me?"
"You have, like, uh, you have a scent," Scott frowned.
"Oh," Celeste sniffed her forearm self-consciously, "do I smell bad?"
"No," Scott looked uncomfortable, "you smell good. Like, really good."
"Well," Celeste cleared her throat awkwardly, "That's, uh, good."
"Yeah, uh, what are you doing here?" Scott changed the subject quickly.
"Oh, you know," Celeste fumbled, thinking on her feet, "looking. For, uh, Bigfoot."
She hated evading the truth, especially with Scott "puppy" McCall, but she highly doubted he'd approve of her intentions on this particular trip.
"Oh," he nodded, frowning only slightly, "yeah, okay."
Celeste wasn't sure if it said more about Scott or herself that he so readily accepted her excuse.
"Hey," he spoke again, moving closer, "about what happened earlier. Are you okay?"
"I will be," Celeste steeled her tone, determination clear in her eyes.
"Okay," Scott blinked, "Well, I'm gonna go. Get home safe, yeah?"
"Sure thing, Fido," Celeste quipped, "you too."
Scott rolled his eyes at her dog joke, but gave her a smile and went on his way.
She waited until his loud footsteps were out of hearing range before continuing on her way.
She was going to visit the old hag of Beacon Hills.
☾ ☽
"Derek?" Celeste pushed open the door to the Hale house cautiously, remembering the odd feeling she had gotten last time she had come into contact with it, but she felt fine, "You home? Dere-,"
Her loud tone was cut off as Derek appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.
"Oh," Celeste breathed out in surprise, "You know, you'd think I would be used to that by now. I'm not."
"Are you alright?" Derek peered at her, examining her for injury.
"Yeah," Celeste nodded, "well, no. I want to be, though."
"I'm sorry," Derek glared at the floor heatedly, "I didn't get there until it was over. I should have been there."
"Dude, it's not your fault," Celeste assured him with wide eyes, "but I do kind of need a favor."
Derek caveman grunted for her to continue.
"In the store," Celeste started shakily, wrapping her arms around herself, "and just in general really, I feel so weak. So helpless. I like to think that I'm generally a pretty sturdy person, but all this? It is way out of my league."
"So?" Derek frowned at her self-deprecating admission, "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to train me."
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Ew. Ew Ew EW. Someone seriously take my laptop away from me because I need to stop. I know this needs eons of revision but I just went back to school leave me alone.
Enjoy my mom Melanie Martinez to make up for my despicable writing.
All that aside, please please don't be a silent reader!! It gives me so much motivation and just generally brightens my day when you comment. I'm lonely, please talk to me.
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Did that work? No? Okay.
Stay hydrated,
-Belle xx