Baby|| Stiles Stilinski

30

Stiles woke up with a gasp. The nightmare still replaying in his head as he burst upright, breath coming out in pants. His skin was sticky with sweat and he could feel his heart bumping in his ribs. Pounding and pounding. There was a sleepy grumble next to him and a second body sat up. Baby blinked sleep covered eyes at him. The oversized tshirt he was wearing was slipping slightly round his neck and his russet hair was in disarray. He blinked in concern. "Are you okay?"

Stiles forced his breath to calm as Baby put his hands on his shoulder. The touch was warm and comforting. "I was just dreaming", Stiles sighed. "It was weird. Like a dream within a dream".

Baby watched him worriedly. "A nightmare?" He asked softly. Stiles sighed and took his hand, interlocking their fingers. Baby's skin was warm. Warm. That was not right. Baby was cold blooded. His touch was always cool, which was nice because stiles tended to overheat in his sleep. So why was his hand warm now? Stiles glanced at Baby's face. The other boy was watching him in concern, skin pale and eyes dark in the nighttime gloom.

"Wait a sec, Baby. What are you doing here?"

Baby chuckled, a soft smile on his lips. "I'm your boyfriend silly. Did you forget that I decided to stay the night?" He squeezed Stiles's hand.

"But you're warm", Stiles muttered. "You're cold blooded. How can you be warm?" Baby didn't reply. A creaking noise disrupted them and they both turned to look at Stiles' bedroom door. It drifted slightly open, as if pushed by an unseen breeze. The other side was nothing but darkness.

"Hang on", Stiles brushed Baby's hands away, moving to the end of the bed. He needed to close the door.

"Stiles where are you going?" Baby asked in a hushed tone. His hands brushing on Stiles' arm as if to pull him back.

"I should close the door".

"Just come back to sleep", Baby smiled slightly, voice coxing.

"No, no", Stiles sifted to his feet were on the floor. "I should close it".

"Don't worry about it", Baby soothed, hands reaching up to brush Stiles' hair.

"What if someone comes in?" Stiles stated as he stood up. Baby's hands dropped and he gripped the blanket as Stiles took a step towards the door.

"Like who?" Stiles didn't reply. He began walking slowly. The door seeming more ominous the closer he got. Baby's voice called behind him. "Let's just go back to Sleep Stiles".

"What if they get in?" The reply was a whisper on Stiles' breath.

"What if who gets in?" Baby asked. Stiles rested his hand on the door handle. "Stiles? Just leave it please. Stiles". Stiles didn't reply. He was staring through the door into the darkness. "Stiles! Just come back to bed", Baby was pleading now. "Stiles. Please". Stiles gripped the handle and pulled the door open. Baby gasped, "don't Stiles. Don't! Don't go in there! Please stiles, don't!" Stiles pulled the door open and stepped through. Baby's voice cutting off with a abrupt suddenness.

He looked around. All he could hear was the whisper of the wind through the trees. He was in a grove. The earth cool under his feet and the breeze bringing goosebumps up on his arms. Around him trees rustled. A fog drifting around him like a curtain. In the centre of the grove loomed the cut of stump of the Nemeton. It seemed to call to him, luring him closer. Stiles began walking forwards. Steps hesitant. When he got within a few feet of the tree stump, lights clicked on. They hummed with electricity, blinding him to everything but the Nemeton.

"This is just a dream", he stated out loud to himself. "It's just a dream, get it out of your head Stiles". His breath was speeding up."you're dreaming so wake up stiles". His head hurt. "Wake up stiles". He was shouting now, hands coughing at his head. "Wake up!"

He woke to sunlight on his face and birds chirping outside. He was lying in his bed, alone. Baby nowhere to be seen. At some point he had kicked the blanket off and was sprawled with his limbs bent. His door opened and his dad stuck his head through, already dressed in his uniform and a cup of coffee in his hand. "Hey", he smiled. "Time to get up kiddo. Get your butt to school". Stiles sat up as his dad left and sighed heavily.

——

"And you couldn't wake up?" Scott asked. The pair of them were walking down the steps towards the school entrance.

"Nope, and it was beyond terrifying", Stiles sighed. "Have you ever heard of sleep paralysis?"

Scott adjusted his bag. "Uh, no, do I want to?"

Stiles took jumped two steps. "Well you ever have a dream where your about to wake up but you can't move or talk?"

"Yeah, yeah I've had that", Scott nodded. They turned at the bottom of the stairs through the small tunnel. Some student brushing by them as they continued walking.

"It happens because during REM sleep, your body is basically paralysed. It's called muscle atonia", Stiles explained. "That way if you start dreaming about running, you don't actually start running in your bed".

"That makes sense".

"Sometimes your mind can wake before your body your body does. So for this split second you're actually aware that your body is paralysed".

"And that's the terrifying part", Scott concluded.

Stiles nodded. They had just reached the entrance to the school. "It turns your dream into a nightmare. You can feel like your falling, like you're being strangled, or in my case. Like you're in the centre of a grove of magical trees where human sacrifices took place". Their shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor of the corridor.

"You think it means something?" Scott asked.

"What if what we did that night, what if it's still affecting us", Stiles suggested heavily.

"Like port-traumatic stress?"

"Or something", he murmured as they ducked into their class room. Stiles pushed through the desks to his own, Scott sliding into the one in front of him. "What to know what scares me the most?" He voiced as they dropped their bags. Scott turned to face him. Stiles leaned closer to him and dropped his voice. "I'm not even sure this is real".

Then he was screaming.

Unedited

Beginning of void stiles guys. Who's excited?