Through the years

54.

Squinting his eyes, Stiles raised his hand to shield the bright lights blinding him so harshly. The lights were moving fast. Or was it him moving? He didn't know. He didn't even know where he was to begin with. The last thing he could remember was fighting against those witches. 

Before he could really think about it, voices reached his ears. The brunette lowered his hand and forced himself to open his eyes properly. But there was nobody here, only him. And yet he could hear someone. Actually, he was pretty sure there were several people talking at the same time. Their voices were distorted and they spoke fast, too fast for him to understand anything. 

As the lights moved, Stiles' eye caught something. They weren't lights, they were images. Images moving so fast that the brunette couldn't distinguish what they were at first. He was extremely confused and disoriented. He didn't know where to look anymore. There were too many things to look at, too many noises. He felt dizzy. As if he might faint at any given moment. 

Stiles took a step to the side and reached out. He didn't understand why he had done so. It was by instinct that he had reached out and let his fingers brush against one of the blurry images. He didn't know what he had expected to happen by doing so, however it certainly wasn't to feel the ground disappear under his feet and drop down into the darkness. A loud shout escaped his lips as he fell down, his fall feeling like hours before he suddenly felt something solid under his feet again. 

Opening his eyes, Stiles gasped at the sight he was met with. He couldn't believe it. Something was wrong, very wrong. Why was he here? It shouldn't be like this. Looking around, Stiles searched for his pack but found no one. He was completely alone. And facing him was a house. A beautiful, magnificent house he thought he'd never ever see again.

The Hale house. 

Had he accidentally travelled back? Was that even possible? 

Not wasting time, Stiles decided to throw caution out the window and rushed to the house, walking inside and searching around for something, anything. 

And he found it.

But not how he'd hoped. 

Because as he entered the living room, the brunette was faced with the hale pack, sitting together and laughing, with him. He was already in the room. 

What was happening?

How could there be two of them?

They were all laughing and having fun and Stiles suddenly remembered that day. It was family night. They were playing games and Stiles had only been there for a couple of months at that time when it happened. Stiles and Derek argued during the game and the wolf pinned the brunette against the wall. 

Watching it unfold, Stiles felt a deep feeling of nostalgia as he could remember that this was the beginning of their teasing game, the one which will help develop their feelings for each other. It was making him emotional as he watched Derek flushing bright red and letting go of a smirking Stiles who had teased him. Stiles watched himself high five a laughing Peter and sat back down on the couch. 

Before he could do anything, the scenery suddenly became blurry again and it was as if he was transported to another memory. Because the brunette had finally understood that he was stuck in his own head, watching his own memories play out for him. And it was only confirmed when he found himself watching the Hales decorating the house for christmas. 

Everyone was so happy, smiles plastered on their faces as they drank hot chocolate and eggnogs with biscuits. Even though it was only a scene taken out of the depth of his own mind, the brunette could actually smell the fresh batch of cookies Talia had taken out of the oven and put on a large plate which she happily carried to the living room to eat together as they put the ornaments all over the christmas tree.