thin white lies

Chapter 4

The next few days passed in relative peace for Theo, which was odd. He heard about things in passing— like Scott and Allison's skip day, and, subsequently, Scott getting in trouble for missing the parent-teacher conference he had been required to attend, and then the pandemonium with the mountain lion (which was actually the Alpha, but then ended up being a real mountain lion? Theo was confused) right afterwards. He didn't, however, hear about any of it from Scott, who had actually been there for all three events.

"I mean, I'm so angry right now!" Stiles ranted. He was pacing back and forth in his bedroom, wearing tracks into his ugly beige carpeting while Theo sat cross-legged on the bed. It was the day after the mountain lion attack, and Stiles' dad was resting and recovering in his bedroom down the hallway. Scott and Stiles hadn't talked for the better part of the day, which made things awkward for Theo, who didn't want to make it seem like he was choosing one friend over the other.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't mean for your dad to get hurt," Theo said. He wasn't used to playing mediator; usually that was left to Scott, who often had to keep Theo and Stiles from strangling each other over a joke, but now Scott was the problem, and Theo had to step up and make sure Stiles didn't go ballistic.

"Hey, whose side are you on, bucko?" Stiles asked, stopping in his pacing to point a threatening finger at Theo.

"I'm not on anybody's side. I just don't like seeing you guys fight. Also, remind me again how it was Scott's fault that your dad got hit with a car."

"Because— Because he was the reason the Alpha was there in the first place, and he wasn't there to protect my dad! He should have been able to save him."

"He can't save everyone at once, Stiles."

"He also hasn't figured out any of this werewolf crap yet, and he's not getting any closer to figuring out who the Alpha is or how to stop him! If he does that, people will stop getting hurt."

"That's not entirely on him, though! I mean, think about it; he got chucked head-first into the supernatural, and he's the one dealing with the powers and the weird urges and the call to kill people in the middle of the night. We're just along for the ride." After a bout of silence from Stiles, Theo continued: "He's doing the best he can with the limited resources he has available to him. Derek isn't being much help, and the only other people who know anything about werewolves are Allison's family, who'll put a bullet in his brain when they find out what he is."

"I'm still mad at him, though! I can be mad at him, right?"

Theo sighed, running his hands over his face in exasperation. He flopped back on the bed, legs going askew in the new position. Stiles groaned and resumed his pacing and ranting.

So much for being a mediator.

*     *     *     *     *

Theo and Stiles carpooled to school again the next morning, since Theo had spent the night at Stiles' playing video games to calm his friend down. Theo parked his truck as close to the front doors as he could manage, and the two of them made their way to their first class together. Stiles made Theo sit in Scott's usual seat, since they had arrived before the werewolf, but when Scott showed up he just sat in the empty seat behind Stiles. Scott rushed out a "Hey, Theo" before diving into the seat, focusing all of his attention on Stiles.

"Still not talking to me?" Scott asked the back of Stiles' head. Stiles didn't reply.

"Can you at least tell me if your Dad's okay? It was just a bruise, right? Soft tissue damage?"

No response.

"You know I feel really bad about it."

No response.