Scarlet

chapter four

The next day Stiles avoids the pack at all costs, not speaking to them, not sitting anywhere near them, not even looking at them as he pretends they're not even there. Though he does see from the corner of his eye that Isaac is staring at him longingly and whimpering quietly to himself from across the room while Erica is subdued and timid, and Boyd is trying to look small from where he's sitting in the back.

Jackson keeps his head down throughout the day and Scott looks lost.

He resolutely ignores them all.

By lunchtime Lydia takes one good look at him and sighs, "Oh, Stiles," before pulling him into a hug while Danny rubs at his back and neck in silent support.

After school, he skips lacrosse and texts the girls, driving down to Dom's place - a huge elegant French chateau on the richer side of Beacon Hills - once he receives directions.

When he pulls up the long winding driveway after entering the gate, Dom's huge manservant Leonard opens the door for him and takes his red hoodie to the closet as the ladies flock to their little fledgling in his time of need and hug the shit out of him before ushering him further inside the house.

Dom holds him and the twins coo at him in his new clothes while Sugar Mama and Anita whip up some comfort food in the kitchen.

Crystal and Amber cheer him up by telling him stories about their wild years in college and high school in the meantime.

As they all laugh while Amber finishes up a story about the time involving a banana and the captain of the football team, Anita hands him over a spoon and a bowl of ropa vieja, a Cuban beef stew, and Sugar Mama places a overflowing plate of dirty rice and some plump, juicy shrimp with a small dish of cajun sauce in front of him on the coffee table.

He digs in with relish, moaning obscenely at the heavenly tastes and complimenting the chefs much to Anita and Sugar Mama's delight and everyone else's amusement.

When he's done and the plates are cleared away by Leonard, Dom looks him in the eyes and asks, "Do you want to talk about it now, cherie?"

The girls go quiet as he chuckles without humor, "Where do I even start?" He runs a hand through his short hair and doesn't meet their eyes.

"The beginnin's usually a good start, sugar," Sugar Mama says, her eyes gentle.

Stiles sighs, "I suppose it is."

So he tells them, tells them everything from the very beginning; from the time in kindergarten where he befriended a goofy boy with a mop of brown curls, to the moment his massive crush began on a strawberry blonde girl who grew up to become a genius femme fatale.

He skips over the werewolf bits obviously, but by the time he's done the girls know everything there is to know about him. They know about his Mom and how he loves her so much even more so now that she's gone, and his Dad who he loves just as much and how hard the Sheriff's been trying to keep things together and raising Stiles by himself all these years, how hard Stiles has been taking care of him in turn with his healthy meals for fear that one day his Dad will leave this world too soon as well, and how alone he'd be.

They know of what good a friend Lydia and Danny really are to him nowadays and how Scott is not, how his heart's desire had shifted to land on a tall, brooding older man with a tragic past and has the weight of the whole world on his broad shoulders.

There's a pause before Anita takes him into her arms and squeezes, "Oh, querido," she says, compassion in her ever word, "It's going to be all right, we'll make sure of it, right girls?"

A murmur of assent buzzes around the room before Dom claps her hands once in a decisive manner. "D'accord. So, we are going to need rope, a roll of duck tape, a box of chocolates-"