Father || Teen Wolf

01 - Awakening

Stiles Stilinski had a bad habit. 

It was something he kept doing without realizing it, that his friends and father had noticed long ago but that kept escaping his otherwise sagacious mind. Stiles was selfless. Saying that he had lost count of how many times he sacrificed something of his own to help out a friend would be a lie, simply because it would imply he kept track of who he helped or how many times it occurred. 

It was often sleep that he gave up to lend a helping hand, but in recent times, he had given so much that his eyelids were simply too heavy for him to keep his eyes open, and sleep had claimed him. His face was half hidden in an enormous pillow, the wrinkles on the fabric leaving marks on his freckled cheeks. His neck would ache once he woke up, for he wasn't sleeping in a bed. 

The waiting room chair had seemed comfortable, at first. It had even felt comfortable, like a giant to cushion to welcome his tired bones, but the cushion had slowly turned to stone with how heavily Stiles rested against it. Between his uncomfortable pose and how noisy the hospital corridor was, it was a wonder how Stiles had managed to fall asleep in the first place. 

Only one of his closed eyes was visible, the other being buried in the oversized pillow along with half of his face, and it had a dark circle beneath it. His breath was a light snoring, deep inhales and exhales that heaved his chest and shoulders, slow and steady in their rhythm. Unknowingly, the people who walked near him hushed their voices and became lighter on their feet, tip-toeing almost so as not to wake the exhausted teen up. Melissa had been one of them.

The nurse had her hair curly black hair in a low ponytail, her scrubs were crumpled, and circles just as dark as the ones below Stiles' eyes darkened her skin. She didn't look tired though, mostly because of the wide smile that stretched her lips as she walked towards the sleeping teen, holding a clipboard in her left hand while her right gently shook Stiles' shoulder. A groan then a yawn escaped his mouth before he stretched, inquisitive eyes peering up at the smiling nurse. 

"They're awake," she said in her soft voice. 

All trace of sleepiness vanished from his face the moment he heard the words, with only the pale red lines the pillow had traced along his right cheek left to reveal he had been asleep mere seconds ago. His neck still ached and his joints still popped when he got up, but he didn't take the time to stretch. The only thing that kept him from running to his friends were the heartfelt 'thank you' he offered Melissa. 

He passed Lydia's parents in the white corridor, but they didn't see him - they were about to enter their daughter's room and he didn't wish to intrude on the family reunion. The nearly impossible choice of whom to check on first was made for him, and Stiles hurried to the small room he had spent so many hours in as of late, but not before making a small detour.

Inside the room, Jamie was wide awake. His hands were wrapped together, resting on his stomach, feeling the rough fabric of his hospital gown underneath his palms. The red dots along his left arm had long faded, with no traces left of the tubes that had once entered his veins there, that had kept him alive while his body repaired itself. His skin was back to its original color, no longer a sickly pale white that had made him look ghostly, and there wasn't a single hint of injury left where Peter's claws had stricken. 

Jamie's head rested against the hard headboard, turned to face the unwavering lights on the ceiling. He looked to be resting, his eyes almost shut and his face relaxed, but his senses were working, feeding him information about everything around him. He could hear the light bulb above him buzz with electricity, the soft sound of fabric against fabric whenever someone moved outside his door, the voices that spoke, the life that took place all around the hospital. He focused on the light sounds because the less discreet ones were as loud as thunder, piercing his eardrums and making him feel like running away to a place where he could be alone in the quiet.