Stay with Me (Stalia)

Chapter 5

“Will you stop looking at me like that, please?” Stiles said swiveling in his chair to give Malia an annoyed look.

“Like what?” She looked back at him innocently from his bed where she was supposed to be studying history.

“You know what. That look that makes me think that you are worried that I am about to keel over any second. I’m fine Malia. The stitches are out, the cuts are healing, and it’s been over a week. Plus I’m going to have some pretty sweet scars when this is all over with.” He tried to make light of the situation, but she just gave him a very forced smile. He sighed and went over to crouch in front of her. He took her hands and kissed them. “I’m healing Malia. I may not heal as fast as you do, but I still do it. Soon I will be good as new so can you please stop looking at me like you’re afraid that I’m going to die?”

“But I am afraid.” She whispered “You’re so fragile and you just throw yourself recklessly into these dangerous situations. You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.” Her voice shook, but Stiles realized it was not from fear.

“You’re mad at me.” He said releasing her hand and taking a step back.

“No...Yes...well you shouldn’t have been in the woods that night!” She leaped off of the bed and stood in front of him. He grimaced at the fierceness of her tone, but he fought back. A part of him was glad that she wasn’t walking on eggshells with him anymore.

“What was I supposed to do huh? Sit in Derek’s loft and twiddle my thumbs while the rest of you were being hurt?”

“We were fine!” Malia shouted back.

“Yeah but I didn’t know that alright! I couldn’t stand to not know what was happening. I couldn’t stand not being able to do anything, not being able to help.” Stiles' shoulders slouched as all of the fight went out of him. “I can’t lose you Malia; I can’t lose any of you.” Malia stepped into his arms and he held her back tightly, ignoring the slight twinge of pain in his chest. How could he make her understand that he would do anything to help his friends?

“Okay, okay.” She murmured into his chest. After a few seconds, she leaned back just enough to look at his face. “Just promise me that next time you go running into the face of danger you will bring me along to protect you?” Stiles let out a chuckle and bent his head down. He stopped just above her lips and whispered,

“I promise” And then he closed the space and kissed her tenderly. She tilted her body into the kiss, her hips pressing against his. He moved his arms to grip her waist and pull her even closer. She nipped his bottom lip lightly and wrapped her arms around his neck. He ignored the slight discomfort in his chest as he slid his tongue into her mouth. After a few seconds, he forgot about his pain entirely. The only thing he could focus on was Malia. She gripped his shirt to pull him until they were lying on his bed. She broke the kiss only to help him get his shirt off. She then began to gently kiss the skin all around his cuts. When he couldn’t stand it anymore he cupped her face and brought her mouth back to his. As he kissed her he thought that this was one of the few things in his life that made perfect sense.

*****

“They are probably just devising an extremely efficient plan to kill us all.” Isaac responded to Stiles questioning what the hunters were doing. The two boys were lounging on Stiles’ couch, a generic TV drama playing on the screen behind them.

“Oh how I missed your sarcasm and pessimism,” Stiles said clapping Isaac on the shoulder. Although his pessimism could get a little grating, Stiles did have to admit that Isaac often said what the rest of them were thinking but afraid of saying. This instance was no exception. Stiles figured that the hunters had gotten a glimpse of Scott the alpha and were figuring out a way to take him down.