bittersweet → stiles stilinski

four

four

warnings: none.

★

Stiles

"Everybody decent in here?" asked Coach, stepping into the locker room. He was wearing a shirt that said: Respect the Coach. "Okay, good." He gave Valerie the okay to walk in behind him and blew his whistle.

"All right, geniuses, listen up," he said once he's gotten everyone's attention. "Due to the recent pinkeye epidemic, thank you, Greenberg, the following people have made first line on a probationary basis."

"Emphasis on the word probationary," Valerie butted in, and Coach nodded in agreement. Wait- new people have made first line? That could be me. Oh my god, that could be me. I looked over at Scott but he didn't seem nearly as excited.

Valerie handed Coach the list, and he began reading.

"Rodriguez."

A few scattered applause followed, and I reluctantly clapped my hands. Rodriguez was a jerk.

"Welcome to first line. Taylor, and..." Here it was. The last person. I was either gonna make first line and actually play my very first lacrosse game, or I was going to be benched as usual. "Uh, I can't really read your handwriting, Valerie."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Coach. My dyslexia kinda makes spelling a bit difficult," Valerie said as innocently as she could, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. The fake tone never would've fooled me, but Coach seemed to buy it.

"It's fine, it's fine," he said, trying to be reassuring. Which honestly wasn't his strong suit. "I can read it. Okay, what is that? An S?"

An S? Oh my god. My last name starts with an S! Could this really-

"No, no, that' s not an S. That's a- that's a B." Of fucking course. "That's a B! It's definitely a B. Uh, Rodriguez, Taylor and uh, Bilinski."

Hit by the surprise that it was actually me, I stood up and started yelling out in joy.

"Bilinski!"

"Yes?" I stopped yelling.

"Shut up!"

A few people chuckled, including Valerie. I knew that her bad spelling being an accident was a total lie. Ever since a teacher accidentally called me 'Bilinski' in 6th grade she's been trying to convince as many teachers as possible that it was my actual name.

"Yes, sir," I said, sitting down on the bench again.

"Another thing," said Coach. "From here on out, immediately, we're switching to co-captains. Congratulations, McCall."

The already silent room seemed to become even quieter. Everyone waiting for the inevitable wrath of Jackass Withmore.

"What?" asked Jackson.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" asked Coach. "Jackson, this takes nothing away from you. This is about combining separate strengths into one unit. This is about taking your unit, McCall's unit, we're making one big unit. McCall, it's you and Jackson now. Everybody else..." Coach blew his whistle. "Asses on the field! Asses on the field!"

★

3rd person

"Are you not freaking out? I'm freaking out," Stiles said as he and Scott walked out of the locker room, heading for the lacrosse field.

"What's the point?" asked Scott. "It's just a stupid title. And I could practically smell the jealousy in there."

Stiles immediately stopped walking, holding his arm out to stop his friend as well.

"What. You smell jealousy?" he asked.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, it's like the full moon is turning everything up to ten."

Stiles contemplates what his friend just said. "Huh... mm, can you pick up on stuff like - I don't know, desire?" he asked. Trying, and failing, to look nonchalant.

Scott furrowed his brows in confusion. "What do you mean 'desire'?"

"Like, sexual desire," he said, continuing his nonchalant act that no one was buying.

"Sexual desire?" Scott clarifies, raising his eyebrows.

Stiles finally drops his nonchalant act out of impatience. "Yeah, sexual desire! Lust, passion, arousal."

Scott looked down the hall and sighed. "From Lydia?"

"What?" Stiles jerked his head back. "No, in a general, broad sense, can you determine sexual desire."

"From Lydia to you?"

"Fine, yes! From Lydia to me. Look, I need to know if I have a chance with this girl, okay?

"Why don't you just ask her?" Scott asked.

"Well, to save myself utterly crushing humiliation. Thank you, Scott. So, please, can you just go up and ask her if she likes me? See if her heartbeat rises, pheromones come out." He shrugged, gesturing with his hand what was supposed to be pheromones coming out of his head.

Scott sighed. The full moon was seriously messing with his head, making him uncharacteristically annoyed at his best friends antics, but... Stiles was still his best friend, and the full moon wasn't out yet. So even though he thought the idea was pointless and stupid, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the scent of desire (yes, he knows what it smelt like, no, don't ask) preparing to be able to detect it and-

"Um excuse me?"

Scott's eyebrows furrowed. He could smell it already? If he'd been honest he didn't think Lydia would like Stiles one bit so - wait... he hadn't even walked up to Lydia yet.

He opened his eyes and saw Valerie standing behind him and Stiles. Stiles' ears reddened.

"Uh, did you just hear that entire conversation?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"No. And I'd rather not hear the rest of it. So if you two could stop blocking the hallway that would be great."

Stiles stepped to the side but Scott was way too dazed to move. By the time Valerie had walked by them, he'd completely forgotten about the smell.

"That was close," Stiles said, looking down the way Valerie had disappeared. "So what do you say? Can you?"

"I- Fine."

gif belongs to @andrewmerediths on tumblr