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thirty four
warnings: mentions of death, angsty fluff, fluffy angst... bittersweet.
★
Stiles
I was standing in my room, rolling up the red yarn in my hand as I took down everything from the crime board. Pictures and articles of Barrow, a photo of the message I- the nogitsune had left for him, I put it all down in a box. The heavy burden on my chest lightened a little bit. Horrible things had happened, but at least they were over now.
I closed the box, preparing to pick it up and store it away when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.
"Dad, it's okay. I'm fine, I promise."
The door opened anyway, and I turned around, about to once again lie and say I was fine, but I halted when I saw Valerie standing in the doorframe.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
Valerie stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. "I'm repaying a favor," she said softly, before walking towards me and doing something that surprised me completely. She stepped forward and enveloped me in a hug.
Her arms tightened around my neck, one hand shooting up to land in my hair, gently stroking it. I wrapped my arms around her waist, not even questioning it because of how good it felt to just hug someone. She used her grip on my head to gently push it down onto her shoulder. I understood what she was doing then. She was silently asking me to fall apart in her arms, just like she had done that day at the hospital.
And so I did.
I let all of the tears I'd held back for so long flow down my face and onto her jacket. My vision was blurry. I could feel Valerie's hand run across my hair. I could taste the salt in my tears and smell the leather of her jacket. She was murmuring comforting words in my ear, and even though I couldn't make any of them out, hearing her voice still helped.
After a while, I quieted down, and Valerie took a deep breath, steadying her voice and speaking clearly. She wanted me to hear every word of what she was about to say.
