Love's Spiral

Stiles’ father talked at them for about ten minutes after he had caught them. Spencer felt so bad. She was very close with the man and felt as if she had let the sheriff down. He was the main father figure in her life since her dad had been all out of sorts.

Stiles had driven the two over to Spencer’s house before heading back to Stiles’. Spencer going to need a duffel bag of clothes if she was grounded for two weeks at the Stilinski house.

Once arriving to the house, Spencer told Stiles to stay in the car, but he didn’t, and followed anyway. Spencer groaned and rolled her eyes as she attempted to text Scott for the tenth time since they had left the preserve.

“Where are your parents?” Stiles asked, noticing that they weren’t anywhere in the house.

Spencer shrugged. “Probably the hospital. Dad had an episode before I left, so he probably hurt himself or something.”

“Spence…” Stiles consoled, placing a hand on her arm.

“I’m fine. It would have been nice to receive an ‘on the way to the hospital’ text, but I’m fine. Over it. It happens a lot.”

Stiles nodded.

Spencer quickly grabbed a giant duffle bag of her things, making she had enough stuff for a couple weeks. She then led Stiles back out to the Jeep.

Stiles drove quickly through his neighborhood, ignoring the speed limits. A majority of the police force was out on the preserve looking for the body. There really wasn’t anyone left to pull him over.

The two arrived at Stiles’ house five minutes later. Spencer slammed the door to Stiles’ Jeep after she pushed herself out of it. She swiftly walked into his house as Stiles stumbled after her. He wondered what was wrong, but he was afraid to ask. When Spencer got mad, it was frequently nearly impossible to calm her down.

The two stalked up to Stiles’ room. Spencer threw her bag on the floor right next to the doorway and threw herself onto Stiles’ bed, sprawling herself on one side of it. She buried her face in one of his pillows.

Stiles stood in the doorway completely unsure of what to do. After a moment of arguing with himself, he copied her, flopping himself onto the other side of the bed. He was turned on his side to look at her. He thought about reaching for her hand for comfort, but hesitated and pulled back. Surprisingly to him, Spencer turned on her side to face him and grabbed his hand. He looked back and forth between her and their hands.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Spencer said, softly. When you held my hand in the woods, it made me feel a little better. It calmed me down a little bit. I wanted to see if it would work again.” Stiles relaxed his hand in hers and ran his thumb across the back of her hand.

“N - no. Of c - course not.” He stuttered over his nervousness. “Is it working?”

Spencer shrugged against the mattress. She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

“Is there something else wrong? I mean other than being ground or the thing with your parents?” Stiles asked, hoping he didn’t come off as digging too deep.

“There is a killer out in the woods and I’m just worried about Scott. It kinda would be our fault if he doesn’t make it back. And we’d get the worse end of it since we said that he wasn’t even out there with us.”

“Scott will be fine. He can handle himself.”

“Please, Scott can hardly get himself to school on his bike in one piece. On top of that, when have you ever known Scott not to text us back right away? He’s not answering my texts. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t magically obtained a life in the half an hour we’ve been separated from him.”

“I guess you’re right.” Stiles admitted.

“You’re damn right, I am.”

Stiles smiled at her silliness.

Spencer replied with a small smile.

“There you go.” Stiles cheered. He reached over with the hand he wasn’t holding to touch Spencer’s cheek.

Spencer pulled back slightly, not wanting him to touch her face. She closed her eyes and her smile quickly disappeared.

Stiles pursed his lips. “I’m sure that you are just overthinking it. Scott is probably home, just like you are. All tucked up in bed.”

Spencer shook her head. “And what if he isn’t?” she asked. “What if he’s scared or hurt or dead?”

“He’s not.” Stiles assured. “Scott is our best friend. I mean, even you should remember our pact. You need to kick the bucket first. That way, you don’t have to go through one day without us. We would hate it for you to be in that much pain.” Stiles noticed that Spencer’s eyes started to water. He quickly changed his expression and reached forward to dry her tears. Spencer let him this time. “No, no. Spencer, shit. I’m sorry. Pl - please don’t cry.”

“I’m not sad. It’s really sweet that you still remember that.”

“Sweet? Maybe. Definitely a little creepy. Considering that it is about the order of our deaths.”

Spencer laughed quietly.

“Come here.” Stiles said, opening his arms for her to crawl into.

Spencer hesitated.

“Oh, come on, Spence. I won’t bite.”

She smiled. “Hard.” she said, narrowing her eyes at him. She scooted herself into his arms anyway.

Stiles’ arms tightly wrapped around her when she buried her face into his neck. “You got me there.”

Spencer sighed peacefully.

“Much better than just hold my hand, huh?” he whispered.

“Mmhmm.” Spencer mumbled sleepily. “Just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Oh, it is way too late for that.” He smirked, joking. “I’ve got you wrapped around my finger.”

“Do you?” she asked, softly. She smiled thinking that she probably was. She would always feel attached to Stiles in a way that she would do anything for him.

“Of course. I’ve done most everything that a guy should do for a girl. I’ve held your hand in a dangerous situation, knowing that you don’t like the dark very much. I’ve comforted you over another boy. And, now, I’ve slept with you.” Stiles thought for a second, realizing what he just said. “Well, not that kind of slept. The kind of slept where sleeping is actually involved.” When Spencer didn’t respond, Stiles took a deep breath, relaxing himself against the girl. “Spencer?”

“Hmm?”

“You like me, right? Like, I’m not just a friend?”

“Mmhmm.” she breathed.

Stiles’ heart filled up, thinking that she might actually really like him.

“You’re my best friend, Stiles.” Spencer said, mumbling into Stiles’ neck.

Stiles got nervous when he noticed her lips brushing against his neck. Stiles stuttered. “G - good.”

“Mmhmm. I love you, Stiles.”

Stiles hesitated, his heart fluttering. “Love you, too, Spence.” He kissed her hair, watching as she drifted to sleep. He enjoyed being like this with her. He loved feeling close to her, feeling her breath on his neck and her heartbeat against his chest. He focused on the feeling until he slowly followed her to sleep.

@#$%$#@

Spencer woke up before Stiles’ alarm clock went off. She looked around slowly, trying to figure out a way that she can get out of the bed without waking Stiles. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. He was sleeping soundly, leaning his head against hers. Spencer smiled, her heart beating rapidly. She grabbed the laid over her.

“Spencer…” Stiles sighed.

She froze and attempted to look at him. Spencer waited a minute and realized that he was still fast asleep, but smiling faintly. She laughed to herself, quietly. She lifted his arm off of her body and silently rolled off the bed. Stiles grabbed at the newly emptied space, searching for her. Spencer handed Stiles the extra pillow, which he hugged tightly. Spencer shook her head at him and went to ready herself for school. She grabbed her bag from by the door and went out into the hall towards the bathroom. As she walked, Spencer dug through her bag, trying to find her shower things.

“Good morning.” She heard a male voice say.

Spencer jumped, not expecting to run into the sheriff, and dropped her back.

The man reached down to pick it up and hand it to her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, Papa Stiles. You’re fine. I wasn’t paying much attention.”

The sheriff looked back towards Stiles’ room. “Did you sleep well?” he asked. “I’m sure Stiles kicked you off onto the floor. Y - you can take my room if you’d like.” The sheriff stumbled over his words.

Spencer laughed, noticing again where Stiles got his nervousness from. “I slept perfectly. Stiles let me sleep on the other side of the bed.”

This made the sheriff nervous. He shifted his weight back and forth on his legs.

“Uh, n - nothing’s happening, right? Between you and Stiles? In the bed?”

Spencer laughed. “Oh, no. No, no. Nothing happened. Sleeping was definitely the only action that took place last night.”

A sigh of relief came from the older man.

Spencer moved towards the bathroom, walking past him. “I would tell you if we did, Pops.” She slapped his shoulder.

“Not sure that I would want to know.” he joked.

Spencer got to the bathroom, showered quickly, and put a clean change of clothes on. She decided to leave her hair down and let it air dry. When she came out, she went back into Stiles’ room. He still had a good ten minutes to sleep. Spencer decided to replace the pillow and cuddle up to him again. She sighed, enjoying him wrapped around her. She got chills when she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck.

Too soon, Stiles’ alarm went off, waking him up. He groggily unwrapped his arm from around Spencer and reached over, smacking the alarm until it stopped beeping. Stiles rolled back into his place, wrapping himself tighter to Spencer’s body. A moment passed, and he jumped back, accidentally pushing Spencer off of the bed.

“Ow!” Spencer stood, rubbing her backside.

“Oh, shit!” Stiles exclaimed, reaching over the bed to comfort Spencer. She brushed him off and sat on the bed.

“Is everything okay up there!” The sheriff called from the stairs.

“We’re fine!” Spencer called back.

“I’m so sorry.” Stiles said, stepping away from the bed. “I didn’t mean to push you off. I was just, uh, I was just surprised. By - by our - what we were - ”

“Laying together?” Spencer said, obviously.

“Uh, more like cuddling. Spooning, as some would say.” Spencer laughed, as Stiles started pacing.

“What are you pacing for? Is something wrong?”

“It’s not a big deal, right?” Stiles questioned.

Spencer furrowed her brow.

“Us, sleeping like that?”

Spencer shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. You were comforting me. You got my mind off of Scott and him being missing. It helped me out a lot. And I actually kind of liked it.”

Stiles stopped in his place. “You liked it?”

“I did. It felt nice.”

Stiles stared at Spencer for a moment. He was confused. Yeah, it was normal for friends to sleep in the same bed. Sure, he really felt something towards Spencer last night when everything was going on. Stiles got so much more out of it than just sleeping. They connected in some sweet, corny way.

Stiles panicked and ran out of the room and into the bathroom.

Spencer followed him out in the hall. “Stiles?” Spencer called through the door. “Are you alright?”

Stiles nodded before realizing that Spencer couldn’t see him. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve got to shower.” He quickly reached to turn on the water. “Don’t want to be late on the first day.” Stiles laughed, nervously, leaning back against the bathroom door.

Spencer bit her lip. “Alright.” She said, confused. “I guess not.”

Stiles exhaled, slowly. He noticed he’d panicked.

Spencer slowly walked down the stairs feeling a little defeated in the situation. She wasn’t sure what happened. She walked down the stairs after grabbing her backpack from Stiles’ room. Spencer went to the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal, silently. She then sat across from Sheriff Stilinski at the small dining table. She couldn’t get the Stiles thing out of her brain. He had completely freaked out. She knew that Stiles got weird when he was round girls or feeling things for girls. But Stiles was her best friend. And he was the one who pulled her close first. She let him in. But this morning, he literally pushed her out and slammed the door in her face.

Spencer kind of understood. She only recently re-recognized her feelings for him. She had liked him in the past, back in fifth grade. Those feelings quickly faded when he aided in breaking her arm a year later.

Last night, when she held his hand, it sent sparks through her body. He was being so sweet and protective. Those times were rare with Stiles. He hardly ever stood up for her like that. She liked it.

Spencer was so focused on her cereal, thinking about what happened with Stiles, she didn’t even notice the sheriff watching her every move. He was worried as he knew that she was lost in thought.

“I’m sorry for grounding you two.” Sheriff blushed.

Spencer took her attention from her thoughts. She smiled at him. “Pops, it’s really no big deal. We deserved it. I’m sorry for encouraging Stiles to eavesdrop on your call.” He nodded. The two heard the shower shut off upstairs.

“I - I overreacted. You aren’t my kid. I can’t actually ground you. You can go back home if you want.”

Spencer laughed to herself. “I call you Papa Stiles. You are more of a dad to me than my real father is.”

Unknown to the two at the table, Stiles started coming down the stairs slowly, careful not to make the stairs creak. He stayed in a spot where he could hear what they were saying, but where he couldn’t be seen.

“Besides, I couldn’t bail on Stiles.” Spencer smiled.

Stiles smiled as well, glad that she could leave, but even after he’d been an idiot, she chose to stay.

“How is he?” The sheriff asked. “Your dad, I mean?”

Spencer leaned back in her chair.

Siles knew this was a sore subject for her to talk about. He wished that he could hold her hand to comfort her now.

“He’s good.” Spencer told the man. “In a way. There are too many day that they end up staying at the hospital. I think they’re there now. They weren’t home when I went to get my stuff last night.

“I hope he gets better.” The sheriff wished quietly.

“Yeah. It’s been, like, ten years, so I’m not really counting on it. But I hope so too.”

“You know that you are always welcomed here. Stiles and I are here for you.”

Spencer recalled last night’s events in her head. She smiled at the aging man. Her second father, who acted like her first. This was especially good since her father hardly ever recognized her. It tore her apart. When she felt bad about it, she always came running here. “I know.”

Siles stood in his spot by the stairs. He knew that he had to figure what was happening to him towards Spencer. He had to figure it out fast before he missed his chance.

@$#%$#@

“Scott!” Spencer shouted when she saw her friend. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, careful not to hit him with her binder. “Thank God, you’re okay.” She said into his shoulder.

“Pence, I’m fine. Why are you freaking out?” Scott pulled away from his friend.

“Like hell, you’re fine. I haven’t been able to get ahold of you all night. That means you were either unable to text back or you were dead. And after the event of last night, and give that you always have your phone, I resort to you being dead.”

“I’ve been texting Stiles all morning.” Scott told her.

Spencer turned back to Stiles and hit his chest with her free hand. “You were texting him and you didn’t tell me? You knew how insanely worried I was.”

Stiles brushed her off. All he wanted to do was see the bite that Scott told him about. “Yeah, yeah. She was insanely worried.” Stiles said to Scott, as if it weren’t that important.

Spencer scoffed.

“Sorry, that was insensitive.” He said, then smacked the back of his own head so that Spencer didn’t have to do it herself.

Spencer nodded her head to him in acceptance of the apology.

Stiles pointed a finger to Scott. “Alright, let’s see this thing.”

Scoff lifted up his shirt revealing a bloody bandage on his side.

A gasp came from Spencer’s mouth and she covered it. “Scott! What the hell is that?”

Stiles oohed.

“You know about this?” Spencer asked Stiles.

Stiles shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t want to worry you?” Stiles attempted to reach for the bandage to see under it, but Scott stepped back and pulled his shirt back down.

“It was too dark to see much, but I think that a wolf bit me.” Scott told his friends.

Spencer laughed.

“What?”

“A wolf bit you?” Stiles asked

“Yeah, or at least that’s what I think it was. I definitely remember hearing a wolf howling.”

“No, you didn’t.” Stiles stated, confidently.

“What do you mean? You weren’t there. You don’t know what I heard.” Scott accused.

“I don’t need to know what you heard. All I need to know is that California doesn’t have wolves.”

Scott was confused. “What?”

Spencer rolled her eyes. It was her turn to help fill in the blanks. “Wolves haven’t inhabited California in, like, sixty years.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Spencer and Stiles said in unison. The two looked at each other for a moment. Then Spencer looked away, opening her binder to look at her schedule.

“There are no wolves in California.” Stiles sighed, looking at Spencer. Scott looked at Stiles with narrowed eyes. Stiles looked back to him. Scott pointed back and forth between the two. Stiles waved his hand to tell Scott to forget about it.

“Okay…” Scott said, slowly as he tried to put pieces together in his head. “Well, if you don’t believe me about the wolf, then you definitely won’t believe me when I say that I found the body. Well, the half of it.”

“Are - are you kidding me?” Stiles asked.

Spencer looked up from the paper that she wasn’t reading. “Are you sure?” She asked.

“Well, I wish I wasn’t.” Scott answered Spencer’s question. “It was disturbing. I’m gonna have nightmares for a month.

“Oh, God, that is awesome.” Stiles cheered.

Spencer looked at him like he was insane.

“I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that has happened in this town since…” Stiles noticed the approaching Lydia Martin. “...since the birth of Lydia Martin.”

Lydia passed by the three friends without even noticing them.

Spencer rolled her eyes, annoyed at both Stiles and Lydia. Stiles for being an idiot and pining for her and Lydia for just walking on by.

“Hey, Lydia.” Stiles said, not caring if he was being passed by. “You look...like you’re gonna ignore me.”

Spencer tried to cover up her annoyance. She gripped her binder hard, until her knuckles turned white.

“Pence?” Scott called, trying to get her attention. “Are you alright?”

She quickly lightened her grip on the binder. Spencer nodded, hugging the binder to her chest.

“Are you sure?”

Spencer looked to Stiles for a minute before nodding and then running off to their first class.

Scott hit Stiles’ arm. “Man! What did you do?”

Stiles flinched back. “I don’t know!” He said, defensively. “I don’t know.” He repeated, softly.

@#$%$#@

The three friends formed around Scott’s locker after class. Stiles was trying to get Spencer to talk to him after this morning. Scott was making himself busy by watching the new girl, Allison. Scott dazed away, staring at her.

“Spencer. Come on!” Stiles pushed. “What did I do?” he asked.

Spencer rolled her eyes and turned to Scott. “Scott?” she asked, trying to get his attention. She followed his line of sight to find him watching the new girl. Spencer smirked, realizing the situation. “So, this new girl, Alyssa - ”

“Allison.” Scott corrected, still watching the girl’s movements.

“Right! Allison.” Spencer fixed herself. “She’s kinda pretty, huh?”

“Yeah. She’s beautiful.” He said, like he was lost in a daydream.

Spencer laughed. She followed Scott’s gaze and watched as Lydia walked up to the girl, with Jackson. Spencer groaned. “She’s only been here for one period. How is she already being noticed by Lydia? I’ve known her since Pre-K and she still can’t remember my name.” she lied. She knew Lydia more than that, and Lydia knew her just as well.

“Because she’s hot.” Stiles told Spencer.

Spencers raised her brow at him.

“What? It’s fact.” Stiles stated. “Beautiful people herd together.”

“I’m in a way, you’re kinda saying that I’m not pretty like they are?”

Stiles’ eyes widened when he realized he had just dug further into his hole.

Scott being the smart guy that he is, took himself out of the conversation to focus on Allison.

“You know,” Spencer started, “it is that right there that made me walk away this morning. Now, you get to watch me do it again.” Spencer turned and began walking to the next class.

“No, wait!” Stiles chased her. He grabbed her arm and turned her around next to the door to the Chemistry lab. “What did I do?”

“You just did it! Do you really have that terrible of a memory?”

Stiles shrugged his shoulders. “Kinda…”

“You’re calling Allison and Lydia hot. Right in front of me. And Lydia is the greatest person alive.”

“Yeah, so?”

“What about me, Stiles?” She looked at him with her blue eyes, shining.

Stiles didn’t understand. “I don’t - I honestly can say that I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Spencer rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Last night you took care of me. You protected me. Whether or not we were ever in any real danger, you held my hand. Then you stayed with me, next to me to calm me down while I was worried about Scott.”

Stiles shook his head when he still wasn’t grasping the point.

Spencer sighed. “It hurt when you pushed me away this morning.”

Stiles bit his lip. “Spence, I didn’t want to! I hate hurting you. I - I’m just confused.”

“Why?”

Stiles sighed, preparing in his head what he was going to say. “I think that I may have gotten a lot more out of last night than I should have. Probably more than you did.” He said, quickly, stumbling over his words from his nervousness.

A corner of Spencer’s mouth turned up.

“What? Is that good?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe.” Spencer walked into the classroom.

Stiles followed her into the classroom, looking as if he missed something. “Maybe?”

Spencer nodded. “Don’t be confused. And quit acting as if I don’t exist.”

“I’ll do my best. The two sat down next to each other at the lab table. “Were you going to hang around at practice today?” Spencer shrugged her shoulders.

“I was thinking about hitting the pools.”

Stiles looked at her with disappointment.

“Don’t give me that look. You guys have your sport. I need mine.”

“Can’t you go during free period?”

“No one is ever in the gyms during free period.” Spencer informed him. “I know I’m a good swimmer, but what happens if I get too cocky and drown or something? I don’t wanna be there alone.”

“I’ll go with you!” Stiles said quickly.

Spencer furrowed her brow at how excited he sounded.

“I mean, I can time you. Or something.”

“Really?” Spencer smiled.

Stiles returned it and nodded.

“That’d be great.”

@#$%$#@

The coach blew the whistle and began yelling at his students to get on the field. Stiles and Scott were just getting on the field and putting their gear down by the benches on the side.

“You can’t play!” Stiles complained. “If you play, I’ll have no one to talk to on the bench.” He followed Scott to the field. “Are you really gonna do that to your best friend?”

“I can’t sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I’m making first line. I’m sure you can find something to keep yourself entertained.”

“Stiles!” The boys heard from the bleachers.

Stiles turned around to see Spencer. His heart melted as he watched her smile and wave at him. He waved back.

“Dude?” Scott got Stiles’ attention back. “What was that?”

Stiles shrugged.

“This morning she didn’t even want to look at you. Now she doesn’t even notice me?”

Stiles smiled. “I think I had a breakthrough with her.”

“That’s great. So now what?”

“Now? Well, I think she wants us to go on a date or something.”

@#$%$#@

Spencer saw Scott and Stiles geared up and ready for practice. She was actually glad that she and Stiles got some swim practice in earlier so she could watch them play.

“Stiles!” She shouted, and waved. He turned back to her and her heart nearly burst out of her chest. She smiled slightly embarrassed by her own heartbeat. Now that she’s finally let herself admit her feelings for Stiles, she can’t seem to even think about him without her heartbeat speeding up and her palms sweating.

She sat down a couple of rows in front of Allison and Lydia.

“Who is that?” Allison asked. Spencer turned to see who she walked talking about. She had gestured to Scott who was currently standing in the goal, probably trying to think of a good way to get out of his current position. She knew that he was about to get pounded.

“Him?” Lydia questioned her new friend Allison. Allison nodded. Lydia tilted her head to the side. “I’m not sure who he is. Why?” Allison looked at him and shook her head.

“He’s in my English class.”

The coach’s whistle blew, making Scott double over with his hands over his ears. Spencer furrowed her brow, confused. The player started tossing the ball at Scott. The first one hit his face mask.

Spencer flinched, thinking how happy that she was that it was Scott in the goal instead of Stiles.

After that, Scott somehow managed to catch the rest of the shots thrown at him.

“He’s seems like he’s very good.” Allison said.

Lydia looked at the boy suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. “Yeah.” she said, slowly. “Very good.”

Next it was Jackson’s turn. He looked angry. How could this kid, who had always sat on the bench, be blocking all of these shots? Spencer, along with the others who knew Jackson’s anger was always a bad sign, were scared for Scott’s life. However, when Jackson tossed the ball, Scott caught it just as easily as the others.

Stiles jumped off of the bench and cheered. “That is my friend!”

Spencer laughed. When the two girls in behind her were done cheering, Spencer turned around to face them. “Allison, right?”

The girl looked down and nodded.

“I’m Spencer. And the guy in the goal, that’s my best friend, Scott.”