Love's Spiral

Free period finally came and Spencer let out a deep breath. Just two more classes left of the day and then she was headed off to work with Scott. Granted, work wasn’t as exciting with Scott there since she wasn’t testing her abilities, but she still had a lot of fun with all of the animals around.

Spencer had her backpack, full of her homework for the night, hanging off of her shoulder as she was lead out to the lacrosse field by Stiles.

Stiles was carrying a gym bag and his lacrosse stick.

Spencer sat down on the bench the players would normally sit on, next to Stiles who was digging through the bag.

Stiles pulled out a black band and a cell phone. “Here, put this on.” he said, handing the band to Scott.

Spencer pulled out her chemistry homework to start working on it.

Scott held the band in his hand. “Isn’t this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?” he asked.

Stiles nodded. “Yeah, I borrowed it.”

“Stole it.” Spencer said, under her breath, smirking at her friend.

“Temporarily misappropriated.” Stiles rephrased. “Coach uses it to monitor his head rate with his phone while he jogs, and you’re gonna wear it for the rest of the day.”

“Isn’t that Coach’s phone?” Scott asked, referencing the phone that he only half-recognized.

“That, I stole.” Stiles admitted.

“Why?”

Spencer sighed. “Scott, when you wolf-out, your heart rate rises. When you’re in practice or a game, when you’re angry, and, I bet, it’s even happened when you were with Allison. If you can learn to keep control of your heart rate, you can control your shift.”

“Like the Incredible Hulk!” Scott pointed out.

Spencer sighed and rolled her eyes, but she nodded.

Stiles thought differently of the comparison. “Kind of like the Incredible Hulk!” Stiles said.

“No, I am the Incredible Hulk.”

“Would you just shut up and put the strap on?”

Scott pulled the strap around his torso and clasped the ends together.

Stiles reached back into the bag and pulled out a roll of duct tape. “This is where it gets kinky.” Stiles joked.

Spencer rolled her eyes and returned to her homework.

Stiles pulled Scott’s hands behind his back and taped them together.

“This isn’t exactly how I wanted to spend my free period.” Scott told Stiles.

Stiles looked at him, sent a pointed look towards Spencer, and looked back to Scott. “You think I wanted to do this?”

Scott only shrugged his shoulders.

Stiles grabbed the bag and the lacrosse stick and stepped a few paces away from Scott. “Alright. You ready?” Stiles called.

“No.” Scott responded.

“Remember, don’t get angry.” Stiles stated. Stiles set the bag down and pushed a button on Coach Finstock’s phone.

Scott sighed. “I’m starting to think this was a really bad idea.” Stiles quickly rolled a ball into the stick’s pocket and sent it flying in Scott’s direction, making him groan on impact.

Spencer and Stiles laughed as Stiles tried again. The next ball hit Scott right under his collarbone.

Scott winced away.

“Awh, come on, now, Scott.” Spencer called. “I’m sure that you can take it.” She cheered. “Just don’t get angry.”

“Okay, that one kinda hurt.” Scott told his friends.

“Quiet.” Stiles ordered, queuing up another ball. “You’re supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, alright? About staying calm.” Stiles launched another ball.

Scott started talking to himself, saying to keep calm.

Spencer did her best not to pay attention to the scene in front of her. She wanted to get her homework done so she didn’t have to stay up late doing it. Spencer did, however, focus her hearing so she could hear the phone beeping as Scott’s heart rate went up.

“Ah! Son of a bitch!” Scott shouted as a ball hit him in a more sensitive spot.

“You know what?” Stiles asked. “I think my aim is actually improving.”

Spencer laughed at his comment, but kept her eyes down.

“Wonder why?” Scott snipped.

“None of that, Scott.” Spencer called.

Stiles continued to pummel Scott, straying away from taking a break.

“Stop. Just wait.” Scott called. “Wait, hold on!”

Stiles only threw another ball.

Scott doubled over taking deep breaths.

Spencer, who was focused on the phone’s beeping, became worried when the beeping sped up. She pushed her book off her lap to the side, slowly. “Stiles…” she warned.

Stiles looked down at the phone.

Scott was still groaning when Spencer joined Stiles, hunched over his bag.

“Scott?” Stiles called, motioning with his arm for Spencer to stand back.

“Oh, like you’re gonna be able to hold him off.” Spencer said sarcastically.

“I have before.” He pointed out.

Spencer nodded, reluctantly.

Scott pulled his arms out of the tape and slammed them on the ground. He was groaning, still, and breathing heavily.

“Scott, it’s okay.” Spencer whispered, hoping it would help him.

Stiles stopped her from saying anything else.

Scott had to do this on his own. His heartbeat slowed down and Stiles and Spencer walked towards him. His breath slowed along with the beeping on the phone.

“Scott.” Stiles said, reaching for him. “You started to change.”

“From anger.” Scott responded. “But it was more than that. It was like, the angrier I got…”

“The stronger you felt.” Spencer finished.

Scott and Stiles looked at her, shocked.

“I know how that is.” she assured. “I felt everything you did, on my own and while you were just struggling.”

“So it is anger, then?” Stiles asked.

“Most of it.” Spencer replied, nodding. “Derek’s right.”

Scott sighed, defeated. “I can’t be around Allison.” He realized.

“Honestly, that’s probably a good thing.” Spencer admitted, under her breath.

Stiles hit her arm lightly, telling her to back off. “Just because she makes you happy?” Stiles asked Scott.”

“No, because she makes me weak.” Scott admitted.

Spencer sighed. “I think this is the perfect time to take a break, huh?” she asked, standing.

Stiles nodded, helping Scott back to his feet. “I gotta drop this back off at the locker room.” Stiles gestured to his bag.

“You guy go ahead. I’ll catch up.” Spencer told him.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.. I got a couple more problems I wanna do really quick.”

“Alright.” Stiles said, leaning over and giving Spencer a quick kiss on her cheek. She blushed after the boys turned away.

Scott walked with his friend back to the locker room. “So, that’s a thing again?” Scott asked his friend.

“I’m working on it.” Stiles informed. “We’re working on it.”

“Well, at least you have that. I can’t be anywhere near Allison.”

“Just stay away from her for a few days. You can do that.” Stiles encouraged. “I mean, Spencer and I were apart for a few days. You don’t see me whining about it.”

“But you did.” Scott corrected. “She was with Derek and you were freaking out every second.”

Stiles shot him a look as he opened the locker room door.

Scott sighed. “So do I stay away from her for a few days, or is it forever?”

“You know, this whole ‘women make you weak’ thing is a little too Spartan warrior for me. Look at it this way: Sp-”

“If you compare my love life to you and Spencer again, I might just punch you in the face.”

“Okay…” Stiles said, slowly. “You’re still learning, Scott.”

“Yeah, but you’ve seen Derek. I mean, the guy’s totally alone since Spencer decided that he wasn’t worth her time. What if I can, like, never be around Allison again?”

“Spencer didn’t ditch him because he was gonna kill her. She ditched him because he was an ass. You’re not an ass. You’ve just got to get in control. You’re not gonna end up like Derek, alright? We’ll figure it out. Okay?”

Scott shook his head, not agreeing.

Stiles sighed. “Come on let’s get out of here.”

Scott pushed away from the lockers. “Something smells terrible in here, anyway.” He said, picking up his backpack and throwing it over his shoulder.

“Really? In a boys’ locker room?” Stiles asked, sarcastically. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“No, it’s like something’s rotting or dying.” Scott modified, as he pushed open the door to the locker room.

Spencer was leaning against the wall next to the door. She jerked back when the door flew open. “Oh, God! What is that?” She exclaimed, plugging her nose shut.

Scott shot Stiles a pointed look. “Told you.” Both boys shrugged.

“Alright, Econ, right?” She asked them. The boys nodded and they headed off to Coach Finstock’s classroom.

Stiles had his arm around Spencer’s shoulders, just like he always did.

“Did you finish your paper?” Spencer asked Stiles.

Stiles nodded, but waved it off. “Finished it yesterday. Will you quit moping, Scott? I told you we’ll figure it out.”

“Stiles, leave him. Allison’s in our next class. Let him focus on trying not to let him emotions affect him so much.” Spencer advised. She looked to Scott. “What about you, Scotty? How’s your paper going?”

“It’s…going.” he sighed. “Not doing so well.”

The three entered the classroom. Spencer moved to the middle of the classroom, sitting next to Scott. Stiles went to sit behind her.

Scott stopped him, hissing his way. “Stiles, sit behind me.”

Spencer noticed Allison come into the classroom and try to move in Scott’s row. Only Stiles was too slow and Allison slammed her books down on the desk before Stiles could climb over it. Stiles let out a puff of air and sat in the seat behind Spencer. She looked to him, but shrugged her shoulders. It was out of their hands now.

“Hey.” Allison said, to Scott.

“Hey.” Scott said back.

“I haven’t seen you all day.”

Spencer rolled her eyes at Allison saying this. Spencer got bored trying to listen in so she turned around, crossed her arms over Stiles’ desk, and laid her head down on them.

Stiles did the same, facing her. “What’s up?” Stiles asked.

“Tired. No more late nights.”

“We weren’t even up late last night.”

“I was. I couldn’t sleep. It’s getting really hard to.” Spencer sat up straight. “I mean, now that I know what’s out there, and I can’t exactly defend myself yet. I used to get sleep, but then Derek and I stopped being ‘Derek and I’ and now doesn’t show up at night to stay with me anymore.”

“Derek spent the night?” Stiles asked, quickly, sitting up from his desk.

Spencer raised an eyebrow at him.

“Right, doesn’t matter.” Stiles said, shaking his head. “I could come sleep with you.”

“You could. But I don’t wanna do that. I mean, I bet we’re already testing the limits by living in the same house. I don’t think Pops would be comfortable with us sleeping in the same room.”

“It wasn’t a problem before. Why would it be now?”

“We’re dating now, Stiles. Pops might think we’re doing…things.” she said, nervously, unable to say what she was really thinking.

Stiles nodded, shying away. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Spencer jumped at the sound of Coach slamming a textbook on his desk. She turned to face the front.

“Let’s settle down.” Coach Finstock ordered. “Let’s start with a quick summary of last night’s reading.”

Spencer raised her hand just a little bit.

“Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading. Garner, of course you did. How about, uh…” he looked around the classroom. “McCall.”

Scott was playing dumb. He looked confused. “What?”

“The reading.” Coach said, moving to sit on the edge of his desk at the front of the classroom.

“Last night’s reading?”

“Nah, how about the uh, the reading of The Gettysburg Address?”

Spencer couldn’t help but snicker at this comment.

“What?” Scott questioned.

“That’s sarcasm.” The coach told him. “You familiar with the term ‘sarcasm,’ McCall?”

“Very.” Scott said, turning to look at his friends.

Stiles and Spencer showed a winning smile, knowing that he knew it all from them.

“Did you do the reading or not?”

“Um…” Scott started, flipping through his book.

Spencer groaned, knowing what the answer was going to be.

“I think I forgot.”

“Nice work, McCall. It’s not like you’re not averaging a ‘D’ in this class. Come on, buddy.” The coach begged. “You know I can’t keep you on the team if you have a ‘D’.”

Scott nodded, seeming calm.

Spencer knew otherwise, as she started to hear the beeping of Coach’s phone.

Stiles was watching his heart rate.

Spencer could feel the embarrassment and anger that was radiating from Scott’s body. Her own breathing then became hard to control. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on her own emotions instead of Scott’s. She grabbed the edges of her desk hard, until her knuckles turned white.

“How about you summarize, uh, the previous night’s reading?” Coach asked.

Scott shook his head. He couldn’t.

“No?”

The phone beeped faster.

“How about the night before that?”

Scott hung his head in shame.

“How about you summarize anything you’ve ever read in your entire life.”

“Scott,” Spencer whispered, so only he could head. Her was strained though. “Calm down. Please? You’re projecting.”

“No? A blog? How about, uh, how about the back of a cereal box? No? Or the adults-only warning from your favorite website that you visit every night? Anything? Thank you, McCall, thank you.” Coach slammed his fist on the desk a couple times.

Spencer jumped and scratched the underside of her desktop, confirming her fears. Her claws were out.

“Thank you, McCall! Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody. Next practice you can start with suicide runs.”

The beeps on the phone slowed.

“Unless that’s too much reading.”

Spencer furrowed her brow as her breathing returned to normal. She relaxed her fingers which once again were normal. She sighed, turned around, and opened her eyes to look at Stiles, wondering what happened.

Stiles jumped back a little bit, seeing her eyes.

Spencer looked at Stiles confused.

“Everybody else, settle down.” The coach said before continuing with the lesson.

Stiles would barely looking in Spencer’s direction, even when they were working on a couple questions together.

The class moved slowly for Spencer as she noticed how Stiles was basically avoiding her gaze. She sighed, wondering what was wrong.

When the bell rang, both had their things already packed up. Stiles jumped from his seat and grabbed Spencer’s arm, pulling her behind him.

Spencer waved Scott along. He looked back to Allison and waved quickly before following after his friends.

“Stiles, what’s going on?” Spencer questioned.

“Why don’t you tell me?” he suggested, stopping in front of a row of lockers.

Spencer was confused, as was Scott.

“Seriously?” he asked again.

“Stiles!” Spencer whispered. “What happened? Why are you treating me like I have the freaking plague?”

“Your eyes. They were yellow. Like Scott’s.”

“What?” She asked, pulling out her phone to use it as a mirror.

“Well, they aren’t now. But they were yellow.”

“Cool.” She said, quietly, trying to imagine herself with the same golden eyes that Scott had.

“Cool?” Stiles questioned. “Not cool.”

“Why not?” Spencer asked, not giving him a chance to answer. “Look, it’s probably just because I felt him change. Triggering the change in me, like with the wolfsbane from Derek’s sister’s grave. It’s Scott’s connection with me. I feel him change, especially if he’s projecting it.”

“Sorry!” Scott said, defensively.

“Speaking of.” Stiles said, wrapping an arm around Spencer’s shoulders and pulling her along down the hall.

Scott joined them on the other side of Stiles.

“It’s her.”

“What do you mean?” Scott asked.

“It’s Allison. Remember what you told us about the night of the full moon. You were thinking about her, right? About protecting her.”

Spencer and Scott were catching on, understanding what Stiles was saying. They both nodded.

“Remember the night of the first lacrosse game?”

“You heard her, Scott. Allison. You heard her talking to you, cheering you on. I heard it, too.” Spencer remembered.

“Yeah, I did.” Scott said.

“Well, so that’s what brought you back so that you could score. And then after the game in the locker room, you didn’t kill her. At least not like how you were trying to kill me.”

Scott glared at Stiles, wishing that he would get to the point.

Stiles sighed. “She brings you back, is what I’m saying.”

“No, but it’s not always true.” Scott admitted. “Because literally every time I’m kissing or touching her -”

“No.” Stiles interrupted. “That’s not the same. When you’re doing that, you’re just another hormonal teenager thinking about sex, you know?” Stiles said, purposefully tightening his grip around Spencer’s shoulders.

Spencer tried to hide her blush by scratching her nose.

Stiles looked pointedly at his wolfy friend. “You’re thinking about sex right now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Scott confessed, laughing. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Stiles told him. “Look, back in the classroom when she was holding your hand, that was different, okay?”

“What if she doesn’t make you weak?” Spencer submitted. “I think she actually gives you control. Derek used to say something about… Uh, an anchor.”

“You mean because I love her.” Scott said.

Spencer smiled, but Stiles moved on as if he hadn’t said anything.

“Exactly.” He said.

“Did I just say that?” Scott asked himself.

“Yes, you just said that.”

“I love her.” Scott repeated.

“That’s great. Now, moving on…” Stiles suggested.

“Stiles, stop.” Spencer ordered. “The boy just found his first love.” She smiled at Scott. “Well, you know, other than bacon.”

“I think I’m totally in love with her.” Scott told Stiles, trying to get him on his side.

“And that’s beautiful.” Stiles said, almost sarcastically. “Now, before you go off and write a sonnet, can we figure this out, please? Because you obviously can’t be around her all the time.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Scott said, as Stiles took him out of his realization.

Spencer was happy for her friend. She was curious as to what exactly he was feelings, wondering if she had felt the feeling herself. She tried honing in on his emotion, but it tired her out. She hadn’t gotten that far yet. She sighed, defeated.

Scott looked to her for a second almost as if he had felt her trying to grab ahold of his emotions.
Spencer shook her head slightly.

Scott looked to Stiles. “So what do I do?”

Stiles sighed, a little frustrated. “I don’t know.” He paused. “Yet.” He spun himself in a circle, taking in his surroundings, hoping that it would give him some sort of idea. He slowed facing his friends again.

“Oh, no. You’re getting an idea, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” Stiles said, confidently.

“Is this idea gonna get me in trouble?”

“Maybe.” Stiles admitted.

“Is this idea gonna cause me physical pain?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“Alright, boys, this is where we part. As much as I’d love to see Scott get hurt again, I really don’t want to get into any trouble. Plus, I still got some homework to get to.”

Stiles nodded and leaned forward, kissing her slowly.

Spencer blushed, realizing that Scott was just staring at them and pulled away as far as Stiles would let her.

“I’ll see you after work.” Stiles said to her, as if he didn’t care Scott was standing right there.

Spencer nodded slowly and turned the opposite way down the hall to her locker.