Backseat of a Greyhound Bus

Waking up bright and early on a Tuesday morning felt completely and utterly wrong, and Peter couldn’t figure out why. There was something missing in his equation of the day, and he couldn’t figure out what it was but something shifted in the world, something big had shifted out of place, and Peter had to figure out what it was or it’d bug him until he did.

Getting up out of bed was easy enough so he wasn’t feeling fatigued more than usual (being back from the dead had the side effect of wanting more sleep than the average human and werewolf). His water was working just fine as he slinked into his bathroom for his morning shower, and even got to double check when he went to brush his teeth so nothing needed to be fixed there.

Getting out of the bathroom, he went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of black boxer briefs to put on before grabbing a dark pair of Levi’s, and a dark blue Henley (Stiles had expressed that Peter needed a little more color in his wardrobe that wasn’t black, white, and grey so the genius got him a pair of Henley’s that were dark blue). He wanted to wear dark blue so when Stiles came to Derek’s loft that afternoon it’d, hopefully, shift them somewhere a little more private seeing as it’d been two weeks since they’d had sex, and, well, he was a creature of habit with needs that need to be met.

And, with that thought of the teenager, something flared up within him, and he couldn’t figure out what it was. What about Stiles was making his mind send off signal flares? The boy was fine seeing as Scott would have contacted him before now to let him know his best friend had been kidnapped.

Then came the ring of his cellphone, and a feeling of dread immediately pooled in his stomach. He stared at the communication device like it was the most daunting object in his whole apartment, and he couldn’t stomach to even touch it as Scott’s name flashed onto the screen to let him know that his foresight had been correct. Relaxing each of his muscles one by one, he picked up his phone, clicked the green circle, and said, “What?” into the device.

“Stiles is missing” were the first three words out of Scott’s mouth, and the proverbial shoe dropped in Peter’s mind as the piece fit into place of why today was wrong. It all made sense of why he woke up feeling wrong in every way possible - it’s because Stiles had left them all behind for some reason.

“Did you check his GPS?” Peter asked him wondering if anyone was tracking him currently. “He just reached Reno, I tried calling him, but he just turned it off” Scott answered back as, Peter would bet, he was standing in Stiles’ room. “I highly doubt any of the Reno Pack even knew he was there” Peter said as he rubbed his neck as he thought over what his next step was. “How did he even get that far that fast?” Scott asked him in a confused tone.

“His Jeep is still in the driveway?” Peter asked him trying to narrow down the options Stiles had of getting out of town that quickly. “Yeah, it’s still there, and John is trying to see if Stiles told any of his Jungle friends that he was leaving and why” Scott told through the phone. Peter started pacing as only two ways came to the forefront of his mind of just how Stiles could get anywhere fast.

Either a cab or the bus, and the latter seemed more likely than the former. “Alright, have Rafael check the bus schedules for the last 8 hours, and lets see if we can pin him down to 4 or less” Peter told him trying to give the Alpha as much information as he could. “Alright, and I’ll see if we can find another way of tracking him that isn’t by his cellphone” Scott said as he started to feel a bit more calmer over the phone.

Of course Scott would take anyone in the pack’s help just to get his best friend back to him - he’d even stoop to using Peter’s help just to get to him seeing as Peter and Stiles had been close as of late which left Peter with another question.

Why did Stiles leave? He promised Peter he’d never leave him no matter what, and yet, he went back on his promise to him, so, it had to be something important in order for the seventeen year old boy to leave him without a note or anything to indicate that he resented Peter in any way which left him with knowing Stiles still loved him and wanted him in his life, but something major had happened to where he couldn’t be around his pack at the moment.

There wasn’t a big bad in town that wasn’t Peter, and Kate Argent had been dispatched several months before leaving the other eighteen members of their pack (human parents and best friends included) alive and well enough. So it couldn’t be that so what was it?

Throughout the rest of the day and afternoon everyone gathered as much information as they could before they all met at Derek’s loft to discuss what they found out about what could have made Stiles leave, and just where he was going.

Nobody questioned why Peter was pacing the length of the room at that current moment while they all sat down in various places throughout the open space of Derek’s apartment. Some were on the couches others on the staircase leading to the bedrooms, and some were at the “War Table” (Stiles called it that after the defeat of the Darach).

“Okay, what do we have? Derek?” Scott said as he looked toward Derek for any information that he could provide. “He wasn’t kidnapped so we can count that out” Derek told him what he found out thus far. “Good, that means no one’s come into our territory yet so we can rule that out” Scott said nodding to him.

“Lydia?” Scott asked looking to her for her input. “He didn’t leave a note or anything else to suggest why he left, but he circled May 21st and January 11th on his calendar which means he could be traveling up until that time” Lydia provided while giving Scott his friend’s calendar with the two months marked with sticky notes. “Find out why they’re nine months apart” Scott told her while handing it back to her.

“Peter?” Scott asked looking to him. “Everything was normal up until today, he didn’t indicate he was leaving or if there was something wrong with him” Peter told him as he recounted the last two weeks of them being together alone just watching movies, and cuddling together on the couch and his bed. Everything was just normal, and, maybe, that was what was wrong. “If you remember anything that was off, let me know” Scott told him with a reassuring tone. Peter just nodded in response.

“Kira?” Scott looked to his girlfriend to see what she’s gathered. “He didn’t take a cab so it’s more than likely that he took the bus since they run for longer periods and cost less” she told him giving him a map with the locations of two bus stations circled in red on it. It was between Greyhound and Lakeland bus lines that he could have taken which was, thankfully, the easy part of finding where Stiles could have gone. “Thanks, look into the Lakeland bus stops in the last eight hours” Scott said to her as he kept the map with him.

“Liam?” Scott asked his new beta. “None of his Jungle friends were told anything about what he was going to be doing, but they said he hadn’t been drinking a lot of alcohol for the last few months - even when they said they’d buy it for him” Liam told him as he leaned forward on the stairs. “Alright, that’s something. When Stiles parties, he does it all the way” Scott told him as he remembered going out into the woods at the time he was still a newly bitten werewolf and Stiles had gotten a bottle of Jack from his Dad’s liquor cabinet.

“Jordan?” Scott looked to the Deputy of the pack. “I checked with the cab companies, and, as expected, there wasn’t any long distance transactions” Jordan answered with the little knowledge he had gained. Scott nodded to him, “Check into the stops the Greyhound bus line made in the last 8 hours” Scott told him while his anxiety seemed to up a little which made him start rolling up the map, and gripping it like it was a stress ball.

“John?” Scott asked looking at a much older man than just a couple days ago. His son leaving was hitting him hard, and it was plain as day for everyone in the pack, human or otherwise, that he was very worried about his son and the reason he had left. “Like Peter had said, everything was normal, but he did start cooking me meals that had a bit of red meat in it - said a little every once and a while wouldn’t kill me” John told Scott as his voice cracked a bit, but Melissa came over and started stroking his back soothingly to help calm him down. “That’s odd, Stiles basically made everything of John’s vegan” Jordan said as he remembered the countless salads that walked through the station’s front door. “If you remember anything else, just let me know” Scott told him in a soothing voice hoping it’d give the Sheriff some reassurance.

“Mom?” Scott asked looking to the woman that took her place beside the man she had been falling for, for the last several years. “He didn’t come by the hospital to talk to me about anything really important, found him watching the babies like he does off and on since the Nogitsune took hold of him a couple times this week though” Melissa told him offering up all the information she had to her son. Scott remembered when that started, he had caught his friend doing it as well, and questioned him about it.

“Dude, this is like the third time I’ve found you looking at the babies this week” Scott said to him in a friendly, joking voice. Stiles just smirked at him a bit as he looked to a little boy who was waving his arms in the air excitedly, “I’m a little jealous of them I guess. They have no worries in this world other than sleeping, eating, and pooping...sometimes...I want to go back to that stage. Where there’s no darkness or light, just knowledge of knowing there could be someone out there who loves me” Stiles told him before he tore his eyes away from the little lives.

“Let’s go get a burger, huh? Let you get two boxes or curly fries?” Scott said trying to distract his friend from the darkness that has yet to leave his soul and heart. Just because Stiles was able to close the door in his mind, doesn’t mean that all of the darkness surrounding him has evaporated - it just became a still void that surrounded Stiles everyday, and affected him some days more than others.

“Alan?” Scott asked looking to his boss and Emissary. “He didn’t come to me for anything that wasn’t our lessons, he also didn’t indicate that he was going through anything that wasn’t in his realm or normal” Alan answered completely aware of his Apprentice’s habit of visiting Beacon Hills’ newest additions ever since the Chaos spirit had been ripped out of him. Stiles would sometimes come to the Veterinarian with excuses to play with the newest animal additions as well, but he’d been doing that since Scott came to work for him.

“Braeden?” Scott asked looking to the mercenary. “Called in a few favors, I have people looking out for him in New York, Florida, and Maryland” she told him from beside Derek who had his arm around her waist. The two had been official mates since just two months previous, and Scott hadn’t objected to it - the more member’s they had in the pack, the better it was for them. “Thanks for doing that” Scott said to her expressing his gratitude for her doing that. “No problem, at least the favors are good for something” she told him looking as if it was no biggie. Scott just nodded to her.

“Malia?” Scott asked looking to her. Up until four months ago she was Stiles’ girlfriend so he had to cover every base just incase something even as minut as a fight between them could have caused Stiles to leave had happened. “Just because my boyfriend leaves me for my Dad doesn’t mean we fight all the time, no fights happened in the last two weeks” she told him giving him a bit of attitude which was quickly put out of the equation when Scott flashed his Alpha eyes at her. “Good” Scott quipped at her before turning his attention to someone else. Malia hadn’t exactly taken finding her boyfriend in bed with her Dad the next day after they’d rolled in the sheets very well, and has since been a jealous ex-girlfriend wanting nothing more than to ruin what Peter and Stiles started building just to get Stiles back.

“Coach?” Scott asked looking to his Lacrosse Coach who’d been brought into the pack due to his and Natalie Martin’s intimate involvement. “You think Bilinski would tell me anything? I got an entire history on the male circumcision, and I teach Economics. Yes, I still haven’t gotten over that little fact” Finstock said as he sat beside Natalie holding her said while she looked about ready to bust out laughing. Her little giggling fit she was having at the moment wasn’t making the matter any better, “And you are not helping” Bobby said looking at her with an “Are you serious right now?” look which made her bust out laughing. “I’m sorry dear, but that boy is always good for a laugh” she said while laughing and trying to catch her breath.

“Natalie?” Scott asked looking to her as she was just right beside Coach Finstock. “Nothing unusual dear, he and Lydia always went shopping for something or other, baked, cooked, or watched Real Housewives together. Their usual thing on Thursday afternoons” she told him getting a bit worried herself now that she really thought on it. “It’s okay, we’ll find him” Scott told her as he was about to ask his girlfriend’s parents what they found.

It was around 8 pm now, and a phone rang out. Everyone in the pack was there so it could only be one person, and everyone started checking their phones to see if Stiles had called or sent them a text, and, one by one, they all started putting their phones away besides Peter.

Peter unlocked his phone to find a text from Stiles:

i luv u, im sry i broke my prms

Peter knew Stiles wouldn’t keep his phone on long so he quickly tried to get his location, but it failed signaling that Stiles had turned his phone back off. “What does it say?” Scott asked as everyone looked to the man that was now standing still in the middle of the loft. “It says, “I love you, I’m sorry I broke my promise”” Peter relayed to everyone as he kept staring at his phone just trying to force it to show him another text from his mate, but nothing else appeared and he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

“What promise?” Lydia asked him coming over to rub his back soothingly to try and help him calm down some in order to tell them. “Four months ago, he...he promised to never leave me...no matter what” Peter told her even though he knew the other’s were in hearing range. It had been a promise that he’d had wanted to keep between just Stiles and himself, but it was forced out into the open as just more information that was gathered.

“So that means Stiles had a very good reason for leaving. We’ll get him back Peter, no matter what we will” Scott told him looking his maker in the eyes with a serious expression that promised the return of his mate.

At that moment Derek had taken his wallet out in order to start ordering pizza for the whole pack as no one was leaving his loft that night when, funnily enough, Derek found something out really quickly. One, it was Stiles’ scent that was a little stronger than usual. Two, it was a note on the back of a clown picture where his credit card usually sat, “Thanks a million, I need this where I’m going” Derek read out to the pack making them all turn to him.

Derek’s stoic faced turned into a pissed off one, “That idiot stole my credit card!” he shouted out to the pack making them all bust into hysterical laughter.