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It was too soon after the Nogitsune. Any time at all would have been unacceptable- it would never be okay for Stiles to go missing, Scott would never not panic, his stomach would always twist in horror at not knowing if his best friend- his brother- would be safe, would be okay.
But this was only two months after they had gotten him back. After, after everything. Stiles had barely had time to recover from being possessed, and it seemed that none of them had had any time to breathe. And so when they finally tracked down the monster in the middle of the woods and found Stiles dazed and scared and beaten and bruised again, it was almost unbearable. Scott let Derek take the lead on the fighting; his first move was towards Stiles, putting himself between his friend and the danger, checking him frantically for signs of more serious or internal injuries, and, automatically, laying his hand on Stiles’ arm to drain away some of the pain that was evident in his face.
“No!” Stiles said, and he struggled to move himself away. It almost sounded like he was mad at Scott, and that didn’t make sense. He pulled his arm away with a forceful drag, and Scott was surprised enough to let go.
“Are you okay?” Scott asked him. “What did it do?”
“UNCLLLLEAN FILLLLTH,” the monster roared from behind Scott. Stiles was watching it with wide eyes over his shoulder, and losing what little color he had in his face. Scott turned to see Derek pushing himself in its path as it struggled to get by him to where Scott and Stiles were. “I HAVVVE NO DISPUTE WITH YOU, WOLLLLVES, BUT YOU MUST LLLET ME CLLLEANSE THE FILLLTH. LLLET ME BY!”
Satisfied that Stiles was at least alive, if probably concussed, Scott threw himself into the fray before those sharp claws could do too much damage to Derek. They made short work of it, together. The thing should have been a lot harder to take down, but it seemed so focused on getting past them, to where Stiles was collapsed against a tree, that it didn’t put enough effort into defending itself. With Scott there to block the path and take it’s blows, Derek managed to claw a deep gash in its neck, deep enough to take it down with a gurgle.
“Damn,” Scott said, crouching over it and trying to reach out with his senses to see if it was actually dead, or if there was a possibility of it coming back. “What is this thing?”
“No idea,” Derek said gruffly. “But I’ll take care of it for now.” He nodded over at Stiles.
Scott didn’t hesitate. “We’ll have to research it later,” he said, kneeling beside Stiles again. He would definitely make sure they made researching it a priority. That thing had seemed so fixated on Stiles, and if there were more of them out there…
“I’m okay,” Stiles told him, before Scott could say anything else. “I just, I need a minute.”
Scott frowned. He didn’t like the uneven hitch in Stiles’ panting breaths, and he could smell a cloying scent of blood, more than just his visible scrapes could account for. He reached for the bottom of Stiles’ shirt.
“I’m fine, Scott,” Stiles said, moving his hand to block him.
“You’re not. You’re bleeding,” Scott said. “What did it do?”
Stiles reluctantly moved his shirt up to flash Scott a quick look at his chest. There was some intricate symbol half-carved in there, and it looked inflamed and painful, with some dribbles of blood still oozing out a little, but it didn’t look too deep, thankfully.
“Nothing else?”
Stiles huffed air out of his nose. “Nah, you caught up to us quick enough, thankfully.”
“No, not quick enough,” Scott murmured, and he took Stiles gently by the wrist again.
“I said no,” Stiles told him in a firm voice that again, almost sounded mad at him. Scott looked up to meet his gaze, and that was his angry face. It didn’t make sense, and Scott’s mind scattered back to reconsider the time Stiles was missing- how long had it actually been, the minutes each seemed to drag into hours- and what that creature might have had the time to do to his friend before they were able to get to him.
“Why not?” Scott asked him. “I wasn’t able to keep that thing from hurting you, this is the least I can do. I don’t want to see you in pain.”
“I’m fine,” Stiles said. “I’m not…” he didn’t sound angry now, but he sounded frantic, frustrated. “I can handle the pain, Scott. You don’t have to take it. It’s not your fault that thing went after me, and you saved me, okay, you’re already my big hero, you don’t have to do this too.”
“But I want to,” Scott told him earnestly. “You’re hurting, Stiles, and I can fix that.”
“By taking it yourself? No, I’m not going to let you do that!”
“Stiles…” Scott trailed off, uncertain of what to say. Stiles was blinking back tears now, and he wasn’t sure if it was from pain, or emotion, or what, but he couldn’t stand it. He had to help, he had to find some way. What was the point of his power, what was the point of trying to be a hero, if his best friend was suffering right in front of him, and he couldn’t even do anything?
It was too soon after the Nogitsune. Stiles had suffered too much already, everyone had suffered too much. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.
“No, Scott,” Stiles repeated. “I never, ever want to see you in pain because of me again. Do you understand?”
And Stiles sounded about as desperate as he felt. But at least Scott was, in fact beginning to understand. “Stiles, you know I don’t blame you for that, right?” he asked. “It wasn’t you, it wasn’t your fault. I know that wasn’t your fault, I know you would never hurt me like that. You don’t have to feel guilty.” They hadn’t really had a conversation like this, after. He hadn’t thought they needed to.
“It’s not about feeling guilty, Scott. Well, not just about guilt. I just- why should you take my pain? I don’t want to see me suffering any more than you want to see me suffering.”
“Well,” Scott said, “At least you know how I feel. Because I hate it, Stiles, I hate seeing you like this, and knowing there’s something I can do about it, but not being able to. I know I can handle it. Please, please, let me help you.”
“I can handle it,” Stiles promised. “I can. We’ll get out of here, we’ll get me home, and your mom can take care of me and slip me some of those good pain meds, and then nobody’s going to have to feel anything except pleasantly numb.”
“Okay,” Scott said. “We’ll get you out of here. I’ll get you to my mother. But we have to go back through the woods first, and that’s going to hurt, especially if you won’t let me do a bridal carry.”
“I’m not going to let you do a bridal carry,” Stiles said immediately.
“Okay,” Scott said again. “Do you trust me?” Stiles nodded minutely, and Scott once more cautiously wrapped his hand around his wrist. “Just hold on a second,” he told Stiles before he could start up his protests again. “Look, neither of us wants the other to have the pain, right? But we, we’re best friends, we share everything. We’ve always shared everything. Let me take just a little bit. Just enough to get you back through the woods, back home. I promise, I won’t take too much. But please, let me share just a little of it with you. I know you would want to do the same for me.”
“Scott-”
“Please, Stiles, let me do this. I need to help.” Stiles’ expression changed, and Scott knew some of his desperation must have been shining through, and all of a sudden, Allison was hanging between them. “You trust me, right?” Scott pressed. “I promise you, I won’t take too much. I won’t hurt myself. Just let me share it.” Stiles didn’t say anything, but his shoulders slumped, and he nodded slightly. Scott started to pull the pain from him, slowly, carefully, deliberately.
He really did want to pull more- he just wanted to suck all the pain away, until Stiles didn’t have to feel it anymore, until he was the only one who had to do any suffering- but he kept to his word, and just pulled a little. He smiled at Stiles, a small smile, but an easy one, one that showed he was okay, that it wasn’t affecting him too much.
“Thanks,” Stiles said, and gave a little smile back. “And thanks for the rescue, though I swear, I had just about convinced him to let me go with just the power of my persuasiveness.”
“I figured,” Scott said. “Thanks for letting me swoop in and pretend to be the hero anyway.”
“I know it’s good for your ego.”
Scott huffed out a laugh, and his smile was still genuine in spite of the pain coursing up his arm. Reluctantly, he stopped pulling the pain, knowing that he was still leaving Stiles with a fair amount, but knowing Stiles trusted him not to pull more than he promised he would. “Ready to head back now?” he asked. “Your actual pain medication awaits.”
“Thanks,” Stiles said again, as Scott carefully pulled the two of them to their feet.
Scott almost said ‘anytime’ automatically- because really, no matter what happened to them or between them, he would always be willing to do anything for Stiles- but he caught himself, because he figured that that wasn’t what Stiles wanted to hear, and it really wasn’t what he wanted to express, anyway.
“No problem,” he said instead, taking his friend’s weight as they walked slowly through the trees. “You know I’ve got you.”