bakerstreet | ( other-wordly )

Dear Diary - day one of not being a murdering evil trickster fox was not as successful as I would have hoped. Pretty sure Dad is going to keep me under house arrest for the rest of my life, or at least until college. Right now, just hoping things are going to get better. You know, when we've killed my now apparent evil twin. Which kinda sucks because that was my original body and I'm not really all that sure if this is a real body or not but Melissa's convinced so I'll just go with that. I think I'm going to take a nap now, and after that... maybe call Cora? Still not all that sure what's going on between the two of us, and well, again the whole evil nogitsune thing probably threw a really big wrench in all the whatever. Especially since I think I did actively try and kill both her and her brother. Huh. Well, yeah, sleep first.

The above is written on a journal entry in a notebook that is still open next to him in his room as he proceeds to sleep through an entire day.

Cora tries not to be obnoxious with regards to trying to find out how Stiles is doing. She keeps her distance, knowing that she can't just force herself into his time with his dad, not when she doesn't even know what they are or where they stand. But she wants to. Now that he's him again, all she wants to do is pin herself to his side to make sure this never happens again, and it's too strong a feeling for her to just ignore.

He's supposed to just be a friend. A friend she may have made out with once or twice. A friend who she cares about, possibly more than she's cared about anyone that wasn't family ever. There's something about him that pulls her in, even if he can be incredibly frustrating, and she doesn't know why. In fact, there's a part of her that may even like that he's frustrating.

How can someone enjoy frustration?

Regardless, during that day of sleep, she climbs through his window, just as the sun is starting to set. She probably should have gone to the front door and knocked, but this seemed faster. This didn't bother his dad. She stops when she sees him sleeping, not wanting to disturb him, but she also doesn't leave. She reaches for the journal, closing it without reading it and placing it on his desk before sitting next to him on the bed. He seems almost peaceful like this, even though she knows his thoughts must be anything but.

There's a small pause, before reaching forward and brushing his fingers against his temple gently. It's so much easier to touch him when he's unconscious. She doesn't have to worry so much if he's worrying about what it means. Or with her worrying about if it should mean something. She can just offer comfort and he can respond to it, without there being anything in between.

He feels cold. She wants to fix it.

Stiles stirs at that, feeling the touch against his skin. There's a quick intake of breath, his eyes blink open and he looks up at her. "Cora?"

He was cold, tired, and in pain, but seeing her still managed to bring a hesitant smile to his face.

She can feel his pain too, but she can't imagine why he wouldn't be. It's both physical and emotional, lingering in the air in a way that crawls under her skin, but she doesn't leave, wanting to try and dissuade that if she can. She smiles back, her fingers brushing against his skin again as she does.

"Hey." Then there's a small, self-conscious pause, her hand pulling back. "I didn't mean to wake you. I can go, if you'd rather ... "

"No, stay. I um... I just didn't want to sleep at Scott's place." He rolled onto his side, shivering a bit and going to pull the blanket a bit higher up on him. "You doing okay?"

She raises an eyebrow at that. "I think that's supposed to be my line." Because Stiles was the one recovering, after all. Her hand stays where it is, brushing lightly against that spot on his temple, and trying not to wince when she feels him shiver. "You're cold."

"Yeah, well, side effect from having a new body willed into existence crawling out of a floor." His sarcasm was at least in check. "I'm sure I'll warm up soon."

Cora pauses for a moment, watching him. She probably shouldn't. It's probably a step further than they should take but she doesn't want him to be cold either. She pulls back, shedding her leather jacket and letting it drop to the floor before kicking out of her boots as well. Then she turns back to him, reaching for the blankets and pulling them back to slide under them with him.

"Come here."

No, you don't get a choice, Stiles.

"um... okay?" He watched, not really sure at first what she was doing, but he let her join him under the covers and moved closer. "You doing the thing where people who are like, trapped out in the desert huddle together to keep warm with their body temperature?"

"Werewolves usually run a little warmer than humans do." So that would be a yes. "Faster metabolisms. It might help." She inches closer when he lets her, trying not to shiver at the press of cold against her skin. She curls around him, doing her best to press her body against his. It's the closest she's ever been to him, and she's trying not to seem anxious about it, just focusing on warming him up.

He shifted a bit to get comfortable, her body against his making him the little spoon in this movement. It took him a moment to find a good place to put his arms, and finally he just settled.

"You're right," he said after a moment. "You're really warm." And then he shook his head, because yeah, that sounded smoother in his head.

She smirks a bit at that, her arm tucking around him as she lets her cheek rest against his shoulder. She closes her eyes for a moment, taking in his scent, relief sinking through her where for the first time in weeks, there wasn't something that bothered her about it. The anxiety and the stress are still there, but they're in much smaller doses - less like Stiles is constantly fighting an internal battle with himself.

"And you're like an ice cube," she exhales slowly, trying to time the rise and fall of her chest with the soft press of his breathing.

"Sorry." He closed his eyes though, and his hand sneaked up to clasp hers, and then he realized that she would be able to feel the pain and he let it go, not wanting her to hurt because of him. "I could always see if I can find a heated blanket somewhere."

She doesn't let his hand go far. She can feel the pain already, it's coming off him in waves. He may not want her to hurt because of him, but she doesn't want him to suffer alone, either. She slips her hand into his, pulling it back with hers against his chest.

"No. This is good."

He looks down at their hands clasped a moment, and then he squeezes it gently. He's quiet a moment, then chuckles. "You know, we should work on avoiding these situations where a powerful creature tries to kill us for their own purposes." Seeing that it wasn't that long ago Cora was the one in the bed sick and dying.

She laughs a bit at that, comfortable and warm tucked against him and she likes it a bit more than she should. She doesn't know what that means but she just likes to be close to him, surrounded by him, in a way, and she just wants to keep him close.

"Probably. Might save everyone else a lot of trouble."

He liked it too, a lot. He would like it more if he wasn't basically convinced that the reason he was cold like this was that he was dying. That somehow the nogitsune was stealing his life force or whatever and it was only going to get worse.

"Cora... I don't want to die."

Her eyes open at that, and she squeezes his hand tightly, picking her head up from the back of his shoulder and leaning over it so that she's looking at him. "You're not going to die." She's not going to let you, by the power of her will alone.

He purses his lips, and shakes his head slightly. "It could be.... I mean, it could be that killing him kills me too. I don't know how this works. But you guys have to. I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me."

"Hey. Look at me." She tugs on his hand turning him around to face her more. They're not going to be as warm this way, but he needs to see how serious she is about this. Once he's facing her, she moves her hand up to cup his face so that she's meeting his eyes. "No one else is going to get hurt. And you are not going to die."

He gave her a hesitant smile. "May not get a choice in that. But I'm all for trying."

"It's not a choice." She keeps her eyes on his, and this close, this tangled in him it's a lot more intense than she thinks it should be, but she doesn't pull back of flinch away. "You don't choose to survive, you either do or you don't. Don't give it another option - once you do, you're taking that choice away from you."

He listened, and while his head and brain would point out all the flaws in that logic and the breaking points and all the ways this could go wrong, it was the determination in her voice that had him nodded. "Okay... I don't know how to, but we'll figure it out."

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pick a verse, any verse

canon AU

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