maybe the real supernatural magnet was Stiles all along

[threeisapattern]

The thing about kanimas is that they're supposed to be super-rare, maybe one-in-a-generation. Most people, if they get the werewolf bite and their body rejects it, they die. It takes a special kind of mental unwellness to turn into a kanima instead. And Stiles has already been there, done that when Jackson transformed into one back in Beacon Hills.

So someone explain to him why he's staring one down in the middle of an otherwise deserted park. (So he was practicing some soccer drills on his own and it got late. So sue him if he kind of doesn't want to suck when he has a cute guy and the cute guy's family in addition to his dad vowing to watch him play.) For a second, he genuinely wonders if this is some kind of waking nightmare, and he glances down to count his fingers as a check (ten, no more and no less). In that time, it gets in way too close, and Stiles straight-out sprints for his bag to grab his phone and the little vial of emergency mountain ash he keeps with him at all times.

He has Billy's number dialed and his thumb on the top of the vial to flick it open when he feels a slash against his back, meaning he has a few seconds before his body stops responding. He hits the call button and throws the opened vial in the air as his muscles go slack and he drops to the ground. He doesn't think anything breaks, but he lands on his shoulder painfully hard and that's something he's going to have to deal with if he survives the next few minutes. Through some miracle of luck, desperation, and probably magic, the ash lands in an unbroken circle around his body, and he squeezes his eyes shut and believes with all of his might that a handful of wood ash has the power to protect him from the supernatural.

It works. The kanima hisses as it slashes at the barrier a couple times, and as Stiles watches it, he realizes that there's a voice trying to talk to him from his phone. It landed about a foot from his head and he must've managed to hit speaker before he dropped it, thank god, because there's absolutely no way he could pick it up right now.

"Hey, Billy? I really need your help right now, like - SOS."

Comments

[blastshieldlevitate]

Who knew that all they had to do was make out and it would solve pretty much all of their problems? It's something Billy plans to bring up again when they aren't in mild peril. Are they in peril? As long as he stays focused, the kanima won't even have a chance to think about hurting anyone. Stiles can talk to him and Billy can be his magical body guard. It's not great, but it's a better plan then they had before.

"I'm sure you know what you are doing, but if he gets close to you, I'm blasting him."

[threeisapattern]

“Thanks.” Billy gets a kiss on the cheek for being cute and overprotective.

It seems like probably the fastest way to get to the kanima now is to believe he can get to the kanima fast, which does actually work, more or less. At which point, he guesses this plan is kind of up to him.

Talking to the kanima is weird, in no small part because he can feel echoes of its feelings from the link Billy’s set u. It’s reacting more on animal instincts than human ones, which is what Stiles ends up focusing on - trying to help it return to a human way of thinking. He’s not a were, but he understands the concept of anchors, finding something to hold onto your humanity with. He’s not confident they’re doing great at finding one, but all of the sudden the kanima hisses at him and curls up on the ground, and then there’s a teen in front of him instead of a reptile - and hopefully that means there’s a human in real life now, too.

[blastshieldlevitate]

It's interesting being on this side of things, just watching as Stiles takes the lead. If he's not too busy with the task at hand, he would likely be feeling the admiration Billy feels while seeing him work, getting through to this kid on levels that Billy never would have even considered. He can't help being impressed.

When the teen shrinks down, an absolutely horrifying experience, Billy looks back at Stiles, "I guess now we see if it worked."

It doesn't take much effort to take them back to the real world, it was always there, like background noise but he ignored it, once he switches his focus, he easily moves them back into their own heads.

Even though he knew no time had passed, it is still always a weird experience to come back to where he was before. Like the most intense case of deja vu. Thankfully the teen stayed human here too, not that he really cares at all about that. He's more concerned with Stiles, who is still on the ground, still out of reach.

"Is the barrier still up?"

[threeisapattern]

Back in The Real World(TM), Stiles is still in pain and still can’t really move - some serious effort and concentration gets him a finger twitch, but he can’t manage more than that.

“Gimme a minute to work on that.” Normally, he just breaks the barrier physically, but he should be able to do it mentally, right? He just has to stop believing it’s capable of protecting him. “Do me a favor, okay? Go make sure that guy’s human and give him my number, cause we need to make sure he has a pack that can help him.”

Ugh. Being responsible sucks, but he’d really rather make sure they have this shit sorted out tonight instead of waiting for something bad to happen again.

[blastshieldlevitate]

If Stiles could see Billy's reaction, he would probably notice how much he really doesn't want to step away, to take any of his attention off of his boyfriend. But he also recognizes that this is something Stiles knows a lot more about, and if this is how they solve it, then he's not going to argue.

He goes over to the teen, who is thankfully still human, and probably really freaked out, and really still needs therapy, and offers Stiles' number. He also makes sure he is okay, because Billy has manners and even though he is distracted, he's not going to be rude. He thinks he recognizes the guy from school, he hopes that doesn't mean they will run into each other, he still hasn't completely forgiven him for hurting Stiles, even if he wasn't fully aware of it.

Once a reasonable amount of polite time as passed, Billy makes his way back over to Stiles.

"Now that we've established the lizard is going to make a full recovery, how do we fix this?" He motions to the circle, he hasn't tried to cross it again, the first time was educational enough that he'll wait until there is some kind of sign it's fixed before retrying.

[threeisapattern]

To be honest, Stiles didn't really want Billy to leave him, either, but he recognizes that they can't afford for the kanima to panic and run away and become a problem for another day. He could turn again and hurt someone else, or someone with way more sinister intentions could discover that a potential tool of violence is running around free.

While Billy's occupied, he focuses on the ash circle, on how it's powered by his sincere belief that it protects him. Now, he sincerely believes that it doesn't protect him, that it's just a handful of dust that poses no more barrier to Billy than the grass does.

"You can pass it."

[blastshieldlevitate]

The words are barely out of Stiles mouth and Billy is already rushing to him. It probably speaks to the level of trust they share that Billy doesn't hesitate to cross the ash once Stiles tells him it's safe. As promised, nothing happens as he steps into the circle. He kneels down to further assess the damage, trying not to touch Stiles much only because he doesn't want to make it worse.

"What do I do? How do I help?"

[threeisapattern]

He didn't fall in the most comfortable or dignified position, and it really hasn't been helping him to have to stay in place this whole time. Not that it would have helped him to be attacked more by the kanima, either.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder, so if we could get my weight off that?"

[blastshieldlevitate]

Okay, he can do this. Gently, he moves Stiles onto his back, and then props him up some so that he is resting (hopefully) more comfortably on Billy's knees. His shoulder looks, pretty gross, popped out of place and at an odd angle. He puts his hand in Stiles hair, unsure what else he can do.

"Should I call the police?...Should I call your dad?"

[threeisapattern]

“I don’t want to figure out how to explain the temporary paralysis to the cops or EMTs.”

It’s a pain. Well, maybe not as much of a pain as the actual dislocated shoulder, but still a pain. “ - If you call my dad, we have to explain what happened to him.”

Which. He doesn’t love that idea, either, even if he also doesn’t love the idea of lying to his dad again.

[blastshieldlevitate]

So they are stuck. He puts his hand on Stiles uninjured shoulder, squeezing it slightly. He wishes he knew more spells, that he could at least take Stiles pain away.

”How long does the paralysis last?”

[threeisapattern]

"Hard to know for sure. It lasts longer if it gets into your blood, and he definitely caught me with a claw. I could kinda move my finger a little, though - that's a good sign."

He blinks up at Billy. "Still sure you wanna be my boyfriend? Apparently I suck at staying out of trouble."

[blastshieldlevitate]

"Do you need first aid? I'm sure you've got a kit on you somewhere. I could probably muddle my way through it."

He feels incredibly useless so far, being able to do nothing but watch as his boyfriend suffers.

"I'd argue we both have that problem." Small smile, he runs his thumb over the shoulder he's holding. "It'll take more than that to change my mind."

[threeisapattern]

It’s not that he really expected Billy to reconsider, but it’s still nice to hear he’s not interested in calling this off just because Stiles might be a magnet for trouble. He smiles back up at Billy, which is about all he can do right now.

“Yeah, I’ve still got the first aid kit in the Jeep if you want to grab that for the claw marks.”

[blastshieldlevitate]

That means leaving again, which he doesn’t particularly want to do. Not when Stiles has literally no way to protect himself.

”I think I’ll wait a minute. Infection shouldn’t set in this quickly, right?”

[threeisapattern]

It's not like he really wants to push Billy away, either. He's pretty comfortable sitting with his head in Billy's lap - or, at least, more comfortable than he was a couple minutes ago.

"Nah, I think we got some time."

[blastshieldlevitate]

He relaxes slightly, hearing that he doesn’t have to argue with Stiles about leaving again. His hand keeps rubbing Stiles uninjured shoulder. He’s glad they aren’t sharing a mind anymore, he doesn’t want Stiles to know how badly he wants to hold him or kiss him, to somehow make him feel better, to feel safe. He tries to push that aside and remember how Stiles helped him when he needed it. How he distracted him.

”I think it’s my turn to plan our next date.”

[threeisapattern]

“Did I have a turn? Because if you’re counting tonight, then I refuse to take responsibility for tonight being a really shitty date.”

It’s not his fault he got attacked by a kanima and had to call for help.

[blastshieldlevitate]

"I’m just considering the facts. We are out after hours, one of us dressed up," Motions to his hero getup. "Random make out session. All signs of a date."

He moves his hand back to Stiles, placing his hand on his bicep this time instead of his shoulder.

[threeisapattern]

“Oh Jesus,” he says, with a theatrical groan of dismay. “You’re right. This is the worst date ever. I can’t even kiss you.”

[blastshieldlevitate]

"I'm concerned for your own self preservation if that is the most concerning thing about tonight." Somehow he looks too fond when he says it.

"I'm starting to think our next date should be a quiet night at my house, hanging out and researching protection magic."

[threeisapattern]

“It’s a pretty big thing for a date, though.”

He huffs out a sigh. “Get your face down here so ai can kiss you? Then we can discuss second date ideas.”

[blastshieldlevitate]

"Now who is the bully?" He smiles into the kiss, partially lifting Stiles to meet him halfway, it's not perfect, and pretty lopsided for how Stiles had his head in Billy's lap, but it has the same effect as the others. He's still smiling even when they pull away.

[threeisapattern]

He grins.

“Maybe we can save this date after all. As soon as I get control of my body back. And put my shoulder where it’s supposed to be.”

So, maybe not.

[blastshieldlevitate]

"What does it say about us that the hospital won't come close to being the weirdest location this date has taken us to?" Yes, he fully intends to still take Stiles to the doctor as soon as he can walk. A dislocated shoulder is much easier to explain than this.