InsaneJournal

Scott wasn’t sure why he would have been skeptical when Stiles had mentioned that he worked at the Great Library of Alexandria. It probably wasn’t the library, maybe it was just named after it or something.

Except… no, nope, he was pretty sure this was THE Great Library of Alexandria. He said as much to the curly-haired girl at the front desk, when he walked into the building and almost collided with said front desk because he had been too busy staring up at the ceiling. At least said curly-haired girl hadn’t given him a stink eye about it but he had immediately apologized and said he was here to see his best friend, and that he was new and understanding dawned on her face.

By the time Stiles would be freed from his shift to approach the front desk, Scott had gotten plenty of knowledge about the place and its history, a confirmation that it was definitely that library.

Stiles wasn’t expecting to find Scott talking to Nancy when he finished up his shift and headed back out the front. It had been a pretty boring however many hours putting books back on shelves. But he’d learned to enjoy the quieter moments around this place. And he had a couple more books on the growing list of ones he wanted to read now, too.

“Hey man,” he stopped next to his friend beside the desk. “Hey Nancy,” he tacked on.

“I didn’t know you were coming by.” Not that Scott needed to announce his presence or anything. They’d been seeing a fair bit of each other since Scott first showed up, though Stiles had also done his best to spend as much time as he could with his future-daughter before she disappeared. Given how this place worked, there was every chance they’d never actually meet her. Which kind of sucked, because she’d been pretty great.

“You want to grab something to eat?” He asked his friend as they headed out of the building.

“Yeah, if you got any other new place to show me that you haven’t shown me in the last week.” With both of his friends having jobs here, Scott had free reign to do whatever we wanted – either stay in or go out. And being a new unfamiliar not just town but new universe entirely meant that he probably ought to be taking precautions and being safe.

And that meant Scott was going out because what was self-preservation to an alpha werewolf who was also a True Alpha?

“I was out, went around a few places, considered going into the forest to scout it out and then decided I would just hang around the city for a bit until you finished up.”

Stiles was going to try and fight the urge to roll his eyes, but then figured Scott would expect it anyway, so he didn’t bother. “Of course you want to go running around in the woods.” Which was probably a hypocritical judgment, given he was the one who’d led Scott out into the preserve to find a dead body in the first place. But that was beside the point.

“Just do me a favor and be careful if you do. No matter how many ways I say it, ‘weird’ doesn’t quite cover this place.” Maybe even compared to home, which was saying a lot. There were some things he doubted he’d ever tell Scott about. His trip to a version of hell being one of them. But he’d make sure he knew enough to watch his own back.

Scott lifted up his hands with his shrug. “Weirder than Beacon Hills preserve?” Which was a question that Stiles had already answered but Scott wasn’t entirely sure. Which was funny considering he had just been talking to his future niece, his best friend’s daughter. But honestly, they had seen pretty much everything come out of those damned woods save for apparently mermaids.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep a really sensitive ear out.””

“I know, I know. With everything we’ve seen, it doesn’t seem likely. But there’s been a lot, dude.” More than alpha packs and evil durachs. Maybe not more than the Nogitsune. Stiles was probably a little biased about that, but not much came near it for downright terrifying in his mind. And it had been in his mind.

“You’ll probably fit in around here better than I do. It feels like being an ordinary human is weirder around here.”

“You mean like regular humans are a minority here?” Scott cringed slightly. Who could blame him when his normal interactions with a great deal of non-humans were negative? Sure there were some good ones, and he was the type to give anyone a benefit of the doubt (because in his opinion, most everyone deserved it until they did something to prove they didn’t), but after dealing with evil druids, Dread Doctors and their Chimaeras, it was hard not to have some kind of visceral reaction.

“It’s not a bad thing.” He didn’t miss the look on Scott’s face, and he got it. They didn’t have a great track record with the supernatural back home, even when Scott and Lydia themselves fit in that category. “Everyone who’s been brought here seems…fine.” For lack of a better word. “Just like us, you know? It’s all the other crap Vallo throws at us that’s the problem.”

Crap that Stiles had taken the time to tell Scott about. Some of it was hard to believe like traveling to the future and saving the universe. Other stuff, like a flood involving Kraken and a skeleton army attacking the library? Well, that… was actually far more believable.

“And you… dealt with other werewolves here.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Well I wouldn’t say ‘dealt with’. It’s not like any of them have been a problem. Although I think it was on like day one I got caught up explaining how there can be more than one alpha at a time.” That had been hilarious. And felt like a lifetime ago now, with everything that had happened since.

As they got further from the library, Stiles slowed his pace a little. “How do you feel about pizza?”

“Day one, you get into a conversation about werewolves, and I meet my future niece.” Scott nodded sagely as though that just made sense. Maybe it did for Vallo.

“I would never say no to pizza.”

Yeah, that sounded about standard. Maybe for home as much as here, though they were yet to meet future relatives at home. So that was something. “Man, that was wild. Should have seen Lydia and I when she first showed up. It was a close call for who was more shocked.” Though he probably won, by a nose. Lydia did have a somewhat more calm air about her, dealing with the weird this place threw at them.

“Cool. There’s a place not far from here, it’s pretty good.”

Scott gave him a smile. The girl was a whirlwind while she was here but also it was really weird being just a year older than someone who knew him well past his thirties, even his forties. “You’re the one who had the whole ten year plan, someone would have thought you’d expect this more.”

That made him laugh a little incredulously. “The ten year plan was just to get her to fall in love with me. It made zero allowances for what would happen after that. I am living this day at a time, dude.” Sometimes he was completely floundering. Other times he thought he was doing a pretty good job of it. “It screwed with us again a few weeks back, put up a notification that I’d been sent home. You should have seen her face. I guess I’m doing something right.”

“There is no way you could ever not do it right,” Scott said, reaching out to pat his best friend’s shoulder. “You’ve always loved her but you never expected her to feel the same way you did just because you were a good friend to her when she needed.”

And then he slowed his steps, figuring this was as good a time as any to mention what he had been considering. “And since, you know… you two have something really great here, I think… I should start looking for my own place.”

He appreciated that confidence from Scott in a big way, because he didn’t always have it in himself. Especially where Lydia was concerned, given how many years he ‘hadn’t been on her radar’, as he’d liked to call it back then. “Thanks, man.”

Scott’s next words surprised him enough into stopping, having to turn back and face him. It made sense, he could appreciate that. But this was his best friend, and he’d only just got him back in his life. He didn’t know if he was ready for him to be any distance away from them so soon. “Are you sure? You only just got here.”

“Well. Yeah.” Although a week here already felt like a while. It wasn’t as long as Stiles had been here, of course, and that was probably a reason why he wouldn’t want Scott out of his sights (because even if he was an alpha werewolf, Stiles would fight the world for him if he had to). “You two live together. That’s a huge step. And sometime in the future, you apparently have a kid. If what everyone is saying is really true and I might be stuck here for a month to even longer, maybe I should… start finding my own place here.”

Even if what he really wanted to do was to go back to Beacon Hills, check up on his mom, on Liam, his other friends.

Nodding slowly, Stiles turned to start walking again, the pizza place was just up ahead, anyway. “I get it, dude. Wanting to make your own way and all that.” It was very Scott, and he couldn’t begrudge him that. He also appreciated that Scott was trying not to be a third wheel to what he and Lydia had going on. “Just…promise you’ll pick some place close by, okay?”

Scott smirked, walking behind him. “Nah, I was thinking I’d find a cave in the forest.”

Stiles looked back over his shoulder as he opened the door to the restaurant, rolling his eyes. “I meant like the same building, dumbass.”

“Are there openings?” Scott asked, walking in through the door before turning to face him. He didn’t exactly know what it took to rent a place. As far as he knew back in his world, the next step was finding a dorm room and that process was provided for you by the college itself. “I wasn’t sure how you went about finding a place. And what the heck I would do as far as a job is concerned.”

“I don’t know, but I’m assuming yes given the number of people who’ve left recently.” Even if they weren’t all in the same building, it was pretty big. Stiles was sure they’d figure something out. “There are plenty of options for jobs.” He pointed out one of the booths, sitting on one side. “There’s the defense team. Which I’d try and pretend isn’t an option but we both know you’ll find out and want to be part of it anyway, so you might as well do it with my blessing.” As if he needed it.

Scott went ahead and slid into the spot across from him. “Hadn’t really thinking anything like that. I meant more with animals and stuff but, hey! Good to know I have your blessing.” He reached out and grabbed a menu, looking over it absent-mindedly. “Besides the coursework though, I thought you would have found a sheriff’s office or an equivalent to be part of here.”

Stiles grabbed the other menu, laughing at Scott’s comment about him having his blessing. “I like the library. I’ve got access to some awesome books. Fits around study, too. I have looked into it a bit. And I do some research for them, sometimes. But I don’t know man. This place is full of -” He gestured across the table. “People like you. And witches and stuff.” Sometimes he was still that 16 year old sitting beside Scott on the bench at lacrosse, saying he wanted to help, but knowing he couldn’t do any of the things his friend could.

Scott raised an eyebrow at him. He knew of the variety of supernaturals in this world. He had done the research since the days he had landed in this world. Faeries, vampires, spirits, even dragons. Of course there are dragons.

It may have been more comforting to know about them here if he didn’t already have the bad experiences with some of them in his own world.

“And they’re all friendly. No one’s tried to kill anyone else.”

“Yeah, but -” He didn’t know if Scott got it. He’d been human too, but he didn’t have to contend with that any more. Not usually, anyway. Stiles wondered if his friend remembered what it was like to be the one who couldn’t just fight anything. To not be the true alpha. It was so reminiscent of their argument that day outside the clinic he didn’t bring it up. He didn't want to go there again.

“I’ll think about it, anyway.”

Scott watched his best friend for a bit before looking down at his menu again. Sometimes he forgot pretty damn easily what life was like before the bite. Until it hit him in the worst way possible, like Theo feeding him Wolfsbane through his inhaler. It had been so long since he had even needed it before then, and sometimes, his own vulnerability was forgotten especially in the face of having other people to help.

But, he rarely ever forgot that Stiles was always looking to help, even without his own powers, even if Scott told him to stay safe somewhere because he was physically fragile in comparison to the supernaturals. The guy had always been ready to fight bullies bigger than him on Scott’s behalf since they were in preschool.

“I think you’d do great,” Scott said. “In defense, I mean. I get the feeling there are plenty of resources here for people who don’t have supernatural powers.”

He thought Scott was more than a little biased where he was concerned, but he appreciated the confidence he had in him, regardless. They’d always been that for each other, from back when it had been just them against the world. At least, it had felt like that back then.

“With everything that happens here, I’ve probably let some things just…pass me by,” he admitted with some reluctance. It hadn’t been a conscious choice, but when it didn’t directly involve his friends, it was a little easier to stick his head in the sand.

“Well, I’m here now to get you back on the path!” Scott said, giving him a cheeky grin. “And I will do it from not too far but nearby. I’ll find an apartment in the same building.”

Some of his anxiety was soothed at the notion. Not just that his friend was confirming he’d get a place close by, but that he was here at all. He’d never been shy about the fact that he needed his friend. He loved Lydia, had been in love with her since he was eight years old. But with Scott, it was different. This was his soul mate. He didn’t even realize just how much he’d been missing him until he’d shown up, having ignored the feeling for so long.

“Alright”, he agreed, setting the menu aside now that he’d chosen what he wanted. “I can work with that.”