Chapter 2
The night went by rather easily with Stiles and Malia taking turns waking Tony up. Tony surprisingly kept his grumbling to a minimum, biting out the answers every two hours before going back to sleep.
It must have been the lack of sleep that caused them not to notice the Sherriff come home and check on them.
The cocking of the gun on the other hand had all of them waking up, Stiles flailing causing the other two to untangle their limbs that had somehow ended up intertwined with the teen in their sleep, Tony falling off the bed with a muffled "Oomph!"
Malia used to Stiles flailing managed to keep her balance and stay on the bed.
Sheriff Stilinski had the gun pointed in the vicinity of where Tony had fallen, face brooking no nonsense as he bit out. "Why is there a grown man in bed with my Teenage son and his ex girlfriend?"
Tony groaned using the edge of the bed to help himself up to look at the sheriff and the gun pointed at him. "You know I'm really tired of being woken up so abruptly. Can't an injured man get some shuteye?"
Stilinski took one look at Tony and put the safety back on his gun and holstered it. "You're supposed to be dead. It's all over the news."
Tony grunted sitting himself on the edge of the bed and rubbing his bruised side. "I get that a lot actually."
Stiles sat up, wincing at his father’s glare. "He crash landed in the preserve and I brought him home to hide him and help him out. Melissa checked him over and told us to wake him every two hours to make sure he didn’t have a concussion."
Sheriff Stilinski looked to the ceiling as if for answers as he muttered a few curses before looking square at his son. "And why didn’t you call me or bring him to the hospital?"
Stiles pointed to Tony. "It's Tony Stark! He's supposed to be dead. I wasn’t going to get attention called to him by bringing him to the hospital or calling in the cavalry. Besides he asked me not to. I was just going to keep him hidden for a bit while we fix up his suit so he can go save the day."
Tony snorted. "Way to place the blame all on me kid. Though to be fair I did shoot down your offer to bring me to the hospital."
Stiles scoffed. "Of course I’m going to put all the blame on you. You're a billionaire, you can bail yourself out of jail. He's my dad. I’ll be lucky if I’m not grounded till I'm out of college."
Tony smirked. "I could buy your college with a few hours of work, I'm that loaded."
Sheriff groaned. "Oh god he's just as snarky as Stiles. What did I do to deserve this."
Tony smirked. "Must have done some huge deed in another lifetime, Sherriff, since you have a billionaire seeking asylum in your home. I can compensate you when everything is done."
Stilinski raised a brow. "Refuge in my sons bed?"
Tony shrugged. "It was completely platonic and I had nothing to do with it."
Stiles groaned. "Dad just please let him hide out here till we can get him back in the game and he's not at risk of getting killed without a suit? Besides, We have hospital bills to pay off remember?"
The sheriff sighed deeply. "Alright, but He sleeps in the spare bedroom and you need to clean it out."
Stiles pumped his fist in the air not even deterred by the idea of having to go through the cluttered mess that was the spare bedroom."
Tony just rolled his eyes trying to hide the smile at the kid’s enthusiasm and wondered at how he once again felt like a puppy in this situation.
Stiles got to his feet and rubbed his palms together. "What say I get breakfast started for all of us, it’ll be an excuse to use the rest of the bacon. Dad you only get one slice."
Sheriff Stilinski grumbled, following his son out of the bedroom, arguing that if he was harboring someone he better get more than a slice of bacon.
Tony was left alone with Malia who just met his stare blandly before following after the Sheriff and Stiles.
Tony waited a moment before following suit and making his way downstairs.
They sat at the table, the Sheriff and Stiles controlling the majority of the conversation. Tony watched, not used to these kinds of family meals, even though he secretly always wanted them.
Malia was awkwardly charming, as could be expected from someone who spend most of her childhood as a coyote, as they explained to him during the meal and Stiles was smart as a whip and chatty, hiding his emotions with snark and banter, skirting questions that he didn’t want to answer while going on long tangents on subjects that interested him.
He had just served everyone and sat down to eat from his own plate when his phone started to ring.
Fishing his phone out of his pocket his gaze met his dads and Tony’s before he spoke. "Scott is coming over with Liam and Lydia for pack bonding."
The Sheriff shrugged. "If anyone can keep a secret it’s your pack."
Tony cut them off shaking his head. "No, nope, absolutely not. I can't have word getting out that I'm still alive. It's enough that four people know, more people in the know raises the risk of discovery."
Stiles opened his mouth as if to argue and then sighed. "Yeah, you're right, but we need to find a better place to hide you then since Scott likes to randomly show up here.
They all looked thoughtful for a moment before Malia chimed in. "What about Derek's old loft. No one uses it anymore and you have the only key."
Stiles face lit up and he nodded. "It has more than enough space for you to work on the suit and that couch is extremely comfortable to sleep on. Many of us have passed out on it."
The sheriff nodded his agreement. "The noise he'd be making while working won’t be noticed in the industrial park, unlike here."
Stiles grabbed his keys. "I can get you settled in there and get some food and be your errand boy for whatever you need on the suit. We can start by grabbing anything in the garage that might be of use. We need to get you out of here as soon as possible, before Scott gets here. Dad spray the house with that horrible scented spray from bath and body works I bought. It’ll mask his smell if they come around the house. I've used that method plenty of times. He will complain for weeks about the smell."
Tony took the last bite of his toast and followed Stiles into the garage quickly grabbing screwdrivers, wood burning kit, saws, welding equipment that apparently Stiles mother had used, her hobby having been working on her jeep and finally placed the last piece in the back of Stiles jeep sighing. "I need computer parts or cell phones, old processors, chips, whatever I can get my hands on."
Stiles twirled his keys around his fingers with a grin. "I got you covered. There’s a whole room filled with old computers as well as confiscated phones at school. Don't tell dad and I’ll get you set up tonight on that front."
Tony shook his head, trying not to smile. "I normally don't approve of stealing but this is an emergency."
Stiles shrugged. "My dad’s the sheriff so getting caught stealing is not my idea of a good time. But sometimes you have to do what’s necessary to keep people safe."
Tony extended his fist, face mock solemn and Stiles beamed as he returned the fist bump before throwing a red hoodie at Tony and heading to the driver’s side. "Put that on and pull your hood up so no one recognizes you and let’s get this show on the road."
They drove through Beacon Hills, Tony trying to keep his head down until they arrived at the old warehouse that Stiles had called a loft.
Stiles took one look at Tony and shrugged. "Derek had an affinity for dilapidated houses apparently but he did some decent work to this one, it looks better inside."
As they were getting stuff into the elevator, Stiles phone rang and the teen groaned before picking it up. "Hey Scott."
Tony could just hear the Alphas raised voice over the phone. "Stiles! Why did I see you driving out of Beacon Hills with some guy in a red hoodie? We have a pack meeting in an hour. Are you okay? Who was that?"
Stiles inwardly sighed. "It was Tina; you remember the drag queen from Jungle? She needed a drive so I offered. I just dropped her off so I’ll be there in time for the meeting, relax."
There was silence on the line for a moment before Scott spoke once more. “Did you just lie to me Stiles? I know your heartbeat is faster than normal but I can tell when you're lying."
Stiles eyes met Tony's who shook his with a resolute no. "Listen Scott, It's a personal matter. Just trust that it has nothing to do with the pack and it's not putting us in any danger okay?"
Tony breathed a sigh of relief when Scott acknowledged Stiles excuse and they disconnected.
Stiles was silent as they got everything up and got him settled, only speaking up before he left. "Scott only seems to ever want to talk to me when its pack business. It's taken over his life and I feel like he’s slipping away. I was possessed by a Nogitsune. An evil fox spirit and it used me to kill the love of his life. He's always been my brother but now it's like he's always paranoid about me, worried that I'm going to get possessed again or worried that I'm getting into trouble. He says that it wasn’t my fault, that It was my face but not me, yet when he thinks I’m not looking, I can see him looking at me suspiciously as if he thinks I may be possessed again. For the longest time he was my only friend. I'm petrified that when we graduate this year that we are all going to just drift away from each other."
Tony rolled his shoulders, uncomfortable with displays of emotion. "I honestly don't know what advice to give you kid. I'm not in contact with anyone I was friends with back in high school. I just have one piece of advice from me to you. People who make you feel like that, aren't work keeping in your life. No matter how far back you go."
Stiles was silent for a moment before he waved his goodbye and left.
Tony sighed, rubbing at his face. He liked the kid and it made it hard to be an ass like he was usually was to try to keep people at arm’s length.
He finally set to work, getting his suit laid out and first working on the basic armor, welding and fixing any major damage.
He didn’t realize how long he was at work until Stiles walked in, laden with bags of groceries that looked like they were about to tip him over.
Tony took one look at the boy and put the head piece down and moved forward to grab some of the bags from the boy.
Stiles chuckled ruefully. "I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what you like to eat so I may have gone overboard."
Tony huffed; feeling some weird emotion in his chest at the fact that someone he wasn’t paying had gone out of their way to help him. It wasn’t something he was used to and he wasn’t sure how to react.
They both put the groceries away in companionable silence, both of them grabbing a snack on the way back to the suit. Stiles was munching on some Swedish berries, Tony on some peanut m&m's
Tony made his way back to the suit, getting back to work and Stiles moved forward but thankfully not hovering, watching him work, surprisingly in silence for a while before finally speaking up. "Do you need any help?"
Tony raised a brow. "Do you know anything about electronics, biomechanics and engineering?"
Stiles shrugged. "I’m often bored and researched a lot. I know enough to be able to follow instructions if you want me to assemble or fix stuff and enough to know when something is wrong."
The billionaire looked at the teen, brow still raised and patted the floor next to him and the teen quickly sat down.
Stiles fumbled as Tony threw him the face plate but quickly recovered and looked at the open circuitry with awe until Tony started to quiz him on the components and pieces which Stiles expertly listed off, only getting two of them wrong, leaving Tony impressed.
Tony chuckled. "Alright, kid. Here's what you’re going to do. We need to get Jarvis up and running first so I need to concentrate on that. What I want you to do is take the wood burning kit and you’re going to use it to fuse circuitry once you can get me some computer and phone parts."
The teen beamed like a kid at Christmas before handing the faceplate back to Tony. "I snagged the computer parts and cell phones in the car. I may need a little help getting it all up here."
Tony faked a put upon sigh and stood up. "Lead the way, kid."
Stiles scoffed but started to walk. "You know you can call me Stiles right? I just turned eighteen, I'm not a kid."
Tony smirked. "You’re not a girl, not yet a woman."
The teen shook his head but refused to rise to the bait.
With both of them working together they managed to get all the computer and phone parts up in two trips. Tony chuckling all the way. "I think you went a little overboard. I didn’t need ten computers and two bags full of cell phones."
Stiles just shrugged. "I wasn’t sure what you'd need so I brought everything I could get my hands on."
Once everything was settled upstairs, Tony began to instruct Stiles on what he needed him to do. Surprisingly it didn’t take much time for Tony to feel confident in leaving Stiles to his job while he worked on his side, stopping here and there to answer a question if Stiles had one.
He couldn’t remember a time he had ever felt confident in letting anyone else tinker with his suit and the concussion had nothing to do with this complete lapse in character so he just chose to ignore it.
With both of them working on the suit he managed to get the work done a lot faster than even he could have anticipated.
When he managed to boot up Jarvis, Stiles laughed, delighted and proceeded to talk to Jarvis, asking him all sorts of questions as he worked, creating a surprisingly enjoyable soundtrack for him to listen to as he worked.
They kept working on it for two days, Stiles only sneaking away when the pack called. Most of the time he stayed right at Tony's side, which would have annoyed him normally, but somehow he enjoyed having the teens company.
He had just placed the final piece back on the suit and was welding it on when there was a crash and two wolfed out teens came crashing into the loft.
Stiles jumped to his feet, stepping between Tony and the two wolves and growled, sounding impressively like a wolf himself. "Really Scott!? You resorted to stalking me?"
The teen called Scott shifted back to his human form, not looking remotely quelled. "I was worried Stiles, you've been shifty the last two days and you never keep things from me."
Stiles was practically shaking with frustration. "That you know of and that's beside the point Scott, its called boundaries. You say you trust me, that you don't blame me for the whole Nogitsune incident but when I ask you to respect my privacy and trust me, you go behind my back and stalk me. That isn’t trust Scott."
Tony piped in. "The kid is right, stalking is twilight creepy."
Scott scowled towards Tony before his eyes widened in recognition. "You.. But...Everyone thinks you’re dead!"
The billionaire sighed deeply. "I think we've finally acknowledged the fact that no I am not dead, just hiding. Well now that my suit is repaired, I can go back. Thanks to your friend here, whose talent and smarts seems completely wasted on your pack from the sounds of it. Help me get my suit on kid? "
Stiles moved forward, ignoring the other two to help him out, needing to connect the pieces together, and the automated process the only thing Tony had not been able to repair without his workshop.
Once all the pieces were connected the machine whirred to life, Tony clicked the faceplate on and the eyes glowed a bright white.
The iron man looked towards the two wolves before facing Stiles once more, Tony's voice echoing through the speaker. "Thanks for everything kid; If you ever want a job, give me a call. You have promise and I'd hate to see it wasted."
Stiles laughed lightly. "How can I call you, I don't have your phone number."
After the words left him he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and fished it out only to read a text from tony stating. "No one has the right to make you feel inferior without your consent."
The teen huffed. "Did you seriously quote Eleanor Roosevelt?"
The machine shrugged and Tony's voice echoed once more. "It's a quote to live by. Consider my offer kid and keep in touch."
Stiles saluted and Iron Man walked towards the two wolves that made way to let him pass, speechless.
They all followed him out just in time to see Iron Man fly off, breaking the sound barrier in a loud crash and quickly out of sight."
Scott and Liam's jaws were still dropped and Stiles felt smug for a moment, hand clasping Scott's shoulder. "Scott my man, you and I are going to have a conversation about personal boundaries and how to respect them.”
The conversation they finally had left Stiles feeling like things were looking up, that he finally understood where Stiles was coming from.
Yet he was still petrified of any of being left behind. Tony's words about not being in touch with anyone from his high school years, leaving a sore spot with him. He still felt a little like everyone was slipping away from him, like kites being blown away in the wind, while he ran after them trying to catch up.
And then the Dread Doctors and Theo came into town and all hell broke loose.
"He was going to kill my dad Scott."
Stiles stood there, soaked to the bone. He felt helpless and betrayed by his own brother as Scott looked back at him, disbelieving. "Not like this Stiles, We find a better way. If we kill, we are no better than them."
Stiles felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. Donovan had tried to kill him; the mark still throbbed on his shoulder from where he had gotten him. The Teen turned Chimera had meant to kill him and then kill his father. Even then Stiles hadn’t meant to kill him. He had been running away, trying to escape.
He was climbing up scaffolding when Donovan grabbed a hold of his shirt tugging and in the struggle a pile of rebar had fallen and he had let go only to fall on one, impaling himself.
Someone had told Scott about it, He was betting on Theo, and Scott reacted the exact way he thought he would. Scott saw the world in black and white. He did not have the backbone to do what was right to protect his family and pack. He hated to say it but sometimes he understood some of Peter's thought process. He never would have let him kill Scott but he agreed with him that without being willing to do what was necessary to protect his pack, Scott was going to get the whole pack killed in the process, while Stiles had always been there to do what was necessary.
This time though, Stiles felt like he had enough of cleaning up after Scott, of fighting so hard to keep his pack alive and well with no recognition for the hell he was going through in doing so.
With those dark thought swimming through his mind he slowly walked back home, his jeep having been demolished and towed away. The last remnants of his mother forever gone.
When he walked in, making a small puddle in the doorway, he spotted his father sitting at the table, drink in hand and froze in his tracks.
His father hadn’t done this since the great werewolf reveal. Their relationship had been rocky but it was starting to mend since they stopped with the lies.
This though, this was bad.
The sheriff took one look at his son and stood up, swaying lightly before marching forward, finger pointing at Stiles chest, slurring lightly. "What is it with you and dead bodies? They just fall around you Stiles."
Stiles flinched as if he had been slapped but his dad continued. "Melissa called me and told me it was an emergency. I arrived there to find a teenager stabbed in the chest, dead on her table and she wanted me to get rid of the body Stiles. I’m the Sheriff of this county. I swore an oath to keep the peace and I have your pack asking me to hide bodies left right and center. I can't keep doing this. If people found out I would lose my job. What would your mother think if she were alive for this shit show Stiles?"
He rubbed his face tiredly as if unsure if he was angry or on the verge of tears. “I just don’t even know what to do with you anymore.”
Stiles felt something inside of him die at those words, his throat closing up he ran up to his room, locking it behind him before sliding down to the floor, fishing out his phone and clenching at his kneed tightly as he dialed the number he had been texting so often lately.
It answered at the second ring, concern clear in his voice. "Stiles, is something wrong?"
He tried to get the words out but he couldn’t breathe, the world was spinning and all he could do was clutch his knees and hold on for the ride.
A voice slowly pulled him out of it, talking to him, coaching him to breathe, that he was okay.
It felt like an eternity before he was finally able to speak, exhaustion causing him to slump against the door. "Is your offer of a job still on the table?"
Tony didn’t even hesitate. "Of course it's still on the table Stiles. How bad it is down there? Do you need extraction? I can commandeer a helicarrier and get you out within a few hours."
Stiles huffed softly. "We have dread doctors creating chimeras and killing teens left right and center. I'd say it’s pretty bad. But I’m not in any immediate danger."
Tony was silent for a moment before he responded. "I'm assembling the team. We will deal with whatever is attacking your town so it’s over once and for all and then we'll get you extracted, safe and tucked away in a guest room at avengers tower if you still feel you need out once the danger is over. I'll even let you take all the photos you want to post on social media to make all your friends jealous. I know all the perfect hiding spots to get the dirty details."
The teen huffed a small laugh, before finally speaking, sounding slightly vulnerable. "I won't change my mind. Just hurry up and come get me please."
Tony chuckled lightly. "Start packing kid, I can't wait to show you around New York."