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Stiles had had enough really, after everything that had happened with Lydia and Jackson in the warehouse, adding on the whole Gerard beating him up and Scott not even noticing his wounds, this month was just destroying him and yet he still had to deal with the arsehole that is Adrian Harris.
“Mr Stilinski!” Stiles cringes a little as the familiar voice breaks him out of his own little world to face the anger of his chemistry teacher “I’m not even going to bother repeating the question but I will be seeing you tonight in detention, is that understood or have you still got your head in the clouds?”
He wanted to snap at the man but he couldn’t find the energy to fight back against him so instead he just nods with a small sorry and goes back to his notes, missing the small amount of surprise and flicker of concern that crossed the chemistry teachers face at the unusual response.
Picking a new victim, Harris turns to continue his class, he was confused at the beginning of the class when Stilinski had sat down on a desk away from McCall and the moment he saw the bruises and cuts over the boy’s face, he knew something had happened and he didn’t believe the rumours that it was the other lacrosse team that beat the teen up, he had watched the game and had watched as the entire teams other than Stiles were accounted for. He just hoped that his theory was wrong, he didn’t want the Argents ruining another boy’s life like they did with Hale.
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“Sit” Adrian orders from behind his desk as Stiles enters the room, it was almost the last day of school so not many people were in trouble except Stiles so there was no one else in detention. “I want you to map out an assignment, a ten page essay to be completed by next year, a topic of your choice as long as it’s relevant, I don’t want a repeat of what happened in Finstock’s class”
Stiles just looks at his teacher furious at the task that he’d been given, he already had stuff that he needed to do over the summer, all of them assignments so that he could exceed his usual grades and try and make it up to his father for the restraining order even though it had been dropped.
“What’s your problem?!” Stiles snaps furiously as he stands next to the desk that he’d been sent too “why do you hate me so much. You know that I have assignments from all the other classes I take as well as from the extra credit classes, I can’t just add another assignment to that list, especially not a fucking ten page assignment why am I the only one that you pick on? Am I really the weakest here is that why? I’m an easy target because that’s what people seem to be saying this week. I’m the weakest link in Scott’s pack, I don’t belong, well fuck you and fuck your assignments, I’m done, I give up”
He knew that mentioning the pack wasn’t going to cause trouble since he was adamant that Harris knew of the supernatural world, he grabs his bag and starts to leave the room, he didn’t care anymore, his dad hated him at the moment, Scott didn’t even notice him and everyone just ignores that he’s alive, even after the lacrosse match.
Harris was frozen at the rant that had come from the teenager in front of him, as he listened to the words that came from the boy he could see just how tired and young he was and knew that he was going to have to change his tactic, he didn’t hate Stiles, from the moment he met the boy he saw what he could become but he was too easily distracted and was hiding his potential so Adrian decided that he was going to push the boy, every assignment he makes Stiles’ harder so he worked for it, he split him up from McCall so McCall wouldn’t drag him down like he did in the other classes, and he would be a hard ass so Stiles knew that he needed to try harder. But this, the tone as Stiles declared that he gave up sent fear running through him, he was scared about what the teen was going to do, how had no one noticed that Stiles was this close to breaking?
Harris moves forward on instinct as soon as Stiles starts to move out the door and grabs his arm carefully, pulling him back into the room and shutting the door so that Stiles couldn’t walk out as easily.
“Don’t touch me” Stiles snarls as he pulls his arm from Harris’ grip, a small twinge of fear ran through him when his teacher closes the door, he clenches his hand into his jeans as he fights against a panic attack as images that he tried to bury from the basement starts to come back in full force, his breath starts to catch in his throat as his bag falls to the floor with a crash. He could feel the ghostly touches of hands that he had scrubbed away until his skin was raw and whimpers lightly as the memories flood through him, only four people knew of the extent of what happened in that basement, two of them were missing while the other was supposedly dead but Stiles knew that wasn’t true.
Adrian knew the signs of a panic attack, but seeing Stiles enter one moments after Adrian had grabbed him was terrifying, and drew one conclusion into the teachers mind, he moves forward carefully and places his finger under Stiles chin and tips his head up so that he was looking at him.
“Breathe Stiles” Adrian tells his pupil gently as he digs in the boy’s bag for the inhaler he knew he still carried, he grabs the inhaler and shakes it before pressing the cool plastic into the boys free hand and lifts it up so he knew what to do, Adrian knew that he was going to need to try and convince the teen to go to the hospital or to Morrell before the week was finished, he also knew that it was going to be a fight to do it.
Stiles knew what was placed in his hand as soon as he felt the cold plastic against his skin, he was confused at this side of Harris but also welcomed it, harsh words at this point would make it all worse because of the words that Gerard Argent spoke throughout the ordeal that he went through. He presses the inhaler against his lips and takes a large breath of medication, the chemicals acting through his system relaxing his lungs allowing him to start breathing properly after a few minutes.
Closing his eyes tight, Stiles couldn’t hold back the sob that broke through his defences, tears beginning to fall as the dam broke, of course he had a panic in front of the man that hated him, he just proved his point, he was human, he was weak and he was a failure, he couldn’t help himself during an attack he had to rely on someone else.
Sighing softly at the unfolding events, Adrian moves forward and pulls Stiles into his arms, he could feel the boy flinch at the contact and nearly pulls away but Stiles soon grabs Adrian’s shirt and clings to him sobbing into his chest as everything comes to the surface. Adrian had a feeling that this was due for some time for his pupil, he just didn’t expect it to be him that would have to put Stiles back together again.
“Stiles” Adrian speaks up softly as Stiles sobs start to quieten down and the boy starts relaxing in his arms
Stiles stiffens as everything catches up to him and he realize that he was clinging to his chemistry teacher after sobbing into his chest like a child, he flushes and pulls away wrapping his arms around himself to try and hold himself together.
“I’m so sorry, that shouldn’t have happened, I’ll do the assignment, please don’t tell anyone this happened” Stiles starts as he feels the usual burst of anxiety as he begins to ramble, he was willing to beg to get his teachers silence if he needed too.
“Stiles” Adrian huffs slightly annoyed as he gives his student the usual ‘shut-up’ look that was reserved only for him, he fights back a small grin as Stiles does exactly that, the look only ever worked with Stiles. “we need to talk about this, but not tonight, tonight you need to go to the hospital and get yourself checked out, if you don’t then I will drag you there myself tomorrow”
Stiles pales at the order, that meant that Harris had figured out why Stiles reacted so bad to being touched, he already went to the hospital, he just didn’t go for the reason that Harris wants him to be seen about, he knew nothing was damaged because Gerard used his own body to emotionally torture Stiles as well as Erica and Boyd since they had to watch it all. “I went two days ago” Stiles tells Harris quietly as he plays with his shirt.
“For your bruises only most likely” Harris adds crossing his arms and giving Stiles a look showing he’s not believing his bull and wasn’t going to be swayed.
“He didn’t hurt me like that” Stiles defends himself, he couldn’t go to the hospital for this, it would hit the rumour mill too quickly and most likely cause more trouble for him. His dad would go mental for him not telling him and then drown himself in Jack like he had been the past three weeks and the others would most likely push him away even more because he was weak.
Adrian sighs and runs his hand through his hair, he only ever got this stressed with Stiles. “Stiles-“
“Why do you care anyway, you hate me” Stiles interrupts as a wave of frustration washes over him at the tone of voice that Harris was using, he drops his arms and glares at his chemistry teacher, he hadn’t even registered that Harris had been using his nickname since the panic attack and not his last name.
“I don’t hate you-“
“Could have fooled me” Stiles scoffs
Adrian glares at the teenager as he interrupts him again and gives him another ‘shut-up’ look which causes Stiles to instantly be quiet once more, it had always surprised him when he would automatically silence when he got the look from Harris whereas when his dad did the same he would just continue on rambling.
“As I was saying, I don’t hate you Stiles” Adrian tells the teenager lightly as he moves back to his desk to grab some tissues that he hands to the boy “I see your potential, from the moment I met you at your induction to the school I knew that you were smart and that you need to be pushed to your full potential, if I didn’t push you, you would be right next to McCall with a low GPA instead of the top of the list with Miss Martin and you can’t deny that”
Stiles wanted to deny what Harris was saying, after all the trouble that Harris caused him, and the stress that he went through to finish the assignments well enough to make his dad happy; it made him realize that he did all his assignments to the same degree because he didn’t want Harris to have anything he thought he could hold over him. He takes the tissues from his teacher and wipes away the tears from his cheeks, he never expected any of this to happen, he thought he was going to just get a stupid ass lecture like usual and loads of looks that finally make sense.
“I don’t need to be checked for anything, I’m fine” Stiles tells his teacher softly as he gives in to the explanation
“This isn’t up for debate” Harris points out to the teen amused slightly with the fact that he was still arguing with him.
“I don’t want my dad to find out” Stiles pleads as he looks up at Harris pleading for him to understand, he didn’t need his dad knowing any of it.
“Stiles” Adrian starts with a small sigh, but he could see the boys worry and fear, he knew of the strained relationship between the sheriff and his only son and could see just how bad it is some of the time, especially since the restraining order incident with the Whitmore family. “Fine, but if you feel like there’s anything wrong from what happened then you either come to me or you go to the hospital, understood?”
Stiles nods furiously in answer to the order, he knew there wasn’t going to be trouble since the asshole had made sure that there would be nothing that leads the police back to him which would most likely cause Stiles even more emotional and mental trauma because he would still be out there.
“So are things going to change between us now?” Stiles asks after a few moments of silence, everything in his mind seemed to calm down now, Harris had shown that he wasn’t invisible even in his own way.
“During school hours I will push you still, whereas out of school hours, if you need someone to talk to or need to vent then you may come see me, you aren’t alone in this Mr Stilinski no matter what you think” Adrian tells the teen, while his offer wasn’t the most professional, he could see that his student needed someone to talk too if he wasn’t going to break again “Now I think you should head home and get some rest, you look like you haven’t slept very well this past week”
Stiles almost starts to protest but bites his lip instead and nods, he probably wasn’t going to sleep but for some reason, knowing that there was someone who noticed him, someone who knew everything or more or less everything that was happening, it made him feel lighter, less tense. “Do you still want the ten page assignment?”
Adrian smiles a little at the question and moves back to his desk so that he could finish some of his paperwork “If you phase out of one of my lessons again, yes, you will have to do a ten page essay, but not this time. Go home and go to sleep”
Grabbing his backpack from the floor, Stiles nods and starts towards the door before stopping for a moment “Thank you Mr Harris, for everything” he says softly before leaving the classroom and his teacher sitting at the desk slightly shell shocked at the thank you that he received from his student, he never expected to hear those words from the boy but he wasn’t unhappy about it.