Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/1003051.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Teen_Wolf_(TV)
  Relationship:
      Danny_Mahealani/Stiles_Stilinski
  Additional Tags:
      Time_Loop
  Collections:
      A_Bite_Off_Center
  Stats:
      Published: 2013-10-19 Words: 11808
****** Time discloses the truth ******
by blue_eyed
Summary
     “Danny!” Stiles shouted, rushing down the corridor. Danny stopped,
     looking confused. “Tell me you're having another weird day.”
     “Actually, yeah.”
     “Like, you're stuck in Groundhog day?” Stiles asked.
     “Pretty much, actually.”
     “Thank god. So am I, and no one else seems to have an issue. I
     thought I was going insane.”
Notes
     Thank to lunarwolfik (LJ) // redridinghoodandthesourwolf (tumblr) for
     the excellant prompt - I really hope this does it some kind of
     justice :D
     This wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without . All remaining
     mistakes are mine, due to my inability to time-manage. Thanks to the
     mods for bearing with me through my failyness.
     The underage warning is because I am ambiguous as to where exactly in
     canon this is set, so characters could be seen as under 18.
Stiles wandered around his dad's office. He was bored, waiting for his dad to
hang up the phone so they could go on one their new and shiny father and son
Saturday night dinners. They alternated choosing the place and it was his dad's
turn, so Stiles was prepared to see his dad eat half a cow.
Stiles had spent more time in this office than he cared to remember and knew
basically everything in it. He headed towards the small bookshelf to see if
there was anything useful he could acquire. He was half considering going into
law. He figured the packs would need legal defense sooner or later and it would
help if they were represented by someone who knew what their circumstances
were.
On the shelf, in front of a copy of Police Quarterly, was a small ring. Stiles
frowned and picked it up. It looked fairly masculine, but he'd only ever seen
his dad wear his wedding ring. If it was evidence it would've been tagged and
bagged, so Stiles doubted it was important. The ring had a knotted pattern
which morphed into a snake eating its tail - Ouroborus.
Stiles slipped it onto his finger, feeling the weight of it. It was nice,
heavy, well made. He stared at it. The snake’s eyes were the tiniest gems he’d
ever seen, and Stiles rubbed a finger over them, feeling their roughness.
“Stiles? You ready to go?” his dad asked.
“Oh, yeah, ready and willing.” Stiles jumped, and straightened quickly. He
slipped the ring into his pocket without really thinking about why, and went
over to where his dad was waiting for him.
~~~
That night, while he was getting ready for bed, Stiles pulled off his jeans and
let them drop to the floor. As he did, he ring fell out of the front pocket.
Stiles had forgotten all about it. He picked it up and placed it on his night
stand.
After getting into bed, he rolled over and tried to get comfortable when his
eyes fell on the ring. He picked the ring up again and could barely see it in
the light, but he ran his thumb over the design. He had no idea why he'd even
taken it, it just seemed like something he should keep. Maybe he'd seen it in a
book somewhere and it was important or magic in some way? Stiles didn't think
so, but he resolved to look in the morning.
Stiles yawned, and slipped the ring onto his finger. It was a nice size and
weight to fiddle with, he thought, closing his eyes.
~~~
 
Stiles woke next morning to the sound of the front door shutting. He reached
out to grab his phone; it was 9:30am and his dad had just left to go to work.
Stiles rubbed a hand over his face, considering going to sleep, when he felt
something catch at his skin. He lifted his hand and saw he was still wearing
the ring.
He sent Scott a quick text to see if he was free to hang out, dumped the ring
on the nightstand, and then jumped in the shower.
When he walked back into his bedroom he checked his phone.
From: Scott
Sorry spending time w/Allison. Skype later?
From: Stiles
No worries, have fun
Stiles sent his reply and sighed. Abandoned for love, he thought, booting up
his computer. He retrieved the ring and slipped it on as he waited for his
computer start.
Stiles didn't begrudge Scott spending time with Allison; those two were tight,
and had something real. He was just a little envious. He only hoped that one
day he'd have something that awesome, someone to love and be loved by.
Stiles shook it off. Brooding did nothing, and was pointless waste of energy.
He twirled the ring on his finger, looking at it thoughtfully, and then opened
a browser to research Oroborous.
The pages were mainly concerning circularity, or self-referential
circumstances. There was an interesting page on the symbol being used as a
sigil, and used in chaos magic, but as it seemed fairly inert he wasn't too
worried.
Stiles put it to one side and clicked around Wikipedia.
“This is not getting my English homework done,” Stiles said, sighing to
himself. He got up, opening his school bag, and pulled out his books.
~~~
Monday morning came far too quickly. Stiles dragged himself out of bed and made
his way to school.
Stiles was hoping that this term would be calmer than the previous ones, and
planned on actually keeping up with his workload. He was ready to make copious
and excellent notes. Stiles had even remembered to take his meds at an
appropriate time so he felt ready to be productive. He pulled up to a red light
and tapped his steering wheel in time to the latest Taylor Swift offering.
He met Scott by the lockers before first period. Scott was still all smiley
from his weekend with Allison and Stiles tried not to find it freaking
adorable.
“Hey, turn down the post-coital glow, huh?” Stiles asked.
“Sorry,” Scott said, biting down a smile, “it's just, I had a good weekend.”
“As long as you don't drift into TMI territory, tell me about it," Stiles said.
Which of course made Scott launch into descriptive -- but thankfully not too
descriptive -- details about his date. Stiles schooled his face into a look of
pleasant listening and squashed down his own longing for something like that,
but it wasn't easy. It wasn't fun.
The only high point of the day was economics where Coach compared Greenburg to
a haemorrhoid, which was hilarious.
~~~
Danny sat in the cafeteria, writing out his to do list for the week. Jackson
had teased him relentlessly for it, but Danny found that scheduling his
homework was a lifesaver. He had a lot of free time now he was managing it
properly. He looked up as movement passed the table caught his eye. Stiles and
Scott were walking past, deep in conversation. Stiles nodded and smiled a
greeting at him, and Danny raised a hand. He saw Stiles’ eyes raise to look at
something behind Danny, and he turned to see Lydia and Allison approaching the
table.
He smiled and moved his books to make room for them to sit.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Allison replied. “You busy?”
“Nope, just doing some organising.”
“Doing it all before Jackson comes and calls you a dork again?” Lydia asked.
Danny rolled his eyes.
“Jackson wishes he was as awesome as me,” Danny said, watching Jackson
approach. Allison snorted a laugh.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“Nothing,” Danny said, putting on his best innocent face.
~~~
Stiles woke the next day, turned off his alarm and groaned.
He went through his routine pretty much blind, not paying much attention. He
remembered to take his meds at the same time as the day before, the same Taylor
Swift song was his soundtrack to school. Mrs. Hartley from down the road was
walking her Chihuahua as always, and he waved to her as he passed.
It wasn't until he met up with Scott that Stiles started to freak out a bit.
“Hey,” Scott said, still all smiley.
“Dude, the post-coital glow still?” Stiles asked.
"Well yeah, still. My date yesterday afternoon was awesome."
"What, you didn't skip school yesterday to get laid again, did you? Man, you
said you would stop doing that."
Scott looked confused. "Dude, yesterday was Sunday. No school to skip."
Stiles looked around at his surroundings. He was in school; he was definitely
in school. Stiles looked down – yep, still wearing pants, which ruled out a
dream a little bit. “What?”
"What, what?" Scott asked. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I -- no, I don't know. I swore yesterday was Monday and you already told me
about your awesome date. Maybe this is a dream. This must be a dream."
"Pretty sure this is real. This is definitely real. Maybe you already dreamed
it," Scott said. "You knew I would tell you it was awesome."
"Maybe," Stiles said, feeling very confused. He pulled out his phone. April
12th. He put his phone back in his pocket. When he looked up, Scott was still
looking at him oddly. Stiles gestured. "It's probably lack of sleep, my brain
checked out on me. Carry on."
Scott looked momentarily worried, but that changed as they walked down the
hallway and he launched into a story Stiles had already heard.
~~~
Danny wished he knew what was going on. He'd woken up that morning and burnt
his toast in exactly the same way as he had the morning before – he thought
he'd turned the settings down the previous morning but someone must've turned
them back up.
The whole morning was weird, Danny felt like he was out of sync with
everything, despite the day being pretty much identical to the day before. Not
to mention he had a very clear memory of writing out a to do list for the week,
but that wasn’t anywhere to be found, and if it was Monday, he couldn’t have
written a to do list the day before.
“What is up with you? You're all spacey,” Jackson commented at lunch.
“Dunno, maybe I'm coming down with something?” That had to be a reasonable
explanation for thinking he'd already lived through this day once before. It
was, actually, the only explanation that he could come up with.
“Well you can't be sick for the first game, Coach will never forgive you,”
Jackson said, taking a bite of his sandwich.
“I'll be fine,” Danny said, making a note to grab some vitamins from the
pharmacy on the way home. Might as well try to prevent whatever it was from
getting worse.
~~~
The more the day went on, the more confused Stiles got. The whole day was a
huge pile of deja vu, but no one else seemed to have this problem.
He was calculating the odds of him finally having a psychotic break when he
bumped into Danny.
“Holy – sorry, sorry,” Stiles said, grabbing Danny's arm for balance. “Dude, I
should be looking where I'm going, I'm just having a weird day and I've still
got my hand on your arm, I'm just going to remove that now.”
“Thanks,” Danny said, deadpan. Stiles shut his mouth. He wished he didn't get
quite so tongue-tied around Danny. He had a feeling they would be awesome
together if he could just relax a bit.
“I'll just be going,” Stiles said, taking a step to the side.
“Stiles, wait,” Danny said. “Weird in what way?”
“Just very deja vu-y. Must be the monotony of school, right?” Stiles said.
Danny frowned. “Why?”
“I've been having an odd day too,” Danny said, shrugging.
“Odd how?” Stiles asked.
“Deja vu-y. Maybe there's something going around?” Danny shrugged and walked
away.
Stiles stood staring after Danny. Danny was affected too? Maybe this wasn't a
psychotic break. He hadn't considered a normal illness. Stiles added ‘mind-
affecting virus’ to his list of possibilities.
~~~
Stiles had been assuming it was just a weird day until final period, which he
had definitely sat through before, despite the lack of notes in his book. There
was just no way he'd have known that Coach would've used that exact insult,
because he never used the same one twice, especially when Greenburg was on the
receiving end.
Stiles went straight home after school, complaining of a headache. Scott looked
worried but Stiles promised to text him when he'd got home, and Scott let him
go. He felt fine, but an illness was something to think about. Maybe an early
night would be a good thing.
After sending the text Stiles started searching for time loops in one browser
window, breaks with reality in another, and illnesses that caused any sort of
delusion.
The time loop window was less than useful; the second result was an article
titled 'What to do if you get caught in a time loop?' and had tips such as 'Be
a King', and the rest were either about theoretical physics or fictional
examples.
Psychotic breaks could be caused by extreme stress, and could manifest in
unnoticed delusions. A lot of illnesses affected the brain (obviously), but as
the delusions were often unique to the person experiencing them. Stiles felt
fine, and he was pretty sure he was sane, but he needed to experiment.
Stiles had a moment to consider that his life was such that he was actually
considering a time loop as a rational explanation.
If he was stuck in a time loop then he could experiment to get proof. In
theory, anything he did in the time loop would be 'reset' in the next, and so
wouldn't be permanent. Stiles looked around his room. He needed something that
he wouldn't miss, just in case.
Glass of water seemed the easiest. He filled a glass and dropped it in the
corner, stomping on it to break it. It was going to be a bitch to clean up, but
if he was ill or losing his grip on reality, he would have bigger things to
worry about.
Satisfied with his plan, Stiles went to bed, not sure which state he wanted the
glass to be in come morning.
~~~
Stiles woke up the next day, blinked and got out of bed. His floor was glass
and water free. His dad generally didn't tidy his room as a rule. Especially
not in the night, while Stiles was sleeping. Things were pointing towards time
loop.
He drove into school, hoping for a sudden blizzard or a thunderstorm, or
something that would make this day different. But Taylor still sung from the
radio, Mrs Hartley still walked her Chihuahua.
Scott was smiley, and Stiles groaned; still the same as the previous day.
Scott noticed and bit back his smile. “Sorry, it's just-”
“Allison, yes, I know,” Stiles said, sighing. “Sorry, I'm happy for you, you
know that, right?”
“Yeah, of course,” Scott replied. “Hey, you want to hear about my date?”
“I’ll bet it was awesome,” Stiles said, hoping his smile wasn’t too thin.
“It was!” Scott exclaimed, before launching into his tale.
~~~
“Danny!” Stiles shouted, rushing down the corridor. Danny stopped, looking
confused. “Tell me you're having another weird day.”
“Actually, yeah.”
“Like, you're stuck in Groundhog day?” Stiles asked.
“Pretty much, actually.”
“Thank god. So am I, and no one else seems to have an issue. I thought I was
going insane.”
“Me too,” Danny admitted.
“Any idea what's going on?” Stiles asked.
“No, not really,” Danny admitted. “I assumed I was coming down with something,
but I feel fine.”
“I had the same thoughts,” Stiles said. He shuffled a bit, trying to decide
whether to share his bizarre theory with Danny. “Look, I have a theory, it's a
little crazy,” Stiles said.
“I would never have guessed,” Danny said, smirking.
“Do me a favour. Tonight, break a glass on your bedroom floor, and leave it
overnight. See if it's still there in the morning.”
“What?” Danny asked.
“Please?” Stiles asked. “It's the only way I can think of proving to you what's
going on.” Danny continued to look at Stiles like he'd gone completely insane.
“Just think of it like an experiment, ok? If it's still there I'll come clean
it up myself,” Stiles offered.
Danny sighed. “Fine, fine.”
“Ok, call me in the morning,” Stiles said, walking away to his next class.
~~~
Danny was ambushed by Stiles again at the end of school. “I’m serious,” he
said, “Do it, and then let me know.”
Stiles passed Jackson as he headed to his jeep, who didn't even favour him with
a look.
“What did he want?” Jackson asked Danny.
Danny shook his head. “Nothing. He's got some crackpot theory about why
everything is so weird.”
“Is this your spacey thing again?” Jackson asked.
“I just feel like I've done this exact day before, the lessons, everything.
It's impossible, but I can't shake it.”
“Weirdo,” Jackson said, shaking his head.
“You're very comforting.”
“Look, what you need is a party. This weekend, me and you. I'll sneak some
alcohol and we'll go have a good time. Maybe get you laid,” Jackson said.
“If I ever get to the weekend,” Danny muttered.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“Nothing, sounds like a good idea,” Danny said.
~~~
Danny sat on his bed that evening. He thought back to his conversation with
Stiles. Danny really didn't want to break a glass on his floor, and he wasn't
sure what point it could prove.
However, he didn't have any other ideas right now, and if it nothing happened
Stiles could clean his room, and Danny would go out and get drunk at the
weekend.
Danny shrugged and dropped the glass of water onto the floor, treading on it to
smash it, and offering up a silent apology to his parents and his carpet.
~~~
Stiles woke to his phone ringing.
“The glass is back on my desk,” Danny said, slowly. “It was definitely on my
floor last night. Stiles, what?”
“You did it?” Stiles asked. “I thought you were just humoring me.”
“I almost didn’t, but this is too weird.”
“It is! The same thing happened to me when I broke the glass,” Stiles said.
“It's like something out of Star Trek.”
Danny groaned. “I don't even think you'd go in for a prank this elaborate.”
“You think I could hold out on a prank for this long?” Stiles asked. “Also, I
would’ve either had to have a member of your family in on it, or break into
your room. That’s creepy.” Stiles thought briefly of Derek breaking into his
room and shook his head.
“Point,” Danny replied. “So what the hell is going on?”
“I don't know,” Stiles said. “I mean, I wasn't kidding when I said something
out of Star Trek – it seems like time is resetting every morning. The events
are the same, but our reactions are different, and that changes things, but the
core events are the same.”
Danny sighed down the phone and swore. “There has to be something else. Time
loops are science fiction.”
“Well, if you have another suggestion I'd be happy to hear it,” Stiles said.
Danny blew out a long breath. “I don't know, Stiles. This is – it's insane.
Let’s just get to school, and see what today is like.”
~~~
Stiles was frustrated. He knew what he had told Danny was crazy but he assumed
that the evidence would do more to convince Danny of their situation than it
had.
Stiles really didn't want to go through Monday again, but it looked like he had
no choice right now. He trudged his way down the hallway, sighing as the same
events unfolded around him. He had picked up little things now – Jenny spilling
water down her front, the way Tom pushed a piece of paper through Sarah's
locker – things that normally wouldn't register but now his brain was casting
around for new information.
Stiles saw Danny walking down the hallway with Jackson and Lydia. He looked at
Danny, who just ignored him. Stiles frowned and looked away, angry at Danny's
denial. He'd have to carry out his own research if he couldn't get Danny to
help him.
“Hey,” Scott said, appearing at Stiles' side. “You ok?”
“Not really,” Stiles said. “I'm having a bad day.”
“Well, it is Monday,” Scott pointed out.
“Is it really?” Stiles murmured. Scott looked at him curiously, and Stiles
shook his head. “It's a long story.”
“Tell me later?” Scott asked.
“Come over to my place after school,” Stiles said. He needed to tell someone or
his was going to go insane, even if Scott wouldn't remember the conversation
tomorrow.
“Sure.”
“Thanks,” Stiles said. He took a deep breath as Scott grinned at him, and
launched into the story of his date with Allison. Again
~~~
“I’m relieving the same day, over and over again,” Stiles opened with, not
wanting to beat around the bush.
“Sorry?” Scott asked.
“This is the third time I’ve lived through Monday, this exact Monday. The third
time I’ve heard you wax about your date with Allison, the third time I’ve heard
Coach’s haemorrhoid joke.”
“Stiles, should I call your dad?” Scott asked, looked very worried. He placed a
hand to Stiles’ forehead. “You don’t feel feverish, but maybe my mom could come
over and give you a check over.”
“I’m fine, I’m just stuck in a time loop,” Stiles said, brushing Scott’s hand
away. “Seriously. I’m fine. Trust me, ok?”
“How? What is going on?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know,” Stiles said. “I can barely believe it myself. And tomorrow
morning, it’ll be Monday again and you won’t remember a word of this,” he
finished, feeling himself slump. He really needed Danny to believe him on this,
just so there was someone else to understand his frustration.
"So, saying that this is actually happening--"
"It’s happening, Scott."
"Say it is... then what are you going to do? How are you going to get it to
end?"
“I’ll speak to Deaton, do some research. There’s got to be an explanation, and
a way to put it right.”
“I suppose there’s nothing I can do to help?”
“I would love it if you didn’t tell me about your date tomorrow morning, but
that’s not going to happen,” Stiles said.
“Sorry,” Scott said, looking remorseful.
“It’s fine,” Stiles said. His phone buzzed in his pocket. “You don’t know
you’re repeating yourself.”
Stiles pulled his phone out and opened up the message. It was from Danny.
From Danny:
I’ll admit that something weird is going on.
To Danny:
I’m going to skip school tomorrow to research, you know where I am if you want
to join me.
Stiles looked looked up from his phone, feeling relieved.
“What?” Scott asked.
“Danny just messaged me, he's willing to entertain the idea we're stuck in a
time loop.”
“Have you got any theories?”
“Not really. I've been going over the weekend, see if there was anything
different I did, but there's nothing. I just did homework, and lazed around on
the couch.”
Scott frowned. “Maybe it was something Danny did?”
“Could be, I hadn't even thought of that,” Stiles said. “Hopefully he’ll help
me research this tomorrow, I can ask him then.”
~~~
Stiles quashed his guilt about skipping school. He wouldn't learn anything and
it's not like anyone would remember it when the next loop came. Stiles sat in
front of his computer and listed all the search terms he could think of related
to their problem. He was going through them one by one when his phone rang.
“Stiles?” Danny said when Stiles answered. “The texts from last night, they
disappeared. It really is a loop, isn’t it?”
“It really is,” Stiles said, tucking the phone under one ear and continuing to
type. He was very aware of his deadline. “I'm researching what this could be.”
“Ok, I'll come over and help out.”
“Thanks,” Stiles said. Danny hung up.
~~~
“Any luck?” Danny asked when Stiles let him in.
“Not really,” Stiles said.
“Well we need to find something. If I have to listen to Jackson's weekend one
more time I might kill him.”
“Tell me about it,” Stiles replied. “You want a drink or anything? Coke?”
“Coke would be good, thanks.”
Stiles nodded and went to the fridge, pulling out a couple of cans.
“Most of my research is bringing up fiction or theoretical physics, so any
insight you might have would be great.”
Danny shook his head. “I haven't got a clue. I mean, time travel like this
shouldn't be possible.”
“No, I know. I mean, I’ve looked over the physics but I can only understand
maybe half of it, and I don’t think this is a physics thing.”
“If it’s not a physics thing, what could it be?”
“I have no idea,” Stiles said.
They camped out in Stiles' room, each with their respective laptops. The room
was silent except for the tapping and clicking of keys and mice.
“I'm getting nowhere fast, and I'm starving,” Stiles announced about an hour
later. “And as these choices make no difference in the long run, I'm going to
go grab a burger.”
Danny looked up from his laptop. “Sounds good to me.”
They got into Stiles' jeep and drove to the local McDonalds. Stiles ordered a
couple of Big Macs and fries. Danny frowned at him and ordered a meal.
“Two Big Macs?”
“I'm a growing boy! Also I have to ban this from the house to stop my dad from
eating it, so I have to take advantage when I can.”
Danny just shook his head.
“Don't judge me!” Stiles said, taking the bag of food off the worker. They
drove back to Stiles' house, pulling up and heading into the kitchen.
Stiles took a huge bite of his burger; he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed them,
despite the relatively poor quality of the food. That was the point.
“Ok, so. Let's go over what we know.”
Danny nodded as he swallowed his mouthful of food. “We're the only people it
affects, as far as we know. It's been going on for three or fours days now?”
Stiles nodded.
“Four days. Since Sunday. It appears to last about 24 hours. That it?” Danny
asked.
Stiles nodded. “It's a full reset, even though we're changing what happens by
our actions, it doesn't stick to the next loop.”
Danny nodded. “And our research has basically come to a halt.”
“Well, it's more than we have no idea what to research.”
“True. Any idea where we can get more knowledge from?”
Stiles paused. “I might. But you'll have to trust me.”
“Like I've done anything else so far,” Danny commented.
“Eat up then, we've got somewhere to go,” Stiles said, picking up a handful of
fries.
~~~
“The vets?” Danny asked. “Seriously, Stiles, if this is a joke-”
“No joke, I swear. Dr. Deaton is more than just a vet. If anyone's going to
have a clue about this stuff it'll be him.”
“Really?”
“Really, really,” Stiles said, getting out of the jeep. Danny got out the other
side and followed him into the building.
“Dr. Deaton?” Stiles shouted. Deaton came out of his office.
“Stiles, what can I do for you?” he asked.
“We were hoping to talk to you in private?” Stiles asked. Deaton gave him a
significant look, and Stiles just held his gaze. Deaton eventually nodded, and
led them into the office.
“Stiles,” Deaton said. “It's unusual to see you without Scott.”
“Scott's not involved in this, it's just me and Danny.”
“What is 'this'? And how much does Danny know?” Deaton asked.
“How much do I know about what?” Danny asked, looking from one to the other.
“Danny doesn't know anything yet, it's not related to this,” Stiles said. Danny
opened his mouth again and Stiles turned to him. “I'll tell you later, ok?
Let's just deal with this first, okay?”
Danny nodded, but Stiles could tell by the set of his mouth that Danny wouldn't
be forgetting this.
“Okay, so what's the current problem?” Deaton asked.
Stiles opened his mouth-
“We're reliving the same day,” Danny said.
Stiles blinked. He expected Danny to be more silent on the whole matter. Danny
just shrugged at him.
“Yeah, what he said,” Stiles said, turning back to Deaton.
“Sorry?”
“We're reliving the same day over again. Just us, by the looks of things,”
Stiles said.
“I've not experienced this,” Deaton said. “Tell me more.”
~~~
“-and so we came here,” Stiles finished, taking a drink of water. Deaton had
closed the vets and they were sitting in the back.
“Well, I've no experience with these at all. I've never even heard of this
happening before. I'll have to do some research.”
“Can I just ask – why us?” Danny said. “It's really random, we didn't see each
other at the weekend, we haven't really spent time together at all. Scott would
make more sense.”
“That's a good point,” Stiles said. He and Danny had no connection, they were
friends but not close. And yeah, sure, Stiles thought Danny was hot and funny
and he'd totally dig being with a guy like that, but they weren't like that. At
all. Unfortunately. He had no idea why Danny had been pulled into this weird
loop thing.
“What were you doing the weekend before this started?” Deaton asked him.
“I was at home. Probably eating dinner,” Danny replied. “I only break the laws
of physics on Tuesdays.”
Stiles snorted a laugh, and Danny grinned at him in response. Stiles turned
back to Deaton, trying to focus on the problem. “I was had dinner with my dad
Saturday, homework Sunday.” Stiles sighed. “Research is our only option?”
“Yes, I'm afraid that’s our only option right now,” Deaton said. “I have some
books that might help.”
~~~
While they waited for Deaton to bring back some books, Danny couldn’t help but
ask, “Why does Deaton believe us, without proof, without question?” He was sure
Deaton would’ve assumed they were pulling a prank, but he’d just listened to
their story intently, asking relevant and serious questions.
“It's a long story, but Deaton is used to supernatural weird-ass stuff,” Stiles
said.
“This is related to what Deaton was getting at the first time we came here,”
Danny said. Stiles nodded.
“When Scott comes over tonight, I'll tell you. Trust me? Scott needs to be
there,” Stiles said.
Danny was getting sick of hearing Stiles asking that of him without any real
explanations. But the thing was, he did trust him, so he decided not to make a
big deal out of it. Not yet, anyway; he'd give Stiles the chance to prove that
trust.
Deaton returned with a few old-looking books. Stiles and Danny took one each,
and starting reading.
“Magic?” Danny asked.
“Roll with it,” Stiles said. “Later, I'll tell you later.”
Danny's mind was blown by what he was reading. The books - grimoires Deaton
called them – were big, leather bound tomes of tiny writing. He turned to a
chapter titled To hinder any Necromantic or Magical Operations from taking
effect and set to work deciphering the archaic English.
“There must've been something that one of us did that started the loop,” Danny
said, closing the book, frustrated. The books were interesting, but nothing
useful was there, no real instructions on how to deal with their predicament.
He thought back over the weekend, sifting through the details as he remembered
them. There was nothing he hadn't done a million times before; dinner with his
family, watching tv, did some homework, played some computer games. Nothing out
of the ordinary.
He jumped when Stiles started snapping his fingers. “I might have it, let me-”
Stiles jumped up, pulling his keys out of his pocket. “Wait here, I'll be right
back,” he said, running out the door.
“Right,” Danny said, staring after him.
“Let’s hope he brings something useful,” Deaton commented, going back to his
book.
Danny nodded and looked at the book in front of him. He felt a little weird,
being left along with a vet that believed in magic, but there wasn't anything
else to do about it at the moment. He really hoped Stiles wasn’t going to be
long. He owed Danny for leaving him, either way.
Less than twenty minutes later Stiles burst back through the office door. He
pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Deaton.
“What's that?” Danny asked.
“It might be nothing. I found it last Saturday,” Stiles said, shrugging.
“Ouroborus, circularity.”
“So this might be all your fault?” Danny asked.
“Not the point right now,” Stiles said. “Is this familiar to you at all?”
Deaton looked at the ring intently. “No,” he said, finally.
“Dammit,” Stiles said.
“That doesn't mean it's not anything, it just means I have no idea,” Deaton
pointed out. “Where did you find it?”
“It was in my dad's office, on the bookshelf.”
“Did your dad mention it at all?”
“Nope, I was just being nosey and picked it up. I can’t explain why I shoved it
in my pocket, it just felt like the right thing to do? I did some research when
I got home, just in case but nothing came up, so I left it. With everything
that was going on I didn’t even think of it.”
“Well, it's something else to research. The Ouroborus is an ancient symbol, it
could be attached to many things.”
~~~
“Well, that was weird,” Danny said when they walked out of the vet’s.
“You're taking it pretty good, you know,” Stiles said, because it was true.
Stiles was now used to the supernatural fuckery that was his life. Danny didn't
even know werewolves were a thing.
“I'm ninety percent sure I'm going to go screamingly insane any time now.”
“Welcome to my life,” Stiles muttered. “Ok, so what now?”
“Research, like the man said,” Danny said.
“So, back to my place?” Stiles asked.
“Sure,” Danny said, shrugging.
~~~
“Dad!” Stiles shouted as they walked into the house. “Danny's helping me out
with some homework.” Stiles walked into the kitchen to see his dad at the
table.
“You ok?” Stiles asked.
“Fine. Hi, Danny,” he said.
“Hello Sheriff,” Danny replied.
“Don’t let him make you do all his homework, or distract you too much,” Sheriff
said with a smirk.
“Hey!” Stiles shouted.
“I’m sure I can handle Stiles,” Danny said. Stiles hoped he wasn’t blushing at
Danny’s words.
“Come on,” Stiles said, retreating to his room.
“So, what wrong do we have to right, do you think?” Stiles said, spreading more
newspapers over the floor. Danny was sitting at Stiles' desk, googling anything
that was remotely related.
“What?” Danny said, spinning around to face Stiles.
“Isn't it always the way? There's something that shouldn't have happened and
the universe keeps replaying the events until something changes?”
“It'd be nice if the universe clued us in on what it wants us to do,” Danny
said, turning back to the computer.
“I'm pretty sure it doesn't want us to troll TV Tropes. Just saying.”
“Sorry,” Danny said, closing the tab. “Surprisingly works of fiction are the
only place this sort of thing has been recorded. I wonder if the loop is
physical – is the whole world just reliving the same 24 hours?”
“I hope so. Can you imagine when we break this thing and it's suddenly May?
That would be weird.”
“Yeah,” Danny said. “I'll see if there are any other people who are having the
same problem.” He started googling.
“Won't work, will it?” Stiles said. “The glass? Everything gets reset when time
does. Although I guess it depends where the server is?”
“Shit,” Danny said, cursing. “I might put something up tomorrow – someone might
see it before the time resets? And if it’s still there tomorrow then it’s not
affecting the whole world.”
“Good plan,” Stiles said. His phone started to ring. He picked it up and looked
at the display. “It’s Deaton! Hello?” he said as he answered it.
“Stiles? It’s Dr. Deaton.”
“Hi. Have you found anything?”
“Yes and no. I haven't pinpointed the exact cause or reason for the loop, but
I've done some reading and it looks like there is something you'll have to
change – a course of action that needs to be taken – in order for the loop to
be broken.”
“So, right a wrong somewhere?” Stiles asked.
“Maybe, yes. Or stop something from happening, or ensure something happens. But
I'd probably start with looking for crimes that have been committed, yes.”
“Ok, I’ll get on it. Thanks for helping us out.”
“Any time. This is an unusual problem. I’d like you to document it once you’ve
broken it, I think it will be useful.”
“Will do,” Stiles replied.
“Goodnight,” Deaton said. Stiles hung up.
“Well?” Danny asked.
“Ok, so it is a right a wrong type deal, according to Deaton. He suggested we
start with crime.”
“But we didn’t find anything in the news.”
“The papers would be out of date. We’re probably looking for crimes perpetrated
today, ones we can stop.”
“How’re we meant to do that?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure it out,” Stiles said, rubbing his forehead.
“I can’t tonight, my brain is fried.”
“Mine too,” Danny said. “When does the loop actually start over?”
“I haven't stayed up for it, I don't know,” Stiles said. “It's always been when
I've woken up.”
“Might be worth staying up, see what it looks like,” Danny said.
Stiles nodded. “Yeah, definitely. More data points. Too bad we can't write
these things down,” he said. “Hey, you could stay for dinner, if you want?”
Stiles asked.
“Would your dad mind?” Danny asked.
“Nah,” Stiles said, “I'll be right back.”
Stiles went downstairs and found his dad sitting at the kitchen table, files
spread all over the surface. Stiles had a quick glance over it as he approached
the table, but it just seemed like normal admin that his dad had to deal with.
Nothing particularly shocking or useful.
“Time to stop the paperwork,” Stiles said. His dad looked up at him.
“Hm?”
“Dad, all work and no play yadda. Have a break, go watch something.”
His dad yawned and stretched, groaning, “What time is it?”
“Food time,” Stiles replied. “Can Danny stay for dinner?”
“I'm not even sure what we're having for dinner, Stiles,” his dad pointed out.
“If you let Danny stay, I'll order pizza.”
“Actual cheese?” his dad asked, looking suspicious.
“Actual artery clogging cheese. And pepperoni,” Stiles wheedled.
“Deal,” his dad said.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Stiles said, grinning.
“Stiles, you're ok, right?”
“Yeah, I'm fine. All hunky dory.”
“Ok, well. Go ask Danny what he wants on his pizza,” his dad said.
“Thanks, dad,” Stiles said, bouncing back up the stairs.
~~~
“Ok, so movie?” Stiles asked. As much as research was Stiles’ thing, he had had
enough. He needed a break, or something. He half-expected Danny to head back
home since there was no reason for him to stay after all. Stiles hoped he would
though, he’d really enjoyed spending time with him.
“Sure,” Danny said. “What have you got?”
“The internet. And Netflix,” Stiles said, loading up the library. “Thor?”
“Chris Hemsworth is very important in times of stress,” Danny replied. Stiles
nodded and queued up the film.
He and Danny sat on the bed to watch the movie. Stiles had forgotten how much
he enjoyed it, and found himself not worrying about their situation for a
little while.
“It's almost midnight,” Danny said. “It has to happen soon.”
“Yeah, that's when all the supernatural events happen, right?” Stiles said. He
stood up, suddenly feeling jittery and nervous. He had no idea what to expect
from the loop resetting. Would there even be anything?
“Ok, sit down, you're making me even more nervous,” Danny said, checking his
watch once again.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Besides, maybe sitting down when it happens would be less painful,” Danny
said. Stiles pointed to Danny.
“Point,” Stiles sat on the bed, knee pressing against Danny's leg. Stiles
closed his eyes.
~~~
There was a whooshing noise and Stiles opened his eyes. He sat up in bed. It
was morning. His alarm went off and he frowned at his phone, turning it off.
“That's it?” he muttered. He dialled Danny's number.
“I just woke up in bed,” Stiles said.
“Me too, I didn't even get any motion sickness,” Danny said.
“But it doesn't tell us anything,” Stiles said. “Just that we have a day, give
or take.”
“It's a long time for us to do whatever we need to do to fix this,” Danny
replied.
“Good point,” Stiles said. “So, you up for playing hooky?”
~~~
Danny came by Stiles' house late the next morning. “I had to drive to school
because my mom passes that way on the way to work,” he explained. He rubbed his
neck where it had got a crick from ducking down in his seat so no one could see
him through the window.
“I have an idea, I can set up my laptop to stream the police radio, so we can
track crimes as they’re reported.”
“You know how to do that?” Danny asked.
“I used to listen to it when I was younger and Dad would be working nights,”
Stiles said, setting up a feed to scan the police radio on his computer. He set
it playing in the background.
“These are the codes you’ll need to listen out for,” Stiles said, typing up all
the ones he could think of that would be relevant. “You either have to memorise
them or I’ll have to write them out each day.”
“I’ll try for the former,” Danny said.
“Now, we listen,” Stiles said, turning up the speakers.
~~~
“Beacon Hills is a dull town,” Danny said, after an hour of listening to
exchanges about that new diner that had opened next to the library and one
report of a stolen bike.
“Yup, which is exactly why it’s the twelfth of April. For the fifth? sixth? day
in a row,” Stiles said, smiling wryly. “Maybe that bike is really important.”
Danny just looked at him.
“Maybe it belongs to a kid who will be instrumental in stopping the robot
uprising,” Stiles said, grinning. Danny shook his head. “And without it, he can
never get to the library to finish his paper, and so fails his class, drops out
of high school, doesn’t become an awesome scientist and then boom! Skynet.”
“You are such an idiot.”
“I try,” Stiles replied, grinning. “But seriously though, this is like the
butterfly effect, we have no idea what’s going to be important a decade in the
future.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of time to right all the wrongs,” Danny said. “But I
think we should start with the serious crimes.”
Stiles nodded. “Any ideas on how to pass the time while we wait?”
“We could do some reading? Our notes don’t stick but our memories do.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m aiming for Valedictorian,” Danny shrugged.
“You’ll never beat Lydia.”
“Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try,” Danny said, picking up a chemistry textbook
from Stiles’ floor. “Come on, I’ll quiz you.”
Stiles groaned, but started answering Danny’s questions anyway.
~~~
“Why do you think we’re stuck here? Like, why us two?” Stiles asked.
Danny looked up from his textbook.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “It seems a little random.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I mean, we’re kind of friends, but you and
Jackson, or me and Scott would make more sense.” Stiles shook his head. “We
could try and find the connection, maybe that would help get to the bottom of
it.”
“Maybe,” Danny said. “But we didn’t even see each other that weekend. I didn’t
pick up any random jewelry-”
“Hey!”
“Nothing unusual,” Danny finished.
“This isn’t my fault,” Stiles said.
“I’m not saying it is, well, maybe not entirely,” Danny said, smiling to let
Stiles know he was joking.
“You’ll be thanking me when we’re superheroes.”
“Superheroes?”
“Two mysterious handsome guys go around solving crime! We’d totally be
superheroes.”
“Handsome?”
“We’re totally handsome,” Stiles said, flushing.
“You are such a dork,” Danny said, laughing. “You know, of all the people I’m
could’ve been stuck in this situation with, I’m glad its you.”
“Thanks,” Stiles said. “You’re pretty awesome yourself.”
~~~
They ended up spending the rest of the day listening to the police radio,
looking up whenever a distorted voice crackled over the speakers.
“This has got to be the most boring day in existence. Nothing happened,” Stiles
said, head lolling back on his chair.
Danny stood up, stretching out his muscles. “Well, that rules out crime
fighting, I guess.”
“This is frustrating.”
“Tell me about it,” Danny said. “I can’t believe we spent the entire day
waiting on a crime that didn’t happen. Or didn’t get reported, anyway.”
“At least we didn’t waste a day. It’ll still be Monday in the morning.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Danny said, trying to control his
frustration at the situation they were in. “I think I just need to go home, get
some rest or something.”
“Ok, sure. We can regroup tomorrow,” Stiles said, running a hand through his
hair. “I’ll try to think of another plan of attack.”
“Me, too.” Danny picked up his bag and headed down the stairs. Stiles followed
him, seeing him out the door.
“There’s got to be a way. We’ll think of something,” Stiles said. Danny thought
that his relentless optimism was starting to sound a bit more like desperation,
but he couldn’t blame Stiles. Everything was coming up a dead end.
“Of course we will,” Danny replied. “See you later.”
~~~
Danny turned up again next morning. “You’d think avoiding my parents would get
easier after each time.”
“It is the same every morning,” Stiles said. “Although the punishment wouldn’t
stick anyway,” Stiles shrugged. “We’re pretty free with what we do. Which is a
really distracting thought, actually.”
“No consequences,” Danny said. Stiles and Danny looked at each other. “We could
do pretty much what we wanted.”
“I feel this is very dangerous knowledge,” Stiles said. His phone buzzed in his
pocket, distracting him from that train of thought.
From: Scott
To: Stiles
Where are you?
To Scott
From: Stiles
Long story. Am ok, but come by after school
Stiles felt guilty about not telling Scott about his situation. He knew Scott
wouldn't be able to do much, but it still felt wrong keeping secrets from him,
especially now that he knew Scott was worrying about him.
“Ok, I have a proposition,” Danny said when Stiles had finished texting Scott.
“We go to Deaton, tell him what we know. I’ll put a post up on as many forums
and websites as I can find. Then we go take advantage of this.”
Stiles nodded. “That sounds good.”
Danny typed up a post he could copy and paste onto all the forums he could find
that would be vaguely related.
“I've set up a throw away email, just in case, and I'll get them all to send
alerts to my phone so we'll know the minute someone replies,” Danny said.
“Let's hope we managed to avoid trolls and spambots,” Stiles said. “Deaton
now?”
“He’s not going to remember anything, is he?” Danny asked.
“No, but at least he’ll have most of the day to work on it,” Stiles pointed
out.
~~~
The visit to Deaton was frustrating. Danny and Stiles hadn't quite got the hang
of telling the story, so it took longer than they would've liked. The reaction
was the same though: research.
“Ok, so we’ll go and do more research at home. With our laptops?” Stiles said,
looking at Danny.
Danny nodded. “If Stiles’ dad sees his Jeep here it’ll lead to a lot of
questions,” he said. Deaton just nodded but Danny wasn’t sure how convinced of
their story he was. He couldn’t bring himself to care. They walked out of the
vet’s quickly, and Stiles took a long route home, to avoid being seen.
~~~
They booted up their laptops when they got back to Stiles’ house. Danny was
disappointed to see that there had been no useful replies to his enquiries to
see if anyone else was affected. He deleted the notifications for the spam
messages and sighed.
“Nothing,” he said, turning to Stiles.
“Fuck,” Stiles said.
“You gonna tell me the weird Buffy stuff that's going down here? What's the
story with the vet and what don't I know?” Danny asked.
“It’s a long story,” Stiles said. “And you might not believe me, which is why I
want to wait for Scott to get here. So after school. Trust me, Scott needs to
be here.”
“I've believed you up till now,” Danny pointed out. He was sure it couldn't be
weirder than time loops.
“Don't say I didn't warn you. But until then, we have broken physics to take
advantage of,” Stiles said. “Have you decided what you’re doing yet?”
Danny shook his head. “Not yet, but I will. You?”
“Not really,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “I need to get better fake ID, I
want to go out tonight and not be presented with coke.”
“I can hook you up,” Danny said. “Where are you planning on heading?”
“Jungle,” Stiles said, with a forced kind of off-handedness. He was looking at
his laptop, but Danny could see the tip of his ears were pink and his shoulders
slightly hunched.
“You want to go to Jungle?”
“Sure,” Stiles said, shrugging, finally meeting Danny’s eyes. “I’m - open-
minded?”
Danny picked up his phone and fired off a text. “Like I said, I’ll get you one
sorted later on today.” He’d never pegged Stiles as anything other than
straight, and maybe the tiniest bit curious. Stiles’ questions made sense now,
anyway. Interesting.
“Thanks,” Stiles said, smiling.
“Ok, I’m gonna go, but I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, come by after school, and I’ll get Scott over here.”
Danny packed his laptop away and waved at Stiles as he left.
The weight of the freedom of his situation started to settle on him. This was a
prime opportunity - the chance to do anything - and he didn’t want to waste it,
but he had no idea how best to take advantage of it.
~~~
Danny drove home. He did have something he wanted to try in the few hours he
had to kill. Danny booted up his laptop and cracked his knuckles. He’d left his
hacking days behind him, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t curious about
what he could do with enough time. Danny grinned as he started typing.
~~~
Stiles wasn’t going to do the cliche ‘tell your crush you like them’ thing. He
could see how it would play out, telling Lydia how he felt. And Danny would
remember, which would be awful. So no, something else.
He was already skipping school, and planning on going out later. He didn’t want
to run into his dad or Scott’s mom, so that ruled anything really wild.
Stiles loaded up his netflix queue, an extra day to get through his to-watch
list wasn’t anything to waste.
~~~
Danny made his way to Stiles’ house after school had finished to meet Scott, as
requested. Stiles answered the door, letting him in.
“I was just filling Scott in on our current problem,” he said. Danny nodded.
“How’s he taking it?”
“Fine enough,” Stiles said, shrugging. “And he’s willing to help me explain the
other stuff to you, which is good. You should know anyway.”
“Are you being mysterious on purpose?” Danny asked.
“This is the only chance I’ve got,” Stiles said, grinning. “Come on.”
Scott was sitting on Stiles’ bed, frowning.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Danny replied, sitting on Stiles’ desk chair.
“You ok, Danny?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” he replied.
Scott nodded. “I hope you manage to fix this loop soon.”
“Me, too.”
“Me, three,” Stiles said, sitting next to Scott. “You want to tell Danny what’s
going on in this town?” he asked Scott, who nodded.
“Werewolves,” Scott said. “Werewolves are real, and I am one.”
“Werewolves,” Danny said, flatly, looking from Scott to Stiles. If he wasn’t in
a time loop, he’d definitely think this was a prank, but as it was, he knew
Stiles hadn’t had the time to come up with a prank like this and get Scott in
on it. “Actual werewolves?”
“Yep,” Stiles said, a wry smile on his face. “Which is why the whole magic
thing isn't shocking to me.”
“It puts things in perspective,” Scott added.
“Well, fuck,” Danny said.
Stiles and Scott burst out laughing. “That's one response.”
“How did it happen?”
“I got bit by a werewolf. A dickish one, actually,” Scott said. “Do you want to
see? Most people need some kind of proof.”
“Yeah,” Danny said. Scott nodded and Danny felt himself recoil as Scott grew
fangs and claws like something out of a movie.
“I was expecting you to show me where you were bit, not the - wolf thing. That
is weird,” Danny said.
“The bite is healed,” Scott said through his now long and pointy teeth. Danny
just looked at Stiles, helpless.
“Yup,” Stiles replied, looking completely unfazed. “You get used to it though.”
Scott returned to looking like his normal self, and quirked a smile. Danny
smiled back but it felt shaky.
“So, you were attacked?”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “It sucked, but I’m ok with it now. It has it’s
advantages.”
“I can imagine,” Danny murmured, possibilities running through his head. He
wondered which of the ‘facts’ he knew about werewolves were true and which
weren’t. He shook himself. “You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”
“Sure. After all this is finished,” Scott said.
“So, what's Deaton's story?” Danny asked, thinking back to the situation at
hand.
“You know, I'm not sure. I just know he knows about werewolves, like the
mechanics of things? And so I guessed he might be the best place to start with
this stuff.” Stiles was fiddling with the ring, just turning it round his
fingers.
“Let me look at it,” Danny said, holding out his hand. Stiles dropped the ring
into his palm. The metal was warm from Stiles' skin, and Danny just held it
until it changed to his body temperature. It felt and looked utterly normal.
Danny always expected that magic things would give off something – a hum or a
vibration – something that said 'this here, this is magic'. This was almost
disappointing in how ordinary it was.
“It’s so ordinary,” Stiles said, unknowingly mirroring Danny’s thoughts.
“Yeah,” Danny said. Scott reached out and Danny handed it to him.
“Well, wolfy senses tell you anything?” Stiles asked. Scott lifted the ring up
to his face, and examined intently, but eventually dropped his hand and shook
his head.
“Nothing,” he said. “It doesn’t smell or feel weird. Maybe Derek would know
more?” Scott suggested.
“Who’s Derek?” Danny asked.
“Another werewolf,” Stiles explained. “You’ve met him - my cousin? Miguel? Only
he's not my cousin and his name is Derek, that was a cover. But, whatever, he’s
a dick. And grumpy. He doesn’t tell us anything, why would he help out now?”
“You could just leave out the time loop. Say you found the ring and just wanted
to know if it looked familiar to him?” Scott suggested. “He’s an Alpha, I think
they have different powers. He might see something I can’t.”
“Maybe,” Stiles said. “We’ll keep it in mind if the research doesn’t come up
with anything.”
~~~
After Scott had left, Danny turned to Stiles. “Come on, let’s get you a fake ID
that will actually work.”
“Do you think it will?”
“Mine does,” Danny replied, shrugging.
“Cool. Hey, are you coming out tonight?”
“Yeah, no reason not to,” Danny said.
“Awesome.”
“I wonder if the time loop will mean we don’t get a hangover.”
“Oh, man, lets hope so,” Stiles said. “We should definitely test that.”
Danny raised his eyebrows. “Watch out Beacon Hills.”
“Exactly,” Stiles said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
~~~
Danny pulled on a pair of nice jeans. He was going to party because what else
was he going to do? He could do whatever he wanted tonight, and if that didn’t
call for getting blind drunk then he didn’t know what did.
“Going to Jackson’s,” Danny said to his parents as he headed out. He text
Jackson:
To Jackson:
Cover me, going out
From Jackson:
without me? not cool man
To Jackson:
Come to jungle then
From Jackson:
with lyd. talk tomorrow
To Jackson
Thanks man. Have fun
Jackson was a good friend, Danny thought as he joined the line to get in. He
had a quick look around but didn’t see Stiles. He did however see someone who
he wanted to get to know better. Danny smiled, gratified when he got an
appraising look in return and a smile.
see you later, good looking Danny thought. The line moved slowly, and Danny was
thankful it wasn’t a cold night.
~~~
As soon as Danny got in he headed to the bar and ordered a shot. The first
taste made him wince, burning his throat a little, but it was worth it for the
warmth he felt when it hit his stomach. He ordered a beer to follow it up,
sipping at it. He propped up the bar, looking out over the crowd. The dance
floor was full, and Danny was looking forward to getting out there.
He wondered where Stiles was, he looked around a bit more purposefully. He saw
Stiles being crowded against a wall by one of the club’s more well known
creeps. The guy never did anything that would justify him being kicked out, but
enough to make most of the regulars know and make sure he got shut down
quickly.
Danny ordered another drink and took it over to Stiles.
“I leave for a minute to get a drink and you’re already flirting with someone
else? I am betrayed,” Danny said, smiling. He raised his eyebrows, hoping
Stiles would get the hint to play along. He stepped closer to Stiles, pushing
the drink into his hands. He leaned forward.
“Play along.” Danny moved back. Stiles nodded and smiled.
“I was just talking, I didn’t realise he was taken,” the guy protested. Danny
turned and glared.
“Maybe you should go get yourself a drink,” Danny suggested, gesturing to the
bar.
The guy took a step back, hands up and left.
“He’s a creep,” Danny said, turning around. “Most of the regulars know him, and
know to watch out for him.”
Stiles nodded. “He seemed a little slimy. I can handle myself, you know.”
“I know, but it’s a habit. If it hadn’t had been me, someone else probably
would’ve done the same. And you got a free drink.”
“Thanks,” Stiles said, taking another sip.
"Well, I'm going to dance," Danny said, draining his glass.
"Oh, um, ok. Sounds good," Stiles said, and chugged the rest of his beer. Danny
watched Stiles' Adam's apple bob as he drank, and Danny shook himself. He
needed to get laid.
Danny walked to the dancefloor with purpose. There was at least one hot guy in
this bar and Danny was going to find him. He took a deep breath and started
dancing. He moved away from Stiles, leaving him to find someone to dance with.
He sidled around to a guy, nice looking even under the constantly changing
lights. He changed his moves to be in sync with the guy. He looked interested,
Danny noted; he certainly shifted closer to Danny. Danny danced with more
purpose, taking it up a notch as the dancefloor got more crowded.
The song changed and the guy moved on. Danny sighed and shrugged and carried on
dancing, wondering if Stiles was having more luck than he was. Danny found
Stiles dancing in a corner, slightly flaily, but still moving nicely to the
beat. Danny caught his eye and started dancing closer to him. Stiles grinned
and waved.
"I saw you strike out, sorry," Stiles shouted over the music.
"It happens," Danny replied. "You having fun?"
"Yeah," Stiles said, nodding. "Thanks for hooking me up."
"You're welcome," Danny said.
Stiles said. "What time does this place normally kick out, anyway?"
"Around three," Danny said. “Not that it applies to us.”
“Shit, yeah,” Stiles said, looking at his watch. “We’ve got less than an hour.”
“Best make the most of it,” Danny said. “You want to dance?”
They found a space and started to move. Danny watch Stiles move his hips and
realised that underneath the flailing there was a decent dancer. Danny shifted
closer, ignoring the way Stiles' eyes widened.
"You're a good dancer."
"Thanks."
They continued to dance together through the next few songs. The beat of the
music slowed, got deeper and filthier. The DJ knew how to work the crowd.
People started grouping off. Danny watched Stiles sway. He was surprised at how
much fun he'd had with Stiles. If it had been anyone else, Danny would probably
be getting lucky right now. Danny watched Stiles, realising he'd spent a lot of
the night watching him, and not out of any sense of obligation, but because
he'd wanted to, because his eyes were drawn to Stiles.
Danny slid behind Stiles, gripping his hips.
"Wha-" Stiles said, freezing.
"Like this," Danny said into his ear, and Stiles relaxed a bit. Danny started
to move them in time with the music, closing his eyes. He wasn't sure what he
was doing with Stiles, or why, other than he wanted Stiles, and Stiles wasn't
complaining.
Stiles stepped forward, away from Danny as the song changed.
“I - er - think I need some water,” he said, heading towards the bar.
Danny frowned and followed him. “I didn’t make you uncomfortable, did I?” he
asked.
Stiles gulped at his water, shaking his head as he swallowed. “It was fun. You
should go and find someone to dance with, though.”
“I thought I was dancing with someone,” Danny said.
“I meant - someone you liked,” Stiles said, waving a hand about.
“Why don’t you find someone?” Danny asked. Stiles opened his mouth--
Danny’s alarm went off. He groaned and turned it off.
“Goddammit,” he said to himself. He sat up, noticing his lack of headache. No
hangover then, he thought. He was disappointed though. Danny had wanted to see
where that conversation would have gone. There had been potential for
something, Danny was sure.
He picked up his phone, noticing that it was in fact, still Monday.
To Stiles:
Hangover free over here. How’re you feeling?”
He got a reply almost instantly.
From Stiles:
Same here
To Stiles:
I’ll come over again later?
From Stiles:
Sure, we need to figure out another plan
~~~
Danny stopped at the coffee shop on the way to Stiles’ house and picked up a
couple of drinks and muffins.
“I brought caffeine and chocolate,” he said as Stiles opened the door.
Stiles blinked then smiled. “Awesome, thanks.”
They went to Stiles’ room, Danny sitting in Stiles’ desk chair out of habit.
Stiles stayed standing, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Last night was fun,” Danny said, breaking the silence. He wasn’t used to
silence where Stiles was concerned.
“Yeah, it was,” Stiles said. “Shame the night had to end so early.”
“Yeah. You could always go out again tonight.”
“Maybe,” Stiles said, noncommittally.
Danny pulled his muffin out of the bag. “More research, then?”
~~~
Stiles had been on edge all morning. The night before had been so unfinished.
He wondered how much of that was just the atmosphere and the alcohol.
Shame the no consequences thing didn’t apply to him and Danny, he thought as he
watched Danny click through some news sites online. He was pretty sure they
were the same sites he’d looked at the last time they did this.
“Any luck?” He asked.
“No,” Danny sighed. “I think it’s pointless but I’m out of ideas.”
“Me, too,” Stiles said. “Hey, what did you get up to yesterday, when you left
here?”
“I did some hacking,” Danny said. “I didn’t get far, but it was fun.”
“No consequences,” Stiles muttered.
“Exactly,” Danny replied. “What about you?”
“Disappointingly, not a whole lot.”
“You can make up for it, it’s not like we have any leads,” Danny said,
stretching. Stiles’ eyes were drawn to the way Danny’s flexed above his head.
“You ok?” Danny asked. “You seem quiet.”
“Last night-” Stiles started. “Last night was fun, right? I mean we had fun
together.”
“We had a good time,” Danny agreed.
“Exactly. But the night got cut short. Lost opportunity,” Stiles said, feeling
bolder as he said the words.
“It was an abrupt ending.”
“I know you’ll remember this, and so this might be the worst idea I’ve had in
my life but - this is what I want to do.”
Danny frowned, “what are you talking about?”
“This,” Stiles said, taking two steps towards Danny. He kissed Danny, one hand
cupping Danny’s shoulder to hold him steady. He pulled back as quick as he’d
leaned in, not wanting to encroach on Danny’s personal space too much.
“Oh,” Danny said, softly. He didn’t look disgusted though, and he wasn’t
running away.
“Sorry,” Stiles said. “This was really stupid.”
“No,” Danny said.
“No? You mean - no? The opposite of yes?” Stiles asked, heart giving a lurch
before starting to pound.
“You are such a dork. Yes, the opposite of yes,” Danny said.
“I am not a dork,” Stiles replied, on auto-pilot, trying to figure out exactly
what Danny meant.
Danny shook his head and stood up. “You are the biggest dork,” Danny said,
leaning in and kissing Stiles.
“Ok, I’m a dork,” Stiles said, slightly breathless as they pulled apart.
“I think I told you that,” Danny said.
“So, what? You like me?”
“Yes, I like you, Stiles,” Danny said. “Do you like me?”
“Yes, yes, I mean- you’re not bad,” Stiles said.
Danny poked him in the ribs. “Dork.”
Stiles kissed Danny, and he slipped his hands around Danny’s waist. He could
feel Danny’s hand on the base of his spine, thumbs slipping up under Stiles’
shirt.
Danny was warm and eager, Stiles could feel him pressing closer, and felt his
body react. His hips pushed forward and Stiles pulled away from the kiss with a
moan.
“Fuck, you’re hard,” He said.
“So are you,” Danny pointed out.
“Yeah,” Stiles said.
“You want to do something about it?” Danny asked. Stiles nodded and reached out
for Danny again. He started to pull at Danny’s shirt until he stepped back and
pulled the shirt over his head. Stiles reached out and put a hand on Danny’s
chest.
“Can I?” Danny asked, hands tugging at Stiles’ shirt. Stiles nodded once, then
stepped back, stripping off his shirt.
He looked up to see Danny pulling at his pants. Stiles’ mouth went dry as he
watched Danny strip off. He let out a breath and took his own pants off,
hesitating briefly before taking his boxers off.
Danny’s dick was hard, Stiles noticed, thrilled at the knowledge that he had
done that. He’d made Danny hard. It was awesome.
He kissed Danny again, boldened by that knowledge. Danny sighed into his mouth,
hands hot on Stiles’ skin.
“Bed?” Danny whispered.
“Yeah, yes,” Stiles replied.
They lay down on Stiles’ bed. Danny tugged at Stiles until he straddled Danny’s
hips.
“Hi,” Stiles said.
Danny snorted. “Hi.”
“What -” Stiles broke off and swallowed as Danny ran his fingers up Stiles’
legs and stomach. “I’m not hugely experienced.” He rested his hands on Danny’s
chest. Danny rested his hands on Stiles’ and moved them down.
“Like this,” Danny said, shifting until their cocks were lined up. “I’m
guessing you can do this part.”
Stiles nodded,he was very familiar with how to put his hand on his dick.
Hopefully Danny’s dick wouldn’t be too different. “Yes, this I can do.”
The first touch of their joined hands pushing their dicks together had Stiles
gasping and squeezing his eyes shut. He heard Danny moan softly and forced his
eyes open. Danny was starting to flush, Stiles could see sweat beading at his
forehead. Stiles moved his hands up their dicks, running his thumb over the
heads, smearing the wetness there.
“Fuck,” he muttered. This was going to be over so quickly.
Stiles watched as their entwined hands moved up and down - he could barely tell
which fingers were his and which were Danny’s.
“Fuck,” Stiles said again. His toes were curling and he could feel heat curling
in the pit of his stomach. “Fuck, I’m gonna come.”
Danny groaned out something, and Stiles felt something hot drip over his
fingers. He looked down, watching Danny come all over his cock. He stroked one
more time and came, shuddering.
Stiles panted, and swing his leg over Danny, lying down on the bed. He grinned
up at the ceiling. That was awesome.
“That was awesome,” he said out loud. Danny breathed out a laugh.
“It was.”
“We should clean up,” Stiles said. “I’m all sticky.”
Danny fumbled around and handed something to Stiles.
“That’s my shirt.”
“Don’t wear it tomorrow,” Danny said, rolling over and wiping his hand on it.
Stiles shrugged and wiped it off.
“What time is it?”
“Who cares, come here, go to sleep,” Danny said, pulling Stiles closer.
“You’re a cuddler!” Stiles said, happily moving into Danny’s arms.
“Shh. Sleep.”
“This is awesome,” Stiles said, yawning.
~~~
Stiles woke up to his alarm. He reached out a hand to turn it off, and instead
got a handful of warm skin.
“Wha?” Stiles opened his eyes to see Danny blinking at him, shocked. Danny’s
hair was mussed up and Stiles couldn’t help but grin. “It didn’t reset.”
Danny picked up Stiles’ phone. “It’s Tuesday.”
“Holy shit, we’re free,” Stiles said.
“What - but how?”
“Who cares, we’re free. It’s Tuesday.”
“The only thing that was different was that we had sex,” Danny said.
“...are you implying we have magical penises. Penises? Penii?” Stiles said.
“Still a dork then,” Danny said.
“The point stands, our sexy time fixed physics.”
“So what you’re saying is we need to continue to have sex for the good of
humanity? I can bear that burden.”
“And you called me a dork,” Stiles said.
“You’ve infected me with your dorkiness,” Danny said.
“Stiles!” Stiles jumped as his dad called him from outside his door. “You’re
gonna be late to school.”
“I’m awake! I’m awake! I’ll be down in a second!” Stiles shouted, hoping his
dad wasn’t about to walk in. Thankfully Stiles heard his dad walking down the
stairs.
“We have to go to school now,” Danny said, sitting up. “We didn’t think out
this escaping the time loop properly.”
“Hey, at least I don’t have to listen to Scott recount his date with Allison
again.”
“Yeah, it’ll be nice to have new conversations with people.”
“Yeah,” Stiles said. “We should get up, have breakfast.”
“Yeah,” Danny said, getting out of bed. Stiles watched Danny put clothes on,
wondering what waas going to happen now.
“So, should we talk about this?” He asked.
“Talk? Like the relationship talk,” Danny asked, sitting on Stiles’ desk chair
to pull on his socks.
“Well, yeah. Is this a relationship?”
“It could be,” Danny said. “We haven’t technically been on a date yet.”
“We should do that,” Stiles said, the knot of anxiety in his chest loosening.
“We’ve done all this a bit wrong, haven’t we?”
“More back to front than wrong. Extenuating circumstances,” Danny said. “Lets
just have breakfast, and go to school.”
~~~
Later that day, Danny got a text from Stiles. It simply read: Porny
superheroes!
"Such a dork," Danny muttered, grinning.
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