The Road Less Traveled (18129 words) by gryvon
Chapters: 8/?
Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Characters: Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Sheriff Stilinski, Chris Argent, Gerard Argent, Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore
Additional Tags: Hurt Stiles, Magic Stiles
Summary:
Stiles doesn’t want to die in a basement. No one is going to die in the Argent’s basement, not if he can help it.
Famous last words. It’s a bit humiliating that all it takes is a single slap to send him to the floor, but damn, Gerard Argent has one hell of a pimp hand on him. The man could be ruling the street corners, but instead he’s all about killing Stiles’s friends and not-quite-friends.
Gerard doesn’t just stop with one slap, though that had been enough to prove that no, Stiles cannot kick his ass. Stiles can’t even get off the floor before Gerard is punching him, and it’s like his entire high school career of thankfully not getting beat up by the cool kids is being corrected right now. Gerard is surprisingly strong for a grandfather, and Stiles is surprisingly weak. He can’t even fight back.
Stiles has never been good with pain. As much as he spews bravado all the time, now that he’s actually in a fight – one-sided at best – he can’t do anything. The noises of the basement – the sound of Gerard’s fist hitting flesh, Erica’s muffled words, the creak of the ceiling as the werewolves struggle against their bonds – fade away, replaced by loud ringing that seems to take up all the space inside his head, leaving room for nothing else.
He remembers what Gerard said about Scott finding his body. Stiles can picture the scene all too easily, but it’s not Scott that he worries about. If Stiles dies, Scott will be devastated, but not as much as it will devastate Stiles’s father. His poor father’s about to lose the only family he has left. All of the lies Stiles has been telling him will mean so much more when his father finds his body.
“You should have known better than to run with wolves,” Gerard croaks, in a way that sounds entirely deranged. Stiles is starting to get the whole unhinged hunter picture. It’s amazing how clear that becomes when he’s bleeding on the Argent’s basement floor.
“Stop,” Stiles begs. He’s not above begging, even with Erica and Boyd watching. They’ve never given two shits about him, so he shouldn’t care what they think but part of him does because he cares what Derek thinks and they’re connected to Derek.
