â The Bus  â
word count: 3561
Stiles huffed while staring at the back of Juno's head, watching her laugh at whatever totally stupid joke Isaac had made. Leaning back in his seat, he folded his arms and continued to glare at her while she enjoyed herself. Scott, let out a pained chuckle upon noticing his jealous best friend.
"You could have sat next to her, you know I wouldn't mind," Scott spoke lowly, taking deep breaths as he clutched his abdomen; trying to stand the pain of the Alpha injury that he still hadn't recovered from.
"Yeah well you're not feeling better, I couldn't just leave you to sit on your own," Stiles sighed. "Besides, her crazy superpowers make her know how I feel, and she's given me no sign that she feels the same so I'd rather not endure that awkwardness when she knows everything I'm feeling..."
Scott's eyes widened, "I don't know if I should be shocked by the fact that you just admitted to liking her, or at her being able to feel your emotions."
"May as well admit it since she knows," Stiles huffed. He winced slightly as Juno began to howl with laughter, slapping her hand down on her thigh and playfully pushing Isaac at yet another one of his not even well thought out jokes, with absolutely no punchline.
Juno and Isaac's laughter both ceased as Coach Finstock blared his whistle in their faces.
"Christ Clarke, the boy isn't that funny!" Coach snarled, "keep it down you two, this is a little bus." Stiles grinned and sent Coach a thumbs up, causing the man to simply glare at Stiles, making him sink low in his seat.
Juno and Isaac both caught their breath and exhaled deeply in sync, causing them to giggle even more. Stiles rolled his eyes as he increasingly became fed up with the two in front of him. He leaned is elbows on the back of Juno and Isaac's seat and stuck his head in between the two.
"Hi, yeah, you heard Coach: this is a little bus," He interrupted, a hint of annoyance in his tone. Isaac flashed a grin filled with cockiness, while Juno's smile fell as she could feel the jealousy in her gut.
"Yeah, no worries. Sorry," she apologised, corners of her mouth curving upwards slightly as her eyes connected with Stiles'. Whatever negativity he felt against her previously was now gone. Juno noticed, as she felt warmth fill her body, but of course, that may not have been just Stiles' emotions.
"C-cool," Stiles stuttered as he quickly sat back in his seat, cursing under his breath about being 'whipped' as he said. Scott chuckled, but his laughter was soon followed by silent coughing.
Coach groaned, "oh McCall, not you too!"
Scott cleared his throat, "no Coach, I'm okay!" He called out, his voice raspy and pained, although Coach still took his word.
Juno turned around and looked at Scott with eyes filled with concern. "How badly did you get hurt that night?" She asked with disbelief, staring at Scott's hand clutching onto his abdomen.
"It's from an Alpha, it'll take longer to heal," Scott breathed out.
"How come Isaac, Boyd, and Juno are fine then?" Stiles retorted.
"Can I see?" Juno asked, staring at Scott's hand. He sighed as he nodded. Slowly lifting up the cotton material, he winced. Juno covered her mouth with her hands as she stared at the deep cuts caused by claws on his torso; the blood at a dark, almost gooey state as it had aged.
Stiles grimaced and turned his head away. "Yeah, alright we need to get you off this bus-"
"Stiles I'm fine," Scott insisted despite his pained expression.
"Yes because a deep set wound that still hasn't healed considering you have supernatural healing abilities is fine," Juno whispered.
"Thank you," Stiles addressed, "someone is actually thinking straight."
Isaac rolled his eyes, "well we can't just stop the bus, we've got a long way to go before we get to the cross country so-"
"You just proved my point again you idiot," Stiles snapped. "We have a long way to go! Are we seriously going to let him keep us on this tiny bus for another 60 miles!?"
Juno looked over at Isaac apologetically, "he's right. Add the fact that Scott is badly hurt-"
"Oh Jesus," Isaac muttered. Juno was about to call him out until she noticed that he was paying no attention to her. Isaac's eyes were focused on Boyd, who seemed to be breathing heavily from the angle that they were at. Isaac quickly got up and moved next to Boyd, staying next to him in order to keep him calm..
Juno sighed and moved closer to the window since Isaac wasn't next to her. As the bus drove, the overcast in the sky began to clear up, causing the sun to hit Juno's skin. She yelped and jumped out of her seat, clutching onto her arm from the sharp burn she had felt.
"Clarke! What's wrong?" Coach snapped. Stiles looked up at Juno who stood in the bus aisle, mentally cursing herself for forgetting to put on sun protectant.
"N-nothing," she stuttered, slowly sitting down in her seat as far from the sun as she could. "Just bumped my arm is all..." She lied. Coach rolled his eyes and returned to the front of the bus.
"W-what was that?" Stiles asked, leaning over the seat.
"The sun; I forgot to put on 'sunscreen' this morning," Juno whispered.
Stiles narrowed his eyes, "how could you forget? Isn't it like a rule for you to never leave the house without putting it on-"
"Yeah okay thanks for the mini lecture, Cyrus," Juno said with heavy sarcasm. "You saw the sky this morning the sun was nowhere to be seen. I have it with me but I kind of need to put it everywhere for it to work properly..."
Stiles' mouth hung open slightly at Juno's words. "E-everyw-where?" He muttered. Juno rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Right, well another definite reason as to why we need to get off..." Stiles took off his red hoodie and handed it to Juno.
"What about my legs?" Juno asked, looking down at her bare legs due to her running shorts.
Stiles looked down at Juno's legs, staring for a little longer than he had anticipated. "When we stop just, run," he shrugged. Turning back to Scott, he noticed his best friend bleeding again. "Awesome, everything's just going wrong..." Sighing, he turned around to look through the window behind him. Bringing up his phone and calling Lydia, he tapped on the back of Juno's seat as he waited for her to pick up.
While Stiles spoke to Allison and Lydia on the phone about Scott, Juno slowly moved her hand toward the sunlight hitting the other half of the seat. It had been years since she had ever felt the sun's burn, she almost forgot the distinct feeling. Putting her hand in the sunlight, she winced and jerked it back again. The feeling of a thousand burning hot knives searing into her skin is what it felt like; each little 'sparkle' resembling one fiery stab from a blade.
Rubbing her hand, she realised what trouble she had put herself into. She cursed herself for being so careless in the morning, not putting any serum on despite the sun being nowhere in sight when leaving the house. Stiles got up from his seat to confront Coach Finstock, clearly to get him to stop the bus. Scott sighed as Stiles continued to argue. Juno looked back at Scott, both of them stifling a laugh and shaking their heads as there was a pattern of Stiles' arguing and Coach's blaring whistle.
Juno stayed towards the edge of her seat as she watched Stiles sit next to one of the boys who had been sick the whole bus ride.
"Oh God..." She muttered, watching the poor boy's face grow paler the longer he sat next to Stiles. After a few seconds, Stiles was jumping out of his seat as the boy, Jared, vomited all over the seat Stiles previously sat on. Every student on the bus let out a loud groan, some also gagging as they rolled down the windows and stuck their heads out for fresh air. Coach directed the bus driver to speed around the traffic jam and towards the rest stop that was only a few yards away.
Once the bus came to a stop, everyone ran off as quick as they could, apart from Juno. She watched Stiles help Scott off of the bus, hesitant to get off as she didn't know what angle the sun may be at. She watched students scatter around, then begin to herd far from the bus as they tried to stay away from the lingering smell. Juno quickly ran off the bus at a non Vampiric speed towards the bathroom that she saw Allison and Lydia run into.
The searing pain through her legs nearly made her tumble forward, but she kept going, picking up her pace drastically as she grew more desperate for the burning stabs to stop. Juno eventually collapsed onto the tiles in the bathroom, hissing as she held her hands on her shaking legs that were still glittering slightly from the sun seeping though the translucent windows.
Stiles immediately left the conversation with Allison and Lydia and knelt down next to Juno, watching as her legs glistened in the subtle sunlight.
"Jesus what is going on?" Lydia asked while Allison knelt in front of an injured Scott with a needle and thread. She walked over to Juno and looked at her with worried eyes. "W-why are you sparkling like that?"
Juno groaned and gripped onto Stiles' shoulder tightly as she pulled herself up. "Just get me away from the sun." Stiles pulled Juno up as she felt her legs unable to move from the agonising pain.
"You make sure the bus doesn't leave, I'll get her to a bathroom with crappy window placement," Stiles directed to Lydia. She looked over to Allison who was struggling with Scott, but reluctantly nodded knowing that they needed all the time to make sure Scott was fully stitched up. Lydia left the bathroom, while Stiles half carried Juno out and took her around the corner to the other bathroom.
He sighed as the windows were grimy and cloudy enough that there was no light. Juno took off Stiles' hoodie and handed it back to him. Opening the marble container, she set it down by one of the many basins. Juno grabbed the hem of her shirt and began pulling upwards.
"Woah woah woah," Stiles cried out, quickly turning around and closing his eyes, hoping that Juno didn't see his bright scarlet cheeks before he turned.
Juno simply giggled at Stiles' flustered state. "The human body's natural form is nothing to be afraid of, Stiles," she jested. "But I appreciate you being respectful."
Stiles shrugged, still keeping his back to Juno. "Okay well, you're not human first of all," he teased, causing a soft 'ha' to escape Juno's lips. "And yeah, I mean I respect people's privacy you know? Even if you had told me before hand that you were fine with people staring at your body I wouldn't because you know..." Stiles trailed off, not finding a reasonable explanation. "I mean like not that I don't want to but it's just that-"
Juno just shook her head and laughed, rubbing the clear serum into her skin. She could have put the serum on her arms and legs and left it at that, but normally it lasts no longer than two or so hours before wearing off again. The serum needed to be applied to the whole body for it to be brought to its full potential of lasting for an entire day.
Juno stared at the back of Stiles' head as she lathered the serum above the lines of her shorts. She could feel the tension in the bathroom; she wondered if she should just tell Stiles to wait outside of the bathroom for her, but another half secretly wanted him to 'accidentally' turn around. She didn't know why, perhaps it was Stiles' sweet scent left on her from his hoodie that was making her begin to think with more lust than normal.
Stiles heard Juno putting on her clothes. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of her chest before pulling her shirt down. His eyes widened, cheeks burning hot as Juno twisted the cap on the container containing her skin serum. She awkwardly smiled at Stiles, noticing his stunned state.
"Do you mind if I keep your hoodie on?" She asked, "I mean, the burning won't be there but I don't necessarily want to blind anyone-"
"What were you going to do when we got to the cross country meet?" Stiles laughed.
She rolled her eyes, "I was going to put it on on the bus, you know claim that it was just sunscreen which would be believable because I'm so pale," she jested. "But, since the sun has finally decided to fully shine, and since it's going to be much longer than two hours before we're at the meet, me getting burned reminded me that I should probably put a full coat on before then."
Stiles nodded, handing over her hoodie. "Right, well you're still going to have disco legs when we walk out regardless you have my hoodie or not," Stiles teased.
Juno sent Stiles a playful glare, smacking his shoulder lightly once she zipped it up. She didn't want to admit that the winning argument in her mind over asking for the hoodie or not was because of his scent, but it was clear that Stiles must have caught on.
"If we still have time I'll throw on a pair of leggings instead," Juno sighed. She frowned, remembering the forecast from this morning. "You know, I'm gonna have to write a letter to the news station, their forecast was completely incorrect and I think they should know that their weatherman is awful-"
"God, you're such a grandma," Stiles laughed, earning a playful punch in the shoulder from Juno.
"I am not!" She protested, the curves of her mouth fighting to curve upward as she glared at him.
Stiles continued to laugh. "Oh I'm going to write a letter to the news station for their weather reporting mediocrity!! Hmm, yes, rather," Stiles imitated with an overly posh accent.
"I do not sound like that, Stilinski." Juno glared up at Stiles, stifling laughter as she watched him laugh at his own jokes. "I mean come on! They said it would be cold with no sign of sunshine all day, and look! They were wrong!"
Stiles shook his head, adoring the way that Juno complained about the weatherman of all things. "Right, well there's no need to get crazy and write a letter," he said, waving his hands in a faux scared manner. "Just a simple mistake, weather reporters do that all the time-"
Stiles was cut off by sudden commotion outside. He grabbed onto Juno's forearm and led her outside to the sounds of students yelling. Keeping her behind him to hide her exposed skin, he watched in horror as Isaac threw punches repeatedly into Ethan's face.
"Get on the bus while everyone's attention is elsewhere," Stiles directed, watching as Juno ran onto the school bus in under a second. He blinked a few times to process what had happened, but shook the thought from his head and ran towards the fight, stopping beside a healthier Scott, who had already caused it to stop by yelling at Isaac. Everyone's eyes turned to Scott, even Juno was peeking through the bus window at how Scott had managed to control Isaac with no force.
Coach Finstock continued is normal routine of yelling and blowing his whistle, causing everyone to return onto the bus. Scott nudged Stiles before looking over at Juno who was sitting at the back away from the window. Stiles raised a brow, unsure of what Scott meant, before getting shoved by him towards Juno's seat. Stiles fumbled before retaining his balance, leaning on the seat in front of Juno.
Stiles awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled, "I uh, just wanna know if I could sit... There," he said, nodding towards the empty space next to Juno.
She nodded, trying to hide her smile. "Yeah, no problem." She stood up to let Stiles squeeze through to the window seat. Their chests briefly brushed against each other before Stiles quickly dropped down into his seat from the contact. He cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair yet again while avoiding Juno's gaze. Scott stifled laughter as he sat down next to Allison in front of them, Allison covering her grin with her hand. Juno glared at her, causing Allison to simply wink before turning around.
"You can have your hoodie back if you'd like," Juno offered, breaking the silence between them. "I saw that the bus is low on fuel which means we'll probably stop somewhere, so I don't need your-"
"Keep it," Stiles interrupted, a sly smirk plastered on his face. "Red suits you." Juno covered her face with her hand to hide her uncontrollable grin. Turning away from Stiles, he still kept his eyes on her, his smirk growing wider as he caught a glimpse of her grin. As the bus kept driving, the setting sun shone more and more through the windows.
Stiles squinted as the orange sun reflected right off of Juno's hand as if millions of nano-sized crystals were encrusted into her skin. Out of impulse, Stiles placed his hand on top of hers and held onto it tightly.
"What are you doing?" She asked, shocked at his sudden sign of affection.
Stiles cleared his throat. He stopped feeling nervous around her, and instead felt comfortable, knowing that she already knew how he felt. "Your hand was sparkling, thought I should cover it up," he muttered. Juno found it impossible to fight yet another smile on her face. She slumped lower in her seat, Stiles' hoodie covering the lower part of her face and his sweet scent filling her nostrils. She closed her eyes, feeling lightheaded from the scent.
Opening them back up again, she couldn't fight the vibrant golden hue that they turned. Stiles noticed her eyes, but didn't shy away in fear or confusion like most; instead, he gripped her hand tighter, finding the gold complimenting her blonde curls, finding them beautiful.
Juno noticed his action; she looked up and examined Stiles' features as she felt intense warmth in her body for the first time in centuries. She made sure to remember every little detail in his face, from the placement of his freckles to the pattern in his mahogany irises.
"What's up?" Juno asked with a slight chuckle to disguise her nervousness; Stiles' affection making her visibly flustered. Her lips parted slightly in surprise as she noticed how calm Stiles was; normally he was somewhat fidgety and skittish around her, but he was completely comfortable showing the smallest amount of affection towards her.
But the longer he looked into her glowing eyes, he became just as flustered as she was. Stiles chuckled and turned his gaze towards Juno's bright pink Converse sneakers that she always wore, smirking at the thought of how many years she must have had them for.
"I just really like it when your eyes glow," Stiles muttered, keeping his eyes fixated towards the ground so Juno wouldn't see how red his cheeks had become.
Juno smiled, thanking him while she stroked her thumb along Stiles' hand, causing an intense feeling of warm fuzziness to be radiated onto her from him. Juno sighed, growing bored of being distant and staying away from affection. She leaned her head on Stiles' shoulder, making the emotions from Stiles intensify.
The scent of his blood became stronger at the close proximity. She hummed as the sweetness of his blood made her not grow hungry and aggressive, but at ease. Shifting closer to him for comfort, she fluttered her eyes closed as she enjoyed the serenity that she hadn't felt before. Stiles tapped Scott's shoulder, causing him to turn around.
Scott looked at Stiles quizzically before noticing Juno cuddled up to him. His confused look quickly turned to a grin, giving Stiles a little nod to show that he was happy for his best friend. Stiles fought against every muscle in his body to not fidget and to not dance in victory for the sake of Juno's comfort. Instead, he tilted his head and leaned it on top of Juno's. It took only a few minutes before Stiles had fallen asleep in this position.
And although Juno could never sleep, she kept her eyes shut so she could block out all of those around her and savour the moment of pure bliss between her and Stiles in that moment.
~
Another filler. I really can't wait to get to the Nogitsune story line! All of the action and angst will be going on around then and during season 4, but right now we're just building up the fluff xx