{"id":10528,"date":"2014-05-07T22:02:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T22:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/07\/skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-the-2\/"},"modified":"2014-05-07T22:02:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T22:02:53","slug":"skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-the-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/2014\/05\/07\/skinnydefenselessheroism-iamthefirechild-the-2\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

skinnydefenselessheroism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

iamthefirechild<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The three of them exchange glances, something that really speaks of the connection between them in a way nothing else this evening has done; precisely the same \u2018one thought many minds\u2019 relationship Stiles has with Scott. Zenobia\u2019s slightly wicked grin spreads across the other two girls\u2019 faces, and then Summer slings an arm around Stiles\u2019 shoulders. \u201cLet us teach you,\u201d she says, \u201cabout the joys of midnight grocery store runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re still playing another game,” Beth interjects, and Summer looks up to realise that they\u2019re on the last frame of this one anyway. She unwinds herself from Stiles and the scoring computer and the chair and picks up her ball, muttering, “Yes, yes,” half under her breath. Managing a split that puts her just barely in second place if Stiles doesn\u2019t do something spectacular, she whirls to cheer and catches Jesse staring at them.<\/p>\n

Summer just hopes nobody noticed the stuttering second of hesitation before she forces herself to ignore him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“Oh.\u00a0Oh<\/em>. Well, no, see, I thought you were talking like an actual\u00a0Ben and Jerry\u2019s<\/em> store, I am\u2026not actually<\/em>\u2026a stranger to midnight store runs, as it turns out Adderall cravings are a\u00a0total bitch<\/em>\u2026\u201d Stiles is\u00a0well aware<\/em> there is a hivemind running here that doesn\u2019t include him in it. It\u2019s such a\u00a0strange<\/em> experience, he\u2019s so\u00a0used<\/em> to it being him and Scott having those wordless conversations that for a few seconds he almost looks like he thinks they\u2019re all of them lionesses and he\u2019s a lonely gazelle.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t miss much. Stiles also doesn\u2019t miss the way Jesse\u2019s watching the little group he\u2019s found himself in the middle of, and he doesn\u2019t miss how it makes Summer\u2019s good mood stutter.<\/p>\n

Being who he is, Stiles figures Summer would be\u00a0far<\/em> more comfortable\u00a0not<\/em> being the center of attention, and he\u2019s had\u00a0years<\/em> to become comfortable with it. So when he gets up to take his turn, he turns to look straight at Jesse, waiting until he\u2019s made eye contact with the other boy before he\u2019s actually,\u00a0legitimately<\/em> throwing a finger gun and winking one eye. He even makes the \u2018chk-chk\u2019 noise with his mouth, probably not audible over the distance but obvious just from the way his mouth distorts.\u00a0Here\u2019s looking at you, hot shot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say he doesn\u2019t do anything\u00a0spectacular<\/em> when it comes to the bowling, but his attention is a little split. (When isn\u2019t it?)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“\/Is\/ there an actual Ben & Jerry’s store in this town?” Beth asks, idly. She doesn’t get an answer, and shoos Summer out of the scoring computer seat when Stiles finishes his frame. “Go get some drinks. And nachos, I want nachos. Both of you, while I set up the next game.”<\/p>\n

Summer gives her a flat look, which Beth only returns with a lifted eyebrow. She’s basically telling Summer to deal with it, the way one deals with a fear of bees — exposure. Summer sticks her tongue out\u00a0before shrugging her shoulders at Stiles. “I guess we’ve been told. I’m going to need the extra hands anyway. Come on.”<\/p>\n

She holds her head high, displaying as much “devil-may-care” attitude as she can find, when she walks past Jesse. She doesn’t actually look at him, though he’s watching her, and when his gaze switches to Stiles it noticeably darkens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

skinnydefenselessheroism: iamthefirechild: The three of them exchange glances, something that really speaks of the connection between them in a way nothing else this evening has done; precisely the same \u2018one thought many minds\u2019 relationship Stiles has with Scott. Zenobia\u2019s slightly wicked grin spreads across the other two girls\u2019 faces, and then Summer slings an arm … Continue reading <\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,867,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firechildren.net\/lightfire\/iamthefirechild\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}