#[ We Can Try; We Can Always Try ] -- Scott McCall Convos

[ascrambledmessofmuses]

"do you remember where I put my purse?" (Lydia for Scott) { @acourtcfmuses }

Scott gave her a dumbfounded look. How was he supposed to know where she put her purse? He could barely remember what he'd just eaten sometimes. "I'm sorry, Lyds. I can't help you with that."

[fandom-madnessess]

mchaleinski prompt: scott and stiles have an ice cream shop and then derek opens one up across the street. rivalry but also crushes!

Derek Hale/Scott McCall/Stiles StilinskiRating: G, Word Count: 2004Human AU, Mutual Pining, Ice Cream Parlors, Established Scott/Stiles, POV Stiles, Polyamory,♥Read on AO3

‘Look athim. Just look at him! With his stupid novelty flavours and his stupid artsy signsand his stupid muscles and his stupid smile.’

Scott snorts.

‘What?’ Stiles asks, turning away from thewindow.

‘That’s the fastest you’ve ever gone from insulting tocomplimenting,’ Scott says.

‘I amnot complimenting our nemesis! I’m assessing his assets so I know where tostrike.’

‘Dude,Derek hasn’t been our nemesis since helet us store our ice cream at his when our power went out.’

‘Lies,’ Stiles huffs in protest, but he can’t help the little smile that tugs athis lips at the memory.

It had been at the end of a very hot, and therefore verybusy, day in their ice cream shop. Stiles was cleaning in the back, Scott outto get dinner, when the power suddenly went out. Their building’s wiring isn’t exactly stellar, so it happens every now and then. Nobig deal. Except, they hadn’tgotten any new fuses after the last time. Stiles had panicked a little at thethought of all the lost ice cream. He’d beenstanding in the front of the shop with his hands in his hair, when Derekknocked on the door, wondering if everything was okay. Stiles hadn’t really met Derek yet, even if Scottkept encouraging him to go across the street and say hello. Derek hadn’t hesitated to offer his own freezerwhen Stiles told him what happened.

Later that night, when they got back home after dinnerwith Derek, Stiles had grudgingly admitted that Derek wasn’t as evil as he’d thought.

‘Justadmit you miss him,’ Scott says.

‘What areyou standing around for?’ Stilesglares in the face of Scott’sknowing smirk. ‘You can analyse my behaviourand lock up at the same time.’

Scott walks backwards to the door, his knowing grin stilltrained on Stiles.

They clean the front in companionable silence. Which forthem means singing along to the radio and using the cleaning supplies asinstruments. This is Stiles’favourite part of the day. It’s justhim and Scott, in the shop they started, goofing off, relaxing after a long dayof scooping ice cream and dealing with people. Even with the goofing off, they’ve been doing this long enough thatthey’re perfectly in sync and itnever takes long.

Stiles is double checking their inventory, while Scottgathers all the towels, cloths, and aprons that have to be laundered.

‘I domiss him,’ Stiles finally admits. Hecloses the fridge and sits down heavily in a chair.

Scott sits down next to him, and takes Stiles’ hand. ‘Me,too.’

‘What doyou think we did?’ Stiles asks.

‘Hmm?’

‘To makehim avoid us,’ Stiles elaborates.

‘He saidhe was busy figuring out what to do when the weather gets colder,’ Scott shrugs.

Stiles shakes his head, throws an arm around Scott’s shoulder to pull him close, andpresses a kiss to Scott’scheek.

‘I loveyou, so much, but you can be a little gullible at times. Especially when youlike someone,’ Stiles says. ‘Derek already has his cold weatherwares figured out: soup. We were his taste tests before he started avoiding us.Remember?’

‘Oh.Right.’ Scott slumps against Stiles.‘But how do you know he’s avoiding us?’

‘Has heever taken more than an hour to text back?’ Stilesasks. ‘Even at the Beacon CountyFair, which was hell, he kept up an almost constant stream of texts.’

Scott wraps his arms around Stiles’ waist and snuggles closer. ‘Thatwas a fun day.’

‘Yeah,it was.’

The Beacon County Fair really had been hell. It was hot.Children were screaming. Everything was sticky from either sweat or sugar. AndDerek’s stall was on the other sideof the fair, because the organisation thought it would be best to have an icecream stall at each end. Stiles knew it made the most sense, but he was stilldisappointed that he wouldn’t beable to see Derek out in the sun, scooping ice cream in his tank top all day.

Stiles was the one to start the conversation, complainingto Derek about how long their line was. Derek had taken it for a brag, andtheir convo quickly evolved into a contest about who had the most customers andwho ran out of ice cream the fastest. Scott and Stiles would switch between texting,while Derek would occasionally hand his phone to his sister Cora, who he ranhis shop with.

It’s thefirst day of Stiles realized how much he likes Derek, as something other than afriend.

‘Maybehe figured out we both like him and it freaked him out?’ Stiles wonders out loud.

Scott shakes his head. ‘Hewould’ve just told us he doesn’t like us back. He’d be very nice about it.’

‘Probablygive us free ice cream.’

‘Healready gives us free ice cream.’ Scottpulls back. ‘We haven’t actually talked about it. About usboth liking him.’

‘I know.I… I wasn’t sure,’ Stiles says. He wipes imaginary lintof his trousers.

It’s notexactly what he means. It didn’t takehim long to be reasonably sure he had a crush on Derek. It’s not the first crush he’s had since he and Scott have beentogether, but he wasn’t sureif he also wanted to be, or could be, in a relationship with someone else.

Scott’s datedother people, but Stiles was always just friends with them. He loved them,definitely, but he was never in lovewith them. His feelings for Derek are closer to what he feels for Scott. Whenhe thinks of the man, a warmth explodes inside his chest. Part of it’s lust, because, well, look at thedude, but a part of it’s alsowanting to hold Derek’s handand make him smile and curl up on the couch with him while Derek reads hisobscure novels that no one but him has ever heard of. All while still wantingto beat Derek for the title  of “Best Ice Cream Shop of Beacon County”.

Scott knocks their shoulders together, and Stiles knowshe doesn’t have to explain.

‘Let’s clean up, go home, order pizza, andthen we can talk, okay?’ Scottsuggests.

‘Andthen what? Derek’s still avoiding us.’

‘Tomorrow’s Sunday. We’ll invite him for movie night as we always do.’

‘And ifhe blows us off again?’

‘Then he’ll be faced with the full force ofStilinski creativity and McCall perseverance,’ Scottgrins. ‘And if he does show, we tellhim.’

‘Okay,’ Stiles nods. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

~

‘This isa terrible plan,’ Stiles hisses at Scott.

Scott looks over his shoulder to the living room, whereDerek is sitting on the couch. When he turns back to Stiles, he gives him aforlorn smile.

The evening started out great. Derek had shown up withhis usual easy smile. They’dbickered over what food to order, argued over what to watch, and settled infront of the TV to watch Rogue One after the food arrived. Things went downhillfrom there. Derek kept moving further and further away from them, ending uppressed into the corner of the couch. He only responded to their comments andquestions with little hums and nods, until he finally stopped respondingaltogether. It wasn’t because he was focussed onthe movie, Stiles knows what that looks like on Derek, and this isn’t it.

This is Derek regretting he came.

Stiles jabs the ice scoop into the ice cream with moreforce than necessary. It quickly became a tradition for them to taste eachother’s new flavours andexperiments during movie night. Stiles and Derek always pretend they hate whatthe other has created, even if it’sobvious that they don’t—except the one time Derek thought itwas a good idea to mix cherry with pistachios and mint, they all agreed thatwas a horrible decision. Scott usually just enjoys the treat, while riling themup.

‘Maybewe should just tell him now,’ Scottsays.

They still have an hour of the movie left, but Stilesthinks Scott’s right. With the mood theway it is, there’s a chance Derek will flinghimself out of the window, long before the end credits start rolling.

‘Okay.The way we practiced?’

‘Stickto the plan,’ Scott nods. He puts the icecream back in the freezer, then grabs two of the bowls.

‘That’s never worked for us,’ Stiles mutters as he follow Stileswith the last bowl and the spoons.

They set the bowls and spoons on the coffee table, thensit down, Stiles on the couch, Scott on the coffee table in front of Derek.

‘What’s going on?’ Derek asks. His eyebrows scrunch up. Stiles thinks it’s cute, like two caterpillars tryingto kiss.

‘Feelingsare a complicated thing,’ Scottstarts.

Stiles barely resists a facepalm. They’d agreed that Scott would do most ofthe talking, since he’salready done this a couple times, but from Derek’s faceStiles can tell this was not a good place to start. Scott must’ve noticed too, because he throwsStiles a desperate look.

‘Differentpeople have different feelings, but sometimes people have the same feelings fordifferent people,’ Scott continues. He’s floundering. He throws Stilesanother look.

Derek’s faceis a mixture of confusion and dread.

‘We wantto ask you on a date,’ Stilesblurts out, hoping that being direct will salvage the situation. ‘Because we like you. Romantically.’

‘But you’re engaged,’ Derek points out.

‘We’re polyamorous,’ Stiles explains.

‘I’ve dated other people, while alsodating Stiles,’ Scott says.

‘I haven’t. Dated other people. I mostly justbecame friends with them. Didn’t knowI was polyamorous until you came along.’ Stilespunches Derek lightly in the shoulder.

‘Youboth want to date me?’ Derekasks. His eyes are wide and his head swivels from Scott to Stiles so fast,Stiles thinks it’ll be a miracle if he doesn’t get dizzy.

‘Yes.’

‘Unlessyou don’t want to.’

‘Inwhich case, we’ll figure it out.’

‘Whoeveryou don’t want to date, we’ll still be friends.’

‘Even ifyou don’t want to date either of us.’

Stiles holds his breath, waiting for Derek’s response. He wants to reach out toScott so he can squeeze his hand. He settles for squeezing a throw pillowinstead.

Derek is absolutely silent. His eyes are wide, and hisjaw his set. Until he bursts out laughing.

‘Uhm,’ Stiles starts, but doesn’t know how to continue. He glances atScott, but he looks just as confused.

Derek hides his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking.It takes him a minute to calm down, but when he looks up he’s smiling brightly. Stiles and Scottsmile back at him, though no less confused.

‘I spentthe last couple weeks trying to convince myself that I wasn’t in love with you,’ Derek says.

‘Did itwork?’ Stiles asks.

Derek’s smilesoftens and he shakes his head. ‘Noteven a little.’

‘Andwhen you said “you”, did you mean…’ Scottgestures to himself and then to Stiles.

‘I meanboth of you,’ Derek nods.

‘Well,thank god,’ Stiles sighs. He leansagainst the back of the couch.

Scott jumps up and wriggles himself between Derek andStiles. There’s some shoving andcomplaining, but then they finally settle, all sitting a little closer thanbefore. Scott hands out the bowls and the spoons.

‘Vanillaand cinnamon?’ Derek snorts. ‘Wow, original.’

‘Whatare you trying to prove with your yoghurt, banana, and honey? That you have notaste buds?’ Stiles throws back. Heshoves a spoonful into his mouth, and barely holds back a moan. He looks up atDerek, who is smirking like he heard it anyway.

Facing the screen, Stiles pokes Scott excitedly in thethigh. Scott pokes him back. They still have things to discuss, but for now, asthey finish watching the movie, knowing that they all want the same thing, isenough.

[moonstarphoenix]

So I had to copy and paste this to add my gifs and my comments in the right place instead of reblogging but here’s my thoughts and the gifs to help emphasize cuppachar’s points. I added my thoughts in italics. Since it looks like McCall plays at least a decent role in the last season, I really, really hope for one final scene between him and Stiles in 6B!

anonymous asked:

So I read yours and @dreamdragon48's discussion about how you think McCall asctually cares about Stiles. Do you really think that? He seems like a dick to me. Plus he was very clinical after he saved Stiles in Riddled when was recording his statement.

cuppachar answered:

Ha ha. McCall is a bit dickish, but there is evidence that he does actually care about Stiles and is concerned for his welfare.

McCall did seem ‘clinical’ when doing his statement after killing the Chemist but that maybe for 2 reasons - 1. it’s his job and you don’t normally personalize statements. There’s probably a procedure for that type of thing. e.g ‘subject’ ‘victim’ ‘perpetrator’ etc. 2. It’s easier, psychologically, to not personalize it.

He’s ‘compartmentalizing’! Haha, I think the reason he’s recording his notes like that is because it is his job. When he types the report, he’ll have to use those words and eliminate any emotional phrasing and attachment to the ‘victim’. There’s a process and a procedure he would have to follow. I’m also not sure if his preliminary notes will go down in the file. But I do know police reports have to be unbiased and clinical.

I really wanted a scene with Stiles in regards to what happened - either Stiles going to the station or McCall dropping by the house where they have a non-thanks for saving my life/non-are you okay convo.

Anyway, on to the evidence:

@dreamdragon48​ I may need your help with gifs to illustrate my points (as i have no gif-making skills whatsoever).

1. Agent McCall does not respond to Stiles insults or attempts to wind him up. Ever

- McCall could have easily reacted to Stiles ‘I’ll start with F and end with U’ sobriety test comment. He doesn’t acknowledge it at all. Instead he asks Stiles about whether he knows anything about the name on the elevator doors.

He laughs! He’s so used to Stiles’s smart ass remarks, he doesn’t take offense. Instead, he laughs. He’s amused by Stiles’s comment. He also knew how to get under Stiles’s skin about his dad’s drinking. Let’s talk about that too, that was too personal. If this agent, who we didn’t know was Scott’s dad at the time, only knew the Stilinskis through work, then the drinking comments would have made no sense. Like, cuppchar said, you could tell right off the bat that they knew each other and have for years based on this very first scene.

- He doesn’t get angry or pissed off when Stiles purposely uses a convoluted way to confuse him. Instead he calmly asks Stiles if he’s doing it on purpose and admits he hasn’t a clue what Stiles said. He carries on calmly and only gets a little confrontational when he mentions his dad to get a reaction out of Stiles. Someone might take that scene as McCall perfecting a professional good-cop/bad-cop one-man show, but it could also be seen as someone who actually knows how to talk to Stiles and how to handle him when he’s being a little shit. Also, he knows how important his dad is to him, so what better way to get a reaction from him. Cruel? Maybe? But then the truth can hurt and sometimes that’s the only way to get stubborn little shits to open up.

I agree. I think McCall knows how to talk to Stiles and knew he would try to bullshit his way around the questions. By very matter-of-factly stating he had no idea what he said, McCall wasn’t playing Stiles’s game. That’s when Stiles starts getting frustrated. He also calls Stiles by his first name. I think he was trying to reach him on a more personal level, more familiar level. The part where he reminded Stiles that his dad was missing tells me that he’s trying to reach the kid who he knows has this wall around him. He knows what matters the most for Stiles.

- Stiles (or pre-Void!!Stiles?) gets all mysterious and threatening on McCall and alludes to something dark in McCall’s past. McCall could have reacted to that but he didn’t, partly because (I presume) he’s confused at Stiles out of character behavior, and instead tells him to go home (and cool off)

I think this moment threw McCall. Not only is this threatening kid not the one he knows but he knows Stiles is close to Scott and could easily tell him what happened. So instead of fighting him, he simply tells Stiles to go home. Notice that in all their scenes, McCall never argues with Stiles. He does with Scott, Melissa in a way and certainly the Sheriff but he always counters Stiles calmly.

2. Pivotal Point #1

As mentioned above - McCall basically calls bullshit on Stiles denial that he knows anything and the fact that he’s dad is missing and Stiles doesn’t seem too concerned (to him). He knows something is happening and he’s concerned that Stiles is involved.

‘I don’t want you going home alone. You have someone you can stay with tonight?’

By this point, Stiles is actually ruffled by McCall because he’s gotten under his skin (and you know, just from two scenes that this is someone who he has history) - he’s twitchy, on edge and avoiding eye contact. I’ve always considered Stiles as someone who could talk himself out of trouble (and in recent episodes the Sheriff also indicated Stiles was a little trouble-maker). Being the son of the Sheriff and spending time with a bunch of cops, what’s a little interrogation. Pfft. So, no, this was more than a little personal because this guy actually knows him.  I swear I was so pissed when Deaton interrupted.

That moment where he’s concerned about Stiles’s well being is telling. He cares about this kid and until he figures out what happened to Stilinski, he’s worried about Stiles. Stiles, for his part, tried everything he knew to get under McCall’s skin with his twisting words. When that didn’t work, he got frustrated and on edge. He wanted out of there because I think he knew McCall would get his answers.

3. Pivotal Point #2

McCall helping to find Stiles when he was missing. Some might interpret that as McCall being professional or wanting to help Melissa/impress Melissa but i like to think that he was actually concerned for Stiles and wanted to help him.

Also, I know it has been mentioned in the episode before, but I think McCall may have witnessed Stiles sleepwalking before (as a child), especially if he and Melissa helped to look after Stiles whilst Claudia was slowly getting worse. Stiles also admits that he used to do it a lot as a child - probably because his anxiety was getting worse.

I want to point out that McCall’s first reaction when Parrish told him what was the priority of the night was to immediately look at the transcript of the call which means he made Parrish give him details of what had happened. This was before Melissa showed up. Also, note that when he finds that clue in the transcript he sounds rushed and worried. He’s putting it together and knows there’s no time to lose. Also, it’s interesting that he knows what people can do while sleepwalking. That’s not something someone looks up without a passing interest or experience. I wish we could have seen what had happened between them pulling him out the cave and the Sheriff coming down the hall.

4. Pivotal Point #3

McCall saving Stiles life. Or more specifically, the few seconds after. I think given McCall’s FBI and carries a gun he’d probably save whoever was being held at gun-point. No, my point is regarding that McCall very reluctantly let Stiles (who was so very obviously shell-shocked, covered in blood and running on pure adrenaline) run off to save the day (and his son) but he actually tries to hold on Stiles - fingers dancing down his arm - so that Stiles has to pull his arm away. That isn’t a reaction of someone who doesn’t care about Stiles.

Stiles almost has to push his arm down to get him to let go. It’s interesting because McCall was sent by Melissa to tell them about the mushrooms. He knew Stiles would go and tell Scott but he tries to hang on anyway. Probably because he wasn’t expecting to have to kill someone in front of him. He sees the kid on the verge of a panic attack and in shock and even though he relays the message, he tries to hold on to him and protect him.

5. Semi-pivotal point #4

McCall invites Stiles and mini!derek to dinner. Okay, so he was waiting on Scott but two things I immediately noticed. 1. He brought extra - probably because he presumed Stiles would be there  too or invite himself over. 2. He doesn’t really hesitate and seems really comfortable and casual when he asks them if he wants to stay (without Scott being present). Not really the actions of someone who hates the best friend of his son. Stiles is, of course uncomfortable, because he has a mini!derek who doesn’t know anything to deal with and fbi agent in front of him.

I can honestly say, this was the cutest not!family dinner I have seen.

Pretty much what cuppachar said. If it was supposed to be just him and Scott, why would he have extra? I think he knew Stiles would have ended up there anyway. But most importantly, he has no issue inviting them for dinner, then STARTING DINNER WITHOUT SCOTT! The best part is he knows Stiles is lying and snarks at him (like regarding ‘Miguel’’s last name) but never truly calls him out for it.

6. Things we can probably conclude from info that has been dropped and indicated:

The Sheriff was a heavy drinker at some point. S2 implied that and by having him drunkenly talking about Claudia and Stiles we can presume that this was bad after Claudia died.

McCall witnessed/was aware that the sheriff was a drinker (of course McCall has his own demons and issues in that area too).

His comments with the issue in his very first scene on the show indicates a certain familiarity with the family. It’s not professional. There’s something in how he mentions it that says McCall knew about the drinking personally. (and maybe resented the fact the Sheriff didn’t hurt Stiles the way he hurt Scott and was able to stop on his own).

It would be safe to presume that he was around at the time Claudia died because of the above and the fact that Melissa recognizes Claudia’s symptoms in Stiles.

I always wanted to know what the Sheriff was telling him and Melissa after he came out and told them Stiles was sleeping and they sent Scott and Lydia home.

Therefore, we could assume that Stiles spent a lot of time at his best friends house and being looked after by McCall and Melissa.

Teen Wolf isn’t great in continuity but one thing that always irritated me was back in S1 when Scott had the panic attack and seemed surprised that Stiles knew what to do. Of course, not at the time, but now further down the seasons that doesn’t make sense. Stiles says he has social anxiety, he admits to Melissa he used to sleepwalk and has anxiety and panic attacks. Either it was sloppy plot writng back in S1 or they hadn’t quite decided where they were going with Stiles character, backstory or history with Scott. You would think, from that line alone back in S1 that Scott didn’t know Stiles when his mother died, but there more they dropped on Stiles backstory the more I think that they have known each other, and therefore, families, much longer than that. It just seems the writers sometimes forget what they wrote five or six seasons ago 

It’s been a while since I watched Season 1, but didn’t they also mention Scott visiting his dad, like they had some type of relationship. But in Season 3 (both A and B) it’s made real clear, they haven’t seen each other in awhile and have absolutely no relationship.  

Stiles has never really spoken about the reason behind his antagonistic behaviour towards McCall, apart from his outrage about McCall investigating his dad - but this occurred after we first saw Stiles irritability and anger towards him. Maybe it’s because my background is mental health nursing and i’m looking at in a physiological manner, but I see this as typical transference - Stiles is unable to address the issue that he was hurt and rejected when McCall left (his mom was dead, things weren’t that great with his dad and the one other father-figure in his life not only left Scott and Melissa, but him too) and finds it easier to have and show a righteous anger on behalf of Scott and Melissa.

So in conclusion, McCall was at some point, however brief, a not!dad to Stiles.

I agree with cuppachar’s assessment. I think Stiles felt abandoned at a time he needed stability, but because McCall isn’t his dad and he loves his own dad, Melissa, and Scott, he never got to deal with those feelings so he became angry. And it doesn’t help that everything he says to get back at McCall just rolls off the man’s back. Stiles can never get under his skin but McCall certainly knows how to get under his skin. I giffed the scene above because it’s a good showcase of their relationship. Stiles is trying to lie and McCall clearly doesn’t believe him. He knows better and he’s got that ‘yeah, sure, Stiles,’ look on his face. But something changed between season 3b and season 4 because there’s less animosity between them. Still sarcasm and snarking but less anger. I’m headcanoning that they talked after the Nogitsune and came to some sort of understanding. (Actually, I’m in the process of writing the fanfic.) And let’s not forget to mention that McCall made a phone call to help Stiles get into George Washington. You do that for someone you care about, not a hated friend of your son’s.

[ascrambledmessofmuses]

TW muses tag dump 2/?